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Chapter Text

Izuku wakes up with an unusual warmth sitting in his chest.

The four year old has been thinking of what his quirk might be for weeks at this point. His mother has weak Telekinesis, and his father can breathe fire. For weeks, the young boy has been pouring over countless combinations and mutations of those powers in excited wonder as to what he'll get.

Sitting in bed now, however, the warmth in his chest is uncomfortable, dark in ways he can't even begin to describe. It sits nowhere in particular, not in his throat, so he rules out fire breath like his dad. Besides, it's not like he can ask the man. His mom told him that Hisashi is on a business trip in China for a while, but something was off about her voice. She seemed angry, sad, and distressed. Izuku figured it would be rude to ask about her tone, so he kept quiet about it.

He feels the warmth bubbling in his core, spreading down his arms and into the tips of his fingers. He looks at his hands curiously as they glow a corrupt gold, taking in the sight with childish fascination. The warmth becomes heat as a burst of light shoots from his hands and connects with the opposing wall with a beguiling chime.

A vortex of fire opens against his wall, revealing a burning hellscape on the other side. The infernal red caverns are littered with jagged spikes, and sulfuric blue flames crackle around the hellscape. Cracks rip through the stone, carving unholy glyphs in the language of the devil. The glyphs are sharp, like claw marks decorated by starbursts.

Three identical, dog-eared women stand in the inferno, looking at Izuku with shocked and curious expressions. The three of them each wear a black vest over a crimson button-up with a black tie hanging from their necks. A thin black tail with a spade shaped tip rests at the base of their spines. Long white hair flows into a knot at the base, their red eyes boring right into him like a curious puppy.

"A mortal? Opening a gate to us?" The three of them wonder aloud, "Who are you, child?"

"I-Izuku Midoriya," the boy hesitantly replies, "are you my quirk?"

"Quirk?" They hum curiously, "Oh! That thing humans recently developed! Is that how you opened the gate?"

"I dunno," Izuku replies, tilting his head to the side, "I woke up feeling all warm and then, phwoosh."

The triple demon giggles, "You're funny! Pandemonica should be interested in you, I'll go find her!"

"Okay, bye ma'am!" Izuku waves as the triple demoness runs off to go find whoever Pandemonica is. The gate closes and Izuku begins to giggle happily to himself, unable to contain his joy. His quirk came in, and, in his humblest four year old opinion, it's the coolest quirk ever.

He gasps as he realizes something his mind completely skipped over.

He has to show his mom.

☆☆☆

"Mom! Mom!" Izuku bounces excitedly as he speeds into the living room, "Guess what?"

Inko chuckles at her son's excitement, "What, dear?"

"I got my quirk!" Izuku beams brightly.

Inko gasps in surprise, "You did? What is it?"

"I can make cool fire holes!" Izuku beams, stretching the warmth under his skin into the middle of the room, coalescing in a portal of unburning flames.

Inko flinches as a gate of fire opens in her living room. She thanks the fact that she fireproofed the house when Hisashi was still around, at least something good came of him.

On the other side of the Hell Gate stands the three demons from earlier, alongside someone new. The new demoness has the appearance of a secretary, large glasses adorn her face as she stands with her clipboard in hand, observing the humans curiously.

"I thought Cerberus was joking when she said a mortal child opened a gate on his own." The tired looking secretary remarks with a curious glint in her eyes.

Inko stares at her for a moment, stunned completely into silence. Those are demons, she recognizes blankly.

The secretary demoness pays her no mind, "Let's test if these are true Hell Gates." She says to herself as she approaches the gate. Izuku lends her a helping hand, earning an amused look as she takes the young child's hand and crosses the gate between realms. 

"Well, that's definitely a proper Hell Gate." She hums to herself as she makes a note on her clipboard before turning to Inko, "Apologies for the intrusion, I'm Pandemonica. I'm the one in charge of Hell's customer service."

"I-Inko Midoriya, it's a pleasure to meet you?" Inko hesitantly and nervously responds, not knowing how to process the situation.

Pandemonica nods as Cerberus climbs out of the portal to hell and begins curiously looking around the room. The secretary shoots the triple demoness a look that screams "behave" before turning her attention back to the worried mother.

"I have a feeling we'll be getting well acquainted in the coming future."

The demoness and the mother watch on patiently as Izuku badgers the Triple Demoness about her powers.

"Yes, I feel like we will."

