Chapter Text
There were rumors of a darkness plaguing the three kingdoms of the East. It was a darkness that ate away at the citizens and their rulers with each wave of kidnappings and murders that ravaged the villages of their respective kingdoms, regardless of whether they were close or far from the Royals’ capital.
Although, it wasn’t just missing and dead people. It was odd epidemics, disfigured bodies found on river shores, entire forests dying out, wells running red with something thicker than water. It was a warning. Something was killing the land and using its inhabitants. Or someone. However, no one knew to what end.
None of the kingdoms’ Royals had received any obvious threats. Because of this, most of them brushed off all the decay and death as separate occurrences and dealt with them as just that, ignoring the growing danger that loomed over them.
Two Royals, however, refused to allow the increasing ignorance in their courts. Specifically, the heirs. Prince Shouto Todoroki of Soba Kingdom and Princess Momo Yaoyorozu of Scholar Kingdom. During the East’s annual Rulers’ Accord the two heirs tried their hardest to bring the rest of the courts, as well as the heir of Static Kingdom, to their senses. But their pleas fell on deaf ears and near-sighted eyes. So, the two heirs decided to join forces and work behind their parents’ backs in order to find and destroy the source of the kingdoms’ misery.
“For the last time, Iida, your skills are not needed. I do not need protection on the journey, I can take care of myself just fine. And I’ll be going with the Princess. If anything happens you know very well that she can protect the both of us just fine.”
Shouto Todoroki had been arguing with the castle’s Chief of Guard, Sir Tenya Iida, for the last hour about how he shouldn’t leave the kingdom because it was dangerous, and about if he was going anyway that he shouldn’t leave without the entire castle’s arsenal of guards. Iida was excessively protective and overbearing when it came to the Royal family, so Shouto’s exaggerations may not have been far off.
“My skills are exactly what is demanded of in this situation. My Prince, if you believe for even a moment that I will allow you to leave these castle walls undefended then you are gravely mistaken. I was tasked with the great honor of protecting the lives of the Royal family and ensuring their safety, and that obviously includes you as well. And while I don’t doubt the Princess’s combative capabilities, I cannot and will not put my trust on a stranger. At least take a small squadron of fifteen select knights, sire.”
Sir Iida put himself in Shouto’s line of vision as he packed his bags, refusing to spare a glance to the knight, who was moving his hands vigorously so as to emphasize the meaning in his words.
Tenya Iida was a knight of honor and he took great care and pride in his mission: to protect and to prevent danger. In the past decade since he’d been knighted, his record was impeccable. Well. Almost impeccable. It stressed him to no end, but his Prince always made his job a lot harder than it already was. Today was not the first time in which lines were crossed, but it was the first time the line was in danger of being absolutely obliterated. If he allowed the Prince to leave on his own, with no protection from his own kingdom, and something horrific happened, Iida would never forgive himself.
Shouto Todoroki stuffed a shirt into his bag with a bit more force than was necessary and roughly closed it before turning to the Knight with a neutral expression.
“Yaomomo is not a stranger,” he defended, even if the nickname Shouto had given her as kids felt odd and misshapen in his mouth after he said it. Iida straightened himself up once the Prince turned to face him and put a bit more space in between them, though he did not back down.
“You have not seen each other for four years. I understand you two were very close friends as children, but that was a long time ago. A lot can happen in four years. People grow, and with that growth, they change. While you two may maintain some sort of connection, in essence, you are strangers.”
The Prince’s jaw clenched at Iida’s words. He knew he had a point. Hell, Shouto himself had perceived that when he saw the Princess arrive at the castle’s doors. But he couldn’t let that interfere with their mission. He and Yaomomo may not have seen each other in years, but surely that didn’t mean things had changed so much that they’d leave each other for dead. Still… there was a small voice in the back of his head that kept trying to remind him to take precaution. He’d been ignoring it, until now. Iida’s rightful reasoning was making Shouto’s subtle paranoia rear its head.
