{10 minutes ago}

Fuyumi POV:

We were outside in the gardens. We were heading back inside.

"So, Shoto disappears, then reappears without coming back, and isn't kidnapped?" Touya says. "Seems strange to me. What do you think he's doing?"

Natsu sighs. "Whatever it is, I bet Father won't like it." He says. "Well, the Old man's already made."

"Wait, guys." I say, holding a hand out to stop them. "Why is the sliding door open?" They both go quiet as I point to the door. Sure enough, the door was halfway open.

"Someone's inside." Touya growls. He steps in front of me and walks slowly towards the door. I follow right behind him, keeping Natsu behind me.

When I look inside, I freeze. As does Touya and Natsu.

I saw two boys a few feet in front of me by a bookshelf. One of them had half and half hair color. When the boy turned to the other boy, I jolted.

"Shoto?" I ask. Shoto turns around and stares at me. The boy next to him turned as well, and the color drained from the shorter boy's face.

"Fuyumi." Shoto says. The boy next to him looks between us a few times, his green eyes flicking back and forth. "What are you doing here?"

Touya glares at him. "What is she doing here?" He asks. "What are you doing here? You've been missing." Shoto looks at him with a start, like he didn't realize he was there.

"Touya-nii?" Shoto asks, tilting his head to the side. "When did you get here?"

The green haired boy looks at Touya and makes an oooing sound. "You're Touya!" He says. "Hi! My name's Izuku!"

Touya looks at him. "Who the hell are you?" He asks.

Shoto's expression hardens. "Don't talk to Izuku like that." He says. "He just told you who he is."

I rush forward and hug him, catching everyone off guard. I pulled away just enough to look him in the face. "Don't ever do that again, you hear me?" I scolded him. "You nearly scared me half to death!"

Shoto smiles slightly and hugs me back. "Sorry, we were doing something important." He says. Izuku looks around.

"Sho, where did the others?" He says. Shoto looks around as well. "Oh gods, did they leave the library?"

"They wouldn't do that." Shoto says. "They're not that dumb."

Just then, another girl jumps down from a bookshelf, startling Izuku. She turns to the green haired boy with stars in her eyes. "Izuku!" She exclaims. "They have Filed Bakery For Juniors here! Every single volume!"

Shoto and Izuku blink in unison. Ochako glances at me before turning back to Izuku. Then turn back to me with a gasp and a completely shocked face.

"P-Princess!" She says.

I study her for a moment. "You're one of the missing teenagers from the East Village." I say.

The brown haired girl makes a dramatic swoon to the ground. "The princess knows who I am!" She exclaims. Izuku rolls her eyes.

Two more boys entered the room, and froze when they saw us. The red head one lets out a nervous chuckle.

"Shoto, is this your family?" Ochako says. "Maybe they can help us with.. the thing."

Shoto crosses his arms and glancing at Izuku again. He scowls.

"Help you with what?" Natsu asks.

Izuku frowned. "If we, theoretically, were trying to overthrow your father, how would you react?" He says.

I gape at him, then at Shoto. "YOU WANT TO WHAT?!?!" I shriek. Both Shoto and Izuku cover their ears.

I place a palm to my chest. "Shoto, I can't-" I inhale slowly. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Shoto frowned. "Why would I want to give my sister a heart-" He starts. I groan loudly, completely and utterly annoyed at my brother's literal taking on things. Or maybe my father for making him like that.

"It's an exaggeration." Izuku says, smiling and nudging Shoto's arm. "She doesn't mean it, silly." Shoto blinked, then winced. Izuku frowned. "Do you need another pill?"

I glance at Touya and Natsu.

"A pill?" Touya says. "What pill?"

Shoto shakes his head. "No, I don-" He winced again and collapsed against Izuku, making the greenette yelp in surprise. I almost shrieked again, but held it into a gasp.

Ochako and Eijiro exchange a glance while Touya glares at Izuku. "What is this?" He demands.

Izuku glances up at us before looking down at Shoto again. "Shoto, is the thing happening again?" He asks. Shoto winces and grabs into Izuku. "I'll take that as a yes." He looks at Ochako. "Pencil. Paper. Now."

I frowned. "What's wrong with Shoto-" I start.

But Shoto suddenly gasps and lurches upright, his eyes suddenly shimmering white. I pull back in surprise, and I hear both Touya and Natsu gasp.

"Passed by horror both shaped and grown,
Met with historians, older than Rome.
Help is waiting, inside our heads,
Because without it, we are all dead."

Then Shoto's face starts twitching for a moment before he slumps against Izuku. The greenette looks at Ochako.

"Did you get all that?" He asks.

Ochako scribbles down one more thing before giving him a thumbs up. Izuku sighs and looks at me.

"What the hell was that?" Touya questions.

I crouch down next to Izuku and Shoto. My brother was completely unconscious. Izuku watched me with worry.

"Shoto was kidnapped." Ochako explains in a hushed voice. "But then we um, saved him. But also.." She paused, and I looked at her in fear. "Something happened when he was in the dark room. And whatever happened, made him able to.. tell us things."

I shiver.

Izuku curls himself protectively against Shoto. "What historian is older than Rome?" The blonde says. "Do any of you know what that means? This extra's been spitting more of these 'prophecies' than just this, hah?"

