Chapter Text
Authors Note:
Seriously, why did it have to be hair? THE MAN LITERALLY COUGHS UP BLOOD ON THE REGULAR, AND ADMITTED THAT THE DNA DOESN'T HAVE TO BE HIS HAIR!!!!!!
「You want me to eat a hair.」 Síat looks at the golden strand. 「You've seen me get my OWN hair in my mouth and gag until I threw up, and you think YOUR hair is going to be different.」
「Yes, well, I-I thought perhaps you'd have a bigger problem with a drop of blood...」 All Might stammers.
「Hold on... You thought I, Síat Rahill, the blood quirk guy, the one who literally forges weapons with my blood, you thought THAT guy would rather swallow hair than blood. All Might, buddy, comh-laoch, Symbol of Peace, if you're not the blonde with the brain cell today, then who is?」
Meanwhile, somewhere in a distant Japanese Middle School...
「Kaminari, I'm impressed. You've finally gotten higher than 65%. You've gone all the way up to a 92%. I expect this performance to continue.」
「Ah, dammit...」
「Young Rahill, there's no need to be harsh, now... Come on, you lifted a car today, surely you can muscle your way past a gag reflex...」 All Might chuckled nervously.
Síat snatches the hair, grumbling. "Can't even believe... Show you Plus Ultra..."
Okay, I'm already gagging just thinking about it, but I think I have an idea...
All Might watches in offended disbelief as a tendril of blood leaves Síat's mouth, engulfs the hair completely, and disappears back into his mouth. 「Young Rahill, this is...不敬虔!」
"Okay, I don't know that one, but I got the hair down." He did not in fact get the hair down. He shoved the tendril down his throat, but the hair was threaded into the fluid, so when it retracted back into his bloodstream, the hair went with it.
All Might sighs. "It means irreverent, or sacrilegious." 「Which is what that method was!」
Síat shrugged and folded his arms. 「So, what're we doing until that digests? I feel like... Like...」 Síat grimaced and rubbed at his sternum. 「I don't feel so good, Mr. Stark...」
「Uhh... Mr. who?」
Síat's pop culture reference would have to wait, his chest was burning and his breathing was labored. "Chest hurts! Hard to breathe!"
All Might's eyes widened, and he grabbed Síat's shoulder. He looked down at Síat's left arm, which hung limp at his side. "Your arm, Young Rahill, can you move it‽"
"Can't... Can't feel it..."
"Young Rahill, you didn't pull the hair into your stomach, you've pulled it into your bloodstream! You're having an embolism!"
Deep inside the vessels surrounding his lungs, there was one swelling artery that a fight was occurring in.
Keratin is not easily broken down by the leukocytes, but the root, where all the real DNA is, that broke down quickly.
Síat gasped as every vein in his body began to swell, and to glow crimson. His blood shot through his body, ripping the ruined hair from his lung and feeding it into his heart, where it curled up and rested within his left ventricle.
His left arm clenched as feeling rushed back into it. "Ngh... mac na striapaí," 「thought I was dying... Why do I suddenly feel like I could run at mach Caílte mac Rónáin for five days straight?」
「Your veins, young man... they're swollen... and glowing... I think One for All may have activated faster than it was supposed to...」 All Might's hands shook.
What is this? I feel... Alive again... A voice within Síat's head, male, and disembodied, seemingly in shock, spoke with a tremor.
Oh good, so that's not just me... Another voice, this one feminine.
Could it be? This successor... Does he have the means to call us forth? With his quirk? This voice...
「All Might? Are you in my head? Who are... Who are those other voices? The woman? The... Other man?」 Síat shuddered.
All Might was stunned. 「Other... Voices?」
Magnificent... One for All is fundamentally changing his biological baseline. It has done nothing to his body, but it is replenishing his blood to above baseline, effectively enhancing his strength and stamina... Yet another voice.
「Dar na déithe, there's people in my head...」 Síat pours blood from his palms. He stares at it. "Why won't you move..."
The blood moves of its own accord.
"Ní mise é sin..." Síat backs away.
All Might sees his expression and follows suit.
The large pool of blood shifts into eight mounds, solidifying into 8 distinct sanguine figures. One of them looks nearly identical to All Might, but... Slightly bigger, more broad in the shoulders.
All Might isn't looking at that one. He's looking at the one who took the shape of a woman in a cape that seems to billow despite the lack of breeze. 「...Master?」
Síat looks at her too, his less sunken eyes more visibly misty. "Ma?"
Nana Shimura looks at All Might. Her mouth doesn't move, save forming into a smile. Síat hears her speak, but All Might doesn't seem to. Toshi... You picked a... Her brow furrows. You picked... the smile fades and she places a hand to her chest. Her lips purse, and she looked at Síat with a grim smile. He picked a good one...