Chapter Text
Authors Note:
You ever lose enough blood to pass out? Does the nightmare where you're drowning in a river of blood happen to everyone, or just me?
Anyway, figuring out how I was going to make this scene play out was a little difficult.
I've also decided that Japanese will be written in bold italic English when it's words Síat knows, to help with differentiating the words he knows vs someone actually speaking English.
I really hope I got that placement right, I had to type "American tourist" and then just "American" to figure out which words meant "tourist".
The first thing Síat noticed was the smell.
Antiseptic fluid, isopropyl alcohol, and the unmistakable metallic scent of blood.
He tried to open his eyes.
"NGH!!!! Fuckin'... Why is that so bright..." he groaned.
"Oh, good. You're finally awake." The voice was deep, and carried an exhaustion that Síat could hear in every syllable. "Do not try to open your eyes, young man. You've lost a lot of blood, I imagine you're feeling something akin to the absolute worst hangover ever."
"Ngh... Gimme a gallon of Pedialyte, some oranges, and some more of that Kamo Nanban Udon, and I'll be right as rain." Síat lifted the pillow out from under his head and covered his eyes with it.
Síat could hear what sounded like the rattling of a curtain being pulled, then a lilting feminine voice. 「あら、患者さんが目を覚まされましたね！先生を呼んできましょうか？」
That same exhausted voice switched to Japanese with an affable ease. 「いいえ、まだです。彼は目を開けることができません。それに、現地の言葉も話せないようです。」
Her tone became a little more agitated. 「ああ。それなら、彼はアメリカ人のtouristに違いないですね。」
"Oh look, a word I know." Síat's tone was somewhere between apologetic and exhausted.
The tired man's voice chuckled. 「いや、これはアイルランド出身だと思いますよ。それに、彼は観光客じゃないと思います。学生ビザを持っていますから。」
"That one's a little trickier, I know one of those words means 'Visa', but I don't know which one..." Síat groaned. "Is there an IV in my arm, or can I roll over?"
The tired man paused for a moment. "There's two IVs in you. You're lucky to be alive, young man." That downright unfair talent for switching languages makes another appearance. 「奥様、少々席を外していただけますか？ この青年と二人きりでお話ししたいのです。」
The nurse's voice seems more cheerful now. 「彼を英語を話す医師の担当に変える必要があるため、数時間なら時間を割くことができます。Goodbye！」 The rattle of those curtains again.
After a pause, possibly checking that the nurse stepped away, the exhausted voice seems to have been brought closer. "Young man, what possessed you to run into that crisis like that?"
"Ngh... Buncha folks, what looked like Pro Heroes, sitting back and chatting while a kid was dying. Someone had to do something, and I'm not one to sit back and watch people die." Síat groaned again and finally lifted the pillow off of his eyes, squinting into the bright hospital room.
The exhausted voice, belonging to a skeletal man with sunken eyes, and oversized clothes... Actually, the same clothes All Might was wearing earlier... Sat back and became troubled. "What you did was highly illegal..."
"And I'd do it again. The law is not gonna be the reason someone I could have saved had to die. I refuse to let that happen again." Síat's eyes were open and determined, now.
"Okay, okay, relax, I'm just trying to get a picture of the kind of person I'm talking to. You've applied to UA, so you're at least taking steps to make the law stop being a factor. If you don't mind my asking... What's driving such vitriolic determination?"
Síat looks at his hands. "I let the law stop me once. Tried to save my ma with nothing but my hands. Didn't pan out so good, I was an 8 year old boy who didn't have the slightest clue how to stabilize a wound, let alone six of them. She bled out in my arms. All it would have taken was a little bit of artificial clotting with my quirk, but 'you aren't supposed to use your quirk without a license'. Because of that, my ma's dead, my da disowned me, and I had to live with that guilt. When you have the power to stop tragedy, and you don't use it, and the tragedy happens, it's your fault. I refuse to live with more of that. If there's a chance I can stop more death, I'm taking it." Síat looks back at the skeletal man. The blonde hair, the sunken blue eyes, the clothes meant for a much larger man, clothes he JUST saw a much larger man wearing. "You of all people must understand that."