“You know I’m right, sire. Heed my advice. If I cannot stop you from doing this, then take some of my knights with you.” Despite himself, Shouto pursed his lips inward and shook his head.
“No. Do you have any idea how much attention I would attract if I traveled around with a ring of knights surrounding me? That’s no way to travel, especially if we intend to pin down a very stealthy and possibly powerful enemy.”
Even if their presence would do good for the heir’s safety, it would spoil their investigations. Shouto grabbed his bag along with his sword, acknowledging Iida before turning towards the door to the hallway.
“I highly appreciate your dedication to your knightly mission, Iida, but what Yaomomo and I are going to do is not official, so we must take care with how we do it. Farewell, my friend.”
“Your Highness.”
Just keep walking.
“Prince Todoroki, please wait.”
The conversation is done. Keep walking.
“Shouto!”
He stopped, if only from the shock of hearing Iida call him by his first name. He never called the Prince by his first name. It goes against the very principals he holds as a knight, to acknowledge those of rank either by their title or by their surname. It’s why Shouto calls him Iida instead of Tenya, because the knight insists first-name basis is far too informal and even disrespectful. (Shouto never really cared for that sort of thing until the Knight came into his life, and even then, he only did it on the other’s insistence.)
The Prince turned around, eyes wide and mouth only slightly gaping. Iida stood behind him, just a couple of feet away, lips pressed tight together and shoulders tense as he looked straight into the Prince’s eyes, his own narrowed.
“I refuse to accept your adamant rejection of any protection I throw your way. As a final and indisputable offer, I will personally be assisting you on your journey and investigation in order for you to have the protection I am obligated to give you. There is no room for discussion. You will give me the time I need to pack any necessities and to leave my knights in working order. We shall meet at the stables.” And with that, he walked away, leaving behind a sighing Prince.
Well, Shouto thought sourly, I guess that’s that.
~ ~ ~
“Tokoyami, stop following me. No means no. I’m going on this mission alone,” Momo Yaoyorozu said for the thirtieth time in the last hour.
She understands that it’s his job to guard her and follow her around everywhere (she’d even gotten used to it over the years), but as of today this was something she did not need.
She and Todoroki couldn’t afford to draw in too much attention. And a brooding bird-headed human would definitely draw in plenty of it. Sure, the Princess had to wear an animal headdress as well, but at least she took hers off every now and then, especially when venturing outside the castle walls. Tokoyami never took his off. In our kingdom, we call that downright dedication, but by all rights Momo knew that, beyond her kingdom’s territory, it made him a Weirdo with a capital W. It was unfortunate, yes, that the rest of the world wasn’t always that accepting of Scholar Kingdom’s practices, but it was the truth. A truth that might ruin the mission. Which is why she refused to accept his company on this journey.
“Yeah, sure you are.”
Momo’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. Tokoyami, on the other hand, was not being very accepting of her reasoning. She stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned around to face her shadow, voice level and shoulders straight.
“I am. You know I can take care of myself perfectly fine. Not to mention, Todoroki’s going to be with me. Anything I won’t be able to defend myself against, he’ll be there to make up for that.”
They both knew the Princess was talking about the one and only weapon she didn’t have in her arsenal: magic. She might have enchanted weapons and pendants that could assist her in battle, but nothing surefire. The Prince, though he wasn’t a mage, was an elemental through and through. One who so happened to inherit both elements his parents had. (Not by accident.) And elementals, if trained correctly, were extremely good at defending against magic. The Princess had everything she needed.
“That Prince isn’t perfect, and you haven’t really known him for four years. Who knows whether he’s kept up with training or not? And even if he did, we don’t know how well he was trained. There are things out there that not even fire can burn through, nor that ice can freeze, Yaoyorozu.”
The Princess noted the knowing voice with which he spoke in. She knew that there existed darker forces than magic out there, but at the same time, she didn’t. Not really. That knowledge, in detail, belonged only to Tokoyami and her mother, the Queen. And since it wasn’t a topic that came up often, it hadn’t really crossed her mind… How sure was she that Todoroki’s duo elements would bust through every wall they’ll come across?
