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The shell stepped into her room with a fresh bag of groceries. Her son was crying again, so the shell picked up some baby formula, put it in a bottle and placed it in his mouth. The babe happily suckled the milk, letting out a little gurgle of laughter.
Yet the shell felt nothing.
She hadn’t felt anything in years. Not since Feathers died.
Feathers had been her companion, her quirk, her friend. The shell had been a person then. Feathers reflected her true feelings, letting the girl keep in touch with them. It made lying difficult, but the girl hadn’t minded. She’d even joking called Feathers a “traitor” whenever she got caught misbehaving because of him.
The shell remembered when the girl’s pet dog died. The girl was devastated, crying for three hours straight. She hugged Feathers and Feathers hugged her back. He comforted her.
When Feathers died, she didn’t cry. In fact, she didn’t feel a thing. Not grief, not pleasure, not even indifference. Every emotion, every attachment died with him. The girl was gone, and only the shell remained.
She stopped going to class, she stopped hanging out with friends, and she stopped listening to her parents. Why would she? She didn’t care about any of that. In fact, she didn’t care about anything at all. Or anyone for that matter, even herself. In fact, the only reason she continued to eat was out of instinct, more like an animal than a person.
The shell felt nothing. But still she longed.
She longed for feeling, she longed for emotion, she longed for what she had once lost. This longing the closest thing to true feeling she still had, the one thing that could motivate her.
She went into sex, drugs, and alcohol to satisfy her longing. However, no matter what she tried, they only produced sensation, not feeling. There was no meaning behind any of it. No happiness, not even misery.
Her friends left her, but she didn’t care. She cheated on her boyfriend and he dumped her. But she didn’t care. When her parents stopped being useful, she left them. And she didn’t care.
Objectively she lost everything, but none of it mattered. It would have mattered to the girl, but not to the shell. What were good and bad to her but words? What were pain and pleasure but two things she no longer had?
She continued like this for a long time, traveling from whim to whim. She used prostitution, theft, and blackmail to obtain the money she needed. But through it all the longing persisted. Then she had an idea.
A child.
She’d have a child. Parents have a biological bond with their children, a need to protect and provide for them. If anything could make her feel again, that was it. She’d have a child and finally feel love again.
She sabotaged her “services”, testing each time until finally it happened. She was pregnant. She felt nothing, but maybe it would be different when the child was born. This was the one way she had left to fulfill her longing, and she’d do whatever it took to do it.
She collected abortion fees and blackmail from various clients, telling them they were the father. For all she knew, they were. She saved money, abstained from alcohol and drugs, and began taking care of herself, her longing driving her to change her behavior. If she could love this child, it would all be worth it.
Finally, it happened. Her child was born. A son with her brown hair and gray eyes.
Yet she felt nothing.
She didn’t care about the boy.
Nevertheless, the shell took him home and started caring for him, believing that it might arouse something in her. Maybe she could get into the habit of acting like she cared and it would become real. Maybe acting like she loved him would make her love him.
However, she’d need money to care for her son long-term.
Since the babe had Asian features, she knew who the true father was. She’d only serviced one Asian client in the last year, a businessman with red eyes and curly white hair. His expensive suit indicated wealth, lack of a tie notwithstanding.
She sent a photo of the boy with some hair samples along with a demand for money. However, no response came. After a month, she realized he either didn’t care or he’d given her a fake name. Either way, she’d get nothing from him.
The shell’s son continued to eat at her funds. More importantly, she still didn’t love him. She didn’t care about her son. She felt no joy when he smiled, no sadness when he cried, no worry when he was injured, nothing. The longing remained, unsatisfied as ever.
The shell sat down. She’d watched over her son for three months and felt nothing toward him. Her entire daily routine revolved around him, her every action focused on him but no love came.
The experiment was a failure.
It seemed there was no point in keeping up this charade. Tomorrow she’d leave this apartment return to her regular routine.
The baby began to cry again.
Right, I might as well get rid of that.
The shell left the baby in a dumpster, returning to her old ways.
Yet she didn’t care.
All for One arrived in Europe, his heart burning with determination he had not felt in over a hundred years. In his wallet, he carried a photo of a month-old-boy. His son. The only family he had left.
The boy had been conceived after a one night stand with a member of the world’s oldest profession. Since he’d been using one of his lesser identities at the time, it took him a few months to learn of his boy’s existence. Now he’d arrived to claim his little Yoichi.
