The earth mutters beneath her feet. This land is an angry one.
The trader had wrapped magic-dampening bandages around her eyes. It must've cost the conniving little snake a fortune to get his paws on those, Uraraka fumed. Now she can't sense the drums of the earth or the voices of the sky. All she can hear is the clanking of her chains and the raspy exhalations of the slave trader.
The ground shifts into an incline. Uraraka can feel a small breeze to her left. A sharp grating of metal rings out in the silence.
"Halt. Who approaches the Chief of Fire and Claw?" The voice is sharp, female, and deeply disapproving. "How dare you bring your filthy practice here! How many times do I have to tell you?! We don't deal with slave traders!"
"Pink one, this is not a slave." The trader's voice drips with honey. "I bring before you a powerful asset to your forces. Now. May I speak with your esteemed Chief?"
The female voice growls, the sound deeply feral and furious. She must've acquiesced, for there is a low rumble and shaking of the ground that makes Uraraka stumble with surprise.
She hears the trader breathe in sharply. "So that is how they shift." His voice is barely audible, but laced with glee. "Come, witch."
"I am not a witch." Uraraka snaps back stubbornly, but she falls silent when he viciously yanks on the chains, hissing, "Must I cut another stripe into your pretty back?"
She follows the tug of the chain into a wider space. The air flows freely here, yet, as sweat begins to quickly bead on her neck, Uraraka feels the presence of larger, powerful beings.
They stop. The trader falls to his knees, bringing her down with him in a more undignified manner.
A young voice, hoarse with smoke, speaks. It is a male voice, an angry one that shakes the chamber with its force.
"What in the nine freezing hells is this?"
"Great Chieftain of Fire and Claw." The trader is already groveling, Uraraka observes with disgust. "I have traversed many dangerous lengths to bring you a fine addition to your draconic armies. You are looking upon Heaven's Witch, the famous sorceress who can walk the skies and tame the stars!"
Incredulous silence. A snort from another large beast in the chamber.
"This… is the famed witch?" The chief laughs. "All I see is a blindfolded girl in chains." His voice turns cold. "Do you know, stranger, that I hate chains?"
"Sir...!" The trader's voice cuts off with a sudden shriek, and Uraraka yelps as her feet are taken out from underneath her from the chain drawing suddenly taut. The heat in the room begins to rise.
The chief speaks again, a smirk in his voice. "Kirishima, blast that thing into oblivion."
There is a soft whistling, and suddenly Uraraka gasps as she feels searing heat rocket past her, singeing her hair and brushing her cheeks as it whips past her and finds its mark with a wet, sickening sound.
The slave trader screams, a terrified thin wailing that chokes abruptly off as his end of the chain drops with a ringing clank onto the ground. The sound of disintegration settles quietly in the air.
Uraraka climbs unsteadily to her feet, gasping at the suddenness of the attack and the acrid smell of charred meat. Her hands paw at her blindfold until she manages to loosen them. The bandages flutter around her neck and fall to the floor.
Her disoriented eyes adjust. Magic begins to seep back into her system; it soothes her dizziness, rooting her firmly into the earth's embrace. The voice of the sky croons to her, a siren's lullaby, and the drums of the earth pound with her heart in tandem.
Uraraka gasps for breath, like a swimmer breaching the surface, a bewildered but triumphant laugh. She clenches her fists, and the sky voice screams. The chains around her arms shatter like glass. Her body screams in relief.
A raspy laugh fills the chamber. Uraraka turns and nearly has a second heart attack.
There is not one dragon in the chamber. There are three. Three monstrous creatures of legend lay in a circle, their huge leathery wings arched like a canopy. Cruel, curved claws clatter against the ground, drumming a foreboding staccato rhythm. Their feline eyes narrow as they take in the small girl gaping up at them.
And all three of them lie in a circle around a single young man sprawled on his throne of broken rock, flashes of light bouncing off his necklace of teeth and sky-blue jewels. A fur cloak is draped over his taut muscles, and roughened fingers tap idly on a huge, curved blade.
The Dragon Chieftain continues to laugh, his eyes burning with a cold, red flame.
"So." His amusement fades, and nothing but predatory interest remains on his face. "The Witch makes her debut."
O.O
To her dismay, the chief doesn't let her out of his realm.
"You are a foreigner. A foreign magic user at that." He walks briskly down the dim hall lit by sputtering, oily torches. "I don't like witches like you traipsing around my territory."
"I told you," Uraraka strains to keep up with his ruthless pace, "I'm not a witch!"
His snort of amused contempt echoes. "I saw you break metal chains with just a clench of your fist in my great hall. I know a witch when I see one. I may live in a closed land, but I know that you magic users like to do nothing but meddle."
"I'm….NOT…." The sky voice speaks to her suddenly, a faint war cry, and she gives it ferocious voice. "…A WITCH!"
The torches all flicker out in tandem. He grinds to a halt, his eyes blinking in the sudden darkness. His hand had automatically reached for the broad blade on his back.
"Now…" The chief turns, his eyes flickering dangerously in the faint moonlight coming in through the crevices, "It's shit like this that makes me doubt your words, Witch of the Heavens."
"I'm just a traveling mage separated from my party." Uraraka snaps. The magic in the air has picked up to a high-pitched frenzy of droning, and it's making her head ache. "I don't know what the trader was talking about when he called me that. He made it all up. Mages use magic for good, and witches use it to destroy."
The chief gestures at the darkness around them. "If you can snuff out fire with just a word and break metal chains with just your fist, I think you live up to your nickname."
She looks at him in exasperation. After a beat of silence, he shrugs and raises his hands. The torches all re-ignite with a sudden explosion that shoot out from his hands. Uraraka flinches as some stray sparks singe her bare feet.
