Best Of You [BNHA Fantasy AU]

9.5. Host

A/N: Another short ".5" chapter :P enjoy, my broskis (yes I just said broskis)

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'I still don't see why I can't be your host...'

'...Ahh, young Shigaraki, there is still so much that you don't understand..'

The blue-haired young male was kneeling on the cracked floorboards, his head bent submissively before the man sitting leisurely in the wooden chair before him.

Moonlight streamed through gaps in the roughly-boarded windows, illuminating the dust that hung in the air, and mould was creeping up the ragged walls in ominous tendrils.
An eerie silence was suspended about the pair, apart from the cracked, shallow breathing of the one kneeling.

The man in front of him was cast in shadow.

'But...But master-'

'No buts, Tomura,' the powerful man spoke to Shigaraki as if he was an argumentative child. 'As I have repeated time and time again, you are not strong enough to last under my...influence. You no longer leave a trail of fear wherever you go, since you have lost so much and life is no more than a game to you. There is nothing for me to thrive off of in your soul, of which there is not much left.
My chosen subject, however...he is surrounded by terror. He reeks of fear.
I can see him now in the corner of my vision - so distracted by the unforgivable illusion that is young love, and yet with every breath he takes, I feed off of his dread. The very essence of his being is already in my possession, and he has no idea.
Plus, young Shoto Todoroki's position of power, and the way he rebels against it, works very well with the plan I have laid out. Do you see, my child? Do you understand?'

'Of course...of course, master.. It's just....I wanted to be the chosen one...' He said this bitterly, sounding like a spoilt teenager.

'Oh, young child, can't you see?' The man shifted forward slightly, and the flash of a red pupil glinted in the moonlight. 'I need your influence, and your loyalty. I need you to wield my power in a way that is different from how I use the physical forms of others. Whilst I grow parasitically from the soul of the Prince, hoping to bloom back into the form and stature of power I once was, I need you to plant your roots, and look to the sun of my dominance, and absorb it to transform into the leader I need you to be.' The man clasped his hands tightly on his lap, whilst the blue-haired male looked up at him with hopeful, devoted eyes framed by raw purple circles of fatigue. 'The fact that I survived the eruption that many think destroyed us both means that, just like me, All Might is somewhere out there, biding his time.' A grave undertone now lingered in the man's voice. He savoured the words 'All Might' with patronising disgust. 'We will face each other once more before this arc is over, for there will be another battle. A war to end all wars. I know there will, for I have seen it in my memories of the future, and I can already sense the tension between the two kingdoms. The rulers' fear of each other is so strong I can almost taste it. And now that their heirs, their children, have...disappeared, this fear can no longer be contained.
Yes, there will be one more battle, I assure you, and everyone will be so distracted by this war that we can rise, unnoticed, from the blood that will be spilt, from the ashes of this crumbling society that is about to go up in flames. And then, we will build it up again, and carefully model these kingdoms into one that is the delicate picture of perfection and power-' But then, the man's speech was interrupted as a lump rose in his throat, and his body went into spasm as he began coughing uncontrollably.

Shigaraki merely stayed where he was, kneeling, unmoving, whilst the other composed himself. 

The man brought his hand away from his mouth as the coughs subsided, and it came away bloody. When he next spoke, his voice was raw and shattered: 'It seems...my time in this body has run out.'

'Wait, master no, not yet-'  The child-like male whimpered and reached his hand out to the man hopelessly, who stood up slowly from his seat, and placed a veiny, deathly-pale hand on the head of the kneeling boy.

'Until next time, Tomura Shigaraki.'

And with that, the figure of the man went limp, tipping slowly, before crashing to the ground.

The soulless body lay unmoving, and blood was dripping like tears to the floorboards from the man's eyes, which were entirely black, and the pupils were a violent red.
However, as the blue-haired henchman rose silently from his kneeling position and grabbed the body's arms, attempting to drag it out of the room, the blackness faded away like ink, leaving the eyes white, glassy, and lifeless.

—X—X—X—

A/N: Oof. This was an interesting half-chapter to write. It's quite confusing to wrap your head around, so if you have any questions about what's actually happening in this chapter just comment and ask *finger guns*

Word count: 890 words