Ethereal ◆ Shoto Todoroki x Reader

42 | Control

You walk into the room with Shoto and two guards.

Sobakasu, the advisory boy, is laying in a bed. His eyes are closed, and his hair is messy, like he'd been tossing and turning in his sleep.

"I thought he was awake--?"

The boy's eyes snap open, and he leans up, eyes darting around the room. 

"I tried," he says, looking at his hands, "I tried, but. . . "

"Sobakasu?" You say, getting nearer. He looks at you, his eyes widening. 

"No," he says, waving you away, "you can't be here, excuse my impoliteness. She'll get you. She'll. . .make me  get you."

"Please," you sigh, "just explain. It'd be nice if someone would just give it to me straight once in a while."

Sobakasu smiles, laughing a little, but then his face turns serious. "Okay then, I'll just say it. My quirk is to disable other people's quirk, but only on contact and not at an extreme level."

"Mhm," you nod, looking at Shoto who also nods.

"Someone is trying to control me, I can feel it," the advisory boy explains, "It's a her. It's like. . .a paradox. Like there's someone inside of me, trying to take over, but my quirk is switching theirs off and on. It's kinda giving me a headache, but I think I can stop it."

"It's like looking in a mirror, and seeing someone else, except you're the reflection. They're controlling me, but I can see them. It's weird, I know, but I can find out a few--"

His concentrated face goes slack, and his hand shoots out, grasping your neck.

"Kill the princess." 

His voice is like before. Controlled, you can hear it.

His hand is strong, but Shoto is stronger, and he barely holds you for a second before your fiancé grabs him and yanks his arm from you. The guards rush forward, but Sobakasu grabs his own head, finger tangling in his hair. 

His mouth opens in a scream, and you can't take your eyes off of him as the guards drag you out of the room.

"Your Highness, it's for your safety."

"Please help him," you whimper, his scream echoing in your mind.

"We'll do our best."

You can hear a lie in the guards' voices.

◆

"He said kill the princess. Why would he want to kill me?"

Shoto looks confused too. How you wish you'd been able to go on the trip you planned, but of course things like this had to happen.

"Sobakasu also said that whoever was controlling him was a she," you note, pacing the hallway, "so we know it wasn't the Duke."

"What about that person that attacked me?" Shoto says.

"I thought that too, but their quirk surely would've been something related to cloaking themselves. They looked and sounded exactly like Mayra."

You're silent for a bit, your mind drowning in conspiracies and questions. You sit down beside Shoto, taking his hand.

"I don't want to think this, but," you sigh, "could it be Hitoka?"

Shoto nods. "Possibly. Unless she was telling the truth about not having a quirk and there's someone else out there."

"Yes, but remember how Takahashi acted so out of place? It had to be someone in the castle at that time."

"The only person who was. . . "

". . . is Hitoka."

"So," Shoto says, "Hitoka can control people? But there has to be something else going on. Why wouldn't Takahashi remember? Why would she control him anyways? Why not the king or an advisor?"

"All valid questions," you say, standing up, "with no current answers. But Sobakasu said he could. . .said he was the reflection in the mirror, so maybe he can get information from the other side."

"Like a double agent?"

"Like a double agent."

"We just can't let him, well, her, know that we know what's going on. Hitoka is probably aiming to make us think that Sobakasu is doing this out of his own will, so we can't let her know we know."

After you've said it, you realize your mind has already accepted the fact that Hitoka is behind this. Trying to kill you.

For once, you're not sad.

You're angry. She betrayed you. And more than anything, you want to see her again, but not to say hello.

"We should have extra guards around his room, and I can't visit him anymore unless we know he's normal. I would still like to talk to him more."

"Yeah," Shoto agrees, "and in the meantime we should figure out a way to get rid of Hitoka's control over him."

"Do you think he has relatives?" You inquire, "Someone with a more powerful version of his quirk?"

"I'll ask him, since you should probably not visit for a while."

"Sounds like a plan to me," you smile, satisfied with your teamwork. 

You lean over and give him a peck on the cheek. He blushes, grinning like an idiot. 

 ◆

You're in your room, waiting for Shoto to come back. He's checking on Sobakasu and hopefully asking him some questions. 

You still can't believe Hitoka is trying to kill you. But why? She didn't make any moves during the attack, and she could've done something to you. 

But she was crying too.

Holding Mayra's hand.

The maid's lifeless, gray body limp on the ground. 

Her eyes open in shock, hair messy and tangled around her face.

Nobody knows how she died, or rather, who killed her. The doctors said it was blood loss.

Surely Hitoka wouldn't have done that. But you didn't think she would ever betray you, either.

You think about something Shoto said, about Sobakasu's relatives; finding someone with a quirk like his. 

What if you did the same for Hitoka?

What if you tried to find her  relatives?