T-T-TIME TO RESOLVE THE UNINTENTIONAL CLIFFHANGER.

ENJOY FOLKEN!


A terrible, strangling air had taken hold within the kitchen. The shadows around them, cast by a distant, slowly setting sun seemed to stretch like clawing fingers of a terrible demon across every surface. The angle of the curtain on the one window in the kitchen cast Izuku into a shadow, especially as the light above him seemed to suddenly loose heart and began flickering.

Something cracked within Izuku. Some vital piece of his machinery that had kept him together for fifteen years was no longer working. It was just… broken.

And despite suffering pain and loss and struggle that other children, other people, might never have put up with he had come through, scraping and fighting the entire time.

But at this. At the truth. He finally shattered.

The chair clattered behind him as he stood suddenly, the table rocking as he pushed it back. Nemesis was flowing through him in a confusing mess of emotional fury and inner flame, and his scars suddenly seemed tinted with the color of his corrupt power. "I KNEW IT!" His voice cracked as he pointed an accusing finger at her. His teeth seemed set in a snarl, and yet, his eyes were already filling with tears, "I KNEW IT!"

"Izuku, please calm-"

"You don't think I know who that is? Where do you think I went when I died?!" The words snapped from his mouth, a half-scream, half-sob, and they shocked his mother into sudden, wide-eyed silence. His voice curled into a cruel snarl as he continued, "You lied to me! You knew what I was this entire time and said nothing! You just let me suffer!"

"No! No, I would never!" Inko quickly shot back, who had risen to her own feet, one hand clutching at her blouse while the other seemed half-set before her, "I tried to help you."

"By stuffing me full of drugs!? By making me think I was crazy?! I thought I was a fucking mental case, Mum! All those years I thought I was- I thought- I can't believe you did this to me!"

"I did it to save you!" Inko's voice was breaking, tears were starting to flow down her cheeks, "I did it to help you."

"How?" Izuku snapped, pointing an accusing finger towards his mother, "How did it possibly help me?"

"Because they wanted to take you away!"

The silence returned like a slap to his face, and even some of the anger left his heart.

His mother stood before him, eyes lined with tears but a sudden deep, powerful determination written across her eyes, "They wanted to take you from me, those- those doctors who didn't understand, who didn't know. They thought you would be better spending your life in a padded room."

She had never told him this, not once, and for a moment the words were robbed from his lips.

"But I refused, Izuku. I would never, ever abandon you," Inko breathed shuddering breaths, her whole form shaking with a mixture of panic and fear and frayed strength, "So I chose the path that would keep you with me. The drugs calmed you, helped you sleep at night, helped you live a normal life. It was… it was that, or you'd be taken from me. Placed in some- some hospital somewhere for children with uncontrollable quirks."

She trailed off towards the end, and her eyes moved from her son. Her voice grew dark and thick, "And yes, I hate myself for what I did, but I don't hate the fact I kept you with me. But most of all, I hate that it came to that. I never should have… if only he had stayed with us."

She finally collapsed, sitting back into one of the chairs and sobbing into her hands. She quickly curled one sleeve up and tried to dry her eyes.

And Izuku stood and watched.

And he didn't know how to feel.

There was his mother, crying her eyes out, shattered beyond belief. And part of him was glad. It was glad that she was upset. Good, she should be. The woman had placed him on drugs he never needed to be on and ruined years of his life, and yet, if what she was saying was true it was simply out of love. A love that had chosen the best of two awful choices.

Part of him wanted to go over and hug her. To show her he was there, that things might get better, that her choices had not ruined him.

But no part of him wanted to forgive her.

"If he had stayed, maybe- maybe you would have known sooner. Maybe all of this could have been avoided and- and I don't know," She shook her head, her voice no more than a confused, hurt mumble, "I'm not a good mother or even a good woman. I know that. But I tried, Izuku. I tried my best."

Izuku didn't move to sit down, he wasn't even sure he could move. He felt nervous and anxious and so angry and sad and- and all of this was a hurricane within his heart that refused to go. He felt a headache growing where his horns were, and his heart was palpitating within his chest. He felt sick, he felt weak.

Most of all, he felt the fire of Nemesis burning within his scars. Burning white-hot and furious at all of this.

"Lucifer," Its voice hissed through his ears, unlike anything he had heard before from his inner monster. It was so angry, and yet, it too seemed… lost. Confused. Upset. It was hard to pin down any one emotion in the many-voiced echo, "Lucifer. Our… our father."

"Lucifer," Izuku repeated as he somehow made his way to the back of a chair, gripping onto the top of it so tightly that his knuckles turned white, "I… I knew it…" Inko looked to him, her eyes red-ringed and wide. Izuku caught the look, then turned away, "When I… when I died, I went to Hell, Mom."

Her gasp shuddered with horror.

