Witches, Demons, and Heroes (The Owl House x MHA)

Izuku sighed. There was a book fair going on around him. For the first time in recent memory, he did not completely dread getting up in the morning! Finally, something normal on the Boiling Isles! Lilith said she was going on some mission, which he could not go with her, which meant another day or more of not learning anything.

"This is so boring," Izuku groaned, trying to settle into his seat made of abomination muck.

"Could be worse." Darius said as he signed yet another copy of his book. "You could be stuck babysitting again, like me."

"There's books, Darius!" Izuku whined. "And I can't go read any of them!"

"You have a scroll." Darius posed for a selfie, his face becoming as stoic as ever immediately after. "What else do you need?"

"Books!" What was so hard to understand!?

"Midori?" Amity's voice surprised him.

Izuku beamed, seeing her sidestep around the crowd to get to him. A familiar face who was not an authority figure! "Amity!"

"Aw, Ed, look!" An older girl with darker green hair soon joined interrupting Amity's answer. "Another little cutie!"

'Cutie!?' Izuku felt his face heating up.

"Really?" A nearly identical older green hair boy popped out the crowd with a signed book. "He's color coordinated too!" He said while tugging a slight bit of Izuku's hair. If his face was not beet red before, it probably was now.

"Ugh," Amity looked annoyed. "Midori, meet my older siblings. Em, Ed, meet Midori. He's the other human I told you about."

"Nice to meet you," Izuku bowed his head, hoping to hide the dumb look on his face.

"Good to see you making new friends, Mittens." The older girl, Em, smiled innocently. "They seem good for you."

"Minus the whole blowing up dad's abomination thing." The older boy, Ed presumably, added. "Hey, maybe they can convince you to join that writing competition."

Amity made a growl, her face red with anger as she glared at her brother.

"Hey, come on," Em lightly slapped Ed's hand away from Izuku's hair. "You've been talking about it forever and now you wanna back out?"

"Who knows, you could be a popular writer," Ed performed a spell, producing a flashy illusion of Amity dressed like a chic businesswoman, complete with sunglasses. "Like Jon de Plume!"

"Ugh, don't ever mention that name in my presence," Darius finally commented again. "Any author who signs with that slimy lizard is doomed to fail. Which is why I am self published." He said proudly, his waving hand poofing away the illusion.

"Besides," Amity sighed, "mom said it's a waste of time." She gave a smile to Izuku. "But I'm sure you'll have fun if you join."

"Oh, me?" Izuku blushed a bit. "No, nonono." He waved it off. "I'm not a very good writer," h gasped in realization. "But I am a good editor!"

"Really?" All three of the Blight siblings tilted their heads.

"Er, according to Luz. I edit her fanfics back in the Human Realm, I can look over your story if you want, Amity." Izuku smiled back.

"You mean it?" Amity beamed almost instantly. "But I don't know what to write about."

"Just write about anything!" Em encouraged. "You like those Azura books, don't you? Maybe something like that?"

"As dorky as those books are, I think you can give Mildred a run for her snails!"

Amity gave her brother a rough elbow nudge.

Izuku smiled. "I'll do my best. Oh," he looked to Darius. "Darius, do you mind if-?"

"Not a babysitter." Darius interrupted, signing another book for another fan and posing for another selfie. "You're free to leave."

"We'll cover for you guys." Em gave her sister a smile. "Right, Ed?"

They looked to see Ed now playing with one of the abomination guards, much to Darius' annoyance.

The two younger teens smiled at each other and wandered off, Izuku's attention quickly flitting about to the other booths he had been eyeing since Lilith dropped him off with Darius. He was finally exploring something resembling normalcy in the Boiling Isles! There were booths for certain genres, such as romance, which Izuku tried not to look at too long considering the covers he had seen of similar books back home. Some booths were dedicated to authors, and he saw a unicorn who was doing reviews. There were plenty of other book related merchandise, like fancy pens and fancier journals.

They had stopped at a playground, or what passed for one in the Boiling Isles, and sat on a bench. On a nearby wall, Izuku saw a wanted poster for Eda next to a recruitment poster for the Emperor's coven featuring Lilith. He had not met with Emperor Belos since their brief talk, but he swore he could still hear the giant heart beating.

"Do you really think I can be a good writer? Amity almost startled him.

"Of course!" Izuku beamed. "If you go plus ultra, you'll definitely win!"

"Plus what?"

"It means 'go beyond'," Izuku explained. "To take yourself to your limit and reach new ones. Have you thought of anything to write about?"

