Hello earthlings! Let's pretend I wrote out the cavalry battle and it went really well and was nominated for a Pulitzer prize. Ok! Moving on! I own nothing except a dysfunctional computer.

The four teams that got through the cavalry battle were Izuku's, Kacchan's, Shinsou's and Todoroki's. Which was, honestly, about what everyone in the audience had expected.

Izuku paced back and forth in the waiting room. They'd been given a thirty minute break before the next round started, and he was using it to have a small freak out. He would have to fight Shinso. Shinso, who could literally control minds. There was no way this could go well for him.

"Try to calm down, Midoriya," Iida advised from where he sat with Uraraka. "You are not going to help anything by just pacing back and forth like this."

"I know, I know, I'm just so…"

"I understand completely, but it is better to just relax before a fight."

"Easy for you to say," Uraraka grumbled. "I'm going against Bakugo."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"Well, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Uraraka gave Izuku a look of complete disbelief. "I'm just a fairly weak witch! You have a magic sword and you weren't even able to beat him!"

"Just keep calm, Uraraka. I'm sure you will be able to prevail as long as you are able to come up with a plan."

The girl forced a nervous smile. "Thanks, Iida. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Midoriya," Todoroki said, appearing at the door to the room, "can I speak to you alone for a minute?"

"Um…" Izuku looked at his friends for help but they just shrugged helplessly at him. "Sure?"

Todoroki scared Izuku. He could admit that. The other boy was extremely powerful- both because of his sorcery and the fact that he was the future king of Uyay. And he was so intense. Izuku had never seen him really smile once in the two months they'd been at the academy. So he was a bit nervous to face Todoroki in the hallway alone.

With no preamble and a completely straight face, Todoroki said, "Are you King All Might's secret love child?"

Izuku literally choked on air.

"Um… um… no! Of course not! Why… of course not!"

"You weren't surprised when you found out that he was our teacher, and you two seemed to know each other fairly well. I need to know if you have a more valid claim to the throne than I do."

Well, Izuku did… but not exactly like that. "Um, no. I'm definitely not his child, and even if I was, I still wouldn't have a claim to the throne unless the Ruling Sword chose me."

Todoroki gestured at the sword at Izuku's side. "Well?"

"This isn't the real thing, it's just a replica!"

"Ah." For some reason, Todoroki looked slightly disappointed. "I was hoping that since All Might doesn't want his throne back that you would."

"So… you don't want to be king?"

"No. I don't want my father to be king."

Izuku obviously looked confused, because Todoroki continued. "My father isn't a good person. He turns a blind eye to both the way demons and other non-human creatures are treated throughout the kingdom and the demon attacks on poor villages. He doesn't care about any of the beings of the kingdom besides for the ones that can benefit or help him in some way. He's the reason I have this scar."

"Did he…"

"He was cruel to his family. He forced my mother to keep having children until she had me- the perfect mix of fire and ice sorcery, one who would make a good heir to either All Might or, if All Might never came back, himself. Then he isolated me from my siblings and trained me rigorously while ignoring the others. My mother snapped and poured water from a kettle she was boiling on my left side because she didn't want to look at me and be reminded of my father. Father then banished her to an asylum."

As Izuku stared at him in utter shock, Todoroki continued. "I swore that I would never use my fire sorcery in combat situations again. It's too volatile and too many people could get hurt. And I won't be like my father. I'm going to show him that I can win the Sports Festival with only my ice sorcery. And I'm going to be a better king then he ever was." He said all of that with a completely deadpan face and voice, which was somehow the worst part to Izuku.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I want you to tell All Might this so he'll take the throne back."

"I'm so sorry-"

"I don't want your sympathy. I want you to convince All Might to retake the throne, and rule until he finds an heir."

"I don't think I can do that."

"Then I guess I'm going to be the king and I'm going to be better than either of them." With that, he walked away, leaving Izuku standing in the hallway, more than a little confused about what the hell had just happened.

"Please welcome Izuku Midoriya and Hitoshi Shinso to the arena!"

Izuku took a deep breath and walked out into the sunlight. Shinso was standing across from him, frowning. As usual. This was probably the first time they'd actually interacted with each other since what happened at the USJ, which the other boy also seemed to have realized. They stared at each other as Present Mic listed their various achievements and such.

"Aaaand start!"

