Izuku's POV

Izuku groaned as he slowly woke up, his brain oddly fuzzy. Did he stay up all night watching hero videos again? He felt the cold feeling of concrete against his cheek… Did he fall asleep on the way home?

That's it. No more watching reruns of All-Might's greatest takedowns.

He tried to move around, to sit up, but couldn't seem to move his arms too well. And his eyes felt like they were glued shut, and something stank nearby.

His mind was still pretty fuzzy, but he could still tell that something was wrong.

"Hey boss, the boy's awake."

His eyes shot open.

"Ignore him. We must complete the ritual swiftly, and it matters not if the tribute is awake or not."

He looked around while struggling as best as he could, but he could barely move. Tribute? What were these guys talking about?!

He was lying in front of a large weird circle with a star in the middle, candles set in various positions around him. There were a bunch of other items as well, but he couldn't get a good look at them. What he could get a good look at was the two men in robes, symbols drawn on what skin he could see.

"Do not fear," one of the robes wearing men said, which of course made him feel the opposite. "Your life shall have more purpose than you ever imagined. Now stay silent, or we will have to silence you ourselves."

Izuku doubted that. Sure, he might have been told he was nothing more than a quirkless Deku for most of his life, but he still imagined a great many things. He had a very active imagination. None of them involved… Whatever this was!

Still, he quieted down with a whimper, watching with wide eyes as the two began to chant something in another language.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. After several minutes of weird chanting, Izuku's panic calmed down, morphing into confusion.

… Were they expecting something to happen? He hadn't heard of a quirk or anything that required such a long activation period. Nor with such an elaborate setup.

There were a few that err, required k-k-killing somebody, but they hadn't even hurt him yet! That was a good thing, right?

The panic came rushing back when the ground began to shake. A loud crack that nearly deafened him rang throughout the warehouse, followed by a plume of smoke in the middle of the circle.

"Who dares attempt to summon me?!"

The voice struck a feeling of dread in Izuku. Either this was the most elaborate and cruel prank he had heard of…

Or he was in really deep trouble.

The Underworld: The Circle of Pride

Momo's POV

Momo stared out into the darkening red sky, purple clouds with crimson lightning flashing across the horizon.

The Underworld. The Circles of Hell. The Abyss. Purgatory.

All names that humans came up with to describe the torment sinners would undergo after death. A dimension of evil and suffering.

Personally, Momo thought they were being way too dramatic. To her, the place was simply Home.

And she was bored.

She leaned against the wall of polished black rock and frowned, silently berating herself. Out of everybody in the Underworld, it could be debated that she was the most fortunate. A pure-blooded demon of royal heritage, with parents that loved her (a rarity amongst demons) even if they were busy most of the time.

She, more than anybody, had no right to complain about something as banal as boredom.

…

At the same time, she was twelve years old with nothing but lessons to occupy her attention thanks to an extremely overprotective father.

She let out a huff, watching the storm come closer.

Pure-blooded children were rare in demon society.

Demons in general didn't suffer from mortal maladies, old age included. And while they could die (die, erased, removed from existence… However you wished to call it, they were no longer around) the flip side was that children were rare. And the births that did occur were usually hybrids.

Momo was the first pure blood demon in the last five hundred years. Add in who her parents were, and it made making friends her own age a bit difficult.

Not even Balphegor was willing to cross her father when he was feeling overprotective (which was practically all the time…)

"Oi, princess, gotta go. Time for your evening lessons."

She stifled a groan (it was 'unbecoming of royalty' apparently) before turning to her guard of the day.

"Zellmur," she greeted, "I don't suppose the tutor ran afoul of Mezaran and was driven away?"

Standing at six feet tall with antique armor and wings, Zellmur was a Demon of Sloth, and he exemplified the traits of his species perfectly. Lazy and unwilling to put forth effort he didn't have to. Such as showing proper respect.

In truth, she found him preferable to some of the other guards due to that. It was oddly refreshing.

