To The End, With You
Chapter 3: The Escape
"The Princess does not wish to see anyone," the servant girl tells them flatly behind a crack in the door.
"What the fuck do you mean that brat doesn't want to see anyone?!" Colonel Bakugou's scream echoes all over the hallway and perhaps the rest of the castle. Years of hearing this and Sergeant Midoriya still flinches from it. As for her, Momo likes to think that her ears have developed a tolerance for it. Or perhaps it's her hearing going as well...
The servant girl's eyebrows merely twitch in disdain despite the auditory assault. "It is as I said, Sir Bakugou. She does not wish to see anyone. She is sick ."
"Since fuckin' when?! She had perfect use of her legs when I tossed her ass in the dirt yesterday during training-"
"Kacchan, I know you're just worried for the princess, but I don't think saying that will help-" Sergeant Midoriya stammers.
"Shut up, nerd! These fuckin' bitches think they can boss us around and get away with it-" Colonel Bakugou looks like he's on the verge of shoving the shorter soldier and the maid, just to get through the door. By this time, Momo's patience has also run dangerously low, and she manages to hold her hand out to stop him.
Ignoring his angered sputter, Momo looks at the maid in the eye, a refined smile on her mouth. "I beg your forgiveness, ladies, but whether the Princess is infirm or not, we have a responsibility to be in her vicinity at all times. We are her personal guard, after all."
The maid scowls. "But the Princess mustn't be allowed to-"
"It is not for you to decide," Momo cuts in sharply. "Now. Are you going to allow us inside, or will we have to force our way in?"
The woman begins to shake, eyes darting to the sword on her hip, but the scowl on her face is resolute. Momo is surprised at the maid's perseverance, but she softens when a weak voice speaks from behind her. "It's all right. Please let my knights in."
The maid bows without further question and makes way. Momo walks in, followed by Bakugou who looks ready to punch a lady in the face and Midoriya, who rightfully holds him back.
Now, Momo has heard from the attendants in the castle that the Princess was nowhere to be found in bed before sunrise with her bed rumpled and the windows to her room wide open. But shortly after that, they found her in the toilets out in the hall, throwing up her dinner from the previous night, bile, and empty air. She seemed so delirious that she couldn't speak straight, nor could she explain why she wandered so far away from her own washroom. They put her back in bed, had the doctors see her, and ordered her not to move. She isn't allowed visitors, they said, so she wouldn't tire herself out.
Seeing her on bed, Momo suddenly understands why. She looked small, much smaller than just the day before. Her usually vibrant pink cheeks are paler and takes on a worriesome greyish hue. Her brown hair is a mess over her pillows. Weak brown eyes, without their usual shimmer, struggle to open to look at her Princessguard with as much politeness as her condition allows.
She tries to smile. "Good morning," she says weakly.
"Oh, Princess," Momo says in worry. She kneels at her bedside and grasps her hand-cold and thin, since when did it feel like this? "What happened? Oh dear, I'm so sorry this happened under my watch, this is unforgivable-"
"No, it can't be helped," she says with a weak smile. "The doctors say that I might have just eaten something bad and that they'll do more observations, but we shouldn't be worried about it being contagious… so it's perfectly all right to see you, Lady Yaoyorozu."
Something cold pricks Momo's insides at that statement. "Oh… is that right, your highness? That gives me some relief."
"Yes, doesn't it?" She tries another smile, a brighter one this time as she looks at her other guards. "I'm sorry that they spoke to you like that. I'll tell them to let you in without any arguments next time."
A quick look at her subordinates tells Momo that they must have noticed the same thing. At the same time, the maids are looking at them with eagle-eyed suspicion. The general keeps her tone carefully neutral. "That would be ideal, your Highness. We will need to be extra vigilant now that you're sick. Perhaps one of us should remain in your room at all times? If that is alright with you."
The girl on the bed smiles. Her eyes glimmer in a more energetic way that somehow disconcerts her. "Thank you, Momo! That would be the best."
Face impassive, Momo stands and faces the rest of the Princessguard. "One of us will stay fully armed at her bedside in eight hour shifts. Keep her in your line of vision even when the doctors examine her. Am I understood?"
"Yes, General." Midoriya says, straightening up. Bakugou grunts in affirmation.
Momo narrows her eyes at her subordinates. No, nothing is amiss. She glances at the shorter man. "Sergeant Midoriya, kindly take the first shift in accompanying her… highness. "
As Midoriya gives a salute with a nervous glisten of his eyes, the sickly Princess giggles. "Oh! It'll be Sir Deku first! I'm so glad!"
"Sir Deku?!" Midoriya chokes under his breath, before regaining his composure. "Yes, your highness, um… I guess I'll stay by the door to watch you-"
"No, the General told you to stay at the bedside, right? I don't want to feel alone," she says, gesturing for the maids to bring a chair close to the bed. The stammering Midoriya finds himself pushed to the seat to entertain the suddenly energized Princess at close proximity.
"Right," Momo says, nodding to Colonel Bakugou, who's mumbling something about throwing up any second now. To one of the maids, she says, "The King and Queen have sent messengers to Kanagawa to inform the Prince, so expect his entourage to visit soon."
