Bounded To You (Eternity)

Chapter 20 - Repercussions

CHAPTER 20: REPERCUSSIONS

Blayth walked Leon to their room, entering with him by his side. Leon rubbed his face with both hands as he tried to get himself over his conflicted emotions, his body still rigid ever since he'd seen Noah attempt to end his life.

"Leon, what is going on in your head?" Blayth questioned as he watched Leon take off his shirt, before replacing it with a clean one, then going to his bed, tossing his pillow aside to revile a book underneath it. "Leon." Blayth insisted.

"I'm fine. Let me be." Leon said, opening a small jar on the bedside table, dipping a feather pen into it before taking a seat on his bed, his back to the wall as he faced the other bed in the room, his knees drawn up with the book reclined against them. He opened it to a new page, one he hasn't written in, placing the tip of the pen against the empty page but stopping there. He took in a deep shuddered breath, watching his hand tremble.

"Leon?" Blayth said from where he sat on his bed. "What do you write in that damn book? Can't you just talk to me?"

Leon bit his lower lip, the helpless feeling from the night before returning as he tried to steady his heart. Recalling what happened didn't ease his mind, it only made him think more about everything, about how a second later and Noah would have fallen to his death from the window, or even bled to death before he got him to the infirmary.

Blayth sighed when Leon took forever to reply, so instead, he laid down in his bed, staring at the ceiling until he heard Leon say, "Talking is hard. I don't like talking."

Blayth sat up, turning to face Leon, but Leon never lifted his eyes from the book, his pen creating an ink stain on the page where it still touched it. "It helps sometimes." Blayth encouraged.

"No. it doesn't. It just makes everything real. That is why I write it down instead. After I close the book, everything is fine. I am fine. But, what happened last night..."

"What happened last night?" Blayth asked, Leon never told them what exactly happened other than Noah stabbing himself.

"He was chasing Lucius. I think he was seeing him. He almost jumped out a window, but then stabbed himself when I stopped him. All that blood, Blayth. I've been around so much blood before, I have fought battles for god's sake, but... it was different. I have seen him injured before, many times... but not-...

"I hate how things have changed." Leon finally spoke, not finishing his last words, his voice low as he tried to control the tremor in it. "It was all so normal, and then... When I got here after my family died, I quickly got used to everything, faster than I'd like to admit." Leon said the words he wanted to write. He didn't know what had gotten into him, he was used to just writing what he felt down and get over it right after. "Normal was Lucius, seeing him every day. Noah, so strong, by his side. King Timothy looking over everyone from his study's balcony that oversaw the training yard. Normal. I never thought I would use that word again after I thought I lost everything. But it was."

"I think I know what you mean." Blayth agreed.

"But the king that accepted me and trusted me with what was most important to him is gone." Leon said, his teeth clenching before he continued, "Lucius as well. But there was no time to grieve their deaths. When Lucius was on his death bed, I felt horrible, but Noah was there with him. When he felt ill he helped him. He has his power after all, he is a mage. When Noah got injured form the first battle with the North, Lucius was by his side. All I had to do was be close if I was needed... to be told what to do...