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There’s a dragon on his doorstep. Katsuki does not know why there is a dragon on his doorstep. There are many things Katsuki likes about Dreadful Forest. It’s one of the oldest forests in this country, going back thousands and thousands of years. Magic runs deep here, every leaf, every flower full of magical potential. Even the animals themselves have magic flowing through their veins. Some are completely made of magic. Katsuki loves to spend his time going through and cataloging everything. For a witch like Katsuki, it’s the perfect place to be. But what he loved most about it, is that it is quiet. Humans rarely have a reason to get this far into the forest, leaving Katsuki blissfully alone. All of that is ruined when there’s a fucking dragon laying there, especially when that dragon has a Rider. The dragon is medium sized with a long neck and shiny emerald scales. There are feathers around its head that lay flat at first, till Katsuki opens his front door. Then they raise up, like some kind of bird puffing itself up. The thing tilts its head at Katsuki, big eyes blinking down at him. The thing looks more weird than terrifying. Katsuki instantly dislikes it. Especially when a human hops off the saddle strapped to its back, landing on the ground. It’s a woman, short and round, with chubby looking cheeks and big brown eyes. She wears the fur of animals and Katsuki recognizes the painting on her face as belonging to one of the clans that live in the nearby mountains. As soon as their eyes meet, Katsuki slams the door shut.He walks back into his library, sits in his nice comfy chair, grabs the book he had been reading and ignores the pounding at the door. “Can’t believe this,” Katsuki mutters, when, after five minutes, the pounding on the door does not end. “Can’t a guy get some peace and quiet.” When, after ten goddamns ten minutes, the knocking finally stops, he lets out a sigh of relief. His house, besides being completely hidden, has been magicked to be able to dispel anyone that slightly annoys him. That woman must have gotten tired of the house telling her to fuck off and she finally left him alo- Bam . Katsuki scrambles up, eyes wide as he runs to see what the fuck is going on. He skids to a stop when he sees that a hole had been blasted in the front of his fucking house! And standing there, wielding a very large ax, is that same barbarian woman. She swings the ax up, so it sets on her shoulder as she crooks an eyebrow at him. “Are you going to let me in now?” Katsuki doesn’t think he’s ever been this angry in this life. He’s pretty sure his face is bright red, that steam might actually be pouring out of his ears. “What the fuck do you think you are doing?” The woman has the absolute gall to huff at him. “You wouldn’t open up your door. I need to talk to you-” “That’s because I don’t want to talk to you! I thought I made that pretty obvious!” Katsuki thrusts his finger towards the forest. “Get out and don’t come back.” “No.” Katsuki actually sputters at that. “No? What do you mean no?” The woman has a stubborn frown on her face as she continues to stare him down. “No. I’m not leaving till you help me.” Katsuki bares his teeth at her. “Then I’ll make you leave.” The air around them grows hot as Katsuki begins to gather power into his hands. They spark, little flames appearing along his palms. Grinning wider, he takes several menacing steps towards her. Instead of fleeing, like she should , she holds her head high and stands her ground. It only serves to make Katsuki angrier. He thrusts his power towards her, aiming to push her out. But instead of hitting her in the chest, where he was aiming, the woman draws her weapon, using it to block the magic. She still slides back a few steps, but she doesn’t go flying like Katsuki wanted. In fact, for a brief moment, she actually manages to push back against Katsuki’s magic. Just the smallest amount. But it’s enough to piss Katsuki off. He grounds himself, muttering underneath his breath as he demands the Gods to give him the strength he needs. Fire burns through his veins- his magic encouraging his anger and his anger feeding into his magic- as he ups the blast he is sending. He hears the woman gasp as she is moved backwards even more- but his grin is cut short. A large green wing curls around her, protecting her and projecting the blast sideways out into the forest. The blast hits a tree and Katsuki only has a moment to think “Well, shit” before an explosion rocks around them. Katsuki is forced to stop channeling his magic, covering his eyes with his arm to protect them from the derbies that go flying around them. He tenses, barely dodging out of the way when the ax comes swinging at him. He jumps back several steps, hand raised, but he doesn’t have time to get his magic back before the barbarian dashes towards him again. Her ax is almost as big as her and she wields it with deadly force. The ax barely misses him, slamming into the ground. His floor cracks under her force. When their eyes meet again, Katsuki swears that her eyes are glowing pink. The woman lifts her weapon, letting it rest on her shoulder. “Now. Are you going to listen to me or not?” Katsuki considers her for a long moment. His magic is still there, crackling under his skin, but he holds off for now. There’s no point in destroying his house. So he gives her a cautious nod. She sighs, setting her hammer down. It sinks into the ground with a thunk. “Thank you. My name is Uraraka Ochako. Bakugou Katsuki, I need your help-” “No,” he immediately says. She glares at him, huffing. “Let me finish. I need your help locating the… Golden Void Flower.” She stares at him. He stares back. She doesn’t say anything more and Katsuki is too impatient to wait to hear more. “First of all, that’s stupid. Second of all, why the fuck do you need my help? Do it yourself.” Her mouth opens and closes. "I need your help because you are the last person to have seen one in the wild.” Katsuki purses his lips, before tching. “Who told you that?” “Is it true or not?” She retorts back. “It’s not.” “Liar.” Katsuki waves a hand in the air. “It doesn’t matter. There was only one flower in existence and it’s probably gone by now.” “Probably. Not certainly . There’s a chance.” “It’s a fool’s journey.” “Than I will take it anyways.” Katsuki gives her a long, hard work, before he turns on his heel. He can hear her scrambling behind him, telling him to slow down. “Where are you going?” He doesn’t answer. Instead, he stomps up to his bookcase. Quickly glancing through them, he yanks one out. Again, he brushes past her, ignoring her questions as he slams the book on the table. “Look here.” He aggressively waves her over as he opens the book to a map. Stabbing his finger in a dense forest, he glares at her. “This is where we are.” Then he moves his finger along the map, down to the opposite corner. “This is around where the last known location of the flower is.” Uraraka crosses her arms in front of her. “That’s not a problem. With my dragon, we can cut that time in half.” “Wrong.” Katsuki sneers at her. “You want to go on this journey but you don’t even know that the Shigaraki’s don’t allow dragons into their territory? You’ll be shot down before you make it thirty minutes into it.” “So we go around.” “Into Hunter territory? I guess if you don’t care about your dragon, that’s fine.” There’s a pinched look on Uraraka’s face now. She purses her lips. “I’m not afraid of Hunters.” “Yeah, well I don’t fancy them trying to suck out my powers, so you can count me out.” He sees that stubborn look on her face and sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, you clearly don’t know what you’re doing and it’s going to get you and that stupid dragon of yours killed. Why don’t you forget about it and go home. Fame isn’t worth it.” “It’s not for fame.” Katsuki’s head snaps up. Her voice sounds so small there as she looks down at her feet. “What?” “It’s not for fame, asshole. I need that flower to save my village.” She looks up at him and there is fire in her eyes. She squares her shoulders, her fists clenching at her sides. “And I’m going to get it, with or without your help.” Katsuki can only stare at her. “You’re going to get yourself killed.” “Then I’ll get myself killed. But I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t do this.” She sticks her hand out, her face beseeching. “I’ll do it anyway, but if you’re that worried about me getting killed, then come with me. Help me make sure that I survive.” Katsuki stares at her for a long moment, his mind racing. He doesn’t want to go on this journey again. It ended horribly last time. It’s why he had secluded himself out here. But she’s right. She’s going to go on this journey, no matter what he says, and she’s going to die. Katsuki had almost died several times and he knows he’s stronger than her. She’s not going to last a week. He sighs, thinking back, trying to remember the route they last took. He nods to himself, coming to a decision. Looking up, he stares her down. “I’ll accompany you, but only till we get to the Todoroki Kingdom.” “Wait, why the Todoroki Kingdom? We’ll have to go out of our way-” “Because there’s a man there who can take you the rest of the way.” Katsuki crosses his arms in front of himself. “That is my condition. I can get you all the way to the Todoroki Kingdom. There’s a man there who I went on that adventure with, who knows the rest of the way. I will make sure he takes you.” “Can’t you just take me?”