"Leon, Leon, I'm sorry for waking you up but I need your help," The man woke up to feel Xander prodding him slightly. At first, he was annoyed but he was immediately worried as he saw the quiet insistence in the man's eyes.
"What—Are you okay? Did something—"
Xander shook his head, "Did...Those people...Did they bring Val in while Kaedan, Mina, and Lumina were still...? I don't think they were at the facility at the same time but is it possible that those three met Val at another time?" He asked carefully, watching his phrasing.
Leon sat up entirely, his eyes widening as he quickly understood what the man meant and gestured for him to not continue, "No, you're telling me...All of them at once?" He asked.
"Kaedan, he said he felt like he had met Val before. I don't think he was there when they brought them in but maybe…" Xander shivered, "I'm guessing it's the same situation as me with everyone else here other than you, Chaewon, and Elliot. I didn't know them initially but I did eventually meet them at some point down the line. Anyway, that set off Lumina and Mina. Lumina punched the wall and her hands were bleeding but I—I don't know what I did but she's—She's alright now."
"I think I've got it...Nia and I had been suspecting it for a while but Hyunwoo confirmed it for me. Specific indirect and direct triggers can cause them to remember what this really is but it has to be a direct memory that can cause them to calm down. You're that direct memory for her, so you were able to calm her down," Leon said, slipping out of the bed and following Xander out.
He nodded, "I'm not much help here, I was one of the first so I didn't get to know anyone else who they took after me. Do you remember what could be a direct memory that can calm them down?"
"If Kaedan and Mina weren't both freaking out, then maybe they could have helped each other but in the situation we're in now…You didn't meet Kaedan until later, the same goes for Mina and Lumina," Leon said quietly, "Honestly, I'm probably one of the few people who can calm them down, the other being…Yeah, I'm the only one since they probably associate me with what they realized. We have to keep a close eye on Fenix and Owen, it's only a matter of time until they realize it as well."
"...Is this a bad thing, Leon?" Xander asked, "I don't think we were supposed to know this information."
Leon nodded, "No, you aren't supposed to know this. But the fact that you do means that there are cracks in their plan. And if I do this right, I might be able to worm our way out of this mess. It's a good thing but…One wrong move means that there's no fixing this. Now, come on. We'll worry about that later."
It was a long night, and there was no shortage of crying from anyone, but Leon had to admit it was much easier this time to calm them down compared to Xander, and from that even, they were lucky that neither of them tried to hurt themselves. By the time dawn broke, all of them were slumped across the wall, varying levels of exhaustion.
"No wonder I thought the Sectors didn't exist," Mina broke the silence, "God, I knew something was up but for it to be something like this...How many White Lotus members are the White Lotus members we remember and not just fakes?" She asked, carefully dodging her way around the words.
"Veronica is an actual White Lotus member. That's how I remembered," Val said softly. Knowing that they had been through this as well, Leon had asked them to come as well, "It took me much longer to recover because of that. Some of the things she did…Well, let's just say that she's a horrible person no matter…No matter what, I suppose. Who else in your group doesn't know everything?"
"Risále, Owen, and Fenix, and that's it, I think. Holy fuck, how long has this been happening then?" Kaedan asked, running his hand through his hair, gripping it tightly.
Leon sighed, "Years. I can't even say for sure exactly how long."
"There's really nothing we can do?" Lumina asked, looking at Leon, "We know why you do what you do now, and we know what your goal is but...Still, all alone?"
"I stood by and let them do this to all of you. God, I didn't even know they'd done it to my own boyfriend until it was too late. Risále and I wanted to set things right but...Something went wrong. I don't know what happened, but she wasn't supposed to have lost her memories. Only she and I really have the ability to do anything, and since she can't remember, it's only me," Leon responded, and then he looked at Val, "But what I wanted to ask you…Nia doesn't remember you?"
They shook their head, "She doesn't yet. Unfortunately, she will. She probably repressed the memories because of the mental strain it brings."
Leon hummed, "I'm surprised. With how strongly she fought to try and get to you, I would have thought she would recognize you immediately..."
"It's better this way," Val murmured, "If she remembers what she saw, I don't know if she'd be…Okay. With my eyes and everything."
"Your eyes?" Leon asked.
Val seemed surprised at this, "You didn't know?"
"Know what?"
They hummed, "It's nothing. Trust me," They gave him a look when they saw the curiosity on his face, "Trust me, Leon. You don't want to know."
