Chapter Text
In my world we live among great creatures we call dragons. Dragons are graceful beings that we have little to no knowledge of, as they live separately, away from us behind the veil. The viel is a magical barrier that separates us from the dragons, no living human that we know of has seen what lies beyond it. As dark forces reside behind there as well. And over the viel is the dragons breeding grounds, where they hatch their young, and no one has seen a newborn. Dragons and humans were never one for mixing, and a few centurys ago Dragons didn't even venture out of the viel, as they believed humans weren't worthy of their presence. However a few century’s ago they started venturing beyond the viel, to our world. It was a massive deal at the time as no one had seen creatures like that. People were terrified and Dragons and Huumans spent years fighting and killing eachother. Though as the years went on the relationship somewhat stabilised, dragons were still killed and humans were still torched. But sometimes Dragons would even ‘bond' with humans which grant the human and dragon a bond that cannot be replicated with any other being. In the bond the human is granted a power, what we call quirks. These people are Dragons Riders, they graciously defend our world from the threats beyond the veil. Ever since I saw my first one, gliding in the sky on top of the back of the dragon . I knew I wanted to be one.
I was born without much physical strength. I was weak. Even if I wanted to be a dragon rider, I couldn’t. That’s right, I had to give up on my dream. But my arm kept reaching out desperately for that dream. And thanks to the people that guided me and keep supporting me, I am here now. My dream is becoming a reality. Even the setbacks in the process are real. This is the story of how I became the greatest Dragon Rider.
Chapter One: “Into The Dragons Den”
Every year this one event has the whole village in a chokehold. The suspense, the fighting, the dragons. My village, "Dreghorn" has always been known for it’s violent nature. In the years of Dragon hunting they had been known far and wide for cruelty. Never words such as compassion or kindness.
Children are brought up in loneliness instead of parental love. Parents believe this builds up character and strengthens them for the real world, where they have to hunt and kill creatures rigorously without empathy. Because if they hesitate and their prey gets the better of them, the whole village might go without food or materials which we use to trade for more important things. It’s either them or us and we need to make sure they chose us.
The dragon death match gained a lot of excitement for the village. Bets would be made, banners would be crafted, and chants made. Faces would be painted in the villages colours red and white, red is to signify death a white is meant to signify rebirth. As if the human fighter wins, they will be reborn as a dragon rider and go on to bring glory for our village. Designs vary from person to person, however the most common feature of the designs are two thick lines over the eyes. No matter who was winning or loosing, cheers would flood the stadium as the cries of the Dragon and human would be nulled out by the excitement of the crowd. As the chief peers down, watching his pavilion as his son stands by his side. Even now after all these years and dragon hunting slowly dying out, the ferocity of this competition never fails to gain happiness from everyone in the village. Because of the upbringings of most people, it was hard to shift people from the fight, so violence was always inevitable. People never complained though, as this is what they wanted. Sometimes the chief would even make weak people join into the fight to give the crowd a ‘good show’.
The 'Dragon Death Match' is a competition our village hold every year in our stadium. It is where we graciously kidnap and unassuming dragon and then force a human to fight for their life's. If they last more than five minutes, they win. Abd they get bestowed upon them a great opportunity.
The Chief is known for being cut-throat. His reputation is known throughout the islands. Pile’s of dragons have fallen against his hands throughout the ages, now his son is of age. Bakugo Katsuki. Even since being a small child his narcissism and violence have never been dulled. He, like most people, have been training for this moment for most of his young life. Instead of seeing it as a chore and something to be scared of, he’s always welcomed the challenge with a sadistic smile on his face. Never shying away from threatening the competition. Chasing dragons and killing them by his own hand even though it’s revered. Bathing in blood seems to give the boy a kick. I would know, when I was a child I had the misfortune of being his friend. I remember vividly of going out on a walk when we were seven, only to return with my first kill, stomach acid waiting for me at home in my mouth. I still remember his face, his face that gives me nightmares sometimes. While the poor creatures was scrambling back to the viel Katsuki pinned it down, tightening his grip around its neck. The sheer look horror not attempting to conceal itself on my face, his eyes bright like he just caught something rare. Like the creature struggling brings him joy.
