The wet of the mud seeped through Katsuki's pants, drenching his knees. A shiver went up his spine but it wasn't from the cold and damp.
The Tarlson reinforcements and the men who had ridden in their initial attack shouted of victory, the last dying cries of the demons echoing their triumph. But it was just noise in his ears, just a false and otherworldly sound.
In the glow of firelight the battlefield was a grotesque tapestry. The remains of undead laid among the disintegrating forms of demons, losing their physical stability in this realm they had right to enter. Those that had lost life valiantly in the fight against them were mostly from the King's Army and the gold of their armor flecked the bloody, mud coated land like gems.
Death reeked around him and he curled his lip on the familiar, rank smell.
But the shouts of victory, the mounds of dead, the stench of a corrupted slaughterhouse, and even the sharp sting of Northern winds were not powerful enough to pierce the veil of Katsuki's mind.
His hand shook as he touched the pale head, as his fingers slid down, smearing the blood and muck over the once proud face to shut the bright blue of his eyes away from the darkness of the world.
"They're coming," Mina said softly overhead.
Katsuki kept his head low a moment longer and then pushed back to his feet, taking his sword up again. He held it at the ready as they looked to the oncoming Tarlson Lord and his entourage.
"Whatever happens, we can't stay in Tarlson," he said, forming up with the elves, "Lord Enji can't be trusted. Especially not now."
In her ongoing youth Momo had witnessed a few skirmishes, tournaments, and small military operations that could hardly have been considered even bloody. The protective nature of her family would never have allowed her near anything truly violent. They never would have let her near a place such as this, an aftermath so gruesome, a battlefield so devastated.
It was relieving to have arrived after the battle was over, but it did not diminish the poignancy and the clear image of what had happened.
She kept her cloak close around her, hood guarding her ears, but she still shivered. The cold was not as harsh as she was used to in the Capitol, but there was an unnatural chill in the air that could have cut through stone.
Tenya's eyes were watchful around them as they guided their horses slowly into the bloody mess of bodies and disintegrating demons, but they were also watching her. She felt them on her, cautious, gauging her tolerance for this horror.
"I've never…" She had to swallow and regather her wits as she watched the wretched face of a minor demon crumble into dust before her, "I've never really seen a demon firsthand… Is this really what they're like?"
"No," Tenya said, "They're far worse."
The firelit glow only revealed bits of battlefield at a time in the deep darkness of the night, but with each step the morning sun was beginning to cast a haunting pale hue. The further they strayed into the horrible scene the more revealed itself under torchlight and the slowly breaking dawn. First the still standing army, the living, scouring the land for their fallen brethren, laying out an immense and daunting line of golden armored soldiers along the front of the Outpost's fallen wall. Her father's men. Second, was the heart dropping sight of what appeared to be a titan, turning to ash. And then another. And another. Even the brave soldiers avoided going near them unless they had to.
"Major Demons," Tenya explained, "So many of them… How did they-?"
He shook his head, not wanting to think about his own question and instead pointed out across the field to a place near the Pass where tall flags stood amongst a dark cluster of men and horses.
"That's Lord Enji's sigil."
Momo could only nod, knowing it meant that it was where they needed to go and gathered her already shaken courage by it's frayed edges to once again face those that had refused to listen so many times before. But this time she would not back down under any recourse. This time she was willing to make threats to be heard. This time when she spoke her father would be forced to listen or lose his heir.
They spurred their horses forward and found a dense gathering of people, mostly Lord Enji's entourage, along with Commander Tensei and Lord Natsuo standing stiffly beside the young Synod Master she had seen with the Dawnfelden Captain at the Keep.
Commander Tensei noted their approach first and dropped from his horse to bar their way. He looked up at his younger brother with angered shock from his place on the ground and halted them before saying a word.
"Tenya, what are you doing here? Why have you brought her to this place?"
The appearance of the Commander and Princess had not been lost on the rest, save for perhaps the distant and distracted stare of the Synod Master that was only interrupted by Lord Natsuo leaving his side sharply to approach the newcomers. The intensity in his cold steel eyes shook down Momo's spine as something harsh and disconcerting and her breath left her in a shudder when she met them.
"This is no place for-!"
"Tensei!" Natsuo silenced him effortlessly.
Momo scowled cautiously as Natsuo bypassed the Commander and came directly to her side, reaching up a hand to help her down.
It didn't help to seek explanation from Tenya, he watched the Lord with equal caution and confusion.
Taking a leap of faith that the Lord Commander's gesture was that of good will, she took the hand and slid off of the horse. As soon as her feet were on the ground his hand separated from hers and wordlessly led her towards the gathering of soldiers. Tenya dismounted on his own, hesitating only a moment on the stern stare of his brother, but remaining close to his queen nonetheless, little deterred by the silent, familial communication they had in place.
The starched faces of the Tarlson soldiers were all on her, shaken, like they had seen something too horrible to imagine. Whatever had shaken them seemed to cripple their feet as well and the Lord Commander had to snap at them to clear a path for the Princess.
They created an opening with passing murmurs, but Natsuo stood to the side along with them, showing that he did not intend to continue on with her, leaving Tenya to accompany her alone through the parted audience.
The first person she was able to make out in the low torchlight and creeping dawn was Lord Enji, tall, proud, and staring down the Dawnfelden Captain, currently being flanked by a Solstice Elf and a Moondancer. They're swords were drawn and the curl of the Captain's lip told clearly enough that the two parties were not facing one another on good terms.
But when the Princess approached, the looks fell instantly, all aggression lost to surprise and concern.
"How did…?" Enji didn't even bother concluding the thought, but scowled back at the Captain. "It doesn't matter. You may not concede for a Lord that is not your own, Captain, but you will for royalty. You are still a soldier and thus predictable."
The Captain made a tight hissing sound, grinding his teeth in irritation at the dark look from Lord Enji. Momo rather expected it was going to insight a full out fight, but the Captain finally nodded agreement and jerked his head at the two elves.
"Step aside."
"You sure about that?" the male elf hesitated.
"Do it!" The Captain snapped and they did as they were told.
Enji was already removing himself from Momo's path and forlorn respect the Captain followed the elves out of her way as well.
Confused and tensely fearful, Momo watched them open up the dimly lit ground in front of her, watching their actions cautiously until what they had been disguising became clear.
Much like the rest of the battlefield there was brutality and blood all around along with pieces of gold armor littering the soiled earth. But here there was only one body left remaining, though ashes of fallen Demons wafted black dust into the air.
