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There were few events that could bring a true, genuine smile to his face. The last he could clearly remember was when he put an end to that Shimura wench, finally letting the cursed quirk that he had made the mistake of giving to his brother rest. Or so he had thought, but the quirk had already been passed onto the brat that had managed to escape, a fact that he would be made aware of just a couple years later when news of a new powerful upstart hero would spread from America to Japan. Rather than doing the intelligent option and hunting the boy down before he could become a threat, he decided to wait until he returned to the country, since he was unwilling to leave his current enterprises unsupervised for so long.
This would turn out to be a grave mistake, as the new hero would grow quickly in both power and popularity, making a clean assassination almost impossible. Instead he was forced to take increasingly drastic measures to attempt to deal with his growing pest problem, leading up to their final fight which by this point was more of a vague feeling of pain and dread in his mind than an actual memory.
In one moment, one brutal move, that beast took away almost everything from him.
He was beyond enraged for these past six years as he was unable to do nothing but sit and heal as that moronic brute continued on as if nothing had happened. But he was hurt; he knew he was hurt, and it was only a matter of time until he passed on his legacy to another.
And then that time came.
It was only a hunch at first when Tomura told him of a boy with speed similar to that of All Might, since enhancer quirks were not rare in the slightest, and have only been getting more and more powerful with each generation. But with his performance at the sports festival, his run in with the hero killer, and what his spy has told him of his performance in class and his finals, it was all but confirmed to him.
Midoriya Izuku was All Might’s successor; the ninth holder of his brother’s quirk that he had lovingly named One-For-All in some sort of childish attempt to tease him for his mistake.
The news story of the evening restarted, and his smile grew even wider as it played.
None of that mattered anymore, though, because he has finally won. This centuries long battle between him and the holders of his brother’s quirk was finally over. It was a bit disappointing that he wasn’t there when it ended, or that neither himself nor Tomura had a direct hand in his end, but he supposed he shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. It was over. He could finally move on from these events and continue forward with his own plans. Which now included the two new guests that Tomura’s vanguard brought back from their excursion. He silently observed his successor interact with his colleagues, congratulating each one on their highly successful mission.
Tomura looked over to the large figure, with absolute delight clearly apparent in his tone as he spoke. I’ve got to admit, newbie, you accomplished something that I hadn’t expected, but am overwhelmingly pleased with.
A low chuckle emanated from the other side of the screen. I still can’t believe how much trouble you had killing that brat. He was nothing but a weakling.
Slight annoyance panged in him with that, but he ignored it. It was a little shameful how long it took them to take out an upstart brat.
The news story restarted yet again, and this time he disconnected himself from the call to pay full attention to it.
For those of you just tuning in, we deliver to you the latest tragedy from tonight. Just hours ago, a special training camp hosted by UA for their first year heroics students was attacked by none other than the League of Villains. This attack has left over a dozen of the students in critical condition, as well as two of the members of the Wild Wild Pussycats. There had also been the confirmed disappearance of two students from class 1-A, Bakugou Katsuki and Tokoyami Fumikage, and the hero Ragdoll. And with a heavy heart, we cover the unfortunate passing of UA first year Midoriya Izuku, and Izumi Kouta, nephew of Mandalay of the Pussycats. Midoriya had separated from his group of classmates to search for and bring young Kouta back to the main building. Unfortunately, Midoriya ran into a villain and was drawn into a fight that he couldn’t win. The outcome of the fight left Midoriya with several ruptured organs, shattered ribs that pierced his lungs, and a broken spinal cord. Paramedics would announce him dead on the scene. While he had sustained heavy internal damage, the cause of death was due to the blood entering his lungs. The body of the young nephew was discovered several meters away from him, with a crushed skull being the reason for his demise. Both children were brought to a nearby hospital, where we now await the final report from the coroner.
He suddenly felt… something. He couldn’t quite place what it was, but it was causing his heart rate to increase. His fingers fidgeted on the table in front of him as he tried to sort through it. Nervousness? Anxiety? No, surely not. What reason could he have to feel either of these? Perhaps it was excitement over the new development, and the future potential it held. A stepping stone for Tomura’s growth and a new fact to taunt All Might with. Both of these were extremely favorable in his opinion, but… there wasn’t an edge of joy or happiness behind his restlessness. He felt like… like there was something he needed to do now. Something that he was running out of time to do, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what.
Stress. That’s what it must’ve been. Even with one of his problems taken care of, there were still so many more he needed to deal with: guiding Tomura and his League; finding new and interesting quirks for his own arsenal as well as the noumu; and then there was All Might, who was probably absolutely destroyed with these recent events. Between the death of his successor, the life-threatening injuries of many of his other students, and the disappearance of two, the man’s pride as a hero was probably shattered beyond repair. By this point it might be a better punishment to just leave him alive so he could live with the consequences of this day. It was something he would have to consider intensely after gauging what his reaction to this was.
He heard the news story repeat, and his fingers twitched again.
With a sigh, he shut off the television and pushed himself up. For now, the best way to deal with his stress was to let his body get the rest it so desperately needed. He hated the idea of leaving Tomura without properly praising him for his accomplishments, but he preferred to do so without so many ears listening in, and with how twitchy he was feeling, he was afraid that bringing Tomura to himself in his current state would only make him feel like he had done something wrong, which couldn't be further from the truth. He was absolutely elated with his achievements, both in eliminating a pest that has been bothering him, and the acquiring of two potentially useful pawns. So he would push off the praise until tomorrow when he was properly rested.
Grabbing the portable air tank as he went, he slowly made his way through the jungle of wires surrounding him to the door that led to the room currently acting as his bedroom. His suit jacket and shoes were removed as he entered further, with one being kicked off in front of the bed and the other draped over the back of a nearby chair. He sat down on the edge of his large bed, and placed the tank of air on the hanging rack next to him before starting to unbutton his dress shirt. It took a few minutes of fumbling and swearing, but eventually the final button was undone and the garment was removed and tossed to the side, now being Tsubasa’s problem whenever he returned.
The sudden disappearance of his doctor had not gone unnoticed, but for now was ignored. He figured the man thought he’d want some privacy with his successor after such a successful mission, and while he wasn’t incorrect in his assumption, he was annoyed that he never returned, leaving him to have to do all of his sleeping procedures on his own. Not that it was particularly difficult or anything of the sort. Rather, it was a little involved, with many specific steps that had to be done in a certain order, or else he risked leaving himself without an air supply to aid his breathing. And while that wouldn’t immediately kill him (he could breathe on his own for up to thirty minutes before feeling fatigue), he didn’t want to risk anything. Not on the night of his victory.
So he slowly went through the motions, connecting and pulling a mask over his mouth before turning off the supply for and disconnecting his trach. While he could sleep with it in, he was just much more comfortable without the feeling of something poking through his throat. With a final adjustment to the mask, he laid back into his bed and pulled the covers over his body. He must have been more tired than he thought, because the transition from the shades of red and blue to his dreamscape was almost instant.
He looked out into the expansive space in front of him. The place he was in was pitch black, and yet he could see how the area continued on endlessly ahead. He looked around himself, and then down at his form, and sighed when he realized what was happening.
‘...damn,’ he thought as he looked forward again. He was here… in the remnants of that long gone quirk. ‘
I had almost forgotten this happened,’ he reflected as he started forward.
Any time a holder of One-For-All had died (usually by his hand) they appeared in front of him here, to air their grievances and assure him that he will one day be defeated, and that the world will be safe from him. The whole experience was one of the most obnoxious things that he has been forced to go through, but there wasn’t much he could do to avoid it. Even when he had been able to force himself awake, he would simply end up back here the next time he went to sleep. Trying to simply walk/run from them wouldn’t work either, as they would simply follow him until he stopped or woke up. As well, he was unable to harm them, as they were nothing more than spirits, or essence leaking from the quirk. In the end, it was simply much easier, and much less time consuming, to let them speak, or rather shout, until they were done, after which they would just leave and he would be free from them and their obnoxious views until the next one passed.
That was perhaps the one and only thing he was grateful for All Might surviving as long as he did. It gave him a nice little break from having to deal with the self righteous views of the failed heroes. Until it was promptly replaced with the vivid, heart stopping nightmares that were the product of their fight.
A chuckle escaped from him as he remembered why he was here. He supposed he finally got his proper revenge on the bastard. This left him curious about what the boy would say to him. Not even a man, and barely a hero, what he had to say would probably be much more tame compared to his predecessors. If he was being completely honest with himself, the child would probably be more curious about him and his motives than be angry at him for his death, and dealing with that was going to be so much worse. But he didn’t really have anything against the kid personally, besides the fact that he was All Might’s successor, so he supposed he could truthfully answer all of his questions and send him off with a smile to wherever the essences went once they were done with-
Suddenly his head was facing slightly to the left. He couldn’t feel anything in this weird space, but he instantly knew what happened. He turned his glare down to the smallish figure that was forming in front of him, and harshened it when that Shimura wench came from it.
She matched his glare with an equally chilling one of her own, with her extended hand shaking as she pulled it back. “How could you,” she lowly growled.
He rolled his eyes as he went to step around her, and sighed when she moved to block his path. “ I did not kill the boy, nor did I even lay a finger on him, so if you could move out of my way so I could speak with him that would be great.”
Not only did she not move out of his way, she started stepping towards him. Her whole body trembled as she spoke. “I gave up my family to keep them safe, to make sure that no harm would befall them-”
“ -and I’m real sorry about that, but be assured Shimura, your grandson is perfectly safe in my hands. So if you could excuse me, I have some business to attend to.”