“Hey Izuku…..You wanna join?” He cooed, I stepped backwards to go and he shot up and yanked my arm putting a knife in my hand. “Do it. Get some confidence, stop being so skittish.”
I looked to him, and all I could do was try an attempt at shaking my head in protest, however it looked like I was just shaking in fear. His smile had disappeared and then stood up to look at me in my eyes, the creature whispering in hoarse breathes as its air pipes had been crushed. He shot at me and took my hand that was around the knife, and put one hand on my back. Pushing me down and plunging the knife into where I think its heart was.
That memory replays over my mind on nights when I’m alone. I’m never able to look at him in his eyes anymore, I’m too traumatised over what I say that day. Though I am not saying that I don’t don’t like him! I’m not saying I hate him that’s not what I’m saying, it’s just…. Hard to forgive.
I think now he might somewhat feel bad, our relationship has gotten better over the years, us now being eighteen. During our teenage yearz though when i wouls ignore him he would go out of his way to make fun of me, even though our childhood bond and dreams were still there. We both wanted to be dragon riders and be like our favouite one, All Might. However i was born with a bone density problem so i was always teased for having this notion. Bakugo and I are close now, but we are still horrendously different in our passions for Dragons and the way we go about trying to obtain our dream. He revels in the death of Dragons while I relish in their life.
My passion for dragons has always been. I sneak off from time to time to watch them. It’s been a habit of mine to watch them instead of doing tasks such as going to work in the Blacksmiths with my Mother. It used to be I would sneak off into the woods to go on adventures with Bakugo, however now I prefer to go myself. Do I feel bad? Of course I do. But when I shared my passion about this a few years back to Bakugo he tired to light the notebook on fire. I’m more prone to being emotional when it comes to other beings. Something he doesn't like.
Company with myself is more enjoyable, due to the fact that I am unable to make new friends because apparently I have a tendency to rant. Which I agree with if I’m being honest, my mind is always too loud. I’m never able to find something to focus on that would keep my mind from spinning. Dragons, however have recently peaked my fancy, at first it was enough to just watch them. However I started to find out more and more about their species that couldn’t just be contained in the box of my mind, so I started recording my information in a journal I keep. There I would put the research I gathered from watching the interesting creatures, I found out much about them.
Dragons are a very varied species with subspecies in them, each of them different from the last. For example some have certain quirks that earn them a sort of hierarchy in their species. These being fire breath, the ability to control water, venom spit, being able to merge with shadows. I’m unable to discern where these quirks land in the hierarchy, as I’ve only been surveying a small amount of species. Which is a challenge to say the least, as I have to climb up a tree because it’s the only place where the dragons can’t see me and I can still see them. I’ve had to master the art of writing while clutching on for dear life. Though my leg muscles have grown more stronger through this tasks as I’ve had to practically suction them on the tree trunk. As an aftermath of this task I always look dishevelled, my hair is incredibly puffy and messy earning it the look of the head of a ‘broccoli’ as my mum nicknamed it. Scratches and cuts surround my face and arms that I always keep bare, and leaf’s somehow are always falling out of my hair, I don’t know how they stay in there….
The challenge of this interest is that I have to identify all of the species by myself. Dragon research is not something my village is abundant in. As they have a tendency to kill whatever one they find. Any knowledge is quite scarce in my town, being book smart is not a big trait that our village strives for, the only thing that matters here is being physically strong. It is hard to stay well informed about anything, as news about the other islands don't get passed round. I haven’t been able to go “talky talky” about my little project, otherwise I fear I would be thrown in the dragon pit in the hopes of building my character. Something I would not survive. Shoot im getting off topic…
Species have few identifiers, as some species have the dragons come in different colours or they don’t share the same features. My favourite part of this process however is naming them, my favourite names that I've come up with is “Hobgobin” and “Kal-spring”. Work shopping the names is a repetitive task, but I'm always very proud of what I come up with. This research is the only thing that can even get me close to the idea of being a dragon rider, although I accepted the reality that I'll never be able to become one. I sometimes find myself hoping, somehow that I can get to my goal, like for what I don't have in physical strength I can make up in knowledge, which is something most people don't have. My mother thinks I should do something about my dream, use the information I gathered in the trial that comes up every year, what I've nicknamed the "Dragon Death" in my mind, that I've never uttered to another person.