One set of armor. One discarded sword. One bloodstained crest, painting the golden face of The Mire Lion in red.
Her legs shook on every hurried step, hand clasped over mouth, the only sound she could make a choked sob as her knees hit the muddy earth at the side of her worst nightmare become actuality.
Momo blinked against a mist of tears, praying what she saw was a trick of flickering torchlight. But she touched his cold face, the unmoving smile lines, and found nothing there, no response, no light. Just vacancy.
"Father?" she whispered on some flightless hope struggling for altitude, "Father, please don't do this…"
There was no response. The terrors of the truth in front of her twisted up her gut, made her head feel fuzzy and heavy.
"I'm not ready. I can't..."
Her hoarse voice called softly to him as she pressed her delicate hand to his chest, pushing as if to wake him. But her fingers dipped into pooling blood and she jerked them away. She would have screamed if her voice would have allowed her. If she had any voice left to speak of.
At her back there was a chorus of movement, of armor shifting, of knees sinking onto wet ground. WIth wide eyed horror she turned back slowly to the gathered forces. The entire weight of the world crashed over her in a wave of revelation.
She was surrounded by kneeling, bowing men. The Captain, the soldiers, the Commanders, all took immediate action to pay respect, to acknowledge what Momo didn't dare consider. Every man except Enji whose gaze remained distant on the King's body.
Momo shook her head and panic rose in her chest, begging it all to stop before it even began, but she couldn't stop the chorus that rang through the audience, couldn't stop the solemn shout of, "Hail Queen Momo Yagi!" and the even darker response of, "Long live the Queen!"
No. Not that. Anything but that.
Tears continued to fog her eyes and stutter every breath with uncertainty and terror. She spun away from the many faces and fell against her father, as if she were still a child hiding from monsters beneath her bed and he was still able to comfort her fears. Her forehead pressed into his shoulder, forgetting the blood, forgetting everything but the stinging pangs in her heart and the horrible sound of the crowd echoing once more the cry of, "Long live the Queen".
Both Commander Tenya and the Dawnfelden Captain hurried back to their feet and hovered into Momo's space when Lord Enji boldly came to her side. They didn't directly intervene, perhaps not seeing it as an immediate threat, but hung cautiously close to their new Queen, watching Enji intently.
Momo froze when he dropped to one knee at her side. He wasn't looking at her though, instead his strong blue eyes held firm on the pale, cold form of their King, almost a disbelieving stare.
His fist pressed to his chest as his head fell downward.
"Rest well, old friend. I wish it had not ended this way, that we could have fought one last war together. I wish we could have fought once more as we always have. I never called you the Hero King as others did, but you were, old friend. You were a rival, never an enemy, Toshinori. Gaetha has lost a great king in losing you."
Tears danced on Momo's lashes and she buried her face further, scared to look up, frightened of the crown she had to take on. But more than that, beyond her ability to bear, was the crippling pain of knowing she had to live the rest of her life without him. Every complaint and argument they had over the last couple years felt so petty now. Nothing was worth knowing her last words to him had not simply been to tell him that she loved him.
But the first concern was lingering all around her in the bent knees and the solemnity in the air and reverberating from every tensed body awaiting their Queen to rise, awaiting someone to speak.
And however she wanted to ignore it, to focus the pains in her chest on the strangling loss, rather than the devastating responsibility that fell upon her, her moment of mourning was wrenched away unceremoniously when Enji stood to address the audience.
Momo stayed hunched over what remained of her father, gripping her gut and watching the peaceful, still expression of the king while Enji spoke and drove home her fears.
"The King is dead."
Momo cringed.
"In that vacancy young Momo is our new Queen," Enji continued, "Commander Tensei, have your men gather the King's remains and prepare them to be returned to Queen Nemuri. Natsuo, see that the Queen is returned safely to the Keep-"
"Just fucking try."
Momo hardly had the chance to startled before the chaotic clamor of armored men clattered in her ears. Natsuo hadn't even moved to respond to the Lord before the Dawnfelden Captain was already barring his way and eying both Todorokis with suspicion while Tenya moved in close to her.
"Momo," he said softly, dropping to a knee and putting a hand to her shoulder.
"Commander Tenya, you are dismissed of your duties," Enji's voice thundered again, "The Queen is no longer your responsibility to safeguard."
"Incorrect, My Lord," Tenya battled the harsh tone of his voice with the civility of his words, "I am sworn to the Royal Family. I will not be separated from the Queen unless she so wishes it."
"You are already facing court martial for disobeying my orders, Commander, you should not further test me." Enji looked to his son, "Natsuo!"
The younger Lord hesitated, staring narrowly at the Dawnfelden Captain.
"Stand down Captain, the battle is over," Natsuo said coldly, "This is unnecessary."
The two elves moved casually around Momo and her father's body, sword twisting in their hands, eyeing the Tarlson soldiers and forcing Enji to take a cautious step back at their quiet threat.
"I was in the Hall with everyone else, Lord Commander," the Captain hissed, "I won't entrust the future of the Kingdom with any of you. Even as far away as Dawnfell we know the saying..."
"Never trust a Todoroki," Momo whispered her mother's words, gripping her stomach.
Supporting herself by pushing against Tenya's shoulder, Momo stood, blinking around at their situation. The elves had made a perimeter around her and the body, while Enji created space between them and Natsuo locked glares with the Captain. The Tarlson soldiers seemed confused, scared, on edge and the Synod Masters in their midst looked about himself as he searching for an escape.
"Lord Enji," Momo struggled on the words, her voice not as controlled as she thought, but the conflict paused long enough for her to try again.
"Lord Enji, I wish to accompany my father home at once. I will not return to your Keep. I will not move from this place. You will bring a litter and an escort and I will see my father returned to the Capitol."
For so fragile a tone, it was incredibly powerful. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but there was such severity in each demand it seemed to take the Lord himself by surprise.
The Tarlson soldiers looked to Enji and the Lord lost his surprise to a frown.
"Queen or not, you are a child and you will return to the Keep if I demand it."
"Child?" The Captain scoffed and she felt his sharp blue eyes give her a once over, "You and I have both sent boys to their deaths younger than her."
Natsuo opened his arms almost diplomatically. "Enough of this, Captain, are we going to sully our victory with further, pointless bloodshed for your stubbornness? "
"Unlike you, I pride myself on understanding the chain of command. Doesn't take a fucking genius to know you aren't at the top of it. But she is."
Natsuo curled his lip, "And you, Tenya, you will throw away your years of service to my family for the batting lashes of a young woman?"