The chief brushes off his crackling palms. "Half-dragon," he says calmly at her gawking expression. "Mother's side."
He moves forward to pat out a small fire blooming on her shoulder with all the careless grace of his kind. His eyes search her face carefully. "Well, if you're not a witch, then we might as well come up with a better name for you."
Uraraka blinks in confusion, having to tilt her head up to make up for the difference in height. "Eh?"
The chief sweeps off the remainder of soot on her shoulder with an air of finality. "I'll call you Angel. That's basically the same as the Witch of the Heavens, isn't it?"
He cackles as he brushes past her, leaving her standing bewildered in the hallway. "Then what should I call you?" She hollers at his disappearing back.
The chief keeps on walking, but turns his head briefly to shout. "Call me Bakugou!"
O.O
She gets a cave for a room.
The yawning entrance is decorated with uncomfortably sharp stalactites, and the air smelled of brine. Clutching her crumpled hat and the shattered remnants of her staff, Uraraka casts a look of dismay around her surroundings.
"You'll have a lovely view." A young woman with rose-colored skin stands behind her, a reassuring smile stretching her pretty features. She holds out a bundle of blankets and some tools to her. "The entrance leads right out onto a crevice though, so be careful!"
Uraraka nods, eying the bare stone floor and the open entrance of the cave. "Won't it get cold at night?"
The pink girl laughs, tossing her head back. "Cold! In the land of the dragons?" Her mirth dies down, and she folds her hands behind her back. "You'll never feel frost here, Angel."
"My name is Uraraka." The "Angel" replies quickly, with embarrassment.
"Okay!" The girl sticks out her hand. It looks like a perfectly normal, human hand, albeit tinged pink. "My name's Mina."
Uraraka shakes her hand. It's a very hot hand, stinging her palm with its heat like acid. "Ow. So….you are a dragon?"
Mina's lips scrunch up into a thoughtful grimace. "Technically? I mean, yes! This is like my human form, so I can be able to communicate with people like you." She leans back against the wall, entwining her arms behind her head as she stares at the ceiling. "There's only two purebreds of us left though, so don't expect to talk to random dragons in the land and expects them to shift for you."
"Two?" Uraraka queries. Her curiosity, the very trait that has both frustrated and pleased her many mentors, is brimming again.
Mina nods. "The one who burnt your captor. That's Kirishima."
"Oh." Uraraka pauses. "So…all the other dragons are just that? Dragons?"
The pink girl slides to a sitting position on the floor, a faint hint of amusement at the mage's queries showing on her face. "Well, Sero and Kaminari are Halflings, but they're pretty powerful so they can change at will. It's pretty hard to maintain and control. You'll see for yourself in time."
"So…" Uraraka cautiously ventures, "Why won't Bakugou change?"
Mina is quiet for a while. When the mage looks at her, she can see something intense burning in the dark sclera of the pink girl. "Bakugou is our leader. Halfling he may be, but our leader nonetheless."
"But-" Uraraka begins to say, but Mina cuts her off. "I'll let you settle in, Angel Uraraka!" She stands, a hurried motion that thinly veils the emotion that overtook her. "Let me know if you need anything!"
As the girl runs out the entrance, leaping off the cliff with a rather melodramatic display, Uraraka watches with awe as a sudden rumbling fills the air. A rose-colored dragon bursts into the air, roaring with energy as she flaps away from Uraraka's cave.
Uraraka rubs the back of her neck. "Are all the dragon people here this showy?"
O.O
She's deep in sleep when another bout of heavy rumbling shakes her awake. Uraraka frowns as she rubs her sore eyes, uncurling from her position on the floor. The giant full moon grins down at her, and she holds her breath as the rumbling fades.
A beat of dead silence passes.
"Knock knock, Angel."
Uraraka nearly jumps out of her skin as a looming silhouette abruptly blankets the entrance of the cave. The ruby red dragon Kirishima had planted his chin onto the outer lip of the cave, with Bakugou stepping off his snout with bravado.
She throws up her hands in exasperation as he approaches her. "Are all you dragons this dramatic?"
Bakugou snarls. "I ain't got time for your games, Angel." He throws something tattered at her feet. It's crusted with what could only be blood. "Found this at my western border."
Uraraka eyes the scrap with confusion, then cold seeped into her veins. It's hard to tell, but she could recognize that dark green anywhere. "Deku!"
"The ground was all trampled down." Bakugou paces like a restless animal, his boots scraping the ground harshly. "Dead bodies everywhere."
"B-bodies?!" Her voice cracked painfully.
He spits. "Demons. Hellspawn. There were a fuck ton of them and my scouts found nothing but their corpses rotting on my territory." The chief leans in, his face contorted with rage. "What are they doing so close to my land?!"
Uraraka's heart is thumping loudly. "Was there anything else besides the bodies? Any signs of the people who fought the demons?"
Bakugou turns on his heel and resumes his pacing. "There were burn marks and ice covering half of the scent line. Something had obviously been unleashed, but we had never seen or heard of magic this powerful. I thought you might know something about it."
Uraraka shakes her head. Something is off. "It's probably my friends looking for me. I was traveling with them for some time before I…before we got separated."
"Before you got yourself captured as a slave, you mean." Bakugou glares at her. "If they were your friends, they don't seem very competent."
She seethes, a hint of magic flaring out from her fingers. "Don't call them that!" Uraraka pauses, then forces herself to breathe more calmly. "It was my fault that I was captured."
Bakugou snorts. "Your magic seems powerful. Why didn't you use it to attack him then?"
Uraraka sighs, sinking into a sitting position on the floor. Kirishima is blowing great huffs of steam into the cave as he watches them, and so she chooses to look into his warm golden gaze rather than Bakugou's angrier one.
"I thought I heard my parents."
