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Assistant: Title: Fire Lily
        Author: EtherealBeing undefined 
        Chapter: 14/21 
        Summary: There he was: sitting splay-legged on the altar, one muddy combat boot propped up on the edge, with a self-satisfied grin on his face and a relaxed aura, in spite of the war raging outside. Izuku wasn’t sure what he’d expected to see his first day evacuating humans from the Rapture zone, but it sure as hell wasn’t a Demon with the same goal. A story about falling, in more ways than one.   Podfic
        Contents: Chapter 14: Inferno III: No Limits
    

    

        
          
          
            “Wake up, @ssh@l@. We’re goin’ on an adventure.”
          
        

      
        
          this is 24.3k words i'm gonna die. warnings for sm@t and creepy eldritch forests (not at the same time)Oh also i made a playlist for this fic. Some songs are more literal, some are kinda just Vibes but yeah. may add some sh@t to it from time to time
            
            (See the end of the chapter for  more notes.)
            
      
  

  
  
    
    Izuku did not want to kill God.Not at that point, anyway. There were still so many conflicting thoughts inside of his head, and he hadn’t really gotten the opportunity to process them. Though Katsuki had done his best to comfort him in his own way, the colorless town came to exist in the back of his mind, and with it, a whole mess of emotions, the most prominent of which being guilt.Although he was not personally to blame for the attacks, he couldn’t help but feel ashamed over his connection to them, however tenuous it may be. He felt a sense of responsibility, but he was careful to keep it tucked away in his mind, even as it quietly ate away at him.They arrived back at the Academy an hour before the allseer network was due to begin.“There are a number of ways you could help us further.” Aizawa said, holding a stack of papers and tapping the edges against the desk to straighten them. “It just depends on how much you’re willing to do.”“Anything.” Izuku immediately said. Both Aizawa and Katsuki froze.“Anything?” Aizawa repeated, brows furrowed. “Deku…” Katsuki said. He exchanged looks with Aizawa.For a moment, it was silent. Then, Aizawa cleared his throat.“Including return to Heaven?”Izuku tensed for a moment, then forced himself to relax. He nodded his head, swallowing the fear churning inside of him.“Well, a solo infiltration mission would certainly speed things up. It’d also be a fairly easy pitch to the others.”Katsuki grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to turn and look at him head on. “Deku, are you sure about that?” He asked, his expression sober. “‘Cuz that ain’t a trivial task, y’know. It’d be really f@ck@ng dangerous.”Izuku swallowed the nausea rising in his throat. “I’m sure.”“You know there are other ways to—““I’m sure.” Izuku repeated louder, trying to be firm about it.Trying to put an end to the conversation, so he wouldn’t have to think about it any longer.Katsuki stared at him for a moment, his eyes searching, but eventually, his expression morphed from concern to an uneasy acceptance. He sat back in his chair, and didn’t say anything more.The chamber was vast and circular, roughly two-hundred feet in diameter.All along the edges were a number of smaller rooms, and within each, Izuku counted five round tables, all with around nine or ten chairs. At the front of each room was one smaller table, surrounded by five more chairs. Izuku paused to count the rooms and found that there were twenty of them, though they seemed to be divided into five distinct groups of four. There was another table set out in front of each group, all of which had four chairs, and then a final table near the center, with five seats.Izuku’s brows pinched together as he paused to do the math in his head, and found that, if his calculations were correct, it looked like the room was designed to accommodate around a thousand people at full capacity.And that was just the first floor.As he peered up at the subsequent stories, he noted that each of them had a similar layout, with the only noticeable difference being the five floating walkways that seemed to sprout from the center, connecting each cluster of rooms to the spiral staircase in the middle.As he looked around, he got the distinct impression that this layout was the result of rigorous planning for a specific purpose, but he couldn’t quite figure out what that purpose would be. Then, as if reading his mind, Katsuki began to speak. “This is what I meant about it being a tiered hive mind.”Izuku’s gaze snapped onto him, and he blinked rapidly. “I don’t follow…?”Katsuki shrugged. “Y’know about like, levels of organization? Like, squads, platoons, companies, all that sh@t?” Izuku nodded.“Well, we have that, except instead of each level having like, a sergeant or a lieutenant, or whatever, we just take turns being the nexus. So there’s a squad nexus, or a platoon nexus—you get the idea.”“Sure, but…” Izuku squinted. “I mean, what does the nexus actually do?”“I’m gettin’ to that.” Katsuki grumbled, taking a deep breath. “So, here’s the deal.” He sighed. “The military is a big organization, and we need a way to efficiently make decisions, right?”“Right…?”“So, that’s what the allseer network does. It’s a special type of magic that Demons can use that connects us to other Demons. Y’know, kinda like when I use my sigil to communicate with others.” he gestured toward the mark on his arm.“So… it’s like that, but with a group?”“Not quite.” He shook his head. “It’s more complex than that. It’s kinda like…” He hesitated. His eyes darted toward an empty room to their right. “C’mere.” He said, waving Izuku over.He led him into the room, pulled out a chair for him, and gestured for him to sit down. Katsuki planted his palms on the table beside him. “Let’s say we’re in the same squad, and I’m the squad nexus.” He paused. “During a discussion, you’d be sitting here at this table, talking sh@t over with the rest of the squad—everyone except me.”“You wouldn’t be here?”“Nope.” He stood up straight, and began to walk toward the smaller table at the front of the room. “I’d be sitting here, discussing sh@t with all the other squad nexuses in the platoon. But the key difference is that, as the squad nexus, I’d be mentally linked with the rest of my squad.” He gestured toward Izuku’s table. “And my job would be to carry their thoughts and concerns over to the other squad nexuses.”“So… you’d have nine other people’s thoughts in your head simultaneously?” Izuku frowned. “That sounds kind of overwhelming.”“Well, not all their thoughts.” He shrugged. “That’s why it’s a selective hive mind. M’not up here havin’ to try and filter out f@ck@n’ Steve’s dinner plans, or whatever. The magic works so that I only have to hear about sh@t that’s actually relevant.“It also prioritizes information. Like, if there’s someone who feels really strongly about something, or if there’s a lot of people worrying about the same thing, that sh@t gets pushed to the top of my awareness.“Basically, the system’s optimized to keep the nexuses from getting overwhelmed, while still dealing with the most pressing concerns.”“Ohh!” Izuku smiled. “I see! So it’s like that for every tier up, too?”“Yep.” Katsuki nodded. “The platoon nexuses tap into the minds of all the squad nexuses from their platoon.” He gestured toward the table set out in front of the four rooms. “The company nexuses do the same for the platoon nexuses.“ He pointed at the table next to the staircase. “Then there’s the battalion nexuses, the city nexuses—ours is Aizawa, right now—and sh@t just goes on and on ’til we’re all the way up at the regional level.”“Wow.” Izuku said. “So that’s how you make decisions?”“No, that’s just how we regulate discussions.” He replied. “Actual decisions are made by a vote at the end. But we have to have the discussion first so we can figure out what we actually need to vote on.”“Still, it seems… complicated.”“Well, sure.” Katsuki shoved his hands into his pockets. “It’s complicated in the sense that coordinating a large group of people is f@ck@n’ complicated, but it’s not complicated in particular.”Izuku chewed his lip. “I guess so…”“Anyway, let’s—““Bakugou!”They both turned their heads simultaneously, and Izuku’s eyes locked on a room across from theirs. There, he spotted a group of four people sitting at one of the tables. Well, three of them were sitting; there was one person—a blond man—standing up on a chair, waving at them enthusiastically, trying to beckon them over. Izuku glanced over at Katsuki, and found him staring at the man with narrowed eyes.The blond did not seem deterred. Rather, he began miming as though he were holding a rope, theatrically acting up the effort of trying to pull Katsuki in. This continued until finally Katsuki just rolled his eyes, glanced over at Izuku, and told him, “This was gonna happen eventually, anyway.”And with that, Katsuki started walking toward them, his feet dragging across the floor. Everyone at the table began to cheer and clap, as though getting Katsuki to come to them was some sort of grand achievement.When they eventually reached the room the group was in, the blond man was still standing in his chair. Katsuki raised an eyebrow at him. “We really gotta switch to chairs without metal legs.” He said. “It ain’t fair for you to be able to be this f@ck@n’ obnoxious without any consequences, Kaminari.”The blond—Kaminari—scoffed dramatically. “You wound me, Bakugou. To think you’d prioritize insulting me over introducing us to your…” He glanced at Izuku, and waggled his eyebrows. “Friend.”“Bro, is this who I think it is?” A man with spiked, red hair asked.“Kirishima.” Katsuki said, tone laced with warning. Kirishima put his hands up, shaking his head.“I know an artifice disguise when I see one.” A woman with short, dark hair said. Izuku shuffled awkwardly, not quite sure what to do. “Fine.” Katsuki groaned, stepping aside to gesture at Izuku. “Yeah. This is f@ck@ng Deku.”The table instantly erupted into whoops and hollers.“Oi, stop that!” Katsuki shouted, notably red in the face. “You’re makin’ him nervous!” “Nay, I think it is you who is nervous, my good b@tch.” Kaminari said.“Kaminari, I will set your ass on f@ck@ng fire.”“You promise, daddy?”Katsuki smacked his own forehead, slowly dragging his hand down his face, skin pulling along with it before his arm fell limp at his side.“Yeah, y’know what? F@ck this.” Katsuki grabbed Izuku’s hand, and he stumbled as he began dragging him away. The others immediately stood up, chair legs squealing across the floor as they shouted their dissent. They were around twenty feet away when Katsuki released an exasperated growl and spun around again, fixing the group with a stern glare. “If you can’t f@ck@n’ behave yourselves, why should I—!”“It was Kaminari!” The woman shouted. “He doesn’t represent us!”“Kyouka—!” Kaminari cried, clearly offended.“No, Jirou’s right.” A tall, dark-haired man said. He leaned over and slammed his hands down on the table. “We disavow Kaminari!”“Sero, how could you?!”“Raise your hand if you disavow Kaminari.”The other three raised their hands.“Kirishima, seriously? You too?!”Kirishima offered only an apologetic smile. “There’s a time and a place for daddy jokes, man.”“So,” Sero said. “Since we’re all in agreement that Kaminari sucks, will you come back?”Katsuki clenched his jaw, remaining rooted in place for a moment before he finally sighed, and started back toward them, pulling Deku along with him. As they came to stand before the table, Katsuki pointed at the others from left to right. “Deku, meet Kirishima, Kaminari, Jirou and Sero.”“Um. Hello.” Izuku waved awkwardly.Katsuki pulled out two chairs, and gestured for Izuku to sit.“Ooh, pulling out chairs, Bakugou? That’s so ro—“ Jirou smacked her hand over Kaminari’s mouth, shutting him up. Katsuki gave her an appreciative nod.“Anyway,” she said, still grinning as though she were trying very hard to control herself. “It’s nice to meet you, Deku.”Izuku offered a small smile. “Are you all in the same squad?”“Yep!” Kirishima said. “There’s five more of us, but they haven’t gotten here yet.”“So, uh. Deku,” Sero said, leaning toward him from across the table. “Bakugou’s, uhh, told us a lot about you.” Izuku blinked a few times. “Oh, really?” He glanced at Katsuki, and found him staring at Sero with narrowed eyes. “What sort of things?”Kaminari snorted. “Um, well—“ Jirou elbowed him in the ribs, and he lurched away. “Ow!” “Oh, you know. Just that he thinks you’re, uhh…” Her eyes darted around. “Um. Cool…?”“Yeah!” Kirishima nodded. “Honestly, we’ve wanted to meet you for a while now. So if we seem a bit over-excited, that’s the reason.” He smiled. “It’s just that we know Bakugou, and we know he’s not an easy person to impress. We’re all just excited to meet the guy who finally won his…” He trailed off for a moment, eyes widening as he looked off to the side. “Uhhh…”Sero snapped his fingers. “Appreciation!”Jirou snorted. “Nice save.”Izuku fidgeted with the hem of his cloak. “Um, well… it’s nice to meet all of you, too. I, uhh…” He cleared his throat. “Appreciate Kacchan as well?”“Kacchan.” Jirou repeated, trying to cover the wide smile on her face.“Oh god, that’s so cute.” Kaminari said, banging his head against the wall behind him.“Well,” Kirishima said. “We’re glad Bakugou’s got mutual… appreciation… with someone.”“Yeah.” Kaminari snorted. He then looked at Katsuki and made an odd gesture, his fist moving back and forth in front of his mouth, his tongue pressed into his cheek, making it bulge out. “Appreciation.”Katsuki looked him in the eye and made a clear throat-slitting gesture. Kaminari responded with a wide grin and a thumbs-up.For a moment, it was silent.Sero cleared his throat. “So, Deku…” He said. “You enjoyin’ Hell so far?”“Oh,” Izuku sat up a bit straighter. “Yes, it’s been…” Memories of the town, leeched of all color, flooded his mind. He winced and looked down for a moment.  Izuku closed his eyes, and then looked up again with a soft smile. “It’s been nice, mostly. It’s very different from Heaven, though.”“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Kaminari snorted. “So, has Bakugou taken you to the nightmare forest yet?”Izuku’s brow furrowed. “The… what?”Kaminari’s grin widened, and he leaned toward him. “See, Bakugou has a bad habit of wanting to take people he cares about to the most Hellish part of Hell.”Katsuki scoffed. “Maybe you’re just a f@ck@ng coward, Kaminari.”“That may well be the case,” Kaminari replied. “But that does not negate the fact that most of your past relationships fell apart soon after you decided to take them on a fun little date into the death trap forest of doom.”Izuku frowned. Somehow, the thought of Katsuki having past relationships at all made him feel like curling in on himself. But now wasn’t the time to examine that feeling.“Um, is that what you meant about hiking, Kacchan?”Katsuki looked at him, the glare he’d been directing at Kaminari softening. “Yeah. It really ain’t that bad, though.”“Yeah, honestly, I’m with Bakugou on this one.” Kirishima said. “Like, you gotta be careful, but if you know what you’re doing, you should be okay.”“Maybe for Wrath Demons like you two, but for the rest of us—““—Nah, I’m kinda with Bakugou on this, too.” Jirou cut in. “I mean, I don’t like it, but it’s not that bad.”“Well, okay.” Kaminari rolled his eyes. “But you’re an Envy Demon. You can make yourself basically invisible.”“Not to everything.” “Well, whatever!” Kaminari said. “Sero knows what I mean, don’t you?” “I mean.” He squinted. “I f@ck@ng hate that place, but I can escape most things by just climbing the trees.”“There are no branches for over six-hundred feet, and the trees are too cramped to fly.” Kaminari deadpanned.“I said I could escape by climbing. Not you.” Sero grinned, and pointed finger guns at him.  “That’s just Gluttony, baby.”“I hate all of you.” Kaminari groaned. “What am I supposed to do, huh? There’s no metal in the forest!”“The hell kinda Greed demon would you be if you didn’t carry that sh@t with you already?” Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you just admit you’re still freaked out ‘cuz of that time you opened your mouth too close to a f@ck@n’ Vassalite colony?”“It was in my mouth.” “We got it out.” Katsuki shrugged.“But it was inside of my f@ck@ng mouth, Bakugou!”“Well, at least it wasn’t up your ass!” Katsuki shot back. “Kaminari, I’ve almost died in there multiple times. That sh@t was nothing.”Kaminari laughed uncomfortably. “Y’know, reminding me that it could’ve been a lot worse really isn’t the argument you seem to think it is!” He said, with what was perhaps the most painful smile Izuku had ever seen. “The fact that you’ve almost died on multiple occasions strengthens my point, actually!”“Multiple times, spread out over more than a hundred years.” Katsuki said, monotone. “Kaminari, I’ve gone hiking at least once a week for over a dozen decades.”“Yep!” He chirped. “And we’re all hoping you get better soon!”“Whatever.” Katsuki rolled his eyes and stood up. “Where’s Aizawa?”“Oh, yeah.” Sero said. “He’s upstairs, I think.”Katsuki nodded, gesturing for Izuku to get up.“Um, nice meeting you all.” Izuku called out. They all smiled and responded in kind—well, all except Kaminari.“Don’t take him to the forest, Bakugou!”“You know what?” Katsuki shouted back. “I think I f@ck@ng will, just to spite you!” Then, softer, so that only Izuku could hear, he added, “Probably safer than f@ck@n’ Heaven, anyway.”Kaminari began to yell many variations of no and don’t, but the further they got, the more indistinct they became. Once they’d made it up the stairs, they fizzled out entirely. Because the discussion would necessarily delve into information from the second half of the journal, Izuku was advised to sit out for the actual meeting, though even without sound, viewing it through the window in the hall was a fascinating experience. He watched as Aizawa stepped onto a platform on the top floor, causing several hologram-like projections to appear down on the lower levels, standing in front of every cluster of rooms. Had he seen it from above, he imagined it would’ve looked a bit like a kaleidoscope. Izuku settled in on the bench near the window. He squinted, trying to read Aizawa’s lips, but he was too far away. It was pointless, anyway. Aside from the information in the latter half of the journal, Izuku already knew what they were planning to pitch. The end of the discussion was marked by Aizawa stepping onto the platform again, and from there, the voting began, and ended around twenty minutes later. When the meeting came to a close, Katsuki was the first person out, at least on the fifth floor. Izuku quickly stood up. They met each other in the middle.“The day after tomorrow.” Katsuki told him, his expression somber. “That’s when you’re set to go back.”They returned home at around nine o’clock that night, and as seemed to be the trend with him, the first thing Katsuki wanted to do was shower. Izuku sighed as he dug through his bag, searching for his feather glue. He figured it was time to re-apply it, if only as a security blanket to comfort him about the events of that day. He quickly changed into his pajamas, selecting a shirt with a scoop-back to avoid getting the paste on his clothing. Then he switched on the lamp beside the couch bed, and got to work.It was difficult, though; normally, he had a mirror he could use, but as things were, he could manage most of the feathers, but the ones near the back gave him trouble.A couple minutes later, Katsuki emerged from the bathroom—wearing clothes, thankfully. He was in the process of toweling off his hair when he noticed Izuku’s predicament.“Uhh…” He grunted. “What’re you doing?”Izuku held up the paintbrush. “Gluing my feathers.” He shrugged. “It helps keep them from falling out—for a while, at least.”Katsuki stared at him blankly for a moment, blinking slowly. Then, a grin slowly spread across his face. “Wait, for real?” He snorted. “D@mn. What’re you, some kinda arts and crafts project?”Izuku laughed. “I thought the same thing when All Might… first…” He trailed off, the smile falling from his face as dark, fearful emotions began to creep back into his consciousness. For several seconds, he was silent, and the subtle shift in Katsuki’s expression gave him a sense that he knew why.After a moment, Katsuki put the towel around his neck, letting it hang loosely. He looked Izuku up and down. “You want some help?”Izuku blinked a few times, taken off guard by the offer. “Oh, uhh—““—I can see you strugglin’ to reach the back.” Katsuki said. “So if you want, I can give you a hand there.”Izuku chewed his lip, glancing down at Katsuki’s bare hands.“I’ll be careful not to touch skin. Just touchin’ your feathers is safe, right?”Izuku nodded, and offered a small smile. “Thanks, Kacchan.”With that, Katsuki pulled up a chair near the edge of the bed, and gestured for Izuku to sit. Once he was situated on the edge of the mattress behind him, Katsuki grabbed the brush from the pot of glue, and got to work. The next few minutes passed peacefully as Katsuki meticulously applied glue to his feathers. Izuku closed his eyes and let his head fall forward as he felt the careful movements of the brush, slowly sliding around the roots of each feather, soaking into the follicles. Sometimes, Katsuki would pause to blow on the spot he’d just glued. It surprised Izuku at first, enough to make him jolt. “What’re you doing?” He’d asked.“Just makin’ sure it’s dry.” Katsuki had said. “Don’t wanna gunk up your other feathers.”The tension eased from his body then, and he came to expect it soon enough. Came to appreciate it.Once in a while, he’d hear Katsuki shift around on the mattress, and occasionally he’d stop and ask Izuku to extend his wing for him. But for the most part, it was silent.It was only at the end when Katsuki started up what might be considered a conversation.“I like your wings,” He told him.Izuku’s back straightened, his cheeks dusting pink. He bowed his head, hoping Katsuki wouldn’t see. “R-Really…?”Katsuki hummed, leaning over to dip the brush in the glue again. “They’re pretty,” He murmured.Izuku blushed harder, his shoulders drawing up. He wasn’t sure why it made him feel so embarrassed, at first. But once he started thinking about it, it didn’t take long to zero in on the reason.In all his time spent working with him, this was the only occasion he could recall when Katsuki had actually told him, in no uncertain terms, that there was something about Izuku’s appearance he found attractive.There’d been times he’d gotten close. Katsuki was rather fond of teasing him, after all, and through his teasing he would sometimes say things that implied a sort of attraction. He’d called him cute before, but it was always tongue-in-cheek, and generally felt more patronizing than complimentary.And of course, there was that time just one day ago, when he’d told him the artifice made him look ‘gorgeous.’ Izuku chewed his lips, wringing his wrists as he thought back to it. It wasn’t nothing, that was for certain, but because Izuku had no way of knowing what he looked like while wearing the artifice, it was hard to say how much of it was him, and how much of it was just the magic itself. No, as far as Izuku could remember, this was the first time Katsuki had expressed appreciation for Izuku’s natural looks.Izuku’s hands balled up in the fabric of his pants as a warm feeling nestled up in his heart. “Oi.” Katsuki said. “Don’t get your feathers all ruffled over it. Literally.”“Ah! Right, sorry!” Izuku squeaked, willing himself to relax, so his feathers would lie flat.A minute later, Katsuki was finished. “Alright, I think you’re good.” He said, standing up and stretching his arms over his head.Izuku stood as well. He rubbed the back of his neck, face still feeling a little too warm. “I, um… thank you, Kacchan.”Katsuki gave him an odd look. “Why’re you actin’ all weird? Like you’re…” He trailed off for a moment, eyes narrowing. “Wait,” he said. “Are your wings, like, a f@ck@n’ erogenous zone, or some sh@t?”“A what?” Izuku’s brow furrowed.Katsuki shrugged. “I’m just tryna figure out if what I just did was some kinda weird Angel s@x act or whatever.”“Kacchan!” Izuku reflexively covered his face, his blush intensifying. “Be honest, Deku. Did I give you a f@ck@n’ wing-job just now?”
  “Kacchan!”
“Hey!” Katsuki put his hands up. “It’s okay if the answer’s yes! I won’t be mad. If anything, I’ll be a little turned—“Izuku suddenly threw his arms around Katsuki’s body, burying his face in his chest. For a moment, Katsuki seemed too shocked to even move or say anything. “I just…” Izuku said, slightly muffled. “Didn’t realize there was anything about me that you actually… um, liked.”Katsuki remained frozen for just a second longer, before he sighed, and gently wrapped his arms around him, his chin resting on the top of his head.“Seriously?” Katsuki said, laughing softly. “That’s it? Really?”“Don’t make fun of me.”“M’not f@ck@n’—“ Katsuki huffed, pulling back a bit, so he could look him in the eye. “Deku, c’mon. You should know that by now.”Izuku frowned, looking off to the side. And then Katsuki tipped his head up, and pressed his lips against his own. It was slow, gentle, sweet—nothing like the raw, charged kiss of the previous night. Like warm tea in the wintertime, or the sound of rain outside your bedroom window. The kind of kiss you’d come home for.Katsuki pulled away after a moment, met Izuku’s eyes and licked his lips.“Tomorrow.”Izuku blinked a few times. “What?”“M’gonna take you out. Alright?”“I, umm…” Izuku gulped. “Sure… okay.”Katsuki grinned, and planted one last peck on his lips. “Get some rest, nerd.” He murmured. “You and your pretty wings are gonna need it.”Izuku woke the next morning to the sensation of Triplet landing on his chest, and based on the way Katsuki was standing and the position of his arms, it wasn’t hard to deduce that he was in some way responsible.“Wake up, @ssh@l@. We’re goin’ on an adventure.”When Izuku’s eyes finally adjusted to the morning light, he realized that Katsuki was dressed head to toe in hiking gear. Dark green cargo pants, a black shirt, and a utility belt with all sorts of strange items attached to it.Izuku sat up slowly, careful not to disturb Triplet, who was curled up in his lap, purring. As he gently petted her, he looked up at Katsuki with narrowed eyes. “What sort of adventure?”“Nothin’ you can’t handle.” He shrugged. “Wanted you to get to do some sight-seeing, is all.” Katsuki turned and reached into his bag, which was set aside on one of the living room chairs, and handed a touch pad to Izuku.There, on the screen, was what looked to be a map.
  
