17/06/2023

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are the greatest!

Warning - this chapter is graphic for violence, and I have upped the rating of the fic for it. If you want to skip it, that's okay, I'll summarise at the end what happened.

The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 79 - Best Served Cold II

"Kurogiri!" Izuku said as they finally found the warp gate.

"What is it?" He sounded concerned but was instantly attentive.

"Can you transport us to Niigata?" Izuku asked.

The question earned him a look as Kurogiri cocked his head slightly. "Why do you wish to go to Niigata?" he replied with his own question.

"I'm gonna teach Izuku how to kill!" Himiko chimed.

The misty man gave her a long look and while Izuku could usually tell what Kurogiri was thinking about, right now he had no idea. "The Principal?" Kurogiri asked.

Izuku nodded. "But only if she really was responsible for-" he didn't finish. He didn't have to. Kurogiri knew. "Dad said he was going to check but I don't know if he did."

The misty man nodded. "He did, and she was," he confirmed.

While Izuku knew that killing was a big thing, he suddenly felt more relaxed and more angry at the news. Relaxed because she deserved it and angry because she shouldn't have hurt his dad! "Can we go then?"

"I believe it would be best to wait until evening," Kurogiri replied.

"But I-"

"She will most likely be at her place of business now," the misty man explained.

"Oh," Izuku agreed somewhat sheepishly. He should have thought of that.

"Do you have her address?"

"Um-" he didn't want to answer that. It shouldn't be too hard to find, should it?

"I will obtain it," Kurogiri announced and Izuku watched as he pulled out his phone. Himiko just chuckled but Izuku could tell she had forgotten these issues as well. On the other hand, she'd just agreed to teach him, not do all the leg work required to get to the classroom.

The misty man sent a text message and seemed satisfied with that. "Will you need anything?" he asked.

Izuku looked to the ground. "Do we have a knife handy?" he asked softly, the thought of what he was going to do suddenly becoming real. He couldn't deny he had killed Tomura, but he'd been angry when he did that.

He didn't see the way Kurogiri regarded him.

"Izu was going to use his claws," Himiko explained. "But that might not be best for this," she added.

"I see," the misty man said and there was something in his voice that indicated he did understand. "I will find something appropriate," he said as his phone pinged. Izuku saw Kurogiri take it out again. "I have the address."

"Just like that?" He asked, incredulous. Kurogiri had said he'd get it but that was ridiculously fast.

"Your father had been making arrangements," Kurogiri explained.

Izuku sniffed. His father had thought of so much and he… "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"For?"

He sniffed again. "I didn't mean to kill Tomura," Izuku admitted. "I just-" he couldn't really finish.

Izuku was still looking at the floor so he didn't see the way Kurogiri sighed. "We must deal with what has happened," he said finally. "And, while it is a setback, I'm sure there will be alternate solutions," Kurogiri reassured him. It was kinder than what the Doctor had said.

"I'll get him out," Izuku promised. "He won't stay in Tartarus," he explained.

"I know," Kurogiri replied. "For now, you should sleep. You will have a busy night."

"Yep, he's gonna!" Himiko trilled happily. "I'll make sure he sleeps," she added, grabbing Izuku's arm.

"I will transport you tonight," Kurogiri agreed.

Izuku nodded and allowed himself to be led away. It was easier to just let that happen than to think about what he'd be doing tonight. But… this was probably the last time he could afford that. He would go through with Himiko's lesson tonight. The woman deserved nothing less and then… Then he would have to plan and lead those gathered for Tomura.

Somehow.

-ted-

The instant they arrived at Niigata, Izuku was reminded that it had always smelt of sea and fields. The port was still important to the city, and during the war, a lot of the housing had been cleared to reinstate fields that had been there previously. Niigata was therefore green with stripes of houses along roads. Schools and offices were the highest buildings in the city. Because it was considered rural most people lived in houses. The Principal was no different.

Izuku looked up at her house and was vaguely reminded of the time he'd gone to Kyoto to get his Dad a regeneration quirk. The houses were sort of similar in that they were all close together and pale colours. The Principal's house was set back a little from the street and had a garden of topiary and other potted plants gathered close in the front. At the door, a mesh had been strung to the roof to encourage creepers to reach for the sky. Despite the profusion of pots, it was very tidy and well maintained.

