Chapter Text
He remembered every part of you in that dream.
The sight of you was almost too vivid to be true. It was so crystal clear, so transparent and divine.
All you did was turn around to look at him, your back facing him when he first saw you.
From seeing the first glances of your face, Katsuki was utterly flabbergasted. As if his entire body was doused in cold water, Katsuki stared in pure shock. His heart neared cardiac arrest, feeling such intense shock, such intense
love
for you.
Adoration climbed his heart and mind like water would travel up paper.
A split second of seeing your face felt like it was turned to hours.
Your eyes were his favorite, by far. There’s a certain glow to you, a golden hour. The curve of your nose, the texture of your skin, the lightest flutter of your eyelashes brung him a strange sense of familiarity. He’s seen this before somewhere, he’s felt this before…
But he hasn’t.
You say one thing. Your lips molding to speak out words of liquid gold, but he hears nothing. He only sees the movement of your mouth, and he so desperately wants to hear your voice, to feel the plush cushion of your lips against his.
Within a few seconds, Katsuki memorizes you. He could only imagine how your skin would feel against his, or how your hair would feel between his fingers.
He feels so saturated with love it’s overwhelming. Katsuki decides that this is destiny. This is all for a reason.
Utterly, and beautifully, Katsuki falls in love.
And just like that, you’re gone. He could only watch in disdain as the glow of you dissolves into the dark. Already, he misses you, a woman he’s never even met.
As you disappear, the world turns black.
…
News of the infamous Katsuki Bakugou invaded your small village like a plague.
All the while you pass through the daily market, packed with merchants and dried goods galore, you hear the village women chat about this often.
Rumor states that the Barbarian King, Katsuki Bakugou, is currently in desperate search for his soulmate. The ruffian awoke from a dream, an epiphany, describing a woman of extraordinary beauty. For years now, multiple villages have been ravaged by his clan, eager to locate his soulmate and bride.
What bothers you most is that villages like yours, homes like yours, were vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. There was a somewhat unjust air in the village. The women of the village however, have something else to say.
“I wish I would get kidnapped by a handsome warlock!”
“Maybe he’ll target us next…”
And honestly, you couldn’t exactly blame them. Sketches and sightings of the man prove that he is in fact, extremely handsome. Downturned eyelashes, high cheekbones, and striking red eyes have been frequently mentioned in the likes of him.
You sigh, passing on the village gossip as what it is; gossip. You assume that none of this is true, and if it were, then you trust that your village will be safe.
You’ve always been content with what you have here, but not completely happy. Sure, it was peaceful, but you can’t help but feel like you’re missing out on better things.
The market is always nice in the afternoon, and you relish on chatting with different vendors, offering you samples of different ingredients and elixirs. It’s a nice experience.
As you travel further down the line, you see merchants closing up their tents for the night, ushering away their goods to take home for the rest of the ending day.
With that, you walk yourself home, admiring the pristine sunset as it shines a golden hue down on your face. You assume that home might feel better, maybe if someone were there to greet you when you came back. Home is so empty, and you can’t help but feel lonely.
Within your bed, you sigh, your mind trailing towards the rumor of Bakugou and his clan running amok to find his beloved.
Maybe it would be nice to have a handsome brute claim you as his wife.
…
You wake up to loud noises, sounds being muffled by the thankfully thick walls of your humble home. Groggily, you stay deadly still, attempting to listen in on the commotion outside. Usually, it would be teen troublemakers making the noise outside, opting you to tell them to go to bed for the day.
With a sigh, you roll out of bed as the noise continues to get louder. Fear pierces your heart like a needle, and you rush outside, your gut churning in disbelief as you listen to the sounds of what seem to be screams. Hurriedly, you burst through the front door of your house, clutching your cotton nightgown like a life source.
All you see is red.
For a moment, all you could do was stare in pure shock.
Your entire village, set ablaze with smoldering fire that reaches to the sky like a flaming wall.
Despite the aura of heat in the air, goosebumps form across your arms and neck. The smell of smoke is so potent you could almost vomit. The agonizing screams of your people echoed throughout the area. Ash falls to the ground like flowers would during the spring, and you feel tears quickly well up in your eyes.
