Archive of Our Own

One race specially disgusted him. 

Humans. 

Vain and full of greed, that’s exactly the kind of creatures the humans were. Just the thought of them either made him feel rage or gave him a damned, annoying headache.

Katsuki, however, finds himself flying to the west where he knows a certain infuriating witch resides.

Though it’d been more than a century of peace, living his life in a place he knew humans would never discover, Katsuki was still a little more than irritated when a pigeon that’s enchanted to carry over voices landed on his nose. He knew who sent the damn bird and he had half the mind not to roast the messenger had he not felt the magic pulsing when the bird flew above his territory.

Nana, that goddamn bitch.

It’d been a while since he’d heard from the witch. Every time he did, something always, always happens at his expense and Katsuki had the foreboding feeling that the invitation to her hut would give him a ton shit of problems he had no business caring about. So really, he doesn’t know why he’s bothering to fly towards the witch’s hut, barely thinking about the mass panic he might cause other creatures if they happened to see him flying around.

He hadn’t cared to count how many years he’d actually hid himself from all the worldly troubles humans always seemed to cause him. He’d been weary from all the attempts on his life – like those fucking ants could even touch a hair on his head, not a fuckin chance. He’d been so tired of greedy fools who fancied themselves clever as to think he, of all creatures, wouldn’t know that they’d planned on using him, his strength, his power, his reluctant mercy.

Katsuki flew high up the night sky, glancing down every now and then to just take in the world he left behind. Admittedly, he missed the sky, the freedom it comes with. Then again, freedom rarely meant being truly free. Not when the world was infested with trash.

Scoffing, Katsuki found himself thinking – again – why he’s leaving the comfort of his territory just to appease the goddamn witch of a woman. Thinking about the egg the bitch threatened to crack though – he knew she would never – Katsuki thinks it’s time for him to follow up on the promise he’d made his brother hundreds of years ago. After all, he hadn’t spent more than two hundred years protecting the damn spawn just for it to rust in the witch’s godforsaken care.

Katsuki thinks that the witch have finally lost her freakin' mind. He always knew that the dumb bitch wasn’t sane.

She never was.

Despite how long Katsuki lived, the witch - Nana, lived a lot longer than he did. Back when the world was a lot more peaceful, back when the dragon king still lived, back when dragons weren’t extinct. She’d always been a woman - a human, who loved and cared for all creatures, hoped to prevent the inevitable and undeniable conflict that brewed between races. She was a witch powerful enough to mediate the war between humans and dragons. And she did. She’d brought peace for a time. Or so she thought. Or so they all thought. Until the damned humans gathered and conspired to make a trap designed to kill dragons.

The idiot of a woman likely hadn’t known – didn’t want to believe – that her beloved race could do something so gruesome and unspeakable. The faith she had on those fuckin’ wastes were clearly misplaced.

Even Katsuki hadn’t thought humans were so capable back then. Their self-serving obsession and greed made them so desperate for power that they were willing to try to decimate a whole race and commit genocide. Even the young ones weren’t spared.

Even now, Katsuki knows that the naive woman still placed some kind of hope, placed an unwise faith on humanity. Powerful as she might be, she would never be able to change the nature of humans.

Now said witch says she’s suddenly dying, when she looks, talks and acts like she’d even outlive him.

Before he can even react, she tells and wants him – no, she commands him (the fuckin’ bitch!) to take responsibility for a brat he doesn’t know or care for.

Him.

She says to, 'care for my apprentice, Katsuki'.

Hell.

A human child.

No, that wasn’t right.

A witch, but still, a human child.

She was fuckin’ crazy.

She clearly knew he wouldn’t spare even a human babe if he was given a chance.

The idea was so damn ridiculous, all he could do was give the witch a look that says, “You’ve got to be freakin’ shitting me.”

And the shit gives him a beam that says ‘no-I’m-really-really-not-kidding’.

It was too much of a bullshit.

If the witch doesn’t die soon, he’ll make sure to eat her or fucking roast the bitch till she goes to hell.

The dumb fuck knew he was far from being fond of humans. He could barely stand and interact with a witch, and now she wants him to raise one?

“When you die, I’ll just eat the stupid brat and be done with it.”

“You really think a stupid runt would be happy running around with a dragon?” he gives the witch a deadpanned look, gazing at her like she’s stupid because he knows she is.

Later:

As it turns out, the stupid, idiotic runt looked too fucking fascinated with him to even look away for a second or two.

She’s so tiny and round - and what the fuck, was that reddened-cheeks? - her brown-eyes wide and her mouth opens agape as she sees him from a distance. When Nana, with the child in her arms comes closer to where he’s comfortably lying about, he knows the brat doesn’t notice her master carefully placing her to the ground.

He stares at the child looking at him with wide, wide eyes and knows she’s filled with wonder, looking at his gigantic form like she’s living a dream, or whatever it was that children see through their rose-filtered sight. The sparkle in her eyes were undeniable and he scoffs at the human child that doesn’t seem to be in fear after seeing his form.

Katsuki’s a little too annoyed to be stared at like he’s a spectacle and opts to ignore both the witch and the brat. Then he takes notice of the tiny human shuffle towards his person, still staring, eyes fixed on his own. She stops abruptly and just continues to strain her neck to look up to his face.

When the brat doesn’t move for several moments, Katsuki moves his head low enough not to touch the ground and took a closer look at the stupidly brave, gaping child. Ochako – he remembered the witch mention – was a war orphan she took a liking to. Now that he sees the child up close, he could feel an inkling of power hiding inside the brat’s core. Other than that, he doesn’t know what’s so special about the tiny, little kid.

