Keosha was so far not much different than Dalem. It was chilly and roughly lane out, its roads shifting their ways through rocky outcrops, hilly regions and then brief plateaus. It was not as wooded, but there was enough tree cover to find a place where the Commander and Captain could agree they were safe to stop for the night and for Eijiro to feel comfortable changing his scales again. But no sooner had they stopped than a portion of their party left again. Captain Katsuki wanted to assess the road ahead and had enlisted the help of the Dragon, Ochako, and, to Momo's peculiar disappointment, Shoto to survey with him.
She tried desperately not to think about the fact that she was thinking so much about Shoto by attending very intently to brushing down her horse as the others were doing, with the exception of Denki, Mina, and Nana who were preparing dinner. Her fixated thoughts were not helped by the quiet and the repetitive task, though.
What would she even have said to him if he had stayed in camp? What did she have to talk to him about even in the best of circumstances? He was everything she should loath; a Mage.. a Blood Mage... a Synod Mage even. The very sight of Magic brought her back to her greatest fears and here she was unable to rip her adoring attention from one of its users. But he had used it to save her life, not to harm her as Hitoshi had done. She had a terrible moment of realization that her impulsive need to become intimately close with Tenya had also spurred from a near death experience with Hitoshi and it made her feel very childish and foolish. It was idiotic to take these sudden, endorphin spurred feelings, seriously.
Realizing that was not enough to will the feelings away, though.
"You're surprisingly good with horses, your highness."
Momo physically shook her head out of her thoughts to catch Kyouka beaming at her gentle work. It took Momo by surprise, but once she recognized the compliment she gave back an endeared smile. "Thank you!"
Her initial impression of Kyouka had been muddled and confused by the shouting match with the Captain and the possessed Mage she kept in her company, but on the road she had sung joyfully at the back of the caravan and made enough casual conversation to put Momo at ease with her, at least on a surface level. She couldn't say she had any real trust in Fumikage or in Kyouka's judgment for keeping him around, but in this mixed bag of people they were hardly the only peculiar, or concerning, pair she had to accept. An obvious example was the faithful, yet cheerful Synod Mage, Izuku, and his friendship with the Renegade Mage, Ochako. But even Captain Katsuki and Shoto seemed like they should be kept miles from each other most of the time and yet they somehow worked together efficiently enough to have gotten Momo out of Tarlson and on a path to help her kingdom. Not even to mention the elves and their frightening range of skills and the mere fact that a creature of legend, whose kind were driven from Gaetha over a century before for menacing and ravaging the land, was practically the brightest and most positive personality among them. And Nana… she was still trying to understand what made her so special to Shoto, such a serious and harsh personality as he was. The inky black that marred her hands told of what she was capable of and, though she had a wise, wary look about her she had welcomed Momo and Tenya with open arms. It was going to take some time to understand her, Momo determined.
As she finished brushing down her mare's flank, Momo went around her front to pet the diamond mark on her head. She'd taken to referring to the steed as Diamond because of it. "I always liked caring for the horses back home," Momo explained, "Hippology and grooming was certainly more engaging than elocution lessons."
"What's elocution?" Mina wandered over and took the head of her horse in hand to stroke it's muzzle while Kyouka removed his saddle.
"It is skill in clear and eloquent speech, with a lot of focus on pronunciation and articulation," Momo spouted off what was not much more than the dictionary definition.
"It's what makes Lords and Ladies sound so pompous," Kyouka winked over her horses back.
"We do not-" Momo caught herself about to take offense, before realizing she was being teased. And it wasn't even wrong. She in fact did sound quite pompous when compared to the very casual speech of her companions.
"It's not pompous to take care in how you speak," Tenya's nose scrunched up at Kyouka. He was obviously still wary of her and, even if Momo found that she liked her, she couldn't find fault in his caution.
"I agree," Izuku chimed up from his own tasks, "In the Synod, proper speech is drilled into us from a young age. It's important that we speak clearly so that we can be taken seriously. Right, Fumikage?"
Izuku looked towards his fellow Mage sitting with his back against a tree opposite them keeping a distance from everyone. He didn't look up or react to Izuku's question, just remained with a far off stare at the fire and his arms propped onto his knees. It seemed Izuku was going to have less than no luck getting Fumikage to back him up on his recounts of Synod life.
"Anyway," Kyouka reserved a few moments longer of watching Fumikage before returning to their conversation, "I'm sure it has its purpose, but I can't imagine doing lessons over it."
"It's no different than a musical lesson," Momo tried to relate to something she thought Kyouka might better understand as a bard, "Did you have to take lessons to be able to play and sing?"
"Of course," Kyouka nodded, "I took up the lute when I was very little, but I wasn't exactly good at it for the first few years. It's the only way anyone could hear me in that loud house, though. When I got the chance to leave home I went straight to find the best bard in the land and had him teach me everything he knew so it wasn't just me jamming my fingers chaotically against the strings."
"And your other skills, where did you learn those?" Izuku asked, darting another glance at the possessed Mage.
Kyouka had a knowing smirk on her face. "As if I'd let a secret like that fall into Synod hands. I like you, Izuku, but not that much."
"What exactly are these other skills that Izuku speaks of?" Momo stepped away from Diamond as everyone else finished their work one by one and allowed the horses enough leash to graze. They watched them for a bit, though, not yet ready to join Nana and Denki at the fire while her question still hung.
"My vocal chords are enchanted," Kyouka said plainly, folding her hands in front of her, "And so is my lute actually. With them I have the power to enchant Demons, just like the one inside of Fumikage. Denki and Mina can attest to its application on the battlefield. When I sing every demon in a ten foot radius becomes suddenly slow and distracted or even frozen in place. Some even listen to commands."
"She's good, alright," Mina nodded, "More than a few of those Tarls we left at the pass owe her their lives."
"It really is amazing," Izuku confirmed, drifting over to what had turned into a small gathering to keep an eye on the horses as they replenished their strength in the grass that had started to die from the winter cold. "I've never seen anything like it. Ochako and I were on our last leg against that Ethereal and Kyouka had it subdued in a minute."
Momo shivered and found herself glancing back at Fumikage. His dark eyes had turned on them at the mention of the Ethereal Demon. It wasn't a threatening look or a malicious one in any sense, but it made Momo uncomfortable all the same to be under his stare.
"You don't have to flatter me," Kyouka chuckled and winked at Mina and Izuku as she started to turn back towards the center of camp.
Izuku scrambled to follow after, curiosity alive in his youthful eyes. "So you really won't say how you learned your enchantments?"
