Work Text:
Burning Souls
Bearing the holy bible to preach the god's words was a title to be held with a raised chin and an open chest. It was something to boast about especially when they knew that the name was accompanied by the reward of having their soul saved from the damned.
However, Katsuki—who was now standing aghast in front of an alleged witch, surprised at the hospitality that the supposedly cruel man gave—was different from those scoundrels who only used the sacred belief to their own advantage.
He knew he was different and he took pride in it.
Hence why he did what he usually did: Grabbing the other man's wrist to turn it around his back and slam him against the oak door. "You're not fooling anyone, fiend." He bared his teeth, shoving the cold metal of his cross on the witch's freckled cheek, putting as much force as he needed.
Now, now, he knew he was different and indeed, he was better than those self-proclaimed purest-of-all-priests. Though, he never said he was gentler than them. If anything, he had always handled things roughly due to his tendency to blow up in every passing minute.
"Wait!" the witch stuttered in pain before sighing. "I've always known that the church despises witches but is every priest like this?" he asked, his tone light with humor, as if he's not struggling under the strength of the other man.
"I am not to be compared to any of those frauds," Katsuki stated, arrogance and pride dripping heavily from his voice. He threw the witch a side-glance while his hands reached for the rope in his satchel. "And you're right; every priest would treat any evil incarnate like this." Slowly, he leaned closer, danger dwelling in his next words: "We burn them alive—the repentance that you and your bunch deserve."
Katsuki had always said those words. He memorized them like how he did when he recited the verses of the bible. He had it etched in his mind for a very long time and whenever he said that exact line to the people he deemed as lost lambs, they pleaded for his mercy, asking for forgiveness and second chances.
That's why he found it odd when the man under his grip only went stiff. Then, the witch whispered low, "Vile servants of gods, your kind are a living irony." With a snap of his hands, the priest's ears rang loud and his hands went limp, making the witch capable of freeing himself.
The god's servant looked up and met a pair of vibrant eyes. He froze. It was only a glimpse but he recognized the emotions that resided within them: A seething rage that had a clear path and a hint of virtue.
Before he could even brood about it, the sound of ringing became louder. "What did you—“
"Don't worry, the witch doesn't kill," the witch interrupted, his hands pushing the priest outside his home with a confusingly gentle strength.
Breath was knocked out of the religious man, groaning at the noise which felt like sharp stabs that could rip his mind apart. It took a while before it completely vanished and he found himself kneeling on the soft ground, dirtying his white robe. If it was any normal day, he would've screamed curses and complained about his clothes but his mind was occupied, thinking about what the witch could've meant by his words.
When he got home, the whole event still played in his mind, trying to decode the oddness in the church's natural enemy. And right at that moment was a sound of barging on his door.
"How could you not bring the wrench with you?!" shouted the head priest as he slammed the door open. "It's evil! It must be punished!"
The witch's face reappeared in Katsuki's mind as innocent as the first time he laid his eyes on him. Clicking his tongues, he faced the head priest. "May I ask what exactly he's done?" he asked, his tone sounding impolite despite his attempt to at least look courteous which was something he wasn't.
"It's a 'he'?!" his superior exclaimed, face scrunched in confusion, seemingly taken aback by what he said.
The thought of him not knowing a minor detail made Katsuki confused, thus he responded with an indignant scoff, "You did not know what their sex is? Have you even seen them?"
"All witches are women—sluts! Disgraceful whores that taint the world with lustful sins!"
Katsuki's lips twitched, his anger being pulled by each word that the head priest uttered. "You were made and fleshed out of a cunt; such a statement is foolish."
At that, the head priest turned to him, even more furious. "Insolence! You dare talk back?! You haven't even reached a decade of serving the Lord! Your experience compares to nothing of what I've gotten through! I spent two decades as the vessel of the Gods, I give miracles—"
"Is the town's poverty part of your god damned miracles? You taking money in the guise of divine offering?" The priest felt his jaw clenched, his teeth grinding along the tension in his neck's veins, remembering the rows of rattle-boned families behind alleys and the desperate plea they whined every time he passed by.
The head priest's eyes widened in disbelief. He pointed his finger at him with the face of a man who was evidently guilty. "The Lord chose it that way! People should persevere and prove their worth to receive His love!"
Katsuki glared at him, his trembling fist craving to meet the surface of his rough skin, until he decided to turn away. "Your idiocy is not mine to listen to."
"You're straying from God's path, you fool!" He heard him yell from behind but he didn't stop walking, his ire threatening to snap the longer he stayed there. "Bring a witch and hope that the Lord forgives you!"
"I fucking will," he swore silently.
"It's you again."
The sound of a rattling chair echoed, mixed with a sweet scent that filled the air. There were heavy pants and struggle as the witch hummed while pouring a suspicious red liquid in a glass container.