Chapter Text

Dull pain throbs in Izuku's skull, centering in two points. A similar pain pulses at the base of his spine, the three points feel as if something sharp is trying to break through skin, but from the inside out.

Izuku reaches subconsciously for his quirk as he wishes for someone that knows what's happening to him. Fire forms at his fingertips as he desires an answer for why he's in pain.

A Gate opens, revealing two different demonesses standing on the other side. One looks like the definition of awesome while the other wears anti-clothes and irritatedly brandishes a wrench at an infernal machine's engine. A thick sheen of sweat covers her ash grey skin as she bites out a curse under her breath in the language of demons while the embodiment of awesome laughs at her misfortune.

Izuku cautiously steps through the portal, his curiosity winning against his nerves as he enters Hell, drawing the attention of the awesome looking demon as her friend stalks deeper into the machine to find something. He pays no mind to ash grey demoness's general lack of clothes, Midnight wears similarly revealing outfits and he's not at an age to particularly care either way.

The demoness in the awesome looking shades turns her head in Izuku's direction, her face morphing into a quiet form of surprise. Humans don't show up near the Sin Machine very often, and definitely not as young as he is.

The awesome demoness summons a faint blue light in her hand and speaks into it, "Yo, Pande-"

"If it's about the green boy, the answer is yes, Justice." Pandemonica's voice returns through the orb of light.

"Oh. Cool." Justice blinks blankly under her shades, "Carry on then."

Judgement takes a good look at the boy in question. He has a familiarly white hair color, but the same can't be said for his viridian green eyes. Four freckles sit in a diamond shape on both his cheeks, just under his eyes. The boy's fanged smile is something she files away as a detail for later. She feels like Justice has mentioned a soul with those same hair and eyes before, but the name escapes her. Junichi, she thinks their name was. It's been about two hundred years, however, so her memory of that specific soul isn't as clear as it could be.

Justice has been retired from her position as High Prosecutor for a long time now. Soul processing isn't her job anymore. Justice only took notice of that soul because it never made it to processing, the same being said for several others.

"Hey there kid, I'm Justice, the awesome demon." Justice greets Izuku with a wave, "What are you doing down here? You look pretty alive to me."

"It's my quirk! I can open these cool fire portals and meet you guys!" Izuku beams, the dull pain pulsing in certain points mostly forgotten.

"Ah, Hell Gate quirk, that explains it then."

The sound of a door being knocked on comes through the Hell Gate. 

"Izuku?" Inko calls into his room, and by proxy, through the portal.

"In here mom!" Izuku calls back.

They hear a door clicking open and footsteps gently crossing into the room on the other side of the portal. The three of them watch as Inko approaches the flaming gate to Hell cautiously, breathing out a sigh of relief when she spots her son on the other side of the Gate. 

She pokes her head through the Hell Gate and takes a careful look around the area to make sure it's safe. She smiles as her son talks excitedly to two demonesses she doesn't recognize. While she may not entirely approve of one of their outfits, Hell is hot and they're demons, so she ignores the ash skinned demoness's relative lack of clothes.

"Yo!" Justice greets, looking not quite at Inko, but close enough to be obvious in intention, "You must be the kid's mom. I'm Justice, and this over here is Judgement. Welcome to Hell!"

Inko chuckles good naturedly, "I can see that, thank you for the warm welcome. I'm Inko Midoriya, I hope my son hasn't been too much trouble."

"Ah no worries, he's been a joy." Justice waves off.

"Miss Justice, can you tell me what that machine is?" Izuku asks of the awesome demoness.

Justice nods with a grin, internally grateful that the Sin Machine is bound to the High Prosecutor's soul, "Sure thing kid, just get close to something tell me what you want to know. I can't actually see anything that isn't bound to a soul, or a soul itself."

Inko chuckles as Izuku whisks Justice over to the large machine and begins bursting with questions about what it is and how it works. Her son sure has an effect on others, even demons, it seems.

"So," Inko hums as she turns to the sweat sheened demoness with a wrench, "You seem to have been busy."

Judgement glares at the infernal machine, "The Sin Machine has been on the fritz lately, and since today is a fairly light day, Justice and I figured it would be a good time to try and fix it."

"How's that working out for you?"

"I'm already in hell, and it lives up to its name." Judgement moans, "I'm probably going to have to hop a few systems over into Nazjhel space to get some of the replacement parts for this thing."

"Sounds like quite the trip." Inko recognizes Judgement's tone from the few times she's had to go halfway across town to fix something small around her house. It's not a difficult trip, but certainly out of the way.