He then pushed his way past her, ignoring her attempts to grab and stop him. He continued forward into the emptiness, unfollowed by the user standing somewhere behind him, and uninterrupted by any of the others. It was strangely quiet as he moved forward, the boy being nowhere in sight. He couldn’t help but be slightly annoyed with this change of pace. Usually the deceased user would come and find him almost immediately after coming here, but there has been no sign of the child. Perhaps he was lost in the mind space, not having come to terms with his untimely demise. Or, in a turn of events, he was running from him in here, maybe afraid that he would taunt him over said death. While he wasn’t exactly above doing that, he also didn’t want to risk the child staying and harassing him, so he would be cordial and send him on his way. But this relied on him actually finding him, and he felt like he has been walking for hours with no sign of him.
Just as he was about to change strategies, he saw someone up ahead. Someone extremely familiar. His back was turned towards him, but he would never forget the look of that messy, straight hair. He quickened his pace towards him, not quite sure why he was appearing to him now but unwilling to let the opportunity pass. As he got closer, he saw two small arms wrapping around his brother’s waist, and he realized that his brother was hugging the small figure back.
‘The child maybe?’ He considered as he closed the distance between them. He got close enough to hear the exchange between them, and he couldn’t help but slow to a stop as he listened in.
“Why- sniff- why did…” The smaller figure sobbed, to his confusion. The voice was way too high pitched to be the teenaged boy, but then that left the question of who were they? And why was his brother comforting them? Speaking of him, he tightened his grip on the child as he shushed them. “He didn’t,” he softly assured, “you know he loves yo-”
“He doesn’t!” The child screamed. The hands disappeared from around his waist as the child pulled away. “Papa hates me! He let me die! ”
His confusion only spiked with the ongoing conversation. Just who was this child? Why were they here, in his mind? Unease bubbled in his chest, and he took a hesitant step forward. His brother suddenly tensed, before he tightened his hold on the child. “I’m sorry, little one,” he sadly apologized. He lowered his head momentarily, before raising it and releasing his hold. “It’s time for you to go.”
There were a couple of loud sniffs that slowly decreased in volume and frequency, until it was completely quiet. Save for his own breathing, which was overwhelming his senses.
He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t feel right. Soft rolls of tremors ran through his chest and fingers. His stomach was unsettled as he slowly continued forward, and it only got worse as he got closer to his brother. He wanted to believe it was nerves about seeing his brother again after all this time, but there wasn’t any nervousness behind it. No, what he was feeling was closer to dread, although he wasn’t sure why. He had absolutely no idea why he was afraid, or why the feeling was only growing as he stepped closer to his brother. He stopped with two or three meters between them, and forced himself to smile despite the way his body forcibly shook now. “Little brother,” he happily breathed.
He slowly turned to face him, and his smile immediately disappeared. Tears streamed down his brother’s face, and had he been alive, he knew his eyes would be a vibrant red. Even still, his bright green eyes shone weirdly as he stared at him. And then a small smile found its way onto his face, and he knew something was wrong. “Brother, how are you?” The false cheeriness in his tone was wrong, and it only made his feeling grow. For a moment, he forgot about the successor, and the fact that he hadn’t seen his brother in probably centuries. Instead, he focused on what was most likely the cause of this.
“Who was that child, brother?”
His brother winced, before slowly shaking his head. “You don’t want to know,” he simply dismissed.
It only made both his fear and curiosity grow. He stepped even closer, until he was within arms reach. He rested his hands on his smaller brother’s shoulders, and his breath hitched when he looked away from his searching gaze.
“Little brother-“ he started, but was interrupted.
“Big brother, for your sake-” his brother looked up, and his breath caught at the sight of his brother’s pity-filled look “-I hope you never discover who that child was.”
He shot up in bed, and desperately gasped for air. Even with the oxygen mask aiding him, he felt as though he were suffocating. Did he end up holding his breath? He slowed the frequency that which he took in air, until soon the pounding hammer that was his heart calmed to a semi normal beat. The haze that hovered over his mind dissipated, allowing him to properly mull over that dream.
Surely that’s all it was: a bad dream that replicated the weird scape that represented his connection to One-For-All and it’s users. It had to be just that. After all, as much as it killed him to admit it, his brother wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, both in life and after his death. For him to show up now, after all this time, with a strange child that he refused to tell him the identity of, it had to be his stress and imagination messing with his head. But still, it was strange that he had a dream, rather than be confronted by that boy.
There was still the chance that he wasn’t aware of his demise, and that he was wandering aimlessly within the empty space, but if that was the case then surely one of the other lingering spirits would have informed him of his situation and pointed him in the right direction. Instead, there was nothing from him; the only contact he had was from that Shimura woman, and of course his younger brother, who was with that small child. It still bothered him, and as much as he hated to admit it, the only way for him to get to the bottom of it would be to go back to sleep. So with a final tired sigh, he laid back down onto his bed and let his thoughts slow, until consciousness slipped from him once more. He would be mildly surprised when he woke up a few hours later after what felt like only a few minutes, with no dreams or visits to be seen.
------
“While you are more than entitled to your own personal time, I would prefer that you inform me of your impending absence before it happens,” he drawled as his subordinate attached the necessary IVs into his neck and exposed wrists.
Tsubasa paused momentarily, and he didn’t miss the slight tremor that ran through his arms before he continued. “My apologies sir. I assumed that you wanted some privacy to properly review recent events, but it was wrong of me to not gain approval from you before leaving. I assure you it will not happen again.”
He sighed as the doctor finished up and absconded from him, heading towards his sleeping room to take care of the small mess he made while preparing himself for bed the previous night. ‘Just what has him so on edge,’ he pondered, sighing again when the older man physically jumped at the squeak of his chair.
Something must’ve happened that he thought he would be upset about. Maybe a glitch with one of the noumu? Or perhaps their third guest that had so kindly offered her quirk to him was starting to have more clarity then she should. He listened to the doctor rush out of the room with what he presumed was his dirty laundry, and leaned back in his chair.
Neither of those were too bad, certainly not something that would negatively impact his mood, especially after such a large win. So the question that remained was: did something even worse happen, or was the doctor simply overreacting? He hoped for his subordinate’s sake that it was the latter. Even if it was to not disrupt his good mood, hiding a potentially big mess from him would only enrage him. And speaking of his good mood, the source of it was currently playing on the television in front of him.
These recent events with UA and the seemingly endless attacks on them are a prime example of why a high school for heroics should not exist. While events like these were rare in the past, the fact that there has been an increase in a single school semester shows that the strategy of villains has now shifted to attempting to take out heroes before they are fully mature.
I feel you are gravely over exaggerating the situation at hand. While this whole situation in unfortunate, the fact that this incident is isolated to UA and their students means that there is a certain factor that was instigating these. More specifically, the acceptance of All Might onto the teaching staff.
You have a point with the fact that this tragedy has currently been limited to UA, and that it most likely started because of All Might’s start of his teaching career. However, now that it’s been shown just how successful this sort of action can be, we are sure to see copycat incidents pop up with other renowned hero schools. The rate of injury among these elite schools has always been high, but now we are unnecessarily putting our children at risk of being permanently injured, or even killed, when in reality this sort of schooling can easily be pushed back to be a college degree.
Doing so decreases how quickly new heroes can appear on the scene, which will become an issue in the age after All Might’s inevitable retirement. Heroism is already a degree path that can be taken in many prestigious colleges. However, they all mainly focus on the legal aspects of the career, as well as marketing and PR. To remove the high school courses would mean that these programs would either have to a) edit their entire degree program to incorporate the now needed physical training that students had previously received in school, or b) shut them down entirely and let the hero training program be picked up by the military, which would lead to an even greater increase in their power and influence.
So you’re against shutting down what are essentially boot camp high schools because you’re afraid of inconveniencing universities? Because guess what, it’s the job of the school to stay up to date with their degree plans, and to make sure that they accurately bring the students through the necessary knowledge they will need for their future careers. It would also not be hard to merge current high school staff into existing university programs. Your excuses are just that, excuses, and I think I can safely say that they do very little to bring comfort to poor Midoriya Izuku’s grieving parents.
Bringing up Midoriya in this conversation is unfair. His circumstance certainly is unfortunate, however, we cannot let the death of a single student impact our deci-
The death of a single student?! Midoriya was a child, barely sixteen years old, who was brutally murdered during what should’ve been a safe camping trip to train his quirk! And do you know the worst fact from this? The boy did not die quickly from an injury. Rather, he choked on the blood that was quickly entering his lungs through the punctures caused by his numerous broken ribs. Midoriya Izuku died a slow and probably agonizing death as he suffocated! No child-
A cold tingle started in the center of his chest and spread out through the rest of his upper body. He didn’t get the chance to look into the reason for this, as his stomach lurched a moment later. In a desperate move, he shot out tendrils towards the nearest trash bin and yanked it to himself. He slid out of his chair and collapsed onto his knees in front of it, managing to pull out the breathing tube affixed to his neck before the bile forced its way up his throat and out of his body.
He violently heaved into the bin, attempting to breathe deeply once it was out, but being unable to due to the second rush of acid pushing its way out. Coughing violently in between, he emptied the contents of his stomach, almost including his stomach itself, several more times before he had a moment of pause.
He desperately gasped for air as he leaned away from the rancid smelling trash and rested against his chair. Lightheadedness from the lack of air overwhelmed his senses, and so he sat there staring at nothing in particular as he slowly caught his breath enough to where he could properly reattach his breathing tube. With the additional air his body was now gaining, the cloud that hovered over his brain slowly but surely dissipated, until he was able to form a coherent thought. ‘What… the hell… was that?’ He asked himself as he stood up from his place on the floor.
