Unmarked

The figure of prince Todoroki becomes slightly more visible as he steps into the very faint torchlight. His clothes are covered in a fine layer of dirt and grime, even torn in some places. The prince looks rather worse for wear. He steps closer to the boy planted on the dungeon floor. Shouto looks down at the man frantically muttering on the floor.

"Umm I'm sorry, but do I know you?"

Izuku snaps back to attention at the sound of the prince's voice. He shuffles to his feet awkwardly, refusing to meet the prince's eyes. Izuku isn't quite sure how he should react to the true prince of the Pyre kingdom.

"Oh. N-no I guess you don't know me. I only know of the person who was impersonating you. My name is Izuku Midoriya. I am a mage, and one of prince Bakugou's royal guard."

The dual haired prince stares at Izuku with a look of utter emotional vacancy. The prince seems to shake off some of the evident shock and responds.

"Wait, what do you mean imposter?"

Izuku stares at the other man, completely dumbfounded.

"Hold on. You have been locked in this dungeon all this time and you had no idea that someone was running around the Kurinao kingdom wearing your face?"

Izuku's muttering begins anew, the man barely taking a breath in between his large influx of information.

Izuku manages to gather his thoughts into a coherent thread. "Prince Todoroki, what happened to you? I mean… that is… umm how did you end up locked down here in this dungeon?"

"First, just Shouto is fine. I don't care much for the formality. Said title has never been a passion of mine."

Shouto huffs before lowering himself back down to the cold stone of the dungeon floor.

"How I ended up here is a simple story really. I didn't want to do what my father asked of me, so instead of accepting my decisions he had me locked away till I 'Came to my senses,' and agreed to abide by his wishes."

Izuku interjects, "What did your father ask you to do that was so important as to lock you in a cell till you complied?"

Shouto smirks at the mage's obvious thirst for information to fit the story. "I told my father that I would not marry Katsuki Bakugou."

"Hold on. The king locked his son, the current heir to his throne, in the dungeon because you wouldn't marry Kacchan?"

Todoroki simply nods. "I told my father that I didn't want to further his useless grab for power. My father and I met with the king and queen of Kurinao, as well as the prince. I could tell that the prince didn't want to be wed any more than I did. He asked for a month to complete a quest. The rulers were going to deny him, but I said that he should go. After that meeting my father had the guards throw me in this cell for my 'insolence,' and until I followed his wishes."

Izuku listens intently to Shouto. Holding all of his questions in, so as to not interrupt the prince.

"So if you've been down here all this time then you have no idea what kind of craziness has been happening in the Kurinao kingdom."

Izuku sits beside the prince on the floor with a small plop.

"Until Kacchan inevitably comes to rescue us I should tell you what is going on."

Izuku smiles brightly, "This is gonna be a long story…"

Katsuki is pacing back and forth along the floor of his now thoroughly destroyed bedroom.

"We have to go fucking save Deku. There is no question about it."

Eijirou sighs. "I know we need to go help him Katsuki, but we just can't go blindly waltzing into the dark kingdom hoping we might stumble across Izuku! We need to figure out where he is Katsuki. Then we need to figure out a plan, not just go in blind and hope for the best."

Bakugou abruptly stops pacing.

"Holy shit. I know how to find Deku. Come on shitty lizard, follow me!"

Bakugou grabs Kirishima by the arm and drags the other prince through the halls of the castle. Pushing past his exasperation, Eijirou soon realizes that they are heading in the direction of the infirmary. Kiri follows Bakugou even though he has no idea what the other prince is planning.

Katsuki barges through the door of the infirmary, with no regard to what anyone inside may be doing.

He yells, "Shitty mage! I know you're in here I need your help!"

Thankfully the infirmary is empty except for the skeletal looking mage from the poisoning incident. He sits at an old writing desk in the corner. The mage cranes his neck to glance at the two princes suddenly invading his medical wing.

"Young Bakugou, Prince Kirishima, What can I do for you!"

For such a wisp of a man his voice is booming, echoing off the walls in a grandiose fashion.

"Cut the shit old man. I need to fucking find Deku"

"Why do you assume I would know where to find Young Midoriya?"

Bakugou huffs, "Well you two have that freaky magic shit connecting you. Isn't there some way you can track him or fucking something!?"

Kirishima interrupts, his confusion evident. "What do you mean that Mr. Toshinori and Izuku have a magic connection."

Katsuki huffs. "Shit that's right. Izuku wouldn't have brought it up, but that little shit wasn't born with magic. He got his stupid magic from Toshinori."

Kirishima's eyebrows draw together in a face that is equal parts confused and questioning.

"What do you mean? Like he gave the magic to him?"

Toshinori clears his throat. "I think I can answer your question prince Kirishima. My magic is an amalgamation of power from various users who have used it over time. This magic is passed from one mage to the next. With each user it only gets stronger."

The man steps closer to the two princes, lifting his tunic slightly to show them the side of his abdomen. Kirishima can see the horrific looking scar along his side. The skin is black and purple, with dark veins of torturous red running along the edges to the center. The skin is retracted in upon itself, leaving an ugly crater visible.

Toshinori replaces his tunic before continuing. "As you can see, I was badly injured. Thus, I felt it necessary to pass the magic to a new host. Young Midoriya is my successor and is learning to wield the magic properly."

Katsuki interrupts. "Yeah, yeah I think he can get it from there old man. You still have some of that magic left right? Can't you use a tracking spell or some shit to find him?"

Toshinori holds up a hand, a clear gesture for the two princes to wait for a moment. The mage goes off to stand in front of a shelf packed with books. He scans the shelf for a few moments before pulling a book.

