I have a lot of feelings about this AU we’ve been throwing around on discord.
One for All develops to the point that the vestiges are able to exist separately from the current holder, resulting in this long-awaited reunion and quite a lot of tears
I don't have an explanation behind the circumstances of whatever they're glaring at, but it was definitely inspired by @aconstantstateofbladerunner 's fiction "Exit Light", which I highly recommend reading but probably not at night.
I'd like to appreciate shigarakis mom she was the only one who tried to calm him down and comfort him even when she was dying she was the only one who recognized hee son was in pain and acted immediately 😖
She is a good mom!!! She didn’t stand by her husband’s abuse either and then tried to save him at the cost of her own life... we stan a good mom.
Suppose that once upon a time in a land similar to others you've heard of, there was a small boy with neither home nor family, determined to one day be a Knight defending his homeland. His staunchest supporter happened to be the young daughter of a mill hand who let him sleep in their attic during the summer.
Little Inko would listen to Toshinori tell stories about the brave queen of their land, who had sent her own child back to be raised and rule in her homeland when the king was assassinated. How she now ruled their kingdom alone, riding with her Knights each day to protect her people.
"Someday," Inko's friend would tell her, "I'm going to protect us all, just like the queen!"
"But you won't forget me when you're a Knight, right, Toshi?"
"Never ever!" Toshinori always reassured her, "Someday I'll come back and we'll go have adventures together."
Sooner than either child expected, they were separated. Young Toshinori found himself intervening on behalf of a man falsely accused of theft in the marketplace, even when the guards were called on the merchant's behalf. Toshinori's courage did not go unnoticed, and a pair of Knights on horseback approached.
"Boy," said the woman on the paint horse, "Why have you placed yourself in this dispute? Where are your parents?"
"I have none, Lady," answered Toshinori, "But I am sure they would have taught me to stand up for what is right. This man has done nothing wrong."
Smiling, the Knight threw back her hood, and the marketplace fell silent.
"Boy," said the queen, reaching out her hand, "What is your name?"
Toshinori bowed his head. "Toshinori, your majesty."
He felt a hand gently tousle his hair and looked up. The queen was still smiling at him.
"Well, Toshinori, such a brave soul is always needed in my kingdom. Have you thought of becoming a Knight?"
When she learned that the boy did, indeed, wish to be a Knight, but feared that an orphan would be turned away, she lifted Toshinori up into her saddle.
"Then we shall not enter you as an orphan," she said.
Toshinori looked back at the crowd as Nana turned her horse back towards the castle. His eyes met those of Inko, clinging to her father's hand and looking as though she wanted to run after them.
"Don't worry Inko," Toshinori shouted, "Don't forget! I promised!"
Years would pass before they saw each other again. For six winters Toshinori learned to fight, to debate, to strategize, even to dance and to play music. The less charitable of the court whispered -- sometimes in the range of his hearing -- that the queen must have gone mad with grief to take the boy off the streets and raise him as a second son. Some even insinuated that he was no more than a decoy for Prince Kotarou, perhaps meant to serve as his bodyguard. But Kotarou was intended to rule the kingdom of Shimura, not of Yuuei. For that, Nana had chosen Toshinori.
On his sixteenth birthday, the queen announced a festival, just as she had for Kotarou's sixteenth birthday. But at Toshinori's request, this celebration was not a ball held in the Shimura kingdom. Rather, it was a more informal event, open to everyone in Yuuei regardless of age or economic status. He hoped, more than anything else, to see his childhood friend again.
Fortune was on his side, for Inko had been steadfastly watching for an opportunity to enter the castle and see her friend for the last six years. The opportunities had been scarce, and what few times she'd made it in, she'd barely been able to glimpse Toshinori from a distance. But this was a chance to see him face to face, and to ask him if he remembered their promise to go on adventures together.
Inko grew self-conscious as she entered the wide courtyard with her family. Perhaps he wouldn't recognize her. Perhaps now that he was a prince, Toshinori wouldn't want to associate himself with a mill hand's daughter in a secondhand dress. Perhaps perhaps perhaps. She was so caught up in her worries that her father had to prod her twice to look up.
Standing to the right of Queen Nana's outdoor throne, Toshinori beamed at her. There could be no doubt that he knew exactly who she was. Raising a hand to his mouth, the prince called out, "Inko!" and waved.
Nana stifled a laugh at his decidedly informal behavior. "Go on," she said, "Say hello."
Toshinori nearly tripped over his feet halfway down the dais and stumbled to a halt in front of Inko. Suddenly shy, he raised his hand in greeting again.
"It...it's good to see you again," he said, "You received all my letters, didn't you?"
Inko shifted from foot to foot and wondered why her face felt so hot. Perhaps she needed some water.
"I received most of them," she answered, "Save for what you must have sent the winter we were fourteen. The postmen were under attack by-"
