With the adrenaline running through his veins (or soul; whatever) and the immediate panic of trying to split up in mind, Izuku hadn't had much time to think through the ramifications of what came next.

Namely, walking through an unmaintained, abandoned underground set of train tracks, with two flames courtesy of Cerberus and Justice providing the only sources of light. The air was musty and damp, the corridor was cold and barren. The light only stretched about ten metres or so ahead, soon giving way to pitch darkness.

Izuku didn't like horror movies. He was the kind of person who'd hide behind a pillow and miss half the film. Call him squeamish, or a coward, or whatever word you'd prefer, but he simply considered himself to have an appropriate fear response. All this was to say, under ordinary circumstances, he'd find this long, ominous walk through an empty tunnel which no one outside knew he was in, to be terrifying. But these weren't ordinary circumstances.

He also had to contend with the fact the supernatural was real and, apparently, wanted him 'properly' dead.

This was more than terrifying.

"Can you answer some questions now?" thankfully, he had companions walking with him. After separating from the main group, Izuku's cohort of him and three demons (or 2.33, depending on how you counted one Cerberus body) found themselves accompanied by Aizawa and Uraraka.

"T-That should be fine now, right?" it seemed to like they had some time, and Izuku was happy to answer them because oh boy did focusing on literally anything other than their current environment sound therapeutic.

"See, here's the thing," Justice's tone was a mixture of teasing and exasperated, "Answering any of the questions you probably have would most likely constitute 'forbidden knowledge' for living mortals to possess. Meaning anything we tell you could put you in danger-"

"More danger than being flooded by an army of skeletons which we can't fight outside of battle dancing and only survive by virtue of a boat which dissipated into fog for some reason the second you fired that cannon?" Aizawa's sarcasm was lost under the growling in his tone.

"Yyyyup." Justice popped the p. Izuku honestly couldn't tell if his former teacher's eye was twitching or if he was having some sort of facial spasm.

"Any such danger is irrelevant." Aizawa spoke calmly through gritted teeth, "We've been operating for the past two years knowing we could be hunted down by All for One. I can handle danger-"

"Yeah," Justice's tone didn't shift from casual condescension, "See, I get that you've been fighting against this so-called 'dEmoN lOrd' or whatever, but if you'd actually seen anyone who was worthy of that name, well…" she glanced back, eyes sharp with a tone deadly serious, "Forget years. You'd be begging for mercy within two minutes." she focused back ahead, the edge in her voice gone as if it were never there, "So I suggest you leave well enough alone-"

"No." to Izuku's surprise, it was Uraraka who'd broken out of a brief stunned silence to interrupt Justice. She took a breath. "Maybe you're right that we don't understand the danger behind knowing what's going on. Maybe if we did know it, we couldn't even comprehend it. Maybe if we did comprehend it, we'd be terrified beyond recognition. Huddled on the floor, unable to stand out of the dread. Or- Or maybe we'd run screaming to the far corners of the Earth." she took another breath, steadying her eyes to look between Izuku and Justice both. "But the fact is, we don't know. We don't know if we should be scared, or if you're just trying to scare us because it's easier. How scared we should be if it's the former. We're just… scrambling in the dark, locked away from the truth for 'protection'. But what we do know?" she focused more on Izuku, "I know that I'm looking at someone I thought was-… Someone I thought I-…" she took a good few moments to collect her thoughts, indignation in her face giving way to loss. No one made to interrupt her. "I know that I'm looking at someone impossible. And I don't know whether it's some kind of trick, or if I'm still in bed and this is all a dream, or if I hit my head going up that hill…. Or- and this option is far more terrifying… That this is real." she looked Izuku in the eye, "That you're real." she bit back a sob, hardening her expression once again. "The only thing I know. For a fact. Is that if I don't ask what's going on, if I don't make absolutely, 100% certain that you're not real… And if you're real, then if I-… If I don't-…" she couldn't find the words, "I know that if I don't find out more about what's going on, I will regret it. That's the only thing I know for sure." she turned more towards Justice, "So even if the truth puts me in danger, even if I end up terrified by whatever you say, I'm still going to ask. I'm not asking out of frustration, or confusion, or idle curiosity, because I want to know… I'm asking because I need to know." she turned back to Izuku,

"Is it really you?"

