Chapter Text
He wasn’t dead. He was alive, breathing, certain. His chest rose and fell in a slow, steady pace and his pulse beat around the same rhythm. He didn’t open his eyes for he knew something was bright and shining onto him. He didn’t swallow and talk, he simply couldn’t, something like cotton prevented his throat from forming words. He felt as if he should be panicking, hot flashes plagued his brain briefly as he thought. He felt heavy and light at the same time.
A couple minutes went by in his comatose state before Sako’s nostrils picked something up. Sterile, clean, sickening. A hospital. That would explain the discomfort in his body and the thing clogging his throat, it was then his nerves reactivated and the foreign feeling of his prosthetic being gone. His other arm had multiple needles stuck in, taking or giving blood? He fidgeted his non amputated arm.
“He’s moving.” A man’s voice murmured to his right.
“Stay back, his hands may be restrained but they work through fabric.” Another warned at his left.
“How is he alive?” A feminine voice whispered somewhere in the middle.
That got him moving more freely, he still refused to open his eyes but he shifted his back to the side. A dull, aching feeling settled in his right side, painfully putting a halt to his movements.
Frustrated at the lack of ability to move, Sako forced his eyelids to flutter open. He was right, the light was white and blinding. His vision was blurry and unfocused, his head throbbed from his senses being reawakened.
He opened his mouth only to remember there was something preventing him from speaking. His eyes darted around and then met blue ones, the form taking shape as a human. A doctor.
“Mr. Compress. How are you feeling?” The man asked. Compress. The name triggered a chain of memories, all locking in at once. Blood, eyes, more blood. Mostly blood. And severe, agonizing pain that voices soon cut through.
“A magician never reveals his tricks.”
“You thought I was just a background character?!”
“I have to go, Fuyumi, darling.”
Sako’s then slow heart beat picked up at the name. Fuyumi. A tremor of anxiety, fear and regret quaked through him as he raised his good arm weakly. His starlet, his dearest, his girlfriend- where was she? He tried to lift his torso upwards but a warm hand pressed him back down into the mattress gently.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you go, Mister.” The second male voice told him firmly. Sako blinked at him, could he not see his distress and fear? He needed to see her now. Whatever they did to him did not matter, she was more important.
“Kiya, remove the tube,” the first doctor ordered. The woman- Kiya- reached into his open mouth and the tube suddenly vanished. The magician breathed fully now, raspy and painfully dry as if his throat was made of sandpaper. He could speak now, so he spoke.
Well, he laughed. Wheezy and light so as to not put too much pressure on the wound in his side, lungs straining against his ribcage that felt much too tight. His lips split into a grin, eyes locking onto the doctor who’s hand still lay on his chest.
“Are you my stage crew? If you are not, then you do not need your hands all over me.” He croaked annoyedly. The two male doctors exchanged a confused glance much to Sako’s exasperation. “I’m saying you should get your filthy mitts off me.” He explained with a glint in his eye. Kiya huffed as she jotted down something in a notebook by her side.
“Right. Do you know where you are?” She asked.
“A circus.” Sako smiled half heartedly, watching the doctor’s face change into that of annoyance.
“Do you know what happened to you and why you are here?” She pressed, Sako took a moment to think back. That denim fellow choked both him and Spinner, Shigaraki had been about as limp as a wet noodle. He recalled agony and a marble being slipped in his hand, his mask coming off...yes, yes. His grand escape. Pride overcame him and he smiled even wider.
“I performed one of my greatest tricks, of course, didn’t you see my marvellous escape?” He mocked. The male doctor at his left grumbled.
“This is crucial information, villain, stop joking around and answer.” He demanded, causing Sako to laugh breathlessly.
“What will you do, then, if I reveal all of my cards? Would you take your share and leave me to rot, or would you be so kind as to grant me the pleasure of freedom?” He voiced a genuine thought in his mind. He wondered how his friends were doing without him or if the birds from the park had starved to death with him hospitalized. And his beloved…
“We will tell you once you answer us. Get on with it,” the doctor snapped. Sako felt a flicker of disappointment light in his chest. Fine, he would answer. But not in the way they would expect.
“Very well.” He relented. Kiya sighed through her nose.
“Finally. First question, were you planning to sacrifice yourself for your teammates?” She glimpsed at her papers and back at him. Sako shrugged, wincing immediately after as a shooting pain stabbed his side.
“Truthfully, no. It was improvised, a shame I had to show who I was at such a time. I would’ve preferred to discuss it over a fine dinner with my comrades. But alas, here we are now.”
“Did you have any clue about Dabi’s reveal on national television?” Another pointless question, Sako had to admit this was rather boring. They’re just asking things that have no merit.
“No. I did not have any idea that Dabi was Touya Todoroki.” A half truth, he had suspected it after Fuyumi opened up to him about her family. His heart twisted at the image of her crying into his arms and her hands grasping his shoulders.
“Where is Tomura Shigaraki?” There it was. The only question he did not have a solid answer to, mostly because he had no idea what they were saying. Shigaraki vanished? Sako last saw Spinner holding his unconscious body. So he had woken up. A satisfied feeling crept up his spine.
“I do not know.” He replied. The quiet doctor jolted up and kicked his chair to the side with a crash, making both of his coworkers jump. He stormed over to Sako and grabbed his hospital gown collar roughly, pulling his weakened body to him. Sako’s side felt as if it were on fire and he grit his teeth to distract himself from the fear he experienced.
“Liar.” He growled, blue eyes icy and full of hatred. Sako yelped in alarm, the new angle absolutely crushing his ribs.
“Let go! What happened wasn’t this man’s fault!” Kiya yanked the doctor off of him and shoved him back into his discarded chair. Sako coughed and hacked, grasping weakly at his side. Blood soaked through his gown and then his bed, the doctor who didn’t push him swore and pressed a button.
“Sir, can you see me?” Kiya asked and held up four fingers. Blood dripped from his mouth as his head lolled back, grinning as the room spun.
“Fuyumi.” He blubbered, vision going blurry
“Get him to the VICU now!” A doctor yelled.
He didn’t make it halfway through the door before his eyes closed and he blacked out.