Fates Entwined (A TodoBaku ff) ✔

LXV

When Shoto opened his eyes, it was not to the sight of his father's frostbitten, blood-coated body. It wasn't to the sight of the med camp, nor Ochako's medicinal cabin, nor to his own room in the castle. 

When he woke up, he was in his mother's garden. Ah, so he was dead. 

"Don't be an idiot, Sho. Even as a baby you were a fan of the dramatics." A loud voice called over to him from just across the garden, mature yet holding on to its boyish charm.

A tall figure with pure white hair just like his, stray strands of red scattered underneath, was walking over to him. As Shoto sat up, noticing the lack of aches and pain in his body, taking in the blooming spring flowers, soft green grass and the blue sky above, he was terribly, extremely confused. 

"You're not dead. I mean, not yet."

Shoto paused his movements, the voice now as clear as the world around him. He let out a shaky breath before looking up at the figure who was now leaning over him, bright turquoise eyes and a mischievous smile. The person held out his hand, and Shoto could instantly recognise the crisscrossing burns that climbed up pale skin, a deep red almost purple in colour. He accepted the hand without hesitation, and when he stood up he was almost the same height as his brother.

"You're so old." Was the first thing he said, like an idiot.

"Ha! At least I'm not the one who's dying." Touya retorted, left arm wrapping around Shoto's shoulders, leading him further along the garden path. 

"You're already dead?" Shoto questioned, growing more confused with each passing moment. His brother was here, right next to him and entirely tangible. 

"Yeah, you got me there. Kicked the old man's ass by the way. I'm impressed." Touya held a casual grin, his body relaxed like he had not a care in the world. 

"What's... where are we?" Shoto asked at last, wondering if he had gotten injured severely enough during the battle against his father that he had started hallucinating from the pain.

"Don't really know," his brother replied. "Been here for a while, mother too."

"Mother? She's..." What would she think about Shoto's actions? That her son had become a monster just like her husband, and slaughtered him heartlessly. Would she want to see him?

"Calm down, little bro." Touya patted his shoulder, steering them to the right down another path, the greenhouse just in sight. "I think we're in some kind of middle state, like the ancestral plane."

"The one Katsuki and his people talk about?" He questioned, Touya nodding in response. 

"Turns out the Escilan people had a similar belief, that they'd be called during a time of need to help their descendants before moving on. The plane where the Maiden spoke to the Goddess."

"And where do you go after? Where have you been all this time? How about-"

"For the son with the ice power you're not being very calm right now." Touya still had his relaxed grin, and Shoto could not detect any signs of pain coming from his brother. He was dead, had been all these years, and regardless of what was happening right now he hoped Touya had been relieved from the pain and suffering forced upon him as a child. "Besides," Touya continued, "I'm the dead one, I have no idea what's going on. Just ask mother."

"Does she know?" He asked quietly, tone hesitant. "That Enji..."

Touya didn't reply, only gave him an assuring smile before opening the doors to the greenhouse and leading him inside, over to the same table he had sat with his mother to drink tea in his vision, before running off only to see Touya burn to death. It made his gut clench, his insides hurting just as they had when his father destroyed his ribs. If Touya did not feel so real beside him, his body warm and alive, he truly would have believed he was dead.