Prologue
THE FOLLOWING WORK PRESENTS EXPLICIT CONTENT AND IS AIMED TOWARDS GENERAL ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
KEEP IN MIND THAT ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE, SO PLEASE BE PATIENT.
DISCLAIMER: This is simply a fan fiction based on the original work of Kouhei Horikoshi, Boku no Hero Academia, canon elements and characters don't belong to me.
“Long, long ago, there was a pretty, young woman named Psyche, whose beauty was enough to unleash a terrible envy upon goddess Aphrodite herself. How dared men stop frequenting her temples to court a mere mortal? The goddess then ordered her son Eros, god of love and eroticism, the cupid himself, to shoot the poor young lady’s heart, making her fall in love with the most hideous living being on Earth, barely did she know that her son, enchanted by Psyche’s beauty, would fail to accomplish such task.
The king, Psyche’s father, had been worried about his daughter, for he got to marry his two other oldest daughters, however Psyche remained uninterested in any suitors, he then recurs to the oracle who, induced by Eros, foresees the young woman marrying a monstrous entity. Unsettled, the king unwillingly gives in to Apollo’s will and abandons his own daughter on top of a rock hill.
Alone and asleep, Psyche is taken by the wind Zephyrs to a magnificent palace which, from that day onwards, would be hers. Although apparently empty, the sumptuous palace was full of the most privileged perks, always fulfilling the young woman’s will each day; at night, she would give in to Eros, the god of love himself.
The life in the palace never bored her, Psyche savored every pleasure known and unknown by mortals and had a spouse she loved, even though she couldn’t see his face, for he made her promise she would never try to find it out. Psyche believed to be married to a monstrous entity for that reason, but truth is, in the moment he revealed himself, Eros would be caught by Aphrodite, she who he disobeyed.
Time went by and, with it, Psyche missed her sisters immensely, so she begged her husband to see them again, Eros then gives in to his wife’s insistence and lets her sisters come to visit but, upon seeing the youngest in a palace so much bigger and more luxurious than theirs, the women are taken by a horrible jealousy, but fake pity upon their baby sister; finding out the fact that she didn’t know her husband’s face, her sisters warn her to be married to a terrible serpent, which was feeding her to devour her afterwards.
Frightened, Psyche follows her sisters’ advice and goes up to her husband at night with a lamp and a dagger in hands: with one, she would enlighten his face, with the other, she would kill him if she saw the monster of which her sisters warned, however, she is enchanted by the beautiful face of the young man asleep on their bed.
In the middle of her trance, Psyche ends up dropping a bit of boiling olive oil from the lamp on Eros’ shoulder, burning his skin. Feeling betrayed by his wife upon waking and seeing her with a dagger, the god runs away screaming ‘love doesn’t survive without trust!’ Psyche tries to follow when she sees Eros flying out the window, falls out of it and blacks out on the floor.
The castle vanishes and Psyche returns to her parents’ home when awake, where she meets her sisters again who fake pity upon her. They believe that the beautiful Eros, now single, would accept them and trail the path back towards the amazing palace, call for Zephyrs and, believing they’re safe in the invisible Butler’s hands, step forward and fall in the abyss.
Missing Eros’ love, Psyche travels the world in hope of meeting him again. Starving and exhausted from the long journey, she spots a temple on top of a mountain and, believing it belongs to god Eros, she climbs to his encounter. Arriving at the top, she sees piles and piles of wheat, rye, barley and tools, which she separates and organizes willingly. The temple belonged to goddess Demeter who, thankful for the favor of the pretty lady, tells her that, to persuade her husband, she would have to receive the forgiveness of her in-laws.
Psyche then travels to one of the temples of Aphrodite and prays for her; the goddess, knowing about Eros’ treason and with him under her wing, imposes to the poor mortal a series of tasks, with hopes she would wear out her beauty or work until her very last breath.