He glared down at the bright red puddle that now made up the bottom of the cool blue trash bin with an even mixture of disgust and annoyance. A quick warp deposited it back on the other side of the room, and he shot it one more glare before he turned to the entering Tsubasa. The man immediately noticed his foul mood and froze in the doorway, waiting to see if he was being summoned or dismissed. One of his hands clenched into a tight fist as the other gestured out to the elder doctor. “Ah, Tsubasa! How lovely for you to join me!” He expressed in sarcastic joy.
The other harshly winced as he hesitantly stepped inside, already accepting whatever fate awaited him. “Is something the matter Sensei?” The doctor carefully asked as he stopped in front of him.
He toothily smiled at his subordinate as he gestured to the cursed trash bin in the corner of the room. “There is, actually,” he simply answered, before completely dropping the false friendly pretence. “While I appreciate and even highly encourage your experimenting to find new ways to keep me alive and comfortable while we propagate my healing, I’d, once again, rather you inform me of anything new before you implement them, so that I may properly prepare myself for any subsequent side effects.”
The completely fearful look on the doctor shifted to contain an edge of confusion, which only served to increase his own. Surely the doctor knew what he was talking about, since it was most definitely one of the medicines in his IVs that caused the violent reaction, and since it had not happened before, there must have been something new added into the mix that did not work well with the older mixtures. But his look never changed to one of recognition, or acceptance, and his confusion switched to irritation. Who did he think he was fooling? It had to be something he did, something he changed. There simply wasn’t anything else it could be, and he decided to let him know.
“Come on now Tsubasa, don’t play dumb. I know that you changed something in the cocktail of medication that you give to me. The evidence of such is in that putrid trash bin over there, which now needs to be cleaned out.”
Tsubasa’s face changed to one of obvious horror, even with his seeing disability, and he whipped his head around to take a look at the mentioned receptacle. As he turned around, he stared past him momentarily, and his breath caught. He quickly snapped his gaze back to him as fear once again took over his barely defined features. “I’m sorry Sensei!” He energetically apologized. “I haven’t changed anything recently, but I must have missed a long term use side effect for one of them, or even a combination for them. I’ll diligently look through them all again to determine which one has caused this!”
He bowed deeply, then immediately turned on his heel and rushed over to the corner to retrieve the current bane of his existence, before absconding from the room with it.
Now that he was left alone, he could properly reflect on how weird that exchange was. If Tsubasa had secretly changed out or added to his usual injection, it would’ve explained why he had been so twitchy this morning, and even why he had taken an early leave the prior day. But by the sound of things, he hasn’t done anything of the sort, which left his reaction earlier unexplained. Maybe he could chalk it up to being aware of how annoyed he was that he left unannounced, but then that left the question of why would he leave if he knew that it would irritate him? He had explained it away as wanting to give him privacy to enjoy the events, but that didn’t require him to sneak out the way he did. There was always the possibility that something else happened that he was trying to hide, but surely the doctor knew better than to try to hide something from him. So then what?
Behind him, he heard the jingle for the start of the afternoon news play from the television, and he remembered the debate. He sighed in disappointment as he realized that he missed the conclusion of it. He softly exhaled as a small smile formed on his face. ‘Oh well,’ he shrugged, ‘it’s not like I don’t know the end result.’ If he had eyes, an insidious gleam would’ve came to them at that moment, because he knew the outcome of all this. A decrease of the public’s faith and belief in the hero school, and thus heroes themselves. Soon public outcry will demand change, and reform, one which he can take advantage of to put himself back at the top. And it was all thanks to the death of a single student.
All Might had to win; he had to defeat the fiend standing across from him. It was what everyone else needed, and what Young Midoriya deserved.
The poor boy ( his boy) was taken too soon; he never got to reach his dream of being a hero, or at least he would never get to recognize the fact that he already was one. He would never get to see the effects of all the lives he touched; of all the people he saved. No. Instead, Young Midoriya attempted to save a small child who had gotten stuck in the crossfire of the raid, and paid dearly for it. His classmates were heartbroken, and his mother was inconsolable, her despair only made worse by her being completely unable to contact her absentee husband to inform him of their son’s passing.
And himself, well… he only needed to survive long enough to defeat All-For-One and ensure that he could never harm another person again. Anything after that would have to be left to his colleagues, who had more than enough anger to continue the hunt for the remaining League members and their still missing students. For now though, he needed to focus on the problem on hand. More specifically, the two hundred year old monster who had gladly aided in the attack and murder of children.
All-For-One stared at him with an air of boredom, his arms slightly extended in a mocking invite for him to attack. “What’s wrong All Might? Surely you’re not having cold feet now, not after all you’ve said about avenging your boy.”
His taunting made his blood boil, but he didn’t move. He couldn’t mess this up; he only had one chance to defeat him, and he wouldn’t throw away his chance to ensure Young Midoriya didn’t die in vain just because he was insulted.
The other tilted his masked head, and he could practically feel the smile he had. “It’s understandable that you’re afraid, All Might. After all, both your predecessor and successor died pitiful and painful deaths, so of course you would be nervous about sharing their fate.”
His entire body started to shake in response. His teeth and fists were clenched so tight that it felt like they would shatter. How dare-
“How was it that the boy died? Suffocated on his own blood?” He lightly questioned. He chuckled as he started to move forward. “I only wish I could’ve seen just how terrified he was as he slowly asphyxiated-”
All Might saw red, and then he rushed forward.
-----
He stepped out of the warp gate into his wire covered office. There were many things he was feeling then: exhaustion, fatigue, anxiety, relief. But what he felt the most of right then was absolute delight.
In their final battle, the final confrontation between One-For-All and himself, he crushed that pathetic hero and his spirit into the ground where they belonged. He didn’t kill him. No, it was much better for that former nuisance to continue to live with the knowledge that he failed to protect everything he cared about. As he had pulled his fist back, he could practically hear the screams of anguish from the civilians watching elsewhere.
What was even greater was that he hadn't even had to mention how Tomura was that Shimura’s grandson. All he had to do was remind him of the boy’s death, and how it was all his fault since he was the one who gave the boy his quirk, essentially putting a large target on his back in the process. While he personally did not have a hand in the boy’s demise, it was Tomura’s League that brought him to his early grave, and he made sure to remind him at every chance he could during their battle, including his last hit which put the struggling hero down for good.
He smiled to himself as he started to cross the room to his chair. And now that that pest was finally taken care of, his dear brother’s quirk could finally rest in peace along with its original holder.
That familiar cold, tingling sensation spread out from his chest, and he only had a second to be confused before his memory caught up to him.
“How was it that the boy died? Suffocated on his own blood? ”
“I only wish I could’ve seen just how terrified he was as he slowly asphyxiated-”
He collapsed. Pain, agonizing pain, spread through his chest and head as he fell onto his knees. He ripped the mask off his head and threw it to the side, then gasped for air as he grabbed at his chest. He was hurting. Why was he hurting? His heart felt like it was being squeezed, like someone was trying to crush it in his chest. He pulled in another short breath, then quickly glanced around the room to try to find the nuisance responsible for this, but found no other living person anywhere near him. Using Search only confirmed that there wasn’t anyone near his position, so what could be causing this? He had been fairly certain that he wasn’t injured during his battle with All Might, but perhaps there was a hit that had caused more damage than he initially thought.
Slowly, but surely, the stabbing pain in his heart dissipated, until there was only an echo of pain lingering. The splitting pain in his skull also lessened, which allowed him to realize that someone, or more specifically Tsubasa, was approaching his location. He hurriedly raised himself onto his feet, swiping the mask off the floor as he stood, and affixed it over his head just as the door opened. “Tsubasa, how nice of you to join me,” he dryly greeted as the other slowly stepped into the room.
The doctor paused in the doorway, already off put by his cold demeanor. “Is everything alright, Sensei?” He hesitantly asked, remaining in the doorway for an extra moment or so before continuing forward.
He turned and walked away from the man as he approached one of the machines, sitting down in his chair when he reached it. “No, actually,” he admitted as he removed the mask for the second time that day, “I need you to run some tests on my chest and head, specifically my heart and the surrounding muscle.”
He could hear the old man hold his breath with his statement, and it peaked his confusion. As he turned to face him though, he had already started moving again, dragging over his breathing apparatus to replace the mask. He sat in silence as Tsubasa carefully inserted the breathing tube into his neck. “I just need to grab some equipment from the lab before I can run your tests.”
With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the doctor, who hurried out of the room, and faced the screens in front of him. He rested his hand on the screen, and with the assistance of Projector he viewed the static filled screens.
With the bar compromised and essentially destroyed, there wasn’t anything currently connected to them. Once Tomura found a new semipermanent hideout, he would have to have more cameras installed. While he could monitor his successor’s well being from almost anywhere with the assistance of Search, he needed a direct line to him to be able to monitor other aspects of his growth, like his behavior and plans.
An echo of pain grasped down on his heart, and he tensely sucked in air through clenched teeth until it was done. He took a couple deep, calmer breaths afterwards to clear his mind, after which he reached forward and pressed a certain number on the intercom. It barely rang once before the recipient answered.
Sensei?!
“Ah Tomura, I’m glad to hear that you’re safe.”
Mhm, and it’s all thanks to you. Are-are you alright?
He couldn’t help but lightly chuckle at his worry. “Of course I am, Tomura. After all, I promised you that I would-”
His heart seized up, and he couldn’t stop the loud gasp of air that came n response. He bent over and grabbed at his chest as the squeezing feeling increased in intensity, forcing all of the air he had in his lungs out. He attempted to pull in a breath, but a sudden quick tightening of his chest stopped it in its track.
