Chapter Text
Katsuki had made a mistake. He had gone on his own, straying from his war party in a fit of rage. He had gone to cure his frustrations, but he definitely didn’t plan on getting ambushed, hogtied with his face covered, and carried on the back of a horse for days.
He was taken by surprise by the river, splashing his face with the cool water of the winter, smoothing his temper when he was taken, he didn’t even hear them coming. If he had, he could’ve taken them. If he were paying attention and not so focused on the lingering fire within his chest, he would’ve fought the fuckers off. But no. He had to leave his men behind and get himself kidnapped. Some prince he was.
Without warning, he was yanked off the horse, hitting the ground hard. The air was pulled from his lungs as he gasped and groaned. The sack was pulled from his face as he glared up at the men above him. One undid his bindings, only to free his feet and retie his hands behind his back.
“Do you fuckers even know who I am?! I’ll blow your heads off!” He yelled, baring his teeth. But the men paid no mind. They looked tired and frail. Their cheeks were hollowed and their eyes were glossy and unseeing as they readjusted the prince, who tried to fight against the shivers that wracked his body. He had removed his shirt when by the river, all he was left with were his boots and pants.
He was hauled to his feet and led up a big hill, that overlooked a town. At the top of the hill, lay the mouth of a large cave. Down below the town was full of old buildings, dead crops, small farms with skinny animals, and sad people slowly trudging through the snow and mud, desperate to keep themselves warm.
As he was led to the mouth of the cave, it became very clear to Katsuki, that he was about to be used as a sacrifice for whatever god these people worshiped. This has been a hard season for them all.
“If you let me go, my people will be far more merciful than your gods,” Katsuki tried to bargain. But the two men leading him to the cave continued to look forward. Katsuki debated fighting them off, they were weak enough he could- but he had no idea where he was. And he couldn’t trace where he was effective if he’s got these people on his heels. Plus, they had horses. Weak horses, but still horses, “We will feed you, give you work, and ensure your children live through the winter,” Katsuki tried again, hoping to get through to them somehow.
“No children anymore, they barely made it through the fall,” the man on his right spoke softly, still looking away from Katsuki.
Once they were inside the cave, the temperature was significantly warmer. The men seemed to relax at the feeling, though they still held themselves with hesitance.
“M-my lord, we have brought you what you’ve asked,” the man on Katsuki’s left spoke. His voice shook and his body trembled, as he and the other man fell to their knees, taking Katsuki down with them.
There was a deep guttural growl, as two eyes reflected from the dark depths of the cave, “A worthy sacrifice for once? Not one of your measly servants?” the sound of claws dragging across the stone floor and of something heavy dragging behind the creature got closer and closer.
“N-no one from our village,” the man on the right spoke this time, looking down so as to not meet the creature's gaze.
Finally, Katsuki saw who this god was. Standing before him was a dragon, in a human form. Wearing a large red cloak that ran down to the floor and had a sheepskin collar.
The dragon was speckled with scales across his face and down his body. His shoulders and chest glistened with black scales whereas his neck and lower torso glistened with soft underbelly scales, that were littered with scars, big and small. He had large long horns that protruded from his forehead. They were a smooth black, that faded into a bone ivory at the tip. They twisted and curved behind his head pointing slightly inward at the point. The sclera of his eyes were black and his eyes were an intense red that bore deep into Katsuki’s soul. His cat-like irises flexed and dilated at the sight of him. Taking him in, making Katsuki feel bare as he stared into the dragon's intense gaze. The dragon’s third eyelids blinked as he ran a large clawed hand through his fiery red hair, with a few stands of gray. He scratched at the large scar that ran down the ride side of his face.
“Where did you find this creature,” the dragon's voice was deep and dripped with power.
Neither of the men spoke, they did not dare lift their heads.
“Speak!” The dragon took a threatening step forward, leaning over the three men, his chest glowing with that internal fire.
Finally, the man on Katsuki’s left spoke, “B-by the river, a few miles North from here,”
The dragon hummed at this, turning away from them. His thick long tail swayed behind him from under the cloak as his wings fluttered also underneath. though, the left side was held weakly and wasn’t drawn as close to the dragon's body as the right.
The dragon turned to them once again, lifting Katsuki’s face to meet his gaze once again. He glared down his nose at him, licking his teeth, “I suppose you will be a worthy sacrifice, who is your tribe?”
Katsuki glared right back, “The Bakugo Tribe,”
Just as the dragon was going to respond, his eyes flicked lower- cutting himself off. He crouched down, his reptilian legs folding beneath him- the onyx scales glistening in the light that shined into the cave. He pushed Katsuki back the dragon's hand engulfed the entire scape of Katsuki’s chest, before removing his hand to stare wide-eyed at the tattoo across Katsuki’s chest.
The tattoo had manifested itself years ago when Katsuki had drank a potion to change him. So that he could be a worthy son, a worthy leader. Though the spell had only half worked. The tattoo was a dragon, with large wings that were spread wide underneath Katsuki’s pecs, and the body down the middle of his stomach, the neck, and head ran up the lower half of his sternum. Katsuki knew he’d get a tattoo from the spell, it was part of the side effects, everyone who consumed the potion would get a different one though. No two tattoos were the same, each told a story. Katsuki figured he would mean he’d be a great leader, a strong and noble king for his people. But it looks like it really meant he’d meet his demise by the very beast locked in liquid under his skin.
