02/11/2021
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! You are the greatest!
The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 16
Mirai hadn't exactly been dreading this conversation but he had known it was coming. He'd thought it would be earlier but they'd been distracted by Juhin's escape, which everyone knew was not an escape.
It just confirmed to All Might that All For One was truly still alive. The Number One Hero didn't want to entertain other possibilities. Which is why they were here.
At least there were no witnesses. They were back at their agency, in one of the completely soundproof rooms. It was late, so the staff were home but it was doubtful that Yagi would have allowed this to be public anyway.
"Did you see him?" Yagi asked. There was a quiet resignation in his question.
Sir Nighteye tilted his head in askance.
"In your vision," All Might clarified.
The image came back. A man with All For One's stature, suit and powers but… that mask… Was he overthinking it? "Possibly," he admitted, holding up one hand. "There was a battle," he explained. "Your last battle," Mirai added.
"Against him?"
"Maybe. The man had a very complicated mask. None of his face was visible."
"But was it him?"
Sir Nighteye shook his head. "It could be," he replied. "Or it could be his reanimated corpse. It could be his clone. It could be someone with the same build, and the mask is to hide the real identity!"
Yagi held out his hand. "Look again," he ordered. It was an instruction to find out. To go to that vision and look at everything closely. "You avoided telling me last time."
He shouldn't be surprised that the deliberate change of subject then had been noticed. All Might was more than an overly muscled lughead.
"I won't see anything new," Mirai was firm in his statement. He didn't want to see that again. "Either you ambushed him or he ambushed you. You know I can't see any more than what you could have seen, and there was no time when the mask was gone."
Toshinori still held out his hand. It was odd. He'd always believed him before and now, even when he'd told All Might everything he still wanted more.
There had been one time in that battle when it appeared the mask might have come off but before it happened, All Might and whoever that was had been interrupted by a creature. The other man, the one who could be All For One had backed away as the creature had taken up the fight. It had huge teeth, long talons and glowing poisonous eyes.
No creature should be able to stand up to All Might, but it had. The man who might have been All For One had backed away slightly and had held his hand out. It was almost as if he was controlling the creature or lending it strength. Mirai hadn't been able to see anything pass between them but he was sure something had.
And he didn't want to remember anything further. Not the way Toshinori had slipped by the creature to attack the man who might be All For One. Not the way he'd landed a hit, only to be struck from behind. Not the way Yagi's blood had stained the creature's teeth. Not the way its claws had raked across his body. Not the way his eyes had-
No! He was going to change that future!
"I die, don't I?" Toshinori asked. It wasn't really a question.
He didn't reply.
"Discounting your vision," Yagi said when it became clear he wasn't going to answer that. He already had. He'd said it was All Might's last battle. "You knew before that." There was no doubt in the way he looked at him.
Commissioner Soukan was a consummate politician. Sir Nighteye was not as good, but only because he worked in a different field, one where people tended to be more honest to him. However, never let it be said that All Might's sidekick was unable to play politics. "I went to identify his body," Mirai began his explanation. "It wasn't there, so I went to see the Commissioner."
Publically All Might and the Hero Public Safety Commission were on the best of terms. Privately, the relationship was far more pragmatic. The look All Might gave him spoke to the reality.
"Commissioner Soukan indicated that the Commission had custody of the body, and that it was in a research facility, leaving Hisashi Riji tragically missing."
"And an easy target for several scandals," Toshinori muttered.
Mirai nodded. He still wasn't quite sure how All For One's civilian identity had avoided the scandals but he had.
"You are usually more astute than that," Yagi said.
There wasn't a lot he could say to defend himself. "There was a lot on my mind," Mirai hedged.
"And you weren't concerned about the implication of human research?"
"It was the Commission."
Toshinori shook his head. "Granted," he allowed, which was at odds with his movement, "but if the Commission wanted his body for experimentation, you know they would have gone after the child, and you have never cared much for that child."
"He is the son of All For One, what is there to care about?"
"He is equally the son of Inko Midoriya, a law abiding woman."
"A fool!"
"No! You have been foolish!" Yagi stated firmly. "I know you delayed Tsukauchi in Mie. We could have had Izuku there, safely, without All For One knowing and now… we don't have the child. He does, and that means there's another enemy."
"He was always an enemy!" Mirai objected.
