infinity !﹒⪩⪨﹒ dkbk

chapter 13 : gone

"what?! i simply cannot!" izuku argued, shaking his head.

"why not?" king utsushimi questioned firmly, only for izuku to sigh. "i've found love elsewhere, on my own."

"where? i do not sense any sign of said love." the queen questioned, quirking a brow with curiosity. izuku huffed, "a boy.. katsuki bakugou. he is the only one i wish to court, the only one i love." he admitted, smiling softly at this fact.

though, king utsushimi only scoffed loudly, "really? a boy? how on earth do you wish to carry on the bloodline if you are courting someone who cannot bear children?" he asked, a twinge of disgust now lacing his tone.

izuku seemed to shrink at this, sitting back in his chair, he almost couldn't speak. "i-.. that isn't my wish. if i cannot be with the one i love, then i cannot form a family with the one i do not."

the king and queen then looked at each other before laughing, making izuku feel impossibly small in front of them.

"you're speaking nonsense. and as a result, the marriage will be arranged shortly. you should be thanking us right now, you're going to have the power of two nations instead of one." the queen spoke.

izuku sat there in utter dismay, his palms grew sweaty as his nerves spiked. he didn't seem to have much of a say in any of this! they were deciding for him and no matter what he said, they dismissed it. how was he going to tell katsuki about this?

though, another part of izuku came fourth, the one that stood his ground, that didn't take shit from anyone.

"this is my kingdom. my mother is now too sick to rule it and my father is long gone. and here you are, attempting to decide my fate? look me in my eyes, king utsushimi, would you ever dare speak about this if my tyrant of a father was still around? or would you still be afraid of him as you were all of the years he did rule?" izuku spat, his fists clenching as he stood from his chair, ready to dismiss this dysfunctional family.

the opposing king's mouth seemed to fall slack at this, only for izuku to scoff.

"exactly. so, what makes me any different from him? how come you look down on my as if i am not capable of the things he once did?"

"is that a declaration of war?" king utsushimi now spoke, standing up as well.

the air immediately filled with tension at this, even the queen grew worried at she looked up at her husband, her smile now faltering.

izuku's eyebrows furrowed deeply at this, his lips beginning to tremble. he had never seen a war before, this was all new to him, entirely too new. and now, it was directly in front of him and how could he say yes to that?

there was no way.

"no." izuku breathed softly, now looking at the table in front of him.

"hm?" the king hummed and izuku only looked up for a brief moment before averting his gaze.

"no, sir." izuku said to his superior.

"that's more like it! ah, we're going to have a lovely wedding!" both the king and queen cheered at this, clapping joyously all while the princess only sighed into her hands, looking almost as devastated as izuku.

so this was it, hm? izuku no longer had the freedom to choose who he loved, who he would spend his life with. all of his life, things were chosen for him. what he ate, what he did, how long he could do those things.

and this..

this was just another thing being chosen for him in this lifetime.

-----

for the day, izuku could not return to his room. katsuki was waiting for him and he couldn't bear to break the news to the blond.

how was izuku ever going to tell the one person he's ever had feelings for that they would never be able to be together? he just couldn't do it. he didn't have the heart or the courage to come fourth and explain it to katsuki.

izuku knew it was selfish. he knew deep down that the reason he was doing this was to spare his own feelings. though, he still couldn't do it, it would hurt too bad.

and so, once the sun had set, the light of the sun long gone, he had finally approached his door after avoiding any sign of katsuki for the entire day.

this was it. he was going to break it to katsuki, tell him everything he learned today and maybe, just maybe, the darkness around them both would be able to hide the tears that may be spilled.

with a sigh, izuku opened the door in hopes of revealing the familiar blond. though, he did not see that. what he saw was an empty bed, the duvet folded the way that it would always be after a long day.

there was no sign of katsuki, not even a note.

izuku furrowed his brows at this, before walking over to his bed, taking off a few layers of his formal wear before leaving his room once more.

the green haired male spend the next hour searching the entire palace on his own, every corner he could in the dark of the night had been searched by izuku.

though, no sign of katsuki.

this was odd, the blond had never left the palace alone, they did everything together. and even in the rare cases that katsuki did leave, izuku was fully notified.

so why not this time?

strange.

"um? have you seen katsuki?" izuku asked a stout man. he had a soft smile on his face, sort of clueless.

"katsuki? oh! katsuki bakugou! ah yes, i had escorted him to meet with two men who are bringing him to meet his grandfather." the man explained, nodding confidently.

izuku's expression only grew more concerning at this. grandfather? as in the man who singlehandedly broken katsuki's spirit once they had first met? that grandfather?

strange... again.

though, what seemed even stranger was the fact that he wanted to see katsuki again. what for?

then it dawned on izuku.

katsuki had explained to him that the last time he was around was to sell him for his body - how could this happen?

"you let those men take katsuki?!" izuku panicked. the man coughed, "they wanted to speak with him, sir. in private, of course, so i had to leave. i had no idea-"

"no idea? no idea, huh? you're out of here. why? because you took a request without my approval! and where is katsuki now?" izuku snapped, he was anxious, the words were just spilling out by now. where the hell was katsuki?

"i-i'm sorry, sir. but i do not know, he did not return and i simply had gotten too sidetracked to check in again." the man explained shakily.

izuku only exhaled heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose until his very finger tips turned white.

"disappear him, now." izuku ordered. the man only inhaled sharply as he was ambushed by three strong men and taken far away.

izuku then trembled as the realization suddenly draped over him.

katsuki was now missing, he was being taken back to his grandfather and a time where izuku was blinded by weakness. how could he be so simple? how could he mess up this badly? who knows where katsuki was off to now.

izuku certainly did not know.

both katsuki's disappearance and the threat of a war was looming over izuku's dizzy head.

how did everything become so tragic?