She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine AM
And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then- Rocket Man by Elton John
I hope it was more the pokes and stink from the rotting hay we were sleeping in that made me wake than anything else. I really don't want to think it might have been the way Katsuki and I were tangled together. Or the fact that I wanted to bury my nose into his skin, to get a better sniff of the scent that tried to cut the must. Not to forget how cold it was, and Katsuki was sinfully hot. I gritted my teeth before elbowing him hard enough to wake the dead.
"What the -!" He pushed me away, and I landed with a whumph and another sneeze attack. "What'd you do that for?"
I stood, dusting myself off, though I knew I would need a bath to get the feeling of the scratchy hay to go away, "We need to leave. Those men said something like a village being within a few kilometers." Katsuki ran a hand though his hair, dislodging a few straws, "We have a long walk ahead of us. We might be able to get help."
"You didn't have to poke a hole in me," he grumped sourly as he rubbed his rib. "I don't think any of these country folk are going to help us with pirates." He stood, too, "I had an idea about the walk, though."
"We have two apples." I held one out to him, "I propose we eat them and drink the water. We'll have to forage, or hope the village isn't too far away."
He scowled, grabbing the apple, "Don't you ever stop? I said I had an idea."
"I'm not part of your crew." My nose tipped up, "I don't worship the deck plating you stand on."
"I did not mean it that way. You were less annoying last night." He clutched the apple tight, I could see the veins on his hand stand, "Since we're partners let's work together, okay? We're a crew of two."
"I was scared, by the way. I have what it takes to survive, you know. I grew up in the under-city."
"Fine, yes, whatever." He smile was down right evil, "Do you want me to leave?"
It only took a half-second to come to the conclusion that two was, in this case, better than one. I firmed my voice, "Co-captains."
"There is no such thing," he rebutted before taking a bite out of the apple and chewing thoughtfully. "I'm the captain..." I opened my mouth, but he raised his brows, "And you're my first mate. We have to listen to each other, but I am positive I know more about survival than you."
"Maybe," I conceded, "But I speak a little French. I know more about where we are."
"The people in these villages," he began with a lecture tone that reminded me strongly of Midnight when she was about done with humanity, "fall into two categories, yes?"
My brow knotted as I worked though what he was getting at, "They would have been Christians or Catholics for the most part in this part of the world. On the other hand, some places might be devoid of morality. Supporting slavery, drug trade and manufacture, privateers..." I shrugged, "Lawlessness."
"Which confirms that I know more about the moon," Katsuki chuffed offhandedly. "As I was saying, in both situations, a woman traveling with a man will be less likely to end up in a worse situation than we were in." I opened my mouth, but he held out a hand in a placating gesture, "Look, we can share views on women's rights when we get moving." I clicked my mouth shut and gave him a resigned nod. "You don't do down?"
"No, not down." He was right. We had to go. Women in this world were at somewhat of a disadvantage, and I couldn't argue with him. "We'll have to take the ladder." I pointed to the remnants of the ladder that'd almost delivered our doom last night. "I can reduce our gravity a little and it'll probably not break." He gathered the blanket, "I'm sorry. I don't know what it is, but I really want to lash out."
He closed his eyes, and took a breath letting it out slowly, "I'm trying to be on my best behavior." His red eyes opened, gleaming even in the gloom of pre-dawn, "I argue with everyone. People jump when I say jump. I would say I'll treat you like my mother, but I'm worse around her."
"I don't like feeling like I've lost control."
"Does anyone?" He gave me a bare smile, "Now, how does the reduction work?"
I explained that I could touch his clothing and the things we were going to pack out to reduce our weight and he nodded. He mutely stood as I scooped up my dress, wrapping the empty milk bottle inside. I pressed my hand to the mass, and then quickly touched his clothing, making it stand away from his skin where it had been baggy. He offered the blanket and I relieved it of gravity, too, and we climbed the ladder.
Katsuki waited for me to get off and led us out of the barn. He walked around the corner and squatted low, pressing his hand to the dirt which fountained with a bang, leaving a hole and a singed smell hanging in the air. I looked at him questioningly.
"I don't know about you, but I got to.." He gestured at the hole lamely, "You know."
I blushed enough to double as a second sunrise, "Oh." I giggled in embarrassment, "Thanks, yeah, me too." I waited for him to leave, and did my business, kicking the dirt he'd cleared back into the hole. Anyone looking would know we'd been here. There was no helping that. I just hoped that by using our quirks and teamwork, we could get out of France safe.
He reappeared a few meters away, the remnants of what had been a roadway of some kind clearly marking the landscape.
