Dafydd opened his eyes and saw only blurry white with a piercing yellowish light coming from his left. A few minutes passed and the light became gentler as his vision started to sharpen. Ad it did he noticed he was on a very comfortable bed. He decided to just lay there. It was comfortable after all, and he was still tired. It took an itch on his chin, and five minutes of ignoring said itch, before he realised something. The cuffs that the bad man had put on him was gone. He activated part of his quirk that he dubbed, third eye, as wide as he could. He only caught a few echoes, a doctor here and there with an ambient feel of a juncture between life and death. It was enough for him to know he was in a hospital; he'd been to one before after all, and the feeling was similar. He closed his eye, remembering all the things he saw with it in that hellhole.
A soft creak of a door and shuffling feet alerted him to the presence of another person. He didn't look toward her, he was both too tired and comfortable in his bed. She spoke to herself in that language the other men used, her voice was kinder though, and a just bit scraggly.
"Ah, you're awake." She said fluently in English. "How are you feeling child?" The woman was old, and small. Smaller than him. She wore a doctor's outfit and was using an exaggerated syringe to help her move around.
"I-" he rasped out. "I'm ok.".
"Here, sit up, ill fetch you some water." She ordered him, and helped him leverage himself up.
"hmmmm" he let out, taking in his bed now seat. "Yeah, still comfy." He went to gulp down a glass of water, only for the granny to scold him and tell him to sip. "Thanks for the water misses doctor lady.". The old lady chuckled at him.
"You're quite welcome young man. My name is Chiyo Shuzenji, you may call me Dr Chiyo." She said. "Now, child. I dislike this next part, however it is my duty as a doctor." She paused and looked into his eyes, and if she were feeling poetic she would describe them as a blue sky hidden behind grey clouds. "You have suffered a great deal, however your body will suffer no functional problems as a result of treatment, unfortunately you have many scars on you as a result of your… trauma. Moreover, we recieved word from our colleagues in the UK that your parents are deceased." Chiyo hated this every time she had to do it. But in her experience she had found that honesty upfront was always the better option.
"Yeah, they were killed." Dafydd said frowning, tears threatening to come out. "Are Chloe and Asahi ok?" His voice was stable, even his eyes were a storm.
"They are ok, and have been moved to a room for observation. Both their families have been contacted, Chloe's arrived two days ago, and Asahi's raced here within a day of being called." She said calmly. She watched the boy's face. He smiled the same soft smile, and it broke Chiyo's heart when he heard his simple reply.
"I'm glad they'll be ok." A pause stretched for a long time, but Chiyo let it happen, knowing the boy had another question, and it came. "So, what is going to happen to me?". Chiyo sighed.
"Well, usually you would be sent back to your home country and be placed in an orphanage." The boy just nodded, as if it made a lot of sense. "But, well. Honestly, there are a few people who want to talk with you before anything is decided. One of them being Eraserhead, the families of the other two, and myself. Of course none of this will happen until I deem you ready for visitors, or you don't want any visitors of course. Is this acceptable?"
"How long will that take?" he asked as he nodded his head at what she said.
"Oho, ready to leave already?"
"No! the bed is comfy, wondering how long I get to stay in it." He blurted out and Chiyo just laughed at him, glad that at least this patient was willing to rest unlike some blonde haired idiot who lost his stomach and part of his respiratory system. How he was still living without constant life support was beyond her. Not to mention he still worked as a Hero.
"Well, I think I'll have you under observation for a few more days. Then allow visitors in. a rough estimate would be staying here for maybe two more weeks." She replied. "Now, if you don't mind, I am going to check your vitals and do general doctor things. Is that ok?" Dafydd nodded.
The next day Dr Chiyo shuffled into the room around noonish, carrying a tray of soup.
"Good afternoon Dafydd." She said genially, "Here is your lunch. If you are feeling alright, would it be alright to ask you some questions?" Dafydd just nodded as he arranged the tray over his lap, and spooned a mouthful of the chicken soup. It was quite nice.
"Very good. The largest issue I have is that I just checked up on young Chloe and Asahi, there scars are slowly healing and disappearing, I checked yours yesterday and they are getting marginally worse. The other two mentioned you did something; can you tell me what?"
"My Quirk" Dafydd said softly, "Or at least a part of it."
"Your quirk allows you to take on the wounds of others?" Dr Chiyo asked. Dafydd slowly shook his head.
"In a way. It's difficult to explain." He said unsurely.
"Would you be willing to try?" Dr Chiyo asked, and patiently waited for him to speak.