Izuku moved first, yanking out his sword and sprinting towards the boy. As long as he didn't respond when he talked, this would most likely be an easy fight.

"So," Shinso said casually, pulling out his scarf-like capture weapon, "What's your connection to All Might?"

When Izuku ignored him, the other boy just shrugged and continued, dodging out of the way of Izuku's attacks- which, for the moment, were not supernaturally fast because Izuku wasn't sure if the strength that the Sword gave him had limits on how much it could give him at once- while simultaneously launching his own with his long scarf- thing and having a full conversation. Which was pretty impressive. "Well then, do you know why he's working at the school after he abandoned the kingdom for eight years? Do you know why he's acting like he cares about Uyay now, after letting Endeavor rule us for so goddamn long? Does he even know what was happening to people like us?"

Not talking back may be harder than Izuku had thought it was going to be.

"You have a replica of the Ruling Sword, right? So obviously you must be a big fan of his. So do you know why he abandoned us for so long? Why, now that he's back, he doesn't seem to care about everything Endeavor's doing and is willing to just let Uyay fall apart and let the people who aren't perfect humans get tortured or killed? Like your parents. One of them's an elf, right? Are you really ok with your hero All Might just letting them be treated like crap?"

"He-"

That single syllable that Izuku hadn't really meant to say was all Shinso needed to take control of his mind. The half-elf turned and walked towards the boundaries of the circle the fighters were supposed to stay inside. Once he went outside the circle, the fight would be over. He would lose, but he didn't really have a choice. How could he fight against his own brain?

Ten steps away. Eight. Six. Time was running out for Izuku to think of a brilliant plan, but being under Shinso's control made thinking so much harder. Izuku could feel his feet moving but that was about as far as his awareness went. It felt like he was trapped in his own mind.

Three steps away. Two. One.

As Izuku walked, he suddenly remembered the One for All pathway that he and All Might had tossed the Ruling Sword back and forth in during the battle. Maybe All Might had met with Koshai before and knew how to deal with their mind control. They'd gotten better at communicating through it. Izuku imagined opening a door in his mind to the pathway and called silently, All Might?

He can't help you.

Suddenly eight shadowy figures with glowing eyes materialized in front of him. All of them stared at him, and one of them stepped forward and reached one hand towards Izuku. Shinso's control seemed to disappear as the half-elf reached one hand forward to touch the figure's.

And there was an explosion and a blinding flash of light and a voice in his head saying, He chose well.

Izuku snapped back to reality to hear the crowd screaming and to see Shinso staring at him in shock. "No one's ever broken my control before," the boy said quietly.

Without wasting another second, Izuku whipped around and charged at Shinso, using his enhanced speed to throw several punches before the shocked boy could react and knocking him out of the circle. The crowd screamed even louder than before, and Present Mic's voice boomed out, "In a shocking twist, the win goes to Izuku Midoriya!"

Both boys ignored all the commotion as they stared at each other. Shinso whispered, "How did you do that?"

"All Might asked you to keep his secret. It's not very likely anyone else heard you, but…"

"I know. I tried to keep my voice down, but… I just… I got carried away. Sorry."

"He trusted us."

"He abandoned us."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I guess I just said it because I knew you looked up to him."

"And?"

"Part of it was because I believed it."

"Why?"

"Ok, listeners!" Present Mic shouted from above. "I don't know what kind of dramatic heart to heart you are having down there, but you need to move so we can get the next match set up!"

Izuku extended a hand to Shinso. "Talk later?"

After a second, the other boy took it. "Whatever."

Ochako took a deep breath. Kirishima and some guy from 1-B were having what looked to be a brawling match, and, according to what she could hear of Present Mic's commentary from the back room, Kirishima was gaining ground. Which was great, except for the fact that as soon as this match was over she'd have to go fight Bakugo, who was perhaps one of the scariest sixteen year olds she'd ever met. He had really strong sorcery, a lot of control over it, and seemed like a total jerk, though Midoriya had actually said that he wasn't a bad person, just a little… he hadn't finished that sentence because Bakugo had come into the room.

As the girl tried not to freak out, Midoriya called from the couch where he was sitting with Iida, "Hey! Uraraka! Come over here for a second, I need to show you something."

