A Royal Ice Heart

40.

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| Bakugou POV |

The scrambled murmuring of the crowd faded into the distance as my consciousness was absorbed solely by the hooded person.

I kept grasping onto strands of hope. Telling myself that maybe it was a burglar in the middle of the night dressed in a black cloak. I told myself anything, no matter how absurd just to ignore the possibility, the fact, the capability that it might be Izuku.

"What is the meaning of this!" My father enraged at all of the commotions. He was now standing, his glass of wine shattered in pieces on the ground.

"Pardon the disturbance your highness, however, I believe this needs to be said," Toga spoke up. My eyes were still fixated at the hooded figure, every morsel of my existence praying for it to be anyone but him.

I saw Toga motion towards the hooded figure, a bunch of guards walking towards it as a response. The hooded figure still remained lifeless on the floor, and I used that as assurance because if it was Izuku he'd have looked up at me, or probably ran straight towards me, but the figure just lay there. Anything, anything that deterred the figure from Izuku was reasonable to me right then. 

The instant the guard snatched the hood off the boy went by painfully slow. I never thought I'd ever cross my fingers at anything in my life, but hell here I was, crossing both my fingers and toes. 

I saw a couple of people gasp, hands covering their mouths as they gaped at the beaten up condition of the boy. Some of them sneering hateful remarks as the saw the servant outfit. Their eyes scanning the pale skin of the boy, the freckled cheeks, the tousled green locks. Their eyes scanning the limp body of a delicate boy named Izuku Midoriya. 

I felt my entire world sink as my heart fell to my stomach. I stared blankly at the lifeless body of my lover. I could never, even in my darkest of nightmares, have imagined how painful this could feel. I felt sick to my stomach. I could feel my vision getting blurry, I didn't know if it was because of the dizziness or the tears that were building up. I felt my blood run cold, my body suddenly going stiff. I was frozen in shock, I felt helpless. There were at least a dozen guards, and only one of me. 

"Get up!" I heard one of the guards command as he kicked Izuku in the stomach.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing bastard!" I roared, not caring for whoever heard me then. I didn't care for the built-up persona of the prince I had given the crowd, right now all I cared about was the helpless greenette on the floor. 

I took a step forward towards Izuku, but I felt Jiro grab my wrist. I scowled at her once but I didn't move forward anymore.

"Now let me explain as the Northern King said, there's more of a reason to why he doesn't want to get married," Toga voiced. My eyes widened as I finally started getting a gist of what she was doing. Was she actually going to expose us publicly? 

"The prince, he can't get married because of this nuisance." she proclaimed. I couldn't help but grit my teeth at her statement. It clearly sounded like all of this was Izuku's fault.

I heard the whispers of the crowd slowly turn into audible chattering. 

"This lowly servant got too close to the prince, and you know what? He started expecting things! Ha can you believe it, incredible huh!" she spoke with sarcasm in her voice. I felt myself lean forward, Jiro holding me back again.

"I just so happened to see this but you see, this," she referred to Izuku this time grabbing his hair and holding him up, his knees loosely scraping the marble floor, "this insolent insect kept sticking onto the prince. If you don't believe me ask the king. We warned him multiple time but he wouldn't listen, and tonight I caught him kissing the prince."

"Oh my god." "Is she lying?" " DIsgusting" The unforgiving taunting grew louder from the crowd, as they continued to share their undesired opinions. I saw Toga's mouth move once again, probably talking more trash but I couldn't hear any of it. I felt myself go numb, my eyes fixated on the dangling body of Izuku, only the smothered chants of the crowd echoing through my ears. My knees suddenly felt weak. I felt time stop for seconds. I tried denying everything. It wasn't supposed to go like this. We were supposed to get our freedom. I was supposed to be happy with Izuku. My sadness started to turn into frustration. The hateful whispers of the crowd and the relentless taunting of Toga just fueled my anger to a whole other level.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I yelled. My hands finally freeing themselves from Jiro's grip, as I walked towards Izuku. There was pin-drop silence in the room, and for everyone, it might have been unsettling, but to me, it was a sense of relief.

I didn't think twice before slapping Toga away from Izuku, catching the hurt boy in my arms. I didn't realize it from far away, but Izuku was softly coughing, still, thankfully he was breathing.

At that moment I couldn't give a damn about anyone, or anything all I cared about was the boy in my arms.

"Izu," I whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

I felt my hand cup his left cheek, my thumb gently rubbing on one of the bruises. I clenched my jaw as I looked back at the guards.

"..who was it," I said.

There wasn't a response for a while and my patience was already on thin ice.

"If I were you I'd speak right about now, I might go easy on you and change your death sentence to a life sentence if you fess up," I spoke, a bit louder than the last time.

I waited for a while before someone finally spoke.

"No ones getting a sentence," I heard a deep voice groan.

I looked back at my father. In all honestly, I didn't need to look back to know that he was probably fuming in rage right about now. 

"Guards hold him down and lock the boy up. Don't worry about picking a cell he won't be there for long anyway." My father ordered.

It was silent for a while. None of the guards dared go against the prince, but looking at who made the order they knew what they had to do. I heard the clinking of boots and heavy gear get closer as two guards tried apprehending me. 

I stood up, tightening my grip around Izuku. One of my hands supporting his head, the other wrapped around his waist. I brought my eyes to stare at the number of guards surrounding me now. Like a wild animal protecting what was mine I hid Izuku from the guards. 

"Katsuki, I would be best to leave him now, I'd rather things not get mess-" my father voiced, however, I interrupted.

"Shut up! I don't care dammit! You should know this by now I'm not letting him go! I can finally protect him, I'm not letting him go so call them off right now!" I yelled back.

"Then it leaves me with no choice. Can't say I didn't warn you before, Seize him!" I heard my father roar.

I felt my grip tighten as my eyes unwavering from the guards. They started closing in slowly, nevertheless,  I still managed to hear a soft whisper under me.

"...k-kachan?"

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Fear isn't built from death, it's from the eternal loneliness that follows. Love is a strength not many experiences, but it is indisputably one of your greatest weaknesses as well. And that's just the price you have to pay. She used to say.