"I just think it would be good for you! Instead of wallowing in self pity in that book of yours."
"Mum.." I mumbled, complaining almost as this is the second time she's brought it up this week, "I've told you. This is good for me! Finding out about dragons, it's therapy to me kind of. A way I can give back. I can't explain it... But this is helping me. How much times do I need to explain to you?"
She turns around silently. Not looking at me in my eyes, "you can't do that book as a career. Try do something with that knowledge, be a scribe!"
Scribes work with the archives, they analyse ancient texts and work to detail the facts about the world. However my interest isn't in that, its in dragons.
"What I study and what they study are completely different" I answer back, her head shoots back.
"Your. Becoming. A. Scribe." The coldness in her tone almost frightens me. My mother starts to walk to leave, however she adds one more thing to her statement, "That's final."
Mothers decision I think was made by stress, people talk in this town. Especially about the out of the ordinary. And my habits are more than out of the ordinary. I believe people had been pressuring her about my future, being a scribe has been something recurring in my life. Due to my weakness being a scribe has been the only thing people have thought about what to do with me. Bakugo has also mentioned this to me, it was something he was insistent on, I remember out last conversation about it.
We were sitting in the field, after we escaped the town and it was the day after I broke my first bone, the reason for it being Kacchan wanting to try and toughen me up in an effort to try and get me to be able to be a rider. This was something he would try multiple times in the future before we found out I had low bone density, and frivolous excersize led to then breaking easily. It was night time, and quiet. Only the gentle wind filling our senses. This was only a year ago, Kacchan had started being gentler to me in his speech towards me. Not the type of gentle you would get from your Grandma, but the type of gentleness you could expect from a wild cat you had just offered food to. It wouldn't kill you but you would still be getting a few scratches if you accidentally leaned a few too many inches closer towards them. We were seventeen.
"You should be a scribe." Kachaan stated randomly breaking the silence we had since we climbed up here, he didn't look at me when he said this. His face was solem, like he wad thinking deeply into something in his mind. He threw a pebble he had in his hand doen the hill we were sitting on. It bounced on the grass and then rolled down the rest of the hill.
I blow a guff of wind out of my nose in disbelief and shake my head as I smile myself. "No way." I answer.
Scribes have been known to justify Dragon killing through their use of "translating" the ancient text saying they were born specifically for our use. And there is so much of our history they miss out, I personally don't have a good feeling about them. I strive for the truth and I don't think the Scribes strive for that anymore.
I don't tell him this though, I tell him simply, "I don't think we have aligning goals, they strive for history, I strive for dragons."
Bakugo does seem happy about my answer, he stays silent. The silence is too loud and awkward I don't like it. I add something else to the conversations in hopes of breaking his silence, worrying I may have said something wrong. Still avoiding eye contact, glancing at him for split seconds but then returning my gaze to the grass. Picking the strands out.
"Why? do you wanna be a scribe?"
He shoots his head towards me. His face twisted in disgust like I just told him I mutilated his cat and hung it up on his wall, "YOU DAMN NERD!" He raises his fist, towards me but not in the intention of hitting me with it, "OF COURSE NOT! WHO DO YOU TAKE ME FOR!" He shouts, bringing his thumb to face him, "I Wanna be the one the Scribes write about!"
My hand shoot up like I've been threatened with a knife, my hands dart around. Changing my focus from his hair to the back of him. Avoiding eye contact "O-okay! Okay!" I repeat, " I didn't mean that you would be a scribe! Although I asked that I didn't mean to entail that you were wanting to be a scribe, your too physically strong to be a scribe. Although I'm not saying that you couldn't be a scribe! Of course you could be a scribe if you tried, you'd probably be the best scribe if you tried-." I am cut off when Kacchan punches my forehead without any force. He keeps his fist on my forehead and then gently pushes my head to the side before returning his hand to his knees, which are in the fettle-positon.
"Your ranting again dork." Kachan says flatly returning his gaze back to the moon in front of us. I don't bother to apologise.
"Why..did you ask that?"
"Cuz' your a nerd and Scribes are nerds. Who like boring stuff like books" Kacchans mouth was nuzzled into his arms so his statement was muffled, he looked cold. He probably was. Kacchan never was not in his chief uniform. Even on cold nights like this when being shirtless was not optimal. Bakugo bore wolfskin that he probably got himself on his back as a cloack. He didn't usually put his hood up.
