Ethereal ◆ Shoto Todoroki x Reader

48 | Not So Quirkless

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You and Shoto both snap your heads to the window, the direction where the sound came from.

"What was that?" You say, sweat already forming. Not another attack. Please.

Not another.

Shoto, seemingly sensing your uneasiness, takes your hand. "Should I get a guard?" He asks. 

"Just go see if anyone else is around," you say, "Although I think it came from the window."

Shoto nods, walking down the hall, turning his head and searching for intruders. 

You take a deep breath and walk towards window, telling yourself it could very well just be an animal of some sort. Putting your hands on the handles, you push the window open, the cold night air pouring in the castle. 

You gasp.

Izuku is standing beside a fallen tree, the trunk snapped like a twig. Your heart pounds.

"Sir Izuku!" You say through the window, worried for him, "What happened? Who did this?"

He looks up, and you can practically see the sweat on his forehead. "U-UH, PR-PRINCESS," he stutters, looking around frantically.

"What are you doing out so late?" You ask the boy.

He shifts on his feet nervously. "I'm sorry, your highness."

Shoto pops up out of nowhere, sticking his head out of the window and observing the scene below. 

"Y-your Highnesses!" Izuku corrects, bowing at the sight of the future king. 

"ARE YOU OKAY?" Shoto asks, far louder than necessary.

"Shoto," you scold him, "it's nighttime. People are sleeping. No yelling."

"Ah," he says, as if just thinking about it. "My mistake."

Izuku wipes his brow, then sighs. "D-don't worry, your Highnesses, nothing's wrong. I was just . . . training."

Again, you remember the first time you met him, and how he said he was quirkless. Surely someone without a quirk do that much damage to a tree of that size?

"WELL," Shoto whisper yells out of the window, "PLEASE TRAIN QUIETER. PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP."

"Shoto," you remind him, "we're only on the second floor. He can hear you just fine."

"My mistake."

Izuku waves at you then cups his hands around his mouth. "I'll come up there to explain."

You nod, waving as he runs off into the night to meet you and Shoto in the hall.

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"So," you ask Izuku, who's now standing in the hall with you, "what's going on? You told me you were quirkless, and you don't seem the type to lie."

Izuku fiddles with his hands. 

Shoto said he felt tired, so he returned to his quarters before Izuku came back to the castle. Now you're alone.

"I-I," the green haired boy gulps, "I shouldn't be telling you this. No one is supposed to know."

You're not sure what a royal shouldn't--or doesn't already--know about one of it's villagers, which only intrigues you more. 

"I am to be your future queen," you say, not meaning to be rude for once, "so if I don't know it yet, I'm sure I will in the near future."

"Well," Izuku starts, looking a the floor, "when the guards went to the Toshinori kingdom--"

"What?" You ask, the news new to you, "When did you guys go there? Why?"

"To investigate Maki. The Commander mentioned having suspicions of a rebellion, but he wouldn't tell us any more. Only that we were supposed to see if anyone suspicious was around it."

"When?"

"Before the attack on the castle."

So the Commander has the same suspicions as you? You've been thinking the wood has had something to do with the League, but you're not sure what. Why would they want it anyways?

You remember Hitoka's strange interest in the lore of the oddly flammable wood.

Why?

But that's a question for later; right now, you need to figure out what's up with Izuku and what the Commander knows.

"Okay," you say, pretending to understand, "continue."

He nods. "While I was there, I met King Toshinori . . . "

He pauses, as if not wanting to continue. "And?" You ask, urging him on.

"He claimed to be better, but told me not to tell any of the staff," Izuku says, "I promised. He then started rambling on about passing on a torch or something, and he claims to have been watching me. Then he asked me some questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"Oh," the nervous guard says, "stuff like what I thought about the rebels, and what I thought about the royal line . . . then he told me he had no heir, which I already knew."

You can tell where the story is going, but you're not sure how he got a quirk out of it, so you let him continue.

"I inherited his quirk," Izuku says, clenching his fist, "One for All. He told me I should replace him someday, as king and protector of the realms. I . . . I agreed."

"I've been training ever since," he finishes, letting his clenched fist fall to his side. Then he looks up nervously, reading your face for a reaction.

You don't give him one, instead smiling. "I'm glad he's given you such an opportunity."

Izuku look relieved, then says one more thing. "Promise you won't te--"

"I won't tell anyone," you promise.

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"Shoto," you say, "were you seriously listening in on our whole conversation?"

"Not all of it," The prince admits, "but I heard the last few parts. So he has the King's quirk?"

You sigh. So much for not telling anybody. "I made a promise. I'm not talking about it."

"Please?"

"Nope, ask him yourself."

"Maybe I will," Shoto says, bringing a hand up to his chin, "he couldn't lie about being a king's son, especially if he inherited his quirk."

"What?"  You snort.

"He said he inherited King Toshinori's quirk," your fiancée explains, "actually, he's probably not his actual son, more like . . . "

Shoto drifts off. You giggle. "Like what?"

" . . . a secret love child, perhaps? That he hid from the public?"

You made a promise, so you don't tell Shoto otherwise.

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