Chapter Seven
Miss Todoroki could remember the exact moment her son had been born.
Her eyelids, one purple and swollen, the other teary had made it hard to blink. Despite the despicable luxury of the castle bed, a recent burn on her shoulder left her stinging. Her five year old fire quirked son had caused that. But it was the first sign of his power, so she had let it slide.
Besides, she had established a high tolerance for pain. The current ache tearing through her numbed in the face of the brutality of child birth itself. A demeaning, cold, royal-blue gaze bore down on her from above, yet it felt like it was looking through her. There was no hand to squeeze onto, no comfort. She had to fight through this unaided.
Through every drop of sweat, every jerk of pain and every convulsion in her muscles she endured.
She felt she had died by the time the pain had died down. Yet somehow, when that first cry sang out, it was music to her ears that lit her grey vision.
The sweat burnt; hands feebly clinging to the bed sheets as unconsciousness clawed at her. Eagerly, yearningly, she debated accepting the call.
But a gentle, nourishing glow seemed to save her, as Shouto's first cries entered her ears. A boy. She'd thought, somehow knowing right away and letting a small tug of relief sound from her lips.
She could remember the exact moment she had laid eyes on him. She could recall the precise moment everyone in the room had.
A dark chuckle, followed by an elated gasp. An incoherent mumble from one of the many overbearing nurses, doctors and midwives in the room.
The reactions remained the same right up until - until she had last seen him. They complimented his eyes, his hair, his ethereal beauty and his royal grace. They said he looked born to be a king. Somehow, that statement always saddened her.
Breathless, teary eyed, exhausted and frail. She remained waving her arms at the edge of her bed for what felt like an eternity, watching as others crowded her baby, her creation and holding him before she even had a chance to see his smile.
She remembered a voice like sand escaping her throat, ignored like a bug of no significance.
On the true verge of passing out again, she was just about ready to believe she'd never see her child.
And that's when Shouto was put into her arms. The weight, the warmth, it all registered behind closed eyelids. Her suffering ended. Realisation her her chapped lips forming a circle, eyes falling on pure beauty. All the suspense in the world couldn't have made the moment more perfect. Her cries stopped in her throat, the room fell silent. The sun exhaled into the room, bathing the tiny, wailing creature in her arms with a halo of light.
His body was tiny and curving hands tinier, golden light blinded her to all else bustling around her. His expression softened, his breathing calmed and quivering lip stilled.
Finally, she felt the pride intended at not taking the pain-killing potion. Finally, the constraints of her identity slipped away. A gorgeous mismatched pair of eyes, unlike anything she'd ever seen before greeted her. It was her baby boy. Red and white eyelashes, black and blue irises. They were two mirrors, no emotions, opinions or understanding. Just acceptance.
For the first time in years, the queen laughed.
Her smile slipped right up to the corners of her sobbing eyes. All else was still, and somewhere far away, an ice cage melted. Love cradled her in its arms the way she cradled her son until the moment the King came and cradled his son away from her.
This was exactly like that.
Uncontrollable, unnoticed tears had stained her face before she could cry out. The first syllable of his name choked her, but she kept shouting until her throat clenched up. He was here. Here but not here. The same son, but still so different.
Night's darkness resembled her blindness at his birth. It basked him in light, lying to her. This was not the palace in daylight where she could put her arms around him and kiss his hair with freedom.
This was a morning as black as her castle's bricks and husband's soul. His will imprisoned her here, rendering her useless.
She wished she could hold him, cry into his hair so hard her tears became a spell to protect him. Not watch idly with her jaw open and the cage around her heart hacking apart under the brutal swish of an axe.
Izuku watched in silence, lip between his teeth. Adrenaline had tears piling in the corner of his eyes, hands shaking. Everything about the Queen eerily stilled but the constant flow of silent tears.
After several seconds, painful twitches of her fingertips joined. It was like she was fighting against the invisible wall binding her.
Fighting whilst frozen.
"Miss Todoroki..." He spoke, feeling like he was begging a book character not to make a bad decision. He was shouting at the lifeless pages of a broken mind.
"Miss Todo-"
"Fifteen," She whispered, sounding like the voice of a completely different woman. Her head tilted towards Izuku to clarify.
It was a fluid movement, unnoticeable had he not been watching alert the whole time.