"So I've known Kacchan since we were little kids," the boy said, gesturing as he spoke. "He's super strong and smart, yeah, but sometimes if you make him really angry he gets sloppy. I have some strategies-"

"Thank you, Midoriya, but I'll be fine."

Both boys looked very concerned. "Uraraka…" Iida said slowly, "You can't go to fight Bakugo without a plan. He's very strong and intelligent, and he is unpredictable-"

"No!" Uraraka took a deep breath. "Thank you, but no. I have my own plan. I want to prove to everyone watching that I can win on my own, without the help of my friends. So… I'll be doing this."

"You don't have anything to prove."

"But I do." They didn't understand. They couldn't. Uraraka was a girl, and in her region, girls weren't expected to fight. They were expected to sit there while the men went off to battle demons or whatever. Even most of the witches just made potions for healing and occasionally used spells to defend the town and the nearby villages, because that was all they knew how to do.

More than that, Uraraka's parents were very poor, which was why she'd joined a coven in the first place. She'd tried to get money to the poor city construction workers before realizing that even in the bigger cities, being a member of a coven- even once she was an adult and could actually make money instead of learning the different spells- didn't pay a lot. The leader had told her that much and even encouraged her to become a hero because it paid better. And yes, that was a horrible reason to become a hero, but helping strangers was good too! She just wanted to help her parents more.

She had to prove to the people who thought that she was weak because she was a girl, because her parents were just poor humans, because she was the first witch to be born into her family, that they were all wrong. She had to prove that was good enough to support her family and she had to prove to the heroes watching this that she was good enough for them to teach her.

And to do that, all she had to do was put up a fight against one of the top two fighters in her grade.

"And Kirishima pulls out a win!" Present Mic's voice boomed out across the stadium. "Good job to both of you boys! In five minutes, we will begin the fight between Katsuki Bakugo and Ochako Uraraka!"

Ochako breathed deeply and started walking towards the door. The boys, who were standing up to leave and go sit in the stands, looked at her nervously. "Uraraka-" Midoriya started again.

Shaking her head, Ochako raised one hand in a trembling thumbs up. "I got this, guys," she said softly before walking out of the room and into the center of the arena.

Almost as soon as Present Mic yelled, "Start!" Bakugo attacked, hurling explosions at Ochako that she was barely able to dodge or deflect. Luckily, they tore up the ground beneath her. The girl subtly touched each decent-sized chunk of ground, muttering a flotation spell as she went and sending them all flying into the sky. Bakugo hadn't noticed because he was too focused on trying to catch her, which was what she wanted.

Ochako knew that she wasn't too good at defensive actions, and Bakugo was much better than her in the offensive scene. But maybe, if she could wear him down, his defensive capabilities would decrease and her attack would actually work. Doing that, though, required her making him release as many explosions as she could, which would be hard.

As the boy ran at her Ochako changed tactics, running straight at him as if she intended to try and touch him and send him up into the sky or use her other spells. She was mainly an air witch, though, which may not be the most useful thing to be in this situation but the flight spell could come in handy. She wished that she had practiced more with the spell that could float things without having to touch them first, but that one required much more energy than she could spare right then. She'd only use that spell as a last resort.

Bakugo sent explosion after explosion at her, all of which she was able to deflect with a wind defensive spell. The effort of keeping up two entirely different, difficult spells at once was starting to drain on her, though, especially since she was still touching fragments of the ground with her hand and sending them hurtling into the sky.

By then, Bakugo was surrounded by a huge cloud of smoke, which was probably lowering his visibility, judging by how his explosions were coming even further from Ochako. The girl grinned, casting a quick spell that would make the smoke go into Bakugo's eyes and buy her a few seconds. She could hear the boy cussing and smiled wider. Her play had bought her a few seconds to touch more fragments of the ground.

But there still weren't nearly enough for what Ochako had in mind. She grimaced and let go of her jacket, delicately floating it to right behind Bakugo, which required her to lose control of the smoke. Bakugo saw the movement of her jacket, whipped around with an explosion ready-

And somehow realized that she was attacking from the other direction, turned, and set off an explosion right in her face.

Ochako felt like screaming, because that hurt. A lot. She couldn't see what was happening, but it felt like there was blood dripping down her face and that she'd just been heavily burned. A bunch of people were shouting in the stands, but she ignored them. She summoned a cool breeze to soothe her face and was able to force her eyes open just in time to see Bakugo's fist coming at her stomach and knocking her onto her back.

