The twilight sky above paired with the rain falling softly around him would often bring Leo a sense of quiet peace; a time for him to reflect on the day, the work he’d done, and the conversations he’d had.

Sometimes it would bring him to a darker place, where he’d drink to feel less, attempting to numb his brain. Swallowing the sins he’d committed, counting every gulp meticulously to bury the innocent people he’d failed, what could have been, what should have been, and what was to come.

Despite all this, tonight wasn’t one either of those nights.

8:46 pm. Thursday night.

Any normal evening would have Leo locked in his apartment, ignorant to the rest of the world around him, but tonight his feet carried him around the city of Destroh. Alongside him was Lior- a pessimistic, antagonistic Nightingale, and Leo couldn’t help but make a game out of his companion’s complaining. He had made a personal bet to predict how many times Lior would tell him he hated him- it didn’t have to be in those exact words, any variation of the phrase would do, which was making the game much more entertaining.

He imagined the night would end with approximately thirty-four “I hate you”s- and he’d consider himself lucky. Any more than that, and he’d guess the man really did hate him. 

Leo didn’t really blame him- Lior was delegated to babysitting duty against his will. Leo’s typical job would have him sitting inside a cushy office, filing paperwork, case after case, a job he had at first relished in. Compared to what his father wanted of him, that was a walk in the park.

Until the weight of every name that passed through his desk began to crush him, and he was desperately grasping for a hand- any hand, to pull him out and bring him relief.

So here he was, on a tour for field work to see if he still knew how to fly. He’d told his supervisor he was feeling too soft, too bored- he needed a little more excitement in his day. This was far from the truth, but it got him a ticket out of that cell of an office and into the city.

Leo had tuned Lior out for the most part, and it was only when the man went silent did he grab Leo’s full attention. They stopped walking and Lior looked around, his face focused as he tried to grab at the aura he’d just sensed moments ago. Leo waited patiently, quietly- he’d already interrupted Lior in this state once, and he’d learned quickly it wasn’t to happen again.

Lior didn’t scare him, he just found the lectures annoying.

“This way.”

Lior was quick on the move once more, diverging east of the direction they’d been heading. Leo’s feet moved quickly to catch up, Lior hot on the trail of their next catch. For the most part, the signa they’d encountered that day were all low level, ones and twos- fairly easy to beat, they’d made quick work of them. And yet, it wasn’t an easy job by far, but even risking his life every day would be better than what his current job entailed. 

Lior stopped in front of what appeared to be an abandoned shack near a recently burnt down home. His eyes darted quickly as he tried to calculate exactly where the threat was.

“It’s coming from this old shack.”

“Are you sure?” Leo asked, holding a flashlight up towards the aforementioned structure.

“I’m the one with the tracking- you’re just on a field trip.”

Leo’s brow dropped in frustration as he clicked the flashlight at Lior. “I’m just asking.”

Lior approached the cracked door, placing a hand on the wood and peaking in. “This is my thing, the bastard is in here.”

With that, he swung the door open, much more calmly than Leo would have anticipated. He flashed the beam in towards the darkness, illuminating the dusty shack.

The first thing they saw was the blood, and as their eyes trailed up, they landed on what appeared to be a young woman, hunched over in the middle of the room. Her body littered with cuts and bruises, her back doused in the blood that dripped from the wounds on her shoulders. Leo winced, and as his eyes scanned the room, the body of a young male caught his attention- lying motionless in a pool of blood. He sighed.

Lior seemed to pay no mind to the people inside the shack as he huffed, sounding more annoyed than anything. “Well, it WAS here. Damn it. The aura is still lingering…it must have run off.”

Leo’s eyes panned back to the poor victim in front of him. “Not before causing some serious damage.” He clicked the flash light off, letting the natural light and street lamps from the environment work to illuminate the room. He began to shrug off his black trench coat, calmly approaching the girl. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her- she currently seemed unaware of their presence.