His entire body shook as he lowered his head until it almost could rest on his knees. Once again he attempted to take in a breath, and to his relief was semi successful. Then he went to let it out, and was shocked at the sound of a choked sob coming out.
‘Surely I’m not in that much pain,’ he pondered, but then his chest seized up again and alright, maybe he was.He remained in that position, resigning himself to his situation and waiting for it to naturally pass, or for Tsubasa to return and take care of it for him. Whichever came first.
In the background, he could vaguely hear Tomura shouting for him in concern, but he couldn’t bring himself to respond. Even thinking about it made his chest flare up, so he waited.
After what felt like an eternity, the pain once again subsided, and he raised himself back to a normal sitting position. He violently coughed a couple times to clear his chest of stale air, before taking a deep breath. Annoyance flared through his mind. He was so over this.
Sen-
“Tomura, I’m alright,” he interrupted, trying to lower the intensity of his headache. “I know a lot has happened over the past couple days, however I need you to do something for me.”
Of course Sensei! Whatever you need, I’ll do it!
He smiled to himself as he continued. “There is a man, Chisaki Kai,” he started, “he is the head of the yakuza ‘Eight Precepts of Death’. I want you to arrange a meeting between him and I.”
There was a beat of silence before his reply.
O-okay Sensei, I’ll… I’ll get it done…… … I… Is it alright if I ask why?
“It’s simple Tomura,” he replied, “he has something that will aid me greatly in my complete recovery.”
You’re going to heal?
The hopeful edge to his tone broadened his smile. “That’s right, but first I need to meet with that man. You can do that for me, correct?”
Yes! I’ll find him at once!
Before they could end the call, a thought came to him. “Oh, and Tomura, be careful. His quirk is extremely dangerous, a single touch could kill you instantly, and his followers aren’t much easier. I’ll be sure to send you a list, so you can properly prepare beforehand.”
With a final right! from Tomura, they ended the call. He leaned back into his chair, letting his head stare up at the ceiling. A faint pulse of soreness lingered around his heart, and he growled to himself. For some reason his body was freaking out, going through random moments of extreme pain and discomfort, with almost every time something happening that affected his breathing, which in his condition was not good. With his only threat taken care of, he supposed he could move forward with his healing.
He felt a soft tingle creep through his mind as he started to drift off, and he welcomed it. Between his fight with All Might (that’s right, that happened today) and his two attacks, he was exhausted. So he let the blissful numbness of sleep overtake him. Maybe today would be the day that boy decided to show up.
The world around him was one big blur. He couldn’t make out where he was, or who was here with him. Small arms wrapped around the upper part of his legs, and he glanced down at an extremely blurry figure. They barely stood out from the scenery around them, and he couldn’t see any defining features of them. “Do you really have to go?” The figure (he assumed at least) asked.
Against his will, he felt his body slowly lower itself into a kneeling position. His arms wrapped around the blurred figure and he leaned in closer to them. His mouth moved, but no sound came with the words physically formed. The smaller figure sniffled as they gripped onto the back of his jacket. “Promise?” He pressed his lips against the side of their head, before pulling back a little to presumably face them. This time when he spoke, he heard it. “I-”
He shot up in his seat. His heart threatened to pound out of his chest as he slowly looked around. The red and blue shading of his surroundings confused him momentarily, until he remembered where he was. With a sigh, he reached up and gently rubbed his face. ‘I cannot wait until I am healed,’ he thought as he watched Tsubasa reenter the room.
He stood across from the smaller man dressed in a large coat and wearing a bird beak mask that covered his lower face. Like the bird he reflected, he looked about one second away from fleeing, and he couldn’t exactly blame him. While what he had requested from him wasn’t a lot, from a business standpoint it would be utterly idiotic to accept, since it would only be strengthening a rival. It was unfortunate for the young man that he had essentially no choice in the matter.
“And what would I get for what would be restoring you to your full power?”
“A fair question,” he cheerfully conceded. “In addition to me allowing you to continue with your experiments” - for now went unsaid- “I will give you some political and police contacts of mine that should be of great assistance to your project.”
The other man paused at that, and he smiled underneath his mask. “That should be sufficient for you, correct?”
Chisaki Kai curtly nodded, then stepped forward. “Let’s get this over with,” he boredly stated.
At his movement, Tomura growled and started to also move, but he placed a hand on his shoulder and held him back. “Now now Tomura, it’s alright. Our guest here simply misunderstood the proposal,” he comforted, before addressing the other. “No offense, but I do not believe we have established enough trust between us for me to feel comfortable with you healing me.”
The man froze. “Then how do you expect me to heal you?” He asked.
He ignored the slight attitude and simply smiled wider. “I want you to lend me the aid of the little girl in your possession that you pawn off as your daughter.”
Chisaki flinched and took two large steps back. “How do-”
“Come on now, did you really expect me to have knowledge of your entire operation and not know about the source of it?” He chuckled darkly, before extending a hand towards him. “I still have no intention of interfering with your operation, so what do you say, Chisaki Kai?”
There was a tense moment of silence with no movement from either side, before he nodded once again. “Fine,” he agreed, “but I have to warn you that the kid’s a monster.”
“Oh?”
The man hummed an affirmation, before turning and walking away. “Yeah, she’s more likely to kill you than I am.”
With that, he left the hideout and went on his way.
“What does he mean by that?” Tomura questioned.
He laid a hand on his successor’s shoulder and gave him a quick squeeze. “Don’t worry about it, Tomura. You just focus on learning the information that I’ve given you, and I’ll handle the rest.”
Tomura looked up at him and nodded, and with a final pat to the head he sent him on his way. Now finally alone, he allowed his hand to reach up and rest over his heart, which was finally giving him a break for once. ‘Only one more day, and then all of this will be behind me.’
He stared forward at the plain apartment door with slight confusion. What was this place? Why was he here? Without him moving it, his hand reached towards the handle and pushed open the door. “I’m home!” He heard himself announce, but he didn’t say that. What was going on?
"̵̨̹̙̈̓H̸̢͖̒́̕ḭ̸̊̈́̂s̸͇̥̊́ȁ̸̢̙̞͆s̵̩̜̊̏h̸̠͐̂ͅi̴̡̗̙̓͂?̵̳̏"̷͎͐
A woman called out, before they stepped out from around a corner.
At least, he assumed it was the person who spoke, but he honestly could not tell. The figure was extremely blurry, and only vaguely resembled the shape of a person. He would almost say it was Kurogiri, or someone related to the man, but what they were was different. While Kurogiri’s extremities were a dark mist that covered the rest of his body, the person in front of him clearly had a body, but he just couldn't see it. Almost like a smudged drawing, or someone using the blur tool in photoshop.
They stepped up to him, and even though they didn’t look like they had a solid form, they sure did feel like it, as he felt arms wrap around the back of his neck at the same time lips pressed against his. His heart pounded in his chest as he wrapped his arms around her small body, and he leaned into the kiss (by this point, he wasn’t sure if it was still an unconscious movement or not).
After what easily could’ve been years, and yet still felt too short, she pulled away. “You’re in luck, he woke up only a little bit ago, so he’s all charged up and ready for you.”
He couldn’t see it, but he knew she had a wide, warm smile on her face, and he reciprocated it. “Is that so?” He heard himself ask, instead of what he wanted to ask, which was who were they talking about?
On cue, a small blur, similar to how the woman in front of him appeared, toddled around the corner. He felt the smile on his face grow as they stopped where they were. It was quiet for a moment, before the small shape extended an arm towards him and shrieked, “ah!”
He chuckled as he released the woman and slowly approached the small figure. “Well hello there!” He energetically stated as he knelt in front of them.
T he figure didn’t hesitate before practically leaping into his arms, squealing excitedly as he picked them up and hugged them.
He buried his face into the side of their neck, and started repeatedly kissing them, causing the small figure to once again shriek. “And how was papa’s little boy today?” He asked as he finally finished and adjusted the small figure.
“ Ahb!” was the quick and energetic response. He chuckled as he squeezed them close to him, then rubbed his head against their soft hair.
“Ah… papa loves you I̶̧̳͖͖̋͆ż̶̺̹͛̽̀͘u̷̡̡͚̮̣͍̟̒̃͂̊̅́k̵̮͙̙̞̣̻̿u̶̳̗͚̭͑̈́̈̓̕̚͜.̸̩̥̮̻̝̜͖̓̒̇̆͛͘”
Suddenly, they were gone. He whipped his head around in every direction as he frantically looked for the missing child. His missing child.
“Ḭ̵̡̼͉͕͚͔̿̋̌̎͑͜z̵̹̟͌̔̏͆͊͘͝ų̵͇͍͉͔̻͓͆̈́̾k̶̢̩͚̭̱̣̝̊̀̚u̶̢̥̫̼̟̇̆̔̈͒̕͘͝͝?̵͔̩̬͙͙̽͛̋͝”
The apartment fazed out from view, replaced by a would-be familiar black void had he not been so frenzied. After looking all around, he started running forward into the darkness.
“Į̴̼͇͈͖͍̈́̽̈́̌̍͌̕͜ͅz̵̢͈͙̖̩̥̓̄̂̒͊̈́̋͑́͘͜u̴̧͍̟̦͇̻̭̜̺̱̮̭͋̔͛̐͗̚k̵̮̠̞͇͎̙̘̱̇̃͜͝ṷ̷̘͈͔̙̺̺͚̮͈̊͌͒̈́͑̕͠?̶̭̘̤͚̜͛̈́͌̕!̷̢̛̪͍̬͉̹̲̱̻̰̻̾̓̈́͛̃̍̔͊͂͋͠”
As he sprinted into the nothingness, he felt as though he was being watched, with the feeling of pure anger emanating from the shadows surrounding him. It would have been suffocating if he wasn’t so focused on finding his child, and so he blocked out the strangers’ presence. He didn’t know who they were, but they didn’t matter. The only thing that did was finding his child in this strange place. He continued forward in near complete silence, with the only sound interrupting it being his own growing desperate screams of his child’s name.