"I think this could help us."

He flips the book open and sifts through a few pages before coming to a stop. He shows the two a spell for tracking written in the book.

"This is what I was looking for. Unlike what prince Bakugou has conjured in his mind, my magic can not be used to track Izuku. This spell can help us find him, but we need an item that has been touched by his magic."

Bakugou rolls his eyes. "Just use me for the shitty fucking spell. Deku does magic on me all the fucking time."

Toshinori shakes his head. "Not only is the spell not designed to be used on a living subject, but I would assume if we tried it would put you in excruciating pain."

Bakugou lets out a frustrated breath, angrily kicking at the leg of one of the infirmary cots. "Fucking hell, we don't have anything Deku fucking magicked that isn't breathing."

Kirishima clears his throat. "Well we do have something. Just give me a moment. I need to get them from Bakugou's bedroom."

Kirishima jogs out of the room leaving Bakugou and Toshinori staring after him. The dragon shifter returns a few minutes later holding a pair of arm cuffs. Bakugou instantly recognizes them and laughs.

"Holy shit you shitty lizard, why the hell did you keep those?"

Kirishima shrugs. "Well they seemed to dangerous to just leave in the middle of the forest where anyone could just grab them."

Toshinori sighs. "Care to tell me what those might be?"

Kiri chuckles. "Oh right. Izuku enchanted these cuffs to be able to keep me from shifting into my dragon form. Whoever puts them on is the only one who can take them off."

Toshinori frowns, looking over to Bakugou with a look of disappointment. "I have a feeling that the creation of these cuffs was not the idea of young Midoriya. None the less these will work for the spell."

Toshinori takes the cuffs from Eijirou and sets them down on his workbench. The mage opens the book to the proper page again and begins to read aloud. As he continues speaking a faint yellow glow emanates from the arm cuffs. In a swirl of fog-like substance an image begins to form. The image is that of the grounds outside a castle. The castle is dark and dilapidated. Large patches of ivy grow along the walls. Some parts of the building appear to be charred with the remains of what must have been a rampant fire. The image flickers faintly. Before disappearing completely they can see a halo of light focused on the left side of the castle. The image shudders before flickering out.

Toshinori shakes his head sullenly. "I don't know what you boys have done now to get yourselves into this position, but I can tell you for sure that young Midoriya resides in the main stronghold of the dark kingdom."

Bakugou scoffs. "Well we could have told you that. We need to know exactly where Deku fucking is so we can go save his dumb ass."

The mage gives Bakugou a disapproving glare. "I do not wish for you to continue with this quest prince Bakugou, but I know there is nothing I can do to change your mind. I will give yo advice instead. This tracking spell works better the closer you get to the target. So as you make your way closer to Midoriya it will show you images of a more specific area surrounding him."

Kiri speaks, "Wait, how will we be able to activate the spell while on this mission. None of us are mages."

Toshinori grins. "The spell itself is already active. As long as one of you speaks the incantation correctly it will snap back into action. Even a non magic user can read the incantation."

Bakugou strides up to the workbench and rips the page from the book in one fell swoop. He nods to the mage with a grunt before looking to Kirishima.

"Let's fucking gather everyone else shitty hair."

With that he exits the room in a dramatic swish of his long red cloak.

Toshinori groans. "If that boy wasn't always like that I feel I would be much more offended by his actions."

Kirishima smiles sheepishly. "Thank you Mr. Toshinori. We appreciate your help truly."

The mage smiles. "Do me one duty prince Kirishima. Bring young Bakugou and Midoriya home safely. Those two need each other, and this kingdom needs them both."

Kirishima nods, "Don't worry. Katsuki is my soulmate. I will protect him with my life. We will bring Izuku home together."

He gives one last wave before sprinting off out of the infirmary after Bakugou.

"So you're telling me that all this time there were dragon shifters!?"

Prince Shouto sits talking to Izuku, clearly trying to process the information he's just been given. He leans back on his hands, blowing a stray strand of hair off his face. Shouto grumbles.

"I can't believe that sending Bakugou off on one last quest would create a perfect storm of utter chaos. Somehow that asshole found an entire hidden kingdom, his soulmate, and managed to uncover my father's corruption. It's almost commendable."

Izuku laughs at the prince's blunt explanation of the timeline of events. Over the span of time they have been down in the dungeons Midoriya has explained everything that has happened in the Kurinao kingdom, including the rabid actions of his imposter.

Shouto looks over to Izuku, his mismatched eyes intense in their emotion. Izuku notes that the imposter never could replicate prince Todoroki's different colored eyes.

Shouto grumbles, "It makes me wonder how someone like Bakugou, who is mean, angry, and overall unpleasant somehow manages to best the odds. What kind of luck is that? I mean really."

Shouto laughs and Izuku joins in. "I see your point really, I do. I guess Kacchan has always been given the best in life. Naturally lucky. Things somehow just always work in his favor. I just wish he realized how grateful he should be for what he has."

Izuku sighs sadly. "At least he was born with a soulmark, knowing there is someone out there who is his perfect match. He didn't care about that mark till he met Kirishima, but I would have given anything to have a soulmark. Something to just be normal. To know that there is someone that could match me."

Todoroki gives Izuku a strange look. A mix of contemplation and disbelief. "You don't have a soulmark either?"

Izuku winces at the callous delivery of such a harsh statement. He nods in answer, not trusting himself to answer verbally.

Shouto says softly, "I never thought I would meet anyone else who didn't have a mark. I don't have a soulmark either."