First, she was taken to a room containing a huge pile of grains from all the most varied kinds, which she should sort out in one night; the harsh work in the short amount of time made Psyche fall exhausted and asleep, in middle of her slumber an army of ants shows up and, grain in grain, complete the task before the rising of the morning sun.
Aphrodite then tells her to bring the wool of the golden fleece. After a long journey, Psyche finds the ferocious animals that don’t let her get close, a voice then enacts from the reeds of a river and advices: thou must look for a thorn bush, near where the sheep go to drink, and, on the tips of the thorns, collect all the golden wool that there is stuck.
Accomplishing then the second task, Psyche unleashes the goddess’ fury, who orders her to bring the dirty water from the source of river Styx, which sprouted on a high mountain so steep that it was impossible to climb. Psyche soon falls before reaching the top of the first rock wall, Zeus then orders eagles to take the flask she brought from her, flying it to the spring and filling it with water, accomplishing another task.
Aphrodite notices that she would have to use more powerful means. Lying that she lost a bit of her beauty from caring for Eros’ wound, she orders Psyche to, in the land of the dead, ask for its queen, Persephone, a bit of her own beauty, plain certain that the mortal wouldn’t return alive. Aphrodite is wrong once again, for Psyche had convinced Persephone to fill herself a box with her beauty.
On her way to meet Aphrodite again, insecure, Psyche can’t resist and opens the box, imagining that the harsh tasks had already worn out her beauty, falling in a deep slumber. Healed from the burn, Eros goes to meet his lover, puts the content back in the box and awakes Psyche, ordering her to take it to his mother.
Upon Psyche accomplishing that last task, Eros goes to Zeus to make one final beg so that he could have the love of his life eternally by his side. Zeus then, with Aphrodite’s permission, orders Hermes to take the young human to the Heavenly Assembly where she is turned immortal, for she carried Eros’ child.
Finally, Psyche was united with her lover and later on, their daughter Hedone was born, goddess of pleasure, first succubus of the species and the next to play the role as a cupid which was passed along from a generation to another among the descendants of Hedone and her human soulmate.”
“The end.” The blonde succubus announced upon closing the book on her lap and turning to her son in bed. “Time to sleep.”
“Huh? But ’m not sleepy yet!” The young incubus protested.
His mother placed the book on the chair beneath as she stood and laughed. “You need to, Katsuki, it’s getting late.”
“Oh, come on, just one more story…” Katsuki waved his tiny legs under the covers, pushing them away.
“You will listen to more stories in tomorrow's class, young cupid.” The succubus explained, tucking her son in.
The little incubus puffed his cheeks out in frustration. “Why do I have to wait so long? That’s not fair! I don’t need more classes, ’m ready to be a cupid.”
“It’s the rules. A cupid’s work is too much responsibility and you still have much to learn, you’re only four.”
“But I can be a cupid way before my 20s!” He said determined, standing on the bed with a hop and flapping his little demon tail and the pair of wings on his coccyx. “I learn fast and I bet I’ll be the best cupid the world has ever had!”
“And it’s past cupid’s bed time. GO TO SLEEP!!!” His mother exclaimed, making Katsuki drag himself back under the covers unwillingly.
The succubus waited until her son was properly laid in bed and shook her head, impatient with his stubbornness. She went to the door and took one last peek at the little boy to make sure he would stay put, then flicked off the light and went to her room from where she vanished in thin air.
It was late at night when he got home after a long day of work. He entered the living room, loosening the necktie that suffocated him and turned on the light of the room, it was when he heard her voice.
“Hi, Masaru.” Greeted the blonde succubus that smiled at him.
“Mitsuki!” Masaru exclaimed joyfully and quickly jogged to her encounter.
The human man held the succubus in his arms lovingly, eyeing her kindly.
“I missed you so much…” Mitsuki whispered against his lips.
“I did too. And how is our Katsuki?”
“Energetic as always!” The succubus laughed. “He’s very impatient to take my place.”