Kirishima blinks owlishly, and something warm presses against her side. Bakugou has settled down to sit next to her, and like Mina, he's practically radiating heat. At her expression, he scowls. "Well? Go on."
She reels in another breath. Steadying it. "I hadn't seen them for a long time. Rationally, I knew that it couldn't be them, because our village is way in the north, but they sounded like they were in pain. Screaming and crying my name. So I ran."
Bakugou watches her, his ruby red gaze unfaltering. Kirishima rumbles, long and low, and it sounds like reassurance.
"He had friends. They grabbed me by the arms as he broke my staff across his knee. They thought that by breaking it, I wouldn't be able to fight anymore."
She looks into the sky, peering from behind Kirishima's great spine plates. "I think I lost control. I don't really remember. When I came to, there were four bodies on the ground and he himself was dazed by my attacks. He got mad then, and pulled the magic-nulling blindfold on me when I was standing in shock."
Bakugou speaks. His voice has settled from his usual angry roar to a quiet thunder similar to Kirishima. "The staff is to your powers like a cup is to water?"
Uraraka blinks at his perceptions. "Yes! It's a container but not the source of power itself. I kind of need a staff before I want to perform magic that actually does what I want it do."
Bakugou frowns. "You broke your chains though."
"Aahh…" Uraraka rubs the back of her head sheepishly. "I think my magic was still under control because I had just gotten rid of the bandages. Just an educated guess."
Bakugou lets out a heavy and a slightly annoyed gust of wind. "Well, damn."
Uraraka blinks as he stands, the clinking of his necklaces breaking through the heavy breathing of the dragon. "I'm sorry?"
"You need wood for your staff right?" He beckons with his hand, and Kirishima rumbles to life, shifting his head a little out of the cave.
"Wha?" Uraraka's hands begin to flail. "Wait! It's the middle of the night! And it can't be just any wood, it has to be rowan, and it's quite a distance to walk-"
Bakugou straddles the dragon's neck. Something manic and excited is beginning to color his features. "Who said anything about walking?"
O.O
Kirishima is far bigger than Mina in his dragon form, and his wings are no exceptions. They beat the air with heavy thumps, and as Uraraka clings to Bakugou's back, she can't help but think of the drums of the earth. It's odd to be so far off the ground and still be reminded of something so very below her.
Bakugou is roaring into the wind, whooping and punching the air. "Fuck yeah! Fly higher Kirishima!"
"HIGHER?" Uraraka shrieks, grabbing for more hold as Bakugou keeps moving out of her grasp. "We're going to fall!"
Bakugou laughs, a wicked and free sound. "We'll never fall, Angel." He glances back at her. "You're the Witch of the Heavens, and in the land of the dragons. The sky is our element!"
He turns back to shout. "Higher, Kirishima!"
Kirishima roars and wriggles his shoulders. His wings push against the air, and they break through the silvery cloud cover, and Uraraka gasps in delight.
The moon looms above them, its bright face glowing like a diamond against the velvety black sky. The stars smatter across the velvet, and they're not just silver; they're gold and emerald and turquoise and Uraraka weeps at the sight.
Bakugou glances over his shoulder and nearly tips off of Kirishima when he sees tears dripping from her eyes. "What in the hells are you crying about?!"
"I-It's just…." Uraraka's breath shudders and she sobs, staring helplessly at all the stars above them in awe, "So beautiful…."
Bakugou scoffs, a soft tch audible even in the sheering air, but he stares up at the heavens with a renewed reverence as Kirishima steadies his flight to peacefully float above the cloud cover.
"We have a goddess where I come from." Uraraka finally speaks up, her voice coming back a little stronger. "The goddess of the night. She tends the sky like it's her garden, and the stars are her flowers and the moon is a lake from where she draws her water from."
Bakugou is silent for a while, and Uraraka can feel his breathing hitch underneath her fingertips. He finally speaks up, his voice unexpectedly thoughtful.
"In my land, we have no gods, but warriors. The black sky is their battlefield, and the stars are their broken swords and claws. The moon is the war gong which will one day bring about the last battle and also the end of the world."
"Your interpretation is so violent." Uraraka smiles, patting his cloaked shoulders. "It suits your people."
"Well, your version is sappy as hell." Bakugou retorts. "Can't even begin to imagine yours."
Uraraka laughs, and he soon joins in, and Kirishima gives a draconic chortling that vibrates beneath his passengers like a pleasant massage.
They return to the cave with a long branch of rowan clutched in Kirishima's talons, and despite Uraraka's misgivings, he sets it down at her cave entrance with upmost delicacy.
She waves goodbye as chief and mount swoop away into the night, and promptly hauls the branch inside the cave. Matters like this can't wait until morning, after all.
O.O
Her staff is half finished when her old knife snaps in half.
Uraraka glares at the broken tool in her hands, and sets it aside with a resigned sigh. She needs to find a new one.
She ventures to the edge of the cave. Outside, the sun is just beginning to sink into the jagged horizon of the dragon lands. The cries of the beasts soaring overhead in their evening flights reach her ear, and Uraraka decides to search for their chief.
As she makes her way carefully up the narrow footpaths, she can't help but breathe in sharply with awe. In the evening light, the mountain looks like it's painted with gold. Dragons of all shapes and colors flit about its face, mingling and calling in the throaty tenor only such beasts have. The two biggest ones, Kirishima and Mina, are wheeling above the rest, warbling and roaring to each other in a playful bout of competition.
Above them all, their chieftain perches on a precarious ledge, his eyes burning as he watches his packs play. His cloak is folded neatly besides him, his many swords and daggers piled in a heap on top.
He looks calm. His sandy hair is bristling in the wind, and without his usual scowl, the fiery chieftain looks…handsome. Almost majestic. Uraraka shakes off these strange adjectives and climbs the rest of the footpath towards him.