"And when I was there I… I met something that called me Lucifer." His fingers hurt from how hard he was gripping the chair, "Ever since then I- I suspected and I- But I was told…" The words were falling from his mouth, his eyes wide and unfocused, "But I knew. Inside I knew."

He wasn't sure why he had ever doubted it. Why he had ever thought to trust Dark Shadow was beyond him. He should have gone with his gut, and he should have insisted otherwise. He had seen it all for himself, after all.

Or maybe he had simply not wanted to believe. Maybe any option was better other than this one, this most terrible of truths that he now had to face. His mind half-rejected it still, even from his mother's own words. How could it be true? How could the King of Hell be his father?

But it explained so much, just as much as it opened new questions, new thoughts, new and terrible possibilities.

"… what was the price," He finally asked, his eyes looking to his mother.

"What?"

"The price, Mom," His words were harsh, harsher than he knew they should be, but he didn't care either way. "There's always a price, so what did you give him to have me?"

She paused at this, looking to her son with a dawning of understanding. "My heart."

"What?"

"It was my heart." She started, then paused, then sighed, "I- I thought he would take my soul, that's how the stories always go, right? But he said it was important I was a good woman, that my soul was kept pure," She scoffed, "He clearly miscalculated on that."

Izuku said nothing.

"I can never be with anyone else, never love anyone but him and you." She looked back to her son, "And that was it. That was all he wanted. There were a few other smaller things but… they don't matter much now."

"And you agreed?"

"To have you, I would agree to anything," Inko quickly replied.

Izuku had somehow managed to calm his heart down, and yet, he felt as though his insides were turning to stone. Cold and unfeeling, ridged and stiff and unmoving. He wanted to punch something. Part of him wanted to break the table, to burn the house down, to hurt someone for this gross miscarriage of injustice.

He had been cursed from the start.

He had always half-joked, half-self-pitied himself with those words. Born unlucky, born cursed, born to live a life of constant struggle battling the darkness within his blood. He had no idea how true those words had been.

And now here it all was. Spilling out of his mother's mouth. All of it as true as he could have feared it could be.

"… I need to go," Izuku suddenly snapped, turning and walking from the kitchen.

Inko was on her feet in a second, following quickly after her son, "Izuku, wait-!"

"Don't," Izuku snapped as he turned to her, his eyes draining of their light for just a moment, bringing her to a sudden halt, "Just don't. I'll… I'll be back later, I need to be alone, I need to think." And more than that he needed space. His head was so swimming with thoughts and his heart so drowned in emotion he wasn't sure how long he could keep his cool for.

He wanted to hurt someone. He really wanted to hurt someone. He wanted to let Nemesis have its way and roar its pain into the sky and spread fire to everything it could see.

Which is why he had to go before something happened.

Inko paused, and for a moment, Izuku wondered if she would truly insist he stay, then she nodded. "Alright."

Maybe she saw the darkness in his eyes, maybe she simply knew it was the best move to make. Maybe she wanted her own time to process what could come next, now that the relationship with her son had changed forever.

Maybe it was all those things.

Izuku turned from her as he slipped his flip-flops on and stormed out the door.

For the first time in his life, he didn't say goodbye to his mother.


He wasn't sure how long it took him to get to Dagobah beach. He wasn't even sure how he got there. Time and space seemed to be bending and twisting around him as his brain went into a furious, reactor-level meltdown over what his mother had told him.

Lucifer.

The name was burned into his heart as nothing had ever done so before.

Lucifer.

The name that the Fallen Lord Nirgali had called him before trying to murder him. The name which Dark Shadow had spoken in almost reverent tones. They Who Fell First and Furthest, Lord of Hell.

And he had known it. He had known it the entire time and he had just ignored it. And, like all the things Izuku tended to ignore, it had come right back to bite him in the ass.

Izuku came to surrounded by the piled trash of his own private training area. Well, came to wasn't quite the right term, as it wasn't as though he had been unconscious. Rather he had simply been mindless, lost in his own head. He could have run there. He could have walked there. He could have even flown there.

It didn't matter, he wouldn't have remembered doing it.

Fire was pounding through his blood like the drums of a primordial warband. His power, his curse, Nemesis, was a hurricane within his heart.

And yet, it was not mocking. It was not laughing within his brain, or screaming about how they had always known, about how great it was to be given the truth that they were truly one of the most cursed creatures alive.

It was lost. It was lost to all the anger and terror and horror that Izuku felt.

It shouldn't be like this.

Nothing made sense anymore. Nothing was solid, and instead, everything around Izuku was a blurred swirl of colors and sights and smells that melded together, unreal and plastic and cling-film thin. He could reach out and tear it all down if only he had the strength and focus to do so.

But he had neither. He had nothing. He had less than nothing.

Lucifer.