"Y-yes?"
Her eyes remained out at the window, gazing at her child.
"He... he would be about fifteen now."
Once, when she'd had more life, she'd argued that her son was only five. To which her husband had responded 'he's already five.'
If he were here now, he'd be scoffing 'he's only fifteen'. She'd be the one clenching her fist to stop her heart from shattering completely. She would bite back ten times as maliciously as him, "He's already fifteen."
Izuku breathed out softly. It was an action to calm himself, but hoped it would reflect in her.
"He must look a lot different from the last time you saw him."
At this height, there was utter silence.
The teen was beginning to think he'd reached her. Seeking a civil conversation, he nearly bit through his lip as she flinched.
Effeminate hands became clawing nails - the only warning her had. "Why did you bring him here?"
Her head dropped like a mad woman. No longer supported, it hung and swayed like a broken doll. Her voice was the prowl of a dangerous animal.
"I didn't." He spoke with confidence. Confidence that didn't truly represent the emotions felt in his trembling body.
"Your son made his way here himself. To see you."
"He wouldn't do that- he... I HURT HIM!"
Her hands were flailing now, sharp gaze tearing away from the open hole in the wall to glare at him from under her hair. No. It wasn't him she was glaring at. Her expression gazed with resent but it wasn't directed towards anyone but herself.
"He would never come to see me, not unless I forced him to, not unless-"
"It's the truth."
"I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU! T-The only way he would still love me is if that was the only love he ever felt! If he's only treated so horribly in that castle...worse than I treated him so that's what his idea of love i-is. That's a thought that I cannot bare. Are you insisting my worst fear is REAL?"
"I'm so sorry but-"
Her head snapped up, eyes closed. "What did you think would achieve bringing him here? Did you think I'd somehow magically be able to talk to him? That it wouldn't only rip me apart to have him so close, just to remind me of how trapped I am? Or I get it, you want to convince me to leave this castle don't you? So I can help you with your mission and you can use this tower all for yourselves to-"
"But you can talk to him!"
Something burst within her. Or maybe it broke.
Her voice sounded deflated as she returned to a ghostly soft voice.
"I can't."
Challenging fears, he clenched her cold hands in his. "You can. I promise you can."
"How exactly?"
"I'll tell Ochako, she can make him float up to the window. You won't be able to touch him, but you'll be able to see him. From up close. His-his voice will reach without shouting and you can talk. Y-you want to see how he's doing right? You want to hear him speak."
"IZUKU. Izuku, Izuku, Izuku." She laughed, a melody. Throwing her head back, she ran a white silk-sleeved hand through her equally white silky hair.
Eerily, this reminded him of his mother, if only Miss Todoroki was more cute, fluffy, overprotective and caring in her melodrama and less... quixotic and perturbing.
"You think that after all these years locked up in here I haven't devised a way to see my precious child? You think I haven't checked up on him every night until he turned seven too afraid to whisper a word, watching him cry on his bed as I wished him happiness without the power to charm my words and ensure it?!"
Izuku was starting to think he had done something terrible. He was starting to think he should be running and fearing his life. Spending the rest of his days in miserable guilt at all the tears he had caused would be retribution enough.
Those tears had turned to snowflakes. Then, thin blades of ice that shattered into the floor with tiny ticking sounds.
He noticed this as he leaned back into the wall as far as he could from the menacing, delicate Queen.
"Do you know why I stopped?"
She leaned in towards him, trapping him. Her eyes were so wide he thought they would break. They could fall to the floor and shatter like ice much like her tears.
Green hair swished as he shook his head several times to say no.
"Do you think I could cope..."
Her grew orbs were very small. She backed up away from him, walking in a straight line backwards were all sorts of items could trip and hurt her.
"Miss Todo-" His voice had broken, he cleared his throat to lose the weak mewl, "Miss Todoroki!"
Her back finally reached the opposite end of the room, madness consuming her blind eyes. Muscle memory guided her body but simultaneously blinded her to the present.
He hand jabbed down with practised precision. From a wooden carved drawer, a flash of sharp and ominous silver glowed back at him from within her hand. It retreated towards her body, getting closer and closer.
"Miss Todoroki no!"