Bakugou glances over at her, a terse expression coming over his features almost at once, erasing whatever fantasy her imagination had conjured. "What do you want, Angel?"
"Uraraka." She replies automatically, but with much less bite than the first time. Uraraka gestures vaguely at his pile of weaponry. "May I borrow a knife? I need one to finish my staff and my old one broke."
Bakugou grumbles, muttering something about shitty human blacksmiths, and rummages around his assortment of weaponry. He selects a straight but insanely pointy blade that looks like it's been made from a massive tooth and tosses it to her.
She catches it a bit awkwardly. He sneers at her, although not unkindly. "Don't know your way around these?"
The sneer falls off his face when she abruptly spins the tooth knife about her hand, turning it with the finesse of the experienced. Uraraka casts him a smug look. "I know a few moves." She informs him breezily.
A smirk tilts up his lips, and he stands, rolling his shoulders as they pop and crack. "I see. Care to spar?" He snatches up a wickedly serrated dagger from the metal pile, flipping it in his hand invitingly. "Let's see what sort of stuff you're made of."
Uraraka blinks. "Right here? Now?" She looks down at the rough and uneven surface they were standing on, and jerks her head back up, her eyes wide. "We're on a mountain!"
"Battles can happen anywhere, Angel." He's already moving into position, his feet sliding with unexpected grace on the rocky ground. His teeth are bared in a wide grin. "You gotta be prepared!"
Bakugou charges at her. Uraraka's barely able to bring her own knife up in time as he swings it with ferocious speed towards her abdomen, her feet scrambling backward as she raced to match his speed. She swivels her body to move lithely underneath his swing, and as she disappears out of his line of sight, Uraraka feels Bakugou's movements tighten.
A mischievous thought enters her mind. She quietly imbues her arms with a hint of magic, strengthening her movements.
When Bakugou cranes his head to search for her, Uraraka elbows him in the gut. Hard.
"What the FU-"
She accidentally punts him straight off the mountain.
"OH MY GODS!" Uraraka's hands fly to her mouth in horror as Bakugou tumbles off the sheer drop, his howl of surprised rage trailing after him like a meteor's tail.
And without thinking, she breaks into a run and leaps after him.
O.O
The ground is hurtling towards them as if in slow motion. Below her, Bakugou is spread eagled against the air, his palms popping and crackling as his explosions begin to slow his descent.
But at this rate, if he lands, he'll break every bone in his body.
Uraraka tries not to shut her eyes against the sheering wind against her face. Her mind races as she sends up an inward cry of terror heavenward.
Then the spell comes to mind.
No, it's madness. She only did it a handful of times and every single use had her emptying her insides onto the floor of the classroom as her peers laugh. No. She can't do it.
They're still falling and soon Bakugou's going to smashed to pieces on the forest canopy and it's going to be her fault because she can't do it can't do it can't do it-
"URARAKA!"
Her head snaps up. His explosions had propelled him to her height and Bakugou is looking both furious and a tad frantic. "You're the Witch of the Heavens, aren't you?!" He screams, his arms shaking with pain as explosions wrack his palms. "Do something!"
Uraraka lets out a shriek of frustration, something hot scorching her insides as magic races through her veins. "I'm…not…a WITCH!"
She reaches out and grab Bakugou's shoulders, so tight that her fingernails sink into his flesh. His startled "Oi!" cuts off as her entire being radiates with power, with sheer energy that pours out of her like water out of spilled vessel.
The rosy aura wraps and builds around them like airy silks made of light. The gust rushing past them becomes a brisk wind, then a breeze, then nothing at all.
They float.
Uraraka peeks open one eye and gasps in excitement. They're hovering just a few lengths above the tree line, suspended as if from invisible strings. The magic pouring from her is dizzying and heady and absolutely exhilarating.
She looks up into Bakugou's wide eyes. The young man is staring at her, his mouth open as his hands clutch at her shoulders. He must've grabbed onto her unconsciously in the heat of the moment. Their noses brush each other, and she can feel his heated gasps on her chin.
For a moment, time freezes. The last of the sun's dying rays throw their features in sharp relief. The dragons fly towards them are sending up trumpeting roars. His hands curl around the curves of her shoulders as her hands drift to cup his jaw. Their expressions mirror each other.
The moment breaks when Kirishima swoops below them as her concentration breaks, trilling affectionately as both of them plop onto his back in a tangle of limbs. Mina circles above them, her deep chortling sounding suspiciously like delighted laughter.
"Fuck off, Raccoon Eyes." Bakugou grates out hoarsely, twisting his body to seat himself properly behind Kirishima's horns. He pats the ruby scales roughly. "Take us home, you big idiot."
As Kirishima beats his wings obligingly, Uraraka hesitantly snakes her arms around Bakugou's middle as they tip upwards. She feels him tense against her chest, mumbling something inaudible.
"What was that?"
"I said don't fucking do that again, you absolute maniac." His voice is sharp, and he's still shaking, but he moves his hand to cover her smaller one resting on his abdomen and holds it tight.
It's a silent thank you that he couldn't say aloud, and as Uraraka squeezes back, she can feel his trembling still and recede. He relaxes against her chest and she exhaustedly leans her cheek on his neck.
They fly upwards and the mountain is blanketed with darkness as the sun finally dips below the horizon.
O.O
Kirishima lands on an unfamiliar ledge, a much wider one at the base of the mountain that's lit by torches. Uraraka peers behind Bakugou's shock of hair and sees wall hangings, swords, and a stone bed draped with crimson coverings. His chamber.
Bakugou dismounts Kirishima, putting out a hand to pat his snout in thanks. He suddenly lets out a hiss of pain and clutches at his hands. "Gods…"
Urarakra, slipping off after him, gasps at the sight of his hands. They're torn and bloody, as if something had erupted from the inside. "Your palms!"
