Chapter Text
There’s the snapping of a twig beneath a heavy heeled boot from behind him and Shouto stiffens minutely at the sound before forcibly ignoring it.
The snap was strategic after all, a signal from his spy to alert Shouto and Shouto alone of his presence in the wood at his back. Peregrine has probably absconded into the trees once more, where he will wait among the tallest of branches until Shouto has concluded his business.
Speaking of which…
Shouto bends a knee and attempts a smile for the small white haired child in front of him– even though he knows his mouth is completely hidden behind the full gold-colored faceplate he always wears outside the castle. Peregrine says you can hear the smile in his voice or something, whatever that means, and Shouto doesn’t know if he fully believes it but he’ll try anything to not scare a child who just watched him brutally take down twenty or so thugs with fiery vengeance.
His long red cloak pools along the forest floor as he makes himself shorter for the little girl and he subtly adjusts the fabric minutely to cover his bow and the blood flecked arrows he’d been in the process of retrieving from his downed opponents’ bodies before the girl had made herself known.
“Is everything alright little one?” His voice comes out soft, in a murmur that is as kind and as gentle as he can make it.
The small child’s eyes fill with tears and he grimaces behind the mask. Right, of course, she is at best lost in the woods and very scared, that was a stupid question.
Shouto has been doing his best to do right by his people, but for some reason he just can’t pull it off when he needs to actually talk to any of them.
“There there,” he tries next, reaching out with one hand to pat at her back before pulling back at the last second at the sight of his soiled glove. As always it is red in color to match his cape, but he’s pretty sure that the darker patches here and there can only be from the blood of battle. Ah. If only he could use his mother’s magic right now to wash it off but alas that would give him and his identity away.
He’s startled out of his thoughts by the child suddenly throwing herself at him in a hug, small thin arms wrapping as far around his shoulders as they can go.
He catches her reflexively, bracing on one knee to avoid being knocked over and then stares down wide-eyed at his gloved palms pressed flush against her tiny back. Dammit he’s probably just stained her dress.
“Thank you,” the child sobs, tears soaking into his collar as she shakes against him. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
Shouto blinks. Ah. These brigands must have been traffickers or kidnappers as well as bandits. Now Shouto regrets not leaving any of the men in charge alive for Peregrine to interrogate later.
The thought of Peregrine reminds him that said spy is still waiting for him in the trees, which means there’s a high chance he’d come to warn Shouto that the hour is rapidly approaching the time when his absence from the castle is in danger of being discovered.
Damn.
He can’t just leave the child like this but if he doesn’t make it back in time then…
He slowly gets to his feet, shifting his hold on the girl till she’s comfortably situated in his arms.
His bow and arrows remain on the forest floor but Shouto opts to leave them there for now. Peregrine will move them once they are gone and Shouto never relies solely on them anyway. His father’s fire is simply too volatile and wild for precision shots so Shouto likes to use the more subtle approach of shooting down as many opponents as he can from afar first when possible– while the fire is for stopping the thugs and ruffians from escaping his justice.
Neither are things he will need while escorting a child back home.
Though he does have his parrying knives on him just in case.
When Shouto had first begun venturing out like this he’d been hesitant to mete out such terrible punishment indiscriminately after all. But he’s learned in time to trust Peregrine’s advice as well as his information.
If Peregrine says someone is evil beyond saving then that is what they are.
And if Shouto’s damn father and his excuse for noble knights won’t do anything about the evil permeating their lands then Shouto will simply have to do it all himself.
“Where do you live?” he asks now, hoping that it’s both somewhere he knows the location of as well as someplace close enough to be able to comfortably walk without the aid of a horse.
“Musutafu Village,” she sniffles.
Shouto huffs a near silent breath of relief. That’s about as close as he can hope for. A quarter plus an hour to walk there and escort her home, then an additional hour and change to return to the castle with enough time to switch clothes before anyone sees him.
He glances at the sky as he minutely adjusts his direction and calculates the hour based on the position of the moon.
He’ll be cutting it close, no question.
He hefts the little girl in his arms slightly before transferring her to his back and helping her to hang on.
He can save time if he runs.
***
Rody Soul watches his prince take off at a run and sighs.