The maid bows and allows them to leave. As the door closes behind them, they hear Princess Ochako's voice babbling excitedly about something to Midoriya, who stammers something in embarrassment back.
They reach the empty hallway, marching in silence. Right before she feels Bakugou's mouth open behind her to say something, she says sternly, "Wait."
She hears his mouth clamp shut after that, accompanied with an affronted grunt. Their thoughts are in-tune to that extent, Momo is proud to say, a result of years of working together. And now as a team they have a new problem to face, namely-
"What the fuck was that?!" Bakugou grits out, as soon as they're in the private confines of Momo's office.
The general leans at the edge of her desk, thoughtfully rubbing her chin. "What do you mean, Colonel?"
He's as irate as ever, but also bewildered, and very much worried to the extent that he only allows when it concerns the Princess. "That! That! What the hell happened to that brat?! She doesn't sound like herself!"
Momo looks at him sternly. "Have I trained you to be vague when you speak to me, Colonel? Be more specific. Tell me what you have noticed."
Bakugou sputters angrily, but calms himself down enough to mutter in a low voice, "You know what I mean, General. I know she's fuckin' sick and all, but everything about her is off. Her face, her accent, they way she moved… how she couldn't make up her mind in talking to you? Lady Yaoyorozu or Momo or General instead of Yaomomo-"
Momo hums thoughtfully. Yes, Princess Ochako has acted oddly the first moment they stepped into her room. It is just as Colonel Bakugou said-her character has suddenly become inconsistent with everything they knew about her. But more than that... "It felt as if I was speaking to a different person entirely."
"Yeah. What the fuck?" Bakugou glares at her. "You saw her up close, General Ponytail. Did you notice anything off with how she looked?"
Was there anything strange? Princess Ochako was pale, but that's to be expected of anyone who spent the morning throwing up. Her hands were thinner than she remembered, but otherwise her hair, her eyes, her voice, her general bodily constitution was the same. Her hands had those pink fingerpads at the tips, in the same shape that Momo remembered.
She's sure that as far as appearance was concerned, who they saw there was Princess Ochako.
Bakugou clicks his tongue. "Then what the fuck was that? Can a stomach flu cause you to lose your mind like that? Or should we worry about other shit happening?"
She knows the worrisome implications of her Colonel's statement. That this isn't just the illness speaking, so to speak, but something else. Poisoning. Hysteria. An insidious disease of the brain, more serious than the doctors have concluded thus far.
Or, knowing the Colonel, his mind has already jumped to worse conclusions: Hypnosis. Enchantments. Possession. Shapeshifting magic.
She knows what a leap it is to think so, but something in Momo's gut twists at that possibility. Perhaps Bakugou has that same gut feeling-the look in his eyes tell her as much. Thankfully he has enough presence of mind not to speak out loud, for fear of being overheard.
Momo shakes her head. "... the doctors have called her condition delirium, though. That will explain any deviations in behavior or personality. And they do say they are treating her for it."
Bakugou's mouth twists sardonically. "So, General. What do we do about this?"
Investigate, she tells him silently. "We guard her by shifts, as previously discussed. You shall take over after Sergeant Midoriya, and I watch her by nightfall."
And in between, they hunt around the castle for clues. Any irregularities and deviations. Any sign of a conspiracy. Any clue about the people responsible for this. They have to do it discreetly, away from the nobles and servants, away from Prince Neito and his entourage, and in a synchronized manner; if they rouse the suspicions of anyone who could be involved, it might be worse for the Princess.
Oh, god… Momo hoped that she and Bakugou are overreacting . The possibility of her suffering in any way under her watch makes Momo ill. She prayed that it really is just an illness that will eventually be resolved.
He seems to understand enough. "As you command, General," he says with a bow.
Momo nods. "By the way, Colonel." She signals him to come closer to her.
The bewildered look is back on his face, but this time for an entirely different reason. He holds his breath and does as she says, just as she leans in closer to speak softly in his ear. "From now on, you must address me in that… that vulgar way you tend to do, when it's just the two of us. I won't reprimand you."
If it is shapeshifting magic or hypnosis or anything else apart from illness, it means that there has to be a way for them to confirm each other. This is a setting where they must distrust everybody else, and that might include each other.
"All right, Ponytail," Bakugou murmurs back to her, voice impossibly low. "And, uh… I guess you should call me something too."
Momo considers this. Midoriya calls him Kacchan since childhood. Hence why the name feels wrong if it is not spoken by anybody else but him. "All right. Katsuki, then," she says, after a thoughtful pause. "You may also ask me things that only the two of us know if you are in doubt. I won't be offended."
Bakugou-no, Katsuki-grunts in affirmation and leans back. "Yeah, that's fine."
If it is fine, why is his face so red? Well, it isn't important right now. "I suppose we should report to the King and Queen about the Princess. And we should inform Lord Dabi and her other teachers that she won't be able to make her scheduled lessons today, and find out when Prince Neito is visiting."
