06/07/2021

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The Emperor's Dragon
Nestling 58

Doctor Garaki Kyudai sat across from All For One. It was rather eerie to see the man track him with the empty hollows he had for eyes but the Doctor tried his best to ignore that. This was going to be a difficult enough conversation without anything else. He had Johnny with him. The small creature was in his lap and didn't really know what was going on. Johnny had just been happy for the walk to the treatment room.

They sat in silence for a few moments. It wasn't really silent though. There was still the beep of the monitoring equipment and the hiss of the respirator. "What is the treatment now, Doctor?"

Kyudai was at least thankful that All For One didn't shy away from difficult topics. "There's not a lot of treatment," he had to admit. "Once Izuku got you the regeneration quirk, we've moved now from treatment to establishing palliative care."

That earned him a glare.

"You aren't dying," Kyudai reassured Hisashi quickly. "But without further intervention, this is about as good as you are going to be for the future." He gestured vaguely towards All For One's body.

The deepening of the glare was expected.

"I am immortal, Doctor. I will not live forever like this!" All For One hissed.

Garaki remained silent. Hisashi already had a strong regeneration quirk, there was very little that could be done to further regenerate him. Unless… "I could focus on transplants," he offered.

"How would that help?" All For One demanded.

Kyudai thought for a few moments. "I have your genetic material on record, so I could regrow eyes, and implant them. Skin grafts would then cover the scar tissue."

"Do it," the instruction was instantaneous.

The Doctor nodded. He didn't bother to mention that there was a possibility it wouldn't work. He already knew what would be the answer to that. "While that is prepared, you will have to remain on a respirator, and…" he sighed. "I will need to implant taps to administer the various drugs which will keep you stable." Hisashi was still on a rather impressive list of painkillers, blood thinners, and a number of other substances to aid his breathing and to ensure that he remained as whole as he was currently.

All For One was silent for a few moments. "I will accept it," he said shortly.

Garaki could tell that he was not happy with the proposed solution but failing another one, the ancient man was accepting. Just not with good grace. And it would do no good to say that even if he didn't accept it, the drugs still had to be administered somehow.

"Have you begun copying?" The question followed quickly.

"The cell cultures are growing now. They will be ready soon for your input and division." That was the point at which it would begin hurting Hisashi. But the man was prepared for that, if it helped his long term plan. The Doctor could tell that All For One was adjusting his plans but it was nice to see that he was still human. He didn't immediately go from one perfect plan to another. He hadn't accepted what had happened. Not fully yet. His plans shifted now between acceptance and an expectation of healing.

"Bring me the prototype," All For One instructed as a dismissal.

Kyudai winced internally. He knew what that meant but he remained silent as he nodded. He just hoped that Hisashi remembered to retrieve the quirks before he killed the prototype.

But the Doctor knew it was far better for All For One to work out his anger on the prototype, than on him. He was practical that way.

-ted-

Kurogiri watched Izuku carefully. The boy was exercising under his supervision. But more than that, he was practicing with several quirks. They were minor shape shifting quirks. They changed his eye colour and hair colour. It was not a great disguise but it would be good enough.

From what the misty man understood, a Detective had been looking for Izuku, on the day that All Might and Sensei fought. The Detective had eventually been recalled to Tokyo but not before telling the school to call if Izuku returned.

There was no question that Sensei would win any court battle for custody of Izuku but such things were a nuisance. Far better to avoid them in the first place. The problem had mostly been solved by a follow up communication to the school from the Detective's Captain, instructing them to call him should Izuku return and with the change of shape quirks for Izuku in the event the Detective had broken protocol.

Now all Izuku had to do was get comfortable holding them, and be practiced enough to say that the hair change was dye. He currently had white hair and gold eyes and was holding that change while running around the room. They were simple quirks, so they weren't draining his energy, though if he tried to use the Night Cat quirk, his eyes returned to their luminescent green.

Kurogiri watched critically as he ran. His stride was efficient but there was something lacking in his movement. The misty man thought he knew what it was. Usually, Izuku would be overjoyed to be practicing with new quirks, even ones as mundane as those he was using now but…

"Izuku," Kurogiri called him.

The boy ran over to him and huge gold eyes looked up at him.

"It's alright to have fun," the warp gate told the boy.

Izuku flinched and Kurogiri knew he was right. His eyes narrowed slightly and tears formed in them. "But-"

"Your father won't mind," he added the assurance. Right at the moment, looking at Izuku was like seeing a small version of All For One.

"But-" Izuku tried again, one tear escaping.

Inwardly Kurogiri sighed and moved forward to give the boy a hug.

"It's alright," he confirmed. "You can cry."