That time Ochako was able to recover quickly enough to roll out of the way of Bakugo's next explosion, as well as summon up a gust of wind to knock him off his feet. It didn't work, so Ochako summoned as much wind as she could to surround him. That seemed to work.

Bakugo was yelling, trapped inside a miniature tornado and setting off explosions at random, all of them in her general direction, but she'd already moved backwards. She could see the pieces of the ground flying everywhere, but she couldn't get close enough to touch them. Ochako sighed silently and ran straight at the tornado only to get slammed backwards by an explosion. The wind collapsed and Bakugo stood there, with very much messed up hair but otherwise not hurt. Ochako forced herself to get up and charge him again but had lost almost all of the energy she'd had at the start of the match and was unable to get out of the way of an explosion in time.

More people were yelling in the stands now, but Ochako couldn't hear them over the ringing in her ears. She could barely hear anything except the sound of her own breathing. Using so many spells in such a short period of time was starting to make her nauseous, but she had to keep going. Had to beat Bakugo. Had to somehow get more rocks into the sky.

And the only way to do that was to let him keep hitting her.

So she did. She was able to deflect some explosions with a wind spell but it was much weaker than it had been before and so she got hit with at least some of the explosions' force almost every time. Bakugo seemed to notice this because his attacks got more passionate, as if he could sense she was reaching the end of her energy reserves.

Finally Ochako reached the point where she could no longer stand and collapsed onto her knees. Bakugo looked down at her, an explosion already crackling in his hands. There were a lot of fragments lying around the stadium- probably enough for her plan to work.

"I'm surprised," Bakugo muttered. "Thought you'd hold out for longer."

Ochako just grinned and raised one hand. All of the fragments on the ground flew into the sky and hovered just above Bakugo's head. The boy barely had time to cuss before they all fell towards him, Ochako barely managing to roll out of the way.

Bakugo set off the biggest explosion she'd ever seen, breaking up nearly all the chunks of rock, and Ochako felt like crying. She'd almost done it. She'd gotten so close, but her plan had failed. Apparently Bakugo did have more energy and stamina than she did.

She'd lost.

The boy walked towards her, looking actually… tired? He actually looked kind of tired as he raised a hand towards her face.

Ochako tried to move but could barely drag herself an inch. She had to keep going, but she was completely out of magic and energy. The last attack had taken everything. Every part of her hurt from the many explosions she'd been hit with. Finally she lay her head down on the floor of the arena, trying desperately not to cry out of disappointment.

"You win."

Almost as soon as the match was over, Izuku had seen Uraraka be carried off on a stretcher. She'd been the most upset he'd ever seen her, even when the villains had attacked. He really hoped she hadn't heard what the people watching the match had been saying.

Many of them had said- very loudly- that Kacchan should have gone easy on Uraraka because she was "just a girl". Even Present Mic had said something along those lines before Aizawa had corrected him. Even some of their male classmates had apparently tried to talk to Kacchan about it but the boy had just ignored them, saying that he'd known that Uraraka was stronger than everyone thought. And she was. She was the closest student that Izuku had ever seen to actually beat Kacchan.

'Well, Midoriya?" Asui said, leaning closer to him. "Are you ready to fight Todoroki?"

Izuku nervously laughed and rubbed his neck. "Well, I don't really know. He's super strong and stuff, and I don't know if I can really… beat him."

"Of course you can, Midoriya! Todoroki may be very powerful but I have full faith in your abilities!"

"Thanks, Iida." It was a little deeper than that, because Izuku wasn't sure if he even wanted to fight Todoroki. Of course he wanted to win, but after hearing about all the stuff his parents did to him, he kinda just wanted to help Todoroki. Plus there was the fact that the prince's last fight with Sero had lasted approximately thirty seconds, which didn't bode well for Izuku. Sero could've had it worse, though. He could've been turned into a walking advertisement for various inventions before his opponent just walked out of the ring like it didn't matter.

"In five minutes, the fight between Shoto Todoroki and Izuku Midoriya will begin!"

"Good luck, guys!" the rest of their classmates called as the two boys stepped together into the arena. As soon as the door closed behind them, Todoroki looked at Midoriya.

"I don't want pity."

