You With Us

8- A Bittersweet Path

(Hello! I have plotted out the storyline for a good ways out and have a few different routes I could see certain things steering towards. But... I want to know your guesses and so will be asking some questions before we get to those parts of the story. Some of your interactions may incline me to change the route a bit. But not always.

First question! How do you think Hawks serves his king? As an alpha military leader? A royal advisor? A court minstrel? Or an omegan courtesan?
Share your theories with me!)

Izuku groaned when he woke up. He was stiff and aching all over, as he had expected. His legs felt like useless slabs of meat. His eyes started to focus and notice the red surrounding him. He'd fallen asleep with his head shoved into red hair. So nothing seemed off... Until the omega realized he wasn't on that particular redhead's shoulders anymore. No, the red he was staring up at was fabric. He was inside a tent, and the light around him was quite dim. Was it dusk? Or maybe dawn? No, there was a small lantern hung on a tent poll lighting the space ever slightly. It could be any time of night with how dark it was in the lanterns surrounding shadows. How long had he been asleep for?

The greenette noticed that he'd been placed on a bed roll with a blanket draped over him. He gave both objects a tentative sniff. They smelled like honey and freshly cut cedar. The two scents that belonged to Ejiro Kirishima. And yet, when the omega sat up, slowly, mindful of his mending ribs, and looked around the tent, he didn't see the alpha anywhere. Izuku was all alone.
He listened for any noises outside of the tent. He could hear the crackling sound of a few campfires and some hushed voices. They were most likely sentries keeping watch as the rest of the camp slept.

The youth stood slowly. He realized why he had awoken. He needed to relieve himself. He wished he could get more of the pain numbing tonic Mina had given him earlier, but he had no clue where her tent was.
Even if I did, I don't want to wake her. She's done so much for me already, he realized.
Izuku found the tent's entrance and slipped between the fabrics folds. Twinkling stars greeted him as he stepped out into the breezy night.
More tents surrounded the one Izuku had just left.
Looking around, the emerald eyed boy noticed a gap through the sea of tents that seemed to lead to open fields. Once he'd passed beyond the tents, Izuku realized that the army had set up camp right beside a sprouting field of barley. The miller's son knew his grains, whether in a sack or on a stalk.

It was a short enough walk to duck between tents and find clear space. Once away from the tents, the omega turned, his eyes still adjusting to the night, scanning for an trees or bushes that he could do his business discretely behind.
After some more walking, he found a clump of shrubs.
A brief minute later, he was buckling his belt again and turned back toward the camp. But now, the greenette found himself frowning in dismay.
How was he supposed to find his way back to his tent? Well, Ejiro's tent. They all looked the same!
Izuku hugged himself as he entered the maze of red canvas again, looking this way and that, hoping to spot something that looked familiar. His heart shrank as he wove between tents and he chided himself for not leaving some mark outside his original tent. Why hadn't he thought to pay attention to where the tent was?

As he continued to wander hopelessly through the tents, a hand reached out from behind him, grabbing the omega's shoulder. Izuku practically jumped out of his skin, and he let out a loud yelp of surprise, followed by a low groan of pain as the omega fought from curling up in pain. He turned to see who had grabbed him, holding an arm up in front of his face for protection.

Standing in front of him was a confused looking young man about his age. Another soldier. He seemed somehow familiar, though Izuku wasn't sure why.
He was taller than Izuku, though not as tall as Katsuki, and of course, not Ejiro. His hair was pulled back from his face and tied into a neat knot on his head. To the omega's surprise, half of the hair was white and the other half red. The man's eyes were similarly mirrored in style, one grey, the other blue. Where had Izuku seen him before?
"I'm sorry," the familiar looking soldier said, pulling his hand back. "I did not intend on startling you. I was just surprised to see you walking about. You seemed... lost?"
The greenette saw the concern in the strange man's mismatched eyes. There wasn't a blemish or spot on him. He was, Izuku admitted to himself, quite handsome. He didn't seem like a threat. Izuku's shoulders slumped, and he swallowed. "I a-am lost." He admitted. "I-I don't know w-where my t-tent is. But, ha-have we met before?"
The man looked Izuku up and down, seemingly assessing him. "I was one of the three soldiers who rescued your party from the band of slavers.
I was mostly providing cover with arrows. My name is Shoto."
Two green eyes grew wide at those words. "You were th-the archer?"
Izuku asked, incredulous.
Shoto nodded, dropping his eyes to the ground.
He'd been ushering kids away from Katsuki as the blonde had been tying the four remaining slavers up when Ejiro had come back to their group caring the unconscious Izuku. Shoto had only seen him from a distance while taking out the slavers surrounding him, and then briefly, while he was held in Ejiro's arms. Now, the prince couldn't help but think how beautiful the boy in front of him looked. He wasn't sure what to say. He'd never been good with words.