The royal twins

31

I sighed and slid down the wall of the dungeon, in front of Tenko and Toya's cells.

"Good afternoon, princess! Glad you could join us!" Tenko exclaimed with a smile.

"Shut it you creep," Dabi hissed.

"Oh, how rude."

"Toya," I muttered. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," he said. "You look a mess. This isn't how a queen should present herself."

"Shut it," I said.

"It's been almost a year. You should be-"

"Don't tell me how I should be healing! You're the reason father is dead! How can you be so nonchalant?"

Toya shrugged. "I've got better things to worry about, like," he paused for a moment. "Us."

"There is no us. That's disgusting."

Toya scoffed. "If you say so. One day, you'll be expected to have a child, with Todoroki blood."

"One day," I repeated. "I'll worry about that in the far future. I'm only 19."

"Well, it's never too early to think about marriage," Tenko said.

"Like you'd be the one marrying her, crusty ass."

"I'll take that as my cue to leave," I said before walking away.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Shoto and I sat in our separate thrones in the throne room. For now, there wasn't much to do, besides paperwork we both were procrastinating on doing.

"____!" Eri exclaimed as she ran into the room, Kakashi Sensei and her tutor following behind her.

"Yes, love?" I said. "How was your classes?"

"She did good," Kakashi said. "She has very strong fire magic, similar to the late king Enji, and she's a lot better at controlling her dragon side."

Shoto smiled. "Great job, Eri."

"Thank you!" She said proudly. "Will you be coming to dinner?" Eri looked at me.

"Uh, I should do some, but I'll see."

Eri sighed. "Oh, alright. I'm gonna go help the cooks!"

Eri left the room. I sighed and looked over at Shoto. "Don't give me that look."

He shook his head. "You've been distant ever since Bakugo and Kirishima left. Eri, Keigo, Shinso, and I are worried."

I sighed again. "I'm sorry, Sho. I just-" I paused.

"Miss them?"

"It seems like everything has gone down hill, since we came home."

"I know it's hard, but try to think of the bright side. We have Eri, Hawks, Shinso, and all our other friends, even if they're not here right now. They'll come back."

"It's been almost a year. Kiri and Katsuki just left one night, and we've haven't heard from them yet. They obviously didn't-"

"Dont," Shoto said. "I miss the you that always looked on the bright side. It hurts seeing you like this."

"I'm sorry, Sho. I'll try."

Shoto nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, I flipped through a book father had hidden in a drawer in his desk. It was filled with random details. Things that happened in the castle before I arrived, his plans to have me marry Dabi, and how things have changed. It hurt, knowing that everything Dabi said was true.

I sighed and closed the book.

"_____," Sakura said as she pushed open the door to the study.

"Hm? What's up, Sakura?"

"Eri wanted to know if you'd be joining them for dinner."

For the millionth time today, I sighed and forced a smile on my face. "Yeah." Sakura smiled and I stood up from my seat and walked to the dining hall.

"You're here!" Eri exclaimed happily.

"Master," Hawks said.

"Damn, so she finally crawled out of that damn study to get some social interaction?" Shinso teased with a small smile.

"Shut it," I said before I sat down. "So, what are we having?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A handful of guards gathered around someone.

"Dammit, get off me!"

"Don't I know you?" Natsuo said as he pushed through the guards.

Katsuki scoffed and spit blood onto the ground. His face was beaten and bruised. "Yeah," Natsuo said. "You're one of the boys that traveled with ____. What happened here?"

"We're not sure, sir. We were called here because of an alleged thief. When we got here, things went down hill."

Natsuo sighed. "C'mon. We're taking this kid to the castle."