“I can’t wait to see him again, I’m sure he’ll be a cupid as good as you.”
“And I’m sure he’ll be even better, but that’s many years from now.” Mitsuki caressed his face and Masaru leaned in to the touch. “Now it’s just you and me.”
They both approached in a kiss, losing themselves in each other’s arms in the middle of the night.
16 years later...
In the middle of the crowd of demons, Katsuki climbed up the steps to the altar in ceremonial garments; today was a day to celebrate, a special day, his day, for it was his 20th birthday.
Making it to the top, his mother wielded her cupid weapon: a pretty bow adorned in gold with a string of an intense shade of green. She also wore her garments for the occasion, for it would be herself to lead the ceremony.
“Are you ready?” Mitsuki’s voice echoed in the middle of the silence in the room.
Her son smirked. “I was born ready!” He exclaimed.
Mitsuki nodded and wielded the bow, pulling the string as an arrow of energy matter materialized in her hand, pointing at Katsuki. “So don’t dodge and hold tight… it’ll hurt.”
There wasn’t time to react, Katsuki was already on the floor with an arrow’s shot right through his chest. There was a moment when the audience seemed to hold their breaths until, with a certain effort, the young incubus moved, turning and rising just enough so that he could support himself on his knees with his hands holding his body above the floor.
He breathed difficultly and the first tears sprouted from his eyes from the terrible pain he felt; he looked at the arrow in his chest and saw his mother approaching from behind between his legs.
“Breath and hold tight.” She instructed. “I know it hurts, but it’ll pass.”
It was such an agonizing pain that Katsuki didn’t know how much longer he could take it, he tried to hold his emotions in front of the public, but the strong pain in his chest took his breath away and countless voices hummed loudly in his ears, which made himself incapable of holding back the tears running amok, such from the physical pain as the emotional pain, as well as from the stimuli overload.
When he thought he would succumb, he felt his chest lighter and saw the arrow of energy matter vanish in particles that floated in the air until fading completely, the same happened to his mother’s bow and she pronounced as Katsuki recomposed.
“The ritual is completed.” She approached her son who stood difficultly. “Katsuki… from this day, officially… you are a cupid.”
Taken by the gratification that filled his chest, the incubus smiled confidently in front of the crowd that applauded his success, took two steps forward and pronounced. “I… will be the best!”
Was what he said that day…
In front of a desk in an advocacy office, Katsuki watched the closing of the deal between the humans in the room and clicked his tongue, showing his fangs. He couldn’t bear to stay another second in there, so he turned his back on them and went to the door, crossing through the solid wood like a ghost and took the path he long memorized to the front door, seeing himself face to a group of other succubi as he left.
“As we thought, you were there…” The succubus of pink hair and skin mentioned cautiously.
“I’m not in the mood now, Mina…” Katsuki complained as he circled them.
“Another divorce?” The incubus of intense red hair risked asking when Katsuki walked past him.
“What do you think?” Katsuki asked rhetorically.
The cupid was already walking out of sight when the red-haired incubus called him. “W-wait, Katsubro! We need to tell you something!”
Katsuki halted and spun on his heels, staring at his friends boredly. “What could be so important to bother me in a time like this?”
“Of course it’s important, we know this is the worst time for you…” An incubus of long black hair mentioned as the group approached.
“Yeah? And can you go straight to the point?!” The cupid questioned impatiently.
The group hesitated briefly before the redhead spoke. “I think you need to go see aunt Mitsuki…”
Katsuki eyed him confused.
Mitsuki’s house was located in a citadel of Hell where high class demons lived in relative harmony, away from the chaos of the torture of mortal souls. It was an old-looking mansion, but sumptuous and well kept; few had access to it, for it was where cupids were kept under the watch of trustworthy demons, and where happens their training to take over the heritage passed along from father to son: the one of spreading the so-called “love” among mortals in the human world; it was where Katsuki was born and grew under the care of his mother and her close friends who, eventually, had their own children who, in turn, became his close friends.
