Neutrality Order (TomBoo)

N.E. - Chapter 3

Crow Father left Tartarus with more anxiety and doubt than when he'd gone in.

Dream was who he'd always been; eternally amused, cold, mocking. Thinking everything was just another level in his twisted game. All that, Crow Father was prepared for.

But then Crow Father asked about Ranboo.

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"Where is Ranboo right now?"

"I don't know," Dream replied honestly. "Unlike yours, mine has already left the nest. Gone to do bigger, better things."

"What are you trying to accomplish? What are you trying to do?"

"You wouldn't be satisfied with the answer even if I told you. But enough about that, let's have a chat about our boys, hm?"

"Crow Father, refrain from giving him information not pertaining to your investigation and interrogation."

"Oh come now, 'Young Tommy IS a part of all this," Dream said. "We're very much the same, aren't we, Crow Father? Though you longed to be a symbol of peace and justice and I longed to be an evil devil king, we're both mentors, yes? Different angles but still the same. It's the same for our boys, isn't it?"

Crow Father's scowl turned almost nasty. "Tommy is nothing like Ranboo," he hissed.

Dream gave the slightest hint of a shrug. "If you say so," he replied airily. "After all, the boy was with Ranboo for almost four days. He hasn't told you or anyone else what happened during that time, has he?"

The hero's fists clenched. "He doesn't recall anything," he said through clenched teeth. "I'm thankful he recovered well enough to live his life well now."

"Strange for such an emotional boy," Dream pressed. "But I digress. We are the same, Crow Father because, at this very moment, neither of us truly knows what it is our boys are doing. Are thinking. I did think that Tommy was once nothing more than a blind Crow Father-worshipper, welded in place by the circus that is the hero indoctrination...but he managed to surprise me from what I could see."

"You're lying," Crow Father said firmly. "You couldn't SEE anything. You haven't for years. In some ways, even longer than that."

"Silly boy, that doesn't mean I did not hear things. That my infrared sight didn't pick up on a few things. But you again make me digress. I am trying to help you, Crow Father, even if it destroys you even more than you already have been."

"You're speaking nothing but nonsensical lies," Crow Father growled. "You may have sunk your disgusting nails into Ranboo early, but Young Tommy had a better life, a better chance-"

"An 'apparently' quirkless boy brimming with more common sense and intellect than the average superpowered hero? Now YOU'RE the one insulting him. Tommy may not have had the hardships my Ranboo had as a child, but in a way, in this society, he's had it worse. He's had POWERLESSNESS. Something that would have killed a lesser being. How fortunate for you that your generation was not as prejudiced against it. Although the media would have the world believe only twenty percent of the world is quirkless, the numbers are lower when you take into consideration of unseen or non-flashy quirks. But that boy had nothing save for a bright mind and hope. Powerlessness can twist hope into something ugly with enough time. It puts the world into the true unfair perspective it really is. How fortunate you were you found him at fourteen...give it a few more years, and he would have had his hope strangled entirely, his opinion and worldview seen as worthless, watching ever bitter as years pass, the generational gap closes, and he remains a powerless relic among a sea of powerful newness."