Few things got to him as much as time did. Once, in a previous life he believed time to be short, finite and scarce while he went about his identity as a titan. Back then people called him heroic, they worshiped the very ground he tread upon and looked to him for an example of the best of mankind. Now, in the rot of his current life time changed with everything else. Now his time was an endless, silent burden that mocked him for each sin no matter how hard he read or worked or drank to numb himself. Bound to this goddamn chair he had nothing but time to contemplate his failures alone in this slowly decaying crypt of a house. Granted the thought of money was gone since his career gave him more than enough to gaze out into the maddening world from behind the relative safety of his walls.
So much had changed, so much death and despair launching out from the shadows of the world which threatened to swallow those who knew whole. No true word reached the public other than myth, rumor and an ever growing urban legend. Five hundred villains and heroes slain in ways too horrible to mention littered the backways and hidden places of the nation and from what was coming in from other lands such as China, Asia, Korea and even England were beginning to share in the terror. Online chat rooms stretched the tales faster and farther than any one government could stop, bridging the miles and increasing the power of the myth beyond a local ghost story. Had he his powers again, had he the ability to stand again, maybe he could lead the charge against this insanity and restore the proper order. Unfortunately he possessed neither, so putting his mind to work the man known as Endeavor set out to find anything of sense in the mire of blood.
Hours upon hours, days upon days, months upon months he studied all he could on the terror, seeing how deep and rancid it went. Pulling every trick he could, using any connection he had to the justice system he began to learn and learn about the Smile Killings, those that belonged to All Might's bastard son and whoever was continuing his butcher's work. More than once he had found videos online of school children, teenagers and even fully grown men and women begging the Smile Man for help or declaring their support to his cause. In some cases they said his name like a spell or a prayer, endlessly repeating one mantra or another. In others the best it could be compared to the game of "Bloody Mary" almost taunting the killer to get them.
Again the clock ticked on and again Enji read his notes, lost in his own world of clues and dead leads. It was dark now, the sun having long since vanished under the pale gaze of the moon, waxing softly in the night sky through his open window. He was alone in the silence with only the clock for company as he scanned through another file detailing the murder of one villain group dubbed "The Black Sacrament". Not one survived the seventh of April and in the diary taken from the belongings of their leader, it almost takes on a supernatural role as he wrote at length about a black eyed, green haired man appearing at the edge of his vision in the late hours of the night before one of his men go missing without a trace throughout the week before he was found dead with his mouth stitched into a smile with the word "Slaver" carved into his forehead.
Chewing the pen cap in his teeth Enji set the folder down and rubbed his temples. There was a part of this he was missing and no matter where or how long he looked the trail always ran cold. First it appeared he'd find some connection for the random slaughter aside from the superficial, then it revealed too much for the facts to be set straight. Too much information, so much that the truth blended in with exaggeration and hyperbole and confusion without a trace. Facts thrown this way and that way about cases following the MO that had nothing else in common or were so alike that the DNA left behind nearly gets mistaken for a whole other group or individual.
It was like the unconscious id had been set loose by those who usually never said a word to the world. All the anger, fury, sadism and brutality finally give a reason to be released for a righteous cause without social scorn because so many were doing it that it may as well be normal. At least according to some blogs and journals he had found.
Tapping his fingers against the armrest, Enji realized this was getting him nowhere with his stomach distracting him. Relenting to his body The Hellfire Hero rolled himself out of his study and into the kitchen. Photos of his family glinted along the walls, reminding him of how this became his life as he reached the fridge. Rows of freshly stocked produce and meat greeted him while he pulled out a pick of what was at hand. Intent on eating quickly to return to his personal work Enji rolled over to the kitchen table, his rubber wheels screeching on the hardwood until he noticed something in the corner of the room.
In the soft lighting of the room everything took on a yellowish glow, granting a film like quality to what he saw. Black fabric worth more than most men make in a lifetime ruffled as ancient joints popped and crack, the hard sole shoes tapping purposefully in their approach as a macabre mockery of the human skull stared right into his soul, the eyeless sockets portraying nothing but empty, unfeeling apathy.
"Ah, Enji, I apologize if my arrival was untimely, but considering how you've kept to yourself lately after our first discussion I figured you wouldn't mind if I dropped by."
The former number two hero regarded the man before him, The Symbol of Evil himself, All For One, with a fear so primal he forgot how to even breathe. But that was short lived as the months worth of bloody information circled in his skull, nearly overriding his terror in its entirety.