"Afraid not," she shrugged, "I told you I'm full of secrets. You're better off not knowing most of them, I guarantee."
Momo, Tenya, and Mina stayed watching the horses a bit longer as Izuku joined Nana and Denki at the boiling pot suspended over the fire and while Kyouka returned to Fumikage's side to crouch beside him and whisper quietly.
"What do you think of everyone?" Mina asked the Queen and the Commander now that they were somewhat alone.
The two exchanged looks, but neither of them had a conclusive answer for the elf.
"Difficult to say so far," Momo frowned, "It is hardly the company I expected to be keeping in my first days as Queen."
"Everyone here seems drawn in the same direction, so for now I believe we can trust them," Tenya nodded, "But I cannot say that having three Fallen Mages in our midst does not make me terribly wary. I understand our need for Nana and Shoto, but even with them I have a limit to how far I am willing to trust. This new Mage, though, I wouldn't let my guard down…"
"Have you had a bad experience with Fallen Mages or something?" Mina tossed up an eyebrow at him.
Tenya's expression turned terse and even Momo found it surprising. "The very history of Gaetha itself gives us all a bad taste for Mages who go beyond their means to gain power, so my distaste is as much practicality as anything. But on a more personal note… Yes. I've seen that even those who I thought were the most trustworthy could fall to an unrecognizable place once they dabble in Fallen Magic. All who touch it eventually all Fall fully to the ether and there is no saving a man consumed by that corruption."
Momo's heart sank to the very bottom of her chest and her hands felt suddenly clammy. There was distinct despair in his words and cold resignation. He truly believed what he said. Tenya looked at Nana, Fumikage, and even Shoto, as though they were on a timer for how long it would be until they became their enemies. She didn't want it to be true, but she knew she had to consider the possibility. Her flights of fancy could not direct her decisions, especially not now that she was Queen. She had the whole Kingdom and the success of this mission to consider and if Tenya said they needed to treat the Mages in their company with caution she would… or she would try at least.
"Hmm," Mina broke the tense moment with a chuckle, "Sounds like a very bad experience with a Fallen Mage. Plenty of Moondancers use what you people call Fallen Magic regularly and most of them are perfectly fine. I think you humans need to look less at the Magic type and more at the person using it."
"You really believe that?" A flicker of hope sparked back in Momo's chest. Mina said it so confidently it was hard not to believe it. She needed to retain the caution she got from Tenya, but perhaps a touch of Mina's optimism couldn't hurt.
Mina threw an arm around Momo's shoulder, an action far more familiar than she was expecting from someone who wasn't Togata or her father. She didn't mind it, it reminded her of the men in her life she so greatly missed.
"Of course!" Mina laughed, "Neither of you need to worry about Nana or Shoto. Nana is Denki's family and Shoto is… a weird egg, don't get me wrong, but he's got a good little human heart that Mage."
"And the possessed Mage?" Tenya challenged. His eyes seared into Mina's arm, wordlessly demanding she put some space between her and the Queen.
Backing off, Mina shrugged. "Don't know him, can't say. But if Denki says he's alright, he's alright by me."
"I'll maintain my skepticism, if you don't mind," Tenya breathed out of his nose.
A shout from Denki telling everyone dinner was ready tore every mind from anything but the idea of a full belly. Even Fumikage risked mingling close with the others to get a taste of the warm meal; he looked like he could use it more than the rest of them, he was terribly dwarfed by his cloak and his cheeks were more sunken than a healthy person's should be. Fearing him or not, Momo took pity on what she saw was pitiable and bravely encouraged him with a wave to take a bowl and join them. Kyouka showed a clear liking of her accepting action and happily pushed Fumikage to sit with the rest of them instead of wandering off like he was obviously about to do.
The sounds of slurping and chewing and satisfied hums were the only sound for a while. It was a peaceable sort of quiet that warmed the soul… or that could have just been the hot stew settling on her empty stomach. Either way Momo felt genuinely happy for a few moments, her hellish week forgotten and her future concerns distant. A perfectly detached moment of being present when and where she was.
And then she thought about the three who were out scouting and she struggled not to be thinking of one of them specifically. Her peaceful moment was gone and suddenly she was battling internally with a stomach turning into all knots as she tried to find the best way to voice what she was thinking without it sounding obvious that her main concern was Shoto.
"Will there be enough food for the others?" Her mouth felt dry. She reached for the flask beside Tenya.
Nana peered into the pot suspended over the crackling fire and nodded. "Certainly, but if they take too long it may not be hot any longer."
"Well, there's plenty if we don't have to feed Eijii, that is," Denki chuckled.
Mina nodded profusely as she tried to swallow her food quickly to speak up. "You should see the appetite on that boy! Did you realize Dragon's are actually very good ambush predators?"
Izuku's eyes lit up.
"It didn't say anything about that in the book Tsu gave me," he leaned towards her, "I mean, he's incredibly conspicuous with those bright red scales and his size alone shakes the ground."
"I know what I saw," Mina smiled, "He waited, unmoving for thirty minutes just to pounce a pair of deer and get them both in one swipe. And then he went looking for the next bite! How Ochako kept that boy fed all these years I'll never understand."
"Ochako told me that her mother didn't have an easy time with his appetite when they were still young," Izuku laughed, "But Dragons are natural hunters and his inclination would always have been to catch his own dinner, so I'm sure they managed. He's been having to hunt stealthily not to catch the attention of anyone who might harm him for a long time, so it would make sense that he'd learn to hunt non-traditionally."
Kyouka hummed, "So, Izuku, how about you study him and write the book about his grazing habits and I'll write the ballad of his adventures, sound good?"
"He's not an animal," Momo frowned a little, "He's just as much a person as any of us are. Eijiro is not some specimen to be dissected."
Izuku and Kyouka both looked taken aback and both rushed to shake their heads and assure.
"I know that better than anyone, your highness," Izuku said, "I owe him my life. We didn't mean to sound like we were undervaluing him."
"And I don't write songs about inanimate objects, I write them about people," Kyouka crossed her arms, "I'm well aware Eijiro is a person...although him being a Dragon helps"
Nana tilted a soft smile across the fire at Momo. "I heard that he saved your life… It's not a wonder you find yourself so rushed to defend him. But no one here feels anything but admiration and respect for Eijiro. Worry not, little Queen."
She ended it with a wink and Momo felt terribly sheepish, throwing out such an unbased accusation.