His ears are piercing with thick talons I can't but identify it as an eagles. Similar claws painted blue are dawned on his cloack as a chain keeping the wolfskin on his person instead of it falling. Multicoloured beads are jewled on his neck and on his arms are tattooes with the same colours as the necklace. The tattoo goes from his wrist all the way to the end of his forearm, the background is a sunset orange. On the forearm side there is two lines that make a barrier on the edge of the tattoo with a only a smidgen of space in between them, this space in similar black ink is filled with vertical lines crossing eachother to make a pattern. When the pattern ends dots are randomly dotted around the skin until it ends at the elbow. On the wrists end, red braclets are placed covering the end of the tattoo. This is on both of his arms and are exavtly identical to eachother. However on the top of his arm on the right is a small peculiar designed ink tattoo with a one inside of it that I cannot describe. Only I can describe it as kind of oval shaped with spike down the bottom of it. His legs are fully covered with black puffy jeans, leather kneepads attached to the design. Similar pads are on his elbows.His boots are fashioned with sheep's wool to keep him warm and are laced up to his ankles. Bakugo's face is always adorned in the ceremonial facepaint of our village, two red lines over his eyes and three white lines on his chin. The pain has chipped off over the day so all that's left of it is small speckles.
I sometimes feel bad for him, his voice always sounds like he has a cold. My theory that its no doubt having to be shirtless everyday in Ireland, where sunlight is scarce and rain is abundant. He always snivels and sneezes.Hus voice also sounding like his nose is blocked all the time. He snivels while I'm observing him. I turn away when I realise I've been looking at him for more than a few seconds and I return to the silence instilled in our reaction.
"You sure there no way you can become a Scribe." He probes, I'm unsure why he keeps on poking at the topic. His tone is filled with annoyance, however he shows no sign of being annoyed.
"Maybe...if I have no other options. Its not the end of the world, I just... Wouldn't like to be conscripted to doing something that goes against my ideals. Although the fact that the Scribes may not be truthful about the history is just a feeling of mine, I'm still disinclined to try and work for them. But if I did have no other choice, like being forced to do it I would.... I'd have better luck going for being a dragon rider though-."
"Yeah right!" Bakugo shoots back, as quickly as possible like that statement was muscle memory, "There's no way in Hell your doing that exam, do you hear me you damn nerd!?"
"Aagh!! Okay! Sorry!! Don't hit me please-." I laughed, though I did find it weird how sensitive he got to the topic of that. Even on nights like these however, I still can't look into his eyes. Not the eyes, it annoys him I think, he looks at me but I can't look at him.
That was the last conversation we had about our futures. I can't help but think that my broken bones had something to do with it... Maybe he was worried what more pressure might do to my bones? Though I shove away the idea having known Kacchan.
Kacchan himself is a very interesting human being, he is almost an invert of himself. He constantly parades himself about being this all powerful being that isn't afraid of anything, however his worst fear is being considered normal. Being like everyone else is what Bakugo is most afraid of, even though he lies and says he doesn't have any fears, I know him too well. Bakugo cares about a lot of things surprisingly, but he will never admit to himself that he does infact care. Its like he's scared of what he truly is on the inside.
Bakugo doesn't show this friendliness to me usually though, I don't even know if it can be considered that. But it seems he opens up a bit more at night, when it's the two of us and we have nothing to talk about. Though I still don't like the idea of being completely alone with him. I think he knows this. Although I've had no indicators to tell me this I'd the case so its just a feeling I own in my bones.
The last conversation I had with Bakugo was today, he comes by to the blacksmith shop to get some stuff from my mum and will pop into the house to talk to me sometimes. Though this time he didn't simply "pop" in, he slammed the door open with such strength that it could almost have loosened off its hinges.
"YOU GREEN BITCH." He bellowed, "WHERE ARE YOU!?"
I think about not coming out in the open, to simply hide myself in the table I am sitting on. However I show my face as I stretch my body backwards to poke my head around the corner of the wall so he could see my location, however i fall down on the ground in a heap, Bakugo pays not mind as he stomps forward, legs separated like a Crab. Anger is instilled in his expression.
