Chapter Text
Akutagawa's mind was buzzing and his vision was blurring around him. His ears were ringing and his head was aching. All his senses were running amuck and everything felt slightly skewed. It was as if Akutagawa was waking up from an unwanted hundred year nap. He was completely filled with grogginess and fatigue, and even though he should be feeling refreshed from this supposed nap, his body was tired down by the memory of all the previous events. His body ached and complained as he moved about, which resulted in him taking a few minutes to have enough energy to properly open his eyes. When he finally did all he could see was a bright light as if he was entering heaven's doors which seemed to be the most likeliest solution to where he could be given what happened just before he blacked out. Fukuchi's sword slashing against his neck and the worried gaze of his rival (Atsushi) was the last thing he could recall so it wasn't hard to deduce that he was very much dead. His opponent had killed him and now all that awaited was the heavenly gates of the afterlife but he would admit that he was a bit shocked to be greeted by this welcoming sight instead of the firey pits of hell. Although he didn't think he deserved to be here, he sat patiently as he felt the white light come closer, however as he got closer his vision cleared immensely and he soon realised that it was not heaven's light but a doctor's torch before him.
Standing before Akutagawa, shining a bright medical torch in his eye, was Akiko Yosano the Armed Detective Agency's Doctor. She was staring at him with a beaming smile, glad to see he was awake. Akutagawa on the other hand was just utterly confused; one moment he was being struck dead by the enemy and the next he was here in ADA's infirmary, sitting somewhat comfortably on the hospital bed. He was unsure how on earth he had suddenly woken up here but more importantly he was shocked that he was even sitting here alive. Akutagawa was adamant that Fukuchi's strike had killed him, and from what he knew of Yosano's ability she needed her patients to still be partially alive to heal them, so how in the name of God was he currently sitting here alive. His mind could think of no plausible explanation and the young doctor didn't seem to offer one besides a relief filled smile. It appeared the doctor too wasn't fully sure of how he was here but was happy all the same. She must've done something, which she probably wasn't sure would work, since she looked as if she expected him to wake up alive... if things went hopefully well, which it seemed it had. However, before Akutagawa had even a chance to confirm his suspicions or at least ask some questions to the doctor, he was interrupted by a loud squeal.
Atsushi in all his glory stood at the entrance to the infirmary, adorning a similar overjoyed expression to the doctor. The weretiger looked Akutagawa up and down, expecting every part of him before he jumped onto the boy, unable to control himself any longer. Atsushi hugged Akutagawa tightly in his arms much to the other boy's surprise. The other just stared at him completely speechless, knowing he was certainly missing something because as much as he was aware, he hadn't done anything to provoke such a response from the weretiger. There was nothing he could think of to explain this reaction, unless they considered the fact he had sacrificed his life for the other but that wasn't even for Atsushi and currently Akutagawa didn't want to think about it. This meant he could just stare down baffled at the weretiger whose arms at the moment were tightly wrapped around his torso. Atsushi seemed to be holding onto him by dear life, seemingly refusing to let go as if Akutagawa would vanish beneath his eyes if he dared to release his hold. Surprisingly, Akutagawa didn't complain at all because, despite the fact he was initially knocked off guard by the hug, he was actually finding it quite nice and almost relished in it. It was comforting and made him feel safe and secure, a feeling he hadn't felt in a really long time. This fact only added to his bafflement at the situation because it was the weretiger who was making him feel safe, which was immensely surprising, nevertheless he just continued to lean into the hug and enjoy it. There was no explanation of why the weretiger could make him feel so, therefore he just pushed the matter aside, claiming it to only be a temporary thing and just relaxed further into the hug, not wanting it to end. It was only when he noticed the cacophony coming from the two others entering the room, that he finally pushed the were tiger off him.
Stumbling by the push, Atsushi fell into Dazai's arms which blissfully interrupted the arguing between the two double black members, much to Yosano's joy. If it wasn't for Atsushi interrupting the pair, they would've gladly continued arguing and then would quickly be met by a scalpel to the throat and a non-negotiable threat from Yosano; no way in hell was she having them come here and interrupt the peaceful silence for her patient, even if said patient was a despised mafioso. Yosano has a duty as a doctor to take care of her patients to the best of her abilities regardless of who they were and what they had done, and she'd always live up to that duty no matter what; even if one day she was tasked with healing the Port Mafia's boss, she'd still deliver her best care and treatment, in spite of her burning hatred for the man, because that was her duty as a doctor and she would be sure to fulfill it to an excellent degree (and there was nothing stopping her putting Mori in a worse off situation later on). This meant Yosano would certainly not stand for any visitors disrupting the healing tranquility established in the room, regardless of their relationship to her or her patient; she was a doctor first and foremost so her patient always came first and her main priority was there easy recovery, which her arguing visitors certainly wasn't helping. Akutagawa had only just woken up, into what was clearly a confusing situation and their arguing was sure to give him (and them all) headaches, which was probably only adding onto the strain his mind was going through trying to figure all of this out.
