Chapter 18: Small Truths

Leo and Alex calmly walked up the steps to his house, Hayden in Leo's arms, asleep with tear-stained cheeks, snoring quietly. He opened the door with one free arm and walked into the house, but Alex stayed on the porch, her arms crossed over her chest as her face contained a look that Leo couldn't pinpoint, it was completely blank.

"Leo? Back so soon?" Patricia started before she saw a finger over Leo's lips, the teen gesturing towards Hayden. "Ah, okay." She scooped the child from his arms, careful not to wake him up as she rested his head on her own shoulder, a look of slight confusion when she saw his face. "What happened?"

"Jonah," Was Leo's answer, causing her eyes to widen significantly in horror. "But don't worry, if he tries anything like this again. . ." She saw a small gleam of darkness surrounding Leo as his fist clenched. No, she wouldn't let him get to that state again.

Once was enough.

"Leo," She said gently, her kind eyes meeting his own. "Calm down, he might stop after this attempt, he knows who you are and what you've done. Don't worry too much, your hair will go all grey." Leo nodded, though, he wasn't going to listen to her.

Hearing and listening were two different things after all.

"Okay," He replied. "But I have to go talk to Alex." Patricia nodded as she turned around.

"Leo," She began. She paused, not knowing how to say it. "Uh, nevermind. I'll see you later." Leo nodded before walking out the front door, where Alex was waiting.

"Well, what do you want to know?" He asked her, tilting his head as he tried to smile, but the strain on his cheeks was just a tad bit too much as he failed to fully convince her it was real.

"Everything. I thought you were weak? How do you scale around two-hundred feet in almost two seconds? That's physically impossible! You also just grabbed him by the face and slammed him on the ground! Not just anybody can do that!"

"I've been taking steroids," Leo said as he closed his eyes, squeezing them. "I was tired of being beaten up so I started taking steroids."

"You're lying," She hissed. "I've seen people take steroids to catch up to me quickly, and they all got sick, lost their hair, or just flat out failed. Tell me the truth!" She began shouting. "It wasn't your butler who kicked that girl through your METAL fence, it was you! Steroids don't do that!"

"They're really strong steroids?" He asked, wincing at his own words, it sounding like a question. Alex grabbed Leo by the collar and slammed him against the post of the porch, her forearm pressing against his chest.

"Tell me the truth!" She hissed dangerously. Leo met her scarlet eyes, trying to meet that same intensity in her eyes, but failed.

He deserved this.

"I can't," He whispered just loud enough for her to hear, causing her to take a step back, the amount of regret and sorrow in his voice was powerful. "I'm sorry, Alexis. I shouldn't have lied to you, I shouldn't have hidden my true abilities, but, if people were to know how strong I truly was, then I would become dangerous for everyone around me. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do." She stated before walking away. "I understand you don't trust me, and that you lied to me. Count our agreement as over." She turned away, causing Leo to look at her with startled eyes.

"Alex," He whispered, wanting so badly to stop her, look her into the eyes and tell her the truth, the whole truth.

But alas, he could not, for she would hate him.

He killed her brother after all.

He'd want to kill him too.

He turned around, a single tear crawling down his face as he walked into the house and sulked for the rest of the day.

Besides Hayden, he was all alone.

No friends.

Sitting alone wasn't fun before he met Alex, but now, now it was practically unbearable. To have a friend, grin, laugh, and talk to that just suddenly goes out of someone's life, it hurt worse than any blade.

"Tch, check him out." A group came up to Leo, approaching with what was easily observed as ill intent as the whole cafeteria watched. Alex was his only protection, and now that she left him, he was fair game.

To everyone.

They were football players, the jocks, the big muscular kids who thought they owned the school, the type that Leo hated. The type that made Leo angry.

He hated bullies.

"Where's your girlfriend? All out of protection? That's so sad," One of them mocked in Leo's ear, wrapping an arm around Leo's shoulder tightly, squeezing him.

"Yeah, now everyone will just beat you up. Maybe you should pay us money to hang out with you? I mean, you're just a loser with no friends, the only reason she actually tolerated you was because you gave her money."

"Almost like a hooker," Leo's finger twitched as he took a deep breath. "Spending time with someone for money? Maybe she even did him?"

"I'd be quiet if I were you," Leo whispered. "She's the Red Reaper you know," He was lying through his teeth, but as far as they knew, he was speaking the truth.

"Pfft, she can't handle all of us."

'Yeah right, she's the Crimson Cloak, she isn't weak.' Leo thought as he smiled weakly at the group of five boys surrounding him.

"I don't have any money on me at the moment, maybe next time?" One of them snickered at his words.

"He completely ignored us, what a loser." He took out Leo's wallet, catching the teen by surprise as he tried to grab it back, only to be held back by two of the five. The boy, the leader in Leo's eyes, opened up the wallet, his eyes widening as he held out a stack of hundreds, the money Leo was going to use to buy groceries that night.

"Holy shit, he lied to us, shit, I know why she hung around so much, if I were a girl and got this much money I'd whore myself-" Suddenly, the boy couldn't breath, the air that was in his lungs was no longer there.

"Shut it," Leo whispered dangerously, no longer in the grips of the two boys as they were on the floor, holding their stomachs as they groaned in pain. "Don't talk about people as if you know them, because you don't know a damn thing."

"This guy," One of them whispered angrily as he charged Leo, only for Leo to get low and heave the boy over his shoulder, causing him to land on the leader.

"Do you wish to try?" Leo asked the last teen standing. "If so, I won't be as gentle as I was with them."

The boy, a mere junior on the football team, felt like he might suffocate, his entire body shaking with fear. Maybe it was the stance of pure confidence from the supposed weakling? Or the look in his eyes that spoke of death, a tiny red glow behind those brown eyes, waiting for him to move.

"P-P-Please don't kill me," Leo's eyes widened as he realized just exactly what had happened, and almost instantly that feeling went away, Leo pushing his glasses back up as he smiled awkwardly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He took out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to the boy. "Please, accept my apology." The boy nodded, but he was still shaking. This was no weakling. This was no mere boy.

This was a monster.

"T-Thank you," And with that, Leo walked out the door of the cafeteria that led outside. He walked into the woods, where the leaves were orange, yellow, and red, fall slowly transforming the forest into a place of death.

Fall.

What an interesting way to describe the slow death of plants, it fits it perfectly, so why was it Leo's favorite season? Perhaps the fact that he could relate to it is why it struck him so deeply.

He approached a small pond and sat by it, taking large, calming breaths as he tried to stay calm, despair coming off of him in waves.

"I don't want to be like that again, I don't want to hurt people. I've worked so hard, I've worked too damn hard to become my old self again!" He shouted the last sentence as he looked into the pond, seeing his reflection, but also, not his reflection.

What he saw, was a darker version of himself.

He saw himself grinning sinisterly as his red eyes glowed, his short black hair going down to his eyes, blood specks all over his face.

"NO!" He shouted as he slapped the image away, his current reflection coming back into the pond. "I won't become that person, I won't go deeper! I can't go deeper!" He shouted as tears flowed down his face, dropping into the pond as it rippled through the water.

"I don't want to lose myself," He whispered in a defeated tone as if he already had.

A hawk with pitch-black feathers and a sharp beak watched Leo from afar, tilting its head as to why the human was disrupting its nap. It flew off, no longer wanting to be disturbed.

It had prey to catch.