The reassurance, combined with the hug, released the flood gates. Izuku threw his arms forward and clung to him as he howled. Kurogiri looked down at Izuku. He had lost control over the change quirk and his hair was dying itself back to green.

"There, there," he offered comfort but the misty man wasn't entirely sure what Izuku was crying about. Or rather, he didn't know specifically what was causing the tears, because it was bound to be more than the thought that he could have some fun.

The misty man remained silent as Izuku cried. The howls subsided but the boy kept sobbing. Yet no one could cry forever and eventually Izuku hiccuped and pulled back slightly. He wasn't trying to break the hug, just giving himself a little space.

"What's the matter Izuku?" The warp gate asked softly.

He felt Izuku swallow, the motion made against his chest. "Everything," came the quiet reply.

"Hmm?" Kurogiri almost hummed, keeping the noise deep in his chest so that it comforted Izuku. He wondered idly when he had become so skilled at comforting children.

"Everything has gone wrong," Izuku sobbed. "The quirk didn't work and dad hasn't healed. My friends don't understand and I know I can't explain it to them!"

The words were near incoherent but the misty man managed to interpret them. He kept holding Izuku.

"The quirk did work," Kurogiri countered the first statement Izuku had made. "The Doctor told you that. It worked and your dad is healed," he said calmly. He'd learned that you had to remain calm when children were crying. If you began crying, they cried harder and it took longer to sort everything out.

"It didn't!" Izuku wailed. "He's not better! Why didn't the quirk make him better?"

Kyudai had explained why the regeneration quirk hadn't worked perfectly on All For One but the Doctor had also made it very clear that the regeneration quirk had saved All For One, that without it, Sensei would still be floating in the processing tube with very little hope of recovery. The human body was a marvel, it could heal many injuries but the only organ which regenerated was the liver. Not the brain. Never the brain. Even with regeneration quirks today, the brain remained the key. Even if you could regenerate your heart, lungs, eyes, kidneys, bones, fingers… any other body part, you could not regenerate the brain. That the quirk Izuku had gotten had was nothing short of a miracle.

But how did you explain that to a nine year old who just wanted his father back to the way he had been?

That was difficult. Repetition was the only tactic Kurogiri really had since education would take too long. Still, they were trying both.

"It did work, Izuku," he repeated. "Doctor Garaki told you that, didn't he?"

While the boy didn't react immediately, eventually Kurogiri felt a reluctant nod.

"It worked, Izuku, but sometimes, quirks don't work the way we think they will. They aren't perfect," the warp gate said.

Surprisingly that got him a faster nod.

"Sensei will get better," Kurogiri reassured Izuku, "and as for your friends…" At that, the misty man paused. He wasn't sure what to say about Izuku's friends because it wasn't like they could be simply told the truth. He took a deep breath. "You will need to explain it to them. You will need to show them the flaws in Hero Society for them to understand. They don't have your experience."

"But how?" Izuku asked, thankfully moving on to the next problem. "They won't believe me."

"Then why are they your friends?" Kurogiri asked pointedly. The slight jerk from Izuku told him that the question had made an impact.

"I don't know how to explain," the green eyed boy amended.

At that, Kurogiri nodded, letting the motion traverse his body so that Izuku could feel it. "You need to take it slowly," the misty man urged. "Tell them that your dad was involved in a villain attack and that the heroes were the cause of his injuries. Point out to them how heroes are clustered in areas where they will get news coverage, not necessarily where they will do the most good. Show them articles that demonstrate that while heroes did take out a villain, they also caused a lot of collateral damage. I think your friend Uraraka will understand that one, won't she?"

That earned him a huff that was between a sigh and a laugh.

"It will take time, Izuku," Kurogiri cautioned. "People don't like being shown the failures of society but they have to see them before they can be fixed."

"And how do I fix them?"

That was not a question he'd been expecting, especially not with the singular pronoun. At that, Kurogiri took another deep breath, letting Izuku feel the motion. "Izuku, you are only nine," he reminded the boy. "For now, you observe and learn. You observe what is wrong with society and learn why it is that way. You show your friends the truth but you must be patient with them. And then, when you are older, you work with your dad to change society.

"He already knows what needs to be changed but he needs you to be the instrument of that change," Kurogiri concluded, hoping Izuku took that well.

The boy sniffed. "I won't replace dad?" He asked, his voice trembling.

"You, along with Tomura, will represent him," Kurogiri replied. He didn't know about any plans for Izuku to replace Sensei. They might have the same quirk but Sensei was Sensei and while Izuku had potential, it was not the same.

"Good," he whispered before he nodded. "I'll try, Kurogiri. I'll try to explain to my friends."

"That's all you can do, Izuku," the misty man agreed, thankful that the crying appeared to have ceased. "And remember, you aren't alone. We are here to help and we will help you with your friends."