Tenya nodded along with the others. "Even I have to admit I have let my guard down concerning the Dragon, even knowing him only so short a time. I think most of us owe him our lives for one reason or another and it is hard not to become somewhat enamored when he does not seem to realize that that is what he has done. It is not feigned humility, but perhaps complete oblivion to his good deeds. I will admit it is endearing."
That was the first time Momo had heard Tenya say anything of a completely positive nature about any of their companions. It would have made sense for him to feel the most wary of a creature that their culture had long thought was earthbound Demonspawn and known for the destruction they had laid upon Gaetha in centuries past. But he too owed the creature his life and apparently Tenya was not immune to the innate charm of his unsuspecting nature.
"Izuku," Denki leaned forward, placing his empty bowl down, "You seem to know them the best. I've been curious. What exactly is the relationship between Ochako and Eijiro? She was pretty frantic about getting back to him, but from what Mina says he wasn't all that freaked out by getting separated."
Pausing a moment, Izuku's face fell some and then lifted back with a twisted look of uncertainty. But it was more than that, it was nervous discomfort too.
"I… can't say for sure. She found and rescued him when they were both only children so they grew up together. Sometimes it sounded like she was like a mother to him, sometimes it sounded like they were siblings, or just best friends, and sometimes it sounds like she um… that she might love him."
The flush in Izuku's cheeks was unmistakable and a crushing weight fell on Momo's chest. She recognized it all too well. She saw it on Tenya during the wedding. She saw it on her own face the night Tenya had rejected her.
Mina made a disappointed humming noise and Izuku threw her a harsh look.
"What?" he asked.
The elf girl shifted her shoulders back and forth like she was thinking about it before she spoke.
"Well it would be unfortunate if she did, because I'm not so sure Eijiro feels the same," Mina shrugged, "I'm no expert on humans and their weird behaviors, but I've observed Dragons from a safe distance before and I know a free spirit when I see one. Ochako is not one, Eijiro is. He's still an adolescent so he's not even sure what he wants yet, but in a few years he's going to want more than whatever she has to offer. Or he'll just grossly outlive her and possibly regret devoting his life to someone so short lived…"
Izuku looked positively devastated by Mina's straight and callous words, said so casually and without much depth. But Izuku wasn't the one to show the appropriate stance of offense, Nana took up that role in a shocking heartbeat.
"Bite your tongue, Moondancer!"
Nana shot to her feet as her face became a blanket of vicious rage while Denki quickly grabbed her arm like he was holding her back. Fearful silence dropped on the rest, no one even moving, just watching with bated breath.
Mina looked surprised at the response and shifted where she sat. "Look, human, I'm just telling it like it is. Creatures like us and like Dragons are not meant to waste our time on the short lives of humans."
Even Mina couldn't stay obstinate at the sharp, tearful inhale Nana made.
"And yet I was not the one outlived!" she shouted, "Don't talk about things you have no knowledge of, child! You flaunt your long life, but you forget how slowly your people mature, that in every capacity but years I am your senior and have known more of the world in my short life than you have in the eighty years you have lived. I would take the few short years I had with Toran over never having known him, never having loved him! By your logic I should regret the three short years I knew my son. To outlive them is to suffer, but to have lived with them is to have truly lived."
Mina bit her cheek and looked away, lips pursed in annoyance.
"If you have no value for human life then feel free to leave, Mina," Nana crossed her arms, jerking away from Denki and pinning him with sharp eyes, "And you can go with her if you dare agree with her."
The elf boy was clearly uncomfortable, stuck between Nana and Mina, but he held up hands at them both, shaking his head. "This is no time to be fighting. You scolded Katsuki earlier for this exact thing."
In the midst of this outlash, everyone was suddenly reminded of the last argument from earlier that day and Momo found herself watching Kyouka instead of the elves. The bard had her eyes on Nana, though and her hand tightly against Fumikage's shoulder, like her touch was the only thing keeping him in place.
"You're right, I suppose, I'll let it go… for now."
Nana crinkled her nose at Mina and stepped away. She turned out to the more wooded part of their camp, no explanation given to where she was going, but her fists clenched as she walked resolutely away. She shouted back over her shoulder as she went, "Tell Shoto to come find me when he gets back. I don't care if he's asleep on his feet, we have a lot of work to do."
Lost to the dark and shadow of the woods everyone turned back to Denki and Mina. Denki had his teeth grit, sighing as he grabbed Mina's shoulder.
"That was a cruel thing to say," he scolded, "You know what she's been through."
"And you know how I feel about it," Mina shot up, "I love humans, they're fine friends, but that is all they should ever be. There's nothing more disrespectful to our species than a halfbreed or an elf that would stoop to being with a human."
Denki crossed his arms and raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her. "Right… such a puritan Moondancer, following all the rules. No intermixing. No interbreeding with humans. No mixing with other elf races. Why exactly were you banished again?"
A sharp pink finger stabbed hard into Denki's chest. "Because you came to my homeland!"
"Right and why was that?"
"You're my friend, that's it." Mina tossed a cautious look at the watchful faces, pink cheeks looking sharply red.
Denki scoffed. "Sure, I am. Keep telling yourself that so you can keep your superiority, but you're as bad as Nana. You're worse actually and I know you too well to believe you."
"You Solstice romanticize everything," she shoved past him, "You know what you are to me and that's all it will ever be."
With that Mina, red to the ears stormed off in the opposite direction that Nana had left and while the audience still struggled with the idea of even moving, Denki just stood there, smirking to himself, staring after the pink elf girl. Momo couldn't understand why he was. Mina had basically rejected him in front of everyone over belief in her own racial superiority and somehow Denki was smiling after her like there was no one in the world he adored more.
Chuckling lightly, Denki shrugged and looked to the curious faces. "Moondancers. Pride bigger than Gaetha, hearts as fragile as snowflakes."
"Denki, are you okay?" Kyouka tilted her head at him.
He huffed. "Oh, yeah. We've been playing this game for a while now. I'm going to win, don't worry. We have a hundred years stuck together for her to get over herself and actually admit to how she feels."
"Are you sure you aren't mistaken?" Momo asked, sympathetically, "She really may not feel that way…"
"Well…" Izuku raised an eyebrow, "Nana seemed to think what she called you in that letter meant something more."
Denki got a little flustered. "Hey, we agreed to never talk about that! But… I'm not mistaken. I know her better than myself. She's in a tough spot. To admit she feels something for someone outside of her tribe would be to admit her people's most sacred rules are wrong. She's just not ready to do that."