Katsuki clicks his tongue again. Momo wonders why he's irritated all of a sudden when he stomps his way out of the office. "Fine. I'll find that burnt steak and tell him to fuck off somewhere else."
The irate colonel kicks the door open and stomps out. As Momo listens to the audacious footfalls fading off into the distance, she finds some relief. There's really no mistaking who that man is, because there really is no-one else in the world like Bakugou Katsuki, is there?
But the Princess is another story. Momo gives herself a few quiet moments to ruminate over the conundrum, and comes up with the worst conclusion each time.
The first thing Ochako feels is a dull ache in the very center of her brain, throbbing so loudly that she has no sense of anything but her pulse. The shooting pain of her arms follows, from nerves that slowly awaken with all her movements.
She winces and doesn't move. Slowly, the throb in her head dampens, and she hears human voices speaking not far from where she lay.
"... apologize for our late appearance, your highness! Alas, we were not able to stop her from her plans to escape-"
"That's right, my Prince! Ah, she's really a fired-up one, isn't she?! I heard as much from General Usagiyama!"
It takes a while for her to make sense of what she's hearing, but eventually she becomes aware of the softness of a bed, the echo of a wide room, the wind blowing outside the window. The smell of ashes fill her nostrils, but there is no heat. Iron, as well, sticky over her sleeve. She winces at the sensation.
"Oh! She awakens!"
Heavy footsteps thud to where she lay. She thought about staying still and pretending to be unconscious, but she feels the bothersome weight of the strangers' gazes around her, observing every minute movement of her face. And the awareness of the aches and pains all over her body makes it so difficult to stay still…
"Iida, Yoarashi. Give her space."
That voice-that's him, with that… That thing on him . Yellow eyes and darkness and skin as hot as coals. His voice is much closer than she expected. How did she not hear him breathe at her bedside?
She hears the owners of the other voices make baffled sounds and step back. The person next to her exhales briefly, sounding inconvenienced for some reason. "Do you really want to sleep for so long in this place? I wouldn't advise it."
The voice is refined, smooth as silk to her ears, but so flat and unaffected that it annoys her. He was there when she almost dropped to her death, right? And when he burnt her with dark magic and made her almost bleed to death? And now he has the gall to tell her off for resting after all that?
Before she can stop herself, she scowls and opens one eye.
She sees one-half of him. Silver hair like moonlight, a dark eye, smooth unmarred skin. A beautiful man by all accounts. A Prince, the other voices had said. If she didn't just witness this man almost kill her with giant claws, she would have swooned herself into unconsciousness.
Yet the situation is as such. If she had more fight in her, Ochako would have given him many vulgar choice words. "Are you seriously nagging me to wake up like you're my nanny?"
He looks into her eye, soft mouth in a straight line. "I'm telling you this for your own good."
Ochako opens her eyes fully and sees the other half of him as well. To her disdain, the vision she saw earlier was no illusion: red hair, bright yellow eyes. Pure black skin, shifting every so often that makes it look otherwordly. Steam rises as bright red peeks from cracks in his skin.
A monster?
He tilts her head in quiet curiosity. "What's wrong? Is there anything on my face?"
No, that can't be right. He doesn't sound like a monster. The half of him that looks like one looks different from before too. It wasn't as grisly or demonic as she remembered from before she passed out.
She blinks. "Yes? That black thing on your face? You can't miss it. Might wanna wash your face or somethin'."
Maybe sarcasm isn't the best response to this inane situation. Two men make a simultaneous surprised "Ah!" behind her, while the man stares at her with a hint of amusement in his mismatched eyes.
"That is quite rude, Princess Uraraka Ochako-kun from Mie!" One of the other men in the room, a knight in glasses, steps robotically into her line of vision with a disapproving look in his eyes. "Perhaps you are unaware, but you are in the presence of a Prince! Are you insinuating that his highness is half-blind, or cares so little about his appearance that he has neglected to see that half his face is-"
"Yo Iida! Don't be like that!" The other one, a giant man with a loud voice that shakes the entire tower. "The princess's just concerned over Prince Shouto, that's all! I think it's awesome that she's trynna help him with it, don't ya?!"
Prince Shouto? Ochako looks at the man carefully again, more confused than ever. This doesn't make sense… the crowned prince of Shizuoka is renowned for many things, one of them his dashing looks. He isn't supposed to look like… well, this.
"She's being sarcastic, I think," he tells his knights, who look comically flustered at his declaration. "It's not a reaction I expected, all things considered."
By this time Ochako has seated herself up. The Prince, or so he is addressed, leans in closer to her so that she has a closer view of that side of him, and can see nothing else.
"Interesting how you can call this," he tells her, taking one of her hands with his right and pulling it close to that side of his face. He lets her fingers hover over the charred skin; her fingerpads sting with the searing heat emanating from within. "... as just a, what was that? A black-thing-on-my face?"
It's a challenge if she's ever seen one, and Ochako doesn't back down. She stares back at him, unblinking. Her body wants to tremble at the closeness of the fire and dark magic, her hands want to recoil from the fire. But she's able to keep up the brave facade and her hand still enough for her to reply, "Well… it is black. And it's on your face. What am I supposed to call it, your highness?"
