Surprisingly Momo received less resistance going to the dungeons than in visiting Fuyumi. The guards there were less familiar with her and all they saw was royalty demanding to see a prisoner. They didn't offer questions, it wasn't how they were trained. They just obeyed and led her to the cell.
The Commander had his elbows propped on his knees, seated on the cot at the back of the small space, his eyes boring into his hands intensely. His armor was gone, he was dressed like an ordinary man now, but his broad shoulders and high head told his status without the embellishments.
His eyes lifted in surprise to see the girl on the other side of the bars, especially when she ordered the guard to return to his post and let her speak to him alone. The hesitance from the guard was poignant, but he bowed and did as he was told.
The moment he was out of earshot, Momo's fists were around the bars and her haughty stance fell, desperation filling her eyes.
"Commander I have to talk to you!" she said in a quiet, frantic voice, "Please trust me, I did everything in my power to stop my father from taking this course, but he and his armies left for Tarlson hours ago! Commander he means to wage war on your Lord over me and I don't want this!"
Commander Tenya was on his feet in an instant at her words, approaching the cell door with purpose.
"Your highness I swear this couldn't be an act by Lord Enji!" he plead his case once again, "I would never have sat by and allowed such harm to come to you either way, please you must believe me!"
"I do," Momo held up her hands to calm him, "I spoke to Fuyumi and she said much the same thing. That even if such a plan was Lord Enji's that he wouldn't go about it this way."
At the mention of her Commander Tenya's eyes widened and he grabbed the bars.
"Is Fuyumi alright? You haven't let them harm her, have you?"
Momo shook her head, "Of course not! And I promise no harm will come in any case. Togata has been called home. He will protect his bride, I promise you. But Commander we have to do something before my father begins a war that could end your Lord's life as well as your own!"
"We? What are we to do? Your father wouldn't listen to you and I'm in a cell!" Large fingers dug into black, cropped hair.
Momo looked around, confirming no ears could catch her words.
"Commander… I believe we are in the middle of a misunderstanding that can be rectified. If Lord Enji is warned and given the chance to defend himself then perhaps my father might listen and believe him. If you and I can outpace my father's armies and get them the chance to speak rather than fight we could stop the war before it begins!"
Commander Tenya pondered that hard, his expression tight. He pulled back and paced the small space of his cell.
"It's possible. Lord Enji is brash, but not without reason. And if both he and you are standing together telling the King that the assassination attempt was not from Tarlson then he would have to see the reason of it. But… How are we supposed to get there, me as a prisoner of war and you as the ever watched, closely guarded princess? And what will become of Fuyumi? We can't simply leave her!"
"I can get you out of here," Momo said more confidently than she felt, "I've lived in this castle my entire life and I can lead us out unnoticed. We can grab horses from the stables and slip out in the dead of night. And I've already spoken to Fuyumi about this… It's unwise to attempt freeing her and taking her with us, but we agreed that she would be safe here and that by resolving this threat of war we will guarantee her safety more than a prison break would."
Tenya's teeth ground, fists tensed at his sides. "I...I don't trust your guard or your cousin to protect her, your highness. Please understand that. I can't leave her behind…"
His voice softened with each word and grew steadily disheartened. It cut Momo in ways she didn't expect, something that stung bitterly, but also ached with sympathy.
She reached into one of the pockets in the skirt of her dress and pulled out a sealed piece of paper that she held out to him through the bars. "Fuyumi said you would say something like that… She asked me to give you this."
His head snapped up and he quickly took the page, inspecting the seal, the rose circled in flames. He broke it and dove into the contents with a hurt expression painting his usually regal face. It stung to see how painful this was for him to consider.
Momo didn't know what it said, she hadn't pried, just let the teary girl scrawl her words quickly and push a rushed seal on the folded paper before handing it to the princess. Whatever the words said seemed to strike Tenya, though, dragging that pain from his eyes until finally he folded it back and held it tight in his hands looking back to Momo.