"It's nothing." Bakugou speaks through gritted teeth, eying his hands with distaste. "This usually happens if I overuse my powers. This'll heal up in a few days." He turns away.
"Let me help." Uraraka blurts out. Bakugou pauses mid-stride and glances incredulously at her.
"It's my fault you had to overextend yourself." Uraraka walks forward and takes his wrists in her hand, taking care not to touch his ruined palms. "I can do a few healing spells that could speed up the process!"
Bakugou glares down at her, but the fire dies in his eyes as he winces again. "If you insist then."
He pulls her towards the bed. Uraraka perches on the edge as Bakugou holds his arms up for her to patch up. He's glaring at the blood dripping on the ground, forming little red puddles that shine in the torchlight.
Uraraka's hands glow and the skin, very slowly, begins to knit itself together. It would take some time for the hands to heal completely.
They're quiet but for the crackling of the torches and the beat of Kirishima's wings as he takes off again. Bakugou is staring off at some point in the distance as Uraraka focuses on his hands, her brown hair floating in the wake of her magic.
Finally, Bakugou speaks up. "My hands." He says gruffly. "They're the only part of me that's even dragon at all."
Uraraka looks up questioningly. Bakugou continues, haltingly. "I can't even shift. Even other Halflings could do it. I know this idiot called Kaminari who is half human noble and half dragon and he can shift. I only have these explosions."
His voice takes on a bitter note. "I only became a chief because my hag of a mother bit the dust before we could pick another leader. It should've gone to one of the other purebreds, but here I am," He laughs, but it's not a happy one, "bleeding out as a human heals my wounds."
"Don't say that." Uraraka rebukes him quietly as her magic flares briefly in response to her emotions. "The other dragons respect you as their leader. They fly towards you when you're in trouble, and they protect you from intruders like the slave traders. I can tell that much, and I've only been here for a short while."
He looks up at her, a twisted smile on his face as his eyes flash. "They call me the Great Chieftain of Fire and Claw." Bakugou's voice is broken and full of mirth. "A threefold lie."
"That's not true at all." Uraraka snaps. She holds up his palms, still pulsing with magic as the bleeding begins to slow. "Your fire is in your attitude, your energy and your orders. Your swords and daggers are your claws, cutting anyone who dares oppose you.
"And most importantly," She puts a hand, boldly, on his chest, right over his heart, underneath his mass of necklaces. "Your whole person is a chief. Your heart for your lands, your concern for your people, and," her voice lowers, "your care for a foreign mage who you could've turned away when she was taken to your door as a slave."
Bakugou stares at her, his expression the most vulnerable Uraraka had ever seen him. Slowly, he pulls his hand out of hers and reaches up to shove her bangs out of her determined brown eyes.
Uraraka's breath catches as he tucks a tendril of her hair behind her ear. He holds her cheek as she melts into his touch. His hand is warm, calloused, and unexpectedly gentle.
When he finally speaks, his voice is quiet. "I was right in naming you." Bakugou's eyes are burning. "You really are an angel."
And as the rest of his palms smooth out completely, healing even by the magic in her bright pink cheeks, Uraraka doesn't even realize that she's crying.
O.O
The days pass, and Uraraka is almost done with her staff.
She whittles slowly, as if that would prevent the inevitable. With a vessel to properly channel her magic in a way that doesn't affect everything around her, Uraraka could easily leave the land of the dragons. Bakugou can't catch her if she can fly like a shooting star. She can look for Deku and Sir Iida and Prince Todoroki and join their party again on their adventure to destroy demons.
So why does she feel so reluctant to actually finish the damn thing?
Uraraka gazes down at the long polished staff laying in her lap. All she has to do is to properly implant a gem before her time in the dragon realms is over. But where would she find something like that around here? Her hands smooth over the wood as she tries to breathe in calmly.
A sudden scraping noise breaks her from her reverie. Uraraka stands quickly, her eyes widening with surprise as a long hooked talon gouges into her pebbled floor.
It's Kirishima, his huge eyes blinking rapidly as he frantically tries to claw his way inside. His features, normally turned up like he's smiling, are tense with fear as he warbles to her urgently.
"Whoa, there!" Uraraka laughs, stretching out her hand. "What's wrong, let me-"
The mountain explodes.
Bakugou
Kaminari had nearly been too late.
Bakugou was sparring with Kirishima in his human form, the sounds of metal striking on metal echoing in the hollow chamber of the throne room.
It was a familiar dance, a dance where Bakugou knew all the steps to. The song of Kirishima's daggers and Bakugou's curved blade clashing was their only accompaniment, and the growl of the earth dragon was their tempo.
So why was there a counter melody fluttering at the edge of his consciousness, something sweet and airy and wide-eyed?
The harder Bakugou pushed himself into the rhythm of the battle, the more insistent the counter melody grew. If only he could get her sugary scent out of his head, the memory of her unexpectedly calloused fingertips brushing against his wrists, and most of all, her damn round eyes gazing at him like two full moons….
Kirishima had just got his second dagger knocked away and had to pull out his hidden knife to counter Bakugou's suddenly savage blows when a harrowing roar filled the air. A human Mina and Sero burst into the room, their eyes wide, and then an electric yellow dragon staggered in after them.
"Kaminari!" Kirishima exclaimed with horror.
The Halfling looked awful. His wings had been cut and slashed, and as the dragon coughed, small and still-sizzling drops of blood landed on the floor of the room. But he continued to crawl forward, desperation lacing his draconic features.
Bakugou rushed forward with Kirishima hot on his heels, and hurriedly knelt by Kaminari's panting snout. "Kaminari." He growled with urgency. "I know it's going to hurt, but I need you to shift to talk to me. Can you do that?"