His breath caught at the question. At the look of disbelief, of concern, of desperation in Uraraka's voice. His eyes slid to Aizawa, trailing behind and to the side but most assuredly there, trying yet failing to hide a similar look of confusion and desperation. Izuku thought about trying to explain what had happened, how it was him but it sort of wasn't as he was basically a soul or something at this point and who even knows how that works.

Then his gaze drifted back to Justice, to the fact that saying anything could put both Uraraka and Aizawa in danger that Izuku still didn't really understand. His thoughts drifted to possible excuses he could give to keep them safe; they were being scammed, they'd been hit by a Quirk which induced shared dreams, they ate something really questionable. But as his vision drifted back to Uraraka's pleading expression,

"Yeah." he found himself unable to say anything but the simple truth. "It's me."

"But you can't-" Uraraka's voice wavered, "But you-… P-prove it!"

"What?"

"You heard me!" she stuck a pointed finger in his face. Izuku blinked in thought.

"I mean…" he scratched the back of his head. Proof, proof… "I could break my arm with my Quirk again?"

"Or you could not." Justice interrupted. "Soul overload, cessation of existence, et cetera…?"

"Oh, right." What else could prove it's me… breaking his limbs thanks to lack of Quirk control was basically a defining character trait at this point. What else did he- "Oh! When we were going into the entrance exams! I tripped, but you stopped me with your Quirk!" no one else should know that, right?

"What did you trip on?" Uraraka's voice was hesitant yet clear.

"Um…" he glanced off to the side. "I…" Why did one of their only shared memories have to be him making an idiot out of himself? "I tripped on my own foot…" Justice clearly had to restrain her laughter. "Yeah, I know…"

"A-and then…?" if her voice wasn't shaking so much, Izuku would swear Uraraka was just trying to make him humiliate himself.

"And then you told me you saved me with your Quirk, apologised for using it without permission, and I…" he sighed. The more he remembered this, the more embarrassing it seemed. "I think my contribution to the conversation amounted to 'Uh, I… Uh…' before you said goodbye and headed inside."

"Such appreciation." Justice kept stifling laughter.

"Y-yeah, I know… But in my defence, it was my first time talking to a girl-"

"It was what?!"

Why did I say that? Izuku had to fight the urge to smack himself. I didn't need to say that, and yet here we are. Justice wasn't even trying to contain her laughter anymore.

"So close to being your first…" and if Justice's laughter didn't turn him red as a tomato, Modeus' comments were there to finish the job.

"That's right…" only Uraraka's hollow voice kept him from keeling over in embarrassment, "That's… That's exactly right-"

"He could still be an imposter." honestly, Izuku would take Aizawa's skepticism and borderline hostility in place of being teased over the trainwreck that constituted his first halfway-decent social interaction. "He could have overheard your conversation, or watched the school's security cameras."

"Are you always this paranoid?" Justice asked.

"Only when I've just escaped a battle with 'demons' and am questioning someone impersonating my dead student."

"So this paranoia's probably not going away anytime soon, then."

"I'll ask you something that only the actual Izuku Midoriya should know." Izuku wasn't really sure how he intended to do that, seeing as he'd only interacted with the man for a few- "When Izuku Midoriya was three years old, he loved to watch a certain video depicting a certain Hero."

Excuse me what-

"When Izuku Midoriya was four and diagnosed as Quirkless, he re-watched that video as his mother returned home." his eyes bore into Izuku, "Question 1: Which Hero was depicted in this video?"

Izuku blinked in response. How does he know this? "A- All Might…."

"Question 2," Aizawa didn't let up, "Where did this video originate, and what exactly did it depict?"

"… I-It was real footage. A civilian's video of All Might rescuing over a hundred people from a factory which had caught fire."

"Question 3. Final question." Aizawa took a breath, "In this instance, Izuku Midoriya, upset- no, devastated by his diagnosis, asked his mother a question after watching this video once again. What was that question, and how did his mother respond?"

Izuku swallowed in turn. His mouth began to feel dry. How the Hell did Aizawa know all of this? He'd never told anyone about it! He didn't think his mother had told a soul…

"He…" still, he needed to respond if he was going to make them believe him, "He- He asked if he could still be a Hero."

