Everything was covered in blood as he walked down the hall, it seemed to go on forever into a darkness which had no end. He couldn't see that well but he knew the smell of copper in the air for what it was and the warm liquid around his feet gave the impression that the place itself was bleeding. Darkness crawled and squirmed in the crimson stained walls like thick, varicose veins which spread out from the far end of the path that grew darker and darker until no light could pierce it.
Above him a dim, feeble red light glowed as it slowly began to die in the dark. The hellish color was drawn to the void while the veins creeped forward like a malignant cancer, drinking from it like a parasite. He stared at the unseen end, feeling the deathly chill blowing from it and took a step forward. Fear nestled in him, but something else whispered for him to move, to embrace what was at the end. Because he understood it was waiting for him as it always had.
The dark twisted and groaned silently at his footfalls, the veins now stretching to the blood soaked ground and tainting it until even that debased liquid began to fade into little more than nothing. At the precipice of the void he faced a solid wall of mass which bubbled and moved then as he reached forward with a hand, it simmered and broke apart like a door. A smell like death crawled in his nose and within that was something set apart from the unseeable emptiness of the darkness. It was an eye, one green as the finest emerald with orbs of sharper jade and royal purple and dying crimson only to change and morph into so many wonderful, unknowable patterns and shapes within the eye. He felt his lips pull back into a grin and screamed when at last the darkness reached out to him in turn.
Izuku awoke in a cold sweat as he clutched around for anything to reassure him with the illusion of safety. There wasn't the smell of blood in the air like he expected nor did he feel the soft skin that usually held him when he woke up like this. Instead it was dark and cold with not a single thing he remembered as his own. He shook for a minute as adrenaline flooded his veins before a warm, wet sensation attacked his senses.
The stink was obvious enough that he knew without seeing the evidence. He had pissed himself. A tired groan left Izuku's mouth as he stood from his place on the floor, he was acutely aware of the soreness that attacked his entire body from laying on the hard concrete. He picked up his spare pair of pants from the small bit of space around him and marched to the bathroom with his mind trying to remember where he was exactly. It became clear once he flipped the lights on in the restroom, this was his new home for the time being since he broke away from the League.
Water ran over his hands as he wetted his face to wrestle the thunder that still lingered in his chest. How the hell did things come to this where he was alone and terrified out of his mind? A day ago he was still with the same people he'd grown to love but now he only had a small bit of gear on his person and the two weirdos who took him in. Izuku supposed he should be grateful for simply being alive yet right now he didn't know.
His hand tugged at his pocket, pulling the knife out of his stained pants as it opened with a flick of his wrist. The edge shined in the light of the room, making it seem majestic while his body quaked at the beauty of the thing as it was brought closer to him. A sudden panic overtook him as memories of events that were real and otherwise played out in his mind as he considered the reality of his situation. He was going to die and the ones he cherished were going to do it.
Izuku was all but helpless as he clutched at his hair with his breathing becoming erratic with each intake of air. He wanted someone to save him, to comfort him until he no longer felt the world crashing down on him. He wanted Himiko to hold him close and sing to him to make it all disappear, but he would never get that again, he knew that he logically shouldn't want to see her yet a part of him wanted nothing more than to have her smile at him.
The knife grew heavy in his hand when he considered the familiarity of how she would pamper him in these horrible moments. She would always feed him blood and have him focus on the taste to distract from the mental pain of his nightmare. He lifted a thumb to his chest and flinched as steel bit into skin, opening a small part of the finger that dripped a bit of the dark red liquid into the sink.
His mouth quivered as he began to suck the blood from the wound.
It was a pure numbing bliss as he tasted the iron and copper in the fluid when he settled into the calming state of nothingness. Everything was going to be fine, all he needed to do was close his eyes and he'd wake back up, it would-
Hinges squealed as the door opened to reveal the person standing right in front of this disquieting scene. La Brava stared directly at her new teammate with her hair undone and pajamas replaced her costume. The look on her face was one of horror when she noticed the red staining the sink as her eyes darted to meet Izuku who was still absent mindedly sucking on his thumb.
She froze, completely unsure of what to do about the whole situation. Her first instinct was to close the door and pretend that she never saw anything but a twinge in her heart combined with the fear. Right before her was a kid who used to be a star UA student who was now in her bathroom looking very mentally unwell with blood staining his clothes and absolutely nowhere to go. It was so pitiful to watch this kid, he honestly looked like a baby in the worst possible way. Something really bad happened to this guy and Gentle was kind enough to let him stay, meaning she had to watch out for him even if it made her skin crawl.
