12/03/2022
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The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 54
The gasp alerted All For One to the presence of his son.
"Dad?" His son's voice quavered.
Hisashi took a deep breath as he turned. He just looked at his son, taking in the curl of his hair, the maturing line of his cheeks. The smattering of freckles that covered his nose. All For One took several quick strides to his son's side. His hand reached out and he cupped his son's face, running a thumb over his cheek. Izuku leaned into him, his green eyes wide.
"I am not healed, my Little Dragon," he said softly. "This is merely the effect of a quirk," he explained.
Izuku sniffed, his eyes still wide.
All For One didn't care what expression his son made. Just being able to see him was enough. In the back of his mind, he was memorizing every line and expression. His sight quirks could let him see his son but this was so much better. The fire that had perhaps been banked slightly blazed again within him becoming an inferno. All Might owed him. All Might owed him more than the buffoon could ever repay. The hero would suffer for every single day that he had not been able to see his son.
"The quirk that hurt you?" Izuku asked, his voice trembling.
"Yes," he admitted. "But I have the Doctor here to help me this time," he said, leaning down slightly. Izuku hadn't inherited his height. His son lunged to hug him and All For One returned the gesture, taking a deep breath. He'd forgotten what his son smelt like. It reminded him of family, of Yoichi, but his son was not his brother.
He would have liked to stay that way for a while, it was a comfort to see his son, but a twinge from the quirk told him he had to go. All For One pulled back slightly. "I need to see the Doctor now," he said.
It looked like Izuku would complain but Hisashi felt his son nod before he squeezed once more and pulled back. Izuku's eyes lingered on him as Hisashi left and when he went through the door to see the Doctor he was glad that his son hadn't followed him.
Garaki looked at him. "It worked well?"
"It did," All For One said, feeling a tingling all over his body. He was about to change back. This was the real reason he was glad Izuku hadn't followed him. He would no doubt recognise the sludge that was his friend's quirk. His healthy form literally melted away and All For One sat in the chair that had been placed for him.
The Doctor moved quickly and Hisashi felt the life support helmet the man had made settle over his head. The helmet was made for him and the supply of oxygen was quickly established. He felt pin pricks from the needles and while he couldn't feel the drugs he knew he had been dosed. He activated a sight quirk as he took a deep breath.
"The connections are good," he told the Doctor.
The man moved back and Hisashi took a few deep breaths.
"I need to see Izuku," he announced as he rose.
The Doctor nodded. All For One could tell that the man wanted to discuss things further but he knew better than to stand between Sensei and his son.
All For One went back to the door. He paused just before he went through. "This feels good," he noted. The Doctor said he had upgraded the helmet and he had tested it for short periods of time before but it did feel good.
"Upgraded as you requested. I think this is the best it is going to be," the Doctor replied.
"We will speak later," All For One said before he went back to Izuku.
His son would need him now.
-ted-
Izuku forced himself to take several deep breaths as his dad disappeared. He wasn't healed. No matter what it looked like, it was just a quirk. But…
For that split second when Izuku had seen his dad… seen the white hair, his golden eyes, he had hoped… He had… He wasn't sure what he felt. But he wanted it.
He was distracted from further thought when the door opened again.
His dad came back through it, wearing a helmet. Izuku smiled. He recognised the design. Mei had made it. At least, what was underneath it. Thr Doctor had added armor to her design so that it was not immediately recognisable, unless you knew. He knew. Seeing his dad wear it, seeing him walk around it in… well, it wasn't the same as seeing him whole again but it was good. It offered his dad a freedom of movement he didn't usually have and confirmed to Izuku that he really did want to continue working with Mei. She'd come up with this now, and sure it had taken years, but what else could she come up with in the future?
Izuku smiled at his dad.
"My Little Dragon, what brings you here?" came the return question but Izuku knew that his dad was pleased to see him.
He came over and hugged his father before stepping back. "I finished my homework early," Izuku explained. "What were you doing?"
His dad gestured for him to follow and they made their way out of the room to the warehouse floor. There was a small hiss coming from the helmet.
"The Government has declared me missing," All For One told Izuku. "So I was organising with my lawyers how to avoid having the Government claim all my assets."
Izuku snorted. "You mean the HPSC," he said sarcastically.