"The Sin Machine works enough for it to not be an immediate problem. It's a bitch to get working, but when it's on, it works fine enough. The main issue is just getting it to turn on at all, bones in some gears, ectoplasmic juices causing other bits to stick, general wear and tear…" Judgement makes a vague gesture with her hand that Inko recognizes immediately, "You get the picture. It's not pretty."

Truth be told, she just doesn't want to go into Nazjhel space. Given how fervently the insectoid species worships the Grand Chaos, alongside the things they'll do for said entity, the place has always given her weird vibes. Luckily for her, all demons reside in the Upper Void, just as angels reside in the Lower Aether. Just as the Upper Aether is the true light, the Lower Void is the true dark, with deital entities ruling from their domains at the most extreme of order and chaos.

She's been to the Lower Void exactly one time in the past, when she was being instituted as High Prosecutor by her boss. The sight of the Grand Chaos sends shivers down her spine at even the faintest thought, leaving her no respite from the discomfort of knowing it exists. Of course, this isn't to say she doesn't respect the entity. She does respect it, greatly in fact. Being around it or its children just takes some getting used to.

Besides, most of the time you never have to deal with it, only having to deal with the highest of demons, the singing servitors of the Grand Chaos. She feels bad for any mortal that has to deal with the eldritch denizens of the Void, most of them lose their minds at the mere sight of some species. It's part of why her boss has designated some sections of the Hell Expanse as "Demon Only", for the sanity of any mortal souls that cross through for processing.

"Say, Judgement," Inko leans close to the demoness, pulling her out of her thoughts, "You wouldn't happen to know a Zdrada, would you?"

Judgement looks at Inko with a form of shock, "You're her old party buddy?"

Inko chuckles, "Times change. Back just after the incident with Rei happened, Shoukan brought it up and well, you might have heard a few things from Zdrada about it."

"She came back from Earth completely sloshed a few times, going on about how 'some mortals are pretty alright'. That was you?"

Inko smiles in reminiscence, "Yes, those were some good times. But now I have Izuku, and I wouldn't trade him for anything."

A comfortable silence stretches between the two as they watch Justice interacting with Inko's white haired son.

"He seems like a good kid." Judgement remarks, having taken a moment to look at the nature of his soul and seen that it is good. Very few souls that come by her are good by nature, so the sight is refreshing.

Inko smiles a soft motherly smile, "He's the best thing to ever happen to me."

After Inko found out what Hisashi does for a living three years ago, the thought could never be more true. Her friend group may have mostly dissolved, but that was mostly Hisashi's fault, wasn't it?

Inko hums to herself as she contemplates getting back in contact with her old friends. She does still have their contact info, provided they haven't changed them, and all she would need to do is invite them over so their kids could meet.

Apparently, the Tokoyamis and Aoyamas recently adopted a child each. There's a story she wants to hear.

"Ey, Judgement!" Justice calls from where she's been showing Izuku the Sin Machine, "C'mere for a sec."

Judgement complies and Inko follows right next to her, the two curiously looking at Justice as the awesome demoness sifts her fingers through Izuku's hair around two specific spots.

"Feel his scalp around these two spots," Justice points out two spots not too far behind his hairline on his skull, "I think he might be getting some horns in."

Judgement squats down in front of Izuku, reaching an ungloved hand into Izuku's hair to feel the spots she pointed out. Her thumb brushes over a hard lump coming from against his skull and he whimpers in pain at the touch. She hums, drawing a circle around the lump and feeling for the middle of it.

"Yeah, these are definitely going to be horns." Judgement judges, "Are you in pain anywhere else, kid?"

Izuku nods and brings his hand to poke just above the base of his spine. Judgement places her finger just below where his is and feels the sharp bump, patting him on the head in an attempt to comfort him.

"And it seems like a tail's coming in too, he's turning into a proper demon. Kid even already has his fangs." Judgement chuckles, "Who knows, maybe he'll be able to summon his own wings in the future?"

Izuku gasps excitedly, dull pain temporarily ignored, "You guys can summon wings?!"

"Heh, yeah kiddo, we can." Justice replies, "Bit taxing on the lower back, but we can do it."

Judgement turns to Inko, "I'd give him a few days to grow his horns and tail in before you take him to get his quirk registered, I doubt he'll be up for much excitement until most of the pain has passed. It shouldn't take too long, maybe a week before they break through? Most of the pain is before they've broken through, so he's going to have a bad week before it gets better, and there's not that much you can do. Maybe some numbing cream, but that's only a temporary solution."

