encounter one

The first time was when Dazai was eighteen. He had found out (the hard way) that bullets were painful and sometimes impossible to avoid. Better cross that off the list of potential suicide methods, he thought dreamily. Odasaku was telling him something as the man half-carried half-dragged him into the hospital, but Dazai couldn't really understand. Everything went darkish for a few seconds, and when he blinked, he was being laid down on a cot in a whole other place.

"...bullet to the right of his stomach," Odasaku was telling someone, "blood loss kept to minimum but he's in shock, I think…"

Dazai tried to lift himself to see where he was but his side told him no so he quickly laid back down. Ow. Ow. Had his vision always been this terrible? He could see a few blurry figures. Odasaku… a male nurse… someone with long pink hair who was doing something to his wrist…

"didse come.. to.. double soosid..?" Dazai slurred.

"Pardon?" a lovely, nice voice said. The woman's face came into focus for a split second, big teal eyes, then blurred again.

"No, Dazai, she's not here to do a double suicide with you. That's your doctor." Dazai murmured some irritated words under his breath. He was becoming aware of a slick wetness along the side of his torso, and gentle fingers probing his side. Ow. More pain.

"I administered an IV to help dull the pain, but I think he'll be unconscious in a minute or two," the doctor murmured to Odasaku. "Do you know his blood type?"

A tingling warmth had begun to spread from where the doctor's fingers had touched. Maybe.. the IV… was kicking in really nicely…. The feeling was odd, though. Less like numbness and more like soft little sparks mending his flesh. Wow, I must be really out of it, Dazai thought. Even if she had an ability, it wouldn't be working on me.

"I''d b e .. nconsious faster.. if you.. upped mo'phine.." he tried to express his wisdom. Even though the imaginary magical sparks were doing a good job of helping him feel better.

A bright light was suddenly shone into his eyes and he blinked. "What is your name? Age? Can you tell me where you are?" the pink-haired doctor said.

"Doctor… you look.. twenty...five ish...hospital.." Odasaku sighed somewhere near his head.

"Not my name and age, yours," the woman said. Oh. But she was really pretty, he realized, as his eyes readjusted to normal light. Ow. The pain was numbing a little but it was getting harder and harder to stay awake. Nothing made sense. Nice, pretty doctor. Odasaku…. "Dazai.. ..moo… eight.."

Dr. Wigglytuff worked at the most dangerous hospital in the city, the Port Hospital. It was where the victims of the three-way war between the Port Mafia, the Guild, and the Armed Detective Agency went because of the hospital's strictly neutral policy. No questions were asked even when suspicious (most likely ability-related) injuries popped up often.

Dr. Wigglytuff also had powers of her own, but not because of an Ability. She was not human at all. However, due to her dedication to helping, she rarely went into her other form. Besides her little sister Jigglypuff, the rest of the world saw her as a nice, (extremely clumsy) white-coat wearing young woman.

It was near the end of her shift when a teenager was carried in by his friend, the wound in his side obvious and dripping blood all over the floor.. She had volunteered to take the patient.

Wigglytuff waved her hand over the patient's eyes. "He's out. The anesthesiologist will be here soon and we can begin surgery." Wigglytuff had subtly helped the boy with the pain by using a small amount of her powers, but since the bullet was still in him she could not fully seal up the wound. His dark suit was torn and covered in blood. "More nurses will be here soon, and we get him out of this suit…" She turned to the companion who had brought the patient in. "Can you tell me his and your information?"

The scarlet haired man looked uncomfortable. "I am.. Odasaku… His name is Dazai Osamu, he is eighteen…"

Wigglytuff could deduce that they were from the Port Mafia. The specific hospital she worked at was a neutral zone for the three-way fight between the ADA, mafia, and Guild, and most of the patients she saw had ability or gun-related injuries. "That's fine. Any.. abilities the patient possesses that will affect the removal of the bullet from his side?" She smiled, trying to set him at ease.

"No ability works on him," Odasaku said, glancing down at the blood-covered, unconscious man. "He has nullification powers."

Interesting. That was an ability she hadn't heard of before. Wigglytuff looked down at "Dazai Moo," visually checking his vitals. The bullet had missed any important organs but the pain had put the boy into shock. His dark, wavy hair was damp with sweat and his skin was pale. Bandages ran across his face and around his arms and neck. "What are these other injuries from?" she said, gesturing to them.