"Let me go, demon!" Katsuki shouted, his temper combusting at the heavy ropes that bound his body to a chair.
He returned to the devil's house when he left the church. He was dead set on catching the witch, but as soon as he kicked the door open, ropes followed from within, moving faster than anything he'd ever seen until he was blinking confusedly, incapable of moving away from the witch who was boiling something that seemed to be poison.
"You know I can't do that!" The witch refused, almost sounding like a child scolding his playmates when the sun's setting and they don't want to go home. Then, he shook his head. "You'll kill me." He stopped. "Oh, and it's Izuku, by the way.
"For fu- God's sake!" Katsuki screamed, exasperated. He wasn't kidding around and the mere act of talking to this monster was exhausting him to beyond.
Izuku put a cork in the bottle, gazing at his handiwork, looking extremely proud. "You can say 'fuck'. I don't mind," he stated inattentively.
"Of course, you don't. You're a sinner," the priest rasped out, intent on digging holes on his small back through his gaze.
He wouldn't want a witch to hear him mutter a curse, let alone talk to him, which he already failed in doing as he had been exchanging spite with him the moment he got tied to a chair that was both literal and metaphorical pain in his arse.
"I'm not the lunatic believer who burns people with a completely questionable intention as he pretends to do the world a favour." There was foulness in the witch's voice as he said it, making the priest sharpen his glare, but as soon as he opened his mouth to defend his honour; small knocks interrupted the revolting air in him.
It seemed like the witch was expecting a visitor, must be another one of his filthy kind—was what he thought until a tiny child entered the wooden home, beaming softly as the witch ruffled her ashen hair.
"Eri! Would you like another apple?” the witch asked the kid, his voice unbelievably gentle, as if he was talking to his own child—as if he wasn’t the wicked witch whose body was supposed to crumble into ashes once the priest brought him to the church.
Katsuki felt enraged. He couldn't bear the thought of having the devil pretend to be good-hearted. He must be tricking the child. He must be deceiving her.
“Stay away from him, brat!” he warned, his rumbling voice roaring inside the cozy home, disturbing the serene air that he just took notice of when already broken.
The child looked at him, puzzled, before turning to the man standing tall in front of her. “Deku-san? Why do you have a priest at your home? Don’t they hurt you? Why is he here?” she asked innocently, blinking her young eyes.
A patient and understanding smile formed on Izuku's lips and he kneeled down to meet her eye level. “The mister and I have something to talk about, that’s why,” he answered, his gaze flicking to the priest who was tied down. “About differences of belief, I presume," he added tentatively.
“But why is he tied?” Katsuki was about to shout at her to run but he froze at what she said next: “Did he also break a big vase? Can… Can I replace him? He must be scared right now,” she whispered, her voice fading as she slowly looked down.
Katsuki's breath left his chest and his body heated in anger. He knew it. The witch was hurting the kid!
However, his astonishment didn’t stop when Izuku hugged the girl, squeezing her tightly in his toned arms as he said, “I’ve long told you that we don’t punish people when they break things by accident, right? You’re safe here, understand?” Then he threw Katsuki a look—a warning look. “Right, sir priest?”
Suddenly, the ropes tightened, digging bruising marks on his body, making him gasp for air. There was a message in every pain he felt: He is to agree with the witch and assure the child. He didn’t understand why an evil creation would want to provide comfort to a child but he knew not to question it after the witch had made his threat clear.
“Yeah,” he stuttered, steadying his breath. “The witc- he needed me tied up for us to be able to talk,” he scorned, looking away, ashamed that he just gave in to a demon. “Although, I doubt he wouldn’t hurt—”
The rope squeezed his flesh.
“Heard him? We’re fine,” Izuku insisted, and then got up to get a basket of fruits from the nearby table. He handed it to the child with a bright smile. “Here, I’ll visit you later, okay?” He pointed at the necklace that the girl was wearing. “If danger comes, you know what to do, right?”
The kid nodded vigorously. “Hold the pendant tightly and wish for you to come. You're like a genie, sir. A hero, even!”
A chuckle was ripped out from the witch’s throat, and the sound was too perplexing for Katsuki. He never knew that witches could look and sound so… human.
“A hero, hm,” Izuku repeated wistfully. “Alright, now go before it gets dark.” He cupped the child’s face and peppered her cheeks with light kisses, earning small giggles from her.
“Goodbye, kind sir!” She raised her tiny hand, waving cheerfully, her small stature fading into the foggy trees.
“Take care!” Izuku gave another set of goodbye that lasted for a minute before he finally returned to continue making his poison. His eyes met Katsuki's. “I didn’t expect you to do as insinuated but...” Then, he smiled.
The witch smiled. Genuinely.
“Thank you.”
