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Leon thinks he recognizes the look on Alucard's face, and is struggling to exactly place it when Alucard grabs his arm. That distraction is why Leon does not pull away, though Alucard could not move Leon if he did not wish to moved — Leon could have Alucard's arm off in a moment if he wanted — and it's fortunate he doesn't even as Alucard's other hand flashes up and he slashes a cut down the length of Leon's forearm, violent and deep.
Leon cries out inadvertently and yanks away; he would've taken Alucard's thumb out of the socket with him if Mathias' boy had not been wise enough to immediately let go. The pain ignites Leon's veins as he skitters back, clutching his arm to his chest, because it was the short blade Alucard got him with, not the rapier, and Dragon's Tooth has a bite that is meant to kill.
Leon does not fight, does not flee any further, however, because he realizes now that he knows the look on Alucard's face, as the dhampir turns it on their enemies. Thankfully, it isn't hard for Leon to pretend to look betrayed, because it truly does hurt, blood leaking down his arm, past his elbow and spreading crimson stain on his clothes. For the love of God it hurts as much as if Leon had been alive, which is the point, and he sinks to his knees for the sake of Alucard's show.
Once, this had been done the other way around. Leon doesn't imagine that Alucard is the type to plan payback, not on his family, which Leon is an extended part of, but it is ironic to end up in this situation.
Leon peels his arm off his gambeson to look at it; he's playing the part of shell-shocked victim, here, so he's only half paying attention to the negotiation, and again, the rotting burn is taking up most of his mind. He expects his skin to be peeling back from the wound with the way it feels, but it only bleeds, bleeds, bleeds, bleed so freely. He tries to clench his fist and fails — Alucard dug into the tendons of his arm, and they aren't healing, inhibited by the weapon which made the wound. His fingers twitch but do not obey, and Leon clamps down on the wound with his free hand as hard as he can.
In his mind's eyes, Leon sees Trefor's face, Dragon's Tooth as an extension of his arm. Never had Trefor wanted to harm Leon with it, but Leon had made Trefor swear, and it was a vow his friend took very seriously. That vow, and his trust in Trefor, had been the only thing to ground Leon in some of his worst moments.
Blood pulses out of the wound even with no beating heart to make it move. It is existentially terrifying, actually, to be wounded, to not heal, and the longer it goes on the more doubt is crawling into Leon's heart to die there and — no. No, this is a flesh wound, even if it is not mending on its own. Dragon's Tooth is not a poisoned blade, it must hit home.
Leon knows the sound of Trevor and Sypha's hearts well, and when they arrive on the field it is not long before it is over. Leon rises to his feet, shrugging off any shade of pretend fear as Trevor rushes to his side.
"Are you alright?" Trevor demands, eyes flashing over Leon to take him in. It's the kind of question Trevor always asks, even though the answer is always the same, but today … Trevor's eyes settle on where Leon's arm is pinned against his chest, and all the blood. "Leon?"
"I'm fine." Leon tells Trevor before panic can take his mind somewhere it needn't go. "Alucard had to come up with a plan on the spot. It caught them rather off-guard."
Trevor shoves his sword into his belt to free his hands and comes closer, reaching out. Leon winces as he again has to peel his bloody flesh off his leather armor and Trevor's eyes go wide.
"Why are you not —"
"Fiacail an Dragan." Leon says quietly. His head is starting to swim. He needs to sit down. "It's alright."
"Jesus Christ," Trevor swears, and he shoves Leon's arm back against his chest, looping his other arm around Leon's waist, and starts pulling him along.
Back home, Leon is vaguely recalling that this general delirious is probably a blood loss thing when Trevor pushes him to sit in a chair and Alucard starts grabbing things off shelves and putting them on the table.
"Leon, hey." Trevor grasps him by the shoulder. "How are you doing?"
"Fine." Leon says automatically. "I feel … strange, but I think that's the bleeding." Leon starts to gesture with his injured arm and Trevor has to pin it down by the wrist. "Ah — sorry."
"Really need you to keep telling us, alright? Not a lot of literature on this."
"I can't imagine why." Leon responds blandly and somewhere out of his sight Sypha muffles a laugh. Trevor shoots her a look.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," She says hurriedly, "I know we're worried, it's just … he sounds like you, when you are drunk."
Trevor grumbles as Alucard sit downs, medical supplies laid out and ready to use. The swiftly-made bindings on his arm are already bled through, and Alucard cuts through them once he's prepared to stitch. Leon watches with morbid interest as Alucard plays doctor. Trevor had told him once, that Mathias' second wife had been a doctor, and Leon can imagine him loving a woman with the intensity and focus on her face that Alucard has now.
Leon almost says something very stupid out loud about that and bites it back at the last moment. The wince makes it all the way to his face and Trevor anxiously says,
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Leon answers too quickly. Alucard raises an eyebrow at Leon before returning to stitching. "Ow," Leon complains when Alucard pulls the stitch tight.
Sypha steps closer to offer Leon a mug, and yes, it's probably wise for him to drink right now in order to do more healing and less blood-losing, and Trevor's expression lightens and Sypha smiles — did he say that out loud?
Leon focuses on drinking so he can't keep speaking.
He experimentally twitches his fingers, or tries to — some of them are working better than others.
"Be still," Alucard scolds, and oh, he sounds like his father when he says it, and Leon does not know how that makes him feel.
"I am very glad it's not quite true, but the way that book was written…" Sypha begins, and Leon really has no idea what she's talking about but looks towards her so he stops seeing Mathias in Alucard's mannerisms. "It made it seem that Dragon's Tooth was always a death sentence."
"I was as careful as possible." Alucard says in a low voice. Guilty. That takes away all hints of Mathias from him very quickly.
"Flesh wounds from it would be debilitating. It could make deathblows that from another weapon would not be so." Leon recalls, thinking of it gleaming in Trefor's hands. "What book?"
"It was Dracula's. A guide to weapons that harmed vampires." Sypha answers.
"Ah. Well, I am very old and very powerful. There are not many vampires like me." When Leon smiles, there is possibly too much fang in it. But Trevor and Sypha both smile back.
"Indeed." Alucard agrees.
"And thank fucking God for that."