"Oh, uh, well," Amity's face turned bright red. "Em mentioned something like Azura, but wouldn't that just be plagirism?"

"Only if you actually use any of the names and characters exactly as they're portrayed," Izuku assured. "Then again, you would not believe how many franchises are there in the Human Realm that started out as fanfiction for another one." He cringed. "For better or for worse."

"Right." Amity looked at the playground, fidgeting with the hem of her outfit as she thought. "What about...a witch who wants to..." she stammered, "live in the Human Realm?"

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why do they want to live in the Human Realm?" Izuku brought out his new notepad and began to write things down. "Is it just for fun? Are they running away from danger? Are theythe dangerous one?"

"I don't know, I just-" Amity held herself. "I thought..."

Izuku blinked, seeing her expression. Luz did say writing can be pretty personal. She even had some drafts never meant for publishing, ones she would never even let Izuku see if she could help it. If this idea was too much like one of those for Amity, maybe steering it away would help?

"How about," Izuku exaggerated a thoughtful motion himself, bobbing side to side as hummed and hawed before snapping his fingers. "A hero!"

"A story about a hero?" Amity raised an eyebrow. "Oh, this is a human thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "But then it'd be my story, not yours."

"I don't mind," Amity smiled. "But what about someone whoooo wants to make friends...? Like Otabin!" She had the biggest smile he had ever seen thus far.

"Otabin?"

"Oh, uh," she blushed. "It's this baby book, my favorite when I was little. I read it to the kids at the library." She gasped. "Maybe we can write about a witch or-or-or a demon who wants to make friends in the Human Realm!

Izuku beamed. "That sounds like a great place to start! Okay, before we go any further, we're going to need a bit more room to explore all of our options. Oh! And note cards. And anything we can use for proper color coordination."

Amity stood up. "I have those back at my house, but I don't think my parents are going to let you back inside."

"Oh." Izuku recalled what happened the last time he was at the Blight residence. Mr. Blight definitely did not seem happy.

Amity suddenly smirked. "Unless we sneak you in." And grimaced. "Which means we need to get the twins."

"Oh no." Izuku squeaked.

And oh no was right, because before he realized it, he was now holding onto a makeshift rope fortified by Ed's magic and climbing onto Amity's balcony.

Or at least trying to. He was only about a foot off the ground.

"Come on," Ed groaned, a circle of light around his wrist as he held the spell on the rope. "You're a troublemaker too, aren't you? Pick up the pace."

"I'm a good boy!" Izuku cried out.

"The Covention." Em replied.

"Hey!" Izuku twisted around on the rope. "Someone was making Luz upset! I had to restore balance to the universe!"

"Come on," Amity used her magic now, creating a pillar underneath herself and Izuku, gently sliding them into her room with nary a speck of the muck to dirty up the floor. "And sorry. About the whole Covention thing."

"Hey, it happens." Izuku assured her as he got his notepad out. "Now, we have a story to write!

...

...

"What!?" Izuku and Amity both shouted, seeing the red invitation in Darius' hand depicting King, posed with something resembling a smolder and wearing a turtleneck.

"We spent a whole day on this!" Amity held up their finished manuscript. "The book fair isn't even over! How do they already have a winner?"

"I know." Darius sighed. "But the good news is, you're not the gullible fool getting conned like Jon De Plume."

"The book isn't even that good," Ed had a signed copy. "Luzura dies at the e-" he got interrupted by a nudge from Em, "ow."

"Spoilers!" Izuku gasped. "Wait-"

"My bet is the competition was rigged from the start." Darius gestured with the envelope. "I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a book two, this is just another one hit wonder before Piniet bleeds them dry. If you guys still want to see your friend before the fame gets to him-"

"Don't mind if we do!" Izuku interrupted, snatching the envelope out of Darius' hand. "Amity, let's go!"

...

...

Luz looked up at the banner of King and sighed.

"They got his good side."

"Luz!"

She gasped, seeing Midori and Amity.

"Oh, hey-!" She noticed Midori was out of breath. "Hey, what's got my favorite blockhead so worked up?" She held his face. "Who hurt you?"

"I should be asking you that," Midori replied. "Why does King's book have one of yourcharacters?"

Uh oh. "Haha, ha! Funny story, really." Luz nervously laughed.

"Ahem." A raspy voice spoke behind her as two shadows loomed suddenly loomed over them. "I hear you're an aspiring writer, Luz the human."