He decides to scare her. The bitch can’t transfer responsibility if the brat’s too afraid to even get near him. So he slightly opened his mouth and let the flames gather on his throat, just enough so the child could clearly notice and see the flames dancing inside his open jaw and sharp teeth. He expects the runt to run and scream, calling for her guardian. Instead the small human steps closer to his mouth and seemed fixated with the flames she’s supposed to be scared of.

Before she could touch anything near his mouth, Katsuki snaps his jaw close and tilts his head a bit to see the child better.

He glares at the child and decides that the brat was a lunatic like her master, then snorts out soot in front of her damning face.

When he sees her hair pulled back and her face painted black, he instantly feels satisfaction before standing and turning away from the couple of humans and flying off into the distance.

He couldn’t stand spending another second with the stupid, over-familiar brat.

Katsuki knew that children were supposed to be ignorant, but where the fuck was the self-preservation? Was the child a half-wit?

He seriously hoped that wasn’t the case. Else he’d be burning a forest or two.

“She doesn’t know her parents died in the war.” The witch starts.

Katsuki feels a frown form and glances at the woman before turning away.

“No one asked you.” He doesn’t really mean for it to come out that sharp but doesn’t correct anything. The witch already knew he couldn’t just refuse a favor, not from her anyways, he doesn’t need or want her to think he’d even care about the child she’s forcibly handing him.

“She’s a really adorable child but, I didn’t make her my apprentice just because I liked her.” The damn witch continues.

“Did you go deaf in your old age? I said, nobody asked you.”

She continues like she doesn’t even hear him.

“Ochako can’t be outside without someone to guide her. There’s too much risk in her power going out of control.”

Katsuki tries to ignore the bitch that just won’t shut up and pretends he can’t hear anything before closing his eyes.

“When I found her, she almost crushed a person to the ground with nothing but the force of her will. She’d have killed a man without knowing anything.” She says it with a calm that Katsuki doesn’t expect.

“You’re not familiar with the word ‘gravity’, are you?”

No. No, Katsuki wasn’t, but he doesn’t gratify her with a response and remains quiet on the witch’s side.

“She can manipulate it. She’s able to make anything go weightless and make them float to the never-ending sky, or make things so heavy, those ‘things’ would flatten and sink into the earth.”

A pause and Katsuki hears a deep sigh.

“Imagine a child running around with that kind of power Katsuki. She’d be a danger to the world. She’d be a danger to herself. It’s painful to admit but, someone would’ve taken advantage. She’s an orphan who thinks her parents left her, it would be too easy to exploit a person – a child like that.”

He hears a hum before she continues.

“Maybe it’s fate that I found her. Even with aberrant powers, she’s still a witch with talent. I’ll teach her how to control her power and teach her everything I know and have with time I'm left with.”

She tells him with such nonchalance that Katsuki grits his teeth, his anger palpating in waves.

“So what, you give her your life, you die, it’s a goodbye and you’ll shove her down my fucking throat? You know I don’t have time for this kind of bullshit you son of a bitch. You don’t owe that kid any responsibility, you don’t owe the world anything.” He doesn’t tell her that she shouldn’t die for anyone at all. Not for him, not for a snot-nosed brat and for certain, not for creatures that doesn’t deserve it.

Katsuki’s anger magnifies when he sees the woman smile and laugh like he’d just told her something to fuckin’ laugh about.

“So you were listening!” she chuckles, and looks at him so warm that he can’t stand the gaze and looks away.

Bitch.

“Don’t worry, I won’t die for at least a year or two.”

He glares at her and barks, “I don’t fuckin’ care!”

And she looks at him – again, and smiles.

“You’re the only creature who won’t be affected by Ochako’s magic. The core of her power won’t be maturing with you around. The powerful magic in you will hold hers until she’s old enough to control her magic enough for it not to accidentally go berserk. You’ll be stabilizing her power just by staying by her side, and if you wish to, you can part with her when she’s in her twenties.” Before Katsuki could tell her to find someone else, she cuts him off and carries on talking, “It’s just in time for the egg to mature enough that you'll finally able to hatch it.”

“And you won’t have to go back to being a dragon-hermit and be alone for years. I think it’s a win-win.”

The disgust Katsuki felt then was all too fuckin real.

Ochako’s exactly eight and a half when she dies.

Katsuki feels a kind of emptiness he's familiar with.

All the individuals he felt close to and treasured all believed - had faith and hope for humans. But Katsuki can't - won't - forget his hatred. He wasn't gracious and merciful enough to forgive. If he couldn't - wasn't allowed - to destroy the lot of them, he'd ignore them and live out his life just until the egg hatches.

He admits he was wrong though.

Nana lived the last of her days being happy.

Katsuki saw enough in two years that the witch hadn't even thought it was a sacrifice to raise and teach the child. He saw, clearly enough that Nana treated Ochako like her own kid. 

The witch was still a bitch even in death though.

Nana, the witch herself told him that the kid had abandonment issues, and she ups and dies without saying anything to the goddamn runt. The witch even made sure that the kid doesn't know she even fuckin' died. He remembered the bitch say something about emotional instability triggering Ochako's power even with the presence of his magic.

Katsuki thinks though, what's the shitty difference?

He might not be a human but he's fairly sure that being abandoned and knowing someone died was the same fucking thing. Or at least something damn close.

'She can't think I died.'

Katsuki looks down at the sobbing child, looking for her mentor, for her mother. 

'I know she'll feel it's painful, but, you'll be there.'

There's a gut-wrenching tug in his chest as he follows the kid with his gaze, hearing the brat shout her master's name, and relentlessly, pointlessly attempt to use magic to track the witch.

'Be there for her.'

Katsuki thinks, as he observes a painful farewell, how selfish, cruel and shitty an individual's care could be.