He narrows his human onyx eye and lets her hand go. To her surprise the absence of his cold hand on hers leaves her skin feeling empty and odd.
"The other women who had the same bad luck as you saw nothing else but a monster," he tells her flatly.
He angles his head as if to show off the strange part of him, but from this distance she strangely does not feel afraid of it anymore. "I dunno 'bout any of those poor women that your King has kidnapped and left to die in your hands, but I never asked you what they say. I asked you what to call it."
"The indignation!" Iida shouts. "How dare you speak to the heir to the throne in this accusatory-"
"She isn't wrong," the Prince tells him sharply. His eyes remain on her, black and yellow flashing dangerously. "Or are you about to deny the lives of the women I had slain in the past because of my condition, Sir Iida?"
She flinches, despite willing herself to keep brave. She hates how self-satisfied he appears finally getting a reaction from her.
"... of course not, your highness," Iida replies quietly, standing down and looking mollified. He doesn't deny the killing part, Ochako notes with some uneasiness.
Shouto nods and addresses Ochako again. "You can call this anything you like, Princess. Monster or black-thing-on-my-face, doesn't matter to me. I don't think calling it a proper name will do anything to the curse placed on me."
"A curse," she repeats, flabbergasted.
He hums, and continues in a tone that only makes him sound mildly inconvenienced. "Yes. A proper one. Pure dark magic, placed by someone hurt and scorned, designed to consume me for the rest of my life unless it's resolved by true love. The stuff of boring fairy tales, in other words."
Dabi told her about this in her lessons: ancient magics that can corrupt and deform a person's body and eventually transform a man into a different creature entirely. That they're usually designed to last for years, in gradually worsening pain, before the inevitable end. From what she remembers, there are only rare instances that curses of that caliber are lifted, and they all have to do with the vague notion of finding a True Love.
"I didn't think these things were true," she admits with wonder, peering into that side of his body with morbid interest.
This earns her another odd look from him. "I'm glad it amuses you so, Princess. Apparently they expect you to solve this problem for me."
Her fascination instantly shifts into rage. "So is this why I was kidnapped?" she blurts out. "Is this why King Todoroki Enji ordered Hawks to snatch me from my home-all those other girls too?! Because you needed someone to lift the curse for you?"
His monster ear twitches, much like an annoyed cat. "King Enji ordered everything, yes, but not because I wanted him to. He needs the curse lifted more than I do, seeing as I'm the next in line to the throne and all."
She grit her teeth in anger. "People have actually died because of your father's schemes, and you didn't do anything about it! You… you're just as evil as-"
His eye flashes in that dangerous way again, forcing her into silence. "Careful how you finish that sentence, Princess. You are in the presence of a monster, after all."
Yoarashi steps forward uneasily. "A-anyway, I think yer really misunderstandin' the situation here, Princess Uraraka! It ain't as bad as it sounds, promise!"
"What do you mean?! Am I mistaken that you've killed all those women 'cause they ain't the Prince's true love, and that you got no plans to kill me tonight?!"
"W-well, you're not wrong, but-" Confused, the giant man makes a frustrated sound and mutters, "Iida, come on, yer better at explainin' stuff more than me! Tell her!"
Iida's glasses flash steadfastly as he says, "Your conclusions are indeed correct, Princess Uraraka-kun! We are given the responsibility of ensuring your silence through the termination of your life, should things not go according to King Enji's plan!"
"Nooo, you ain't explainin' it well! Yer just makin' her angrier, see!" Yoarashi bellows in despair.
She looks at them bewildered, and back at Shouto, who merely shrugs. "It is as they said, Princess. I think it's easier at this point to just show you."
She swallows. "You mean-"
"Mhm." Glancing at Iida and Yoarashi, Shouto nods at them and orders, "Do it."
"Yes, Sire!" the knights bellow at the same time, approaching Ochako without an ounce of hesitation.
Ochako cries as she watches the knights descend upon her. She's sure that they're using magic-it's otherwise impossible that Iida, who stood at the other end of the room would appear before her eyes in a flash. Yoarashi, on the other hand, seems to summon the wind from outside to lift him up and fall behind Ochako, grasping her hands behind her back.
"What are you doing?!" she screams. She musters all her strength trying to pull herself from Yoarashi's grasp and kicking Iida away. But all her injuries from before leave her weaker, and the two of them are much stronger than her.
"I apologize in advance for my rougish ways, Princess!" Iida declares, as he grabs one of her sleeves and tears it off cleanly. With another struggle, the shirt is torn off, leaving her with nothing but her undergarments and breeches.
Oh, gods, are they going to have their way with her? And the Prince just plans to watch? How perverted is he, and can he blame it on the curse? Tears threaten to fall as Ochako lets herself scream bloody murder within their grasps.
"Man, I hate this part!" she hears Yoarashi mutter from behind her. "But ya scream good, Princess! I'm sure they heard that from a mile away!"