"If that young woman is the Queen of Gaetha, then yes," Tenya sounded shaky, "Her demands will be heard and she will return to the Capitol on her own terms."
"I cannot allow that."
Tenya and Momo both tensed as Enji lifted a hand and a group of soldiers moved forward, weapons at the ready directed at those that surrounded her.
"I respect your family, child, but I will not see my nation fall because we are left under the leadership of a young girl in the time of a Summoning. I cannot allow you to return and accept the crown, yet."
Momo's heart dropped.
"That's treason," the Captain said.
"You of all people should know that war does not always allow us the comfort of an easy decision, Captain," Enji looked Momo up and down, unimpressed, "We need strength right now. No army will follow a girl barely old enough to be wedded and the nation will not fall behind a Cantican Queen. Nor will they agree to look up to a foreign boy as regent."
"Then who do you expect they will follow?" Momo rubbed the back of her hand violently over her eyes, "You? You have no more claim to the throne than this Dawnfelden Captain or the elves with him!"
"I'm not trying to take your throne, your highness," Enji was unphased, "And on that you're wrong. Every small child knows that Gaetha was born by the joining of twenty-five kingdoms into one. Every Lord is as royal as the Yagis, only stripped of such a title as King or Queen. Every Lord in the land has a claim to the throne, but that is not the point, child. We fall in step behind great leaders, not family names."
The group around Momo tightened, both the Commander and Captain hanging close as the Elves circled cautiously. The more Enji spoke the more nervous everyone became and the more Momo was certain she wasn't going to be leaving peacefully.
"Perhaps you don't, My Lord, but the rest of the kingdom will," Commander Tenya argued, "You underestimate the power of the Yagi name."
Enji dipped his head solemnly at the form of King Toshinori.
"Your father earned every ounce of loyalty that he received. I would do no honor to his memory to allow his family to be made a fool of or his kingdom fall by allowing you to lead it. The kingdom needs strong leadership from a Gaethan."
Momo was stricken, words beyond the grasp of her gaping mouth. No sooner had she been given the daunting title of Queen as it was being threatened to be stolen from her. And from her mother too. How could Enji say that the nation wouldn't follow Queen Nemuri? Her clan was the strongest in Cantica and she had lived in Gaetha most of her life. She was as Gaethan as anyone here.
"You were right, Katsuki," the girl elf tsked, "This Lord fellow is skeevy."
"We definitely shouldn't let him be in charge," the male elf replied with a small smirk.
Tenya was visibly shaking. "Tensei, how can you listen to this and do nothing?"
The eldest Iida brother scowled at the younger and hissed through his teeth. "My oath is to my Lord as is yours! You are the one that is in the wrong. Step aside, Tenya. For the sake of what is left of your honor, do not forsake your loyalties."
"Didn't realize blatant mutiny was equivalent to loyalty, Commander," Captain Katsuki scoffed, "Get your head out of your ass."
Tenya tossed a glare at the Captain's interjection, but didn't argue what he'd said. He only stood taller and leaned closer to the person he had sworn to safeguard. "My loyalty is to Gaetha and it's true rulers."
"Your stance is meaningless," Enji frowned over their display, "You're outnumbered and can't hope to win in a fight with us. All you've done is seal you fate. The Queen will return to the Keep."
The Lord tossed a sharp glare to Natsuo. His son's face tightened with confusion and his eyes darted about unfocussed. The tiniest hope sparked up through Momo's chest; perhaps he saw the insanity of his father's decision and would challenge it. Perhaps he was more like Fuyumi than Enji…
"Do we have any real hope of solidifying a claim?" Natsuo cocked his head at his father.
"We will see to it."
Momo shrunk under the stare of the Lord and felt her lip tremble on her words. "How could you possibly hope to-"
"The same way every political problem is resolved," Enji hissed, "Arranged marriage."
The rising dawn forgot to cast warmth when Momo met the disinterested eyes of the Lord's son on her and grabbed onto Tenya's arm, supporting her legs collapsing beneath her.
Natsuo's only response to the sudden decision that Lord Enji had made was to tilt his head at Momo and say, "Fine."
"I won't allow that to happen," Commander Tenya fully drew his sword.
The elves smiled and lowered their stances, ready for the teased fight to start.
"It's not up to you," Enji waved his hand and his men moved at them.
Momo threw her arms over her head. Tenya put himself between her and the danger. The elves laughed in excitement.
But the battle never got the chance to begin.
Red light erupted. Living arms of magical light burst in front of them. The sword of the Tarlson soldiers ripped free from their hands and clattered together on the ground.
Enji and his men all fell fearfully back at the sudden attack and the Tarlson troops cleared frantically away from the source of Magic in their midst.
Momo dropped her arms and shook her head. It was the peculiar Synod Master that had been with the Dawnfelden Captain at the Grand Hall, standing tall and intense, shrouded in red light that poured strongly from his eyes. His before hidden hands were open and wide, a staff in one and inky, thick redness in the other. But both were stained black from fingertip to palm.
Natsuo stepped forward with the least fear and the most rage. "Shoto!" he barked, but the Mage didn't even look at him.
Momo and Tenya both moved backwards when the Mage approached them, but the elves and the Captain didn't even flinch, allowing the Mage to take a place at their side without question, despite the very apparent Fallen Magic ebbing off of him.
"Took you long enough," the Captain hissed at the Mage, "How long were you planning on just standing there?"
"I was securing backup. What, you didn't have it all handled on your own?" the Mage, Shoto, muttered back at him.
"Blood Magic?" the horror and disgust in Enji's voice drowned out the gasped wonder of his men, "This the sort of thing you, a proud Dawnfelden associate with? And yet you condemn me?"
The corner of the Captain's mouth twitched and instead of responding to the Lord's taunt he whispered to the Mage, shuffling back and forth as the Tarlson soldiers moved back in. "We need a plan to get out of here. Where's everyone else?"
"Izuku was injured," Shoto said through his teeth, "Nana and Ochako took him to the Outpost to meet up with Kyoka…"
Natsuo's sword spun in his hand, focusing now on the Mage rather than the Captain.
"And the Renegade's friend?"
"He's on his way."
"To where?" Katsuki glared, but the Mage's answer was drowned by Lord Enji's shouts.
"Queen Momo, you must see how foolish this is! I want only what is best for Gaetha. You cannot be considering putting your trust in a Commander who cannot stay loyal to his Lord, a Dawnfelden desserter, conniving elves, and a Blood Mage over a loyal Lord of your father? I have no desire to harm you and I can guarantee your safety. These people cannot."