La Brava took a step into the bathroom, careful not to alert the teen as he still remained lost in his own mind. Her breath was stuck in her chest with each drop of her foot towards the sink counter, eventually she got within arm's length of the knife resting haphazardly on the ceramic.
The metal was sticky and warm due to the still fresh blood on the weapon, making it disgusting to hold but she needed to take it away from this lunatic before he hurt himself or one of them, so she carried it out of the restroom, right into the sight of Gentle.
He was wide eyed at the gore soaked blade in her hand as La Brava met his gaze with an equally surprised face. Thankfully she was able to gesture to the other room before he could jump to a conclusion. Stepping by his sidekick, Gentle peered inside to see the disturbing scene himself and looked far paler then when he had first woken up.
"What happened?"
Gentle asked as he whispered into the woman's ear so as not to draw notice from the third resident.
"I don't know, I woke up to use the bathroom and he was just sitting there with blood coming from his thumb. He didn't notice a thing Gentle and I'm pretty sure he peed himself."
Stroking his beard both for a calming tug to distract from the sudden fear and a way to brainstorm what to do, he pushed past his partner in crime, instructing her to grab a few blankets and a bucket of cold water as he entered the room alone. Izuku was still completely unaware of everything going on around him to the point that Gentle could see teeth marks on the first digit of the thumb as blood dripped down in droplets.
Making sure to watch out for any more signs of aggressive behavior, he squatted down to Izuku's eye level and cleared his throat. The noise went unheeded which led him to place a hand on the young man's shoulder. Light returned to the green haired boy's eyes as he blinked at the older gentleman. Taking his thumb out of his mouth, Izuku stared at him in abject confusion for a moment before a spark of recognition showed in his eyes and he spoke in a raspy voice that was the result of early morning dehydration.
"Gentle? What are you doing here?"
The older man remained calm and collected as he dealt with the problem in front of him and allowed his more refined, mature side to show as he leveled with the young man.
"Basher, do you know where you are right now?"
Relation came back to Izuku after he turned his head around the small room for a moment, a sudden blush coming to his scarred face.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, I'll get changed right now so just-"
Gentle hushed the rapid, muttering response from his ward and remained as calm and collected as possible.
"It's fine, but once you get done with that, I'd like you to sit down with us if that would be alright with you."
The green haired villain flinched at the question, but no more than one who received a light scolding and lowered his head somewhat.
"Oh no, that'd be more than fine so give me a moment."
Izuku said as he hurried the criminal into the living room so he could retain some of his dignity. A few minutes later he emerged in clean clothes with Gentle and La Brava eyeing him with a chair set out for him. When he was seated Izuku had to fight the urge to leap away from the sensation of something being put around him but upon seeing the item La Brava threw over him, he felt silly at the realization that it was just a blanket, one that was ungodly comfortable.
Gentle continued to stare in silence until his sidekick shared a similar glare with him that denoted the same question. Sighing as he leaned back in his seat, he made certain to take everything into account before addressing the boy he took in.
"Now I understand that life can be unpredictable at the best of times and that each person is entitled to their privacy when it comes to their past in our profession, but right now we both need an answer as to what made you act the way you did."
Confusion rattled Izuku's brain as it went blank at the assertion.
"What are you talking about exactly?"
Gentle raised an eyebrow at the response.
"Do you remember what happened in the last half hour?"
Izuku shrugged.
"I had a bad dream, went to change and then you walked in, that's about it."
The two older thieves shared a glance in what may have been concern or bewilderment before Gentle started to speak once more.
"Does this sort of thing happen often and more to the point, what exactly should we do when it does? Do you have a medical condition or-"
Shame played out on the young man's face as did a sudden fear that grew when he avoided making eye contact with the pair.
"I just...I'm just getting used to all this. I used to...never mind, if it's all the same to you I'd rather not talk about it."
Gentle remained stern as he dragged the bloody knife across the table and set it in front of the boy.
"I understand that, but if you wish to stay here then we all have to be able to communicate and having you become catatonic will be a liability if we don't know how to deal with it, so I ask you again, please tell us how we can help."
Izuku beheld the weapon for a moment as he felt the pain coming from his thumb. He considered saying nothing at all, yet the sensation of the room made that less than wise.
