He coughs up blood and his dimming eyes glance over at the other man holding him. He smiles softly and sets his hand against his cheek, wiping tears away with his thumb.

"Please...don't cry." He says softly. "I'll be alright." He tries to reassure him.

A choked sob comes from his mouth. He grips his other hand tightly. "Don't...try to make me feel better. You're not getting better. You're dying."

A soft groan escapes his mouth as blood drips down his nose. He coughs out more blood, wheezing a little bit. "Yeah...I guess you're right. I don't want to go though." Tears well up in his eyes. "I don't want to leave you alone." He squeezes his hand with what little strength he has left. "I don't want you to be lonely again."

He leans down and presses his forehead against him, shutting his eyes tightly. "I want to be with you. I don't want to part from you. Ever. I can't go on without you." Tears stream down his face and his breath hitches in his throat. He lets out a heavy sob.

"Please. Don't say that. One of us has to live on." He leans up a bit, kissing him deeply, ignoring the flaming pain of the hole in his abdomen. Tears spill down his cheeks. "Just stay with me...until the end. Promise?"

He nods and smiles softly. "Promise." He whispers. "I won't leave your side."

He moves some of his hair out of his face. "Do you think...in another life, you and I can be together?" He asks softly.

A soft chuckle escapes. "Honestly? Yes. I believe that very much." He sniffles. "I know we will. We'll find each other. No matter when. No matter what." A soft smile spreads over his face.

"Good. I'll...be waiting." He mutters as his eyelids slowly close for the last time.

~Many Months Before Tragedy~

Sitting atop a tree branch is a young barbarian. Shimmering green eyes watch the blue sky. A light breeze blows through his fluffy, wild, green hair. He's wearing a light green cloak with white fur around the collar, brown pants, red boots, and a leather belt with pockets attached to it.

He takes a bite from his apple and sighs. "Another silent morning by myself." He leans back, hanging upside down from the tree branch. He stares at the world from his new viewpoint.

Something catches his attention. A bit out of the ordinary. A carriage has stopped in the middle of a dirt road. A couple of people are having some trouble with a moving something that's wiggling in a sack.

The man drops down from the tree and lands on his feet. "Something's not right." He says softly. He crouches down, a green electrical energy wrapping around his body as he lunges forward.

"Will you quit squirming you damn brat? I don't want to have to knock you out, damn it." One of the men groans, trying to get the squirming bag back into the carriage.

"If you leave a bruise on him, I'm going to be pissed. We can't risk damaging such a valuable asset, idiot." The other glares at his companion.

"Hey fellas." The green-haired man smiles at them. "What do you have in the sack there?" He tilts his head a little bit.

The both gasp and drop said sack, earning a muffled groaning from inside.

"Damn it, look what you made us do." The leader of the two growls and glares at him. "Who the hell are you?"

"Me? You can call me Izuku." He smiles. "Now, I take it you two have a person in there." He points at the wiggling sack. "Now, I'll give you one chance to let them go and walk away." He puts up his fists. "Or else."

They both look at each other and begin to laugh. The leader takes out a dagger and grins, licking the blade.

"Just what the hell are you going to do-" Before he can finish his sentence, a fist slams into his face, sending him a few feet down the road.

"Why you-" His partner in crime is sent flying a few feet up the road with a kick to the stomach.

"Easy enough." He picks up the sack and jumps into the trees and begins to use the branches to jump further and further away.

Once he thinks he's far enough away, he jumps down from the trees and sets down the sack. He unties the top of it and pulls it down.

A young prince with half snow white and cherry red hair glares at the stranger. Even his eyes are a different color, one silver and one ocean blue. A burn scar covers most of his face on his left side. His hair is a little long and reaches his shoulders. His mouth is covered with a bandana and his wrists and ankles are tied together. He's wearing an embroidered blue vest with golden accents, a white puffy long sleeved under shirt, and very well made brown pants along with calf high boots.

"Whoa..." Izuku says softly, staring at the stunning man before him. He shakes his head. "H-hey calm down. I got you." He unties the bandana so he can talk.

"Set me free now. Or else." He glares daggers at the Barbarian before him.

Izuku waves his hands around a little bit. "I-I'm working on it, I promise." He starts to undo the rope around his wrists. "Who were those people?"

The stranger stares at Izuku with hard, cold, eyes. "Human traffickers." He says softly and looks over to the side.

"Oh...well, I don't think they should be bothering you anytime soon. I made sure we got pretty far from them." He smiles and unties the ropes from around his wrists.

"What? So, you can try and sell me off too?" He rubs his wrists.

"What? No, of course not!" He shakes his head. "I'm setting you free so you can head home." He looks around. "But the nearest town is a few days away...I can escort you there."

"I'll be fine." He reaches down and starts to untie his ankles. "I appreciate the assistance, but I can handle the rest on my own."

Izuku rubs the back of his neck. "Are you sure about that...? I mean it can be pretty dangerous out here, especially at night."