It was hard not to eye Tenya while Denki spoke. Momo could feel the way he grimaced. She understood what he was thinking, because she had felt similar feelings before. The elf's wishes seemed hopeless. The rules that restricted the lives of Nobles were not unlike those of the Moondancers. You mixed only with those of your level and certainly not with another race. Royal bloodlines had to remain Noble and human through and through. Apparently Moondancers had the same ideas about pureblooded lineages. And such ideals were not easily strayed from. Even with her flights of fancy for this man or that, she was not prepared to falter from the dictates that had been set down through generations. She knew her own marriage would not be her choice, it would be her mother's, even if she were now Queen.
Confident as he was, Momo was certain Denki was merely setting himself up for disappointment as Momo was doing to herself by even allowing her interest in Shoto to still exist. She only hoped she could break her own heart over it sooner rather than later so that she could focus on what was important again.
There was a light laugh from across the fire as Kyouka shook her head at Denki. "Was there really no one in Solen? I hear you're a pretty big tribe. Maybe you should have looked a little harder closer to home."
The elf rolled his eyes at her and smiled where Mina had disappeared. "I have no regrets, Kyo. You know that. I'm not about to start now."
They exchanged a familiar set of smiles, something friendly and understanding, before Kyouka jerked her head in the direction that the Moondancer had stormed off. "Go on then, before she decides to blow off steam by assassinating someone."
Momo's throat went dry at the mention of assassins. "Would she actually?"
She got a wink from Denki. "You never know. She comes from a heathen tribe after all."
And like that he was gone, vanishing into the encroaching darkness to find the woman who refused to return his affections.
Kyouka waved it off with a shake of her head, seeing the concern left on Momo's face. "Don't mind them. They don't kill people for a living. They're sleezy, not killers."
That did offer some relief to Momo, but not to Tenya, quite obviously.
"And what about you?" he asked her, leaning his head in skepticism, "What sort of work do you do? I feel that I've heard conflicting accounts."
Kyouka was not cowed by the accusatory tone of his voice, she just leaned further onto the log that sat at her and Fumikage's back and absently tapped against his shoulder while he kept his eyes on the horizon, lost among his thoughts again.
"Well most of them are probably true," Kyouka shrugged, "I am willing to do a lot of things, but the things I seek to do are to follow where the adventure and the song takes me. I joined this group because I smelled a ballad waiting to be written unfolding and because Denki and Mina were involved. I've always liked working with them."
"You're risking your life against a Demon horde for the sake of a song?" Tenya was aghast and both Momo and Izuku looked at her with similar confusion.
"For the song, for the thrill, for being a part of history," she smiled, "I don't fear for my life. Besides, we may be able to do something good by the time we've gutted the Archdemon and I'm not above doing some good works on the side. What about you, why are you here, Commander?"
He glanced at Momo, but held Kyouka's stare intently. "Loyalty, duty, love of my country, fear for my loved ones who will certainly be harmed if the Summoning is not ended. Faith in my Queen that her decision to travel with the lot of you does not do more harm than good."
Kyouka narrowed her eyes at him. "Sounds a little too unselfish for me to believe it. You're a soldier, Commander. Don't tell me that there isn't some part of you that's here for the fight or the glory."
Tenya tensed, but Momo touched his arm to calm him, speaking up instead. "Will you question my intentions as well, then? Am I also here for the glory?"
With a long look, Kyouka shook her head and smiled softly at Momo, diffusing her in an instant. "No, your highness, you're here because of love, though I'm not sure if it's love of your home or family or others; love just sort of pours out of you without you knowing. You're here because all of this," she gestured to the world around her, "is now your responsibility and somehow you have bravery immense enough not to run screaming from that."
Next she eyed Izuku and he didn't look prepared to be under her inspection. "You're here for the same reason, because you love people too easily and you want to protect all of them, even our new companions are not safe from how readily you'll try to love them. Your world is a bit more finite that the Queens, certainly, but it's equally as motivating."
Izuku started to speak, but stopped himself and sighed, just nodding to what she said. The bard was disturbingly spot on with her assessments and it put every one of them at a disadvantage. She may have laid out her intentions for them, but there was still so much mystery left to her, while their souls were apparently laid bare to her without even trying.
"What about him?" Tenya nodded towards Fumikage.
The Mage darted dark eyes at Tenya, not as mentally distant as they expected.
"I wish to be free," he responded, "Free of the Demon, of its corruption, of my curse. Kyouka is my only means to that end, so I will go where she goes and face the horrors you all face. None of it can be worse than what I have already seen and what I experience every waking moment that the ether infests my body, mind, and soul. The Archdemon himself may be a welcome sight after this. I'm willing to do anything to remember the warm glow of freedom once more."
Momo's heart ached and she saw Izuku's mouth pout slightly. She shivered to imagine what it must be like to have a Demon crawling beneath her skin. But the Mage's words sat differently with Kyouka, they spurred a sort of excitement in her and she moved to her knees beside him.
"So, you're ready to try then?" Kyouka tilted her head at him.
He folded his own arms a bit tighter and stared at his lap. "Not tonight… But yes."
"Try what?" Izuku leaned towards them.
"To use Magic in conjunction with the Demon's powers," Kyouka explained, "He agreed to be of use to us so that we would be of use to him, so he needs to learn to utilize the power in his hands. He's been too afraid to use even his own Magic, but I want him to use it and the techniques I've taught him to make the Demon fight for us. It's going to take some work, but we're already headed back to Dawnfell and we don't have much time to become experts at something that might be impossible."
There was distaste from both Momo and Tenya, but Izuku just nodded solemnly. Perhaps it was no different then what Shoto and Nana supposedly did with their Blood Magic, but it did not make it any less disturbing to think of a Demon actually being made to fight in the side of mortals.
"We all have a lot of work to do then," Izuku commented, "I just hope we have the time."
Kyouka nodded agreement and gave Fumikage a slightly sharper look, but he shifted further away from her, stubbornly, flipping his hood back over his face. "I am aware. Just… not tonight. Please…"
"Alright," she sighed and stood to stretch, "But I'm holding you to it."
That was the last of what they heard from Fumikage for the night. He pulled his cloak close around him, dipped his head and retreated into his own mind.
As they waited for the others to return and the sun to fully set, Izuku made his way around to where Tenya and Momo were sitting and immediately started asking the Commander questions about what had happened since the Pass, obviously trying to establish some familiarity with them. Shoto was right, the Mage was quick to try and be friends and required no prompting. He was maybe a bit wary of overstepping his bounds and so didn't directly ask the Queen anything, but rattled his questions in Tenya's ears. The Commander didn't seem to mind answering either.
