Follow the River [Shoto Todoroki x Reader: Fantasy AU]

Chapter 3: WANTED

The knight and the Prince rushed past the injured boy, following the trail of blood. Unable to stop them, Bakugo simply reared his head and growled.

"Hey! What are you idiots doing?!"  Bakugo yelled, but only to receive no response.

"There's a cave!" (Y/n) exclaimed. "D-Do you think it's in there..?"

"Most likely," Shoto said, taking out his sword and having it look at the ground. He didn't say another word as he took quiet steps, listening for any movement. (Y/n) gulped and followed suit, her heart pounding in her chest.

A low snore resonated in the cave. Shoto's pose became defensive as he stepped forward, his sword's sharp point now hovering in front of him.

"Sounds like it's sleeping or something," (Y/n) whispered. "I hope..."

"Bakugo wasn't in such good shape just now, so I doubt it," Shoto said, and stayed on heavy alert as his back dragged across the rocks.

Soon enough, they could see a large silhouette, it's back heaving up and down. It was humongous a red dragon, its scales prominent and its teeth sharp. It looked like a snake with wings, with sharp horns.

(Y/n) instinctively took a step back while Shoto took a step forward to examine it. He lowered his sword and knelt down next to its snout. "You're right. It is sleeping."

"What are you doing then?! Too close! What if it wakes up!" (Y/n) whisper-shouted. Her desperation only rose as Shoto inched closer to its face. Now she didn't know whether he was simply teasing her, or if he was really checking for something.

Shoto stood and walked past (Y/n), but not before grabbing her wrist, taking her with him.

"I'm glad that we're leaving, but why?" she asked.

"It has blood on its teeth. We need to speak with that man before anything else takes place."

Bakugo was hunched over in front of the cave, holding his wound. He was seemingly looking for something, but stood straight when he saw the two teenagers walking towards him. He huffed and looked away.

"It bit you, right?" Shoto asked. "Was it sleeping then?"

Bakugo seemed to have a hard time accepting that he was badly hurt by something that wasn't even awake, but eventually, he aggressively shrugged in response. "Yeah. I got too fuckin' close I guess." His voice was rough, he was obviously in great pain as he held his bloody arm.

(Y/n) sighed. "Well, let's treat your wounds. We told you that trying to fight a dragon isn't ideal alone."

"Shut up. You don't know shit."

(Y/n) crossed her arms. "It wasn't even awake and almost killed you."

One of the bracelets littering Bakugo's wrists lit up. Some kind of small, contained explosion went off in his palms, leaving a smoky scent in the air.

"Nice charm you got there," Shoto said. "Is that why you're so confident that you can defeat this dragon? Because of that charm?"

Bakugo's thousand miles stare bore into the two. "Fuck. I don't have time for this.." his tone became weaker after each word. "I need to fucking rest."

(Y/n) already began looking for her toolkit. "Let me stop the bleeding this time-"

"No! Fuck no. I got this under control. I didn't want to use this but I have to. I'll heal my damn self. And I'm taking your tent too," he announced, and with that, he left a trail of blood behind him as he took (Y/n)'s tent, closing it so harshly that it was about to tip over.