Į̴̼͇͈͖͍̈́̽̈́̌̍͌̕͜ͅz̵̢͈͙̖̩̥̓̄̂̒͊̈́̋͑́͘͜u̴̧͍̟̦͇̻̭̜̺̱̮̭͋̔͛̐͗̚k̵̮̠̞͇͎̙̘̱̇̃͜͝ṷ̷̘͈͔̙̺̺͚̮͈̊͌͒̈́͑̕͠?̶̭̘̤͚̜͛̈́͌̕!̷̢̛̪͍̬͉̹̲̱̻̰̻̾̓̈́͛̃̍̔͊͂͋͠
Į̴̼͇͈͖͍̈́̽̈́̌̍͌̕͜ͅz̵̢͈͙̖̩̥̓̄̂̒͊̈́̋͑́͘͜u̴̧͍̟̦͇̻̭̜̺̱̮̭͋̔͛̐͗̚k̵̮̠̞͇͎̙̘̱̇̃͜͝ṷ̷̘͈͔̙̺̺͚̮͈̊͌͒̈́͑̕͠?̶̭̘̤͚̜͛̈́͌̕!̷̢̛̪͍̬͉̹̲̱̻̰̻̾̓̈́͛̃̍̔͊͂͋͠
Į̴̼͇͈͖͍̈́̽̈́̌̍͌̕͜ͅz̵̢͈͙̖̩̥̓̄̂̒͊̈́̋͑́͘͜u̴̧͍̟̦͇̻̭̜̺̱̮̭͋̔͛̐͗̚k̵̮̠̞͇͎̙̘̱̇̃͜͝ṷ̷̘͈͔̙̺̺͚̮͈̊͌͒̈́͑̕͠?̶̭̘̤͚̜͛̈́͌̕!̷̢̛̪͍̬͉̹̲̱̻̰̻̾̓̈́͛̃̍̔͊͂͋͠
And then he spotted something up ahead. A figure, maybe the size of a teenager, stood with their back to him. From the distance he was, they were extremely blurry. Some distant part of his brain made the connection between their appearance and that of the woman and child earlier, but what he thought right then was ‘Maybe they saw where he ran off to.’ And so he closed the distance between them, only allowing himself to be slightly confused at the continued blurriness of the teen, until he was right behind them.
“ Excuse me-” he started, but immediately froze as they turned around because…
because it was…
“I̶̢̖̖͔͍̠̱̩̠͚͓̜̪͛̑͋̃̇̕-̸̢͍͖̟̫̙̹̻͚̞̞̎̍́̐̓̈̎͐̋͝Į̵͚̟͈̠̭͖͓̝̫̥͚͑͑̉̉̀̀͌̏̋͘͠z̴̨̨̺̒͂̍ų̶̨͍̲̙̩̞͈̺͍̥̥̼̏͒͊̈́͑̏͌̽̍̕͝͠͝͠k̵̢̼̟̰̦͈̱̠͚̽̍̏̎̋̏ͅǘ̵̺̲͈͖͌͝?̵̺̲̥͕̲̬̻̹͛͂̉͌̅̈̐̀͌̅͘ͅ”
He was only faintly aware that he couldn’t hear his own voice as he stared at his too old son.
This… couldn’t be right. Someone had to be messing with him. Ȉ̴̪̝̎͝͠z̵̲̤̥͋̓̑͘ǔ̷̗̈͝͠k̶̫͔̦̈́͠ṵ̵͘ was… he was only a baby; barely old enough to reliably walk around the house. This teen who… who looked a lot like how he imagined Ȉ̴̪̝̎͝͠z̵̲̤̥͋̓̑͘ǔ̷̗̈͝͠k̶̫͔̦̈́͠ṵ̵͘ would one day… it must be a coincidence. Maybe a distant relative of I̷̻̗͙͓͆̿ͅn̵͚̣͇̘̟̎̾̿k̷͈̈̍̓͒͘o̸͎̎͂?
S omething tickled in a deep crevice of his mind, but he pushed it to the side for now. He stared at the teen in growing disbelief as they faced straight towards him. His throat closed as he repeatedly looked over the boy, because even though it was impossible... even though it just couldn’t be true… he knew that this boy was his son. That this was his boy. He wanted to rush forward, to pull him into the tightest hug of his life to show just how relieved he was that he found him, but he couldn’t. He was frozen in place, forced to stare straight at the overwhelming pain and grief on his son’s face.
His heart clenched as he watched his son start crying. A quick wipe to his eyes confirmed he was too, and he didn’t understand why. What… what had happened?
Ȉ̴̪̝̎͝͠z̵̲̤̥͋̓̑͘ǔ̷̗̈͝͠k̶̫͔̦̈́͠ṵ̵͘ looked up at him with currently dull green eyes, and his heart ached as his lip started to tremble. “Papa?”
Dark, shadow covered arms suddenly reached out from the void surrounding them and grabbed his son. There was nothing he could do as he was pulled away from him, disappearing into the darkness with his kidnappers. For a moment, there was nothing but silence. That moment dragged on to one full minute. Then two. Then five.
“Give… him back…” He forced the words out of his constrictor tight throat.
No response came from the void.
He took in a deep, shaky breath as he forced his leg forward. “Give him back!” He demanded more confidently, with unfortunately similar results.
Tears fell increasingly from his eyes. He clenched his teeth and fists tightly, and his body started to tremble. Without anymore hesitation, he lunged forward after them. “Give him-”
His head smacked against a cold, hard surface, sending a ripple of pain through it. He forced himself to take a large, deep breath, feeling an irritated tingling sensation from his throat as he did. He reached up and gently rubbed his neck, and was confused when he didn’t feel any problems with it. He swallowed dryly, and winced when the pain spiked.
So it wasn’t physically injured, which meant it was most likely illness. It was good that he was being healed later today, because he wasn’t sure how much more his injured body could take. He took the time to regulate his breathing, before pushing himself up.
The room, mostly a cool blue in his vision, spun around him, and he lowered himself onto his bed before he could collapse again. Now with his breathing calmed and most of his pain subsided, he took a moment to reflect what happened. There wasn’t anyone in the room, or anywhere near him, so he must have thrown himself from the bed. But for what reason he had absolutely no idea. It most likely had to do with whatever he had dreamt about, which he couldn’t remember at this moment. He vaguely remembered that cursed dreamscape, so maybe last night was finally the night that the boy decided to show himself, but then why would he have thrown himself from the bed? There was no way the boy had anywhere near the power needed to make him feel like he had to defend himself, and he doubted that he had tried to run away from that conversation, so then what happened?
In an old, unkillable habit, he reached up to rub the remaining embers of sleep out of his eyes, and froze. His eyes… he knew they weren’t there, and he was used to the feeling of tight skin pulled across the old area of the holes. What he wasn’t used to was the squishy, fluid feeling to them. He testingly poked one, and shuddered at the feeling. It’s fine. Everything was fine. He just woke up that morning face first on the floor, with a racing heart and sore throat, and now there was fluid in his eyes. Surely it was just a buildup of extra fluid that didn’t have anyway to escape, or even a buildup of mucus from whatever illness had infected him. It would take a simple drain to take care of either of those, and on the slight chance it’s something more serious, it wouldn’t be a problem after he was healed. For now, all he could do was get prepared for the day, and wait for his time to come.
——
In a repeat of the other day, he stood across from the plague mask wearing yakuza member, only now they had an extra, small guest with them. A little girl who only came up to his knee at most stood across from him fearfully, although he had a strong feeling he wasn’t what she was afraid of. Dressed in a torn up hospital gown and covered in bandaging, the small girl trembled fiercely next to the man who brought her.
He suppressed the rising anger in his chest, shoving it off as exhaustion getting the better of his emotions, and approached them. It wouldn’t matter in a moment anyhow.
He stopped just outside of arm's reach from the two, and looked down at Chisaki. “Is she going to be alright?” He found himself asking, to the surprise of the other.
The man barely turned his head down to her as he responded, “She’ll be fine, especially if she doesn’t mess up.”
The little girl froze under his partial stare, and she looked straight ahead at nothing.
Chisaki sighed, before turning his full gaze back to him. “How about we start so I can get this one back?” He tiredly asked as he rested his hand behind her without touching her.
He glanced between the little girl and the smaller man, then briefly ‘Searched’ the surrounding area. He’s running a little behind.
With a sigh, he stepped forward towards the child. When the man also stepped forward, he stopped in his tracks and held a flat hand out. “Only the girl, please.”
Chisaki froze, briefly glancing at the scared girl next to him, before shoving her forward. She stumbled forward towards him, and came to a clumsy stop in front of him. She stared straight at the ground as she hesitantly held out her hand. As he started raising his, Chisaki spoke out. “Make sure she doesn’t grab you too tightly; you’re going to need to be able to pull away quickly so that she doesn’t rewind you too far back.”
A chuckle escaped from him as he continued. “You don’t need to worry about me,” he responded as Search picked up a familiar presence nearby.
With his signal finally here, he raised his hand above the head of the little girl and shot a bone spear at his unsuspecting guest. Somehow, with speed that he underestimated, he nearly dodged it, but a couple adjustment shots ensured that he was pinned to the opposing wall almost ten meters back. Spears protruded from his shoulders and wrists, ensuring he couldn’t free and heal himself with his quirk. The man coughed up a dark red substance as he approached him. “W-why…”
He stopped just out of his current reach, and tilted his head. “Did you really expect any other outcome?” He questioned. “You had almost an army’s worth of your men waiting around the perimeter of this building, so surely you must have seen something like this happening.”