The demon just scoffed at her words, "You know as well as I do that Mezaran practically lives to see you suffer. I think I saw him changing traffic to ensure that lessons happened."

This time she couldn't help a sigh. That was probably (absolutely) true, but a demoness could hope, couldn't she?

Not that it was actual suffering, or her father would be having words with the other demon lord. But Mezaran was a master of whittling somebody's patience with constant annoyances.

Just as the human world experienced advances in technology, so too did the underworld. Highways filled with cars powered by demonic energy could be seen traveling over the various cities across the 9 circles. Teleportation circles were available to the high-ranking demons who wished to avoid traffic, all providing ease of access to punish sinners.

Or to torture heiresses with history of the golden age a thousand years prior.

Technology was multi-purpose like that.

"Very well," she declared, with the air of somebody going to the gallows, "let's go."

She only made it a few steps before the itching started. At first, she ignored it, only for it to grow more and more persistent. They made it down the hall before it became a violent tug.

"What the, hey! what's wrong?!" Zellmur demanded, becoming more alert than she had ever seen him as she doubled over in pain.

"I, I don't know," she gasped out, the feeling of pins and needles spreading across her being. She had never felt this before. This feeling as if somebody was tying threads around her being, trying to pull her away.

It was almost like…

She gasped in realization. "I think I'm being summoned!"

"Wha?! That ain't possible!" He protested back as he looked more and more panicked, a demonic circle appearing as he began casting some sort of spell. "Your name ain't out there yet, there's nobody that knows you can be summoned!"

She gasped again as the pull became more insistent. "I don't know," she managed before giving a smirk. "I suppose I'm not going to make it to those lessons now."

Her mother and father had both ditched important meetings because they were being summoned in the past. They, of all demons, could resist the pull with ease if they wished. Being summoned just gave them an excuse to ditch.

There was no way they could get upset with her for ditching her own lessons without being hypocrites.

With that thought she stopped resisting and let herself be pulled away as Zellmur yelled for backup. She felt a little bad about that… She'd have to do something to make it up to him.

But those were thoughts for later. Right now, she had to focus on her first summoning.

A demon's first summoning was an important milestone, one that set the tone for all future summonings. It would affect how people remembered them, who attempted to summon them in the future, and even what they gave as an offering.

Make a foolish impression and it would follow you for centuries. Even if you killed the humans involved, their notes and journals had a way of passing themselves on.

Momo suspected Mezaran for that one but had no proof. It was the sort of thing he'd do.

Therefore, she had to make sure she made a good impression.

The moment she formed in the material plane she summoned a cloud of smoke to obscure herself, a clap of thunder that shook the ground. She modified her voice, making it more demonic. "Who dares think they have the strength to summon me?!"

Purely aesthetic, most of it, but you really couldn't go wrong with traditional.

That's when she started noticing how off things were. The bindings of the ritual, something that should keep her chained to the circle, were… Faint. She knew this was her first summoning, but this wasn't what she expected based on what she had been told. The presence of the circle was practically nonexistent.

Had she just been summoned by complete amateurs?

There were three figures beyond the smoke. Two large ones in robes, and a small one that was tied up. An offering, obviously, but… Was it a kid?!

This was already looking bad.

Sure, it might be a popular myth, sacrificing children and babies to demons, but the truth was it often ended really bad.

For the summoners.

Her father had made it a firm, unshakable rule that nobody could prey on a child less than fourteen years of age. (Something to do with an agreement between him and Grandfather. Taking the souls of kids was a good way to make Grandfather angry, and that was something Father avoided at all costs) Summoners who attempted otherwise were made an example of in rather grisly ways.

And that was before their souls were claimed and dragged down below.

" I thought they were male?"

"Hey, it's a demon, they can sound however they like."

… Huh?

"Oh great Momongo, duke of devilry and deception! Forgive us our impertince. We, your loyal followers, have called you forth to ask for thine blessing!"

…What?

