The Emperor's Dragon

Things Always Change

"What do you mean, it's not coming back?" Bakugou demanded. Even with the cast on his arm, his fingers were curled inwards, over his upward facing palms but Toshnori could tell he wasn't getting the effect he wanted. The habits of a lifetime were hard to break.

He'd had this conversation several times now. Surprisingly the first had been the easiest. The one with Endeavor was best forgotten. The man had been angry but it was mostly at him and what had happened fighting All For One rather than his son's loss of quirk. For Shouto's sake, he hoped Endeavor would take his anger out on him, the still Number One Hero, rather than his son. It might be uncomfortable but he could handle it.

This one was with Bakugou and his parents. They wanted to know what their son's options were. It was something he'd been thinking about as well.

Toshinori sighed. They had had to bring in the parents into the secret of All For One. Not entirely but enough that they knew there was someone out there who could take quirks. "His quirk is one that allows him to take other quirks," he repeated. He had a feeling Bakugou was listening but didn't want to understand. "So unless he gives your quirk back, young man, you will remain quirkless."

"I am not quirkless!" Bakugou growled.

His mother and father looked distressed but didn't know what to say. Yagi sighed, wishing that Nezu or someone else would speak but Aizawa didn't know what to say and it was agreed that he should be the one to speak. His reputation would put a better light on it. "You were not born quirkless," he agreed.

Chiyo had done tests on the students once it became clear what had happened. They were quirkless. The quirk factor in their blood was mostly gone. There was a remnant but nothing more. Iida, for example, still had his engines but he could not use them and Chiyo was worried that his body might reject them as foreign material at some point. It hadn't happened yet. It may not happen at all, or for a while but it was a warning she'd put on to his medical file.

Reading Chiyo's report had reminded him of some quasi religious groups who had sprung up around the time of quirks. They'd actually persisted for a while before being eliminated as quirks became more widespread and the need for them to be regulated had become more obvious to those who were rational. They'd done some research into quirks and had isolated the quirk factor.

That factor had been used to... well... every human had a body, therefore every human had a soul, is what some religions announced. The quirk factor was proof of possessing a quirk. For some, it was proof of being human. Those without a quirk factor had been treated terribly by the group. In their eyes to be human you had to have a body, and a quirk, and the lack of quirk factor was a lack of quirk.

Bakugou gritted his teeth but before there was an outburst his father put one hand on his shoulder. "Are you working on finding the student who did this?" he asked reasonably. From what Yagi understood, Bakugou's father was the reasonable one in the relationship. His mother was meant to be as explosive as her son but so far she had been quiet. She was eying Bakugou's broken arm with... Actually he wasn't sure what her expression was.

That was a question he could answer easily. "We are," Toshinori assured them.

"I'll beat the fucker into submission myself," Bakugou growled.

That caused his mother to react. She smacked him with an open hand to the back of his head. "Who broke your arm?" she snapped.

"I'll still win!" Bakugou announced.

"It is our belief that he has had extensive combat training since he was young," Toshinori told them.

"Just let me at him!" Katsuki growled.