The word whispered to him from within the deepest, blackest parts of his heart with a voice that was a mixture of his inner curse and his own. The knowledge that had always been there but had been ignored, but what was now coming back to consume him with corrupt fire and hellborn unlight.

His father. The one whose blood flowed through his veins. The one whose power he had inherited. His father.

King of Hell. Lord of the Fallen. He Who Fell First and Furthest.

Lucifer.

The first thing he punched was a fridge. He wasn't sure why he picked the fridge, only that it was there and it was big and heavy and tough.

A fist coated in unlight broke through the metal like it was wrapping paper, and within a second he had torn the door off.

"DAMN IT!" His voice mixed and mingled with the screaming, crying, discordant voices of hundreds more as he simply began tearing parts of his training ground to pieces. All that anger, that wonderful, pacifying anger that felt so right and so justified, conquered all his other emotions.

And he had blue fire at his fingertips.

"DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT!"

Tires were disintegrated, an old rusted car was simply ripped into pieces and those pieces thrown into the small mountains of trash around him. Fire began growing and spreading as the teenager vented every jolt of his anger out into the world around him.

Why was it him? Why was it always him?

All he could see was the red of his rage and the blue of his flame and the unlight black coating his arms. He didn't want to feel anything else but this intoxicating anger that somehow didn't consume him like Nemesis had tried to do before.

Because his own monster was just as angry and felt just as justified in burning the world around it.

They had found synchronicity in their hatred of another, now they found synchronicity in their hated at fate itself.

He screamed and punched and burned until he couldn't do it anymore. Until only acid pumped in his muscles and a migraine pounded in his head and the air wouldn't come quickly enough to his lungs.

And then he fell to his knees cursing everything around him. Cursing God, cursing his pitiful mother, his absent father, his own power and himself. His world was a swimming melting pot of frustrated, directionless rage and mourning sorrow.

"Young Midoriya?"

Unlight still coated his arms, his legs already turned to their wolfish gait and his claws dug into the sand. Just like that, the world began to solidify before him. The voice called again, and again the world solidified just a little more.

"Young Midoriya? Is that you? Are you okay?"

He coughed and looked up his eyes wet already with tears, yet his own frustration would not let them fell.

It was All Might, or rather, Toshinori, standing tall against the setting sun which seemed to both shine around him and through him. An icon of light in the darkness of Izuku's chaotic hell.

"A-All Might?" He hoarsely coughed out, wondering for a moment what he was doing there, before he frowned and looked away, his voice growing dark. "Go away."

He never thought he would utter such words to the man he had looked up to almost all his life, and yet here he was. He was beyond any help, after all. He was the literal spawn of the devil. Nothing could rescue him from the darkness.

"No," The man replied as he took several more steps forward,

"Leave us alone," Izuku, or Nemesis, or both loudly growled back at the hero.

Yet the man did not stop. Despite the fire dancing around them from the still burning rubbish piles and the smoke filling the air, he continued to slowly, deliberately, pace forward, one hand held out before him, "No." His answer was stern, yet kind, "I'm not leaving you."

"I SAID GO!" Izuku snapped, a sudden rush of white-hot, angry, indignant flame exploded along his scars and caused the blue fire around him to jump higher.

"No," The man repeated again, the blue of his eyes shining bright. There was a small pause as he came to a stop, only a step and an arm's reach from the boy. "Do you remember what I promised your mother? I said I would never hurt you again. So, if you want to hurt me go ahead, I won't fight back, not this time."

Izuku wanted to scream. He wanted to put fire and unlight into his hands and become the monster he knew he was born to be. He wanted All Might to give up on him, to leave him to fall to the darkness in his blood.

But instead, he kept to his knees, and his still-taloned fingers curled into fists, gripping tight balls of sand into his palm.

And then All Might stepped forward, and despite the burning heat pouring from the boy, despite the unlight along his arms and the fire flowing from his hands and scars, Toshinori took him into an embrace, and simply whispered, "It's okay, you're okay, young Midoriya, because I am here."

Goddamnit. Goddamnit.

At those words he grit his teeth and wrapped his arms around the number one hero, tears again lining his eyes and now finally falling down his burning cheeks.

He didn't speak. He didn't even sob. He just gripped the skeletal-thin man in an embrace that sapped away at the anger and hate and sorrow and frustration in his heart. In All Might's embrace, he felt safe.

And for now, that was enough.

He knew he had to look like a mess. A complete meltdown would do that to a person.

He cried silently for what seemed to be forever, talons that swiftly became hands clutching at Toshinori's shirt. Though it was perhaps only a few moments before, quite suddenly, another hand landed onto his shoulder.

And Izuku turned his tear-filled eyes to become utterly shocked.

"Izuku, dude? What happened?"