"In good faith, we offer you this child as tribute. Know that we are willing to gift thee with more if it pleases thee."

Ok, she knew she was old fashioned, but speaking with the 'thee's' and 'thou's' was definitely overkill and unnecessary.

And she was so very confused…

Her name wasn't ' Momongo'. Her true name wasn't even close to that!

A demon had two names. One true name, another that was their common name. Their true name was important because it was through that that they could be summoned. Their common name could be used… But it took more energy. A lot more.

Many demons used their true name as their common name, usually as a show of confidence and strength. Neither of her parent's names were Yoayorozu for example (both were powerful enough to simply use their true name), but they had given her that name for her common name, and she had been using it her whole life.

She was apparently too quiet, as the two figures grew visibly nervous.

"Lord M-Momongo?" The leader approached tentatively.

It hit her.

There probably wasn't a demon named Momongo. They must have mistranslated the name, the magic of the summoning reaching a demon with a similar name.

Momongo… Momo.

Her first summoning, and it was due to a mistranslation? A fluke ?!

She had no idea how they managed to provide enough power for it to catch her attention with just her common name… It shouldn't have been possible. But that didn't matter right now.

"You dare summon me by accident?!" She growled, furious beyond anything she had ever experienced. She flexed her power and shattered the bindings for what must have been for a much weaker demon, "You dare try to sacrifice children for your doomed venture?!"

The fact that she was a child as well might have fueled her anger just a tad.

She took one step forward out of the ruined circle towards the summoners. Seeing her walk out, the failures of summoners screamed in fright… Before promptly fainting.

She looked at them in disbelief, but when they didn't get back up she waved away her magic and sat down heavily.

This was officially the worst day ever. Her first summoning, and it was botched to this degree? She was going to be a laughingstock!

She sniffed, feeling ready to go back and hide in her room for a couple hours, when a voice broke through her self pity.

"Hey, a-are y-you alright?"

Izuku's POV

Izuku was back to feeling very confused…

He had been terrified just a little bit ago, and he was sure he was going to die.

Now that the smoke was gone, he could see the 'summoned' (he still wasn't sure if that was real or if it was a series of quirks) was… Just a girl. Maybe around his age.

She looked taller than him (which… wasn't a great achievement, admittedly) her hair was pure black, reaching her shoulders. Long curved horns were on top of her head, her hands ended in black claws, and she had a pair of batlike wings.

They were no doubt intimidating, but not exactly unusual in quirked society nowadays. He had seen far stranger.

But when she had first arrived he had felt an overwhelming sense of something. He wasn't sure how he was so sure, but something about this person screamed that she wasn't human. And he was supposed to be sacrificed to her.

But now she was sitting on the ground, looking absolutely miserable, and inhuman or not he couldn't stay quiet anymore.

"Hey, a-are y-you alright?"

She let out a small 'eeep!', jerking upright to look at him.

She looked embarrassed, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't…" She coughed as she stood up. "I am Lady Yaoyorozu."

Izuku felt himself begin to panic, he felt so out of his depth… He hadn't had very positive social interactions with anybody outside of his mom since… A while. Let alone a stranger… Who was also a girl. Who might also be royalty.

Did he mention he was still tied up on the ground? Because he was. That might contribute to the out of depth feeling.

But he saw somebody in distress, and a part of him refused to let that go. So he did the only thing he could think of - charge ahead blindly and try to help.

"I-I'm Midoriya," he responded awkwardly, shifting up into a sitting position. Did she expect him to bow? Not that he could. "if you don't mind me asking, uhm, w-what are you? I mean, it sounded like they were g-gonna k-k-kill me, a-and they did something that teleported you here, and then you just used several quirks, but just now you were looking really upset…"

She looked at him surprised for a bit before giving a heavy sigh, sinking to the ground. "They didn't mean to summon me," she pouted, her tail swaying in agitation before giving him a piercing look. "Do you know what a demon is?"