"It's going to get worse before it gets better, sadly. I recommend getting him something sweet and maybe an ice pack." Justice recommends, "Demons like sugar, maybe get some mild pain killers if it gets too bad. If any complications start cropping up, have him open a portal to us and we'll figure out something. But for now, we've got some work to do. I hate to make you leave, but the Sin Machine's not gonna fix itself, you know."

"It's no trouble, we have some research to do anyways." Inko smiles, "Come now, Izuku. Let's get out of their hair so they can get back to work."

"Okay! Bye Miss Judgement, bye Miss Justice!"

The two exit through Izuku's Hell Gate and it swirls to a close behind them. Judgement and Justice look at the spot, Justice looking just off to the side of it due to not actually being able to see anything that isn't a soul.

"He's a good kid." Justice comments with her head tilted sideways.

Judgement nods solemnly, "Yeah, shame what's coming not too long from now."

"It'll be about, what, another Earth year and a half?"

"Something like that, maybe two years?"

Silence stretches between the two demonesses.

"You're already mentally adopting him, aren't you?" Justice accuses playfully.

"He's such a sweet kid, Justice!"

Chapter Text

The next week passes and Inko can feel her heart break a little more with each whimper of pain from her son.

Thankfully, after a week of surprisingly fast growth, the horns and tail broke through. The areas around them are still extremely sensitive, but at least Izuku isn't in nearly as much pain anymore. The small black horns peeking out through his white hair and his thin spade tipped tail look almost out of place on him, while also fitting in the "cute little devil" way.

Today, however, Inko decides to get his quirk registered. His mutations came in fast, far faster than she would have expected, but when Izuku seems to have demon mutations it can almost be expected that things would go differently.

The trip to the Quirk Doctor is filled with Izuku's excited babbling, theory after theory that Inko has to remind him to not try out in the car because they don't know how Portals work in moving vehicles.

The sterile halls of the doctor's office greets them when they arrive, the smell of numerous disinfectants keeping the building smelling clean. The doctor greets them kindly as they enter his office, his bushy mustache making him vaguely resemble an old video game antagonist that Inko remembers from her old History of Art class. Something to do with an egg person, if she recalls correctly.

"Word on the streets says that this little guy got his quirk in." The doctor chuckles.

"I did!"

"Alright then, let's see it."

"Okay!" Izuku chirps.

With a glow of the hands, a hell gate opens, the doctor looking on curiously as he notes down the appearance of the portal. Heatless fire surrounds the edges, crackling like a campfire in the woods.

To the surprise of the Midoriyas, it isn't a demon that steps through, but an angel in pure white adorned with golden accoutrements. Pristine white slacks cover her legs, the same perfectly clean fabric making up her suit. She carries herself like a field reporter, her pocket notebook in hand, pen at the ready to jot down anything of note.

"Hi! I'm Azazel, who are you? Is he a demon? But wait, you're humans?" She greets the group, eyes darting around and looking almost through the child, "If he has demon blood like it looks like he does, he will probably get super strength eventually, alongside some kind of fire powers. Pandemonica could probably tell you a little more certainly, I'll go get her."

With a snap of her fingers, she vanishes in a flash of light, leaving the humans to process what she said in a mostly stunned silence.

Another burst of light flashes, Azazel returning with Pandemonica and another demoness that looks like a heart-sprinkled cupcake in a pencil skirt. The new demoness takes one look at Inko with her heart shaped pupils and immediately licks her lips. The demon secretary takes one look at her companion and rolls her eyes, feeling the lust rolling off of her in torrents.

"Well, hello there~" The demoness with heart shaped pupils greets the adults in the room.

"Modeus, keep it in your skirt." Pandemonica sighs.

"There's a child here, Pandemonica. I have standards." Modeus rolls her eyes, "Now if his mother was alone on the other hand…"

Pandemonica pulls a newspaper out of nowhere and thwacks Modeus atop the head with it, earning a chuckle from Azazel before looking back at the blushing Inko, "Sorry about her, lust for sin is in our blood. It's particularly potent with her."

"It's no trouble." Inko waves off, trying to calm the blush from her cheeks. Truth be told, she hasn't felt wanted like that since Hisashi 'left'. Being an employed single mother makes her a busy person, she hardly has time to do much else aside from her job and taking care of Izuku. She wouldn't trade it for the world, but sometimes she wishes she had more time for herself. Perhaps Mitsuki could keep an eye on Izuku for a night sometime soon.