“Wait.” Izuku’s eyes widened. “Is… Is this Hell, Kacchan?”Katsuki smirked. “Sure is.”Izuku just stared at it for a while, zooming in on different features. Triplet, having grown bored now that he wasn’t petting her, hopped off his lap and made a beeline for the habanero plant. “Oi!” Katsuki barked, scooping her up in his arms. “Y’little f@ck@r, don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.”She meowed at him.“Yeah, yeah. I’ll feed ya.” He glanced at Izuku. “Be right back.”Izuku just grunted, still staring at the map as Katsuki walked away.When he finally zoomed out again, he noticed two things he hadn’t before. First was the highlighted route on the map. Second was the scale bar down in the bottom left corner. Katsuki returned just as the realization hit him full-force.“Kacchan… it says every inch here is a thousand miles.”“Yeah,” Katsuki took a sip from the coffee cup he was now holding. “What about it?”Izuku stared at the path Katsuki had drawn. It basically had them circling around the entire continent. “How long is this route, exactly?”“Roughly eighteen-thousand miles.”Izuku just looked up at him for a while, attempting to come to grips with that concept. “And you’re expecting this to take us how long, exactly?”“Well, it’s about seven right now. If we head out soon, we can be back before ten tonight.”He blinked a few times pointedly. “And how exactly is that supposed to work?”Katsuki merely grinned, a mischievous glint in his eye as he stared at him over the lip of his coffee mug. “Oh, you’ll see, nerd.”Their journey began with a train ride just over an hour east of Oseryth, and after ten minutes of walking, they reached the edge of a dense forest, surrounded by a short but highly visible red fence. As they got closer, Izuku squinted to read one of the signs posted up ahead. 
  
     WARNING: now entering THE DEPTHS.  
  
  
     Extreme caution is advised. 
  
