meridian_rose

Title: Not Alone
Fandom: Da Vinci's Demons
Pairing/Characters: Riario, Vanessa, Zo, Nico, mentions Clarice and Dragonetti, Leo is sort of here, background Leo/Riario
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1796
Prompt: For the trope_bingo prompt "Hurt/Comfort"
Summary: Leo and Riario are immortal now, right? But when Vanessa and Nico return from a diplomatic visit they find that Leo has fallen victim to an assassination attempt and has not yet revived. An increasingly distraught and paranoid Riario is guarding the body lest someone bury Leo. It's left to Vanessa to try and calm Riario and convince him that they will figure this out, that's he not alone.
Content Notes: Character is (probably temporarily) dead.
Author Notes: Takes place within the Immortal AU, Blood of Kings. It takes place after the most recently posted chapter of that series, after the war/Crusade when Leo and Riario are in an established relationship. I may expand on this later and as such it is not yet posted elsewhere, though concrit is welcome.
A revised and expanded version of this fic, including a happy ending, is at my journal and AO3


Vanessa took a careful step forward, the stone floor of the crypt cold beneath her feet. Riario was on his feet in an instant and she bit back a gasp. Zo had not been exaggerating.

"What are you doing here?" Riario's voice was raspy with disuse. His hair was lank, eyes bloodshot, and he clutched at his dagger as if it were a lifeline.

She tightened her grip on the handles of the basket, squared her shoulders. "I came to see you and Leo."

His gaze strayed for a moment to the slab of marble where Leo lay in repose. "You will not take him." It was a declaration as well as a threat.

Vanessa shook her head. "I'm here to help." She swung the basket towards him. "I brought supplies. Food. Water. Cloths."

He eyed her warily, approaching as if he were a wounded animal.

"Let me clean him up at least," she begged.

"Put the basket on the floor. Take a step back."

She obeyed. Riario rifled through the basket's contents and seemed satisfied. Then he moved to check her for weapons, running his hands roughly over her body. She gave a small involuntary gasp and immediately turned her head to meet Nico's gaze and shook her head. Next to him, hiding behind the thick column, Zo was no doubt fuming.

"Very well," Riario said at last. He stared at Nico, who remained silent and some distance away, before he returned to his place at Leo's side. Vanessa followed, placing the basket on the floor.

Her lower lip trembled as she laid eyes upon Leo's face. Pale and deathly still. Oh, Leo. She took out a waterskin and offered it to Riario.

"You first," he said.

She supposed he had every right to be suspicious. Not that Zo would be above drugging her and Riario both if it would save Leo. That was the problem though; this wasn't about saving Leo. It was a fight over possession of his body. His corpse.

She took a long drink from the waterskin, swallowed, and passed it to Riario. He took it wordlessly, sipped from it. It must have met with his approval because he drank the rest in long, greedy swallows.

Meanwhile she took up a second waterskin, damped one of the cloths she'd brought with her, and began to wipe at Leo's face, washing away the traces of vomit and flecks of blood.

"I brought a clean shirt," she said. Riario looked from the basket to Leo and took out his dagger again. He deftly sliced along the seams of Leo's current garment. Together they tugged at the cloth, removing the soiled material.

Getting the clean shirt onto Leo took a little more manoeuvring. After Riario glared at where Nico and Zo were hovering to make sure they stayed put, he lifted Leo's head and shoulders. Vanessa worked the shirt over Leo's head. Getting his arms into the sleeves proved somewhat challenging, but, finally, the job was done.

Leo looked more serene now, like a carved image on his tomb and not the body which should be lying within.

"Tell me what happened," Vanessa said, smoothing Leo's hair back from his face. Zo's expletive laden account of things had given her an overview of the events that had taken place while she and Nico had been visiting Clarice's distant cousin for diplomatic reasons, but she wanted to keep Riario talking. "There was a dinner party?"

"Yes." Riario rattled off the names of some of the guests; several cardinals, some minor nobles, a couple of military officers. "Clarice made a toast. We all drank. And then Leonardo…he starting coughing. And I thought he was choking. He was clawing at his throat."

Vanessa stayed silent, imaging the terrible scene.

"Then he vomited over the table," Riario said, far away, reliving it. "Clarice got to her feet. She wanted us to take him to another room and have a physician attend him. But before we could move he began coughing up blood. I had my arms around him but when he collapsed, I had no choice but to lower him to the floor."

He paused, moistened his lips. "He was dead by the time I was brushing his hair back from his face. Clarice suspected poison. She acted quicker I than did, ordered the palace doors shut; the perpetrator had to be within the walls. Cardinal Donne stood, drank from a flask he was carrying, said 'Let's see you survive without your blessed artista, you Florentine whore' and a moment later he died, just as Leonardo had."

Riario gave a deep sigh. "Clarice was furious. She had Donne's body put on display outside the palace."

