Usually, Leo was the first to wake up because he liked to exercise in the morning, but today he found that Andrew had gone out. His exercising was practically an alarm clock for the others, so they also got up soon after and got ready for their training. When it was five minutes until Ethan's class started, they had all gotten ready and were leaving. Leo was always the last to leave among them when they filed out, so he always locked to door.
But when he turned around, his body froze when he saw the door.
"I didn't really understand Ethan's last class, I'm telling you he's just saying gibberish at this point."
"Really? You're struggling that much?"
"Yeah. Hey, Mathias… Mathias?" Faust turned and noticed Leo wasn't trailing behind them like usual. Instead, he was still at the door. They waited for a moment, but he still didn't move.
"Think the door is stuck?" Luke asked.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Andrew broke the lock. He's that petty, ya know?"
"I don't need to hear more complaining about him, Mathias and I already get enough of it."
"You two need to stand up for yourselves more." Faust said while looking at Luke.
The time for class to start was getting nearer so Luke and Faust went over to Leo to help him with the door. They'd be punished if they were late, but they also didn't want their stuff stolen.
As they reached the door, they called out to Leo, but he didn't reply. They walked to Leo's sides and their eyes widened upon seeing the door.
To the door, a carcass was pinned with a note dangling from its body.
'Fresh, Steaming Hot Bun!'
Faust and Luke both cursed under their breaths seeing the crow's lifeless body, crudely pinned to the door with tacks. Luke looked towards Leo but was surprised that he actually had a rather emotionless face. He was just staring at it, his eyes completely unwavering.
They tried to get him away and comfort him, but he didn't move from his spot, even when they reminded him about punishment for being late. Eventually they had to go to class, so the two left him behind.
Yet, even after they left, Leo didn't bother moving. He just stood planted firmly in his spot. The only irregularity about him was the fact that his fingers were twitching slightly.
In Ethan's class, Ethan was quickly taking attendance and came upon Leo's empty seat.
"Is he sick, or skipping class? Anyone know?" Ethan called out, referring to Leo of course.
Luke hesitated but said, "Something bad happened…" He didn't particularly want to continue, nor did he know how to.
"And that is?" Ethan asked back.
"Um, you know that crow that he's always hanging out with?"
"No." Ethan replied without skipping a beat.
"Oh, well uh, it was practically his pet and someone- someone killed it and nailed it to our door."
"Oh..." Ethan was decently surprised, and his eyebrows shot up on their own. Without a single hitch he pulled out his phone and called John.
"Hey John, you should check up on Leo."
"…" John spoke to Ethan for a considerable amount of time without giving Ethan a chance to respond. Every time Ethan tried to, he had to take the phone away from his ear due to a sudden increase in volume from John, this was of course because he was yelling.
Eventually Ethan mumbled into the phone, "Alright, I'll be there in a minute."
Then he looked towards his class and gestured for them to follow him. Faust furrowed his brows at this, what, were they going to make a show of Leo? He was going to speak up, but Luke placed his hand on his shoulder, prompting Faust to stay silent.
After some time, they arrived at the door where Leo stood. The hallway was cramped but there wasn't an insane number of students anyway. Near Leo, two figures were already stood, both leaning against the wall opposite of each other and separating the mass of students from Leo.
It was John and Mr. Griffith.
Mr. Griffith looked extremely frustrated, and John looked extremely angry. Seeing the two of them, especially John and his expression Ethan grew nervous. He said a word or two but was shut down by a glare from John. Ethan sighed and nodded at John and leaned against the wall. It was more accurate to actually say he slumped against it.
After a few minutes of nothing happening the students grew extremely confused and they were of course, as students do, gossiping about the incident. They were quickly silenced by the actions of one person.
Leo turned, showing the first signs of movement since the morning. He was still wearing the expressionless face and he started walking into the crowd of students.
He pulled someone out and threw them to the floor despite their resistance. When Andrew was flung to the floor, he slid near his great-great-a-handful-more-greats-grandfather. Mr. Griffith didn't spare his descendant a single glance after seeing what he had did. Instead, he was trying to figure out where the child had gone wrong.
John on the other hand's expression changed from rage to disgust, as if the person under him was just a worm he could crush at any time. It was also true that he could, but he refrained from doing so.