She shakes the blush off her cheeks, deciding to think about that later. Mitsuki would tease her to Hell and back, maybe literally given her son's quirk, if she ever found out. However, looking back at Modeus, Inko decides that it would be worth it.

"Did you really have to bring her along, Azazel?" Pandemonica asks, looking as tired as she feels as she speaks.

"I just grabbed the both of you, you seemed like you were in the middle of something so I figured I'd keep you both together.'

"Of course you did." She sighs, massaging her temples with her fingers, "Did you actually need anything specific, or did you just decide to act on impulse?"

"Oh!" Azazel straightens up as she remembers, "This kid looks like he has demon blood, and you're better at spotting these things than I am. I figured you could check it out?"

"That's easy enough I suppose." The secretary turns to the young boy with idle recognition flicking through her eyes, "Hello there, Izuku. This is going to feel a little strange and cold, so just relax as best you can."

She extends her hand, a pale white glow surrounding it as her eyes are flooded with a bright glow. The glow flows down through the air like wispy tendrils, shrouding Izuku in a thin magical veil. A light manifests itself over his heart, slowly coalescing and settling into the air just in front of his heart.

Her eyes lock on the strange shape of the light. Its color is off, for one thing. Demon souls are typically colored eldritch green like a rich kornerupine crystal in hue, while Angel souls come in a pure and holy gold, bright like the Grand Order that rules their Aether. Even just by the shape of the soul can they be told apart, with Demons having a soul that ripples and flows like the ocean tides and Angel souls sitting in a perfectly smooth crystal lattice pattern.

Izuku's soul, in contrast, is pink and shaped like a cocoon, the fabric of his soul showing membranous and butterfly wings where a demon is leathery and bat shaped, as well as a pair of antennae for some odd reason.

"Soul-elemented white hair, his soul is more or less demon shaped, definitely likely to pick up some demon powers as he gets older. He'll almost definitely be growing wings in the somewhat near future." Pandemonica diagnoses, brushing the strangeness off as a thing to mention to her boss in private later, "Strangest thing is, his soul looks like a triple hybrid, so there's no telling what kinds of powers he'll ultimately pick up."

"Triple hybrid?" Modeus looks up from her magazine, "The heaven are you talking about? Let me see."

The demoness places her hand on Izuku's head just like Pandemonica did and focusing in on the young child's soul, her eyes glowing the same shade of magical white as his soul traits manifest in their vibrant pink, "Huh, you're right. It looks like a weird blend of angel, demon, and human. Passion aspect in the glow, too. It'll be strong, but who knows what he'll ultimately get?"

"In other words?" The doctor hesitantly asks.

"Potential pyrokinesis, super strength, and wing manifestation in his future." Azazel helpfully translates.

"If that's all, I think we had best be off." Pandemonica nods to herself as she turns to the Angel, snapping her fingers to grab her wandering attention, "Azazel."

"Right!"

Azazel steps through the gate with as much fanfare as she does anything, wandering off in some direction with her notebook armed and ready.

"I'm free whenever~" Modeus whispers into Inko's ear, sending shivers down her spine and a blush to burn on her face as she slips a tarot card into her purse.

Pandemonica grabs the demoness by the neck and throws her through the portal, placing herself conveniently blocking Izuku's line of sight as to preserve his innocence from any questions and feelings he hopefully won't have for around another decade at least.

"Thank you for your time, Pandemonica."

The demoness nods, "It's no trouble, Inko. Your son is a fascinating case."

And with that, Pandemonica steps through the gate, the path to hell closing behind her.

Chapter Text

So, been a hot minute, haven't posted an update to most of my fics in about two years, and what a hell of a two years it's been. Mom got cancer, cut that out, clean bill of health even now. Got employed full time, got a couple small raises and a promotion to ASM, developed as a person and sorted out some of my personal issues like the fact that I Do In Fact have hope for a future and I am actually good at things and I have the irrational desire to get a hot tub at some point. Had an existential crisis looking at my ao3 stats because Holy shit people actually like my stuff and that takes getting used to. Then my sister got cancer (in a different place from my mom), they cut that out, then it was in her Lymph nodes, so they dealt with that, then radiation treatment reveals its back so they're doing another surgery soon, followed two months later by Another radiation treatment to see if they got it all this time.

So yeah, weird year and a half/three quarters ish.

Anyway, an update on this fic's limbo status. Should probably get around to that.

