It can't be...
From the midst of air emerged the drops of water that everyone needed... From the air the type of origin for which we live... but from the body of prey came the venom of the predator.
She watched in horror at the image in front of her... It was a nightmare unfolded in rags of a bloated dead body. The resemblance of a demon she had never seen but heard before.
"Good evening..." The creature peeked through the fingers on the hand that covered its face, a red glow in the eyes that belonged to his reminiscence of a head. "Uraraka…"
"The tree of a thousand hands..." Uraraka's eyes were full of fear at the realization of something morbid. "You were... inside of the maiden...?"
He stepped closer to the maid, watching her closely like a prey. "Why yes, my darling witch... A pure soul must be tainted with the venom of sin... and she is the example of the purity to feed on..."
The maid felt something tingle in the tips of her fingers, something like shock falling over her. "But- how? Why is a creature of wishes f-feeding on an innocent soul..."
She could sense the smirk from a mile away. "Because humane creatures are foolish and greedy... wishes are just the mere door to what I stand for!"
It felt as if the world was turning upside down. Uraraka could feel the cold chill of a breeze trailing her back, a realization at the crude reality and the remembrance of warnings from a particular lover. A puzzle piece clicking in the light of it all. "My wish...you-"
"As I stand in front, you now realize of the fate you have chosen on your own terms?" He snickered. "A foolish child, bearing the guilt of her own standards... of her own remarks."
The maid trembled beyond compare. The creature was right. Now everything came to light, and it all was reflected on her.
My parents... my life... Bakugou... It is all my fault...
"It is a wonderful sight!" The creature laughed, making Uraraka feel uneasy. "Cry, darling! Cry!"
She couldn't control the unimaginable pain that struck her chest. Fate was a cruel situation for a living thing, except on moments of passage, in which her case wasn't fit.
Uraraka mustered the fear that kept her on edge, a curiosity that haunted her at that very moment. "Is this it...? You come to judge me at my fortune death in your pleasure?"
"You sound eager!" He rendered his thoughts for a second, finding a way to torture the troubled mind of the girl with truth only he knew about. "If only it were destiny the one to find the path to your end... instead, don't flatter yourself with such luxurious thoughts! You are only mere payment for a debt someone else owes me!"
Uraraka's eyes jumped back to the creature luring closer to her, something striking her mind with uncertain fear. "Who..?"
She could feel the smirk from beneath his hand, watching as his eye caught the ring around her neck. "Oh, how doubt can cloud such purity in mind and soul! It is the debt your dear beloved owes to me! You are the payment of his gratitude's deed!"
The warnings the beast had told her, how his eyes had pleaded for her to revolt her decision in returning to save his life... How he scolded her for doing all of this...
Now she understood. She understood the intentions beyond every action.
There was one thing left to complete the puzzle-piece of heartbreak.
"What were the terms...?" Uraraka waited for an answer, but only got a laugh in return. "What were they?!"
"HA! Have you not listened to the words I speak, little witch?!" A part of the dark mist turned to a hand, which were pressed under her chin for a better view of her suffering expression. "You are his terms! You are the power I sought on the terms of his wish!"
Her mind went blank... her heart shattered and used. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "That's why you didn't kill me in that instance..."
"Now don't cry little one! You can't forget you made this process easier than planned!"
I did... I was a fool! I was a strangled fool! She drowned her pain out in the strangled cry that left her mouth, an undeniable betrayal for her to hold. Because of love she had sacrificed her freedom, sacrificed her powers... her family...
Her family! "What will you do with them...?" Her eyes slowly raised to meet the creature. "WHat will you do with my parents...?"
"You have decided their fate... You know where they will go, darling!"
Suddenly, Uraraka's fear was replaced by rage. Something in her burned from within, traveling down her arms and limbs. Something that had been familiar to her months before.
With painful strength, the witch got on her feet and went with the nature of within, something like a vase breaking behind her and shards flying past by. She watched closely as the tips of the shards reached the corrosive skin of the creature, only to be cut off by a wave of heat and the sight of a string of fire breaking the tension apart.
Both subjects fell backward, one to the ground and the other against a bedpost.
Heavy steps suddenly flooded the room. Very familiar and perfectly contrasted with the time at hand. Claps accompanied the echo and a strong voice went along.
"I see you were having fun without me... Tomura."
The creature snickered like before. "I thought you were never appearing at such an important event!"
Uraraka slowly awoke from the dizziness the impact had caused her, coughing at the smoke of the fire that surrounded her, suffocating her. She quickly rose to her feet, catching a glimpse of the scene beyond the flames.
The large and fierce man crossed his arms over his broad chest, his eyes piercing deep in the creature. "I never thought it would be in the presence of my wife!"
The witch could only gawk in anger at the figure of the master of the house: Endeavor. She slowly walked closer to the edge of the fire ring, getting a closer look at the man she chose for her enemy. Slowly, in her adrenaline, she touched the flames, yelping at the realization of her humane act and the pain of reality.
Endeavor smirked and turned slowly to the maiden. "As if anger and regret could remedy the pain you must now endure... Ochako Uraraka, daughter of the grand witch."
Uraraka gasped slightly, lowering her gaze once more and letting guilt eat at her again. Still, some rage drew her forward. "Where are they?!"
The man approached the flames, gracing them with his half-dressed body and coming out without a burn mark. He kneeled before the witch, catching her glimmering sight and also the bright blue light that emerged from her tightening fist. His smirk grew at the sight.