Vanessa nodded, having witnessed the grisly sight.

"Before she left to confront the rest of the Donne family, Clarice said it was unfortunate that Donne had thrown his life away for nothing. We all assumed Leonardo would revive. After Zoroaster arrived we - we thought – it was a joke, really. To put Leonardo here, rather in his bed. To tell him when he woke up he'd ruined the dinner." Riario broke off.

Vanessa tipped her head. "But he didn't."

"After the first day I began to worry. It's never taken either of us so long to revive," Riario said. "The second day, Dragonetti said we had to consider the possibility that Donne had been given a poison that truly would kill Leonardo. The third day Zoroaster said we couldn't just leave him here, he wanted to, to bury him or entomb him," Riario said, the words coming faster even as he choked on them. "I couldn't let him do that."

He gave a short sob. Vanessa, torn between reaching for Riario and glaring over her shoulder at Zo, chose the latter.

"He's not dead," Riario said. "That is, he is at the moment dead. But only the way he has been before. There is no spoiling of the flesh. No smell of a rotting corpse. No insects colonising the body."

They'd both seen death before, he on the battlefield, she at the convent and in Leo's workshop. He spoke truly.

"I know it is taking longer than usual to revive," Riario went on. "But he will. He must."

"I believe you."

He didn't hear her or didn't care to respond. "And I don't know how much longer I can stand guard here, but I can't help thinking that the only person who might know how to cure the poison is Leonardo himself. You don't know how many times I've thought about taking that last drop from Donne's flask for myself. I never asked for immortality and if the poison would end it, then so be it. Entomb us both!"

"No," Vanessa said, horrified.

"He promised," Riario said wretchedly. He blinked back tears. "He promised he wouldn't leave me again. I can't do this alone."

She wrapped her arms around him, let him weep into her shoulder, great wracking sobs as grief and exhaustion took their toll. "It's all right," she soothed. "You're not alone. We're here, Girolamo, all of us. We love you. It will be all right."

It was several minutes before he got himself under control. Vanessa turned away to let him wash his face with yet another rag and gain some semblance of normality.

"So you've been here how long, alone but for the dead?"

"Another three days, I think," Riario said. "It's hard to keep track of time when you do not dare to sleep."

"Or eat," she said, facing him again. "Or drink, even?"

"There's a leak," Riario said, pointing to a narrow window. "There was rainwater, sometimes. And that corner – will need cleaning. Though after the first day of my vigil there was no food or water left in my body to be expelled. I'm relieved that we can still enjoy food and drink and other bodily pleasures, but it is also irksome that our bodies do still require sustenance and sleep. I didn't know how much longer I could go on."

Vanessa nodded and folded her arms. "Zoroaster de Petrola, what in the name of all that is holy were you thinking?"

Zo and Nico ambled over, Zo shame-faced.

"I just wanted to keep him safe," Zo said. "In case someone came to take the body – to take Leo away. To study him or burn him or…I wasn't trying to take Leo away. But Riario – but you wouldn't listen."

Riario eyed him suspiciously. "You should have been clearer."

Zo sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. But I thought we were better friends than this and now we're back to you threatening me with blades."

Riario swallowed. "When it comes to Leonardo I am perhaps inclined to overreact."

Zo gave a sharp laugh. "We've all been there," he said. "I heard what you said, about the body still being intact. I think you're right. We just need to give him more time."

"Or not," Nico said. Everyone looked at him. "Maybe Dragonetti was right about the poison, that it was meant to injure Leo more than anything we've come across before. And you were probably right that Leo could figure it out. But I was his student, and Vanessa helped with some of the autopsies, and Zo's had to listen to Leo's ramblings about alchemy for years, and you're educated and insightful."

Zo nodded. "You mean we can figure it out ourselves."

"Yes. Read some of his notes," Nico said. "Make sure we understand what we're doing before we test what is left of the drug. Then we can discover what it is, or what it is made from, start to consider antidotes."

Vanessa put a hand on Riario's shoulder. "You see. You should trust us. We all love Leo and we will always protect him. Now, don't take this the wrong way, but you need a bath, to be followed by some food and a few hours rest. You're in no state to do research."

Riario nodded. "I will go, on one condition. We move Leonardo to our room."

Of course he still wanted to be close.

"He can be guarded there as well as anywhere else," Vanessa agreed. The guest room in question had somehow become one Leo used frequently. Ostensibly the chamber next door was reserved for Riario when they both stayed overnight, but it was no secret that only one bed was ever occupied.

"You're going to sleep in the same bed with him like this?" Zo asked incredulously.

Vanessa fixed him with a glare. "He's been barely sleeping by him here, on the stone floor," she said.

Zo nodded. "All right. We'll move him. It's fine."

Vanessa gave Riario an encouraging smile. Together they would get through this, as they did everything else.