“No.” Katsuki’s tone is harsh and sharp. “I vowed to never go near that place again.” Uraraka’s dragon wilts a little, it’s ears flattening down. Uraraka takes a step back, before she can catch herself. She’s silent for a second. Then she nods. “Ok. Deal. Take me to Todoroki Kingdom.” ~Ochako waits outside while Bakugou gets stuff packed. She leans back against Lightning, watching the forest around her. It’s not the kind of place she expected to find the Explosive Witch. It’s too…light. Too many animals hopping around, like they don’t sense any danger. There is even a fairy nest nearby, she can see their sparkles hiding among the leaves, watching her like she is watching them- with fascination. Every single person she’s talked to has painted the Explosive Witch as some kind of black magic user, as someone who wields the powers of hell itself, who sold his soul to a demon and now goes around terrorizing people. The demon part may be true, he certainly acts like it. But he also holds the largest library she’s ever seen and a big flourishing garden full of all kinds of fruits and vegetables she’s never seen before. It’s…weird. Lightning bumps his nose up against her arm, blinking his giant green eyes at her. He nudges her again and she gives him a soft smile, petting his snot. “It’s ok, boy. At least we don’t have to travel the whole way with him.” She had never wanted to enlist his help. She’s heard too many rumors and she doesn’t trust him one bit. The fact that his first instinct is to try to hurt her before they even had a conversation only confirms her fears. He’s violent and uncontrollable. He’s just as likely to get her killed as he is to get her the flower. But the Golden Void Flower is one of the hardest flowers in existence to find. The area must be cold enough to form icicles along its petals, but must be warm enough for the roots to form. It can’t be too dark, but can’t be too light. It has to be fed by moonlight and it takes an ocean to quench its thirst. That is what Grandma told her. Ochako has no idea where to even begin to find it. But there had been one group that did, the Legendary Trio. She’s heard their stories, she grew up on them. They had been her favorite. The Explosive Witch, willing to set aside his greed in order to learn more about the magic of the world. The Two Tone Demon who searched for a way to save his family. And the Hero, an average man who had followed his dreams of adventure and ended up saving the world. Ochako had listened every night to those stories, to all the adventures they would go on. Embarrassingly, she had imagined traveling with them, seeing the world outside of her tribe for herself, of protecting citizens and defeating evil. As she had aged and as the trials of being the next chef started to weigh on her, she had outgrown those childish dreams. But she never forgot those adventures. And those stories had led her to here. The Two Tone Demon had gotten rid of his curse and now resides over the Todoroki Kingdom. The Hero had disappeared, which had led to the end of the Legendary Trio, with no trace of where to find him. Which only left her with-Bakugou storms out, his red eyes practically glowing. His face is still set in his frown, as he drops his bag in front of her. He looks her over, and she feels like she isn’t measuring up to whatever he is thinking. She sighs. So now she’s stuck with him. “Well?” Bakugou says, his voice still low and gruff. “Are we leaving or not?” Rolling her eyes, she stands up. She pets Lightning’s snot again, encouraging him to stand too. “What’s our route? You said we can’t go through Shigaraki?” “I’m going to take you through the Hollow Path.” Ochako stills. She turns her head, looking at him. “Are you crazy?”“So I’ve been told.” He’s already moving to strap his bag to Lightning. The dragon leans his head back to inspect the new things, giving them a sniff and Bakugou’s lips pull up into a snarl. “But it’s the only way to get to the Todoroki Kingdom without traveling into Hunter territory.” “I think I would rather take on the Hunters.” “No you don’t.” She glowers at the witch’s back, bristling at how sure he sounds. “I’ve heard stories about Hollow Path, you know? My grandmothers have been there. They lost dozens of our people trying to escape from the place. They have scars that they won’t talk about, won’t tell the tale of around the fire despite being proud of others. I see the fear still there in their eyes. Why would I want to go there and not face the Hunters?”Bakugou does not answer. “Well?” She demands. “I think I deserve an answer for why I should let you take me into someplace like that.” Still, he’s silent. He’s focused more on carefully latching his luggage to Lightning. She finds her eyes following his fingers, how swiftly they tie everything together. How smoothly he does, as if he has done it a thousand times before. And if the legends are to be believed, he has, though it was on horse and not dragon. The legends never mentioned a dragon. Finally, he speaks. “Hunters do not engage in head to head combat. They wouldn’t be Hunters, and they wouldn’t be alive if they did. They wait. In tree branches and in bushes. They wait till they can get a clear enough shot. Then they shoot your dragon, just once. But once is all they need. For the shot will be coated in poison. Your dragon will be forced to land, and you will be fretting over him because he’s not healing. The poison is spreading. He’s dying and you are desperate. And then people will show up, claiming to drive the Hunters away, and you will be grateful for their help. They will take you to a village and heal your dragon and feed you food. And get you drunk. So drunk that you can’t fight back when they reveal their swords and knives and will be left helpless as they kill your dragon in front of you.” He sounds so sure. His eyes are far away. Ochako narrows her eyes at him. The legends never mentioned a dragon. So…what else did the Hunters hurt that has the Explosive Witch wanting to avoid them. He turns his eyes towards her, but she’s not really sure he’s seeing her. For just a moment, he looks pale and stricken and much younger than he had looked before. And then his eyes harden and he’s back to being the asshole she met before. “Do you want to face the Hunters now?” Ochako bites her tongue and shakes her head. Fine. They’ll go to Hollow Path.~Katsuki used to love flying. It was one of his first spells he came up with himself. Even now, he can clearly remember the look on his mother’s face when he threw himself off a cliff, her shout of despair, then rage when he blasted himself up and up and up and-He remembers being above the clouds, amongst the gold and pink hues. He had stared at the land, the trees that sprout on every inch and the mountains in the distance and the animals that move within it, and it felt like he could touch every part of it. It had been his first taste of freedom. From that part onwards, he had been addicted. Now, though, Katsuki grips the leather underneath his fingers, digging in as the creature beneath him stands up, wings spreading to either side of them. He had lost his taste for flying long ago and he does not think it’s going to be relit flying on the back of this thing . Especially with how uncomfortable it is. Uraraka at least had the foresight that if she was going to force Bakugou to come with her, she needed another saddle. So he doesn’t have to crowd up behind her so they can fit in one seat. That doesn’t mean he’s anymore comfortable. Katsuki grabs the back of his saddle as the dragon walks to a more open area. He clenches his teeth together, his nose scrunched up. “You can hold onto me, if you need to,” Uraraka says, looking briefly over her shoulder at him. There’s a smirk on her face, her tone teasing. He would have snapped back something but the damn dragon took that moment to take off. It starts trotting forward, before it breaks out into a run. Its wings flap beside it, lightly at first before they become heavier and heavier. One second, they are on the ground. The next, they are taking off. Katsuki bites down on the curses that want to spill out. He’s pretty sure he’s going to split the leather beneath him. There isn’t much talking as they fly. The wind would take away their voices before they could hear what the question even was. That’s fine by Bakugou. He hasn’t talked in the last fifty years or so anyways. He isn’t inclined to start now, especially with her . Instead, he focuses on the journey before them. Getting through Hollow Path shouldn’t be too bad, no matter what Uraraka thinks. He used to travel through it as a kid, could even go by himself if he wanted to. Her clan must just be a bunch of wimps. Scared from a winding road where waterfalls flow freely and rabbits like to run? He snorts. What’s there to be afraid of? It will take them three days to get through, considering it wouldn’t be wise to go by dragon back. They are skirting Hunter territory, but if they catch wind that a dragon has been spotted, they damn motherfuckers will go to any lengths to track them down. Once they get through Hollow Place, they just need to travel down BlackWhip river, which will take five more days. Again, he doesn’t think there should be too much problem with that. The real trick will be when they come up to the Todoroki kingdom. About a hundred years ago, bringing a dragon to the Todoroki kingdom would have been the worst idea ever. Their fear of magic and magical creatures had been too great, to the point that they had driven anyone out who had the talent for it and killed everything else. The creatures that had lived there had fled in terror, and with them the plant