PRIDE (Leona x Reader) [Twisted Wonderland]

Chapter 2

You choked in a breath when the lion eared man dropped to the ground in front of you. For a moment you thought he'd fallen, but he'd definitely pushed off to slide down and land perfectly on two feet, directly in front of you, his back facing your wide eyed stare.

It took you a few seconds to react, and the same could be said for the large, inky rock-monster.

"Watch out!" you exclaimed. The creature keened forward, trying to crush the lion man, but it's starkly un-hand-like appendages came short of him when he took a long, agile step back.

He turned around to look at you, studied you up and down, and tried with bored green cats eyes to place you. You were trying to figure him out, too. His hair was ruffled like he'd slept on it, his tail was hovering near his ankles like and actual limb, and his clothes were a disheveled approximation of rich man's garb, only missing the jacket. His tunic was a startlingly vibrant yellow, you'd never seen clothes that color, but even brighter still were those eyes. Cats eyes, your brain repeated, marked by a scar on his left eye, and framed by two long braids.

His eyes met with yours. "Who are you?" he asked, almost growled, and the switch in tone reminded you to swallow. Reminded you who you were. Did not remind you of the creature leering behind the lion, which took this moment to regain balance and strike.

It barreled past him, and he kicked off, out of the way, leaving only you in it's path. You thought you were going to die, for just a moment. You probably would've. A gloved hand wrapped quickly around your arm, just below your shoulder, and wrenched you from the weight of your own unmovable legs. You grappled with balance, toppling to the right and into the chest of the increasingly frustrated lion man.

Your brain short circuited. Had he just? You stared at the button on his white undershirt, which was less than an inch from your nose. Had he just saved you? You looked up at him. His eyes were on the beast behind you. His teeth were partially bared, gritted down in an irritated show of annoyance.

"What is that?!" he asked, with a violent click of his tongue. You weren't sure if he was talking to you, but your mind still hadn't caught up yet anyway. He let go of you and moved away. "Every day this school finds a way to let down it's reputation," he hissed in mocking disappointment. You didn't know what he was talking about.

"You--" your tongue faltered in your throat.

"Did you do this?" he asked. Not accusatory, just dry. You shook your head. "Why do I have to be the one to deal with it?" he said to himself. You opened your mouth to apologize and he summoned something from his pocket. A pen. An expensive one, probably, but you couldn't get a good look at it.

He lifted the pen, and aimed it at the monster. You gaped. Was he crazy? Was there something wrong with him? But there wasn't--at least not in that way--because immediately from the tip of the pen came a giant ball of fire. Your jaw dropped.

There was no way. This man. This, lion? He was a witch! A real one! That was actual, bona fide magic. Your face felt warm from the closeness of the flame. Your eyes were reeling from the brightness. Your mind was doing donuts trying to figure this out. But.

It hadn't worked. The inky creature was still standing, tall and put together as ever. He looked it up and down and made a disgusted expression down at his fingers. "Not worth it," he said. And he turned and ran.

He grabbed your hand as he dashed off, in the opposite direction of the creature, naturally. You struggled to keep up, he was fast, unsurprisingly, and strong enough to pull you along with him even as you tripped over rocks and tree roots.

"Where are we going?" you asked through breaths, peeking behind you to see that you were, in fact, gaining a distance from the monster.

"Where do you think?" he asked, but you didn't have a clue what he meant. Was he taking you back to the village? Did he know where it was? He certainly didn't live there.