Chapter Text
Prince Katsuki was on a warpath. Servants were smart enough to jump out of the way, pressing themselves against the wall to stay out of the line of fire. The tempers in the Bakugou family ran hot, but none was quite as explosive as the young alpha prince.
“Hag! What is the meaning of this?” He screamed as he stormed into the banquet hall, his ruby eyes flashing with anger.
“I’m busy brat, what do you mean?”
He slammed the paper down on the table, the orders for his men, the ones he trained with and grew up with called to war. The youngest ones in that battalion were his age, just shy of seventeen. “You are sending my friends to war, but banning me from going with them?”
“Katsuki, you are the prince. It is too dangerous for you to go. We can’t lose you.” She reached for his face but he jerked away from her.
“That is bullshit! You are sending Himiko! Denki! Eijirou!” His voice broke on that last name and her eyes narrowed.
“Himiko is your half sister, and cannot inherit, Denki should be proud to be able to protect this kingdom and as for Kirishima,” Her voice and eyes softened. “You are too close with that Alpha. I wish that you were free to love who you wanted, regardless of secondary gender, but you are a prince my love. You have a duty to this kingdom to marry someone who can bear–”
“You expect me to have children? In the middle of an endless war? How many of my father's brothers have fallen? How many orphans have you looked into the eyes of and thanked them for their families service? You talk as if my half sister, your daughter is disposable while you send people I care about to wage your war without me to protect them? And you expect me to care about your legacy?” His eyes burned, but remained dry. He was born an alpha in a land of war, it was expected of him not to cry.
“We didn’t start this war my son.” her eyes narrowed at him.
“But you haven’t done anything to end it! Our people suffer as every available person is conscripted into service, our resources dwindle trying to keep up with demand! The only ones who prosper are armorers and grave diggers.” When he was a child the thought of war was like a fun game, something to play pretend about and train for. Then people he loved and respected would leave and either never come back, or come back wrong. War wasn’t a game, and he threw himself into training.
“There is more to ending a war than just stopping the fighting. There are compromises, concessions the parties have to make. Every attempt has ended in bloodshed. And I don’t have backup heirs like the Midoriya's do.”
“Let me fight. I’m the best we–”
“No!” Her eyes- the ones that were almost the same as his, a little older, a little less hopeful, filled with tears. “We have lost too much family to this war. I need you here. Protecting the heart of this kingdom.” Hissing at her he broke away. His father would listen. Making his way to his father’s chambers he stopped, the sounds of sobbing coming from behind the door.
“Please your majesty! Neito has not been trained to fight!” It sounded like Lady Monoma, one of his mother’s companions. He was certain at one point his parents had loved each other, but being an alpha/alpha pair in the middle of wartime would put a strain on anyone’s relationship.
“I warned you Lady Monoma. No one is safe from conscription. You should have put your son forth for training as a child.” He had never heard his father sound so harsh.
“I heard the young Himiko has been chosen too. Are you sure this about the safety of the kingdom and not just getting rid of your wife’s bastards? After all, she’s the true Bakugou not you-” There was a smack and a gasp.
“Your son is no child of my wife’s. And it was only out of pity that she claimed the Toga bitch. My son will inherit. My son will lead us to victory, while your son’s corpse rots, eaten by the crows.” He had heard enough. Backing up a few feet he began to stomp, being loud so his father would not think he had heard anything.
“Old Man!” he screamed as he slammed the door open.
“My son!” Masaru greeted him cheerily, Lady Monoma turned so he couldn’t see her face.
“The Hag said I’m not allowed to go fight with my men.” The lady stiffened, and Masaru smiled sadly at him.
“I’m afraid not my boy. You are the only Bakugou heir, our pride and joy. You are too important to risk.”
“Can I still see them off? Wear that shiny bullshit armor you had made for me and say goodbye to my friends?” A plan was forming in his head. A stupid plan, one that more than likely wouldn’t work.
“I think that would be good for morale.” His father responded with an indulgent grin, Be a symbol for the troops.” He wished he could give Lady Monoma some comfort as he turned, but his father was clever; there could be no hint of his plan as he got on his horse and headed to the Monoma estate. He had never liked the future Duke, Neito had rubbed him the wrong way ever since they were kids. He had always tried to get the queen’s attention and pouted when she wanted nothing to do with him. It was no wonder he hated Himiko too. Her mother had no claim to title and when she died out of obligation his mother took the girl in. Himiko however knew her place was tenuous and spent the time out of the queen's sight. She trained for war, knowing that her fate would lead her to the battlefield and she prided herself on being an alpha. It was probably the only reason Mitsuki tolerated her in the castle.