"Why exactly do you care so much? I don't have any money on me, despite my appearance."

He waves his hands and shakes his head. "No, that's not it. I just want to make sure you get home safe. I'm sure there are people who are worried sick about you after all." He smiles softly.

The prince glances off to the side and sighs softly. "Who are you exactly? What are you? Some sort of explorer?"

"My name is Izuku Midoriya. I'm a Barbarian. I call this forest my home." He sits down in front of him.

"A... Barbarian...? Really...?" He looks him up and down. "You're a rather small Barbarian."

He hangs his head in defeat. "Hey, I'm only 18 you know. I could still grow."

"The ones I've seen are big and buff. Though, you have some muscle at least."

"Let's focus on you. Though, now that I'm sitting here and looking at you." He rubs his chin. "By the look of your clothes you don't look like you live nearby."

"You're pretty perceptive. My name is Shoto Todoroki. 4th in Line for the Throne." Mix matched eyes meet with astonished forest green.

Izuku stares at him. His eyes are wide, and his jaw is hanging down. "You...are...oh I just..." He clears his throat. "I was...thinking noble! But...the Prince of...the whole Kingdom!" He drops down to his hands, setting his forehead against the ground. "Your majesty!"

Shoto blinks a few times and rubs the back of his neck. "You can rise. You don't need to grovel."

Izuku looks up at him. "It's not every day you meet royalty. Wait, if you're here..." He furrows his brows. "You're ways away from the capital. Allow me to escort you back! Not because of any sort of reward, I just think it would be an honor to help the future king." He sets his forehead against the ground once more.

The prince stares at the barbarian before him and a soft tint of pink coats his cheeks. He's a very sincere and honest man. He never thought he'd see this coming from a barbarian. "Well, if you insist. I suppose it would be better to have someone guard me while making my way back." He clears his throat. "If you choose to agree, I'll make sure you're well compensated."

"Thank you, your highness. It's not necessary, but if you insist, I shall gladly take any compensation. I will make sure you get back home safe and sound."

"Then it's official." He nods and holds out his hand. "Let's shake on it."

Izuku sits up and quickly takes his hand, giving it a firm shake, smiling brightly.

Shoto sighs in relief. "Alright. I assume you know the way back to the capital?"

He nods and grins big. "Oh yeah, I do. But we need to get supplies. This'll take us a few months..." He mutters softly. "Two or three at most. That's if we don't run into any trouble. Right now, I don't have enough to pay for more than a month at most. So, we'll need to get some extra money. We'd have to take on a few quests to gain funds for this. That might take us a few days."

"Do you always mumble out loud like this?" He tilts his head a bit.

Izuku snaps out of his train of thought and blushes lightly. "S-sorry! It's how I think and it's a bit of a habit. So, I don't even realize I do it half of the time."

"It's fine. I was just curious is all. But, if it's money we're in need of. I do actually have some money that might help a little bit. I'm not sure how much, though."

"Any amount will be of help. I have some saved up myself, so I'm sure whatever you have will help." He nods.

Shoto takes off one of his boots and shakes it a bit and a few platinum coins fall out. "Will this be enough to help at all?"

Izuku's jaw drops. He stares at the five platinum coins and slowly nods his head. "This is...more than enough. Oh yeah. We can easily get four or five times as much supplies with just these. But I think one should do just fine. Maybe just...keep those other 4 in your boot, alright?"

"If you're sure." He says and puts four of the coins in his boot.

Izuku takes the coin and puts it in one of his pouches. He smiles and stands up, offering his hand. "Alright, your majesty. Let's get you home safe and sound."

He can't help but chuckle and take his hand. "You can just call me Todoroki."

Izuku grins and nods, helping him up. "You can call me Midoriya."

"So, Midoriya. How many days away is this city?" He raises a brow.

He begins to count on his fingers. "It should be two. We should get started on our journey. Are you ready for plenty of walking?"

"Not really, but I don't have much of a choice." He says softly.

With that, the two begin their journey to the nearest town for supplies. The walk was fairly silent between the two. Izuku made sure not to go too fast and took breaks about every hour or so. The weather was nice, and they didn't run into any trouble.

Izuku looks up at the sun beginning to set. "We should make camp. The sun is starting to set, and we don't want to be out in the dark."

"Right...camp. But we don't have any tents or anything to sleep on." He rubs the back of his neck.

"Well, that's why we find a bunch of leaves and make a pile to sleep on. If we get chilly, I have my cloak here we can use." He grins.

Shoto really didn't like the sound of this, but it's not like he had much of a choice. "Sounds great."

"It'll be great. We first need to gather firewood so we can start a fire. Do you...happen to know...how to start a fire?" He rubs the back of his neck.

"Yeah. I can start a fire. Easy enough. I'll focus on the fire; you can gather the leaves for the bed."

Izuku hits his chest with his fist. "Got it!" He runs off into the woods.

