Been a while, hasn't it? Well, part of the blame lies on me getting obsessed with Elden Ring and getting the platinum trophy for it. Another part of it has to do with Job hunting. Not to mention for a while I had no will to continue writing. I was pretty burned out for a bit, but now I have some steam back. So, yeah, I'm back!

Before we start, half of this chapter is going to be shedding some light on AFO's past, and the other half will be what Toshiko is up to. That's because AFO needs some lore to further explain how much of his character I've changed from canon. I'll be spreading out his backstory and past in the chapters that are Toshiko's focal point. So next chapter there won't be anything regarding his backstory in Amity's chapter—duh.

Also, I should note that The Human Realm and The Demon Realm are 101 years behind The Mutant Realm in terms of timeline, but seeing as time dilation is a thing, what is 1 year for The Mutant Realm is 1 month to The Human Realm and half of a month for The Demon Realm. In other words, by the time we're finished with The Boiling Isles Saga, we'll be entering the Canon MHA timeline (or at the very least the timeframe in which canon happens).

That being said, enough of my rambling, let's get into the chapter!

Also! Spoilers for the MHA Manga regarding AFO's backstory. Granted, I'm doing a very loose interpretation but still, this is extremely close to his actual backstory, so if you don't want to be spoiled on that, then skip past this part.

[A Late Start To A Wacky World – Part 4]

[Mutant Realm, 138 Years ago, 1981]

A boy, no older than twelve, huddled in a corner next to a smaller, frailer-looking child. One had red eyes, the other green. Both had ashen-white hair and pale skin. Dressed in rags, the two children huddled over a loaf of bread, as the one with red eyes stared at it with eager glee.

"Yoichi! Can you believe it?! Bread! An actual loaf of bread!" The older sibling expressed with joy, crimson eyes glistening with pure elation as the younger sibling by an hour smiled warmly.

"And there's no mould on it, either!" Yoichi said, placing a hand on the loaf of bread. He went to dig some of the bread out to eat, only for the older brother to slap his hand away. "Hey! What gives?!"

"Hold your horses, Yoichi. Watch this," the older brother said as his index finger took on a more sharp appearance. It looked like that of a blade. The younger brother watched in awe as the older brother cut a thin slice of bread off of the loaf, passing it over to Yoichi, who took it with a smile. "Now, we can conserve this loaf of bread," the older brother said, cutting a similar-sized slice for himself.

Yoichi greedily scarfed down the piece of bread, before leaning back against the dirty wall of the alleyway they had found themselves in. The rags he was wearing looked like that of a bunch of brown paper bags stitched together with other brown paper bags—mostly because they were—along with wraps of bandages tightly bound against his arms so that his skin didn't get cut.

For whatever reason, Yoichi's skin wouldn't heal properly if it got cut, and the red stuff—blood, Rikitatsu had called it—wouldn't stop coming out. So the bandages were there to act as a second layer of skin. The only reason why the blood was able to stop before was because of a healing Meta-Ability that Rikitatsu had "borrowed" from some girl they had met on the streets.

It took a lot of energy out of Rikitatsu, or Tatsu as he liked to be called, to mend his brother's wounds. But, it was worth it.

As for Rikitatsu, he was dressed in a pair of black baggy pants that he had found lying about on the floor, along with the tattered remains of a curtain that he had wrapped around his waist, followed by a pale white sleeveless shirt. Sure, it looked like actual clothing, and it looked far better than what Yoichi was wearing, but the difference between the two had been that these were all in Rikitatsu's size, whereas nothing that the twins had found had fit Yoichi due to his frail and shorter stature.

There were a lot of things that Yoichi couldn't do or wear because of his appearance. The poor boy was so sickly that, at times, Rikitatsu feared he would die simply by sleeping. Out of all of the things in this messed up, crooked world, the only thing that Rikitatsu could find himself truly caring about was Yoichi.

"Hey, Brother," Yoichi spoke up, earning Tatsu's attention. "Do you think we'll be able to return to that bunker?"

"It's not a bunker, Ichi. It's a house. A rundown house, but a house all the same," Tatsu replied curtly before taking a bite out of his slice of bread. It was stale, but it was better than eating half-eaten, slightly rotted bananas or whatever else they could find.