"How do you plan to break me out?"
Momo sighed, relieved that he'd agreed, even if he hadn't said the words. But that did leave the bigger issue. Freeing him.
"I'm the princess," Momo's mouth shifted, "If I tell the guards to leave for an hour they will. I'm more worried about Toru. They said she was supposed to keep a close eye on me and the fact that she has the ability to turn invisible makes her especially dangerous to us. I'll have to make sure I know where she is and that she'll stay busy."
"But how?" Tenya came back to the bar, brow pulled into one.
Even as the words left his mouth a chime sounded, echoing from the world above them.
Their eyes shot up as the chiming continued and Momo caught her breath, freezing in place. Those same bells had sounded the night before when an assassin had been found in her room.
She and the Commander looked around and then to each other, neither certain what this meant. They didn't have to wonder for long, before two new guards rushed in, panic in their eyes, going straight to Momo's side.
"Your highness, come with us immediately!" one of them said frantically, "The assassin has escaped, we must get you to safety."
Momo's throat tightened and she planted her feet when a hand took her arm.
"Wait-"
"Please come with us," the guard insisted, tugging even though she tried to jerk away.
The very idea that the assassin was loose sent her head into a frenzy, but she couldn't leave Tenya without releasing him. This was even more reason for her to leave tonight, to run.
"No I'm not-"
The other guard moved to help force her to leave but he made the mistake of getting too close to the cell and within arms reach of the Commander. His helmeted head crashed into the bars, jarring his head in the metal enclosure. Tenya's arm looped under his chin and pinched his neck to the iron bars as he yanked the sword from the guard's sheath.
The other guard dropped Momo's arm and whipped out his own blade, but Momo's adrenaline filled panic sent her slamming her entire body into the guard, taking him so off guard that the sword clattered across the room as he crashed to the floor.
In a frenzy Momo rushed back to the guard Tenya was holding and grabbed the keys from his belt as he thrashed against the Commander's arm, turning blue. While the other was getting back to his feet, slowed by the weight of his armor, Momo went for the lock.
"Your highness what are you-"
The guard that had just gotten back to his feet hit the ground once again as Tenya sent the other flying towards him with a sharp kick from behind.
The lock clicked and the door swung open.
Tenya moved between Momo and the guards, sword outstretched to them, as they tried to get back up.
"Move aside," Momo snapped at them.
They stared stunned at her and then at the sword pointed at their faces, their own weapons out of reach. They tried to argue again, but Momo cut them off.
"Stand in my way again and I will see you both executed!" she shouted.
Slowly they both stood and moved aside as Momo and Tenya shifted around. Tenya waved the sword towards the cell door and they complied hesitantly, slipping inside before it was slammed closed behind them and locked.
Tenya then looked to Momo, strangely calm and collected considering the situation and the threat now loose in the castle. "Lead the way."
Momo swallowed hard and ran ahead of him.
This hadn't been her plan. She had thought to maybe come back later after already tacking the horses to flee and preferably wearing something that didn't weigh this much. But the fear and adrenaline of hearing that her assassin was let loose changed everything and they would have to make do in the rush of things.
There were a couple more guards outside of the entrance to the dungeon, but they were nothing for someone as experienced as the Commander to put out of commission. He was careful as well, not leaving wounds that could kill, but causing a debilitating amount of pain. They were just doing their jobs after all, they saw an escaped prisoner and the princess who's life was in danger and were acting. They didn't deserve to be harmed, but there were bigger things happening right now. They had an entire war to stop.
Momo led him out of the main part of the castle, keeping out of sight of the men running to their posts and the servants rushing to safety while the castle went into chaos for the second time in so short a time. Luckily the regular guards didn't recognize Tenya, but Momo was someone everyone was looking for at the moment and she knew how much she stood out.