Inexplicably, the grasp on her loosens, and Iida and Yoarashi leave her on a heap on the bed. Iida, with a disgusted look on his face, takes the torn pieces of her shirt and shows this to Shouto. "Is this good enough, my Prince?"
He nods. "Yoarashi."
"You got it, yer highness!" From behind his massive cape, Yoarashi pulls out a bag with sharp edges jutting out from within. Ochako watches in awe as the giant man empties the contents onto the floor, letting them bounce and roll around under the moonlight.
"Bones?" she mutters under her breath. She watches in further confusion as Iida throws her torn shirt over the mess of bones, bows in front of Shouto, and marches his way to Ochako.
"I advise you to look away from the ensuing event, your highness!" he says, directing her to the direction of the wall.
She doesn't do as he says, of course, and keeps her eyes on the Prince. He nods once to Yoarashi, and holds his left arm out, an animalistic growl escaping from his throat.
Orange flames emerge from the monster side of him, consuming the bones and cloth in a fearsome fire with heat that reaches her from where she stands at a distance. Yoarashi controls the wind around them so finely so that the fire spreads away from them and out the window so that it burns bright against the night sky.
They keep the fires going for a while. Eventually Shouto pulls his clawed hand back. Yoarashi stops his magic as well, and soon there's nothing but charred bones and very few remains of her shirt in the pyre.
Ochako stares at the burnt bones, and then up at Shouto, who only looks back at her with an unreadable look in his eyes.
"So! If anyone asks, we killed ya already!" Yoarashi tells her with a big smile.
"Indeed," Iida answers with distaste, throwing his cape around her bare shoulders, "Although they would not ask her if they assume that she is truly expired."
She looks at them dumbly, and with a quivering voice, mutters, "You could have just explained it to me from the start…"
Shouto looks at her blankly. "You didn't look like you trusted me enough to listen."
Her mouth twists sardonically. "Well, beg yer pardon for not trusting a guy who told me he'd kill me," she mutters under her breath. And he looks like he could do it too-all that raw power in his left side can incinerate any woman from where she stands in an instant.
He huffs, amused. "You are correct not to. I did just kill you, after all. Like I did all the other unfortunate maidens brought to this tower by my very concerned King."
He says King with distaste, making it obvious that they do not get along and he disapproves of this scheme of kidnapping women just to see if they match. But it doesn't change the fact that he hasn't done enough to stop his father from doing so.
"So… I assume that once you've 'killed' these women, you strip them of their name and stature and have them live their lives as an entire different person?"
Shouto nods. "Otherwise, it's up to the King to make sure they keep silent over my situation."
"Silent?"
He looks at her meaningfully. "He has many officers and soldiers who will do his bidding without question. Do you remember Hawks? He has more abilities than what he might have already shown you. And he is the most loyal to the king."
She remembers how easily Hawks brought down five men bigger than him with just the power of his wings, and how he captured her and incapacitated her within seconds. She shudders to think of what he has done and what he could do to the other women who did not meet their requirements.
"It's true," Iida adds quietly. "While not ideal, this is the best solution that we have come up with, your highness. Admittedly, it is more complicated than before, because this is the first that we'd have to deal with nobility."
"Yeah," Yoarashi says, scratching the back of his shaven head with a giant gloved hand. "I mean, even if it's just pretend, ain't a simple thing to just kill a princess off. Can ya imagine what would happen in the country when that gets out?"
"There would be war," Iida concurs grimly. He looks at Shouto with a questioning glance. "Are we to proceed with our plan, Highness?"
Shouto crosses his arms thoughtfully. "It's enough just for King Enji and Hawks to assume that she's dead." He gestures to the mess of bones on the floor. "The two of you will escort her through the underground passages as planned, but see to it that she makes it to her kingdom safe."
She looks up at him, surprise plain on her face. "You mean-"
He nods. "You get to go home."
"But-" she stammers, as the two knights also stare at him in confusion. "It's that simple? After being kidnapped by your king, and… and being attacked, and you and your curse-"
Shouto tilts his head in genuine curiosity. "You do not seem as thrilled as I expected you to be."
She shakes her head. "No, I mean… aren't you worried about what will happen to our kingdoms? Aren't you scared that I will tell everyone about what I've seen here, and what you did with all those women?"
"No," Shouto replies simply, much to the consternation of his knights.
"But your highness!" Iida protests in worry. "While it pains me to admit that we have done Princess Uraraka-kun wrong and that we ought to do better, it shall be a disaster of epic proportions if these atrocities were made public! Not to mention the retaliation we expect of their kingdom-"
" And Kanagawa's, as well," Ochako adds quietly. When the men in the room stare at her in confusion, she says, "... I am to be bethrothed to their Prince, you see."
Iida wails in disdain as Yoarashi goes "Aw man, you're engaged yer majesty?! I totally didn't expect that, I thought Hawks would at least kidnap someone who's single!"
Shouto, meanwhile, stares at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "I see. Then this just makes this situation worse, doesn't it."