"And how did his mother respond?"

"She…" Izuku's voice was quiet. It wasn't a fun memory to relive. "She just… Apologised." No words of encouragement, no motivation to follow his dream, not even a suggestion that he'd have to work ten times as hard, be more creative, be smarter, be stronger than anyone else… Just… Nothing.

"… Ok."

But as he pulled his head out of the past, he found it was enough to convince his living companions.

"Ok." Aizawa nodded. The look in his eyes said he was having trouble believing it. Understandable. But his words suggested he was forcing himself to confront the absurdist reality. "Ok. I… I can't think of a way someone other than the real Izuku Midoriya could know that."

"I- I believe you too…" Uraraka swallowed, "I think…"

"Ok." Izuku nodded a few times, honestly unsure how he was even supposed to continue that conversation. "Cool. I mean, not cool that I'm- y'know, but- I'm glad you don't think I'm some kind of imposter." Aizawa and Uraraka continued to nod, clearly trying to take all this in.

Maybe I should make a joke or something? Humour was a way to diffuse tension, right? "I- I mean, I can see why you might think I'm an imposter. I was acting kinda sus-"

"If you finish that sentence, we're going back to Hell right now." Justice groaned.

"I-" Izuku sighed, "That's fair, actually." a thought occurred, "Wait, how did you even know about-"

"So," Aizawa interrupted him, apparently regaining his ability to speak. Maybe Izuku's joke worked after all? "What… exactly, happened to you? From your perspective?"

"Ah." Izuku paused. "Well, that's… A bit of a long story…"

"We've only just reached the maintenance tunnels." as Aizawa said this, Izuku looked ahead again. Their conversation had taken the group to a solid wall in their path covering the entire tunnel, with naught but a single door blemishing the cement. "It's a bit of a long walk."

"Well-" he remembered yet another question they needed answered, "I think there's something else we all want to know first. Justice." he looked to the demon in question, who turned towards him in kind, "You said that collapsing the tunnel was to keep people from following us. More than that, you said it wasn't Pandemonica." she nodded in confirmation, "Are these the same people who would… 'punish'…" he winced slightly at the thought of what that word meant, "Aizawa-sensei and Uraraka for knowing about all this."

"Bingo." she fired a finger-gun his way. "And seeing as these two are in such a rush to meet death that they can't be bothered to listen to any warnings, I guess I may as well tell you now…"


While the loss of the temple of cards had been tragic, Camel's new construct eclipsed those efforts by far. Simple dominoes, so often abused by lost lambs down below in their hollow pursuit of greed, carefully organised in such a way that one push would replicate the magnificent hand of Michelangelo. Sometimes Camael considered the painter a tad modern for his tastes (the mortals already had a Renaissance in the 12th Century. Was a reboot really necessary?), but even he could not deny that man's skill. Just a few more minutes and his newest creation would be-

*crash* his door slammed open.

"Lord Camael, Sir!"

"Why, Hamaliel, why?!" his assistant's sudden entrance had set off his work prematurely! Even as the dominoes fell, it was clear Adam would be missing his… "Actually, this may actually work out for the better…"

"Sir!"

"Hm?" he turned his head away from the work he'd slaved over, "Yes? What is it?" he swore, if his work had been interrupted over another mortal war breaking out or other such trivialities he was going to start downsizing…

"A sudden burst of demonic activity has been detected on Earth!"

"Oh, is that all- wait WHAT?!" he did a double-take, "How could-" he shook off his surprise, "Give me the details."

Hamaliel gestured for him to follow into the main surveillance room, a task Camael was all too eager to undertake. As she briefed him on the sudden and momentary spike that had just occurred somewhere in the high school of 'Yew ay' (these ridiculous Japanese names were beyond even him), the two passed through grand white marble corridors and into the glorious surveillance hall. An enormous room stretching as far as the eye could see, angels at computer desks interrupted by more marble columns, ones carved intricately by the greatest sculptors Earth had to offer. All bathed in the resplendent light of Heaven, touching down through the glass ceiling. But greater than all of that, five infinitely superior, resplendent columns supported a raised dais which acted as the command centre. Carved by Heaven's Earthly seraphims, who had worked on these pieces throughout eternity, nothing could possibly compare…

… And Jerahmeel's sixth was there, too.

