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“Leona, it’ll be fine.”
Leona sighed as Ruggie slid out of his infirmary bed and Jack lifted a giggling Cheka onto his shoulders.
“If anything happens to him, you’ll be responsible,” Leona muttered.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry so much. His uncle has some very capable friends,” Ruggie laughed as he gestured to the tiny redhead currently engrossed in playing with Jack’s ears.
“Prefect, you don’t want one of us to walk back with you?” Deuce asked, sounding concerned.
“No, I’ll be okay,” you replied with a gentle smile. “I’ll rest here for a bit to make sure I’m feeling okay before heading back.”
“I’m eating ALL the leftovers from last night then!” Grim cheered as he bolted out of the room.
You rolled your eyes and gave a gentle wave as everyone filtered out of the room. The infirmary was nearly empty with your friends gone. No one else had been injured enough to warrant an overnight stay, which left only Leona and yourself.
The silence was deafening as the two of you awkwardly avoided eye contact and tried to act like the other wasn’t there. The two of you never got on that well to begin with, but the events of today left a heavy tension in the air.
Settling back into the surprising comfortable bed, you fruitlessly attempted to fall asleep for a bit before giving up on the idea. Whether it was Leona’s presence or the fact that you had been asleep for who knows how long, you weren’t sure. Instead, you rolled onto your side and retrieved your phone from the side table.
You scrolled aimlessly through MagiCam, catching up on everything you missed. You smiled sadly at all of Cater’s posts featuring your friends beaming in group photos, quietly lamenting the loss of what would’ve been a memorable day. While in the middle of replying to well wishes in your DMs, you heard a noise from Leona’s direction. Instinctively you looked up from your phone but quickly averted your gaze when you made brief eye contact.
A few minutes later you heard another noise accompanied by the rustling of sheets, which you guessed was him shifting onto his side. You tried to ignore it but the noises became more frequent and… Was he sniffling? Internally chastising yourself for being too empathetic for your own good, you took a deep breath and set your phone down on your lap.
“Leona…” you called quietly. “Are you okay?”
Silence.
“Leona?” you tried again.
“Leave me alone, herbivore.” Leona snapped, but the crack in his voice made your chest tighten.
“I’ll leave you alone if that’s really what you want,” you paused waiting to see if he’d immediately snap at you again, but he didn’t. “But if you want to talk, I’m a pretty good listener.”
There was silence for what seemed like an eternity before a dry laugh escaped him.
“What is there to talk about?” Leona replied quietly as he sat up to look directly at you.
Under any other circumstances, the piercing green of his gaze would’ve made you nervous. But tonight, there was no intensity in them, his gaze was hollow, and it filled you with mixed feelings. Leona’s words and actions today were deplorable, there was no doubt about that, but in front of you now was nothing more than a broken man.
“Well,” you replied tentatively, “how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” he scoffed. “I’m not weak enough for a bunch of herbivores on the Spelldrive field to do any real damage.”
“That’s not what I meant,” you sighed and tapped your head. “I mean up here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
“Typical man,” you muttered, receiving a scowl which you simply ignored as you continued, “An overblot doesn’t just happen because of magic overuse, and I’m pretty sure Ruggie did most of the dirty work for you.”
“Your point?” he growled, clearly getting annoyed.
“Well, Riddle was using his magic like crazy on top of all of the stress and other bad stuff that was going through his head,” you explained. “So, I imagine you’ve been dealing with some heavy stuff mentally if you haven’t been using a lot of magic, no?”
The question hung in the air as Leona averted his eyes. Understanding the vulnerability the question was asking for, you didn’t want to push further. Instead, you fiddled aimlessly with the sheets as you patiently waited for a reply.
“Maybe,” he said simply, staring off into the corner of the room.
“Okay, um,” you fumbled, unsure of how to reply to that. “I’ll just assume it’s been rough because of what you were lamenting about before the… incident?”
He didn’t reply, so you continued.
“Look Leona, I don’t agree with any of your actions today, and you said some pretty messed up things to people who thought of you as a friend,” you sighed. “But I do sympathize with what you’ve been feeling.”
“How could someone like you possibly understand?” he asked in a hoarse voice, staring at the ground.
“You don’t have to be royalty to feel worthless, Leona,” you replied quietly.
