1.29 – A Legend Born

“I need you to go in here, Leo,” Albert said, pointing at the chest previously filled with the dresses he’d now hurled across his bed. One frilly dress remained inside, the soft pink fabric crumpled to offer some padding. A bitter joke, a cruel mercy, as if cushioning the bottom made the act any less monstrous.

Leo stared at the chest, his lips writhing, a tremor rolling through his small frame. “Why?” he asked, voice wavering, eyes wide with confusion and fear. He glanced up at his father’s face, searching for an answer that might not shatter him, for any hint of kindness that had long since fled from Albert’s eyes.

“Just do it, twink.” Albert’s voice was a low growl, and he clenched a fist with a deliberate slowness that sent a jolt of panic through Leo. “Do as I tell you.” The threat lingered in the air, an unspoken promise of pain.

Leo swallowed anxiously, his throat dry. “I-is this a game?” His words cracked as he backed away instinctively, his bare feet sliding against the rough floor, trembling hands reaching out to ward off the inevitable.

Albert didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. His hand shot out, gripping Leo’s arm with brutal force. “Enough,” he snarled, dragging the boy forward like a ragdoll. Leo’s thrashing was weak, futile, each desperate kick absorbed without a flicker of acknowledgment. He was tossed inside the chest like discarded refuse, the hollow thud of his small body colliding with wood echoing through the room.

“No!” Leo gasped, twisting, clawing at the edge of the chest. “Please, don’t—” His plea was cut off as the lid slammed shut with a resounding finality.

For a moment, there was only silence. Then came a scraping sound—metal sliding against metal. The lock. The realization sank into Leo’s bones, cold and paralyzing. His breath hitched, tears welling and spilling over.

The darkness was thick, absolute. Instead of hammering at the lid or screaming, Leo curled into a ball, clutching his throbbing head. His whole body ached from the rough handling, bruises blooming beneath his skin, feeling his hunger gnawing. He buried his face in his knees, shoulders quaking, but his voice was a soft, broken sob, too afraid even to cry loudly.

He listened to the sound of his father’s footsteps, each one receding further, the echoes twisting into a cruel lullaby. He was alone. The lock was secure. There was no escape.

He didn’t rise, didn’t scream. There was no point. His father was right—he was safe here, wasn’t he? His father couldn’t hurt him anymore. Enclosed in darkness, where no one could reach him, where the world’s cruelty was muffled by the walls. His father had always told him what was for the best, why did it feel like drowning this time?

The dress beneath him still smelled faintly of his mother, of lavender and warmth. For a moment, it was enough. He buried his face into the fabric, breathing in the scent like it was life itself. Things didn’t feel so bad for a while. He could pretend. Pretend that she hadn’t left. That he wasn’t alone.

But hunger continued to gnaw at his belly, a hollow ache that grew unbearable. His stomach twisted, and soon nature called. Humiliation washed over him as he soiled the dress, the comforting scent now tainted, ruined.

He missed her so much. The tears started again, flowing freely, hot and bitter. He couldn’t stop shaking.

Why had she left him?

The last vestiges of purple light disappeared as the lid fully slammed shut, the sound reverberating like the closing of a tomb.

Leona screamed. She screamed until her throat was raw, until her voice cracked and faltered, until her body shook with the violence of her sobs. Each cry ripped from her felt like tearing open an old wound, and still, she screamed—again and again—until nothing but a ragged wheeze was left. Her voice faded into the suffocating silence, replaced by shallow, trembling breaths. Eventually, she stopped, her body sagging under the weight of exhaustion, the numbness creeping in like a cold fog.

The darkness pressed in, thick and suffocating, and she returned to her existence as that small child, curled up in a chest with the soiled remnants of her mother’s dress clinging to her skin. The stink of humiliation mingled with the faint, fading scent of lavender, the last trace of a love that had long since abandoned her.

Trapped. Forgotten.

