Reborn shoots as he's moving, and Hayato finds himself rushing forwards the couple of steps to catch Sawada instead, and to lower him to the floor. And holding him upright, Hayato doesn't know what to do. He's never seen anyone's flames being activated before - after he ran away from home he's been too far out of Vongola authority to get that privilege.
There's blood on Sawada's forehead. There hadn't been anything on the back of his head like Hayato had sometimes seem when he worked with someone who used guns. But there's blood on Sawada's forehead, and a hole, and his eyes are open, staring blankly at the ceiling-
A light flickers, and then suddenly there's no hole, just a little fire on Sawada's forehead.
Sawada blinks. And now he's not just staring blankly at the ceiling, he's looking up into Hayato's eyes, his eyes as orange as the flame on his forehead.
"Hayato," Sawada says softly. His hands drift up until he's touching Hayato's where Hayato had grabbed him to keep him from hitting the floor, then he latches onto Hayato's wrists hard enough that Hayato knows he'll have bruises tomorrow. He smiles. "You're here. You're really here."
He glances over at Shamal desperately as Shamal drops to the ground next to him, but when he looks down, the flame is gone from Sawada's forehead, and there are tears making their way down his face from his closed eyes.
"Well," Shamal mutters as he puts the cap back on the sedative epi pen and slides it into his pocket. "That's new." He puts the back of his hand against Sawada's forehead. "Temperature's normal, no sign of fever . . ." He pulls Sawada's eyelid back and shines a penlight, moving it a couple times. "Pupil response looks normal . . ." He checks Sawada's pulse at his wrist. "Heart rate's up, which is the normal response to a Dying Will Bullet." Shamal sits back with a frown and glances up at Reborn. "I see what you mean. He really just went straight to Hyper Dying Will Mode. And you say he did the same last time as well?"
"Yes," Reborn says, his fedora pulla low again. "He was shot, he sat up long enough to say a friend's name, and then he collapsed again."
"Right," Shamal says, rubbing his hands together. "Then, with your permission, I'd like to bring someone over to help."
"Who?"
Shamal grimaces as Hayato's gaze swings back over to him. "That boy Verde was talking about. Verde was all smug about it when he got the reports back after he sent him in to help me, but I do have to admit that he helped. It might be best to wait a while first though."
"Why?"
"Tsuna's case, as insane and impossible as it is, is stable," Shamal says, pushing himself to his feet and grabbing the file again to write as he speaks. "The Dying Will Bullet was created as a safer way to activate Dying Will Mode, and while some of the older generation might argue that it created a dependency on outside agents to activate Dying Will Mode, it does it's job very well. Unless someone else forces him into it, Sawada won't be activating Dying Will Mode or whatever's going on with him on his own. And-"
"And you haven't managed to help everyone from Timoteo's Rampage," Hayato says, remembering the almost empty dorms in the Varia mansion. He hadn't thought to wonder why everyone had flames.
Reborn and Shamal are staring at Hayato when he looks up. It takes him a moment to realize that he probably shouldn't have called it "Timoteo's Rampage" to Reborn's face, and given that he obviously wasn't one of the people Timoteo went after, he probably shouldn't know enough to tell that Vongola hadn't recovered.
". . . Right," Shamal says. "And I've told you about trauma activated flame response right?"
"I don't need you to," Reborn says. His lips thin, and he reaches up to stroke his chameleon's spine, the motion making Hayato automatically tense. "But Vongola can't afford for its heir not to train in their characteristic magic, not when he was a civilian only weeks ago."
Shamal makes a face and crouches down next to Sawada, reaching for his wrist with his free hand. He lets go after a couple seconds and stands back up to move nearer to Reborn. "His pulse is down. That's good. Remind me, how was he the morning after?"
"He was sore when he woke up," Reborn says. "He knew how to move past it though, and he was moving almost regularly by noon besides occasional twinges and continued pain in that one wrist. He was able to win the fight against Bovino in a minute around twenty four hours after I shot him."
"And how did he act?" Shamal asks. "What you described doesn't sound unusual for activation using a bullet, if a little light, but he wasn't moving very much so there wouldn't be as much wear and tear. The mental aspects on the other hand . . . given the havoc that normal activation wreaks, I'm worried about what happened if he was thinking rationally and without limits."
"He seemed less emotional afterwards, as well as less aware of his surroundings and less aware or perhaps unable to care about the consequences of his actions."
"Right, I remember you saying that," Shamal sighs. He pulls the pen from his coat pocket and taps then tip of it on the file as he reads back his notes to himself. He glances up after a couple moments. "I forgot to ask this earlier, but you've done Bullet activations before. How'd his response compare to the normal trauma response after Bullet activation?"
