Coming for the Crown

Fifteen

The sky was beautiful.

Izuku had never expected to ever be this high in the air before, and it made him gasp. They were flying above the clouds, soaring high above the LOV Empire with the whole sky spread out before them. The green haired boy let go of Bakugo's waist, spreading his arms out wide to catch the air. 

A laugh bubbled up from his chest, and for a second, Izuku forgot about everything. He forgot about the pain of his arm and the tiredness in his bones. He forgot about his friends below, fighting their way out of an enemy arena. He forgot about who he was on a dragon with, and why.

"Hey, dumbass!"

Bakugo's shout was almost instantly taken by the wind, but it made Izuku blink. He gave the blonde a confused look, causing Kacchan to scoff.

"Do you wanna fall off?"

With a hurried apology, Izuku wrapped his arms around Bakugo's waist again. They were descending now, spiraling down towards the ground below. As they dived below the clouds, Izuku saw the land below. Dead trees and dried grass filled his periphery, and Izuku felt a pang of sadness in his chest.  Under the rule of the LOV, everything would die. They had to take back the OFA kingdom, and soon.

The dragon landed with a thump on a patch of dying grass, letting out a snort of smoke. Izuku slid off the creature's side and almost immediately collapsed to the ground. Bakugo let out a curse, catching the green haired boy before he could hit the ground.

"Idiot! You got yourself hurt? Seriously?"

Despite the overwhelming pain in his arm, Izuku managed a smirk. "Aw, Kacchan, are you worried about me?"

Bakugo scowled but didn't say anything. He just sat Izuku down and walked away, riffling through a satchel that was attached to Eij's side. As the blonde was messing with the contents of the bag, shouts and laughter sounded from the surrounding forest. As Izuku watched, more than half a dozen figures came spilling into the clearing, all talking loudly. 

"That was so fun!"

"You were all like, swoosh and bam-"

"Denki, please use real words."

"Ochako, you're so powerful! That trick was amazing!"

"Great idea to get smoke bombs, Kiri."

Izuku's friends were smiling and laughing with four people that Izuku didn't recognize. The one referred to as Denki had messy blonde hair with a black lighting shape cutting through his bangs. The one who had been called Kiri had spiky red hair and sharp teeth. The other two were girls, one with darker skin and curly pink hair, the other with short blue hair and long, strange earrings. Ochako looked up and her eyes widened when they landed on Izuku. 

"Izu!"

Her cry prompted the others to stop talking, looking over at the green haired boy leaning against the dragon. Ochako ran forward, smiling brightly and pulling Izuku into a hug. Shoto and Iida followed her, causing the green haired boy to be surrounded by his three very happy, very worried friends. 

"Are you ok?"

"What happened?"

"Oh, thank the gods you're alive!"

Izuku felt like he was being suffocated. He tried to speak, tried to answer their questions, but the three kept talking over each other, crowding closer.

"Hey, shitheads!"

Bakugo's voice broke through the rising panic in Izuku's head. It also caused the three to back up a bit, glancing over at where the blonde was standing. Bakugo had bandages in one hand and a small glass bottle in the other. 

"Can you maybe gift Deku some space? I need to deal with his arm."

The three seemed to have just noticed the wound that Izuku was sporting. The green haired boy glanced down at it and grimaced. The skin around his wrist had turned black, and whenever he moved the arm, ash would rise from the black skin. It looked horrible.

Bakugo sat down on the dried grass next to Izuku, reaching over and moving the injured arm closer to him. The blonde's grip was surprisingly gentle, and Izuku barely noticed his friends turn to talk with the others. Bakugo was cutting strips of bandages, carefully wrapping them around and around Izuku's wrist and lower arm. When he was done, he held up the now empty glass bottle for Izuku to see.

"I put some of this on the wound. I got it from a healer a while back, and it's supposed to speed up the healing process by a lot. The only side effect is that it makes you really sleepy."

Izuku nodded. "Good to know." 

Then he promptly passed out, falling into dreams. 

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(A/N) Ok, quick confession time. I kinda sorta know where this plot is going, but there is a lot of blank space in the middle. There may be longer periods between uploads as I try to figure out what to do for plot, and I'm really sorry about that. Anyways, hope you enjoy this <3