"YOU-. HAVE A TWIG IN YOUR HAIR YOU NERD." He gets off topic, still shouting and quickly takes off the twig then turns back to the point at hand with such intensity I wonder if there's two different people in that mind of his. His points a shaking index finger at me. "YOU GOT 60% ON YOUR ANCIENT HISTORY TEST YOU DAMN NERD, ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME LOOK BAD!? WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN FOCUSING ON INSTEAD OF THIS TEST? AND HERES THE MEAT YOUR MUM WANTS YOU TO COOK FOR DINNER YOU DUMB BITCH."
He slams the pig meat on the table like a volleyball strike.
For context, I revealed to Bakugo one conversation a month ago that I had limited knowledge about ancient history, which is a core theme in the Scribe Quadrant and without that you have no hopes of passing the trial. Katsuki was enraged and he started teaching me with one of his teachers as help. Due to being a village Chief's heir Bakugo is conscripted to learn ancient history. I wasn't joking when I said that Bakugo would ace the Scribe tests.
I scarble back onto my chair before I answer. "OH thank you very much-. DONT MURDER ME PLEASE! I can explain everything!! I'll start from the start, so- so basically I went into the forest-."
"OH VALHALLAS SAKE." Bakugo slams his hand down and sits down on a seat which he almost throws across the room when he pulls it out. "LISTEN HERE YOU MINDLESS TREE!"
"Tree?"
"YOUR THICK GRASSY HEAD OF YOURS-."
"I don't like these nicknames that much-.."
"BETTER LEARN THOSE THINGS I TAUGHT YOU OR IM GONNA BREAK THOSE TWIGGY BONES OF YOURS ONE BY ONE!"
Bakugo, without waiting on my answer storms out the door.
"AND SAVE ME SOME OF THAT PIG!"
He adds, muffled by the sound of him slamming the door closes, I sigh and immediately plunging my head onto my open notebook that I was using before he barged into my house. "I really wanted to talk about this new species though..." I sigh to myself and I burrow my head into my notebook. I hate having two things at once that I need to focus on. It overwhelms me to the point where I procrastinate so much that forget to do the thing I was meant to do. I didnt avoid that task Bakugo assigned to me on purpose, however I also avoided it because I was sad that it was my future, instead of dragons my future is going to be books and more books....
My mother walks in from the Blacksmiths, no doubt from the racket.
"What was he whining about today?"
"..I got a 60% on my practise scribe test that Bakugo's teacher made up for me.."
"And why was that?" She says as she makes her way to the kitchen and picks up the pencil that must've rolled off the table and places it back on my notebook.
"I've been avoiding it kinda.... A bit sad that I have to go do the whole scribe thing. Not that in complaining though! It's just... not something i look forward to.."
"OH hun. I'm sorry I know how much you hate it, and believe me I know, but when your forced to something you don't want to... but there's no way I'm allowing you to do that dragon rider trial in your condition, you wouldn't last five seconds.."
"I'm not a kid yknow.."
"What?"
"You acting like I'm not eighteen and can't make my own choices, if I wanted to I could."
"Don't you dare try that trial Izuku." Agression is laced in her tone a sad agression, the sound that you would expect from a mother dragon protecting it's babies from danger. My mums aggressive nature is caused by one thing, fear for my life. She knows what those dragons are capable of, she nearly lost me once to a dragon. She's unable to think of me without thinking about the worst case scenario, which causes her to seem "over-protective" or restrictive.
Though this still annoys me, I don't answer her, I look at her through my eyebrows as I slant over the table before turning to the kitchen, dragging the meat over to the other side where I start to get utensils to cook it. I regret not saying anything, she retreats away in a similar fashion to how I left the table, silent and almost caving in on herself.
People not letting me do things I want to do angers me, mostly because I know I'm capable. Heck I know more about dragons than everyone put together in that arena. Though because of my physical condition I'm unable to even attempt to prove them wrong. People like Bakugo have been training for the trial, not the trial itself but what comes after the trial. Winning the trial is like a direct ticket to the only school we have that is dedicated specifically to training for battle and defending the viel. Evil things are beyond, we are never told specifically what, but things that want to cause the dragon and us harm. And they are powerful enough to do so. Apparently they have dragons of there own, they aren't dragons though they are makeshift copies. Something more sinister crafted from pure mayhem. These creatures and people have one specific goal, destroy the viel and merge our two separate worlds into one which could cause cataclysmic devastation.
