Chapter Text
Izukus face stung. The cold wind hit his face again and again like a whip, biting into his tear stained, flushed skin. He tired to pull his thin jacket closer around himself but it was ripped from his stiff hands with seemingly no effort. After walking for half an hour he wasn’t feeling anything any more and his legs just kept walking out of muscle memory.
Time went by and Izukus surroundings didn’t change, not a bit. Just flat and snow-covered land as far as Izuku could see, white in white and occasionally a strong wind driving sharp ice crystals into his face. The monotony of walking eased his mind and somehow managed to put something feeling like a soft pillow on top of his mind that was permanently roaring in pain and resentment and disappointment.
Kacc- Katsukis words still hurt more then any cold ever could and they constantly kept echoing through the depths of his consciousness. Maybe he was right. Maybe Katsuki had always been right about Izuku. He was a burden on everyone, he couldn’t protect himself, he couldn’t help anybody, he was just that, completely and utterly useless.
A Deku.
That word seemed to shake some part of his thinking awake and broke his routine of setting foot before foot. He stumbled and stiffly fell to the ground, sinking into the layers of snow with an audible noise.
Slowly his eyes started to adjust to the surface of the snow suddenly so close to his face. It was so white... After trying hard for a moment he slowly was able to make out single little ice petals and lost himself just staring at them, completely unaware of the danger he was in. The ever present cold seemed more soothing than hurting to him now and he suddenly was aware of his utter tiredness.
Shivers ran in waves through Izukus whole body and the fact that he could see his body vibrate but not feel it scared him. The next thing he knew was that his line of sight turning as the last strength left his body. The flakes didn’t melt on his skin any more now and he watched them fall in front of his face. Waiting. Hoping for the end.
It was getting darker now what made the falling snow look even the more white. There was no hope for him, no one could find him under this circumstances and Izuku knew that. He would die here, out in the nothingness of the gray zone.
Well, Kacchan always gets what he wants. Maybe it is for the better, that way I won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again. He always told me that I would have to pay the price for what I did sooner or later.
Izuku noticed that he had used that stupid nickname of his “childhood friend” again, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. It was over anyway, who cared how he called Kacchan? No one.
After maybe half an hour passing by with Izuku motionlessly lying in the snow the tiredness was becoming unbearable. He desperately fought to keep his eyes open but was unable to keep himself from drifting into unconsciousness from time to time.
Izuku couldn’t even tell why he was still clinging to that last bit of consciousness he had left, to those one dimensional, irrelevant thoughts, but some remaining part of his mind told him so. He had always been relying on his mind hadn’t he? Why stop now? Because you’re dead meat anyway he heard a voice whisper in his head.
Suddenly Izuku felt something touch his mind, just slightly, and he felt his body wake with a jolt of something resembling electricity. What was that? The probability of one of the border patrols finding him was ridiculously small, but what if…? Izuku didn’t dare to get his hopes up, it was far to early for that.
He tried to move his head, to look up and search the sky for something while waiting to feel the mental contact again. Izuku was desperate, his breath came short and ragged and he knew that this was the last effort his body was capable of, the very end of his strength.
And then he felt it again. Some consciousness briefly touching his, again, a bit longer this time. After what felt like ages the contact became stronger and Izuku tried his best again not to get his hopes up. It was getting harder by the minute as he thought of being saved, of the possibility that someone actually cared enough to come and get him safe. He clearly didn’t deserve it, Kacchan was right. She would be alive after all if he would just have been...better.
Izuku didn’t even notice that he was crying again as he saw a sprinkle of a different colour appearing in the white horizon, like a black snowflake among whit ones. How fitting it was though...A drop of black ink dropped onto a white sheet of paper.
It grew constantly, like the ink was sinking into the paper, expanding by soaking through it. The black soon began to sparkle like millions of polished gems. In the dim lighting of a sky with the sun missing it looked out of place to Izuku and he wondered what shape it might take when it got close enough.
A dragon his mind whispered, not daring of saying it out loud. A dragon...
His consciousness slipped away again and only started to return when his teeth began to vibrate in rhythmic intervals. Fffft- fffffft- ffffft- ffffft- The sound of air being moved was getting closer fast now - and Izuku was holding on to it with dear life as, hoping. His teeth were clicking together with force now and he felt pressure on his ears. Now the black began to form into something and Izuku could recognize it’s shape anywhere, having dreamt of this animal as long as he can remember.
When the creature was close enough it flew a perfect circle above Izuku, landing not far from him with endless grace and elegance. Izuku was mesmerized as the firebreather sank to the ground, seemingly in slow motion, landing softly in the snow and causing it to momentarily flail upwards with the last beats of it’s wings. The dragon folded it’s huge wings like any bird would, it’s head turning towards Izuku to look at him with seemingly never ending, obsidian-black irises wich didn’t hide any of the intelligence this species was so well known for.
The reptiles pure black colour stood out in front of the snow, the stinging contrast hurting Izukus eyes. And yet he wouldn’t trade the sight in front of him for any other. In his eyes there was no animal more beautiful than a dragon.
