Suddenly, the man flinched so hard that he almost flung Nia off of him, "I need to get—" Before he could finish the sentence, Nia regained her balance and tore off a piece of cloth, quickly gagging the man. It was just in time for him to elbow Leon, pushing him into the table.
"What do we do?!" Lumina yelled to Apocalypse and the woman only shook her head sadly.
"There's nothing you can do. Nothing you say will help him right now. The only people that could do anything right now are those two," She said, pointing to Leon and Nia. Nia had fallen back on the couch she'd been standing on, narrowly avoiding hitting her head as Fenix caught her.
Leon barreled forward, grabbing Xander's arms and attempting to restrain him, but before he could say anything, Xander panicked and kicked him. Leon hit the table hard, groaning but stood up again. He knew Xander didn't recognize him, he didn't see him, see any of them.
He tried to approach him carefully but Xander noticed and swung his fist. Leon managed to dodge that swing but didn't expect Xander to use Leon's moment of hesitation to punch him in the gut. Leon keeled over, and Nia yelled to him, she looked as though she was about to run to him but Leon held his hand up, as he gripped his stomach. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he dove towards Nia, just in time to catch her as Xander shook her off him.
"Don't hold on to him. Restrain him in short bursts but don't let him get the gag off," Leon said, and his voice sounded punched out. Nia nodded, and they both looked at the man.
It was a pitiful sight.
Xander's whole body was trembling, his fists clenched tightly but shaking so strongly. The tears were streaming down his face, his eyes red and puffy and the expression on his face looked so wild, so messy, so lost that it hurt their hearts to see.
Leon and Nia both looked away, but Apocalypse didn't. And she noticed the signs of what was coming next. The last time she had seen that…
"Grab his arms!" She yelled, and everyone felt a shiver run down their back because the woman sounded really worried. Up till then, there was a sort of emptiness in her voice but this. This was genuine fear..
Leon hesitated for only a moment, but that was enough for Xander's hands to shoot up and scratch at his throat so hard that he drew blood immediately.
"Gege!" Lumina screamed and Kaedan managed to break free of the two boys who had completely let go in their shock. Leon got there the earliest and tackled him to the ground, grabbing his arms and tearing them away from the older man's neck, tears falling from his eyes onto Xander's face. He turned to Apocalypse.
"What is this? What's happening to him? What did we do to him?" He asked, his voice getting more and more panicked. He winced as Xander kicked up but then noticed that the man's body had completely stiffened.
"He's...He's trying not to hurt you. I've only ever seen this once before," Apocalypse said, in shock, "He's broken through, talk to him now!" She yelled.
But before Leon could open his mouth, Xander roughly knocked the boy off him and climbed on him, punching him in the face. But to everyone's surprise and horror, Leon didn't fight back. He let Xander go on, closing his eyes, and waiting for the next hit.
I deserve this.
"Leon Song, look at him!" Apocalypse's voice commanded, and Leon couldn't help it. He opened his eyes to see that the fist never came. Instead, it narrowly missed his head, but there was no way Xander's hand was going to come out of that uninjured. Leon's eyes widened in shock as Xander winced, the tears not stopping, "Look at him, he doesn't blame you! If you don't fight back, he's only going to hurt himself to stop hurting you!" Apocalypse continued.
Leon had frozen, but it seemed that someone else had not. Within seconds, Xander had been forcefully tackled off of Leon and was being pinned down by the love of his life. Kaedan stared him down, the tears also visible in his eyes falling as he tightened his grip on Xander's arms, slamming them against the ground to restrain him.
"No...Please, I can't hurt you again…" Xander gritted out in his mess of a mental state, but Kaedan only smiled miserably.
"Don't you see, Alex? You never hurt me. Ever," Kaedan said softly, "I love you," He added quietly, and without turning to the others, he said clearly, "Don't come over here. I don't know how long I can hold him down," He said, forcing the words out.
While he was distracted though, Xander had begun struggling and freed one of his hands. Kaedan was about to grab the man's fist but he never had the chance. Leon groaned as he took the hit, but didn't move, still leaning over Xander. As the man got ready to swing at him again, Leon finally cried out.
"I promised you!"
Xander seemed to freeze at those words, and Leon's walls came crashing down as he wrapped his arms around the man and hugged him tightly. Xander was still shaking, but his hands weren't trembling as violently as they were before.
"I promised you that you'd see your sister again! I—I promised I'd braid your hair again. Please, Xander, please, stop hurting yourself. You're going to see them again, all of them again, I promise," He sobbed, clutching tightly onto Xander's shirt, "I'll fix all of this, I swear, so please…Please…"
The room had fallen into silence.
Leon was still on guard, waiting for the next hit, but was surprised as he felt shaky hands gently pulling him closer as Xander slowly sat up. The man carefully tucked Leon's head under his chin as he pulled the boy close, one hand on the back of his head, the other on his back.
Leon finally let himself weep, crying desperately, large, shaking sobs as he gripped tightly onto Xander's shirt.
"I remember," Xander said softly, and Leon broke.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please forgive me. It's my fault she's—I know, Chaewon promised you that she'd keep her out of it but I…" Leon was barely making sense, making absolutely no sense to anyone else in the room, but Xander seemed to understand.
"This was in no way your fault. There's nothing to be forgiven for, Leon, I could never blame you for this," Xander said softly.
He held his arm out and within seconds, Nia was in his arms too, "Oh, you two...How long have you known?" He asked.
Nia wiped her tears away, "A—About six months," She sniffled and Xander stroked her head, patting her back soothingly.
Leon seemed to hesitate before sighing and deciding to tell the truth, "I don't know. I've…I've always known. Every single time, I've known what this was and every single time, I couldn't do it right, I couldn't save everyone…" Leon choked out a sob. He was feeling terrible already, if he thought of Hyunwoo, Leon would not come out of this sane, "But—But things are different this time and I think…I think I can do this. It's scary, but I…"
Xander held them tighter, "It must have been so lonely."
Leon couldn't even begin to describe it.
"I believe," Apocalypse said softly, "Now is not the time for me to talk about things. Take some time to process, but don't try to directly talk about it. Do not resist if your body begins to fight, this team needs you. We're not getting anywhere with you heavily injured," She said, directing that to Xander.
"Thank you," Xander murmured, "And for what it's worth, you don't deserve this. Chaewon and Elliot really did love you."
Apocalypse went silent. She remembered when she saw the man she loved act the same way Xander had, and the way the woman she loved and she herself ran towards him, shaking him, trying to stop him.
"Goodbye," She said quickly, needing to recollect herself quietly, away from anyone else. Within seconds, she passed out. Owen managed to catch her before she hit the ground and she opened her eyes, and they were back to their normal amber-brown. The sadness in them told everyone that Risále had seen everything happen.
As they walked through the doorway into the infirmary, Leon and Nia quickly forced Xander to lay down, before Nia hurried off to get bandages and clean rags for the two of them. Leon was also turning to leave but he felt fingers latch around his wrist.
He looked back to see Xander smiling, "Just so you know," The older began to say, "You still owe me a flower crown and a braid."
Leon couldn't help it. He laughed. It was soft and small and short but he was surprised it even came out.
"After all, I'm very pretty, and the flowers would make me look even prettier, right?" Leon felt the urge to smack the man. Of course, that's what he would remember.
But to tell the truth, Leon couldn't find it in him to be annoyed. He smiled tiredly, but it didn't take away from how genuine the smile was.
"Of course, Xander. Of course.