There were no lights on in the house. There were no lights on in any of the houses. It was 2am and the neighbourhood was a good, honest, working one. There was one further complication that he'd managed to avoid. The Principal didn't have a husband so that was something of a relief. He hated her but he had no feelings towards anyone else.

The two of them walked on the concrete stones that formed the pathway to the door. It was a sliding door made of vertical wooden slats over glass. It didn't take long for Himiko to get it open and thankfully it slid back silently. The vestibule had a neat shoe rack on the side and a pair of shoes were discarded near the step into the house. There was another door there. Which made sense. This might be a relatively good neighbourhood but there was still the possibility of thieves and the single sliding door wasn't that secure. Himiko again opened it, and then slid the oddly shaped hair pin back into her bun.

"Are you sure about this?" she whispered to him.

For a moment Izuku closed his eyes. He appreciated that she was giving him one last, rather odd chance to back out. "I'm sure," he breathed back his reply, conscious that every noise would travel in the quiet of night. "It's either this or-" Izuku shrugged. Himiko knew what he meant. He'd have to do this on the job and who knew how he'd react. It was better to do this in a somewhat controlled environment.

And maybe… if he did well enough he could somehow find a way to make up to his father what he had done originally.

Himiko nodded and gestured for him to go forward. She knew he could see better in the dark than she could. Izuku patted the knife Kurogiri had gotten him and he stepped forward. There was a living area downstairs, and a kitchen which had a door. Belatedly, Izuku realised the door went to the garage that was at the front of the house. He looked around for the stairs. If the living area was downstairs, then the bedroom was likely upstairs.

He spotted the stairs at the back of the room and padded his way over to them and then he was up them with Himiko at his side. The top of the stairs opened to a wooden corridor with rooms on each side. Izuku recognised what he was doing. He wasn't trying to get out of what was to come but he was hyper-aware of everything. He listened carefully and determined only one of the rooms was open.

"This one," he said.

Himiko nodded. They'd discussed what they had to do now before. Even though Izuku didn't like using his chain quirk, it was useful for situations like this. He'd even figured out how to vary the chain links. With a final breath, Izuku burst into the room.

It wasn't dark for him and he was lucky that he'd been using Night Cat for so long that he barely noticed the dark. For him, he saw the woman sleeping clearly and his chains whipped out, going straight through the blankets to restrain her. The most important chain, the one, with the flattered links wrapped around her head, covering her mouth. They did not need her alerting the neighbours by screaming.

He knew, theoretically he could use Caeli Imperium to create a solid barrier of nitrogen around the walls but there were two problems with that. One, they'd be stuck with what oxygen was in the room, and that wasn't much and two, the fine control necessary to stop the air vibrating with the passage of noise was the stuff of comic books. Just because you could envisage something, didn't mean it was actually possible and the control required to dampen noise by stopping vibrations was that. He could will it to happen but he just couldn't control things to that fine a detail. No one could. And Izuku knew the irony of limiting his belief with the quirk he had discussed naming with his father to ensure he didn't unconsciously limit himself.

Izuku felt the moment she awoke through the chains. Her eyes were wild with panic and she struggled.

"That's not going to work," Izuku said softly as he made the chain push her down onto the bed.

He felt her question even if she couldn't speak. She wanted to know who he was and why this was happening. He said nothing as Himiko came to stand beside him. Instead, Izuku just looked at the woman. It was the Principal he remembered. Shuyona.

Just seeing her reminded him of what had happened. All the petty bullying. The thefts. The name calling. The attacks. The destruction of his property. The pain from his rib when it was broken. The fear he'd felt back then.

And all of that he could have lived with, had lived with and could have forgiven but for the fact that this was the woman was the reason All Might had found them and had injured his Dad. Did she even remember that? Did she…

She wouldn't know what he thought of that but…

"I'm going to ask you some questions," Izuku said. "You will be able to nod or shake your head to answer. I will not let you speak." He wanted to. He wanted answers but knew it was too dangerous to allow her to actually attempt to explain. She'd scream and then-

"Do you remember Izuku Kawa?" He gave the name he'd been using at the time.