The bread wasn't all that hard, but it was still tough to chew through. Not for Yoichi, though. He was like that character from TV, Shaggy when it came to eating. It wasn't a Meta-Ability moreso than it was him just being hungry. It had been a solid week since the two twins had eaten anything, and it was beginning to show on Yoichi.

What little fat there was on his body was gone, with his hallowed-out cheeks and his sunken eyes showing to Rikitatsu that the boy was starving. Finding this bread, while most certainly not enough to help his brother, was just another way to prevent the inevitable from happening. The only reason Rikitatsu wasn't as sickly looking as his brother was because he was able to find a Meta-Ability that allowed him to conserve energy and store more fat, allowing for fewer calories to be burned and for more of them to be stored.

So that simple slice of bread would set him back enough to where he didn't have to eat for another week, which would allow his brother to eat most of the bread by then.

Yoichi saw him taking other people's Meta-Abilities as cruel, and while that was fine—Rikitatsu didn't care what his brother thought of him in that regard—it was him taking those Meta-Abilities that ensured his brother's survival.

After all, who would he have without him? Yoichi would have died before the age of four without Rikitatsu being around.

That actually had gotten Rikitatsu thinking. Yoichi was his world. He was his most prized possession—a collectible, should he say. Aside from him being his brother, that was another reason why he took such great care of him. He didn't want him to depreciate in value.

Oh, don't get it twisted, Rikitatsu knew that thinking like that wasn't normal. It was wrong, but that was just how he saw the world around him. As if it was something for him to own and maintain. Yoichi was his greatest asset yet, and the only one he ever found himself caring about.

After all, he was all that he had in this messed up world they had found themselves in. But then, the problem came in that Yoichi was frail, weak, and pathetic. There was a reason why he couldn't go too far without having to be next to him, and that was because of what happened during their time in their mother's womb.

It was strange, but Rikitatsu had memories of being in there. As if his brain had developed faster than that of regular humans. He knew, subconsciously, that it was his fault that Yoichi had the nutrients that his mother was creating for the two of them in her body sapped from him, and most of it had been because of himself, leaving hardly anything for his twin brother.

He didn't want that to happen, but it did anyway. So now, it was his responsibility to make sure that Yoichi, at the very least, lived into his early 30s. That was his goal, and potentially, he could get him past that.

But in order for him to do that….

"Hey, Ichi…" Rikitatsu began, as Yoichi looked over to his brother.

"Yes, Tatsu?"

"One of these days… I'm going to save this world," Rikitatsu said, standing up as he stared out of the alleyway and into the tattered streets beyond. It was a ghost town, Akihabara was. But it was their ghost town. No. Rather, it was his ghost town.

"With my power… once I get enough Meta-Abiltiies, I'll be able to rule the world with an iron fist. No one will have to worry about wars because I'll end them before they begin. No one will have to worry about hunger because I'll stop hunger from getting nearly as bad as it is now. No one will have to worry about electricity because I'll provide it. Everyone will rely on me because by then I'll be immortal. I'll be this world's saviour!" As Rikitatsu said that, he turned to face his brother, a wide smile on his face. "I'll own this world, and when it's in my possession, I'll take great care of it. Just like how I take great care of you! Wouldn't that be great?"

Yoichi didn't know how to respond to that. It sounded wrong, but… if Tatsu was taking such great care of him, then a world ruled by his big brother wouldn't be so bad….

Right?

[Present Day]

The forest. A serene place for nature to take its course. Where plants and wildlife coexist in harmony. Where the cycle of life is championed, and above all else, the natural order was to be maintained. Forests were often seen as a place for life—for continuing future generations of both animals and people, all so that it can be used to further the next generation after that.

The sounds of animals mingling with other animals, some avoiding being eaten while others gathered food for the winter—or whatever the winter entailed here in The Boiling Isles— echoed in the forest, all the while others simply moved on with their lives.

Predator animals hunted prey animals, whilst plants swayed in the wind. Trees stole the sky, and produced breathable air for the people of this realm.

The rustling of bushes and the crunching of dirt underfoot filled the air, whilst birds chirped, giving nature that peaceful aura it always gave off. It was all a sign that life was thriving. All of it was thanks to the forest—nature. The place where life got its chance to jump-start. The place where everything was supposed to go right.

