Leon Pride: A World of Demons

Chapter 73 - The Fallen

Lauren was looking up at the bright red ball of light as it continued to burn in the night sky turning effectively turning night into a perverse bloody version of day. Everything had a red hue to it, though as Lauren looked around there honestly wasn't anything for the light to really catch off of. The force of the blast had literally flattened the city of Los Angeles. Though flat may be a bit of a strange term to use considering the ground the were standing on had been turned into a large bowl where once there stood a city. It was flat enough however that she could feel the cool winds coming from the water not too far from them.

All around her there stood faces all adorning the same look that was an equal mix of disbelief and awe. None of them, her included could believe what it is they'd just experienced. From the time she first ever met Leon back when those feral dog demons had snuck into Washington she'd known that he could create explosions with his body. But the red orb that she was looking at was something that, honestly the only comparison to be made was that of a nuclear fireball. Intensely bright, almost painful to look at, in fact the longer she looked Lauren could feel the burning of tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

What caused them though? Was it the pain of looking up at this ball of fire... Or was it caused by a different kind of pain, the kind that was caused by the loss or the uncertainty of whether or not a loved one still drew breath. An arm found its way around her making Lauren jump at first until she turned her head to find that it was Roy that'd touched her. She didn't know what it was about him, maybe her feelings for him, or the fact that although they shared different mothers, Roy and Leon still shared some facial features. Regardless of the reason Lauren's strength broke just then as she turned toward him throwing her arms around his shoulders and did just as Natalia had done by screaming her grief into his shoulder. A benefit that sadly Natalia didn't have, nor would have again if Leon was really gone.

She wasn't the only one grieving however, another voice had joined the wailing, a scratchy voice that Lauren could only compare to a caterwaul. She felt the arms around her tighten protectively as something heavy was thrown making her heart leap into her throat before turning to see what'd happened. When she looked she found Carny was on his knees, his hands gripping his head and hair while tears streamed down his face. Seeing the demon wailing like that only confirmed to Lauren what she already knew but had held out hope against hope that she was wrong. Carny seemed to always know something about Leon, whether or not that was true or just the demons insanity talking none of them knew but what she did know was that if he was grieving as well... He really was gone.

That realization hit Lauren like a freight train as she buried her face back into Roy's shoulder and sobbed until she was gagging herself. Even then she couldn't bring herself to stop, the boy who had brought so much change to her life and had so quickly become a huge part of her was gone. Just simply gone, and this time there wasn't anyway that he could come back.

Lauren continued sobbing and coughing until a voice finally spoke up that made everyone look up at a battered Skorge who had separated himself from the rest of them. He was holding up his arm with electricity crackling around it and a look of triumph was splayed upon his face as he trained his crackling hand at them all. "Any of you still willing to follow me will be forgiven." He panted taking aim at all of them much to everyone's shock. "Those of you who aren't well- you get the point."

"Enough of this Skorge!" Typhon called as he got up on his shaky legs. "Now is not the time for any of this! Can't you see that they're grieving?"

"Oh that's where you're wrong Typhon." Skorge said turning his crackling hand towards the white haired demon. "Now's the perfect time for this. The only two demons stronger than I have gone and killed each other! What better time to take my rightful place than now? I am the Head of the Demon after all."