"So ya mean-"
"Take her back. In disguise, " Shouto reiterates, eyes flashing with authority. "She has a kingdom waiting for her, and someone to come home to. It's unacceptable to steal that away from her because the King is so desperate to be rid of this curse on his heir."
Ochako feels a twinge in her chest hearing this from her captor, of all people. Who knew that he had a sentimentality to him, despite his cold aura? A part of her wants to tell them that she doesn't really want to come home to someone like Prince Neito, even though it is definitely more advantageous to pretend that she is.
"But what about-"
"All of this is the King's doing. And it will be his problem to solve." He gives them a look that tells them that the conversation is over.
Reluctantly, the two tall knights bow, and gesture for Ochako to follow them. Suddenly out of words to say, Ochako wordlessly follows them out.
Before the door closes behind them, Ochako glances over her shoulder to see the Prince with his back turned to them. He stares out the window, out in the rain. The demonic side of him shifts under the pale light of the moon, his claw flexing as if restless. His right hand keeps this still, as his human side grimaces in obvious pain.
Ochako wonders how it is to be so alone just as the door closes.
As promised, the two knights guide her to the underground, dispelling the barrier spells that Miruko has placed there hours ago. They lead her through twisting hallways and further downward in the sewers, where it's dark, damp, cold, and frightening.
"Worry not, Princess," the knight with glasses tells her in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. "The journey may be long and arduous, but be assured that Yoarashi-kun and I will make sure that you will arrive past your own castle's walls safe and sound!"
She shivers within his cape. "Thank you, Sir Iida and Sir Yoarashi," she manages, with unease lingering in her voice.
"Don't mention it! It's the least we can do for ya," Yoarashi says cheerily. He takes off his own fur-lined cape and places this over Ochako. She finds herself swimming in the fabric, but significantly warmer than before. "I mean… it's real bad that we gotta do this a lot since the King really wants the Prince to get better… but it's all we can do, ya know? General Usagiyama and us, we just wanna protect the girls any way we can."
"General Usagiyama?"
"Yeah! Ah, other people call her Miruko. Or the Rabbit of Death," he answers. "Hey, ya met her already! She's the one who brought ya to the tower, right? She told us to standby and fetch ya from yer room so we can take ya out, but you weren't there!"
She feels a twinge of guilt in her chest upon realizing that Miruko has been trying to help her all along, and she almost ruined her plans because she was too suspicious of her. Almost really died along the way too, come to think of it...
"Man, were we surprised ta see that you went off on yer own and somehow ended up in the Prince's room! On his bed, even!" Yoarashi says with an amused guffaw. "I mean, beg yer pardon yer highness, the Prince told us what happened and it musta been scary for ya and all, but… for a moment, I thought you were it!"
She puffs her cheeks in annoyance. "His true love, you mean? That's impossible," she grumbles.
"Indeed, Yoarashi-kun," Iida replies, sounding despondent. "Prior to today's events, our prince and the princess have not known of each other's existence, so such a thing is incredibly unlikely! He has not known any of the women that were brought before him. And understandably, the women have not responded to the Prince as kindly as you have…"
Ochako stares at him incredulously. "Kindly? I wasn't being kind earlier… Weren't you nagging me for bein' rude?"
Iida's eyeglasses flash in annoyance. "You were indeed being rude, Princess Uraraka-kun! It is unseemly for a Princess to act that way and you know it!"
She pouts in the way that she does when Yaomomo tells her off for being unladylike. The two of them would be friends in a better world, she thinks, and would be an unstoppable force in manners should they ever meet.
"But," Iida continues with a sigh, "... you certainly are the first who could stand to look at his… deformity for as long as you did."
"The cursed part of him, you mean?" Ochako asks.
"Yes." Iida replies with emotion. His hand tightens at his side as his face twists with hurt. "I could not stand to hear anyone call my Prince a monster… it is utterly horrible what he goes through everyday with that curse consuming him, and to tell him that he isn't human to his face-"
"Yeah, but the Princess didn't call him that!" Yoarashi says with a bright smile directed at Ochako. "Gotta say, it's awesome when ya called it a black-thing-on-yer-face after everything that happened! I never thought I'd see anyone have the guts to do that!"
She winces as she remembers that moment. "Well… I didn't wanna show him I was afraid, so…"
"Yeah, and look at what happened! I've never seen him look at anyone like he did for ya before, ya know! It's intense! It's fired up!" Yoarashi looks overexcited, limbs going all over the place as he continues to gush. "And holding your hand like that, ain't that what they call chemistry? Can ya blame me for feelin' a little hopeful for the two of you back there?"
Why is this guy being so cheerful about this?! And chemistry, what is he talking about, didn't he take her hand to establish dominance and nothing else? Didn't they almost kill each other back in the room?! Affronted, Ochako buries her suddenly hot face into the capes and complains, "That ain't chemistry! And that doesn't change things between us," she adds with a sigh. "I don't think I can love your prince. I'm sorry."
Ultimately, Prince status or not, magic or not, curse or not, there's just no way she could be forced to love someone even though they desperately needed it. She doubts that anyone will be able to. And even then, will the Prince learn how to love a stranger back? Marriages might be forced, but love cannot.
