Chapter Text
Before the creation of humans, Dragons ruled and protected the lands. When humans began to grow in numbers and strength, the dragon’s did not favor human’s willful exploitation of resources and the natural world. Without distinction between the guilty and the innocent, dragons set out to exterminate—
“You damn nerd.” Bakugo slammed the book shut on Deku’s fingers. “Will you stop reading for once and eat your food?”
“You read just as much as I do, Kacchan.” Deku tucked The Encyclopedia of Magical Beasts away before Bakugo was tempted to do any real damage.
The sun had set, and the pair had taken shelter in an unfamiliar inn in a town full of strangers. Both the town and tavern were neither small nor uncrowded, which made blending in that much easier.
“I don’t read that fantasy shit.” Bakugo said.
“It’s not fantasy.”
“It might as well be.” Bakugo scoffed. “No one has seen a dragon in a century, and the same goes for half the creatures in that book. It’s bullshit by some geezer looking to make a coin off nerds like you that don’t know any better.
“Anyway,” Bakugo continued. “We don’t need a dragon to finish the job. We’ve got me.”
Bakugo held out his palms and let tiny explosions pop from his hands. The noise they made couldn’t be heard over all the chattering, clattering, and poor taste in music.
“It’s not a job, Kacchan. We need to rescue our friends.”
“It was a job until Dunce Face fucked it up. Then they all got themselves captured along with the goods. And they’re not my friends.”
“Then what would you call them?”
“Dead weight.”
Deku sighed. This argument was familiar territory at this point.
“At least call them party members, Kacchan.”
“Doesn’t look like much of a party anymore.”
Deku didn’t bother commenting further and turned his sad pout to his dinner. He looked even more pathetic than usual. If Bakugo was more compassionate, he might have told Deku that everything was going to be fine and not to worry. But Bakugo also didn’t like to make himself a lair. So they fell into a restless silence.
After a botched job, their companions found themselves in the hands of a powerful overlord, leading to Bakugo and Deku’s strategic retreat to regroup. Which is why they were in this dump, keeping a low profile, and slowly making their way into the overlords territory where they could find Deku’s friends and the item that had started this whole, misguided adventure.
Bakugo must look like shit after what they’d been through, but it was nothing compared to Deku. He was bruised inside and out, he’d twisted his ankle, and he’d clearly fucked up at least one arm considering how he struggled to get food to his mouth. If he couldn’t even handle utensils, how was he expected to fight?
The worst part was, Deku had caused most of that damage to himself as backlash from his spells while trying to protect their party members. Bakugo hadn’t the faintest idea why the sorcerer All Might had passed his powers onto this weakling when his body couldn’t even handle it.
Bakugo took his anger out on a particularly tough piece of gristle as he scanned the room and its patrons, looking out for any threats.
Boring. Boring. Drunk. Boring. Drunk. Adulterer. Boring. Red hair…?
Bakugo’s eyes caught on a set of red eyes that were fixed on him. They belonged to a man, likely around Bakugo’s own age, who was well built and objectively attractive despite his ridiculous hair. It was unnaturally bright and spiked upwards mimicking a series of horns or crystals.
The man was flushed. Drunk?
When the stranger realized he was caught staring, his cheeks burned brighter and he darted his eyes away.
Not drunk. Just a creep.
Bakugo wasn’t alarmed by the attention, there were all sorts of weirdos in these parts—himself and Deku included by normal people’s standards. This guy stood out too much to be a spy, and seemed too wide-eyed to be typical hired muscle. So Bakugo dismissed him as a non-threat and thus below his notice.
Bakugo moved on to scan the rest of the room. Two cloaked figures sitting silently in the corner. Now, they were worth noticing. Plates had been set in front of them, but neither had touched their food as though they were acting a role as travelers but hadn’t fully committed to the bit. Bakugo couldn’t see their faces or where their eyes landed, but they were turned in such a way that both could keep an eye on the adventuring pair.
One observer was a coincidence, but three was trouble. Now Bakugo suspected the man with shitty hair had intentionally stood out as some kind of distraction for the real threat.
Maybe showing off his powers in front of so many eyes hadn’t been Bakugo’s best idea. He was tired and slipping, but it didn’t look like they were going to get the rest they needed tonight. Not here anyway.
“Come on.” Bakugo dropped a few coins on the table and grabbed Deku’s uninjured arm to pull him up. “We can’t stay here.”
“But we already paid for our rooms.”
“No beds tonight, I’m afraid.”
Hearing Bakugo’s grave tone, Deku didn’t fuss. He quickly followed while stuffing his notes and book into his bag.