Truly, the wilderness was a place of harmony, peace, and life. It was a symbol that, no matter what kind of civilization cropped up, Nature would be there to greet them. To give them life, and to help them prosper. That was what the wilderness was for. That was what it represented.

But, to Toshiko, the forest represented Death, Destruction, and Suffering.

It wasn't often, but whenever she was in the forest, she could hear their screams. Their pained cries and their pleas for mercy. She could hear the sound of blood squelching and bones cracking—ruptured limbs and faces torn asunder.

When she committed the act that she had done all of those months ago, she never really saw what she was doing. She only acted on her emotions. But the phantoms she saw… the faces, or lack thereof of some of the people she had killed, haunted her. Every now and again, she could hear faint whispers in the back of her head. Telling her that everything was her fault.

It was never in urban areas this happened, either. Nor sub-urban. It specifically only happened when she was in the wilderness. Whenever she was surrounded by fauna and the bountiful home of nature. Where the leaves, be they green or orange, blew in the wind.

And while the wildlife here in the Boiling Isles was drastically different from Earth—seriously, she could've sworn she saw a massive oversized cockroach in the distance, and it had wings—the point was still the same.

No matter where she went, nature haunted her the most. It was the place where everything went to shit. There were many people whom she could blame for what had happened to her—The governor, The Wittebanes, and to a smaller extent her mother, though even then that wasn't fair to say anymore—but she never once ever thought about blaming a location before.

But now she was.

It was strange because that shouldn't be possible. How did one blame a location for their trauma, when it had no say in the matter? It was stupid. She realized that, but still.

Reaching down, Toshiko picked up a rock she had found on the ground. It was lumpy and misshapen, with small fissures inside the stone. It was smooth, almost polished, allowing Toshiko to see her crimson eyes through it. Now that she thought about it, she really did look like her Sensei now, didn't she? That was the correct word, wasn't it? Sensei?

She knew that it meant teacher, but still, she wanted to make sure she was getting the title right. After all, calling him Shigaraki now felt wrong, seeing as she had his name attached to herself. Besides, she was fairly certain that was what Sensei would've wanted anyway.

Putting the rock down, Toshiko glanced ahead of herself. There was a pathway branching off from the main path in the forest. Curiosity had gotten the better of her. She wanted to check out what was in that direction. Especially because she could sense something down that pathway. Not a Quirk, mind you, but something else—magic, she had to guess, because she had heard a few residents of that Bonesborough place speak about it existing here.

And so, with nothing else better to do, Toshiko decided to walk down the path that branched off of the main one. There was no urgency in doing so, seeing as she had no reason to have any kind of urgency. Even if it was supposed to rain, she would've been staying out for a little while longer than most. Her Regeneration kept her safe from that kind of stuff. Acid rain meant very little when getting half of your face blown off.

The path, as she had found, was winding and long. As if it was supposed to lead to nowhere. After a few minutes of walking it, Toshiko was beginning to think that there was nothing on the other side of the path. Though she doubted it, because that just didn't seem normal. No one just made a path and stuck nothing at the end of it.

And that was when she heard it.

A growling sound. One belonging to that of a wolf, or a really big dog. It was ahead of her, and the only reason why she noticed it was because she felt the very ground shake with it. Toshiko wouldn't lie and say that she wasn't a tad bit frightened. Again, new world, meaning new wildlife. And so whatever was on the other side of that growl was something she probably didn't want anything to do with.

But even still… her curiosity wasn't going to be sated until she checked it out. So, going against all forms of reason, Toshiko did the only thing that she could have reasonably done, and that was taking another step forward.

And when she did, she was met with a glowing green eye—singular, nor plural. Though it wasn't from a cyclops, but rather from the left side of a face hidden in shadows. It was low to the ground, suggesting something on all of its limbs. Just as Toshiko was about to write it off as something small, the creature hiding in the shadows seemingly… grew. As in, it stood up.

And when it did, it grew to be half the size of the tree it was next to. It took a step out from the shadow, and Toshiko had to do everything in her power not to gawk at the creature.

It was tall—stupid tall. It had a skull for a face with a singular glowing green eye and a crack going through the right side of its face. It had a jaw like that of dogs, with several sharp canine teeth poking out from its top lip. It also had a pair of horns, though the one on its left was cracked and broken off, whereas the other wasn't, and it had been pointing high up into the sky.