"Far away from where you stand, in a torturous pit of their own lament..." He tried to puncture the open wound with more piercing words. "In the pit of your own naivety..."
It worked. Without a second thought, Uraraka launched at the strong man with the power that she had once lost. To the dismay of her senses, Endeavor's strong hand held the impact, strangling the veins of her arm and making her yelp out in pain, missing the horrific impression on the creature behind the barrier, and the doubt that clouded his mind.
Her eyes seemed to lose the shine that it once bore, replaced with something more indulging.
The wish... has been bargained? Tomura's face reflected a quick sense of shock that only the speed of light could register. She has broken the barrier of a force with her mere strength?
Then, with a quick sense, Endeavor grabbed at the witch's neck watching her struggle to untangle from his strength. "I was given a warning of betrayal... and this is the face of it all... A beautiful young weakling. What a waste!"
She could only think about her family despite her life coming to a close. "What will you do.. agh!.. with them?!"
Endeavor came in contact with her darkening eyes. "Torture them till death do them apart! It is only what they deserve!"
Her eyes shined in fury. "You disgusting man!"
Tomura laughed behind them. "It is only the key to open the door of another wish!"
The master of the house tightened his hand around the girl's neck. "Any last words in your domain, my darling traitor?"
Uraraka could only lament the strange cause of her soon to be death granter, she realized it now in those moments, she realized how foolish everyone was on following the demon's luring glance, his wonderful offers... Everything was wrapped in selfish desire.
She had to put some sense in the man controlled by Tomura's finger. She tried to whisper "He... is fooling with your conscience... He-" She caught a breath. "He has... your wife under a spell..."
For a moment Endeavor faltered, his smirk melting slightly on the sides as if he knew already of what he had been told. Uraraka knew of the light she had made bright in the mind of the devil. But to another faltering mistake, he tightened the strength around her neck.
The witch's sight turned blurry, her senses turning weaker and weaker as the light in her hands dimmed. It was her last hour. "Kill me... But let my family free..."
"Kill her, Endeavor... For she is the last key to your heart's desire!" The creature turned impatient. "Kill her!"
Silence.
There was only silence in the room. No more screams, no more pain. Only blank space inside her head.
This is it... I will die in these chambers at the hand of my enemy... the enemy that lured me and the other that caught me in my dreams of freedom... She hesitated in her next thought. Bakugou... Why with such sincere eyes did you betray me this way...? Betray our hearts...
Then, like another light in the darkness, she felt her body hit solid ground. Uraraka took a few minutes to recover, coughing and trying to catch the air that had left her being. "What...?"
"What are you doing Endeavor...?" The creature hissed.
Uraraka pushed herself up slightly, trying to understand the situation at hand.
"You are wrong, Tomura..." Endeavor's figure turned to the creature in front of them, the ring of fire disappearing. "her death isn't the key to my wish..." He turned to face the fallen maiden again, some lust filling up his eyes. "But the key to my desire..."
The witch's gaze turned from confusion to horrid comprehension. Something at the edge of her vision shifted in red, a familiar figure appearing in a rush.
"Endeavor!"
He ignored the screeching woman and approached the maiden once more, staring deep into the frightened eyes of the witch and tracing her tender cheek with a finger. "I was told that the woman behind the planned betrayal was an ambitious maiden... But here she is, worrying about her family more than her own death..."
Uraraka tried to search for some other intention in the master's eyes, finding nothing but the same lust she feared. Her words came out like a fearful suggestion than the fierceness she bargained for. "What are you going to do to me...?"
The woman that had entered the room soon turned to the familiar figure of Mitsuki. Her frightened gaze seemed to question in horror at the other creature, pleading.
Endeavor gazed over his shoulder at the two figures behind him with a wide smirk. "Beauty is her best suit, the power she was stripped off has returned and her loyalty... is desirable... She has the best qualification for a courtesan..." He returned his gaze to Uraraka. "To produce a powerful heir..."
Uraraka's gaze widened at the words, managing the strength to push the man's hand away from her face. "I would never-"
He grinned. "If acceptance is due, your parents shall be set free..."
Now she was pinned against the moral wall, with only an option being appealing to her cause.
Mitsuki launched at Endeavor, digging her nails at his bare shoulder. Her red eyes were full of rage and also... heartbreak? "How dare you! Of all the maidens you chose her-?!"
Endeavor grasped at her hand and ripped it away from his skin, tightening his grasp until a loud crack and a high yelp filled the room. "You dare defy the decision I have made, Mistress Mitsuki?"
Her eyes were full of pain and disgust, pulling away from the painful grasp and holding her broken wrist tightly to her chest. "I... trusted your words... Now you betray me for the beauty of another?"
Endeavor kept his smirk wide. "Now, Now... Envy is not your greatest suit Mitsuki, be nice..." He returned to face, Uraraka. "Now what do you say...?"
Uraraka struggled, watching the patterns on the tiles beneath her and calculating everything in her mind.
I can't, pride won't allow such a thing... Yet, I have nothing to lose... Bakugou has betrayed me... She grabbed the ring around her neck tightly. And my parents deserve their freedom...
She managed to speak a few words. "Is your promise something real?"
Endeavor smirked. "Yes."
Uraraka slowly lifted herself up from where she lay, managing the strength to fight off the shame and ripping the ring from her neck.
"Then yes... I accept your deal."