Izuku felt a chill run down his spine.“Um, Kacchan? Are you sure we should be here? It seems kind of…” He side-eyed the signpost. “Dangerous?”“I said I was takin’ you on an adventure, didn’t I?”Izuku hesitated, staring back at him for a moment. Then, his eyes narrowed. “Wait.” He said. “Is this the forest Kaminari mentioned?” Katsuki simply stared back at him, and Izuku took that as a confirmation, his eyes widening.“Um, I don’t know if—““—It’ll be fine.” Katsuki waved his hand. “You’re with me, and I know what I’m doing. That said,” he gave Izuku a stern look. “We gotta set some ground rules, Deku. And I really mean it. This sh@t is f@ck@n’ non-negotiable.”Izuku gulped. “Okay…?”“Rule number one,” He raised a finger. “Is that you stay close to me at all times. I’ll walk just slightly ahead of you, but I want you f@ck@n’ glued to my side, you got that?”He nodded. That’s easy enough.“Good.” He lifted another finger. “Rule number two is, once we’re in there, there’s no stopping. We can slow down if you need to, and if it comes to it, I can carry you, but we have to keep walking the entire time, no matter what.”Izuku frowned. That one’s a little… disconcerting.Still, he nodded again.“Alright.” He raised a third finger. “Finally, rule number three is… if it starts talking to you, don’t react to it.” He stopped for a second, giving him a grim look before continuing.“It’ll use your own voice, and it’s weird as f@ck, so, y’know—be prepared for that sh@t, but do not f@ck@ng respond, Deku.” Katsuki grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him slightly. “Don’t respond, and do not, under any f@ck@ng circ@mstances, turn to look in the direction you heard it from, because that is how it finds you.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Just keep your eyes locked straight ahead and ignore it ’til it stops.”Izuku shivered, a cold, ominous feeling dropping into his gut that seemed to freeze him from the inside out. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but couldn’t resist the urge to ask. “What…” He gulped. “What do you mean by it, exactly…?”“The Depths, Deku.” Katsuki replied. “The forest itself.”The words hung in the air for a moment.“A-And what happens when it… finds… you?”“I dunno, nerd. But considering no one’s ever lived to tell the tale, I think it’s safe to assume it’s nothing good.”Katsuki stood and held something out to him that looked like a belt. “Here, put this around your waist.”He took the belt, and noticed that, among other things, it had a pair of ear muffs and a full-face respirator attached to it.“What are these for?”Katsuki shrugged, hooking a matching belt around his waist. “Creatures in the Depths can sense the strength of other creatures. I’m actually gonna shift before we go in, just for good measure. Since you’re with me, most of the sh@t we come across out here won’t attack us, but there’re exceptions. If I tell you to put those on, do it immediately.” Katsuki paused for a moment. “Actually, if I tell you to do anything, do it immediately.” He amended. “That’s rule zero. Any questions?”“Yes, actually.” Izuku replied. “Is it perhaps an option for us to simply…” He squinted, gesturing vaguely. “You know, not enter the murderous nightmare forest?”Katsuki scoffed. “It’s not that scary.”“Kaminari seemed to think it was, and everything you’ve told me appears to confirm that.”He rolled his eyes. “So if you don’t got any more questions, I’m assuming you’re ready to go?”Izuku just pursed his lips and stared back at him. Katsuki seemed to take that as a tacit agreement.“Great. In that case…”In less than a second, Katsuki shifted, his horns twisting and extending as his wings all but shot out of his back. It happened so quickly, Izuku actually jumped. Given how long it had taken that day with Shinsou, he’d expected it to be more gradual.
  Guess that was just for dramatic effect…
He clapped his large, clawed, black hands, and an orb of light appeared a few feet in front of him. Then, he stepped over the red fence, and gestured for Izuku to follow. Katsuki entered the woods with Izuku by his side. The morning light crested the mountains in the distance, spilling abstract patterns through the trees. The orb floated in front of them, mostly useless, at first. But as the minutes ticked by, Izuku noticed the trees becoming taller, and oddly regular in their spacing. The pattern emerged as a sort of grid, with every tree around the same distance from its neighbors, which was just enough space for them to walk side by side comfortably.Their branches became fuller, too—gradually covering more and more surface area, until they seemed to obscure the sky completely. From there, it felt somewhat reminiscent of twilight.After ten minutes, Izuku could no longer see the tops of the trees. The trunks simply faded into the darkness, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of feet above their heads. The orb illuminated a radius of roughly five feet around them; just enough to see their immediate surroundings, and perhaps catch small glimpses of what lay beyond.As they walked, Katsuki held what looked to be a compass in his hand, and from Izuku’s position—quite literally under Katsuki’s wing—he noticed that, even as they walked in a straight line, the compass seemed to display otherwise. At times, they’d be walking straight north, and the compass would start to drift east or west, at which point Katsuki would veer off the path in order to get back on track. Other times, it would abruptly jerk one way or another, and Katsuki would have to make sharp turns to compensate.On one occasion, the compass even made a complete one-eighty, forcing them to turn around and backtrack, or so it seemed, at least.It was somewhere around the half hour mark when Izuku finally heard it.“Are you ready to go, yet?” A voice—his own voice—asked. Izuku tensed. It seemed to come from the left, roughly ten feet away. But Izuku didn’t look. He clenched his jaw and kept his gaze locked on the path in front of them.Up above, he could hear the distant sound of wind blowing, swaying the trees ever so slightly. Apart from that, the forest was dead silent. It came from behind him next.“Don’t forget to turn your heart off.” It told him. Then, from his right this time: “Do the shadows still bleed for you?”Izuku’s brow furrowed. It was… strange, to say the least. It was as though the Depths knew how to construct a sentence that technically expressed an idea, just not one that corresponded to any sort of reality. Like it was piecing together puzzle pieces from many separate sets, all cut in the same way, yet displaying different images; the result was structurally coherent, but meaningless. The next one came from his left again. Closer, this time. Perhaps only a foot away from his ear. “I thank my transparent skin in this night of vile fairytales.” Izuku’s hands had been shaking since he first heard the voice, but for some reason, that one just got to him. He wasn’t sure why; it didn’t make sense, but his eyes teared up nonetheless. He wished he had thought to ask Katsuki beforehand how long he could expect this to go on. He wasn’t sure how much more of it he could handle. Fortunately, however, it seemed that it was over. A few minutes went by, and then Katsuki spoke.“Good job.”Izuku’s breath caught, his heart still racing. “…Did you hear it, too?” “No,” he shook his head. “But you looked like you were about the sh@t yourself, so I assumed.”Izuku nodded quietly. “Have you heard it yet?”The compass suddenly twisted east, and Katsuki made a sharp left turn to continue on north. “I haven’t. And it’s probably targeting you, ‘cuz it can sense you’re the weakest link. No offense.” He shrugged. “Be careful, though. It can start up again at any time.”Izuku gulped. “What… is it, exactly…?” He asked. “The Depths.”Katsuki hummed. “Y’know, no one really knows. ‘Course, there’re theories. One is that it’s all one big organism. That’s probably the one most people buy into. But even within that, there’s a lot of debate about its specific nature. Y’know, how intelligent it is, where it comes from. That sorta sh@t.” The compass spun west, and Katsuki made a sharp right turn in response. “There’re some people who think that calling it an organism is kinda dangerous, though.”Izuku blinked. “Dangerous?”“Yeah. Not like, literally dangerous, but… well, it’s kinda hard to explain.” Katsuki paused, his brow furrowing. “I guess the issue is that categorizing it that way presupposes that it’s something we’re able to categorize.”“…What do you mean?”“Well, just think about it. It’s like—the Depths is this big, massive thing that nobody really understands, y’know? There’s something kinda weird and arrogant about looking at this f@ck@ng horrible eldritch location and saying, ‘oh yeah, that’s totally something we can describe based on our current understanding of how sh@t works.’”“Ohh, I think I get it.” Izuku smiled. “So, what you’re basically saying is it’s sort of like trying to fit it into a box, when the right box might not even exist yet.”“Yeah, pretty much.” He nodded. “And the issue is, when you categorize something, it’s sorta like choosin’ a lens to look at it through. And like, sure, maybe lookin’ at it through that lens could lead to some new discoveries, but y’gotta be careful, ‘cuz if you overcommit to it, you risk losing the bigger picture. That’s the argument, anyway.”“Huh… I guess I’d be inclined to agree.”“Same, but I dunno. I don’t think it has to be, like, an absolute thing.” Katsuki shrugged. “You can call it an organism when it’s useful without fully committing to that definition. Y’know, ‘cuz it is useful. It’s actually real f@ck@n’ hard to further your understanding of sh@t if y’never pick a framework to analyze it with.“Plus, there’s a point where this ‘no categorization’ argument just kinda devolves into blanket anti-science b@llsh@t. Like, there’re people out there who think that trying to study the Depths at all is pointless.”Izuku frowned. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”Katsuki grunted in agreement. “Yeah, but it’s all kinda part of this bigger philosophical argument about the conflict between our desire to understand sh@t and the actual limits of our understanding. No one can really say where the line is, or if it even exists.”“I mean, I think there’s a line.” Izuku said. “It’s like when God flooded the Earth. Everyone always asks why he did it, as though that’s something they could understand.”“Oh, that one actually has a very simple explanation, Deku.” He grinned. “It’s ‘cuz God is a f@ck@ng @ssh@l@.”For a moment, Izuku wasn’t really sure how to respond. A few months ago, he would’ve immediately gotten defensive, but now…The image of the snow-white town interjected itself into his thoughts, and Izuku gripped the fabric of his cloak as he tried to force it out of his head, tried to sever the wave of guilt that tugged at his heart.Izuku gulped. “I mean… I guess that’s… one explanation for it…” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, uh. How much further is it, by the way?”“Shouldn’t be long, now.”And sure enough, just a few minutes later, light slowly but surely began to leak into the forest from above, and soon they reached the threshold. They emerged in a frigid, rocky landscape, and as Katsuki stepped over the fence, he returned to his partially-shifted form.Izuku looked around at the cold, mountainous area. “Where are we?” “Hades Island. About two-thousand miles northeast of Oseryth.”“What? Kacchan, we’ve been walking for, like, forty-five minutes!”“I know.” He grinned. “That’s the thing about the Depths, Deku. You don’t feel like you’re movin’ that fast, ‘cuz the Depths move with you. S’part of what makes it so dangerous. Even when you’re standin’ still, you’re still moving.”They came upon a small opening in the side of the mountain, and as Katsuki ducked inside, Izuku followed. It was a cavern of some kind, and it expanded the further they went. Izuku strained his eyes to see as the space grew darker, and then Katsuki reached into his bag and pulled something out. Izuku heard a cracking sound, and the cave was immediately lit up an otherworldly green. Katsuki tossed on glow stick off to the side, and threw the other down a shaft up ahead.Izuku raised an eyebrow. “No orb of light this time?”He grinned. “I just think it packs more of a punch this way.” The shaft was around ten feet long, and fortunately, there was already a rope secured in place. Once Katsuki reached the bottom, he looked up at Izuku. “You comin’?” Izuku nodded, getting down on his hands and knees, carefully easing himself into it. He had to pull his wings tight against his body in order to fit, but luckily the actual process of getting down wasn’t too hard.One of the first things he noticed as he reached the ground was that the temperature had risen a few degrees. The cavern was humid, and there was an oddly sweet smell permeating the air. Katsuki led him down a few makeshift corridors until finally they reached a chamber large enough for them both to stand comfortably. It was pitch black, and Izuku waited quietly as Katsuki fumbled with his bag. “You ready?”“Um.” Izuku said. “For what, exactly…?” Katsuki laughed low and under his breath as he proceeded to pull out several more glow sticks, cracking them all at once, then tossing them quickly around the enclosure. As the glow sticks flew, Izuku watched the world glitter. He held his breath, his eyes wide. And it hit him right as the second glow stick landed, just what it was he was seeing.The room was filled with gems. Sprouting from the ground and protruding from the walls were enormous, glittering crystals unlike anything he’d ever seen before. The soft, green light of the glow sticks gave the room an otherworldly atmosphere.“Welcome to Hades’ Treasure Chest, Deku.”“Kacchan, this is beautiful.”“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, nerd.” Katsuki said, approaching one of the larger crystals. He then clapped his hands, just as he did prior to entering the Depths, an orb of light appeared before him. It shone brightly through the crystal, and as it filtered through, beams of light shot out from its sides, bouncing off the other crystals in colors all across the rainbow. As Izuku stood at the center of the iridescent chamber, for a minute, he was just speechless. Hands held over his mouth, goosebumps raising on his skin, ruffling the feathers of his wings. Izuku was in awe. It felt like he was standing at the center of some beautiful dream, and the feelings it brought from his heart were genuinely difficult to describe.Overloaded with emotion, Izuku began to tear up. He turned around and looked at Katsuki, who, upon meeting his gaze, seemed momentarily alarmed. “Woah, what—“ He didn’t get a chance to finish before Izuku threw his arms around him, pressing his face against his chest, tears soaking through the fabric of his shirt.Katsuki tensed for only a second before he relaxed. Then he wrapped his arms around him, chin resting on the top of his head.“Cry baby.”Izuku whined. “Hey, you brought me here! Don’t act like you didn’t know this would happen!” Katsuki’s chest rumbled as he laughed softly. “Hey, m’just statin’ facts.” He said. “And it is a fact that you’re a massive f@ck@n’ cry baby.”
  “Rude.”
“Never said it was an insult.”Izuku just grumbled incoherently against his chest.“…Y’know, the crazy thing is, the first time I came here, it wasn’t even on purpose.”“What, really?”“Yep.” He said. “It was my second time travelin’ the Depths alone. One of the straps on my bag broke, and I spilled all my sh@t on the forest floor.”“Oh wow. So you had to stop?”“I mean… uhhh, what’s that sh@t Aizawa always says?” He squinted. “Somethin’ like, ‘reasonable people can disagree on whether I should’ve stopped.’” He used air quotes. “If something like that happened today, I’d probably stop. But I was still an amateur, y’know? I’d heard way too many f@ck@n’ horror stories about people stoppin’ in the Depths, and endin’ up in way over their heads, so I was just like, f@ck it.” He shrugged. “Found the first exit point I could and contacted my teacher.”“Your teacher?”“Mm.” He said. “More of a friend than a mentor at this point, but yeah. I’d introduce you, but she’s been real f@ck@n’ busy.”“Ahh.”“Anyway, yeah. I contacted my teacher, and once she was done chewin’ me out for keeping my respirator in my bag like a f@ck@ng moron, she agreed to come meet with me.”Izuku giggled. “So you had to get picked up?”“Like a f@ck@ng loser.” He rolled his eyes. “But yeah, I had a few hours to kill, so I did some exploring. And that’s how I wound up finding this place.”“Wait, so you discovered it?”“No.” He snorted. “I f@ck@n’ thought I had. I was real excited about it, too. Then my teacher showed up, and I’m like, ‘you gotta come see what I found.’ And she’s like, ‘yeah, yeah, Hades’ treasure chest. We know.’”“Aww!” Izuku laughed.“I was so disappointed.” He sighed. “I thought I was Neil Armstrong…” He paused, running his fingertips across the surface of one of the crystals. “But it turned out I was Christopher f@ck@ng Columbus all along.”When they eventually left the cavern, Katsuki pulled out a map and scanned it for a moment. Izuku glanced up at the sky, noting that it was perhaps nine in the morning. “Well, we’re in luck, nerd.” Katsuki said. “‘Cuz the next spot shouldn’t take us more than half an hour in the Depths.” He paused to fold the map up again. “Course, that’s no excuse for you to get careless. Bad sh@t can still happen, even if you’re only in there for a bit.”Izuku nodded, and watched as Katsuki shifted once again. “You ready?” He asked.And with that, they were off.By the ten minute mark, they were back in the dark portion of the Depths, and Katsuki broke the silence first.“You haven’t heard it again?” Izuku shook his head. “No, not so far.”“Good.” After a minute, Izuku commented, “I’m surprised we haven’t run into any animals yet.”“Oh, they’re around.” Katsuki told him. He jerked his head toward the right. “There’s a lot of Hyleks out this time of year. Little furry creatures that burrow inside the trees. They’re harmless, though. Some people even keep ‘em as pets.” The compass veered south, and Katsuki made a rapid course correction. “I spotted a couple Saevyrs during the first trip. Those things can be pretty nasty. Real aggressive, opportunistic predators.” He said. “But again, the creatures out here can sense when they’re up against something they can’t beat. They’d never challenge me, and they know you’re mine.”Izuku’s eyes bugged out a bit, a blush spreading across his cheeks. He knew that Katsuki didn’t mean it like that, but that didn’t stop his mind from going there.In an effort to distract himself, Izuku asked, “I-Is there anything out here that would try to attack you?”“Well, yeah.” Katsuki replied. “Just not in the parts we’re traveling through.”At that, he frowned. “But how can you tell? It all looks the same to me…”Katsuki hummed, then pointed up. “You hear that?”“Hear what?”“The wind.” He said. “Blowin’ through the trees.”“Oh.” He blinked. “Well, yeah.”“That’s the easiest way to tell.”The compass veered north, and Katsuki responded with a sharp right turn.“That’s why we can’t just wear ear plugs in here all the time. Once the light’s gone, it’s that sound more than anything else that keeps you oriented. If it starts to fade, that means you gotta tread carefully. ‘Cuz if it disappears…” He chuckled softly. “That’s when you know you’re in deep sh@t.”When they emerged from the forest half an hour later, it was to a landscape caught between two extremes. On Izuku’s left was a line of mountains and volcanoes that cut the skyline like jagged teeth. On his right, an enormous rift that stretched far into the distance, so deep Izuku couldn’t even see the bottom of it. But the most striking part of it all was the way that two opposing forces converged within the crevasse. On the side closed to Izuku, streams of lava and hellfire poured endlessly from the smoking volcanoes, spilling into the rift, disappearing into its depths. On the opposite side, a large river met its end in the chasm, in the form of a massive waterfall.Izuku stared at it for a long time. There was something about the scene before him than just didn’t look right to him. It seemed like the falloff of light was too abrupt. Darkness wasn’t the result of a presence so much as it was the result of an absence—namely, the absence of light. But as he gazed into the abyss, at the bizarre, inky blackness within, he got the sense that there was something there, something physical.“It’s got a couple different names, but I like to call it Schrödinger’s Lake.” Katsuki told him, snapping him out of his trance. Izuku furrowed his brow.
