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Thank you for reading and please enjoy
The Cost of Salvation
-Chapter 1-
-The Road to Hell…-
It was late at night deep within a lush forest, the forest floor drenched in darkness under the thick canopy of leaves. The few rays of moonlight that could pierce through weakly lit up the forest floor, revealing lush grassy ground.
Oddly though, there was not a sound to be heard; no owls hooting or insects chirping. Only the pure serene silence of a calm peaceful forest.
Or at least that was the case before five swirls of blood red fire burst into life out of seemingly nowhere. The mysterious flames lit up the once darkened landscape and scorched the land as they spread out towards each-other, swiftly coalescing to form a perfect circle before branching out inside to create a five-point star.
As soon as it was done, several runic symbols appeared within the spaces between the flames before a swirling vortex of dark fire sprung into existence in the air directly above the exact center of it all. Not even a second after its creation, a leg with a black and white heeled shoe and light red pants shot out and stomped into the ground with enough force to send several cracks across the ground.
"I can't believe him!" a feminine voice shouted out angrily as the leg's owner followed through the portal, revealing a lovely – if not unusual looking – woman.
Dressed in a fancy red tuxedo, she was incredibly tall – at least six feet – but was still quite slender, with long blond hair and pale starch-white skin aside from two bright red circles on her cheeks that made it seem like she was constantly blushing. Her eyes, locked in a withering glare, were a pure red with no pupils to be seen amidst yellow sclera and a pair of sharp fangs peeked out from the top of her mouth as her lips curled up in a snarl.
This was Charlie Morningstar, the sole daughter of Lucifer, the Princess of Hell, and at the moment one incredibly pissed off demon.
"Of all things, he wants me to do something like that!?" she screamed out in anger and disbelief as she grabbed the sides of her head, grabbing fistfuls of her hair as she trudged through the forest. She didn't even seem to care as the portal she'd come through fizzled out behind her without a trace, with even the burned grass having somehow grown back already.
Instead, the furious princess of the underworld just continued onwards in a blind fury until she found herself standing in front of a tremendously large oak tree. Growling lowly under her breath, she reared back her arm as hellfire gathered around her fist…before the limb dropped back to her side, the demonic flames sputtering out as she smacked her face into the tree instead.
Soft crying rang out as Charlie's shoulders started to shake, the demoness briefly raising her head back up to show her tear-stained cheeks before slamming it back into the tree. This was repeated several times, each blow caving in the wood a little bit further until there was a near perfect indent of her face left in the bark.
"This isn't fair! I worked so hard to set everything up, and now dad decides to just drop this on me?! It's… It's bullshit!" she swore between sobs, tears leaking out from the indentation in the tree bark and onto her shoulders as the memory of her recent conversation with her father played through her mind.
-Earlier That Day-
"I'm sorry sweetie but I cannot allow you to continue with this little Rehabilitation Project of yours any longer."
Sitting in his throne with a completely remorseless look on his face, Lucifer watched on apathetically as his daughter stared at him in shock and disbelief.
"B-But dad," Charlie stuttered out as she tried to approach her father, only to freeze when fixed her with a pointed look. "I don't u-understand; you've never had a problem before. Why now?"
"Because as the Princess of Hell, and as my daughter, you should be setting an example of corruption and despair, not this…foolishness about redemption," the ruler of Hell said, scoffing softly at the end as he raised a glass of wine to his lips and took a generous sip. "I have tolerated your behavior for decades, believing it was just a phase; simple teenage rebellion that you would grow out of eventually. Yet here you are, almost two hundred years old now, and yet still you act like a mere child."
"I'm not-"
"Yes, you are," Lucifer cut Charlie off firmly as he was briefly enveloped in a pitch black aura that caused shivers to run down the girl's spine. When it cleared, the fallen angel snapped his fingers, prompting a nervous looking imp servant to quickly hurry forward with a fresh glass of wine on a tray. "Not only do you insist on continuing with this fool's errand of yours, but now you've begun to drag my reputation down with you. Already, rumors spread throughout the nine rings; whispers amongst the royal families of how my child is but a naïve weakhearted failure who has yet to claim even a single soul to her name."
That last part caused Charlie to flinch before her gaze dropped to the floor, unable to refute what her father had said. For higher class demons, the amount of souls they owned – actual damned souls and not the paper currency – was an important symbol of power and strength. It was even a tradition in some families to take one's children up to claim their first soul as a sort of coming-of-age thing.
