Chapter 2: /Frühlingswonne
*Bash*
Leo slid from the seats onto the floor and thus awoke from his slumber.
He yawned, opened his eyes and found Ray's face staring down at him. Ray being illuminated with golden sunlight, Leo asked with a smile :"Are you God?". "Yeah, I welcome you back into the heavens, Satanael." They laughed and after Ray gave Leo a leg-up they had breakfast. Ray pulled out a lot of sweets out of his rucksack and spread them across the flat surface of it, to use it as a tray: buttermilk biscuits, brownies, cookies etc. . "Help yourself", Ray muttered after he'd bitten into a cookie. Leo was actually overwhelmed by the amount of sweets Ray possessed, or was it the food in general? "What's up? No need to be modest but you need to eat at least something.", Ray said after finishing the cookie and grabbing a brownie. "No, no. It's just that-" "Your body did look anorexic last night.. What have they been feeding you with then?" "Blood." Ray missed the brownie and bit right into his bottom lip. "Plain blood", Leo spoke in a soft tone. " "So then-", Ray wiped the blood off his lip, "You're constantly using your Will, right?". "I don't know whoose blood it was but I-", Leo didn't really want to speak about this, "I forced myself to convert that blood into energy for my own body. I'm not used to this anymore.". "Was there a time-", Ray stopped because he saw the look of discomfort in Leo's eyes and sat next to him, grabbing another cookie since he had finished the brownie. "Say, do you remember the first letter of the alphabet?" Leo looking straight into his eyes, he made an a-sound not expecting to get his mouth stuffed with the cookie Ray had grabbed. "Sorry." Leo finished eating the cookie and said:"No, it's okay, really. -Thanks.". Leo leaned closer to Ray. "Where did that cross go?" "Cross? Oh, the earring.. I thought I'd get rid of it to leave the past behind." "You really think you can leave it behind like this?" "Well, I took it off and melted it..." "No, I meant your past. I think neither of us can escape it, to be honest." Ray looked at him. Both were silent. "Alright." He pulled himself together and hugged the fragile Leo. It was then, when he realized that they were the same height. "What do you see?", Ray asked. "The driver's cab.", Leo answered being a bit surprised by the hug. "What do you hear?" "The movement of the engine." "What do you taste?" "The bits of sugar on my tongue-" "What do you smell?" "The sweets." "What do you feel?" "Warmth." "You're living in the present, Leo. We're simply moving forward and leaving what's done behind. We're living." Ray stood up to check the area they were in. Leo was still sitting on the floor. As the warmth of Ray's body had left him, he snapped back to reality. It was a beautiful spring morning, his first he'd spent outside of the church. Rays of the sun filled the interior of the train and Leo finally stood up as well after finishing eating some more. "Sweet. There's tall buildings over there, you see them?" "Uh-huh." "That's going to be the city where we'll go next. Heh, we're gonna jump out though, to keep the train in motion." "Uh-huh." Ray turned his view to Leo. "Are you fine with that?" "Uh-huh.", Leo smiled at him. Ray stood up and left the cab. Leo followed him with his eyes. Ray grabbed his wallet and saved it from his own flames which burned his rucksack. "Thanks for just now, Ray." "It's nothing big really. You see, my uncle used to ask me those questions when I was out of it, too. Always worked." "And the hug? Was it your extra?", he asked with curiosity. Ray looked at him, slightly embarrassed; the rucksack was gone now. "Uh-huh."
A quiet market place. Truly quiet, since it was still morning and the people had barely left their houses to open the shops. But a handful of people were already outside to enjoy the fresh air and slowly getting ready to open.
It was a small city, one might even consider it a bigger village, since it was, from the looks of it, yet still possessed the modernity of technology. The market place was right in front of the station platform, so every train was unavoidably seen by the market people. And the few of them, had already heard an approaching train. The volume increased by every second and they were already expecting the cutting sound of a train hitting the brakes to make a halt at their station. And the people were astonished, almost as if in slow-motion, the train rushed on as two silhouettes rose from the inside, becoming bigger, leaving the interior and the train, as well as their shadows, behind and finally, landing on the station platform the silhouettes becoming the figures of Ray and Leo, the boys stood before a few market people who applauded their fascinating entrance into their small town, Pandemonium.
