The boy was exhausted from fighting All Might and "Deku," but he kept his guard up as he watched them talk to themselves in Japanese. He could read their body language even though he couldn't understand what they were saying. His vision blurred as he studied them for his next move, and his whole body was numb from fatigue. "I can't… I need to stay awake!" he told himself, but his body wouldn't comply with his wishes, and he fell to the ground. All he could hear before succumbing to his tiredness was All Might calling for him in English, "Hey, young man! Are you alright?!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Hey, Dream." a young monitored voice called out. "It's time for us to go, or we'll get caught."
He woke up to see his new friend, whom he had met just a few days before the robbery. His friend was a boy around his age with long pink hair and wore all the expensive clothes that the pink-haired boy had stolen. "Yeah, I get it." the young, dirty blonde boy groaned in annoyance. The young boy, Dream, reaches out his hand to the boy for help. "Can you help me up, Techno?"
The long, pink-haired Techno sighed and helped Dream up. Dream patted the dirt off his dark green cloak and brown leather pants; Dream looked around the outskirts of the plains.
"We are almost out of the forest." he grinned.
"Yeah, but where do you plan for us to go?" Techno asked Dream while preparing his iron sword.
"I don't know for you, but I plan on going to the Mushroom Forest in the south, then head down to the desert and finally the seashore." Dream explained. "Where do you plan on going to Techno?"
"Hmm…" Techno pondered for a second before answering. "I'm heading for the Arctic."
Dream looked back towards Techno with a questionable gaze. "Why-"
"It's so that I'm not near anyone." Techno clenched his sword tightly. "I don't want them to have control."
"Ah! The voices you were talking about the other day?"
Techno nodded and started to walk to the border of the woods. Dream hurriedly grabbed his stone axe and went to catch up to Techno. They walked together quietly until: "Hey, Dream."
"Yeah?"
"Why do you wear that weird white mask with a smiley face?"
Dream looked over to Techno and quickly looked back forward with a sigh. Dream never showed his face to Techno; he only didn't show his face to most people. He knew it was his turn to tell Techno something about him since Techno had told him about the voices.
"It was a gift…." Dream pulled the hood over his head to hide his embarrassment.
"A gift?"
"Yeah, from my…" he paused to describe the person who gave him the mask. "It was from a family member, I guess."
"Family?"
"Yeah."
"Where is your family right now?"
Dream shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea. I just met them, like, maybe two to three times?"
Techno stared back in confusion, "What do you mean by you 'met' them?"
"I just met them? What do you-" Dream pondered for a bit. "Oh, they weren't my birth family. The people I met were like my family, and we gave each other masks to wear."
Dream touched his mask and pulled it off. Luckily for Dream, his hood blocked Techno's vision of seeing his whole face, but he could not hide a smile. Dream sighed and placed the mask back onto his face. "Let's keep going, Tech-" Dream looked over towards Techno, but all he could see was pitch black.
"TECHNO!?"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dream slowly started to wake up, and all he could hear was the sound of beeping. Still in a haze, he moved his head toward the sound and saw a green line moving up and down in a zigzag line. Confused by it, he started looking around his surroundings. He was in an unfamiliar room with white walls and floors and lying on a white bed. Concerned, he sat straight up to escape from this foreign place quickly but was caught off guard by what seemed to be a long, thick string connected to his finger.
Dream pulled off the string, which caused a continuous beeping noise. The sudden alarm caught Dream off guard, looking for a way to escape. Seeing there were windows, he got up from the bed and grabbed a nearby wheelchair to smash the windows to escape. Unfortunately, four people in white robes came running into the room and caught him just before he threw the chair.
"Let me go!!!" Dream started to fight back by pushing the white-robed people away from him, but he couldn't get out of their grasp. He screamed at the top of his lungs but was already placed back onto the bed and strapped so he couldn't escape again. When fully strapped down, one white-robed person spoke to him in English, "It's alright! We are here to help you get better!" Dream looked dumbfounded at the person and was about to say something but was interrupted by the door opening with a skinny All Might and another person wearing a white robe.