What a self sacrificing idiot.
He shrugs to himself and then stretches against the tree trunk before slowly getting to his feet on the branch.
If Prince Shouto keeps up that pace the whole way to Musutafu Village there’s no way in hell he’ll have the energy to return back home before his empty bed is discovered.
Not without Rody’s help anyway.
He lifts two fingers to the center of his forehead, pressing lightly to summon his spirit animal Pino to his side with but a thought. She chirps at him happily and he points downwards with a sigh to where their idiot master has left his weapons.
She chirps again, this time with a sharp little winged salute and he grins and channels more magic through their bond to give Pino the strength to carry said weapons to the cave he usually stashes them in.
And then with one quick look through his pocket spyglass to gauge his Prince’s position, Rody is off, leaping from branch to branch with light enough steps that not a single rustle is heard and not a single leaf is disturbed.
Rody grins to himself with satisfaction as he easily keeps up from above. He’s the Prince’s personal spy for a reason.
***
Izuku is seventeen years old when he first meets The Red Knight.
Though perhaps ‘meet’ is being a little generous.
He is strung up by his ankles dangling from a tree after all.
So embarrassing. He’d cover his face with his hands if they weren’t in the process of wielding a thin stick like a sword to try and cut himself down.
The Red Knight had been in the midst of a loping sprint towards the village, the long red cape he is known to always wear looped around him and tied in the front like a cradle for the small child clinging to his back.
A small familiar child with long white hair and bright red eyes who is now staring right at him from over The Red Knight’s shoulder.
“Izuku?” she calls, clearly torn between excitement at a familiar face and confused horror at the fact that he clearly needs help.
Izuku can relate considering she’s being brought back home by The Red Knight.
“Eri?” he calls back. “What are you doing out here?”
She purses her lips and squints at him in a manner reminiscent of her father and for a second it feels like Izuku is being studied by Aizawa-sensei himself.
“I should be asking you that.” she finally says.
The Red Knight has since paused in place, a questioning look on his face beneath the mask if the way he’s tilting his head slightly to one side is anything to go by.
Izuku flushes harder– no simple feat considering how long he’s been hanging upside down here with the blood rushing to his face. “Oh you know,” he demurs, one hand releasing his makeshift weapon to flap airily at her. “Just… hanging around…”
Her eyes narrow further because much like her father she is not amused by his jokes but The Red Knight snorts and then covers the bottom half of his mask as if he was trying to hide a smile and forgot his face was covered.
Izuku grins.
Trapped or not, there is little else in the world that can cheer him up then when he makes a joke and someone actually finds it funny.
Eri clears her throat and crosses her arms disapprovingly and it’s adorable and terrifying all at the same time.
“I. You know how Kacchan and them get,” he finally mumbles, looking away from her to whack halfheartedly at the rope above him with his stick.
She frowns. “You should tell my father. He’d have them thrown out of the Knight’s Academy right away.”
“I know.” Izuku grumbles, poking repeatedly at the rope more out of frustration than anything else. “But he’s my uncle. And that means that if they appeal the decision to a higher court he’ll be forced to re-enroll them immediately on grounds of supposed favoritism.”
“You don’t know that–”
“Eri. I love you. But no one is going to take the side of a cadet that can’t even use magic.”
Silence.
And then,
“Would you like to get down?”
It’s the first Izuku has heard the famous knight speak and his head whips around so fast his vision goes spotty. Right, all that blood pooling for so long can’t be good for him.
“Was that a yes?”
Ahhh his voice is so smooth!! Exactly like what you’d expect from a knight of the people!! He’s so cool!
Oh wait, he’s waiting for an answer.
“Yes please,” Izuku finally manages, dropping the stick immediately before he can do something else embarrassing like hit The Red Knight with it when he comes close.
He’s expecting the cape cradle to be untied first– expecting the knight to set Eri down gently, maybe ruffle her hair a bit– he’s expecting the knight to walk closer with every step filled with purpose.
Instead the knight’s hand dips to his belt and there’s a blur of movement along with a whooshing sound as a throwing knife severs the rope holding him up and impacts the tree with a dull thunk.