You curse yourself, and feel immense and overpowering guilt for your thoughts of yesterday. You should’ve never even thought or hoped of your home being burned to a crisp, to be mercilessly kidnapped by a savage man.
There’s people- barbarians, in the distance, brutally yanking multiple women of your village by the arms towards a somewhat unburned area. They're looking for her , you thought.
Undoubtedly, you decide to flee, running barefoot behind your house towards the concealed woods of the area. Maybe then, you’ll find refuge by a stream or a field.
Ugly, hideous sobs stain your face as you run towards the woods, splinters and rocks stabbing the bare soles of your feet as you run.
Similarly to the flames dancing upon the houses of your village, your lungs burn with exhaustion, but you keep on running.
Until you feel a grip around your arm.
Immediately, you scream, your eyes widening in terror as a barbarian yanks your entire body back as if you weighed nothing.
“No, please!”
Desperately, you try to pull your arm back, kicking at the man as he animalistically growls. It scares you, to say the least. Sweat beads down your face as you try to escape with all your might, but it’s no use.
Seems as though your fate was sealed from the moment that barbarian touched your arm.
With a painful yank of your arm, the heathen manhandles you, picking you up to hoist you towards your doom.
With every step the barbarian takes back towards the center of your village, you feel your demise right around the corner. An unexplainable mixture of desolation and horror swarms your mind like wasps.
Surrounded by disaster and hate, you are going to die.
As you reach the collection of enslaved women, you choke back a sob. The barbarian speaks in another language you don’t understand towards his fellow clan member, who rushes away.
After being properly restrained, you get set down onto the dirt next to a trembling girl with ropes around her wrists. You peer at her sympathetically as fat tears dribble down her face.
You notice that most of the barbarians stare at you, discovery written on their faces like a book. You feel scared, and somewhat targeted like a rabbit would with a wolf. You have a feeling that something is going to happen.
A foreign language is spoken among the clan, and another man yanks your arm up, prompting you to stand up.
The rest of the women look at you in fear, in fear of what's about to happen, what might potentially happen to them. All eyes are on you.
And then you see him for the first time.
Katsuki Bakugou.
He’s utterly terrifying. He’s so tall, his body seemingly sculpted specifically to kill. From a
distance you see his spiked blonde hair, illuminated by the scarlet light of fire around him. His thick neck adorned with sharp necklaces and charms. Those rumors of him were right; he’s terrifyingly handsome, built specifically by fire and sun.
You meet eyes with him, and time stops.
His eyes are so unbelievably red, like the deep color of blood. His gaze is intense, striking you with a look that could instantly kill.
But then his face melts into one of pure uncertainty.
It’s so surprising to you to see his face contort from a deadly warlock, to a lovesick man. For a moment, you both just gaze at each other.
As if nothing else ever mattered to him before, Katsuki runs. For the first time ever, he runs not for destruction, but for love. You stand frozen in your spot on the dirt, caught like a deer in headlights as the barbarian king runs towards you.
You don’t know what to do except take a step back, cowering away from the warlock like he aimed to kill you on the spot.
For a moment you think, this was it. He is going to murder you on the spot.
What did you do to deserve this?
Katsuki remembers everything about your face like the pattern of his hand, every shape, every feeling that you sent him.
It was you.
The you he saw in his dream, there was no doubt.
He’s so much taller up close as he skids to a stop in front of you; his back shadows the light of fire from your eyes, and you can almost feel his racing heartbeat.
Katsuki almost doesn’t know what to do with himself as he takes a brief moment to soak you in.
It’s like you from his vision, only this time he gets to touch you, to hear you.
His deathly eyes trail all over you, memorizing your body, your face, your clothes.
His hands; used mainly for killing, for wreckage, reach out to touch you in the most tender and gentle ways. You flinch as he tousles a lock of hair behind your ear, delicately lingering his calloused fingers to the side of your face.
He gazes into you with pure love, and you can’t help but feel familiar to him. Why does this all feel so darling to you?
