Fates Entwined (A TodoBaku ff) ✔

XXXIV

The days that followed were much of the same, mainly to try and instate the new routine as quickly as possible. The warriors were getting used to their training, becoming more like a single-moving unit with each passing day. Shoto watched over the representatives in their groups, often teaching them new skills for them to adapt and develop into their own set of offensive and defensive tactics. It was very interesting for Shoto to watch how the people here learned the ways of fighting that had been instilled in Shoto since he could walk; they all seem to possess some unique take on a move, and whilst this wasn't the most practical in group formations, it would certainly give Enji's soldiers a surprise when combat was initiated. 

Meetings somehow seemed to last a lifetime yet fly by in a minute. Shoto always felt like he could be doing more, offering something more, having more ideas to share, and whilst Midoriya assured him countless times that he was doing more than enough, when he watched the people around the table argue and debate about things that could alter the fate of their family and friends, Shoto only wished to do more so they would never have to do this again. One war was enough, and Shoto vowed to himself that it would be the last. 

When Midoriya and Bakugou were leading training in the evening, Shoto either spent time training with Kirishima, Mina, Denki and Sero, or training by himself. There was a clearing in the forest he had found when walking with Kita, and it was deserted enough of wildlife that even with his powers he wouldn't speed up the claiming of winter over the lands. Flora was sparse apart from the expanse of grass, and through the mixture of barren and evergreen trees he could keep sight of the castle. It felt freeing to use his power again, to create mountains of ice higher than the tallest of trees, to glide and spin with his ice. The increasingly cold temperature made his power thrive, though he was careful not to overdo it in case he became sick. The last time his body temperature dropped to below freezing levels he had been bedridden for a month; he was only a child back then, but he would never forget the disappointment in his father's eyes that destroyed his world when he was still hopeful and naive. 

Each time he trained his eyes would constantly drift to the sky, waiting for the first snow to fall. Masaru said it would be any day now, and likely to last several weeks. Each year the snow varied, but it was the harsh and biting wind that most people despised. Shoto had always loved the snow, but now he found himself praying for it to never come, just so they could have more time. One more day, one more hour, anything to prevent the inevitable. It was the first thing he did in the morning, getting out of bed and looking down to see if snow had coated the ground, and the last thing he did before he slept, watching for that first snowflake to fall, to rest upon the frosty trails creeping from the edges of his window...

One evening, after a long session of increasing Kirishima's hardening endurance to the point where he could make small cracks in Shoto's ice, he found himself in the library, once more gathering an assortment of books. Sero joked that he would soon have read the whole library, and he would have to go to the Monasteries to find more. Shoto had always loved reading, finding escape in worlds beyond his own where people wrote songs and danced in fields, those who could fly and travel the world for adventures, and even books about people who lived happily ever after.

From time to time, as he grew older, he read a book of that sort, but his education meant he had little time for anything other than reading political history or war tactics. Since being here most of what he had read had been for the war effort, but since he found himself with some free time and that he was not yet ready to retire to bed, he decided to do some reading about the Tribe and its history, hoping to learn more about their past and culture. To kingdoms beyond the forest they were quite a mystery, and Shoto would take the opportunity to learn more, especially if it would help their kingdoms' ties after the war.