  “Lake...?”
Katsuki grinned, beckoning him closer to the edge, where he crouched down and grabbed the nearest rock. Izuku came to squat beside him.“Check this out.” He said, and proceeded to throw the rock into the chasm. As expected, it fell, disappearing into the darkness. Izuku wasn’t really sure what point he was trying to make. But then Katsuki reached out and touched it. To Izuku’s astonishment, the space that had once appeared empty suddenly gained form, behaving like a sea of black liquid, rather than a dark pit. Katsuki cupped his hands, scooping some of the mysterious substance up. It spilled between his fingers like water, and rippled just the same.“You shouldn’t try to touch it yourself.” Katsuki warned him. “It’s really hot, and even if it wasn’t, I have no idea how it’d affect you.”Izuku nodded, staring at it in awe for a moment before grabbing a rock himself. He glanced at Katsuki briefly, waiting for him to give a small nod before he chucked it into the mysterious body, watching it fall into the expanse, much as it had before. Katsuki then handed him a stick, and he leaned forward slightly, poking at the surface, watching the liquid engulf it.It was unlike anything he’d ever seen before.“I’m… so confused.” Izuku muttered. “Kacchan, what on earth is this?”“S’called hellwater,” Katsuki replied. “It’s what happens when hellfire interacts with a much larger body of freshwater. Basically, it’ll act like either a liquid or a gas depending on the speed of the object hitting it. Like this,” Katsuki thrust his hand down under the ‘surface’ and then stopped abruptly. At that moment, the hellwater engulfing his hand suddenly became opaque, like black tar. He remained still for a moment before he slowly pulled his hand back. Once it was out, Katsuki quickly shook his hand, and Izuku watched, mouth gaping, as the hellwater coating it seemed to evaporate instantly.“Theoretically, if you were to jump in there, it’d feel like you were falling right up until you got to the bottom.” Katsuki explained. “At that point, the feeling of being underwater would hit you like a f@ck@n’ freight train.”Izuku blinked a few times pointedly. “Okay, that… I feel like this is illegal—I mean, in like a scientific sense.” Katsuki snorted. “Hell doesn’t follow the same rules as Earth, Deku. That’s just something you’re gonna have to come to terms with.”“Yeah, but, like…” He squinted. “What rules does it follow? I can get on board with the rules being different, I’m just… trying to work out the logic, here.”“Well, lucky for you, there are entire fields in academia dedicated to studying how sh@t works down here.” Katsuki grinned. “They’re called the chthonic sciences. If that’s somethin’ you’re interested in, well…” he shrugged. “There’re plenty of books out there, schools and research groups focused on that sort of thing.”“Huh…” Izuku said, still entranced as he stirred the surface with the stick. “What happens if you try to swim in it?”Katsuki winced. “Well, you can…” He said. “But it’s a slippery f@ck@n’ slope, y’know? You can do it if you’re real careful, but if y’move too fast, you’re pretty much f@ck@d. Sudden movements lead to falling, which leads to more falling, and before you know it, you’re hundreds of feet underwater.”Izuku frowned. “Couldn’t you just fly out?”“I mean…” Katsuki squinted. “Technically? But by the time you’re able to start, you’re already pretty f@ck@n’ deep, is the thing, and as soon as you start gliding, you feel the water again. In theory, you can swim to the surface at that point. Problem is, when you’re that deep, it’s real f@ck@n’ hard to stay calm. Most people start panicking, which makes you move too fast, which pulls you deeper.” Katsuki stood up, stretching his arms over his head. “So it’s basically just a f@ck@n’ death trap.”“Jeez.” Izuku mumbled. “Has anyone ever survived? Swimming in it, I mean.”“Oh, yeah. Tons of people.” Katsuki replied. “Including me.”“Wait, seriously?!” Izuku gasped. “You did it?”“Yep.” He pursed his lips. “Almost f@ck@d it up, too. But luckily I was close enough to the edge when I slipped, so someone was able to grab me and pull me out before it was too late.”Izuku stood up slowly. “Kacchan, with all due respect… what is wrong with you?”He snorted. “I did it for a dare when I was young and stupid as f@ck. I was kinda drunk at the time, too.” He shrugged. “The f@ck@d up part is, the friend who dared me to do it was both older than me and sober at the time.”Izuku’s face twisted up in disgust. “Seriously?”“Yeah.” He scoffed. “So, needless to say, we ain’t f@ck@n’ friends anymore.”Izuku just shook his head as he gazed down into the abyss. “Good riddance.”Katsuki had warned him prior to entering that this trip would be the longest one by far. Izuku felt the tension in his body increasing with every step they took, and the longer they went without incident, the more he began to expect something would happen. The sound of leaves rustling, twigs snapping in the distance made him jump, and Katsuki even went so far as to offer to take a detour at the next exit point, though Izuku insisted it wasn’t necessary.It was almost a relief, when the forest started speaking to him again. It was still terrifying, of course, but at least he knew how to handle it. “Lately the ordinary has deepened our grave.” It said, as Izuku stared straight ahead, wiping his clammy hands on his robe. It fell silent not long after, and Izuku felt much of the tension in his body ease away. The worst was behind them, now. The terror had already struck, and that meant he no longer needed to worry.
  Right?
At some point, Katsuki began to slow a bit as they were walking, looking around at something Izuku couldn’t discern. Something rustled nearby.“Sh@t.” He hissed. “Deku, mask and earmuffs. Now.”Izuku’s breath caught in his throat, and he froze up for a second before scrambling to pull the mask off his belt. It was designed to come off when pulled, so at least he didn’t have to waste time fumbling with it.With shaky hands, he quickly pulled the mask over his head, and grabbed the earmuffs next, pulling them apart as he went to put them on.Then his fingers slipped. Ice dropped into the pit of his stomach as he watched the earmuffs hit the forest floor. They were still walking, and once they left his sight, he craned his neck to look behind him, only to find that they were nowhere to be seen. Izuku began breathing heavily in the respirator. “K-Kacchan…”Katsuki looked at him, and paled.“Sh@t. Sh@t!” he hissed. “Barrier up. Now.” That was the only warning he got before Katsuki shoved Izuku in front of him and sealed his large, shifted hands over his ears. It was as though he’d been plunged under water. And then he saw it. The creature emerged from the shadows around ten feet ahead of them. It looked like some sort of strange, mutant deer, with two extra legs and a few more eyes placed around its head. It wasn’t a particularly intimidating creature in itself. What was frightening, however, was the way that it moved. It staggered through the dirt and leaves, threatening to topple over with every step it took. It was as though the deer wasn’t moving so much as it was being moved, the way you might expect it to look if someone were to hold an unconscious person upright, while another person moved their legs manually. Each step was careful and heavy, and the creature’s head hung forward limply.As it got closer, Izuku noticed the strange rippling of its skin, as though many small things had been trapped inside of it, writhing beneath the creature’s flesh. Izuku gagged at the sight, fighting back the urge to vomit inside the respirator.Katsuki kept his hands over his ears for a minute afterward, and in his heightened state of awareness, he began noticing odd, red patterns on the trees. They came in clusters of blotches, and looked a little like messy finger prints. Only after the patterns disappeared did Katsuki finally take his hands off Izuku’s ears, returning to his place slightly ahead of him as he removed his own ear muffs and mask. Izuku did the same, hooking his mask on his belt again.“I’m sorry.” He said, voice barely a whisper.Katsuki shook his head. “Don’t be.” He replied. “I should’ve noticed the signs sooner.”Izuku tried to swallow the nausea within him. A minute passed before he finally asked, “Um... What was that thing?”Katsuki glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “Do you really wanna know?”Izuku shrugged. “It’s going to keep bothering me if I don’t.”Katsuki sighed. “Those,” He emphasized the word. “Are called Vassalites. They’re a type of parasitic insect that reproduce by entering a host’s body and laying eggs inside them. Would you like to learn more?”Izuku swallowed the nausea welling up in his throat. “Uh, no.” He said. “No, I think I’m good, thank you.”Katsuki nodded. “If you ever meet God, ask him why he felt the need to give us so many creatures that reproduce by layin’ eggs inside other creatures. ‘Cuz I mean, I get that it’s f@ck@n’ gross and like, viscerally upsetting, but that can only justify so much. At a certain point, it just gets suspicious.”Izuku frowned. “I’m not really sure what you’re trying to say.”Katsuki opened his mouth, then seemed to think better of it. “You know what? Never mind. That’s probably for the best.”When they emerged next, it was at the foot of what appeared to be a mountain that stretched high up into the clouds. Its sides were steep, almost unnaturally so. Izuku felt tired just looking at it.“It’s just at the top, here.” Katsuki muttered nonchalantly. Izuku’s eyes bugged out. “Wait, this one?” He pointed at the mountain. “This one, right here? Seriously?”“Uhh, yeah?” Katsuki replied. “Why?”Izuku hesitated a moment. “Look, it’s just…” He sighed. “I’m not sure about this one. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I want to see whatever you’re trying to show me, but... Well, I’m not much of a hiker normally, and this just seems…” He grimaced. “A bit out of my league, to say the least.”“Well, guess it’s a good thing there’s no hiking involved here.”Izuku did a double take, brows pinched together as he looked at him. It was only then that he realized that Katsuki was still fully shifted.“Sorry, what?”Katsuki gave him a blank look. “I just said we don’t have to climb it, Deku.”Izuku simply stared back at him for a while, blinking pointedly. After a moment, Katsuki lowered his chin and raised an eyebrow. Then, gesturing back at his wings, Katsuki slowly explained, “Because we can fly to the top, Deku.”A second went by.“…Oh.” Izuku muttered. Another two seconds, and his eyes went wide. “Oh!”Katsuki burst out laughing, buckling over and clutching his stomach.“Holy f@ck,” he wheezed. “Did you seriously f@ck@n’ forget you could fly, dumbass?”“W-Well—!” He flushed. “I mean, it’s not like I’ve had a chance to recently, w-with the artifice and all!” It took way too long for Katsuki to calm down, but eventually, he stood up straight and exhaled fondly. “C’mon. Follow me,” he said, moving a few feet away, so that he could extend his wings fully. “It’ll take like five minutes, tops.”Izuku stood there for a moment, watching as Katsuki extended his large, black wings and took flight. For a moment, he just stood there, gazing up at him. Though he’d seen Katsuki’s wings stretched out before, he’d never actually seen him fly, and the sight of him moving so gracefully made his heart flutter inside his chest and his face heat up. 
  Kacchan really is incredible…
“Well?” He shouted, hovering high in the sky. “You comin,’ or what?” Izuku swallowed, shoving the thoughts out of his mind as he, too, took flight, meeting Katsuki in the air many feet above. When they landed a few minutes later, Katsuki returned to his normal, half-shifted form with a sigh. He paused to roll his shoulders, stretching his arms above his head, before gesturing for Izuku to follow him. He led him up a short pathway, and one of the first things Izuku noticed was that the closer they got, the warmer it became.It did not take long to figure out why. When they reached the peak of the mountain a minute later, Izuku realized it wasn’t a mountain at all, but rather a volcano. And as he peered over the crevasse at the center, he saw something that took his breath away. Down there, around twenty feet below, was a vast lake of lava, bubbling and popping, and moving around sluggishly, though it didn’t seem to be actively erupting.The really amazing part, however, was the color. The lava glowed an otherworldly violet and sparkled like amethyst, and when Izuku stood there looking down at it, his heart raced with a mixture of wonder and anxiety that he wasn’t quite sure how to process. It was oddly familiar, however. Almost like…
  …When I first met Kacchan. 
Izuku’s breath caught in his throat as it came back to him, an odd sort of nostalgia. He could remember that period, when that conflict raged within him, the knowledge that Katsuki could kill him in an instant, paired with the inability to look away from him. It’d been a while since he’d last felt afraid of Katsuki, though.He tore his eyes away for a moment, peering over the opposite edge. It truly was a bizarre formation. The steep drop-off on the exterior felt more akin to a skyscr@per than a volcano, and the distant sight of jagged rocks thousands of feet below made it almost as intimidating.The ground around the opening was perhaps a little more than the width of a standard doorway. It was more than enough for the two of them to move around with relative freedom—just not enough for what came next.“Hey, Deku.”Izuku turned his head toward Katsuki, and found him standing there with one gloved hand outstretched. He was a bit confused, but he tentatively took his hand.He regretted it almost immediately. Because as soon as the Demon’s grip closed around his hand, Katsuki yanked him closer, pulling him into his chest. He grabbed Izuku’s other hand and placed it on his shoulder, and with a wide grin, began to move rhythmically, humming some random tune. Izuku was too busy being terrified to care what it was.
  “What the hell are you doing?!”
Katsuki gave a sh@t-eating grin. “Dancin’ with you, obviously,” he replied, somehow managing to puppeteer Izuku into a waltz, even as his feet dragged along the ground.“Seriously? Here?!”“Sure, why not?”“Kacchan!” Izuku looked back and forth between their two potential fates: one a bed of jagged rocks thousands of feet below, the other just a short drop into a pit of molten lava. Though the first was more than long enough for him to fly out of it, the other was not so certain.“It’s just a little lava, Deku.”“I’m going to kill you.”At that, Katsuki just laughed, and Izuku stumbled, jaw clenching as Katsuki twirled him around. His palms were sweaty against the fabric of Katsuki’s shirt and glove, and his heart would not stop hammering in his chest, but ultimately, he decided to just grit his teeth and go along with it. The lip of the volcano didn’t seen particularly stable, after all. Putting up a struggle was just too risky in a place where one wrong move could send you hurdling to your doom.And so, Izuku gritted his teeth and matched his movements, dancing with him even as he stared up at him with a withering glare.“Oh, c’mon.” Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Quit bein’ so nervous.” “Not all of us are heat-resistant, Kacchan.”Katsuki pulled him a bit closer. “Deku, you know I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”Izuku looked away, grumbling under his breath before falling silent. For a moment, it was just the ambient sound of steaming lava, the soft shuffle of their footsteps, and the occasional sound of a bubble popping, or a rock falling into the volcano, that made Izuku tense up all over again.“You know, I actually got thrown in there once.”Izuku blinked. “Sorry, what?”Katsuki grinned. “It’s kinda like a Wrath Demon rite of passage, I guess.” He shrugged. “This is the hottest volcano in Hell. The idea is that once you’ve taken a swim in there, you can handle pretty much anything.”Izuku just stared at him for a few seconds, momentarily distracted from the objectively perilous situation they were in. “You swam… in a volcano.” He deadpanned.“Well, ‘swam’ might not be the right word.” He said. “You can’t really swim in it. It’s basically just hot goo.”“…And this is like, a tradition?”“Guess so. I dunno who started it, though.” He snorted. “I’d like to meet the first guy who did it. Imagine that—just thinkin’ ‘f@ck it,’ goin’ b@lls to the wall and jumping straight into a g@dd@mn volcano. What a f@ck@ng legend.”“Wait, but…” Izuku narrowed his eyes. “Didn’t that hurt?”“Oh, it hurt like a m@th@rf@ck@r.” Katsuki grinned. “Didn’t speak to my teacher for two weeks afterward.”“So did she just… not tell you what she was planning?”“She told me, like, ten seconds in advance.” He rolled his eyes. “I remember her takin’ me up here, me askin’ what the Hell we were doin’ here. And when she finally told me, ‘you’re going to jump into this volcano,’ I was like, ‘Uh, no, actually. I’m not. F@ck you very much.’” He sighed. “Famous last words.”
