About twenty minutes after Leo drank the HP regeneration potion, sensation began creeping back into the tips of his fingers and lower body— and with it came a fresh wave of pain so sharp, so suffocating, it made everything he'd felt upon waking seem merciful by comparison.
It wasn't the kind of pain that made you flinch.
It was the kind that made you question whether waking up had been a mistake.
The kind that made death feel like the kinder option.
Because as the nerves stitched themselves back together and his body slowly remembered how to feel again—
Leo genuinely regretted drinking the damn potion at all.
His breath hitched.
His fingers curled inward as if recoiling from the agony surging up his arm, while his knees twitched uncontrollably, useless and trembling, as if taunting him to try and move if he dared.
'Fuck… it's worse now that I can feel again…' Leo thought, biting down on his lip to stop the grunt building in his throat, as he lay there, fully aware this was only the beginning of his misery.
He was supposed to take the bone regeneration potion next— and there was only one rule before doing so: every dislocated bone had to be properly aligned.
If he drank it now, his body would recover in the wrong shape.
His shoulder would stay twisted.
His kneecap would stay off-center.
And he'd heal into a cripple, which was worse than not healing at all.
He winced as he stared at his shoulder— swollen, dislodged, and bent at an ugly angle, knowing exactly what had to come next and how much it was going to hurt.
'No choice… this has to go back in.'
He didn't want to do it.
He really didn't.
Just thinking about forcing it back into place made his stomach churn.
But it was either that— or becoming monster food.
So in the end, he chose pain.
'Come on, Leo… you've done worse. This is just pain. You've felt pain. You've lived through pain. Just fucking do it,' he told himself, psyching himself up as his breath caught in his throat and his hands trembled—
And then, he shoved.
*CRACK*
A sound like a bone breaking in reverse echoed through the cavern, as he clamped his jaw tight to keep himself from screaming.
His vision darkened.
His heart stuttered from the jolt shooting down his spine.
But he didn't scream.
He didn't thrash.
He just lay there, trembling, soaked in sweat, as his shoulder finally snapped back into place.
For a brief moment, everything stilled.
But he wasn't done yet.
His eyes dropped to his right knee next, which was dislocated, pulsing and misaligned, as he could already feel that popping this back into place might feel worse than the shoulder.
'Agh, fuck me…'
He gritted his teeth again.
But this time, he didn't stall.
With both hands on his thigh and a deep breath in, he immediately pulled it back into place.
*PLOP*
He twisted and shoved the kneecap back where it belonged.
And that—
That nearly knocked him out for good.
'Fuck, fucking, holy mother of everything good and evil in this cursed universe,' he muttered inwardly, the words making no sense, but somehow keeping him tethered to consciousness.
As for a while after that, he didn't move.
For the next 20 minutes, his breathing remained shallow, as he breathed through his parted lips.
Sweat rolled down his face as the tremors in his limbs slowly began to ease.
His vision was still a blur.
His mind still reeling.
But the worst was done.
His bones were in place.
And the time to drink the potion had finally come.
*Tremble*
With fingers that barely worked and a grip that almost failed, Leo reached for the second vial in his stash— a thick crimson one sealed with a black cap.
The bone regeneration potion.
He popped the lid open with his teeth, not caring how it tasted or what it burned on the way down, as he just drank.
Drank like a starving man clawing for air, with the liquid sliding down his throat like fire-coated oil, thick, bitter, metallic— making his tongue curl and his gut twist.
Then, after just a few seconds—
Boom!
A low throb echoed inside his bones.
A slow, pulsing rhythm that began at his hips and spread outward— like molten metal being poured into a cracked mold.
'Here we go…' Leo braced himself, jaw set, hands clenched—
Because the pain he felt earlier?
That had only been the appetizer.
While the main course had just begun.
—------
It began as a dull vibration— subtle, almost deceptive.
But within seconds, it transformed into something primal, as every single fracture in his body began to heat.
Not burn. Not sting.
But heat— like every splintered edge of every broken bone had just been set ablaze from the inside, and was now being welded back together without anesthesia or mercy.
His spine arched before he could stop it.
His back scraped against the thin straw and bone lining the nest.
His teeth clamped so tight, he swore something cracked in his mouth.
'Breathe. Just fucking breathe—'
But breath wouldn't come.
The pain was relentless.
Unyielding.
It wasn't sharp anymore. It was deep.
It crawled into the marrow.
It pulsed with every heartbeat.
And it didn't stop.
It didn't stop.
Minutes stretched into eternities.
Every heartbeat felt like a hammer.
Every inhale, a curse.
He couldn't tell if he was shaking or if the world itself was trembling with him— but all he could do was hold on.
To his consciousness.
To his sanity.
To the last sliver of pride he had left.
He didn't scream.
He didn't cry.
But his vision blurred.
His lips bled.
And his entire body tensed like a drawn bow, as he endured the longest ten minutes of his life.
Until—
Suddenly—
The pain plateaued.
Then dulled.
Then… eased.
Not completely.
Not comfortably.
But enough.
Enough to let him breathe again without wincing.
Enough to unclench his fists.
Enough to know— that it was working.
He wasn't healed yet.
Not even close.
But the bones were knitting.
The process had begun.
And for now that was enough.
'Still conscious…' Leo thought, closing his eyes as his head fell back into the straw.
'Still fighting.'
As somewhere, buried beneath the pain—
He almost smiled.