He slowly reached forward and tightly grabbed onto his head. “Honestly, I’m not sure which notion I’m more insulted by: the idea that I would actually allow you to continue your experimentation when it could directly interfere with my work, or that your pathetic men could hold a candle to my successor alone, not even taking into account his men.”
He then pulled, ripping out the quirk from its original host. Once upon a time he might’ve compared it to hacking, or coding. Strategically removing a piece of information from the data surrounding it, with him giving quirks inserting data. Now, though, it was just an instinctual thing that happened with very little conscious thought behind it. Within seconds, he had a new quirk in his arsenal, and his guest was staring at him dumbfounded.
He turned around as a warp gate formed in the room, and Tomura with his entire League stepped through, with only a couple scratches between them as injuries. He gestured for him to join him, and Tomura stepped up next to him. “Do you understand now, Chisaki Kai?”
He glanced down at Tomura, and he walked forward carelessly. “You were Leagues outclassed.”
There was a low groan somewhere behind him, which he decided to let go for now. On the eve of complete victory for him, he could let one sarcastic reaction slide. He gave a curt nod to the awaiting Tomura, who smiled widely as he reached for the other’s face. With that taken care of, he turned around and approached the remaining child, who was trembling in place with her eyes squeezed shut. He knelt down in front of her and placed a gentle hand on her head. “Hey now, you’re alright,” he softly comforted. “I took care of the bad man. He won’t hurt you anymore.”
She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him. “P-promise?” She hesitantly asked, and he smiled down at her. “Promise.”
For a moment, a very brief but intense moment, a different image flashed before him. For that very small moment, there wasn’t a little girl made up of different shades of reds and blues, but rather a little boy of natural coloring, with bright green eyes and similar hair. For that tiny but very significant moment, his heart hurt worse than it ever did before. His throat closed involuntarily, letting no air pass, and pressure built up behind his skin covered eyes.
‘Not again!’ He growled to himself, reeling back from the girl and reaching up at his head. He held a hand firmly against his aching head while holding out the other at an approaching Tomura.
“I am fine Tomura,” he lied through gritted teeth, “it’s just my injury acting up.” At least that part wasn’t a lie. He wanted to wait for the pain to pass by itself, but with his healing source right in front of him, it would probably be faster just to have her heal him. So he forced his hands down and reached out to the small girl.
“Since I helped you, would you mind assisting me?” He kindly asked with a big smile.
She stared at his extended hand cautiously. “My-my quirk-”
“Will not harm me I assure you, so if you would please.”
She hesitated for another moment, before reaching forward and gently grabbing onto his hand.
Instantly he started to feel the effects. Over the course of about a minute, he felt the skin on his face smooth out and tighten. His ears and nose grew from nothing and reformed. The skin covering his eye holes separated into two separate lids, which covered his newly healed eyes. For the first time in years, he could feel his longish curly hair tickle against the back of his neck. And then there were his quirks. All the quirks that he had lost in the fight because of the extensive brain damage returned, making him feel whole once again. One particular favorite of his that he had lost was now back, settling nicely in his throat in preparation for when he needed it.
Soon he felt the changes slow, until nothing drastic was happening, and he gently pulled away from the child. He breathed out softly, letting a small flame pass through his lips, before he closed his mouth and smiled widely. Slowly, he opened his newly healed eyes and looked around his surroundings. He already knew where he was, but it was nice to see the large, and very dimly lit, warehouse with his own two eyes. A little in front of him stood Tomura, who was visibly trying his hardest to not cry. He met the young man’s red eyed gaze, and smiled warmly at him.
With a pat on the head to the little girl, he walked around her and stepped up to his successor. Tomura loudly sniffed, before removing his father and roughly wiping away the small tears forming in his eyes. He rested his hand on his head and smiled down at him. “There’s no reason to cry, Tomura. This is a happy moment.”
Another sniff, and with a final wipe of his eyes, he looked up to him and nodded. He ruffled his hair, before turning to the crowd along the opposite wall. They were a ragtag bunch, ranging from a woman who looked like a teenage girl, to a mask gentleman who dressed similar to Kurogiri, to that large, muscle covered man who had killed… killed… What was the name of that child again? He racked his brain hard to try to remember, but for the life of him he couldn’t. Every time he got close, it slipped a little further from his reach. He knew who it had been, All Might’s successor, it was just the name itself was eluding him for some reason.
A cough from in front of him pulled his attention back. “So you’re Shigaraki’s… Sensei?” The masked one inquired.
“Mr. Compress, I presume?” The man nodded, and he continued. “Yes, I am Tomura’s mentor, although I have merely been assisting him. Everything he has accomplished has been through his own hard work, as well as yours.”
Another one, the woman Magne he believed, stepped forward. “So what happens from here?” She asked.
He simply smiled. “Nothing changes. Tomura is still the leader of the League, and you will still work with him. As for me…” He turned to the little girl standing off to the side. What should he do with her? Her… guardian, for lack of a suitable word, was no longer around, which meant she had nowhere to go. He supposed he could bring her home under the pretense of taking her in as a favor to a coworker. He smiled to himself. Yes, that could work great. After all, Inko was probably feeling quite lonely, what with Izuku being-
‘...wait.’ Faces that had been stolen from his mind returned to him, and once they did he was incredibly frustrated with himself. How could he have forgotten about his sweet, lovely Inko, with her deep forest green eyes and long, matching hair. The woman who, for some reason still unknown to him, had fallen in love with him (and the same had been with him for her) and decided to accept his proposal to start a family together. Which would bring about his greatest achievement of his life. His pride and joy, his little boy, only nine years old, who had his mother’s face and color scheme, and his hair, eye color, and freckles. An energetic child who somehow held all of the stars in his eyes, his little Izuku was-
-the unfortunate passing of UA first year Midoriya Izuku-
...No… no that’s not right. He pushed away the rogue thought and activated Search, feeling slightly confused (and very worried) when he couldn’t lock onto his son himself. Was he out of range? If he was, where the hell was he, and why? He quickly changed targets, and found Inko all by herself at home. So he was out alone? Surely that couldn’t be right, Inko would never let him travel out by himself, and especially so far. He was only nine after all… but something in his mind screamed that was wrong. Then his current memories mixed with his old, and he realized that was indeed wrong. While Izuku was nine when he left, six years have passed since then, making him around fifteen or sixteen. Today’s date came to him, and he settled on the latter. Being sixteen would mean that he was in high school, which was probably where he was no-
-And now with a heavy heart, we cover the unfortunate passing of UA first year Midoriya Izuku-
His breath caught in his chest. That… that couldn’t be right. Izuku was… he was safe. He didn’t have a quirk, he had made sure of it. So there was no way for him to be in an UA heroics cour-
What’s wrong All Might? Surely you’re not having cold feet now, not after all you’ve said about avenging your boy.
How was it that the boy died? Suffocated on his own blood?
I only wish I could’ve seen just how terrified he was as he slowly asphyxiated-
His knees buckled out from underneath him, and he collapsed onto them. He slowly reached a hand to his chest and yanked at his dress shirt. He couldn’t breathe. His entire body was just healed, but he wasn’t getting any air. He shook as he suppressed the building sob in his throat. It-it wasn’t true.
There wasn’t-
Izuku was-
He-
Promise?
He expanded Search all the way to its absolute maximum range. A migraine started to build in his skull, but he couldn’t feel it over the extreme fear that was building. He could see Inko at home alone in her distraught state. He could see All Might, unconscious, in some hospital surrounded by his detective friend and Shimura’s old friend. He could see the various students and teachers of UA, some on campus in the newly built dormitories and living quarters, and others off campus in their homes or on the streets. All of these people he could see, so why couldn’t he see Izuku.
He pushed and forced Search to expand past its range, ignoring the searing pain in his skull as he frantically looked over every new person who appeared. Finally, it stopped. For some reason unknown to him, the quirk wasn’t expanding out any further. No matter how hard he fought against the searing white hot pain in his head, he couldn’t get even the slightest meter further. It must have been overuse.
He allowed the quirk to slip away for now, and he took in a large gasp of air as he returned to his surroundings. Tomura was knelt right next to him, glaring at something behind him. The others, or at least most of them, had stepped back and were standing with their backs against the wall. The only one who wasn’t was…
Was the man who…
There was nothing thought out about what happened next. No, it was all rage driven instinct. It was blinding anger that had him leaping across the room and slamming the man’s head into the opposing wall. The resounding crunch was nowhere near satisfying enough to satiate him, but it was enough for now. While he would’ve loved to rip him apart slowly and methodically, he had more urgent matters to attend to. Finding and healing his missing and injured son. Which reminded him…
He ignored the cowering figures to his side and turned his head towards the small girl in the center. He unceremoniously dropped the unconscious figure (not before taking his quirk of course) and approached the now trembling girl. She fell back as he stopped in front of her, and winced as he slowly reached for her.
He gently placed his hand on her head, and with a quick pull took the dangerous quirk. Once he had more free time, he would find a suitable replacement for it, but for now he turned to the shadow that was lurking in the corner. “Kurogiri, would you be so kind as to open a warp gate to Taiko for our little guest here?”
The man jolted with the mention of his name, and a second later a small warp opened in front of the little girl, who jumped at the sight of it. He smiled as he knelt down next to her. She froze under his careful touch, not that he minded. A lot has happened today for a normal person, let alone a little, traumatized girl. He guided her gaze up to meet his own. “I need you to go through that warp gate there, and tell the man on the other side everything that happened here. After that, he’ll take good care of you. Do you think you can do that?”
