A Fantasy {KatsuDeku Au}

Bostwick

“The Town of Bostwick. Home of the Waterlily Fairies.” Iida rolls up the map and puts it away in a stowaway bag in the wagon. The wagon rumbles softly over the road, with Uraraka taking the reins. This wagon is smaller than the carriage we used to travel to the Capitol. “This place will have a lot of water landscapes and cultural-based artworks.” Uraraka is sitting on the saddle of a beautiful brown mare whose hair is braided and tied with a silk ribbon. The horse is Jirou’s best, or most commonly known to not run away when startled. 

“So is this place known for the Water Fae?” She asks. “Or more for the art?”

“Well,” he starts, “I guess I can say the town is more known for the art. It’s mostly because the Fae haven’t been around for decades, maybe the last few centuries. That includes all the Mountaineer, Sunsolisk, and Windolian Fae as well.” He leans back, and stares upward at a cloud formation. It looks like a rabbit. . . or maybe a goat? I don’t normally tend to pay attention to the clouds.

I look at the path ahead of us. There’s not a single building in sight, and we must be miles from the North Capitol Gate. How long have we been moving--since the last time I even used the bathroom? 

“The Sunolisk Fae. . . .” I turn my head when Bakugou mumbles something under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” I ask. He just clicks his tongue and avoids my gaze. 

“I’ve heard of them before.” He strokes his hair back before covering his eyes to block the glaring sun. “A long time ago when I was young.”

“Maybe you heard of them through an old folk story? But the only books nowadays with information about them are locked away in the Royal Library.” Iida takes out a book from one of our small bags. “One is currently in my possession. Care to have a look, Bakugou?”

Uraraka’s head turns back to glare at Iida, “You took it? That belongs to the king!” 

“The king actually doesn't own the Royal Library. He passed it over to his son, the prince as a form of a gift. With the Prince keeping care of it, the library has never looked a mess since,” he retorts smugly. She just huffs and works on the reins, jolting the horse to pick up the speed. He gestures the book towards my partner beside me. “Go on, you can take a look. We’ll be on the road for a bit before we reach our destination.”

Bakugou reaches out and grabs the book. The cover is old, yet is fairly kept in good condition. He runs a finger down the bumpy spine before pulling back the cover. I lean over, resting on his shoulder. The fur on his cape brushing against my cheek. His body tenses up under my weight, and he stays like that the whole time as he flips through the pages. Then, he finally lands on a page with a red being with wings sketched roughly on the paper. It’s such a bad drawing that it’s hard to see any tiny details on the face. 

“Are these Sunolisk Fairies?” I ask.

“Can you not read the page? Yes, it is.” He spits. “A poor rendition of them that is. This looks nothing like them.” He slams the book closed, and he sparks the book up in an explosion. I jump back, coughing. The horse neighs, rocking the wagon terribly rough. Uraraka eventually calms the terrified mare until it slows to its normal gallop.

“How could you destroy it!?” Iida scrambles onto his knees to the ashes of the book now covering the floor of the wagon. “That had valuable information!” No matter how much he messes with the ashes, it still remains a pile of ashes.

“Valuable? Yeah, you fuckers might want to reconsider what you call valuable these days. That book was chalked with false information.” Bakugou leans back again, soaking up the sun once more.