It was Hitoshi. Despite the horrible chain of events that he was still processing, for just a second, everything was very clear. Mostly because the last person he expected to see in that moment, was Hitoshi.

"H-Hitoshi?"

The purpled haired boy frowned before looking around at the burning pieces of trash surrounding them.

"The Fading King," Nemesis whispered from within Izuku's heart, "Something is wrong."

It sounded strained, dizzy almost, and again it seemed to somehow reflect Izuku's own internal chaos. The why and how weren't even worth considering at the moment, though he would do so later when his head wasn't half-plunged into a migraine.

"Come on, let's get you out of here," Hitoshi reached forward and cupped a hand under Izuku's arm. Toshinori pulled back and helped lift the boy up from the other side. Izuku allowed it, looking at neither and simply staring down to his sand-covered feet. At one point, Hitoshi stopped to scoop up Izuku's sandals, at least they had survived.

Together they moved Izuku back through the ruins of the garbage piles and out to a more open stretch of sand, his tail dragging lifelessly behind him the entire time. The sun was still setting, though it was now lower than Izuku remembered it being before and had become a bloody half-orange on the ocean horizon. The air was picking up the chill of the oncoming night, and the salty ocean breeze helped restore a little more of Izuku's senses.

The two slowly lowered him back down so that he was sitting with his knees up before him. Izuku looked to Hitoshi through bleary eyes, then to Toshinori, who seemed to be standing and looking back at the burning piles of rubbish.

"All Might-" Hitoshi began, but before he could continue there was a woosh and, within the space of a blink, Toshinori had become a mountain of a hero standing tall at his side.

There was a burst of air that was so sudden and swift that the vacuum it created was like a slap across Izuku's face and it seemed the final bits of his senses were pressed back into place.

He gulped and breathed heavily. His throat was burning as if he had been coughing for five minutes straight, he could taste fire still on his tongue and his entire body felt weak and exhausted. Within him he could feel his monster swimming through his blood.

It still felt angry. Lost, confused, but angry. So, did he. But now it was a numbed anger, deadened by the slow weight of reality rolling onto him.

"Hey," Hitoshi knelt beside his friend and Izuku slowly turned his head towards him. Hitoshi's eyes firm with concern and the tone of his voice was low and steady, "What happened?"

Izuku didn't reply, instead, he turned his eyes only to see All Might standing, fists on hips, looking over to what remained of his old training ground.

Most of it had been on fire, more than he'd realized. And while before it had been a mess, it had been an organized mess. Now it was just a scattered dumping ground of metal and rubber and trash that looked like it had been assaulted by a wolf with claws that could carve through iron.

It wasn't too far off, all considering.

"Izuku, say something, you're starting to freak me out," He turned his eyes slowly back to Hitoshi, who was looking to him as if any second now he would start bleeding from his eyeballs.

"It's true."

"What's true?" Hitoshi hissed back as All Might's form erupted back into steam, turning back to the two teenagers.

"Lucifer," Izuku whispered back, reaching a shaking hand forward to grab at Hitoshi's arm, his eyes wide and yet utterly gone, "Lucifer is my father."

Hitoshi's eyes widened in shock, and in the bathing orange light of the sun, his tanned skin seemed to pale.

"What was that, young Midoriya?" Toshinori asked as he approached him again, some manner of apprehension within his tone.

"Nothing, he's-" Hitoshi bit his lip for a moment, looking between Toshinori and his friend before suddenly fixing a determined look onto his face. "Give us a minute, All Might."

"But-"

"Please?"

Toshinori paused at this, before sighing and nodding, "Alright, I'll be just over here if you need me. You too, young Midoriya." He paused again, then reached down and clasped a hand onto Izuku's shoulder, causing the boy to turn his deadened gaze towards him.

The gaze of the man was a burning hope in the darkness, the hope of millions made manifest.

And it no longer reached Izuku.

Perhaps the man knew this, as he looked into the eyes of the lost boy. Something most certainly passed over his face that spoke of a worry that went deep into his heart. Yet he quickly steeled his gaze and squeezed Izuku's shoulder tightly. "I'm here for you if you need me. Nothing is ever so terrible that I cannot help you through it."

Izuku didn't reply to this, and again that look of worry passed like a ghost over Toshinori's features.

He stood up and walked purposely out of earshot.

The moment he was gone, Hitoshi allowed himself to sit down properly beside his friend, practically shoulder-to-shoulder.

Izuku looked out to the sea, his gaze fixed on the horizon, where the sun had finally set, casting them all into the semi-twilight of the newly born night. The sky was a quickly darkening rouge, and if one looked carefully, one could already see specks of light from the first evening star.

There was a long moment of silence where the two boys simply sat. Hitoshi made no move to embrace Izuku, though he made no move to give him distance either. Izuku sniffled, and coughed, and wiped his eyes and nose on his shirt and shoulder and curled up tighter. Behind him, the spear-tip end of his tail began to thwap uselessly on the sand.

