Dreamcloud

"What the hell is this?!" A man spat angrily, his teeth all coated in gold as he sneered. "Why the hell is there a brat in our hideout?"

"Dunno man. We haven't been here for a week." Another man shrugged, this one covered from head to toe in tattoos.

"Yeah. He could've snuck in during that time." The last one said, his many gold chains clanking together everytime he moved.

"Tch." The first man, mister gold teeth, clicked his tongue, marching angrily towards the kid who thought it was fine to sleep in their hideout.

"I'm sorry-"

For a while now, the kids repeating mumbling had been grating at his nerves, his fists clenched as he reached to take hold of the kid's curly white hair.

"Dad, I'm sorry-"

"Goddamn it! Will you shut the fuck up already?!"

The he paused.

Glistening emerald eyes glazed and hazy from crying, pale pink lips begging to be abused and a sickly countenance, plus the delicate freckles which dusted his cheeks.

For a while, the man wasn't able to shut his wide open mouth.

"Huh? What's wrong with you? Why'd you stop moving?" In confusion, the other two walked closer to him and pretty soon, they knew why.

"Oh- Oh damn." The second man, mister tattoo, chuckled with obvious ill intent after a short pause. "How much you think we could sell this one for in the market?"

"500k, maybe?" Mister gold teeth muttered, his eyes still not moving away from the kid's face.

"Hey..." Suddenly, the third man, mister gold chains, turned to them hesitantly. "You reckon the buyers won't mind if we play with 'im a little before selling?"

"That's a kid you know? And a male one at that!" Suddenly, mister gold teeth woke up from whatever trance he was in previously, sending a disgusted glare towards mister gold chains.

"With a face like that, I can't be bothered to give a shit." Mister gold chains snorted. "Don't tell me both of you weren't thinking the same."

"I-" Mister gold teeth was about to argue but couldn't bring himself to, feeling ashamed that he wasn't entirely against difiling a child. "Fuck."

"If you're not doing it, then move." Mister gold chains sneered, pushing mister gold teeth away and licking his lips in a vulgar manner as he took in the sight of the kid before him.

...

"Damn it, they're late!" As the founder of a quickly growing drug base, he shouldn't be going to shady warehouses to conduct deals anymore but-

This is a huge order.

One that could possibly amount to millions if done properly. And even if many would think that his base was big enough as it is, he knows that it was far from enough.

Not when the yakuza and villain organizations were breathing down on his neck. Not to mention the police trying to make him slip up every moment.

His presence outside of the base was a risk. He knew that clearly, but, if he could only get his hands on that much money, that could seriously clear up quite a bit of their issues.

But-

"Dad? Please, I'm sorry- I'm sorry-"

That. That sound that was all too familiar to him.

Painfully familiar.

"I won't do it anymore- I'm sorry-"

Dreamcloud winced.

"Boss, do you want me to take care of that?" Beside him, Hopper, a hired guard, looked at him and motioned towards the warehouse with a strange expression.

"No, actually." Dreamcloud rubbed his face with a gloved hand and sighed, his breath fogging up the cold air. "Let's go look together."

"But, what about the deal?" Hopper cocked his head to the side.

"They're an hour late." Dreamcloud snorted. "They won't be coming."

"Alright, what ya say goes, boss." Hopper shrugged, turning towards the steel door and pushing hard. "Ah-"

He turned to give his boss a sidelong glance. "It's locked from the inside."

In turn, Dreamcloud raised an eyebrow. "Then use your quirk to kick it down?"

"But, that's damage to property." Hopper reasoned out hesitantly, drawing Dreamcloud's ire.

"We're a fucking drug cartel! Why the fuck should we care about damage to property!"

"Aye, that makes sense."

...

He was choking.

His body felt sticky and the air he breathed in smelled of rust and something dirty.

Knees were pulled to his chest as tears pooled beside his face from where he laid on the bloody and shard filled ground.

He was so tired he couldn't even open his eyes. Not when the steel doors were knocked down and not when he felt his body being picked up from the ground.

He could hear voices, probably calling to him but his brain couldn't register their words.

All he could do was tiredly mutter 'I'm sorry' over and over again to his father who he knew wasn't there anymore.

...

"What the fuck-"

When he decided to enter the warehouse, he was not expecting to see a dragon curled up around a child protectively and definitely not the three minced bodies decorating the entire warehouse with their blood and guts.

Fortunately, the dragon disappeared shortly after their entrance, bidding them to make way towards the child in caution.

"B-boss, do we report this to the, uh- the police?" Hopper, still stupid as ever, asked with wide eyes, his knees weak and shaking from the sudden horrific stimulation.

"Shut up! If we report this, they'll end up investigating us too!" Dreamcloud gritted his teeth, stress levels reaching an all time high in a span of ten seconds. "Just bring the kid here so I can check on him."

Unable to go against his boss, Hopper could only shiver as he kicked the ground, jumping over mangled flesh towards the similarly trembling kid in the middle.

"I'm sorry- I'm sorry-"

"Hey, kid! I'm gonna get you to my boss alright? You're gonna be fine." Hopper muttered seemingly to console the boy but mostly consoling himself.

Despite working under a drug lord, he never considered himself a villain, nor did he ever witness a face to face murder scene.

The amount of blood around the kid had him shaken up so much that it was a miracle he hadn't thrown up his breakfast yet.

"Urgh-"

And he spoke too soon.

Swallowing the bile that threatened to escape his throat, he gingerly picked up the child, trying not to get any more bloodstains on him than necessary, and leaped out.

Just on time to see his boss calling for backup.

"Damn. He's hyperventilating." Dreamcloud muttered as Hopper carefully set the child down.

Seeing the frail body of the child now up close, he was reminded of a similar figure from the past. They were similarly young, similarly frail, and similarly bloody.

Violently shaking his head to get rid of the unwanted thoughts, he pushed his hair back and bit his tongue.

There's no footsteps leading out. It's sort of similar to what would happen if an explosion took place which only affects the living and leaves the surrounding intact. All blood splatters spread outwards with the kid at its center.

The most likely conclusion is-

"Hopper, grab a syringe from the case. The blue one."

Finally forcing himself to calm down, he issued a set of orders to his only lackey at the moment.

"T-this isn't good? Forcing a minor to take illegal drugs without consent is-"

"We don't have time for options, Hopper." Dreamcloud gritted his teeth. "We need to get this kid to calm down or else he'll lose control of his quirk and that-"

Dreamcloud pointed towards the mangled maze of flesh. "-will happen again."

"That k-kid did that?!" Hopper flinched and took a step back, casting a fearful gaze to the child.

"Yes! Now, hurry or it's us this time!" Dreamcloud growled reaching towards the syringe which Hopper hesitantly gave.

It was morally wrong but there was no choice.

Dreamcloud never thought that he would one day be personally administering his own developed drug to a minor.

"Dad?"

After several minutes, the kid finally stopped trembling and opened his eyes for a short, blurry moment.

"... I'm not your dad."

Then he blacked out again, this time sleeping smoothly.