Something tightened in Katsuki's chest and he knew full well what it was when the image of the greenete's smile was lit away by woods and fire in his mind.
He clicked his tongue, not meeting the man's gaze, afraid that a part of him would be stripped bare if he did so. “You can be grateful once I do it voluntarily—without being threatened by god damned ropes." There was no response, so he looked up and his eyes widened when he saw him drinking the red poison.
Izuku noticed the sour expression on his face. "This?" He raised the jar. "It's juice." Then, he lifted an eyebrow and it was as though he just realized why the blonde was looking at him that way. "I only make poison when hunting animals," he explained and the priest froze. “Oh, and did you know that it’s really effective? I spent months trying to make a poison that immediately takes effect as soon as it’s shot but I didn’t want it to be painful for the animals so I did another experiment—” he kept blabbering, lost in his own flow of thoughts.
However, Katsuki couldn’t hear any of it. Shame tainted his face. He had always been suspicious of people, especially witches, but he never knew that his perception was heavily influenced by the rumors until now.
"You should go home before the sun sets." A snap of Izuku's fingers made the candle's flame flicker and the ropes loosen. The door also creaked open and he looked at the bound man with a mystifying look in his clear eyes.
Katsuki slowly stood up and they both held their breath, wary of each other's presence now that the other had been freed.
His feet moved towards the doorway but he halted when his hand held the handle. He glanced at the witch who was waiting for him to open the door. So, slowly, he did.
When his foot landed on the soil, his mind went into a deep spiral. He wanted to think that it wasn't his decision to leave, that the witch must've done something to him. However, the sight of the man hugging the child flashed in his eyes, and he found himself letting the… demon… live for one night.
And as much as he wanted to fool himself into thinking that it wouldn't happen again, he couldn't—not when he met the child and she told him how the witch- Izuku saved him from her abusive father.
Not when he caught Izuku feeding the starved families in the alleys.
Not when their gazes met and he was pulled along as Izuku provided radiance to the street's darkness.
Not when the initial hostility turned into warm welcomes and soft smiles.
Not when the ropes were no longer needed.
Not when the juice didn't seem like poison anymore.
That one night became another and another became frequent until frequent became daily. The moon had become full half a dozen times and not even once had he received a single scratch from the accused devil.
"Why do you do that?" he asked one time, the sweetness of the grapes' juice slowly taking over his mind as he stared at the man whose actions he couldn't comprehend.
"Do what?" Izuku asked back. His blemished skin was turning red as he drank further, drowning the distinctive freckles scattered on his cheeks. Katsuki had seen them before but it was only then that he appreciated the way it sat just right on his tanned complexion, complimenting the tinge of burning red. "Never mind, you seem drunk already."
“No, I’m not,” Katsuki denied, looking away despite his hazy vision.
“You’re not if you weren’t eating cheese right now.”
In an instant, he looked at his hand in disbelief, opening his palm and even squinting his eyes at it. There was nothing there, so he glared at Izuku. “I’m allergic to cheese, idiot, and I’m not holding anything. May God bless you for being a liar."
Izuku chuckled. “And yet you looked. That’s when you know you’re intoxicated, Kacchan."
“Cunning witch.” Katsuki rolled his eyes, but then he remembered his question. "You're a witch," he spat out, his tone different this time, making the other man freeze on his seat. He caught a glint of pain in his eyes but it went away as quickly as it appeared. "How could you be kind?"
Izuku stared at him for a moment, looking surprised. Then, he chuckled and shook his head. "I don't think I am. I'm just doing what I think should be the bare minimum of what a sane person would." A blanket floated across the room when he lifted a hand and it crept on the priest’s torso. "You're a priest and you're here to set me aflame. So, how could you not be kind?"
Katsuki tugged the soft wool, gazing up at the man who was now tucking him into sleep. The candles casted dim lights across his enemy's soft features and curls, and he did nothing but watch them in awe—if 'did nothing' meant holding out his hand to press his thumb gently against Izuku's lips.
Then, with a groggy voice, carefully and hushed, as if he was about to tell a secret, he said, "Set you aflame, I will, and it'll create the most dazzling embers we'll ever see."
Hue of roses bloomed across the other man's face and that was when the priest found out that he had already fallen for the devil's temptation.
And that was the sin he never regretted.
Decades of living and it was only then that Katsuki felt alive—rather, livelier than anything he’d ever been. And he hated how he liked it, especially when the cross pendant he had been holding on for as long as he was breathing reminded him of what he didn’t want to remember.
“Since when did you become an incompetent bastard?”
The priest took a deep breath. “I will bring him here,” he said, face painted with the mask he’d learned to wear the moment he chose to be swayed by the sin’s gentle croons and kisses.
He was not one to hide a person that he would very much love to scream for, but if it meant being able to hold him away from the eyes of searing prejudice, he would do it over and over again until they found the safest place where their embraces would no longer be behind walls.