"Well, so far my quirk has a few parts. The first, is the third eye, irrelevant right now. The second is the Oathbinder part, basically if I were to make an oath then I would be bound by it, but if people do the same to me they would be bound too. It works to a lesser and more grey-scale for promises, but deals when acknowledged by both parties can be fully affected by it. Its weird." Dafydd said, trying his best to explain something he didn't really understand. "The third part is magic, I have to kinda understand how I'm doing what I'm doing. It's the hardest to explain because I Just now how to do certain things with it, and I know how to go about figuring out how to do other things, and there isn't really a limit to what I could do I guess, except that its really tiring, If I don't know what I'm doing there's a cost or it doesn't work. It can be influenced by the other parts of my quirk. I call the things I know how to do spells. Oh, If I'm not focusing then the spells typically fail. Oh and I can put spells on things to use later, or even make them permanent sometimes." Dafydd's brows were furrowed as he talked in circles about his quirk, until Dr Chiyo interrupted him.
"And how does that relate to the scars?" She prompted.
"Oh, I promised them they'd be fine, and somehow cast a spell on them both. They didn't feel pain, and any cuts they got were slowly moved to me?" Dafydd replied, "Truth be told, that's just what the back of my head is telling me about my quirk. I've never been tested properly. It was also the most I've done with my quirk."
"Thank you young man. Whilst I can't say for certain that I understand your quirk, I think I have an idea about it. The next question has to do with your excellent grasp of your mother tongue. You're only seven after all." She chuckles quietly.
"Oh, that's the deal thing I talked about. Mum, dad, grandad and gran all made 'deals' with me, mum was an accident but seeing what it did the others did the same." Dafydd smiled at the memory. "I asked her if she'd gift me language, she held my hand and said yes. Then I just knew her understanding of English. That was added on by dad and my grandparents with their own ken, and their ken of Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, and Latin. After that though, Da said to be sure that unless I was certain then I should make sure all deals are equal." Dafydd nodded certainly as he recited what his dad told him.
"Well, that is interesting. Once you've recovered would you be interested in learning my native tongue in exchange for any of the languages you know?" Dr Chiyo asked as he ate another mouthful of soup. Dafydd nodded easily. "The final thing I have to say today is that if you want to talk about what happened over the past year or so, I am here to listen. Whether it be about your family or about what happened to you, I am here." Dafydd froze, then mechanically moved the spoon to his mouth again, not looking at Dr Chiyo for a moment. Then lifted his gaze. The blue behind his grey eyes was blazing just for a moment.
"I know, thank you Dr. Chiyo, you truly think it would be good for me don't you?" He asked, his voice seemed to carry a weight that it didn't have before, though he didn't notice it. Dr Chiyo nodded at his simply at his question.
"Yes"
"Then, Tomorrow. Can you write down what you want to know so I have time to prepare?" His eyes lost the blazing blue, and the power in his voice faded. He looked tired, but was quickly polishing off his soup.
"Of course, Dafydd. I'll clear out a few hours a day if that is ok with you, and any time you want to stop, we can." She said pleasantly surprised he said yes. She was thinking he would act like so many people and try to tough it out. "I think it's time I checked on my other patients. Thank you for listening to my advice young man. I'll be back again tomorrow. Have a pleasant day."
"Bye-bye Dr Chiyo." He smiled at her.
The next two evenings found Dafydd talking happily about and crying over his family. How his parents were the best, kindest, and most sarcastic and cheeky people than anyone he'd known. How they'd go to the local pub and let him play in the ballpen they had, sometimes joining him in making a right mess before they cleaned it up for a milky way or lollipop. About the times they'd visit his mother's and father's grandparents in Scotland in their own small castle and estate they made by hand. he talked about his two quirkless parents despite all his grandparents having quirks, though he didn't know what they were. he talked about how his parents thought his quirk was some weird mix of his grandparents. He talked about his dad was the best librarian he knew and how his mum was an amazing cook, and ran a small quiet inn near a wood.
The third day Dafydd found Dr Chiyo walking into his small room with woman with sky blue eyes and long dark purple hair with long bangs. She stood shy of six foot and wore an elegant white frilled shirt and calf length black skirt and stylish black glasses.
"Good evening Dafydd." Dr Chiyo began "I hope you do not mind, but I think, if you feel ready, it is time to talk about what happened over this past year." Dafydd tried to hide his flinch and managed to smile and nod slightly at Dr Chiyo, before glancing nervously at the younger lady. "This here is Nemuri Kayama. She is a Hero. If it is alright with you, I asked her to sit in today, her quirk would help if re-living these memories is too much for you."
"A pleasure to meet you Dafydd." She said in accented English, she had a professional smile plastered on her face, although her eyes seemed to glitter with barely contained glee "I am the Hero Midnight." She gave a small bow. "I would appreciate it if you allowed me to stay."
"Hi?" Dafydd asked, his voice was small causing both Dr Chiyo and Nemuri to be taken aback a little.
Nemuri kneeled by the bed of Dafydd and looked at his wide eyes, even if he didn't turn to look at her.
"Dafydd," she began "you don't have to talk about it if you don't feel ready. Dr Chiyo just wants to help as soon as she can. I can leave now."
