Hey I've been missing for a while, I know. Sorry for that! I actually had a writer's block so I wasn't able to write for a while. anyway, here's a bit longer chapter for everyone that waited for this. Thank you for the support always!

xoxo,

Halloween G.

The curse

After struggling so much against this stranger's hold who, not only came and abducted her in the middle of her bout with Katsuki, transferred her unwillingly through Kuro's portal. Izuku had a thought that maybe he was another one of Shigaraki's minions out to take her to him again.

"Unhand me you mongrel! You know I could do away with this offending hand of yours if I wanted to!" Izuku continued to struggle against Shouto's arms wrapped securely around her. Weird thing was that Izuku did not seem to mind it that much. There was something about him that felt oddly familiar.

"Of course, I am well aware of your full capabilities, Izuku, but I also know that you won't be doing that." He said with an uncanny gentle and cool smile. It was making Izuku's frozen heart ache so damn much.

Shouto placed her down when they entered what seemed to be his quarters and she continued to glare at him. It was weird and awkward for Shouto, who kept thinking that maybe his mistress finally hated him, before he chose to sit down on a space opposite of her.

It was a traditional Japanese-styled room—with the tatami mats, futon, and the traditional sliding door—that kind of suited him. Izuku didn't know why but she felt that the room really suited him. But this wasn't enough to let her bring down her guard as she kept her glare on him without even blinking.

"I understand that you must not want to see me right now—not after I left you like that—but I also cannot just leave you duking it out with Katsuki. I know that you're a lot more powerful than him and my intervention wasn't necessarily needed, but I just wanted to protect you from the unneeded hurt." He rambled as he fidgeted with his clasped hands. He was tensed, that, Izuku could tell as to why, well, she haven't the slightest clue.

"Of course, not that you wanted to hear that from me." He added with a slight grimace and a bitter smile as he looked away.

"I should probably cut you there. You have this very sad air about you like you're guilty of something which I have no idea about. You also seem to know Kacchan and I also don't know why. Lastly, who the heck are you? You're talking to me as if we're close and yet I do not know you nor your name. Shouldn't we start there first before anything else?" Izuku chattered.

Shouto was just silently sitting there across her—lost, unbelieving, confused—as he gripped his hands tightly. He didn't understand what was going on. Surely, Izuku wouldn't act as if she didn't know him out of spite, right? So did she somehow lose her memories of him—only? Was it…

"Was it Katsuki?" he whispered to which Izuku barely heard.

The air suddenly turned hot as steams started to come out of his body before fires started to snake around the other half of his body and his eyes were coated with undeniable murderous intent. He was out to kill someone now.

"Umm. What are you doing? How dare you emit that killing aura in my presence?" Izuku interjected that somehow briefly distracted Shouto from his bloodlust with a soft "Eh?"

"In the presence of this queen, you dare to be that rude?" she asked with a haughty voice as she crossed her legs and crossed her arms across her chest like the offended queen that she is. My, she was beautiful nonetheless.

This cracked Shouto. He never once saw Izuku act like that—a proper queen. She was always without confidence or care about her status. She'd rather spend her days silently in her little cabin than deal with all these annoying stuff about her being the Witch Queen. Though the Izuku in front of him right now didn't seem to mind her status anymore and was proudly flaunting it even.

"You've changed indeed. You used to hate your title so much and now look at you, a year changed you so much." Shouto said with a wistful and melancholic face. He was not trying to smile anymore and this clenched Izuku's heart so painfully.

"Who… are you?" Izuku whispered so bitterly before falling unconscious on Shouto's folded futon.

"I-Izuku?" Shouto scrambled up to his feet and rushed towards Izuku. She was breathing so that was somehow a load off his chest but she was clearly in pain from something as she started to burn up. Panicking, he called Kurogiri over. Kurogiri must know something, after all, he's always the one who patches them up when they were injured.

"This is… weird. She doesn't seem to have any external injuries and yet she's clearly in pain from her increased breathing and her profuse sweating." Kuro muttered under his breath as he continued to check Izuku for any visible injuries—no matter how small or inconspicuous it was. "Please excuse me, Izuku-sama."

Kurogiri briefly said a permission before taking Izuku's hand that clenched the fabric over her chest. He ripped her cloth apart and discovered a tattoo he wasn't familiar of.

"That…" Shouto whispered and grabbed Kurogiri's attention. "What is it?"

"I have that same mark. I got it from when I formed a contract with her." Shouto told Kurogiri and pulled the hem from his neck down to expose his mark. Unfortunately, it wasn't there anymore. "What? What happened? Where's the mark?"