In the course of that year, after I got back into story design and idea crafting (still working on getting back into the writing part), I had new ideas, ideas I felt are better, and I looked back at this story and the path it was on and found it, lacking, I guess. Mostly it was just fun ideas that didn't go anywhere in the end. Izuku's got a hellgate Quirk that eventually evolves to let him use demon powers. Hell's a space empire that only serves to get him out of the way for a bit so I can change where he lives a bit. Hisashi Midoriya/Shigaraki shows up for like, 2 chapters and does exactly nothing, and I know I could change that and just top to bottom rewrite it, it's got good ideas and definite potential (any idea does in the right hands), but honestly, this story's been overshadowed by some of the new ones I've got cooking up with similar ideas.

Example A: The Angel At The Foot Of The Bed, an original story about God going missing and the Angels having to step up alongside the forces of Hell to survive the new lovecraftian paradigm as the Outer Gods take hold of the Universe.

Example B: The Angel In Room 29, a bnha fic where Izuku is the God ordained Nephilim son of the Archangel Michael, set with class 2-a after Canon. Izuku's mission turns from sending All For One straight to the deepest pit of Damnation where he belongs, into bridging the eldritch Dark Below with the ethereal Heavens Above through the realm of man, but in order for Izuku to claim his angelic birthright, he must first give up One For All as an offering and free the spirits within.

So this fic, while I still like the ideas, is officially on indefinite/don't hold your breath/updstes whenver i feel like writing more for it but that's kinda rare hiatus. Apologies to those disappointed, I'll see what I can get myself to do, but between me wanting to get into game design, work, trying to figure out at least a general idea for a future, Life Stuff, and everything else, the Brain Hummingbees have chosen a new place to swarm for the time being.

Anyway, I'll post another update when I either get The Angel In Room 29 posted, or when I finally finish another chapter of this fic.

That being said, I have a nasty habit of giving up on something, and then The Moment I give up, I figure it out ot find where something goes or get hit with a burst of inspiration, so who knows, anything possible.

Toods my dudes, see thou'll on the other side

Chapter Text

The days following the doctor's appointment were filled with a joyous miasma, one oozing out of every pore of Izuku's flesh.

Inko can't help but find it endearing. He's like his father in so many ways, it's like looking in a tiny mirror. Even with his father's particular choice in day job, the two are so strikingly similar it's not even funny.

A knock comes from the front door, pulling Inko out of her idle thoughts. She walks over quietly, half lost in thought and idle musings about her husband's current work project, half wondering who could possibly be at the door now, she hasn't kept up with her friends too much lately since Izuku got his quirk, but even then, they tend to call before doing anything rash.

Inko opens the door, and beyond the threshold, wrangling a rowdy child, stands her old friend Mitsuki.

"Inko! How've you been?" Mitsuki greets.

"Oh, you know, busy keeping Izuku out of trouble."

"Katsuki's been so worried, Izuku hasn't been at school for the last week. He hasn't stopped pestering me about coming over since Wednesday."

"No I haven't!" Katsuki bites back, looking away with a tiny tsundere scowl.

Inko giggles a little at Katsuki's brashness, "Izuku! Katsuki's here!" She calls into the apartment, the sound of a thud and rapidly approaching footsteps pattering down the hall.

"Kacchannnn!" Izuku beams excitedly, bounding towards the platinum blonde somehow without knocking over a table.

"I heard you got your quirk, nerd!" Katsuki smirks as Izuku nods, the two boys moving over to the couch to talk about the new development.

Meanwhile, at the door, Mitsuki glares mock-accusingly at Inko, "So, you usually don't miss our weekly coffee."

"His mutations had to come in, I figured it would be best to let those come in before getting him to a Quirk Doctor to get the registration finalized." Inko explains. Mitsuki sucks in a sharp breath between her teeth as she winces, the poor kid had to have been in a lot of pain.

"Poor kid."

"The initial doctor says it might not be over yet, either." Inko continues, "They say wings are a possibility in a couple years, so he's going to have to grow those in and learn how to use them."

Izuku's tail flicks excitedly, not allowing him to hide any emotion.

"I'm gonna have wings!?" Izuku's excitement is so loud

"Honey, volume, we don't want to upset the neighbors." Inko ruffles his hair, "But yes, the doctor thinks they'll be coming in soon."

Izuku squeals, his excitement bubbling and boiling as a 

A gate opens.

