06/11/2021

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The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 17

While All For One would always hate All Might for the damage the man had done to him, there were a few, rare times when he was somewhat thankful he no longer had a sense of smell. Now was one.

His son had just returned from a training session with Gigantomachia. Because of the raid, he was allowing Izuku to train more often in an effort to distract him. He was sweaty and no doubt stunk but all All For One could feel was that Izuku's hair was wet. It made picking out the colour somewhat of a challenge.

"Did you have a good session with Gigantomachia?" He asked. Today's practice had been in pure combat. It had not included a quirk section.

"Yep!" Izuku chirped, nodding happily. "He taught me how to throw someone!"

"Oh! Did you throw Gigantomachia?"

The man in question was on the far side of the room and he thought he heard the huge man laugh. Gigantomachia was incredibly happy to be teaching Izuku how to fight and while the man may not look it, he did know how to adjust tactics to account for Izuku's slight frame.

"Silly Daddy!" Izuku did laugh. "I can't throw Gigantomachia! But I know how to do it to others."

"That's good." It was good. He'd been surprised when Izuku asked to learn to fight. He had been planning on having his son taught, probably when he started Middle School but this had addressed the issue. And Gigantomachia had insisted that Izuku use his advantages. Truthfully, if Izuku used his quirk, then most fights would be over.

Though his son had yet to learn how to take a quirk from someone and knock them unconscious at the same time. Finding people to practice on had been temporarily put on hold but in the meantime, he had been attending to Izuku's education. They spoke about investments and how their one was performing.

Izuku refused to tell him what he'd invested in and while All For One could have found out, he had chosen not to. His son had simply revealed that he had yet to invest all the money. That was also a strategy and they had discussed it the other week.

This time, he wanted to discuss loyalty and maintaining business contacts. Since they'd begun Izuku had come to relax more about the thought of replacing him in business. It probably helped that something like that was considered normal. Even Tomura's games were full of NPCs who were going to take over the family business.

"What shall we talk about today?" All For One mused. "Ah, I know, Giran," he said. "What did you think of him, my Little Dragon?"

Izuku thought for a few moments, obviously trying to determine what he meant. In this case he didn't mean anything, he simply wanted to know what Izuku thought. "He seemed-" Izuku paused, still searching for the word.

All For One waited.

"Resourceful… sarcastic…"

At the second word Hisashi laughed. "Oh, my Little Dragon. That is correct. He is resourceful, and somewhat sarcastic." He hadn't been sarcastic when Hisashi had last spoken to him. Sweating, terrified, and very, very respectful were more accurate. But that conversation had bought Giran his life, confirming that he had not known anything about Juhin's plans or that she had been tracking them. The broker had promised to change his ways so that no one could track him and his clients.

"Now, do you think I like Giran?" All For One asked a more probing question.

It spoke well of Izuku's intelligence that he thought about it before answering. "Giran isn't family," Izuku said slowly. "But that just means you don't trust him. It doesn't tell me if you like him," he began muttering.

Hisashi chuckled. "A very good deduction, my Little Dragon." He was surprised and pleased. He hadn't realised Izuku was capable of making that distinction.

"I think you like him because he's a business partner but you don't like him the same as Kurogiri or the Doctor."

"Very good!" All For One praised. "You are correct. I do business with Giran so, in that way, I like him because he can fulfil my requirements but he is not family. We are both aware that our relationship is based on cash and while that is firmly kept in mind, one is free to like or dislike as one pleases."

"But you don't trust him?" Izuku asked.

"I trust him but only to a point, my Little Dragon. Giran likes money, and so long as he's paid, he can be trusted."

"But not like family."

"Yes, not like family," All For One said easily, "but a harder question this time, how do you think people become family?"

He felt Izuku's head shift under his hand as he thought.

"You have to trust them," Izuku said.

"Yes, I have to trust them, my Little Dragon. But how do I gain such loyalty that I can trust them to be family?"

Again Izuku thought about it but this time All For One was not expecting an answer. This was a difficult question. It had taken him years to truly determine his answer, and even now it varied. People rarely surprised him but it did happen.