And generally by her age, most would be reaching at least the higher double digits already, if not the low hundreds. So, to not have even a single one yet would be considered absolutely fucking embarrassing, to put lightly.
"I don't get why that's such a big deal still…" Raising her head back up as she crossed her arms, Charlie stood her ground as she stared Lucifer in the eye. "Hell already has too many souls in it in the first place. That's why you had to agree those barbaric Exterminations each year in the first place. Thousands of souls are being wiped out of existence each year for no other reason than we don't have enough room to keep them all here."
"True," her father admitted, nodding slowly as he slowly swirled his new glass, staring at the crimson liquid sloshing inside. "But that doesn't change the facts, and the fact is…"
Suddenly the man's hand shot out and grabbed his servant by the neck before snapping it with a sickening crunch, making Charlie flinch again as its head lolled back to face her. She couldn't help but step back when he let the now dead imp drop to the floor, its body flopping limply against the ground with a dribble of blood and sputum oozing out of its mouth.
"This is Hell, where the strong flourish and the weak are left in the trash where they belong."
As he spoke Lucifer snapped his fingers again, causing two more imps to appear who promptly gathered their dead comrade and dragged him away. Whilst they were doing that, the demon king himself rose from his seat and approached his daughter, his steps slow and graceful exuding power.
Once he was close enough he reached out with his empty hand and gently stroked the girl's cheek. Charlie recoiled a little at first but slowly found herself sinking into his touch as a feeling of comfort washed over her.
"I love you sweetie… You are one of the most precious things in the entire underworld to me, and I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you," he said softly, a small genuine smile appearing on his lips for but a moment…before returning to a calm apathy. "So please understand why I'm doing this…"
"What are you-? AAAAAH!" Charlie had no time to fully ask what he meant by that before she felt something grab her hand and an intense searing pain shot up her arm. Stumbling back in shock, her gaze snapped down to see her father's once goblet holding hand intertwined with hers as a malicious red aura flowed from his palm into her flesh. "Dad!? What are you doing?! You're hurting me!"
Lucifer remained silent and simply tightened his grip as Charlie frantically tried to escape his grasp, his expression unchanging even when she fell to her knees screaming from the pain. It wasn't until every last flicker of magic had seeped into her arm that he finally let her go and returned to his throne, leaving the younger blonde whimpering where she lay.
Clutching her trembling arm as the pain slowly ebbed away, Charlie could only stare in horror at the runic symbols that had been seared into the pale skin of her palm. "N-No… You didn't… Daddy, please!"
A Soul Contract… Her father had put her in a Soul Contract.
"I'm sorry sweetie, but you've forced my hand in this," her father stated once he retook his seat and knitted his fingers together. "If you insist on continuing with this foolish dream of yours, then you must claim at least one living soul under your power within the next twelve hours."
"No… I won't… You can't make me, dad please." Charlie pleaded, her eyes watering as the reality of what Lucifer had done came crashing down on her.
"If you fail to do so, then you will never speak of and never attempt any form of rehabilitation of damned souls for the rest of your life," he finished regardless before snapping his fingers again, summoning forth two towering demonic beast-men who grabbed Charlie on either side and led her out of the room.
-Present-
She had gone from leaning her face into the tree to sitting against it, her back pressed against the bark as she looked at the moon through an opening in the canopy. Dried tear stains were on her face, but she had a small scowl as she dropped her gaze to the runic marking on her palm.
She couldn't believe that her father would do something as horrible as force her into a Soul Contract like this, and with such unfair stipulations either. Either she personally damned a soul, which was against everything she stood for, or be forced to give up her dream forever, she wouldn't even be able to say the word 'Redemption'.
Literally, the contract would stop her from speaking if she tried.
"Damn you, dad… How could you ask me to do this; to damn someone just to prove a point?" she muttered before sighing in frustration and getting to her feet. "I can't just sit here and mope… I need to take action…no matter how much I hate it…"
With that said, she expanded her senses to try and feel out the nearest coalescence of life sources in her vicinity. If she was going to make a deal with someone, and thereby drag them to Hell with her, she would need to observe the local humans in the area and choose one properly.