Camael and Hamaliel walked up to the central dais, littered with monitors at which higher-ranking archangels were receiving reports from their subordinates. Ordinarily, Camael's presence was acknowledged, and he in turn felt no small amount of satisfaction at the sight of God's work being done. Today, however, that was not the case.

"Clarity is fading, does anyone have some spare oracles?"

"Transferring now."

"Picking up some minor activity in Otheon; probably nothing, but I'm holding a few back."

"The signatures are splitting, what should we- Sir!" one of the archangels noticed his presence and gave a salute. The gesture was quickly repeated by the others. Camael gave a brief nod for them to continue working.

He turned to Hamaliel, "You said this was a category 4?" she nodded.

"Category 4 minimum, sir."

"I'm getting reports of 5." one of the archangels stated, "Will need to confirm."

"How was this not picked up earlier?" he almost hissed at Hamaliel. For such a demonic force to erupt on Earth…

"One of Agiel's angels detected a category 2 fluctuation nearby a few hours ago." she replied.

"I was on break at the time." the archangel continued, "For some reason she decided upon checking and re-checking the readings and equipment instead of actually reporting it." he sighed irritably, "I only just found out after demanding an immediate report of any oddities."

"What?" this time, Camael was confident he did hiss. "In what Sphere is such behaviour in any way acceptable?"

"Not to worry, sir, she's already been fired and escorted from the premises."

"And we intend to go through standard procedure with every staff member in detail once the immediate crisis is over." Hamaliel added.

"Very good." at least whatever idiot decided not to investigate a suspicious signature wouldn't be bringing the department down anymore. "But what of the immediate crisis?"

"From the pattern in which the demonic energy seemed to erupt…" Agiel leaned back, "Our current theory is an artificial container."

"We're planning to modify the Oracles. There seems to be an oddity in the readings immediately before the sudden burst – with time, we should be able to design a way to detect it." one of the others added.

"More urgently," Hamaliel leaned over to get a better look at one of the monitors, "The category 4 reading is gone, but there was a category 2 fluctuation leading away from it…"

"But what's left is faint." Agiel continued, "Impossible to track for long. It already seems to be splitting into multiple fragments." he turned back to Camael, "What are your orders, sir?"

"Should we inform Lady Gabriel, sir?" another archangel's suggestion had their platform in a small silence. Even the sound of angels working away throughout the hall seemed to lessen. The archangels stopped typing, glancing back as they awaited Camael's response. It was one he had to consider carefully.

Informing Lady Gabriel would be proper procedure. Such incidents fell under her purview; as such, simply passing along their findings and keeping her notified would be everything expected of their department. The issue?

That damned angel…

When the danger had passed and a review of everyone's performance was conducted – and there would be review of something such as this – the failure to note that initial surge would be criticised. A category 2 isn't unheard of, necessarily, but failing to inform anyone within hours of it occurring was simply negligence. Criticising a mere angel, such a lesser creature, wouldn't be enough. As overseer of the Earthern surveillance department, however brief a time he may have held that role for, Camael would be blamed for this. Performing in a satisfactory manner from this point onward wouldn't be enough to remedy that. He'd receive some manner of demotion with certainty… He could be stripped of command over the Powers for this!

No… he made a conscious effort to hide the concern behind his eyes, I could be reduced to… To a mere Virtue… If not a Power myself! The thought was sickening. His millennia of service, his progression through Heaven, his distinguished record, all ruined by one incompetent subordinate?

"… No." he said calmly. He could still fix this. "We shall not."

"But if there are creatures of the netherworld in Japan-"

"Then they must be dealt with." he interrupted Hamaliel. He agreed with the sentiment regarding the end-goal, but the means were not necessarily set in stone. Yes, they must be dealt with. But if Camael were able to claim responsibility for such a capture? Even if he weren't solely to thank, but so long as his efforts could be seen as above and beyond what was required…?

Well, any minor inconveniences would surely be forgiven, no?

"However, Lady Gabriel is already tasked to capacity, if not overburdened." he shook his head, "No, we shall take care of this in her stead."