"Uh-" Luz backed away, putting Midori and Amity behind her. She may not know any magic, or have a Quirk, but she can protect her friends with the power of knowledge! And improvised weaponry! "Who wants to know?"

"Piniet, of Piniet Publishing House. I'll cut straight to the point. King needs a second book, but unfortunately, he needs a little help with it. And seeing as how it was your contribution that made Ruler's Reach such a sensational narrative, I'd like to offer you an opportunity."

'Well that doesn't sound suspicious at all,' Luz thought.

"Then what you need is an editor!" Midori stepped forward. "And I'm the guy for the job."

"Midori, what are you doing?" Amity whispered.

"Yeah dude, we can totally take them!" Luz added with an equally not as quiet whisper.

"It's fine-!" Midori whispered back before clearing his throat. "Let me take a look at his new book."

Piniet narrowed his eyes but smiled. "Very well." And snapped his fingers.

Immediately, one guard grabbed Midori, making him squeak.

"Midori-!" Luz and Amity both shouted while the other guard grabbed them.

Her weak nerd arms were still weak and nerdy, and no amount of flailing kicks would make these guys budge! She even tried biting them! But they were tossed out the front doors, Amity quickly making a mud slide down the stairs.

"No!" Luz almost slipped over the muck but was back on her feet, trying to go back inside only to be stopped by a crowd of fans. "I can't let Midori get sucked into a toxic work environment! He's too soft! He'll crumble under the pressure!"

"Hold on," Amity grabbed her arm. "If Em and Ed taught me anything, it's how to be sneaky! We'll try the back!"

"Good idea!" Wow, honor student with a bad girl streak! Luz felt...something.

"Aww, Mittens really is becoming a delinquent because of us!" Ed's voice surprised them.

"Ed!?" Amity went wide eyed.

"What is with people sneaking up on me?" Luz scratched the back of her head as she realized how often this was happening. "Wait, priorities! We need to save Izuku-er, I mean Midori!"

"But we can't get back in without an invite."

"Lucky for you, we brought our own." Em jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

...

...

In a familiar dressing room, Izuku sat in quiet anger as he read over the mess of a manuscript he was given, scribbling some notes on blank sheets provided by the shady publisher. He had half a mind to use his glyph, but knowing his luck, he would only succeed in setting it on inward and he would become crispier than fried chicken. He was reading yet another paragraph filled with vague but copious mentions of innards becoming out-ards when the door to the dressing room opened.

"Green human?" King was surprised and shocked to see him. "What are you doing here? Where's Luz?"

"He's here on her behalf to help write your next book." Piniet has a small hiss in his voice. "With his help, we'll take this hot garbage and turn it into something profitable."

"Is that all you think of me? As a way to make money!?" King was offended.

"My country literally has a word specifically for death by overworking!" Izuku piped up. "Also, it does read like a kid wrote this, sorry." He said to King.

"Hey! I'm not a kid! I'm only eight! Practically an adult!"

"You're eight?" Any anger Izuku had dissipated in that instant. Was that like in dog years? Small dog or big dog? Or was this really a kid throwing age-appropriate tantrums? The anger turned to confusion and was then replaced with worry as a hole opened in the cube just big enough for Piniet to throw King in.

"King!" Izuku helped him sit up, then glaring at Piniet. "You villain! Darius was right! You're a corrupt businessman with no morals!"

"Oh I do have morals." Piniet showed a contract with a red clawed paw mark. "I keep my word so long as others keep theirs." He tightened his fist, and the box shrunk. "Now get to writing."

Piniet left, but no doubt those two guards were just outside waiting with him.

"Ugh!" King groaned, banging his head against the cube. "We're never getting my book finished in time! We're cube meat!"

"Hey, hey-" Izuku tried to comfort him, patting his skull...helmet...head. "Hey. It's going to be okay, I'm here. We just need to figure out how to finish this story and fast."

"Right! Right. Er," King thought, scratching his head. "Oh! I know! Just kill everyone!"

"King! No!"

"King, yes!"

"That is literally one of the worst ways to end a story!"

"It's better than all that gushy shipping!"

Izuku blinked in disbelief. "Wow, you really are a kid."

"Hey! At least I have ideas! You're just an editor! Editors don't become famous celebrities!"

"Also a bad motivation."

"Quiet you!" King's voice shook. "This is the closest I was ever going to get to my dream of reclaiming my throne as the King of Demons!"

"And you stole Luz's dream like some villain." Izuku looked over the papers. What could he do? How could he save-?

