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Izuku stared up at the king.
King Hisashi, also known as All For One, ruled the kingdom with fear and an iron grip. Across the continent, all males were forced to bend their knees at their coming of age and then enlisted into the army.
Izuku, and his mother, had lived outside of the kingdom for years. But one fateful meeting meant that Inko fell and Izuku was taken against his will. Chained and forced to suffer at the hands of soldiers and commanders.
It had been almost a year since then. Being moved from jail to the throne room over and over became mundane to the young boy. But as he festered and hurt, Izuku found himself more and more ready to be free, all the more ready to fight. Others had tried, obviously, but as he watched other younger children be signed off to war or sacrifice the boy knew he had to stop it.
So here he was. Chained and forced before the king once more. And all Izuku could feel was unbridled fury and pain. The man before him looked bored and lay across the throne with boredom and disinterest. A tainted golden crown upon the monster's brow, Izuku would take that if it was the last thing he did.
“All you have to do is swear fealty and then the chains would be gone, boy, is that so hard?” the king spoke with absolute authority. The others in attendance seemed to flinch back at the power behind those words. Izuku just felt it fan the flames of disobedience and defiance. “Oh yes, they gagged you didn’t they?” the king chuckled, before standing and walking down to be almost eye level.
So close.
What happened next would never be explained fully in the years to come. No one really knew how the young boy got free from his restraints, nor how he got a blade (with no handle so it cut into the boy’s hand). No one knew who helped him get so good and so brutally efficient. Wasn’t he just a farm boy? Some useless nobody?
No, what they knew was how this young, helpless boy drove the object in his hand right between the king’s head and the crown. The sound of metal breaking, bone-crunching and a death cry.
It had happened in an instant.
It was over before the guards could do anything, blood-covered and heaving, knife in one hand and chipped crown in the other. The guards had recoiled as their king bled out upon the stairs and the prince stood off to the side in complete blankness. Red eyes were wide as they took the wildling in. Green and red, ragged and bruised, a snarl on the young face that gave a do not touch feel. It was like something primal had been awoken, something feral had been released with no one to tame it.
It was complete silence until one of the many nobles broke a glass and then chaos once again. Screams, running and all Izuku could think was he had just killed the man who took his mother's life and had probably signed his own death warrant in one move.
Izuku looked down at the bloody crown, the object that had ruined so many lives, the tainted object that screamed to be worn and used. He walked past the still-warm body and sat on the throne. Leaning back and rubbed his face, smearing blood (was it his own or the kings?). As the boy opened his eyes and looked down at the guards still there, he noticed how they all stared in wonder, awe and fear.
Familiar faces among them. Bright red hair and a sharp grin, sharp blonde spikes and bloody armour, bright yellow hair with a black strike in that was standing tall, a scarred face and a gleam he could never forget.
These four were his usual guards. Guards who had taught him, who had fed him, who had kept him alive.
“You keep what you kill.” The blonde walked forward with a manic grin, Izuku noted that the boy was from the dragonkin. He blinked warily as the boy knelt in front of the bloody throne. “I pledge my life to my new liege.”
The other blonde did the same action, smiling brightly, without a word.
“I am glad you came out unharmed.” the two-toned, scarred boy said and stood next to him, calm and collected in the chaos. The nobles seemed even more terrified that the army was one by one kneeling before the child, they were allowing this thing to usurp the throne.
“Down with All For One, Rise One for All.” the redhead called, causing the few remaining people to turn and gasp. Izuku didn’t smile but he did bow his back slightly. Izuku glanced toward the others and noted that some nobles seemed glad to be free from the tyrant, only a few though. But Izuku was no king, no, he was a simple boy.
Glancing back at the crown in his hands, it felt weird to have won the battle.
Now all he had to do was win the war.