life seemed to try to do the same, leaving the land barren and brown, the ground hard to produce anything, and the humans nearly starving to death. The last time Katsuki had been there though, life had started to return to the land, grass growing again and the trees bearing leaves. He even saw a few jackrabbits come near. Back at his home, he had heard whispers brought by the birds and insects that the Todoroki Kingdom is now a flourishing kingdom, producing the best fruits and vegetables around, the people once again fat and happy and living long lives. The King is the best king they had ever had and luckily for them, the very magic they had once sought to destroy is now what is keeping him alive and young. Katsuki bites his bottom lip. He tries not to think of Todoroki, has spent a good amount of time losing himself in books to forget the man, but even he isn’t that heartless to say that he isn’t glad for the bastard. …Half-N-Half deserved lighter years than the ones he had as a child. Now that he’s thinking of him, Katsuki muses, he wonders how he’s going to react when Katsuki shows up on his door. They hadn’t left on the best of terms. In fact, if Katsuki remembers correctly, he had thrown the other the middle finger and cursed his blood line down to the seventh child of his seventh child. But. The bastard has a soft little heart. He’ll drop Uraraka off with him and let him take her to that cursed flower. Then he can go home and continue to pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist.It sounds like a good plan to him. ~They travel for two days before Bakugou instructs her to set Lightning down on the ground. “We’re going to have to walk from here,” he says, taking several steps away from Lightning. Lightening tries to take a step towards him. Bakugou takes a step back. She watches this for a few seconds, a bemused smile on her face, before she shakes her head. She takes a bag from Lightning, to help lighten his load. She had hoped that Bakugou would take the hint and grab one too, but the asshole doesn’t even look at her before he continues forward. She glares at his back, hikes the backpack up higher, and follows after him. While she doesn’t exactly want to talk to him, it’s been days since they’ve had an actual conversation. She thinks she’s going to go out of her mind if she doesn’t talk to someone . So she turns to Lightning. “What do you think of the journey ahead of us?” Lightning makes a gurgling sound in the back of his throat. “Yeah, I agree. But at least we’re heading in the right direction now.” She looks up at the sky. At least the weather has been fine. Colder than she’s used to, but at least the clouds don’t hide the sun for long. “I wish grandmother was here. She could tell us what to expect.” Lighting makes a high pitch sound. “I don’t think she would want us to go through Hollow Path either. But at least she could let us know what we might face.” A wind blows past her and she shivers. “Though she would be laughing at me now. She told me to take a winter coat for my journey. I regret that now.” Lighting walks closer to her and she gives his snout a pat. “Thank you. You’re right, with you by my side, there’s nothing- not weather nor monster- that can beat-” “Are you going to talk the entire time?” Bakugou interrupts her. He had walked ahead of her, but now stops, his eyes boring into her. She huffs, sticking her tongue out. “What are you going to do if I do?” “Throw you into the nearest water source. You’re going to scare away every bird and beast near us, and then we’re going to go hungry.” “I have food, you know.” His nose wrinkles up. “Eat your cooking? No.” “How do you know that you are going to talk down to my cooking when you haven’t even tried it.” “I don’t need to try it. I already know it won’t compare to mine.” “Then I guess the cooking is left up to you,” she says with a sweet smile. “Do you think I’m going to cook for you ?” “Of course. Otherwise how do I know that you are truly as good as you say you are.” By this time, she had caught up to him, and she fakes a gasp. “Oh that’s it, isn’t it! As long as no one tastes your cooking, you can brag about having the best food and no one can call you out on it.” “Hah? You think I’m lying about my food?” “I'm just saying that there’s no way to prove that you are as good of a cook as you say you are.” “Oh yeah? Just you wait till tonight then!” The two continue to bicker long after that. Lightening trails after them, tail swishing side to side. ~This Uraraka woman…Katsuki doesn’t know how to take her. Despite her fighting skills, she had seemed clueless in everything else. On a mission to get a rare flower but didn’t know how to get to it, flippant about Hunters despite traveling with a dragon , that bit he overheard where she didn’t take a winter coat of any kind…he wouldn’t hesitate to call her an idiot. She shouldn’t be traveling, as ill prepared as she is. But, for as foolish as she is, she also has a few…ok parts. She never complains about how long they walk, even when Katsuki has her walking from sunrise to sunset. Her fighting, of course, is a big point for her. He watches her train every evening, when they make camp. Her ax movements are swift, her feet are light. Sometimes, he thinks she could split the earth, if she really wanted to. The fact that she is able to withstand his magical blasts means she has some training in the arts and how to fight against them. He wonders if she had also been taught to craft a few spells herself. It’s the only explanation he can come up with for why she keeps getting food out of him. He had determined, that first night when he had given her a bowl of stew, and saw the delight on her face, that she would not get another bowl from him. He already proved his cooking skills, after all. And yet, that morning for breakfast, she had been able to weedle some more food from him. And then later that night. And then the next day. Every time he tells himself no more. And every time, she would flash big eyes and pout and whimper and whine and get into an argument with him, and the next thing he knows, he’s handing her another plate.Infuriating. It must be a spell. He shakes his head from such nonsense thoughts. Not like it matters. In a few weeks time, he’s going to be rid of her. By his calculations, they should be entering Hollowing Path soon. At least he can update his notes about this area, maybe restock on some ingredients that he had run out of. Here, they can linger at least for a little bit, as long as no Hunter has followed them. He needs to get more river water! And maybe some incest wings. Might fuck around and find-Katsuki’s footsteps slow down, looking side to side. It takes Uraraka few seconds to realize that he wasn’t following after her. She looks over her shoulder, her hand on her ax. “What’s up?” Katsuki looks side to side, eyebrows furrowing. “This place looks…different.” Different is an understatement. Before them, a thick fog is filling out, spreading around, creeping towards them like a living thing that wishes to devour them. Where is the sunshine that used to fill the place? Straining his ears, he can not hear the birds sing. He doesn’t hear the rustle of animals. It’s silent, except for the wind that blows past, howling around them. Katsuki digs out his map, double checking. They flew as close as they could and have walked in the right direction…no, they are at the right place. He’s sure of it.Looking up, he frowns. The right place, the same name- but it looks so different from his memories. Uraraka walks back towards him, her hands on her hips. “What are you doing? Is there something wrong?” He looks between her and his map, before coughing. He shoves it back into his backpack. “No, no. Nothings wrong. Let us continue.” “Yeah,” she says, looking at the fog. They can’t see the path forward. She doesn’t seem surprised by it. “I'd rather get through it quickly.” Clearing his throat again, Katsuki lifts back up his backpack. “Yes, well…” He looks ahead, then up at the sky. The farther they walk, the less he can see the sun. “Well, it should take three days to get through.” “We can make it faster if we don’t stop for breaks.” “Are you really that afraid of this place?” She still has a tight grip on her ax. “You don’t know the stories like I do.” Katsuki looks between it and the road ahead. “Hmm.” Stories meant to scare children away, he’s sure. But…The wind howls around them again, brushing past them so harshly that Katsuki has to plant his feet on the ground to keep himself from falling over. He grits his teeth. Maybe he underestimated the place. Not like he’s going to tell Uraraka that though. He still doesn’t fully believe it. This used to be a place adults would send their kids to gain experience about adventures. It’s only been a hundred years? How could things have changed this much? He’ll just have to show Uraraka that it’s not that bad, not really. Setting his mind to it, he holds his head up high and sets forth. Uraraka walks by him, her hand never once leaving her ax. ~Hollow Path is just as bad as her grandmothers had warned her. Dark and dreary, they have to travel slower than she would like or else lose the path before them. Goosebumps run up and down her arms and she shivers, though it’s not because of the cold. Every so often, she hears something- a cracking of a branch, footsteps padding along the ground- and she has to stop from drawing her weapon on it. The only thing that calms her nerves is that Lightning does not make any aggressive moves. He just walks, not making a sound, ears up. He’s on alert, but nothing seems to