The World Could Be Ours (TodoDeku Fantasy AU)

Chapter 8: Imperfect

If Shouto hadn't forced himself to keep his eyes open for so long, he definitely would have been asleep hours ago, and that was proved through the way his tired eyes blinked for extended periods of time.

The castle was dead silent in the late hours of night, but he knew full well that guards were still roaming about at times like this, no matter how late it was. It was a minor setback, but it wasn't like he didn't know which ways the guards made their rounds. He knew this castle from left to right, and up to down, and spending many restless nights added all more to it.

Albeit, the fact that Katsuki wasn't here screwed him over for a number of reasons, starting from the fact that even if they got caught, the guards wouldn't have dared stop Katsuki, knowing full well that he would blow them to bits if so. Another reason that presented itself was that he couldn't make up some stupid excuse for as to why he was sneaking out in the middle of the night by himself, usually using his default 'Katsuki was sleep walking again, I have to go grab him.'

Of course, he could easily just walk out of his room, is what a fool would say. If even one of them saw him walking about by himself, they would immediately alert King Endeavor of the issue, and Shouto would be in for a good scolding.

In other words, he was fucked.

But was he going to let that stop him?

Definitely not.

Izuku was a priority, and he wouldn't give up until he got to the bottom of the issue. He would find his mother, regardless of his father's orders, and regardless of how many times his offers were rejected by the boy himself.

So, if your question was why Shouto was climbing out through his balcony window using stray cloth he had collected from his servants over the past week or so, then there's your answer.

Now, Shouto had actually spent years trying to sneak out of the castle, and the amount of skill he had gained from that had actually paid off in this scenario. The small amount of noise he made when he walked himself down the side of the wall was outstanding, and even when he stepped down into the rose garden.

He only took a few seconds to wipe off a few stray drops of sweat from his forehead, but immediately went back to work. He didn't bother to unwind the cloth, after all, they had been tied to the leg of his bed, so any effort he made to remove it from that height would come to be futile.

Instead, he took this moment to maneuver through the labyrinth that was the rose bushes, whipping past each studied area with ease. He was like an assassin, slipping past traps and guards flawlessly without making a single sound. It felt amazing, and the second he made it to the exit, he knew that his passage to the outside world had finally reached him.

He took in a deep breath, reaching for the vine-covered gate, just before he heard an all too familiar voice calling out his name in the softest, most concerned tone he had ever heard. "Shouto?"

The prince had a miniature heart attack, jumping almost immediately when he turned around to look at his sister, who had been sitting on one of the stone benches that was lined against the fountain in the dead center. Though it had small cracks, the stone chipping away little by little from its old age, it was still sturdy, being able to hold over a century's worth of people.

There sat Princess Fuyumi, her soft hair tied back into a mid-length ponytail, keeping it out of her field of vision. Overall, she looked calm, however, her tired eyes told a story, a story where Shouto knew exactly where this conversation was going.

Shouto tensed up, attempting to avoid eye contact with his sister, yet, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't avoid the conflicted gaze of Fuyumi. He stumbled slightly on his words, looking for a way out of this situation so he could get out of this wretched place as soon as possible. "Fuyumi, it's... interesting seeing you out here late at night. Shouldn't you be asleep?"