Dog Fights

Chapter 34; Aubade

"Clover," Orgon demands suddenly, looking off to the side, "come here, would you?"

Ezra glances up as the woman steps over, pausing a moment before crouching down beside her father. Tears stream down her face, but Ezra doesn't sympathize at all. She's a traitor, cold blooded and heartless. She never cared about S1. She never cared about any of them.

Ezra bares his teeth as Clover leans down, not daring to look him in the eye as she puts her mouth beside Leon's ear. She draws in a deep breath as Ezra tries to pull the teen away, but doesn't touch either of them.

A few moments pass before she squeezes her eyes shut, making Orgon grin as she begins muttering in a language Ezra doesn't know.

"Don't worry, Ezra," Orgon says, patting Clover on the shoulder as Leon's eyelids flutter. She sits back, letting tears stream down her clean face. "See? He's alive. You'll live to see him walk again."

Ezra watches Leon's face twitch, grinding his teeth to avoid letting out another sob as the teen blinks. His crystal eyes flare and struggle to focus, making him squint and flex the muscles in his arms.

Orgon smiles happily as Leon looks around, eyes wild and confused. He reaches to the side, gripping the front of Ezra's bloody shirt as he tries to pull himself up.

Ezra stares, unable to pick himself up off his knees as Leon pushes off his lap, landing in the sand between him and Orgon. This isn't the kid he grew to know over the last month. This isn't the kid that taught him how to be humane. The kid he knew used to have warm, kind eyes, and a bright smile. Now his eyes are wide with hysteria, lips curled up to expose the bloody fangs that had forced their way into his mouth.

By the time Leon kicks back a few feet Orgon had pushed a wooden stake into his hand, and the teen stares down at it in confusion. His entire body is shaking dangerously, and blood falls from within his wet hair. He looks up at Orgon.

Clover looks down, gripping the front of her now dirty dress pants. "Accipe spiritum suum," she mutters, and Ezra watches as Leon stifles. He glances over, looking Ezra up and down as he shifts to his knees. Those eyes are not his. Those movements are not his.

"Accipe spiritum suum. Animam illius serva." Clover sighs, voice thick in her throat. "Pater meus. Occidere eum."

Leon locks his gaze on Ezra's chest, rolling the wooden stake in his hand. Orgon begins to cheer as he lunges, drawing a short cry from Ezra as he tackles him into the sand. The crowd is screaming, and the announcer is speaking frantically into his microphone, but no one can hear what he's saying.

Leon holds Ezra down by the throat, drawing the stake back above his head. For a brief moment through the shadows Ezra can see the innocent hazel eyes he first met in the city, and not a blood lusting monster.

He remembers wandering in the city and passing under the neon lights of all the nightlife shops, trying to convince Leon not to go inside. He remembers sitting in the café, judging whatever Iris dared them to try that night. He remembers spending early mornings in Leon's room, staring at his computer screen and watching every video the teen could find of things he found interesting from the last five years.

Those are the things he wants to remember. Not those shiny blue eyes, or bloody fangs. Not the black eye or bruises. Not the scratches and bandages. He wants to remember Leon. His Leon.

Ezra screams as the stake plunges into his chest, throwing his head back and gripping Leon's wrist as it twists violently. He can feel his ribs break, and his lung tear. Fire spreads through his chest, burning every nerve in his torso. The stake burns his skin, boiling his blood and searing his insides.