Besides. He smiled tightly, turning another page. They had neither needle or thread, and nothing to sanitize either with. No, it wouldn’t work.
If he couldn’t use stitches, then he’d have to-
“Jesus Christ,” he heard Leon mutter. His friend sounded...strained. Enough so that Daniel tore his eyes off the book, glancing over to him.
“Something wrong?” Daniel asked.
Leon shook his head. He paced back and forth across the entryway of the hidden basement, his book open and raised. “O-Oh. You know. Magic lessons, dead mages. The usual.” He grabbed the pipe he’d unceremoniously jammed back through his belt. “I’m getting instructions on this thing.” For an instant, a smile tugged at his lips. “It’s kinda handy for it to come with a manual, at least.”
“I bet. And?”
Leon’s nose wrinkled. “I think I’m starting to get it.” The pipe waved through the air as he gestured, his nose still buried in the text. “This thing is the source of my magic. Apparently it’s called either a relic or a focus, and we’re called demibloods. Demis, for short.”
“That sounds familiar,” Daniel hazarded. If he stretched his memory, reaching back to his own research on the matter, he could remember something pretty much like that.
“Fucking stupid name,” Leon said, his expression darkening further. “Demis? Demi what? What are we partway to? It doesn’t make any-”
“Leon.”
Leon rolled his eyes, coming to a stop. “This is mine,” he said, gripping the thing a bit more tightly—and that ghostly smile reappeared on his face. “It says I’m on my own for figuring out my powers, since they’re all different. Oh, and if I put this bastard down, I die.”
Daniel stiffened. “W-What?”
“You heard me.” Leon’s hand dropped, his knuckles gleaming white around the metal rod. “Not immediately, but within a couple days. What the actual fuck?”
“Well,” Daniel said, swallowing. “Don’t, um. Don’t put it down?”
“I got that much. Loud and clear.” Leon slipped the pipe back into the pocket of his jeans, letting his head roll back. “This is just a lot,” he whispered.
Daniel closed his book slowly, laying it flat across his lap. “I know,” he said softly. “I’m sorry. Maybe- Maybe, when this is done, we can find a way to turn your magic off. Take it away, without-”
“Can’t do that, either,” Leon said with a laugh. “It’s pretty fuckin’ clear, Daniel.”
“Oh.” What did you say to that? All Daniel could do was nod, letting the silence hang between them.
Finally, when Leon’s shoulders started to loosen, and he began his pacing again, Daniel set his book back on top of the stack.
Like lightning, Leon whirled. “Are you done? What are you-”
“I’ve got all I can use, I think,” Daniel said. “It’s not like I have a ton of choices, after all. Let’s, ah…”
He reached out, grabbing for the knot holding his bandages tight.
Leon darted over, grabbing hold of his hand before he could undo them. “Daniel, don’t mess with those. You’re still-”
“I’m fine,” Daniel said, smiling crookedly. “Alex is keeping the worst of the pain off, I think.” Whatever paste she’d given them, it’d worked wonders—as long as they didn’t try to go climbing any staircases, that was. He smiled thinly. “This isn’t even real, anyway. It’s in our heads, right?”
Not that he wanted to die. But he could at least look, couldn’t he?
Pulling away from Leon’s touch, he worked his fingernails into the knots, loosening them one after another. “That medicine has been on it for a good few hours,” he muttered all the while, making a face as one of the knots fought him. “It should...be-”
With a final rasping of fabric, the bandage slid loose. “Okay,” he said, exhaling. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
“Why?” Leon said. He crouched beside Daniel, frowning. “Why do we have to undo all my hard work? Just leave it be.”
Daniel let his hand rest on his leg, locking eyes with Leon. Even despite the chill of the paste smeared all over the wound, he could feel the pain sparking back to life at his touch. This was going to hurt. “Because I already told you. This isn’t a real injury here. I...should be fine. Even if we have to play around a little.” His smile went wry. “And because if we need to try this a few times to get the hang of it, I’d rather do it here, where Alex can give me a hand in the painkiller department.”
Leon’s brows pulled together. “I-I guess, but-”
“Out there, it’s going to be worse.” Daniel kept his voice low. He needed to be calm, here, if he wanted Leon to be calm. This was confusing enough for Daniel, and he wasn’t the one trying to deal with a magical gift piled on top of the bloodshed and fear. “We’ll be moving. And...I won’t have Alex’s help. I want to show you, so you can remember. Just in case.”
Just in case. He’d have laughed, except it’d ruin all his hard work in staying calm. He could pretend that he’d be the one doing all this, but in the end, he’d need the help of Leon and the others. It was all but a certainty.
When Leon fell quiet, not protesting further, Daniel started to unwind the bandages from around his leg. One soft white strand of gauze after another fell to the bench, toppling to the floor. Spots of red-brown stained them. The farther he went, the less they were ‘spots’—and the more it became simply the color of the cloth.
“Y-You probably won’t have proper bandages or anything,” Daniel mumbled, keeping his eyes on the injury. “You’ll have to-”
“I think I can handle ripping up some shirts,” Leon said, sighing. In the blink of an eye, he was there, his hands pushing Daniel’s aside. “That’s what people do, isn’t it?”
“I guess.” Daniel sat back, letting Leon work. “It’s just- Just keep it in mind.”
Another twist, and the last of the gauze fell away. Daniel’s head swam