be catching his attention. That doesn’t mean she’s fully in the clear. There are some things that not even a dragon can sense, all of them dangerous and not something they have the power to fight. Next to her, Bakugou walks stiffly. He’s not talking to her, which isn’t unusual. What is unusual is that he’s mumbling under his breath. His eyes dart from side to side, like he’s taking everything in. It seems like Hallow Path is freaking even him out. She doesn’t know whether to gloat or freak out at that. It makes her wonder though…he had been so sure that this way was safe. Why? What changed? She turns away from him and continues walking. They spend hours like that, walking silently and stiffly along the path, each lost in their own thoughts. Nothing changes till Lightning abruptly stops, causing Uraraka to hold out her hand, stopping Bakugou from walking forward. He goes to yell at her, she’s sure, but she puts a finger up to her lips. Then she looks at Lightning.Lightning’s ears are twitching. They flip forward, then back. Forward. Then back. Lightning turns his head, staring off to the side. Suddenly, he bends down, a growl ripping from his throat. His tail curls around Uraraka and Bakugou, keeping them close to him. “What’s going on?” Bakugou hisses, but she’s glad that his hands are glowing faintly. She raises her ax in a battle stance. “I’m not sure, but whatever Lightning is smelling, he doesn’t like.” They wait for a few tense moments. Uraraka fidgets. Bakugou curses under his breath. Lightning rears up, his throat glowing before he throws out a fire ball. For a moment, the fog clears and they can see around them. For a moment, the sun is able to shine down on them. For a moment, they see a dozen figures, looking human except they are broken and disfigured, their figures flickering with the light creeping towards them. They hiss at the flames and the light, jumping out of the way and back into the fog. “Oh fuck,” Bakugou says. And then they’re attacked, several of the creatures jumping at them. Lighting whirls around, his tail snapping out to slam into them, sending them flying back. One creature had ducked underneath his tail though, snarling as it tried to swipe at Bakugou. Bakugou blasts its hand off, incarnations flowing off his tongue. Ochako raises her ax, hacking another creature that had tried to jump them again. Her ax easily goes through it, like there is nothing of substance there. The creature gives a cry as it dissipates into smoke. “What are these things?” She wonders. “Shadow Men,” Bakugou says through gritted teeth. His hands glows a bright orange before he emits a large blast, turning three creatures into smoke. “Fuck, we need to get out of here.”Uraraka wants to ask what are Shadow Men, but two of them come at her. She focuses on the fight. After cutting down another, she can’t but wonder what Bakugou is freaking out for though. The Shadow Men aren’t hard to fight, and once you hit them, they turn to smoke. The only thing they have going for them is that with everyone they cut down, another seems to pop up. It’s annoying. She rolls her eyes when a creature tries to sneak behind her. She turns, ready to just kick it away, when she freezes. The Shadow Man…is talking to her?But the voice she hears is her good friend, Mina Ashido.
“Ochako…Ochako… please. Please don’t let us down.”
Ochako freezes. Her entire body goes stiff, pale. Her fingers tremble so hard she almost drops her ax. Her vision gets hazy. She blinks. One second, the creature is creeping closer to her. The next, her best friend is there, on all fours. Reaching one arm out to her. She’s only knocked out of it when Bakugou pushes her out of the way. She screams when he blasts Ashido right in the face, but the scream cuts off when Ashido dissipates into smoke. Ochako blinks again, mouth hanging open. Bakugou turns towards her, and his eyes are a blazing red, the kind that seem to sear into her soul. “Don’t listen to what they say. Remind yourself, we are the only two here. We need to beat them, before they trip us like that again.” So saying, he turns around, more fire raging from his hands, so bright she’s afraid it might burn the forest around her. But it rids of the fog, leaving all the creatures unable to hide. They hiss at him, clawing at the air, before they dart forward. Still shaken, Ochako lifts back up her ax and meets them head on. Slicing through them is easy, but still the voices come. There’s Ashido, her grandmothers, other villagers in her clan, all begging for her to get the job done. To return with the flower. To cure them. A tear slides down her face as she cuts off Hagakure’s, the girl who takes care of her horse, head. She wipes the back of her hand across her face, getting rid of both tears and sweat before turning around to see who's next. Instead, she sees Bakugou. Standing there. One hand is raised, the palm glowing but growing fainter. The longer she stares, the more she can see that he’s trembling. It’s faint. Very faint, but she can see it. When she looks into his face, it’s stony, frozen in his usual scowl, like he’s seconds away from spitting a curse or telling her to fuck off. But when she looks into his eyes-She sees an ocean of sorrow. And he’s not moving! He’s not moving, just standing there as the Shadow Man walks closer, claws raised like they will take Bakugou’s hands if Bakugou doesn’t move. He’s not moving!Distantly, she hears a sound, a small male voice saying “You left me, Kacchan. How could you leave me to die?” Rearing her hand back, she throws her ax at the Shadow Man. It spins in the air, spinning and spinning. Right before the Shadow Man can cut off Bakugou’s hand, the ax slices through its head. The ax keeps sailing till it lands, with a thud, sticking in the trunk of a tree. She breathes out a sigh of relief. Then screams as claws slice across her back. The screaming seems to rouse Bakugou. She falls to her knees. He spins, shouting out his curse that blasts over her head. So close is his fire, that it singes parts of her hair. The Shadow Man screams, high and shrill, as it dissipates. Bakugou rushes over, catching her before she can fall even more. She would never tell him, but the feeling of his hands holding her up, uncaring about her weight, has her leaning on him more. Her eyes flutter close. Her body feels so hot. She swears she can hear her clan, like they are all surrounding her. Telling her what a disappointment she is. She blacks out to the feeling of her grandmother brushing her hair out of her face. ~“Fucking stupid rabbits, fucking stupid forrest,” Katsuki mutters as he stumbles out from the brush. In his hand are three rabbits, far leaner than he would prefer but it was all he could find. Whether because their battle had scared them all away or because this cursed forest doesn’t provide for them to grow, it is scarce in animals to hunt. Sighing, he looks up, at the camp that they had set up. In the middle a fire burns, carefully tended to by Uraraka’s dragon. Leaning against his side is Uraraka herself. He looks her over, eyes trying to see if her condition has gotten worse. She’s sweating and pale, but her breathing is steady. The dragon looks up at him as he approaches, his green eyes shining. Sometimes, Katsuki feels like the dragon can really see him. See straight through him. Not as another human, but like it actually knows Katsuki. But Katsuki doesn’t know any dragons and he never made contact with their species. Maybe it’s just a dragon thing. “Sorry, dragon, but I don’t know if there is going to be much left for you.” Katsuki walks past him, just stopping long enough to make sure that Uraraka is still covered with her blanket, before he gets to work on making a stew. While he works, he keeps his ears open, tuned to every breath Uraraka takes in and lets out. They’re shaky, but not labored. He makes sure that doesn’t change. While the stew is cooking, he cleans his hands before going to kneel down in front of her. Her eyes are still closed. Running the back of his hand along her face, it’s still really hot. The illusion she’s under must be a powerful one. He brushes her hair out of her face, before standing back up. He moves back and forth, between checking his protection charms to making sure the stew doesn’t burn. The dragon watches him. Uraraka stays asleep. When the stew is finally done, he pours two bowls. One goes to the dragon. The other, he takes to Uraraka. “You need to eat, to keep up your strength,” he says outloud, despite the fact that she can’t hear him. She doesn’t move. The dragon shifts, so she’s leaning up straighter. Katsuki feeds her the stew, letting it slip past her lips, making sure she doesn’t choke on anything. He’s ever watchful, forcing her to eat spoonful after spoonful. He doesn’t stop till the bowl is empty. He goes to wash it, refilling the dragon’s bowl with the rest of the stew. Silently, he washes everything, setting it out to dry, before he sits by the fire. He watches it, listening to the night around them. There isn’t much sound. Katsuki knows, logically, he shouldn’t worry too much. The reason Shadow Men travel in packs is that they rely on their prey to succumb to their illusions, so they can kill them while the person’s mind is lost. Those illusions either come from the sounds they make or the poison on their claws. The poison isn’t fatal, and Katsuki doesn’t have the ingredients for a cure, so all he can do is let Uraraka sweat it out. He leans forward, throwing more wood on the fire. He does not sleep that night. It continues like that all the next day. He recasts all the protection