"Good, because I don't. Pity you, I mean."

"I mean it."

"Yeah, and I don't."

As Todoroki walked to the other side of the arena, Izuku realized that was true. He didn't really pity the other boy. He just decided that he was going to try and help him in the only way he knew how when dealing with people that stubborn: fight him.

Even if it meant not winning the Sports Festival. Because that was what real heroes did. They sacrificed themselves to help others.

"Are you ready, listeners? Aaaand start!"

The two boys warily circled each other for a few seconds before Todoroki sent a huge wall of ice in Izuku's direction, which the boy quickly broke through. Ice was easy to fight with a big sword, and after several weeks of watching him fight, the prince and heir of Uyay was predictable.

"Come on, Todoroki!" Izuku yelled as he attacked. The prince sent a blast of ice at him that Izuku quickly flipped over, forcing him to summon his own ice sword. "You're not gonna win this!"

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do, because you won't use your fire sorcery, and without it, I'm just as strong as you!"

The boys' blades met in midair, shattering Todoroki's blade completely. The boy stumbled backwards, looking straight at Izuku. It was hard to tell, but it looked like he was starting to get kind of angry. "You don't know anything."

"You're holding yourself back for no reason besides stubbornness, aren't you? You have fire sorcery, if you want to be a good king you should use it to help people, shouldn't you?"

Maybe that was a little too far, but Izuku hated this entire situation. Todoroki had the life Izuku wanted- rich, completely human, politically powerful, in a position to actually help people, and powerful sorcery. But he wasn't using his sorcery the way it was supposed to be used, because of what? Yes, Endeavor was a terrible person who deserved to be imprisoned for what he did, but Todoroki wasn't his father. He controlled his own actions, and he was the one who decided he wasn't going to use his fire sorcery even though it could help people.

Todoroki looked even angrier now. He sent a blast of ice across the ground at Izuku but the boy was able to jump out of the way. "You don't understand. I have to prove to him that I can be better than he is! I have to prove that I'm not him!"

"Of course you're not him! But that doesn't mean you have to give up part of yourself to prove it! Your fire sorcery is part of you, just like your ice sorcery!"

"Shut up and fight me!"

The ice creeping across the ground caught up with Izuku, but he sliced through it with his sword. He circled around to Todoroki's left side, continuing to stay on that side even as the other boy moved. He wouldn't let him waste his talent any longer. "It's not his! The fire is yours, and you choose when and where you use it! He did horrible things to you, and he may want to tell you when to use your sorcery, but he doesn't decide that, you do! You can be better than him, right?!"

"Just shut up!" Todoroki was actually upset now, and his ice attacks were getting faster, but still Izuku deflected, smashed, or cut through every one, still trying to get closer to Todoroki's left.

"It's your power," Izuku screamed as loudly as he could, lunging straight at Todoroki's left with his sword extended, "isn't it?"

The entire stadium, who probably hadn't heard any of their conversation besides for that, all seemed to hear that because they started murmuring to each other loudly enough that Izuku could hear him. But all he could see was the boy barely a foot away from him.

His eyes were wide and unseeing, as if, for just that second, Todoroki was somewhere else. And then, right before Izuku's sword made contact with his side, his entire left side was engulfed in flames.

Izuku pulled back quickly as the audience screamed and jumped to their feet. As if from far away, he could hear Present Mic shouting, "Well, this is a twist! The prince, who has never been seen using his fire sorcery for anything besides melting ice, looks like he is using it in this fight! Is Izuku Midoriya really that much of a threat?"

Todoroki grinned at Izuku as, somehow, his right side defied the extreme heat and started to freeze over. "You wanted my fire, Midoriya? Well, you got it!"

Finally. Izuku grinned back. Of course, he realized that he'd probably just signed his own death warrant, but maybe, just maybe, he'd helped the prince. Somehow. He wasn't exactly sure what he'd said, it'd all just came out as he tried to fight… "Bring it on, prince!" The green electricity that surrounded Izuku whenever he used the sword in a real fight crackled around him, making him even stronger.

Somehow the boys had ended up on different sides of the stadium when Todoroki had lit up. Izuku had probably just gone back further than he meant to. As the watchers in the stands cheered and screamed, the two stared at each other, and, in the same moment, charged forward, Todoroki sending blasts of fire out from his hand and Izuku using his speed to cover as much ground and gain as much momentum as possible. This was possibly the strongest Izuku had ever felt, which was strange, because when he was in actual life or death situations he hadn't felt anywhere near this strong.

