Set Me Free

Chapter 5. Rise & Shine

---I-AM-A-LINE---

"I licked it, so it's mine."

---I-AM-A-LINE---

As you do in a sleep-clouded daze sometimes, you will miss things. Maybe your pillow is missing, or perhaps it's radiating enough heat to simulate the warmth of a campfire. All things are easily mistaken for a sleep-like drowse.

'Wait, what the actual fuck?' Ah yes, the typical morning deep in a forest south of god knows where and a little ways off how-the-shit-did-I-get-here.

Bakugou sat stationary as his would-be pillow continued to move in a rhythmic pattern beneath him. There were few things in the world he had come to know that could catch the blonde off guard, and a fire-breathing beast cocooning him in the middle of nowhere was one of them.

The bright red of the sleeping dragon didn't go unnoticed, and he soon remembered the events before his dirt nap. How long had he been out? His wounds, while no longer bleeding, were not at the stage of scabbing, nor did they look to be gaining an infectious look, so he assumed it couldn't have been any more than a day at most.

Soft sunlight broke through the trees above, and the sound of birds and running water almost made him want to close his still-heavy eyelids, but he struggled against it.

Attempting to shift away from his makeshift sleeping arrangements ended in failure as he fell back with a hiss; he had somehow failed to notice the butchered arrow wound on his left shoulder and the rope net tangled around his feet. Right, that.

His movement didn't go unnoticed by his makeshift bedding, as he suddenly felt the surface beneath him flex and tilt him further forward as it raised its head sleepily. Crap.

"Wait stupid!" He was too late; it stood up in what he almost thought he recognized as excitement. His body screamed in protest as he was pushed up onto his feet, and he shot a glare at the big red ball that he decided was more like a dog than a dragon.

"Dammit, I know you understand me, so fucking listen!" Bakugou wavered in place as the dragon paused before tilting its head at him and glancing down at his entangled legs.

He saw it in its eyes but had no time to do anything other than release an indignant yell before it opened its mouth and dove down to grab hold of the ropes.

He had been reduced to being a dragon chew toy, swaying back and forth as it shook him. Maybe the bright side of it was that he got a close look at the scales around its neck and quickly determined that it was, in fact, a she. Something he could have figured out on the solid ground.

"...Down, now." The blonde bit out through gritted teeth as his shoulder flared up in burning pain. Thankfully, she gently put him down on the ground before stepping back with a sheepish look. However, despite his displeasure, it had done what it had intended, and the ropes fell apart.

Groaning Bakugou walked over to the river with heavy footsteps trailing close behind, kneeling beside it and looking at the arrow wound. It wasn't too deep; he had had far worse. Tasting the water, he was surprised to find that it was clean. He drank as much as he could before making quick work of washing the wound as best he could.

Bakugou jolted as the dragon nudged her head into his other arm, almost knocking him over into the river. Ignoring her, he continued to wash off lingering blood from his arm. The dragon didn't like being ignored; it seemed as though he quickly discovered this as sudden wetness covered the arrow puncture.

He took a moment to realize that she had licked him. He was so done. While he was distracted, she did it again, and he winced.

"Fucking stop! I know what you're doing, but I don't need it!" Despite saying that he knew that she had, in one quick movement, greatly lessened the likelihood of infection, However, he would have done fine healing without her help, and now he had dragon slobber on his arm.

He kept telling himself that the only reason he was putting up with her was that she had helped him escape that godforsaken place.

"Just so you know this makes us even," he glanced at her, "so hurry up and go home"—once again she collided with his side, and this time he wasn't quick enough to stop the forward momentum.

SPLASH!

The now soggy blonde coughed as he broke through to the surface before coming face to face with a grinning dragon.

"What the fuc--" A large wet tongue licked the water off his forehead and left the front of his hair sticking up. Bakugou growled before pushing the dragon's head away from him and hoisting himself back out. He was too tired for this shit.

"Screw it, do what you want, stupid lizard."

He stood and began peeling off his now-soaked clothes if you could even call them that anymore. He had been reduced to the bare minimum in the dungeon in the first place, and then with the added tears and burns, his shirt had been reduced to tatters; at least he still had pants.

Dressed in what nature naturally gave him, he made his way back into the water for the second time, taking his breaches to wash out the bloodstains as best he could before laying them on the riverbank and proceeding to do the same to the rest of his body.

Looking over his shoulder, he noticed the dragon watching him with what he assumed was curiosity. He raised an eyebrow as he met her eyes. She tilted her head before lifting her head and sniffing the air.

Getting back to the task at hand, now that he had a chance to rid his body of the dirt and blood, he assessed that his other injuries were minimal and didn't require any attention. Maybe a new scar or two, but he was used to that; they would be right at home with the rest. Sometime later, Bakugou climbed out and dressed in his damp but clean breaches before noticing he was alone.

"Tch, good riddance." Though truth be told, he was surprised it had just up and left as it did, but she seemed determined to hang around for god knows what reason.

By the time the light of day had begun to dim, Bakugou had lit a sizeable fire to fend off the cool night and stood a fish he had managed to spear with a sharp stick beside the fire pit. It wasn't nearly enough, but it would help him regain some of his strength. Luckily, for the moment, he had enough food and water to sustain him until he figured out his next course of action.

He had to figure out where on earth he had ended up via air dragon and, ideally, find a village. He knew that he was quite a ways away from the Valley of Heroes, the land on which his guild resided, just by looking at the forest around him. Trees like the ones that surrounded him weren't common back home, and they went for as far as the eye could see. He had a long journey ahead of him.

Sitting down beside the now steadily crackling fire, he tore the remnants of his shirt into strips of cloth, tying them around the injured shoulder in a makeshift bandage. It would have to do.

Bakugou's mind wandered back to the dragon; there was no way anyone would believe him if he told them. It was certainly a unique experience, to say the least, and one that he would commit to memory. He wondered where it went, and despite his previous desire to be rid of it, he couldn't help but wonder where it was going. Perhaps she also had somewhere she needed to return.

He knew he did; if he left those idiots to themselves, he wasn't sure if there would even be anywhere for him to return to. The Half-and-Half bastard was usually in charge while he was absent, but he had also left on a job himself, as had Sparky, and the next was Four-Eyes, who had a track record for turning everyone against him with his weird OCD tendencies. Leaving Deku in charge was out of the question, no way.

Bakugou nearly leapt out of his skin when a prominent figure came bounding out behind him, landing heavily near the fireside and dropping a sizeable deer at his feet. The dragon had come back.

She was looking at him expectantly.

"..."

She nudged it towards him.

"..Yeah, whatever." That seemed to do the job as she proceeded to lie behind him and the deer with a happy sort of expression.

He thought his life was weird before, but this took the cake.

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