His eyes snapped to you and you looked away, somewhat embarrassed at your own vulnerability.
“Even though I’m not a second born prince” you continued, “I still find myself struggling to find a purpose, to feel like I belong where I’m at. It sucks to not feel in control of your own future.”
Leona nodded in silent agreement but he seemed to be looking through you instead of at you.
“So… I get it,” you said with a sad smile. “It’s frustrating to not be able to be mad at anyone but the universe for circumstances out of your control. Because its not your fault, y’know? You just… have to take it.”
Leona continued to stare on with a vacant expression but the pale moonlight revealed how his eyes had become glossy.
“I’ll never understand your pain exactly, I don’t think many share the exact same problems in general,” you mused. “But you aren’t alone, I still feel unwanted and alone in the world sometimes. I don’t know if that helps you feel any better, but I find a kind of solace in knowing I’m not the only one.”
A single tear slid down Leona’s cheek. Followed by another, and then another. He made no move to wipe them away. With a sharp breath through your teeth, you pulled the covers off and padded silently across the room to his side. Only after carefully settling on the edge of his bed and gently wiping the tears from his cheek did he look at you.
He didn’t look quite as despondent now, but his eyes still weren’t as piercing as they usually were. Maybe it was simply a trick of the light or the tears that continued to well up, but he almost looked… gentle?
“You put up a good front, Kingscholar,” you smiled warmly at him as you moved to wipe his other cheek, “but it takes one to know one.”
That pulled a small smile from him.
“I thought you said you were a good listener?” he said with his signature smirk.
“It didn’t seem like you were going to be doing much talking so…” you giggled. “If you want to talk now, I’ll shut up?”
“Thanks,” he whispered almost too softly for you to hear, and you gave him a small smile in return. “I guess it feels better knowing I’m not the only one, I think you were onto something.”
“I think solidarity in suffering can be comforting,” you replied, nodding. “Even if I’m not a forlorn prince, its comforting to me too, honestly.”
“Very funny,” he grumbled. “I wish I wasn’t.”
“Sadly we can’t pick the circumstances of our birth,” you said sadly. “At least your family seems decent.”
“What?” Leona asked with wide eyes.
“Well, I just assumed you cared about them a lot,” you shrugged, “with the way you fussed over your nephew and everything.”
He didn’t say anything, seemingly deep in thought.
“I think you’re upset with the circumstances, not them,” you smiled. “And I think they love you too, Cheka definitely does.”
“Yeah,” he said, giving you a soft smile in return. “I think you’re right.”
“I usually am,” you laughed and moved to get up but Leona quickly grabbed your wrist.
“Sorry,” he muttered, immediately releasing you and looking embarassed as if it was simply by reflex. “Where are you going?”
“I was going to go back to my own bed if you’re okay now. We can keep talking for a little if you want, and then I’ll head back to Ramshackle,” you replied, raising an eyebrow.
He turned away and crossed his arms, resembling a pouting child. He muttered something under his breath and glanced your way quickly.
“What was that?” you asked, looking at him expectantly as he rolled his eyes.
“I asked if…” he trailed off, but you waited patiently. “I asked if you would stay.”
You slowly nodded and tried to contain your surprise, but nearly failed when Leona scooted over and looked expectantly between you and the empty space. You tentatively slid to sit next to him, trying to maintain a semblance of personal space and quickly realizing the futility of that. After you stopped moving, his head rested on your shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Did you want to talk more or am I just here to be used as a pillow?” you asked cooly, trying to act like you weren’t internally losing it.
“Both?” he said with a chuckle.
You sighed and shook your head. Wanting to avoid an awkward silence, you asked about his homeland, to which Leona answered with a surprising degree of enthusiasm. You laughed along at his anecdotes and chimed in with your own jokes as he ventured on tangent after tangent, but it wasn’t long before your eyelids became heavy.
Perhaps it was the comfort of receiving some much needed human(?) contact, or maybe it was the exhaustion catching up with you now that you weren’t afraid of the predator in the room, but either way, his voice lulled you into a pleasant sleep.
Leona glanced at your sleeping face and smiled softly before gently headbutting you, much like a typical housecat. He silently pulled a blanket around the two of you and closed his own eyes.
“G’night, herbivore.”