Katsuki didn’t visit that house ever since he received the task to replace his mother, for he had to move to the human world and live among them under covered, it made part of being a cupid after all and now there he was, inside the gates of his childhood home where his mother lived ever since she conceived him, dragged by his friends towards the front door.
“This is very suspicious…” The cupid said in the garden that led to the house.
“Come on, Katsuki! Don’t you trust us?” An incubus of blonde hair with a dark streak questioned.
“To drag me all the way here after about thirty years just to visit my mom, and not even explain to me the reason for it, it’s because something’s out of place.”
A succubus of dark bob cut sighed. “We’re still your friends, Katsuki, we wouldn’t bring you here if it wasn’t important.”
“And what’s the emergency?” The cupid stopped in the middle of the way, facing the group from above his shoulder.
“You better hear from your mother…” The black-haired succubus mentioned slowly. “But she needs you now.”
Katsuki rolled his eyes and went to the large, old wooden door as the group waited in place, he knocked to announce his arrival and one of the butlers received him with a bow and a respectful formal greeting. Looking behind suspiciously, Katsuki saw his friends encouraging him to go inside with positive thumbs, waves of hands and forced smiles; the cupid squinted his eyes in return and entered the mansion, letting the butler lead the way, even though he remembered all too well where his mother’s room was located.
Stopping at the bottom of the stairs to the upper floor, the butler turned to Katsuki hesitantly and cleaned his throat. “I must warn you before that mistress Mitsuki could be somewhat… emotional, master cupid.”
Katsuki rose a brow confused and stared at the hall on top of the stairs suspiciously, he then scoffed at the butler and climbed up the steps, taking the path to his mother’s room.
As he approached enough of his destiny, his sensible pointy ears twitched at the sound they captured: his mother was crying? Loudly, as it seemed, a sound he didn’t hear for a long while since she was still a cupid and spent too much time away from his father to look after Katsuki.
Uneasy, the incubus slowly went up to the double doors where two maids gave him access after a bow, a polite greeting and expressing their gratitude for the visit, both of them turned their faces away from the painful scene in the bedroom: Mitsuki laid in the large couple’s bed crying against a pillow in the fail attempt of muffling her screams. Gulping, Katsuki entered cautiously and the door was closed behind him as he went up to his mother’s encounter, stopping by her side on the bed.
Mitsuki saw him approach from eye-corner and breathed deeply to try and control her tears before turning her agonized face at her son.
“Mom…” Katsuki finally called, mortified by the scene. “W-what…?”
Mitsuki shook her head and adjusted in bed. “Oh, my son…” She patted the free spot by her side, inviting him to sit and Katsuki complied. “There’s no easy way of saying this, Katsuki… Masaru… your father, he-”
Mitsuki cut herself off with another crying fit coming; she tried to control her emotions to speak coherently, but her son already deciphered.
He was never good at dealing with feelings despite being a cupid, but Katsuki found it fair not to ask intrusive questions and selected his words carefully before opening his mouth. “Can I do something about it?”
Mitsuki forced out a shaky smile. “Now I just need you to do your duty… You know, the prophecy-”
“Fuck the prophecy, I need to know if you’ll be fine.” Katsuki retorted impatiently.
His mother shook her head at her son’s stubbornness and held his hand. “I’ll be fine, Katsuki, I promise… It’ll pass and is part of life, all I really need now is for you to move on. For both of us, okay?”
Katsuki nodded reluctantly and approached to hug his mother, comforting her for a while to make sure that she was at least a little better.
He could have agreed just not to worry her and he knew that she noticed the lie on his face, but both of them knew well how hard it is to change one’s mind, especially when we’re talking about Katsuki Bakugou.
Author's note
I decided to select a few fics from now on to translate them to English, so here’s the 1st I decided to work on ^^ I took my own twist on the legend of Eros and Psyche to better fit the story btw, does anyone else notice how Psyche likes to sleep so much…?