"The Heaven?" A familiar voice flows through the portal, "Malina, did you open a gate?" The voice yells into the distance.

"What gate?"

"There's one right in front of me, you sure? Because I sure as heaven didn't open this." The demoness shrugs as she crosses through, smoke flowing off her cigarette in thick, silvery-gray clouds, "Well, when life gives you a portal to the mortal realm, you corrupt the… Inko?"

Inko spins her finger and flicks her wrist in, pulling the cigarette from her mouth with a well practiced ease.

"Zdrada, please keep the smoking to a minimum inside my apartment." Inko deadpans to the demoness, who has the common sense to look at least a little scolded. Malina barks out a laugh at her sister's expense.

"Mom, you know her?" Izuku asks, stars in his eyes.

"Yeah Auntie Inko, you know this one?"

A distant, wistful look sits in her eyes, "My college days were some of the best I've ever had," she looks down at the boys, "But I'll tell you about those when you're a bit older."

The boys pout, and Mitsuki looks at her friend with a devilishly devious look, "So you're not going to tell them about the time with the han-"

"Nope." Inko smiles sweetly.

"Not even about Hi-"

"Not until they're older, and definitely not about his day job."

"What about that time with that her-"

"Not unless you want me to tell them what you did then too."

Mitsuki closes her mouth with an almost audible click, "Point made."

Zdrada's smirk grows sharp and dangerous, "So, if I were to take you back to our bar, you wouldn't immediately try to get with one of the servers?"

Inko goes quiet, her lips pursing as she looks anywhere but her friends.

"You've got the hots for a demon?" Mitsuki smirks at Inko's rapidly darkening blush, "Hell yeah, Kochan! I knew you had it in you!"

"Who is it?" Zdrada smirks, "Is it Modeus?"

Inko's blush deepens even further, causing Zdrada and Mitsuki to cackle madly.

Mitsuki's phone buzzes and her face pinches. She slides her phone out of her purse, clicks the screen on, and sighs, "Sorry girls, it's been nice catching up, but we've gotta run. Masaru's car broke down and he left his train pass at home."

"Katsuki, come on, your dad broke his car again. Say goodbye to Izuku and let's go."

Katsuki grumbles, but does what he's told, "See ya Zuku, you'd better grow your wings soon so we can start training to be the best heroes ever!"

"I will, bye Kacchan!"

The door closes and a moment passes before a black fire lights itself in the air and the two demons immediately tense at the sight, taking a large step towards the wall as it grows open.

From the portal steps a demon with an aura like no other, stark white horns and a four pointed black tiara sitting atop her head. On her suit jacket sits a silver sigil, a triangular base with a v crossing through the bottomost curls.

"Greetings, mortals. I am Lucifer, the morning star. We have much to discuss."

Chapter Text

Word spreads quickly in Hell.

Cerberus first mentioned a mortal that could open Hell gates on a whim, and was excitedly babbling about it until Pandemonica finally decided to look into it. Lucifer figured it would just be a one time thing that would solve itself and ultimately ignored it.

And then the gate opened again.

And again.

And again.

The young boy's interactions with Azazel were interesting enough, showing a willingness to learn about the nature of the Celestial Order despite his young and limited mortality. Reports from Pandemonica show that's just how he is, an innocently curious boy with a power beyond his full understanding.

Still, something feels off about him. Being a Classical "Fallen Seraph", Lucifer has a few abilities she is endlessly thankful for in times like these. The ability to think clearly without a lust for sin, her stronger empathic abilities, and her supreme countenance all sit at the top of her list of favorite capabilities. Her song is one of rulership, a powerful service of her domain. A few mortals barely can resist her call, and if she wants answers, she gets them.

And with the reports of his pink, "triple hybrid" soul…

Lucifer shakes her head and smoothes the grimace off of her face. Outside of the ones that guard the Universe Forest, they've been extinct since the War. It's probably just a coincidence, because the consequences of if it isn't, well, she doesn't wish that fate on anyone.

It's nothing to fake a text from the blonde woman's husband, removing her and her son from the picture.

With the snap of a finger, a gate of royal black fire opens itself in the Midoriya living room, startling the mother and son. Lucifer descends into the room, her power flowing off her body and intimidating the both of them into silence.

She snaps her finger and the portal closes. Time to get to work.

"Greetings, mortals. I am Lucifer, the morning star." She greets, an unnerving smile on her face, "We have much to discuss."

An inexplicable chill rips through the mother and child, as if burning ice was just poured down their very souls. 