  “Jeez.”
“Yeah.” He scoffed. “I couldn’t hold the grudge for long, though. ‘Cuz after that, I actually did see a lot of rapid improvement. But d@mn if I wasn’t p@ss@d for a while.”“Guess I can’t blame you.” He mumbled. A moment passed by in silence, and Izuku noted that his heart rate had slowed down a bit, thanks to the distraction the story had provided.That did not last long.Suddenly, Katsuki dipped him over the edge, causing him to hover right over the lava, one foot in the air, the other precariously placed on the edge. Izuku’s heart lurched in his chest, his eyes nearly bulging out of his skull. Katsuki pulled him back a second later, but his heart was still pounding.
  “I hate you.”
“Aw, baby. Don’t be like that.” Izuku gave him a bright smile. “Sleep with your eyes open, Kacchan!” He chirped.Katsuki snorted, but gradually, his movements began to slow, until they were holding onto one another, swaying back and forth beneath the glow of violet light. The fear gradually dulled as their movements stabilized further, and eventually, Katsuki gently pulled away.“We should probably head out.” He muttered. “You ready?”Izuku nodded very enthusiastically. With that, Katsuki shifted once again, and the two of them set off, flying down the mountain and landing at the edge of the Depths again.“Hey.” Katsuki said, getting his attention. He looked up just before Katsuki pulled him into a hug, his cheek pressing into his chest. “Sorry for scarin’ ya.” Izuku released a long sigh, shaking his head. “I feel like you’re the sort of person who’d go to a public pool and dunk kids’ heads underwater as a joke.”That made Katsuki laugh. “Well, a baptism’s a baptism.”Despite himself, Izuku cracked a smile.Izuku shivered as he walked behind Katsuki. It was quiet, apart from the distant sound of the wind.Izuku gasped when he caught sight of something moving out of the corner of his eye.“It’s okay.” Katsuki was quick to say. “There’s—““It’s just another Hylek. Don’t worry.”Izuku craned his neck, searching for the creature, but he couldn’t find it in the darkness. Eventually, he gave up, sighing as he turned his gaze back toward the path before them.Suddenly, Katsuki froze. Actually froze.It was only for a second, but given how adamant Katsuki had been about never stopping, it set off alarm bells in Izuku’s mind before Katsuki even spoke. “Deku, I’m gonna need to carry you for this.”“What? Why—?“ Before he could finish that thought, Katsuki swooped his arm under his knees and pulled him into a princess carry. “Kacchan, wha—“ The words died on his tongue when he looked up ahead and saw it. Not too far from them, there were what appeared to be a number of orange eyes, glowing like candlelights in the darkness. There were roughly a dozen of them, all arranged in a circle that wobbled, rotated, and receded from time to time. The movements were so perfectly synchronized, Izuku could only conclude that they all belonged to the same creature. He felt Katsuki’s chest grow warmer as they drew closer, and curled into it.More than anything else, it was the sounds that put Izuku on edge. A constant, mechanical grinding noise, every few seconds punctuated by something else, almost like the sound of steam being released from a massive engine. It evoked images of something overwhelming, industrial; like standing in the middle of a city at night, where the brutalist architecture made your soul feel as heavy as the exposed concrete the buildings were made from. It was that feeling of being small, yet unable to escape—a kind of claustrophobia that follows you out into the open. If such a feeling could be encapsulated, wrapped up in the flesh of something living, this creature would be the result.As they passed, Izuku could pick up the sound of something wet and squishy that he could only assume to be some sort of meat, gnashing between the creature’s teeth, and at this distance the steam-like industrial sounds were loud enough to rattle Izuku’s entire body.He was tense in Katsuki’s arms, paralyzed in fear beneath the creature’s gaze. It watched them as they passed, but it did not attack them. And once they were a safe distance away, Katsuki set him down again with a sigh.“What the hell was that thing?” Izuku barely whispered. “A cyclogeist,” Katsuki replied. “Like most sh@t out here, they won’t attack somethin’ stronger than them, but they’re real fast. Sometimes they’ll try to steal prey, if they think they can get away with it. Luckily, that one was already eating.”“You think it would’ve gone after me if it wasn’t?”“Mm, probably not.” Katsuki shrugged. “Not while I was carrying you, at least. I mean, maybe it if was desperate, but…” He trailed off for a moment. “Well, y’know.”Izuku shivered.“Means we’ve gotta be careful, though; if we’re running into cyclogeists, that usually means we’re gettin’ close to the midnight depths.”“The… midnight depths?”“Yeah.” He said. “There’re different regions in the Depths. Like, there’s the daylight depths, where it just looks like a normal forest. Then there’s the twilight depths, where most of the light is gone. After that is the nighttime depths, where basically all the light’s gone. That’s what most of it is.“But then there’s the midnight depths. It’s where the sound of wind starts to get faint. Technically, I can safely travel there, but I avoid it whenever possible, ‘cuz it’s real easy to get swept into the void depths from there, which is infinitely more dangerous.”“Why?” Izuku’s eyes widened. “What’s down there?”“Eh, lots of sh@t.” Katsuki shrugged. “The thing about this place is, the deeper you go, the more you start to run into creatures that are very specifically adapted to live in the Depths. Which often means they have a kind of creepy, symbiotic relationship with it.” He explained. “There’s a bit of that in the higher regions, but most of the creatures in those parts live at odds with the forest just as much as we do.”The thought of creatures having a symbiotic relationship with something as vast and unfathomable as the Depths sent shivers down Izuku’s spine. “S-So have you ever been down there?” He asked. “In the void depths.”“Yep.” He said, popping the ‘p’ sound. “It’s happened a few times—not on purpose, obviously. Most of those times, I was able to find my way out before anything too dangerous happened, but…”“But...?”“Well, there’ve been close calls, obviously.” He shrugged. “The worst one was actually pretty recent. Happened like, a month before I met you. Got swept into the void and ran into a f@ck@n’ deepseeker, barely made it out alive.” He shook his head. “They’re like these massive creatures that secrete this weird toxin that f@cks with your muscle control and makes you really suggestible.” “Suggestible?”“Yeah.” The compass veered south, and Katsuki corrected it with a sharp left turn. “That’s part of the symbiotic relationship I mentioned. Basically, when you get dosed with that stuff, you’re almost guaranteed to react when the Depths calls out to you.“And that’s the other thing about the void depths. Like, if you thought that sh@t was scary before, it’s f@ck@n’ nothing compared to how it is when you’re down there. The deeper you go, the more likely it is to talk to you, and when it does, it’s so much f@ck@ng worse.”“It’s… kind of hard to imagine it getting scarier than it already is.”Katsuki hummed. “What’d it say to you when you heard it earlier? Just gimme an example.”“Uhhh…” Izuku squinted. “Well, at one point it asked me something like, ‘do the shadows still bleed for you?’”“Yeah, that’s some classic Depths nonsense.” He said, snickering. “Thing is, though, the level of sense it makes is actually dependent on the region. It’s really rare to hear it in the daylight depths, but if you do, it’ll spout literal gibberish. Like, just some f@ck@n’ sounds.“In the twilight depths, it can form words, but not proper sentences. It just strings together random words and throws ‘em at you.“The nighttime depths is where you’ll hear weird phrases like that. Sentences that’re technically correct, but make no f@ck@ng sense conceptually—or if they do, it’s a coincidence.”The compass made a sudden turn, going from pointing north to pointing south in a matter of seconds. Katsuki responded with a quick one-eighty, and they continued on.“In the midnight depths, things start to get…” He trailed off for a moment, wincing. “Kacchan?”He shook his head. “Well, for one thing, that’s when it starts callin’ your name. So, that’s fun.” He scoffed. “And the sh@t it says is short, but coherent. Like, it’ll literally just say ‘look at me,’ or ‘follow me,’ or even ‘help me.’” He paused for a second. “It starts affecting your other senses, too. You’ll see movement in the direction the voice comes from. It’s indistinct, but it’s there.”Izuku got goosebumps just thinking about it.“It gets worse, if you can believe it.” Katsuki offered a tight smile. “‘Cuz once you’re in the void depths, the Depths is basically in your head. It knows you. And it’ll weaponize that knowledge to try to provoke a reaction.” He explained. “It’s happened to me four times out of the seven or so I’ve ended up there on accident, and it’s legitimately the worst sh@t ever, ‘cuz at that point you can actually see it.”Izuku shivered. “What do you mean ‘see it’?”“Deku, imagine this.” He said, gesturing vaguely. “You’re stumbling through the dark, trying to find your way out of this g@dd@mn eldritch location, and suddenly, you see your f@ck@ng doppelgänger right there in your periphery, just f@ck@ng staring at you, while it gleefully taunts you about every insecurity, every traumatic memory you’ve got. And you just gotta keep walkin’ as though it ain’t there. What would you do?”For a second, Izuku just stared up at him, mouth slightly open. “I mean… realistically?”“Sure.”“Probably pee my pants.”“Yeah, that’s fair.” Katsuki nodded. “Now, imagine you have to deal with that sh@t when you’re injured, gettin’ chased by a deepseeker, and dosed on a drug that makes you wanna do everything you’re told to.”“Wait, seriously? You heard it then?” Izuku gaped. “How are you still alive?”“I got lucky.” He said. “Thing about deepseekers is they’re real territorial. When I was runnin’ from the one that dosed me, I ran through another one’s territory, which led to them attacking each other. It was enough of a distraction to keep me from looking long enough to find my earplugs.” “That’s insane.”“Yeah, well—this is pretty much the domain of insane sh@t.” Katsuki said. “Only a handful of people have escaped after gettin’ dosed with deepseeker venom. I remember hearing a story once, ‘bout a woman who managed to escape by bashing her head against a tree to knock herself out ’til the venom wore off.” Izuku’s eyes widened. “I can’t see how that’d be anything other than another death sentence.”Katsuki snorted. “It’s a big f@ck@ng gamble, that’s for sure. You risk somethin’ else finding ya, and y’have no idea where you’ll be when you wake up. You might still be in the void depths. If you’re real unlucky, you could end up deeper.”“There’s a deeper region?!”“Oh yeah. See, that’s the thing about this place, Deku—every time you think it can’t get worse, it f@ck@n’ does.”“No kidding…” Izuku muttered. “So, what is it, then? The nightmare depths? The murder depths?”Katsuki laughed. “It’s actually just called the Quiet.” “Somehow, that’s even worse.” Izuku grimaced. “What’s down there?“Who the f@ck knows?” Katsuki replied, grinning. “It’s sorta like the event horizon of this place, in the sense that, as far as we know, no one’s ever made it out alive.”“Couldn’t they send, like, a robot or something?”“The Depths is hostile to technology.” He shrugged. “If it wasn’t, we’d use it to develop some sort of large rapid transit system. But anything you put out here gets swept away, and most electronics just don’t work.” He explained. “A lot of real smart people have been studying this sh@t for a very long time, but the situation hasn’t changed much. At this point, in order to travel out here safely, you either gotta be strong yourself, or be accompanied by someone who is.”Izuku went quiet for a while, taking a moment to process the information. While they walked, he noticed their surroundings getting a bit lighter as they entered what he supposed would be referred to as the twilight depths.“Well, what do they think is down there?” He eventually asked.“In the Quiet?”Izuku nodded.Katsuki sighed heavily, looking up in thought. “I mean, it’s all just conjecture at this point. Some people think there’s somethin’ hidden there, like maybe some kinda treasure, or some sorta Lovecraftian horror.“Others think there’s nothing there, and the reason people don’t come back is just ‘cuz the Depths is too powerful at that point. Like, it’s just the logical conclusion of the pattern we’ve already seen. The Depths knows more and can affect you more the deeper you go.” He shrugged. “Maybe at that level, it becomes impossible to ignore for some reason. There’re as many theories as there are people theorizing about it.”“But what about you, specifically?” Izuku asked “What do you think is down there?”“Me?” Katsuki smirked. “Personally, I think it’s God’s p@rn stash.”They entered through a hollowed out cavern in the hillside, where the walls were lined with faintly pearlescent stone and the distant sound of the tide resonated throughout its body. Even at night, the ambient light still managed to leak in, casting the cavern in a wash of blue and pink that made the whole area feel like a dream.The light gradually became brighter as they approached the opening. Katsuki stepped out first, and then offered Izuku his hand. “Careful. It’s slippery.”Izuku nodded, taking Katsuki’s hand as he stepped down. His feet still skidded, but Katsuki was quick to react, wrapping his other arm around his lower back and lifting him off the slick part. The experience of nearly falling made Izuku’s heart pound in his chest. He took a few deep breaths once Katsuki set him down on the ground.“Y’good?”Izuku sighed, nodding his head. “Great.” Katsuki smiled. “In that case…” He inclined his head toward something behind him, and as Izuku turned around, all the breath he’d just recovered seemed to flee his lungs once again.They were inside a small cove, where the smooth stone formed walls around them and made it feel as though they were enclosed in their own private world. But most striking was the sea itself.It was early nighttime, and as the tide washed in and out gently, it seemed to sparkle. Izuku inched closer, hands over his mouth as he saw that the waves were carrying what looked like small, bead-sized b@lls of light that swirled and glittered beneath the night sky, almost like…“They call it the sea of stars.” Katsuki said, suddenly standing right beside him. He pointed somewhere in the distance. “You see all those trees surrounding the water?” Izuku nodded.“Those are kaizen trees.” He said. “Mature seeds glow when they’re immersed in water. During the summertime, they release ‘em, and the waves disperse them all around the coasts, where they’ll either take root, or attract certain animals that’ll carry them away.” He approached a tree at the far end of the cove. “Here, watch this.” Katsuki grabbed a low branch and began to shake it lightly. Izuku watched in awe as the seeds rained down from the branch, lighting up in a bright, bluish tone as soon as they hit the water. “The fresher ones are brighter.” Katsuki said, hopping off the rock and approaching Izuku again. As seemed to be the theme for the day, for a moment, Izuku was just speechless. He stood there, his mouth covered by his hands, staring out at the sea with wide eyes. “Here, take off your shoes.” Katsuki told him, as he did the same. Once they were both barefoot, Katsuki beckoned him over to a large boulder near the edge, where he sat down, rolling up his pants and putting his feet in the water. Izuku followed suit, sitting beside Katsuki. He wasn’t as tall as him, and so while Katsuki’s feet were immersed up to the ankle, the water only touched the bottoms of Izuku’s feet, and only his toes ever breeched the surface.They sat there for a few minutes in comfortable silence. Izuku stared down at the water, entranced. As it swirled around, the seeds seemed to congregate around their feet like a bed of starlight. He sighed, resting his cheek on Katsuki’s shoulder, felt the heat of his skin through the fabric of his shirt, and started giggling.Katsuki tensed slightly. “What?”Izuku lifted his head to look at him properly. “I just think it’s funny, is all. You act all tough, but deep down, you’re a romantic.”Katsuki just glared at him, though his cheeks were tinted red. “F@ck you.”“I don’t hear you denying it.”For another minute, it was quiet. “I just… wanted to give you a reason to come back.” Katsuki eventually said. Then, a bit quieter, “…Or a reason to stay.”Izuku looked at him, at the strangely vulnerable expression on his face. Katsuki didn’t look back, simply kept his eyes fixated on the water. The red glow merged with the ambient blue, leaving a sort of lavender halo around his head.“Kacchan…” He whispered, lacing his fingers through Katsuki’s. “I’ll come back. I would, even if it was just you down here. Even if this whole place was a wasteland, and you were the last thing alive here… I’d still come back for you.”Katsuki looked at him again, a small grin on his face. He shook his head, laughing softly. “Deku… you really gotta be more careful with your words. If I didn’t know better, a line like that would make me think you were in love with me.”Izuku froze, the word echoing in his head. Love.
  Love.