But Momo really didn't notice their conversation or add anything herself, she was captivated by watching Kyouka meander around the fire and swing her arms, loosening them up and humming to herself. Everything about her was strange to Momo. She wasn't built to be a fighter, but she carried herself like she feared no one at all. Not the Demon, not the Mage it inhabited, not the sharp temper of the Captain, not the Blood Mages in their midst.
"Something I can help you with, Queen?" Kyouka pumped an eyebrow at her, noticing her prolonged stare.
Tenya stopped midway through his explanation of how they had dragged Eijiro half dead across Tarlson when he heard his Queen addressed.
"Um, no…" Momo was taken a little by surprise herself, but found it was an opening, "Well, maybe. How did you manage to become so…" she searched for the words, "Fearless?"
A small laugh broke Kyouka's chest, but it was the friendly sort. "Fearless?" she repeated, "Well I don't know about that, but I do alright." The bard fit her hands into her pockets and looked up in a reminiscent way. "I'm the fifth child out of ten. Four brothers, five sisters, and all of them uncontrollable. If I'm fearless, you might say I was born that way, or rather, it was knocked into me by the fifth time Deidra got pissed that I took her doll and tried to leave me hanging by my feet from a tree."
Oddly enough, Tenya was the one to chuckle at that. "Fifth time? What took you so long to figure out the consequences?"
He got an impressed look from Kyouka. "I didn't get my brains until quite a few years later, Commander. You have some experience I'm guessing?"
"Me and my brother were not always the unaffected military statues you see today," Tenya shrugged one shoulder. "Add to it that we grew up side by side with the Todoroki children it doubled the odds against me with Natsuo, Tensei, and - well, others - ganging up on me and Fuyumi. You learn a lot about how to win a fight, by losing most of them. It helps to have someone to look after too. It was pretty unfair of the older boys to pick on Fuyumi so much, but that does seem to be the nature of adolescent boys."
Momo liked seeing him like this, casual and smiling and talking about his life before all ether broke loose. It warmed her heart.
"You really have been protecting her from the very beginning," Momo smiled.
He nodded and his nostalgia vanished, reminded of the duty he had left behind to now protect Momo. That warmth in her chest replaced itself with guilt, but luckily she wasn't left to dwell on it long.
"What was it like having such a big family?" Izuku beamed bright eyes at Kyouka, "We Mages have no blood family and even my chosen family was relatively small."
Kyouka's casual pacing continued and she kicked a few rocks. "Hell on earth," she grinned, "All of my sisters were insufferably girly, but could rip your hair clean out if you drove them to it. And my brothers were a bunch of stick swinging bastards. Except Deo, he was an angel and got everything he wanted because he was the baby. But the other three, they were the oldest with Deidra and had some wild idea that they were in charge and that me and Lira were beneath playing with them. Well, they thought that until I knocked Cassus's head into a tree hard enough for him to start talking funny for a week and at that point not even Katsuki was going to stop me from joining their little adventures and-"
She stopped, in her tracks, in her words, in her thoughts. Everyone else did too.
"Katsuki? As in Captain Katsuki Bakugo?" Tenya demanded the clarification they were all wondering.
With a tight grit in her teeth, Kyouka turned back on her heels to face them and grumbled a little to herself.
"Yes, actually," she groaned, "Not that he'd tell anyone this, but I've known him most of my life, actually. His family lived just across the border from us when we were all children and he was close friends with my brothers. For some reason he was always at our house, getting the boys into trouble and dragging Deidra along just because she didn't want to feel left out."
Kyouka watched all of their faces a moment longer, gauging the shock and then finally crossing her arms and starting to pace again.
"We weren't always at odds, you know. He was actually the one that finally caved and let me play with them when my brothers kept demanding I was too young. For a short while he was the only friend I had outside of my siblings. He was the absolute worst, don't get me wrong and he still is, but so were all of my siblings, so he fit right in. My options were fairly limited in that town as it was."
"So, what happened?" Izuku opened his hands, "What I've seen between you since having met you both has been nothing but hostile. I'd have guessed you hated each other."
"That's because we do," Kyouka huffed out of her nose, "Just because you're friends as kids doesn't mean that holds into adulthood. He ran off to be a soldier of Dawnfell and I led my own escape to my life of actual freedom. When we ran into each other again as adults, he wasn't the kid I remembered and he wasn't the sort willing to help out an old friend either. What he was, was a self absorbed asshole who drew a sword on me over a trivial disagreement and put himself on my bad side for eternity."
"If he tried to hurt you over something insignificant, then why did you apologize to him earlier?" Momo asked.
The answer was not immediate, Kyouka quietly paced a bit longer, her lip twitching a little. "Mostly to get him off of my back… But he seems to think I did something horrible to him. You'd think all those years fighting wars would have made him tougher."
Her back was to them now and she stopped, arms folded. There was tension constricting her entire spine, the thoughts of the horrible end to a once good friendship taking its apparent toll. Momo felt bad for prying and walked over to her, touching her arm.
"I apologize for bringing up painful memories," she peered around to see her face, "You don't have to say anything further. I'm sure it must be difficult traveling with him after all of that."
A smile that seemed only a bit forced turned on Momo and Kyouka patted her shoulder back lightly. "Don't frett over me, Highness. You've got a country in more need of your sympathy than I do. Neither of us should have let our tempers flare today, so I'll try to be the cooler head from here on out. And once all of this is over we'll go our separate ways and no one will have to worry about us killing each other again."
Momo dipped her head shortly. "That is acceptable. I like you, Kyouka, but I also owe the Captain my life, so I would rather not be stuck between you, taking sides or mediating a conflict at a time like this."
"Would never ask you to," Kyouka winked, "Now rest up. You have the Lady of Keosha to coerce in the morning."
She was right, Momo had far bigger things to be preparing for and the petty conflicts of her companions were miniscule in comparison. The five remaining at the fireside settled in after that and came to a peaceable quiet to give Momo the chance to think and prepare. Izuku was obviously coming apart at the seems to have to be so silent, though, and finally Momo sent him off with Tenya to get more firewood, which gave them the chance to continue talking. Kyouka settled back down beside Fumikage and broke the quiet here and there with soft hums whenever Fumikage would tense up and the sound seemed to automatically relax him.
