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DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from 'DC's Legends of Tomorrow' any other Arrowverse shows, or DC Comics.

WORD COUNT: 1,058


Sara choked against his grip, eyes watering. "Sna-"

He squeezed harder. He wanted it, needed it. A voice in the back of his head was telling him to kill, kill, kill.

She suddenly bucked underneath him, and did something that rolled the two of them over so that she was on top. The wind was knocked out of him as he landed on his back, and he lost his grip for just a second, long enough for her to wrench his hands from her neck and pin them to the floor.

"Snap out of it!" she coughed, "Snart, listen to me! You need to calm down!"

No. He needed to kill her. If he couldn't squeeze the life out of her he'd beat it out of her. But she was strong. She held him down like she wasn't so much smaller than him, and she wouldn't stop yelling.

"Leonard, focus. This isn't you, it's the Bloodlust, and I know you are too damn stubborn to just let it win!"

No, no that was a lie! He couldn't have the Bloodlust, because he already would have…

Would have attacked her. Like he'd just been doing, like he was still trying to do.

The reality of the situation hit him all at once. He'd just tried to kill his teammate, his friend, for no real reason. He'd wanted her blood, and he couldn't even understand why. But he knew why. The Bloodlust. It had made him turn on Sara just like that.


"Leonard?" Sara whispered, her eyes searching his face for any clues as to his mental state, "Leonard, are you with me?"

The mad rush of anger had left his eyes, being replaced by dawning comprehension and then horror. "Sara," he breathed, "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean- Oh God." His breathing rate increased as the panic began to set in. "Oh my God. Y-you need to get away from me, Sara. Please, just get away."

Sara hesitated, then slowly crawled off of him. Her left knee felt damp as she pulled it away; Leonard's side wound was bleeding again, smearing crimson onto the floor. But he seemed to be ignoring this as he crawled backwards until his back hit the wall. His hands were fisted at his sides, clenched so tightly his bruised, bloodied knuckles were white. "Leonard, you're bleeding," she told him gently.

"Get away from me," he begged, actually begged, "I don't know if I can hold it back. I was a killer long before this, and I didn't care. Not like you. I'm a danger to you all."

"Le-"

"GET AWAY!"

Footsteps sounded behind her; Sara looked over her shoulder to see the rest of the team coming down the hall, obviously having seen the event on the ship's security cameras. "Sara?!" Rip called in alarm, laser revolver in hand.

"It's okay," she told them, not wanting them to hurt Leonard, "I'm alright." She turned back to him. "Leonard, you're hurt. You need medical attention. If you want us to sedate you while we take care of it, we will. Please, just let us help you."

He refused to look at her, staring at his bloody hands. "You should just kill me," he whispered, "I'm too dangerous, now."

"I'm not going to do that," Sara told him, holding one arm out to keep the others behind her, "I can help you. You know I've dealt with the same thing, the same Bloodlust. When I was in Nanda Parbat, I learned new techniques to control it. I can teach them to you, if you'll let me."

Leonard was quiet for a long time, still not looking at her. "Knock me out," he eventually replied, his words barely audible, "I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself from hurting any of you."

Sara swallowed, feeling a lump in her throat as he whispered the same fears she had, even now. "Okay," she replied softly, "Okay, we'll do that. It's going to get better, Leonard. I promise."


For the next two days, Leonard was kept in the Med Bay, held in bed by restraints per his own insistence. Sara had protested at first, but then she'd watched him try and attack Ray for accidentally waking him up, and admitted that it would be wise, at least for a while. His side had been patched up rather quickly by Gideon, and while his broken hand actually had been healed by the Pit, it had healed wrong, with some of the bones out of place. They were forced to sedate him again to re-break and re-set them before Gideon did the job properly.

A pattern soon began to develop, in that Leonard would only try and hurt someone if they startled him first, like he was lashing out in self-defence, but he couldn't stop once he started. Sara spent most of her time sitting next to him, trying to keep him calm.

"It's going to be tough," she agreed, "Believe me, I know. But Thea and I were both able to function normally after a short period of time; I'm sure it will be the same for you. It just takes time."

"How much time?" he asked weakly, "How long am I supposed to go before I can even think about walking around without worrying I'll snap and hurt someone?"

"I still have those worries, sometimes," she admitted, "But you know what helps? Being around people I trust. Leonard, in the past few days, you only jumped at people if they startled you, if you suddenly didn't feel safe. And I get that trust isn't something you're big on, but I want you to understand that we're not going to hurt you, and we're going to help you in any way we can."

"How?"

Sara took his hand, which he'd been keeping curled into a tight fist whenever someone else was in the room, and began to gently run her thumb back and forth over his white knuckles. "While I was at Nanda Parbat, I learned various meditation techniques, took some special herbs; they helped me with my control. I can teach you the techniques, and I've already been planning to get my hands on more of those herbs. Leonard, I promise, you won't have to live in fear of being a danger to everyone all the time."