"But, sir," Agiel spoke nervously, "We are merely servants tasked with surveillance. Surely this matter will require a more… Personal touch?"

"Indeed it shall." Camael spoke carefully, "However, I disagree with the implication that we are incapable of serving our Lord outside of this room. If he were to request you performed a task necessitating travel, would you question him?"

"Wha-" and thus, Agiel was on the backfoot, "No, of course not-"

"Precisely." Camael nodded slowly, "For we are but servants that carry out whatever tasks are necessary. Were Lady Suriel still in command, would she simply absolve herself of responsibility, heedlessly foisting work onto her compatriot?" he stamped his foot, "No! She would give every effort to resolve this issue without impeding others' duties." he turned to his assistant, "Hamaliel."

"Sir." she stood to attention.

"Go down to the Bureau. I want you leading a task force to investigate any suspicious activity in the mortal Sphere." he nodded to the monitors, "Begin at the locale of the category 4." he turned to the archangels at their desks, "Prioritise watch for any other supernatural activity within a five- no, ten league radius. If you find anything, I will be notified immediately." in such an emergency scenario, the only person Camael could trust to parse the pertinent information was himself. He turned back to Hamaliel, "I shall pass on any information and give new orders at such a time either becomes necessary."

"Sir." she gave a salute, "Though… I'm unsure as to my authority regarding the ability to commandeer an investigation force-"

"Invoke my name." he replied simply, "For the purposes of this investigation, you shall hold authority over Powers."

The statement brought another stunned silence. Under ordinary circumstances, the idea of a lesser ranked angel holding authority over a greater ranked was laughable. In extreme cases, perhaps a Throne may order a Cherubim, perhaps a Power will be more suited to resolve an issue than a Virtue. But even in emergency situation, granting a Third-Sphere authority over a Second-Sphere was practically unheard of. Yes, Principalities such as Hamaliel were at the peak of the Third Sphere, but even so… And to grant a Principality authority over all Powers?

Desperate times, and all that…

"Y-Yes, sir!" Hamaliel's salute was re-invigorated, rightfully honoured to be given such power. "I will not fail you, sir!"

"Then go." he nodded away, "T'baythiel should be in his office. If not, someone in his department should know-"

"Actually…" Agiel leaned towards his monitor, carefully picking apart the readings they were getting, "I think this might be more up Y'vitriel's street…"

""What?"" Camael and Hamaliel echoed the same thought. Naturally, she silenced herself so he may continue, "While I can forgive some amount of ignorance, most should know by this point that Y'vitriel is responsible for Quirks, not-"

"Exactly." Agiel looked back at Camael with no small amount of shock in his eyes.

"But…" he tried to collect himself. Dominions of his stature did not show weakness. Did not hold fear."But you said it was a category 4…"

"I said it might be a category 5…" he pointed towards the monitor, "And look at this." the archangels, Hamaliel and Camael all leaned forwards in sync, unable to contain their need for the answer.

"A signature reminiscent of demonic energy-"

"But look at the core." Agiel's hands flew across the keyboard, isolating the baseline of the signature which was most certainly not of a demonic nature. "I've never seen anything like this, but… It is a Quirk, right?"

"Go to Y'vitriel" Camael tried to restrain his panic, ordering Hamaliel's next steps. They could still contain this. "Commandeer an investigation force. Travel to Earth and determine the cause of this… abnormality. And have Y'vitriel send her best analysts over here. We must resolve this quickly."


"Ok, so," Aizawa massaged his temple. He was behind Uraraka, who was behind Izuku in this narrow-ish maintenance tunnel, but it still wasn't too difficult to see what motions he made. "To make sure I didn't just have a stroke or something: You're claiming angels from Heaven are planning to kill us for knowing too much?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Justice tried to wave off his argument, only to accidentally knock a pipe that was running alongside their path. The maintenance tunnels were surprisingly narrow, forcing the group into more-or-less single file, with Justice at the lead, followed by Izuku, Uraraka, Aizawa, Modeus, and Cerberus guarding their rear. It was almost like maintenance tunnels weren't designed for a group of humans and demons to get through the underground out of sight, and were made for maintenance or something. "I'm saying that if they know demons and deceased are out here, they're planning to send us back. They'll only kill you if they figure out you know too much while they're here trying to 'kill' us."

