How The Poison Thorned Rose and Death Fell in Love {DISCONTINUED}

Third Encounter

It has been another month since Izuku has been among the mortals, making it a total of four since he fled his home. As the days got warmer as summer was approaching, Izuku often found himself going to dips in the rivers and lakes he came across, the cool water rushing over his heated skin soothing him. The heat was starting to become worse as time went on. As a result, he stuck to the forests and heavily shaded paths to walk on to protect himself from the Sun’s harsh rays.

Whenever he stumbled upon a village or town, he would help out with any farming or work that needed to be done for a week or so. More often though he would help entertain the children so that their parents could work undistracted. He would tell wild stories and would carve out toys from wood for the children to play with. He taught them how to make flower crowns and about nature. The parents were always happy when at the end of the day the children would sleep through the night, exhausted from playing. Some families tried to pay him for his help, but Izuku turned them down, saying that he had been more than happy to keep the little ones busy. When offered to share a meal with them he could hardly say no as the children begged him to eat with them. The next day he would leave the place with promises to stop by if he were in the area. This was his routine for a while.

 
The only times his routine was broken was when bad people stirred up trouble and he got himself involved. More often than not when that happened, dead bodies were left scattered in his wake. He never showed any mercy to those who would harm others because they found it fun to do so or who believed themselves to be above the law. His latest kill was a man who had just murdered his wife and was about to kill his own children when Izuku stepped in and slit his throat. He did not even give the cooling corpse a passing glace as once he soothed the children he began to dig a hole deep enough to bury a body. He then gently placed the mother’s body inside before refilling it, placing a few rocks as a symbol that she was buried there. He and the children said some simple prays and Izuku added an extra one to Hades that he would be merciful in the judgment of her soul and harsh with the man. After they had finished praying, Izuku took them to a nearby temple, one that worshipped Hermes and spoke to the priests there, explaining the situation. Thankfully the temple was more than willing to take in the children and raise them. Before he left, he hugged the children and gave them both a small amulet that had the symbol of Persephone (Himself) on it, saying that since Persephone could manipulate the earth just like the goddess Demeter, they would watch over their mother’s grave and protect it from any harm. The children tearfully wished him goodbye as he left.

 
Izuku waved to them before disappearing from sight. Once he left the area, he quickly circled back and returned to where he had murdered the man and buried the woman. He was quick to clean up any blood that stained the Earth and proceeded to build a bonfire to burn the corpse on. As he got the fire going, he looked towards the grave and decided to make it much more nicer. He placed his hand on the ground and called forth his magic. He thought of what would be nice to bring forth and settled on pink carnations that symbolized the love of a mother, white heather lavender that symbolized protection, purple hyacinth that symbolized sorrow, and white stargazer lilies that symbolized the innocence that has been restored to the soul of the departed and sympathy for them. Once the flowers finished blooming and were blowing gently in the wind, Izuku turned back to completing the bonfire when he let out a yelp of shock.

 
“What are you doing here!?”

 
The man, the same man who helped him fight off those thieves, the same man who kissed his hand and has refused to leave his mind was standing right next to the body, looking over his work. It was silent for a moment before he stood up and faced Izuku.