Izuku barely gets his arms in place to cushion his head before he hits the ground hard.
“...Whoops,” the knight says, sounding thoroughly chastised. “I should have warned you first.”
Izuku sputters and spits out grass and dirt. “Y-You think???”
It sinks in then that he has just yelled at The Hero of the People, The Red Knight and he flusters even harder. “I-I mean! Th-Thank you! For getting me down!”
He tries to jump up so he can bow or something to truly show his gratitude and respect, but unfortunately, though he is no longer attached to the tree, his ankles are still tied together and he faceplants once more.
When Izuku manages to lift his head again he sees the knight’s gloved hand once more covering the lower half of the mask, shoulders shaking silently like he’s laughing.
Izuku frowns petulantly. Figures he’d make such a fool of himself around a hero like The Red Knight.
Said knight finally lowers Eri from his back before striding towards the tree his knife is lodged in. He yanks it free with a single sharp tug and then slices through the ropes around Izuku’s legs like they're nothing.
Izuku tries not to drool. A weapon of that caliber is something he can only dream of.
“Thank you,” he mumbles, getting back to his feet more slowly this time.
If he falls on his face one more time around his hero he’s going to need to move to another kingdom so he never has even the slightest chance of running into him ever again and that would make his mom sad.
“No problem,” The Red Knight replies, thankfully not looking at him over the mess he’s made of his knotted cloak, not easily undone by his gloved hands.
Izuku almost offers to help, but frankly he’s embarrassed himself enough for one day.
He takes Eri’s hand with a small smile for his little cousin and starts to head back towards their village when the knight’s voice from behind him suddenly stops him in his tracks.
“For what it's worth, I don’t think not having magic makes you less worthy than the other cadets. If you truly wish to help people and you work hard at it then I’m sure you can do it, regardless of magic.”
Izuku whirls around, mouth open in shock, cheeks flushing and heart pounding and eyes filling as the words he’s always wanted to hear ring through him like a bell.
But The Red Knight is no longer there.
***
“Smooth Your Highness, very smooth.”
Shouto sighs as Rody drops to the ground beside him the moment he’d gotten far enough to stop moving. He should have known his Peregrine would have been close enough to overhear.
“‘If you truly wish to help people and you work hard, I’m sure you can do it,’” Rody mimics, tone mock-solemn and a fist clenched over his heart like he’s taking an oath. “Truly well said Sir, inspiring as always.”
“Shut up,” Shouto mumbles, channeling his mother’s magic to keep his skin too cold to flush with embarrassment. “I just didn’t like the implication that knight cadets would string up one of their own overnight merely because he lacked magic.”
“Hm you have a point Sir. If that’s the lot you’ll be working with in the future then it’s looking to be slim pickings personality wise.”
“Yes. That’s why I slipped an invitation into his pocket.”
“You what!?!”
“You heard me.”
“Sho– Sir! With all due respect! Those invitations are rare and highly coveted! They’re supposed to be vetted and handed out by a royal courier!”
“I know that. I simply wanted to ensure we’d have an actual candidate to offer. And you can’t tell me his spirit didn’t call you as well.”
“...he probably won’t come.”
“That’s for him to decide. The invitation is real and so is the royal letter that transfers all preparation costs to the minister of finance. If he chooses not to seize the opportunity then that is his choice.”
“I guess. But won’t one of his tormentors attempt to steal it from him?”
“I thought they might. Which is why I branded it with his name first using my father’s magic. Even the king won’t be able to deny the authenticity.”
“You know you’re something else,” Rody chides, shaking his head. “One of these days someone will figure out that your whole ‘doesn't use his fire thing’ comes with conditions and loopholes and that actually you use your fire plenty just not for the king and then where will you be?”
“On the throne hopefully,” Shouto murmurs tiredly, finally removing his Red Knight getup and stowing it in the burlap sack Rody is holding out to him. “Now let’s go. Dropping the girl off without needing to enter the village saved me some time but not enough considering how long Izuku held us up.”
Rody clicks his heels together, heaves the sack over his shoulder and salutes sharply. “Yes sir!”
Shouto sighs. Even when his Peregrine is doing the respectful motions it somehow never feels respectful at all.