It was hard not to think about what Kyouka had said while she watched them, about how Momo apparently loved so freely and was driven by how she cared for others. She'd never thought about it herself, but she was quickly seeing the truth of it. Even this Mage who terrified her had struck sympathetic chords in her heart with the anguish he wore on his sleeve and she found herself searching her heart for ways to help him along with everyone else. Perhaps that made her the exact wrong person to be Queen, to be so easily concerned with individuals rather than the whole of Gaetha, but it was all she knew and she was all her kingdom had.
She lifted her eyes, prayed to the anther for strength, and hoped she would be enough.
The short flight from the Tarlson Pass to Grimheist had not been nearly long enough to make the ground being so far away from Shoto's feet feel anything close to normal yet. If he closed his eyes he could pretend he was just on horseback - his feet would have been suspended above the earth then too and there would be rushing wind and jostling if his horse was moving at a gallop. But the illusion was rebroken again and again by the way the scaled body beneath him lunged into the sky, climbing higher and twisting to spin in the wind and throw about his riders all while making grumbling noises, that reverberated down his spine in a way a horse could never. Add to that, Ochako had only managed a short burst of healing on his arm before they'd taken off and that the movements kept little spurts of pain shooting up his bicep.
But this was the last instance Shoto wanted to be looking like a coward in, so he steeled his tumulting gut, grit his teeth on the pain and forced himself not to cling too tightly to the shoulders in front of him.
The Captain made no secret that he hated being airborne as much as anyone and Eijiro was obviously not making it any easier, but they both had to stay bold and unaffected or else they were sure to get a verbal tanning from Ochako who was already struggling not to show obvious bemusement. Despite it, though, Shoto was happy she was here. No one could really control the Dragon, but Ochako came the closest to being of some authority to him, although he hadn't put up too much of a fight with the Captain back when they were leaving Dalem.
While the rest of their party were left to ready camp and prepare something to eat, Katsuki had decided that they needed to get an aerial view of their surroundings before it got dark to be sure that there were no Tarls or Dales left in pursuit and no Synod Hunters at their tails. Just as well the road ahead needed to be assessed, so that left Katsuki to volunteer out of his expertise in a more militaristic observation, Ochako to demand she go along, perhaps just not trusting the Captain with her friend, and Shoto being told he had to go to keep a clear line of communication open to their chaotic ride. Eijiro could understand them while in Dragon form, but it was hard to hear over the rushing winds and without Shoto he couldn't tell them anything back. Shoto understood the logic well, he was just growing to dislike his role as the Dragon-Translator when it got him into spots like this, suspended hundreds of feet from the embrace of earth, eyes stinging and nose running from cold wind slapping his face.
Ochako was not the least bit bothered by it, though. She laughed into the aerial twists and when Eijiro steadied out she let go of his scales to open her arms into the air, clinging on only by her legs. And of course she had to follow that up with a smug look back at Katsuki who was viciously glaring at her while still clinging to the back of her shirt for dear life.
The Captain had had enough of the fun times by now and shouted over the rushing air back to Shoto. "Tell him to stop trying to throw us off so we can just do our damn observation or I'll be the one using his head as a trophy!"
"Eijiro, please fly steadily, we can't see anything this way and you're making Katsuki angry."
Shoto heard a sigh in his mind as verbal as if someone had done it right next to his ear.
"You have no spirit of adventure." Eijiro complained.
His wings fully unfurled into straight, long red membranous gliders and leveled out his body onto the air. It was far from what anyone could consider steady, but it was manageable enough for the two inexperienced riders to stop grabbing so embarrassingly onto the person in front of them and simply hold onto the shifting scales instead.
"Better?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Some day I need to take you on a real flight. All safe and steady is no way to experience flying."
"No, thank you, I actually prefer the solid ground."
"Ick, why?"
"I don't have wings, Eijiro. What comes natural to you does not come natural to me."
"Oh. That's very sad. Ochako loves flying and she doesn't have wings either. You could learn to love it."
Eijiro flapped his wings to keep his altitude and it jostled his unsuspecting riders just enough for Shoto to feel his dried rations from a few hours ago creep up his throat.
"I really don't think so, Eijiro."
"Isn't this the best?" Ochako swung her leg up and shifted around to face back at the two of them as if she were changing positions in a chair.
Shoto couldn't see Katsuki's face, but he knew it was either seething or holding back vomit. Those two looks were similar on him.
"Man was not meant to fly," he growled.
"This was your idea," Ochako raised an eyebrow at him, "And if it was not meant for men, it looks like it was made for women, because I'm having a wonderful time."
Katsuki's muscles tensed beneath his light armor, but Shoto was strangely unconcerned for Ochako's safety, from either the Captain or from her own recklessness. She already seemed so changed from when he first met her. Where she had been conflicted and scared at leaving her village to follow them to the Keep, fretting over Eijiro and about leaving her parents, she had a certainty about her now. It was like she had been given finite direction and her confidence had taken that and sored with it. Or maybe they were finally seeing her in her own element, among the clouds, far above where any Synod Mage could drag her away to be reconditioned in the Magesteriums. It bothered him that the idea of the Synod taking her upset him now, but it was hard to think of such a free spirit being trapped by the regulations that had shaped his own life. He just hoped that it wouldn't come back to bite him or her.
They covered ground quickly and passed cleanly over the borders they had ridden through long ago on horseback, forcing themselves to keep their eyes on the ground to watch for pursuers. Eijiro had been right, when compared with the ease of flight, horses were quite slow. If this was the speed he was used to traveling, going at their pace must have been truly agonizing for him.
Katsuki got over his revulsion with flight once he had a task to focus on and soon he was unrecognizable. Shoto was used to seeing him violent and short tempered, barking orders and making a drill sergeant out of himself. But here Shoto saw his tactician's mind at work and even saw a spark of thrill behind his eyes as he pointed out the outpost they passed and mapped out the land with his finger. He went from fear stricken to fascinated.
"Can you imagine what we could do with airborne scouts on the battlefield?" he said more to himself than to either of his companions, "We could change everything we know about stratagem. Even our maps could be completely overhauled."
"So you're liking flying a little better now?" Ochako smiled.
He furrowed his brow, not peeling his eyes off of the moving scenery below. "Never, but I know a practical application of resources when I see one. I might be tempted to keep your Dragon friend around when this is over. I'd send a scout instead of myself, of course, but the intel we could gather would be invaluable."
"You think that was an offer?"
"I wouldn't take it if I were you," Shoto warned, "I've been under Katsuki's command and it's not something I would repeat."
"Why? He seems like he's good at his job."
"He is. That's why. I don't like to admit it, but he's terrifying on the battlefield. I've seen him gut deserters without a second of thought and send his men still forging unto the breach, barely pausing to wipe the blood off of his face."