"Oh, of course." Aizawa scoffed, "My apologies."

"Forget about that!" Uraraka's voice was caught somewhere between a scream and a mirthless laugh, "Didn't you hear the part where Midoriya met a fucking Evil hallucination of All Might?!"

"I am actively choosing to repress that." Aizawa growled, massaging his temple more aggressively.

"What did he even say?!"

"That's…" Izuku trailed off. He'd tried to tell as much of the truth as he could after Justice briefed them on the entirely different danger they apparently had to deal with, but it had proven difficult without mentioning the whole 'All Might has a Quirk which can be inherited and he passed it on to me and dying with that is what condemned me to an eternity in Judecca and why we're here on the surface in the first place' thing. Instead, he'd glossed over the 'lowest circle of' Hell bit and claimed they had secret knowledge they could bestow upon All Might to give him a chance against All for One.

Izuku didn't like it, but he still didn't feel like this was a secret that was his to share at this point. Not among the living, at least. This was something that the Number One hero, and even his predecessors assumedly, had collectively decided should be kept secret from the vast majority of the public for what was probably two centuries by this point. Surely they must have an extremely good, logic-tight rationale for deciding to keep even the elected Japanese Government, the HPSC (or 'new' HPSC now, apparently), the JSDF, the police force, and the coast guard completely in the dark about what was evidently the only power separating peaceful Japan from a wretched hive run by a human demon.

Surely.

And surely telling more lies to the only two living humans Izuku had spoken to in-depth after his death would not come back to bite him in any way whatsoever.

Surely.

"None of your business." Justice interrupted after Izuku stayed silent for too long. "The fogs of Tentatio play on your darkest fears and impulses."

"O-Oh, right…" Uraraka quickly nodded, "S-sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's fine-"

"More to the point." Aizawa interrupted Izuku, "That means you don't know anything which happened in the last two years, correct?"

"Oh!" Uraraka's eyes lit up, "That's why you didn't know anything before! I thought you must be- I don't know, hermits or super-underground or have amnesia or something."

"Eight people all having amnesia?" Izuku asked almost instinctively.

"More believable than the truth." Aizawa sighed, "So Uraraka's told you everything, already?"

"Well…" Izuku thought back to the list of vague events and horrifying statistics he'd been told. A bout of nausea came over him, but he pushed it back down. "… The spark-notes version, at least…"

"So do you know about your mother?" Izuku's pace quickly slowed to a crawl. The nausea quickly returned, mixing with a cold feeling of dread.

"W- What about her-"

"She's dead."

The words were plain and simple, but the effect they had was anything but. Izuku's crawl stopped completely. The tunnels shrunk around him, trapping him in place. More words were said, but he didn't hear them. He was too busy listening to the ringing that was getting ever-louder.

She's… he tried to focus his vision, only to find the floor. But… Everything around him felt cold. Numb. The one thing that had been good throughout his life. The one person that he'd always been able to count on. And she was gone. Taken.

I never even got to say goodbye.

But within that cold shell, that void coating which Izuku found himself in… a feeling of calming warmth brought him back. A small, tiny thing. Managing to turn his head, he found the blurry form of a hand on his shoulder. He tried to wipe his eyes, but more tears quickly filled his sight.

"Hey…" he could hear a voice, but it sounded a million kilometres away. "Not sure if this helps, but remember: Death isn't as bad as you used to think." Justice's statement brought some semblance of thought back into Izuku's brain. One idea immediately consumed his consciousness.

"C-Can-" his stupid throat was clenched; he couldn't even ask the accursed question, "C-Can I- W-When we g-go back, c-can I-"

"We can check the list of the damned." Justice's voice was soft. He didn't want it to be soft – he wanted it to be simple. To be reassuring. To be full of promise. For it to be otherwise… "But if she got into Heaven, or ended up in another afterlife…"

"… Yeah" Izuku didn't even realise he'd spoken the thought aloud before it rung in his ears. "Of course…" even the afterlife didn't give do-overs. The fact that she would literally be somewhere better than this burned-out facsimile of Japan was something, but even so…