"There are no injuries. He wears them to limit skin-to-skin contact so as not to affect comrade's abilities." That made sense.

The mafia… she was surprised that an eighteen-year-old was involved with it. Enough that he would be in harm's way. "They keep coming younger and younger," she said quietly. It was disheartening. Odasaku seemed like a good friend, though. Wigglytuff unhooked the IV bag from the wall and set it on a moving cart, preparing to move the boy for surgery.

"You seem quite young yourself, doctor, to be working in a hospital with this kind of reputation," Odasaku said.

"I-I'm twenty-five," she said, "so I suppose.. I'm young for a doctor.. maybe…" Her special.. gifts.. in the area of healing had helped her speed along schooling. She had wanted to work at the Port Hospital ever since she heard about how awful the injuries often were there, because she could help the most at that location.

She slipped off one of her blood-covered gloves so she didn't get the metal dirty. Dazai still looked clammy but a little better. Wigglytuff gently pressed her hand against his forehead, feeling for a possible infection-related fever. He felt warm, but normal. His tangled, sweat-damp hair caught on her fingers as he pulled away.

Odasaku looked worried. It is good that even though this boy is in the mafia, he has a caring friend to watch over him, Wigglytuff thought.

Time to move onto her other patients….

Dazai blinked at the light of his room. "I woke up," he said. A little disappointed.

"A bullet to the side won't kill you," Odasaku said dryly, voice coming to the right. Dazai closed his eyes again.

"Remind me never to commit suicide by gun. Unless there's a lot of morphine involved." He tried to recall the events of when he was last awake. "How long have I been out?"

"A day. It's the afternoon now." He heard the sound of a book closing. Odasaku stood, leaning over him and visually checking Dazai for any abnormalities. "How do you feel?"

"My stomach hurts…" The wound throbbed. He tenderly ran his hand over the bandages underneath his hospital gown. "Ow." There was a long, clear IV in his wrist, and he poked at it curiously. Hopefully it was pain killers. "Hey, Odasaku.. where's that gorgeous lady who was going to commit lovers' suicide with me?"

"That was your doctor, Dazai, and she was not going to commit suicide with you."

The eighteen-year-old sighed dramatically (then winced, wishing he hadn't breathed in so deep because the stitches pulled). "She was super into me, I could tell."

"You told her your first name was Moo. I do not think you were as lucid as you recall."

Dazai rested his arm over his eyes. His head had begun to hurt again. Odasaku was right, when he had been shot, everything had become very confusing and dizzy. He could remember… an odd, warm tingling in his side… That must have been a hallucination. "Did she have an Ability?"

Odasaku was silent for a moment. "I do not think so. It would not have affected your treatment, anyways… Why do you ask?"

"No reason. When did she say we should check out?"

"The doctor said in five days your injury would be safe enough to walk with."

"We'll check out tomorrow morning."

Mafioso were notorious for sneaking out of the hospital much too early after major surgeries. It often ended up with the same mafiosos right back in the hospital a few days later because they had torn unhealed stitches or strained themselves too much. It wasn't because they were trying to escape paying for their treatment (the hospital received over half of its money from anonymous payments that came later), it was because they were so thirsty to be back in battle on the streets.

Wigglytuff looked at the empty hospital room her patient had been in. Oh, dear.

"He's young, so hopefully it will have healed enough in twenty-four hours that he won't be back anytime soon.." she sighed to herself. Dazai "moo" had disappeared, along with Odasaku, in the early hours of the morning just before her shift had started.

"He'd better not stretch those stitches."

"Stay off the streets tonight," one of the doctors she was acquainted with told her as Wigglytuff grabbed her coat. "There's death on the horizon because of the Port Mafia."

"Did something happen?" Wigglytuff said. There was always fighting going on in the night, but the hospital's residents were veterans when it came to the city's war. The other doctor nodded.

"One of their own, a higher-up, broke ranks and did a lot of damage to the Mafia. They're hunting for his blood."

"Wow.." the pink-haired woman murmured. "That's scary… Do you think they'll catch him?"

The doctor shook his head. "No way, not if the rumors about him are true. He was one of the five executives, the strongest men they had, and he's only eighteen. The other four are gunning for him."

Wigglytuff recalled another young Port Mafia member she had treated several months ago. "That's so young."

"Yes… That's why the Mafia is so angry. They can't execute revenge on him. So be careful, okay?"

"I will. See you tomorrow," Wigglytuff said brightly, and left the hospital.

end of the first encounter