Leo slowly approached Andrew who tried to back away but found a solid door awaiting him. It was the door to their dorm which coincidentally was at the end of the hall. When his back hit the door, it became smeared with Bun's blood which now had sufficient time to trickle down onto the floor.
When he hit the door he turned to it in shock and could only see the headless bird which had been nailed to the wall by its wings. But before his mind could dwell on it, his leg was grabbed, and he was pulled away from the door.
After dragging him back, Leo kicked Andrew's face. This sent Andrew's head to the floor, smacking the concrete. Andrew's conscious was quickly fleeting when he felt a weight land on his chest as Leo kneeled on him.
Then Leo bent over and repeated smashed his elbow into Andrew's face without holding back. Practically immediately Andrew lost consciousness, but that didn't stop Leo as his elbow kept drilling into him.
Soon Andrew's face had swollen, turning into a deep dark purple and his nose had been smashed out of shape completely. Blood streamed down his face, and he laid motionless, receiving the beating without being able to even struggle.
But Leo kept going.
Eventually, the form of Andrew's face couldn't even be seen due to the vast swelling. Leo slowly got up from off of Andrew's body and walked up to his face. Without hesitation he placed his shoe firmly between his chin and collarbone, and slowly added pressure onto the neck.
When he did, the blood that was already pouring out of Andrew's face poured out more, before suddenly slowing down. Leo kept slowly putting his weight into his step.
"Mathias…" Mr. Griffith called out.
"…" Leo just kept building pressure.
"Mathias." He called out again.
"…"
"Mathias!" Mr. Griffith yelled, causing John to glare at him fiercely, which shut him up.
"Mathias." John calmly said as he placed his hand on Leo's shoulder.
Then the pressure stopped. Leo's face slightly scrunched up and he grabbed the crow, carefully taking the corpse off the door. He slowly untied the tag from Bun's leg which had the disgusting words on it and crumbled it before dropping it to the floor. When the crow was gently placed in his arms, he turned around to see Bunny standing there silently over Andrew's beat up body.
She whispered something into a microphone in her sleeve and looked at Leo. She watched him with strange eyes before turning and prompting Leo to follow her with a wave. John had a stunned expression when he saw the woman, but even his expression paled in comparison to Mr. Griffith's and Ethan's.
Then Leo turned and left, the students watched him with disturbed expressions. Quickly after medics rushed in and started taking care of Andrew.
Once outside the building Bunny walked to the forest's edge with Leo slowly following behind her. When they reached the void, she stopped and turned to Leo.
"I'll give you permission just this once." She, of course, was referring to entering the forest.
Leo didn't react but still followed her when she entered. Once he entered it seemed like he was completely swallowed by the trees as the light failed completely to break through. Bunny took out a flashlight and clicked it one after walking for a bit. Eventually some light started breaking through and she turned it off.
Although Leo barely paid attention, she explained that the forest was unusually thick around the opening where the school was. She didn't have an answer as to why, nor did she care enough to think of one. Regardless, after some walking the vegetations grew further apart from each other and the light could leak through the canopy.
After nearly thirty minutes of walking through the forest thick with plant and animal life, they reached a slight opening.
There a lone statue stood. Everything, but its legs from the knees down, was obliterated. It survived on a tiny stone pedestal which was adorned completely in moss. The area around it was absent of trees, the only place so far in the forest that was. In the opening, many flowers bloomed in the tall grass and the blue sky with few clouds let the sun shine brightly upon the spot creating a beautiful image.
Ting!
Despite his mind being cloudy from previous events, Leo's hand shot to his neck. For the first time in his entire life, the bell around his neck had made a noise. Ignoring Bunny's confused stare, he lifted it from his shirt and watched it. Alas, the bell made no more noises, even after shaking it.
With a frustrated sigh, Leo stuffed the cold silver bell back underneath his shirt.
The Bunny didn't pry and instead walked towards the statue. She looked at it with a gentle expression before turning back to Leo.
"I liked the little guy. Sometimes when he wasn't with you, he'd follow me on patrols and watch me from the trees. I thought you might as well bury it here since it kept coming here."
"I see." He replied curtly.
"But it is now occurring to me that we don't have a shovel…" She said with a hand on her mask's forehead.
Leo didn't reply and just started looking for soft dirt to move with his hands. While searching for a suitable he looked up by chance and noticed some sticks in a tree. It took him a moment to recognize it as a bird's nest and Leo's heart froze for a moment in pain, but he continued his search.