Do I…   love   Kacchan…?He gulped, and opened his mouth to speak. For a second, it just hung there. Izuku cleared his throat.“Um. So, how would—““Ow!” Katsuki suddenly shouted, startling him. “F@ck!” He yanked his feet out of the water, revealing a fish that had latched onto his big toe. “Motherf@ck@r!” Katsuki grabbed the thing, yanking it off, and hurling it back into the water. “Are you okay?!” “Yeah, just—hang on.” Katsuki grumbled. Izuku leaned forward, and saw that his toe was bleeding. It wasn’t severe, but it was enough to warrant Katsuki standing up and angrily limping to his bag, pulling out a first aid kit. He cleaned and bandaged the bite, cursing under his breath as he did.Once he was done, Izuku asked once more, “Are you okay?”Katsuki sighed. “Yeah,” he rolled his eyes. “F@ck@n’ forgot about those little bastards.” He muttered. “They eat the seeds, but they’re dumb as sh@t, so sometimes…” He shrugged, gesturing down at his foot. “Well, y’know.”Izuku nodded, awkwardly shuffling in place. “Whatever. It’s getting late, anyway.”When they returned, they had circled back to almost the exact same point they’d departed from. They rode the train back quietly, and it was only then, when the danger was behind them, that Izuku really felt the high of their adventure. As they entered Katsuki’s apartment, Izuku could barely hold back the smile on his face. Katsuki showered first, and Izuku second. After he dried his hair and put on his pajamas, he came out of the bathroom to find Katsuki lying on the couch bed. He wasn’t sure what to say, so he just approached him with an awkward, questioning smile. Katsuki provided no explanation. He just patted the space next to him. Izuku only hesitated a second before he climbed in beside him. They lay on their sides, facing each other. Katsuki spoke first.“Have fun today?”Izuku nodded, smiling. “Feels like I just saw the whole world in one day.”“Oh, there’s plenty more I could show ya.” He said. “I chose those places mostly ‘cuz they’re all really close to the Depths. If there was more time, I could show ya sh@t that’d blow that the f@ck outta the water.”Izuku laughed. “Well, I hope I’ll get to see them soon.” Katsuki hummed. “There’s one place in particular that I skipped today. Somewhere nearby.”Izuku raised his eyebrows. “Oh, really?”“Mm. It’s not the most visually spectacular, but it’s special.” He paused, grabbing a stray lock of hair and brushing it out of Izuku’s eyes. “When you get back, I’ll take ya there.”
  When I get back.
He shoved the lingering anxiety into the back of his mind.“Well, I’ll look forward to it.” He smiled. “Today was… honestly, probably the most fun I think I’ve ever had. Thank you, Kacchan.”Katsuki hummed, and for a while, just gazed at him quietly, a wide grin on his face. It made Izuku a little self-conscious.“Wh-What?”“Nothin.’” Katsuki replied. “Was just thinkin’ ‘bout how a few months ago I had to convince you I wasn’t gonna torture children.”Izuku blinked a few times, and then started giggling again. “Yeah… frankly, just from the way you kiss Triplet, it’s kinda hard to imagine you doing anything like that now.”Katsuki blushed slightly. “Oi, you saw that?!”He could barely contain his laughter. “I did.”“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to spy on people, you f@ck?” Katsuki glared. “Quit f@ck@n’ laughing!”“I’m sorry,” He wheezed. “M’sorry. I just think it’s funny, is all… and sweet.”Katsuki rolled his eyes.“You know, for a Demon, you’re not very demonic.” Katsuki looked him up and down, and then his eyes seemed to darken. “Oh, I can be demonic.” Izuku shrugged—as best he could while lying on his side, at least. “I just don’t see it.”He raised an eyebrow, holding Izuku’s gaze for a few seconds. And then, in one sudden flash of movement, Katsuki lurched toward him, rolling Izuku onto his back and straddling him. It was like all the breath had been sucked right out of Izuku’s lungs. He lay there, his cheeks dusted pink as he stared up at the Demon above him, his soft skin and sharp features painted in the cool wash of the city lights. It was moments like these that reminded him just how handsome Katsuki actually was, all hard lines and sharp edges, wrapped up in an aura of something smooth, ethereal. As he sat there above him, dark horns poking through spiky, blond hair, tail swaying gently behind him, Izuku couldn’t help but feel mesmerized. As he leaned in toward him, the soft glow of his eyes shone beneath his lashes, creating subtle patterns on his eyelids in the dimly lit room. And to see him like this, watch the way his muscles shifted beneath his skin, catch the brief glint of his sharp canines whenever he licked his lips… well, it was nothing short of entrancing.Katsuki always looked at him as though he were winning a game Izuku never knew they were playing. Always two steps ahead of him, like the apex predator the creatures of the Depths instinctively knew him to be. Katsuki’s eyes left a stain on his soul that Izuku could never scrub away. Though even if he could, he wouldn’t want to.After a moment, Katsuki began to laugh, low and deep in his throat. “Y’know,” he purred, fingers ghosting beneath Izuku’s chin. “You talk a lotta sh@t for a guy who keeps throwin’ me looks I could feed off of.”Izuku’s breath caught in his throat, his face burning hotter as he realized just how much of an open book he was being. He quickly turned his head away. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Katsuki chuckled, grabbing him firmly by the chin, turning his head back toward him. “Oh you don’t, huh?” His free hand traveled down Izuku’s body, lingering at his hips, drawing lazy circles there.Izuku squirmed a bit, “No.”Katsuki c@cked his head. “You sure about that?”He chewed his lip, averting his eyes as he nodded. He held his breath as Katsuki hummed, leaning in closer. “Well…” he murmured. There was a moment of silence that seemed to last an eternity, as Izuku waited with bated breath to see what the Demon would do next.And then suddenly, Katsuki stood up. By the time Izuku’s mind registered the shift, he was already standing several feet away, his hands stuffed into his pockets casually. Izuku blinked several times, propping himself up on his elbows, his brow furrowed. Katsuki just shrugged. “I guess that’s that, then.” He turned on his heel and began to walk away. For a few seconds, Izuku was so shocked, he couldn’t even form words. He found his voice just as Katsuki was about to disappear into the hallway.“W-Wait!”Katsuki stopped, looking over his shoulder at him, one eyebrow arched.“Why…” Izuku gulped, sitting up fully. “Why’d you stop…?”“Why?” Katsuki parroted, turning to face him. “Well, ‘cuz you said I was wrong, of course.” He spoke with this overly dramatic, feigned innocence. Izuku simply stared at him for a moment. “But… that’s—““—Just a little miscalculation on my part.” Katsuki interjected, leaning back against the wall casually. “You see, Deku—I was under the impression that you wanted me.” He placed a hand over his heart. “But since that apparently ain’t the case, I guess the right thing to do here is to just back off. Wouldn’t you agree?”Izuku blinked a few times. “Back… off…?”“Yeah,” He took a few steps toward him. “Y’know, you might not be aware of this, but all that touching and kissing sh@t I do? That’s actually not, like, platonic.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It actually means I wanna do stuff with you involving this.” Katsuki suddenly grabbed his d@ck through his sweats. Izuku’s eyes widened as he followed the movement, watched as he lingered there for a fleeting moment before he released it, sliding his hand back into his pocket.Izuku was paralyzed, his eyes wide, face hot enough to break a sweat. He swallowed the excess saliva that had suddenly begun to well up beneath his tongue.Katsuki licked his lips. “It’s really my bad, y’know?” He then said. “I should’ve expected this. You are an Angel, after all. I’m sure the s@x ed up in Heaven leaves a lot to be desired.”Izuku squirmed, gripping the sheets on either side of him. “Kacchan…”“But that’s alright.” He continued. “It’s a shame, but it’s whatever, y’know? I’ll just…” he shrugged, taking a few steps closer, until he was standing right at the foot of the bed. “Go back to my room, jerk off like I usually do. No big deal.”An involuntary whimper escaped Izuku’s throat.“Oh, sorry—does hearing about me jerking off bother you? My bad.” Katsuki grinned, sinking one knee into the mattress as he leaned toward him. “Well, don’t worry, nerd. I’ll be sure not to tell you about how I like to…” He hummed. “Wrap my hand around my c@ck and stroke it, while I fantasize about you, down on your knees, sucking me off.”Izuku swore he could hear threads popping from where his hands gripped the bedsheets. “Won’t tell you about how I sometimes like to imagine you down on all fours, takin’ it like a good boy.” He purred. “My hands wrapped around the roots of your wings, using ‘em like a f@ck@n’ harness to pull you back onto my c@ck.” Katsuki’s tongue darted out, licking his lips as his eyes raked over his body. “Wouldn’t wanna make you uncomfortable, right, De-ku?”Izuku made a small, broken, wheezing noise that sounded vaguely like Katsuki’s name as he squirmed even more, thighs rubbing together as his body heated up beneath the Demon’s gaze.“Hmm, yeah?” Katsuki rasped. “Y’know, you really gotta be more careful about the kinda signals you send, Deku.” He smirked. “‘Cuz if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were gettin’ turned on right now.”He whined, eyes starting to tear up. Katsuki grinned even wider, clearly enjoying his struggle.“What’s wrong, De-ku? Somethin’ I said?”“I… fine, I take back what I said earlier, okay?” He glared weakly. “Will you stop this now?”“Stop what?”Izuku clenched his jaw. “You’re definitely a s@d@st.”“Oh?” Katsuki c@cked his head. “Are you suffering, Deku?”“I hate you.”“Aw, don’t be like that.”“Wh-What do you want from me, Kacchan?!”“Oh, Deku… baby.” He purred. “I don’t want anything from you. I just want you.”“But you have me,” Izuku almost sobbed. “Kacchan, I’m right here!”“That so?” He raised his eyebrows. “Then I was right after all, huh? You do want me.”
  “Obviously!” 
He paused for a moment then, staring down at him with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Then he slowly removed his knee from the mattress, taking a wide stance at the foot of the bed. “Well, in that case…“In a flash, Katsuki grabbed his ankles, dragging him down the mattress. Izuku yelped as Katsuki continued to pull until his hips were situated right on the edge, and he only barely managed to raise his barrier before he dove down and kissed him, lips smacking as Katsuki immediately went for the kill, kissed him like he was trying to consume him. Katsuki swallowed every little sound that escaped him, sucked in every breath he released until he felt lightheaded.When they eventually parted, Izuku gasped, trying to hold back the urge to moan as Katsuki kissed down his jaw and neck, his hands rubbing up and down his thighs. Even through his clothes, Katsuki’s touch was overwhelming. “Ah, Kacchan—“ He choked back a whine when Katsuki sealed his lips over his neck, sucking the skin there until his toes curled. “I… I don’t know if I’ll be able to…”Katsuki pulled back a moment later, humming. “Well…” He murmured. “Luckily, there’s plenty of sh@t we can do without direct contact.”Izuku gulped, still panting a bit. “L-Like what?”He slid one hand up into his hair, grabbing by the roots and pulling slightly. Then, Katsuki rolled his hips down into his, and Izuku nearly choked, because he could feel him. Katsuki’s c@ck pressed against his own through the fabric of their thin pants, hard and swelling up further with each passing second. Izuku’s thighs began to shake as Katsuki grinded against him, pulling his head to the side and leaning down, until his lips just ghosted over the shell of his ear.“You okay with gettin’ a little messy, Deku baby?”Izuku bit his lip. He didn’t trust his voice, so he just nodded, and felt Katsuki grin against his ear. And then, in one quick movement, Katsuki flipped their positions, lying on his back with Izuku straddling him. He grabbed his ass, claws biting into the flesh through his pajama pants. And when he used that hold to pull Izuku flush against his hips, he nearly choked, struggling to keep his balance as this body flooded with heat. In this position, he could both feel and see the outline of Katsuki’s c@ck, hot and swollen, straining against the fabric of his sweatpants. “F@ck,” He groaned, reaching under his waistband, adjusting himself. He had to pull his sweatpants up toward his waist just to keep everything contained as he grabbed his c@ck, laid it flat against his body. Izuku’s eyes widened, and he seemed to notice. “What?” He asked, with a grin on his face that said he knew exactly what.He flushed as Katsuki returned both hands to his ass and rolled his hips up into him. “Got somethin’ to say?”Izuku shook his head.“Really?” Katsuki rasped. “‘Cuz it seems like you’ve got somethin’ on your mind.”He shook his head again. “I-I’m not going to—ahh—feed your ego, Kacchan…”He snorted. “Aw, well. That’s okay.” He said. “I think watchin’ you c@m in your pants for me will have basically the same effect.”Izuku glared weakly, fighting to stifle the sounds that threatened to spill past his lips as he pulled him down harder. Even through the layers of clothing, it was intense. The feeling of his d@ck, all hard and grinding against Katsuki’s, was so far removed from anything he’d experienced before, it was genuinely difficult for him to describe. Like warm tea on a cold morning, or a hot bath after a long day, only infinitely more concentrated. It made him want to collapse forward, bury his face in Katsuki’s shoulder, and just let the Demon take care of him. He would’ve been perfectly content to just stay there, panting and shaking while Katsuki worked him like that, groped his ass and dragged him back and forth on his c@ck. But it felt like almost as soon as he’d started, Katsuki stopped. Releasing his hold on him, he folded his arms up behind his head and stared up at Izuku, pupils blown wide, as if he were expecting something. Without his hands on him, Izuku wavered, and planted his palms on Katsuki’s chest over his shirt to keep steady. He blinked a few times, and when he met Katsuki’s eyes, it took a moment for his brain to catch up. “Wh-Why’d you stop…?”“‘Cuz I wanna see you do it.” Katsuki said, looking him over. “You ever touch yourself, Deku?”Izuku tensed, some of that initial embarrassment rushing back to him. He averted his eyes and shook his head quickly. He could’ve sworn he felt Katsuki’s c@ck swell up bit more after that, but he couldn’t be sure.“Well… guess that just means we’ll both be learning what you like.” He rasped. “C’mon baby, start off slow. Roll those hips against me. Whatever feels right.”Izuku shivered as Katsuki’s words washed over him, nodding and squeezing his eyes shut. He leaned forward on his hands, doing as he said and rolling his hips down against him. A whimper managed to slip out, and he felt Katsuki’s c@ck twitch in his sweats. When he finally worked up the nerve to open his eyes, he glanced up at Katsuki and found him staring back intently, his lips wet and parted, his eyes dark, roaming up and down his frame as he watched Izuku stumble through the process of learning his own body in real time.He eventually settled into a rhythm of sorts, leaning forward on his hands as he moved his hips languidly against Katsuki’s. His eyes locked on the point where they met, where Izuku’s pants were beginning to feel a bit damp as he rubbed his c@ck against Katsuki’s. Where Katsuki’s c@ck was hot and hard and pulsating in his sweats, long, thick, heavy against his body. When he finally met his eyes again, Katsuki smirked, arching his hips up into him.“Mm, that’s right.” He purred. “That feel good, Deku?”Izuku couldn’t find it in himself to form words, so instead, he just nodded, ducking his head and blushing.“Good,” he licked his lips, spreading his legs a bit more. “Just keep rubbin’ yourself up on my c@ck. That’s it. Doin’ so good, angel.”
  “Hahh—“
“—Oh? You like when I call you angel, huh?” He grinned, putting one hand on his hip—not directing him, just following Izuku’s movements wherever they led. Katsuki’s other hand slid down his body, grabbing the tip of his own c@ck through his pants, rubbing a bit before he released it. Izuku felt him throbbing against him.“Ahh, Kacchan,” he choked out. “F-Feels…”“You close?”Izuku wasn’t really sure what he meant, so he just wrinkled his brow, and doubled his efforts.“F@ck.” He hissed, finally grabbing his ass with both hands again, pulling him harshly down into him, so fast Izuku fell forward, forearms flat against Katsuki’s torso as he whimpered and moaned helplessly. “Look so f@ck@n’ hot like this, angel.” He said it like it was a dirty word. Izuku felt Katsuki’s voice vibrating deep in his chest, felt his body shaking with it.“Better be f@ck@n’ ready, nerd, ‘cuz when you get back, I ain’t holdin’ back on you.” The heat in Izuku’s stomach began to build, and every word out of Katsuki’s mouth added fuel to the fire. He gripped his shirt tight, holding on for dear life when Katsuki suddenly lurched forward, sitting up until Izuku could feel his hot breath wafting against his ear.“Bet I could f@ck you ’til you forgot what you are. How’s that sound?”Izuku couldn’t take it anymore. He felt the tension rising, like wind-up toy reaching its limit. Something was coming, and he wasn’t really sure what to call it, but at that moment, he wanted it more than anything else.“Sh@t,” Katsuki rasped. “Can’t f@ck@ng wait to watch you Fall on my cock, angel.” He emphasized the word with a hard buck upward, and that was all Izuku could take.His body tensed, thighs trembling and straining to spread further as the warm feeling inside him burst, spreading throughout his entire body. His wings stretched outward involuntarily. “Kacchan—!“ he borderline sobbed, his d@ck twitching in his pants, spilling into the fabric, leaving behind a wet stain as evidence. Izuku was floating, every inch of his body tingling. The sight of it seemed to set Katsuki off. Izuku felt his claws digging into his ass harder as he snarled, and he watched hazily as Katsuki’s horns seemed to extend, his hands growing just a little bit larger as he thrusted up against him. Then he groaned, thick cock pulsating in his sweats. He continued to pull him back and forth against him as he came, soaking through the material a little more with every harsh grind. Izuku was so entranced, he didn’t even care that the oversensitivity was starting to hurt.In the aftermath, they were both left panting. It took Izuku a while to even become aware of his surroundings again.“Hey.”Izuku jumped, opening his eyes. Katsuki was back to his normal, half-shifted form, and when he met his eyes, he felt a residual tremble run through his frame. “You okay?”“I, uhh…” Izuku blinked a few times. “Y-Yeah, just, umm…” He winced. “Sticky?”“Yeah, no sh@t.” Katsuki snorted. “I meant more like, y’know. In your head.” “Oh! Uhh…”  Izuku thought about it, scanning his emotions. There was definitely some guilt mixed in there, some fear and embarrassment. He wasn’t really sure how to feel or act now that it was over. But on the whole… “I…” He bit his lip. “I don’t think I’m… that much more conflicted than I’m used to being with you…?”“Well, I guess that’s good.” Katsuki smiled. “Wasn’t really sure what to expect there. Like, would you be fine? Would you have a breakdown before the cum in your pants even finished cooling? Felt like it could go either way.”“Yeah, I uhhh… might get back to you on that once it starts feeling… real?”Katsuki snorted. “So after it cools, then?” He raised an eyebrow. “‘Cuz at that point, sh@t’s kinda too real.”Izuku laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I… would like to get cleaned up sooner rather than later.”Katsuki hummed. “We could take a shower together.” He suggested, pitch dropping lower.Izuku blushed, dropping his forehead against Katsuki’s shoulder. “One thing at a time, Kacchan.”It came up around an hour later, as he was lying in bed with Triplet snuggled up against him, purring softly as he stroked her silky, black fur. Katsuki was sitting beside him, holding a touchpad, presumably voting on something. After a few minutes, he set it aside with a sigh. “It’s midnight.” He said. “Should probably go to sleep soon, so you’ll be rested.”Izuku nodded slowly. He wasn’t sure why exactly, but at that moment, he suddenly remembered Katsuki’s words from earlier, at the sea of stars.
