My Poet || MHA AU||

19 - The Ball

|Kinda Smoking?|

Shoto POV:

I knew the exact moment my father stepped into the ballroom.

Several cheers echoed across the area as the king presumably stood on his balcony that overlooked the actual dancing hall.

"Citizens of the kingdom!" My father starts his speech. "Me and my family have been waiting for this moment, a moment where we all come together and celebrate the start of a new era." I imagine him with his arm wide, facing his audience. "In the past few days, my youngest son was kidnapped. My heart broke when I learned he was missing." I gag. Natsu rolls his eyes. Fuyumi frowns. Nirena next to me just smiles. "He has come back to us, which is why I wanted to complete this ball. It's not only a celebration of a new era, but of him coming back to us!"

More applause.

When that dies out, a new voice is heard.

"Please welcome," The announcer started. "Her Imperial Highness, Daughter of King Enji, Lady Fuyumi."

Fuyumi sighed and left the room via the curtain. She stood up straighter, and instantly gave off 'Stern yet kind princess' vibes.

Cheers echoed throughout the large hall, and me and Natsu locked eyes.

"Please welcome, His Highness, Son of King Enji, Prince Natsuo." The announcer says, as my brother leaves as well. More disembodied cheers come from the hidden people.

There was a moment of silence to grow more suspense.

"And without further ado," The announcer says. "Please welcome, His Imperial Royal Highness, Heir to the Todoroki Throne, Son of King Enji, Prince Shoto!" I take a deep breath and walk into the ballroom. Or where the balcony was.

Blinding lights were everywhere, making me shield my eyes for a moment as I walked up to my father stiffly.

He gives me a fake smile and looks back at the ballroom people.

"Today, we have many kingdoms coming to meet together for the first time in a long time." My father says. "Let us all celebrate, together!"

More cheers.

Cheering that sealed my fate.

.Izuku.

I was already disgusted by the musty rotten smell of the dungeons.

The bars of my cell, as well as my handcuffs seem unnecessary. I huff in annoyance. No one has talked to me in a few hours, and I was completely and utterly bored.

What had I even done, really? As far as they knew, I was just talking with Shoto in his library.

They don't know we were planning on assassinating the king.

At least they didn't arrest the others. I hope.

A bang on the bars of my cell startles me and I look up. "Newbie, what's your name?" A woman asks. She was crouching on the other side of the bar in front of me, meaning she wasn't a prisoner.

"Izuku." I respond.

She blows a plume of smoke out of her mouth and hums a small noise of disinterest. I don't see a cigarette in her fingers and frown. "Trust me, child." She says, her voice is surprisingly kind. "Most people don't cause enough trouble to wind you up here. What did you do?"

I inspect her. She had a rough look to her, a large scar across the bottom of her chin to the top of her nose. Her skin was the color of dark chocolate, with a large dust of freckles decorating her face. She had strange tattoos on her forehead and below her eyeballs, clown-like triangles that curved from the bottom of her eyes. She had short, very curly, intense red hair. Light blue eyes contrasted her entire face, and long flat golden earrings hung from her ears. She had a black choker and a different looser black necklace. She was wearing a fishnet undershirt, with a shirt dress the collar of dried blood over that.

"I talked with the prince." I say.

The woman scoffs. "And you got sent to the dungeons for that?" She trills. "They really are protective over that boy."

I blink. "Why are you talking with me?" I ask. She quirks an eyebrow at me. "You're not a prisoner, if that's what I am, and you don't seem like a guard. So why?"

She smiles, and I get the feeling she was amused by the question.

"Sometimes prisoners break free." She says, before turning to the door. She tosses a small object into the cell before leaving my line of sight.

I frowned but looked down at the object she threw. A small piece of silver in the small of a triangle with a ridge line. My eyes widened when I realized what it was. A key.

Picking it up, I look around the cell area before crawling over to the cell door and shove the key into the large padlock. After a bit of fiddling, the padlock makes a small click and the door swings open.

I stand up and take a step out of the door. There were no guards anywhere. Strange. I think and start walking over to the stairs. They were circle stairs that led up to the castle, though the stairs were very long.

After a few minutes of silence, I freeze up when I hear two guards start to come down.

"Apparently the prince is gonna marry whoever he's picking." One says.

"Yup, maybe we'll get to guard the wedding or something.." The other one responds. They appear right in front of me on the stairs. "Hey! Who are you?"

I stay frozen in shock, trying to find a way to get out of here.

Then the strangest thing happens.

A strange white mist floats down the stairs and around the two guards heads. They straighten themselves up and then they walk down the stairs away from me.

I stay silent for a moment, processing what just happened.

When Legends become reality.

My eyebrows shot up. The myth of Otune (Pronounced: O-TUNE-AY) passes through my mind. The goddess of Mercy, known for having a terrifying appearance but a nice heart. No one really knows exactly what she looks like, but when she chooses a 'hero' to look after, she will help the hero by sending white mist to shield others eyes so the hero can complete their mission.

Shall bring the fall of fire royalty.

And that girl earlier. I think back. She said her name was Etris. Etris is the goddess of children, she usually helps heroes by sending them in the right direction. That was exactly what the girl did.

I rake my fingers across my face.

Is this what that prophecy meant? The goddesses are helping us? We're meeting the goddess? I blink and continue walking up the stairs.

After a few minutes of walking, I see a door and open it.

I peek out the door and saw I was in a long hallway. I distantly heard chattering from down the corridor, but I could make out any of the words.

"You're a bit needed in the ballroom right now." The same woman suddenly appears next to me and speaks. "There's a small problem there."

I glance over her again.

"What's your name?" I ask. "I gave you mine, so tell me yours."

She grinned at me, showing off perfect teeth. "Where's the fun if you have all the info?" She teases. I glare at her. She just grins back before raising an eyebrow to the window behind me. "There seems to be a red lizard outside."

I whip my head around and sure enough, Eijiro and Katsuki were both outside looking in the direction of a different window.

"I'd better scurry over." The woman says. "Your prince doesn't have a lot of time."

<^> To Be Continued

(1.2k words)

In my other story, 'Another Hades Child??', there's a character named JC or Jacinda. This character is actually my friend jker2801.

Go check her out, she's a good writer. ✨MOStly JacindA I StiLL wAnT tO eDIt yOuR woRK.✨