Author Games: Empty Night

Task Five Entries

Mal Lilystone

Leo was beside Mal; an imposing figure although she really was not that much shorter than he was. Mal was lost in her thoughts, a song prancing about her head and calming her nerves as they spiked at the idea of this investigation coming so close to being closed. They'd already lost so many of the others to the events that followed Dorian's death and it would have made her shiver had her skin already not been ice cold.

Leo was apologizing for something and Mal knew exactly what it was, but she also knew the he didn't. That was something he had always done: been ready to apologize without ever actually understanding why. This never made his apologies any less sincere, it just didn't make them any bit effective either.

There was never a guarantee that he wouldn't just become a repeat offender.

She looked over at him and he was completely inside of his own mind, not paying attention to a single thing other than whatever it was that went on inside of his skull.

"The voices?" Mal inquired this because she knew a little more about Leo than most. She knew that she was the one person in the entire world that Leo had entrusted with his darkest fears and the horrible things that his own mind had tricked him into believing. At some point, these thoughts slowly started becoming his own and he couldn't differentiate between what he actually believed and what they wanted him to believe.

He nodded his head at her question and there was a shame in his face that didn't need any words to be spoken to be heard.

Leo had never been this bad before, and Mal knew that it was because of the case. Being this close to all of these events made him worse.

This is not healthy for him.

This wouldn't be healthy for anyone.

"Maybe you should step away for a bit? Take a break and then come back when you've calmed down a little bit? You need to take care of yourself," her voice was hesitant, mostly because she knew how he would take it. Solving this case was not worth anything to her if it meant Leo completely lost sight of himself proving that he could solve it.

Leo's head twitched as he got lost in his own head again and Mal gave him a few moments for internal discussion with his council before Mal had requested to know what they were telling him. Curiosity had been the one thing that had kept Mal asking him questions about his circumstance.

"They think that you want me out of the picture so you can get all the credit for solving the case," he replied sheepishly. He couldn't look her in the eyes and he hung his head so that he may appear a hell of a lot smaller than he actually was. This was also something he had always done; try and shrink himself so that he wasn't as noticeable.

Mal frowned as she felt the sting of this statement puncture her skin and inject itself into her bloodstream. She had never thought that the beliefs of the voices inside of her friends' head would mean so much to her.

It's not like he truly believes that I would behave in such a way towards him, right?

"Not that I think you would do such a thing," he finished this statement hurriedly and peeked at her really quickly to judge her reaction.

The fact that he was aware how hurtful such a thing was meant something, at least.

The air had suddenly shifted; whipping around them in violent gusts of wind as a purple haze descended upon the warehouse that sat in front of them.

When they entered the warehouse (despite the protests of both of their instincts AND the voices inside of Leo's head) there stood a honey-eyed Enlightened. His complexion was warmed by the humming flicker of the flames in front of him and Mal couldn't quite discern between this making him more or less sinister in appearance.