That earned him a chuckle from his father. "Correct," came the response. "The quirk hurt me the first time I used it because I wasn't ready for it. This time the Doctor helped," All For One explained.
He nodded, knowing that his father would see it as they walked through the tubes. They were bubbling but he had gotten used to them. He'd even been able to watch some of the volunteers but dad had kept him away from them. "Is the helmet good?" Izuku asked curiously.
"The Doctor has done well," his dad replied.
Izuku suppressed a smile. He felt good to hear that. It made him confident of his investment but more than that, it made him feel good that he was contributing to his dad's quality of life. He nodded again and felt his dad put his hand on his shoulder.
"What did you want to talk about today?"
Izuku had an idea but he wasn't sure how it would be taken. His dad usually had something he wanted to talk about and while he was always encouraged to ask questions, it wasn't often that he got to pick the topic that they discussed. However, seeing dad whole brought back memories. And that brought back the knowledge that All Might had hurt Dad but also that Dad wanted All Might's quirk. A quirk that was named One For All, to counter All For One.
He sighed. "You once told me that All Might has Uncle Yoichi's quirk but that there are other quirks there. All Might doesn't use them but what are they?"
"I did, didn't I?" Dad mused, and Izuku heard him take a deep breath with the mask. "Tell me what you know of All Might," he instructed.
Izuku thought for a few moments. "He never says what his quirk is named, but you told me it's One For All."
"That is true. What about how he uses his quirk?"
At that, Izuku frowned. All Might's quirk wasn't flashy. Not really. He was just incredibly strong. Oh… He grinned up at his father. "All Might doesn't use any of the quirks that you said are in One For All but he is very, very strong. Everyone always pegs him as off the scale in strength."
From the corner of his eye, Izuku saw his dad nod slightly. "In terms of pure strength One For All is off any of the regular scales," his dad agreed with the assessment. "At its heart, One For All is a stockpiling quirk. It is with its eighth holder and so has had time to become strong. Each user has added their quirk to it."
"So what is All Might's quirk?" Izuku asked curiously.
At that, he got the impression that his dad grinned at him. "He doesn't have one," came the response.
"What?" Izuku frowned.
"All Might doesn't have a quirk. Toshinori Yagi was born quirkless. The seventh holder of my brother's quirk gave him One For All," his dad explained.
Izuku wasn't sure what he thought about that. Most heroes supported a cause. The Number One Hero was no different but… he didn't support any quirkless cause. At least, Izuku had never heard him supporting a quirkless cause and that didn't seem right.
His father seemed to sense he was thinking about something. "You have a question?"
He thought for a few moments before shaking his head, knowing that Dad's sight quirk would let him see the movement even though he wasn't in a direct line of sight. Even so, Dad seemed to realise what was bothering him. "All Might does not advocate for basic equality for everyone, does he? Not even for the quirkless," he said.
"Why doesn't he?" Izuku asked. His Father was so good at getting to the heart of his issues.
"Why would he?" Dad countered with his own question. "Those without quirks are evolutionary dead ends. They aren't special. They are dying off," he said, and Izuku recognised that his father was giving him all the excuses society made.
Except they were wrong. The Doctor had proven that. Most people without a visible or diagnosed quirk had a quirk factor, which meant they had something. Doctor Kyudai said that it was because they were stabilisers who would help everyone have better control over their quirks as time went on. They were essential but they were marginalised. Izuku knew that. He remembered it and he'd seen it with Yakuni.
"But if he said even one thing that could-" He didn't finish the sentence. If All Might said one thing about quirk discrimination, or discrimination against the quirkless, it would change so much. Whether Izuku liked it or not, the Number One hero was an influential person.
"He could, but he won't," his Dad told him and didn't elaborate any further.
He didn't need to. Izuku knew why. He sighed audibly. "What about the other people who have had Uncle's quirk?"
At his question, Izuku heard his father take a considered breath. "Before All Might, my brother's quirk was with a woman named Nana Shimura. She is a distant relative, and Tomura's grandmother."
"Oh," Izuku said. He had always known Tomura was distantly related but he wasn't sure how and he still didn't know exactly but if his Grandmother had Uncle Yoichi's quirk then Tomura was more involved than he thought.
"Her quirk was called Float. I think you can figure out what it allowed her to do," his Father said and Izuku could hear the smile in his tone.