Dream glared at his uninvited guests. The white-robed man behind All Might walked towards Dream and motioned for the other white-robed people to go. The man looked at Dream with a gentle smile and spoke to him in a calm, soft voice in English, "Hello, glad to see you're awake." Not letting his guard down, Dream clenches his fits and tries to escape his restraints. "Woah there! It's ok. I won't harm you." The man brings his hands up to show he only had a board with some paper attached to it. Dream calmed down, but he still had his guard up.
"My name is Dr. Shimizu, and I'm the doctor who will be taking care of you." Dr. Shimizu stated.
"Then where are your potions?" Dream asked.
Dr. Shimizu and All Might were taken aback by what he asked. Dr. Shimizu asked Dream what he meant by 'potions,' which irritated him, "You can't be a doctor without healing potions! Everyone can be a doctor if you have the ingredients for a health potion!"
The adults were now concerned for Dream's well-being, but the doctor followed what he assumed the boy was talking about. "You are talking about medicine, right?"
"Medicine?"
"Medicine helps you and your body when you are in pain or sick. Does that sound familiar to your 'potions?'"
Dream looks down at his body, "So this 'medicine' is their 'health potion' here." While Dream was sorting his thoughts, Dr. Shimizu explained why Dream was there.
"Mr. Yagi brought you to our hospital after you collapsed before him." The doctor gestured towards All Might; Dream looked towards him but seemed too happy about it and looked away from them. "We were all shocked to see that he brought in the lost boy from Takoba Municipal Beach Park. We all read that you might have injuries, but we didn't expect to see so many scars and rotten flesh."
Dr. Shimizu pointed out Dream's significant injuries from the scar between his eyes and left arm and the spot on the right side of his lung that looks like it's starting to rot to the less minor wounds all over his body. Hearing that, they looked at his body, which shocked him, but he couldn't understand why he felt so anxious. All Might looked at Dream with sadness and guilt in his eyes. He couldn't stop thinking about how the boy in front of him was suffering, and as a Pro-Hero, he couldn't save this boy before meeting him.
Dr. Shimizu continued, "Seeing these injuries and the state your body is in from what seems to be a lack of nutrients, you will stay until you are fully healed and have a healthy body." Seeing Dream's look of confusion, Dr. Shimizu explained that since he lacks nutrients, his body has not been getting the nutrition that his body needs, causing him to be so skinny, and his growth has slowed down because of malnutrition.
Hearing why he had to stay at this hospital, his mind started playing tricks on him by changing the room to the cell he had been waiting for months. He wanted to curl up into a ball but couldn't because of his restraints. Feeling confined caused Dream to scream in agony for being placed in a room and unable to escape. He finally feels free again and doesn't want to be confined from the world again.
After seeing Dream's reaction, All Might and Dr. Shimizu tried calming Dream down. Their efforts were not in vain; after a few minutes, Dream passed out, and they both sighed in relief. "Mr. Yagi." Dr. Shimizu says in Japanese while staring sadly at Dream.
"Yes?" All Might looked over toward Dr. Shimizu nervously.
"You can tell even without being a doctor. This boy has been through so much. That this is his reaction to the fear of being unable to leave after hearing about being stuck in a room for who knows how long, is fear of being unable to leave." Dr. Shimizu looks over to face All Might. "From what you said earlier, he has no one to rely on, correct?"
"Yes…" All Might slowly nodded in agreement.
"For the time being, I will have to place you as his guardian if that's alright with you." A bit shocked, All Might stared blankly at the doctor. "I…" He took a moment to think before answering, "I'll accept being his guardian. I won't be able to visit in the evenings, but I will come and visit in the mornings."
Dr. Shimizu slowly nods, "That is alright with us, and I'll be looking for someone to teach him Japanese to help him communicate with others."
"I agree." All Might agreed, and before he could forget, he asked, "Will it be alright if I could bring in someone around his age?"
"Of course." Dr. Shimizu smiled. "That would help him a lot, in my opinion. Now, before you go."
"Yes?"
"I would like permission to take his blood as a sample to see if he has any medical records and if this boy has a quirk."
"Of course. You have my permission as the boy's guardian."