Inko quickly busies herself with making tea for her guest, hiding in the kitchen from the torrent of infernal frost that pierces the very core of her being. Izuku seems unphased by it, and the demon from the Royal Black portal doesn't seem to be outwardly hostile, but Inko knows better. Demons are old, ancient things with tales going back as far as writing about how they can't be directly trusted.

Lucifer speaks, and her voice is as firm and unwavering as a mountain, "Zdrada, Malina, you're dismissed. I'll handle this."

Not wanting to face the wrath of a focused Lucifer, the two demons hardly spare each other a glance and a nod before disappearing in a cloud of emberous sparks and smoke.

"So, mortal, now that the interlopers are out of the way," Lucifer turns to address the child with the power to open gates to her domain with ease, "What plans have you for that power of yours?"

Izuku, innocent and naive little Izuku, replies "I'm gonna be a hero!"

"Oh, really?" Lucifer asks, something dark and challenging dancing just under her voice, "How? Will you conscript demons to do your bidding, or will you use Hell as an in between realm for those you save?"

She looks through him, staring directly into his soul. The shape is familiar, something she hasn't seen since the sundering. She shoves the memory away. It's been so, so long since then, this can only be something else. Try as she might to rationalize it, that soul sits unchanging, taunting her with the permanence of her old, old sins. Vast pink skies and wings covered in powdery scales flash before her eyes for a moment that feels like an eternity.

Vaguely, she processes something about plans for heroism, something about a temporary place to rescue people with and potential allies from her dominion. The air in the room darkens, an oppressive and primal fear flooding their minds and freezing them in place.

"I'm the Queen of Hell, so I'll ask again, what do you plan to do with my subjects and my domain?"

The aura present in the room gets noticeably darker as she speaks, power exuding from her with an unspeakable strength. The humans tremble. 

"There is a price for using Hell as your own domain. Are you prepared to pay it?"

Fearful tears prick at Izuku's eyes, held from falling not by any strength of will, but from the simple fact that the tears themselves are afraid of the devil's unyielding force. She sounds furious, moreso than he's ever heard or felt before. Inko, however, notices something else.

She almost sounds bitter about that fact.

Inko, in an act of courage she didn't know she was capable of, speaks, trying to distract the emotions of the devil even just for a few seconds.

"I can make pancakes?"

Lucifer blinks at Inko, hardly processing the audacity of the statement that just left her mouth.

"Are you trying to bribe me, the Queen of Hell, Tempter of Man, Leader of the Great War against Heaven and the armies of the Order of Chaos, the Devil Herself, with pancakes?"

"...we have chocolate?" Inko hesitantly offers, feeling like it might be the right thing to say. After all, no one can resist the sinful temptation that is imbued so thoroughly in chocolate.

Tense disbelieving silence fills the room. Inko holds her ground, despite internally shaking like a leaf in a hurricane because she can feel the emotions pouring off of Lucifer like a torrent. Disbelieving dumbfoundment sits on the devil's face as she stares unblinking into Inko's very soul. Time seems to slow to a grinding halt, the devil's eyes darting between both of the mortals' souls in an attempt to comprehend the sheer audacity of Inko's bribe.

"You're lucky I have a thing for chocolate pancakes." The demon queen relents, earning a happy cheer from Izuku.

The young boy quickly tackles Lucifer into a hug, seemingly forgetting the primal, soul gripping terror he felt because of her mere moments ago. She stumbles slightly as he collides into her with the force only an excited child can.

She sighs as she awkwardly places a hand in his hair, "If you're going to have power involving my domain, the least I can do is make sure you don't break something important with it."

While he's distracted by gratefulness, her eyes flash white as she judges the shape of his soul with her own eyes. Her eyes trace the flow of the veins of his soul through the wings he hasn't manifested yet and feels a deep discomfort pool in her core.

You know an awful lot about what happened to them , don't you? After all, how many did you-?

She curses internally. That shape of soul, after all these aeons, she never would have thought she'd see one again. A passion aspect too, attuned to an optimist's obsession. Her eye twitches. He's going to turn out to be a willful creature, that's for damned sure. A step in the wrong direction could spell disaster, the sound of shattering crystal and splattering flesh slamming into her mind like a drunk man's car through a gas station wall, the memory of blood taunting her from aeons long since lost.

"Besides, if you're not carefully trained, you'll be more dangerous than you could ever imagine."

And just maybe, maybe she can do better this time.

But the penance of a demon is no inexpensive affair.