"Something to do with levitation," Izuku answered immediately and was rewarded with a nod.
"We'd definitely have noticed if All Might flew," his dad said. "The man before her was named En," his father continued. "His quirk was known as Smokescreen. It was an unimaginative quirk for an unimaginative man. I gave him the opportunity to give back my brother's quirk but he refused. Before him was a loud and annoying man named Daigoro Banjo. His quirk was named Blackwhip. He was actually a Hero. His quirk was named literally. He could create whips of energy which had a variety of uses.
"But like all the others he refused to give back my brother's quirk."
Izuku watched as his dad shook his head. "I do not know much about the man who had One For All before that. He hid from me but the strain of having two quirks in a body that could not handle it caused him great pain and he died early. His name was Hikage Shinomori and his quirk was Dangersense. I suspect he used that quirk to remain distant from me."
His father shook his head again. "They all proclaimed that family was important," he said softly. "That they respected family, yet none of them respected my family, our family," his dad corrected.
"What about the person Uncle Yoichi gave it to, and the one after that?" Izuku asked instead of replying to his dad's statement. Family was important but he knew everyone thought their family was the most important so it sort of made sense that they didn't respect their family… but those who had One For All did have part of their family so shouldn't they respect them? It was a complicated feeling.
"The man Yoichi gave his quirk to initially wanted to kill my brother."
Izuku gasped. "Kill Uncle Yoichi?"
"Because of his connection to me," his Dad explained. "Believe me, my Little Dragon, if he had killed your Uncle, his life would have been much shorter. He was one of the early heroes chosen by the government. He kept attacking me, even though I was not a threat. He was proof to me that the system would not work. He killed more people than Endeavor."
"What?" he was aghast.
"The system has been flawed for a very long time, my Little Dragon," his Dad told him. "The next holder was a follower of the first."
"A fan?" Izuku asked.
"That is as good a description as any," his Dad agreed. "He didn't kill as many but he was complacent and contributed. He was there for the assassination attempt on your Uncle," he said with a sigh. "His quirk was called Fa Jin and was one of those quirks which gathers energy and then allows the user to release it."
His father fell silent and Izuku listened to the sounds of his life support helmet. It was pretty quiet and almost calming to be able to hear his father breathe. But his mind was not ready to settle. He didn't know what any of the people his father had told him about looked like but he could somehow see them in his mind. A line of people who had held his Uncle's quirk. A line who stood against his father, which was proven by the fact that All Might was the current holder, who had hurt his dad so badly.
"Did you kill them?" The question slipped from him as he looked up to his dad. He kept his gaze steady.
His father shifted and the blank mask front met his gaze. "I killed most of them, yes," his dad admitted. "They were trying to kill me, my Little Dragon and I do take that personally."
Izuku said nothing. In his mind's eye he saw the image of his dad in the tank again. Blood was on the control panel but he could hear a continuous beep. It hadn't been that way. The beeping had been the same as his heart beat. The continuous one in his mind meant that his father was dead. No. That hadn't happened. That wouldn't happen.
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his dad's waist. He squeezed hard, closing his eyes as he took in his father's scent and pressed his face against the shirt he was wearing. He was still so short!
A moment later his dad placed a hand on his shoulder. It was warm and Izuku squeezed harder. "I don't want you to die," he whispered.
"I'm not going to die, my Little Dragon," his father told him firmly.
Izuku said nothing, he just took another deep breath. He could hear his dad's heart beat. Combined with the hiss from the helmet it was comforting especially after seeing his dad whole again. Even if that was just an illusion.
"We'll get it back," he murmured.
"Little Dragon?"
"We'll get it back," Izuku repeated. "Uncle's quirk. We'll get it back," he reassured his dad.
He felt his father take several deep breaths before he rubbed his shoulder. "We will," he agreed.
Izuku felt warm at the reassurance and while he knew his father was still injured, and he knew there were challenges ahead, he felt as if everything would work out. Somehow and that, for the moment, was enough.
-ted-
Sorry, Izuku isn't learning about his dad's relationship with Himiko's quirk just yet. But he is learning about his dad's relationship with One For All and it's previous and current holder. Yes, it's All Might bashing, but it's All For One! As if he's going to do anything else!
But touching family bonding time.
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!