"Not at all. So what brings you here this time if you forgive my asking?"
The man who could destroy nations by himself, the one who could battle All Might to a standstill, stopped his approach when asked that question. His body language was unreadable as a statue and his face hidden behind his mask concealed whatever was in that twisted mind.
"Well, haven't you gotten brave? If you'd like to know I'm currently in the middle of a...family crisis, you see and I believe you'd know a thing or two about that."
Enji grinded his teeth, weighing the possibilities of how and why and what as he stared back into the human abyss. Still he found it in himself to muster a grin if only to ease himself.
"Considering you are a very busy man, I suppose that is fair. However...If I may ask in turn, how is Toya?"
A dismissive hand was raised and fell at the notion as the mastermind took a seat on the table.
"Still as much of an ungrateful shit as always. He shows promise but lately he's so unmotivated that the whole group is dropping in efficiency by twenty seven percent in the past six months. However, he isn't the reason for my visit. You see, I've come to discuss...my son."
A sceptical eyebrow was raised at the villain by the hero. His hands opened a package of raisins in the meantime.
"You mean that demented hellion with the hand on his face that caused all this?"
All For One said nothing for a minute, allowing the clock to tick away in his place while something buzzed in his mind from how his fingers popped.
"...Let's assume so for now."
Chomping the dried fruit down his throat Enji leaned back to take in the slackened, almost curling posture of the man. He certainly had a dreadfulness about him in a way far too human for what he was.
"Alright, but before that, I'm rather curious given all the news going around as of late, has All Might's child gone on an independent streak in regards to his crime?"
His posture regained its rigidity. A clear rage, calm but waiting to erupt, set upon the Master of Evil as his deathly aura started flowing in full.
"What did you just say?"
That was the tone of a man about to murder from insult, the quiet restraint only adding to the scene. Enji tapped his fingers once more on the armrest, finding himself less and less afraid by the second as the drive for answers propelled him. At this point he was already in limbo so there was very little left to take.
"The boy your followers took, Izuku Midoriya if I'm not mistaken. He's All Might's bastard son, that's why you took him, right?"
The chair creaked as the mountain of a human being leaned over the table, nearly invading his host's personal space. His voice was deadly serious to where it almost sounded like he was personally affronted.
"That is false information and should you say that again I'll be forced to...reprimand you."
Despite his better judgement Enji let out a soft, barely audible laugh that caused the giant to clinch his fists.
"If you do that then who would listen to you? Besides the fact you already took my powers, my legs and my son from me. There is very little I have left to lose and even then I'm more than willing to die. However if he isn't All Might's brat then who is his father? Try as I will there isn't much on Hisashi Midoriya and All Might's quirk was so similar during the sports festival that you'd have to be blind not to see a connection."
A grunt erupted from the original villain as he reluctantly leaned back into the seat and rolled his shoulders, the ancient cartilage scraping audibly from the act. He sounded his age for once in that moment, a tired old man who should have perished long ago yet still remains by greedily holding onto any strands of life he can grab.
"I suppose this is karma for what I've done. Tell me Endeavor, what hurts more? The fact your son has gone awry in the world and curses your very name by doing the opposite of what he was meant for, or the fact that you are alone in this world with no one to warm your bed while the woman you love is forever gone from you?"
He paused for a moment.
"You do love your wife, don't you Enji?"
The wording made it sound like the opposite of a threat and more akin to an honest question which unnerved him more than any danger.
"I do...although I can't rightly say I acted like I did."
The Symbol of Evil cut in, his voice growing misty as if lost in some far away memory.
"We never do, do we?"
The Hellfire Hero pursed his lips at the situation, unsure of exactly what to make of it.
"Yeah...but, I know my kid is still out there and that means he can still be helped so I don't dread it as much as my marital issues. I destroyed that woman with my foolishness and there's no real chance of her getting better and the sick thing is that...I don't feel guilty, or not to the point I should. I mean I continue on in my life while she's broken and once or twice a day I think about her, but I don't sob over it or beg forgiveness."
Wood shaved apart under the villain's nails, his fingers boring deep grooves in the chair as he sat in contemplation of his host's words.
"That….would you ever force them to come back? Your family, not just Toya, but all your children and your wife to attempt to set things right?"
Enji scoffed at the thought, popping more raisins into his mouth before downing them.
"Fuck no, if they wanted to be around me they'd find a way. I guarantee if I tried something like that I wouldn't survive to see the next morning. I let my family disown me rather than just increase everyone's anger and misery for my own foolish desires."