"He's ten!" Toshinori countered. "But he could very well become our enemy, given the missed opportunities."
"The child is no one! He's a distraction."
"No! You do not get it both ways!" All Might snapped. "The child is the son of All For One, not no one. He was never no one. But now… I fear that he will follow in his father's footsteps and all you will ever see is that he was a villain. You won't ever see that we failed him, that he could have been so much more."
"He doesn't matter."
"Everyone matters!" Yagi fixed him with an unimpressed stare. "You seem to have forgotten that."
"Don't!" Sir Nighteye replied. "Don't you dare say that I have forgotten that. I didn't tell you that the Commission had All For One's body because you were recovering, and I genuinely believed it. I didn't tell you about what I saw in my vision because I knew you'd tie yourself in knots worrying about what cannot be changed.
"You die. And it is not an easy death."
"Everyone dies," All Might dismissed it. "And if I die taking him out, then so be it! I will be able to face my master with pride."
"No! You don't need to die," Mirai growled.
"You are the one who assures me your visions are unchangeable."
"I'll find a way to change it!" Sir Nighteye almost yelled.
"Do I kill him?" All Might demanded. His eyes were intense.
The vision came back to Sir Nighteye. The blow had looked fatal. He examined it, trying to ignore the way the creature raged. The man that might be All For One didn't move. It seemed as if he was dead but… He couldn't be sure. "Possibly," Mirai whispered.
"Then that is enough. So long as he is gone, it is enough."
"It is not!"
All Might shook his head as he rose. Mirai almost gasped at the sad look that graced his face.
"It is enough," the Number One Hero said and in that single sentence, Sir Nighteye knew that Toshinori Yagi accepted his death, and that nothing he could say or do would change that acceptance.
He would have to change the future himself.
-ted-
All Might sat across from the Police Captain. He'd spoken to many Police Captains in the past but never when one was chained to the table in an interrogation room. But Captain Saitsu was chained there and he had maintained his silence since he'd been caught destroying evidence.
Forensics were still trying to determine everything he'd destroyed but it appeared to be everything regarding Hisashi Riji, Juhin and the unsuccessful raid they had launched. The Captain's phone records had been gone through and there were calls to what the intelligence teams called Black Market Phones. They were untraceable. It wasn't a confession but it was good circumstantial evidence that the Captain had been communicating with people he shouldn't.
Except, after he was arrested, he'd said nothing. Not a single word. He'd said nothing to deny the charges. Nothing to defend himself. Nothing to even admit guilt. He'd simply sat as charges were levelled against him and then sat further when people tried to interrogate him.
It wasn't that he was expressing himself in other ways either. His expression was blank, almost faintly amused and while that had annoyed some of his interrogators, the expression hadn't shifted. The Captain had just sat there and taken the questions, the insults, the threats and in one case, the punches, until someone had dragged out that interrogator.
Yagi didn't know what difference he'd make. Captain Saitsu hadn't requested he come or anything like that but… He wanted to understand why this man was so loyal to All For One. What had that villain done to earn this level of loyalty?
Toshinori reached down into the bag beside him. He pulled out several newspapers. The headlines were not flattering. He watched as the Captain looked at them. He was watching and the man's expression didn't change, then he seemed to dismiss the matter and sat back, looking over at him.
"I don't understand," Yagi said. "You are a Police Captain, so you know, better than others what he did. You know what evidence you destroyed, so I know you were protecting him and I don't understand why?
"He runs slave rings. He runs villain rings. He funds human experimentation. He murders. He extorts. He does every crime imaginable and yet… you sit here, and display a level of loyalty that most will consider stupid but is, if you ignore who the loyalty is to, admirable. So why do you serve him so well?"
All Might sighed, shaking his head slightly. He really didn't understand.
"He gave me everything."
The answer was so unexpected, not the words but the actual fact that the Captain had spoken. Yagi ran the words through his mind, and couldn't help the curious look he gave Captain Saitsu. There was a slight challenging look to his features now.
"He gave me everything," Saitsu repeated, as he shook his own head. "You are about my age, All Might, or should I say Toshinori Yagi?"
The fact that Saitsu knew his name wasn't that surprising. It wasn't given out to the general public but the Captain was senior enough that he could have easily accessed the records. Or All For One might have told him. And it definitely appeared as if Saitsu had communicated with the villain.
The Number One Hero acknowledged his name with a slight nod.
