26/03/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 5 - Times Have Changed

Izuku sat on his bed and took a couple of deep breaths. It was nice to just be able to sit and think by himself for once. The last few weeks had been so hectic that he'd always just fallen to sleep for as long as he could get. It was nice now to have some space to call his own and to actually go through the routine of getting ready to sleep. He hadn't realised how much he'd missed that.

It gave him time to reflect.

Things were going… In one way they were going well. He hadn't been captured. The majority of Tomura's crew had agreed to follow him and he was working on a plan. In another way, it was going terribly. He'd killed Tomura, mucking up his Dad's chances of being healed. He didn't have a solid plan or anything resembling that and-

He swallowed hard and shoved the thought that he'd failed his Dad from his mind. There would be another way.

There had to be another way. He'd just have to find it.

There was time. He couldn't expect anything to be done in a month. He'd have to take the time to build the support he'd need to maintain control of society and-

There were so many problems. He hadn't discussed it with his crew but it would be a lot easier if his Dad was free. Then… Then, Izuku sighed. He'd be in a subordinate position but that wouldn't be too bad. His dad knew the entire plan and-

For the moment, he couldn't think like that. He had to lead. Though he didn't have a definite plan. Even so, he could work with that. No matter what he wanted to do eventually, he was going to need more manpower, so that had to be his first goal. Then he could work on other plans and maybe someone would have some suggestions.

Though… He was a little disappointed in those who had been gathered for Tomura. When he'd mention thinking about a quirk to counter their weaknesses, he'd been hoping someone would have realised that support equipment could also help. But… No one had suggested it. He thought about that for a moment. Maybe their weaknesses weren't something that could be effectively handled by support equipment. He should check because even if they couldn't counter a weakness that way, support equipment was effective for other things. It was support after all.

He took off his shirt, and the light vest, folding it carefully. Just seeing it reminded him about Mei and the fact he was going to have to be careful with it. Or get someone else to build another.

Izuku sighed. He'd have to talk to them about that.

He blinked and revelled in the fact that while his eyelids were heavy, it wasn't the exhaustion he'd felt the last few days. It was just the usual tiredness at the end of the day. That felt nice and with a smile, Izuku lay down and pulled the covers over him.

One thing his dad had never said but was obvious in hindsight, what the world called villainy took just as much work as heroics. He needed his rest.

-ted-

Dabi had to admit that being out of the warehouse was nice. If it got him revenge on Endeavor, he'd have stayed there, but it was better here. Plus, the warper had somehow got the bar stocked, and that helped.

The five of them were gathered at one of the booths. They'd been spread out earlier but when some of the locals had wandered in, the warper had shooed them to the side. Paying customers took precedence over them apparently.

"So now that the boss has gone to bed, we should have some adult talk," he laughed.

"What, you gonna tell us you're still a virgin, Crispy?"

Dabi reminded himself that while he'd lived with these guys for the last few weeks, he hadn't really had to interact with them. And now that Dragon had given back Shouto's quirk… He could just walk away but that was- The underworld ran on the strength of people's word. And while there were times when you could get away with breaking it, he already knew now was not going to be one of those times. He'd have to learn to deal with this one.

Urgh.

"Like you are, ire?" He returned, lazily picking up his beer.

She chuckled. "Oh, is that short for Vampire?" the blood freak cooed.

"Irritation," Dabi corrected.

She snorted and then gave him a direct look up and down. "Yeah, you just wish you could get some," she murmured.

The others were rather conspicuous in their silence but he figured they didn't want to get involved.

"Come on," he challenged. "It's obvious you are saving yourself for the kid," Dabi told her.

"When the fuck were you born? The Taisho era?" She snapped back.

"Girls do that sort of romantic shit all the time," he countered and then dodged. Where did she keep those throwing knives?

A hunting knife appeared in her hand and she slid out of the bench seat she had been on. Dabi got up, dodging the slash she made.

"You listen here, Crispy Critter!" the blonde hissed. "If I sleep with Izu, I will fuck his brains so good! You on the other hand! Ha! You couldn't pay me enough!"

He gave her a look.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Little boys do such stupid things all for someone to wriggle around for them," she dismissed his suggestion.

"Why don't you both calm down?" One of the others asked. Dabi thought it was Compress. He seemed level headed.

"Just as soon as Crispy gets his head out of the Meiji era!" she hissed in reply.

Dabi saw the way Whisper rubbed her temple. "We are a long way past the Taisho and Meiji era," the woman pointed out.

"He's not." The snap was petulant.

"We are," Compress said. "And we are worrying the patrons."