"What's wrong?" Kuro asked while placing a damp towel on Izuku's forehead to somehow lessen Izuku's rising temperature.

"The mark! The one that looked like a blooming flower! The one over my chest! It's gone!" Shouto was starting to panic again. Him losing his mark and Izuku burning up and in pain like this was like a bad omen of what's about to happen. His instinct was screaming at him to do something. Fast!

"Katsuki! He knows something!" Shouto suddenly declared and asked Kurogiri to transfer him to Katsuki right that moment. If there was someone who can help Izuku now—no matter how much he hated it or irritated him—it was Katsuki.

Katsuki, who was back at the cabin, pondered on how to recapture Izuku from Shouto when the idea that maybe he shouldn't crossed his mind. After all, Izuku needed Shouto more than him and now that she was with him, was it really a great idea to go and separate her from him again?

He was debating with his self before a portal—he was disgustingly familiar of—formed and out came the very person he fucking didn't want to see right now.

"What the fuck are you doing here, you bastard?"

"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE TO IZUKU, BASTARD?!" Shouto suddenly charged at him and seized his collar. He was burning with bloodlust. He was mad with rage. Shouto was ready to kill him anytime. Perfect.

"OH? YOU WANNA GO FUCKING HALF BREED? COME AT ME! I'VE BEEN DYING TO ADD ANOTHER FUCKING FLAW TO THAT FUCKING SISSY FACE OF YOURS!" Katsuki bellowed and opened his palm for an exploding attack aimed at Shouto's face, to which the latter blocked with a pillar of ice from the ground that cuffed Katsuki's wrist.

"I am not in the mood to play around with you, Bakugo! Izuku's dying right now and I'm sure as hell it's your fault! NOW TELL ME WHAT THE HELL YOU DID TO HER BEFORE I GRILL YOUR GUTS!"

"What? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?! DEKU'S DYING?!" Katsuki was taken aback with Shouto's news about Izuku's current health. He just got her from him for a few hours and now she's fucking dying? "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU DOING ASSHOLE?! HOW THE HELL IS SHE DYING?!"

"Well you tell me, bastard! What have you done to her?!"

"WHAT—! Wait… could it be—?"

"SHOUTO! Hurry up! A deep cut appeared on her chest and she's started to cough blood! Her temperature's also dropping fast!" the both of them heard Kurogiri's alarmed voice from beyond the portal. Shouto didn't have much time now. Katsuki needs to help her right now. And with what he heard, Katsuki was now sure what the hell was going on.

"Please, Katsuki. I beg you! I'll die if she dies. I don't know how else to live if not for her sake." Shouto pleaded the King in a broken voice. Even the past year he didn't show himself to Izuku, he had always watched over her from afar. That was how he was able to act quickly when Katsuki and Izuku had that fight.

"Move aside, asswipe. Even if you don't beg me like that, I will save her. You're not the only one who loves her, asshole." Katsuki promulgated and bumped Shouto's shoulder to forcefully move him out of his way as he stepped into the portal and found the unconscious Izuku.

"You fucking witch! You pushed yourself too far this time." Katsuki muttered agonizingly before he bent down close to the witch. "You think I didn't research what you did that day on the cave? You shouldn't go near him. You decided that yourself, right? So this time, you're definitely coming back with me."

Katsuki bent low enough that his lips were next to the witch's ears and whispered something inaudible to both Kurogiri and Shouto Todoroki. With this, he was now the only one capable of saving Izuku. Shouto was out of the picture now.

Izuku started to stabilize as her breathing slowly became even and her temperature rose to normal levels. Shouto and Kuro both breathed a sigh of relief and yet Shouto still was frustrated at how useless he was when Izuku needed him the most—or was it him she needed?

Kuro laid Izuku properly so she could rest while Shouto and Katsuki both stepped out the room.

"So what have you done to her this time?" Shouto asked. Katsuki must've done something—something he wasn't aware; from one of the few times he went away on an errand and wasn't able to keep an eye on Izuku perhaps?

"I didn't. She did that on herself willingly. I just happened to witness how she did it." Katsuki filled him in. It wasn't necessarily a secret and it was better that Shouto knew, that way, Katsuki had proof she didn't want Shouto anymore. He'll be able to keep him at bay now. He'll be able to have Izuku for himself without worrying about Shouto interfering.

"I see. So she's finally moved on and forgotten about me, then?" Regret filled Shouto's voice before he turned around and left. Katsuki didn't follow nor turned to him. He knew what Shouto felt. It was the least he could do because he also cannot let Izuku go.