Now that the Blood Mage had stepped into their midst, Momo was less confident in the people who were protecting her, save for Tenya. But the Captain had not once questioned her authority as Lord Enji had and without knowing her he was readily defending her title. Perhaps it hid some deeper plot, but in that case he would still be no worse an option than Enji. Was it worthwhile to risk an uncertain danger rather than willingly be locked away in the Tarlson Keep until she was of political use to Enji?
"My Queen?" Tenya requested her decision, anxiously rocking on his feet.
Momo looked behind her, to the one she always had gone to for guidance and her insides twisted like a vice to see the smile lines so stiff and his eyes shut with such permanence. She needed to hear his voice so badly, to hear it's wisdom and the way it turned so soft for her. She needed him to stand up from his place of encompassing death and take away this unbearable weight that had fallen so suddenly to her shoulders.
But the King didn't move, didn't stir. The only help he could offer now were the memories she had of his teachings, his direction in her upbringing, not lessons of battle or war, but of duty, sacrifice and responsibility to her Kingdom and people. To allow her seat to be usurped until this war was ended or perhaps even indefinitely was easy, too easy. Not to her noble pride, but the action itself would be simplistic. The deaths that would follow this war would not be hers to bear, the decision not hers to make, failures would be someone else's fault; there was undeniable bravery among the Todorokis for wanting to take that on. But that wasn't what her father would tell her to do and, as she pondered the pallor of his brow, she could say with complete certainty that if she gave over to her anguish and lack of confidence now she would fail Gaetha in the one thing she was born to do: lead.
"Tenya," she swallowed with resolve, "I'm not going back to the Keep. Do not allow Lord Enji to force my hand."
He nodded. "As you wish."
"I gave you a chance to end this peacefully," Enji scowled, "But you give me no other choice, your highness. And you, Captain... you and these others have condemned yourselves with this association to Blood Magic. You will face the courts of the Synod."
The still black and red glowing hands of the Blood Mage were shaking and he seemed to falter as their group continued to gradually back away. Momo had never seen a Blood Mage before, but she had never anticipated there would be such a nervousness about them. She expected those around him would be the ones to cower.
Natsuo seemed to be watching the Mage closer than the rest and scowled at the shaky lift of his staff in their direction. There was a starkly, pained harshness in his voice when he arched his arm to direct his blade back at Shoto. "Think better of this, Mage. The Fallen Mage's rhetoric will not spare you. I have no reason to defend your life and will show no mercy."
"You made a new enemy while I wasn't looking?" The Captain arched a quick look at Shoto who only scowled in response.
The Tarlson soldiers had moved into an almost full semicircle around them, trying to fully surround them before attacking. Every hackle was raised and every eye around her had found a complimentary one to exchange a glare with, Tenya to Tensei, Natsuo to Shoto, Captain Katsuki to Lord Enji, the elves to everyone else.
"What is your plan here, Captain?" Tenya frowned at their steadily worsening predicament.
"Good fucking question," Captain Katsuki ground his teeth at the smug cross of Lord Enji's arms.
"Just hold a moment longer," Shoto glanced up.
Rather than a moment, the Mage had hardly finished the sentence when suddenly a rush of air like an otherworldly force burst over them. In the glint of morning light it's source dove from the still overhanging clouds and shook the earth.
Massive red paws hit the ground at Momo's back and she shrieked, stumbling away from it as everyone else did. Shouts of shock and fear barraged a beast as large as a building, red as fresh blood, scaled like a reptile and winged like a bat.
The swords turned immediately to the creature and Tenya pulled Momo close.
They backed into the Captain and the Mage. They weren't running like many of the Tarlson men already were, but the only one who didn't seem shocked was Shoto.
"This was your fucking plan?" Captain Katsuki threw out a hand towards the towering animal.
"I said he was on his way," was Shoto's defense. He pushed past them to pointedly approach the Dragon, entirely fearless as Momo's legs quaked beneath her and what remained of the Tarlson soldiers scurried to a safe distance.
The Dragon tilted it's head at the Mage and then let out a roar that had almost everyone including Momo and those protecting her cowering. Everyone but the elves who only marveled and Natsuo who stood his ground with Tensei hesitant at his back, wide eyed at the beast. Enji hovered between running and fighting, sputtering pure confusion at the sudden appearance of a storybook monster dropping from the sky.
"How much can you carry?" Shoto shouted and after a moment the Dragon silently lowered himself as close to the ground as possible.
The Mage waved Momo and her protectors over in a hurry.
"He won't be able to take us far, but we can get clear of the battlefield."
"Have you lost your fucking mind, Mage?" Captain Katsuki gestured at the Dragon.
The two elves had no such arguments and were the first to dash excitedly up to the Dragon and climb up onto his back, scurrying down his spine to sit near his tale. The Dragon didn't react outside of growling towards Enji and his men.
It wasn't a perfect endorsement, though, and Momo and Tenya remained as hesitantly back with the Captain. There was no way the Mage was expecting them to board this thing, this monster. Imprisonment in the Keep was beginning to seem less horrible the longer she watched the shifting scales and stacks of lethal muscle.
"He's not a mindless animal," Shoto argued, looking past the three uncertain ones to widen his eyes at the Tarlson men starting to regain some of their senses, "It's Eijiro."
"The shapeshifter kid?" Captain Katsuki's face was an entire wall of unhappy emotions.
"I'll explain later."
Blood Magic swirled in Shoto's hand and cut downward, shooting out past them and crashing into Natsuo's hastily raised shield. Momo hadn't even noticed the Lord Commander's movement, nor had those beside her.
"There's no time, just get on if you want to get out of here alive!"
Tenya took Momo's arm and pulled her forward towards the Dragon as Captain Katsuki rushed ahead and climbed up the scales; questions of safety long gone. But Momo's feet planted and her heart sunk as she looked back to where the King had been left.
"What about my father?" she cried.
There was poignant pain in Tenya's eyes, but he shook his head and pulled her again. Whatever gears pushed her heart to beat jammed and in the sharp, grating pain of that feeling, her resistance fell. She allowed herself to be brought to the Dragon's side while Shoto lashed Magic out at Natsuo and Tensei, defending their escape. The Magic only seemed to be slowing them down, not stopping them, the wards across their armor and weapons safeguarding them from even Blood Magic.
Tenya grabbed her by the waist and lifted her towards Captain Katsuki's waiting hand. He effortlessly raised her up to the Dragon's back and then offered a hand to Tenya afterwards.