Ray stepped forward to ask the market people: "Excuse us, uh, is there a nearby tavern where we could rest, by any chance? We're travellers." "Of course, young man.", an eldery man spoke, "Just go straight from here, deeper into the town, and you will come across a house, or rather a tavern, which is made of wood. A fine house, I must say. Oh, it is the only of its' kind, so you'll hardly miss it." "Is it the only tavern in this town?" "It is.", said a middle-aged woman. "It's run by a woman who built the tavern herself. I'm sure she'll lend shelter to travellers such as yourselves.", she added. "She also used be one.", a third one said. "Well, thank you very much, really. We'll be on our way then", Ray grabbed Leo by his hand and quickly walked away from the small crowd of people. "Oh man, I hate my poor social skills." "Really? You didn't look one bit nervous, though", Leo stated. "But I am, inside, man. It doesn't take long for it to get to me, then I ususally walk off." Ray looked at Leo's other hand and noticed he'd been holding a red apple, while also noticing he'd been gripping Leo's hand tightly since leaving the market area. "Oh sorry, Leo", Ray let go, "Where'd you get the apple from?" "One of the market peeps gave it to me as a welcome gift", he said with a smile and started eating it. "That's nice of them." Ray gave a few yawns while walking the way on which houses were built facing each other. "You were up all night, am I right?" "To think-", Ray yawned, "That I could've slept without worrying about missing any towns on the road. I was on the lookout the entire night. So I'll instantly go to sleep once we reach-" "And there it is.", Leo cut off Ray, pointing towards the wooden building which was said to be welcoming to our travellers. "Alright, let's get in there."
It was welcoming just by the smell of it. The wood scented sweet and it was accompanied with the classic look of a tavern; lots of alcohol behind the counter, ligned up on shelves. The dark wood of the interior design was lit up by the sun. The athomspehere carried a certain vibe; it was not to bright, nor to dark, it was pleasant. There were bar stools fore the counter and other tables with seats in the room whoose visual flavour was reinforced by the Delta Blues playing throughout the entirety of the bar.
"Yo.", a woman said while she dried up some dishes, "How can I help, ya two?" "We came here to ask for rooms to stay in, for a couple of days or so.", Leo said in a relaxed manner. "That's alright, but I've only one room left, so I'm afraid you cuties will hafta share the same room. But don't worry, there're two separate beds, unless you wanna move them together." The woman chuckled with amusement together with Leo. You could see the faint golden shine on her ebony skin and short, light-blonde hair because of the sunlight passing through the big windows of this house. She was also taller than the boys. "I'm only teasing you and your friend, honey. Why not have a seat, ey?" Leo returned the friendly kindness by having a seat right next to the only other customer who hadn't said anything since the boys came in. It was a girl their height with rumpled white hair, black jeans, a red leather jacket, white skin and a white, unsheathed katana resting beside her leaning towards the counter who was smoking cigarettes, as one was able to see by the ashtray right in front of the girl in which only two smokes were put in. "I'll go sleep for a bit, then. The rooms are up the stairs, I assume?" "Right, and the bathrooms are on this floor. Two bathrooms, each one with a toilette and shover." "Alright, thanks.", Ray rushed to one of the two bathrooms. "Whaddya want do drink, honey?" "Water?" "Huh?, sure you don't want to have some stuff?", she nodded towards the shelves filled with bottles of alcohol. "I didn't have any alcohol before." "So?" "Surprise me." She nodded in agreement to his smile, turned around to grab a bottle and Leo saw the word Boss written on the back of her apron. She was preparing him a full drink. Meanwhile the girl next to him has been gazing at him. Leo had realized that and now said to her: "Hey, there.". "Hey.", the girl said with a bored tone, having not taken out the cigarette to talk properly, "You look good.". "Thanks,-" "Leigh." "Thanks, Leigh." "Must be nice. To look good." *Thud* A glass was put in front of Leo. "Thanks, Boss." The woman winked at him and continued to dry the dishes. "My name's Leo.", he said to her and took a hit and was hit by a initially sweet, cold and finally bitter sensation. "Oh, that's yummy." Boss and Leigh let out a small laugh. "You're cute.", Leigh whispered, "I bet Dad would like you.". Leo looked at her, slightly confused. She continued to smoke. "Hey.", she said. "Yes?", Leo took another hit but was laying now on his back on the floor of the tavern now. She had grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backwards, however Leo did not spill one drop of his drink. Leigh took the sword and pointed its' blade at his throat with an angered face, opposing his smile. "Fight outside, if you have to, please.", Boss said calmly, like she was used to this situation. "I'm guessing you're the one who went on a killing frenzy yesterday. You almost took down the entire Godsent-Family." Only the music was audible for a moment. Leo looked at Leigh and Leigh looked at Boss who looked at the dishes she was drying up. "I guess I made my debut already. What, was