The audience was screaming and the Ruling Sword was glowing bright green by then and somehow Izuku knew that there was no way this match could end well, but still he ran forward. His desire to help people may have temporarily beat out his desire to win the Festival, but now it was back in full force and he knew that if he wanted to really win, he had to beat out a fully-powered Todoroki.

Right before the boys collided, a huge wall of rock sprang out from the ground. It wasn't strong enough to completely stop the boys, but it did enough. As the wall exploded in a burst of fire and green lightning, Izuku was rebounded backwards and, for about two seconds, completely blacked out.

When he came back, he was lying on the ground, a few inches outside of the white line. Todoroki was slowly getting to his feet, the entire left side of his uniform burnt away, and he was still inside the white line. Barely, but still inside.

Izuku groaned and leaned back. That was it. He was out of the Sports Festival. Todoroki had won.

But on the bright side, he'd helped someone who looked like they needed help- even if it wasn't completely obvious that they did. It may not look like much. Most of the people watching would never know about what Izuku had said.

But Izuku would, and Todoroki would, and maybe because of this Todoroki would start to heal, and, to Izuku, that would be enough.

"And the winner of the last round of the semifinals is Katsuki Bakugo! Wow, these 1-A kids are on a roll! We'll be back in thirty minutes for the ultimate conclusion!"

"That doesn't surprise me," Yaoyorozu said stiffly from where she sat next to Tenya in the stands. "Bakugo is a very powerful sorcerer, and while Tokoyami is also very capable, his main weakness- light- is Bakugo's strength."

"I had not thought of it that way. Excellent point!"

Kaminari, who was sitting a few chairs away, laughed. "You two are always so formal!"

Tenya wasn't really sure how to respond to that, so he looked back down at the arena and watched the clean-up crew begin to tidy up the area. Bakugo and Tokoyami's fight hadn't made too much of a mess, but the ground had still been torn up by Bakugo's explosion in several areas

His first UA Sports Festival had gone fairly well. He'd placed reasonably well in the obstacle course and his team had done well in the cavalry battle, even if he regretted not being able to partner with Uraraka and Midoriya. He'd known Todoroki for a long time but that was mainly only because of their parents. The two smaller teenagers were likely the first friends he'd ever made without his parent's interference, but he'd promised his mother he'd do all he could to cement his connections to the Todoroki family.

And while Tenya's first match against Hatsume had gone… not well, his second one against the earth sorceress from 1-B would have pleased his parents if they were there, and he'd been able to fight off Todoroki for a decent amount of time, considering that he had no magic whatsoever.

The prince had seemed the exact same when Tenya fought him. He still hadn't used his fire sorcery to do anything really offensive, despite whatever Midoriya had said to him when they fought.

Most of the court knew- or at least suspected- why Todoroki refused to use his fire sorcery, but refused to talk about it. Whenever Tenya had gone to his parents about some bruise or burn he'd seen on the other boy while they were playing, they'd told him that "the king's business was his own, and we have no right to interfere in it." Tensei thought that was stupid and had told Tenya that many times, but there was nothing either of them could do about it. And it had gotten better since the boys had turned thirteen.

Or at least Todoroki was better at hiding it and Tenya hadn't really talked to him in a little while. Honestly, Tenya was worried about him.

After his last match, Midoriya had apparently taken significant damage and had been sent to Recovery Girl to be examined and Uraraka had been so upset after her match with Bakugo that she'd asked permission to go back to her dorm to be alone. She'd also had a lot of burns, scratches, and bruises but refused to have any of them except the broken bones treated, saying that they'd heal on their own. While Tenya did not agree with that line of thinking and had tried to talk her out of it, it was her choice.

Which reminded him that maybe he should go check on his friends. The stadium was fairly close to the USJ so it would probably be too far for Tenya to get to the dorms and back before the next match started, but maybe he'd be able to visit Midoriya at the makeshift hospital someone had set up right outside the stadium. He stood up and walked back into the waiting room.

As soon as he stepped out of that room and into the hallway that led to the rest of the campus, a young messenger ran up to him. "Are you Tenya Iida?" he panted, nearly doubling over.

