Travel The Distance

Chapter 47

Arriving at the doors of the throne room, my nerves mounted and my heart pounded in my ears. I knew that my enemy, Shigaraki, was sprawled on the throne, a false sense of security and superiority oozing off of him in waves. His subordinate, Dabi, was also by his side, most likely willing to die for his leader. After all, he had sold out his own kingdom just to dispose of his own father, why wouldn't he lay down his life for someone else? And Shoto was in there. My Shoto. I wanted to burst through the doors and snatch him back from the clutches of the despicable men he was with, but there would be no sense in fucking us both over by screwing up his plan. I needed to focus on Shigaraki, once he was down, Shoto and I could leave and take my mother back to Crepitus where she belonged.

Muffled voices filtered through the hardwood of the door. The words being spoken were menial to my ears, what did I care for Shigaraki's disturbing past times or Dabi explaining to Shoto just how he had killed their father. Under the loud, boisterous voices of Dabi and Shigaraki, three heartbeats pounded away in harmony, speaking of the fear and apprehension the three individuals felt. There was no doubt that it was Shoto and his siblings' hearts that vibrated through the air.

Drawing a deep inhale of air into my lungs, I set my face into a furious scowl (something that wasn't hard considering my simmering anger and the frequency with which I scowled) and kicked the door open with a colossal bang.

When I marched into the throne room, sword swinging at my side, everybody's heads whipped around to look at me. Fear lingered in the eyes of Natsuo and Fuyumi. Surprise and confusion lined every crevice of Shigaraki and Dabi's faces. And everything about Shoto's expression and stance spoke of hardly concealed glee and thankfulness. It was a picture-perfect scene, too bad Shigaraki had to ruin it by opening his imbecilic mouth.

"How did you get out?" Shigaraki snarled, "The dragon should have dealt with you!"

"I can turn into a dragon, fuck face, do you really think that some measly ropes would keep me tied up?" I snarked back, never faltering as I continued to march steadily towards the throne and the people who surrounded it.

Apparently, Dabi wasn't one for words when it came to fighting, because he raised his hand without a word, his magic weaving itself between his fingers. Cerulean flames flickered to life and danced their way through Dabi's fingers, I might have been entranced by their beauty if I hadn't known they burned hotter than anything Shoto had produced yet. If even one of those flames skimmed me, my skin, flesh and muscle would be melted down until only my bone was visible. There wasn't enough time for me to move out of the way, the arc of the flames would catch me no matter where I turned to run. I thought I was a dead man, well, that was until Shoto made his move.

"Don't move a muscle." Shoto hissed in his brother's ear. His movements had been so fast that even I had missed it as he stepped up behind Dabi and brought a dagger to his throat, yanking him away from both Shigaraki and their siblings as he did so. The affronted look on Dabi's face felt like ambrosia for my soul. He'd hardly been bested, but it was still extremely satisfying to see the betrayal in his eyes.

It appeared as though we were at a stalemate. Shoto had a dagger to his brother's throat, his eyes full of malice and anger which he wasn't even attempting to keep restrained. Shigaraki was half out of his throne, eyes narrowed as his gaze constantly switched between Shoto and me. My sword was held in a firm grip in my hand, I wasn't going to risk being caught off guard. Shoto's siblings were cowering in the far corner of the room, Fuyumi's entire body covered by her younger brother; both of them were shaking with fear.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shigaraki growled lowly.

"What the fuck do you mean? 'What is the meaning of this?', what does it look like, dipshit?" I snarled back. Over Dabi's shoulder, Shoto's lips quirked into a slight smile at my foul mouth and unseemly quips.