As soon as they'd snuck into the west wing, Momo ducked into the servants quarters, waving Tenya to follow. The servants gasped as seeing her there, especially at a time like this, but she begged for their silence and they quieted down immediately. She asked one of the servants, one her handmaids to quickly give her some clothes, something that wouldn't stand out. She hurriedly obliged, assuming it was to help her hide from the loosed assassin.
Tenya stayed hidden while Momo quickly threw on the drab clothes of the castle staff, taking a pair of breaches rather than the skirt of a handmaiden, considering the horseback ride they would likely be taking. The handmaiden took her hair down from the intricate braids and removed every adornment, pulling the long black hair to the side and tying it in a simple ponytail. In a matter of minutes she was indistinguishable from a commoner and even Tenya had to do a double take when she reentered the hushed room beside the castle kitchens.
The servants didn't know what was going on, but Momo thanked her handmaiden immensely, before guiding Tenya deeper into the west wing. Little known to most there was a back entrance to this side of the castle, meant for the servants to slip in and out into the city from the castle without being seen. It kept their comings and going invisible except to the king's personal guard who monitored it, servants were not meant to be seen. Most of his guard had left with the king, though, and those who remained were not the king's best.
Without his armor Tenya was more exposed, but he moved quicker. The guards didn't stand a chance. It didn't make watching him fight them off any less terrifying to witness, but it was also amazing. She marveled with wonder-filled eyes as he crashed his heel into the remaining guard's knee and cracked it back in a way it was not supposed to bend and then smoothly whipped the butt of his sword around to crash into his skull.
Try as she might she couldn't keep the butterflies in her heart still. She couldn't help it. He was incredible and extremely handsome while he did it.
Momo took the lead again, guiding him through this last stretch.
She and Togata had played down in the west wing a lot as children; mostly because her father told them not to and her mother scolded them for spending so much time among the servants. It was that Cantican blood in her, that superiority that led her to demand her daughter put herself above others. Her father didn't feel any such way, he just didn't want her playing where she was likely to get hurt. All of it was more than enough incentive to spend an inordinate amount of time here.
The nostalgia burned rather than warmed her. Everything about this was biting. The part where she was breaking a prisoner of war from his cell, the part that her assassin was free and likely hunting her down once again, the part where her father was marching to war, the part where they were leaving Fuyumi locked in a gilded cage until they could resolve this. With all of that present in her mind the things that should have made her happy or feel at home all tasted bitter now.
When they emerged from the pathway, they were at the back of the stable yards, one gate between them and the city. It was already locked down and guards were scattered around the courtyard.
Momo and Tenya ducked behind stacks of feed and assessed the situation.
"What do we do?" he asked, "There's guards all over the place… Do you have another secret exit?"
Momo bit her cheek and shook her head. "No. But we don't need to get through the big gate. That one over there is for the servants to come and go." She pointed to a much smaller gate about fifty feet from the larger one.
"But then we won't have horses," Tenya frowned.
"We can get some in the city," Momo shrugged, hoping her confidence would be enough to make it true. "It's more important that we get out of the castle before we're found."
"What if we-"
Once again Tenya was cut short by a loud noise, but this one came with a flash of light. Their eyes shot up as every guard rushed across the courtyard and the flash of purple light illuminated the new threat.
Momo's chest tightened and she gripped the sleeve of Tenya's shirt tightly, eyes widening on the magic knocking three guards to the ground and physically, slowly, crushing them in their armor.
It was the assassin, his mask back over the bottom of his face, hand outstretched with purple glyphs swirling around his arm. There was nothing in those violet eyes as he squeezed the very life from the men in front of him and other soldiers closed in on his position.
Tenya pulled her arm, getting her to her feet. "We need to go now!"
She wasn't paying attention to what Tenya was doing, but she was suddenly being pulled into a run behind him, the path between them and the gate suddenly cleared.
Just as they came up to the gate it's entire color changed and it contorted. Screams sounded behind them as more guards fell and Tenya spun back, sword in hand, jutting at the assassin now standing an arms reach away from them.