This school trains to become pure killing machines, hell bent on destroying these things before they destroy us, it's a them or us situation. The way they do this is bonding us to dragons.
Full grown dragons are different from the ones Bakugo or I have seen, they never rest on flat land. They perch on cliff edges or small islands away from civilizations. And these Dragons cannot be killed, not by humans. Dragons are higher beings than us, with abilities we can't even comprehend. Bonding with one gives you an unbreakable and un-replecatable bond that you can't find in any other being. Dragons and humans have a rocky treaty. One thing that is set in stone in it is Dragon will volunteer to bond with humans which they deem worthy in the War School, I gave it that nickname.
"If only I was a different person..." I talk out loud to myself. My craving for this trial grows larger inside of me, and stirs an almost discomfort.
"Different person....if only.. "I" was not me. No...no.. But. No. Mother wouldn't allow it.....but if me was not I, she wouldn't know..."
I cryptically form a plan in my mind, what if I do prove everyone wrong, without being me. What if I disguised myself. It's risky as heck. There's no way I can pull it off without intense planning. I scrap the idea for the rest of the day and the day after that. Distracting myself by silently helping in the Blacksmiths for the first time in a while and climbing tress to observe dragons. However in the back on my mind the thought is there, never going away. Like I already made up my mind that this is something that I'm putting myself up to. Though I am not wanting to accept that.
On the day of the festival, I wake up. And just sit. Staring at the ceiling. Then without any planning, any second thoughts I grab one of my darkest cloaks and head for the entrance of the exam. For the first time in a while I'm doing something without planning and meticulous research. I'm going in blind, only my notebook with me that can guide me. The walk to the arena is silent, I am in my own world. Even though there is noise all around me my heart beating out of my chest is the only thing that I can focus on.
"What are you doing? What are you doing?.." I mumbled under my breath as I make it through the crowd, talking to myself helps calm me down. Maybe. No okay it definitely does not, I am freaking out over here. My hands are clamy and my face is so sweaty that it looks like the skin of a jellyfish. My hands jitter around my cloak, massaging the fabric in my fingertips as the shadow of the arena slowly elapses my view of the bright ground that my eyes so desperately cling onto.
It is then no surprise that I bump into someone. Pushing them forward and I land on their back.
"Agh! What the heck!" The person springs back and turns around to face me. But oh look in falling, faceplanting on the ground. Like a piece of bread. Am I going in slow motion? Why is this taking so long? WHY DOES FALLING TAKE SUCH A LONG-.
I smack onto the ground. My cheeks stinging like the ground grew a hand and slapped me for thinking this was good idea, even the ground is against me. I groan as the person I bumped into franticly apologises and lifts me up, her arm under my armpit. However I prioritise keeping my hood down, my free hand desperately holding it down.
"You okay? Sorry about that, I'm skittish." She giggles. The women sounds chirpy, a rasp laces in her tone like she has lost it from speaking loud, however when she speaks to me it's gentle, giving you comfort that reminds you of snuggling in cosy sheets. Though I avoid eye contact, not wanting my identity to be known, even though I most defineltly do not recognise the women. I try to rap up the conversation as quickly as possible, too terrified that if I stay for too long I'll be identified and dragged my legs away from the arena by Bakugo or my Mum
"Sorry, thank you." I gently take my arm out of her grasp and maneuver around her. That was so cold Izuku, geez.
The idea of me coming into the arena is certainly not a good idea, me faceplanting definitely soured my limited confidence for this not ending with me getting severely injured. Though I didn't have much coming into the place, I didn't even know why I'm still moving forward, I know all odds are against me. However it's almost like this is like one last bang, one last attempt at showing people I am capable and not the weakling people say I am. Even though my dreams had been crushed long ago I still find myself chasing the enate possibility that my dreams can still become reality.
I pass through threshold of the gate. And a queue maybe 2 foot long awaits me, all candidates. Maybe not in the exact same situation as me but at least in a kind of same situation as me. All people who want to achieve the same goal, of becoming a candidate in the only school for Dragon Riding.