Weight of the Crown { A Leonardo fanfic}

What's More Mysterious Than The Void? A Mysterious Girl

"Lost?"

Leonardo whirls around, his hand instinctively going to hid back, where his weapons usually were. His fingers brush nothing but pure air. "Who's there?" The teen demands. "Show yourself!" 

There is a soft, rasped chuckle. "You forget so quickly that you are the one snooping around." Leo follows the voice, looking up to see a familiar figure reclined on top of the bookshelf. His eyes widen and he backs up a step.

"Y-Your Majesty." The blue-clad turtle stutters. "Forgive me, I didn't know this was your private library." He bows, heart accelerating. The girl frowns, setting down the book she had been reading on her lap. 

"This is not my private library." She explains. "I come here to escape the duties of being a royal." Her words perplex Leonardo. He straightens, squinting at the young Alpha. "Huh? What do you mean, your Majesty?" He mutters. The girl sighs, sitting up against the wall. 

"Life as royalty can be a drag. It's making me go crazy. And call me Grayson." She says, looking down at him with a slightly playful gaze. Leo blinks. He is silent as the dark-haired girl leaps down from the bookshelf. "Leo right?" She questions, reaching out her hand to him. 

Leonardo accepts her gesture, shaking her hand. "Yeah." He confirms. A mischievous smile creeps up Grayson's lips. "Nice to formally meet you, Leo." She greets, holding onto his hand a moment longer than needed before releasing him. 

"So, what brings you to the library?" Grayson asks, leaning back on the shelf behind her. "It's not every night you go out for a midnight read is it?" Leo chuckles softly. "Only if I feel the cares of the day weighing on me." 

Grayson smiles knowingly. "I can relate." She agrees. "There is just something about stories that intrigue me." She says fondly, running her fingers along the length of a shelf. "Really?" Leo asks, suddenly more interested in the girl in front of him. Grayson nods, her smile attached yet sorrowful. 

"Stories of have kings and Nobel knights. Of naive school girls, stupid jocks, and edgy bad boys." Grayson chuckles. "Earth stories are way different than Lycadian books." She observes. Leonardo slips a sleek-covered book from a shelf. "How so?" He asks, slightly confused at the fact that she knows of earth books. 

Grayson looks at him, her brown eyes curious. "Stories on earth are fiction. They are fantasies that end with happy reunions and tears of joy." The young queen takes a step closer to her new acquaintance. "Lycadian books are filled with tales of reality. Wars, rebellions, devastation, triumphant victories that end with an alpha king bleeding out on the battlefield." She looks to the book in his hands. 

"What about this one?" Leo asks. Grayson grins. She slips the book out of Leo's hands and sits on the soft carpeted floor, patting the space beside her. "Let's find out." 

Leo lowers himself to settle next to her. He watches the girl run her hand over the cover, her finger tracing the words in Lycadian. "This one is called, 'Glass Heart'." Her voice is soft as she reads the title.

Leo glances at the cover which depicts a man standing, his back to them. A flowing red cape hangs over his shoulder. A sword at his waist, and thousands of fallen bodies around him, all having swords in their backs and chests. The man, a king Leo decides, holds a silver crown above his head. Perhaps removing it?

"Is he a king?" Leo asks, nodding to the eye-catching cover. Grayson draws her lips into a thin line. "I haven't read this book yet, to be honest." She answers, opening the book to the first page. Leo looks over the swirl of unfamiliar letters and characters. 

Grayson's voice is calm and assured as she begins to read. 

"The days in Lycadia were dark. the sun rarely shone and the kingdom was slowly but surely falling apart. Weskas were scarce and Znichar attacks had become more and more frequent. "Weylyn was helpless to the damage in his kingdom. Civilians were getting hurt and the people were starting to blame him."

"Hold up." Leo interrupts. "What are Znichars?" Grayson unintentionally shudders. Her skin pales and her hands seem to tremble. "Grayson?" He questions, reaching for her arm. The girl stands and walks straight ahead to the shelf across from them. 

Silently she skims the binding, till she finds what she's looking for. Grayson pulls out a large, leather-bound book that looks to be a hundred years old. Without a word, she plops down next to Leo once more and flips through multiple browned pages. Finally, Grayson stops at a page with a red border. 

Leo, still lost at the strange characters on the page, gasps at the illustrations. The mere depiction of the creature sent chills up his spine. The art described a hulking, canine-like beast with razor-sharp teeth and claws and pointy spines on it's back. 

The creature had minimum fur, save for some on its neck and head. Its soulless eyes seem to desire one thing. The same thing its teeth were made for. Flesh.

"This is a Znichar." Grayson deadpans, her eyes gazing murderously at the image. "Shapeshifting monsters whos unquenchable hunger for flesh makes them the most dangerous threat in Lycadia." 

For some reason, the tone of her voice and the way she glowered at the illustration makes Leo feel uncomfortable. "These beasts have been to lure travellers and late night hunters by appearing as a young girl. They are extremely intelligent and very powerful, nearly indestructible." Grayson says, her glare burning through the page. 

"Hideous face, jaws that reek of death itself and golden eyes that radiate the true definition of mindless rage and mercilessness." Her words sound so sure. So personal...

"Grayson?" Leo speaks cautiously. The girl blinks out of whatever trance she was in and lets out a sigh. Setting her jaw, Grayson slams the book shut. "Let's just continue the story." She rasps, shoving the brown book off of her lap. 

She grabs Glass Heart and flips to the first page once more. Leo shifts a bit closer to her in hopes of following the words. "Thrust into the role as Alpha by the death of his parents, Weylyn was forced to learn all kingly duties overnight. 

"He wasn't alone in his ruling, however. He had by his side, Killian. His best friend since puppyhood. The two had been inseparable till then. When all hope seemed lost, Weylyn knew he could rely on Killian to be there to stand by him." 

The two teens read deep into the knight, till Grayson could feel her eyelids growing heavy. "We should get some sleep." She suggests, closing the book and putting it back on the shelf. "Hopefully we can continue the story tomorrow night?" Leo asks, standing with her. 

"Sure thing, Leonardo." Grayson agrees. "Till then, I'll see you later." With that she disappears. Leo follows her behind the bookshelf, but she was nowhere to be seen. 

The young ninja couldn't help but grin to himself. There was something about the mysterious queen that drew him in like a fish to a line...

Well! Hope you guys enjoyed this new chapter! Let me know what you think!