"Stay back!" Tenya demanded, pushing Momo behind him.
"Leaving so soon?" he said dryly, like it was supposed to be humorous, but not even he thought it was funny.
Tenya's sword lifted, a glyph appeared in front of the assassin before it could hit, catching it in a glistening shield. While he held it off, his other hand jutted out in another spell, but it hit Tenya in the chest without effect.
The assassin raised an eyebrow. "Enchantments?"
Before anyone could say anything else, the sword was shoved away and the assassin stepped back, his focus suddenly on something else entirely. His arm, lined in glyphs, jerked out into the air and caught something just as a before unseen knife clattered to the cobblestones. In a blink the illusion dissipated and the woman it had hidden appeared, throat in the assassin's hand.
Toru's feet hung off of the ground, kicking as she choked, nails clawing into his magically enhanced arm.
"That won't work on me twice," he squeezed his hand and she made a gargled noise
"No!" Momo screamed at him, finding tears had broken past her eyes.
Tenya kept her back, kept space between them even as he was moving to act, to help the Spymaster. But he was already too late.
A horrible cracking noise came as the purple glyphs glowed brighter and Toru's eyes bulged, blood dripping from her mouth as her body went limp. He dropped her and she crumpled into a pile onto the ground, still, unmoving.
Tenya's shout rattled louder than the still chiming bells as he swung his sword again. The assassin ducked it, panting, seeming winded, but not without a few more tricks and spells at his fingertips.
Momo didn't really see what happened, all she knew was that Tenya ended up on the ground by her feet, sword out of his hand, scrambling back to his feet with a fresh cut across his face.
The assassin was breathing heavy, his shaking arm outstretched to them.
"There's no need for that, Commander," the assassin said through gasps, "I'm not going to kill either of you."
Momo's tears stilled and Tenya's eyes widened.
"I've done what I came here to do," he sighed, "We don't need the princess dead."
Through their confusion, Tenya shook his head. "We? What do you mean?"
"It's not important," he shrugged, "I'm leaving. You can go if you want. I'd just recommend you don't try to stop me, I still have more than enough power to kill the princess even if you can manage to resist my magic."
Tenya stood protectively, shoulders squared tensely as he considered what the assassin was saying. Momo knew how loath he was to allow someone who had tried to kill her to leave unhindered, but they'd watched him kill the Spymaster effortlessly and Tenya's sword was no longer on his person to defend them with.
It may have been hard for Tenya to say, but it wasn't for Momo. She feared this man in particular more than any she'd met before. Her wounds burned her when she looked at him and she knew she didn't want to allow him anywhere near her again. And here he was, offering to walk away and not harm them.
"Just go," Momo shouted, grabbing Tenya's arm as he got to his feet, holding him back from getting in the assassin's way.
She pulled hard and, hesitantly, he stepped away, opening the path to the gate to him.
The assassin straightened and moved to the gate, still weary, but confident. The magic around it died and it unlatched, pushing out with a creak.
"Hitoshi!" Tenya snapped at the assassin, reminding Momo that he did in fact know him from the Tarlson Keep.
The assassin stalled, turning purple eyes back to him, unimpressed.
"This isn't over," Tenya bit harshly, "You'll pay for what you've done. Tarlson's justice is swift and brutal and by all the horrors of the ether you will feel it!"
Momo got instantly clammy. She wished for such justice to be done to this man, but her fear of him was strongest. Such a threat could have easily made him change his mind about letting them live and her fear spike that he'd said it.
She grit her teeth in concern, wondering why he couldn't have just thought to himself that he would hunt him down someday rather than declaring it. Why were men like this?
Luckily it didn't incur a return of violence in the assassin, Hitoshi. Instead he seemed vaguely amused like he had been in the throne room when he'd told the King that the attack was ordered by Tarlson.
"Enchantments won't stop a blade, Commander," Hitoshi tilted his head back at him, "Don't think I won't be prepared."