charms. He gathers some berries. He tries to hunt, but only comes back with one rabbit this time. He checks on Uraraka. He keeps the fire going, helping her to sweat out the poison. He forces her to drink water. He keeps watch. Halfway through the next night, as he’s watching and waiting, she finally stirs. It isn’t much, but she sits up on her own. The dragon doesn’t move, just swings his head around to sniff at her hair. When Katsuki comes to kneel next to her, she looks at him with hazy eyes. “Nana?” Her voice sounds croaky. He gets her more water, brushing her hair out of her face again. Then he lays her back down, before going back to watching by the fire. But he breathes a sigh of relief. Her fever is starting to break. ~Ochako wakes up, gaze bleary, dizzy, with Lightning smashing his face into hers. His tongue licks up the side of her face and she sputters. “S-Stop that.” Her arms feel shaky and weak when she goes to push him away. Lightning trills, his ears flapping up and down. He sneakily gives her another lick, finally pulling away when she goes to swat at him. Ochako sits up, stretching her arms up. Around her, her blanket falls into a puddle around her waist. Her eyebrows furrow when she looks around in confusion. There’s a campsite set up around her. The fire is still going, looking like it’s pretty strong. The fog had returned, so she can’t tell if the sun is up or not. Next to the fire is a big pot and two bowels, laid out upside down on a cloth. A further away, there is a small pile of berries. On the other side of the fire, there is a log that just sits there. Their backpacks are also there, in a pile. Ochako clutches her head. What happened? She remembers the walking, the fighting, seeing Bakugou almost about to be attacked, the throwing her ax, the claws digging into her back-Oh. Oh yeah, that’s what happened. She slumps back against Lighting, blinking up at the foggy sky. Memories float by her. Her village, surrounding her, demanding answers, demanding a solution. Their faces were pale. Their stomachs bloated and green. They smelled like rotten fruit. They clawed at her, demanding she save them, save them, save them. And everytime she felt like she was going to sink into their grasp, to let them wrap their hands around her throat as they cried out for someone to save them, her grandmother would be there. Gently cradling her face. Telling her everything was ok. Brushing her hair from her eyes. Ochako does that now, wishing her grandmother was here. She probably wouldn’t have let those Shadow Men get the better of her. She probably would have been able to convince Bakuogu to go in a separate direction. She would have the answer. She always did. Sighing, she looks at her hands. So much for proving that she’s meant to be a leader. At least only Bakugou was here to witness her failure. She wonders where he is. Probably already halfway home, now that he’s free of her. She can’t really blame him. That whole thing was so embarrassingly-“Oh good. You’re awake.” Her head snaps up, her mouth falling open when she sees Bakugou enter from the fog. He gives her a frown as he steps around everything. In his hand, is a bird and some eggs. “I got breakfast.” Ochako doesn’t know why, but the first thing she says is, “Breakfast?” “Well, it’s more like lunch. It took me too long to find something to eat. It’ll take me longer to prepare everything.” She watches as Bakugou slaps the bird onto another log, before grabbing one of the pots to put over the fire. He cracks the eggs. They sizzle when they hit. “We should probably save the bird for dinner. This cursed place doesn’t have a lot of animals we can hunt. We need to save the berries for when we get back up to travel. You’re going to have to just survive on eggs.” Ochako can’t really say anything, too befuddled by what’s going on. Instead she takes the bowl Bakugou gives her, pushing the food around for a bit. “Eat up,” Bakugou says, voice gruff. She notices that he did not take any of the eggs for himself. Instead, he tends to the fire. Occasionally, their eyes will meet, before he goes back to looking at the fire and she eats her eggs. There isn’t much there, so it doesn’t take long for her to finish up. By this time, Bakugou had started to pluck the feathers off the bird. Setting the bowl to the side, she sits up. “Here, let me help you-” “No.” Ochako’s cheeks puff out. “What, why?” “You need rest. The worst of the poison is over, but you’ll need to rest for at least the rest of the day if we’re going to be able to get moving. Though-” he eyes Lightning. “If your strength is up for it, then we can get you secured to your dragon.” “What about all that talk about attracting Hunters,” she asks, can’t help but snark just a little. “That is if we’re going forward. We’re going back home.” Ochako sits straight up. Her back twinges but she does her best to ignore it. She can’t afford to appear to be weak now. “No. We’re not.” Bakugou doesn’t even look at her. “We are.” “We are not.” “Uraraka.” His voice is sharp. “You almost died. It’s time to give up this foolish quest and go home.” “It’s not foolish.” “What are you even after? Surely you can get fame or whatever you’re after some other way-” “It’s not foolish!” She shouts, bowling over him. Her lower lip trembles. Her back is screaming at her. “It’s not foolish. I told you already, I’ll do it with or without you. If you’re too scared to continue on, then you can go back with your tail between your legs.” At that, he finally looks at her, his head snapping over, his lips pulled back to show off all his teeth. “I’m not scared.” “You’re acting like it. I guess all those stories about you being some great mage was just that, stories , if only one brush with death has you wanting to run back home.” Bakugou’s face turns red, the flush going all the way down his neck. She can practically see a vein popping out of his forehead. “Fine, you want me to admit it? I’m scared. I’m scared for you .” Her anger crumbles into confusion. “Me? You’re scared for me? You don’t even like me.” “I don’t have to like you to not want to see you get killed.” He settles back down, going back to looking at the fire. “Especially not because of my incompetence.” Ochako is well and truly stumped. She frown, suddenly weary. “Is this another illusion? Lightning will bite you if you come near me.” Bakugou rolls his eyes, but there is a hint of smile on his face. “Ok, fuck you. I’m trying to fucking apologize here.” He looks away, but even from where she’s sitting, she can see that his ears are red. “...apologize? For what?” He’s silent for a long time, a sullen pouty kind of silence. Ochako wonders if this is the first time he’s apologized for anything, even if she doesn’t know why he’s doing it. Finally, he sighs. “It seems that I was wrong about this way being safer. If I had known that there were Shadow Men here, I would have figured a different way for us to go. It was safe the last time I came this way. I guess things have changed…” He trails off, his eyebrows furrowing. Ochako doesn’t know what to say to that, so she moves to something else. “Well, we’re here now. Honestly, as long as we don’t get hit, the Shadow Men aren’t that hard to deal with. Let us push on.” Bakugou’s mouth thins. “You should be scared of them. They are far more dangerous than you think.” “Because of the illusions?” Ochako pushes back her shudder. Those illusions were pretty life like. “Maybe we can find something to plug our ears with?” He doesn’t say anything and she continues to wheedle him. “Or we can stay closer to each other the next time they attack. Watch each other’s backs?” He still doesn’t saything. Just throws his stick into the fire. “Come on, Bakugou. Please. I need you to either get me to the Todoroki Kingdom or to the flower itself. I’ll-i’ll find a way to pay you, I promise! I just need you to get me there.” Those red eyes snap to her face, searching hers. She puffs out her chest, holding her breath, hoping he sees how serious she is. “...why?” When she tilts her head in confusion, he turns to fully face her. “Why is this flower so important to you? I thought you were one of those idiots, trying to follow the ‘legends’. But you’re desperate for something.” She shrinks back, looking down at her hand as she pulls grass from the ground, letting the wind blow it from her hand. “Why does it matter if I just want to follow the legends or not?” “Because if that’s the case, then I really will leave. I have no desire to continue this if it’s just to inflate your head.” The look he gives her is hard. “But it’s not. You look desperate.” His lips thin again. “You mentioned something before, back at my house, about saving your village?” She bites her lower lip. Lightning nuzzles against her shoulder again. When she looks at him, his eyes dart to Bakugou, then back to her, giving her a little nod. She gives his chin a scratch, and does not look back at Bakugou as she begins to talk. “A disease has befallen my clan. It makes them too sick to eat, too sick to move. Already, we have lost too many. We’ve sent people out, to ask as many healers as they could but none of them have ever heard of this illness. That flower…according to the legends of your adventures, the flower healed Prince Todoroki. If it can cure a curse, surely, it can cure our clan.” “I’m the granddaughter of our chiefs, my grandmothers. Both of them are too old, this adventure would have surely killed them. And they are needed back with the clan. So I volunteered to find one of the three Trio who can help me. No one has seen Midoriya since you three split up and I didn’t think I would be able to see Prince Todoroki….” She trails off with a blush, realizing a second too late what she is saying. “So I was your last choice, heh,” Bakugou says, but he doesn’t sound too upset about it. “Makes sense.” “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-” “Why are you apologizing? That’s your true feelings, right? Why hide them? I would have picked me last too, and it’s not like I wanted to be on this journey.” There’s a pause before he sighs. “You’re not wrong. This flower is supposed to be a gift from the gods. As far as we know, it’ll heal anything.” “Will it?” Her voice is small, pleading as she finally looks back at him. She can feel tears gathering along her eyes. “Will it save them? I’m not wasting my time, right?” Bakugou seems to be frozen as he stares back at her. Though it’s slight, she can see him gulp. His voice is soft too when he responds. “It’ll do it. Like you said, if it can cure a demon’s curse, it’ll kill some shitty disease.” She gives him a smile, her chest warming. Hope. Whether he’s just trying to humor her or not, he’s given her hope.