The Journey To A Hero (My Hero Academia Fantasy AU)

12. Runaway Prince.

"Bakugo Katsuki, Prince of Nagasaki, Ruler of dragons." The little boy entered the throne room, a grin full of pride on his face.
His title, one of the highest in the land, would be announced every time the seven-year-old could be seen by the public.

Bakugo roamed the floors of the castle, his soon to be subjects clapped as he walked past, towards his parents; Queen Bakugo Mitsuki alongside her husband King Bakugo Masaru.

He halted between the two rulers, his mother ruffled his hair, he pushed her away.
Today was his seventh birthday, and the entire kingdom was invited for a ball, at least, the people worthy enough to be in his presence.

As the guests danced, his mother kneeled before him; "Now that you're seven, we'll hire someone to teach you about your royal duties."
Bakugo scoffed and crossed his arms, "Who said I wanted that?"
His parents laughed at his response, "No one dearie, but you still have to."

Later that night, the prince was sitting on the castle walls, watching the soldiers train. His soldiers.
His whole life he had been praised, often for nothing, and it sure had gotten to his head.
He watched as a general got out the dragons, fearsome creatures, the only ones he found deserving of his respect; they were strong, excelled in battle, and feared by the Musuvanni's, and most hadn't even met one. He was proud to be called the lord of these beasts, because even when they were trained by the best, they still stood their ground, and he respected that.

Bakugo watched the general, it seemed to be a training session for three young dragons.
The two the bigger ones spewed fire at the dummies, slashing and biting.
The smaller one seemed to hesitate, not being as violent as the others.
The general cracked a chain whip on the dragon's neck: "You're a bloody dragon too, act like one."

After training, the prince jumped off the walls, and started his search for the dragon, he only found a boy; but he had long red hair the same colour as the dragon. his skin, consisting of some scales, and a set of wings on his back, alongside the tail and the horns, this all made the young prince realise that this boy was the dragon he saw before.
Bakugo slowly came closer to him. The boy was softly crying, and held his knees to his chest, wings covered his body as if it was a blanket. Bakugo only now saw the whip slash still embedded in his neck.
"Were you that dragon from before?"
The crying boy was startled, and looked for the source of the question, wincing in pain as he turned his damaged neck, when he saw bakugo, he hesitantly nodded yes,
"That's so cool! I also want to be a dragon!"
The red head's eyes lit up, but immediately saddened again, "I don't want to be a dragon, I want to be human"
"But you are human, don't you get to choose?" the boy shook his head. "I think you should be able to, to choose who you want to be." Bakugo held out his hand, "I'm Katsuki, who are you?"
The boy removed the tears from his eyes, "I'm Eijiro." "Let's be friends, Eijiro."

Since that night they kept visiting each other weekly. With every meeting, Kirishima seemed to get more scars, and Bakugo's personality seemed to fade, because of his adding duties as a prince and future king.
One night, after their 5th anniversary as friends, Kirishima began to speak; "Kat, they say I'm ready for battle, they want me to go into war," tears rolled down from his red eyes, "I don't want to hurt people."
Bakugo scooted over, and placed an arm around his friend, "Let's run away then, I'll go with you." Kirishima smiled through his tears, a sad smile, "Come on bro, you can't leave." "Why not?" "You're gonna be king, the people need you." Bakugo scoffed, "The people can stick a foot up their asses, they're not worthy of my time."
"And I am?" The question sounded sarcastic, but the blond knew that he was being serious. "Eijiro, you fucking listen to me, as far as I'm concerned, you are the only one equal to me."
Kirishima grinned, "Let's go then."

After both boys had collected their belongings they met again:
"Well, how do you want to go? I don't think they'll let me out without permission." "Just get on my back bro." Bakugo was startled, "You want to fly? Are you sure that's okay with you?" Kirishima smirked, "I was literally trained for it, just hold on." 
Kirishima turned around, and let out a breath, slowly he turned into a dragon. The blonde gasped in wonder, he had never seen the transformation, he never dared to ask.
The dragon jerked his head up, signalling that Bakugo should get on.
After a bit of struggle he was all set, he nodded to Kirishima, and they took off.

Bakugo watched the castle town fade below him. happily he thought about all the free time they would have now.
After half an hour in the sky they landed, Kirishima noticeably out of breath, "Eiji, are you alright?" Kirishima bent forward, his hands resting on his kneecaps, wavering his hand, meaning it was okay, that it would be over in a bit. Bakugo watched as his wings, horns, scales and tail slowly dissapeared. "Let's find a place to stay."

They had settled for a small cave in the forest. It was night time, so Kirishima prepared a campfire. "Why don't you like being a dragon? the feeling of freedom up there is amazing." The question had been burning inside his mind for a long while, and after experiencing said feeling of freedom himself, he just had to ask.
"Because... I-I" he struggled to find the right words, "You don't have to tell me." "I should."
"You know I'm half dragon, when I lose concentration while being a dragon,- well... My mom's side takes over." he let his head hang.
"What happens then?" with the tone he had said it, he kind of already knew, but he just wanted to be sure. Kirishima grinned, baring his sharp teeth.

"Don't worry about it, as long as I'm with you, it won't happen."
Bakugo never forgot those words.

(A/N)
Bonjour~ (man I really have to introduce Aoyama, soon, truly one of my faves.) But I just wanted to thank y'all for the 1K, and also for the votes and kind comments of course.
Thank you for reading!