Nothing came from the towering form of All For One other than silence, his entire being laid still in that chair like a corpse. Then his scarred hands reached for the helmet atop his head and with a light click of cables disconnecting, revealed a face mangled beyond human limits.
"I...I don't think I have much time left for that sort of passivity. My sons are scattered to the winds, one seeping into his own self loathing and distrust of me while another glavants around with some moralistic temptress. I have another child waiting for my word and maybe I can use him to bring them back into the fold, but I am running out of time."
Again he let out a slight ounce of pain, the pale skin flexing and shifting overtop his skull as he did so. Turning his gaze to the fridge, he snapped his fingers and a can of beer flew from the open door straight into his hand.
"All this time, all this planning and here I am fretting over two boys and a woman who won't matter in the grand scheme of things. God, am I stupid. I can literally make nations bend by my will without them knowing and yet I'm held hostage by the unknown. First it was my foremost project falling apart due to one little lie and then it was this emptiness that kept attacking me when they left and now the nightmares are starting again."
The tab cracked open as The Master of Evil took a sip, his face completely neutral in that shell of a shell of a body. Instantly The Hellfire Hero sat up, eyeing the monster intently like he held some clue.
"These nightmares, do you see something black? Something as black as the void itself?"
The muscles on All For One's face contorted in such a way that had he the hair, his eyebrows would have been raised.
"No, but why do you ask?"
A snarl placed itself on Enji, making him appear like he had those years ago when rage overcame his better judgement. Then seconds later he clinched his fingers into a fist and allowed the rush to leave him, to let the emotion vent into something far more becoming of a civilized man.
"There's been rumors abound in certain places online about a thing which appears in people's dreams and from what else I've gathered it seems connected to the Smile Cults. A shapeless, formless mass with a single eye that shows them things, some more horrible than even what you could commit and some the pipe dream of the most humanitarian utopianist. Every time this happens the victim becomes involved in one way or another with the Smile Ideology without fail."
Grizzled, gnarled skin twisted at the younger man. His damaged face grinned slyly as thousands of calculations which were already seen to, answered the question.
"Endeavor old boy, I think spending too much time alone has gotten to you. These cults are little more than poultry attempts by the lowly to change things. Believe me if they posed any true threat to my domain then they would be made an example of until they gave up their blind hope. At best they may remove a couple fledgling gangs or degenerates but the power structure I've erected will remain and this...creature you seem so wrapped up in is likely just divergent fiction made to enhance the idea of these groups being more than what they are."
A fist was slammed into the hardwood of the table, denting it as the hero nearly lunged forward to make his point.
"No dammit! This isn't just insane or pathetic wastes of people involved in this, there is a silent war playing out around the edges of societies all over the globe that each revolve around that brat's symbol! Salary men who haven't so much as fought once in their entire lives are suddenly crusading around to kill men who have raped, tortured and worse because of it! School teachers no stronger than my wife are turning around and killing their students' abusive parents! Police officers are letting the convicts go so they can hunt them down and string up the corpses! Teenagers start tracking and hanging professional criminals without fear! And regardless of who or where in the world it happens, the bodies always without fail have that smile etched into the skin even if the perpetrator had no prior knowledge of the Smile Man! Tell me All For One, you've seen humanity at its worst so you must understand this isn't natural! Normal people don't do this and that thing is somehow connected!"
Fury the likes of which had been pent up for over a year exploded out from the crippled man, his teeth now set to rattle while the original villain remained impassive as the mask beside him. Leaning back into his chair Enji rolled a hand down his sculptured face with not an ounce of fear for what he'd done. All For One regarded him, taking note of everything while giving nothing away as to his own thoughts. A knuckle tapped on the hardwood, earning a glare from the host when the guest shot back.
"This thing, have you seen it in your dreams?"
His hands slapped down onto his legs in defeat, looking woefully at the villain.
"No, but I'm certain it does exist in some capacity. Because there has to be a reason, a cause behind this insanity. Perhaps it's some quirk no one knows...or some experiment done by the world governments or a villain group. I mean those Nomu abominations were your handiwork so maybe some other super criminal tampered with nature and made it."
All For One nearly scowled at the cripple. His massive hand picking up the empty beer can and crushing it with the very air inside it.
"I assure you that there are no others who can compare with me."
The hero gave him a baffled look like he had just heard the dumbest thing ever.