Its body was huge, muscular, and covered in a mixture of fur and scales. If she were to compare its physique to one of someone from her realm, she'd have to compare it to Dwyane The Rock Johnson—at least, that was what came to mind, anyway. A pair of small, leathery wings were on its back, and its legs were shaped like that of wolves, though it had hooves rather than paws like that of the animal it so closely represented.

Its hands, or rather claws, were flexed in such a way that it appeared as if it was ready to tear her apart. Said claws looked to be easily the same size as her head, and the actual sharp part of the claws looked to be as sharp as a razor. And to make matters even worse, there was a distinct anger radiating behind those eyes. The kind of anger only something extremely territorial would have.

"You…" It growled, lowering its face down to face her. "You look like him. Like that monster who attacked years ago. Who did this…" it gestured to the facture on its face and horn, "to me…." Its voice rumbled, though rather than show any kind of fear, Toshiko's expression was one of uncaring. Her eyes reflected nothing but disinterest, despite the fact her heart was beating a mile a minute within her chest.

"I've gotten that a lot, lately. Suppose it makes sense though, considering the change of appearance. But what does that have to do with anything?" Toshiko reasoned, earning a glare from the creature.

"It means… If you don't leave, I'll just have to take my anger out about what he did to me, on you." As the creature said that, licks of flame began to gather at the base of its jaw. Fire Magic, as there was a glowing ring in the back of its mouth, so it wasn't a Quirk. As a matter of fact, there were no strings on its being, which meant that it was, in fact, a magical beast.

Toshiko couldn't help but smirk. A part of her wanted to see just how strong this beast was, and seeing as Sensei wasn't saying anything about not fighting it…. "Alright then. How about this," Toshiko began, as the creature deactivated its fire magic, staring at her with a narrowed eye. "I'll give you a full minute to beat me into submission. If you can render me unconscious, once I wake up, I'll leave. But, if you fail to do so, I get to retaliate against you, and then, you'll take me to your home. Sound fair?"

"I won't even need a minute," and with that, the creature, without so much as a single moment of hesitation, coiled its arm behind its back, and swiped upwards, launching Toshiko in the air in the span of time it took for her to blink. Eyes wide, Toshiko attempted to orientate herself, only to be met with the creature floating in front of her.

"What the—" Before she could finish that sentence, the creature slapped her north from where she had been, flying through the air. The slap had been more of a scratch, digging into her clothes and into her stomach, leaving three jagged claw marks through her lower torso—nothing her Regeneration couldn't fix.

A moment later, the creature was already on top of her, hammer-fisting her to the ground before flames began to converge around its mouth, and when they did, a massive beam of pure flames rained down on Toshiko, almost appearing to look like a plasma beam. The heat had burned away her clothing, singing her skin and leaving 3rd degree burns everywhere on her body.

Pain Nullifaction rendered what the pain would've been null and void, but that wasn't where it stopped. Several ice spears lodged themselves into Toshiko's shoulders, thighs, and chest, before the creature appeared, and slammed down atop her. Its fists hammered down on her body again, and when they did, the ice spears exploded into a vast wave of electricity.

And yet, the pain was not there.

Next, she was scooped out of the ground, regenerating from the damage all the while, before being thrown at Mach speeds through the woods, crashing through trees, and rocks, all the while tearing up the ground as she went leaving a massive gash in the suffer of the earth.

Several roots came clawing out of the ground next, wrapping around her healing waist, wrists, and ankles, before they violently began to pull her apart. Toshiko, again, felt nothing, as the creature charged toward her like a rampaging rhino. It cocks its right arm back, before it thrust its arm forward, creating a massive tree trunk-sized hole in her torso.

"Die...!" The creature hissed, only to earn a chuckle from Toshiko.

"Try harder, and maybe I'll consider it," Toshiko spat, earning an angered flare of the nostrils from the creature. It ripped its arm out, pulling out feet of intestines, only for them to rocket out of his arm and loop back into place, the wound healing over in a split second. At that point, green rings of power began to circle around the arms of the creature, as he tugged down, finally pulling Toshiko apart.