It was the last thing he said before he was gone, vanished into the darkness and chaos of the night and city streets.
Momo's entire body shook with panicked relief the moment he was out of sight, fingers digging hard into Tenya's arm and face falling in rapid breaths against the back of his shoulder.
"Your highness, are you okay?" He gasped at her reaction.
She nodded, taking a second longer to bury her face and calm herself. She didn't want to lift her eyes and see her surroundings without the adrenaline of fear. She didn't want to see the bodies and the blood. She didn't want to see Toru's lifeless face. The woman who had saved her life. She suddenly regretted how upset she'd been about the idea of her watching and following her. Now that she was dead, a new fear loomed over her that she'd never felt before. The fear that no one was watching over her. Spymaster or servant or guard or king or cousin, it didn't matter, someone was always looking after her her entire life. And maybe Tenya was still here, but this felt different, sharper than simply knowing her father and cousin were off somewhere else and that she was running away from their castle staff. Not even her parents' careful measures were left in place to protect her. Only herself and the person she'd chosen to do so. It put more pressure on her own judgment than she'd ever had before.
Once Tenya got her to come back to the present he pulled her back to the stables. Now that all of the guards were dead there was no one stopping them. It wouldn't be long before others came, but they had enough time to tack two horses and get the gate open.
With bitter tears in her eyes, Momo kicked her horse into a canter, following at Tenya's heels as they rode from the castle and into the steely night.
"So do you stay human or do you turn back into a dragon?"
Eijiro opened a hand to the very normal sized house, simpler than even Tsu's simple residence. The only walls were those keeping the mosquitos and nature out, the living space itself just an open, circular area with a couple chests, a large bed, and some storage for food. It was not a place people were really meant to live in, but rather stay temporarily in. Eijiro explained on their walk over that their Bog Mage friends had helped them build it when they first came here, since they had lived with them for over a year in their youth, training Ochako's magic and helping her understand and deal with the juvenile dragonling she'd brought along with her.
The pointed sweep of his hand and raised eyebrow gave Izuku his answer. The space was for human sized people, not dragon sized.
"If Red turned back into a dragon his head couldn't get through the door," Ochako laughed as she finished sealing up her pack for the next morning's journey.
"Is that...weird?"
Izuku shifted awkwardly in the middle of the room, not sure what to do with himself. Something in him jumped when Eijiro asked if he'd stay with them, some deep longing in his heart leaping to life. But now that he was here he felt strange and uncertain.
"Well obviously it's more comfortable to be myself when I'm sleeping, to be able to stretch my wings and all..."
Eijiro dug into one of the storage containers and pulled out an armful of food supplies that he brought over to Ochako. She met it with a disappointed glare and his mouth tightened in a stubborn show.
"Fine, you're carrying it," she conceded after a moment.
He grinned while she stuffed the extra food into the second bag.
"But I've been hiding among humans for most of my life and sleep leaves you vulnerable," Eijiro explained, "If I was a massive dragon just lying around in a field, you can bet I'd be dead or hunted by the morning. It kind of sticks out."
"But we're in Blackmoss," Izuku rubbed his arm, "No one wants to hurt you here."
"True, but when I first came here I was a lot smaller," Eijiro nodded, "And I could actually fit in here. By the time I was getting considerably bigger I learned how to shapeshift and by then I was pretty used to sleeping in here."
Eijiro dropped onto the messy bed, kicking his boots across the room.
"Unfortunately for me," Ochako sighed, "It's a lot warmer here than in Landsleave and being human doesn't temper your body heat that much."
Despite that Ochako climbed onto the bed and settled in next to him, leaving Izuku awkwardly standing across from them, unsure what to do, and reddening up to his ears. What was he even doing here?
"Everything okay, Izuku?" Eijiro asked, raising an eyebrow.
Were they expecting him to sleep in the bed with them? Izuku was rather stuck on what he felt about that. And it seemed to be what they were thinking, especially since there was nowhere else for him to sleep.
