"No..no..nonono!" Leonard couldn't help but exclaim. 'Holy hell, my house was broken into!? When was this!? Is Yukki ok!?' With that thought about Yukki in mind, he rushed into the house bravely without a second thought. As he ran inside, he beelined straight towards Yukki's room.
As he grew closer, he could hear the sounds of multiple men discussing, and worst of all, it was clear from what he heard that Yukki was there! 'What the fuck!' His heart went cold, as the heart-stirring blizzard known as fear suddenly struck like a storm.
"What do you think the boss will do with her?" one of the thugs in the room asked.
"I think she'll be part of the group who are going to be sent to smuggle the drugs across to the other-"
But before he could hear the rest of what they were saying, Leonard rushed to the door.
Just how Leonard could hear the voices of the gangsters, they, too, could hear the stomps of Leonard's run.
"Damn it!" The lead gangster cursed as he pointed a finger straight at the thin one. "I thought our lookout said he wouldn't be back until later!" As he finished that statement, the door slammed open.
Leonard quickly took a glance around the room and understood everything. These were clearly kidnappers! Just his unconscious sister and the body bag were proof enough! "WROAAAAAAAAH" Leonard roared loudly in a blind rage as he threw a big punch to the closest, the slim thug. As he threw this, Leonard thought to himself, 'I should have thought smarter, grabbed a weapon or something! I just hope they don't have weapons…. Best case scenario, they retreat, leaving us be. Hopefully, now that I'm here, they decide not to forcefully go through with the kidnapping…No, I've seen their faces! This isn't good!"
The slim gangster hurriedly reacted to the punch and tried to block with his hand. It was clear he was inexperienced in fighting. Leonards fist grazed his arm and practically missed. Leonard tried following up this attack with another punch but the slim gangster hit him with a right hook to the face, immediately knocking Leonard down to his knee.
'Shit! I'm supposed to be stronger than this...to protect her.' Leonard thought, barely being able to hold in his anger.
The Lead gangster retorted, "It's three of us, and one of you. There's no way you can beat all of us!" He threatened and stepped forth, "Leave now, and you'll come out of this place unharmed." The lead thug paced left and right in front of Leonard, tapping the crowbar in his hand over and over. Leonard was terrified, his fight or flight instincts were telling him to book it, but there was a part of him burning to the core.
'Fight! Get up and fight! For Yukki...and for me! I don't need to just fight physically...I can trick them!'
"I don't doubt that." Leonard plainly said, "However, the police have already been called. They will be here in a matter of minutes. You won't get far with her and the bag, the dogs will be on your scent. If you leave her though… You might be able to outrun them..."
'"Gah!" The lead gangster knew Leonard was right, but his heart couldn't accept it! His pride couldn't accept it! He was a feared gangster, the type of person they warn about on the news, how could he be intimidated over a few words? The rest of the gang would make a mockery of him if they found out! By then, how could he get the boss's approval!? He'd be sure to get demoted!
"Shit, he's right!" The slim gangster that Leonard punched earlier hurriedly added on, "We can't get caught here by the police, we should go!"
The slim gangster's words were the breaking point in the Leader's mind. He would NOT run! "You're right! The longer we're here, the worse it is! So let's finish him off quickly!" He pointed straight at Leonard.
"Wait…" Leonard nervously chuckled, "No b-" Before Leonard could try to reason with them, the thug with a chain punched Leonard with a fast, and very hard, left hook.
"Aaah" Leonard took a deep breath before swinging his arm with all of his strength towards the leading thug.
"What a weak punch!" The thug exclaimed as he simply dodged to the side of Leonard's punch, and wound an uppercut with the crowbar to his chin. Leonards's eyes widened, he tried to move in time but he left himself completely open with his punch.
DINK
Leonard felt his body leave his soul as his legs gave out to this hit.
"Aaagh!" Leonard quickly tried to get back up, but the slim thug quickly went to try to kick Leonard back down! Leonard was barely able to react, and grabbed his leg, attempting to pull him off balance. "Give up!" The lead thug screamed.
Leonard screamed in pain as he repeatedly got kicked over and over. His arm, leg, sides. Everything was hit over and over as he laid on the ground trying to protect himself.
BONK!
The crowbar hit the top of his head.
Leonard dropped flat to the ground, unconscious. "You idiot!" One of the thugs said in a shaky voice.
"Enough!" The leader ordered. "Get the girl and go! We're not fighting with the police today!"
The two hurriedly gave one last hard kick to Leonard's body before going back to what they were doing, quickly stuffing Yukki in the body bag before leaving through the backdoor.
…
Leonard's body laid on the ground, blood seeming from his head. However, as he lay on the ground unconscious, his body unresponsive, his mind stirred.
"Aahh…" Leonard awoke to a strange world.
He was standing in a white void. Leonard looked around. 'Wha… what happened?' Leonard wracked his mind to remember the events that had just transpired. He was fighting with gangsters… to protect his sister! So, where the hell was he now!?
Leonard looked around. The white void he stepped on felt cool and hard to the touch. Leonard was baffled. "What the fuck…did I...die?"
Suddenly, his vision became strange and grim. The world around him quickly darkened. The floor went pitch black as if he was floating in space. Strange whispers started vibrating in the atmosphere.
A thick, black fog appeared from nowhere. The edges of his vision darkened up, as a massive headache came through. This time, however, the headache left as soon as it came. Although the edges of his vision only got darker and darker, slowly creeping in.
Leonard was shocked! Nothing he was seeing made any sense! He was a man very much grounded in reality, everything he is seeing now… this strange supernatural scene he was looking at...
"I must be either hallucinating, or I died and this is what happens after death"
Suddenly, Leonard's full attention was brought to something. He didn't know what it was, or how he even knew, but he knew.
Something stirred in its depths.
The fog stirred around the creature, moving faster around it. As it got closer to Leonard, the fog could no longer fully obstruct the view, and its true form was revealed.
A strange, translucent humanoid that vaguely resembled a robed, hooded man had floated out of the fog. And, although his face was obscured, Leonard could feel his eyes on him!