He hesitated. He knew the word, but it was usually associated with 'evil' and 'monster'. And the girl in front of him didn't look like either, so he shook his head.

"Really?" She seemed surprised, but her expression seemed a bit happy after that. "Well, a demon is…" she frowned in concentration. "We're a different species from humans." She decided. "Humans summon us, and they make deals with us. We give them something they want, and they give us something we want."

Huh. That didn't seem too bad.

"And these men were going to k-kill me for another demon?"

She scowled, folding her arms in an upset fashion. "They might have tried, but it wouldn't have worked," she huffed. "Father gets quite upset when people try."

Ok, that was good. So she didn't want him dead.

"So is t-that why you were u-upset?" He had no idea why he was pursuing this line of conversation, but he wasn't failing yet, so…

She made a face at that, "A demon's first summoning is an important milestone." She pouted. "My father is known for causing the fall of humanity, and he did that with only a few words! And my mom is said to be able to destroy marriages just by walking by a couple!"

Izuku could only stare at her. ' Uh, what?!'

"But my first summon, and the summoners not only messed it up royally, but they also broke the law by trying to sacrifice a kid!" she exclaimed, her distress clear.

Okay… he could think about the implications of her suddenly terrifying parents later. He knew the issue now, so what could he do to help?

He thought about it for a moment. If the issue was she couldn't make a deal anymore, then…

"W-well, what if I made a deal with you?" He asked carefully.

The question drew her out of her thoughts, and she looked at him in shock, the expression morphing into gratitude tinged with regret.

"We can't." She said, though she clearly thought about it. "Just like they can't be sacrificed, demons aren't allowed to target kids" She looked at him quizzically. "What would you want?"

A quirk.

The thought came fast, but just as quickly he pushed it down. While that was something he absolutely wanted, it was an impossibility. And what would a useless Deku like him have to offer for it?

So, he went with his second greatest desire.

"T-to have a friend." He nearly whispered. His face heated up as he turned away.

Kids tended to avoid him. Mostly because he was just a quirkless Deku. A good amount however avoided him since he was Kacchan's favorite target. To befriend him was to invite Kacchan's wrath.

If he couldn't have a quirk…

Maybe he'd be fine with just a friend.

He heard shuffling, and he looked up to see Yoayorozu kneeling in front of him, looking at him with eyes that were way too knowing, as if they were looking into his very soul.

"W-well, we can't make a deal," she murmured, "but, if you want a friend… I mean, I wouldn't mind…" she bit her lip, "we wouldn't have to make a deal to become friends."

"R-really?!" He could barely believe his ears. She actually wanted to be his friend?

She nodded, more eagerly now. "Let's start over," she said as if the idea was growing on her. "My name is Momo Yaoyorozu!" And held out her hand.

Wait, first names already?!

He made an attempt to shake her hand, when he suddenly remembered his hands were still tied.

Momo looked confused for all of two seconds when her eyes widened, "oh! I'm so sorry!" She gasped, practically diving behind him to get at the ropes. She said something he didn't catch, and the ropes disintegrated.

She pulled him up, and he gave her a thankful look before reaching out a hand, "M-my name is Izuku Midoriya."

It took everything for Momo to not react when Izuku shook her hand.

Children were known for the purity of their souls. But touching Izuku let her see just how pure it was.

W-was this normal?!

Despite being a child, she was still a demon. The presence of such purity made her instincts flare. She wanted him.

This explained how the stupid cultists were able to summon her, she distantly realized as she fought back her roaring instincts. They had no idea Izuku's soul was supercharging their ritual.

The sequence of events that led to this debacle was truly unprecedented.

She wanted to own that soul, that purity. A deal, through force, her instincts didn't care, they just wanted it to be theirs…

It was only with a force of will that she didn't know she possessed for her to beat her instincts back. She would not let them ruin her chances for the first friend she ever made!

When he admitted that he just wanted a friend, Momo felt the same loneliness in him that she often had. Different circumstances perhaps, and yet…

She understood it.