"No I didn't! Her dream is to be a witch! Some friend you are! You don't even know her!"

Izuku tightened his hands. "I've known her longer than you! And yeah, being a witch is her dream, but the more realistic one was to be a writer!" He crumpled some paper in his fist. "Iwanted to be a Pro Hero and I can't all because of a stupid extra toe joint!" he gestured to his foot. "This," he gestured to the notes, "is the closest I'll ever get to my dream!" Izuku's voice cracked, his fist hitting the cube, making it shrink.

King made a sound somewhere between a whine and a whimper, curling his knees up to his chest and looking at the ever-smaller magical barrier around them.

The sound broke Izuku's heart. This was not a villain. This was a kid. A kid who grew up in the house of a villain. Of course he was going to be spoiled rotten. Sure, King was on the wanted poster, but he never truly heard of a 'King of Demons' causing havoc. King was a child, a child who needed help. Izuku wanted to be a hero, but right now, Izuku was just making things worse, not acting like a hero at all. Heck, a vigilante like The Crawler or Pop Step would probably be doing a better job!

"I'm sorry for yelling." Izuku took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. "I should be trying to get us out of this."

"And my hot garbage isn't doing us any favors." King grumbled. "Too bad you can't just throw a fireball like you did at the covention."

Izuku gasped. "King, that's it!"

"What's it?"

Izuku grabbed a blank page and began to draw a glyph. "How about we make this hot mess even hotter?"

"You mean that in a good way, right?"

"Just follow my lead." Izuku finished the glyph just as the cube got a bit smaller.

"Weh?" King squeaked.

"Piniet!" Izuku called out as he pulled King into his lap, hoping to make a bit more room for the little demon by sacrificing his own comfort. "We're done!"

A pause. Was Piniet even outside the door? He did not hear the guards move. Just when he thought Piniet had given them an impossible task, the publisher soon strolled back in, that same venomous smile on his face. "That was fast."

"Uhh, t-teamwork makes the dream work! Hehe," King tried to sound convincing.

Piniet grabbed the manuscript from Izuku's hand and began to read, a third eye opening, all three of them glowed as the pages flew one after the other, eyes darting back and forth.

"This is still a mess," he narrowed his eyes at them.

"Skip to the end, it's fire." Izuku mentally cringed at using such old slang.

Piniet did exactly that, King's claws tightened around Izuku's arm. a few precious seconds for Izuku to make his move and keep King safe, despite the whole villain thing. When the lizard paused again, Izuku took a deep breath.

"What is this?"

"EXPLOSION!" Izuku quickly reached out the still open hole and slapped the page, activating the glyph.

boom!

It blew up like a firework in Piniet's hand.

"AH!" Piniet dropped to the floor, his coat catching on fire from the sleeve. He threw it on the floor to snuff it out. Then noticed one other thing had fallen right into the flame. "No-!" He unfurled the contract and tried to blow out the embers but bit by bit it had been consumed and turned to ash in his hands.

The cube broke burst open, releasing Izuku and King.

"You-!" Piniet growled. "I made you famous!"

"No you didn't!" King yelled back, jumping out of Izuku's grip and going on all fours like a dog. "You used my face and expected me to do all the work! Hey wait," he squatted, looking even more like a dog, making a thoughtful expression. "I was doing that, wasn't I?"

"We can talk about that later!" Izuku grabbed King's hand and went for the door, only to be blocked by the nameless, almost faceless, and silent guards. "Oh no."

"ENOUGH!" Piniet dug through the ash of his coat, grabbing a fountain pen and popping the cap off. "Ever heard of the phrase, 'kill your darlings'?" His pen became an axe, and he hoisted it over his head.

slam!

The door was suddenly forced open by abomination muck.

"Never fear!" Amity entered first, spell circles around her hands.

"For we are here!" Luz was wielding a flail made of abomination goo.

"King!" A tiny voice spoke coming from an equally tiny woman whose body was mostly nose. "I am your biggest fan!" She went between the girls' legs and trampled over a guard that had tried to get back up. "I fought through the Boiling Isles' mightiest witches to get here! Read my stowy?" She held up a stack of pages with an earnest look in her eye.

"Uh-"

"We're kinda in danger here, ma'am." Izuku pointed to Piniet.

"You are?"

"Give me that!" Piniet snatched the stack. "I need a best seller! If you two ungrateful brats won't give me one I-! I-! I..." he started to read the tiny woman's book, his voice trailing off and stammering until he began to tear up and blubber.

"Are we still saving you or...?" Luz whispered.