"Well," Izuku chewed his cheek, "How exactly is this going to work…?"
Eijiro pursed his lips in confusion, but Ochako sat up with grit teeth. "I told Red to tell you that you didn't have to if you didn't want to!"
"He did!" Izuku rushed to his defense, "Just...you want me to...sleep there?"
Ochako went a little red in the face and looked away.
"I'm sorry, apprentice, I guess I didn't think about it...I guess it's not really normal for regular people either, I shouldn't have assumed you'd be okay with it," she sputtered a little bashfully, "I'm just so used to having another person in bed with me I didn't consider it wasn't something you'd be comfortable with. I promise it's nothing weird! Seriously, this started with us as little kids and dragons just needing a lot of attention and I completely forgot that it's not appropriate to other people!"
"Whoa, it's okay!" Izuku waved his arms to calm her embarrassment, rushing over to the side of the bed, "I'm just… It's different, but I…"
Silence hung while Izuku battered it all around in his head and finally kicked off his shoes, surprising them by dropping on the open part of the bed beside them with Eijiro propped on his elbows in the middle. Izuku's face was still flushed, but he was smiling through it.
"You're sure you're okay with this, apprentice?" Ochako, pulled in her lips, "It won't be a bother to get you from Tsu's tomorrow morning."
Izuku folded his hands on his chest and turned a smile to the ceiling, a warmth passing over him to feel the proximity of other people, even without touching them. It felt incredibly filling and no matter how weird this was or embarrassed he felt, he couldn't have pried himself from that spot by force.
"I'm fine," he said genuinely.
The other two dropped back down, each of them on their backs, eyes up to the ceiling, light smiles on their faces while the candlelight flicked shapes onto the wood above.
They laid in comfortable silence, Izuku soaking up the nearness of the others contentedly, feeling so strangely at peace and terrified at once. The only reason he had ever known for people to share a bed was to have sex and he'd seen many of his fellow young mages engage in that sort of activity through their youth. To Izuku, to ever allow intimacy with another person to reach that point would have been devastating. Some mages were fine with the inevitable separation that would come after getting that close to someone, but Izuku could barely handle being pushed out of a hug. He both guarded and perpetually hurt his heart by keeping people away from that level of intimacy, which meant he had never shared a bed with another person. Never felt whatever this warm, contented comfort was. He never wanted to leave it.
"Do you think your mom will have baked something when we get back?" Eijiro's question was a whisper.
"If she hasn't torn the house down from worry," Ochako sighed, "I wouldn't count on it, Red."
"You sent her a message, though," Eijiro argued, "She knows we didn't die."
"Yeah, but moms just worry. Besides she doesn't know when we're coming home. She won't be expecting us. Do you really think she's going to bake enough to feed your appetite if she doesn't think you're coming home?"
Izuku's head turned to look at the two whispering about family and home. Growing up in a Magesterium meant it was not a conversation he was familiar with hearing. He liked it.
"Your family is okay with you having a dragon living with you?" Izuku asked, curious about the strange nature of an ordinary family.
"Not at first," Ochako explained, "But they were already harboring a Renegade Mage and, for safety purposes, a dragon comes in handy. Plus my mom thinks he's adorable and he helps my dad with the work so they couldn't bring themselves to turn him away."
"They sound like nice people," Izuku slipped an arm behind his head, looking back to the shadow show on the ceiling.
"They probably won't be to you, though," Ochako frowned, "The last they saw of you, you were trying to take away their only child. I think it's best if you don't meet them."
Izuku nodded with a frown. "You're probably right. Still, it's nice that they like having you around, Eijiro."
He nodded in reply and then rolled on his side to face Izuku.
"Do you miss not having a mom?"
The question felt a little out of the blue and Izuku was sure this was something he'd already answered before.
"I mean...no," Izuku pursed his lips, "Like I said before, I don't miss someone I never really knew, but I miss other people."