The tables had turned and now he was the one trying to chase her and back her into a corner. He fumbled forward, grabbing the item between pinched fingers. He felt the slap of cold metal, but no pinch of pain. It would likely hit him a while from now but as long as it was far away from her he would be content.
"What are you...?"
"Please... calm down this isn't the-"
But the knife wasn't a knife at all. Izuku looked down, breathing heavily from fear. Dumbfounded, he saw a silver and moonstone hand mirror, framing emerald eyes that looked up at him. Ornate gems and intricate carvings caused a chill to ripple through him. He knew instantly it wasn't ordinary.
"A mirror?" he balked, relieved and confused all at once.
Miss Todoroki was laughing. That was good...right?
"Oh sweety you tried to do something kind just now didn't you?" Her hand brushed passed his shoulder as she glided towards the window and took a seat. He hadn't realised she'd snatched it from him until he saw it glistening in her lap.
Izuku stared in apprehensive bafflement.
Once again, she'd switched her demeanour within a single tick of a clock. Head turned down, her fingers brushed the frame of her mirror like she'd hand carved it herself.
It was picturesque calm, as if it had been a pose constructed for a painting. The moonlight seeped in on her pale life. Only this time, the telltale wet lines running down her flawlessly pale face remained. It was the only hint that her tantrum had happened in reality. I reminded Izuku that he hadn't imagined the whole thing.
"Show me Shouto." She whispered, almost massaging the stones as if they could feel her.
Izuku had to scurry to her side, looking over her shoulder from a safe distance as a soft blue glow swirled in the glass.
His head jerked towards her, mouth wide.
Her eyes didn't move away, but the corner of her mouth became a soft smile.
The glow adopted a life of it's own. With each complete swirl, a new stone began to glow, a new colour added to the centre.
By the time all the stones illuminated, a picture had formed.
Shouto blinked up at the window, squinting in the darkness, barely able to see a thing.
The anxiety in his stomach told him this was a bad idea. But, his heart wanted him to stay.
He turned back to the pair whispering among themselves. Like most times of insecurity, he found his hands seeking out the mane of his horse, Shiro.
His eyes closed. This was taking long. The voices behind weren't making it any better.
"It's Deku you know. I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Yes, it's the Miss I'm worried about. Being able to handle such distraughting news..."
"...Hey," The girl's voice suddenly became much quieter, but he strained to hear her. "Is it just me or is the Prince's sword glowing?"
"Huh?"
"Prince Shouto your sword!" Iida panicked. His alarm was so loud it hurt.
But, the Knight wasn't wrong.
Shouto jerked into action at the terse change in volume. Yet, he calmed upon realising it was only glowing and not emitting any sort of heat, pain or sound.
Unsheathing it with brutal grace, a sharp, chilling and satisfying sound scraped out. The prince backed away from the others. He held his blade like it had a life of it's own, pointed far from his body.
"Stay back."
His body became a wall, sheltering them from possible offence.
With narrowed eyes, he eyed his own reflection in apprehension. But then, stopped in confusion to wonder when his eyes had become so... symmetrical.
It was then that the sword's soft laugh pierced his ears.
"M-Mother?"
His exterior stumbled, and his round eyes were looking ahead in innocuous surprise. His grip on his sword nearly faltered, but he clenched back with relish.
Fear and excitement crowded his thoughts.
"Shouto," She smiled, the sound more melodious than anything ever heard from the woman.
Her son looked back, stunned silent.
Izuku peeked in at the top of the former queen. Not long later, the other two adventurers peeked from behind the prince. Despite this, the mother and son acted as though they were completely alone.
Shouto explored the sword curiously. He turned it in his hands and found her face grinning gently still. She chuckled, allowing him to tilt and sway the sword, fascinated behind his stoicism.
"It's amazing to see you." She laughed proudly, "To hear your new voice."
Todoroki's mouth hung open, fighting back his blush as he met his mother's elated gaze. He nodded, bottom lip resting between his teeth.
"I-I wanted to see you."
"So have I baby."
"I'm sorry. I should have come sooner."
"Don't be, you're perfect. I'm the one who could have-" She swallowed, "Should have connected to you sooner through the mirror."
"Mirror?"
"It's something I made out of my ice espescially for you."
"To see me?"
"That's right."
Shouto swallowed, appearing small despite his strong stature and even more powerful charisma.