There was silence—And then Xander stood up, offering his hand to Kaedan. The other man took it, pulling himself up, "This just makes it more important that we go tonight. If this can help you, Leon, then we need to get the Wings. Apocalypse told us as much. Come on, let's get some sleep for tonight. I really hope this is going to be much more instinctive than we thought," He said.
Leon didn't think it would be easy to fall asleep after everything had happened, and yet the moment his head hit the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep, only waking up when Risále started shaking him a little harder.
"Leon, get up. You need to start getting ready to go. The others are almost ready, they wanted to let you sleep in a bit…" She said softly and Leon groaned.
"Alright, alright, I'm getting up," He muttered, sitting up and blinking sleepily and rubbing his eyes, "Risá, stop it," He whined as she poked his cheeks.
Risále grinned, "Sorry, I can't help it, you look cute when you're sleepy," His red ears didn't go completely unnoticed by her and Leon looked away, hoping to shield some of the heat on his face.
"Am I interrupting?" Someone knocked on the door and both Risále and Leon jumped, looking to see Hyunwoo leaning on the doorframe, smiling softly, "I think that's the fastest I've seen him wake up. How are you feeling?" He asked softly, walking over and pulling Leon off the bed.
Leon clung onto him and Risále had to cover her mouth to stop from cooing at how cute it was, "Hm…Still sleepy. Help me?" Leon muttered.
"Of course, darlin'," Hyunwoo moved Leon's hair out his face and kissed him on the forehead, and Risále noticed there was a bit of an accent in the way he said that phrase. It wasn't something that she didn't think was present before but it was…A Southern accent?
That lead her down an entirely different rabbit hole of how people could have Southern accents if the the South didn't exactly exist. She shook her head. Better not to think too much about it, or she was going to have a headache. Perhaps there were smaller regions or districts in the Stronghold where people still had that twang.
As she watched the two of them, a part of Risále felt as though she was intruding but a part of her felt almost comforted by this and part of her wished…
"Risále," Her eyes met Hyunwoo's, "Thank you for waking him up. And taking care of him while I wasn't there," He said more quietly. Leon tightened his grip on Hyunwoo's sweater and dug his face into the man's shoulder, blushing.
"Ah," Risále said, and Leon turned to see that the girl's face was actually slightly flushed as she looked away, "It's nothing. I haven't even been here for that long, it's the others that you should thank," She said shyly, and Leon raised his eyebrows.
Hyunwoo shook his head, "It doesn't matter how long you've been here, what matters is that you've made him happy, along with everyone else," Leon had to thank Hyunwoo for saving him some face there, "So still, thank you," He patted her head and for a moment, it looked like something akin to realization flashed in Risále's eyes.
"No problem," She said softly, "I'll let you two get ready—Or get Leon ready," She said, waving and leaving the room. Leon looked at her with an amused look on his face as she quickly left the room.
"You know, I'm beginning to think I should be worried about you charming everyone around you," Leon said, looking up at Hyunwoo.
"What?"
"Ah, nothing. Never mind," Leon sighed, leaning up and pressing his lips to Hyunwoo's, "Help me?"
When he was finished, Hyunwoo was looking at him with a fond look, arms around his waist, "You look beautiful," He said.
"Really? It's been a while since I dressed up like this. There never really was a reason to do so," Leon said humming.
"Yeah, you look gorgeous. Let's go?" Hyunwoo leaned down to kiss him softly, cupping his neck lightly. Leon laughed against his mouth before pulling away and nodding.
As they came down the stairs, Leon saw that the other four were all dressed up, Xander and Kaedan wearing suits while Lumina and Mina wore long gowns, although he was sure the women were wearing something much easier to move in underneath.
"Wow, you look…" Risále trailed off as she looked over Leon, "You look really good, Leon," She gulped. He was wearing a blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black dress pants, and a black vest.
Fenix chuckled, "Leon has always been able to clean up when it counts."
"Are you saying I don't always look gorgeous, you piece of—"
"Anyways," Xander interrupted, glaring at the two boys, "Let's get going, shall we? Remember, keep your masks on for as long as you can. We'll figure out how to get close to any of the White Lotus members quietly while we're there."
Leon grinned and flashed two finger guns at Xander, "What could possibly go wrong?"
Nia sighed, "Everything. Absolutely everything."