"I don't know," Izuku said finally, with a faint note of distress in his voice.

"It's alright my Little Dragon. It took me a long time to determine an answer as well."

"It did?"

"It did," Hisashi confirmed before he sighed. "Trust is a tricky business. It can so easily betray you. I trust people to act in their best interests, my Little Dragon but with family, even if their best interests do not align with mine, they will put mine first. The difference is loyalty. Family is loyal to family."

He couldn't tell how Izuku would react to that. It was a difficult concept for a ten year old, even if he was almost eleven. Loyalty was such an ephemeral thing. It could be lost in an instant or gained. You never knew which.

"How do you get someone to be loyal to you?" Izuku asked.

"That is the real key, my Little Dragon. It is easiest to gain loyalty from people who agree with you," All For One began explaining. "But that does not make them family. What makes them family is when they agree with you and accept that you will be the best person to resolve any issues.

"But family, or loyalty isn't all one way. You have to support them as well. Do you remember Nasutto?"

Izuku nodded.

"He was loyal to me, but in return, I was loyal to him. He was one of the people I helped."

"Was he family?" Izuku asked.

"No, but maybe one day he could have been." It cost him nothing to say that. "Nasutto was like the Doctor. You've probably noticed, my Little Dragon, that I don't speak of everything in front of him, but I do speak freely around Gigantomachia. I trust the Doctor, my Little Dragon. The Doctor is loyal to me and has performed many great tasks for me, but there are times when he puts his own interests before mine."

"So how do you know when you can trust someone?" Izuku asked. He sounded worried.

"It is difficult to know. You can trust your friends, my Little Dragon but as you become older, then it will be harder to determine. I prefer my Little Dragon having only a few people I trust, a few people who are family. For the rest, they are my business partners.

"There may come a day when I can help people for free, my Little Dragon, but at the moment, I'm afraid I must perform in much the same way as the Hero Public Safety Commission. There is trust involved in a business decision, but not enough to make someone family."

Izuku said nothing but All For One could tell his son was thinking about his words, so it was perhaps time to push a little further.

"People say I'm evil, Izuku," he said softly. "But the truth is they still want what I sell and what I do, so if I am evil, then they must bear a part of that weight."

"You're not evil!" Izuku objected.

"It is only what they say, what the Commission says, but you know that doesn't make it the truth. The Commission cannot help the people I do, and so they cover their failures by claiming I am bad. The people I help do not say that. But society, those who go along with the lies, will agree with the Commission. However, if that is the case, and I am evil, then those who require my services must also be considered evil. There is demand for what I do, and thus, my Little Dragon, I do not consider myself evil, simply a businessman who fulfils a need."

Izuku nodded at his words. He probably didn't understand that successful businesses found a niche and filled it.

"It's like your friend, Himiko," All For One pushed, as he recalled an example that would help Izuku understand. "The students at that school said her liking of blood was evil, didn't they?"

Again, Izuku nodded. "Himiko isn't evil!" He defended his friend.

"No, she's not," Hisashi agreed. "But it is the same with my businesses. Just as people say Himiko is evil for needing blood, they say my business is evil, but it isn't. It just is."

"Like Himiko."

"Like Himiko," All For One agreed. "I am sorry we can't get her number back for you," he added. It was still a bit of a sore point that her contact details had been lost when Kurogiri had cleaned Izuku's phone. With reception turned off, she wouldn't be able to simply message Izuku either so it was a small issue. "Have you found her on LifeBook?"

"She doesn't have one," Izuku told him.

"You'll see her again," All For One said. "Eventually," he added.

"I hope so," Izuku agreed.

"Now, I haven't guessed your hair colour, have I?"

The change in topic surprised Izuku but Hisashi felt his son's happiness. "You haven't!" He chirped.

"I think it's green," Hisashi said.

"Yes!" Izuku was happy.

"Do you know what you are training in tomorrow?" With the question he also cast a look towards Gigantomachia.

"Hand to hand, my Lord," the huge man answered.

"Very good. Are you enjoying the lessons, my Little Dragon?"

"Yes!" Izuku was obviously happy to say that. "Gigantomachia teaches well."