At one point in their silence, he glanced at Hitoshi, and the moment he did so, Nemesis hissed through his mind, "He's changed. Something is different about him."

"Why are you here?" Izuku asked in a low, slightly grating tone. His throat felt raw, as though he had been smoking an entire pack of cigarettes. He didn't care.

"All Might called me," Hitoshi spoke simply, not meeting Izuku's gaze. "… you've seen him like that before, haven't you?"

Izuku nodded, "Yes."

"So, you know about his wound and stuff, right? How he can't hold his usual form?"

"Yes."

Hitoshi waited a moment and scratched his chin in thought, his eyes darting to their teacher.

Izuku took a second to also glance over to the man, who was standing closer to the shore, shivering at the light breeze that was floating over the waves. "The Fading King is different too. Something is missing."

"Well, turns out he's been looking for someone to, you know, wear his cape, so to speak."

Izuku blinked at this, though Nemesis again whispered into his ear, "His soul. His soul has changed. Something- we don't understand. Something is new."

"Did you take something from him?" Izuku whispered hoarsely, "Nemesis says-"

"Yeah, I kinda did. Well, he gave it to me," Hitoshi quickly replied, his voice taking on a strange tone. A heavy responsibility mixed with his own, lingering sense of disbelief, "I… I have his power."

Izuku thought that nothing would have been able to knock him out of his mindless sorrow, but that? That just about did it. "What?!"

"Shuddup, dickhead!" Hitoshi quickly shushed Izuku as Toshinori glanced over to the two of them with a frown. "It's a fucking secret!"

"You- what- how?"

"That's a secret too, but erm," Hitoshi breathed out and curled one leg up to his chest, "Nemesis is right. All Might saw how I acted in the festival, you know, charging at demons, helping Shoto, that kind of thing. He said he'd also been impressed with my actions when Nemesis was out of control, and I kinda mentioned how I brainwashed it too. So, yeah," He shrugged softly in the twilight, "He made me his successor. I have his quirk now. No fucking clue how to use it, but, you know," He raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "He's going to train me."

"He has his power? How is that possible?" Nemesis continued to marvel through Izuku's mind, "And his soul, it seems… we can't explain it. This is-"

"Lots of things are impossible," Izuku whispered to the monster in his soul, much to the slightly confused look of Hitoshi, who brushed the comment off a second later.

"So, now I've told you the world's biggest secret," The teenager braved with a small smile, "Mind telling me yours?"

Izuku breathed slowly, trying to steady his still shaking heart. This had all been too much. He looked down to his hands, noting that his sling had vanished, and the bandages had burned from his arm. It still ached dearly, perhaps even more so now, and it felt as though it would ache forever.

And yet he fell back into old habits as he moved his good hand over and gripped it tightly, causing the pain to spike. He breathed through it and used it to center his thoughts.

"My- my mother talked to me," Unlike Hitoshi his words slowly became strangled in his sore throat and yet he forced them out, "And she said my father is- I mean she- she knew," Tears again lined his eyes, "She knew, Hitoshi. She fucking knew this whole time and she drugged me and-"

Finally, Hitoshi's arm moved around Izuku's shoulder, "I'm sorry, Izuku. Honestly, I am."

"It's not your fault."

"Still," The taller boy shrugged, "It's not fair."

"Lucifer," Izuku finally whispered the name out loud, finding it sat somehow angry and ugly and unwanted on his tongue, "My father is Lucifer."

"Lucifer," Nemesis echoed the word, though it's rendition was bitter and sour and angry, "They mean nothing, less than nothing to us. We hate them."

"Nemesis isn't happy," Izuku admitted softly, "I'm just… I don't know. I was angry and sad and just- everything was so mixed up and now I'm just..." He paused, then sniffled, "I always- I mean, Katsuki was right. I'm not human."

"You're half-human," Hitoshi quickly pointed out, "Which is actually more than most people on this planet, so that's something."

Izuku, despite everything, couldn't help but snort out a sudden laugh, "Goddamnit, stop, I'm trying to be sad." He didn't want to smile but Hitoshi had a way of getting to him. He had a way of getting to everyone, now that he thought about it. His smile faded as he thought on this, and finally, he mumbled out, "… All Might made a good choice, you know. You'll make a great successor."

"Pfft, I dunno about that, personally I'm just amazed he's not asked for a refund yet," Hitoshi commented with a sly look over to the pro-hero, "I've only been the successor for about thirty minutes and I've already let the secret slip, so, off to a good start."

"Don't," Izuku nudged his friend as he sniffled again, "Don't do that. You're always telling me not to be down on myself, listen to your own advice."