Tokoyami must have noticed the doubt that flitted through her mind because he crossed his arms and put most of his weight onto one leg. Momo, being accustomed to reading his body language, could already imagine the smug look on his face. He knew he had won. The Princess wouldn’t risk even the slightest chink in her armor.
“Plus,” the bird-headed guard continued before she could say anything, “your mother already told me I was to accompany you on whatever half-baked idea you got to ‘save’ the three kingdoms no matter what I had to do.” He made sure to put air quotes around the word ‘save’.
The Queen didn’t particularly believe something larger and evil was afoot, but she knew nothing she did would be able to keep her daughter from following that belief. And what harm would it bring to let her child do as she wished? The “threat” wasn’t real, after all. The Princess rolled her eyes and looked away before turning back around in the direction she was initially heading in.
“Of course, she did. How can someone who’s always one step ahead of me be so blind to the obvious evil taking over our lands?” Having walked up to her side, Momo could see Tokoyami shrug in the corner of her eye.
“Life’s funny like that sometimes.”
“So it seems,” the Princess muttered under her breath, then said loudly, “Seeing as you’re already packed, because of course you are, and I no longer need to meet with mother to give her an excuse for my pilgrimage, we’ll be heading to the stables to ready the horses and then we’ll head to the meeting point. Will you be needing a horse?” Her tone implied that she already knew the answer to that. Tokoyami shook his head, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
“I have my own ride, thanks.”
_______________
“It’s the eighth person in this month alone!” Mina Ashido slammed her fist on the table they always sat at whenever they visited their friend’s tavern. Despite being on the job, she was already half drunk and raving about the kidnappings that had been going on for the past two months.
“And what’s that stuffy old king of ours been doing to fix things? Jack shit, that’s what.”
“Maybe be careful with what you call our king,” Ochako Uraraka said in a cautious tone, holding out her hands in a passive manner. “They say he has spies all over the kingdom. Even in backwater villages like ours.”
Just to be sure, Ochako glanced upwards for a moment, eyes raking over the room to make sure there was no one suspicious around. Thankfully, there wasn’t. But if there was, she would’ve been both delighted (because she was right) and horrified (because holy shit she was right).
“Mina’s got a point, though.”
“Thank you! I knew you were my best friend, Rikidou.” Mina smiled, her eyes closed and cheeks pink, and leaned on Rikidou Satou’s shoulder as she squished his cheeks. Ochako sighed at the sight, laying her forehead on her hand.
She would try to stop her friend’s drinking before she got any drunker, but she knew better than to do that. Mina believed drinking on the job gave her a unique working ability and personality perfectly suited for a tavern. Ochako doesn’t even question that logic anymore. And anyhow, it’s not like the pink-haired girl would get fired for being drunk, seeing as she owned the place.
“I’m not saying she doesn’t. I just rather not have my body dumped in the river because the king can’t take a few insults.”
“Considering that that was an insult in itself, I’d say you don’t need Mina to dig you a hole when you’ve already done it yourself, kero," Tsuyu Asui stated, her casual tone not matching the remark in her words at all.
As she talked, she hadn’t looked away from of her ale mug (which had really only held water). There was a fly investigating the insides, looking for who knows what. A second after she’d finished talking, her tongue flicked out quicker than the regular eye could see, and the fly was gone. The others were already used to this behavior, so their conversation went on as normal. Ochako leaned against her friend’s arm.
“Tsuyuuuu that was meaaan.”
“But true.”
“Y’know, I’ve been thinking.”
Tsuyu and Ochako broke away from their conversation to stare at Rikidou, who held what should’ve been a serious face if Mina wasn’t still mushing his cheeks together.
“The king isn’t gonna send help to us any time soon. And I think… I say we take the matter into our own hands.”