~They wait one more day to make sure Uraraka’s strength has come back, before they pack everything up and continue going forward. Now that Katsuki is aware just how much things have changed, he is more cautious. He also keeps a closer eye on Uraraka. He won’t call it guilt, because he’s never felt guilty in his life, but he knows the feeling of there being something you have to do, of lives being on the line if you fail at it. He’ll get her to Todoroki and beat him up if he refuses to take Uraraka the rest of the way. No one could find Midoriya and I didn’t think I could talk to a prince. He gives a small, bitter grin at that. Letting people down again, huh, nerd? Well, even if she’s stuck with him, he’ll make sure she gets where she needs to go. He doesn’t dare take away their hearing, afraid that might leave them susceptible to another attack by other creatures. But they do stick close together. Even in battle, he watches her. Watches her swing, watches as she throws her ax around, watches her just bash forward forward forward. He watches her. Slowly they make their way through the fog. The Shadow Men seem to realize that they can’t trick the two of them into lowering their guard. Eventually, they stop attacking them. The two don’t let themselves feel easy about that.Eventually they come to a river. Unless things have really changed, Katsuki knows that this river connects to BlackWhip river. “We just need to follow this and it’ll lead us out of here.” They bend down to refill their flasks. When Katsuki stands back up, he has to stop himself from wobbling, blinking black spots out of his eyes. “Everything alright?” Uraraka asks, when she notices that he isn’t following her. He shakes his head. “I’m just checking to make sure the water is safe to drink.” Quickly, he catches up to her. “Oh.” Uraraka falls silent. “Well-” “No.” “Come on! It’s so boring just walking around, doing nothing.” “We’re not doing nothing. We’re listening for any danger.” “Which we can still do.” “Our talking is going to scare away any possible food.” “There’s no food around here anyways. We’ve been eating berries for the past couple of days.” She whirls around on him, her eyes wide. “Pleassssseee?” He stares down at her. She stares up at him. He reaches forward pinching her cheek. “You’re so annoying.” “Ow, ow, ow.” She pulls away, rubbing at her red cheek, but she’s grinning. “Is that a yes?” He sighs. Then he begins. “There was one time, when the three of us were stuck in this one old ass village. Deku wanted us to help them with their ghost problem. I objected of course, but fucking Deku was always such a baby telling others no. Half-n-Half sided with Deku, as always. So we stayed exorcizing ghosts.” “Wow.” Uraraka practically has stars in her eyes. “That sounds amazing.” “It wasn’t. Ghost aren’t as interesting as you think. It was so fucking boring that I gave up after the third day and stayed in my inn while the other two finished up.” She gasps. “You’re such a jerk. You let them do all the work?” “I did. The villagers were just being lazy, they didn’t need us.” “Bakugou!” “Whhhhatt? It’s true.” He smirks at her. Besides her, he swears that the dragon snorts and rolls its eyes. “But luckily I did, because while I was napping, a Ghost General tried to kill me.” Uraraka is back to looking excited as Katsuki describes the intense battle he had against the Ghost General, especially when he was dragged down into a dungeon. “With one arm broken and one of my eyes covered in blood, I finished the exorcism and defeated the General. And the village didn’t see another ghost after that.” He puffs up his chest at that. Uraraka, probably predictably, laughs at him. “Really? You did it all on your own?” He huffs. “Well, maybe Half n Half helped just a little.” “What about Midoriya?” Instantly, Katsuki’s good mood disappears. “Not there. Probably off doing stupid shit.” “Come on. You’re telling me that Todoroki was there to help you but not Midoriya? That doesn’t sound like him.” “Yeah, well. You don’t know Deku like I do.” He stares off into the forest, a deep frown on his face. “He’s not always there for you.” They’re back to being silent. Katsuki’s mouth is sealed shut. He remembers why he hates revisiting any of those old memories. “Do you want me to try to get food tonight?” Uraraka says. She gives him a soft smile. “I want to help out.” “Do whatever you want.” When they settle down later that night, Uraraka goes off like she promises while Katsuki starts the fire. He feels a nudge against his back. Looking over his shoulder, he sees the dragon trying to nuzzle against him. Katsuki sneers. “I’m not your rider. I’m not petting you.” The dragon continues to try and nudge him. When it opens its eyes, Katsuki swears it’s like looking at Uraraka whenever he’s trying to get something from him. He snorts. Then he looks around, to see if Uraraka had come back. He gives the dragon one pet. One. “That’s all you get, stupid lizard,” he says, a smile lifting up at the corner. ~The travel is slow but steady. The river slowly starts to get wide. They’re getting closer. “I’ve never been to a city before,” she tells Bakugou one night as they eat. She had miraculously found a couple of lizards. Bakugou had taken one look at them and turned his nose up in disgust, said he would just eat some berries. She shrugged and told him that it’s loss. Chewing on the roasted lizard. “What are they like?” “Big. Loud.” Her lips twitch up. “You would say that.” She takes another bite. “I wish I had time to spend amongst everyone. I would love to go to the market.” He eyes her. “Just go another time. You know the way now.” She sighs. “I can’t. I have to get back to my clan.” “Do it afterwards.” But she is already shaking her head. “I can’t. I told you, I’m the grandaughter of the chief. It will be my job to take their place. I still need to train. And learn the history of our clan. I need to bless the food shelters. I need to-” “Ok, I get it. You’re busy. Fuck, when do you have time to do anything fun.” Ochako slowly chews. “Cheeks?” She shrugs. “I mean…” He groans. “Come on, are you kidding me? You don’t fuck off or anything?” “I have responsibilities, Bakugou.” He waves his hands at her. “Sure. Everyone does. Everyone also has fun once in a while.” She puffs her cheeks out. “I have fun.” “Oh yeah?” He challenges her. “Like what?” She scrambles to find some kind of story that might impress him. But everything she comes up, she knows he would laugh at. He takes her silence as victory. Smirking, he leans back. “See? You need to loosen up.” She sticks her tongue out at him. His smirk only grows. Then he stands up, holding his hand out towards her. She looks at it, then up at him. “What?” His smirk grows. “You have time now, right? Let me show you a dance I used to do when I was younger.” She makes a face…but she does take his hand. “Ok, then. Show me your dance.” He brings her closer to the fire, the two standing side by side. Slowly, Bakugou shows her the dance, which turns out to be one where they have to move around a lot. Stepping forward, stepping backwards, to the left and right. He spins her, which surprises a laugh out of her, and then shows her how to spin him. He’s a lot lighter on his feet than he looks and Ochako finds herself struggling to keep up. But her smile stays on her face. They don’t stop dancing till they’re both out of breath and, too busy laughing, she trips over her feet, knocking into him. They fall to the ground, Bakugou cushioning her fall. Underneath her, she can feel his chest vibrating with laughter. She’s laughing too, loud and full, to the point where her head kind of hurts from how hard she’s smiling, when she looks up. Their faces are far closer than she was expecting. For the first time, she can see him with his guard down. His eyes are closed, his mouth is open as he continues his donkey laugh. There’s a scar on his cheek, that she now traces with the pad of her finger, her curiosity getting the better of her. His laughter cuts off, and his red eyes open to look back at her. For a long moment, there is nothing but the eerily silence of the forest and the fire crackling. Ochako stares at Bakugou. Bakugou stares back at her. There is nothing but them. Suddenly, a sound from Lightning has her coming back to herself. Her face flushes and she scrambles off of him. “I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to crush you like that.” His voice slightly cracks when he responds. “You’re fine. I didn’t mind-” He cuts