Someone climbed down from the dragons back, carefully choosing his steps to avoid slipping and falling head first into the deep snow. The moment the person left the safety of the dragons back though he sank deeply into the snow, nearly falling forward as he vanished up to his hips.
Now that someone stood in front of the animal Izuku was loosely able to determine it’s general size. It’s head was in estimate as long as the man’s full body and at the thickest point probably as high as half it’s length. The shoulders of the vast creature were towering high above the head of the man, making him seem very small in comparison.
Over those observations Izukus sight turned blurry and cleared up again constantly as he was watching the person struggle to clear a path towards where he laid. A few moments after he was within touching range, hesitating for a moment, clearly unsure about how to proceed.
Izuku used the time to take in his appearance. He was dressed all in black wearing a long and really warm looking black coat, its fur – covered hood pulled deeply into his face. Within the shadows created by the rim of the hood Izuku was loosely able to make out a pair of yellow goggles. Gloved Hands reached up to pull of the hood and Izuku saw the mouth of the man moving but he couldn’t hear a word. He really tried but all there was was a strange static noise blotting out all else. The movement of the arms revealed the black handle of a sword beneath the coat, making it obvious to Izuku just who the man was. A hero on patrol.
As the man pulled of his hood and his goggles he came closer to Izuku. His black hair was tied together in a messy bun and his eyes were black like his dragons, but bloodshot and tired. His lips were calloused because of the cold and pulled into a thin line.
He turned Izuku onto his back and looked into his eyes, then put his ear over his mouth, listening, waiting for something.
The next thing Izuku knew was that he was grabbed under the armpits and got dragged on the snow towards the waiting dragon. He watched as the puffs of the dragonriders breath condensed into little clouds above his face when he again felt a presence hesitantly, carefully touching his thoughts. The contact somehow made him feel safe.
Izuku desperately tried to get some order into his thoughts to communicate but failed miserably at the task. He just wasn’t able to focus on anything, couldn’t even build one coherent sentence to give the man any information at all. The hero seemed to understand though. Because out of nowhere Izuku felt a warmth like molten gold grow within his chest as the hero was providing him with energy.
It started to spread through his whole body as if someone had injected it into Izukus veins. He relished in the sensation of actual feeling returning to his frozen limbs as he was pushed onto one of the dragons wings. It slowly got elevated as the man climbed into the saddle. Gently he was pulled on the reptiles back, in front of the plain black leather saddle.
Izuku felt his body getting secured by leather straps and just as the man finished, the dragon spread it’s huge, batlike wings and began to push them downwards repeatedly with force. Clouds of snow rose from the ground as the masses of moving air whirled them around with incredible force. Within seconds they were engulfed in a mini snow storm as the majestic creature slowly but steadily rose from the ground. With awe Izuku watched as they were receding from the earth, rising up faster and faster.
After a few moments there were no more whirlwinds of snow around them, just clear, stinging cold air. As the dragon was gaining more and more height it was able to glide and it’s flight grew more silent and steady. It was hard to tell how much time had passed. Izuku just lost himself enjoying the feeling, the moment of watching the land pass by and fade away so fast when suddenly his mind became still, silent, like the unmoving surface of a quiet lake.
He began to realize that he was experiencing his first flight on a dragon, something he had dreamt of since...forever. But instead of happiness he felt an all consuming emptiness, the recent events slowly rising from the depths of his subconscious. It had never hurt as bad has it did in that moment and the emptiness turned into searing hot anger. The things done and the words said played repeatedly in the quiet mirror that was his mind. A storm build up within him, chocking him, consuming all the space left in his head.
He could vaguely feel the man watching his mind but he didn’t care. It’s not as if that would change anything. He couldn’t help but to let his reeling mind loose and all the build up emotion burst through the thin mirror like a thunderstorm. The hero pulled out of his thoughts as if he had burned himself, a feint impression of shock showing itself on the outsides of his thoughts, but again Izuku didn’t care. It didn’t matter.
He didn’t expect anyone to take the time and listen to Izukus story, let alone making the effort of trying to understand it. So it wasn’t the first time he would have to deal with the past on his own.
After a short moment though he felt the hero’s being surround his own, engulfing him in soothing warmth and reassuring silence. He just was there, not asking, not prying in Izukus thoughts but comforting him nonetheless with his presence. He had never been more grateful in his life before. Somehow Izuku knew that he was safe with that man.
In the meantime the dragon had risen further and after a short moment of white nothingness it burst through the surface of the clouds followed by a short track of haze. Suddenly everything was quiet and the dragon only occasionally moved it’s wings to maintain their current height. And Izuku felt like seeing the sun for the first time.
The clouds were perfectly calm and looked strangely soft and inviting. The never ending horizon spread out all around them and everything was painted in golden tones of yellow, orange and red. Izuku drank in the beautiful picture and felt it drain every bad emotion from his body. The storm was tamed and his mind finally slipped from him completely.