Eventually he found a spot that was pretty soft and started digging with his hands. Bunny was slightly impressed with his determination as she could've gotten a shovel, they just had to walk back to the school.
She stood nearby and didn't help Leo; she was more on the lookout for anything unusual.
After quite a long time, Leo finished and wipe his brow with his elbow. His hair stuck to his sweaty face due to the summer heat. He placed Bun into the cool ground and carefully placed the dirt onto his body.
Leo had dug an unnecessarily deep hole for a crow, especially considering he did it with his hands. But he didn't care considering the crow offered him a respite from the idiotic arguments that went on incessantly around him.
When Leo stood up his hands were absolutely caked with dirt as were his legs and forearms. His face also was slightly covered in dirt and sweat. But his face was also beet red considering the fact that he had just spent quite a bit of time in the sun, and he was normally as pale as a sheet.
Bunny watched him with a complex expression which could be ascertained simply from her eyes. She stopped after Leo noticed her and then she turned and reentered the forest. As Leo went to follow her, he took one last look at the shrine and the recently disturbed dirt.
His hand also went to the cold bell always hanging from his neck and he clasped it. Then he finally followed the bunny who had waited for him.
Arriving back at school, not a single student went near him. Even Evelyn and Kyle scurried away as he got nearby. He ignored all these people and just went to his dorm room.
Once he got to the door he stopped for a moment as his hand laid upon the doorknob. All the blood had been cleaned up. It seemed like an obvious thing, but it made Leo think about how quickly life moves on. With an annoyed click of his tongue, he opened the door.
Luke was playing a guitar and Luke was reading something on his phone. Andrew was nowhere to be found. As Leo entered, the both of them watched him like corned mice. He ignored them and washed himself before going to sleep extremely early. Apparently, classes had been canceled due to the previous events.
Leo didn't care at all as they would graduate very soon.
While laying there, Leo couldn't stop thinking about why the crow wanted him to see the statue. It was too strange to be a coincidence. A crow, who was way too intelligent, following around the first prince of all people. While tapping his leg, a theory popped into his head, and he decided to ask Grey. He even entered his soul realm which was unnecessary.
"Hey Grey?" He said after wafting through the liquid at his feet and reaching the animal.
"Yes?" The fox leaned out of the liquid which he had been lazily floating in. Strangely his fur was unaffected by it.
"That crow, do you think it was Token?"
Grey stared at Leo without speaking so Leo continued, "It'd make sense, Token's persona is a crow and he'd likely be able to figure out who I am, but maybe not... Either way I don't know why he'd try to get me to the statue."
After a long pause in which Grey seemed to be contemplating something, he finally decided to speak, "I'd say it probably was Token, or at least a messenger of his, and regardless of if it was, he does know who you are."
"He does?"
Grey hesitated for a moment, "Yes, he's met you before."
Leo's brow furrowed in confusion, "Really? When?"
Grey sighed before mumbling, "It was… quite some time ago."
Leo stared at the grey fox in the extravagant suit.
"Who are you?"
"I told you before, I'm Blight's messenger and the gatekeeper to your soul."
Leo squinted his eyes and said, "Yes, but Blight's persona is a fox, much like you."
"Not much like me, do I look like a normal fox?"
"Ethan said Blight wasn't bound in the same way as other gods."
"Well, what does a mortal know about gods?"
"That's not a good enough answer."
Grey sighed loudly and said, "Young master, I am not a god. I have been in your body since those people sealed you-"
"Don't talk about them." Leo said with a voice filled with malice.
"If you'd let me finish young master, I was saying that a god has more important things to do than being sealed in a body for who knows how long."
Silence permeated the soul realm as the two watched each other.
Eventually Leo left the soul realm with a frustrated face. Too many annoying things had happened to him lately and he just wanted rest. He put all his displeasures into the back of his mind and forced himself to sleep.
As he fell asleep, Grey was pacing around Leo's soul realm muttering to himself.
"But… why'd the bell ring?"
This was the only thing he could thing about. The bell.
Why did the bell ring?
He couldn't wrap his head around it. Is that why the crow brought Leo there? That must be the answer, but then that would mean Token found Leo, but how did he do that? There were too many questions that Grey couldn't answer and…
It really started to piss him off.