She huffed and the hunting knife disappeared before the blonde slid back into the bench seat.

It would be a bitch to have to move again. He'd done it before. There'd been times when he'd had to move every few hours 'cos heroes were after him but that hadn't happened for a while and he didn't like how reactive that made him. He was better than that. He planned.

Dabi gave the blonde a careful look before returning to his seat. "So you are more experienced than you look," he murmured.

"It's just sex!" she muttered.

"Do you think the kid is?" Dabi put the question to the table.

"Think the kid is what?" Twice asked with a note of exaggerated innocence.

Whisper just sighed.

"Ah, forget it then," Dabi sighed.

Compress gave him a measuring look. "Why did you bring it up?"

The question caught him by surprise. Why had he brought it up? He didn't mean anything serious by it and it was… "Forget it," he repeated and picked up his beer to avoid saying anything more.

He was kind of thankful when the others shrugged.

"What do you think Dragon's first mission will be?" Whisper asked to change the subject.

"I don't know! I do know," Twice answered.

"It will be something good!" the blonde said chirpily.

"He's going to wait for some fallout first," Dabi answered, after swallowing his beer.

Compress gave him another look, this time inviting him to say something more.

"Part of what I wanted," Dabi told them.

It was enough for the magician to understand. "I expect he will meet with the Yakuza before doing anything major," Compress said. "The extra manpower will help."

Twice nodded and then shook his head. "Was he serious about-" he paused.

"About?" Whisper prompted.

"He was serious," Himiko said.

"How do you know?" Dabi asked.

"Because Handsy once asked me." she snapped back.

It wasn't the answer any of them expected.

"If you can think of a quirk that will help with a weakness, he can give it to you," Himiko continued.

Dabi watched as expressions became more thoughtful. He already knew what would help him but he had no idea what might help the others.

They were silent as they thought. "It's not like we have to accept immediately," Dabi told them.

Whisper nodded slowly. "How long do you think it will take you to contact the Yakuza?" she asked Twice.

"Not long, forever!" He replied before shaking his head. "It will depend on if they want to meet," he added.

"Has anyone dealt with them?"

There were headshakes all around. "They generally stick to themselves," Himiko commented. "And they are all sick!"

Dabi couldn't help the incredulous look he gave her. He wasn't the only one.

The blonde huffed as if she knew what they were thinking and then pouted. "Meanies," she muttered.

"They stick to themselves?" Whisper asked.

"Usually," Twice told them. "But- I'll see what they say."

Compress nodded. "We have a lot to think about, and we'll just have to find out what the boss says," he said.

It was a conclusion and Dabi was kind of thankful when the others nodded and took it as such. And it wasn't untrue. There was a lot to think about. If the kid could get them quirks to counter their weaknesses then…

While it would mean admitting to those weaknesses, it would give them a huge advantage. He could almost imagine the fight with Endeavor if he had something to regulate temperature… Dabi dragged himself out of that contemplation. It was nice but now was not the time and there was a lot of work to go before he could go to that battle, and-

The kid had said he'd work Endeavor into his plans, but he'd also admitted that he'd want to consult with them on those plans to make them better. But that suggested an opening to him. If he went to the kid with a plan. Dabi smiled to himself. If he went to the kid with a plan, there was every chance the kid would go for it. He might get Endeavor sooner rather than later and that… Yeah, he'd enjoy that.

"So why did you ask?" Compress questioned.

Dabi looked around. He didn't realise the others had left.

"Ask what?"

The magician had taken off his mask and top hat and raised one eyebrow at him.

Dabi huffed. "A stupid joke," he told the other man.

He didn't look convinced. "Female chastity and virginity has not been an issue for quite some time."

"I know that," Dabi snapped. No one liked to call them wars, but the wars that occurred when quirks first emerged, and the social upheaval they caused, allowed for quite a few social issues to be ignored.

"You sure?" Compress said but his expression said he was thinking of something else.

"Just a stupid joke," Dabi repeated. "We are going to be building up Dragon's reputation," he said, trying to change the subject but he had a feeling Compress knew that while the wars had removed the old social stigmas, in old fashioned households, some of the older values were still adhered to. He cursed Endeavor again. He thought he'd cast away everything from then but… The man, his views, his- argh! He kept coming back to haunt him.

Compress nodded but knew there was more to come.

"It really was just a joke," he said again. "While we build up Dragon's reputation, I thought it could be fun if we found things to make the kid blush. Sex seemed like a good choice."

For a moment it seemed as if Compress would just dismiss the matter. "I'm not sure Dragon would think it's funny."

"I wasn't planning on telling him," Dabi grumbled.