"Sorry but I play by no one's rules, not even my own. It's what gives me my bad boy charm."

Izuku coughed out another laugh before looking down to the sand. There was another long pause before he slowly began whispering out, "One day- one day you might have to fight-"

"Not gonna happen," Hitoshi cut him off before Izuku could even finish the sentence, "You're not evil, Izuku."

"My dad is the fucking devil."

"Yeah, which means," And Hitoshi brought up his thumb and forefinger in a slightly exaggerated motion, "Sweet fuck all. It's like I told Shoto, it doesn't matter what blood is in your veins or who your dad is or what power you have. It all comes down to how you use it. You live your own life, dude. No one else's."

Izuku had to admit the words gave him some small degree of heart, and even Nemesis washed through his scars with a candle flame that bordered dangerously on comforting.

It was another one of those little things that must have added up to Hitoshi being chosen by All Might. Izuku felt no jealousy over the gift that had been given to Hitoshi, after all, Izuku had never imagined himself as a successor to All Might. He had just imagined himself doing what he could to control Nemesis, and maybe make up for all the horror his curse had caused.

"I think… I think I should go home now," He gulped, and his tail began swishing softly through the sand, "I need to finish… talking to mom about… everything." Yet he scowled. "I just… I don't know how I feel about her anymore."

Hitoshi nodded, "If it were me, I'd probably feel betrayed, but you know." He paused for a moment, gathering his words, "When I met your mom it was obvious she loves you."

Izuku nodded, but bitterly added, "It doesn't take away that she did it though. Lying to me, making me think I was insane."

"No, but it explains it," Hitoshi looked back to Izuku, "I'm not saying forgive her, but hear her out. You said you wanted to find the truth, well, this is it. Now you've got to deal with it."

"Easy for you to say," Izuku again added bitterly, not looking up from the sand he was squishing between his toes.

"Yeah, it is." Hitoshi replied, "And that sucks, but the truth usually sucks. I mean, I just found out All Might is actually a scarecrow and now I've got to carry the whole Symbol of Peace thing on my shoulders or all of society, hell, the world might fall apart. That fucking sucks, but I'm going to do it because it's the right thing to do."

Again, silence settled on the two boys, and again a cold, salty breeze ran over them. Izuku shivered, despite the ever-present heat from his scars.

"The Child of Pharaohs speaks the truth. We hunted for this answer, now we have it. We must continue on regardless, it is what we have always done, it is what we shall continue to do. We are Izuku Midoriya, we are Nemesis, we are Fire and Shadow, we do not quit." Nemesis' words were of little comfort, but rather they reaffirmed what Izuku already knew in his heart.

There was no turning back. What was done was done, and only moving forward could help make things right.

"Thanks for, you know, helping me out," Izuku finally added, "It's kinda weird how you were both here though."

"It was All Might's idea, he texted me today, sorry for lying about that." Hitoshi paused and added, "And, erm, maybe not mention this to the others?"

"Yeah, same," Izuku sighed, "I mean, I just… I don't want them knowing about my father. Not yet, not until I'm ready. And I need to process all of this, you know?"

Hitoshi nodded, "Right."

"Dark Shadow might notice though, I mean, if Nemesis did-"

"I'll think of something," Hitoshi shrugged, "The big bird got you wrong, after all."

Izuku simply nodded, not knowing what else to say, and with that, Izuku began climbing to his feet and Hitoshi followed his example. Toshinori soon came walking over, a hopeful yet cautious smile on his lips. "So, is everything okay?"

Izuku nodded, though he didn't meet Toshinori's gaze. "Yeah, I guess. Maybe."

Toshinori seemed to pause for another moment, then reached forward and put a hand onto Izuku's shoulder, "I don't know what you're going through, young Midoriya. But as I said before, I'm here for you."

"It's- erm- family issues," Izuku replied, knowing it was a half-truth masking something larger. "I'll be fine." And a lie to top it off.

With the comforting hand on his shoulder, he managed to look up into Toshinori's burning gaze. The man was a symbol of strength, no matter what form he seemed to take, and yet for the first time, Izuku felt as though there was a wall there, between that hope and optimism and himself.

After all, what hope could there be for the child of the devil?


By the time Izuku got back home the night had come on in force and darkness swamped the world. It didn't bother Izuku though. Despite the increase in the number of unborn he spotted, he felt more at ease in the shadow. He had taken the long route back, taking his time to think over everything he knew for sure, and forming questions as to what he didn't.

Mostly it was simply his own self-prep to face his mother again. He wasn't sure how he felt about her anymore and for the first time in his life, he questioned if he truly still loved her. She could love him all she wanted, but it wouldn't change the pain that she had caused.

He scowled as he opened the door to his house, goddamn his life was a fucking mess.

"Izuku?" His mother was by the entrance to the living room in less than a second, her eyes wide and staring as her son methodically walked into the house.

