Chapter Text
Dragons had not been seen for nearly two decades after the rise in the usage of dragon scales for armor led to the extinction of the majority of the dragon population. His own set of hand-me-down dragon-scale armor haunted him from the weapons closet. Every time he dressed in it for combat training, he couldn’t help how the thoughts of their populations being hunted down just to be slaughtered and used by humans after their deaths made him want to never put it on again. He listened to every story and tale he could about the beasts, read every book he could get his hands on, and learned everything he could about them, enthralled by their mere existence since he was but a boy who yearned for knowledge of the mighty creatures.
Lately, there had been rumors. Rumors, and gossip, and whisperings about dragon sightings to the west. Their frequency had been increasing over the past few years, each telling about a small house of dragons heading to the east. Katsuki had been tracing these rumors, following the dragon’s path and carefully calculating how long it would be before the house migrated to an area close enough for him to go after them.
So, Katsuki assumed luck had smiled down on him that day as he loaded his net gun, aiming at the indistinguishable outline of the dragon’s body in the sky above him. He had just finished upgrading the net to better material and bigger size that morning, noting that his calculations were about a fortnight behind. As the net flew out of the machine before him, he watched as the dragon fell out of the heavens. Adrenaline fueled Katsuki's legs as he sprinted after it. This was it, this was his time to be useful to his people. To help them defeat the Shigaraki house. To put an end to the war.
He came upon a clearing in the forest where the beast’s body lay. A beautiful creature, snatched from its place in the sky by his net, laid unconscious on the forest floor, surrounded by trees it had managed to drag down with it. Ruby scales shimmered as the sun danced on the creature's back where it lay nestled in the grass, body moving steadily as the beast breathed, signaling to Katsuki that it was still alive. As he inched closer, he cast only a small shadow over the beast, his stomach turned with anxiety. He never could have prepared for how every sense in his body begged him to run, every hair standing on end in anticipation, and every heartbeat deafening him as he finally set his eyes upon the dragon.
You see, Katsuki had only wanted to stun the dragon long enough to extract some venom from the beast for his potions. He had read about one that had the power to demolish entire villages, and a weapon like that could help end the war and pave a way to peace for his people. The only problem - it needed venom from a dragon, and no one had been able to extract any from the creatures for over a century. This left him with two options: find an alternative (which he tried, and failed), or render a dragon unconscious long enough for him to extract some.
Taking a glance at his surroundings, he noted the absence of his guards. They still had not figured out where he had run off to yet, giving him time. Time to work quickly before the dragon woke. Time to extract the venom and cut the ropes on the trap to set the beast free. Time was quickly running out. He had to act, and it had to be now.
Reaching for the tools on his belt that he would need, he mapped out where the venom gland would be and prepared to harvest it. Fumbling the vial from his belt, he grasped the glass just before it hit the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to harvest the venom. The gland was just above the beast’s eye, and with a quick nick of his knife, he—
The dragon let out a yelp, red eyes opened quickly as the beast scrambled to escape from the trap. Katsuki jumped back, watching as the scene unfolded before him. The beast clawed at the ropes, growling and gnawing on them as it tried to break free. Blinded by the venom and blood dripping into its right eye, Katsuki realized the beast would not be able to escape properly once free.
Jumping to his feet and rushing to the dragon’s side, he made quick work of the ropes with his knife, releasing the dragon from its bonds. As the dragon rose to its feet, Katsuki stumbled over a branch and was knocked onto his back, scrambling to get away but his eyes stayed fixated on the magnificent creature. Turning it approached him and placed its forelegs on Katsuki’s shoulders, its claws dug into his flesh and the dragon lowered its head until Katsuki could feel the beast’s breath on his face. For a moment, red met red as Katsuki’s breath caught in his throat, and the beast opened its mouth revealing a mouth of sharp pointed teeth. Closing his eyes and preparing for the worst, he counted down the seconds as he waited for the beast to devour him. But the teeth never came as he was instead met with a deafening roar. The pressure of the beast’s paws on his shoulders were gone just as quickly as it came, he sat up and watched the beast fly deeper into the forest, hitting a few trees and sides of the hills as it flew out of Katsuki’s vision.
Taking a moment to catch his breath and pounding his fists into the ground beside him, Katsuki growled angrily to himself. His thoughts a nagging stream of ‘why did I do that? Why did I let it go free? Why did I feel the need to help it escape before I could—’
The sound of armor moving behind him caught his attention, and he sprang to his feet as he was joined by his guards.
“There you are!” Momo shouted as she and Tenya rushed over to him.
“Your Highness, I beg you to stop running off like this,” Tenya said, panting as he walked over to the young prince.