"I'm glad to hear it," All For One said. It was good that Izuku was enjoying himself. The next few months would be difficult. Izuku would not be going back to elementary school. He would continue his education in Middle School but for now, they would all take over lessons. He had no fear for his son's academic future. Izuku was studious and in this year, he would learn far more than mere academics, but he was probably not going to be happy about it.

Well, they would deal with any issues when they arose.

He took a deep breath, curling his free hand into a fist. One day, there would be a reckoning, and All Might would not be able to pay.

Until that day, he just had to be patient, and teach his Little Dragon for it was his hand that would settle the balance and he would need to be strong. All For One had faith.

-ted-

Hitoshi almost never ran late to school but he never arrived early. As such, he and Ochaco had worked out a system when he arrived to ask the most important question.

Had either of them seen or heard from Izuku?

As he slipped into class, he saw Ochaco shake her head slightly. It was a gesture he had to return. He wished he could say otherwise. He really didn't like the way the light in her eyes faded. She recovered but he could tell it hit her hard.

It hit him hard too.

Izuku just hadn't come to school one day last year.

The first day it wasn't too bad. They just assumed something had come up and sent him messages. But those messages weren't returned. That was okay, they'd assumed they'd see him in a day or so.

But nothing happened.

There were all sorts of rumours going around as well. A building in Tsu collapsed the same day as Izuku disappeared.

Hitoshi remembered having a sharp spike of fear when he heard that. Surely it wasn't Izuku's building? But the news said it was a commercial building and while there were some fatalities, they had been pulling survivors from the wreckage. That's where the rumours began though.

People said they'd seen All Might and Endeavor there! No one knew what the top two heroes were in Tsu for, given that they both primarily operated out of Tokyo. The Endeavor rumour quietened down quickly when the man was seen in Tokyo but it was confirmed that All Might had been there.

His PR team said the Number One Hero had been in Tsu for other reasons and had of course helped out with the collapsed building. While All Might was the Number One Hero, helping out in the boonies, helped his reputation.

The rumours about Izuku weren't as nice. Gatarui had actually told them that Izuku was a villain and All Might had taken him out. That was particularly stupid. Izuku was ten, eleven now, and eleven year olds were not villains. Izuku wasn't a villain. Gatarui had been somewhat surprised when they had laughed at him for saying that.

The spider-quirked boy had then said that Izuku's father was a villain, and All Might had taken him out.

It was untrue. They had both met Hisashi Riji and they knew he worked at an office. They'd both been to the office but it was harder to refute. They didn't really know what Hisashi Riji did. Hitoshi had asked his parents and while they had done their best to explain what an Executive did, they hadn't really been much help. Basically Hisashi co-ordinated what his company did and made high level decisions. But they weren't really sure.

It had been harder to laugh at Gatarui about that accusation but he'd managed it.

The other boy had been disappointed.

But the accusation had stuck and Hitoshi knew that Ochaco had questions like his own running through her mind. What if Hisashi was a villain? What if Izuku had been caught in some battle? They both knew that the Number One Hero had been in Tsu for something. It wasn't just that he was passing through, no matter what his PR team said.

What if it was to fight Hisashi? Except Izuku's dad had been caught in a Hero raid a while back and hadn't recovered. But what if he was the villain then?

Izuku had once said something too. There are people after my Dad. If I have Fire Breath as my quirk, they might find him. They found us once. It was- Izuku hadn't said anything more and Hitoshi had put it from his mind at the time. But what if… What if the people were Heroes, because Izuku's dad was a villain?

No! It wasn't true. He couldn't have been the villain. Hisashi was too nice for that.

But the longer Izuku was gone, and the longer there was no contact, the more insidious the what if became.

-ted-

Izuku said those words to Hitoshi in Chapter 31, Nestling. Ochaco and Hitoshi miss their friend who disappeared overnight. Poor children... more bitter souls to rise up against heroes perhaps?

And Izuku is learning things and enjoying the change in routine but there is trouble brewing. He has noticed he can't talk to his friends and he will only live with that situation for so long. Even so, AFO had the chance to explain the nature of evil to his son and that's always an important conversation.

My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out.

-ted-

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