Then yes... I accept your deal...
The words echoed down empty halls of silence. Of moonlight that shone through crystal clear windows. Of invisible eyes that followed her path.
Of the choices that had fallen like a curse over that very night.
I have made the right choice... I have suffered the weight of hope and disguise enough...
Her steps were heavy and hollow, like dragging metal against sand and vanishing with the pride she lost in that other room. Those moments of which had occurred only less than an hour before felt horrendous on her spirit, the last shouts and cursing screams from Mitsuki, while dwelling with the fact that her position was being dismissed, resounding in the depths of her mind.
She was surprised no one had wandered out to look for the source of said argument, although they wouldn't have either after seeing the guards following their trail.
It was a fact that hearing Mitsuki's once venomous tone turn vicious against the master of the house sent shivers of small bliss down Uraraka's spine. Dare she admit this in her voice it would be the curse of pure sin, but she enjoyed it in her quiet world.
The quiet world that remained despite the nightmare she now walked through. Halls of pale marble and red garments closing in slowly, suffocating Uraraka with the constant realization of the reality she was going through and the large back of her new master showing her the way to an unknown place in the mansion.
The master, the witch and the guard walked through the usual places maids would wander along, then to a small door along the training grounds restricted to the small public in the house and suddenly arriving in front of another pair of doors made of steel protected by guards who's faces Uraraka had never seen before. She could sense their hesitation as the secretly wondered about the presence of the young maid and the late hours the master dared to enter that forsaken room.
Despite her not knowing what was the structure beyond those doors, she knew that there was her prize and the piece of her heart which had been lost that fateful day. She promised herself that no tear was allowed to be shed on those grounds.
Not in front of the devil himself.
Once they were through the doors, Uraraka blocked out the desperate cries and curses of those who were locked in what seemed to be a finely made prison. Pure metal towers and beams creating the smallest cages she had ever seen with small candelabras lighting the wide corridor. Despite the distance, she could feel imprisoned hands reach for her battered clothes and growing hair, yet it didn't bother her. Every negative energy she could feel, she absorbed, trying to remember every bit of remorse as possible.
The path turned thin, now finding a different ground covered in what seemed to be... glass? The feeling of it pulled at Uraraka's core, like a type of weakness.
A small snicker came from the master who made her path. "Don't think of obliging to your powers in here... it won't work."
She understood. She memorized. She took the warning as a sign of the dead end.
He meant his intention when creating this prison... and she bared the dread of knowing that her loved ones were deep within. "H-how much longer...?"
Endeavor smiled lightly, stopping in front of another enclosed steel door decorated with chants on paper and opening it slowly.
"Not long at all my dear..."
There the image that she feared the most rested.
Battered clothes, weakened bodies, tired faces... mouths and wrists wrapped in steel... Her heart faltered. She couldn't control the rush that her body went through in that moment, running inside the cell and grabbing on to a bony wrist.
"Mother...?" Uraraka shook her mother's body gently, a heavy dread deep within her chest. For a moment the thin body remained still, making the young witch's heart stutter in silent prayer.
Then, brown eyes met golden in a motion of question and then surprise. "Uraraka...?"
Without a second thought, Uraraka wrapped her mother tightly in a warm hug, an eerie contrast with the metal walls and chains that surrounded them. The young woman closed her eyes, trying to remember every feeling of her mother's body and pushing aside the rush of anger that came over her.
What state they have left my parents in... I will never forgive them for this...
"You followed my voice to the caverns...?" The frail mother whispered, taking hold of an uneasy feeling in her chest.
Uraraka gripped her mother tighter, regret pooling deep within. "If only it had been that simple..."
"My dear what do you-" The elder witch looked beyond her daughter's shoulder catching the sight of a large figure as the realization settled in. "Oh..."
"Where is father...?" Uraraka swallowed the pit of fear emerging from regret. "Is he here...?"
"He is sleeping in the corner..." The older witch slowly separated from the tight embrace, trying to catch her daughter's expression in the dim light of the room. "Uraraka what is going on-?"
Uraraka glimpsed over her shoulder. "Would you grant the time to bid farewell... in private?"
From the corner of her vision, she saw Endeavor shift in position. "I will grant you enough time... When the time is up their chains will open..."
With a bloody taste in her mouth, she said the words like poison. "Thank... you..."
She waited for his shadow to leave the open door before planting her mother's image in her mind.
Bones, pure bones. Cheekbones were prominent, nose skinnier, eyes sunken in sleepless nights, chest loosened... It was a horrible sight but Uraraka tried to remember every inch of it to remind her of her purpose... her reason to seek what now had become her destiny...
Her eyes fell quickly on her father who slowly awoke from his position, covering his eyes from the small light and trying to grasp the reality on the occasion. His eyes slowly widened in shock at the image of his daughter. "Darling what is-...Uraraka?"
The young witch barely nodded before accepting her father's embrace, despite the shackles that also tied his wrist. "My heart is full knowing you are both alive!"
Her father leaped in the same joy, yet his puzzled eyes didn't go away. "But how...?"
Uraraka wiped the tears away from her cheeks and tried to keep her strong composure as much as possible. "I'll explain everything..."
Once, there was a tale of a place with palace walls. Ones that were of pure white as the clouds in swirls of blue and red. Ice and fire.
Once, those tales depicted the story of a princess in white holding the hand of a future lover through the garden of Eden. Her smile was the brightest and her spirit the lightest. Despite the ice in her core, her body was always warm when he was beside her.
Yet tales have twisted fates that are hidden from prying eyes... And power was the key to it all.
Once, the princess had been taken from her lover's arms into someone new. Dressed in silk and pulled down the aisle. Undressed into motherhood at an early age. Unable to look at her child with love but hate.
This tale was told in pure when teenage years began. When hearing the darkest part of it all.
"The princess had entered the gates of hell..."
But now she saw two figures leave in escapes to heaven.
She watched from her place in the guards quarter. The expression of shock was imminent, unending, uncomprehended. For a moment the thought of them trying to escape went through her head before realizing that the gate was being opened willingly by other guards.
In an attempt to understand what was going on, she ran towards a single guard that stood at nearby commanding for information on the occasion.
The guard looked dumbfounded watching the pair limping their way out of hell. "The master has ordered for the gate to be opened... I don't comprehend it either General?"
Momo Yaoyorozu kept still for the first time in her years at the mansion, sharing the same expression of her guard. Her eyes watched as the scene unfolded with the gate slowly falling behind them.
But she wouldn't stay still forever as she searched with her gaze everywhere for the master and landing on a peculiar spot in a balcony of the quarter.
There the master stood, his serious and firy eyes watching the same scene as she did before and following their path. Despite the curious stance, Momo couldn't help her eyes falling besides the small cloaked figure that stood besides the master.
"What the...?" Momo squinted before losing sight of them as they entered the mansion once again. Yet, the small figure looked back for one more moment.
Black eyes widened in shock...
When golden eyes shone in the moonlight.