Ochako understood the heaviness in his words, but the suddenness of them caught her off guard. No offense to him, but Rikidou wasn’t the type of person to have such a radical heart of justice. He helped people when they needed it or asked for it, and if a thief were to run right by him, he’d do something about it. But he never meddled with the law or took into his own hands. The guy was a baker and a damn good samaritan, but not a vigilante.
“I agree with Sugar Man! We should do our own investigations and track the bastard down so Tsu can drag them all the way to the king’s palace, where we’ll leave them with a little bow and everything. Ooh! Let’s do it! Can we, Ochako?”
After pumping her fist energetically and making some graphic gesture of what they would do to the kidnapper, Mina looked at Ochako with wide, hopeful eyes. Oddly enough, an image of Mina laughing gleefully while pouring her acid down the culprit’s eyes skipped across the meadow of thoughts in Ochako’s mind. She quickly shook it away. She couldn’t allow her mild prejudices get the best of her. Not only were they wrong, but Mina was her friend. She might be half demon, but that doesn’t mean she’s a blood seeking monster. If not because Mina is her own person, then because it’s a “cliché”, and Mina Ashido doesn’t do clichés.
Ochako cleared her throat along with her mind and leaned back into her chair.
“Why are you asking me?”
“Because you’re basically like the mom of our little band of misfits. Plus, you’re a witch—”
“In training."
“—so that gives you the rank of O’ Wise One. Anyway, what do you think? We should all definitely get involved in this, especially since no one else is going to do it. I mean, we might as well!”
“I don’t think it’s that easy, Mina. Something tells me these kidnappings aren’t just some rando looking to satisfy their dark needs. Also, more importantly,” the young witch pointed at Rikidou, and made sure to keep her voice low and gentle.
“How come you, of all people, want to do this? And I don’t mean this to offend, but last year there was a thief breaking into people’s houses and taking everyone’s earnings. And when Mina threatened to stay out on the streets all night to catch the person, you said that she shouldn’t risk her life like that and to just leave the matter to the officials.” Officials who only helped because they happened to be picking up taxes during the break-ins and Ochako’s teacher went with a few other townspeople to pester and force them to stay until they arrested the thief.
“Ochako has a point. You wanting to directly after the kidnapper is quite uncharacteristic of you, kero,” Tsuyu pointed out. Mina, having let go of Rikidou’s cheeks a while ago, propped her head on her fist and pouted thoughtfully at the man in question.
“Now that you guys mention it, I do kinda remember that thing about the thief. Plus, a bunch of other times you tried to keep us out of trouble. What happened to change that?”
To any prying eyes, it would seem as though the three of them were ganging up on him, but really, they were just worried for their friend. To have such a drastic change in principles, something must have happened, right?
And from the look on Rikidou’s face, they were right. He looked away from us, keeping his eyes on anything he could use to distract himself, and there was a contained tremble in his shoulders as he clenched his fists. He was trying hard to keep his composure, trying to suppress whatever it was he was feeling. It looked as if he were trying to isolate himself from the moment, to keep himself beyond their reach.
Something reached out to Ochako, though. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, leave him to deal with whatever happened on his own. Whatever it was. So, she stretched out her arm across the table and placed her hand on his wrist. Her hand tightened at the sharp tug in her heart, hinting at her where his pain was manifesting from. She kept her expression soft as Rikidou locked eyes with her at the contact.
“We’re not prying out of reckless curiosity, Rikidou. We want to know if you’re okay, and to let you know that we’re here for you no matter what, like always. I also need to make sure you’re not acting recklessly. But if you find yourself unable to tell us anything, that’s fine. Just don’t throw yourself blindly into a dangerous situation.”
He let out a sound, something between a cough and a laugh. Seeing it safe, Mina inched her arm around his shoulders and ordered another mug of ale for him, on the house. Her way of saying ‘we’re here for you until the bitter end’.
“You talk as if you already know exactly what I was planning on doing. Are you sure you don’t have the second sight?” There was a barely distinguishable tug at the corner of his lip. Ochako noticed and gave him a half-smile as she retracted her hand from his wrist.