  ‘If I didn’t know better, a line like that would make me think you’re in love with me.’
He never did get a chance to ask.Izuku bit his lip, and cleared his throat. “Um… c-can I ask you a question…?”He blinked. “Sure.”“How, umm… How would I know…?” Izuku hesitated, falling silent for perhaps a moment too long. He was staring at Triplet, mostly to avoid looking at Katsuki. But then he heard that telltale intake of breath that always preceded speech, and it spurred him to continue. “I-I mean, if I was, you know… in love.”His shoulders drew up as he curled into himself reflexively. When he finally gathered the nerve to look up at Katsuki, he found him staring back. From the look on his face, it seemed he’d genuinely caught him off guard.After a minute, Katsuki sighed, shifting onto his side to rub and scratch Triplet’s head. He made a sound, somewhere between a huff and a laugh.“You’re askin’ the wrong guy, nerd.” He eventually said. “I’m not that good at, like… describin’ feelings and sh@t.”Izuku hummed, and fell silent. The unease persisted inside of him, unresolved. Eventually, Katsuki spoke again.“But honestly… who cares?”Izuku looked up at him. “Sorry?”“No, just…” He shrugged. “Who cares what you call it, y’know? Personally, if it feels right, I think that’s enough.”For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then, Izuku exhaled.“I… guess so.” He mumbled.“I mean,” Katsuki said. “For me, personally, I just try to act in ways that line up with how I feel. Y’know, actions speak louder, and all that crap.” He muttered. “It’s easier for me to just show people how I feel. That’s kinda what today was about.”He nodded, chewing his lip. Then he froze. “Wait, so then…” Izuku’s eyes widened. “You mean to tell me that whole trip was like… a confession?”Katsuki flushed, averting his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I-I mean, when you put it like that, I f@ck@n’ guess… so…?”“So you…” Izuku gulped. “… Love… me?”Katsuki didn’t say anything. He just gave him a look, subtle but meaningful, before he went back to petting Triplet. Izuku cleared his throat awkwardly. “And how long have you felt this way…?”He scoffed. “I dunno, Deku. I can’t like, identify a specific point a where one second I didn’t and the next second I did.” He shrugged again. “Falling for someone is a process, not an event.”“I-I see.” Izuku said, his voice small, and his cheeks hot. “Sorry, I’m just trying to, um… B-Because I’ve never… really had to…” he stammered. “You know, I just don’t know how to, uhhh, classify these sorts of things, or—““Then don’t.” Katsuki said, soft but firm. When Izuku worked up the nerve to look at him again, he found Katsuki staring right back at him. “Like I said, in the end… it doesn’t really matter what you call it. Don’t get yourself all f@ck@d up over it, alright?”Izuku relaxed a bit, nodding his head.“Good.” Katsuki said. Then he glanced down at Triplet again. “Oh, and just so you know, you’re about one and a half belly rubs away from getting bit.”“What are you—ow!”The next morning found Izuku sitting at a round table in a room with Katsuki, Aizawa, and a pink-haired woman he’d never met before. “Midoriya, this is Hatsume.” Aizawa said, gesturing toward her. “She’s an engineer from the MagiTech workers syndicate.” “Ah! Nice to meet you.” Holding his barrier, he extended his hand toward her, and winced at the bone-crushing handshake he received. “Wow, a real live Angel!” She shook his hand up and down so vigorously, his whole body moved with it. “I’ve always been so fascinated by you guys! Hey, maybe if you’re free after this, we could meet up and I could run some experiments on—“Katsuki severed the handshake with a firm hand chop. “No experiments on Deku.”Hatsume winced as she retracted her hand. “Possessive, huh?”Katsuki simply narrowed his eyes.“Anyway,” Aizawa began, already sounding exhausted, “I’ve brought her in because she was one of the main engineers behind this.” He slid something across the table, and when he lifted his hand, Izuku saw a small, metal object. It looked a bit like a pill capsule, but had a button on the side and what looked like a tiny LED on top. “What is this?”“It’s called a gravity seed.” Hatsume said.“Okay…?” Izuku frowned. “What does it do?”“The main reason Demons can’t enter Heaven is because of its gravitational lock.” Aizawa explained. “The whole place is essentially built to reject Demon souls, to the point where just setting foot in Heaven causes the ground to immediately collapse.”“And this… counteracts that, somehow?”Hatsume nodded. “It’s a major breakthrough! You see, up until recently we couldn’t figure out what—““—Hatsume, we talked about this.” Aizawa interjected, throwing her a look. She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, and averted her eyes. After a second, Aizawa set his sights back on Izuku. “Sorry,” he told him. “We’d like to tell you how it works, but we want to avoid revealing too much information, just in case.”Just in case things go wrong, Izuku’s mind supplied. Just in case I get caught.“But you won’t withhold any info that could put him in danger.” Katsuki said, as a statement of fact rather than a question.“Obviously not.” Aizawa rolled his eyes.“Um, so… what do I do with these, exactly?” Izuku asked.Hatsume pulled one out of her pocket and leaned over to show him. “See this button here?” Izuku nodded. “Just push it, twist the capsule, and that’s it.” She demonstrated, and the LED at the top began to glow red. Izuku nodded. “Okay. So… should I hide them in the ground, or close to it, or…?”“Hiding them in or near the ground is preferable, but not required.” She said. “It’ll latch onto just about anything, as long as it hasn’t been blessed. They’re also waterproof.”“And how many do I need to plant?”“Ideally, three, but it’s possible to make do with one.” With a grimace, she continued, “There’s… one other thing, though.”“Um, what’s that?”“The efficacy is dependent on how far away the seeds are.” She explained. “You can think of it like a tripod. The further the legs are from each other, the more stable it is.” Izuku’s palms started to feel sweaty, and he wiped them on the bottom of his cloak as he asked, “H-How far are we talking, exactly?”“Well… if you think of the first circle of Heaven as being like a clock, then ideally, you’d place the three gravity locks at twelve, four and eight o’clock, respectively.”Izuku gulped, gripping the fabric of his cloak. And suddenly, Katsuki’s gloved hand was covering his.“Deku,” He said. “You don’t need to go that far.”Izuku took a deep breath and nodded slowly, his grip relaxing a bit.“Maybe now’s a good time to talk about safety measures.” Aizawa said, standing up. He went and grabbed a box off the shelf, and then slid it across the table to Izuku. “Here.”Izuku opened the box to find a thick, silver chain, with a translucent pendant. 
  Is this…?
“It’s an artifice.” Aizawa said. “A more powerful kind.”“Ohh. So that’s what I was sensing over there.” Katsuki snorted. “Christ, Aizawa. Feels like there’s an entire f@ck@n’ soul crammed into this thing.”“…What does it do?”“Why don’t you put it on and find out?” Aizawa suggested. Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then shrugged, leaning forward to hook it around his neck. He looked around and saw Katsuki staring at him with wide eyes. “Uhh, how do I look…?”“You don’t.” Katsuki said, cracking a grin.“Excuse me?”“You’re f@ck@ng invisible.” Katsuki said, his grin growing even more. “Holy sh@t, Aizawa.”Katsuki waved his hand in the air until it smacked right up against the side of Izuku’s head. “Ah—Hey!”“Still solid, though.” Katsuki noted. Izuku glared at him, before remembering that he was literally invisible. He sighed and took the artifice off, placing it back in the box as he looked up at Aizawa. “Um. Thank you.”“You still need to be careful, though.” Aizawa told him. “I think it’s safe to assume this won’t work on an Acolyte. Stay aware of your surroundings. If you see one, get away before they can get too close.” He lowered his voice slightly. “We still don’t know much about them, but I think it’s safe to assume that if you’re close enough to feel their presence, they’re close enough to feel yours. If that happens, drop everything and focus on getting out as fast as possible. Even if we’re wrong, it just isn’t worth the risk.”Izuku nodded solemnly, a chill running down his spine at the mere thought of it.“Any questions?”Izuku chewed his lip, thinking for a moment. When he couldn’t come up with anything, he shook his head.“Well, I have one for you.” Katsuki chimed in. Izuku looked up, and was met with a grave expression. “Are you really sure about this?”Izuku hesitated. “What? I-I mean, of course.”“No, I’m serious, Deku.” Katsuki said, leaning a bit closer. “I would hope you don’t need me to tell you this, but this ain’t a trivial f@ck@n’ task. This is a dangerous mission.”Izuku smiled nervously. “It’s just a walk through heaven, Kacchan.” He said, though the words left a bitter taste on his tongue. “It’s… not that different from what I normally do.”“It is different, Deku. You know that.” He sighed. “You’re a f@ck@ng fugitive now. If this goes wrong, you could get killed, or worse.”Izuku didn’t respond. He just stared down at his lap, wringing his wrists. “Honestly,” Katsuki continued, “I don’t think you should even try to plant all of them. Put one down at soon as you set foot in there, and then get the f@ck out.”“That’d make invading much more physically demanding.” Hatsume noted.“Speaking as one of the Demons doing the actual invading, I don’t care.” Katsuki told her. “We’ll make it work. We can plant more during the actual invasion.”“It’s not that easy, unfortunately.” She shook her head. “The gravity seeds require at least thirty-six hours to become effective.”“What the f@ck? Why?”“Any faster than that, and we run the risk of them being rejected entirely, according to our models.” She shrugged. “Believe me, I know it’s not ideal, but this is the only method we’ve come up with that doesn’t require shutting down the entire gravitational lock system.”Katsuki glared at her for a while, and then sighed heavily. “F@ck.”After a moment, Aizawa spoke up.“If Midoriya were to get caught, would the seeds be easy for them to disable?” He then asked.“No. That would be difficult, unless they were able to find them within a relatively short period of time.” She explained. “So, at least if he were to get caught, you’d still be able to rescue him.”“Yeah, in thirty-six hours.” Katsuki scoffed. Aizawa sighed, rubbing his temples. “Well, regardless, I’m leaning toward Bakugou’s perspective, here. We shouldn’t take unnecessary risks.”“F@ck@ng thank you—““—That said,” he interjected. “If the opportunity to plant more arises, I won’t say you shouldn’t take it.”Izuku nodded, chewing his lip.After a second, Katsuki exhaled sharply. “Well, my recommendation stays the same. Get in and get out.”Aizawa shrugged. “I suppose that’s just a judgement call you’ll have to make yourself, then.”The trip to Earth was a quiet affair, for the most part. Izuku couldn’t really find it in himself to hold a conversation, given how anxious he was. Part of him wanted to run away, and another part just wanted to get it over with. But before he could even think about entering Heaven, he first needed to wash off the ‘aura of Hell,’ as Aizawa had called it.The hot spring was tucked away in a mountainside resort, where the trees were thick and the water bluer than the sky. A small waterfall fed into a gently-steaming pool, and the altitude counteracted the summertime enough to leave the air cool. Izuku toed off his shoes, setting them aside before coming to stand before the hot spring, fidgeting with the hem of his cloak.“Well, go on then.” Katsuki said, standing just a few feet behind him. “Undress.”Izuku flushed. “Um…” He turned to look at him. “C-Could you maybe turn around, please?”He released a long, dramatic sigh, as though the thought of doing so physically pained him. Still, he did as he asked, and turned around.Izuku made quick work of his clothes, haphazardly folding them up on a nearby boulder before stepping into the water. It was hot, and he probably would’ve liked to ease into it a bit slower, but the fact that Katsuki was waiting on him spurred him to move faster. Izuku winced slightly as he quickly got in to hip-height, and then slowly waded deeper into the water.“Okay!” He called. Katsuki turned around, and went to sit on a large rock near the edge.As seconds ticked by and the initial shock of the heat wore off, Izuku sighed as he felt some of the tension ease from his muscles. He sunk down until his chin touched the water, stretched his arms and wings out. After a moment, he dunked his head under, letting the warm, spring water flow through his hair. He came up for air, and brushed his wet hair back. But all the while, he felt Katsuki’s eyes on him. Izuku glanced at him nervously a few times, at the way he sat there on the boulder, his legs spread, one elbow propped up on his knee and his chin resting in his palm. Katsuki’s eyes followed his movements with a subtle heat that had Izuku flushing, crouching down until the water reached his nose.“H-How long did he say I should stay in?”“At least fifteen minutes.” Katsuki drawled. “Minimum.”Izuku sighed. It’d been less than five minutes, and he was already starting to squirm under Katsuki’s attention. He turned his back on him, and tried to focus on the pleasant warmth of the spring.A few minutes went by, and then suddenly, Izuku felt the water behind him shift.“Hey.”“Ah!” Izuku tensed, spinning around to find Katsuki standing right there with him, grinning. Undressed. Naked. “K-Kacchan!” Katsuki laughed lowly, crowding him against the side of the hot spring. “I-I don’t think we should do anything in here! It might not work if we do!”“What do you mean by ‘do anything’?” Katsuki teased. “What are you thinkin’ of doing, huh?”Izuku gave him a tired look. “Kacchan, you’re naked.” He said. “You know exactly what I was thinking. In fact, I’m willing to bet that making me think that was part of your motivation for getting in here in the first place.”Katsuki stared at him for a moment, and then grinned, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, okay. You got me.”“Unbelievable.”Katsuki laughed. “Sorry, nerd.” He shrugged. “You’re just too fun to tease.”Izuku sighed, shaking his head.For a minute, it was quiet.“Really, though.” Katsuki said, his expression suddenly much more serious. “It’s not too late to back out of this, Deku.”Izuku stared at him for a moment, and then started to laugh a bit, under his breath. Katsuki’s brow furrowed.“Kacchan…” He mumbled. “You know I can’t just back out of this.”Katsuki frowned. “The hell? Of course you can.”“And what?” He interjected, his brow wrinkling. “Just leave him there? Just let All Might die?”“Deku,” Katsuki took a few steps toward him. “You know this ain’t the only option.”“It’s the fastest one, though.” Izuku said. “And I’m partly responsible for him being there.”“What the f@ck are you talking about?”Izuku shrugged, gazing down at the water. “If I hadn’t pressured him to teach me things he wasn’t supposed to, he might not be there right now.”“Yeah. Key word being might, Deku, ‘cuz you don’t know that.” He scoffed. “And he’s a f@ck@ng adult. If he didn’t want to teach you something, he could’ve just said no.” “Well, what other choice did he have? He had to teach me those things once I started working with you!”“And who’s f@ck@ng idea was it to work with me, huh?” Katsuki shot back. “Deku, don’t be f@ck@ng stupid. We both know your mentor’s been in some sh@t for a while.” Izuku opened his mouth to retort, but the words never came. He sunk down until his chin touched the surface, and stared vacantly at the water. Katsuki sighed.“Look, I get it, okay?” He muttered. “I know what it’s like to have survivor’s guilt, or whatever. But you gotta find a way to shut that voice up, ‘cuz it ain’t gonna do you any good.”Izuku sunk down to his nose, and for a minute, Katsuki was silent.“Is that really all this is about?” He eventually asked. Izuku didn’t move. “Deku…?”The image of the town came to mind, bleached white and devoid of life. Izuku closed his eyes, then stood up again.He whispered, “…What would it say about me if I backed out now?”Katsuki’s brow furrowed. “The hell d’you mean?”