Yes, that’s what he’d call him. Yoichi Shigaraki. Just like his uncle. Sure he didn’t look much like the original, but he’d fill the role well enough.
All for One wasn’t sure what to do with the boy’s mother. She’d informed him of the boy’s existence, so perhaps he could be accommodating. Then again, shortly after the boy’s conception he started dating Inko and it was best to hide this aspect of his life from her. Perhaps he’d offer to compensate the mother for the baby and if she refused, kill her.
As for Inko, he’d tell her the boy was the son of his recently deceased brother and had fallen under All for One’s care. She wouldn’t doubt it for a second.
It didn’t take him long to track the mother down. She lived in a rundown apartment in the seedier part of town. All for One went over and let himself in.
The apartment was an utter mess, the sort indicating a complete disregard for one’s own health. Rats in the kitchen, mold on the curtains, it was intolerable! He’d be enraged at his son living here were it not for one simple fact:
There was no sign a baby lived here.
No crib, no toys, not even baby food. Where. Was. His. Son?
The door opened. The mother of his son entered. A brunette with empty grey eyes, and a weathered face, marked with the wear and tear of a life filled with drugs and alcohol. The woman flipped on the lights, noticing All for One lurking in the corner.
Her body stiffened, and her hands shot up, but her eyes remained empty. Her reaction was one of reflex, not fear.
“It’s you,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion.
“Indeed,” All for One said with a smile. “I’m here for my son.” His smile faded. “Where is he?”
The woman blinked. “Gone.”
“Oh really?” All for One said with false sweetness. He stepped toward her, letting his large figure loom over her.
The woman didn’t react. She simply stared at him with the same dull look in her eyes.
All for One glared. “What. Did. You. Do?”
All for One took a deep breath, trying to contain his utter fury.
Not only did the woman fail to properly care for his son, but when she got rid of him, she didn’t even have the decency to leave him at a hospital! Instead she shovedhis flesh and blood in the dumpster like a piece of trash!
It took every ounce of self-control for All for One not to rip her head from her shoulders right then and there. But such a death would be too easy.
“So, you took my son and threw him away,” All for One said. “Do you at least remember the date?” He gripped her shoulder, turning his fingers into claws and drawing blood.
“No,” the woman said, her tone as lifeless as ever. “I don’t remember. It was within the month I think?”
All for One growled. Finding his son would be hard enough with the proper dates, but without them?
No matter. He could do it.
Just as soon as he finished his work here.
All for One squeezed the woman’s arm, crushing her wrist. She stiffened, but showed no sign of pain.
“So, in summary,” All for One said, “You failed to inform me I had a son-“
“I did inform you.”
“Well you didn’t do a good job,” All for One hissed. “Then you tried to use him to blackmail me. Then, you threw him out like a piece of trash.” He gripped her throat. “Am I correct?”
“You are.”
All for One growled. Her stoicism was getting on his nerves. “What is your quirk?” he said, hoping to calm himself with a nice quirk to steal.
“I had a bird once. It reflected my true emotions. Then it died and I haven’t felt a thing since. And believe me, I tried.”
Interesting. That could explain her emotionlessness. If the bird hadn’t simply reflected, but contained her emotions, then losing it would cause her to lose them. That was why she was so infuriatingly detached. She was without a soul.
But if her quirk was the cause…perhaps there was a solution to both their problems.
“Tell me, do you remember when you still had feelings?” he said raising a hand.
“I do. I remember being able to feel things. Things mattered then. I was a person then.”
All for One reached toward her face.
“There was a character in a book I once read for class, East of Eden. Her name was Cathy and she was born without a conscience or the ability to love. When she finally died, she thought about how she was missing something other people had. That this something was what made life worth living.”
“And?” All for One said, gripping her face.
“I had that once. I could love once. I could hate once. Now, I can’t. I know what I lost, but I can’t feel it. I’m even less human than Cathy was.”
“Oh don’t worry,” All for One said. “I think I can fix that.”
There was a glow of red as her quirk flowed into his hand. The woman gasped as All for One pulled his hand away. He activated the quirk, creating a small bird. The bird examined itself with a look of satisfaction. All for One heard a gasp and deactivated the quirk.
The woman’s eyes were wide. She hyperventilated while tears streamed down her face. “Oh my God!” she said in a small voice. “Oh my God! What have I done? Mama! Papa! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” She gasped. “M-my baby! My sweet baby…” She fell to her knees and crossed herself. “What have I become?!”