Neito however, despite being an alpha, was coddled from birth. Even though Lord Monoma was not his biological sire he doted on his son, training him to take over the Duchy. Rumors were rampant, everything from Lord Monoma being infertile, to him planning to take over the kingdom using his son. Katsuki was leaning toward the former, the few times he had met the lord he had just seemed happy to just be around his son, and looked sad whenever Neito wanted the Queen's attention. Part of him had always hated Neito, thinking he was trying to usurp him. Now he just felt pity as he headed to the estate. That pity grew as he got to the Monoma gate and found Neito himself kneeling on the ground, his face in his hands sobbing. His horse was behind him, it looked like he had just slid off the saddle onto the ground. He looked up as Katsuki approached, tears flowing free down his face.
“I tried to run, but where would I go?” Katsuki had never seen Neito look so terrified.
“Get on your horse and come with me.”
The next day he sat on Monoma’s horse draped in the poncy armor Lord Monoma had made for his son, while Neito stood in his place by the queen. They told no one of their switch save Lady Monoma who was going to help “Katsuki” fake a long illness too contagious to receive guests. He wished he could have told Kirishima, he was watching the alpha he cared about when Monoma fainted and the helm was ripped off revealing Monoma’s face unrecognizable under the fake lesions. As planned Lady Monoma was the first at his side declaring it a form of plague. As the best healer in town she volunteered to take the prince to her estate to help him and her guards packed him in her carriage as she pledged to heal him. Denki was holding Kirishima in place but the queen looked at them, her eyes narrowing at him. He was afraid their plot was discovered as she stepped down from the platform and called for Kirishima to come to her. He couldn’t hear their hushed conversation but as she sent the alpha back to his horse she caught his eye again and gave one singular nod before raising her voice.
“Go protect this kingdom from our enemies, and I swear, by the blood of my ancestors, that anyone who comes to me with a plan to end this war either by victory or peace, I will listen.”
He could never fool her, his mother. That part was to him, a secret message. Come home with a plan to end this.
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Many many miles away:
“You can’t leave me behind! I am the best healer in the kingdom! In any kingdom!” Izuku barely resisted the urge to stomp his foot.
“Not very humble, are we little brother?” Shindo laughed as brushed his horse.
“You are the crown prince, the heir, you can’t go to war. What if-” The tears prince Izuku had been fighting won as they spilled down his cheeks. When he was a child, all he had ever dreamed of was an end to this war. He had thrown himself into learning as much as he could not only in the art of healing, but also throwing himself into history books. No one alive still knew how the war started and he believed that finding how the conflict started would be the answer to how it would end. But none of the books seemed to hold the answer. At every turn he got conflicting tales and fairy stories.
“No tears brother. You must be strong.” Shindo pulled him into a hug, hiding his tears from the others. “You, my baby brother, are the future of our country. Not me. My father was no king. Not like yours.”
“I don’t care! You can’t leave me here!” Izuku clung to his brother. “Let me protect you.”
“I need you here. Mother needs you here.” Shindo ruffled his emerald curls. “Or are you gonna leave our poor sister to mother’s finishing lessons by herself?”
“I’d rather get gutted on a battlefield than one more dance lesson.”
“Never say that.” Shindo’s arms tightened around him. “You are my hope, little brother. I tire of war, of death. If anyone can bring peace to us it is you. My little brother was born to heal, in a land surrounded by death.” His brother pushed him back and gave him a smile. “But you shouldn’t worry your pretty little head about me. We are just reinforcements. Hopefully we can push the Bakugous back and retrieve our wounded.”
He wanted to argue, if that was the truth it was even more prudent that he went along! But Shindo and his mother were both of one mind. He would never be able to save people on the battlefield. All he wanted to do was save people, stop the death and destruction that ravaged his land. What kind of prince was he if he couldn’t help his people? Heading back toward the castle he ran into one of his teachers.
“Aizawa! Are you heading back to war?” This was alarming to him because the last time he had gone off he had come back with only one leg. Their best sculptors and artists had made him a replacement, delicate looking metal over carved wood with a joint at the knee.
“Yes.” He handed him the bundle in his arms. “Supplies for the med cart. Can you take them to Iida for me? Then head back to your mother.”
“Has something happened?” The usually stoic alpha looked ruffled.
“Nothing to worry about princling. Just heading out sooner than we thought. Deliver that for me then go to your mother and pray with her.”
“I will do that.” Izuku nodded and headed to the supply wagons stopping when he heard a whispered argument.