"But how do you know that? You aren't the only person with money and reach, so who's to say there hasn't been someone or a group of people who have been silently growing in power while you took the spotlight for so long, just waiting for the right moment to do...something. I don't know what, but if those "bibles" the afflicted have a tendency to write are even halfway correct then, it isn't good."
Again the villain raised a metaphorical eyebrow.
"Bibles?"
Enji rolled his eyes like he'd explained this a million times before(which he nearly had).
"The third step in what happens to people who fall under the influence of...whatever it is. First comes either a euphoric sense of meaning or a rush of righteous anger which follows the subject for a period of two months during which they'll become involved in or create political movements based on improving living conditions for the impoverished or reducing crime."
He reached into one of his pockets and took out a small flipbook lined front to back with notes, scanning them as he went on.
"Then comes the stream of violent thoughts directed at perceived injustices, be they tangible or otherwise. After a week of the thoughts bubbling in their heads, they start writing manifestos or documents detailing the ideal society. This is when the creature starts appearing in their dreams and directing them towards the Smile ideology in one way or another and finally it results in physical action taken by the subject to improve the world, which usually results in the death of those with more than a misdemeanor on record or not on record."
He scrolled through the paper until he found the right section.
"And there will always without fail regardless of religion, culture or language be exactly the same key words for certain passages in the writing, even if the subject had no prior knowledge of the concepts."
All For One shifted uncomfortably in his chair, finding the other man's obsession to be far too...familiar.
"Let's say I believe your so-called research Endeavor, what is one of these passages that keep popping up as you put it?"
The Hellfire Titan flipped his notepad to the proper page and answered.
"This is one that is always near the start of the more spiritually included versions, but in some form or another it snakes in like a cancer. And again, I'm paraphrasing here."
He cleared his throat with a cough.
"The son of man, the one which may grant and appropriate the souls of the people will battle with the daughter of the spirit who guides them into safety for generation upon generation until the fifth passing. Upon which One shall arise and bring to the world and beyond an awakening that will elevate those who do sing praise and seek to smile on the world in virtue and greatness. Spill his blood upon his kin and it shall be."
Enji flipped through it one more time just to be sure.
"Every time I've read one of those manifestos or guides or whatever, those words show up in some fashion, even if it's hidden inside the phrasing. As far as I know, there isn't a memetic quality to the words. Can't really say the same about the symbol, but I'm unsure if it's just the wide reach of the internet trapping people in a rabbit hole or if there's something more...quirky about it."
A sharp, hollow intake of breath came from the villain, sinking his belly inwards with the lining of his suit collapsing. His nails traveled over the table, making an ear shattering grind as they made a white knuckled fist.
"These bibles...do they have a picture, one of a city on fire?"
Hesitation was ripe in that question. Not fear, but a reluctance to know. All For One's body tensed dramatically, his muscles rippling under his sleeves like he was set to be physically attacked.
"Yeah, and without fail Might Tower will always appear in the art regardless of the person's knowledge of its existence. That and the massive sea of people surrounding it which take up a good sixty percent of the frame."
Nothing save for the maniac's mouth remained to display his emotions, however few or twisted they are. He had no eyes, no nose, and his mouth admittedly had trouble articulating at times which resulted in a slurred word or two if he didn't focus. He was a living eternal legend which existed since the start of The Great Age, the man who feared nothing, owned everything and made the world his domain and personal playground like a spoiled child with too much bulk or wealth. He was the very pinnacle of everything man could become, yet it was clear as day what he felt when his flesh began to grow pale.
Blood drained from his features like he had been stabbed in an artery multiple times, leaving only a ghostly sheet of diseased and scarred tissue to describe the man known as The Symbol of Evil . He did not shake, he did not tremble, nor did his breathing grow raspy. Instead his helmet was soon in his hands once more, docking to the contraption locked into his collarbone with click.
"Thank you Enji, I'm afraid things have arisen that require my attention. I'll be sure to pop back in when time allows. For now, continue your work. I will happily provide any resources you need to further this case. Until then, stay safe and stay out of sight."
A hand grabbed him by the collar before he had the chance to leave his seat, dragging him to The Hellfire Hero who moved faster than he ever did in his prime.
"You do know something! Tell me what your involvement with this madness is before I snap your neck like a twig!"
Mist formed around the monster, freeing him from the strangle hold as he evaporated into a fine red gas which rose to the ceiling, seeping out through the cracks and away to places unknown. Yet somehow his voice, ever cultured and refined, answered as the last of his being vanished.
"It would seem I need to dig up a corpse."
