Defenders of Tomorrow

Episode 3: Blood Red

Akira's eyes flutter open, as his body is placed on the ground. He feels a searing pain on his face, and slowly begins to hear a voice swearing violently.

"L-Leo?" He says, feeling a warm liquid on his lips.

"Kira!" He says shocked, falling to his knees at his side, taking his face in his hands. "God I was so sure I had lost you."

Akira groans, his head heavy. "What happened?"

"I think you cut yourself on a rock." He says wincing. "You're bleeding pretty bad." They were both vaguely illuminated by a soft red light coming from somewhere nearby.

"We need to find the lion," Akira says, trying to stand up, but feeling the blood rush to his head.

Leandro grabs him, as he looses his balance.

"I know, but I need to patch you up first." He bites his lip. "Hold still?"

Leandro rips the bottom of his shirt off, into bandages, trying to soak up most of the blood, with the rest of his shirt. He covers it to the best of his ability's, and frowns in concentration the whole time.

Akira admires his scrunched up eye brows, and the gentle curve of his lips. They looked soft.

His vivid eyes dart to meet his admiring ones, a blush not forming on the wounded boys cheeks. "Thanks for saving me. You're my hero."

Leandro blushes, the red of his cheeks blending with the red light.

"You would've done the same."

Leandro leaned closer for a moment, before deciding against doing anything stupid, and pulled away, clearing his throat. "We better find the lion."

Akira looks away dejected. "Yah... can you help me up?"

Leandro, grabs his shoulders, pulling him up gently. Akira puts his arm around the other boys shoulders, and Leandro keeps his hand firmly on Akira's waist, helping him stand.

"Where to?"

"That way," Akira says, pointing to one of the many tunnels branching off, neither caring about the fact that they couldn't see the sky.

They wind down the tunnels, ending up in a large cavern, filled with magma. On the other side, was a doorway "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

They both admire the bubbling magma before Leandro looks up at Akira's blood soaked bandages. "We should hurry."

At that point Leo really wasn't wearing a shirt anymore, having had to take it off to redress the bandages about 5 minuets ago. The bleeding had mostly stopped, but it was still raw red, and would probably get infected if they didn't find a way to clean it properly soon.

"Can we make it over with the boot rockets?"

"I don't know. It would be a risk, but I just don't know."

Akira's purple eyes seemed to turn grey in the harsh lighting, as he scowled, taking the risk into calculation.

He growled and swung his foot at the air just off the edge of the platform. Something glowed bright red, and he hissed jumping back. "What the hell?"

Leandro frowned, sticking his foot off the edge, carefully. It glows blue, and his foot hits a hard surface.

"Kira, it's a bridge!" Leandro smiled.

"Then let's go I guess." Akira limped onto the bridge, Leandro supporting him. The invisible bridge glowed under their feet, red and blue.

It was horrifying. They were walking on nothing. It was just the light, and something that was completely invisible. They could die.