Shoto looks around and sighs softly, running his hand through his hair. He takes one more look around before getting some nearby sticks and piling them up.

Izuku comes back a few minutes later, his arms filled with lots of leaves. He drops them down and looks over at the fire and smiles. "Whoa! You got that fire going pretty quick."

He glances back at him. "Well, I find it easy to make fires."

He claps his hands. "Now that we have a roaring fire, what would you like to eat? I can catch us rabbit, bird, possibly fish, or squirrel."

Shoto grimaces a little bit. He really wasn't sure of he liked the thought of having to actually hunt down something to eat. "Um, how about you pick."

He gives a thumbs up. "You got it. I'll make sure to find the best for you your majesty." He bows before running back into the woods.

Shoto sits in front of the fire and stares at the flames. He rubs his temples and brings his knees to his chest. "How did I end up in this situation...?" He says softly and sighs. "The sooner I can get home, the better."

~o~o~o~

Izuku stares at the rabbit roasting over the fire. He twiddles his thumbs and looks over at the Prince. He isn't sure what to say, exactly. What could they possibly talk about?

"Do you live out here alone?" The Prince decides to break the ice.

"Oh! W-well, yeah." A nervous chuckle escapes past his lips. "I was hoping to find others to join me out here so I could start my own tribe. But I haven't had any luck."

"Your own tribe?" He asks softly. "Do you not already belong to one?"

"Well, yeah. I did. But it's tradition that when a Barbarian reaches the age of 18, they set off on their own or with some friends to start their own tribes. Of course, you don't have to. But I decided it would be good. But it's been a year and I haven't made any progress on anything." He let's out a soft sigh and stares at the ground.

"I'm...sorry to hear that. Did no one want to come with you?"

"Well...no. But that's alright." He waves his hands. "I didn't mind going out on my own. I was sure I'd make tons of new friends. It's only been a year." He smiles brightly.

The prince stares at him and chuckles lightly. "You're pretty optimistic I see."

A grin stretches across his face. "Of course."

The two sit in silence for a few minutes. This time, Izuku speaks up.

"How did you get captured? We are pretty far from the capital and all." He glances over at the Prince. "Feel free not to answer. Sorry."

He sighs softly. "No, it's fine. I was on my way back from meeting with a suitor from another kingdom." He rests his elbow on his leg. "Since I'm 18, my father has been pushing me to find someone to marry."

"Oh. Well, you're a very handsome guy, so I'm sure there are plenty of people to choose from." He smiles.

"So far, they've all been either selfish, self-centered, shallow, or a mix of all of those." He sighs heavily. "I'm just a piece of arm candy to them."

Izuku frowns. "I'm sorry." He says softly. "That sounds awful." He sets a hand on his shoulder. "But, don't worry. I'm sure one day you'll find your true love."

"True love?" He chuckles bitterly. "Do you really believe in such things?"

He blushes lightly and rubs the back of his neck. "Well, yeah. I like to think there is someone out there for everyone. You're a nice guy. I know we've only just met but I can tell you have a good heart." He grins.

A soft blush coats his cheeks. He scratches his cheek a bit and looks off to the side. "I... thank you. I appreciate it."

After the rabbit is cooked, Izuku uses two large leaves as plates and uses his hunting knife to split it between the two of them. The barbarian happily digs into the rabbit. Shoto stares at it before picking up a piece and taking a small bite.

"Whoa." His eyes go wide. "This is so good."

Izuku grins. "I know right? Nothing like fresh rabbit to fill the tummy, am I right? I used a few herbs around the forest to season it a bit. My mom does a way better job, though. But I'm still super glad you like it."

After their dinner, Izuku makes sure their makeshift bed is nice and comfy before letting Shoto know he can lie down. "It's no bed, but it'll do for the night."

Shoto gets as comfy as he can. It's not as uncomfortable as he thought it would be. He folds his hands over his chest.

Izuku puts his cloak over him and smiles. He gets comfy next to him and closes his eyes. "I'm glad you think so." He smiles softly.

He glances over at him and furrows his brows. "Aren't you going to get cold?"

"Huh? Oh, you don't need to worry about me." He waves his hand and smiles. He yawns and gets comfy. "As long as you're warm, I'll be fine."

Shoto watches as the barbarian rolls on his side and shivers a little bit. He moves a little closer and spreads out the cloak over both of them. He turns on his side, his back pressing against Izuku's. He's warm. He slowly closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep.

Hello! Welcome to my NEW story! I've been working on this for months! Alright, so a few things:

It's going to be 2 acts essentially. I have the first half almost complete. So after act 1 is finish, there will be a break, maybe for a few months or so? Depends how much of Act II I get done.

I'm honestly not sure when I'll update. It might have to be once a month? Because I AM working on various other things and sometimes I don't feel like writing so don't expect a constant schedule. Sorry.

So, I think that's it! Leave me comments and such and let me comments and such and enjoy!