"...I freaked out because I was scared so I decided to cut open one of my fingers to distract myself and I got carried away."
La Brava flinched for a second at his words, looking to her idol for direction on how to respond. Gentle was unmoved by this for the most part, save for running a hand through his hair.
"Why did you feel the need to do that? Do you have a history of inflicting pain on yourself or is it something quirk related or am I not touching on the right issue here?"
Izuku sat up with his face becoming even more flustered.
"No, I did it so I could taste my blood. Whenever I would freak out like that my girlfriend would just feed me blood until I calm down and since she wasn't around I-"
Gentle interrupted with a bit of disgust in his voice.
"You were fed blood?"
Izuku shrugged like it was the most basic and normal fact he could give.
"Yeah, we had it in these massive jugs that she kept on account of her quirk making her mental state dependent on how much she consumed so she'd make me drink to distract me with the taste while she sang to me until I'd stop crying."
The pair of less lethal individuals recoiled at his retelling, both trying to hazard a guess on how to handle this increasingly morbid situation. Izuku ceased with his tale at the sight of his hosts' discomfort which left awkward silence in its stead. No one moved to speak as Gentle continued to dwell on the little information he gleaned from the boy's explanation, honestly horrified at the idea of asking for more insight on whatever was this teen's previous situation until he could try to create a plan for what he knew was to be the first of many issues, he walked to the kitchenette and began to brew a pot of tea while leaving the other two well within his range of vision.
La Brava watched the same boy she saw destroy mile high walls of ice with nothing but a flick of his fingers retreat into the blanket as he avoided her gaze, seemingly ashamed of what was said. Her mind began to fabricate more horrifying circumstances that could have led to someone so noble becoming so destroyed. She flinched when his head reared up at the smell of the bubbling drink making him forget about the situation for a moment as he rose to meet Gentle, much to the surprise of his shorter caretaker. She stepped over to Izuku, intent to come between him and her idol while making sure not to touch the boy in fear of setting him off.
Taking the hint, Izuku remained a few feet from either of them.
"That's Imperial Golden Tips, it's been a while since I heard of anyone getting a box of that."
He said in an obvious attempt at making small talk to take attention away from himself. Gentle smiled uneasily at the ploy as he placed the teapot upon the dining table, pouring a cup for each of them.
"Most people your age don't know of that brand but given the levels of culinary knowledge you possess I can't say I'm surprised."
The oldest criminal then took a sip of his drink as the others mimicked his actions.
"Now then, Basher, I'm afraid we have to talk about this in greater detail for everyone's sake. If it becomes too painful or we push a bit too much then by all means stop, but our objective as the Gentle Criminals demands our full commitment which will be hindered if this keeps happening, so enough beating around the bush as they say, tell us exactly what made you so distraught."
Izuku stared at his cup as a sensation of deja vu attacked him while he took another sip, which became a gulp to keep himself from talking for as long as possible. Eventually the cup ran dry and left the former hero with nothing left to do, save for speaking. He looked away from the two staring expectantly at him, completely wishing for the blanket still around his neck to strangle him to escape the shame.
"I...I freaked out because my friends are coming to kill me."
He shut his eyes, fearful of what was to come next from the only people who were left to take him in. The blanket wrapped around tighter as he hugged himself to give some poor simulacrum of what he wanted, waiting for the first raised voice to usher him back into the streets.
"I see, well then I suppose that we'll just have to keep that from happening."
Izuku slowly dared to meet the gaze of the two and it was far from what he expected. Gentle was grinning with a warmth that banished the fear of anything for a short time, his heart lurched at the memory of who that smile reminded him of while La Brava became far less fearful in her body language and stared at him with concerned pity as he saw her move away from her master to fetch a pad of paper and a pen. She handed the items to Izuku while Gentle refilled their cups.
"My friend, ours is not usually an enviable position in life and as such we must stick together against the harshness of this world, for there are things which require the chivalry of the past to guide us and I would do my name a dishonor if we were to turn away from someone in need, which is why I ask if you would do the service of informing us as to who these nerdowells are so that our brand of villainy can shine."
A sort of relief filled the boy when he heard that. It was clear Gentle was still fearful of what he might say judging on how choreographed his speech was, but there was a bit of sincerity behind it that earned a grain of hope in the youth. Taking up the pad, he began to write with a smile returning to his face.
"I won't say for my own reasons, but let me ask, would you both mind explaining how your quirks function?"