Her plan was to find someone who was already on the track to going to Hell, hoping to lessen the guilt she was feeling about damning someone. If they accepted her deal, she could then immediately check them into her Happy Hotel and rehabilitate them so that they could go to Heaven.
She does what her father demands, she gets him to support her goals, and she proves those goals are possible all in one fell swoop! What could go wrong?
'And…I jinxed it,' she deadpanned in her head as she felt four souls near her position…correction, three, one of them passed on almost as soon as she sensed it, and she wished them a peaceful afterlife.
Another one was also dying based on what she could feel, but whoever it was was defiantly clinging to life with everything they had.
It was the last two that got her attention the most though…
One was young and vibrant, with a delicate purity that could only belong to a young child, whilst the other was so filled of rage and hatred that Charlie was almost certain it was a Wrath demon of some kind. What was alarming though was just how close the two souls were, to the point they were almost intertwined with each-other somehow.
Officially worried about the malicious soul and the newborn, Charlie made her way to the life sources, passing by foliage and brush before breaking through into a massive clearing that looked like it had been subject to a massive battle. The ground was cratered in various locations; the largest of which were positioned in a way that told her that an extremely massice creature had been standing on them.
Whatever it was seemed to be gone now which Charlie was grateful for, she did not like the idea of facing off against something that left an eighty-foot wide foot print.
Shaking off those thoughts, she spotted two adult humans lying on the ground before an ritualistic altar…that had a crying baby perched on it in a swaddled cradle. One of the humans, a young blond man, lied motionless, no doubt the soul that Charlie had sensed passing on whilst the other human, a lovely redheaded woman, was weakly dragging her body towards the altar, leaving a thick bloody smear across the ground in her wake.
Approaching cautiously at first, the demon princess's eyes widened once she got closer when she saw that both of the adults had been run through by something so massive that it left a hole bigger than her head clean through their torsos. Gasping in concern, all thoughts of her father's order vanished into the back of her mind as she rushed over to help the struggling woman.
"Miss! Are you okay?!" she asked, knowing it was a stupid question, but too alarmed by what she had come across. Grabbing the woman's hand when she got no response, Charlie was alarmed to feel how fast her life force was draining away. "Hang on! I'll help you! Just hold on!"
She carefully turned the woman onto her back, barely biting back a gag when she saw the blood and tissue dangling from the gaping hole, before trying to use healing magic to close up the wound. Unfortunately, Charlie wasn't exactly the most well versed when it came to such spells and the most she was able to do was staunch the bleeding, buying the woman a few precious extra minutes of life.
Kushina Uzumaki, the name popped in her mind as soon as she made contact, coughed up blood as she weakly turned her head as much as she could to the altar. "N… Naru…" she choked out, getting Charlie's attention.
Assuming the woman was referring to the still crying baby and that said baby was her son, based on the dead blonde man's features, Hell's princess assured the redhead, "Don't worry. Your son's fine, miss. You can hold him after I patch you up."
"Who... Who are you…?" Kushina asked, feeling a modicum of strength return, though it was quickly leaving her again.
"I'm Charlie. Now don't speak please, save your strength…"
She kept trying to heal the woman but wounds like these were simply too extensive for someone of her limited experience. Aside from the gaping hole where her gut was supposed to be there was a strange underlying strain on Kushina's very lifeforce that was unlike anything Charlie had ever felt before. It was as if someone had literally torn a chunk of her spirit right out of her along with her stomach.
'It… It's no use… I can't do this… Not unless…'
Unable to help herself, Charlie pulled one of her hands away and glanced down at it, regrettably observing as a soft etheric glow formed on the palm. The runes gleamed in the low light, almost as if they were taunting her with their presence, nagging at her.
'I could use the Soul Contract on her to heal her… But then she'd… But she'll die if I don't… And her son…'
Glancing at the newborn Naruto and clenching her fist as she fought the tears that were starting to well up in her eyes, Charlie's heart seized in her chest. She could let the woman die free and ascend to heaven, a soul as pure as hers would not end up anywhere else, thus leaving a child without its mother… or she could save her life at the cost of casting an innocent soul to the depths of Hell.
She had to choose, time was running out…
'I... I'm sorry, but…this is the only way…' she stated in her head, steeling herself for what she was about to do. "Ma'am… I can save your life… You can live a full life with your son… But it'll come at a cost… It-"
"Deal…!" Kushina gritted out before Charlie could finish, surprising the demoness with the abrupt answer.