"S-She wasn't there." he'd meant to stay silent, but his mouth wasn't listening, "T-The last morning I left for U.A." he was sitting on the floor. Despite the cramped tunnel, Justice managed to sit beside him. "She was at work. She always had work. I- I didn't get it for a while; 'Dad works abroad, doesn't his money cover food and rent?' I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to wonder why his letters had the same handwriting as hers. Then I was too preoccupied training for U.A. to realise she was working longer hours after I started eating more. I didn't put it together until about a month ago. That she was putting herself through so much just to give me a chance at a decent life. I didn't believe it at first. Then, when I finally worked up the nerve to ask about it, she showed me the Hero costume she'd made for U.A.. The moment was gone, I thought I could just ask about it later. She was putting in so much effort… Just so someone as pointless as me could live a stupid childhood dream…" he tried to take a deeper breath, but he ended up needing five. "I never- I never even said thank you for…"

"She knows." Justice moved her hand, bringing him into a light hug. He didn't have any energy in him to even try and resist. "She knows…" she brought him into a tighter hug. He returned it.

He needed it.

"U-Um…" Uraraka's voice was quiet behind him. He wanted her to wait longer, but the puddle underneath his face had gotten a lot bigger while he wasn't looking. Apparently his sense of time wasn't doing so great. "I- I'm still not 100% sure how this all works, but… Maybe we could tell her?" Izuku's head shot backwards. Surely she wasn't thinking- "Not now!" she quickly waved off the idea. Thank Go- Wait, not supposed to say that… "I- I just mean that when we die…" she gestured between herself and Aizawa, "You know, naturally… If we end up in the same afterlife, then we could take a message for you?"

"… You'd do that?" Izuku's voice was a rasp.

"Y-Yeah, of course!" Uraraka nodded enthusiastically, turning towards Aizawa, "Right, sensei?!"

Aizawa blinked. His gaze bore into Izuku. Had he been watching him so intently the entire time? Eventually, he sighed, "We could."

"See, so you don't-"

"Or you could tell her yourself."

"… What?" Izuku blinked at his statement.

"Again, souls can't transfer between afterlives outside of absurd circumstances, so-"

"She's not in any afterlife."

"What?" Izuku blinked.

"She's still alive."

"What?!" Izuku screamed. Or tried to, but his voice still didn't work like he wanted. "B-But you said-"

"I wasn't entirely convinced of your claims. I needed to see how you'd react to something which would give the 'real' Izuku Midoriya a strong response. It was a-"

"A logical RUSE?!" Uraraka proved that Izuku's prior screaming was naught but a whisper. "Are you- How can- What the actual-"

"You know, I thought demons can be pretty shitty, and while I'm not wrong, per se…" Justice ran a hand through her hair, "It's moments like this that make me remember it's not just demons that barely pass as lower life-forms half the time."

"For the record, your reaction does show that the odds of you being an imposter are-"

"What…" Izuku shook his head. Part of him, a small, detached part of his brain was saying that there was something resembling a sort of sense in Aizawa's logic.

But for the most part…

"What is wrong with you?" he tried to get to his feet, only to stumble. The entirely unnecessary ordeal had left him drained, but Justice was there to catch him. "You-… How can-… What kind of person does that…?" he shook his head again, before starting back down the tunnel.

The sooner he could get this whole thing over and done with, the better.


A/N:

Man this chapter ended up being harder than expected to write. Like some parts flowed well but there was so much that I just had to keep coming back to to try and make it read somewhat decently. I still think Izuku having a horrible time was a bit brief, but as it was ultimately a fake-out constructed as a test I didn't want to linger on it too much. The only part that I was able to write without hitting blocks was the Heaven segment; hey, remember that scene that happened, like, 10 chapters ago as a throwaway joke? It wasn't a joke. This is now a no-humour zone.

Also, the next chapter will be a notable turning point in the story. And also have more depressing shit. I'm sorry, that just be where we are in the plot right now. But because of all of this, the next should be coming out...

...

...

Tomorrow!

Afterwards, the next chapter will probably take a week or 2 longer than usual to come out, but yeah. Originally the contents of these 2 chapters were going to be 1, but it ballooned too much and didn't really flow quite right as a single chapter.

So yeah, unless something goes wrong with the schedule see you tomorrow, but otherwise have a good weekend!