“You fools,” The dragon growled, bearing his teeth, and flicking his long tongue at the two trembling men, “I told you, I can not consume the flesh of those who bore a dragon sigil,”
“W-we didn’t realize! M-my lord, please forgive us!” The man on his right groveled as the one on the left began to cry with his forehead pressed into the cool stone with his arms outstretched.
The dragon’s chest glowed, as he growled, “I have grown hungry from your insufficiency, you remember what I said would happen if you brought me a repugnant sacrifice once again?!”
The man on the left finally looked up tears flowing down his face, hands clasped together as he drew closer to the dragon, “P-please have mercy, m-my wife-” he reached out to touch the dragon's red cloak. But the large reptile pulled away, hissing at the man.
“Do not touch me, mutt! Have you forgotten my promises for your insubordination?! I care not for you or your wife, now you will watch as I destroy all that you love, and then, you will be the last thing I eat from this wretched place,” the dragon unclasped his cloak, allowing it to drop to the floor. He then grabbed each man by the collars of their shirts and dragged them behind him out of the mouth of the cave and into the piercing winter sun.
Katsuki struggled to his feet as he followed behind- hoping to say at least something to spare the people below, he couldn’t sit there and let the dragon destroy what was left of them over his unsatisfied hunger.
“Dragon!” He yelled as the large man threw his captors on their faces in the snow, the dragon turned to him with a growl.
“This doesn’t regard you, pup,” he snarled.
“You don’t have to destroy them! I- I can hunt. I can get you a good meal,”
The dragon snorted at that, “They had a law to follow, and they broke it. They knew their consequences,”
Katsuki then stood in front of the dragon, chest heaving as he looked up at the intimidating creature, “Then eat them and spare the people below, I can be your hunter. I will give you sufficient food,”
“Do not make me spill your blood too, pup. This death is far more merciful than their current demise,” The dragon’s body began to grow as his bones creaked and tendons popped. His wings spread out wide from behind him. And just like Katsuki’s tattoo, the dragon’s left wing was torn down the middle, rendering him flightless.
Katsuki smirked, “You and I both know you can’t kill me,”
The dragons chest growled as he shoved Katsuki to the snow, before he was completely in his dragon form. He bellowed and growled as he dragged the two men over the top of the cave, giving himself a better vantage point.
“Do not look away from what you have done. If you do, your death will be that much more painful and slow,” his voice was thunderous as his chest began to glow again, this time brighter. His ribs and heart were visible through his skin, and then there was fire. It was like a meteor connecting with the earth. The carnage was immediate as death was granted to all the fire consumed and touched.
Katsuki had never seen such a thing. All he could do was watch as this village was burned, as his body shook from the cold with his hands bound behind his back. He stared wide-eyed and mouth agape. The screams echoed and carried up through the cave, bouncing off of all that it could. Hoping and trying to call for help. But no help could come and fight off the rage of a dragon.
Once there was nothing but scorched earth left in the wake of the fire, all that could be heard were the cries of the two remaining men. Katsuki couldn’t look as those cries were too silenced with the snapping of bones and the consumption of flesh.
When Katsuki opened his eyes, the dragon was once again a man, standing before him with that glare settled deep into his face- but the sclera of his eyes was now white. He sauntered behind him, untying the rope that bound his wrists.
“Be gone, pup,” he said gently this time.
Katsuki stood, brushing the snow from his wet pants, “I don’t know where I am. I was blinded when I was brought here,”
“I do not care where you go, just be gone from here!”
Katsuki followed the dragon into the cave, he watched as he tucked his wings close and covered himself with the cloak once again.
“You don’t have a way to eat now,”
“Why does that matter to you?”
“I can help you,” Katsuki didn’t know what his plan was with this, but he knew that the dragon would search for a new village to take control of, and ultimately destroy. He had to put an end to it, maybe this was the story told by the tattoo that sat against his chest.
The dragon scoffed, “I do not need your help,”
Katsuki followed as he walked deeper into the cave, “Maybe, but would you rather starve and search on your own or join me- help me navigate back to my people and I help you by hunting for the both of us,”
The dragon stopped in his tracks and hummed. Thinking the idea over, before turning to the prince, “I accept. But if you try to kill me, I’ll accept my fate and kill you first,”
“What happens if you kill me?” Katsuki questioned.
The dragon smiled a wicked smile, his tongue flicking out between sharp teeth, “That is for only I to know, pup,”
Katsuki glared up at the large reptile, “Well, then do I at least get the “honor” of knowing my new traveling companion's name? Or shall I call you “my lord”,”
The dragon laughed as he walked past Katsuki to the mouth of the cave, “As much as I would love to hear you call me your lord, I know you will poison the words with your vile mouth. My name is Kirishima Eijirou, but you will call me Kirishima, you have not yet earned the honor of calling me by my given name,”
Katsuki rolled his eyes, “My name is Katsuki Bakugo, Prince of the Bakugo tribe, you can call me Your Highness,” he brushed past the dragon standing in the sun as the cold winter air made him shiver.
“I will call you no such thing pup,” the dragon snarled as he too walked into the sun, scales glistening in the light. His large reptilian feet created deep prints in the snow, “Now come, I shall take you to the North River where you were found. I trust you can find your way back to your people from there,” He looked over his shoulder, smiling that wicked smile, the whites of his eyes once again black and piercing, “and maybe if it’s good enough, I’ll reside there with you,”
Katsuki shivered once again, but not from the cold.