At that, Izuku smiled. He seemed reassured and for that, Kurogiri was thankful. "Now, back to your exercises!" he instructed.

Izuku gasped and his hands went to his hair. Kurogiri ran one of his own through the green curls. "It's gone back to green, but your eyes have held," he praised the boy.

"Darn," Izuku muttered and the misty man let the small exclamation go when Izuku's hair shifted back to the white it had been previously.

"You are getting closer," he said. The purpose of the exercise was to have Izuku hold his transformation through all emotions. It was a work in progress. "Now, let's try making scales and seeing if you can alter their colour?" Kurogiri gave Izuku the next challenge. They had to push all his quirks, after all and just repeating the same exercises wasn't going to push his quirks. Variation helped Izuku, even with the mundane tasks.

The boy grinned, welcoming the challenge and the warp gate revelled in the return to normality. Training he could handle. Emotional breakdowns, not so much. Tomura was… simpler to handle in many ways.

-ted-

Izuku focused his attention on forming scales, but not the green ones he always made, he wanted them to be gold this time, after his eyes, or white after his hair. He needed to know how much he could change things, how much he could rely on his quirks.

But that very thought distracted him. Kurogiri had touched upon it earlier when the misty man said that quirks didn't always work the way you thought they would, that they weren't perfect. Except his dad and the Doctor always talked about quirks as if they were.

Wait, no, that wasn't quite right. The Doctor said that quirks could become perfect. A singularity but only if it was controlled. If he controlled it. That didn't make sense. His dad talked about quirks as if there was a perfect one for every situation.

Except… Even having more than one quirk, you were never going to have every quirk so you couldn't possibly have the perfect one for every situation. There were no perfect quirks, and since they were imperfect, they couldn't be relied upon.

But if quirks couldn't be relied upon, what could you rely on?

Family. The answer immediately came to him, except that wasn't quite right. This was about quirks.

He could combine quirks until they were perfect for all situations but to do that, he'd need more quirks. And different quirks and people wouldn't like it if he took their quirk. Borrowing it for Dad was one thing but taking it for himself, that didn't feel right. Not unless it was to help them. Not unless he could compensate them. That would be alright.

But this wasn't about quirks. Or it was but how could he rely on them if they didn't work as he thought they did? Izuku remembered one of the first quirks his dad gave him. Caeli Imperium. AIr Control. It wasn't air control. He moved nitrogen around but he couldn't recombine nitrogen into the different forms it took. His dad had tried and had him try. But… before he could try he'd had to learn.

That was it!

Izuku felt his eyes widen and he concentrated briefly to ensure the change of eye colour was still active. Kurogiri hadn't said anything but he could feel it when his eyes were a different colour.

But that was it though. Information. He needed information on quirks. He analysed them now but if he was going to use them, if he was going to rely on them, then he needed more information on them, and on the world. His dad had given him Caeli Imperium and had told him it was air control, knowing full well it was nitrogen control. His dad had let him learn that for himself and he'd sort of figured it out via experimenting with combinations with Fire Breath but while he'd worked out that pushing 'air' towards his fire suppressed it and pulling air away made it bigger, he hadn't known that it was because he was moving the nitrogen atoms in the air at the time. He knew now.

Which meant… which meant… He needed to go back to school! He needed more general knowledge so that he could better assess quirks and how they worked, not how he thought they'd work. Maybe there would have been a hint about Jiko Chiyu's quirk that he missed.

Izuku shook his head. That wasn't the point now.

"Kurogiri?" he asked as he paused and turned towards the warp gate.

"Yes Izuku?"

"When am I going back to school?"

The misty man was startled at the question. "I am uncertain of the exact time but it will be after you learn to hold the change of shape quirks through everything."

"Oh," Izuku murmured.

"People are looking for you, Izuku. They would take you away from Sensei," Kurogiri continued.

"No!" He felt a stab of panic at the thought.

"That's why you need to master those quirks," Kurogiri explained. "They are looking for you with green eyes and green hair, so let's present them with white hair and gold eyes, or brown hair and brown eyes, or any other combination."

Izuku nodded and resettled his focus. He needed to go back to school.

"It won't be forever," the misty man reassured him.

"I'll be ready," Izuku replied, shifting his hair through a rainbow of colours before settling back to white.

"I know you will."

-ted-

AFO wants to heal but he is working out his anger as well. Garaki is still on a tightrope but it is becoming wider. Still, not a good time to be something expendable like a prototype (Nomu). Will implanting eyes work? We'll find out.

Izuku is experiencing problems with what has happened but he realises that he needs to be strong, and that he does have a family around him who will help. And really, when you are nine, what more do you need?

-ted-

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