It was strange and terrible to be atop the back of the scaly monster as it shifted back up from the ground and those on top of him clung to the scales and to each other, praying just that they might not fall off.
"Tenya, don't do this!" Tensei's voice cracked over the movements of the Dragon.
Momo was clinging to Tenya in her rough straddle of the beast that was not built to be ridden in this way and felt him tense though his entire body. But he didn't respond to his brother, just scrambled to get a better hold of the scales in front of him while the Captain shouted at the Mage.
"Shoto, get your ass up here! Stop fucking around!"
Shoto looked back indignantly at the Captain, which was a long enough distraction for Natsuo to rush him and slam his shield into the Mage's face. Shoto fell back and the Dragon's head whipped around to the Mage's attackers.
Natsuo came to a full stop when faced with the wide open jaw of a Dragon snapping just in front of him and Tensei fell right to the ground, panting in terror. Momo shuddered at Natsuo's stillness, the way he simply stopped, but showed no tangible fear in his face.
He stared the dragon in its eye and after a moment, took a step back, opening his arms, holding aside sword and shield; a concession. Hot air huffed over Natsuo from the massive nostril of the Dragon and the frill of it's raised hackles lessened a bit as it's heavy paw settled gently over Shoto, who still struggled to get up from the ground, holding his bleeding nose.
Neither the Lord Commander or his Second moved to stop them as the Dragon wrapped his paw around Shoto, grabbing him like an otter might grab a stick. Shoto was not thrilled about this and he snagged onto the Dragon's ankle for dear life as the creature straightened and flared its wings.
Momo felt the tense of its muscles and she buried her face into Tenya's shoulder, everything down to her toes clenched.
"This will not be the last we see of each other," Natsuo warned.
Leaving them with a final threatening growl, the Dragon leapt into the air.
Whatever was in Momo's upper body felt like it was slammed down into her legs as force and wind plowed against them. Momo's eyes sealed as tightly as she could make them and used every power of will to keep the contents of her stomach from keeling out onto Tenya.
She couldn't bring herself to care about the man at her back, grabbing her shoulder to stabilize himself or the flippant way the elves were handling this experience or the lack of precaution they were taking. They held themselves from screaming like she had when they had launched up, but she could feel how anxious both the Captain and Commander were. And well they should have been; human beings were not meant to fly, they were not meant to be this high off the ground and Momo made this clear by screaming into Tenya's shoulder until she was hoarse.
Tenya was silent as the grave, his fear tearing his voice clean from him, but the Captain showed his own displeasure with the experience by cursing wildly, which only got harsher as a couple giddy laughs filtered from behind him, denoting the pure enjoyment and thrill of the two elves.
Momo couldn't say how long they spent in the air, a moment had been more than she could bear, but when she finally peaked an eye back open the crumpled remains of the Outpost was small behind them and rolling mountains were just ahead. Had she been in any state but that of fear, loss, and pain, she would have marveled at seeing the Grimheist Mountain Range from this height, in a way that none but the birds had ever seen it.
But all it told her now was that they were flying East and not in the direction of home.
And then the mountains started to get larger and the rush of the wind swept harsher as the Dragon tilted down and the ground began to speed towards them.
Momo's face hid itself again as the ride became uneven and rough, rocking the passengers back and forth as they were forced against each other in the sudden plummet.
"I'll hunt him through the ether if that fucking Mage gets us killed!" Captain Katsuki shouted, gripping at what scales he could get hold of.
"But what a way to die!" the male elf laughed and the girl elf responded with a very loud, "Woo hoo!"
The landing was about as fumbling and uncoordinated as Momo expected it to be. The Dragon made many a groaning, displeased sound as its paws touched ground in a semi-forested gorge between two croppings of the Grimheist Range. It was the only opening in sight big enough for a Dragon, but a couple trees became splinters anyway with the violent impact.
The force, crash, and bad footing of the beast finally dislodged the Captain from his seat with more wild cursing and Momo gripped tighter to not meet the same fate. Somehow, Tenya managed to hold fast and keep them in place atop the winged reptile.
The elves took a more graceful exit, leaping from the Dragon and catching themselves in a barrel roll to ease the landing. They had to immediately duck the deadly swipe of a tale, but still only found amusement in their near death experiences.
When the world finally stilled and she realized they had not died, Momo eased her vicious grip of Tenya slightly, only to find every muscle and bone in her body shaking.
"Get me off of this thing… Please!" Momo begged.
Still unable to find his voice, Tenya nodded emphatically and shifted to slide down the Dragon's side. He landed on wobbly feet, but immediately reached up to help her down despite it. Somehow he got her safely back to the comforting stability of the ground.
Certain she would simply fall and, possibly lose all of her senses and start kissing the very earth for the mere fact that it wasn't moving beneath her, Momo hung onto Commander Tenya's shoulder as he led her away from the Dragon.
A whimpering sound trembled from the Dragons mouth with a tight yelp just before it's leg collapsed underneath it. The beast was quick enough to release the Mage from it's paw before it could crush him, but it was close enough to make Momo's heart jump into her throat.
But despite it nearly accidentally killing him, Shoto scrambled back to his feet and rushed to the Dragon's side, still rubbing away at the blood that spread down his nose and mixed with the mud and grime of the battlefield they had left.
His fingers jittered and he spoke quickly under his breath like alarm was a language all its own.
In silent shock the five other passengers watched, unmoving from the places they had landed, as the Mage's hand lit with white magic over glistening red scales. Eyes blurred with tears and yet dry from the whip of wind, Momo choked on the horror that its scales seemed to be falling from it's flesh.
And then she rubbed her eyes and shook herself, finding her terror turning quickly to concern.
Those weren't its scales, but fresh streaming blood.
The species of the creature faded into the recesses of her mind at the sight of it's anguish and the pure desperation of the Mage struggling to impose healing on it. She detached from Tenya's side, coming within an arm's reach of the Dragon before he could even finish his warning shout.
"Your Highness, wait-!"
With legs trembling beneath her, she gaped at the head that would have dwarfed a horse, the protruding fangs that were as long as her legs, the iris of its eye that burst with the colors of blood and flames.
"I told you not to push yourself!" The Mage's voice was pained and frustrated as he sunk his glowing hand into a mess of blood and ripped scales below it's upper left flank.
The creature growled as the Magic touched him, tensing and groaning, but not snapping or kicking like most animals would. The growl was apparently threatening enough for Tenya, though, because she was suddenly being wrenched back behind him.