“I mean,” He took a deep breath. “If I refused to help, even after seeing that… place.”Katsuki’s eyes widened as he stood there, staring at him. Then, he cursed under his breath, turning his back on him as he slid his hands into his hair, gripping it harshly by the roots.“K-Kacchan?”“I f@ck@ng knew I shouldn’t have shown you that sh@t. F@ck.”“No, I’m grateful you did!” Izuku said. “Kacchan, I need to make this right, I’m partially re—““Stop!” He shouted, turning around sharply. “Just f@ck@ng stop! Deku, don’t you dare try to put that sh@t on your shoulders. You’re not f@ck@ng responsible for the crimes of the regime you live under. You’re a f@ck@ng victim of it, just like we are.”For a minute, Izuku couldn’t even look at him, much less formulate a response.“Okay, y’know what? F@ck this. We’re callin’ it off.”“What?!” Izuku paled. “No, please!”“M’not gonna let you risk your f@ck@ng life over some f@ck@ng misplaced guilt!” “Kacchan, wait!” He cried. “I’m sorry!”Katsuki threw him an incredulous look. “I don’t want you to be f@ck@ng sorry!”“Well, how am I supposed to feel when I see something like that?!”“Angry, Deku! You’re supposed to be f@ck@ng angry, because anger is productive!”He faltered, his brows pinching together. “W-Well, I’m still doing it, aren’t I?” He then said. “If it gets the same result, I don’t see why—!“Katsuki took a step closer, planting his hands on either side of the ledge behind him, boxing him in.“It is not the f@ck@ng same, Deku.” He snapped, his volume lower, but his tone even more resolute. “When you’re p@ss@d off about injustice, you become a rebel. When you feel guilty about it, you become a f@ck@ng martyr.”Izuku froze for a moment, speechless. For a very long time, neither of them spoke. Katsuki just stood there, staring him down. Eventually, he backed away, moving over to the far end of the hot spring, his back turned. After a moment, Izuku followed him there. Holding his barrier, he placed his hand on his back.“…I’m sorry, Kacchan.” “I just told you—““—No, listen. Please.” When Katsuki didn’t say anything else, he took that to mean he was listening.“I think…” Izuku began, his voice so very small. “I think sometimes I have a hard time with stuff like this. I’m just… so used to shame and guilt that I sometimes just sort of… default to it.”Katsuki sighed, and turned around, grabbing the hand that had been on his back. “You can’t do that for sh@t like this, Deku. It’s too f@ck@n’ dangerous.”“I know. I know it is.” He swallowed. “But… please. I have to do this. I don’t want to waste any time. This is too important.”For a very long time, Katsuki just gazed down at him, his eyes searching. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he asked: “If you had to choose between saving yourself and saving All Might, who would you choose?”Izuku’s breath caught in his throat, eyes widening. He stared at Katsuki for a moment, and then looked away.“That’s what I thought.” Katsuki said, with a bitter smile. “Kacchan, you can’t just ask me to choose between my life and the life of someone I care about.”He snorted. “Okay, what about someone you don’t care about?” Katsuki shot back. “Remember the second time we met, when you were ready to f@ck@ng die just to stop me from taking those two girls to Hell?”“They were kids!” Izuku said. “Kacchan, this isn’t fair, you can’t just—““—I can, actually.” He interrupted. “Deku, I need you to have a basic sense of f@ck@ng self-preservation.”“Why are you so—!““—Because I f@ck@ng love you, you piece of sh@t!”Izuku froze, his mouth still open. After what felt like an eternity, Izuku said, “Kacchan, I lo—ow!“Katsuki flicked his forehead. “Don’t say it back, @ssh@l@.” He grumbled. “Not now.”His mouth moved, but no sound came out. He sunk down in the water again, up to his chin.“Here, how about this.” Katsuki sighed. “You take exactly one gravity seed with you, plant it the first place you can, and come right the f@ck back. And then, if you really mean what you were about to say just now, then you can say it.”Izuku stared up at him for several seconds. “Kacchan, that’s—“”—Those are the terms.” He said. “Take it or leave it.”Izuku hesitated, but eventually he gave in, shoulders slumping. “…Fine.”“Okay?” “Okay.”They got out a few minutes later, and dressed themselves in silence. Izuku stared at the single gravity seed in his hand, and curled his fingers tightly around it.“I guess I’ll be off, then.”“Wait.” Katsuki said, stepping toward him. He gave Izuku a look as he closed in, one that Izuku had learned to recognize without words. It said, ‘I’m about to touch you, so get ready.’He felt a finger beneath his chin first, tilting his head up slightly before Katsuki leaned down and kissed him. It was a slow kiss, a sweet one. It brought Izuku’s senses to life without making him feel like he was about to implode. The kind of kiss you could build a life around.When Katsuki pulled away, the look in his eye was soft in a way Izuku couldn’t recall seeing before. His palms cupped his cheeks as he leaned in close, resting his forehead against Izuku’s.“You’ll come back to me, Izuku.” He murmured, as though he could speak it into reality. “You will. You hear me?”Izuku was so startled by the naked vulnerability in his voice, it took him a moment to respond.He gulped. “Of course, Kacchan.” He whispered, fingers wrapping around Katsuki’s wrists.They stayed that way for a moment, looking into each other’s eyes. When they eventually parted and said their goodbyes, Izuku breathed a sigh of relief upon taking flight.He thought for sure Katsuki would find out, but apparently not. He was in the clear, now—with one gravity seed stowed away in his pocket……and the other three hidden safely in his mouth.Izuku arrived at the station with the invisibility artifice around his neck, and the gravity seeds pressing into his cheeks.He looked around the corner nervously, making sure that no Acolytes were around before he quietly ran to the platform, boarding the shuttle along with a couple other people.Whether or not invisibility would be enough to get him through to the inner circles was unknown, but it didn’t seem likely. Even if it was, testing it wasn’t worth the risk. Izuku needed to keep his head down, stay silent.The shuttle arrived at an entry point at the first circle, and Izuku quickly ducked into a nearby alley. There, he scanned his surroundings once again before he took out the first gravity seed—the one he’d kept in his pocket—and dropped to a squat beside a trashcan. He pressed the button on the side and twisted it. A brief flash of light confirmed that the device was active, and he quickly set it down behind the trashcan, out of sight. Izuku stood up again, brushing off his clothes. He paused for moment to look around again, and as he stood there, Katsuki’s words echoed in his mind.
  Get in and get out. 
He bit his lip, felt the other three gravity seeds inside his mouth as he flattened himself against the wall, his heart pounding.Izuku knew he should quit while he was ahead. He peered around the corner, watched as a couple of Angels stood waiting for the outbound shuttle. It arrived a minute later, the doors opening, letting a few people out before the others began to board. He shifted back and forth between his feet, looking around nervously. Just go. Just get on the d@mn shuttle! He could almost hear Katsuki shouting.But he was already here. He had three more seeds.And he knew he could do so much more.With a shuddering breath, Izuku backed into the alley again, checking his surroundings once more as he considered his options. They’d warned him not to go anywhere they might expect him to go, which naturally ruled out the campus and dorms. The library seemed like a safe bet, and it usually wasn’t too busy this time of day. Taking a deep breath, he poked his head out and looked both ways before he set off toward it. Despite the artifice, he was still careful to stick to low-traffic areas, keeping quiet and moving through the shadows whenever possible. He passed a couple of people, but no one ever looked at him. With a bit more confidence, he entered the building behind another Angel, and immediately ducked to the right. He headed toward the end of the library, into the parts which technically penetrated into the inner circles, and backed himself into the corner there. He stopped to look around yet again before he took out another gravity seed. He wiped it off on his clothes, then activated it and slid it behind the bookshelf there. Already, he felt more accomplished.Just one more, he thought. I know I can do just one more. A fair distance from the library, there was a park located near an exit point. It wasn’t technically on the campus grounds, but it was close. It’s an open area, though, he reasoned. I’d be able to spot any Acolytes way before they were close enough to sense me.Nodding to himself, Izuku quickly exited the library, and set off for the park next. He once again kept to back alleys and side streets, and his trek went undisturbed.Once he reached the park, Izuku found a soft spot in the ground beside a tree, activated the third gravity seed and quite literally planted it in the ground. He stood up slowly, his back pressed against the tree as he looked around. There were a few people out walking, but no one Izuku knew. He briefly wondered if he should try to plant the extra gravity seed somewhere. The hospital was a fair distance away. 
  That’d be a good place…
Izuku shook his head. The hospital was definitely out of the question. If there was one place outside of the innermost circle that he could expect to encounter an Acolyte, it would be there.He sighed, and ultimately decided to just leave.The closest platform was nearby, but he’d get there even quicker if he cut a bit close to campus. He knew, at least rationally, that it was risky, but it was also a path he knew well, and he could easily see his surroundings. Izuku shut out his lingering anxiety and set off in that direction, making his way up the grassy hill at the other end of the park, which separated it from the residential neighborhood beyond. It was quiet. It had been ever since he’d arrived. It was a little unnerving, but when he actually thought about it, it wasn’t that weird, given the time. It was around eleven in the morning; most people were either in class or working, which naturally meant that most of the streets would be empty. He wasn’t planning on passing All Might’s house. He’d been planning on altering his route slightly to avoid it, but when he reached the corner, he stopped, looking around cautiously. His eyes fixated on the turn. Just a few more steps and he’d be able to see it.He wondered if the light in the study would still be on, and swallowed. Just a peak, he decided, quietly inching toward it. One last look, and then I’m gone.He carefully poked his head around the corner, and then froze. There was a second that went by which seemed to stretch on for an eternity, during which all he could do was stand there, paralyzed as he stared at it.All Might’s house was on fire. He could smell the smoke from where he stood, watching the angry, red flames swallow the structure. “What…?” He said, barely a whisper. “Why?”It’s a trap, his instincts told him. They’re trying to lure you in. Don’t fall for it!Izuku nodded to himself, swallowing roughly. I need to get away. They’re probably waiting just behind the fence, ready to ambush me, as soon as I’m close enough for them to sense. He started backing away, stumbling slightly. I just need to—He took one more step back, and froze once again.The house was no longer burning. It stopped, the moment he’d gotten a certain distance away. Like he was out of range for the illusion.
  Which means…
All the blood drained from his face as the cold realization washed over him. 
  Which means I’ve already gotten too close.
Izuku bolted. He went straight for the nearby forest he’d been planning to cut through anyway, and did not look back. He couldn’t even hear his own footsteps. Only the blood rushing in his ears as the trees blurred past him. He emerged at the nearby creek, just a minute away from the closest platform. He was making a beeline for the bridge, when a flash of what looked like white and gold in his periphery spurred him to duck underneath it and hide, instead. He sat there in the shadows, heart pounding in his ears as he carefully peeked in that direction, but all he saw was brown and green.
  Maybe it was just my imagination, but what if it wasn’t? What will I do if they get closer, and—
“Midoriya.” A voice said.A familiar voice.It was like he’d been doused with a bucket of ice water. He remained still for a second before the shaking started. Slowly, he turned around.And there he was.
  All Might.
There was a large bandage wrapped around one of his eyes. His feet were bare, his body thin—even thinner than he had been before, if that were even possible—and he was kneeling on the jagged, rocky ground beneath the bridge. The subtle sound of a chain clinking alerted him to the fact that his wrists were shackled, and Izuku’s heart lurched when he noted that the handcuffs were stained with blood, his wrists bruised and discolored.His wings looked different, too, and Izuku realized, with shock and horror, that they’d been clipped. “Help me!” He called out weakly. “Please!”Izuku felt a bead of cold sweat roll down his neck. There was a metallic taste on his tongue, and somehow he knew that the gravity seed was not to blame. His vision wavered as nausea churned his stomach so hard, he almost fell over. Because this is a trap, he realized. It has to be a trap. It’s too convenient not to be.And if there was any doubt left in his mind that the Council was capable of unrepentant cruelty, it died at that moment, when he looked at All Might and felt something inside of him break.The look of pain on his face was far too visceral to ignore, especially when he turned around, and showed Izuku the massive wound in his shoulder.“All… Might…?” He choked on the words.“Please, Midoriya. I don’t have much time before the soul bleed starts again, and I can’t—“ His wrists pulled against the handcuffs in vain. Izuku knew what he was asking.He knew it was a trap.But he also knew it didn’t matter, anymore. It was too late for him to escape.Izuku wiped his tears away, and stumbled closer. He reached for the hem of his cloak, intending to tear off a piece of the fabric.“No, it’s alright, just use—“ he gestured up toward the white gauze wrapped around his head and eye. “My eye’s healed already.” Izuku gulped, and nodded. He got down on his knees, rocks scraping up his skin. And as he got closer, he actually felt a glimmer of hope. It really did look just like All Might. Maybe it really was him, and they could escape together. He carefully undid the bandage, unravelling it from around his head. All Might didn’t say anything else. All he heard was the sound of water flowing through the creek.When he finally managed to unravel the bandage completely, All Might leaned forward, giving him access to the wound.But there was no wound, only white fabric. Izuku wasn’t holding white gauze, but rather a length of crimson silk.And finally, the sob he’d been holding back this whole time broke free.
  I’m so stupid.
I’m so, so   f@ck@ng   stupid.Izuku wiped his eyes on the red fabric as he sat back.In that moment, he felt the full weight of the Acolyte’s presence come rushing back, as though it had been contained within the illusion. He stared at the water as it flowed through the small stream.“I think you dropped these.” He said, holding his hand out.Izuku’s eyes went wide, and for a moment, the world went silent again. Because there, resting in the Acolytes palms, were the gravity seeds. All three of them, misshapen and destroyed. And suddenly, it hit him.
  Oh, I see.
One by one, snow-white finger tips dropped the gravity seeds into the stream. They knew all along, he realized. From the moment I landed at the station, they knew.
  Escape was never an option.
And despite the situation, the epiphany wrapped around him like a warm blanket. They’d been following him the entire time, slowly closing in. Making sure he couldn’t escape.Making sure he couldn’t be saved.And in a dark way, the realization comforted him. Because at least he knew it wasn’t his fault. They’d played right into their hands. It was always going to end this way. The creek swept away the last gravity seed, and Izuku’s tears dried. As he slowly raised his gaze, Izuku made a decision. A last-ditch move to try and preserve what little he had left.He swallowed the fourth gravity seed. It wasn’t active. It couldn’t save him. But at least he could save it.And as he looked up at where the Acolytes eyes would have been, Izuku saw only a flash of blinding red light. His muscles tensed up as the paralysis set in, and he collapsed, head smacking painfully against a nearby rock, just above the water in the creek.His ears were ringing, the world wavering.Katsuki’s voice echoed in his head.
  “You’ll come back to me, Izuku.”
He watched his own blood as it swirled before his eyes, deep red mixing with the murky water of the creek.
  “You will. You got that?”
Then, darkness.
  
  

    
      
        
        
          just goes to show that no matter what AU u put him in, Deku's still... Deku, I guessso. lots of sh@t happened here, huh. ngl, probably my favorite part of writing this was the scenes in the Depths,,, like it was really self-indulgent Lore for the Sake of Lore type sh@t, but i really enjoyed developing that idea. i was shooting for like a combination of the house from House of Leaves, the abyss in Made in Abyss, and the ocean, because all three of them both fascinate and scare the absolute sh@t out of me. so yeahanyway,, um, yes. a few of you may know i've been in a pretty dark place these past few weeks. it's been hard. i hope that didn't affect my writing. and i hope this story sticks with you, or maybe makes you feel something worth thinking or talking about. sometimes i worry that all the world building might take away from the emotional impact of the story, or something. idk, i'm trying my best not to get too down on myself lolNext chapter's gonna be a bit different, but it'll be cool, and hopefully satisfying to read. I call it "the chekov's gun chapter" in my head because it's the one where like four different things that have been brought up at various times over the course of the story for no obvious reason all suddenly come back and become really f@ck@ng important. so yeah. as always, thank you for reading'
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