Heroes of Darkness

XI

LEO

"And a right foot, left foot, right again... Come now, Leo, speed it up a bit." His mother had his hand in hers and made to put his arm around her waist. Even though there was no one around to see it, he was embarrassed.

What are you looking at, Dusclops? He eyed to his Spirit Pokémon in the corner of the room, watching him mockingly with its one eye. Suddenly, he lurched forward and his mother gave a cry of pain.

"Gods, Leo, pay attention!" she said. Mother had fallen over, clutching her toes. "I'm trying to help you for the party. I've yet to turn you into a good dancer. You're just like your father." She stood up and inhaled deeply to calm herself. "Lumbering around, always with the stepping on toes."

Leo hung his head. It's true, he knew. How am I ever going to impress Elizabeth if I'm always crushing her feet when I dance? I can't even hold the rhythm... Just the thought of Elli made his heart skip a beat. She was two and a half, almost three years older than him. Though he was taller, he still looked his age when he saw his reflection. Elli was, for all intents and purposes, a woman grown. All Leo saw in himself on top of his broad shoulders was the beginnings of a beginning of a wisp of mustache.

"Oh, Leo, don't worry, you'll get better," his mother smiled back at him. "I'm sorry dear, but you mustn't be so hard on yourself."

He turned away and walked towards Dusclops. Even his Spirit Pokémon was sensing his mood, losing the mocking in its eye, and beginning to pity him. "Why not?" he asked softly. "Everyone else is."

"Listen to yourself," his mother chided as she sat down in her chair. She was younger than his father by a good ten years. She was not a small woman, either. She was tall, and had broad shoulders, and thick, athletic arms. It was no wonder Leo was as large as he was already. His father was a Walrein, and his mother a Machoke. "We're only hard on you because we know how special you are."

She sounded almost like his friend from First Generation instruction, Chris Marsh II. That was always his excuse when he was caught bullying one of the younger or less talented children.

"But I'm not special..." he said. There, I said it. Dusclops let out an audible whine as it looked back to his mother.

His mother scoffed. "Don't be so pitiful," she responded. "Where do you get these absurd notions? Why would your father and I take the time to instruct you in these things if I didn't think you could learn to do them well?"

Leo Specter didn't have an answer for that. He said the first thing that came to his mind. "Alex wouldn't have trouble with this... Alex never had problems swimming, or running. You saw how Elli looked at me. I'm a disgrace. She thinks of me as a boy. The same shy little boy she knew it Sootopolis. I could feel my face burst into flame I was so nervous, Mother."

His mother laughed and walked back up to him. "Dearest Leo. My sweet son," she kissed him on the cheek. "She is a beautiful girl, any boy from Dewford to Mossdeep would have a little blush when they meet who they are to marry."

But what about girls who meet me? Leo thought somberly.

"Now," his mother looked him in the eye. "We're going to finish your dancing lesson, and there will be no more talk of Alex. You are the heir to Mt. Pyre and its jurisdictions. Not him. He will never be as special as my sweet boy. He is nothing and he never will be. It doesn't matter what he can do, your father's seat will always be yours."

The dancing lesson lasted the rest of the afternoon. With a little encouragement from his mother and some determination, Leo was able to master a few basic steps. When his mother left to get washed up for the dinner, he practiced some more with Dusclops (who seemed to Leo to be much more encouraging and much less critical).