When Yosano had come into the infirmary this morning, she was elated to see Akutagawa waking up after being asleep for such a long time. He had been in a coma for almost a week and it was definitely a relief to see him waking up all of a sudden. This might explain a little bit why Atsushi decided to jump on the boy when he saw he was awake, because everyone was unsure if he would ever wake up, Atsushi was starting to give up hope too. After everything was done and over, and their enemies and problems were all solved, all that was left was the recovery from the mess Fyodor, Fukuchi and the others had caused. Most people were easily dealt with, since they were just infected by Bram Stoker's ability so all that was required was for Dazai to nullify the ability and then they were all back to normal again; others needed a bit more assistance due to having deeper injuries besides just the vampiric infection; a problem which was also easily solved by Yosano healing everyone up. However, Akutagawa was a very special case. He was dead before he was turned into a vampire which meant his life force was clinging onto the vampiric infection to keep him alive; he was hanging on by a breaking thread. Even though he died, Fukuchi had managed to bring Akutagawa back to life as a vampire to start all this chaos but had also given them a chance to save him. There was a near to impossible chance of succeeding, only a wisp of life remained inside the dog of the Mafia's body, yet Yosano still tried. Everyone had stood back and watched as her butterflies healed Akutagawa up to a brand new condition but for the first time ever, he didn't wake up! He had a pulse, a steady heart beat and was breathing once again but was yet to wake up and remained that way for quite a while. Therefore it was easy to imagine her extensive joy at seeing him moving and finally waking up after so long, and Yosano wasted no time checking him over to make sure he could make a swift recovery after the hell he'd been through. In fact Yosano was just about finished checking up on the boy when their final visitor ran into the room.
With extraordinary speed and force, Gin Akutagawa burst through the door, surprising no one, and came to an immediate halt when she saw her brother sitting healthily, alive on the bed being checked over by the doctor. Ever since Yosano had first healed her brother, Gin had stayed at the Detective Agency waiting for her brother to wake up, adamantly refusing to leave until he did, which was something Mori and the others were forced to except. There was nothing anyone in the world could do to keep a loving sister away from her brother, no their bond was too strong for that. This meant when she heard the raucous and familiar arguing coming from within the infirmary, she instantly stormed out the kitchen (Kyouka had suggested getting some tea to calm her nerves) to find out the cause of the commotion.... and there it was sitting in the midst of it all. Her brother in all his grumpy and loveable self was there. He was alive and safe once more. It was a beautiful and overwhelming sight that literally knocked her off her feet. Being filled with such an immense amount of relief, Gin fell to her knees and started to sob quiet tears of joy which she quickly wiped up away, not wanting to ruin the moment with the tears. But Akutagawa was back! It was such a happy feeling to see the person she thought she had lost forever be sitting just fine only a few meters away. Even further than that, it was such a great feeling that, just like Atsushi, she was unable to control herself. Without thinking, the assassin ran over to her brother and wrapped him in the tightest, warmest loving hug she could produce. Her heart was bouncing against the walls, immense love was radiating out from every corner of her body and her face was producing a similar beaming smile to the others, and she wasn't the only one. In her arms, reflecting the same love and joy, her brother finally relaxed properly, relieved to see his sister was safe as well. He may be confused out of his mind at the moment but Gin was safe and that was all he truly cared about.
"Why didn't no one alert me that he was awake?" Gin sobbed out through the joy filled tears that were appearing once more,
"We're in the same boat as you, Gin, no one alerted us either." Chuuya explained as he smiled down at the happy siblings,
"But at least we got the excellent surprise of finding out ourselves." Dazai added on.
"Well i would've liked to have been alerted... i might've been able to compose myself then." Atsushi meekly stated, scratching his ear shyly as he whispered out the last but everyone still heard it but were at least kind enough to give Atsushi the dignity of pretending that they didn't hear. Akutagawa on the other hand just stared at the weretiger, analysing him, trying to find an explanation for earlier events.
"I'm sorry but my patient's health takes priority and i thought it best to check everything over before i let the ruckus of you lot in. Sadly you all came inside anyway." Yosano exclaimed as she packed up her medical items back in her bag.
"Soooorrry Yosano, i just have such great intuition that i'm able to know where i'm needed and i just blindly follow it." Dazai sarcastically apologised,
"Oh please you just like causing trouble. You have as much intuition as a bird flying into a window, utterly stupid. You're like a dog chasing his tail, pathetic." Chuuya spat out at his former partner, easily pissed off by his stupid attitude
"You wound me Chibi, how could you compare me to such a vile creature as yourself." Dazai complained, feigning getting hurt.
"I'm not a bloody dog and you know it!" Chuuya screamed as he started to strangle the living daylights out of the mackerel.
"Not in my office, you two will stop the stupid arguing or be kicked out." Yosano scolded,
"Sorry." the two sheepishly replied,
"Can someone explain this whole situation, How on earth am i sitting here, alive?" Akutagawa shouted out, finally had enough of waiting and just wanted an explanation.
