Sunny caught him before he hit the ground.
'This guy.'
He slowly carried Leon on his back, and began walking back to the cathedral. His thoughts drifted, while Sunny himself drifted into the embrace of the shadows.
Even unconscious, Leon's cloak did its thing. His mind was completely still... Or rather unconscious, his presence dissolved into nothing.
What was he supposed to do now?
Nephis did not need his help to overthrow Gunlaug. She had been building toward that without his help for a month.
The question wasn't whether she could do it. The question was whether he wanted to be part of what came afterwards — the siege, the Spire, the bodies that Cassie's prophecy had foreseen.
He thought about her words in the hut.
My goals matter more to me than anything in this world.
Sunny sighed.
The Nephis he had crossed the labyrinth with, who had carried Cassie even though she was blind. The Nephis he fought side by side with — that person felt far away right now. Or maybe she hadn't moved at all.
Maybe he never saw her for what she really was.
He didn't know if she was right or wrong. But he knew he didn't want to look at her face for a while.
But Cassie...
A small frown grew on his face.
Cassie was like family to him. He had always seen her like his sister, so it felt unfair to her. She had done absolutely nothing, and yet Sunny and Leon had abandoned contact with her.
How did he view Nephis?
Was she an ally? Or... something more?
He shook his head and began walking faster.
The cathedral was soon in sight.
***
Leon opened his eyes in the Soul Sea and found it quieter than usual.
The ocean moved at its own slow rhythm. The blue sun above pulsed faintly. On the surface, the constellation scattered its cold light across the seafloor.
Aurelia and Noah stood right in front of him, staring down. Leon slowly met their gaze.
He had thought about it for a while now.
Why had Aurelia betrayed him?
"Your emotions have been erratic," Aurelia said.
"You fought Gunlaug's executioner because you were curious. You went after the Spire Messenger because you wanted to prove something. You dragged a corpse through a doorway because you were angry." Noah's voice was even and loud.
"You've been using the flaw as an excuse."
He stared at the two.
'They're judging me now?'
Leon frowned.
"You know I'm right."
He did. That was the irritating part.
He thought about the Carapace Demon. He thought about the Soul Devouring Tree and the events that led to Nephis and Cassie being enthralled. Sunny hunting alone for a week to charge a Crown that never should have run empty in the first place.
He walked to Gunlaug's throne room because he was curious. He stood in front of Nephis in a ruined hut, calling her no different from her enemies and was then surprised when she threw him through a wall.
He could list the reasoning for every decision. Reasons that sounded logical.
He had kept everyone at a distance because he didn't trust them to be competent enough.
What if they made a plan to kill the Carapace Demon, and then Cassie tripped and fell, only for the Demon to eat her.
No.
Wasn't that exactly the reason Nephis didn't trust him? Because he did not trust her in the first place?
He only saw Sunny as a friend because of his flaw. He only saw Cassie as a friend because of her future potential. He only saw Nephis as a friend because she was important to the story.
Was that truly friendship?
In the end she was right.
'I am selfish.'
After Noah let Leon process his thoughts, he continued.
"That's why I made use of the situation."
Leon looked at him.
Noah sighed.
"Even if you hadn't fought her, Gunlaug would have connected you to Changing Star eventually."
He scratched his head. "You two made it easier. I asked Aurelia to step in. The Bird and Wolf too."
He looked at Aurelia. She just looked back with an expressionless face.
He slowly stood up.
Everything that happened so far was... Did it matter anymore?
Sure, he had done everything recklessly. His emotions were erratic, and his actions had consequences.
But nothing had really went wrong had it?
Leon was just... standing there.
Staring at nothing.
Something felt off. Disturbingly off, deep within him. There was this strange sensation clawing up from his chest. His fingers curled into trembling fists.
When was the last time he felt something like this?
Oh right. Nephis— No. Changing Star.
He remembered helping her countless times, fighting alongside her in the Labyrinth.
He also remembered her fists pummeling down on his face.
Leon smirked. He felt angry. No, furious.
'SO what?'
Leon narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not wrong."
Aurelia's eyes twitched. "You were going to kill her."
"I doubt she'd have died that easily."
Aurelia shook her head.
"That is not what I mean and you know it."
He did know it.
"If you keep making enemies out of everyone you care about," Aurelia said, quietly, "what exactly are you left with?"
Noah sighed. "How much longer are you going to keep up this performance?"
Leon turned towards Noah.
"You think I don't realize Leon?" He said, his voice echoing through the vast sea. "You're trying to craft the perfect story here. A story that you'll be satisfied with."
Aurelia frowned.
"You want to make your story interesting by doing stupid things?"
Leon's face contorted in anger.
"What... do you know about me?"
Aurelia froze.
He looked at his Resonance Core.
"You're right. I shouldn't hold a grudge against Nephis, when she's just misled by her own ideals."
A soft smile appeared on her face.
"But she's gonna pay for what she did to me."
The smile froze, and before she could retort, Leon had already left the Soul Sea.
***
He opened his eyes in the cathedral.
Every muscle in his body immediately reminded him of what had happened to it over the past few days.
He sat up slowly.
He saw Sunny sitting opposite to him on a chair.
"Sunny—"
"I'm sorry." Sunny cut him off.
Leon widened his eyes.