With her hesitant nod, he patted her head and sent her on her way. Hopefully Taiko will understand what he wants with just the warp gate and her going through, but even if it isn’t enough her telling what she saw here will definitely clue him in. Then once he’s finished what he has to take care of, he’ll pick her up and bring her home for Inko. That should be enough time for her to completely forget what she saw here.
For now, he pushed himself up and turned to Kurogiri. The still lingering fear in the air went almost completely unnoticed by him as he made his request. “Now I need you to open a warp to Kamino General hospital, twentieth floor, room nine. I will also need you to accompany me there to ensure I can make a quick escape.”
It was done almost instantaneously and without question, at least from the warp gate himself. As he started towards it, he heard Tomura shout out, “Wait, Sensei!”
He didn’t stop, though. He didn’t even slow down to acknowledge him as he walked through to the pristine hospital room on the other side. His eyes narrowed towards the emancipated figure unconscious in the hospital bed. Even the sight of his injured, defeated form wasn’t enough to completely quell the rage he felt when he laid eyes on the man, and if he hadn’t been on such an important mission he probably would’ve added a few more injuries to his list. But he did, and so the former hero would continue to keep all of his limbs. For now.
In the meanwhile, he quickly crossed the room and used a standard electrical quirk to short out the lock for the door. Then he approached the figure, and paused the drip that was keeping him unconscious.
Seconds passed. Then minutes. It was about six minutes later when the blonde oaf finally started to blink open his eyes. He waited for his gaze to focus on himself, and when his eyes widened in horror, he reached forward and covered his mouth. “Now now Yagi, none of that,” he taunted to the horrified cripple. “I am just here to talk. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll leave peacefully. It’s that simple.”
The man’s eyes narrowed into a harsh glare, but no sound came from him, so he pulled away. “Wh-what c-could you pos...sibly want?” The former hero croaked out.
He smiled widely, barring all of his teeth as he did. “I simply want to be informed of the current whereabouts of your former successor.”
Former because Izuku was going back to UA over his dead body, or preferably Yagi’s. Said man grit his teeth and lowly growled at him. “How dare you?!” He snarled. “D-did you come all the w-way here to mock m-me?!”
His feigned ignorance only served to annoy him. While it was understandable, given the circumstances, that he’d lie about the status of his successor to keep him safe, he was still angered by the slight set back. “Come on Yagi, you don’t need to play dumb with me. I already know the boy’s alive, so why don’t you tell me his location and I’ll heal him. No questions needed.”
His glare harshened, and he started to cough violently. Red stained his hand and mouth as he lowered it. “I can’t tell if you’re mocking me, or if you’re really this paranoid,” he wheezed, covering his mouth as he started coughing again.
He waited for the man’s coughing to quiet before speaking. “I am reaching the end of my patience, Yagi,” he growled. “I know the boy is alive; all that remains is the location he’s been secured at. I would’ve thought you would care enough about him to want to see him whole again, but I guess not.” A low growl interrupted him, but he continued before anything else could. “If you’re not willing to tell me of his location, then I guess I’ll just find someone who is. Maybe the boy’s mother will care enough about him to inform me.”
He had desperately hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. With how devastated she surely was, he was hoping to surprise her when he brought Izuku home all healed up. But if the washed up hero wasn’t going to tell him where Izuku was, then he needed to move on to someone who would.
The former hero coughed violently as he growled. “Don’t you dare harass that poor woman!” He started coughing again after his weak demand, and he just rolled his eyes.
“I won’t have to if you just tell me where the boy is,” he responded, having grown tired with this back and forth conversation.
Yagi glared straight into his eyes, silently fuming over something. Finally, he spoke. “I was busy finding you, so I’m unsure of the cemetery that he’s buried in.”
Suddenly, his knuckles stung. He pulled his fist back to himself as he looked down at Yagi, who gripped at his face. The man glared at him through his fingers, only serving to increase his own anger. “You’ve wasted enough of my time, Yagi,” he snarled as he reached for the paused drip. “You are the most useless and selfish person I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting, and I’m going to make sure Izuku has nothing to do with you ever again!”
He then restarted it and stepped away, ignoring the other’s attempts to get his attention. “L-leave… h-her out… of…”
Soon he was pulled unconscious, leaving him alone in the room. Well, actually no. Kurogiri was still there; he had completely forgotten about the other man.
He turned to the warp gate, choosing to pass over his confused look as he gave another order. “Now I need you to warp me to Musutafu’s High Rise Apartments; building 4, floor 9, apartment 41.”
Again, The man didn’t hesitate before opening a warp, and he stepped through to the other side. He stood in front of the familiar door, feeling his heart start to beat three times as fast. On the other side of this door sitting alone was Inko, and… she was crying. She was completely and truly heartbroken. His own heart ached for her, and he started to immediately reach for the door, when he remembered his company.
“You may leave for now, Kurogiri. I will call you when you’re needed again.”
This time the man paused, but still didn’t say anything as he finally left. Now alone, he took a moment to quiet his nerves, taking deep breath after deep breath as he just stood there. His extended arm rested against the door, not yet having knocked on the surface. There was just… too much for him to make up for. Inko was already bound to be furious with him for leaving all those years ago without contacting them once since. Then there was the fact that he wasn’t there for any of the times Izuku was injured, or in danger. Which led him to this current situation, one that he definitely should’ve been there for. If he had, then Inko never would have had to deal with making the decision to send their seriously injured son into hiding. But he couldn’t fix that. What he could fix, however, was Inko’s broken heart by finding and healing Izuku, and bringing him home. So despite the fact that he had absolutely no way to explain how he was going to do that, he knocked on the door.
Maybe two minutes passed before the door was slowly opened. A short, plump woman with dark green hair and eyes looked up to him, at first in surprise. “Hisashi?” She questioned, and despite the way her bloodshot eyes hurt him, he smiled at her.
“That’s right In-”
His cheek stung as his head turned to face the pathway. He gingerly held his hand against it as he quietly hummed to himself. ‘I deserved that.’
He should have tried harder in his fight against All Might. Hell, even when he lost he should have never forgotten about them. It’s all his fault that this has happened. Now he needed to do everything in his power to fix it. He turned back to Inko as she growled, “Where were you?”
His breath caught as he looked at her trembling body. Tears dripped from her already exhausted eyes. He wanted to rush forward and embrace her, but he held back, knowing it would only make things worse. Instead he did the only thing he could: he apologized. “I’m sorry, Inko. I truly am.” He swallowed roughly before continuing. “I heard about what happened and I tried my hardest to get here. Unfortunately, this was the soonest I could pull that off,” he excused, not really hoping she would forgive him.
Inko shook as she visibly suppressed a sob. “Why… weren’t you here for-for Izuku when…?”
She hiccupped, before rushing forward and pressing her face into his chest. He simply rubbed her back as he quietly shushed her. “I’m sorry Inko, I really am; but don’t worry, I’m going to fix everything. I just need to know where they brought him, and then I’ll take care of it.”
This caused her to suddenly stop crying. Her grip on his jacket loosened as she slowly looked up. “W-what do you mean, Hisashi?” She asked, with the same confusion apparent on her face.
He froze with that. Surely Inko wasn’t going to keep it a secret from him. Even if he wasn’t able to heal him, he was still his father, and he deserved to know exactly where they were keeping his son. What did they tell her that caused her to be afraid to tell him? He suppressed the momentary rising anger in his mind to instead address his still trembling wife. “Inko, it’s alright. I know that they’ve hidden Izuku so that he can heal without worry of that villain going after him. I just need to know where he was brought so that I can get him properly treated and home.”
Her gaze softened considerably. She took in a sharp breath, suppressing another hiccup as she gently spoke. “Hisashi, Izuku is-”
-with a heavy heart, we cover the unfortunate passing of UA first year Midoriya Izuku-
He shook the thought away, because… because it wasn't true. It was a lie the government fed the media so to through the League off of the boy’s trail. While it was fair, it also annoyed him, because he was the only one who could heal Izuku right then, and he had absolutely no idea where he was. Not only did Yagi refuse to tell him his whereabouts, Inko was also keeping up the lie. Why?
He smiled wider, feeling his lips tremble involuntarily as he looked down at her. “I-Inko, please. You don’t need to keep this up. I just… want to help. Please.”
It became quiet after that, with total silence overtaking their previous conversation. Inko took in a quick, shaky breath. She then tightly grabbed onto his hand and pulled him in. He was dragged down the hall, where Izuku took his first steps, and plopped down on their old couch. “Stay here,” she ordered, “I’ll… be right back.”
She walked away, towards the kitchen. Leaving him all alone in the room that held the most memories. He glanced down at the coffee table that had not always been there. At one point, this whole area was empty, instead being surrounded by a large baby gate to contain the endless amount of toys that Izuku had, as well as the toddler himself.
He remembered the one time the boy had somehow managed to squeeze through the space between the couch and the gate, and then disappeared into the apartment. It would have been ironic how he had survived numerous fights against powerful heroes only to die of a heart attack when he realized that his precious child was not, in fact, in his playpen. Thankfully, it had only taken two minutes to find the runaway child, who had somehow managed to get into his bedroom, which at the time was nothing more than a playroom, since he mainly slept in their bedroom for his first year.