"Sorry. I probably look like the king-"
"Don't say that! You're perfect the way you are Shouto. I wish I had told you sooner, I wish you had never made you doubt that side of yourself. You're nothing like your father."
"The king. Please don't call him that."
Her breath hitched in her throat. The worst fears seeping into her. Bit. By. Bit. Her paranoia peaked around her son. It always had.
"Of course. The king."
There was a pause. A long pause where none of them spoke, or even looked right at each other.
Izuku wanted to say something, but somehow felt that nothing would be appropriate.
"Shouto, how is your- the king. How is the king? How is life at home?"
A thick tension hung in the air because everyone but the woman asking knew the answer. Her son had become a lost Prince months ago. He hadn't called their old castle his home in a long time; since even before he'd ran away to live elsewhere.
If he were to estimate, it became this prison about ten years ago.
The boy swallowed thickly.
"I won't endure him anymore."
"Oh?" She tried to laugh. She tried to play it off as paranoia. She knew this often led her to interpret meanings as worse than they actually were.
"No one will have to. Not after tonight."
His eyes shone resolutely.
She hoped that this was one of those instances. She wished she wasn't right.
"W-Why not?"
But it was plain as day. Everyone could see it, the darkness inside the Prince's eyes. The pain, the violence. The desire for revenge. The hatred. The light in the eyes wasn't optimism, it was recklessness.
The words that followed weren't at all a surprise.
"I'm going to erase all traces of that man from existence."
For a second, the Queen thought the sky was falling.
What followed blew the sky off it's hinges entirely. His hand reached up mindlessly to cover his scarred eye and blazing hair. His mother watched, watching these details to try and calm herself. She tried to prove herself wrong, tried to ignore what she knew was coming.
"And I mean all traces."
The scream that pierced their ears shocked them. It was loud, panicked, petrified and terrorised. Like a dying animal's cry. Like a victim of a stabbing.
She looked liked she'd seen a ghost. Like she'd seen hell, hair dishevelled, eyes trembling, hands shaking, heart racing. Her sons words repeated in her head, pounding, beating her. They stabbed her. She choked.
"NO! NO! NO! Shouto-Shou-"
He remained impassive, calm. "Your mirror lets you see me through my sword right?"
"Shou-"
His mouth was a perfect straight line. Terrifying. His eyes were dead, yet burning with resolve.
He was so much more frightening than his father.
"Any reflective surface baby, whatever's nearest to you." She sobbed, "I'll always see you no matter what so don't you dare do anything I would app-"
"Ah, then this will be quite problematic."
Shouto spoke heartlessly over her desperate plea. He threw his mother's throat into her heart as he disposed of his sword. He sent it tumbling to the grass, so far away, the image shattered. The blue light broke, leaving the screaming woman in utter, blind darkness.
The violent clang of the sound chimed around the room. It punctuated the finality of his final words, his voice radiating around the room. As if he were a ghost, a memory intangible to the present.
"I just wanted to say goodbye. That's all."
Her sanity shattered.
As Izuku watched in horror, he confirmed that he had failed. Terribly. His good intentions had crashed down on him, causing something utterly detestable.
If the Queen was broken before, she was in fragments now. Screaming, crying, her throat cracking with every painful whimper she forced out of it. Her hands stabbed into the floor, ice forming and breaking, forming and breaking.
He tried to reach her, but a wall of ice slammed into him. And then it crashed.
Every creation of hers died violently before it could even bloom to it's full intent.
She begged, but she was talking to herself.
Tears pricked at his eyes.
"PLEASE! PLEASE... save my baby...! If he dies I-I'll take my own life, I'll destroy the whole island. PLEASE! He's the only reason I'm still living...a-and he's about to d-AH!" She couldn't say it. The words world form.
Instead, he watched as she gripped her heart painfully in her nails as she choked into the floor a final plea.
"Please, save him."
What was this chapter TBH? What was that ending... I know it's not the best.
Hi Readers! I know, my update schedule has been destroyed The only reason I'm updating now is because I'm on Christmas break and I have time. Once life continues, I doubt I'll be able to update again until after my exams (IN JUNE *sigh*) I'll try and get out as many as I can before that, so don't be alarmed if there are suddenly loads of chapters in the next few days and then none for a few months.
Thanks for continuing to support this fic reviewers, I promise this story will go on.