“Kacchan! You're back! How was your day?” Izuku greeted as soon as he strided in their home. Katsuki opened his arms and no words were needed to be said when the witch immediately settled in his warmth. “Is it about the church?” he asked, his chin resting on Katsuki's chest as he looked up at him.
“Hmm,” Katsuki hummed as a response before nuzzling his nose, earning melodic laughter from his lover. He hugged him close to compensate for the fact that they couldn't do it outside the wooden home that they shared.
And when he stopped, he only stared at him, memorizing every detail he could like it was the last thing he could do at that moment.
And indeed, it was.
The oak door was suddenly barged open, chanting shouts of hatred were heard, and hunters went in. Katsuki didn't need to think twice before grabbing Izuku to hide him but it was too late. His eyes widened when an arrow dug through the witch’s legs, tearing a pained gasp from his throat. It was dripping with a thick substance and the instant the witch dropped on the floor with his weak hands flailing, he cursed.
He knelt to the ground, determined to help him but his heart dropped when hands forcibly pulled them away from each other. Punches were thrown as he screamed at them to let him go. He couldn’t care less when he cried. He couldn’t care less about anything but his bleeding lover.
But it seemed like the same thing could be said about Izuku when a knuckle hit Katsuki's jaw and the floor began rattling; when everything stopped as soon as a blade was pointed at him.
Gazes were shared, tears were shed.
They both knew it was coming but it felt too early—everything felt too early when they had yet to savor each other’s lifetime.
Then, Katsuki prayed. He prayed until he was nothing but a muttering mess, taken away from the witch who he failed to protect.
“Burn them! Burn them!”
There were disgusted screams everywhere. Woods were piled up, crowding the stake that casted a shadow on the line of people who wanted the ‘cursed’ couple to pay for their sins.
Repent, they say, but the only thing that Katsuki would repent for is the sin of bringing his lover into this chaos.
That was also when Izuku's words from the time they first met dawned on him. He clenched his fist as the people who once praised him now threw rocks at him. His forehead was bleeding, his muscles were sore from being tied up. He was exhausted and aching but all he thought about was how the witch must be feeling worse because of the wound he had.
Their stakes stood tall on opposite ends and all they could do was join each other’s sorrow even with the agonizing distance between them.
Then, a voice made the priest raise his head. "I knew you were a lost lamb. A failure of God. A disgrace to the church." The head priest walked to him with his hands bearing the bible that he once felt proud to hold. "Sleeping with a witch and a man at that! How low could you get?"
He didn't respond, he had nothing to say to a man who was certainly lower than him. Instead, he spent his remaining time looking at his lover. His gaze raked the bruises that stained his skin until it fell on the wound on his leg. A sob left his throat as the vision that he regretted to have back then slowly came into reality—the image of his witch burning.
It was as though the witch heard the tiny cruel voice in his head and in an instant, there was a familiar ringing that echoed in his ears, making him look at the tied man across him. Izuku's eyes were glistening with something that Katsuki recognized. It was similar to the look he had when they were helping an innocent woman who was accused of being a witch. It was the early days of their life together and it was the first time that he had seen him wear it when they almost got caught. It was the look that told him that he was prepared to lose everything.
His stomach dropped, knowing that Izuku was up to something and it never included himself. He knew what was coming when the clouds turned dark and the stake he was tied at began to form cracks. Then, Izuku smiled at him the way he did when he first thanked him.
Katsuki grinded his teeth as his heartbeat chased him. He didn't waste a single second and immediately closed his eyes, solemnly praying.
Except that the prayer wasn't to the man above them anymore.
"Izuku..." He let out a ragged breath. He had made his decision. He would rather be dragged to the pits of fire than live without his witch by his side.
And he knew that they both felt the same way.
As soon as the fire met the woods beneath the witch, the floor cracked open and scorching flames rose, crawling towards the bound priest.
Izuku screamed, realizing why Katsuki was praying, realizing that he was to be damned. But no matter how much he screamed and had his throat ripped out, he only received a tight nod from him and a gentle look that was completely different from the first glare he received. His heart clenched along the worries that melted away.
Soon, tears were dried out by the blistering heat that devoured their flesh. Izuku found himself not minding it as he looked forward to the next warm embrace they'd have. He didn't bother with the stench of his own body burning. He only spent his strength staring at the priest, hoping that his unsaid words could reach him—the same unsaid words that would finally be uttered when they met again.
And when ashes turned to soot, silence enraptured the crowd, stunned at what they witnessed: The dark horizon, melting floor and the visage of two people who weren't crying in agony as they burned—they were crying in relief. And it was then that they just found out what exactly happened.
The witch and the priest chose to be burned by eternal flames.
Along each other’s souls.
Fin.