The scaled muscles rippled in pained movement as it whipped its head around to bare its teeth at the Commander's raised sword only to have it's leg slip, nearly crushing the hand of the Mage a second later. Shoto fell on his ass with shock and then threw judgmental eyes at the Commander and Queen.
"He's no threat to you, just stay back," Shoto demanded.
"You want me to trust the word of a Blood Mage that this beast of the ether is no threat? It's a damn Dragon, not a lost bear cub!"
The Mage didn't stop what he was doing, but his shoulders hiked up around his ears.
Without anyone registering her movements, the elf girl was suddenly beside them, slinking closer to the Dragon with a cocked head and black eyes wide in fascination.
"He saved your life, didn't he?" the elf was not too intrigued to glower at the Commander. "Humans." She muttered with a bitter curl of her lip. "You understand so little about magic and-"
"Mina!" Shoto snapped, "Now isn't the time. Please."
There were a hundred things Momo wanted to ask and there was so much she needed to quantify, but instead she just placed a hand on Tenya's arm to lower it.
"Will it be alright?" she asked.
A blue eye darted back at her, before the Mage shook his head, speaking with all the composure of a person on the brink of hysteria.
"I don't know. I've barely healed humans before, let alone a Dragon! He's not responding the same way to my spells and even Blood Magic won't help if I don't know what I'm doing! We need to get him back to Ochako."
The Dragon blinked at him and then snuffed intensely hot air in a wince of pain.
"I'm sorry," Shoto poured his power into the spell, "I should never have asked you to do this."
The Captain had made it back to his feet finally and placed himself near the Commander and Queen while the other elf joined Mina in invading the personal space of an injured beast big enough to swallow them in one go.
"Mage…?" The Captain's question was incomplete, but Shoto seemed to understand it.
"I'm doing what I can!" his voice cracked, "I didn't mean for any of this…"
Momo didn't know this man. She had seen him use Blood Magic and call upon a Dragon to save them all. That was it. The first fact alone should have left her beyond any faith in him, but she heard the regret, the fear of failure in his voice and it hurt how well she had come to know that feeling these last few days.
She could hear her own countless regrets as he lamented putting the animal in this situation. And what was worse, was that this creature's downfall was more her fault than the Mage's. It was the same as Genry's life, Toru's life, the lives of the King's entourage… her own father's life, all lost in defense of her.
It made her want to scream, but she silently cried instead as she had done since she had seen him. The memory of the King's face, still and drawn, resting in a pool of his own blood was unshakeable still and grew larger in her mind with every passing moment.
"Shoto, it's not your fault," the male elf said softly as the Dragon nudged his lifted hand, experimentally.
The Mage was quiet for a moment, but his head turned and twisted, face contorting in expressions that seemed to have no cause until finally he leapt to his feet and pulled the elf away from the Dragon.
"What's going on?" he protested.
"Just stay back, it's the only thing we can think to do." Shoto ordered and started to undo the outer layer of his robes.
The Dragon's eyes sealed shut as it's long neck craned and his wings folded close to his body. Sounds that grated over Momo's skin fell from its maw as its claws dug into the earth and light started to gleam dully under it's scales.
"What are you doing to it?" Captain Katsuki instinctively reached for his sword.
"I'm not doing anything."
The image that followed was so strange and unexpected and confusingly grotesque Momo was certain she would be haunted by it for the rest of her life.
Though shrouded by the hue of magic, the metamorphosis was still graphic and much like watching the pure distortion of nature itself. The Dragon's scales seemed to fold away and it's entire mass compressed, shrunk, slimming down until it finally took shape into what Momo could only assume was a human being. It had the right figure and appendages, a stark lack of wings, and the young, attractive face of a human boy no older than herself.
Where once a Dragon had lain a person had taken its place, naked as day and resting in a fetal position with his shoulder in the pool of blood that had formed beneath the Dragon. It was no longer the roaring groans of a Dragon that met their ears, but the sharp cries of a human boy in pain.
Even the shameful blush she felt at his stark nudity was not enough to get her to look away, so stricken and truly horrified at what she had just witnessed. And luckily she was not alone in that. The Captain and Tenya both gaped looks of confused disgust at him too, but Shoto didn't hesitate in the slightest. He fell to his knees on blood soaked dirt and the outer robes he had removed were draped around the boy's shoulders, it's edges already soaking up the blood. If Shoto cared about his robes being stained he didn't show it. He just held his hand, no longer lit with magic but hovering in concern, inches away from the boy as he watched every motion with static anxiety.
"Shit, you were telling the truth," the Captain gaped.
"What just…?" Tenya fumbled with words to even ask what he had just seen and Momo couldn't claim to be much better.
The elves looked to each other like they had just come upon a world shaking revelation.
"So that's why-"
"The staff. Of course. It all makes sense. He said he wasn't human!"
Shoto ignored it all, focussed only on the boy. "Eijiro, are you alright?"
The young man shifted and winced, but lifted his head a little to give him a smile that was far closer to a grimace.
"Not dead… I don't think."
"Is…?"
"I think so. I still feel it; there's definitely still something wrong inside me, but I should at least last longer in a different form."
"He really was a shapeshifter?" Captain Katsuki spoke like his entire world had restructured in a moment, "You weren't just fucking with the Tarls?"
"The only real lie was saying he was human."
"Son of a bitch…" The Captain sounded almost impressed.
Shoto didn't even seem to hear it, locked onto Eijiro. "You're sure about this?"
Gradually, the boy lifted himself up to a seat and shifted the robes better around himself while still holding tight arms around his torso. He shrugged in response to Shoto's question, uncertainty twisting his brow.
"No, but I don't know what else to do. I've done this one time before and it seemed like it helped me from losing to my injuries until we could make it to Blackmoss… Maybe it'll work again…"
The Mage was far from comforted. He cursed under his breath.
Momo moved a bit closer to the boy, head spinning and heart pounding.
"You were the Dragon?" she asked.
There was no other explanation for how this boy had appeared here and the Dragon vanished, but she needed to hear it confirmed from the mouth of the subject at hand. At a glance, Eijiro seemed to be human outside of the slightly odd shape of his pupils and the jagged nature of his teeth, sharp like the Dragon's had been, but it was nearly impossible to look at him and believe he had been a Dragon moments before.
He turned up a pained smile to her and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"It's 'your highness' not 'ma'am'," Shoto corrected in a distracted whisper.