Compress shook his head and Dabi got the impression that he didn't approve. "It's on your head," he said finally.

"It's just some fun."

He shook his head again and got up to leave Dabi alone at the table. The empty beer glasses were clustered together as if gathered for some funeral.

He snarled. He knew why he'd brought it up… But… No! He was not going to think that. It wasn't that. It was just a bit of pointless fun. It meant nothing else.

Dabi drained the last of his beer and slammed his pint down.

It didn't mean anything.

-ted-

Izuku jerked awake and sat bolt upright. He felt his heartbeat slow, and the sweat on his body cool and dry. He was warm enough. The blankets were more than sufficient to ward off any cold from the air but- Why had he woken up?

A dream.

He didn't dream that often. Well, Izuku figured he dreamed as much as everyone else but he didn't often remember his dreams. This one was a bit weird and particularly vivid.

He'd been… he wasn't sure where and Izuku smiled ironically to himself. Maybe the dream hadn't been as vivid as he thought but there were bits that stood out to him, even now.

Wherever he had been, he didn't recognise it. It kept changing. At one point it was a forest, with huge trees reaching for the sky, then it had changed and the trees were all saplings before they vanished altogether and he appeared to be in a cave. That wasn't the important bit though!

No matter where he was, he'd been surrounded by bodies. Some of them had ripped and bloody clothing and others were fine. He couldn't see any injuries but he hadn't really looked. The most disconcerting part of it was that in the distance he could see a table. It was set out as if for tea. There were cups, teapots and tiered trays of food. For all the formality of the table, the places were mostly taken by children. They had no idea what to do. The bodies went all the way up to the table and it was… it was actually on a pile of them but the people weren't paying any attention to the bodies. It was like they couldn't see them.

The children were squirming in their seats but they weren't running off to play. There were some adults at the table. He recognised one of them! It was Saisho Kijo! At least he thought it was. The formal kimono was the same but her hair was no longer white, but black and bundled on the top of her head in a complicated arrangement. She was much younger here but… It was Saisho, he knew it.

She was chatting with another man and woman who Izuku did not recognise at all. The woman had fiery red hair and bright eyes. The man had black hair and a thin, wiry appearance. They were all sipping at their tea, and occasionally reaching out to save one of the biscuits from being thrown off the table.

They interacted with the children but didn't seem too concerned by them, and like the children, they didn't seem to notice the bodies. Instead, they were relaxed and happy.

He'd just watched for a while, not understanding what was going on, before he'd noticed that there was another place set at the table. The plates were laid out, along with the teacup, but it was empty.

Izuku wondered about that and then as he watched, he saw something move in the distance. It wasn't much. Just the impression of movement until a semicircle behind the table changed. At first, it was just a line, and then that line grew. Izuku noticed it because it was a brilliant green against the black shadows of the background. Slowly it became larger until Izuku realised with a shock that he was looking at a giant eyeball. It opened just a crack and then he woke up.

He took a deep breath. His heartbeat was back to normal now and when he thought about it, he had no idea what he was afraid of.

No, he did. Anything with an eyeball that large was… Except the people at the table hadn't seemed concerned. And they hadn't noticed the bodies and…

"It's just a dream," he murmured, shaking his head. Yes, he'd seen Saicho there but that didn't mean much. He hadn't thought about her for a while and… Actually he had no idea if she was even still alive.

Izuku reached out and grabbed his phone from the floor. The place Kurogiri had found for them was light on furniture but the bed was soft and warm so that was good enough. He tapped the screen and squinted at the blue light. It resolved into a screen and he tapped to go to the official Births, Deaths and Marriages registry. The records had been digital for years. He typed in the name Saicho Kijo and hit search.

There were several hits and Izuku wondered how he could sort them out. Things like birth date weren't mentioned to protect against identity theft. How did he figure out which Saicho was the one he wanted?

Well, he didn't want marriage or birth notices, so that was one way, and Izuku quickly filtered the results to exclude them, which thankfully removed some of the names. But there were still others. He sighed and put his phone down. The easiest way to find out if she was still alive would be to ask Giran… but Izuku didn't think she would be.

She'd been 91 when he'd met her, and that was seven years ago. But… He wanted to visit her grave and say thank you again.

After today's dream… It just seemed right.

-ted-

Well, the League are bonding, awkwardly but I can't see that they'd bond any other way. And now that Izuku has been using his quirk a bit more, it's a bit more willing to share.

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! Not just about MHA.

YouTube Audio is here! I'm uploading two chapters a week so chapter 5 will come when I can upload chapter 6 too!

-ted-

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