"Yes?"

"Someone just sent a message to the principal through Mind-Speak."

"Mind-Speak?" Mind-Speak was the most common form of magical communication, but it was very expensive and, if it was over a long distance, difficult for the message sender and the sorcerer they'd paid to send the message. If someone had sent a message to the principal using that, it must be important, but Tenya didn't see how it applied to him.

"It's from your mother. She said for you to come to Hosu City right away. Something happened to your brother."

Bakugo was a tough opponent.

Shoto was fully aware of this. The other boy would be hard to beat, especially since Shoto was already tired from the other fights. Maybe Bakugo would be tired too, and they'd be evenly matched, but somehow Shoto doubted it. He'd used up too much of his sorcery in the first match with Sero because of how angry he was, and then there was the thing with Midoriya…

The match with Midoriya. Shoto still wasn't sure how to feel about that.

On one hand, he'd done what he'd always sworn not to do: he'd used his fire. On the other hand, it had felt good. It had felt like he had been holding something back for most of his life, and in that moment, he was free.

Of course, there was also the downside of the fact that his father had been pleased with him.

"Shoto!" King Endeavor declared, meeting Shoto in the hallway leading back to the relative safety of the 1-A waiting room. The prince sighed and stared in that direction.

"What do you want, Endeavor?"

"You used your fire."

"Yes, I did."

"I'm proud of you. You will-"

"I didn't do it for you." Shoto pushed past his father and kept walking. Now that he was no longer on fire, the side of his body that no longer had a uniform on it was cold and he wanted to change.

"Don't walk away when I'm speaking to you!"

Almost without meaning to, Shoto flinched- not enough so that anyone who didn't really know him would notice- and turned around. "What do you want me to say? I didn't do it for you."

"Why'd you do it?"

"Because…" Shoto thought about it for a few moments. "Because I wanted to win and I forgot you existed. All I could focus on was how badly I wanted to beat Midoriya. You didn't matter."

"That's fine. What's important is that you actually used it." Endeavor smiled slightly. "It's an excellent symbol for the kingdom to keep in mind. My son and heir beat a boy with a copy of the Ruling Sword."

Shoto nodded, deciding to not mention his theory that it wasn't actually a copy. "Yes, Endeavor. I'll keep that in mind. Can I go change into a different uniform now?"

"Yes, my son." As Shoto nodded and started walking away again, the king called, "Keep up the good work, Shoto. Make me proud."

He didn't want his father's pride. He wanted… he wasn't sure what he wanted.

Why had Midoriya done all of that? He could have won, but instead he'd tried to get Shoto to use his fire sorcery for no real reason. Why? Was it pity? Somehow, Shoto didn't think it was. Midoriya didn't seem like the pitying type.

The fight with Iida had been simple enough. Shoto had only had to use his fire sorcery once- to scare Iida into slipping on the ice covering the ground so that Shoto could trap him. But fighting against Bakugo would be harder. He may have to use more of his fire than he'd ever want to.

"Make me proud."

The match began.

Shoto's siblings were playing in the courtyard. He tried to run to them, but couldn't because of how hard his father gripped his arm as he pulled him through the castle to the room that he trained in.

"You're not like them, Shoto. You're special."

Bakugo attacked first, causing Shoto to quickly put up an ice shield. The other boy twisted out of the way and kept scrambling backwards as Shoto sent wall after wall of jagged ice at him. Even as he replaced the ice walls Bakugo destroyed, Shoto was thinking.

As he vomited at his father's feet, Shoto could feel the king's shame and embarrassment for having such a weak, worthless son. He didn't want to be weak, or worthless. His mother ran in and wrapped him in a hug, crying, "Enji, he's just a child!"

"He's my heir. He has to be strong enough to take anything."

Should Shoto use his fire sorcery?

Bakugo came at him again, but he wasn't sending explosions at random anymore. Maybe he was tired, and he wanted to save his sorcery the best he could. Shoto found himself not really caring. All he cared about was winning… wasn't it?

His mother hadn't really wanted him to win. She'd been the one to hold him after one of Endeavor's "trainings" had gone bad, the one to tell him that he wasn't a failure, that he was worth something, and Endeavor had broken her.