"It's...beautiful." Piniet sniffled. "I must publish this! You!" He picked up the tiny woman. "I can make you a star!"

"What about me?" King asked.

"King," Izuku picked him up, "I think we should leave."

"Plus, I don't know how much longer Darius can hold off the fans." Amity whispered too.

"You're old news anyways." Piniet waved them off. "You, my dear," he spoke to his newest mark, "are the future."

"Let's leave while we still can." Luz whispered, dragging Izuku and Amity by the arm. When they were outside the door, she paused. "Oh! And one more thing-" she took off the jacket from King and threw it at Piniet in the middle of his rambling. "Crunch culture is a toxic mentality that leads to burnout and unrealistic expectations!" She turned to them. "Run!"

They did, getting back outside before any sort of retaliation could be done, only stopping when they were sure they were far enough away.

"Whew!" Amity huffed. "Do all humans do crazy things like this? My heart is racing!"

"Sort of?" Luz huffed out a laugh between panting. "Luckily we got to you just in time!" Luz hugged Izuku and King. "I'm so glad two of my favorite guys are safe!"

"And I think this little guy has something to say." Izuku set King down. "Don't you?"

"Weh?" King looked confused, but seeing Izuku dart his eyes to Luz, he might have gotten the message. "O-oh, right. Luz, I-" he tapped his claws together. "I am so sorry for stealing your book from you. I got so caught up in trying to achieve my dream, I hurt someone who was trying to achieve theirs."

"Aww, King." Luz hugged him. "Apology accepted. I kinda figured I might not have won the writing competition anyways."

"Really?" Amity asked. "But Midori said you're a great writer!"

"Yeah, but those are fanfics." Luz sighed.

"Those still count." Izuku assured, recalling their talks back home. "Hey, remember when we were talking about jobs we wanted in the future, and you asked mine?"

"Yeah." Luz nodded. "You still have 'Pro Hero' on the top, right?"

"Yeah, but another thing on the list is getting into publishing." Izuku admitted. "That way, you have someone in the industry who always has your back."

Luz's eyes teared up, a small smile on her face. "Team Night-Light?"

"Team Night-Light." Izuku assured, holding up his friendship bracelets. He was not surprised when Luz hugged him instead.

"And if things don't work out in the Human Realm, you have us in the Demon Realm." Amity added, fidgeting with her tunic again. "I'm sure there are plenty of people who would want to read a story written by a human."

"This is gonna be great!" Luz got them in a headlock.

"And I can be your endearing mascot!" King hopped onto Izuku's shoulder, throwing off his balance.

"Plus Ultra!" Amity cheered with a blush. "Er, or something."

"No, no, you said it right!" Izuku tried not to laugh.

"Whoo!" Luz hopped up, but seeing as how they were still linked, they all ended up falling onto the grass in a laughing pile.

Izuku looked up at the night sky. Purple clouds casted shadows, but the moon glowed a faint blue over them, as if keeping watch. He looked to Luz, her eyes glittering with stars. Amity was looked at Luz the way Luz was looking at the sky. Her face was softer than he had ever seen so far.

Izuku made something of a realization, he was not sure what exactly, but it made him look away-

"Ow!" Izuku yelped and coughed, pain in his abdomen blooming from where King jumped on him. "King!"

"Hey, life or death situations make me hungry! And I demand snacks!" The ferocious little creature lightly slapped Izuku, his little claws scratching him.

"Ah!" Izuku tried to shield himself. "That's it! Air jail!" Izuku picked up King and held him out as far as he could.

"Release me!"

"Uh, Amity? Help!"

"I got this," Amity was about to cast a spell.

"Whoa," Luz sat up, eyes still on the stars. "Izuku, you got some pen and paper?"

"Oh, yeah!" Izuku gently set King down and got out his notepad. "What is it?"

"Sudden inspiration?" Amity sat up too, trying not to lean over Luz's shoulder too much.

"Something like that." Luz looked down at the paper, then to the sky, her tongue sticking out in concentration. A circle encompassed a triangle with a line through it, another smaller circle sitting on top with-wait!

"Is that-?" Izuku began to ask when Luz tapped the paper.

The glyph began to glow, the paper curling in around itself and becoming a small ball of light.

Luz held it gently.

"It's beautiful." Amity said quietly.

"It's like-" Izuku began to say but stopped himself.

"My dad's Quirk." Luz finished for him, a single tear trailing down her cheek as she let the orb of light go.

They watched as it floated higher and higher, into the night sky.