I in the newspaper?", Leigh finally showed some interest. "Well, sweety. As the mayor of your town you get a call from the WM every now and then. To raise awareness.", Boss responded leisurely. "The World Military is after me, huh? I really have no reason to stay alive.", Leigh spoke and moved away the sword, walked up towards the exit and said: "You come with me, pretty boy." Leo, having finished the drink and placing the glass onto the counter, said:"Thanks, Boss. Can you tell Ray to pay up for me? The money's with him, not me.". "Don't ya worry about that, honey. Just make sure not to damage this town, alright?" "Alrighty." "Get a move on!", Leigh walked out the door; Leo followed, while poking his tongue out at her. The sun had risen and it was still forenoon. The two had walked and reached a park filled with beautiful trees that had started to blossom, shiny grass and quite a few wooden park benches. "I met a guy here at midnight, after running away from home. Tsk, bet that he was from the WM.", the girl said. "You're talkative, for someone who doesn't have a reason to live, you know?" Leigh spit out the cigarette and in one motion turned around, trying to slash off Leo's head who evaded by simply taking a step back. She looked grim, Leo wasn't intimidated but he stopped smiling, realizing she wanted his death. "Stop it, you're gonna hurt yourself only more this way.", Leo said softly. "Shut the fuck up. You don't know anything. What I've been through, what I've endured-" Leo stood there, opposite to her. "I-", but he was interrupted by another attack of her, which he evaded again. But this time she wouldn't stop after just one strike, no. Leigh swung multiple times at him, giving Leo only the opportunity to dodge and making his view go right, left, up and down. "Fuck, why are you like this?!" "What do you mean?" She jumped, held the sword like an axe and swung it like one too, aiming at his feet. Leo easily stepped aside and got punched into the stomach after Leigh used her initial attack as feint. The punch packed such strenght that Leo got knocked down on his knees. He was too slow to react:
She gripped the sword and rammed it horizontally into his throat, whereas she failed to decapitate him and now the sword was stuck midway into his throat. Smirking, Leo immediately responded to that action in a fitting manner: Grabbing the blade with his right hand half-opened, he quickly toward the handle, collecting his own blood which was dripping out of his wound in it and finally splashed it into Leigh's eyes, thus throwing her back with similiar force, he was pulled back in the tavern. His throat was free now, after returning the favour; the wound started to close. She quickly stood up and wiped the blood off her eyes. "Not bad, girl.", she added and noticed the healed wound. She responded with a cracked smile. Next, Moving so fast that she was close enough to deal fatal blows within a mere second she continued the fight. One, Leo barely dodged that one. Two, she scarred his throat again. Three, four and five, both of his arms were deeply cut and Leigh kicked into his back, where he felt the most pain. But he smiled; Leigh had triggered something within him.
Leo was surrounded by faint images of Leigh.
Instead of trying to follow her by twisting his head in all directions he remained calm. Holding his breath, as Leigh closed in to cut open his stomach, the tension of nearing death rising, he smoothly caught the sword with one hand, and tried hitting Leigh with the other, but the girl was faster with freeing her sword, turning it up, the back of the sword facing the ground and with might cut off Leo's left arm.
"Hah."
It flew spinningly into the air; Leigh kicked his stomach, achieving enough distance to strike into it but it was her who was left in mortal danger instead and she finally realized it. The arm had turned into a rope in the air, weapping round her neck. In fact, she was not even on the ground anymore but slightly hanging above it. She looked at Leo as she was being deprived of oxygen. And was filled with so much terror, she let go of the sword, dropping it and trying to tear up the rope. One, Leigh was seconds away from actual death. Two, drool came out due to the rush. Three, four and five, with a blurred view she saw how a pair of sharp, deep, red eyes were looking at her as the rope tightened. Until she dropped to the floor, breathing heavily but slowly. Both of them had used a lot of their Will to keep going, Leo chose to stop for a moment. "Why." "Quiet and look over there.", Leo pointed at the entrence of the park. The overwhelming atmosphere had Leigh sweating and follow the order. And what she saw were people of the World Military entering the park. "Kill them and I won't kill you." "Fuck y-" Leigh tried to oppose but felt a piercing pain inside her heart. "What the fuck.", she had tears in her eyes. As her view cleared she knew what the look in Leo's eyes meant. It was no longer the boy she had wanted to beat up and kill. The strain let her know that she was inferior right now. They started to shoot at her, immediately after identifying her as the spree killer and against her will, she slashed into the flesh of the 'innocent'.
*Knock*
The door opened and Ray stepped outside, covered only in a towel. He asked Boss for a glass of water and got to know where Leo had gone. Boss put down the glass and asked:"Say, do ya know about the Godsent-Family?"