Upon hearing Akutagawa's demand everyone grew silent. They all looked back at him with awkward expressions, not exactly sure how to deliver all the information nicely or even where to start. How do you even tell someone, yeah you committed a brave self-sacrificial act but ultimately caused more harm because you were turned into a vampire and even hurt your sister? Yep no one wants to hear that but it had to be said. The longer they stared back in silence and the longer they prolonged the inevitable, the harder this would be. Eventually someone would have to say something. Thankfully, Atsushi at last spoke up and came up with the genius idea of explaining everything that happened after he escaped. He revealed all the positive details that Akutagawa's sacrifice led to and in time led up to the vampiric disaster. Everyone joined in, piping up with different details that they knew about the situation and it pained them all to see Akutagawa's expression change as he heard about the chaos he caused. It especially hurt Gin to see how her brother reacted to the fact he was the cause of Higuchi reaching this state and making him inadvertently the cause of Gin becoming infected too. Despite all this they continued to inform Akutagawa of the events because even though it hurt he deserved to know. As they went on, Akutagawa slowly recalled memories of being a vampire and his stomach churned just thinking about it. After a good half hour of talking, they had finally covered everything and Akutagawa could also unfortunately remember a lot of it.
"That's everything, any questions." Chuuya sighed only getting a small shake of the head from his subordinate,
"Well, if you don't mind me i'm off to annoy Kunikida, come on Chibi." Dazai chimed as he strolled out whilst a redhead attempted to strangle him.
"Well i've checked you over already, you're free to leave when you want to." Yosano stated as she made her way towards the door, however before she could reach the door she was interrupted by the sound of a forced cough. Upon hearing the noise, she turned on her feet to be greeted by the sight of a confused Akutagawa trying to cough.
"What are you doing?" Yosano questioned as she made her way back over to her patient, grabbing her medical bag as she walked over.
"My chest feels different to before, lighter. I usually cough when it feels wrong and that fixes the problem but i can't seem to cough." Akutagawa responded just as confused as the doctor.
"Let me have a look." Yosano commanded as she started to examine his chest, "Nope i don't see anything wrong."
"Wait nothing?" Atsushi piped in, baffled that she didn't notice the problem with Akutagawa's lungs.
"I had a lung disease before i died, do you think it got worse?" AKutagawa queried much to everyone's worry.
"Quite the opposite actually, it's been completely cured." Yosano remarked with a hearty laugh, surprised at what she was saying. She stared out at the others and were met with blank faces that were still processing the information.
"That feeling, the lightness, is the feeling of healthy lungs, something i presume you're not used to. Well enjoy it because somehow my ability cured your disease which is a first so don't come for me for things like that. It's a one time thing that you were lucky to get so enjoy this second shot of life you got." Yosano announced as she exited out the door, uninterrupted this time.
"This is great news... i'll go pack my stuff and then we can head home." Gin exclaimed, giving her brother a final hug before running out the room after Yosano.
All that remained in the room was a deep cloud of silence as Atsushi and Akutagawa sat at opposite ends of the room, contemplating everything they were just told. The last time the two properly saw each other, Akutagawa had revealed his lung disease that was killing him but now they were just told it had been cured, Akutagawa had a chance to live a full life and neither of them new had to deal with that. It was something Akutagawa never truly considered as an option for himself and something Atsushi always believed was until recently. Now, the weretiger tried to view this news from his rivals perspective and could understand how confusing it may be for someone who always viewed themselves as a tool. It's easy to tell someone to live and enjoy the shot at life they have but not at all easy to do, so it wasn't hard to say that Atsushi was at least a little curious how Akutagawa would go about it. On top of that, the weretiger had plenty of questions about back then and he felt he deserved an answer two. But Akutagawa did just come back from the dead so he thought maybe he should be a little courteous and wait. However, always the impatient one, Akutagawa thought otherwise.
"What do you want Jinko?" Akutagawa impatiently asked as he got out of the bed,
"The lung disease is gone, must be a good surprise." Atsushi offered as an answer, not wanting to jump to his question straight away,
"Oh please if that's what you truly wanted to say, you would've said it already, now out with it." Akutagawa demanded, walking closer to the weretiger expecting an answer.
"Fine, Why did you do it? You knew you'd die... Why did you sacrifice yourself?" Atsushi questioned, finally speaking his mind, staring back at Akutagawa, this time he was expecting an answer.
"What can i say, it was the only way." Akutagawa simply responded avoiding the question,
"Liar, You always scold me for belittling my own life and i listen to those words beacuse i know you value them yourself and in turn value your life so you wouldn't just throw it away so why? If it was the only option why did you so easily resign yourself to it without complaining." Atsushi fiercly questioned because if Akutagawa could demand a true answer then so could he, and if Akutagawa wanted to do this now, they'd do it because he wasn't leaving until he got it.
"I told you already, what i fear is dying unable to be acknowledged by Dazai and the only way i could truly ever get that was by dying to save you. I've finally resigned myself to the fact that i'm nothing to him but you mean everything so if you survived maybe i'd matter just enough for him to acknowledge me. That was a risk i had to take and it paid off: the wars over, you're safe and i'm still ignored by Dazai, just as it's meant to be. Enjoy your life as Dazai's subordinate and know you are now living the privileged life, that i am unworthy of!" Akutagawa choked out as he left the room and that was the answer Atsushi was left with as he started at the closed infirmary door speechless.