Hayato's fingers tighten slightly. He doesn't think he should still be here. He probably should have left when Sawada passed out and could no longer decide what he was alright with Hayato knowing.
"He . . ." Reborn pauses. "He didn't appear to display any symptoms of avoidance, to me or to the situation, and displayed no distress when I suggested that we return to the clearing to test his ability to fight again. He was less willing to indulge in shared jokes. After a period of around 48 hours, his emotional state and situational awareness appeared to return to normal, and he . . . he resumed his hyperawareness. His troubled sleep continued throughout this period and afterwards. In comparison to Bullet activations . . ."
Sawada's fingers tighten slightly on Hayato's wrists before they finally loosen, and Hayato looks down to see Sawada's eyes are open. There's no expression on his face though, just . . . blankness.
"His reactions remind me of a long time user of Dying Will Bullets," Reborn continues. "He never once showed a negative reaction to me reaching for Leon or me pointing Leon at him as a gun, but I have seen him tense up around Yakuza with guns, implying that he does not see me or Leon as a threat, but he does see guns in general as threats. That's a reaction I've only seen after repeated use of the bullets."
Sawada's eyes close again, his fingers twitching around Hayato's wrists for a moment.
"It's a rare reaction because while the bullets are the safest method after learning to spark your own flames, most people can't afford more than the initial activation, and use the pills to artificially spark after using the Dying Will Bullet to do the most dangerous stage of breaking the initial seal."
Hayato looks up to see Reborn staring at the pair of them, his expression incongruously serious on his young face. Hayato's eyes follow the movement of reborn's hand along his chameleon's spine before he forces himself to look down again because there's really nothing he can do about Reborn holding a gun. Sawada's eyes are open again, focused on Hayato's face this time, his forehead slightly wrinkled in a frown.
"That said . . . I don't know if you have experience with a Dying Will Mode user who acts calm?" Reborn asks.
"I wasn't aware that was possible," Shamal says.
"Given the emotional requirements, it's rare," Reborn says, a spark of dark humor cropping up before he sobers. "Enrico-" Reborn stops abruptly, and Hayato winces. Reborn restarts slowly, "I knew someone who was that way. And since he was the heir, they kept me around until he could spark his own Hyper Dying Will Mode, so I learned to tell the difference between the two states. I know the process the whole way through, and . . . Sawada's symptoms match. It's like he's done this before, but no longer has the endurance."
Hayato's eyes drop down to look at Sawada again. It's hard to tell, but Sawada doesn't even seem to be listening to Reborn talk anymore. He finally lets go of Hayato's wrists and reaches up to pat Hayato's cheeks.
"Don't worry," he says blankly. "I'm alright."
"Ah, you're awake," Shamal says, turning to face Hayato and Sawada as Sawada pulls himself up into a sitting position.
"Yes," Sawada says.
"And how do you feel?" Shamal prompts as Hayato moves backwards and stands up again.
"I'm alright," Sawada says automatically. Then he pauses, tilting his head slightly and raising one hand to his head. "I am not currently allowed to make major life decisions." He lets his hand fall and looks up at Shamal and Reborn."Please don't ask me any questions. I am not currently allowed to answer personal questions."
"Why not?" Shamal asks.
"Please don't ask me any questions. I am not currently allowed to answer personal questions," Sawada repeats with the exact same flat inflection.
"Are there questions that I am allowed to ask as a doctor?"
"I am currently not allowed to make big decisions," Sawada repeats. "It is recommended that I am not left alone. It is recommended that Sawada family magics or other mood altering magics not be applied to me or used for a period of forty eight hours. Reminder: mood altering or mood stabilizing drugs have a history of bad interactions with Sawada family magics."
"Sawada family magic?" Reborn asks sharply.
"Please don't ask me any questions. I am not currently allowed to answer personal questions."
"Did he do this last time?" Shamal asks before Reborn can press.\
"I don't- I left before he woke up to call Cristiana and Superbi Squalo. I don't know. He didn't say anything to me when I was done."
"Right," Shamal says. He digs something out of his pocket and tosses it at Reborn. "Those were going to go to him, from his siblings. Probably not safe right now though, so you hold onto them."
Hayato recognizes the case from people selling empty ones - it's Dying Will Pills.
"Do you think one pill will work better than a bullet?" Reborn asks as he tucks the pills away.
"I don't know,'' Shamal says. "We won't be checking that for two days though, apparently. I'll be back in the morning."
"Alright," Reborn says.
"I'm also leaving," Hayato says. "Lambo and I should go back to the apartment."
"See you tomorrow," Sawada says flatly, turning around.
"Right," Hayato says. "Tomorrow."