Bakugo wasn’t one for prayers, but he really hoped he’d been mistaken. If luck was on their side, those men were merely curious locals. Unfortunately, Bakugo’s instincts were too good and luck wasn’t on their side of late. Once they were out on the street and several businesses down, Bakugo glanced back to see two cloaked shadows following them at a distance.
“Shit. We’re gonna need to lose them.”
Deku, to his credit, didn’t need to be told twice. He rubbed his hands together, and dark smoke emerged from the sorcerer’s palms. The smoke screen soon swallowed them, then the entire street.
Bakugo and Deku disappeared into the night.
But not well enough.
.
.
.
Against the dark and their combined fatigue, they pushed on further than they’d planned. They made it out of town and ducked off the main path for good measure. On a clear night, they might have continued forward, but it seemed the gods had sent rain just to spite them.
Bakugo hated the rain.
“Kacchan.” Deku said wearily.
“Fine.” Bakugo grumbled back. “Let’s break at this cliff, maybe there’s a —”
Just as they reached the cliff and broke from the tree line, shadows came at them from above.
Bakugo threw his hands up, but he wasn’t ready. He’d let his guard down and the rain had soaked his palm, negating any explosions he tried to produce. A foot struck him in the center of his chest and he flew backwards several feet landing on his back.
He might not have his explosions, but Bakugo still had his body. He recovered quickly and saw the two figures subduing Deku. Damn nerd, he was powerful, but too drained to defend himself.
With a raged cry, Bakugo threw himself at one of their attackers, ripping them away from Deku. The pair tumbled to the ground, struggling in the mud. Bakugo landed several solid hits, his knuckling cracking against ribs and cheekbones. He took a few hits himself, but they were nothing compared to the recoils of his own explosions.
Bakugo pinned his attacher on their back, ready to incapacitate them, when an unseen force rammed into his side, throwing him several feet closer to the cliff’s edge.
Shit! So these two had powers, which meant they were likely sent by that shit-overlord, as Bakugo had suspected.
Stumbling back to his feet, Bakugo’s eyes pierced the figure crouching over Deku, restrained and struggling against vine-like tendrils. Bakugo made a bee-line from his new target. He’d produced enough sweat now to counter the rain and explosions began to pop from his palms again. He used them to propel himself forward, ready to body slam Deku’s captor.
Before Bakugo reached them, the figure held out their palm and Bakugo watched the air around it ripple. He only had a moment to redirect himself using his explosions, but a moment was all he needed. The wall of force shot forward pushing away air and water, but it only managed to clip Bakugo’s shoulder.
Unable to register pain in the moment, Bakugo turned on his target and lunged, explosions at the ready. Before he could get at them, tendrils growing from the first attacker’s fingers wrapped around Bakugo’s torso and threw him backwards.
Bakugo’s body landed, but it continued to slide through the mud, straight for the cliff’s edge.
“KACCHAN!”
Scrambling, Bakugo managed to grasp a root before his body slid off entirely. Everything below his shoulders dangled, and there was nowhere for his feet to find purchase. Using what strength he had left, he began to pull himself up, but the root betrayed him. Its grip on the earth was superficial, and with Bakugo’s weight, its hold began to give.
Covered in mud, Bakugo had nothing left to propel himself with.
His head stayed above the cliff’s edge long enough to see Deku watching him with panicked horror in his eyes, unable to do anything as his last remaining friend disappeared.
Bakugo’s body struck the side of the cliff at several points as he tumbled down. He covered his head and neck to protect himself, but not even he could survive the final landing.
Movement. A flash of red. Instead of earth taking him, something wrapped itself tightly around his arm jerking his shoulder painfully.
He was still falling. No. Was he… rising?
Before he could understand what was happening, his mind and body finally gave out. He hung limp and unconscious as large, red wings carried him into the night.
Everything had only taken a matter of moments. Soon the cliff was once again deserted and the only sound was the gentle patter of rain.
There was. one item left behind. A book fallen from a traveler’s bag, The Encyclopedia of Magical Beasts, lost and forgotten. It was flipped open to the section Deku had only begun to read.
Dragons and their relationship with Humans
Before the creation of humans, Dragons ruled and protected the lands. When humans began to grow in numbers and strength, the dragon’s did not favor human’s willful exploitation of resources and the natural world. Without distinction between the guilty and the innocent, dragons set out to exterminate the gods’ new creation like a plague upon the land.
As punishment, the gods reclaimed the dragons’ gift of fire. They took the sacred power and hid it within the souls of humans. Dragons would never again indiscriminately harm humans as each dragon’s Inner Flame would be hidden among them.
These humans, the dragons’ soul matches, can be distinguished by their innate abilities to produce fire…