"But ma'am, I haven't even told you-"
"I don't care…" The redhead cut her off again, shakily raising her head so her amethyst gaze could look straight into the blonde's ruby eyes. There was a defiant fire in them, one that refused to die out even as the light faded away by the second. "Whatever the cost… I accept… Anything…to be there…for him…"
Hearing this, a single guilty tear ran down Charlie's cheek as bit her lip and nodded in understanding.
"Okay then…" she choked out reluctantly before slowly grasping Kushina's hand as if to shake it, pressing the markings on her palm against the dying woman's.
The moment she did, a new flaming pentagram bust into being beneath the two women while, unbeknownst to Charlie, an odd glimmer pulsed from her shoulders.
"I, Charlie Morningstar, daughter of Lucifer the Fallen…"
The circle started to spin as she spoke, gradually gaining speed as the flames rose higher, the red and golden flames licking across both their bodies without leaving a mark.
"…hereby grant you new life…"
Trails of red and gold magic flowed down from Charlie's arm onto Kushina's whilst the runes vanished from the demoness's palm and reappeared on the redhead's. Once the transfer was complete, a soft red glow enveloped the human's entire body as she slowly rose into the air above the burning demonic sigil.
"…in exchange for your e-eternal soul in servitude." Charlie finished, cementing the deal and pulling her hand away just as the fire of the pentagram erupted into the air and completely enveloped Kushina's form in a blinding light. 'Please forgive me…'
The glow lit up the clearing, bathing the trees, herself, the deceased man, and the still crying baby in hellish light before slowly dying down to reveal the reborn Kushina Uzumaki.
No longer human, she had transformed into something akin to a Hellhound albeit with a distinct vulpine nature instead of some kind of wolf or canine. Her entire body now had a thick fur coat and a long fluffy tail extended from her backside that slowly swayed back and forth. If Charlie had to give it a name, she'd call the form a hellfox while mentally noting that Kushina's fur was the same deep red that her hair once was, and her eyes were white with uniquely amethyst sclera.
She was also completely buck ass naked, but Charlie could get her some new clothes once they got to Hell.
She wasn't the only one checking out the changes as Kushina looked at her new body with a mix of curiosity and surprise, testing the way her limbs moved while feeling her tail sway and her ears twitch. On instinct she sniffed the air before her snout crinkled when the scent of blood flooded her nostrils and she turned to look at the man who had died beside her. Her ears drooped as soon as her eyes laid on his body and she slowly reach out towards him, only to have her attention drawn away by a loud wail.
Mother's instinct taking over, Kushina brushed past Charlie as she hurried over to her crying child, gently scooping him into her arms.
"Shh… It's okay, Naruto…" she soothed, cradling him against her fur covered chest as she slowly rocked him back and forth. "It's okay now, mommy's got you…"
His crying devolved into sniffling as he looked up at her foxy muzzle with his bright blue eyes. She smiled gently at him and, with surprising dexterity for only having it five minutes, willed her tail to swing up and tickle his nose, making his face wrinkle up and give a cute sneeze before giggling happily at her.
Kushina sniffled as her eyes started to water with joyful tears and she nuzzled her son's whiskered cheek lovingly, getting more giggles from the newborn. Turning to Charlie once she managed to regain a little of her composure, she offered the blonde a smile and softly whispered, "Thank you."
Her joy turned to confusion though when her rescuer flinched as if she'd struck her and shied away from her with a downcast expression.
"Please… don't thank me… not for this." Charlie muttered, refusing to meet the woman's gaze as she rubbed her arm in discomfort.
While confused by her words at first, it didn't take long for the metaphoric lightbulb to light up in Kushina's mind when she recalled the chant during their deal. "Ah, I'm guessing there's more to our deal than just a fluffy makeover, huh?"
Sure enough the demoness slowly nodded her head without a word, getting the transformed redhead to sigh.
"Can I at least give my husband a proper burial before we continue then?" She asked, her voice cracking slightly as she spoke when her gaze drifted back over to her deceased spouse on the ground.
"Of course." Charlie muttered as she nodded again before moving to pick up the body for the woman, idly summoning forth a red shroud with golden trim to cover him with as she did so.
XxXxX
Not long later, Minato Namikaze was laid into a grave that had been dug beside the Masked Shrine of the Uzumaki Clan. No tombstone was made because Kushina didn't want anyone potentially digging up his body, instead three flowers that she had found had been planted over it, acting as his grave marker.