"Wow. He's really amazing, isn't he?"
Shoto had no answer for that. It was hardly how expected Eijiro to view Katsuki after the depiction he'd just given. Dragon standards for what was amazing must have been scaled a bit differently than a human Mage's.
"I don't think so, Captain," Ochako patted Eijiro's moving shoulder, "I'm sure he appreciates the offer, but he would never be safe with you."
A sound like a disappointed sigh tickled the mental connection between Shoto and Eijiro.
"You see everything through a military scope, don't you?" Ochako raised an eyebrow back at Katsuki.
"I'm a Captain," he said, "You don't become the Lord-Commander's Second by not taking your job seriously. If I see a way that's going to bring my people victory and save soldiers' lives in the process I take it."
Ochako looked closely at Katsuki like she was mapping him out in her head. "I hadn't really thought about it before, but aren't you a little young to be a Captain?"
The look in Katsuki's eyes could have stung a charging bull.
"No, I'm just younger than most, which should scare you, Cheeks," he snarled.
"How so?" Ochako folded her arms, an act that was in no way safe aboard a moving, flying Dragon.
Katsuki straightened up to look her dead on. Shoto couldn't tell if this was just Katsuki being himself or if he was gearing up for a fight. He seemed inclined to start those lately given the conversation he'd had with Kyouka.
Before Shoto could say anything to change the topic or intervene, Katsuki was already spitting. It came from a deeply emotional place that Shoto knew, but hadn't seen in a while. He felt like he was back at the fronts watching the barrier rise to listen to him.
"You have no concept of what a military leader has to go through to reach this rank, do you, girl? You don't just train in a yard, attend a bit of schooling and get an emblem on your pauldron. You stand on the battlefield from day one and take responsibility for everything that entails. You watch horror unfold around you and you don't flinch because your men are depending on you to stay their ground. Even when you know the battle can't be won, you still fight. You look your men in the eyes, lie to them, and send them to fight an enemy you know they can't beat. Every night you share your dinners with walking dead men and after every battle, as their leader, you have to get into the mud with them and drag what's left of them into a mass grave because you can't possibly return that many bodies to their loved ones, even if you were lucky enough to be able to identify the remains. And you don't rise through the ranks fighting Demons either, it's never that clean. Demons arise in Gaetha as frequently as Gaethan rule changes hands. No, your enemy is people. You'll fight your neighbors, sometimes you kill your brethren and if you hesitate to give that order your own men will be the ones dead. You should be scared of me, Mage. Not because I have a temper, but because I had more blood on my hands by the time I was twenty than you'll see in a lifetime. Don't underestimate me, Cheeks."
Ochako's smug expression had turned to tense uncertainty and she visibly chewed the inside of her full cheek. She couldn't hold his unwavering eye contact anymore and she played it off as thoughtfulness. Shoto felt it too; the guilt of assuming little of the Captain. He was not so deluded about what was required of an officer, especially of a Dawnfelden officer, but it was easy to forget how much had come before Demon's Rise for Katsuki, even though that alone should have awarded him all due respect in Shoto's mind. He'd kept his men in line when faced with certain death and his confidence had ever wavered. He'd even managed to drag Shoto to safety amidst it all; but that was an act easily forgotten after it had been followed by two attempts to kill him and Nana. It could not be said their history was uncomplicated.
All Ochako could do after that was give him a sympathetic nod and turn back around to face the front. Maybe he had scared her. It was easy for the others to see him as the hot headed man who shouted a lot, it was harder to see him as someone who could send men to their deaths without flinching.
"Do you think it's safe to assume we aren't being pursued?" Shoto desperately tried to change the subject now.
Katsuki followed along with it easily, forcing out the tension in his shoulders to continue his observation. "At least not pursued in this direction. We don't need to worry about the Tarls at this point, they must still be moving in the wrong direction. Tell Eijiro to take us about. We should check out the path ahead of us, get an idea of what we're facing."
Shoto relayed those orders to Eijiro and the Dragon changed course. They would have a bit of ground to cover before getting back to where they could see what lay ahead of their companions, which left lingering silence for the next half hour that seemed to eat at each of their inner thoughts. Ochako's more than anyone else's. Even though she was facing away from him, Shoto could see how intensely she was thinking.
"Was Kyouka someone you knew from the army, then?"
Katsuki wasn't easily taken aback, but the question visibly threw him. Ochako was staring back over her shoulder at him, entirely genuine and concerned in her curiosity. She was hardly the first of them to wonder what the history between the two was, but none of them had even found the gumption or opportunity to ask. Maybe they were all too afraid; both Katsuki and Kyouka could be so intense and shut off about personal things that no one really expected to get a real answer. But Ochako was new to them both and perhaps hadn't seen enough of them together to realize how sore a subject it was.
"No!" Katsuki shouted, "She doesn't have the balls for soldiering."
"She seemed plenty ballzy to me," Ochako hummed to herself and Katsuki bristled.
"Then what happened?"
Shoto shrugged, though he realized the Dragon couldn't see it. "I don't know. No one seems to."
"Then ask him."
"I'd rather not invoke a fight."
"Then tell him I asked."
"Then he'll just be mad at you instead of at me."
"Well I'm the only thing keeping him from plunging to his death, so that's on him if he wants to get upset with me."
There was childish good humor in Ejiro's internal voice and it was almost infectious. It made Shoto's sullen exterior an effort to upkeep, but it finally made him cave to the request and readied himself for backlash.
"Eijiro is asking what happened between you…"
"Tell the damn Dragon it's none of his damn business!"
"Tell him it's a long way down from here."
"I'm not threatening the Captain on your behalf."
"Why not?"
"Is it necessary that I give a reason?"
"You Synod Mages are really strict and boring, aren't you?"
Shoto thought for a moment about the Synod's history with Dragons and the traditions that had been created all around hunting and killing them and almost said to him that he wouldn't have found the Synod so boring if he'd been hatched a century ago. But Ochako knocked the regrettable statement from him with her own follow up question.
"Was it because you were in love with her?"
Seeing what was about to happen, Shoto threw an arm around Katsuki's chest to hold him back from attacking Ochako. The bit of unsteady air currents they hit the next moment knocked the idea of fighting aboard a flying Dragon out of him pretty fast, but it didn't stop his seething.