"I know. I can do it… just…just can. Can I get a blindfold?"
"Why certainly. I always carry them around with me for boys like you" Nemuri said flirtatiously, taking a blindfold out from her bag and easily tying it around him. Dafydd didn't pay any heed to it.
"Nemuri!" Dr Chiyo warned. Nemuri insincerely apologised. The old Dr. just sighed, and pulled a chair up next to the bed, Nemuri did the same on the opposite side. "Now then Dafydd. We should just jump into it. I suppose. Can you tell us how you were kidnapped?" Dafydd was quiet before he spoke.
"It was just a normal afternoon. I was helping mum at the inn, washing some plates. Then dad came back and we had some spag bol for dinner. As we were eating the room went dark for a second, then it went light and both my parents had their faces in their bowls." Dafydd's breath started getting heavy and a blue glow was subdued behind the black blindfold. "blood was pooling in front of their bowl, dad had a cut on his neck. I didn't see much before a bag was over my head. I was thrown in a van and driven away. The only thing I heard them say was that they didn't understand why they had to get the worthless son of two quirkless fools. In the van, one of them stuck me with a needle I think, and I passed out. I woke up somewhere else, in a cage. An old, wrinkled man, reddish-orange eyes said all my shitty family were dead, but that he couldn't get what he wanted. That he'd keep me until I gave him what he wanted. He said it'd come in time. I stayed with him for months, he would feed me decently, but would cane, belt, and cut me from time to time. He said he did it to get me to use my quirk, how my grandparents were soft on me." Dafydd flinched again and his shoulders started shaking. "It worked a bit I guess. I could stop most of his hits after three months." His breath started coming fast, until it stilled. "Until the part that awakened when I got angry. My quirk went haywire for about an hour and no-one could even come near me apparently. The man thought it was what he was waiting for but it wasn't, and the beatings intensified. I went into that state over and over until I started to get a hold of the anger. Then, over the next three months I slowly stopped going into it, and when I did, the time I stayed like that came down. May I have some water please?" He asked, his shoulders shaking again slightly. After drinking he continued. "Then, I don't know what exactly happened but I was taken away, I think by some guy who saw an opportunity to get out from the old man. He held me in a warehouse for a week I think. That was where I met Chloe, strangely she didn't seem scared even though she was untouched and surrounded by broken people like me. I don't know why, but I used my quirk. I promised her she would be ok, and that I'd take her wounds. It was a mix of magic and oath. We were then flown to wherever here is and shoved in a cage. That was when I met Asahi, I did the same thing for him as I did Chloe, just a whispered promise. I knew I couldn't do more than that though. That is when he came. The next bastard, he bought us all. There were maybe twenty of us kids. Since then we were in those cages. He tortured us every night. We slowly started dying. It didn't take him long to figure out I was taking their injuries though. He would cut them, hit them, and I would scream. Their injuries slowly faded, mine got worse… we were the only three left. He stopped feeding us. They would have died if Eraserhead didn't find us." Dafydd had slowly started crying as he talked about what happened.
"Have you grieved yet Dafydd?" Dr Chiyo asked quietly. Dafydd shook his head, a few drops of water leaking from under the blindfold. His shoulders started to hitch and sobs were starting to force their way out of his throat. Dafydd felt two well toned arms wrap around his body and pull him into a warm hug. Dafydd broke down into sobs for the first time since he scraped his knee when learning how to ride a bike. These sobs were tortured though, they wracked his still weak body. His eyes stung with tears, his throat horse, and his lungs ached by the time he finished. He found himself gripping miss Nemuri's shirt tightly, the blindfold was half rubbed off his face, revealing one eye, and that his face was firmly pressed against her chest. Nemuri still gently stroked his hair. And they just sat there for a while like that.
"Are you feeling better?" Nemuri asked softly. Dafydd shook his head. "I'm not surprised. You will be, in time. You took the first step, it was a very brave thing for a youth like yourself to do." Her voice turned a little breathy when she said brave and youth. Dafydd didn't pay it much mind. She kept hugging him for a while more, before he moved away and tucked his head on his knees.
"Sorry for crying."
"It's ok." She replied kindly, and stood up, moving a sandwich and packet of crisps in front of him. "Here, eat up." She started eating her own sandwich.
"Miss Nemuri?" Dafydd asked after taking a few bites of his sandwich. "Will you visit again?"
"Hmmm" she said, finger on her chin "You like me do you?" Dafydd just nodded, causing her to smile. "Sure.". He smiled and they kept eating. After eating, she left and promised to come back the next day.
Hi, How's everyone?
This is a ff so the characters present in the orignial wont be exactly the same, but if you feel like I'm veering too far away let us know, and if i agree i might try and change it.
Again, hope you enjoy it and leave a review if you feel like it.
Have a good day!