"There was this one kid-", He downed the glass of water, "I played with when I was little. Never saw her again for about.. I think ten years, though." "Hmm, are ya also familiar with their scandal from a few years ago? It was reported in the news too." Ray looked interested. "Uh, something about child abuse, right?" "Right. The Godsent-children are raised to become elite soldiers of the WM, after all. And since it's always been this way, not one, single soul ever wondered about just what would happen if one of the children refused to become part of the elite force." "Child abuse.", Ray put down the glass.
*Thud*
The sword smashed against the rifle; failed to cut it. He swung his weapon to knock her down but Leigh moved aside to cut off the soldier's arm instead. He screamed in pain after he saw the blade running through his arm like it was nothing and was kicked down because she had to dodge two simultaneous swings from behind. A black pattern emerged from her back and slighty extended to cover half of her white neck. Faster and stronger than before, one would have only seen two heads as they dropped to the ground. She beheaded them in less than a second. Turning around to witness a crying male laying on the ground, his rifle right beside him, the last of the squad that came to imprison her. He looked at her with deadly terror. Leigh was standing in front of him, surrounded by twelve corpses which stained not only the grass but the walkway and her white hair with flakes of red. "Please. Please. Ple-", the soldier stopped mumbling. Tears came out of Leigh's eyes. She looked cold, frustrated with bloodlust, damaged: She cried. The man extended his remaining arm toward her, as his vision witnessed how the background, the park, turned a bright white and the girl in front of him a sharp black with glaring golden eyes. The extreme contrast hurt his eyes but the pain soon left him as Leigh had cut a clean line between the shoulders and the throat. Tears fell onto the last corpse.
"Thirteen- or more? Maybe less. N- no way. I just killed- killed all. I'm gonna throw up, what did I do? That bastard. It's his fault. Fuck. Fuck, why?! Dad, I'll kill you, I- I want do die."
Leigh faced up; looked up into the sky. She was clueless, stained with blood and suicidal. Her head was filled with dark clouds, she looked ill, aimless. The pressure finally got to her and made her vomit, left her body shaking.
"Did you enjoy the spectacle, devil boy?", Leo heard a voice talk behind him. "I have full permission to kill you right here, after slaughtering my squad." It was a slightly taller man with closed eyes, who wore a black three piece suit Leo had seen as he turned around. "Oh? Has my mass killing become well-known already too? Say, you WM-guys knew about her and my abuse and still chose to do nothing? Adults are something else, really." "How'd ypu know about her abuse, huh? And you still didn't have to make her kill them, little boy." "You know what happens when you're abused for a lifetime? It's worse than your pathetic military training. It makes something break in here", Leo pointed his index finger at his head, while regenerating his missing arm. His scowl expressed his hatred and disgust towards the man. "I knew about it, alright? That's why I wanted to help her, after talking to her in this park. I told her yesterday- I know the situation you guys are in." "Oh now you stop calling me a devil?! You-" Leo used his Will to change the airflow between them, forcing the man to get closer to Leo where he was welcomed with a punch to the gut. The man went down on his knees. "Get up.", Leo spoke in a serious tone o voice. "Huh?" "Get up and help her already, then."
Sitting on the grass, head down, Leo was alone. His body was scarred yet again and his shirt he'd been given by Ray was full of red spots. "Great." He couldn't move. His eyes reverted back to magenta. If anyone saw him now, they wouldn't suspect a thing about him due to his innocent looks. He let himself fall back and rested on the ground. There was something hidden in him. Something he was sad about to make use of. "Devil, huh? Tsk, I did nothing wrong, man. I was forced into-" He fell asleep not caring anymore.
He yawned, opened his eyes and found Ray's face staring down at him. Ray being illuminated with artificial light, Leo asked with a smile: "Have you welcomed me into the heavens yet, God?". "You're safe now, Satanael.", Ray answered him and sat down on the bed, Leo had been sleeping on. He was instantly reminded of the events that happened on this day. "That man in the suit told me and Boss what happened." "Are you- mad?", Leo asked softly. "Nah, why should I be?" The bedroom was filled with a cozy silence. "You helped Leigh after all. She talks a lot more foulmouthed, though." "What..You know her?" "She was the kid I played with when we were little, man. We caught up while you were out. Oh, she wants to speak to you, too." Leo was already asleep again, being relieved that everything had come to a good ending. He was smiling again.
Leo was resting for the entire afternoon, so it had become evening already and the tavern had welcomed all three teenagers.
End of /Frühlingswonne
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone