Chapter Text
"Why did you do it?"
A ridiculous question, All for One mused, with a laughably simple answer.
He looked down to the ginger-haired man responsible for all of this.
Those eyes...
Black voids of nothingness expanded all around, creating "sides" to the rocky-floored sort of box they stood on. The mind's way of visualizing, and making sense of, the realm in which they spoke.
Why did he do it?
Yes, a ridiculous, irritable question, asked by the last person he ever wanted to speak with again.
"Seeing as you wouldn't accept any answer I'm able to give, how about a change in subject? Yes, I am quite curious as to why you have deemed to invade my mind." A knowing smile pulled at his face while the Demon Lord tilted his head, "Surely you would not come all the way to Tartarus simply to ask about my motivations for attempting to rule the world. No, you're here because of my brother, and I have no desire to speak to you."
Those eyes welled with barely contained rage, causing All for One to smile wider.
"It's been two years," Kudou stated through gritted teeth, "I had hoped you'd be more ready to talk by now."
"Talk?" That actually got a laugh out of him. "With what goal, exactly? What purpose? To ensure you were justified in taking him from me? For causing his death with the lie it was for his good?"
The hateful look in the other's eyes remained, but slightly shifted, signifying his taunting had to cease. A pity, really, to have to quite so soon. And while he was ahead, no less.
"Surely you would not expect me to give anything up for free, so make it fitting to presume you have something to trade?"
Those eyes steeled.
"I assume you would have already determined your price, so stop wasting my time." A miniscule upturning of the lips demonstrated Kudou was confident in his advantage, "I can come and leave whenever I want, so I would suggest you quit these games of yours if you want to know how Tomura Shigaraki is doing."
Ah, yes. As suspected, his rival was no fool.
"Well, if you truly have everything you need to make me talk, let us begin. What do you wish to know?"
Irritation was clearly visible on his face, only beat by the rage and disdain reserved for the Demon Lord only.
"What I wish to know?" Eyes narrowed dangerously. "What I wish to know, is what is so wrong with your mind," the other seethed, "that you could hate someone as good and kind and pure as Yoichi."
Phrased more like a statement, it made All for One feel a break in his coveted composure.
That simply won't do.
"I never hated him," his voice was cold, even to him, "and I don't much appreciate you still throwing these accusations. I cared deeply for my brother–"
"Cut the bullshit!" A stomp reverberated and echoed around. "'Cared deeply??' You killed him! Murdered in cold blood!" He was walking toward him now. "You beat him whenever you pleased, locked him in a goddamn vault, and when he finally chose to stop believing in you enough to try and escape, you just got rid of him!"
"I've always hated you." The Demon Lord ground out, causing the other to let out a mirthless laugh.
"Yeah, no shi–"
"I hate you. So much so, in fact, that hate seems but a dull simplification. I despise you with my entire being. Your face, your role in my brother's death, your eyes..."
A stare‐down so palpably intense All for One had to wonder, just for a moment, if he could actually, physically snap it if he tried.
"...I hate you. But I could never hate my brother." Gazing into the void, he thought to all the shared memories. All the times his brother would invite him to read comics. All the times Yoichi tried to "fix" the older of the two, and wouldn't accept him trying to do the same.
"No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't hate him. It remains my biggest regret, you know. The one tie I was never able to completely sever. He haunts me, even now." Glancing sidelong at the other, he decided that was enough from him for today.
"Well, I believe I've held up my end of the bargain–" "Not yet you haven't–!"
"For now," he continued decisively, "So tell me: How is my dear successor fairing? I would assume him to be defeated, since your vestige had the time to bring you here?"
Kudou appeared as if he was about to argue, and they locked eyes for a moment. He eventually resigned.
"He's not dead. He...it's complicated, but you can rest knowing how you failed him. He's neutralized, but Midoriya has been talking with him, and he's been making progress."
"You're undoing my careful training and conditioning. Impressive, if not for the fact I don't believe you're actually getting anywhere."
"He's not like you. He's–"
"Of course he isn't like me. Do you truly think I would pick him if he was?" He almost scoffed the audacity.
"I didn't want another me. I wanted someone I could bend to my will, and I would surely never bow a knee. No, that boy has always been different than I."
Smiling in self-amused thought, images of the sad, pitiful child went through his head. Perhaps Tomura would have reminded him much of his pathetic brother, had he not also been absolutely engulfed in pure, unbridled *hate*.
"Where I emerged from the womb with cold apathy and a hunger for power, he has always been not the opposite, but moreso a parallel, if you will. Rather emotional, that boy. Fear and hate held him; determined his every mood, made him predictable and easily influenced. And I have no reason to believe they wouldn't still hold him now."
He thought two chairs into existence. They're in his mind, after all.
Gesturing for Kudou to sit in the one in front, he took his own seat. The other stood unmoving; challenging. His loss, he supposed, and so he continued.
"So tell me. Just how* does your vestige plan on removing all the accumulated year of hatred for the heroes? Where does he get the audacity to believe he can undo over a decade of the trauma and conditioning I put him through?" His smile stretched into something almost hysterical.
Then immediately dropped, as Kudou turned around.
"I'll tell you tomorrow, provided you answer more of my questions, of course." A little snicker echoed more than perhaps intended. "I'd say goodnight, All for One, but I'm sure you'll "sleep like a baby", as they say."
Well played.
And with that, he was gone, and the Demon Lord felt consciousness return to him. Now nothing more than a helpless baby again, he all but glared at the white walls as all he could think about was his childish, rising hunger.