It worked. Perfect.
The woman hugged herself in a fetal position as she sobbed. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
All for One watched her wallowing. He knelt next to her and placed a hand to her shoulder. “There, there,” he said. “I’ve taken your quirk. You have your emotions again. You’re healed.”
Her head snapped to look at him. “Y-you! You’re his father!” She grabbed his jacket. “Please! You have to find our son!”
“Of course,” All for One said. “Is there anything else you can tell me to find him?”
She shook her head. “I-I already told you everything I know! I’m sorry!”
“How unfortunate,” All for One said. “Losing your quirk gave you your emotions back. What would happen if I returned it?” He raised his hand back to her face.
The girl frantically shook her head. “N-no! Please no! Don’t make me like that again! Don-“
All for One forced the quirk back into her. Her eyes became empty.
She stared at him. “Please,” she said. “Take it back. Let me feel again. Please.” A few tears fell, but All for One recognized them for what they were.
“Nice try with the crocodile tears,” All for One said. “But I know a liar when I see one.”
“I can’t feel,” the woman said. “But I want to. It’s the only real desire I have.”
“Too bad.”
All for One sent her crashing against the wall. Before she could get up he grabbed her by theahir and lifted. He set his hand over her chest and glared at her.
She showed no fear at her impending death. She looked…bored!
All for One growled.
“Aren’t you going to finish it?” she said.
All for One slammed her against the wall but she barely reacted. He was about to end her miserable existence in a spectacularly brutal way and she didn’t care.
All for One dropped her.
It was no good. There was no satisfaction in harming someone who didn’t care for their well-being. Killing her in this state was a mercy, not punishment. True she made it clear that she hated this state of existence, but it was abstract to him. Fear, guilt, pain. Those were concrete.
He wanted to see the despair in her eyes, he wanted to make her hurt. And in the end, wasn’t he doing this for his own enjoyment more than her punishment? For that, he could be merciful, just this once.
All for One gripped her face and once more took the quirk away. Her body stiffened as she took in a deep breath, like a newborn taking its first. The tears fell again. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” All for One said.
The woman stared at the ground, her body shook. “Please…I don’t care what you do to me. I deserve it.” She turned up with a look of utter desperation. “But please, give my son a happy life. Don’t raise him to be a villain! Not a criminal! Let him be a normal boy like he deserves! I’ll do anything!”
All for One gave her a soft smile. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I was going to do that anyway. I’ll even explain to him what happened with your quirk so he’ll understand. You’d lost your soul, but you have it back now. You love your son and no reasonable person could blame you for what you were then.” He placed a hand over her heart. “In fact, I think if you two were reunited, you’d be a good mother.”
Her eyes widened. “Y-you do?” she said, a tiny flicker of hope in her voice.
All for One’s smile became more twisted. “Yes. But you won’t get to. You’re going to die right here, right now. You’ll never see your boy again. And I’ll make sure he never knows that you actually cared about him.”
The hope in her eyes vanished. All for One relished her despair. “Thank you for your cooperation. Goodbye.”
All for One thrust his hand forward and pulled it out. He enjoyed one last look of horror from the woman as she gasped out her last breaths before toppling to the floor like a discarded doll. The woman’s facial muscles relaxed and her pupils dilated as the last embers of life went out.
All for One dropped the contents of his hand onto the woman’s body, where it settled into her palm.
“Well, well. It seems you had a heart after all.”
All for One sent word to his contacts to search for an infant with brown hair, gray eyes, and Asian features who’d been abandoned in a dumpster sometime in the previous month. He also ordered them watch for a boy with a sentient bird for a quirk in case one ever showed up. As All for One was about to walk out, his foot bumped against the woman’s corpse.
Right. I might as well dispose of that.
He dialed a local cleanup crew. “I have a body here that needs removal. I want you to take it and throw it in the nearest dumpster.”
He gave them the address and hung up. He would find his son, no matter how long it took. He would take him, protect him, and keep him close. No one would separate them again. That babe was his, and he refused to give up one of his possessions.
All for One would not find his son. After a month of searching every orphanage in the country, All for One assumed he was dead and went back to Japan, conceiving another son with Inko Midoriya that he named Izuku.
The woman’s son had been sent out of the country by the time All for One arrived. He bounced around several orphanages in various different countries, out of his father’s reach. Eventually, he was adopted by a kind couple in Otheon, who loved him as their own. From them the boy finally received his name: Rody Soul.