"I can't do this anymore," Momma sobbed, alone in her chambers, shaking wildly. One of the servants had brought her a still-steaming tea pot that was sitting on the table, unused. "Shoto… my baby…"

"Momma?" Shoto whispered, poking his head into her room.

The woman turned to face him. Normally she was smiling, but this time she wasn't. This time her eyes looked weird. "I'll fix you…" she whispered to herself. "You won't look like your father. You won't be your father. I'll save you, my baby."

She carefully picked up the tea kettle and stepped closer to Shoto. "I'll save you."

"What the hell are you just standing around for?" Bakugo raged, dodging another of Shoto's ice attacks. "Use your fire!"

Shoto had loved his mother more than anything. She was the only person besides Endeavor who was allowed to talk to him. And she was gone. He hadn't been allowed to see her since that day.

Bakugo looked like he was preparing something big. Explosions swirled around him in a tornado of smoke and fire. It looked like something Shoto should have been more concerned about. Maybe it was the big move he'd been bragging about to some of his friends the other day.

The blond boy began to rise in the air, setting off one explosion after the other until it was even more of a tornado. Shoto had no idea how it worked, but it was sorcery. Talented sorcers could do a lot with it.

"I was wrong to let you have so much contact with your mother," Endeavor said sternly, looking down at Shoto sitting on the bench in the hospital. "She will be sent to a place where she can get better, and I will have all of the nerve damage to your face healed, but I will ask that they keep the scar, as a reminder of-"

Even though Shoto couldn't see through the bandage covering his left eye, he still glared at his father. "This is your fault! I won't be like you! I won't use your power to hurt anyone else!"

And he hadn't. He'd used it to unfreeze his opponents frozen in ice on occasion, but never to actually fight. Until today, with Midoriya, when he'd just… snapped.

It was his power. Not his father's.

Bakugo's tornado began to quickly advance towards Shoto. Only seconds until it hit him, but he could probably use his fire to break it up and maybe, if Bakugo had really used all his energy on this one attack, maybe he could beat him. Maybe he could win.

But did he really want to?

Did it matter? The kingdom needed him to win. They needed to see that their future king was the strongest young person in the kingdom, so if anything, he should be fighting for him. It was on his shoulders.

But at the same time, there was the chance that he wasn't the real king. If All Might could find an heir, then he wouldn't have to be king. Shoto didn't really want to be king. He'd never really wanted to be king, but he'd never really had a choice.

But none of that mattered, because Bakugo was coming right at him and he had to do something. Shoto raised his left hand.

"Momma!" Shoto yelled, crawling onto his mother's lap. "Tell me about the Ruling Sword!"

"Are you sure? You've heard that story so many times…"

"Come on, Momma!"

"Ok, ok!" The woman laughed and put one arm around Shoto. "You know your father doesn't like me telling these stories."

"I don't care!"

"Alright, honey. Do you want to hear about the time All Might saved the capitol from a demon horde?"

"Yeah!"

Shoto's mother had been one of the best people ever. And Endeavor and his fire had broken her. The boy could feel his father's eyes on him, watching. Always watching. Watching for any sign of weakness in his perfect son.

As Bakugo slammed into him with the force of a hurricane, Shoto was so lost in his head that he didn't fight back and let himself be thrown backwards and out of the circle. He heard something crack as he landed and felt a flare of pain coming from his leg, but it almost seemed like the screaming, frantic audience was in more pain than he was. Shoto could practically hear his father screeching at him from the special box always set aside for visiting royalty.

That was that. He'd lost the Sports Festival.

And he was almost, weirdly, satisfied.

If he was going to win, he was going to do it without having to think about his father. He was going to get over all of his issues with the king and be better than he ever was by next year.

The boy leaned his head back on the ground. He was so tired, and everything hurt, but he was satisfied.

"Goddammit!" Bakugo yelled. He was strangely upset, considering the fact that he'd won. Before Shoto could do anything, he'd lunged over and grabbed Shoto by the collar, holding him up. "Fight me, you asshole! You don't get to just give up like that! I want to beat you when you were using all your power!"

"Well… um… the winner of this year's Year One Sports Festival is Katsuki Bakugo! Please let go of the prince so we can get him medical attention!"

This is the longest chapter I've ever written. I guess quantity over quality, right? Anyway, leave a review with plot suggestions, constructive criticism, and words of encouragement! Later, potaters!