"It's sad, but it is just as the Princess says," Iida concurs. "It truly is unlikely-an impossibility, I daresay-to expect any of these women love the Prince under such circumstances, and he in return…"
Yoarashi lets out a very long, exhausted sigh that sends a strong draft of wind rushing through the tunnels in front of them. "Yeah, I know… I just thought that maybe this time, we didn't have to do this, and the kidnappings would stop, ya know?"
Ochako looks up at him in curiosity. "Wait. So after this is over, King Enji's gonna do the same thing over again?"
The knights look at each other with obvious reluctance before looking down on their feet in shame.
She shakes her head. "No way… and you're just going to let this happen?"
How many women has this kingdom taken from their homes, their families? How many of those families are still looking for them, not knowing that they're forced to abandon them for good? How many more women need to go through this before King Enji is satisfied?
And how about the Prince? How many of this so-called 'deaths' does he have to oversee before he's had enough? How long does he have before the curse consumes him completely?
"We have very little choice in the matter, Princess," Iida tells her with a sense of defeat. "General Usagiyama and the two of us in the Princeguard are already risking our lives by going against the King's orders. But right now this is all that we can do for our Prince. We also wish for a better way, but…"
She knows that the two knights are not at fault-after all, they're just soldiers for this kingdom, and no matter how much they disagree with their King, the King is the King and orders are orders. She also knows that the Prince isn't at fault. He didn't ask to be cursed, he didn't ask to be locked in this tower until it's lifted, he didn't want to pretend to kill so many women just to get them out of Endeavor's clutches.
She knows this, yet a bitter resentment fills her mouth and her heart for the injustices yet to happen. "Then you have to think of a better way! You can't let another person go through this again! And you can't let the Prince-"
He looked so alone when they left him there that it was physically painful to see-
"Princess," Yoarashi begins, perhaps in an attempt to placate her, but he doesn't get a chance to do so. In the next moment, his eyes are flashing and he's shouting for the princess to get down, his large frame suddenly jumping in front of hers to shield her from something.
She hears the sickening sound of something stabbing through flesh before she can get a word out. Yoarashi yelps in pain, but remains standing. "Iida!" he yells, as his large gloved hand goes up and begins to summon air.
Without another word Iida runs at the speed of light at the source of the assault, his sword ready to attack. He doesn't get far before Ochako sees him fall down with a cry, body dropping to the sewage water with a loud splash that echoes threateningly all over the tunnels. In the darkness she sees slivers of red flying from the ceiling, falling down on the knight like arrows-
Feathers, she realizes, her heart stopping in her chest.
"Iida! Dammit!" Yoarashi cries as more feathers fly towards his direction. The wind that he summons isn't enough to make them disperse, and Ochako watches in horror as the large man falls on the ground with another great splash.
Two feathers float in front of her face, aimed at the center of her irises. Out of the shadows, the wielder of those feathers emerges, clicking his tongue in disapproval.
"Evening, gents," Hawks drawls, glancing carelessly at the fallen and groaning bodies of the Princeguard. "I understand that it's a beautiful, stormy night and all, but I didn't imagine you would spend that committing treason."
She hears Iida sputter from his spot on the floor. "Lord Hawks-please, do not harm her-"
Hawks snorts and regards Ochako with a lazy smile and ruthless red eyes. "Harm the Prince's true love? Now why would I do something as dastardly as that?"
And yet the feathers remain in front of her face, sharp points floating closer and closer until they're just a millimeter away from the surface of her eyes and she'd cut her eyelids if she blinked. She tries in vain to will her feet to move away, but she's frozen in fear.
Hawks grins at her cheerily. "No, I don't think I can harm her. Not when I'm sure she was just staying nice and quiet up in the tower, waiting to meet Prince Shouto and fall in love? That is, until Miruko's trusted knights came and took it upon themselves to steal her away, just as they have for the other ladies-"
His voice is cloying, but Ochako understood everything in painful clarity: not only is he accusing Iida and Yoarashi of treason, but their General as well. And as she watches more feathers descend from the sky and fall upon the knights, he means to kill them for it.
"No, stop!" Ochako cries in despair. "They didn't do anything wrong! Please, don't hurt them-"
"Hm?" Hawks asks innocently. "So what's going on here exactly, Princess? Were you really trying to escape?"
She swallows nervously-angrily. "It doesn't matter what I was doing, but… the two of them are taking me back to the tower."
The feathers freeze, and inch away from their victims one by one. Iida and Yoarashi gape at her incredulously at her proclamation, while Hawks raises two feathery eyebrows in interest.
"That's funny, Princess. You seem to be going in the wrong direction," the blonde man says with a smirk.
"It doesn't matter. We'll soon be walking to the right one," she says, voice oddly strong and sure even though she can't quite believe what she's saying.
She weighs all the options desperately in her head- should she stay or should she go -if she manages to survive this dangerous encounter at all and escapes, there are only going to be more victims-these people who are trying to do what they can are going to be executed as traitors-there is to be war between the countries-there'll be blood on her hands…
"I'll need them to bring me back so… so I can meet his highness properly."