himself off. She goes back to her side of the fire and, eventually, he picks himself off the ground to go to his side of the fire. Lightning looks back and forth between the two of them. There is a gleam in his eyes. ~The fog has started to thin out and that’s how Katsuki knows they are getting closer to being out of this hell hole. They set off early that morning. Katsuki packs up his pots and pans while Uraraka loads everything onto Lightning. He catches his gaze lingering on her, on the soft smile she has as she gives Lightning scritches and calls him good boy. He forces his eyes away. “We should probably get more water,” he tells her. “On it!” She runs off to refill their flasks and he turns back to check his books. He whips back around when he hears her shout and a loud splash. Uraraka is coughing, as she drags herself out of the river. “What the fuck happend?” he yells, jogging over to help her. “I tripped.” She takes his hand, accepting the help out. When she gets out of the river, she scratches the back of her head. “Sorry?” He goes to yell at her when he notices- oh. She’s drenched. Which means her clothes are drooping. Her hair sticks to her face. Water drips down her neck, towards her-Whirling around, he mutters a quick spell. “Wow!” She yells as there is a rush of wind behind her. “What did you do?” When he looks back, he’s relieved to see the spell worked. She’s completely dry. Uraraka is looking over everything, wonder on her face. He clears his throat, hoping that his face still isn’t red. “It would be bad for you to get sick now. Let’s get going.” Taking long strides away from her, he finds Lightning looking at him. “What?” He grouches at the dragon. Lightning just lets out a little rumble. He rolls his eyes. “Lets get going.” They head off.~Ochako really tries, she does, not to bother Bakugou so much. But…she’s so bored.Listening to all those legends, she had been raptured by the fights, the battles, the spy missions, the danger and near death experiences. She did not expect there to be so much…walking. Speaking of the legends, her eyes cut over to Bakugou. She has one here. Why not get as much of the stories from his own mouth. So she starts begging for him to tell her the stories. She begs. She whines. She tells her version of them. Anything. Finally, he throws up his hands. “Fine, fine. Ok. What do you want to hear about?” She can practically feel her eyes sparkling. “How about when you slew that Cursed King?” He frowns. “No. Pick something else.” “Oh. Hmmm, how about when you caught the Golden Pegasus?” His frown deepens. “No.” “The Archery Contest?” “No.” “The time you scaled the Ruby Mountains?” “No.” “Your final battle-” His features turn stormy and he practically spits. “No. Absolutely not.” She huffs, throwing up her hands. “Well, what can I pick?” “Any story that doesn’t involve Deku.” He practically spits the name. Next to her, Lightning’s ears droop. She pets his head. “What’s up with you? Wasn’t he your best friend?” Bakugou’s jaw clicks. He looks away from her and doesn’t answer. She sighs, looking forward. Looks like she’ll be walking in silence. They do for a few hours. So determined to give Bakugou the same silent treatment he’s giving her, she doesn’t realize that he’s slowly falling behind her. That is, till Lightning stops, turning his head around. Ochako’s eyebrows furrow when she looks to see that he has stopped, slightly bent over. “Hey, are you ok?” He doesn’t respond. Her stomach twists a little. “Bakugou? Are you ok?” He still doesn’t respond. She walks back towards him. She can hear how hard he’s breathing. “Bakugou?” When he looks up at her, she is startled at how pale he is. Sweat drips down his face. He tries to give her a smile. “I think…my spell is wearing off.” At that, he falls down to one knee. “Bakugou!” She runs up, kneeling down next to him. “Spell? What spell?” He doesn’t answer for a second, too busy breathing. “There…wasn’t enough food for the both of us. I thought I could survive…off my magic.” Ochako jerks at that, her mind racing. She thinks back to all the meals they had shared together…she never noticed but the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes she never saw him eating. He had always given the food to Lightning and her.He coughs. To her horror. There is a bit of blood. “You idiot,” she whispers. “Why would you do that?” “You need your strength, especially to make sure the poison doesn’t come back.” He’s sagging towards the ground, and she has to lift him up so he’s leaning against him. “Us mages can survive off our own magic. It’s not…advisable. Can cause issues. But I thought that it would be fine…till we got somewhere with more food.” “You idiot,” she repeats. A shadow falls over them. It’s Lightning, who leans his head down to sniff at Bakugou’s head. He lets out a whine. With a determined scowl, she lifts Bakugou up. Lightning lays down to help her as she pushes Bakugou onto him. She straps him in, then gets up. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you help.” “Not…worried,” Bakugou says, even as his voice fades. His eyes fluttered, but not before he looks at her. “I…trust you.” Then he coughs up more blood. Ochako’s heart stutters. She starts running, Lightning running right beside her. They need to get out of this fog. They need to get somewhere she can hunt. But will food be enough? He said he was living off his magic? What kind of damage will that cause him? She fears that even if they get out of the fog, it might not be enough. So focused on trying to figure out what to do next, she almost misses that Bakugou has started talking. “...sorry.” “Now you’re apologizing? Wait till we get you some help.” “I’m sorry for everything…” Shit, she thinks. How bad off is he? “I wish I could apologize to Deku…” She nearly stumbles at that. “You don’t have to talk about it,” she tells him softly. But he shakes his head. “I haven’t talked about it in a hundred years…the reason we stopped traveling together is because of me.” He takes a deep breath. “After our final battle against the Dead King, I received a note from Izuku. It said that he didn’t need me to travel with him anymore.” “That doesn’t sound so bad.” Ochako tries to keep her voice light and happy. “Maybe he was just tired of traveling.” Bakugou doesn’t seem to have heard her. “We had a fight…that was the last time I talked to him…I told him I didn’t need him either.” Bakugou lets out a long sigh. “...I understand…I’m never anyone’s first choice when it comes to traveling together.” Then his eyes fall close. He does not open them again. “Bakugou? Bakugou! Katsuki!” ~There is light shining on his face. He feels like he’s on a cloud, everything soft beneath him. He’s warm. Having died once before, Katsuki Bakugou is quick to realize that this is not it. He opens his eyes with a groan. Above him are high white ceilings. He can tell he’s laying on a bed. He tries to sit up, but his body protests and he falls back with a groan. “Oh.” Turning his head to the side, he sees a man in long white clothes, who gives him a bow. “You are awake. I will go inform the King.” With that he walks out. “The King?” Katsuki stares back up at the ceiling. His brain is so fuzzy, he can’t think. Instead, he lets his eyes close. A face comes to mind. Rosy cheeks. Brown short hair. Muscles that can lift up an ax. His eyes fly back open. Uraraka!He tries to get back up, scrambling to get himself out from beneath the cameras, to get up. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” A cool voice says. “You damaged yourself pretty badly.” Katsuki looks up. Standing right there in the doorway, is King Todoroki Shouto. He doesn’t look like he’s aged a day since Katsuki last saw him, only got taller. With a few more muscles….Katsuki is pretty sure he’s still more muscular than him though. Katsuki narrows his eyes at him…maybe. Shouto gives him a smile. It looks natural on his pale stone like face, much better than it used to when they were younger. His two tone hair swishes as he tilts his head. “You’re looking good, Katsuki.” Katsuki groans, flopping back in his bed. “Fuck you.” Shouto chuckles. Katsuki can feel him walking closer, the steps echoing around the empty room. Katsuki peeks open his eye when Shouto moves to sit on his bed, grabbing his hand. “It’s good to see you, my old friend.” Katsuki feels his lips twitch up. He gives Shouto’s hand a squeeze. “Yeah, yeah. Good to see you too.” The two are silent for a long time before Shouto clears his throat. “So…care to explain why a mage such as yourself drained all of their powers, causing your magic to start eating itself?” Katsuki groans, running a hand down his face. “It was for a good cause, I promise.” “Does it have anything to do with the woman who brought you to my door?” “Uraraka?” Katsuki half sits up. “Where is she? Are you treating her well?” Shouto’s lips twitch. “Yes, she is getting the best treatment I can provide. A rare feat for someone who my first meeting started by her putting her ax to my throat and threatening me.” Katsuki stares at Shouto. “She fucking did not.” “Let’s see.” Shouto taps one of his long fingers against his chin. “She shows up with a dragon, which she used to fly over our walls, and ended up right outside my door. As soon as I showed up, she drew her weapon and told me that I better heal you, ‘or else’, I believe was her threat.” Katsuki groans. But he can’t help smiling. “I wish I could have seen that. It’s been a while since you’ve been threatened, hasn’t it?” Shouto chuckles. “Such a brazen woman. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from someone who has caught your heart.” “Wha-” Katsuki sputters, flailing on the bed. “What are you talking about, she hasn’t-We aren’t- that’s so stupid-” “Hmm.” Shouto gives Katsuki’s hand a pat. “Sure.” He bends down, to give Katsuki’s forehead a kiss. “I am glad to see you are safe and well, my friend. And that you have put your grudge with Midoriya to the side.’ Shouto stands up, going to leave but Katsuki stops him. His eyebrows furrow. “What do you mean, I put my grudge aside? What makes you think that?” Shouto tilts his head. For the first time, he isn’t smiling. “Do you not know?” ~Ochako had been in the middle of devouring all the delish food King Todoroki had to provide when she got the news. Bakugou had woken up. Abandoning the table and ignoring the people around her, she runs all the way up, to the private room the King had set Bakugou in. Behind her, she can hear the click of Lightning’s nails against the floor as he follows her. She bursts the door open. “Bakugou!” Bakugou is sitting up in his bed, fluffy pillows propping him up. Next to him, King Todoroki stands, hands behind his back. He seems to be in the middle of talking to Bakugou about something. Bakugou turns to look at her. His face is blank, but she doesn’t care as she throws herself at him. “You’re awake! I’m so happy.” Then she leans back, to lightly smack his head. “How could you scare me like that? Why would you wait till the last second to tell me? No, wait, why would you do that to begin with at all? Do you know how scared I was, when the King here explained was going on?” She pulls on his ear, then his cheek. “Fuck, fuck, woman, stop!” He squirms, trying to get away from her grabby hands. “Don’t you know you aren’t supposed to prod people who are hurt?” “Don’t you know that stupid mages aren’t supposed to use their magic in a way that gets them hurt?” She mocks. Suddenly, she becomes aware of the King watching them, a smile on his serene face. Instantly turning shy, she pulls back, clasping her hands before her and giving him a bow. “Uh, sorry for my rudeness, my King.” “There is no need to apologize. I have no desire to get between young love.” He turns, ignoring the sputtering between Ochako and Bakugou. “Ah. I see you have come too.” Lingering in the doorway, is Lightning. He hangs his head, making a small, whining sound. Bakugou’s face is back to being blank. He stares at Lightning. Lightning does not lift his head. Ochako looks back and forth between them. “Uh, what’s going on?” “Deku,” Bakugou says, voice strong and clear. “Come to beg for an apology, huh?” He’s looking at Lightning. It takes Ochako a moment to catch up. “Wait? What ?” King Todoroki walks over, slow and steady, to put a hand on Lightning’s shoulder. “I would like to officially introduce you, Uraraka, to Midoriya Izuku. A hero and our friend.” Bakugou snorts behind her but she can’t hear it, too busy staring at Lightning, who is still not looking back at her. “... What ? No, no, no. I think you misunderstand, King Todoroki. That’s Lightning, my dragon. I found him when I was a kid.” “Yes, Midoriya did say that.” King Todoroki pets Lighting- her dragon - on the head. “He had gotten hurt down South and had wandered around, till he came upon a group of kids. They had gotten lost, so he decided to help them get back home. And there was one, long, brave little girl who demanded he stay so she could ride him around. Like a pony .” Ochako flushes, her head spinning. That is indeed what she said, telling the elders, her grandmothers, anyone who listened that Lightning was her horse. “But-But-But-” “Yeah, it looks like he has a lot of explaining to do,” Bakugou says, crossing his arms, staring hard at Lighting…at the legendary Hero Midoriya. Lightning whines. King Todoroki pets him. “Yes, he does. To keep it short, he says that right before we defeated the Dead King, the King had placed a curse on Izuku. Fearing that he was going to become a terrible monster like the Dead King, he had run away.” “Really?” Bakugou’s voice is short. “That was your plan, Deku? Run away without telling us?” Lightning whines again. King Todoroki explains. “He says that we had talked about going back to having soft lives after we defeated the Dead King. He didn’t want to drag us into his problems. He hadn’t expected the curse to turn him into a dragon. He’s been looking for a way to break it, but ended up helping Miss Uraraka here.” “You mother-” Katsuki tries to sit up, but then stops, pain crossing his face. Ochako helps him lay back down. He huffs. “I can’t believe you. You are so lucky I can’t get out of this bed or I would kick your ass.” Lightning whines, his head hanging even lower. King Todoroki’s face is blank. Ochako racks her brain, before she brightens with a smile. “Hey, look on the bright side.” He glares at her. “What bright side?” “You get to apologize now!” Bakugou blinks at her. Then his face gets bright red. “What did you-” She taps her chin. “No, wait, you already apologized to him.” “Did he?” King Todoroki asks. He looks amused by that.“No!” Bakugou shouts. His mouth opens and closes for a second. “That-That doesn’t count! I was dying!” “Does it really change the fact that the last thing you said was that you wanted to apologize to him?” “Yes!” He bites his bottom lip, glaring at her, at King Todoroki, then at Lightning. Finally, he flops back on the bed. “This isn’t over! I’m still kicking his ass!” Lighting…Midoriya’s ears perk up, the dragon finally looking up. She thinks she sees a smile on his face. She doesn’t need King Todoroki to translate for her to get the message.
I’m looking forward to it.
~Katsuki is forced to rest for several days, despite his assurance that he is absolutely fine. But all of King Todoroki’s healers won’t listen to him, and Uraraka and that fuckass dragon play babysitter, making sure he can’t sneak his way out. Three days later, he’s allowed to sit in the garden to get some fresh air, though a healer is still assigned to watch over him. He’s sitting on a bench, in between some red and white flowers, when Uraraka and Shouto find him. He eyes the two of them, his stomach twisting. “Yeah? What are you two doing here? Come to harass me some more.” He catches the fuckass dragon sneaking behind them, sticking to the shadows and staying out of Katsuki’s line of sight. He scows at him. “I’ve actually come to say goodbye,” Uraraka says. Katsuki knew it was coming. He closes his eyes. He grunts. Uraraka rocks on her heels, back and forth. “We stayed long enough. But my clan is still counting on me. I need to find that flower.” “I have settled everything with my advisors,” Shouto says. “I shall be able to show her the rest of the way.” His eyes are dark as they dart between Katsuki and Uraraka. “Great,” Katsuki says. He looks down. “I’m glad.” It’s silent except for the birds singing. “Um,” Uraraka begins again. “I…I really appreciate you taking me this far. You didn’t have to and, um…I’m grateful you did…thank you. For saving me.” “Right.” He clears his throat. “Thank you for saving me.” Silence again. Uraraka looks like she wants to say something else. Katsuki is stopping the words from escaping. Shouto sighs. He looks up to the sky. “You know,” he says loudly. “It sure is going to be dangerous.” Katsuki doesn’t saything, just looks at him. Shouto sighs louder, still looking up at the sky. “If only we had a strong and powerful mage that was willing to come with us.” He pauses for a second. “A very irritable and very available mage.” Katsuki holds in his curse, his eyes glancing at Uraraka. He’s surprised to find her staring at him, a hopeful look on her face. He looks down. Grins. Then he stands up. “I guess I can go on one more adventure.” Uraraka practically looks like sunshine as she grins at him. “Really?” He scratches the back of his head, looking down, away from her. “As long as it doesn’t bother you.” He’s nearly bowed over as she tackles him, wrapping her hands around him as she gives him a big hug. “Thank you! Thank you so much.” “Miss!” The healer says, her voice full of concern. Uraraka drops Katsuki, her face completely red. “Oh, yes. Sorry, sorry.” She turns towards Shouto. “Oh, King Todoroki, will you-” “I still plan to come with you,” he tells her, a gentle smile on his face. “I would love to adventure with my friends again. It has been quite boring here anyways.” Then his eyes gleam, as he looks up at Katsuki, a smirk on his face. “I would also love to witness the blossoming love between the two of you.” Steam practically blows out of Katsuki’s ears. “What the fuck are you talking about?” Uraraka waves her hands in front of her. “There-there-there is no love-” “Sure.” Shouto says, turning around to walk away. There’s still a smile on his face. “You can say that.” “It’s true, bastard .” “Right.” “You really have to believe us.” “Of course. Let me inform my council that it will be a few more days before we set out.” He walks away, but not before he turns to wink at them. Katsuki, still red and feeling like his heart is going to beat out of his chest. He looks down, at Uraraka, whose face is red too.Their eyes meet. Katsuki’s heart ends up in his throat. Uraraka is the first to look away. “I-I, let me go repack my stuff. Thank you for coming with us. Bye!” She runs straight into a bush. Blushing more and stuttering her apologies to the gardener, she runs down the path, her hands covering her face. Katsuki watches her go. His hand clenches, as he presses it to his thumping chest. A soft smile graces his face.Somewhere to the side, Midroiya is dancing on his toes, a triumphant roar echoing throughout the kingdom.