"I wish I had my sextant." He checked the rising sun then stared at the sky, his eyes flicking back and forth as I watched him. He suddenly whooped, and pointed. I joined him, "It's Polaris, the North Star. We won't be able to see it when the sun comes up more, but now..." He nodded and started walking, "We can be reasonably sure that we're going North if we head toward that star, and start with the sun on our left."
We walked down the cart track while Katsuki scanned the horizon for landmarks that lined up with the North Star that we could use to navigate if the road petered out. I kept to his side, even now, happy to have company, even the slightly grumpy Katsuki. Inwardly, I chuckled, who was I to complain about grumpy people? My own Dabi was a colossal jerk to nearly everyone but the bridge crew and myself.
"You said you had an idea about the walk?"
"Right," Katsuki didn't stop, but he slowed a bit as he began to lay out his idea. "When you took off my gravity last night, it got me thinking. Had I fired off a small blast in the opposite direction, I could have flown to where ever I wanted."
"I don't know about that." It had been the first time I'd ever used it on another person, and I was glad he hadn't barfed like I had the first time I'd lifted myself. "I mean, the physics of it sound right, but I can't control anything more than up and an abrupt down." I waggled my hand high before dropping it, "I could easily kill someone like that." That scared me. I honestly had never even given thought to my ability to kill someone with just a touch.
"Even so, my blasts..." He held up his unoccupied hand, "It could be used like stabilizers. Like how my ship uses air jets to move on the X axis." He regarded me seriously, "Your ship does too, whether you know it or not."
"Is that how it works?" I agreed with him then, "We could test it. Do you think we're far enough from people?" I turned a smirk on him, "I'd hate to get caught because you're noisy."
He judiciously looked around, "This track hasn't been used in who knows how long. These ruts aren't fresh, at any rate. And I don't see any homes or smoke." He tipped his head to the side, where I scanned the view, "I'm pretty sure there used to be a house that went to that barn, but it's gone. Burned or torn down, maybe."
"Well," I studied my hands then him, "I suppose that we go like a ship. The engines on the bottom. If I null out my personal gravity, but return weight to our things we may balance out better."
His eyes widened, "You want to ride me?"
"I don't know how else it could work." I crossed my arms, "Unless you just planned on flying off and leaving me to walk. Which would be stupid."
"I!" He stomped close, his hands fisting, and I held my ground. There was no way my logic was wrong this time. "I was not going to leave you! I would have..."
"Carried me?"
He sagged in defeat, though simple thought could have kept this entire argument from happening. "No, of course. You're right. Just let me do it on my own just to get the hang of it first."
I nodded. That was reasonable at least. I reinstated the gravity of our things, and he handed the blanket to me, which I looped around, and tied to myself. He held his hands out and down-turned, a few smoking pops sounding as he visibly adjusted his ratios. I'd seen Dabi do the same thing when he needed to be precise and not just blow things to kingdom come.
"Go ahead." He firmed his jaw just as I lay my fingertips to it. He popped off an explosion, and he shot into the air like a bullet. I stared in fascinated horror.
He fired another shot out of just one hand, and a tight corkscrew had him going vaguely parallel to the ground. Oh, no. No thank you. I watched him as my stomach dropped out. I was going to die up there. My body, no one's body, was built for that, but I caught a look at his face, and it was nearly shining with excitement. He laughed, and blew another explosion, sending him rocketing up until another brought him back.
"Please stop!" I begged him, "Katsuki? It's okay if we walk, really!"
"Release my gravity," He was heading toward the ground, and even I could tell that it wouldn't hurt much when he landed, so I did as he asked. I heard the thrum of his landing, accompanied by laughter and lighter steps. I peeked, and he was capering in a circle.
"Yes, yes, yes!" He ran to me, lifting me effortlessly and spinning me in a circle, too, "Holy god, that was fucking great!" He set me down, "Oh, wow. Have you ever done anything like that?"
"No." I shook my head, my dread that he was going to demand that we start flying right away making the bile rise in my throat. "I hardly ever use my quirk, I don't like being weightless."
"You were okay with it last night."
"Yes, for a minute or two." I wrung my hands in real worry, "Watching that. I don't know if I can do it. I'm really sorry. Please don't make me do that." I could feel tears rolling over my cheeks, and I was disappointed in myself for my weakness.
"Hey," his voice quieted as he stepped closer, "Ah, shit. Fine." I wouldn't have heard him had he been any further away, but he was close enough for me to smell the after effect of the explosions, and the raw scent of what I was beginning to think of as 'Katsuki'.
He wrapped his arms around me, and though I felt even more disappointment that I didn't fight him, I wailed into his shirt as he stroked my hair and back.
