The Gaze of Fear

Chapter 15: Lost

     Leider limps through an abandoned highway, his slow pace remaining unbroken. The previously grey surroundings have turned deep green, the haze dropping visibility to an arm's length away. Four months have passed since Hidari forced him out, a lack of any interaction overtaking his once-stable mind.

     "Leider? Leider it's been a month, this is getting lonely." He remains unresponsive, not registering her in his mind. In the beginning he'd hold conversations with her, keep himself grounded with their conversations. The longer time went on though, the less he would pay attention as his mind wandered about. Within the last two weeks he has ceased responding at all, leaving both Ayana and himself alone. "I don't want to come down there Leider, it'd take so much out of me but if you don't respond..." With another mile under his belt for the day she finally gives in, prepaing for the amount of energy required to physically form around him. "Fine, but you're going to owe me."

     He continues staring at the ground as a black mass surrounds him, following his limping body. A few minutes of the swirling Abyss eventually leave him, a now exhausted Ayana in her true Osore form standing twenty feet ahead. He doesn't acknowledge her. "After everything I've done for you, you won't even give me a nod?" Her flickering, green dots of light for eyes show no emotion, but rather show just how focused on the broken man she is. Her body shifts from an oval made of Abyss and Fear to her human form while keeping its Osore make up of Abyss and Fear. "Look at me!" Leider, now just feet away, stops moving and sways in place as he stares down. With hesitant strides she steps forward. "Leider, you look... oh God..." His human half is beyond weak, pure bone just covered with bruised, thin, peeling skin. Blood covers him, his entire human half weak and seemingly dead whilst covered by tattered and stained clothing, leaving him all but naked.

     His Osore side, meanwhile, is just as distraught. Abyss oozes in and out of the human shape that it's trained to retain, the absence of Fear not containing his Abyss. "Leider?" She steps a final step closer and puts a hand under his chin, lifting his light head.

     His human face resembles that of a ghoul, its skin peeled and bloody with the bone structure retaining its shape with parts visible in his cheeks. Hair remains but just barely, thin and grey. His eye is unopenable, bruises and frayed tissue covering any skin not bathed in blood. His mouth is thin and hidden, a small frowning crease the only indicator of where it should be. This leads to his other half, a bright red dot shinning and shimmering. His abyss is spotted by Fear, the Abyss moving in and out of the head's outline. Large teeth made of Fear line the inside of a large, smiling face, seemingly permanent as heavy breaths rock his chest.

     Ayana's horror freezes her, everything seeming to stop. Even his Abyssed side is thin, clearly starving for Fear, the other side for food. "L-Leider..." She'd ask if he's okay, if he still has his mind, or is even cognizant of being alive, but the answer is clear. The two stare each other down as her mind wanders, the frustration and sadness of seeing him like this catching up to her. He's feral, starving, certainly not there, and all for what? All he did was feed on Caroline which didn't even lead to his removal from the group, he hasn't even done anything on his own volition come to think of it. His actions have been dictated by the choices of others, be it Widow or Caroline, even herself. Nothing has been of his own free will, and yet it's brought him here. To beyond broken, beyond a shell. He isn't Leider anymore. "You can't even die, can you?" She whispers to herself, their gaze unbroken. He's half Osore, half human. His mind can die, break, and be molded back together but his body, it's perpetually healing itself, even if the pain is too much for his mind to handle. It's exactly what she was afraid of happening to him should he not feed. It's happened before... and now to her friend. "This is why I didn't want him in Stravinglad."

     "I'm sorry my dear, I wasn't aware you had affection for him. It's not like if he had done what you said, he wouldn't be like this, right? But instead, here he is, defying your orders, interrupting our plans, proving himself unworthy. Why would a creature so defiant be worthy of your sympathy?" She doesn't respond as The Guider laughs in her head, leaving her alone.

     "Okay, L-Leider, listen, I know you're not-" He pushes off of the ground with his Abyssed left foot, jumping at her. He grabs her shoulder with his long and disfigured hand, pushing her to the ground. Although his human side is unresponsive, just flinging itself as he moves, the rest of him pins her down as he lowers his Feared teeth inches away from her neck. With a struggle she moves her Abyss around his hand, allowing her to slip out from under him. Looking back up he slowly regains his footing, now staring at her again. She regains her balance, realizing he never learned how to contort his Abyss. "Leider... please, don't make this harder than it needs to be. Let me hep you!" She begs him as she holds her side, her weakness unable to be ignored. "I don't want to hurt you."

     Lifting his head as he inhales his eye finds her gaze once again, that sinister grin larger than before. He can smell her fear. "Please..." The purple set of teeth gleam, his corpse of a body slowly stumbling forward. "I don't want to hurt you." Forcing herself to walk towards him and grab either side of his head proves difficult, her own Fear thin and expended. He tries to scratch and bite her as they meet, unsuccessful as she moves her Abyss around his attempts. Finally she puts her forehead against his, tightening her body and beginning to feed on his Fear, both regaining her strength but taking whatever energy left he may have. "I'm sorry." She drains his Fear first, gaining energy that he used. Soon after, once his body stops moving and Fear completely emptied, she then begins to drain his energy. "No Osore should go through this, but you need it... don't hate me..."

     As his Feared teeth disappear his red-glowing eye diminishes, leaving a husk of an Abyssed body. His human half flops as she feeds, any possible showing of life passing out. "I'm sorry..." She chokes on her tears as she stops feeding, falling to her knees with him in her arms, head still against his. He doesn't deserve this, he didn't do anything wrong. It was all her doing, The Guider's.

     "Be careful Ayana. Too much entitlement might lead to unforeseen consequences. He will live, but just barely. His body will recover, but it will take time. Our plans aren't dead, just held off. Blame him, hate him, and mold him. This is our chance to make him how we want him, how we need him. It's up to you whether or not we live, they live. Choose wisely, or you and Leider may have more... accidents."

     Throwing her head back and releasing him, her body shines with Fear. Shaking, tight, and most of all powerful, her inability to focus lets Leider crumble to the ground, bones audibly cracking and breaking. With a scream heard for miles Ayana's energy surges tenfold, holding her head and yelling into the ground. "It's all about energy, isn't it Ayana? The more you take, the better and more powerful you feel. The less you take, death becomes an inevitability. Just be glad someone as weak and fearful as Leider was here, or you may have gone feral too."

     Footsteps grab her attention, her body still convulsing from the surge of energy. "Got to... get out of here... L-Leider!" She forces herself to her feet, stumbling over to the pile of broken bones and torn flesh that is Leider.