James knew the hold on his hand was mostly Shion looking for some support, but he didn't mind. He was used to handling pain, he'd had a lot worse than this in the past, so even though it was affecting him, he did have some experience in keeping his reactions in check.

Blood kept dripping and pouring, little by little filling in the bottles. The last bit seemed to take longer, or maybe it felt that way because James was fighting off the lightheadedness while keeping his eyes glued to the bottles. Even though he'd been through this before, for a moment he felt like it might all be some trick, a trap. The bottles would just never be filled, or they'd be replaced by others, again and again until they were both drained dry.

Thankfully, after those last long seconds, the blades retracted, so suddenly that James couldn't help a loud, groaned sigh of sheer, intense relief when the pain was suddenly gone. He took his hand off the box, holding his bloodied hand to his own chest, giving into the weakness he felt and falling to his knees on the floor.