Heavy is the Head That Wears the Crown

iii

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A black-sailed ship, made of some dark wood Katsuki couldn't name at such a distance and with the darkening world all around him, was docked at the fishing harbor. It wasn't Rathian. That was made obvious by the sails and wood, even more so at the haphazard way it was docked, like the captain had been in such a hurry to set anchor he didn't even think about any potential fishing nets or traps or even people. The fore of it was rammed against the aft of a fishing boat.

Katsuki promptly hopped off the balcony, catching a rope he hung there months ago with his now gauntlet-clad hands and slipped his foot through a loop to make sure he didn't fall. There was no rope burn for him. All thanks for the gauntlets he now wielded. They were like gifts from the Gods themselves. His weight caused it to lower him towards the ground quickly, heavy rocks deposited on the other side to keep it grounded normally. It was a pulley, designed so he could get out of his room with haste if need be, and this situation definitely needed it. The ash blond had yet to think of a way back in.

Katsuki jumped from the rope prematurely, landing square on his feet. He sprinted towards the docks, a frown on his face. Were his parents already there? Were any Knights there? That didn't matter. Katsuki was the Prince. He could take care of it himself if need be. The ash blond was capable enough on his own, but now? With the golden gauntlets clasped about his hands? He was unstoppable.

The intruders were making a mess of the fishermen's hauls and caches. A few of the trading stalls were ablaze, turquoise flames hurriedly being put out by fishers, only for more to sprout to life in other places. Katsuki skidded to a stop in front of the pier, his fists clenched inside the golden gauntlets. A smirk crossed his face. They wouldn't know what hit them, now that he had the gauntlets.

"Oi!" he yelled into the fray. The intruders—a tall man and a little girl—turned to him. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

The tall man was horribly disfigured, patches of leathery purple flesh replacing normal skin all over his person. They were connected to the rest of his body with what looked like crudely applied staples. His eyes were like cerulean arrows aimed directly at Katsuki: intense and piercing. Beneath them were more scars. They were the same color as the flames antagonizing the fishers, which meant he was responsible for them. Katsuki was willing to bet the scars he had were from his flames, too.

The little girl couldn't have been much older than Katsuki. She had a huge, manic grin on her face, revealing canines sharper than the average person's. Her cheeks were flushed pink. As she put her hands on them to coo at Katsuki, he spotted crimson blots standing out violently against her fair skin. There was only one thing he knew with that viscosity and nauseating shade: blood.

"Dabi, look, it's the Prince!" the girl giggled, bouncing up and down as she took her hands off her face to tug on the man's black coat. He yanked it away from her with a disgusted curl of his lip. "Hi, Katsuki-kun! I'm a big fan of how you destroy everything you touch!" Katsuki glowered. So she knew about his name and his curse. Did she have a spy in Rath that was telling her about him? Even if she did, she didn't know about the gauntlets. They were brand new. She would in a second, though, when he used them to blast her face off.

"Shut it, little psycho," sneered 'Dabi' before addressing Katsuki. "Good evening, Your Highness. We're envoys from the Island of Mau with a little message from our... 'ruler'." He kicked an embalmed hand across the pier, Katsuki immediately scrunching up his nose in disgust and taking a step back. At least that didn't have any blood on it. Instead of connecting to an arm, at the end of the wrist there was a golden base with two holes in it. The pale-grey hand rolled to a stop in front of the ash blond Prince. Laid in its palm was a piece of paper. When he looked back up at the so-called envoys, they were gone. Their ship was already retreating back to the water.

"Fuckin' cowards," Katsuki muttered as he bent down to pick up the paper with a frown and a disgusted gag, holding it warily in case it was somehow a bomb. Granted, he had a natural resistance to explosions ever since that day in the woods. He looked back at the hand. He didn't want to get anywhere near it, but he couldn't just leave it on the pier... Katsuki wrapped it in a severed section of fishing net. He unfolded the piece of paper and scanned it as he walked back to the castle.

Every single word he read filled him with more disgust and more anger. By the time he reached the castle, and subsequently his parents, his blood was practically bubbling with rage.

"Look what some shitty intruders brought!" the Prince yelled into the throne room, interrupting a meeting with his parents and who he recognized as Captain Uraraka of the Queen's Guard by tossing the net holding the hand towards them, which spilled out of the net once it hit the ground, rolling a few more times towards the rulers and Captain.

Captain Uraraka whipped her head up at the sight of the embalmed hand, looking slightly queasy. "What do you mean intruders?" she demanded.

"Exactly what I said, Pink Cheeks," he scoffed. "At the dock, two 'envoys' from the Island of Mau left this and a note before running away like fucking cowards."

Mitsuki stood up, her crimson eyes flashing dangerously all of a sudden. "What does the note say?" the Queen hissed. Katsuki frowned at the venomous hostility in her voice. He had never heard of Mau before. How had she? It wasn't even mentioned in any of the books at the library (not that he spent a lot of time in there).

"The fucking Emperor of Mau is going to declare war on us, too, unless I fucking marry him."

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