She frowned slightly, as if remembering and then nodded.

Izuku felt his lip curl slightly but he nodded. He wasn't sure if she saw it. It didn't really matter. "Do you remember Hisashi Riji?" It took him a while to remember what his Dad had been calling himself then. It wasn't really something he'd paid attention to because Dad was just Dad!

At that, her eyes hardened and Shuyona nodded again.

"I guess you hate him, right?"

Shuyona glared at him and Izuku could tell she was getting over the initial shock they'd caused coming in here. She was still afraid but the shock was fading.

She nodded.

Izuku half closed his eyes as he shook his head. "And what did he do to earn your hate, but defend his son? A son you let get injured," he added. There was no question there that she could answer but saying the word aloud let Izuku make some realisations. "Ah…" he murmured. "You didn't hate him. Not really." Shuyona stiffened as he said those words and Izuku realised he wasn't quite right. "Not the most," he corrected. "You hated Izuku Kawa the most, didn't you?"

He waited for an answer but knew it was the truth. Eventually Shuyona nodded. "And that's why you made that bullshit report of suspected child abuse," he surmised.

"She did?" Himiko whispered.

Izuku nodded. "She didn't care about quirkless Izuku Kawa, she was just trying to strike back." He shivered as he said the words. He wasn't that cold but he could put two and two together and get four. Izuku placed his hand on the hilt of the knife Kurogiri had given him. He had thrust it into the waistband of his pants. If he was going to carry a knife he'd have to come up with a better way of carrying it. He flicked off the catch and pulled the blade.

The shing as he drew the blade caught Shuyona's attention and she stiffened. He trembled. "Do you know what your little message did?"

Shuyona shook her head but Izuku could feel her shudder.

For a moment, Izuku saw his dad in the tank again and the blood on the controls. "It brought All Might," he hissed from between clenched teeth. "He almost killed my father."

He had a feeling that Shuyona would want to say something at that but he didn't care. Just remembering was making him angry. This was the woman responsible for that pain! The hand on his shoulder was unexpectedly warm. Izuku jerked to the side, and looked at Himiko in the darkness. He could see her gold eyes were concerned. "You can either stab her, and have it over, or-" she didn't elaborate.

Izuku nodded. "The second," he told her. "But first…" he looked around. They needed a little bit of light. He could see fine but he wanted Shuyona to know who was doing this and he knew she couldn't see him. He didn't want to turn on the light. That might alert neighbours and he couldn't be bothered holding his burning hand to his face so that she could see. There! Izuku spotted a candle. He quickly picked it up and lit it with one fiery finger. Shouto's quirk was so useful! It was going to be a shame to give it up.

Izuku held the candle to his face, letting it shed light on his features.

For a moment, Shuyona just stared, then he saw her eyes widen. Himiko chuckled, realising what that meant. Izuku allowed himself to smile. "My name is Izuku," he told the woman. "Son of Hisashi Riji, and I don't forgive you," he said.

Shuyona frowned at his statement. He knew what she wanted to say. He was a useless, quirkless person. "I'm not quirkless," Izuku said. "I never was, but you showed me exactly why this world has to change. When a part of a person is far more important than the person themselves, what they do, what they say, then-" Izuku shook his head. "The world has to change. But, you aren't going to be here to see it," he added.

Her eyes widened. Shuyona knew what that meant. She tried to thrash against the chain holding her but Izuku simply pulled them taunt.

"Where first?" He asked Himiko.

"It doesn't really matter. I'll let you know if you are going to hit something vital," she replied.

Izuku nodded and called the chains to lift Shuyona up. They had previously pinned her to her bedding. Now he had them bring her so that she was upright in front of him. He had the chain around her ankle pull taunt so that she couldn't kick and for good measure wrapped one around her chest so that she wasn't hanging from her wrists. He slashed his knife at her but already knew he'd missed.

"You are going to have to watch," Himiko told him.