"Who?" Ochako sat up to see over Eijiro.
A fond smile pulled Izuku's lips. "Myra, Jano...Inko."
"Who are they?" Eijiro got big curious eyes.
"Myra and Jano were my Magesterium family before we were old enough to start training," Izuku smiled, "We grew up together and Inko took care of us. We were her favorites. One of the other caretakers said it was because she had a special love for green eyed children. She raised us from infants until we were about eight years old. She helped take care of all the children, but we really were her favorites. We loved her. When we got a little older and decided that the three of us would be a family, we asked if we could use her name, that way, even when we were separated we'd always be connected and always stay close to Inko."
"She sounded like a nice mother," Eijiro hummed softly.
"She wasn't our mother-" Izuku shook his head.
"She raised you, didn't she?" Ochako interrupted, "You took her name. You still love her. She didn't birth you, but she's your mother."
Izuku felt something knot up in his throat. His eyes shot down and a tight expression overcame his face. He'd truly never thought about it like that. Never attributed the word "mother" to Inko. But what Ochako said made an incredible amount of sense and his heart could hardly take it.
He'd lived his life with a certainty and acceptance that he never had a mother and never would. And yet what Ochako just said had changed everything.
Eijiro shot up onto his elbow again, eyes wide. "Izuku, what's wrong?"
Izuku blinked and realized there were tears in his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and choked on a laugh, shaking his head.
"Nothing!" he said, blinking through the blur, "Nothing is wrong… I just never considered that. I thought I'd never known a mother's love, but… Damn, how could I be so stupid? Of course that's what that was! I just never had the right context for it… Thank you."
Eijiro's smile was beaming and Ochako's was soft. Her hands were folded on her chest, moved by the revelation she'd given Izuku. Eijiro was moved in a different way and grabbed Izuku, yanking him into a vicious hug that practically knocked the wind out of the mage. The dragon boy didn't understand his own strength.
"I'm so happy for you, Izuku," he bellowed, "I'm so happy you have a mom!"
Izuku was just frozen in his crushing hold, eyes wide and looking to Ochako like he had no idea what to do. The girl was beaming, though and gently grabbed his hand, squeezing lightly.
Izuku's entire inside melted. He slacked, one arm lifting to hug back and tightening his hand on Ochako's, becoming a puddle to this sudden physical affection he hadn't expected.
It was the best and worst thing in the world. It felt like years worth of denied fulfillment being poured into him by these two. And his heart was squeezing and gripping and attaching. This was bad...really bad. But he couldn't tear himself away, couldn't make himself acknowledge the reality that this thing he was feeling was so temporary.
He resolved to simply soak up every ounce of the physical touch and affection while he still could and hoped beyond hope it could satisfy him through his return to the stiff, cold shouldered life of the Center Magesterium.
After the hug ended, Izuku felt more comfortable staying close to them and settled in to chat the night away with friendly conversation. The candle going out didn't stop them. They talked about magic, dragons, and family. About Ochako's parents, how they had tried for years to have a child to no avail and couldn't bear to part with Ochako when they finally had her, resolving to live dangerous lives to keep her from the Magesterium. Izuku talked about Myra and Jano. Ochako explained about healing spells and Izuku detailed shielding spells. Eijiro kept bringing the topic back to baked goods and when they could get him off of it he tried to explain what it was like to be a dragon, the differences felt in each form, the frustration of limited communication in his natural form.
They didn't notice at what point they finally fell asleep, but the morning came cracking through the more spaced wood pieces like a cracked whip to his closed lids, striking his eyes with the harsh burn of reality. Izuku moved aside the weight of Eijiro's arm from his chest to not only breathe, but to rise. The dragon boy had ended up on his stomach at some point and Ochako looked about to fall off the other side of the bed.
He took it in. Took in the calm simplicity of that peaceful sight. The wounds from the Tempest Demon hadn't hurt this much.