The creature's eyes flashed with fear, and a low rumble of pain filled the chamber. Sero let out a sound of dismay as he lifted his hand from the dragon's flank to find it smeared in red.
"Kaminari!" Bakugou snapped. The dragon shuddered, and finally squeezed his eyes shut in determination. Flesh and scales contorted and shrank with a loud creaking and rumbling, and the beastly roar of agony dwindled into the screams of a boy in immense pain.
Kaminari clutched the ground as steam rose off his body, his golden eyes stretched wide with excruciation. "De…demons…" He gasped out, coughing again as blood stained his lip. "A whole…swarm of them…coming here."
"Which border?" Bakugou growled.
"West….I saw from…my castle…" Kaminari let out a low groan of pain before catching his breath again. "Chief, they're looking for her."
"What?!" His chieftain grabbed his collar and pulled him up to his feet. "What in hells for?!"
Kirishima froze. "Those weren't slave traders she killed." His voice, usually so full of cheer, is suddenly drenched with horror. "Chief!"
Bakugou is already running out the hall. "Find her, Kirishima!" His cry of command shakes the hall with its desperation as he snatches two more swords off the wall. "FIND HER!"
Uraraka
The roars of battle wake her.
Uraraka groans as consciousness slams into her, making her head throb and her chest ache. The soil beneath her mage garb is crumples like ash underneath her hands, and she suddenly feels like the world is on fire.
Well, it is. The trees above her are ablaze with blue flames, and Uraraka gasps as she feels a thick tail wrapped protectively around her middle. "Kirishima!"
The dragon is snarling and snapping viciously at some unseen foe, looking absolutely terrifying and bloodthirsty in the firelight. His fangs glisten with black blood and jets of fire stream from his mouth.
Uraraka tries to wriggle free, but the tail holds her down firmly, pressing her deeper into the undergrowth. It's an unspoken command. Don't move! I'll take care of this!
She suddenly stiffens as she hears a familiar voice taunting Kirishima, edged with some echoic undertone that is not at all earthly. "Fighting so hard for just a little witchling. I wonder if you would bleed for the pathetic bitch like you do for that whelp of a chief you grovel to."
When Kirishima roars again, there's no trace of the cheerful companion of the dragon chief left. It's the animalistic thunder of the beast who is absolutely incensed. Uraraka covers her ears as the furious battle cry shakes the trees and reverberates around the forest.
"Oooh, I touched a nerve."
There's a sudden screech of pain, and Uraraka cries out in horror as Kirishima collapses in pain, his tail going limp around her waist. The slave trader stands before them, a twisted smile on his face as he yanks a huge harpoon from the dragon's chest.
"Hello, little witch." The slave trader's eyes fill with black, and Uraraka claps a hand to her mouth as his features stretch and morph sickeningly before her eyes into the twisted form of the demon. "It's been a while."
Uraraka stands, her fists clenched. "You're going to pay for that."
"Oh, I think you will." The demon cackles, its leathery wings fluttering in mirth. "Did you remember your little friends?" It gestures with dramatic bravado towards the edge of the forest, and Uraraka's heart drops into her stomach.
The mountain is half gone. Demons are swirling around its crumpling ruins like flies over a corpse, swarming over the screeching dragons who are left, and in the middle of it all…
Explosions, lighting up the inside the hurricane like a lone lantern in the night. Uraraka screams Bakugou's name. Kirishima groans with agony.
"You made a big mistake when you burnt me, red one." The demon twirls its weapons menacingly as it approaches Uraraka. "You let me achieve transparency to report to my superiors. Did you know how LONG we were looking for the fabled mountain of the dragons and its infamous Halfling chief?"
"You…" Uraraka chokes out, her voice twisted with anger.
"Yes." The once-trader slinks towards her, its eyes blacker than night and sharp teeth slick with saliva. "I saw through your eyes, 'Angel'. This land is doomed, and your precious chieftain and his crawling people will be carrion by nightfall."
She snaps.
Kirishima's eyes widen as the girl before him ignites, transforming into some bizarre creature of the otherworld. Her mage garb flaps wildly in the force of her anger, her booted feet lifting of the ground as her rage-filled scream filled the air.
"DON'T…CALL….ME…THAT!"
The red dragon only has enough time to shield his wounds with his wings before the forest explodes.
Bakugou
His hands are bleeding again.
Bakugou has long lost his swords a long time ago, having shoved one into the open maw of a particularly large demon and another had been wrenched from his grip by the claws of a sinister looking demon with huge fangs.
And now he has nothing but a knife between his teeth and explosions that tear his hands apart every time he uses it.
Bakugou's fury burns hotter every time he hears the dying wail of one of his people, something warm and wet trickling down his face that isn't blood. He spits out the knife and, ignoring the protests of his ruined palms, stabs it into the eye of some grotesque demon imp.
"Boss!" It's Sero's lanky form tripping over to him in his human form, his black eyes wide at the sight of his chieftain's hands. "I've got some wrappings for you!"
"Does now look like the fucking time, Elbows?!" Bakugou thunders back, ducking underneath the swing of a demon ogre. "Have you found her yet?!"
"Not yet, chief, but at least let me wrap your hands." Sero leaps nimbly over the clutching hands of another demon and grabs his shoulder. "Hey Mina!" He hollers skywards, "Give us some cover!"
A flurry of pink draconic limbs descend from the heavens, and Mina rolls onto the battlefield, her shrieking roar causing many demons to squeal and cower. As she begins mauling the hell spawn, Sero kneels and begins rapidly taping up his gasping chieftain's bloody palms.
"I don't…have time for this." Bakugou growls, but the desperation in his voice is as transparent as fuck. "Kirishima…where the hells is he?"