Skeletal All Might flinches. "'I of all people'? You don't even know who I-"
"Don't take the piss, All Might. I know what a laoch ceanndána looks like, I see one in the mirror every day, and you didn't even bother changing clothes." Síat gestures at the oversized cargo pants and white T-shirt. "People here don't recognize you because they see what they want to see, but I'm from Ireland. All Might, to me, is a warrior who fights for his people, not some immortal god. You're getting slower, but you still fight. It's who you are. A hero. Your little secret is safe, but it'd be wise to conceal it better. Not every citizen of Japan idolizes the symbol of peace, and eventually, one of those that doesn't is gonna notice All Might disappear while a scrawny fella leaves the building in his clothes."
Toshinori's jaw hit his sternum. "Y-... I... Uhh... What's a lay-ock chan-... Uhh..."
"Laoch ceanndána. Stubborn Warrior. Or Headstrong Hero. The word for 'hero' and 'warrior' is the same." Síat finally closes his eyes. "You're getting older. Might even have an injury catching up with you. Either way, you're fighting well beyond something that should be forcing retirement. Why? Not for fame, or money, you have plenty of that, if that were your goal, you'd have retired long ago. No, you still fight because you refuse to let tragedy happen as long as you have the power to stop it."
Toshinori's jaw slowly closes. "Just like you. Kid... What if I told you I could give you my quirk?"
Síat chortles. "I'd be suspicious, but intrigued. I've spent almost half of my life trying to push my body past its limits. I've been largely successful. There's an illegal junkyard I've been cleaning up to keep my strength up while I wait out the Entrance Exam, and my goal is to get strong enough to pull that Prius buried to its axles out of the sand. That and make the beach pretty." Síat flexes, and his bicep is... Well, really soft, due to the blood loss he's still recovering from, but impressive nonetheless. "I think I might be getting close. Your quirk can take you from... That... to the All Might that the world knows..."
"That's not exactly how my quirk works." All Might, having just exhausted his time limit, barely stretches his muscles briefly, but shrinks back before he can keep talking. "It might build on your strength, like it did mine, but it interacts uniquely with people who already have quirks. There's no telling what might happen to you. I'm asking you to consider the possibility that you might get stronger, but you'll definitely get more powerful."
"Yeah... Yeah, I'd take that opportunity. A chance to be strong enough to save more people? I'd be a damn fool to pass on that." Síat grins, his eyes still closed.
Toshinori chuckles a little. "I wouldn't be so sure, young man. It does come with a heavy burden."
"Can't be heavier than the weight of the world. Let me guess, a secret? If the world finds out it can be shared, its holders become a target. Am I in the right area?" Síat glances back at Toshinori.
"I... yeah. You're a perceptive one, you know that? I think my friend Nezu is really going to like you." Toshinori smiles. The real smile. Then it fades into grim reality. "Do you think you have it in you to keep the secret? You'll have to be able to explain why you can do things you shouldn't be able to."
"That's an easy fix, you said it interacts with quirks. One could explain it away as a quirk awakening. And if anyone has been through enough emotional stress to reach a quirk awakening, it's the kid whose mother died in his arms." Síat sits up with a groan. "Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong."
"Shit... Yeah, I can't." Toshinori stands up and folds his arms. "Alright. We'll need to get you out of this hospital, first thing, then I want to see if you can reach that goal of yours. A Prius, you said? What beach are you cleaning up?"
Síat's brows furrow in concentration. "I think... I think it's called Dagoba. I could be wrong, I'm still working on Japanese. Another reason I came so early was to try to force myself to learn through osmosis, but spending all of my free time training is making immersion difficult."
Toshinori chuckles. "I'll see if I can help with that, too. You'll need to be able to speak the language if you're going to be going to school here."