Back then, there had been scraps of food, tossed to her like she was nothing more than a feral animal. But they only came when she was silent, when the screams had quieted to nothing, when her tears had dried. So, she learned. She swallowed the cries, bit down on the sobs, and let the loneliness consume her. Her father left her for longer and longer stretches, the darkness her only companion, the void her only reality.

Now, in the present, she was back in that same place, as though she had never left that chest. The tears burned hot as they welled, but even as they fell, they vanished into the darkness, disappearing into nothingness. No warmth. No comfort. Just cold, unyielding black.

Is this all I am? she thought bitterly. A helpless child?

The memories of those times, of suffocating darkness, of the isolation, clawed at her mind. She trembled, fists clenching, nails biting into her palms. Unable to keep others from doing anything they want to me? Her body shook harder. Is this who I am?

Why did this happen? The question hung in the darkness like a noose. Did I do something to deserve this?

The oppressive silence answered her with nothing but the echo of her own thoughts.

Her mind twisted in on itself, trapped in a suffocating spiral of doubt and rage. But then, the offer—the words Black Angel had whispered—cut through the haze.

If I accept her offer, I would have the power to prevent something like this from ever happening again. The thought took hold, cold and sharp. Except—it wouldn’t be me anymore.

The turmoil churned within her. What do I want? Her breath hitched. What else can I do?

She clenched her jaw, tears burning down her cheeks. I can’t be a victim again. Though I don’t want to hurt people like she does, I don’t want to be hurt anymore!

Her body trembled, but her voice—silent for so long—rose within her, a fierce whisper in the dark. I won’t. Her breath came faster. I won’t. Louder now, rising with each beat of her heart. I won’t. Her voice became a roar in her mind, drowning out the silence. I WILL NOT!

A ripple of energy surged from deep within her, raw and wild, burning like a star breaking free. The chains binding her shattered into shards of nothingness, the sound like glass exploding in every direction.

“…At last, you can hear me.”

Black Angel’s voice came, but it was distant, muted.

And then, there was light. It flooded in, blinding, searing, washing over her like fire—and she stood, trembling but unbroken.

Sensing that something was amiss, Black Angel staggered back, eyes wide with disbelief. "How!? How can some pitiful Earther resist my power!?" Her voice cracked, the confidence in her tone crumbling into something raw, feral. The coffin that imprisoned Leona bulged dangerously, brilliant fissures spider webbing across its surface, glowing with blinding light.

"You’re all black-hearted fools—weaklings—COWARDS!" Black Angel screamed, her voice reverberating with desperation. "Surrender and accept that you’re mine, Leona!"

With a deafening roar, the coffin shattered into countless shards, exploding outward like shrapnel. Leona stood, rising from the enforced supplication, her body no longer bent under the weight of Black Angel’s dominance. Her eyes blazed with fury, twin suns burning with defiance, and her entire form radiated a white-hot, searing light that consumed the darkness around her. Every tremor in the air vibrated with the sheer force of her unleashed will.

"NO!" Black Angel's voice was shrill, laced with panic. She waved her hands frantically, summoning chains as thick and serpentine as anacondas, wrought from shadow and steel. They surged forward, writhing, hissing, determined to entangle and subdue Leona once more.

But the instant the chains touched her glowing form, they disintegrated, unraveling into nothingness like ash in a firestorm. The light burned through them, erasing every trace of Black Angel's dark magic.

"NO!!!" Black Angel's shriek filled the air, her composure shattered. She clawed at the empty space where her power should have been absolute. "THERE IS NO WAY!" she howled, voice cracking as the reality of her unraveling dominance sank in.

Leona’s gaze bore into her, unwavering. She took a single step forward, her light intensifying, the glow now a blistering inferno that filled the space with a purity Black Angel could not touch.

Another voice, identical to Black Angel’s but gentle, spoke sweetly as Leona stood, her radiance deflecting every attempt to bind her. The serpentine chains writhed futilely in the brilliance.

“Leona, I will help you fight this evil within my heart. As I help you, please help me!”