"I don't know, boss." Sero looks nervous but his hands are steady as he hurriedly binds Bakugou's left hand, then his right. "But at least take some of my weapons. I'm planning to shift to help Mina out."
When Bakugou utters a protest, the pained screams of Kaminari still ringing in the back of his skull, the other Halfling looks up at him determinedly. "You gotta find the Angel, don't you?" His wide smile is crooked and warm. "Let me help you!"
Bakugou sighs, a small defeated smile on his face. "You're all hopeless."
"Yeah, we are." Sero grins. He leans back and is about to pull out his swords when something shakes the ground, causing the combatants on both sides to still.
It's not a demonic shaking, nor is it a draconic rumbling. Something purple lights up the sky, some bizarre spiral of power shooting up from the fiery trees in the west as an inhuman but familiar shriek fills the air.
Bakugou's eyes widen and he shoots to his feet, nearly knocking over Sero in his haste. "Uraraka!"
"Gods, that's insane." Sero breathes as he takes in the pillar of violet that surrounds a familiar silhouette, spread eagled in power and rage. He sucks in a breath, rolling his shoulders. "Okay, here we go…"
Mina leaps into the air to snap a flying demon right out of the sky as Sero shifts, a wince twisting his features as he fully transforms, his lanky limbs filling out as Bakugou swings onto his shoulders, patting the quivering scales below him. "Take me to her, Elbows."
Uraraka
In this world, she is a deity.
The earth turns at her command, and the skies wheel overhead at her word. The puny demon below her blubbering in fear will be nothing under her grasp, and she will exterminate all who stand in her path.
"No, please, oh hells, please-"
The demon chokes as she turns her finger, and slowly it is crushed from the outside in, its limbs contorting and folding inwards as she watches with quiet anger and delight. Black blood spurts, then streams from its body as it finally, finally dies, its twitching slowing as it breathes its last.
But it is not enough. She turns her head from side to side, looking. There! A red dragon, intruding on her holy ground, staring at her like she's a freak. Demons are flocking to his side like moths to a flame.
She must eradicate all threats. Her magic hums as she raises her hands.
Bakugou
He sees her as Sero flies closer. She's suspended above the world in a pillar of purple flame. Even at this distance, he can see that her eyes are not the kind brown orbs he remembers; they're white, empty, and devoid of all emotion but destruction.
"Uraraka!" Bakugou shouts, his call hoarse but commanding. "Uraraka, get a hold of your fuckin' self!"
Her hands, glowing like the night she healed his hands but a thousand times brighter, press together. A hovering cloud above them that he thought was but a shadow slams into the ground, disintegrating into the bodies of hundreds of dead demons.
Kirishima is limping away, his jaws wide as he howls a warning. Uraraka twists her hand, and the dragon yelps as some invisible force slams him into the ground.
She doesn't look anything like an angel. She looks just like a Witch of the Heavens.
"URARAKA!"
The girl turns to look at him, and he shudders at the emptiness in her eyes. There's black and red blood spattered all over her pink mage dress, and it soaks her garb as she faces him with something ablaze in her eyes. "Kill them all."
"What?!"
"I'll kill them all." It's Uraraka's voice, but amplified as if she's speaking in an echoic cave. "Make them suffer, make them all perish in the flame of magic."
"You're a mage, aren't you?!" He shouts back, his fists clenching around Sero's pointy horns. "You use magic for good, goddammit! That's what you told me the first time we met!"
Something flickers in her eyes, but her face remains impassive. "The words of a fool."
"Alright, that's fucking it." Bakugou throws up his hands in frustration, and climbs to his feet on Sero's neck. The dragon lets out a trill of confusion and alarm as Bakugou braces himself, letting his stained bandages fall from his hands.
With a pop and a crackle, he launches himself forward, blasting off of Sero's head and straight into the pillar of purple.
The magic immediately tears at him, chillingly cold and insistent. It burns, and he can hear some sort of drumming his head, steady and throbbing and painful.
"Uraraka!" Bakugou catches her by the shoulders, his bloody hands slick on her shoulders, and in the force of her magic, he's floating too. "Uraraka, look at me, dammit!"
Her gaze trains on him, and her eyes narrow. She shakes her head.
"Angel!" Bakugou shakes her, biting back a cry of pain as the magic begins to drill into him, crumpling his insides and clutching at his brain. "Look at my damn hands!"
He holds up a bloody palm, nearly shoving it in her face, and the girl's eyes slowly focus on the rivulets of blood and torn mess of skin that is his palms. Her face twists, briefly, in an expression that he recognizes as distress.
"You made me do this." His voice is urgent and low, his hissing whisper cutting through the roaring of her magic. "My explosions. Who's going to heal this?"
Something changes, the magic around them fading from a screeching torrent to a brisk breeze. He presses on, clutching her shoulders again. "Who's going to rail at me like none of my subjects ever had the nerve to do? Who's going to use her magic to help others, huh? Who's going to make my heart feels like it's bursting?"
The magic around them fades, purple sinking into a shade of pink. Her head shakes, desperate and angry. "But…I've…!"
"You've done enough, Angel." His voice drops, and soon he's pulling her to his chest, bloody hands and all. "Let go."
She speaks again, soft and terrified. "But we'll fall."
Bakugou laughs, rough and soft at the same time. "Don't you remember? You're the Angel in the land of the dragons." He purrs into her ear. "The sky is our element."
Uraraka gasps, her eyes flooding with life again, and the magic snuffs away as if blown by the wind.
They drop, gently, falling as if in slow motion. Uraraka goes limp in his arms, her head lolling on his shoulder as she comes to herself, gasping for breath as she clutches at his chest.
