Rikido Sato grew up hearing stories about the haunted woods to the north of his village.
The woods had always been feared. Travelers would avoid venturing there at night, even whipping their horses or donkeys to move faster if caught out late. But the woods used to be safe enough in the daylight. Before All for One.
There were different stories about how the Shigaraki brothers had first ended up in the woods. Some people said they were the children of a local prostitute, and they'd been run out of town after their mother's death. Others said the brothers had been born into a respectable woodcarving family, until their mother died and their father remarried a cruel woman who wanted to drive the children out of their home. One version of the story was less sympathetic to All for One, saying he'd been chased out of town for stealing. In some tales they were twins, in others the older brother fled with a baby in his arms. In the version Rikido's mother told, the brothers left a trail of shortbread cookie crumbs and made it back to town twice, only to be kicked out again. Rikido didn't believe crumbs would last long enough in a forest full of hungry animals, but that variant was his favorite because his mother made her fabulous shortbread whenever she told it.
Every tale converged on one point: the Shigaraki brothers, stumbling through the darkened woods, found a witch's cottage. Or perhaps the cottage found them. The witch pretended to be kind, offering the children food and a place to sleep for the night. (In one variant, the food turned out to be humans cooked into meat pies. That story had given Rikido nightmares for weeks.) As the children slept, the witch picked up the younger brother and locked him in a cage. She used her hostage to threaten the older one into becoming her servant.
The boy who would become All for One proved craftier than she'd ever anticipated. He secretly studied her books and learned her magic. When he'd become stronger than her, he killed her. In the most common version, he burned her alive. Oh, how all the village children used to leap back and cry at that moment of the tale!
As for the younger brother, the stories could not agree. Sometimes the witch killed him. Sometimes he died in the crossfire of the fight. Sometimes his own older brother murdered him after falling into evil. In the darkest version (the one Rikido disliked the most), the witch turned the little brother into a soup and tricked the older one into eating it, driving him mad. Others said the younger brother might still be alive. They whispered of a beautiful youth locked up by his witch brother. No one had ever gotten close enough to confirm or deny the rumors.
All for One proved far deadlier than the last witch. He slaughtered anyone who ventured into his forest. Night or day, it made no difference. No one dared wander past the tree line now. After the travelers dried up, dark beasts slipped out of the forest to drag back victims. The village had fallen on hard times, everyone with the means having fled to less cursed places.
Rikido would never have ventured into the woods willingly. He was not stupid, though the other children sometimes mistook him for slow just because he was big. He felt quite happy and safe in his own family's cottage, with his beloved kitchen. Cooking was Rikido's passion. Everyone who remained in the village (mostly elders) loved his cookies. His parents had always been poor, but he was happy.
Then Rikido's mother died. His father remarried an angry woman who seemed to think she could have made a better match and that Rikido was a useless mouth to feed.
One night, Rikido's father carried him into the forest and abandoned him there. Rikido did not even have the chance to leave a trail of breadcrumbs. He woke up to leaves tickling his nose and unnerving silence.
Immediately, Rikido sprang to his feet. His heart hammered. Through his swirl of betrayal and terror, he remembered his teacher's lessons. He found the North Star in the nighttime sky to guide him. Then he ran.
This forest was completely dead. Even without the stories, Rikido would have known something was wrong by the total lack of animal sounds. The air smelled…sweet? Like the sugar his mother used to sprinkle over her cookies when she taught him her secret recipe.
A cottage glowed in the darkness. It had gingerbread walls, a roof dripping with frosting, rainbow candies decorating the windows, and a pathway lined with gum drops.
Not being a moron, Rikido immediately ran in the opposite direction.
Somehow Rikido found himself running down the gum drop passageway. The cottage had shifted locations to be in front of him. He stopped. Though he could run again, there did not seem to be any point. He was doomed. Any storyteller could have told him that much. Even if he somehow returned to his village, where would he go? Back to the father and stepmother who'd wanted him dead? As a child, he could not survive on his own. He tasted despair in the back of his mouth. At least he'd be with his mother again soon.
The door opened. All for One stood with the light at his back. Rikido knew him because he looked just like the stories: a giant man with tangled white hair reaching nearly to his waist. He wore a pure black robe and held a staff with a demon's head carved on top. The black circlet on his forehead gleamed unnaturally. Smiling jaggedly, he called, "Child, come in."
Rikido might be resigned to death, but there were more and less painful ways to go. He did not want to be killed and eaten by a witch. But his feet moved on their own, taking him forward. He wanted to cry. The storytellers said that All for One licked up his victims' tears. That thought scared Rikido into keeping silent.
Even in his state of terror, Rikido couldn't help taking in the details of the gingerbread house as he approached. It smelled real. How was that possible? Magic, of course, he realized a second later. The frosting dripping down the portico had frozen in place as if captured in a moment in time. From a professional perspective, Rikido was fascinated.
All for One opened the door to a mansion that was larger on the inside than the outside. The entryway alone made it obvious, with the giant ceilings and two sweeping staircases leading up. Rikido trembled to even place his muddy shoes on the beautiful ocean-blue swirling tile floor, but he still did not have control over his body.