Standing over it with tears freely flowing from her eyes, Kushina had her head bowed in respect as she silently wished her beloved peace in the afterlife. Once her prayers were done the redhead rose up, wiping the tears from her eyes, and turned to Charlie who was standing a few feet away with a sleeping Naruto awkwardly cradled in her arms.
"Thank you." She said while taking her child back, unable to help but smile softly when he instinctively tried to cling to the demoness in his sleep.
Despite knowing she had damned this woman; Charlie couldn't stop the tiny smile that appeared on her own lips either as she watched the mother and child. "I'm just happy that I could help… I only wish that…"
"Hey," the Uzumaki cut her off, getting her attention. "Tonight was an absolute shit show of events, I honestly expected myself to die before I could hold my son one last time. You gave me not only that, but also a new life so that I can raise him. I don't care if you're from Hell or whatever; I'm beyond grateful for what you've given me."
"Even if this means you'll have to raise Naruto in Hell?" Charlie asked… only to end up blinking in surprise when Kushina started laughing.
"Please, if a sweetheart like you is the actual princess of the underworld then I think I'll be just fine," Kushina stated between giggles as she patted said princess on the shoulder. "I mean seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if you wore cute little unicorn panties or something with how sweet you are."
"They're pony not unicorn, there's a difference," Charlie stated with a huff…before her whole face turned redder than her suit when she realized she said that out loud. "I-I mean, not that I… that is… you know w-we should really get going… I need to report to my father…"
While tempted to call out the obvious change of subject, Kushina simply nodded and made sure Naruto was fast asleep in her arms. "I promise to uphold my end of the deal and serve you to the best of my ability, Charlie. All I want is to make sure Naruto can live a full happy life." She then gave the woman a small smirk and added, "Which is why I'm officially naming you as Naruto's godmother."
"Wha-?! Me?!" Okay maybe she wasn't done messing with her yet.
"Of course!" Kushina grinned foxily while pulling the poor girl into a one-armed hug. "It's only fair that you have a more significant role in his life for what you've done! You made sure his mother got to live, after all!"
Her blush growing even deeper somehow at her newly given role, Charlie took a moment to look at the sleeping blonde in her new vassal's arms. Smiling gently, she reached out her hand and softly rubbed his head.
"…okay. I'll gladly accept that role, Kushina."
"Good, because you weren't allowed to do anything otherwise… Milady."
Truthfully, the teasing helped ease Charlie's still guilty heart. Sure, she may have turned a woman into a demon and forced her to raise her human child in Hell, but there was at least a small silver lining. She had insured that a mother and her son could be together, not cruely separated by the hands of death.
Kushina's happiness gave Charlie hope for the future.
And as the trio departed for Hell, the flowers over Minato's grave swayed under the winds of change. One bearing yellow petals, one with red petals, and one with orange petals… A symbol of the Uzumaki Family's bond together in both life and death.
-End Chapter-
Kit: Well that was fun, hope you all enjoyed the chapter although I will admit, this wasn't all my work. In fact this story was mostly this guy's idea *Jabs thumb at Pain*
Pain: *Waves* Yo!
Kit: Unfortunately the genius here decided to promise not to post any new stories for a while even though he cant stop coming up with great ones he really wants to
Pain: *Crosses arms with dirty look* It would have been fine if you hadn't messed it all up
Kit: *Blinks* How did I mess it up?
Pain: You got me hooked on Hololive! *Shows massive pile of Holomyth and Holocouncil merchandise* Thanks to you I got Kawaii ideas about them exploding from my head!
Kit: So I showed you one Gura clip…
Pain: And all those Shylily clips!
Kit: …and those…
Pain: And you introduced me to Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel in the first place! *Pulls out Stella body pillow to hug*
Kit: I may have mentioned it once or twice…
Pain: And how many ideas have you just happened to come up with that involve my two favorite Waifus? *Replaces Stella body pillow with giant Mumei and Suu Plushies before eyes light up* Hey, wait a second…
Kit: *Sweating nervously* If you want Pain to continue this story personally give a Birb! In the reviews, otherwise yours truly will be keeping it. Curious out! *Bolts for dear life*
Pain: Why you sneaky… get back here! *Chases with a comically sized frying pan*