You’re met with pure muscle as he abruptly pulls you into him. The dam broke. His hands trail and mold around you, like he wants to melt into your skin. You feel a giant hand guide your head towards the junction of his thick neck, his fingers indulgently digging into your hair. The ghost of a whisper sends shivers down your spine, something of a relieved sigh being murmured into your forehead. He kisses it too, holding you close as if you were a precious doll.
His arm ropes around your waist, hoisting you up towards his face to meet eyes with yours. His striking gaze has you lost. You nearly forget that you’re restrained, but Katsuki doesn’t care.
The entire act feels so desperate and genuine. Despite the fear and trauma you endured in the past hour, your soul feels overwhelmed with adoration and warmth.
It takes you a moment to realize that he’s kissing you. His mouth is searing hot, almost identical to the flames of your demise as he shoves his lips to yours. It’s almost too overwhelming, and you don’t know whether to reciprocate or not. Eventually, you do.
He gets more and more desperate as he continues, all of his emotions bursting at the seams as he pokes and prods at your lips with his teeth. His feelings seem to pour out of him, a more vulnerable and bare side of him revealed. A content, happy sigh escapes his throat, and that just does it for you.
I missed you.
When it’s finally over, you forget about everything. All the women watching you, all the clansmen watching you. It’s nothing to you.
Katsuki can’t help but meet eyes with you again, remembering the last time he did so in his dream. You’re so soft, so delicate to him. From now on, your protection is guaranteed with him. An oath to safeguard you from threat or fear.
With a huge hand channeled around the small of your back, Katsuki then shouts in a language you don’t understand, presumably commanding orders to his clan. You watch him with a strange sprout of admiration, before he turns back at you. You look away, pretending as though you weren’t even looking at him in the first place.
He eyes the ropes around your wrists with disgust, unsheathing a dagger blade from his hip before slicing your restraints with ease. Carefully, he puts the steel back into its place, rubbing your little wrists with his fingers to soothe the burn of the ropes.
He’s so different to how you first saw him; bloodthirsty and vile. It’s like he’s a completely different person, treating you with utmost care and sweetness.
The king presses you into him, treasuring your touch as he commands his clan. For a few seconds, you hear cheering and celebratory roars from his members.
You watch as your village women are cut free of their ropes, another group of clansmen leading a group of your village men to group together from another area of the village.
Smart. He separated the two for convenience.
For the last time, you look at the girl who was sitting next to you, her arms still trembling with fear.
Before you could watch anything else, you were whisked away by the king, rushed further and further to the edge of your village. Waiting there for you and Katsuki was a group of clansmen, and what shocked you the most; dragons.
Glossy, scarlet red scales and fatal yellow eyes. These dragons had saddles on them, decorated with different braids, shells, and jewels. In the center was the largest of all the dragons, supporting mightier horns, and even sharper teeth. Strangely, it was beautiful to you.
Fear crept up onto your skin in the form of goosebumps as Katsuki led you closer to the animal. He mutters a few things towards his men before they walk off, the entirety of his dragons eyeing you with unintelligible emotion.
By now, the sun has started to rise for the first time, and you realize how much time has truly passed since then. The sky turns purple, ready to give birth to the sun once more.
Katsuki presumably sensed your fear in his heart, finally speaking to you for the first time since you’ve both met.
“He won’t bite.”
You’re put to surprise as you hear his voice, gravelly and low, but still caring and considerate. You were surprised he even knew your language at all, considering the amount of times he spoke in his own native tongue.
By the side of the dragon, Katsuki eases the creature with a series of clicks and sounds. It’s oddly attractive.
Before anything else, he tends both hands onto your waist like a child, hoisting you up onto his dragon like you would a horse. Were you seriously going to ride the dragon? In the air?
Katsuki climbs onto the drake behind you, scooting you closer to the point where the back of your head meets his chest. His arm locks around your midsection almost like a makeshift seatbelt.
You politely feel the scales of the dragon, impressed with their shine and texture. The dragon almost responds with pride.
Katsuki says something draconic again, and you watch as the dragon slowly raises its wings into the air. Realization settles into you that you’re both probably being prepared to be flung into the night sky. You clutch your hand around Katsuki’s arm like a lifeline…
And speed off into the night.