Instead of a chandelier, a birdcage hung from the ceiling. A beautiful white-haired young man was trapped inside. His hair had been pulled back into a ponytail to reveal emerald eyes. He wore silken purple pajamas with a floral pattern. He looked worryingly pale and thin. Panic filled his eyes when they alighted on Rikido. He pleaded, "Please, big brother, he's so young. Let him go."
So the younger brother still lived. The storytellers back home would be fascinated to hear it. Rikido wondered why such a thought crossed his mind when he was clearly about to die.
All for One laughed. "You're scaring our guest, Yoichi."
Rikido looked up at Yoichi, trying to convey gratitude with his gaze. At least this stranger had tried, more than his own father had done for him.
Yoichi gripped the bars. In a frenzied voice, he said, "I'll start eating again if you let this child go. Please."
"Now there's an interesting idea." All for One cast Rikido an amused glance that worried him. "I can't simply let humans go. It will ruin my reputation. How about we make a bet? Child, if you make food so delicious that my dear little brother will eat it, then I won't kill you."
Yoichi looked down hopefully, nodding as if promising to eat anything. Rikido wondered if it might be a trap, but he had no ability to refuse. Hoarsely, he said, "I'll do my best."
All for One led Rikido to the adjacent kitchen. It had cabinets spreading off as far as the eye could see and a fancy brick oven like only rich people had. All for One sat down on a chair at the counter, clearly not planning to help Rikido find anything in his massive place. Then he released control of Rikido's body, making him stumble and nearly fall.
In his mother's story, both brothers had the same favorite cookie: shortbread. Rikido decided to bet his life on the fairy tale.
It felt like it took him forever just to find the ingredients. He could not find any measuring equipment. Turning to the witch, he asked in a very timid voice, "Do you have measuring cups?"
"No." All for One bared his teeth. "A skilled chef shouldn't need them."
Rikido shrank into himself and did not speak again. Fortunately, he'd made this recipe many times, enough to eyeball it. Although he'd always been clumsy and untalented, he had absolute faith in his baking ability. This challenge had been picked perfectly for him.
As Rikido shaped the round cookies, All for One finally took notice. The red glare made the boy's hands shake. Still, the witch sounded interested as he asked, "What are you making?"
"Shortbread, sir. It used to be my mother's favorite recipe."
"Used to?"
"She died. Then my father abandoned me in the forest."
All for One grunted. A strange emotion briefly passed across his face. Rikido wondered if the stories about All for One also being abandoned by his father were true. It would be probably too much to hope for to obtain sympathy from a witch. At least All for One no longer glared as much.
As soon as Rikido pulled the cookies from the oven, All for One swooped over to grab one. The heat did not seem to bother him. He unhinged his jaw impossibly large, revealing too many teeth. Then he swallowed the cookie whole. "Delicious," he proclaimed and grabbed four more.
"T-Thank you," Rikido stammered.
After they'd cooled, Rikido carried the cookies to the other room. With a wave of the witch's hand, the giant cage sank down to the ground. Rikido handed Yoichi a cookie through the bars.
Unlike his brother, Yoichi ate slowly, savoring every last bite. He licked his fingers. "They're amazing. Thank you," he told Rikido. His eyes went up to his older brother. "Just like our mother used to make."
A shared emotion seemed to pass between the brothers, an old pain and nostalgia. For the first time, All for One's cold confidence became replaced by a sorrowful expression.
Rikido had won. The little brother had eaten without any kind of trap being sprung. Even the witch seemed pleased with his cookies. His shoulders relaxed. He started to believe he would survive.
Turning to Rikido, All for One asked, "Boy, what is your name?"
"Rikido Sato," he answered without thinking, then wondered why Yoichi suddenly looked nervous. Should you not give your name to a witch, like with fae or demons? "Why do you ask?"
"Because before you were prey, but now you're family." All for One smiled toothily.
Yoichi threw himself at the bars. "Big brother! You promised to let him go!"
"I promised not to kill him." All for One clamped a hand down on Rikido's shoulder, holding him in place. "There are many other terrible things I can do besides death, my foolish little brother. You struck a poor bargain. But since this child can convince you to eat, I decided to keep him." He laughed.
Rikido had a bad feeling that his role in this family would be as a hostage. He also feared this had always been the best outcome he could have ever gotten.
OMAKE TIME!
All for One: I win this one!
Rikido: Actually I'm going to give you clogged arteries and diabetes from all my cookies.
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Yoichi: My hero will be along to rescue me any day now.
Author: This is my birthday series.
Yoichi: So what? I still need a rescue! And a date!
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Rikido: My mother died and my father abandoned me.
All for One: Whoa, did I feel a tiny bit of empathy? It must have been a hunger pang.
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Yoichi: This seems more like the setup for an Izuku story. I'm surprised we got some new kid.
All for One: I wouldn't have taken Izuku, he'd just repeat the story of me and the witch and overthrow me. Rikido Sato looks too dense to learn magic.
Rikido: Hey! Just for that, I'm going to defeat you with my army of living gingerbread men.
Author's Note: This time, it's Rikido's turn to become the victim of a surprise adoption! Usually only Izuku is cute enough to be nabbed. I guess Rikido has no one to blame but himself for being such a good cook.
Rikido: Actually I can definitely blame the author for this.