Izuku gulped but didn't deny it. At the last second he had closed his eyes. This time he reached out and deliberately put the knife against her stomach. He could feel the resistance from the fabric of her pajamas and he slashed through it. The cut wasn't deep. Shuyona jerked as if it was.

"That's the way," Himiko praised. "Gut wounds are slow, but smelly," she added.

Izuku nodded and then gasped.

"It will be okay," Himiko reassured him. This was why she was here.

"I just… I keep remembering my dad," Izuku said, slashing the knife again. This time he slashed across her thighs. "There was blood on the control panel. And he- The Doctor said he might not survive," he continued, slashing again. "I was so scared!" He flipped the knife over and made a return pass as he felt tears form in his eyes as he remembered.

"And you," Izuku hissed… glaring at Shuyona… "You didn't care. You would have laughed if you'd been told! You caused it to happen!" He slashed again with his knife and met an unexpected resistance which stopped his movement.

"You need to go higher," Himiko said. "You hit her shins."

The explanation was enough. He'd hit bone. Izuku hadn't been using his strength quirks or kilo to help him. He activated them both and pulled, yanking his knife out from where it had lodged.

"Oh!" Himiko exclaimed, impressed.

He didn't look over at her but did smile. "I told you I had multiple quirks," he murmured.

"And it's so hot to see you use them!"

That brought a brief smile to his face before he focused on Shuyona again. Blood was staining her pajamas from the slashes he'd made and she was looking at him with wide, fear filled eyes, except… There was still a touch of contempt in them. He shook his head. "You didn't like me when I was quirkless. You don't like me now that I have a quirk! Are you never happy!?"

"I don't think it's that, Izu," Himiko chuckled.

"Probably not," he agreed. "I don't think you realise how much I have hated you, Principal Shuyona. I didn't realise myself because it was always there. Once I found out that it was you who were responsible for All Might finding my Dad, for him injuring my Dad… That hatred has always been there. And even now, it's still there. You are going to die. And you are going to die knowing that the kid you saw as useless is going to kill you. And I will know that this is not even half as much pain as you deserve!" He snarled as he flipped his knife over so that the blade extended from his curled little finger and stabbed.

He felt the knife hit her flesh and pierced into it. Even with the gag he heard the squeal Shuyona made as the blade penetrated her body. She struggled but couldn't move that much. Izuku pulled back and stabbed again. There was a slick sound as the knife came free and a splatter of blood flew upwards.

"Careful!" Himiko sounded indignant.

"I thought you liked blood?" Izuku questioned.

"Good blood!" She told him. "Not this trash!"

He knew she was lying but then he remembered Himiko liked all blood and especially liked his and so maybe she wasn't lying if she could tell one person's blood from another. He didn't stab too many times. He didn't want to get into a frenzy and he sensed if he did, Himiko was trying to work out how to stop him. The point of today was to know what he was doing, to learn to control himself so he could do it again.

He allowed the chains to drop Shuyona down but didn't release her. This meant her torso was now in easier reach. "Now, how?" He asked.

Himiko stepped up to him and rested her head against his shoulder. She was a little shorter than him but he could feel her warmth. "There's a couple of ways you can finish this," she told him, ignoring the way Shuyona was labouring for breath. "You could stab her through her eye and that would be instantaneous. You could cut her throat, and we'd get splattered. Or you could stab her heart."

Izuku nodded. "I want her to see this," he murmured, "and you said it's bad blood?" He asked for confirmation.

"It's bad," Himiko verified, sticking her tongue out to indicate it was terrible.

"Then the heart it is," Izuku decided. "If I'm going to get covered in blood, it should be the good stuff," he said playfully.

Himiko squealed happily and clapped her hands softly before she stood on tiptoes and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. "Just so long as I get to watch!"

It was kind of ironic. She'd probably be the one covering him in blood. Izuku pushed that thought aside and lifted his knife. His hand was sticky with blood and the candle threw an odd light over everything. Shuyona shook her head as much as she could, her eyes wide. He could feel her trying to talk but the gag was stronger than that.

"Wait!" Himiko interrupted. "Are you gonna take her quirk?" She asked suddenly. "She's not gonna need it anymore."