He knelt down next to her, looking her over. Her long, red hair was tangled and matted with blood and dirt, her shoulders tense as she tried to make herself smaller. Her clothes were nowhere to be found, the only thing she wore was a large bandage on her left shoulder.

“Are you alright?” He tried to ask softly, hoping not to frighten her. She remained unmoving, her hair covering her face. He sighed, glancing back at Lior. “This is awful.”

“Tch,” Lior scoffed, crossing his arms, “this is nothing. You’ll see worse.”

His nonchalant attitude frustrated Leo, but he chose to ignore it, instead moving to place his jacket over the woman’s shoulders. She chose now to react, flinching and immediately working to shove the offending coat- and Leo- away.

Leo jumped back a bit, partly from the shock, but to also quickly give her space. Her eyes locked with his- and by Daianha,

He’d never seen such a fiery, determined glare in his life.

Her eyes were two different colors- one, her left, a light metallic gray, while the right eye was much darker, nearly black. Leo had only seen such a combination once in his life…well, in his dreams. In fact, this woman looked nearly identical to a man he’d seen countless times in his sleep. He had tried to ignore the dreams in the past, as they left him with an overwhelming sense to find the man that haunted his sleep, so to see someone so identical in front of him…

Even the beauty marks were the same.

“Oi, Arc Hana to Rothstein.”

Leo snapped out of his thoughts quickly and reoriented himself, clearing his throat. Lior was glaring at him from where he stood- he had entered the shack at some point, investigating the surroundings.

“You listening? Don’t get too emotionally invested. I’m gonna call for backup and search the area for the signa. Stay here.”

“Yeah, sure.” Leo mumbled, watching Lior disappear in the blink of an eye. He turned back to the victim, trying to muster up an awkward smile.

“Sorry, I don’t think he likes me much. Can you tell me where you’re hurt?”

Mix-matched eyes simply stared at him as the woman tried to collect her thoughts, her eyes eventually darting away to search elsewhere for the words she needed. Her gaze shifted towards the body nearby, and Leo moved quickly- but gently- to direct her attention back to him.

“Hey, stay with me over here, okay?” He flashed a warm smile, hoping to bring her comfort and gain her trust. He pulled away and moved to stand up, and the redhead’s eyes shifted to panic. “I’m gonna get he-”

As he turned to walk away, her hand caught his sleeve, the other holding tightly onto the coat given to her. Her eyes begged him not to go, her lips pursed in unease. He sighed, but tilted his head with a lopsided smile.

“Alright, I’m here. I won’t go anywhere.”

He knelt down in front of her, hand on his chest. “I’ll be right here with you.”

It wasn’t long before the two ambulances Lior had requested appeared, making quick work to assess the damage. The young man was pronounced dead on arrival, his wounds too gruesome to even think about attempting to save him.

Leo stood outside, leaning against a wooden fence and attempting to gather his thoughts, when Lior reappeared just as quickly as he’d left, pulling Leo out of his stupor.

“You’re back.” Leo greeted him. “Help arrived pretty quickly.”

“Sounds right,” Lior crossed his arms, leaning against the fence as well, “I couldn’t find the signa.” His brows furrowed in thought, a hand coming up to touch his chin as he wracked his brain. “I don’t know why it would spare the girl.”

“He’s not a girl.”

Lior looked over at Leo, cocking an eyebrow.

“I got him to speak shortly after you’d left- he told me his name was Nick.”

“I see.” Lior went back to crossing his arms, tilting his head in thought. “Regardless, after all that, kid’s gonna be traumatized for life.”

Leo scoffed. “Kid? Please. He’s no younger than you.” He chuckled as he watched Lior roll his eyes in response.

“Ugh, whatever. Look, you sure you wanna do this job? It doesn’t get any better.”

Leo contemplated the question for a moment, looking back to catch eyes with Nick for just a brief moment, who sat in the back of the ambulance. He continued to cling to Leo’s jacket, which he refused to return; honestly, it was sort of endearing. Leo’s mind wandered back to the dreams he’d been having of a certain redheaded man and he smiled.

“Yeah, something tells me I’m meant to be here.”