They touch down on the still-smoldering earth, and promptly collapse in a tangle of limbs. As Uraraka gulps down breath, he cradles her in his arms, patting her in awkward but what he hopes are soothing strokes up and down her bare back.
Wait. Bare?
Uraraka suddenly lets out a mortified "eep!" as Bakugou belatedly realizes that her entire mage dress is in tatters, probably shredded from the magic emanating from the girl's body earlier. Something roars in his ears as he determinedly looks away from creamy curves and pink skin and hurriedly shucks his great furry cloak, draping it roughly over her shivering form.
"There." Bakugou mutters as he pulls away, feeling his cheeks flush as he takes in the sight of her all bundled up in his, his, clothing. "Don't get it dirty, now."
Uraraka laughs, a little high pitched, as her pale fingertips pull the edges in closer around her body. "I'll try not to mess up the burn marks." She quips lightly.
"Gods." He breathes, gazing at her, all soot and sweat and bloody palm marks as she smiles wearily back. "You were amazing."
She shakes her head, tears nearly spilling out of her eyes. "I messed up. I lost control and hurt Kirishima. I couldn't even tell friend from foe!" Her voice breaks, and his heart twists at the sound. "I even hurt you."
"Angel, you didn't hurt me." He informs her softly, tugging on her pliant cheek. "You did the exact opposite."
Uraraka looks up at him, all doe-eyes and questions, and he can't stand it anymore.
He grabs the collar of the cloak and yanks, and she spills into his arms, her sentence cutting off with a gasp as he presses his lips to her still half open mouth.
It's dry and rough because her lips are chapped from the heat and his are probably too, but it doesn't matter since she is so, so warm and melting in his arms and his ruined hands are gathering her closer and her soft hands are gripping his shoulders as he rolls his tongue against hers and she's actually fucking growling into him and it's driving him crazy-
Uraraka arches into him and he sees stars.
"Guess you really are a witch, huh," He mumbles into her mouth, and Uraraka pauses, her eyes lidded and dreamy. "What did you say?"
"Nothing." He pushes her back against the ground and for a moment, the world ceases to be.
O.O
Epilogue
Midoriya sighed, throwing down the vellum map with frustration. It had been nearly three months since Uraraka went missing, and they were almost out of their minds with worry.
They had been close to tracking once, when Prince Todoroki had followed a trail that led into the realm of the dragons, something that made them all very concerned.
But even that trail had led to disaster. Midoriya still had the scars to show for it.
"Sir, if you look at that map any harder it's going to catch on fire." Tsuyu remarked, setting down some mugs of rich, frothy liquid. "At least drink something. No one goes thirsty at my inn."
"Ah-thank you." The villager-turned-traveler took a mug and stared morosely into its golden contents. "I just don't understand. She could be anywhere, and here we are, sitting idly around!"
"There's nothing we can do at the moment, Midoriya." Sir Iida glared glumly at the map, at all the lead scribbles they had all drawn as they had formulated a plan. "It's probably best that we just lay low and try to make a better plan for now."
"I agree." Prince Todoroki said quietly. "It won't do us any good if we never get any rest. Let's just trust that Uraraka is taking care of herself for now."
Midoriya was just about to reluctantly agree when the whole inn suddenly shook violently. Many of the inhabitants began to shout and grab for their things as the door began to splinter and crack.
A talon the size of a horse pierced through the green wood, and Tsuyu let out a startled "Ribbit!" as she sprang backwards.
"DRAGON!" Someone screamed, and the three men narrowed their eyes and grabbed their swords in tandem. Tables were upturned as another knight with a huge black ponytail threw them up, diving behind as the windows began to snap and break. There was a rumbling outside, and Midoriya gripped his sword, breathing quickly as his feet braced for action.
The door trembled, and finally collapsed as the inn slowly stopped shaking. Midoriya froze as an eerie stillness settled over the inn. Several people poked their heads up with trembling caution as dust and plaster sprinkled on their heads, powdering their heads with white.
Standing in the ruined entrance way was a pink-skinned girl, wincing apologetically as she took in the state of the ruined inn. "I'm deeply sorry for that." She announced, sauntering inside. "I bring you all a message from the queen of dragons."
And as a familiar figure followed, draped in red and rose, Midoriya felt his mouth fall open.
"Uraraka?!"
fin
A/N: This started off as a short one-shot but then quickly became this saga. I love this AU to death.
A few clarifications before I dedicate this piece: so this AU is obviously based off of the glorious art of the 2ND Popularity Poll that Horikoshi Kohei drew and the 2nd ending that Studio Bones made, so all credit goes to them for the creation of those wonderful pieces of art.
Secondly, it has been confirmed in one of the light novels I believe that Kirishima is indeed the red dragon that Bakugou rides in the anime ending, so the concept of dragon shifting is indeed as canon as can be.
For the rest of the Bakusquad, I took my own liberties. Mina's fantasy outfit is not only similar to Kirishima's outfit, but also sports scales and gauntlets I find pretty dragon-like, so I made both her and Kirishima purebreds. This means they get to transform at will into huge dragons without any pain whatsoever.
I didn't want to leave my boi Sero out so I made him a Halfling. Kaminari is pretty much the unofficial member of the Bakusquad so I made him a Halfling dragon as well. Halflings can also transform into a dragon form but for them it's very painful to do so and they can only transform into much smaller dragons, so they don't do it very often.
Finally, I want to dedicate this piece to dailykrumbs, who drew the inspiration for this whole work; the kiss between Bakugou and Uraraka draped in his cloak. It's the most beautiful Kacchako art I've ever laid eyes on, and I really hope that my description serves it justice. Please check out their work, their style is so close to the canon. Here's the link to the art, please give this artist all the support possible!
post/178237136306/holy-ground-fan-art-by-dailykrumbs-i-can-now
Thank you for reading! 3