Lifeless

Chapter 23 - Pollicetur

(tw!) This chapter contains descriptions of screaming, blood, and torture. Please stop here if you need to! Honestly, I didn't really like this chapter, but I'm going through a little reading slump so I'll fix it if I can later on.

I'm running out of drafts to post, so there might be a slight hiatus in the future. Thank you everyone for reading and commenting :)

Pollicetur - (Latin) Promises to keep

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Dabi listened with baited breath as screams came from the basement. He couldn't unhear them, and even if he could forget the sound, a minute later they always started again. He would've said that he didn't know who was screaming, but it was obvious that it was Izuku. The only other prisoner that was housed at the base was some random woman that Shigaraki was strangely attached to. Dabi would've told the blue haired boy that the woman seemed manipulative, but he was ninety nine percent sure that if he so much as mentioned a bad thing about the woman his head would be rolling on the floor a few seconds later. Dabi may have a lack of self perseverance, but he wasn't suicidal.

Dabi knew the screams were Izuku's, though he didn't know what was happening, he could only guess it was the big boss man's work. He felt bad for Izuku, but knew not to intervene. Maybe later he could help the boy escape or something, but he wouldn't get anywhere if he acted now. Izuku was too heavily guarded, and Dabi wasn't trusted enough to do anything, besides, he may be willing to help, but he definitely wasn't willing to die. Izuku was immortal, even if it seemed the boy himself didn't know that himself, so Dabi knew that any sacrifice of his life in order to save the boy's was most likely in vain. The best and least destructive course of action would be to wait and take any solid opportunity for both of them to escape together.

Dabi nodded to himself, happy with the base for his escape plan, before noticing that the screams had stopped. He would've taken it as a good sign, but knowing the things that went on here, it was probably because Izuku had lost consciousness.

Dabi sighed gently. He hated being forced to sit by as a child was tortured like this, in fact, this is what he had fun away from. Instead of finding somewhere he could live in peace, Dabi was being forced to sit idly as an innocent was used for their quirk, though admittedly, Izuku's situation was much worse than Shoto's had been.

Dabi sat up slowly, swinging his legs back over his bed. It was nicer than anything his father had provided for him, though that wasn't saying much. Dabi also had a sneaking suspicion that someone had simply found this mattress in the trash, but he wasn't complaining. It was still better than sleeping on random cardboard in alley ways.

A light knock sounded throughout Dabi's otherwise silent room. He sighed lightly, knowing that he couldn't disrespect this group if he wanted to make headway into escaping. "Yes?" He opened the door slightly, spotting the misty man everyone called Kurogiri.

"Master would like you in the basement with the prisoner. He also asked me to remind you of what would happen if you failed to train the boy." Dabi nodded and Kurogiri walked away, giving the man room to walk out.

Dabi walked to the basement slowly, wondering why he would be needed to train Izuku directly after the big boss man had done something... maybe as a punishment? Dabi wouldn't doubt it from the people around here, they were disturbingly sadistic.

When Dabi arrived he was greeted with the smell of blood, stronger than it usually was in the basement. Of course he would like to say it was no surprise, but it was still sad for his suspicions to be true.

"Dabi, welcome. I expect you to train Izuku, and I want him to put effort in today." With that, All for One left, walking out the door quickly, and for a moment Dabi thought that he saw a flash of disgust across the man's face, but chalked it up to a distaste of the smell of death that lay across the room.

Dabi looked towards Izuku, seeing the boy lying limp on the corner of the room. "Izuku," Dabi sighed as he saw Izuku twitch in response, though it was more than he had received before. "We have to fight, or else he will kill us both."

That statement roused a glare from Izuku. "Then die." Izuku tucked his head back into his arms as Dabi laughed. It was surprising for Dabi, to hear the usually silent Izuku saying something so brash, but he sobered up when he realized that he had said that likely because he truly wanted to die.

Dabi walked up to Izuku, picking the limp boy up by his arms. It reminded Dabi of a cat, but this was definitely not the time to be laughing, so he hid his giggles as Izuku hung by his armpits. "Izuku, I have chocolate if you fight me." Izuku didn't move. "I have a cat? You can pet her." Izuku twitched, but said nothing more. "Umm, Izuku, I'll give you anything that I can if you fight me."

Izuku looked back up at Dabi, sneering, his face twisted into one of disgust. "Then let me out of here." Dabi gently settled Izuku back onto the ground, growing as he thought about the boy's words. He truly wanted to get the kid out, no one his age deserved to be put through the torture he had, but he didn't know how to go about it.

Seeing the deliberation on the other man's face was a surprise to Izuku. It looked very sincere. There had been people before that promised Izuku anything he wanted, but when he asked for freedom, they all laughed at him, sneered. One had even pretended to think for a moment, before looking at Izuku like he was stupid. It was a humiliating moment, though nothing compared to the torture he'd endured.

"Listen, Izuku. We're being watched. There are cameras everywhere, but none of them have high quality audio. I want to get you out, but if we do this sloppily it will only end in our lives being taken from us. We need to be patient, okay?"

Izuku was taken aback. There was absolute sincerity in the man's voice, and Izuku couldn't detect any lie. Izuku wasn't going to be as dense as to believe the man right away, but this person had been the nicest since he had arrived, and he was desperate to be shown any type of sincerity or hope in this hell-hole.

Izuku stood slowly, using Dabi to balance himself. "Prove to me you'll help."

;

Hisashi stood in his office, holding his phone to his ear as Shigaraki picked up on the other side. "Hello, Master?" Hisashi sighed at his protege's voice, ready for any kind of complaining from the boy.

"Shigaraki, I'm sending you control of a Nomu. You probably heard Ujiko talk about it before his passing, it has an immortality quirk, currently it's housed in the League's extra building basement. Retrieve the new recruits too, they are housed on the top floor. One of them is assigned to train the nomu. I expect you to assign spots for the USJ raid, and have the nomu trained enough by that time to take orders." Shigaraki mumbled and affirmative, hoping that Kurogiri was receiving the information so that he would have written it down. "And I will check up on the nomu's training soon. Do well."

Hisashi sighed, burdened with Izuku's downfall. He was horrified when he saw that the boy could only take passive quirks, which meant that most, if not all, offensive quirks wouldn't take. Izuku had lost a lot of his value in that moment, enough that Hisashi decided that he would be of better use at the main base. It was a huge disappointment, Hisashi truly had expected more from the boy, but he would have to work with what he was given.