chapter nine;

"HOW THE FUCK DID THIS HAPPEN?!", shigaraki growled, aggressively scratching his neck to the point it had nearly started to bleed.

     dabi cringed at the sight, though for once he kept quiet, as he needed to know the next commands from their leader.

     toga just hummed in amusement as her lemon yellow eyes glimmered with mischief. she was clearly excited about the mission and was expecting shigaraki to just give the signal.

"my apologies your majesty, but it had just abnormally happened", kurogiri reported.

"your majesty, if I may..."

     "what?", shigaraki sharply snarled.

     "we've been planning this for quite some time now. it'd be best to put our foot forward and continue on with our objective", compress suggested.

     "yeah yeah!! it's been so long since we've had any action. and the heroes this year are looking to be quite interesting~", toga giggled.

     shigaraki frowned upon that as he squeezed the sides of the horse with his legs, signaling for the horse to start trotting along.

     the rest followed as the villains' horses glamorously stopped at the edge of the mountain, with shigaraki at the very front of course.

a heavy feeling overwhelmed him, making it hard for him to put down the fact that youko was sick and he wasn't by her side.

it wasn't much guilt, or any at all. but a quaint feeling of just needing to see if youko was alright gnawed at him.

yet this mission held the utmost importance to not only him, but for the future of the league.

if he could get bakugo katsuki to join them, he would have another powerful piece to wield.

"kurogiri..."

"yes, your majesty?"

shigaraki stared down at his pawns that were in front of him. villains of all sorts.

"warp me back to the castle. dabi's in charge. heed to the plan as usual, and—"

"your majesty!! please reconsider! you can visit that child later, we need to—"

"SILENCE! DID I GIVE PERMISSION FOR YOU TO SPEAK?!", shigaraki shouted, glaring at one of dabi's soldiers.

     the man gulped as he shrank away in fear, having to have overstepped his boundaries.

     "are you sure it's wise for you to—"

     "shut it you burnt fuck! I don't need advice from the likes of you", shigaraki scowled.

     "open up the portal kurogiri!"

     kurogiri immediately did as told as shigaraki rode his horse through the warp gate.

     dabi sighed as now he was left with the rest of the league now.

the man couldn't understand why shigaraki was so eager to get back to the princess when he could've just done so later.

perhaps it was the impatience in that man, as he was quite like a child; changing things for his favor on a whim.

"first commander, shall we surround them now?", one asked.

dabi's turquoise eyes skimmed the healthy green forest. a smirk had made its way onto his face as he held his left hand up.

"my knights and toga's will dispatch all around the forest. compress, take your men and head to the center along with spinner and magne", dabi commanded.

"then what about me? forget me, forget me!", twice contradicted.

"twice, you'll follow me. we're going to capture more than just bakugo katsuki".

_♚_

the door busted open, forcing little youko to glance up from her teddy bear, kimi.

     "papa...? what are you doing here? I thought you were at the...the....the hunting grounds", youko coughed out.

youko had somehow managed to maneuver around the castle without getting lost and climbed into shigaraki's bed, as she missed her father very much.

     it was only day three of hunting, but youko had been especially lonely since all her newly made friends along with dabi and them were gone.

"it was boring", shigaraki stated as he came over to the bed, looking down at the pale girl that seemed like she was on the verge of passing out.

"oh..."

"how're you feeling?", shigaraki softly asked, carefully patting the little girl's head.

"mm...a little weird. but grandpa said I should be feeling better after my fever", youko replied.

shigaraki froze.

"who?"

"grandpa? kuro took me to him like yesterday...and he said that I'd be feeling better after my fev—"

"master?"

youko looked at shigaraki confusingly. she was sure that all for one had said that he was shigaraki's adoptive father. so why did shigaraki call him master?

"mm...he just said he was your...your...umm..."

youko tried real hard to try and recall the word that all for one had used.

"a-a-a-doting father??"

"adoptive", shigaraki corrected, to which youko just smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

     "why were you with master?"

     "kuro took me to him. grandpa told me that he was sick so he couldn't see me much. but he told me that I could visit him anytime", youko replied.

     "did he...did he say anything else?", shigaraki inquired.

     the male did not know why his master had decided to suddenly have youko visit. he had always assumed that master told him everything; that there were no secrets between them.

so why was it that youko got summoned but not him?

"grandpa said that I can help you papa!! he said that...that..."

youko coughed once again, covering her mouth with her sleeve as shigaraki helped the little girl sit up.

"drink some warm tea", shigaraki commanded as he handed the girl a little cup of tea.

youko chugged it as she handed the small teacup back to shigaraki, who just placed it back on the nightstand.

"he said that with my new quirk, I'll be able to—"

"your new what?", shigaraki interrupted,

"quirk!! it's called queen! grandpa told me that I'm like your queen on the chessboard", youko excitedly explained to shigaraki.

     "what else...did master say?", shigaraki breathed out.

     "grandpa also said that I'll be able to assist you now! I can fight by your side and be your most val...valuable piece!", youko exclaimed, obviously not knowing what any of that had truly meant.

     "is that so?"

     "mhm!! I can't wait until my quirk settles in", youko smiled, to which shigaraki had just patted the little girl's head.

     shigaraki wondered how youko would play as his trump card. there were so many variables that could affect his plans, he didn't know whether it was a wise decision from his master or not.

"papa? are you okay?", youko worried as shigaraki was zoning out once again.

shigaraki just hummed as he crawled into bed, letting youko climb onto his lap as she laid her head against the male's chest.

shigaraki held onto the girl as he thought about the possibilities and limits of youko's quirk, meanwhile the little princess was drifting off to sleep.

'queen...like a queen on the chessboard....is master telling me to use youko in one of my plans? but why?'

     it was so quiet that it felt like shigaraki's thoughts were loudly broadcasting itself to the entire world.

'why? why? why?', shigaraki kept questioning himself.

'a piece...the most valuable piece. a queen that does everything to protect its king. indeed, what a useful tool master...'

     shigaraki grinned as he gently patted youko's head, taking his thumb and carefully caressing the little girl's cheek.

     "my most prized; my little queen".

✦ . . . . ────────☀️