The Great Warlock War - Bakugo x OC Femreader

Chapter 70: The failure of the king's guard

Hawks was in the sky over the battlefield. He was leading the air force, though there weren't many bird folk in the royal army. Most of his feathered kin refused to get involved in the affairs of humans. The majority of his species lived high up in the mountains or on the smaller islands surrounding the mainland.

His family had lived on Meiji Island when he was young, but their nest had been attacked by a rogue ice dragon when he was no more than a hatchling. The beast had fled following the war in the north and was hiding out near the eastern coast. The king had rescued him himself after slaying the foul creature and brought him back to the castle in the capital. Though he didn't treat the fledgling like one of his own sons, he made sure he was well cared for and once he was old enough, he began a rigorous training regimen under the supervision of his predecessor, the previous head of the king's guard.

He had put everything he had into his training, determined to be worthy of the king's praise. Though he never received such praise verbally, he knew the king appreciated his loyalty and that was enough for him. Not to say that he was always a model student; as a young boy he often got bored of the routine finding his training too easy at times which made him restless. He wanted to go out exploring instead, but he was never allowed to roam the castle freely. Once, however, he managed to ditch his handler for a whole afternoon of freedom and he stumbled across the two eldest princes and the princess playing in the courtyard.

He would have been about 8 at the time, the same age as the princess. Her older and younger brothers were playing with a ball, kicking it to one another and trying to get it past each other's defenses. He wanted to join in, so he flew down from his hiding spot on the roof, into the middle of their game, and startled the three royals.

-

"Aaaaaaah!" Squealed the princess as she ran to cower behind her eldest brother.

Her younger sibling stumbled backwards and fell on his backside, blinking up at the winged boy in front of him in surprise. The eldest however, stood firm and didn't appear scared in the slightest. Instead, he jumped into action, shielding his sister with one hand while summoning a vibrant blue flame in his other. The cerulean flames swirled threateningly, reflecting in the prince's equally vibrant blue eyes. Hawks took a step back from the fire and put his hands up defensively as he folded his wings neatly behind his back. The last thing he wanted was to have them singed should the young prince attacked.

"Hey now, take it easy. I just wanted to join in the fun that's all." He kept his easy-going smile fixed in place not allowing the older boy to intimidate him.

After a moment, the prince winced and shook the flames out of his hand. Hawks noticed then that the eldest prince was covered in burn marks, mostly around his wrists and arms but also a few on his face. He thought better of asking at the time, so instead he introduced himself.

"I'm Takami Keigo, but you can call me Hawks." He gave the boy a winning smile and held out his hand for him to shake.

The princess seemed to have gotten over the initial shock of his sudden appearance and came out from her hiding place, she helped her younger brother up off the floor first, then responded to his introduction seeing as her brothers remained silent.

"I'm Fuyumi Todoroki, this is my little brother Natsuo and my older brother Touya." She smiled accepting his hand as he turned to face her.

Touya hadn't taken his hand when he had offered it to him first. The oldest Todoroki just glared at him suspiciously. Unlike his younger siblings, who seemed to have warmed up to their uninvited guest so easily after the initial shock of his appearance, he was much more mistrustful.

"Who are you?" He asked after Hawks had shaken the timid little Natsuo's hand.

Hawks spun around and smiled at the blue-eyed prince, he was most like their father; he had the same fierce eyes that held no warmth whatsoever and his hair looked like it was once the same colour as the kings, but it was swiftly fading to the same white as his younger siblings.