Artista || Da Vinci's Demons fanfic

Chapter 3 - Un/Consciousness

It was past noon when Stella opened her eyes, stretching in bed, soaked in the sun's warm embeace. She looked around, blinking wildly due to sun and confusion by her surroundings before she heard a voice.

"Awake already, signorina?"

Leonardo teased and was met with Stella's just-woken-up attitude

"Don't test me, maestro" she spat out "Wit isn't going to do you good until I'm properly awake"

Flinging his arms up in defense, maestro turned back to his notebook and scribbled some more. This gave Stella time to snoop around his workshop after she had fully woken up. She was amazed by the greyish skeleton he had on his table, but disgusted with the  bloated corpse right next to it.

"Why do you have a dead body in your workshop?"

"Oh, that..." Leo turned around "uhm, for scientific purposes"

Stella squinted at him, his eyes blooshot and visible dark circles under them.

"How long has it been since you last slept, Leonardo?"

"Hmm? Uuh, two days? About 38 hours, I believe"

Before Stella could speak he continued "No, no, I start hallucinating after 40 hours. I lose conscience at, uh, at around 44, but eventually wake up." He paused "My record so far is, about, uh, 50, 50 hours without sleep, give or take"

"Give or take? What were the consequnces, maestro?" Stella walked over to him and examined his face.

His eyes were glassy and hollow, like he had the fever. The artista's raven hair was even messier than usual, spiked in every direction and rough, from the pulling and scratching, Stella thought. She offered him a gentle look.

Looking dead into her eyes the genius replied "I slept the next two days"

He groaned and placed his head between his hands, resting on the table. He was shaking from frustration before Stella asked what was wrong.

"This doesn't make any fucking sense!"

Leonardo whipped the papers to the side and growled. Stella took a step or two back, leaving the pained artist alone, knowing full well to avoid the noise. He looked frantically from his stencils to his canvases while he paced the room. She heard indistinct mumbles come off his chapped lips but gave no thought to the matter. Her eyes were glued at a woman on the painting. It took a minute for him to notice.

"Oh fuck me..." Leonardo gasped in defeat, pulling at his messy hair before loosening his arms beside him

Stella whispered "Who is she?"

"Lucrezia..."

"She's beautiful..."

Stella observed the precise motions of the pencil, admiring the details in the woman's hair, skin texture. She noticed a childlike sketch of her gown and turned to Leonardo, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Why are there no details on her dress?"

Da Vinci was as confused as she was. He was expecting an outburst of jealousy or hurt ego from Stella.

"You, signorina, hold many secrets" he exhaled, pointing at Stella, his eyes rolling into his skull.

"Maestro!" Stella called out to the now unconscious Leonardo.

A loud thud of his kneecaps against the wooden floor pulled Stella into action. She rushed to keep his head from hitting the floor and managed at the last second. Even his fall was gracious and dramatic, as she expected.