"Ochako." Izuku says to his friend. "Give me the paper."

The brown haired girl hands the pad to him and he scans the pages. "Okay, so in order, it goes like this:"

"It shall be then, when legends become reality, a child of ice and a child of forest green, a child of scales and a child of loyalty, shall bring the fall of fire royalty." Izuku pauses. I stare at my younger brother. "When the moon fills the lake, the winged lizard will make its move with its prince." I hear a laugh and turn to see the red head nudge the blonde with a smirk. "And then the one that he just said."

Izuku sighs.

"Who did this to him?" Touya asks with an outraged voice. "Do you know?"

All the kids shake their heads.

"We only know it was at least two people that kidnapped him." Ochako says. "One had like, no hair and no eyes, it was super creepy, and the other had white hair and was about Prince Natsuo's age."

That makes me and my brothers freeze.

"No eyes?" Touya asks. "No hair? Did the man have multiple scars as well?"

Izuku and Ochako exchange a glance before they both nodded. Natsu groans loudly and rakes his hands down his face.

"That's All For One." Touya says, his voice serious. "He was an old king in the neighboring kingdom that has a huge personal vendetta against multiple of the other kings. He was somehow murdered, or I guess not now, by an anonymous person." He sighs. "Some say it was the goddess Aris herself, sent to murder him by many prayers. Others say it was the goddess Roselia for the same reason."

I exhale slowly.

"Either way he's alive." Natsu says. "And we can't-" He was interrupted by Shoto's groan. I whip my head back to see Shoto sitting up and Izuku holding his shoulders with a concerned expression. Shoto was touching his temple lightly and had his eyes shut closed.

Izuku gestures to Ochako. She hands him a water bottle.

"Is it a migraine?" Izuku whispers. I almost awed at the sincerity and concern in his voice. "Are you sure you don't want the medicine?"

Shoto nods and opens his eyes wide before blinking a few times.

"What did I say?" He asks. Izuku hands him the paper. He takes a moment to read it before he sighs and hands it back to Izuku. I notice their hands brushing for a moment longer than usual and squint. Yes, they both have a small hint of blush on both of their cheeks. I hide a smile.

"Well, that's.." Shoto pauses. "Something."

Izuku nods. "Exactly, the others were at least a little bit more specific, this ones just vague." He says. "Like, what's horror shaped and grown? That doesn't make any sense!" He frowns, obviously upset. Shoto pats his shoulder awkwardly, but that doesn't stop Izuku from blushing furiously.

I raise my eyebrows and I hear a snicker behind me.

"That's ten more dollars." The brown haired girl whispers.

A sigh, followed by a crumple of paper.

Shoto looks around and blinks. "We need to leave." He says. "We need to leave the library now."

Izuku furrows his brow. "What? Why?" He asks. "Did you have a vi-" A large slam directs everyone's attention to the door. It was open, and there, red in the face with rage, was my father.

He doesn't even take a moment to glance at everyone before at least twelve guards enter as well. The blonde and the red haired boy immediately jump up and run. The red haired boy grabbed onto the brown haired girl and dashed out of the sliding door before the guards could catch them. I watched helplessly as two guards grabbed onto Izuku roughly, pulling him away from Shoto. He cried out in pain.

Shoto himself froze the moment he saw our father.

"Shoto." The king said. "How dare you run away!"

He storms forward and grabs onto Shoto's arm, making him whimper in fear.

"Let go of him!" Izuku yells. The guards holding him pulled him farther away. The king barely looks at him. He slaps Shoto across the face, a red mark popping on my brother's cheek instantly.

Touya rushes forward and grabs onto our father's arm, trying to pull him away from Shoto. "Get off him, you bastard." He growls. "Get off him!"

But my father just grabs Touya with his other hand, and throws him against the bookshelf, making me shriek. The wooden structure doesn't move, since it was built into the floor, but a few books fall off the shelves and onto the carpet from the blow. Touya crumples against the ground, unmoving. Natsuo rushes over to Touya and crouches next to him. He tentatively touches his brother's head, and the hand comes back red.

"We need a doctor!" Natsuo yells at a guard. The guard looks conflicted, but runs into the hall to get one.

Shoto was pulled in a standing position. He whimpered, his eyes still squeezed shut.

"Pull yourself together, Shoto." My father growls. "Your embarrassing yourself."

I glance around and nervously tap my fingers together gently. After a moment of hesitation, I rush to Touya as well.

"What do we do?" Natsu asks. I felt the back of Touya's head for a moment before my ring finger ran over a large bump. Warm sticking liquid pools over my fingers and I pull away. Touya's head lolls to the side and Natsu glares at our father, who was still scolding Shoto.

Shoto was practically in tears staring at the guards holding Izuku in place.

"Sir, what do we do with him?" One guard holding Izuku says.

My father looked at Izuku for a moment before glaring down at Shoto. "Bring him to the royal dungeons." He said, not looking away from Shoto. "I'll deal with him later."

A doctor and the guard entered the room, and the doctor dashed over to Touya.

My father sneered at me and my siblings. "But before then, I'll deal with you."

<^> To Be Continued

(1.9k words)

A N G S T