How could she not? She wanted a friend just as badly.

So she was understandably upset when a portal was opened right as she had regained control of her instincts.

What could only be described as horned monstrosities burst through the portal. Wielding weapons both ancient and modern, all glowing red with demonic energy, and suddenly the warehouse was filled to the brim with malicious power.

Then the leader of the horde arrived, and all thoughts of the rest were put aside as his visage seemed to fill the room. Most of his armor was melted and torn apart, revealing scarred and burned flesh. Deadly claws held a massive axe that dripped steaming blood as if he had massacred an army just before arriving, his eyes glowing with burning power that could inspire anybody with terror.

Even without the demons behind him, he alone would be enough to terrify any pro-hero. Let alone a civilian.

Momo wasn't surprised at all when Izuku fainted, and she immediately moved to pick him up so he wouldn't hit the floor.

She turned towards the nightmarish creature with a frown, "Thomas! Put the Axe away before you give him a heart attack!"

Thath'tomoth, or 'Thomas', stabbed the cursed axe into the ground, the concrete yielding to the weapon like butter. The moment he did so, the malicious energy that filled the air decreased dramatically.

He was still horrifying, but he wouldn't drive people mad with his presence anymore.

"Lady… Yaoyorozu," his voice heaved out of his helmet, "Your father… Was worried… For you…"

She grimaced, but held firm. She had no reason to feel guilty. "Have your men clean up the area," she instructed before gesturing to the two wannabe cultists, "and take these two. They have broken the law of sacrifice. They didn't follow through, and yet…"

Red eyes looked at them with mild interest, "Very… Well…" he gestured, and his men did as commanded with glee.

"What about… the boy?"

"We will return him to his home." She said with authority, and he simply nodded, his heaving breaths still rattling through his helmet.

It didn't take too long - one of the demons was able to cast a scrying spell, and it was simple to teleport to it.

Momo frowned as she placed him in his bed. She didn't want to just leave without a word, but after everything that just happened it wasn't surprising that he was out so thoroughly.

She huffed in annoyance, but grabbed some paper (She would have created some herself, but he had an impressive amount of notebooks and pens on his desk that was readily accessible) and quickly wrote him a note assuring him that she'd try to stay in touch.

Would it be appropriate to say she was happy that she met him? She didn't want to sound happy that he went through a near death experience… She skipped it for now.

It would be difficult to keep in touch without a contract, but she'd do her best. Maybe her mom would have a better idea…

As she put the note on his nightstand, she hesitated for a moment.

If even she was tempted by Izuku's aura, others might be as well… Maybe it was just his age that made his soul as pure as it was, but she didn't want to take any chances.

She slowly chanted the words to a spell and overlaid it onto Izuku, being very careful as she tied it to herself.

… It wasn't a contract or a deal! There was nothing in the rules that said she couldn't do this - it was just a redirection spell. If somebody tried to use him in a ritual, it would redirect it from the original demon to herself.

Taking a moment to look over her work, she nodded in satisfaction before turning to the general.

"I'm ready." She declared.

As they left the room that was practically a shrine to a muscular blonde man, she was already thinking of ways to keep in touch with the greenette.

One week later

Momo frowned at the tied up form of Izuku, several cultists around them unconscious while he looked incredibly sheepish.

"H-hey M-Momo," he licked his lips nervously, "H-how has your week been?"

Author's Notes

This is just a fun plot bunny that I had running around in my head. I've been trying hard to get the next chapter of My Miraculous Academia up, but I've been experiencing some major writers block with that one. Instead, this somehow got written. Let me know what you think!

I'd like to thank those who are currently supporting me on pa tr eon; cameron ngo, ZaMAsu Autonomous, Jacob, and TheHydra77. For anybody that is interested or would like to support me, the link to that page is P a treon . com (slash) shdowstep. (remove the spaces). It is certainly not necessary, but it is appreciated.

I hope that all of you have a good Christmas, and I'll see you in the next story!