"How could you-? Why would you-? You have some fucking nerve! Absolute fucking nerve to even suggest- are you out of your mind, girl?" Katsuki ripped out of Shoto's hold and snagged back onto the scales while he ranted angrily and Ochako looked back at Shoto with grit teeth. She really hadn't realized what sort of question she was asking. "I'd rather kiss an Inferno! At least then I'd be incinerated and not have to live the rest of my life knowing I'd gone anywhere near that!"
"Okay, okay, you weren't in love with her! I get it! No need to blow your top over it. But I don't see why you wouldn't have. I mean she's really pretty and she's confident and self possessed. And her voice is beautiful too. I could listen to her sing all day."
"I'd shove a hot poker in my ear if it meant never hearing that damn voice again." Katsuki sucked air through his teeth as if even the thought of it alone was enough to sting him. But then his voice quieted some, as much as it could in the billowing wind, and his tone fell from petulant to hauntingly serious. "Look, she's not who you think she is. Everything you just said about her is what makes her so dangerous. She doesn't seem conniving or capable of ruining your life but she can and she will if it lines her pockets or gets her what she wants."
Ochako tossed a look to Shoto and then frowned back at Katsuki. "Did she ruin yours?"
The corner of Katsuki's mouth twitched. "Nearly."
Shoto didn't like the feeling coming off of Katsuki and Eijiro seemed to feel it too. It was a hurt, weighted anguish and his next words made it clear why.
"I lost men because of her." Red eyes darkened on Ochako and then on Shoto in turn, "Because she had something she wanted she did whatever it took. Once she had it she just walked away without so much as a glance back at what the hell she'd unleashed."
Taken aback, Ochako clearly didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth a few times to try, but it was obviously hard for her to believe such things about someone she considered a friend. Eijiro didn't have anything to say either, but he seemed to be listening intently. As for Shoto, he was withholding judgment until he heard more, afraid to speak and break the rare moment of openness that Katsuki was experiencing.
Unbothered by their lack of response, Katsuki continued, his voice getting louder and deeper. "That wasn't the worst of it… Soldiers know they could die any day, they prepare for that. They don't prepare to have their very beings ripped from them to be made puppets of."
Ochako's brow furrowed. "You mean her enchantments?"
Katsuki took a long, slow breath, "Her song is evil and she doesn't just use it on Demons."
"I know," Shoto looked away thoughtfully, "The day I met her I chased her down because she had enchanted her entire audience at the bar, without even seeming to realize it. Even Nana fell under it."
That grabbed Katsuki in a way Shoto hadn't expected. He turned his body back as far as it would go and looked at him like he'd never seen him before.
"You saw her do it? And you remembered being enchanted?"
Shoto shook his head. "She didn't enchant me." Perhaps because she couldn't. Perhaps my soul is too corrupt for an enchantment meant for humans. Perhaps there's not enough left of me that's human.
Katsuki's expression fell, disappointed.
"She enchanted the Talson soldiers at the outpost so that we could leave unnoticed too," Ochako added, thoughtfully, "When I asked her about it she said that it's not harmful and won't hurt anyone. She said even the Demons she's enchanted won't usually recall being enchanted. But… Fumikage said that the Demon inside of him fights with itself, part of it longing for the sound of her voice while the other screams to be set free. She said sometimes a creature will remain aware while enchanted, but she seemed to think the Demon deserved it and after what it did to Crosdelm I have to agree."
It had been an unchecked thirty seconds of pure silence and stillness before Shoto realized Katsuki was digging his knuckles into the crease of Eijiro's scales. Some sense he hadn't yet named, sensed fresh blood; Katsuki's fresh blood, which he somehow knew and recognized without even seeing it.
What had either of them said to get this reaction from him and why? Katsuki seemed on the edge of losing it now when he had been so clear headed a moment ago. Maybe he was sick or the flying had finally gotten to him.
"Katsuki, are you feeling ill?"
Ochako looked at Shoto like she couldn't believe he'd asked that, as if it were so far out of reach from what was happening.
"Shoto, that's not- wait… Captain, did you-? Were you- ?"
With a gradual lift of his head he met her wide stare with an intense red gaze. Her shoulders dropped.
"She enchanted you against your will, didn't she? And-"
"And I was aware of what was happening the whole damn time? Yes, I was."
Even the rushing flap of Eijiro's wings suddenly seemed a distant sound.
"Two days she kept me like that, even beyond my usefulness to her. It's bad enough to be used against your own men, especially in service to those Khandusk fuckers, but to be made some fucking plaything is inhuman. And it feels like hell. Something you can't even touch overcomes you, moves your arms, legs, and mouth according to someone else's will while it traps you in the back of your own mind."
Ochako shook her head, but a shiver went up Shoto's spine as he thought about what Hitoshi had done to Commander Tenya, what he had apparently done to Queen Momo, and what he had tried to do to Shoto. It wasn't precisely the same, but there was a sick familiarity to the way they were both described and the way Hitoshi's Magic had felt while trying to grab hold of Shoto during their fight.
"Why you? Why would she have needed to enchant you in the first place, let alone keep you like that?" Shoto swallowed hard.
"I can't say why she does the fucked up things she does, but as for my usefulness, I was a Lieutenant with access to things she needed," he explained coarsely, "I guess I was the most convenient officer in our battalion to use because we knew each other when we were kids. But even that didn't seem to matter to her, only what I could do for her. Be wary if she tries to form a friendship with you now, it's only to use you later."
Shoto never took his eyes off of Katsuki. "What did you do when you snapped out of it?"
"I tried to kill her, of course!" Katsuki shouted, "She acted fucking surprised, too, like she couldn't believe I'd want retribution after what she'd done to me. Not just using me like that, but forcing me to betray the trust of my men and my commanders; I could have lost everything and she didn't give it a moment's thought. When I came to, she was just lucky she had the Khandusk Clan at her back. Those traitorous bastards kept her alive by keeping me out of reach of her throat. Like the coward she is, she ran away after that, leaving me as Khandusk's prisoner. Men from my battalion came looking for me and half of them lost their lives trying to free me. But we slaughtered every last one of them in return, which is the only real upside I can see to the whole fuckshow that it was. We didn't leave a single Khandusk alive, except Kyouka Jiro. She's the only one left that still has to pay…"
"Pay?" Ochako shifted back up the Dragon's back.
"For my men who died trying to fix what she caused."
"What do you mean?" Shoto asked, scared of the answer.
"I mean that once her usefulness to our mission has run out, her time has run out too," he looked Shoto right in the eye. Nothing wavered in his deadly stare. "I'll see her face justice for what she's done. Don't think for a second I'm going to let you or anyone else stop me."