Unexpected

Leon finds out

Chapter 13

Leon had spent most of the day lounging around; he had the day off and tried to read a book. He couldn't concentrate, the words had started blurring together over an hour ago and he'd just read the same line three times. His mind was on her again. She looked pale the day before when her and the redhead had stumbled upon him and Annette having lunch, he wondered where she had met the pregnant woman who looked strangely familiar. Sora had barely said two words to him before hightailing it out of there. Had he done something to make her that mad? He knew that he was being a little unfair to her at the wedding but he never would have thought that their little argument would have turned into something like this. Maybe he should apologize to her. Wait, what did he have to apologize to her for? It wasn't like he was her boyfriend or anything. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and concentrate on his book but after reading the same line four more times he just gave up.

He stood up, stretching his arms over his head and feeling his back pop in three places. He set his book down and walked over to his coffee pot and poured himself a cup. His apartment was dim and silent as he stood leaning against the counter, he looked over to the farther corner of his living room at the stand-up piano he had against the wall and thought about maybe playing a little music as a way to pass the day. Leon had been playing piano since he was just a child, before he'd met Annette and Pierre; he used to play for Sophie all the time and she would sing for him, he smiled a little at the thought of his little sister. He missed her.

"Leon!" Came a voice like a gunshot in the silence. He jumped about three feet in the air and spilled half his coffee on the counter. He turned to see Fool standing on his counter, a look of horror on his face as he panted. Leon didn't even know that spirits could pant.

"What's wrong?" Leon asked, concerned because he'd never seen Fool look so terrified before.

"It's Sora!" Fool said between breaths as Leon's stopped short.

"What's wrong with her?!" Leon asked, now face to face with the small specter, his heart racing.

"I don't know!" Fool said. "She just collapsed." He had barely finished the sentence before Leon was out the door, his coffee still forming a steaming puddle on the counter.

Sora could feel a warm wetness spreading over her but that was the least of her worries. It felt as though someone had set a rabid wolverine lose inside her and it was trying to tear its way out. She moaned in pure agony as the sharp and prolonged pains spread, she couldn't move from her fetal position as she clutched her stomach tightly willing the pain to go away. She thought she was dying. There was a sharp ringing in her ears as her vision started to blur, tears flowing from her eyes. An agonized moan ripped itself from her throat.

"Help… me…" she cried in a cracked voice as the world went black around her.

"SORA!" Leon yelled as he banged on the door, silence was his only answer. It had only taken him a few minutes to get to her apartment, but that did nothing to quell is anxiety. "SORA!" He yelled again, but he heard nothing. He tried the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge under his grip. He threw himself into the door, but it wouldn't even move.

"Damn!" He jumped down the stairs and sprinted around the side of the building, finding her balcony. He jumped up and grabbed the edge, pulling himself up and climbing over the railing. The sliding door opened easily, signaling that she may have gone out earlier that day and forgotten to lock it back, normally Leon would scold her for not locking her doors but for now he was extremely thankful.

The apartment was silent, eerily so. "Sora?" He called, quickly striding through her bedroom and into the short hall leading to her kitchen and living room, that's when the sickly sweet coppery smell invaded his nose. He saw red droplets on the floor, leading from the living room into the kitchen where they disappeared behind the counter. He followed them and his heart dropped into his stomach.