The boy grit his teeth, embarrassed and fumbled to correct himself, "I'm sorry, ma'am- uh, your highness. I mean -ah!"
Eijiro cried sharply and started panting, gripping his gut. Momo's heart skipped a beat and she slapped her hands over her mouth to muffle her frightened gasp.
"Don't move around so much," Shoto demanded and pushed his arms away.
"I'm so sorry…" Momo choked, "This is all my fault."
Eijiro resisted Shoto but with a few more hard shoves the boy finally kept his arms away as Shoto peeled back the robes carefully from his torso. He touched the blood covered skin of Eijiro's sternum and Momo wrenched her eyes away, red in the face.
"You don't need to apologize," The boy panted through the pain that seemed sharper with every exploratory touch of the Mage's hand, "Ochako told me to stay in Landsleave… And I knew flying all of you out of there might reopen my wounds…" He laughed and it turned into a sob, "She's going to kill me, isn't she?"
Momo's chest panged and she opened her mouth to offer some comfort, but she was unable to get a word in edgewise from the next few minutes with the rapid conversation that overtook the five that knew each other already.
Shoto winced at Eijiro's words, "The blame is mine, you won't be taking it. All of this… Damn it. All for nothing-" The intense and angered turn of the Mage's face fell to confused wonder. "There's no external injuries. How?"
Eijiro shook his head and whined, beating away Shoto's hand again to grip his gut. "I don't know how it works, I just know how to do it."
"Magic requires fundamental understanding of the physical action, Eijiro, that's not possible..."
"I'm a Dragon, Mage," Eijiro clamped his sharp teeth, "Magic doesn't work the same for me as for you."
"That's amazing," the male elf tapped his lip.
"The line between ether and the world is slimmer for his species," Mina beamed at the Dragon, "They don't need books and spells to do magic. It's like how an infant can cast a spell before understanding its own fingers. I wish the Chieftains could talk to you. So few people have ever spoken to Dragons. There's so much we could learn."
"He won't be speaking to anyone if we don't get him help soon," the Captain stomped forward, venomously glaring down at the Mage and Dragon.
Shoto blinked a scowl back at him. "You aren't going to complain about us trying to keep a Dragon alive?"
"I'd rather have a Dragon on our side against the Archdemon than dead in this big fucking ditch. Get him on his feet so that Renegade Healer can fix him and we can get back to the mission. Where are chubby-cheeks and Nana anyway?"
"Her name is Ochako," Eijiro glared.
The Captain didn't give an inkling that he cared. His arms stayed crossed at the boy until his pursed expression fell away to answer the question.
"Izuku was hurt. They were headed back to the Outpost, but that's the last I saw of them."
"Then we either have to head back to the Outpost or we need another healer."
"There's no other healer we can go to." Shoto snipped, "He's a Dragon. A Synod Healer would never-"
"Of course, and once again the Synod fucks us over with it's daily dose of oppression. So, we get a healer that isn't Synod."
"Where? How? Renegade Healers don't advertise themselves, Katsuki!"
"What, the Synod is the only one allowed to have Healers?"
"Everything isn't always the Synod's fault. We have rules for reasons!"
"Lot of fucking good that's doing us now. For all their fucking dictates, we wouldn't even be in this damn situation if your people would just do their fucking jobs. It's no wonder you're running from them."
"I'm not running from anything!"
Shoto spun on Katsuki. The blood around Eijiro ripped from the ground and burst across Shoto's open palms.
Momo readily fell behind the protective arm of Tenya and shrieked lightly as red erupted from Shoto's eyes.
Eijiro and the elves were simply stalled in shock at the Captain standing his ground in the face of the most dangerous power known to man pulled so suddenly into the Mage's grip.
"Really?" Katsuki looked Shoto up and down, "Look at yourself! You run to Blood Magic pretty readily for someone still committed to Synod ideals."
The red glow intensified and the Captain's certainty faltered. Magic crackled like maroon lightning and escaped his skin in small bursts that seemed to shock Shoto as much as those around him.
"Shoto?" Eijiro gaped and the Mage threw about a look of confusion.
The Captain backed away and Tenya made a shield of himself in front of Momo.
Light flashed before their eyes, red, vibrant, blinding and it snapped in their ears like thunder. But when Momo looked around Tenya's shoulder the only destruction she saw was to the ground in front of Shoto's feet and the living, inky black of corruption that stretched past his fingers in choppy streaks down his hands.
Katsuki looked at him with angered confusion and Shoto stared at his hands in shock as the red disappeared from his eyes. He shuddered, mouth flapping open at the many eyes on him.
"I didn't- I wasn't trying to…"
"What happened?" The male elf asked.
"That was different… I-" Shoto looked to Eijiro and then whispered darkly, "Dragon's Blood…"
"What about it?" Eijiro blinked nervously as the elves started to whisper excitedly to one another.
Tenya breathed out heavily, wide eyed on the Mage. "It's as dangerous as they say."
Shoto stumbled and shook himself, "I wasn't trying to use it. I didn't realize what I was doing and then I couldn't control it."
"Fucking shit, Mage," Katsuki's curt words cut, "You could have killed all of us! What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I said already that I wasn't trying to do anything."
"That's not comforting," Momo mumbled softly to Tenya, but the Mage and Captain looked at her as though they'd heard.
The Captain was already livid enough to breeze past it, though.
"Fuck, it's always the same with you Mages," he grimaced, "Synod, Renegade, Fallen… you're all cursed and pretending like you've found the path to break it, but all you do is seek out more power and fucking destroy everything around you in the process. There's nothing so narcissistic in this world as a fucking Mage and it's no fucking wonder we have a Summoning per generation with how many of you jump so easily to the worst Magics!"
"You're wrong! That's not-"
"Your powers come from evil itself and you try to convince yourselves that using that evil for good will bring about some sort of salvation, but the ether claimed your soul the moment you were conceived. All of you belong to the ether and all of you will turn that power to evil if given a chance because that's what you are! You're no different than the Demons!"
Shoto's face fell hard. Not angered or scared like it had been, but devastated.
In light of his intense pain, Eijiro could only move slowly and painfully, but he pushed himself to his feet despite it, brow twisted at the Captain.
"It's not like that at all," Eijiro turned anxious eyes to Katsuki, "That's nothing like what Mages are…" He stopped to grip his stomach and whine lightly on the pain.
Shoto reached out towards him, but the dragon shook his head and wordlessly assured him that he would be alright.
"Really, Dragon, what the fuck are they then?" Katsuki's fists squeezed at his sides.
