Triple Nightmare /Bakudekutodo

Chapter 24: The boy with the lantern!

Todoroki POV:
The dim light was hurting in my eyes, making my headache worse. The sealing was so pitch black I wasn't even sure it was a sealing. I sat up. My clothes were wet. About 20cm deep water covered the floor. I looked around. Nothing. I could only see an endless room filled with darkness. I couldn't smell anything. And the only thing I could hear was the water every time I moved. Where was I?
My backpack and warm clothes were gone. To be frank I was wearing the clothes I wore the day I first arrived here. I got up and started to walk around the place. But no matter how far I walked all looked exactly the same. By now I was pretty sure that this must be a dream... in a dream, I suppose. It was the most logical conclusion, considering I changed place and clothes in an instant by merely passing out for a few minutes.
As I continued looking around the suspicion that I have been here before got stronger and stronger. I didn't remember ever being in such a place but somehow it felt familiar.
There! I spottet some light far ahead. Quickly but cautiously I approach the only thing in this eternal emptiness. As I got closer I could figure out a person sitting by a small lantern. Their back was turned towards me. Just a couple of meters separated us now. "Hello?" The moment I made a sound the person swung his head around as though he had heard a gun shot. It was a boy. A couple years younger then me. He was wearing a big grey shirt and had wild black hair hanging in his face. He starred at me for a couple of minutes. "Who are you? I have not seen you around before." he then said in a relatively high voice. "I'm not sure how I got here either." I responded. "How odd..." it felt as though his crazy eyes would pierce right through my skin. "Do you know how I get out?" I asked. "Out? What is out?" His head tilted. I wasn't sure how to respond to that. All of a sudden the boy got up and took my hand. Then he said: "Do you want to be my friend? It has been a while since I met someone and I am lonely. I will share my light with you if you accompany me." His sudden act caught me of guard and I pulled my hand away then took a step back. His expression was instantly filled with sadness as he stared at his feet. "It is okay. I have never met anyone who did not think I was to much of a freak to be around. I am not sure why I expected you to be different.... Maybe because you are the first one that does not look like me." He said. "What do you mean by 'look like me'?" "What? Have you not noticed?" "Noticed what?" "Does that mean I am the first one you meet?" He looked at me again. Even though he was standing now he was still much shorter then me. "Yes, you are. I didn't arrived too long ago." Again I could see a huge question mark on his face before he asked: "Arrived from where?" I didn't know how to answer that either...

All of a sudden I heard wet food steps approach. I quickly turned around. A young man was walking towards us and he didn't look happy. The little boy instantly held on to my pants and hid behind me. It seemed to me as though he would know him. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" The man screamed. Now that he got closer to the light source I could see his face a bit better. But that wasn't what made me freeze up. His voice was. It was deeper then the voice of the little boy and higher then the voice of the Spectator but I could have sworn that all three of their voices belonged to one and the same person! "You dare make your way into my mind?!" The man shouted. He got closer and closer. "This isn't suppose to be possible! This is my mind! How the hell are you here?!" I couldn't make a step back because the boy was still holding on to me wich is why the man could grab me by my shirt. Then he looked down spotting the boy. "And what do you think your doing? Helping someone that isn't us?!" The boy flinched. I quickly shifted the attention back to be. "I don't even know how I got here. I was trying to find a way out myself!" I said. His intense stare was back on me. "I don't believe you..." He had calmed his voice but that didn't mean he sounded less violent. "It has never happened before! We were suppose to visit your mind not you ours! It was suppose to happen like last time. So what the hell did you do to keep us out and enter here instead?" What? Last time? All these few saying informations overwhelmed me. So was I right and those guys were the Spectator? These are the guys that took over my mind a little while back? I was so confused. "Answer me!" His loud voice ringed in my ears. "As I said I have no idea what's going on myself." I answered with a calm voice. "He is telling the truth! I do not think he is doing this intentionally!" The little boy jumped in for me. "AND WHO THE HELL ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION?!" The man got more and more angry. All of a sudden he lost his patience and slammed me to the floor. "Please! Leave him alone!" The boy shouted. I held my arms up to cover my face while he started beating into it. He was way stronger then me and there was no way to defend myself so I just tried to cover as many of my vital points as possible. At one point the little boy jumped between us to defend me but was thrown aside. He instantly started balling his eyes out but quickly got back up and tried again. After the third attempt he gave up. He just sat there watching with nothing else to do but cry. Even though I was pretty sure he must have been a part of the Spectators mind or at least his younger self, I couldn't help but feel kind of sorry for him. While I was concentrating on the boy a strong punch hit me to my stomach and I fell unconscious once again.

I slowly opened my eyes and quickly realised I was tucked into a thick blanket. How did I get here? Where was I know? I straightened up. As I looked down at myself it didn't seem like I was wounded what so ever. Was it nothing more then a dream after all? The room I was in looked like a one room apartment. In the same room as the bed was a small sofa, barely a kitchen and a door leading to a bathroom. Even though it looked like a cheap place it was very comfortable with a gas stove and a fluffy rug covering the wooden floor. It was an attic with wooden beams and a window at the inside of the roof. No one else was here. I got out of the bed. Between the sofa and entrance door was my backpack and shoes. I quickly walked over to it to check if everything was still there. All my clothes were missing! The only thing I was still wearing was an undershirt. I couldn't see them anywhere so I walked over to the bathroom. There was a bathing tub and inside my clothes. Next to it was a washboard and soap. Then I heard a door open. "You finally up again?" a males voice. Then someone entered the Bathroom. It was a middle aged maybe older man. He had a big brown-red beard and fittingly wild curly hair. He had tired brown eyes and was wearing a simple cream coloured shirt with dark brown leather pants. His right hand was wearing a silver ring as well as both his ears. "Ah, there you are!" He somehow seemed grumpy yet friendly. "Don't look so frightened. After all I'm the one who picked you up the street after you collapsed-..." "Wait how long was I out?" "Two days! You must have been exhausted" He answered. "WHAT?! No, no, no. Shit! I missed it!" "You missed what?" He asked. Katsuki and Izuku! Shit I was meant to meat them yesterday evening! I looked out the window it was already getting dark again. I had to go and see if they came back to check on me! "Hey, Boy! Where are you going? It's getting late and you have barely clothes on" he grabbed my arm. "Calm down and tell me what's going on! I might be able to help, huh?" I turned around. He was right. It wouldn't be smart to head out this instant. He knows his way around here better then me anyways. Still in that moment all I wanted was to see Izuku and Katsuki again. I needed to make sure they were all right! And they know that I'm alright. In general I just really wanted to see them.

To be continued ...