The creature stared in a mix of anger and awe as she pieced herself back together, and when that happened, Toshiko landed on the ground, looking back up at the creature. "50 seconds remain, c'mon, you can do better than that."

The creature snarled, grabbed Toshiko by the head, and slammed her into the ground, before dragging her body through the earth for about another mile, tearing up the ground as they went. She was thrown up into the sky before several yellow rings appeared around the creature's fingers. When they appeared, beams of light not too dissimilar to The Golden Guards' light, if only a little dimmer, blasted through her body like Swiss cheese.

Again, her regeneration healed it over rather quickly.

Toshiko then snapped her fingers as flames covered her chest and lower waist. She wasn't going to be getting any clothing for a little while, so she decided that covering herself with flames would do. It seemed to piss the creature off, most likely because it saw it as a taunt, as it jumped up and opened its mouth.

Rather than belching more flames, it screamed, or more appropriately, roared like a lion. The sound was enough to tear off skin and shatter her bones, a feat quite remarkable due to Shock Absorption. Once again, it was nothing that Regeneration couldn't fix. The creature was getting more and more annoyed as each attack seemingly did nothing to Toshiko. But, underneath that annoyance, Toshiko picked up on what appeared to be excitement.

"So, it's just like me. Too strong to practice its powers, but now found someone of its equal to do so. Interesting…" Toshiko thought before she landed gracefully on the ground, followed by the massive creature landing in front of her, uplifting the earth as it did so. It charged forward, making a sweeping motion with its arm, attempting to knock her over, and it did so, slamming her into a nearby massive tree.

The flames didn't spread, as Toshiko had complete mastery over her flames control. They also weren't blue because they didn't need to be. They were just there to act as clothing for the time being until she got some actual clothing.

It was then that the creature had decided that it wasn't going to continue blasting her with magic, but rather was going to use its physical strength, as for the next thirty seconds it repeatedly and without fail punched Toshiko into the great tree-making the bark crack with each punch, until the tree finally gave way and began to fall. And as it fell, Toshiko was grabbed and thrown under it.

The tree landed, crushing Toshiko underneath. The creature's chest rose up and down, as exhaustion began to take hold. It had to admit, it had never had to go that all out before. Even as a child when it was eight years old, when it tried, and failed, to defend itself from those creatures with exposed brains when it had been kidnapped.

"She has to be done now, right?" It thought, narrowing its eyes. 10 seconds remained. It couldn't do a lot in 10 seconds, but hope. It needed to recoup its magic supply, as it had exhausted almost all of it in the short battle it had with her.

And so it waited.

And waited.

Until finally, a column of flames burst out from underneath the tree. Blue, white-hot flames exploded forth, as the girl came out from underneath, dusting herself off as it stared with disbelief. Its singular green eye widened as the girl smirked, but not out of cockiness, but out of genuine amazement if the look in her eyes was enough to go by.

"Times up, wolfy. My turn."

It happened faster than it could comprehend. One moment, she was fifteen feet away from it, and in the next, her hand was inches away from his face as blue flames gathered at the base of her palm. The slap came first, causing a shockwave so powerful it knocked down hundreds of trees behind it. Then, came the column of flame.

It was as wide as the base of half of a hill, and it scorched the ground, tearing up the earth and dug several feet deep in the process. The flames had been localized toward its head, before it blasted out further in a cone shape. After that, it was shoved to the ground, as another cone of fire erupted upward, blasting up into the sky like a beacon.

From a distance, Eda Clawthorne saw the massive pillar of blue flames. Recognizing it as not belonging to King, Eda's heart pounded against her chest as she began to run like the wind.

A million different thoughts raced through the Wild Witch's head. Was King alright? Was Hooty nearby, and was he safe? Was King still alive after that? She knew he was strong but was he that strong? Just what was that Shigaraki girl doing to her adopted son?

All of those questions raced through her mind as she picked up the pace. A part of her considered letting that damnable Owl Beast out so that she could get there faster, but she had a hard time controlling it—even now despite her training with King to do so. King was strong enough to subdue the beast if she couldn't control it, so with his condition dubious she didn't want to let it out.

By the time she got to the area where the beacon had been, and when she got there she had expected to see the worst. Instead, she saw something different. King was sitting across from the Shigaraki girl, who had been bathed in flames, most likely as a way to cover her body due to her now lacking clothing somehow.

