Travel The Distance

Chapter 39

Usually, it was the strong rays of morning light that pulled me from my slumber, however, on the day of the battle, it was insistent pounding at the door which stirred me. I groaned and scrunched up my brow as whoever was on the other side of the door kept hammering away at the dark wood. If I could, I would have skewered them for making such a racket so early in the morning. It only took me a brief moment to remember why I was being woken up so early. As soon as I recalled the little fact that my country was going to war, I jumped out of bed and thundered over to the door.

"I'm up!" I growled at Eijiro. Eijiro smiled at me and amicably nodded.

"That's good. Hurry up and get ready. You need to give a speech to the troops and then we need to take our places under the cover of darkness," Eijiro said. I grumbled out something which sounded something close to an acceptable reply before I retreated back into my room to wake up Shoto, who somehow was still sleeping peacefully despite the racket Eijiro had made.

I wanted to stay there, watching Shoto sleep for a minute. It sounds creepy, but when Shoto sleeps, his faces smooth out and he no longer bears the grief of his short life. He looks untroubled. Unfortunately, we had the battle to get to. There would be plenty of time to admire Shoto in the future. I was sure of it. There was no way I was going to let my destined die.

"Shoto. Wake up." I hummed. I sat heavily beside him, making the bed bounce slightly, yet Shoto was still dead to the world. I would have thought he had passed away in his sleep if I couldn't feel his cool breath tickling my palm or see his chest rise and fall gently.

"Oi! Icy Hot! Get your ass up!" I said a bit louder. There was still no reaction.

"OI! BASTARD! WAKE UP!" I shouted. Shoto jolted and sat upright. His eyes searched his surroundings for a second, wide and unseeing. After a second had passed, he seemed to calm down and see me.

"Oh, Katsuki. Is something the matter?" Shoto had no right to look so handsome as he tilted his head inquisitively and stared directly into my eyes.

"I'll tell you what's the matter! You sleep like the fucking dead! Hurry up and get out of bed, I have a speech to make to the troops and you have a battle to prepare for." I huffed. Shoto hummed quietly, I could see in his facial expression that he wanted nothing more than to lie back down and go back to sleep. I would have liked to do the same, but that wasn't possible. "Come on, Icy Hot, I'm not gonna drag you down there."

Finally, with great reluctance, Shoto rolled out of my bed and shuffled out of the room. Though not before pecking me gently on the cheek and whispering a gentle promise that we would both come out of the battle alive and well. His breath ghosted across my cheek as he spoke, sending a pleasing shiver down my spine.

When Shoto had left the room, and I was left on my own, I started preparing myself for the grim day before me.

My cape billowed in the cold dawn wind. Far on the horizon, an orange glow had started to light the sky, yet it was not yet light enough for any sort of battle to commence. Well, not unless you wanted to be at a major disadvantage.

Staring out onto my small army, I gelt my heartbeat begin to pound in my ears. Adrenaline and anticipation were already buzzing away in my body. I would usually keep Ground Zero pressed down in my soul so that he couldn't cause any trouble, but in the lead up to the battle, I loosened my grip. It was in the best interest of myself and everyone else that Ground Zero be present during the battle. He was a force to be reckoned with.

"I'm not going to sugar coat anything, you don't deserve that!" I started my battle speech after taking a deep breath and ensuring that my eyes and posture were firm and conveyed strength. "Some of you may die today! That is a fact of war that you knew about when you signed up to fight. Nobody is safe on the battlefield. Not me and not you. You know who you are fighting for, whether that be more or some other fucker, I don't care. What I care about, is that as many of you make it home to your families as possible!"