"It'll be okay, Ochaco." His embrace tightened and he rested his chin on top of my head, just like my father used to do which made me cry all the harder. "Ochaco, listen to me, okay?"
I nodded and he continued, not breaking his embrace, "We both want to find a village. A radio, a jump ship, maybe. I've heard that some places may have railroads like the rest of the Protectorate. Our plan will work." He leaned away, though his arms barely moved, "You were trying hitch a ride a minute ago."
"I'm going to throw up in your hair," I sniffed, making my stomach roll queasily. "I don't want to throw up in your hair."
He let me go, his hands still gripping my shoulders, but now at an arm's length, "Ochaco, listen. This is your quirk. You can work on it, work on yourself, overcome what you only think are your limits." He smiled, "Please don't throw up on me."
I gave a shaky laugh, my tears leaving in the face of his encouragement, "I'll try." I looked him in the eye, and he must have been pleased by what he saw. He gave me a nod, his eyes reflecting mine in their ruby depths. His face grew serious as he broke contact.
He turned and lowered himself, "Get on, angel face."
I clambered onto his back, locking my ankles around his waist and locking my arms around his neck. He adjusted my grip and then held his arms stiff against my thighs.
"Are you ready?" I couldn't quell the quaver in my voice.
He nodded and I unlocked my hand long enough to press fingers to my neck and then his jaw. "Close your eyes, Ochaco." Twin booms stole my hearing for a few seconds, and I slammed my eyelids closed as we lifted off.
Our day was split into terrifying leaps that lasted anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes at a time to walking a patchy old concrete roadway that seemed to be running North. The flights weren't as horrible as I feared, and by the third time, I had gotten enough fortitude to open my eyes. But it wore on Katsuki who was doing all the work.
His quirk works with his sweat, so him working seemed a good idea, but weightless in the cold winter air didn't do much except deplete his bursts quickly. He explained about his gauntlet which had hidden vials that he could store his sweat in. I thought it sounded pretty gross, but it made sense. After noticing just how fast we moved and far we could get using our quirks, I dearly wished he had them.
Even so, I was glad that we spent more time on the ground. We came across creeks which were running fast enough to make me sure that the water was fresh. We filled our bottle and kept walking. Food was harder, since we were both city rats. In fact, I'd been tickled to find out the Katsuki had grown up in just slightly better circumstances than myself.
There were trees dotting the landscape, and the land we were traversing looked like it was fruitful. But it was nearly December, now. Farms don't usually produce in Winter. We spent some time searching around our first walk between leaps, and the best we ever found was what we decided was wild onions. Not exactly a meal.
We picked a few, and kept moving. Katsuki had gone though the Imperial Academy's survival course, and was a good shot with a rock, so he pocketed a few, and we kept a sharp eye for a bird or small animal to fill our stomachs and maybe even trade once we found a settlement.
Although the day was just a sullen overcast, and it had been clear last night, we could easily tell that the clouds on the horizon were going to rain on us. Or maybe snow. I'd vastly over estimated how comfortable these knickers were going to be. Even walking didn't warm me, and though Katsuki was very warm, blasting though the air nearly froze me. All in all, I began to pray that the first place we saw would have a hot bath and a working Ham Radio.
At mid-morning, we spotted a wide, long road that looked like what Dabi had called a Highway. The Federation had been full of them, and Katsuki had gotten excited at the sight of it. It was pitted and in places covered in vegetation. We walked on it, my eyes scanning for a sign or anything that would point to either where we were or where we were going. Just before we stopped to prepare for another jump, as we'd started calling them, I stumbled over something. I looked for the offender, and suddenly, the sight of curled metal winking dully in the weakened sunlight caught my eye. We'd managed to find a downed sign.
"Oh, thank god," I pulled weeds and branches off the weathered sign. It had faded and the parts that had been reflective cracked, but it was easy to read. "Royan," I pointed to the tall letters and gave a weary chuckle, "It's probably not a ryokan though is it?"
Katsuki studied the sign, "It looks like it used to be a big city." He gave the clouds gathering overhead a scowl, "We need to find a dry place to sleep. With it being some kind of..." He studied the sign, "It looks like it's a port, or used to be. Maybe there's a boat?"
"I nominate Royan as our destination, Captain."
AN/ I figure that their flying is something close to an average of 27 kph. This is based on the average speed of a couple of birds. What's that? Hawks and stuff fly fast? Not really. They dive fast and can 'sprint' but flight is around 30 - 40 kph. Google maps says it is 24 hour walk. But I did some math, it should work out. It's fiction. LOL Before I forget, ryokan is Japanese for 'tavern' or 'inn'.