The Prince will remain cursed and alone, with nobody to save him.
"Princess Uraraka-kun," Iida says in disbelief. "Surely you don't mean-"
She doubts that she will be enough to save him, but… has anybody ever tried before?
And so, swallowing all logic, sense and fear down her throat, she stands her ground and shakily meets Hawks' eyes. "I'm meeting the Prince."
"Great," Hawks says, turning to the knight with a flash of his eyes. "There you have it, gents. I suppose I can forgive the two of you for getting lost in these sewers, but you'll lead the Princess to the right way, aren't you?"
The feathers float back to his back, allowing the two knights to stumble to their feet. They're bleeding at some points and their clothes are torn, but they seem to be alive and well, without any fatal damage.
They salute Hawks, who sees them off with a wave of a hand. "It's pretty late and we all need to be getting to bed. Sweet dreams, everyone!"
And as suddenly as he appeared, Hawks deftly disappears in the shadows.
The two soldiers march up to her as soon as Hawks is gone. "Princess, are you all right?" Yoarashi asks, without any seeming regard for the large bleeding gash on his shoulder.
"Y… yes," she says, with a betraying tremor in her voice.
Iida glances at the shadows behind them and asks her in a careful, low voice, "Is this really all right, Princess Uraraka-kun? This is a major deviation from the task given to us by our highness!"
"We have… other ways to get around him, your highness," Yoarashi adds in the softest voice she's ever heard from him. "It's a gamble, but you still have a choice not to…"
And if she does, they're facing certain death as traitors and they know it. But they're still giving her a choice. There's something to be said about their loyalty and their conscience.
She shakes her head. She's had to face a lot of situations, 'choices' without any real choice, hasn't she?
She faces them with a strong sense of conviction, and tells them her choice.
Shouto closes his eyes, willing the pain to go away from his left arm.
The curse has always been a source of unbearable pain. When the form of his left side shifts with each new crack of skin, he feels the heat like lava seeping from his flesh. He gets the urge to burn something, to destroy things. He hates having to act like an animal, hates having to be locked in this tower day after day so that his destructive tendencies only affect this space, but at least he hurts no-one in his solitude.
He looks his claw. He didn't mean to hurt her when she fell, but he had no choice but to use his power to grab her before she crashed to the rocks below. He hates how the monster-side of him celebrated at the sight of her blood flowing from her wounds and flooded the floor. He hates how dangerously close it came to consuming more of his human side when he saw her in pain. It's a good thing that he remembered some minor healing spells he could cast with his right side.
Even better still that the monster side of him suddenly decided to calm down when she fell in his arms in a heap.
Strange, he thinks, as the claw flexes and unflexes, still painful but not as searing as before. The pain is kinder to him when the princess was close to him. The knowledge of her leaving this place in one piece and returning to her own castle in one piece somehow helps to stave the usual burning pain off.
He never would have guessed that the daring young woman who would rather fall to her death and remain nameless than to wait in her prison quietly was a crowned princess. He thought that someone so brave and plucky, dressed in men's clothes, would be nothing more than another peasant girl that Hawks picked up from the streets.
What possessed him and that stupid King of theirs to decide to kidnap royalty? Do they think that true love discriminates by social class?
Doesn't he know that whoever it is, it's impossible for anyone to love him? Forget his looks or the curse, is there anyone in the world who can love someone as damaged as him?
Is there anyone who would even think of staying with him?
Thinking of the King removes the calm in his heart, and another surge of pain consumes his left side. He bites the inside of his cheek and lets the wave pass. Damn, keeping his emotions stable has been difficult as the days pass. He wonders when the blissful day comes that he wakes up and sees that the curse has finally consumed his right side too. At least he wouldn't be in pain anymore, and the King would finally stop bothering him about this.
Why would you do this, Mom, he thinks once more, as the last vestiges of the pain fade away. I know he hurt you, but…
He lets out a long-suffering sigh and stands up from his favorite spot for brooding by the window. It's no use to ask himself questions that will never be answered. There are more useful things he can do in this prison of his, like reading a book or ripping it apart or burning it just so to see how much fire a volume can withstand before it burns to a crisp. There's another volume of the King's biography here somewhere…
As he walks to where he keeps the tortured volumes, he hears footsteps thudding along the winding staircase outside. He recognizes the heavy steps of Iida and Yoarashi, but there's another set of them, quick and light and almost floating over the steps and to the outside of his door-
The moment his door bursts open and she comes in, buried in capes, out of breath, and anxious, the left side of his body suddenly cools.
They stare at each other in silence, with only Princess Uraraka's ragged breaths between them. Cautiously, he comes closer to her, making sure that this isn't a complex hallucination caused by his prolonged isolation.
She comes forward, and he feels her warmth from the closing distance. When she's at an arm's length away from him, she swallows nervously and looks at him- both sides of him, he's sure-and takes a deep breath.
"So… I changed my mind," she tells him within the wash of odd feelings coursing through his cursed side. "I'm staying here with you."