"No, she isn't," Izuku agreed and reached out with Dragon's Hoard to grab at the principal's quirk. It was an odd colour and felt sort of slimy. He could tell the moment Shuyona realised it was gone. "Oh, that's my quirk," Izuku told her. "I can take other people's quirks," he explained. "So you know why it was better for me to say I was quirkless… Not that you ever thought about it. Not that you cared. If I'd have said my real quirk, you wouldn't have thought I was useless but you would have thought I was a villain. I guess you are kind of right there but I'm going to drag this world down and force it to see the darkness. I'm going to make it change because if it doesn't… I will probably be there to see it fall, and I'd rather it fall on my terms.

"But none of that matters for you. You are not part of the solution because you were part of the problem but you are a part that is no more."

Shuyona shook her head. She tried to pull back but she couldn't and Izuku positioned the knife just under her left breast before he pushed the knife in, aiming upwards and to the centre of her chest. He knew enough biology to know where her heart was. There was a gurgle from Shuyona, almost a choking sound as the knife hit home and she shuddered and tried to thrash. Izuku let the chain release her, except for the gag. The Principal fell back on to her blood stained bed and didn't move. Her eyes were wide and he could tell she was trying to gulp but that quickly subsided and she lay still.

"Yay!" Himiko cheered. "You did it!"

Izuku gasped and nodded. He felt like throwing up but he gulped in air and swallowed, pushing the feeling down. He couldn't feel that every time. He couldn't. "I did," he agreed and then dragged in a lungful of air. He looked at Shuyona and allowed the gag chain to fade. Blood immediately pooled at the corner of her mouth and ran down her face. "I did," he said again as he examined his feelings.

This was the woman responsible for his dad getting hurt and… he hadn't lied. She might be dead but he still hated her. He still hated that his dad was injured and that she'd caused it. She wasn't All Might but she had caused it. And now that she was dead…

"It wasn't enough," he whispered. He might have felt sick afterwards, but he knew that.

"Izu?" Himiko asked.

"It wasn't enough," he repeated. "For all the pain she caused… this isn't enough," he explained as he fell to his knees. What would be enough?

Izuku felt Himiko drape herself over his back. She was warm and she slipped her arms around his neck to give him a hug. "There were others who caused your dad pain, right?" she whispered into his ear.

Izuku nodded. She knew that.

"So we will make sure we have more time with them, so that you know it's enough," she told him. "And it was All Might who hurt your dad the most, right? So we will have to make sure we have lots of time for him!" She nuzzled his cheek and gave him a squeeze.

Izuku thought about what she said. It was true. Shuyona, while being the cause of his Dad's pain, wasn't the actual person who had inflicted that pain but she had been responsible for at least some of his pain too. He blew out a breath. It did feel good to know she was gone and couldn't inflict the same pain she had on him to anyone else. Izuku shook his head. There was that but she'd paid for the pain that she had inflicted on him!

He looked up at her bloody face and rose, gently pushing Himiko off his back, to walk around the bed. Izuku reached out and wrenched his knife free. He knew he'd left other evidence here but he shouldn't be on file and Himiko… well she probably was but he'd just have to make sure she wasn't caught. He wiped the knife on the cleanest section of the sheets he could see and looked back at Shuyona's face.

Her eyes were staring at the roof and the smell of blood was permeating everything.

"You did good, Izu, but we have to go," Himiko said urgently.

He nodded and gave Shuyona one last glance before he formed a scale on the back of his hand and let it drop to the floor. His dad had left him calling cards… And he wanted All Might to know that this wasn't going to be the last, and would not be the only time he'd see him. No. He wasn't going to rest until his Dad had justice.

"You are just the first."

-ted-

Summary for anyone who jumped to here, skipping the chapter - it was confirmed that Shuyona was responsible for All Might finding AFO, so Izuku and Himiko went to her home, broke in and Izuku murdered her.

There we are though, Izuku's first, premeditated murder. It didn't go that badly but again, consequences. And hey, no cliff hanger this time :D

My discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all!

-ted-

Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!