“Are you injured?” Momo questioned as she looked him over, searching for signs of blood or harm.
“I’m fine, you morons! Just clearing my head without you idiots around to take away the fresh air!” Katsuki said, eyes still locked on the direction the beast had flown just moments before.
“Sir, we must get back to the castle before dark. It is not safe for anyone in these woods at night, let alone a young man of your station,” Tenya said, surveying their surroundings.
“Yeah, whatever.” Glancing down, a small pool of blood and venom caught his eye from where the dragon had once lain. Collecting the liquids in his vial, he noticed something else. Alongside the faint outline of the dragon’s scales were two red claws dug into the dirt below. He grabbed them quickly, tucking them away in his pocket before either of his knights could notice. “Let’s go before the hag gets any other reasons to add more of you shit-heads to guard me.”
•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•
“You two are fucking excused, go do whatever the fuck it is you do when you don’t have sticks up your asses over me,” Katsuki ordered at Tenya and Momo, heading to where Hanta was waiting for him at the bottom of a grand staircase.
“Yes, Your Highness.” They exclaimed, and the sounds of their armor indicated they were leaving as he and Hanta ascended the staircase.
As they made their way towards the war room Katsuki remembered the vial in his pocket. “Oi, Soy Sauce,” Katsuki barked as they stood in front of the two heavy wooden doors to their meeting place, “make sure this gets to Cheeks. She’ll know what to do with it,” he said, throwing the small vial of venom at Hanta.
“Yes, Your Highness,” he responded as he placed the vial in his pocket. He opened the doors for them both and made his way towards his seat. “Now, we must discuss your transition of power. It’s only a fortnight before then, and you still haven’t decided on whether or not to invite His Majesty-”
“Don’t ever bring that fucking nerd up around me again unless it’s serious, Tape Face. He doesn’t need to come and neither does fucking IcyHot, I hate they we even had to invite him in the firstplace.” Katsuki said with a growl, slamming down into his seat at the head of the long wooden table. Following his lead Denki, Hanta, and Hitoshi sank into their seats along either side of the table. Laid out across the polished wooden slab was a map. Worn on the edges after being displayed for so many years after the union of the five kingdoms, it was now repurposed as a war map.
“What else do we still have to do for this damn thing? The Hag won’t get off my case about it, and I want it over so we can turn our full focus back onto the war,” Katsuki growled as Hanta and Hitoshi pulled out their parchment with the details that still needed to be finalized as Denki kept notes on their proceedings.
“The itinerary we have planned currently is to hold the ceremony at midday, with a party afterwards starting at nightfall to celebrate the transition as well as your 18th birthday, as is customary.” Hitoshi said with a yawn.
“The announcements informing the Todorokis and His Grace about the transition have been received, and the Todoroki Hier has sent his congratulations as well as his regards that he is unable to attend as expected for the weather this time of year,” Sero added. “He also expresses interest in scheduling the-”
“Well thank fuck I didn’t want him there in the first place, and no. Absolutely not. We will worry about, that, after the flooding season has gone and we can predict the best time of year for their journey here.” Katsuki said with a groan, “can the rest of this be left to the Hag or-.”
“Ah, yes, my brat trying to pawn all his responsibilities onto me if they don’t entertain him,” Mistuki said as she entered with Masaru on her tail as the doors hit the walls with a heavy thud upon their forceful opening. The idiot trio (as Katsuki so lovingly called them) stood quickly, gave a curt bow and welcomed “their Graces” before sitting back down. “Yes, I’ll plan the rest of this shit for you kid, but that’s it, okay brat?” she chuckled as Katsuki rolled his eyes, and ruffled his hair as she passed.
“Your mother and I will help finalize everything. I’m sure you have other things you wish to attend to rather than be locked in this room for another minute,” Masaru said with a smile.
“You’re fucking right about that.” He barked out, standing quickly and turning towards his advisors. “Make sure they do this shit properly, no fucking weirdos invited, especially not the fucking nerd,” and with that he left.
He wouldn’t be able to revisit the dragon today, but he could pop into the library and reread some of the books they had on dragons to refresh the information. He needed to know what the fuck he was dealing with, and he needed to make sure he knew what exactly he would be getting himself into if he helped the beast recover.
•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•
Sitting at the desk in his room with a candle burning in the corner, the only source of light after the sun had set, he tried to reabsorb the information in front of him. After rereading the same paragraph for the third time, he realized the words on the page weren’t going anywhere in his head and decided it was high time he got some rest. As he laid his head upon the pillow and closed his eyes, an image danced beneath his eyelids. An image of fiery eyes that stared into his soul.