"Eijiro, Ochako, it's time to go," he said in a groggy voice, sliding out of the bed and grabbing his boots.
They slowly came to and stretched, crawling out of bed with lidded eyes.
Ochako gathered everything up and Eijiro opened out his arms on his way to the door, saying he needed to stretch his wings before they left. He left everything except the simple shirt and breeches he was wearing, but Izuku expected those would be gone in a moment too.
Ochako gave Izuku a portion of bread for his breakfast and took up the two packs as Izuku slung his own across his back and grabbed his staff.
Wordlessly they went to the door, but before they could leave, Izuku put his hand on Ochako's shoulder, stopping her. She turned sleepy eyes to him.
"Ochako…" his heart was in his feet, "I'm still sorry that all of this happened."
With a few blinks Ochako was awake. "I'm not."
Izuku frowned. "But we attacked you. And me and Eijiro got seriously injured and I took you away from your family and-"
"Izuku," she pulled the hand from her shoulder and held onto it, "I don't regret this. The only thing I'm regretting is you going back to the Synod. I'm really happy we met even if it happened in a terrible way. You've given me hope that not all Synod Mages are evil and…"
Her expression tightened with her grip on Izuku's hand.
"I don't want you to go back to them," she said firmly, meeting his green eyes stubbornly.
Izuku startled. "I have to-"
"Why?" Ochako snapped, "You're better than the Synod! You could stay with me and Red and you could be happy instead of oppressed! Tsu could teach you shapeshifting and you could learn any magic you want to!"
There was a wad in Izuku's throat, his hand slipping out of hers. Something stubborn lodged in his chest.
"I'm not oppressed," Izuku said in a level, serious tone, "I'm living how I believe. I have aspirations, Ochako… I have convictions. I… I wish you would change your mind and come back to the Magesterium with me. I care about both of you...a lot. Your magic could thrive there and you could be so much more."
Her severity turned to a sharp glare. "Apprentice-"
"But I'm not going to make you," Izuku cut back in before she could start an argument, "We live opposite lives. It means everything to me that you want me to stay, that you don't want to lose me, but there's no way around that. And I don't want to see you hurt or forced to do something you don't want to. I'll protect you from the Synod...I'll tell them you resisted too harshly and we had to kill you so they won't send anyone else. But I can't change my path. This is the only exception I can make."
Ochako's arms crossed, her frustrated pout turned away from him.
He lifted a hand to her, but dropped it. "I'll never stop caring about you. I'll never be able to forget how welcoming you and Eijiro have been. I've never experienced friendship like you both give and it's killing me to leave it behind, but there's no way around it. This isn't my life and it never can be. Please...don't make this harder than it already is for me…"
It was quiet for too long, but then Ochako opened the door and let the morning light stream in, wordlessly taking Izuku's hand again, not looking at him. With a tug he followed, leaving it like that. Leaving everything here, in Blackmoss, in this little house, in this world outside of Gaetha.
Luckily the wind and flap of wings were too loud for them to have heard each other anyway so there was no pressure to talk on the flight back to Landsleave.
The sweeping beauty of the ever shifting land was distracting enough on its own and Izuku marveled at all the sights he had missed on the way to Blackmoss. The swamplands shifted to a lengthy plain, which gradually rolled into the hills that were the very landmarks of Gaetha's borderlands, the outskirts of Tarlson. The world was different from a dragon's back. They were so high that buildings looked like toys and, hopefully, to where they could not be differentiated from a bird in the sky to the miniscule people below.
Finally after a few hours getting sore on Eijiro's back and getting comfortable enough with his balance so as not to hold onto Ochako so tightly anymore, the forest at Landsleave's outskirt appeared and Eijiro dove from the low hanging clouds.
When the village came into their line of sight, Izuku's heart plummeted in his chest. Not for any reason he expected. He expected to feel upset at seeing the definitive conclusion to his time with them, but he hadn't expected this.
Dark smoke, flickering flames, and an unearthly, unholy shriek.