Saitsu didn't do anything. "He told me you are quirkless," the Captain said.
At that, Toshinori couldn't quite keep his expression still.
Saitsu smiled, knowing that his reaction confirmed his words. "But then you got given a gift, and I know that even now, you are loyal to the woman who gave you that gift."
How much had All For One told the Captain? Yagi didn't want to know, but at the same time he had to know.
"The difference between us is not philosophy or anything like that, it's simply memory. You have forgotten what it was like to be quirkless," Saitsu told him. The look now was straight out challenging. "You've forgotten the pain, and if anything your very being has only made it worse for quirkless people."
"I have not!" Toshinori objected. He had not made it worse for Quirkless people. Some of the charities he sponsored focused solely on quirkless issues.
"You have," Saitsu said. His tone was such that Toshinori knew he was not going to argue that fact. To him it was a fact, one that was not open to negotiation or reinterpretation, no matter how pretty or convoluted that may be. Saitsu's expression shifted and his lip twitched, as if he knew he had the high ground. "Look at the stats, and then come back and tell me that you haven't made it worse," the Captain challenged.
He didn't know the stats but he had a feeling Saitsu did. Or at least, the Captain had the stats that supported his point of view.
"But that doesn't answer your question, does it?" the Captain said, almost to himself. "I serve him because he doesn't care if you have a quirk or not," Saitsu said, looking straight back at All Might.
"He doesn't care about you," Yagi pointed out.
"He cares about how much you can help him," Saitsu half agreed. "And frankly, compared to the indifference, the hatred and the abuse I suffered because I was quirkless, that is far more honest."
"So you were happy being used?" Toshinori pointed out.
"Transactional exchange," the Captain corrected. "He gave me the same gift you got from her. So are we really that different?"
He didn't want to say yes. Toshinori wanted to scream no, they were completely different. Nana had given him One For All as a legacy. All For One had given Saitsu his quirk solely to gain his loyalty. Except, it was obvious that Saitsu had a choice. He chose to follow All For One. He knew what the man was like but somehow being given the quirk was enough for him.
Was it really that bad for the quirkless?
And was that a way of tracking him? There were records of late quirk manifestations! Some of them could be people like Saitsu, who had been given a quirk.
The Captain actually snorted. 'You are transparent, All Might. You won't catch him that way," the man said.
Toshinori looked at Saitsu. The Captain had been right. They were about the same age and if he had truly been quirkless then maybe… No! He would never have helped such a man! Except there was a tiny part of him that wondered. "I'm sorry," Yagi told him. "I'm sorry that we failed you," he continued.
At that the Captain smiled. "It's not me you should apologise to."
"Then who?" Toshinori wondered.
"Everyone else the system failed."
All Might read the message in that. Everyone else the system failed that All For One had picked up. Everyone else that man had turned into one of his servants. He brought one hand to the table, curling it into a fist as he blew out a breath. "He's meant to be dead," Yagi said.
The Captain knew All For One had gotten away. He probably even knew exactly what condition the super-villain was in. "Again you focus on the wrong thing."
He looked quizzically at the man.
"Why did no one tell you that they'd lost his body, that there was a chance he was still alive?" Saitsu phrased the question highlighting the ways that it could have been told to him.
At that, All Might laughed. It was a bitter, twisted laugh, one that no one would ever believe came from the Number One Hero. Of everything that had happened, it was that which seemed to surprise the Captain. "I did not like the answers that I got to that question," All Might admitted.
Saitsu nodded. "My apologies, you had focused on the correct thing." The Captain's expression shifted again after he said that, becoming the blank, but slightly amused mask he had on earlier.
Toshinori sighed. He knew what that meant. "I am sorry I failed you," he said, by way of parting. "But he was not the answer. He will never be the answer," he added as he rose.
The Captain said nothing and as All Might left, he couldn't help but feel inexplicably sad. In his own way, the man was honourable but no one would remember that. No one would see it.
He hoped he hadn't failed too many others but from the way the Captain spoke, he knew he had. All For One had a lot to answer for.
-ted-
Well the good Captain knew he was going to get caught so he figured he might as well destroy everything he could to help out his boss. Then All Might is curious as to why a man would be that loyal. I think it's pretty obvious. AFO is reasonable to those who don't suffer crises of conscious and who serve him well.
My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out.
-ted-
Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!