The voice wasn’t pleading but sincere, vulnerable, and somehow, Leona knew she could trust it. This voice wasn’t Black Angel’s cruelty masked in sweetness; it was something deeper, older, and filled with deep sorrow. It was the power now coursing through her veins, repelling every dark strike.

Leona nodded, her jaw clenched as righteous fury churned within her. She balled her fist, her knuckles glowing with pure energy. Without hesitation, she lunged through the swirling serpents of shadow, her body a comet tearing through darkness. Her fist punched through the thickest, most monstrous serpent, the sinewy darkness disintegrating into ash as she drove straight into Black Angel’s jaw with a sickening crack.

Black Angel flew backward, her head snapping to the side, mouth twisted in shock and pain. Leona didn’t relent. She surged forward, her every step shaking the crumbling mausoleum. She swung wildly, each strike crashing into Black Angel like a hammer, her fists glowing brighter with each hit.

"You’ll never control me again!" Leona roared, her voice echoing with power. Each punch shattered the stones around them, cracks rippling through the floor as if the entire mausoleum were unraveling, turning to dust under the weight of her fury.

Black Angel shrieked, blood curling, summoning chains over and over, but they dissolved on contact with the burning light that emanated from Leona. “You insolent wretch! I am power itself!” she howled, summoning the last of her strength.

Leona dodged one final writhing chain and drove her knee into Black Angel’s stomach, the impact forcing the air from the villain in a gasping wail. Black Angel staggered, and Leona seized the moment, bringing her leg up in a brutal arc. Her foot connected with Black Angel’s chin, sending her careening through the air with a deafening boom. The mausoleum collapsed entirely, the walls falling away like brittle paper.

Leona found herself in the open sky above the cemetery, the cold wind tearing through the smoke and debris. Black Angel hovered before her, ebony wings spread wide, her eyes wild with hatred.

“ENOUGH!” Black Angel shrieked, her voice ripping through the air as she ascended higher, her form dark and imposing against the jagged mountains. “No more fig leaves! I will not be denied! You will be my vessel, Leo Walker! MINE!” In an instant, she was cloaked in an aura of pure darkness, vast and suffocating, like the weight of an entire mountain.

But amidst the storm of rage, a soft, calm voice echoed through the chaos, unwavering.

“Leona, you must accept me.”

The words didn’t demand; they were a quiet plea, gentle yet insistent. “All will be revealed in time. I will always be with you. Trust may be too much to ask, but please... take a leap of faith.” The voice shimmered with warmth and sincerity, a beacon of hope in the midst of the swirling dark power.

Leona’s heart pounded in her chest, her breath shallow, as doubt and fear clawed at her. But she knew. Without fully understanding why, she reached out, her hand trembling, and called the orb that Black Angel had tried to force upon her before. It materialized in her palm, pulsing with light, bright and pure, a stark contrast to the suffocating shadows surrounding Black Angel.

“No!” Black Angel screamed, diving faster than Leona could comprehend, but Leona had no hesitation. She thrust the orb into her own chest, pain lancing through her body as light consumed her.

Black Angel’s talons raked across Leona’s skin, but the moment the orb fused with Leona’s heart, an explosion of light erupted. Black Angel was flung back, hissing as her flesh burned. She spiraled through the air, clawing to regain control, shadows leaking from her like smoke.

“NO! You should be gone!” she shrieked, wings barely catching her fall. She beat them furiously, rising again, fury consuming her face. “YOU SHOULD BE DEAD! CURSE YOU!”

Leona hovered, glowing with renewed strength. Black Angel charged again, summoning every ounce of her dark power, her wings trembling with effort.

“Look upon me, Leona!” she bellowed, her voice cracking with fury. “You are mine! You’ve let me in, even just by a sliver. You ARE MINE!”

Leona, her voice steady, her resolve unshakable, replied, “That’s not for you to decide.”

They collided midair, white and black energy crashing together in an explosion of light and shadow. In a blinding flash, the world was silent, and everything vanished.