“I don’t care how much the pay is, you can’t be serious!”
“We are going into battle anyway, we can just make it look like someone from the other side did it, I even have a Bakugou dagger to do it with.”
“He’s our prince!”
“It’s not like he’s a true l Midoriya the queen didn’t even give him the name, he’s just a bastard. I bet the queen would be relieved–”
“Everyone move out!” another voice called out followed by a horn. The two ran off and Izuku rushed around the corner trying to see who they were. He was too late as they joined the others in armor. His brother was in danger and there was nothing he could do. No. He wouldn’t let this happen. He rushed to the supply wagons and climbed inside hiding his small frame behind barrels of supplies. With nothing to do until they stopped he curled into himself waiting until he could warn his brother.
He didn’t know when he fell asleep, but he did, waking up when the sun was low in the sky. And camp was being made. Creeping out he made his way toward the tents. People talked as they worked and he was listening to see if he heard the mystery voices again. Everyone was so busy it was easy to slip through. A lot of royalty would have a giant sprawling tent, but not Shindo. The only thing that distinguished his tent from the others was the Midoriya crest on the flaps. Izuku really didn’t like how easy it was to get to his brother’s tent and slip inside. And he really didn’t the sight when he got there. His brother was on his knees bruised and bloodied between the kitchen boys.
“Just stab him Yuga! Slit his throat and we can leave.” The one, the baker’s son Sato if Izuku remembered correctly, had his own knife against Shindo’s throat.
“Why can’t you do it?” The quivering omega asked, “You have a knife too!”
“It has to be a weapon from the Bakugous. Just do it and we can be together.” The blonde omega pulled back the dagger and Izuku moved, scooping up his brother’s sword and slashing, catching Yuga in the side, the blade cutting deep. It was enough of a distraction that Shindo was able to wrestle the knife from the alpha sinking it deep into the man’s chest.
Izuku was in shock, the blonde omega was on the ground blood pooling around him while he screamed drawing in soldiers. One of Shindo’s most trusted went to take the sword from Izuku’s hand but, Shindo held his hand up.
“Little brother, stomach wounds are a long and painful death, you need to finish him.”
“I can’t!” Izuku was shaking and dropped the sword, a sob tearing from his throat. “I just wanted to warn you– I didn’t mean–” He looked around and saw the pity on the faces of the soldiers around him. They knew he wasn’t a fighter. That he didn’t mean to–
“Izuku. No one else is going to do it, and he’s a traitor. I will not allow a healer. Finish him or he dies slowly in agony.”
“It’s what the traitor deserves my lord.” Tensei Iida said, putting his hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry.”
“I know it seems cruel.” Shindo told him looking into his eyes as he came closer and pressed a dagger into his hand. “But it’s too late to take you home and this is a lesson I need you to learn now and not out on the field. You struck a killing blow in defense of someone. To save a life you took one, but you can show mercy in death. End his suffering and move on.” The screaming had stopped and the omega just looked up at him with sorrow and tear filled eyes.
“I didn’t want to. Please my prince!” he begged, his face growing paler by the second. He knelt beside the boy, he couldn’t have been any older than Izuku’s sixteen years if not younger. Pressing the dagger against the slender throat, he tried to stop his hand from shaking.
“I’m sorry.” Izuku gasped out as he drew the blade deeply across the omega’s throat. Blood spurted from the gash and Izuku turned away, spewing what little he had eaten that day across the floor.
“Iida, take my brother to get cleaned up. See if you can borrow some gear to get him kitted out.”
“Yes sir.”
“The rest of you clean this place up. Get another cot for the prince to rest on.” The words and tone sounded harsh, but Shindo reached out a hand to help him up and pulled him into his arms for a hug before pushing him to the elder Iida brother. As they walked Tensei looked at him with a sad smile.
“The first time I was forced to kill, I froze. In the middle of battle I just stood there like a lamb waiting to get slaughtered for dinner.” the tall alpha pulled him to a stop. “Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“No.”
“If your father hadn’t been there to stop the sword coming at my back, I would be dead. Your brother has heard that story A hundred times, it was during the battle of Aldera hill. I almost died. Boys that shouldn’t have seen battle have died because they froze at their first kill. It may seem harsh, but I believe that he was just trying to stop that from happening to you.”
Someone came with some wine and he rinsed his mouth out with it before spitting it to the ground. He understood the lesson, but when he looked down at his hands, all he saw was the blood of a scared omega who didn’t want to be here. He would not take another life if he could help it. He vowed to save as many people as he could, and end this war. No matter the cost to him.