“I’m sure. I can’t see into the future, but it’s not hard to predict someone’s actions when you can sense what they’re feeling.” He nodded.
“Makes sense.”
The ale Mina ordered had arrived, and apparently the motion she had made with her hand to order meant one more mug for everyone. Of course, Tsuyu had water while everyone else had ale. There was a still moment of silence as they distracted themselves with their drinks. There was a weight in the air now, but not the type that pressed down on them. It was one that simply hung there, visible to them all and hard to ignore.
After Rikidou finished his drink, Tsuyu was the first one to ask.
“So, have you decided whether you’re going to tell us or not?”
“Tsuyu,” Mina scolded. The sprite in question looked over at Mina, an innocent look on her face.
“What did I do wrong?” Mina looked as if she was about to list off an entire testament on why she shouldn’t have asked, and how she should’ve let him bring it up whenever he felt comfortable doing so. But before she could, Rikidou jumped in.
“No, Mina, it’s fine. If you guys don’t keep pestering me, I wouldn’t want to tell you, and then I’d end up doing something probably stupid.” He let out a deep sigh and rested is forearms on the table as he began fidgeting with his hands.
“It happened two days ago. I was chopping some firewood for Old Lady Willow ‘cause she had run out. You know how her house is right at the edge of the forest, right? Right. So, I went in to find a well-aged birch tree I could cut down and use, as usual, right? So, yeah, I went in and everything’s normal. Until I tripped over a root and-and looked down and saw that there was blood right there on the ground. And not even a-a little bit, no. It was like a splatter the size of my face. And, so, me being curious, I start following the blood.” He faltered for a moment and took in a deep breath.
“I heard the sound of something being eaten before I saw what was happening. And the thing is, the most gruesome sight wasn’t the one of the mangled deer, but of the… thing eating it. And, guys,” his voice cracked, not being able to hold back his emotions any longer.
"When it looked at me… I know this is gonna sound crazy, but when it looked at me-- the face might have been almost completely unrecognizable, but I swear that I saw my mother’s eyes on that thing’s face. A-and I know she isn’t listed among the people that have gone missing, but it’s already been a few days since she took off to the lower villages for sugar and flour and she hasn’t been back and I-I think sh-she’s already gone, taken w-with everyone else and m-m-made into those beasts.”
The table was quiet, no one daring to even breathe as they saw their kindest friend break down before them.
“I-I-I’m almost sure i-it’s what’s been happening to the m-missing people. And I- and I know this is the worst of my paranoia talking, but I just- I need to find whoever’s doing this. Just so I can- just to make sure that the th-thing I saw didn’t u-used to be my mom, okay?”
At this point, Rikidou’s voice broke completely, along with the walls he’d built to keep his worst fears from worrying us and the people around him. He took advantage of Mina, whose arm was still around his shoulders, and leaned onto her completely, burying his face underneath her chin. Mina wasted no time and wrapped her arms around him completely, trying to shield him from the images that tormented him. The moment he felt her arms holding him, Rikidou couldn’t hold back any longer.
The three girls met each other’s eyes while their friend cried quietly in Mina’s arms. Said girl was also tearing up, frustration marring her features because she couldn’t take away her friend’s pain.
Tsuyu’s worry could be obviously read from her brow as she looked at the pair, already quietly thinking of ways she could help, ways she could find whoever did this.
Ochako, on the other hand, was furious, her own worry and frustration only adding to the torrent inside her. She’d be damned to Hades and back if she didn’t punish the person who was destroying innocent people to make monsters, the person who took her friend’s loved one and who made him hurt this way. The worst creatures in this world had nothing on an angry witch, and Ochako was officially on a warpath.
“Don’t worry, Rikidou.” Mina and Tsuyu both shared a look at the cold fury in Ochako’s voice. “Because we’re going to find that beast and avenge everyone they’ve ever taken. By the time I’m finished with them, they’ll be begging for their god.”