Izuku knew his clothes were frayed and burned in some places and yet while he watched as his mother's eyes noted the damage, it seemed she was smart enough to leave that out for the time being.

"Are- are you okay?"

"M'fine," He mumbled as he began storming through the house, going right past his clearly anxious mother. His scars flared with candle-flame as he considered just ignoring her. He wanted to go right into his room and throw the sheets over his head and sleep for a thousand years.

But he stopped.

Then he breathed slowly and turned back to face her, his eyes flashing with emotions that he was doing a far better job of controlling this time around.

His mother held his gaze, guilty and sorrowful with eyes ringed red.

"… I still want to talk," He announced finally, his throat still croaking from his rage at the beach. His limbs ached, his arm pulsed with an angry, bone-deep pain, and his mind begged for rest, but he was never one to actually give himself any self-care when he needed it the most.

Besides, pandora's box had been opened, and it was better to strike now before any more complicated emotions could begin seeping in. As if agreeing, he felt his fire wash through his scars again, giving strength to his tired limbs and easing his painful arm.

"O-Okay," Inko nodded slowly, "Anything you want, sweetheart."

"And I want the truth," He added almost harshly, "The whole truth."

Inko flinched at his tone but again nodded, "Of course. Come and sit down, I'll make us some tea."

He did as he was told, though he kept his eyes on his mother right until she vanished into the kitchen. Moments later she returned with two cups of tea, setting one down before her son. Izuku had taken a seat on the comfy armchair, leaving his mother to sit adjacent to him on the sofa. There were tissues scattered everywhere of course, and she had already wiped the makeup from her face. Her hair looked disheveled and messy and with a sudden soreness to his heart, he realized this revelation hadn't been just his pain to bear.

But again, he buried those feelings for the time being.

The silenced stretched for a long moment as Izuku took the time to calm himself. He needed to keep a level head, to control the black anger he had within his soul. Nemesis prowled through his blood, though not like a wolf hunting prey, more like it was questioning if it should discipline a member of its own pack.

"So," Izuku again croaked the words out, "Do you know what he is?"

"Yes," Inko nodded, "He called himself a Fallen or something." She frowned for a moment, "I guess like a Fallen Angel."

Fallen. The word curled within Izuku and he felt his tail twitch behind him. Again, he took the time to swallow it down.

"How much did he tell you?"

Inko, surprisingly, shook her head, "Not a lot. He had a way of always re-directing my questions and…" She looked away in shame, "I assumed he would be here himself to answer your questions. I was such a fool to trust him."

"Did he ever…" He drifted for a moment, but Inko did not interrupt. "Did he ever contact you? After he left?"

His mother seemed to freeze at the question, and anxiety once more played across her eyes." Actually, that's… something we need to talk about," She took a small breath, then looked to Izuku, "Just, be prepared for this one, okay?"

Izuku felt his stomach twist into a knot and his body tensed. He put the tea down on the tissue-covered coffee table in preparation for bad news.

"For years he didn't say a word, not a single text or a call or anything," Inko breathed out with no small amount of irritation, "Then, the day you got into U.A. actually, he called me."

Izuku's heart skipped a beat.

Inko must have noticed because her eyes widened at Izuku's reaction and she calmly, though carefully, added, "He's been calling and texting me since then. He… he wants to meet you. Properly."

Fire was burning through his scars before he even realized what was happening and they became the bright, corrupt blue of his curse. He blinked and his mother was on her feet, her arms reaching for him as he felt that hurricane mixture of emotions roaring through his blood.

"NEVER! NEVER!" Nemesis screamed through his brain like a rabid wolf, "WE'LL NEVER TALK WITH THAT BASTARD, WE'LL RIP HIS BLACK HEART OUT IF WE-"

"SHUT UP!" Izuku screamed, gripping the sides of his head tightly, his eyes squeezed shut, "SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"

"Izuku!" Inko's voice was a forced calm, "Izuku, it's okay! I kept saying no! Izuku, he can't do anything to you, he can't reveal himself to you unless I let him." Nemesis calmed from its whirlwind rage and Izuku opened his eyes again, seeing nothing but the comforting green of his mother's gaze. "It was part of the deal. I- I wanted to give you a normal life, so he agreed to stay quiet about who he was until I decided you were ready to hear it." She allowed another small smile to twitch at her lips as her hand moved to Izuku's arm, "Turned out that was a smart move, I suppose."

Izuku stared at his mother for a long moment before he frowned, allowing the blue to flicker from his scars. It wasn't an angry frown, just frustrated and exhausted and confused. "So… so he can't-"

"He's not going to show up at our doorstep, Izuku. I can promise you that." She moved to sit upon the arm of the couch, and Izuku shifted to give her space. Her hand moved around his head and he didn't stop her.