"I don't understand elves or humans as well as I should for being raised among you," Eijiro looked confidently to the Captain while his words were cut up, breathy and tight, "But I understand Mages well enough. They're souls are like mine. The ether doesn't own them, it just connects through them. Being in touch with the ether doesn't make them evil and using the power it gives isn't wrong. You are just as capable of being good or bad as they are. People like you treated me like an animal, Captain, they tried to mutilate and starve me, but a Renegade Mage gave me a life and a home. One Synod Mage looked at me for a moment and decided he wanted to mount my head on a wall and the other Synod Mage put himself in harm's way for me. And Shoto… his magic isn't his fault. He just… He-Ah unh!"
The excitement and determination caught up to him and Eijiro's legs gave out. He dropped to his knees, one hand hitting the dirt while the other still clutched his stomach. Blood spattered from his lips and he cried on the ache of the coughing fit he was thrown into.
Momo ran from Tenya's protection and crouched beside Eijiro as Shoto darted from his conflict to do the same. It seemed their similar guilt was not so easily dissuaded by Eijiro's assurance that it was his own fault that he was in this position. It did not comfort her or Tenya that she was so near the person that had lost rationality and turned Blood Magic on his friend a moment ago, but she couldn't stand to watch from a distance as the person who had saved her keeled over in agony and Tenya simply had to accept that he couldn't stop her.
"Be still, you don't have to defend me to Katsuki," Shoto ordered him.
Eijiro shook his head and fought to catch his breath. "You can't be fighting right now. There's no time. Izuku told me what you plan to do and we all need each other if we're going to defeat the Archdemon and find the real Summoner. We can't fight about our differences."
"The 'real Summoner'?" Katsuki frowned.
"The man we tracked down was a decoy and he still got away," Shoto brushed it aside quickly to the Captain's obvious displeasure and returned his focus to Eijiro, "What do you mean, 'we'?"
"I want to help," Eijiro smiled as they leaned him back on his haunches, "If I live that is. I want to prove something too, Shoto… Maybe we're also brothers." He laughed and Shoto's expression soured.
"Not to completely ignore the thousands of concerning things I've just heard, but the squabbles of Dragons and Blood Mages are irrelevant to me when our Queen needs to be taken to safety," Tenya interjected, "The boy, Dragon...whatever he is, needs a Healer, yes, but the King is dead and the new Queen is in danger… That is far more important than this needless arguing."
Katsuki sucked his teeth and cursed a few times before obtaining whatever his version of composure was. "Not important enough, though."
"Excuse me?" Commander Tenya startled.
"The damn kid is annoyingly right," Katsuki hissed, "We don't have time for this shit. We need to regroup and keep the Dragon alive so we can stop the Summoning. Whoever rules Gaetha next isn't half as important."
Momo's heart dropped. "But...you were the one that defended me from Lord Enji…"
"I stand by that and I'd do it again, but I don't have the time to help you get back to the Capitol before the barrier falls and the title of Queen becomes some etched markings on the rubble that'll be left of your Kingdom."
"It does matter because the ruler leads the armies that fight the very threat you claim to defend against!" Tenya countered.
"Not this time," Katuski grumbled.
"What does that mean?"
"It means politics can go fuck itself until the Archdemon is dead."
"Katsuki!" Shoto grit his teeth and fisted his hands on his thighs.
Momo's head spun with their repetitive return to arguing and how slowly her mind was keeping up with it all. She'd barely even come to terms with the reality of her father's death and she couldn't possibly hope to keep up with all the information being thrown around her.
Thankfully, and unexpectedly, the blond elf was the one to step forward and put the rising tensions to some sort of ease.
"How the hell do you humans get anything done?" He shook his head with a sigh, "I'll do this quickly so we can just move on before Eijiro dies of blood loss."
The elf passed looks between the Queen and Commander and he stopped Momo's heart in one sentence. "The fronts have already fallen."
"Your armies failed. The Synod failed to provide the proper magical forces and they haven't sent anyone in search of the Summoner. Mages can't banish Demons like they used to and we don't really know why, but they can be killed by Blood Magic. Nana almost killed the Archdemon with Blood Magic, but the anchor of the Summoner kept it alive. Our mission is to kill the Summoner and break the Archdemon's tether to our world so that Nana can kill it for real this time. But we only have a few weeks at most before the barrier she put up falls and the Archdemon destroys the world with vaguely any resistance from the big failure that is the Synod."
Momo couldn't even formulate a singular question to follow that with, but he was already continuing before she had a chance.
"We thought we had tracked the Summoner here, but Shoto seems to think we had the wrong man. So we still have to find the real person and get across the country to stop the Archdemon before the barrier falls."
"Oh." Was all Momo managed to say.
"That's…" Tenya couldn't get much past that either.
"Yeah," Katsuki pinched his nose, "Welcome to our fucking reality."
"Eijiro?"
The boy slumped and together Momo and Shoto barely caught him. His head lolled forward.
"What do we do?" Momo gasped, feeling as though the question was directed to everything that had happened today.
Mina crouched in front of Eijiro and glared at Shoto.
"If the two of you had stopped yelling for three seconds I would have already told you. We can find you a Healer. What are connections for after all? We just need to get him to Talistone."
"Why didn't you mention that sooner?" Katsuki barked and received a bitter look in response.
He crossed his arms and frowned at the ground, petulant, but understanding his answer had already been given.
"Denki," she addressed the blond elf, "You find Nana and Kyoka and I'll lead them to Talistone. Meet us at Chiyo's."
"Got it," he nodded.
"Wait, what-?"
The Commander didn't have a chance; the elf was already gone, lost to the light forest and rocks and shadows.
"Get him on his feet," Mina stood, "You may want to let your knight do that Miss Queen."
Momo shifted aside for Tenya to take her place and help Shoto lift the limp form of the boy from the ground. Seeing him from this angle she shuddered; he looked already dead.
Mina saw that too, but reacted quite differently. Her hand swung and there was an audible snap when she slapped him across the face. It startled him awake and simply startled everyone around him.
"Ow-! why?"
She ignored the complaint, especially since he was distracted by his pains once again and tossed her next order to Shoto. "Keep him awake."
Shoto gave her a short nod.
"You," she pointed at Momo, "Stay close to me. Katsuki, watch our rear."
"Since when do you give the orders?" the Captain was exasperated.
"Since I know where I'm going and you don't," Mina returned and grabbed Momo by the arm, "Form up and follow me. You can fight over who's going to save the world when the little Dragon isn't about to die."