He blinked, and suddenly he was standing in front of said door. With Inko still busy in the kitchen, he decided to enter. The empty walls that greeted him made him freeze immediately. He did a double take of the whole room, his unease only growing as he looked over the whole thing. As much as he hated all of Izuku’s All Might merchandise, the sight of this was infinitely worse. Why did she take all of his stuff down? Did she really not expect him to return for a long time? If she believed that, then she probably did it so that it wouldn’t get all dusty while he was gone, but something still felt wrong about it. The fact that he couldn’t see any boxes gave a ‘final’ feeling from it, like… like she hadn’t expected him to return.
How was it that the boy died?
NO!
He wasn’t sure whether he shouted out loud or not as he became frantic. ‘Izuku isn’t dead. He isn’t. They’re just hiding him. I just need… to find him.’
With that, he activated Search and expanded it to its range, then pushed and forced it further and further. He ignored the blinding pain that was overtaking his head as he covered more and more area.
Eventually, his body wasn’t able to, and his vision turned white as he collapsed to his knees. He gasped for air as pain ripped its way through his skull. Something warm dripped down his face, although he wasn’t sure of what it was, or its source. He didn’t care about any of that though. What he did was that he had managed to see almost all of Japan, and he didn’t find Izuku. It was doubtful that he was in the extreme north or south of the country, which left the option that he wasn’t here at all. With his injuries, they wouldn’t risk flying the boy on a plane, which left neighboring countries. China, perhaps? Or maybe… not a country at all. Maybe they brought him to a small island that was at the forefront of American sciences. That small place, I-Island, would be a perfect place to bring him. About a two or three day boat ride, it was both close enough for them to comfortably move the boy, and far enough that most wouldn’t even consider it. Fortunate for him, he supposed.
He quickly wiped his face with his sleeve, completely missing the dark red that now stained both, and left the room.
‘I can probably buy tickets for tonight if I hurry,’ he thought as he reentered the family room. Just as he did, Inko walked out of the kitchen holding a glass of water. She turned to him, and dropped it as she ran to him. “Hisashi, are you okay?!” She worriedly asked as she reached for his face.
He wasn’t sure what she was talking about; he was fine. But she pulled him over to the couch and sat him down, then ran off to the kitchen again before he could question what she meant. He shrugged it off and moved to stand, but was pushed back into his seat by his returning wife. She then sat down next to him and started to wipe at his face with a wet yet warm cloth. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do with you, Hisashi,” she jokingly scolded, making his cheeks turn a bright red.
His mission hung in the forefront of his mind as he let her clean off his face, which had apparently been covered in blood if the cloth was anything to go by. All too soon she finished, and she walked back into the kitchen. Before he could even think of standing, she returned with another glass of water. She forced it into his hand, then stared at her expectantly. He looked down at it, and then back to her. “Inko, I really need to go,” he insisted, moving to stand up, but stopping when he felt a hand rest on his chest.
“Where are you going, Hisashi?” She softly asked.
He paused as he thought. He supposed he should tell the truth. After all, marriage should be held up by truth. (Some part of his brain laughed at him for that).
He looked straight up at her, and smiled. “I’m going to go get Izuku. We’ll probably be back tomorrow or the next day, depending on how long it takes.”
Inko’s eyes widened slightly, and her hold against his chest increased. “Hisashi, drink some of that water and wait here,” she ordered, before stepping back and walking to the kitchen.
He looked down at the glass in his hands, and took a sip from it. Never would he have thought that water could be described as ‘dry’, and yet that is exactly what it felt like. ‘Drinking sand would probably be more pleasant,’ he considered as he continued to drink.
Soon the glass was empty, and with Inko still in the other room, he decided that he’s wasted enough time. He stood up and started for the door, barely managing to step around the puddle of water and glass from before. He had started to put his shoes back on when he felt a hand grip his wrist.
“Hisashi, please wait just a few more minutes,” Inko begged, tightening her grip when he slipped on his other shoe.
He looked to her tear stained face, and sighed. “Inko, I really need to get going, or Izuku’s return is going to be delayed,” he cheerfully explained, reaching out to gently pinch her chin.
She tightened her grip as tears welled in her eyes. “Hisashi, I’m going to bring you to see Izuku, so please! Just wait a little longer.”
He looked at her in surprise. She was going to bring him? Did that mean he was on Japan after all? Or was she going to bring him to I-Island, having already bought tickets? Was that what she was doing in the kitchen? But… why not tell him then? Maybe… she was afraid. They could have told her to never say the location out loud, in case someone overheard. ‘I suppose that’s it.’
He allowed her to lead him back to the couch, not thinking much of her insistence that he doesn’t need to take his shoes off again. With the glass already on the floor, she probably figured that she already had to clean. The two of them sat on the couch, with Inko tightly gripping onto his hand and pressing into his side, until there was a knock at the door. Inko looked towards it, before pushing herself up and standing in front of him. “Let’s go, Hisashi,” she tiredly coaxed, gently pulling on his arm until he also stood up. He walked behind her as they made their way back down the hall, and stared out in surprise when she opened the door.
Standing meekly on the other side was Mitsuki, holding keys in her hand as she stared straight at the ground. The other woman looked up to them, and repeated the nod Inko gave her. Then they started walking down the path, with him following behind them, his hand still held by Inko. Mitsuki being here only increased his confusion about all of this. Did she actually know where Izuku was? Or did she just think she was giving them a ride to the airport? Most likely the second, and yet, something in the way she moved implied a seriousness. Like she knew she was bringing them to their injured child.
He got into the backseat behind the passenger's side of the car with little fuss, and smiled to Inko as she also entered. She gave him a shaky smile back as she once again took his hand, her grip so tight it was like she was afraid of him disappearing.
The car remained silent the entire drive to their destination, which was not as long as he was expecting. Nor was it where he was expecting. He had prepared himself for an hour long drive to the nearest airport. What he got was an approximately fifteen minute one to a… He looked out the window with wide eyes, feeling his heart stop when Inko opened her door. “This… this isn’t right.”
His door was opened for him, and Inko stood in front of him with one of her hands outstretched. He looked into her eyes, and could only feel confused worry with the building tears in them. “Inko, I-I thought you said…” He tried reasoning, but stopped when she reached around him and undid his seatbelt for him. She then gently grabbed onto his hand and pulled, until he stepped out of the car.
He stared past the metal gates into the area itself, and felt like he couldn’t breathe. “I-I need to go get Izuku, Inko,” he begged, suppressing the shudder that ran through his body as she started walking.
“Inko, please!” He pleaded, fear overtaking him when her shoulders stiffened, and she tucked her head down.
He couldn’t be here; he needed to find Izuku so he could… so he could bring him… They walked into the area, and the feeling changed. He didn’t want to be there. He wanted to run; wanted to leave. But Inko was holding him too tight, and he didn’t want to hurt her.
“Inko, why are we here?” She didn’t respond, only tightened her grip.
A familiar headstone became visible in the distance, one that he’s only shown to Inko a couple times before. Now there was a second one next to it. The fear in him turned primal.
“Inko-” She didn’t even twitch as she quickened her pace.
“-Inko, please-” The two headstones, resting by themselves in the back corner of the area, came closer and closer to them.
“-Inko, I-I can’t. Please…”
This time, he heard a quiet sob from her as the distance between them and their destination quickly shortened. Soon, they stopped in front of the two headstones, one eroding from time and weather despite his best efforts to preserve it. Next to it was a brand new one, obvious even without the date printed on it. He desperately didn’t want to see the name… but he couldn’t help but look.
Hisashi looked down at the small bundle in his arms. The sight of the tiny red face brought a certain joy to him that he didn’t realize was missing. He lowered his head, and rested it on the small body of his baby boy. “My greatest achievement in life,” he softly breathed, resting his ear against him and listening to his heartbeat. He would protect that sound with his life.
He took a shaky, uncoordinated step forward. He started to take another.
Something thumped against his leg, and Hisashi looked to the source. Bright, green eyes stared into his, and he smiled to the crawling toddler. “Yes, Izuku?” He humorously inquired, raising an eyebrow as Izuku smiled widely. His eyes then widened in shock as his baby pushed himself onto his knees, and then his feet. They both froze as he took a moment to gain his balance, and then he turned to him, and took a step forward.
He stopped in front of the smooth stone, and slowly lowered himself onto his knees. When he was about level with it, he read the engraving on it outloud.
Hisashi leaned over the small body sitting in his high chair, pleading with him. “Please, Izuku. Just once. Just say ‘Papa’ once, before papa has to leave.” His toddler turned to him, and squealed excitedly. He sighed, defeated. He gave the baby a kiss, saying a quiet “Papa loves you,” before turning to leave. He was interrupted by the greatest sound. “Baba!”
Water welled in his eyes. He choked on a sob as he reached forward, and gingerly touched the stone. He traced his hand over the words there. Hoping, desperately hoping, they would change from what he read. That it was all some cruel illusion to punish him. But they didn’t. They matched up perfectly to what he read, to what he was told.
“Do you really have to go, Papa?”
His baby boy; his precious son… he was…
“I’m afraid so, my little prince, but let me tell you this:”
His chest seized as tears poured from his eyes, a sob forcing its way out. The world around him stopped existing as he hyper focused on the tombstone in front of him. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to go back to the denial he was in, to the fantasy world he had made. The one where his son was still alive somewhere.
“No matter where you are, or where I am, if you ever truly need me then I’ll be there.”
When he opened his eyes and saw he was still there, another loud sob left him. He desperately grabbed at his dress shirt. Something else built up inside of him, and he lowered his head to the ground. Sobs broke away to something more raw; more guttural.
“P-promise?”
He didn’t care about who heard him; about the other people grieving for their loved ones. No, he had forgotten all about them. Even his lovely Inko was forgotten as grief overtook him.
Hisashi shut his eyes again and screamed for his deceased child.
“I Promise.”