He was still confused over how he felt about her, yet the closeness and comfortable feeling of just her, his mother, was enough to calm the inner hellfire of his power. He allowed his head to rest against her side and he breathed a little easier.

"So, I'm going to let you decide. You can pick the time and the place if you want to meet him. If you don't, I'll tell him so and that will be that."

"Just like that?" Izuku croaked out, still feeling a little sick and dizzy from his outburst, "He'll never bother us?"

"He'll bother me," Inko couldn't help but muse, "But you? No. You see he made an oath, and from what he told me, they take oaths very seriously, though he broke the one to me." She paused for a moment as her hand squeezed Izuku's shoulder. "You're not like him, you know."

Izuku again froze within his mother's embrace.

"You're nothing like him, actually. You're kind and sweet and caring and wonderful." Her grip around him tightened, "You're better than him in every way. I promise you."

Izuku wasn't sure how to feel at such words, after all, he was already doubting them the second she spoke them. Yet Nemesis seemed to ripple within his blood, somehow placated by the assurance they were nothing like Lucifer.

Goddamn, his life sucked.

Goddamn, his head hurt.

He raised a hand to try and rub around one of the barely-formed horns that dotted either side of his forehead. As he did so, his mother moved back, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," He half-lied. His everything ached, but he wasn't going to tell her that. It was a given, after all.

Without knowing what else to do, he reached over and took up his drink taking another sip and hoping the tea would drown his sorrows. It didn't, but he suddenly knew why people became alcoholics. After he put it down, he mumbled out, "Just a headache."

"Do you want some aspirin?"

Izuku paused at her offer, wondering if he should say no just to be difficult. A stab of pain through his skull told him not to be so stupid, and so, he nodded.

"Alright, sweetheart."

She moved from him and began walking towards the kitchen. However, as she reached the doorway Izuku suddenly looked over to her and, before he knew what he was saying, he quietly, though not coldly, announced, "Mum?"

She paused, "Hm?"

"I'm still angry with you." The statement was one that came from his heart, though it carried so much more with it. All his exhaustion, all his nihilism, all his pain.

There was a heavy pause before his mother slowly nodded, "I know, angel, and I want you to know that's fine. Be angry with me. Be as angry as you need, for as long as you need. But… but lets never hide things from one another again, okay? From this point on, let's just be honest." Another pause, "And, since they're not working anyway, let's drop the medication. It's not what you need anymore and it's time we both start trying to move forward."

Izuku stared at his mother with exhausted eyes. He felt empty and ruined and ragged. He felt angry and sad and weak. He felt all these things, and yet as they all attempted to burn his heart, they collided with one another, making him feel ultimately numbed by it all.

And yet he nodded, because despite it all, despite all her great any many sins, this was his mother.

And she was trying. She was trying, just as he was trying. Maybe they were both just as bad as the other, but at least it was something, and that was a hell of a lot better than the empty nothing of before.

"Alright, mum, no more secrets."

Another twitch of that terribly sad smile. She vanished and returned again moments later more some tablets for him.

As she handed them over, Izuku asked another question that had popped into his head. "So, okay, erm, does he have some kind of name he goes by?"

"What do you mean?" Inko's brow twitched.

"I mean," Izuku took a quick sip of his tea and downed the tablets, "He doesn't call himself Lucifer to everyone, right? People would think he's crazy."

"Or some kind of a night club owner in L.A."

"Oh!" Inko blinked as she sat down, cupping her tea carefully with her hand, "Well, as far as I know," She frowned deeply over to Izuku, but not at Izuku, "He calls himself Hizashi Hokori."


SOOOOOOO, things have changed! Hitoshi is now the successor, Izuku knows about Lucy/Hizashi and he gets to pick when he meets him.

The whole 'Hitoshi being the successor' thing was something actually came in about after I wrote the scenes at Fumikage's house. I was desperately trying to figure who should get OFA before I wrote Hitoshi being awesome and it kinda just clicked into place, especially after his reveal in the manga during the class A vs B mini-arc.

Besides, I don't know of many fics (maybe one) where Hitoshi gets OFA. And it's a cool idea! He's clearly got all the drive of Izuku, and he's a badass who doesn't mind playing a little dirty to get the job done. Plus, again as the manga revealed, he'll TOTALLY throw himself into crazy amounts of danger to save people. He's like Izuku, the goth version, basically.

As for Izuku now knowing about Hizashi/Big Daddy Lucy, the parent-kiddo meeting is in the works. Now I know some of you are gonna call foul on that double-cliffhanger but I assure you, it's not (it's a set up for a joke, actually).

Next chapter we finally get to the HERO NAAAAAMES. And also we get to catch up with Ibara summore!

Hope you guys enjoyed this one, thank you all for reading, cya next time!