Here's to us, the rotten children: They made us into violence. Your bones, your skin, it's all been turned into ash. Here's to us, those born of violence, turned into a war-ground.

We are beauty and fire; ash we may be, but we are stronger than them, CNS

Mike Mills, Mu Museum Exhibition / Marcin Cienski, Punishment

　　　　In a perfect world, Anton Alaister lived in a happy home.

        An early 20th-century suburban, two stories and in great condition after recent remodeling: a fresh coat of paint over peeling walls, a well-nourished flower bed and a mowed front yard that grows pomegranate trees, some random vintage car you'd see in movies parked in the family's marble white driveway, the full package stationed right on the corner of Pine street. Every day, he'd run downstairs to eat at the table, passing a portrait: a Mother, a Father, a younger Sister, maybe even a pet cat that drives Mother insane as opposed to the real clinical depiction.

        He'd finally meet his extended family on holidays and reunions because his parents make such good host and hostess. There, he could build pillow forts and play whatever game he wants; capture the flag during the Fourth of July, Duck Duck Goose on Thanksgiving, and━━his favorite━━hide and seek on Easter. And every Christmas morning, before anyone outside the nuclear family stepped in, he would deceive himself with the rainbow-colored lights decorating the tree, tearing the wrapping paper off the presents underneath with the broadest smile, feeling all festive and homey. That's what he could call home.

        Instead, he belonged to the antithesis. His safest bet was to live on the hardwood planks of an abandoned house━━not home━━ghosted with the shards of shattered windows, some stolen beer bottles from the nearest convenience store that was five miles (give or take), unwanted pieces of mother nature that blew in, and other lost possessions. Even so, none of those laid his body to rest; trust me, he has tried, but I guess you can't fight the hauntings of what-ifs (or maybe that was the alcohol talking). Then again, what can you expect after committing "manslaughter"? It just isn't in God's principle to punish the good, and in the words of his adoptive Mother, "You need to suffer the consequences," howbeit wildly taken out of context.

        Let me take a step back.

        She didn't have much of a say in hers or anyone else's death, although, I suppose condoning your priest to drown one of your kids━━one of your fellow Christians━━and all the persecution that led up to it gave the Devil all the more assurance towards his decision. Anton kissed a boy, so what? Was that enough to single him out at family dinners? Enough to gossip to the neighbors about him? To make him, in the smallest town of Massachusetts, public enemy #1? If she were so adamant about praying the gay away, she got her wish, if only for a few seconds. Because the moment he shot up from the water, the church was set ablaze in minutes, and only he made it out, forever harrowed by a demon of a spirit.

        Maybe it wasn't manslaughter but stark murder. Maybe, deep down, Anton wanted to kill them. How would he know? He was dead for a few seconds.

        When he needed a home, there was no one to run to. Anton needed a Mother━━someone who didn't get easily fooled or spin out when her children were too young to understand they were being taken from Mother, and Mother's going to die all alone in the mental hospital months later. Anton needed a Father━━someone who wasn't always scheming and whose presence wasn't also fleeting because Hell couldn't be without its Lord for sixteen more years. Anton wanted a sister━━he always wanted to be a big brother but contrarily got sidelined to the role of the youngest by a homophobic prick. Not to worry, he and his father, too, died in the fire.

        And although his mother's diary, one of the lost remnants of the haunted house, is the closest he'll ever be to her, Anton was alone.

        Then Tony Stark found him. Then Tony Stark fed him. Then Tony Stark stashed him in one of his condos for "his own" safety. Who was Anton to complain? Free hot water, free cable. Tony Stark took him in, and then he forced him back into the arms of High School come September. Midtown━━quite prestigious. Way out of his grade point average. On the bright side, there are cute boys. Bad news: he gets stuck to Peter Parker━━literally; the way they met is a night Anton longs to forget. In due time, he'll want to forget a lot more because time is fleeting,

and no one can escape the Harrowing of Hell, Heaven, and Earth.

Justice Smith. . .Anton Beelzebub Alaister,
The Anti-Christ!
Cambion / Homosexual / INTJ

Tom Holland. . .Peter Benjamin Parker,
Spider-Man!
Human mutate / Bisexual / ENFP

As Described. . .Victoria Alaister
As Described. . .Marcus Alaister, Satan
Robert Downey Jr. . .Tony Stark, Iron Man
Zendaya Coleman. . .Michelle "MJ" Jones
Jacob Batalon. . .Ned Leeds

Stay away from the ones you love too much. These are the ones who will kill you.

❪ ★彡 ❫ ──── author's notes !
happy ( belated- ) peter parker day ! i've had this plot for over a year now, and i'm slowly starting to piece together its odds and ends, working off my abundant love for spider-man, moments where i questioned my own faith and a bunch of tumblr weavings that have little to everything to do with things burning━━or prying out the remnants of God in their bodies with a crowbar ( figuratively, of course ).

if you couldn't tell from the aforementioned or the synopsis, this character will face a lot of [tw] religious trauma. i say 'face' for two reasons: 1) anton has a habit of remedying situations with [tw] substance abuse━━some alcohol tony left around, packs of marlboro cigarettes, the lot━━it's how he coasted through the summer and pretty much gambled with his life; 2) i don't think my writing will hit so heavily? worst case scenario, anton will call his whole belief system a hoax and reach dark lows where you may either sympathize or absolutely despise him. but i promise you, anton is as decent as a person can be ( for now ) !! he's the love of peter and my life, actually.

also, anton's sort of dead? sort of not though? a cambion is half-human, half-demon, and the lore i've established here is that had he been born on a satanic date, he would've been born with powers as well. however, he fell short a day, which means his hellish abilities were locked until he died nearly 15 years later, whereas his spirit merged with a fallen angel's. consequently, he can conjure fire, among other things. and while we're on the topic of demons, i wanted to clarify that this satan is only one of many hell lords, considering that marvel has multiple hell dimensions. "marcus" is mildly inspired by Marduk Kurios from Earth-616 though. as for victoria, anton has picked up several eldritch magic spells scribbled in the journal she left ( connect the dots 👀 ).

the last thing i want to point out is that the book will start on homecoming and proceed with the course of the MCU timeline. anything before that will appear through flashbacks, as i simply don't have the motivation to write a whole prequel.

dedicated to savioursrot ! my #1 supporter who had put up with my nonsensical complaints about every aspect of this book <3
&& thank you ibuprofenstarr for the amazing cover !!