"If I had dealt with Harper differently. If I had stepped in before you two—"
"Stop," Leon said.
"You didn't do anything wrong." Leon looked at him directly. "I did what I did. It was my decision."
"Leon—"
"It's what best friends do, right?"
Sunny was quiet for a while.
He exhaled slowly and looked at the floor again.
"You... You'll forgive her?"
"I'm not forgiving her," Leon said almost immediately.
His jaw tightened slightly.
"She's wrong about the plan, and she's going to get people killed. I'm not going to let that happen."
Sunny chuckled.
"It's unlike you to care about others."
Leon's eyes twitched.
"I... I'd say I'm also out for revenge."
"She was also right about some things," Leon said. "About me."
"What?"
"I've been—" He stopped.
The elaborate version was formed in his head again. He could've lied, said something that sounded better.
But Leon shook his head.
"I've been using everyone as pieces. And calling it friendship."
"You also dragged Harper through a doorway to protect me without being asked," Sunny said.
"That's not..."
"It is." Sunny's voice was quiet but firm. "We all make mistakes. What are you going to do with them, is the question."
Leon looked at him.
"When did you get wise?"
"I've always been wise," Sunny said.
The cathedral was quiet around them. Outside, the dark city was doing dark city things. Being a city, and being dark.
"We need a plan," Leon said.
Sunny nodded. "We need to be stronger first."
"I can get into contact with one of the lieutenants."
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"How?"
Leon told him about the caves. About the oath keys. About the seven shard memories and seven locks that Cassie's vision had been describing all along.
He walked closer, and summoned the codex, letting Sunny read through it.
Sunny took a while to read it.
Leon was looking through the cathedral in the meanwhile.
After a while, Sunny lowered the book, his expression grim.
"She's dead?"
Leon nodded slowly, his expression grim.
"Song Seishan..."
"With her, we have one lieutenant on our side."
Sunny was quiet for a while.
"So we need seven shard memories. Without them, we can't get out."
Leon nodded.
"We have two then," Sunny said.
"And Nephis is going to figure it out eventually if she hasn't already." Leon exhaled slowly. "Which means the throne isn't our only goal."
Sunny leaned back in the chair.
"So we're surrounded by death zones far worse than the Forgotten Shore. And our only way out is through a Crimson Spire that is possible guarded by a horse of Fallen Creatures..."
Leon didn't say anything to that.
Sunny sighed, letting out a nervous laugh.
"Sounds doable."
Noah laughed. "This guy has no idea what he has to do for a fridge later on."
"There's something below us," Sunny said. "Fallen Devil."
Leon paused. "Fallen Devil? You want to kill it?"
"I want us to be ready to kill it," Sunny said. "When we are..."
Leon thought about this.
"That's genuinely insane," he said.
Sunny smiled. "The Mad Scythe saying that is quite the compliment. Is that a yes?"
Leon looked at the floor beneath them, and thought about what was under it. He grinned.
"Obviously," he said.
Leon then shifted his gaze toward one of the chests in the room.
He could feel it. Something was in the chest. Something that pulled on his Omen of Insight.
"What's in the box, Sunny?"
Sunny's gaze grew dark.
"Don't, Leon."
Leon's eyes remain fixed on the chest.
"Just tell me."
Sunny shook his head.
"Stay. Away from the chest."
"What's in box?"
Sunny slowly stood up. The two got into their fighting positions.
"40 draws. 1 win remember?" Leon said.
Sunny grinned.
"As delusional as always."
***
Nephis was sitting in her office as her gaze trailed off. She hadn't eaten anything in a few days.
Cassie had brought food twice. Both plates were still on the edge of the desk, cold and dry.
She was leaning on her chair, with her arm resting on her face.
The office window let in the gray light of the Forgotten Shore afternoon. The outer settlement moved outside it.
She thought about Cassie's vision.
She wanted to say that was completely impossible.
There was no telling he was actually her long lost brother. But Cassie's visions never lied, and neither did Cassie.
She knew she could trust Cassie.
Even back at the academy, Nephis had felt some sort of strange connection to Leon. It felt as though she had known for a long time, and yet not known him at all.
What if the great clans had adopted Leon, and made him swear his allegiance to them.
She gritted her teeth, imagining all the twisted lies they would tell him.
If what he said was true, and Leon was truly from the outskirts, then he been abandoned, not kidnapped.
Nephis felt all the strength leave her body.
Why?
Why had her parents abandoned him, but not her? What reason could they possible have had to—
Nephis's jaw tightened. She was always proud of her family. Her mother who had bravely sacrificed herself to rescue people in America. Her father who had cleared the Third Nightmare for the very first time in humanity's history.
Ever since their deaths, she had no family. Her only purpose was revenge, and to restore the glory of her clan. But now... Now she had someone.
'I nearly killed my own brother...'
***
Cassie was in her room, sprawled across the bed.
She had seen the vision of Sunny's true name. Of when Sunny had killed Harper.
She knew that Sunny and Nephis would get into a fight in the Crimson Spire at the end. But what about Leon?
Could she really choose between her friends? Leon had been the one to help her up during her toughest times. Sunny had been her friend since the Academy. Nephis had saved her in the Dream Realm.
Her chest tightened.
She would do what had to be done.
She always did.