Leona found herself in another dark place, but this time, she wasn’t naked or vulnerable. Around her body, a nimbus of pure light shimmered, amorphous and indistinct, yet warm like an embrace. There was no malice in the surrounding darkness, only peace. The oppressive chill was gone, replaced by calm.

Black Angel was gone. Leona didn’t know how she knew—it was simply a fact, as certain as breathing.

Stars began to flicker into existence, one by one, their soft glow illuminating her. No longer cold or weak, she floated among them, bathing in their light. Each twinkling point seemed to sing, and as their energy washed over her, she felt whole.

Leona threw her head back and laughed, the sound ringing out like music. The warmth, the light—each star gazed at her, and she felt their silent acknowledgment, as if she belonged to this celestial tapestry. She closed her eyes, letting herself be cradled by the universe.

She wasn’t alone anymore.

When she opened her eyes, a figure stood before her, identical to Black Angel yet entirely different. Leona’s initial instinct to harden melted as she studied the woman before her. Her features were the same, but everything else was transformed.

Bronze-gold skin gleamed softly, and pristine white wings folded gracefully at her back. Tears glistened in her eyes, overflowing as she spoke. “It’s exactly as you suppose.” Her voice trembled, a mixture of relief and sorrow.

“I am the vestige of the true woman within the one you know as Black Angel,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “I am who she was before she gave herself to darkness. I am the part of her that refused the temptation of power and longed to be free. Both of our essences were in the angel’s down that your friend obtained for you. I wish to atone for my crimes—what I have done, and what my people have surely done to others across the universe.”

She stepped closer, her luminous tears trailing like stardust, each drop shimmering in the air before vanishing into nothingness. “I must apologize,” she continued, her voice thick with emotion, cracking with vulnerability. “I helped my dark side reach out to you. Although it was the only time I ever assisted her, it had to be… all for this moment.” Her gaze softened, her eyes brimming with sorrow. “Ever since the moment she sensed you—briefly touching your mind—I’ve had you in my thoughts. After our death at the hands of Mistral, when Black Angel’s soul and mind fixated on you, I was determined to protect you. I helped her so that this moment could exist, believing in you. With your own power, your own willpower, you showed me that you can beat her.” She paused, her chest rising with the weight of her words, and the silence between them felt heavy, laden with unspoken truths. “You are stronger than she ever realized. Stronger than I ever believed and stronger than I ever was. Know that it was you that defeated her, not I.”

Leona’s breath caught as the woman gently touched her cheek. Unlike Black Angel’s touch, this was warm, soothing, filled with serenity.

“Please,” the woman pleaded, her voice like a whisper of light, gentle yet insistent. “Accept me. I will grant you the power of an Empyrean. It will awaken what already exists within you and give you what you want and need. Your heart, forged in pain and loss, is also the heart of a hero. It will steel you against her temptations, against everything she has tried to make you become. The heroic feats you will achieve will redeem the evil I have been a part of, and in doing so, your world will gain a true champion of justice—an Empyrean who is unyielding, unbroken, and free.” Her eyes shone with an earnest intensity, pleading silently for Leona to trust her, to accept what could finally bring an end to this endless struggle.

Her hand cradled Leona’s face, her smile tender and full of hope. “Accept this kiss,” she said softly, lifting her other hand to hold Leona’s head. “Please, share it with me. You will fully gain our essence. You will have our power. But it will be your power. You shall be whomever you wish to be.”

Leona’s heart swelled with understanding. She saw truth in the woman’s eyes, felt the sincerity in her touch. With no hesitation, she accepted.

The kiss was like nothing Leona had ever known—warmth surged into her very core, spreading through every fiber of her being. The light exploded outward, filling the universe with brilliance, engulfing everything.

When she opened her eyes again, the good side of Black Angel was fading, her form becoming translucent, ephemeral. Leona’s heart twisted, and tears welled up as she watched the woman vanish.

The fading figure smiled through her tears, rivers of light streaming from her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered as she dissolved into the stars.

Leona cried, the loss cutting deep, even as warmth lingered in her chest. Then, all at once, everything cut out, and there was only light.