But that wasn't the strange part. No. The strange part was that both of them were laughing. Laughing like friends would laugh. King saw Eda, before clearing his throat. "Yo, ma! Check this out! Meet my new friend, Toshiko Shigaraki."

Eda couldn't help but stare at the girl bathed in flame. Her red eyes met Eda's as the teen stood up. "A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Clawthorne."

Eda's world came to a standstill. She was glad that King was alright, but this girl…. There was something off about her. But strangely enough, despite her being (possibly) related to that monster of a man, Eda didn't detect a single bit of malice in her person. Exhaling whilst calming herself, Eda approached the teen.

"Nice to meet you too, Shigaraki" "That sounds so very wrong" "But we can introduce each other properly once we get you some clothes. Because fire isn't going to cut it," Eda replied, before a small green ring appeared around her finger, and when it did, a swarm of leaves converged just a few feet in front of her, forming into a longsleeve dress.

Toshiko undid the flames as Eda threw her the makeshift article of clothing. When she caught it, she slipped it on immediately. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Eda. Just call me Eda, kiddo," Eda said as she gestured for the two to follow her. "C'mon. I'll take you to the house. Besides, you look hungry, and King needs to take a bath. I can smell you from here, squirt."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," King grumbled before patting Toshiko on the back. "C'mon. let's get going." As King said that, he caught up to Eda, as Toshiko stared at the two of them. A flickering sense of hope bubbled in her heart.

Maybe. Just maybe, she could turn her life around, if only slightly. And while a part of her mind told her not to trust them, Toshiko for once ignored that negative side of herself, and listened to the positive part of her mind.

Perhaps she could actually live here in The Boiling Isles without having to look over her shoulder constantly. Even if it was just a far-flung dream of an idea, that idea might be what she needed. And so, she followed after Eda and King whilst her stomach rumbled. The idea of having something to eat was a very good one if she were to say so herself.

xxXXxxXXxx

Deep within the vestige realm, Rikitatsu sat with a grin on his face. "Eda Clawthorne, and King Clawthorne. What a coincidence. And interesting turn of events," Rikitatsu thought, glancing over to his left. A smile appeared on his face. "This world is full of surprises. I half would have thought that the old crone would be dead by now, and King nothing more than a mindless beast. But it seems that the wound I inflicted on The Owl Lady wasn't enough to kill her. Then again, that pesky regenerative capabilities of hers, despite being fickle and inconsistent, has saved her from being decapitated in the past."

He hummed to himself, crossing his arms as he rubbed at his chin. "Still, what I find most interesting is just how strong King has become. He seems to be on par with, at the very least, that knuckleduster fellow I had the pleasure to meet. While he met an unfortunate end due to not working with me, he was quite the opponent. So young, too. He was only 19 when I met him. He could've been a wonderful asset."

Rikitatsu then sighed, cracking his neck from side to side. "Though It's pointless to keep talking about that. Although, I find it interesting that this has happened. Quite the turn of events, don't you think? I find it peculiar how this happened, but then again, I suppose it was bound to eventually. After all, you were the only person who truly vowed allegiance to dear Luz. Or, should I say, Toshiko now? Isn't that right…"

As he said that, he fully turned to face a blonde-haired teen, with emerald green eyes. Dressed in a white sundress, the teen stared at Rikitatsu with a mix of confusion and fear. Her body language was that of someone who looked about ready to run away, and her slack jaw was one of surprise. Her pale skin, while not nearly as pale as Rikitatsu's, was still similar to that of snow. She was about the same height as Toshiko, and her last memory of what had happened was her death. And now, she was here, wherever here was. And the man before her knew her if that gleam in his eyes was enough to judge.

And when he said her name, her spine trembled with unease.

"Julia Wittebane."

-To Be Continued-

:)

Enjoy the cliffhanger~!

deviantart / crsto20 /art/ Martin-from-All-For-Luz- 1010681455

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deviantart / crsto20 /art/ Tyler-from-All-For-Luz- 1010681555

deviantart / crsto20 /art/ Julia-from-All-For-Luz- 1010681567

(add . com to Deviantart and put the spaces together to get the link. FF is dumb like that).