Chapter 13: Nightmare

Leo stood in the shower, the steam slowly going out over the shower curtains, the water hitting his toned chest as the brown in his hair slowly faded out, it crawling down his skin and into the tub and down the drain, revealing the black hair that was his true hair color.

The rain flowed down across the war-torn battlefield, blood was an inch deep, the teenage boy on his knees, a single hand on the ground as he panted hard, tears flowing down his face as he clutched his chest right above his heart, breaking down.

He was in a sea of blood.

A sea of blood he had helped create.

A sea of blood that will forever stain his mind.

Leo suddenly opened his eyes, the shower no longer putting out water, but blood instead as he let out a small yelped as he slipped in the shower, landing on his butt as he tried to turn the new blood-shower off, but he failed as it continued to cover the entire bathroom.

He let out another shout of terror as he suddenly saw a man of blood with a sword in its hand as it raised the sword and swung down to Leo, who let barely dodged the swipe and plunged his hand into the blood man, but the blood peered down at him, several different faces appearing at once.

"Deeaaalll wiiittthhh yoooouuurrrr ssssiiiiiiinnnnnnsssss!" It hissed, Leo fell to the ground as he let out one more scream before the bathroom door bust open where Phineas in the doorway.

"Master Leo, are you okay?" Leo's eyes opened as he sat in the tub, the hot water still pouring on him.

"Phineas!" He called out, turning the water off. "Get the car ready, I need Dr. Harris right now!" He ordered as he grabbed the towel off of the rack and wrapped his lower half and stepped out of the shower, his body still soaked.

"Right away, Master Leo," Phineas spoke as he ran out of the bathroom.

"And you saw a man, made of blood, try and kill you as it wore faces you didn't recognize, yet you know you killed?" Dr. Harris said as he saw on a leather chair, his leg folded comfortably over the other as Leo sat on a fuzzy blue couch.

He wore a plain black baggy hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, his red eyes gazing at the ceiling as if he were entranced by the dotted ceiling. His hair was still wet in his hood, but he didn't care, it would air dry eventually.

"Yes," Was all the doctor got in response. He wrote something down on his notepad and let a hand go through his greying hair. He was a slightly overweight man with dark brown eyes had a full-grown beard, little specs of white hairs littering the fuzzy attachment to his face.

"Have you been taking the pills I've been giving you?" Leo shook his head.

"If I do, I sleep, and if I sleep, I remember." Dr. Harris sighed again and shifted his position, his chin resting on his closed palm.

"Yes, you remember what you did, what you've become, but we've been over this, so what's triggering your PTSD all of a sudden?" Leo's red eyes glazed over.

"A girl," He spoke, getting the therapist's eyes to widen slightly, becoming even more interested than he had before, a tiny smile on his face.

"Oh? And who is this girl?"

"She claims to be the Red Reaper," Leo spoke casually. "But we both know she's lying, she just doesn't know that I know. I don't know too much about her, but I gave her dad a job a week ago, she's my first friend since the war." The seventeen-year-old confessed.

"That's good, making friends is always good." The therapist said. "But I feel as if you're holding something back." Leo let loose a sigh as he met the doctor's gaze.

"I have a feeling she has a personal connection with me, before she met Leo Apollyon, but the Red Reaper."

"Hence why she claims to be the mythical figure?" Leo nodded.

"Then there's a whole other person who claimed to be me, but she was just a person trying to do something good, but she failed. You've heard of the Crimson Cloak, right?" Dr. Harris nodded. "Well, she reports to them, which I had the pleasure in fighting," He said bitterly.

"I thought you said you didn't want to fight anymore?" He asked seriously. "You said that almost two years ago, that's why you avoided going to school and even when you joined Brikston you made yourself seem weak, so why'd you fight?"

"I was curious," Leo admitted weakly. "I heard the rumors, I heard that they could rival me and the rest of us, I wanted to know why they fought. I wasn't ready for those other three to show up though," He said sheepishly.

"Did you win?" Leo shrugged.

"I don't know. I beat them, but they got away before I could unmask them. Stupid smoke bombs," Dr. Harris leaned forward, looking deep into Leo's eyes.

"Did you kill them?" Leo looked offended for a second and rolled his eyes.

"No, I'm in control of myself, give me some credit."

"And I have, but you have to realize where these questions come from, you pretty much ended the bloodiest war in history, you've seen a lot more than any hardened veterans, so if you killed someone after all our progress, then these past two years would've been useless."

"I didn't come here to get chastised," Leo spoke harshly. "I came here to vent, which I haven't yet by the way."

"Why don't you vent to Phineas or Patricia? I'm sure that they'd be happy to hear from you more often," Leo paused for a second, narrowing his eyes at the older man.

"They've been speaking to you constantly haven't they?" He nodded. Leo pinched the bridge of his nose and a long and tired groan escaped his lips.

"You can vent now, I won't ridicule you on your decisions, though you are still a child in my eyes." Leo rolled his eyes as he suddenly propped his feet up on the edge of the couch he now laid.

"Bet," He spoke easily before closing his eyes and a sigh of relief came out as a small scowl came across his face.

"I hate Briskton, I wish I could take every arrogant prick and smash their teeth into the damn sinks, I want to pull all of the snobby bitch's hair right out of their fucking skull and watch them scream in agony! I want to make them choke on their blood as I stand over their slowly dying corpse just so they realize how below me they are!

"I want to spend more time with Hayden, but I know that I'll taint him if I'm with him too much. I want to be at home more instead of out here or just walking around town to get my mind off of things, I want to sleep without any nightmares popping into my brain, I want this never-ending darkness to leave me alone and leave me in the light, but each time I close my eyes it gets just a tad bit closer, and it's scary.

"I want to end my pacifism sometimes, but I also don't want to at the same time, it's confusing. I want to get closer to Alex, but she'll push me away. I feel as if I had already pushed my boundaries when I yelled at her father and gave him a job. She's also super smart and I'm afraid she'll see right through my facade, and then she won't trust me anymore if she has any trust for me at all that is.

"I want Jonah and the rest of them all to leave me alone and let me live my new life. Every time I think I can leave that old life I get dragged right back in, and it makes me think that I'm destined to be a Reaper, that'll I fulfill Alaric's insane dream and become the Reaper he wants me to be," He shivered and looked the doctor right in his eyes. "If I ever change into that person, I want you to make sure that the whole military hunts me down."

"You've told me this before," Dr. Harris said, nodding. "You've spoken of all of this last week, when you repeat your doubt and worries it'll soon to light and become reality, and that would be bad, wouldn't it?" Leo nodded.

"Very."

"Do you feel better now?" Dr. Harris asked. Leo shook his head, making the doctor look at the teen in front of him sadly. "Well, one day you'll stay in that light you talk about reaching. I believe in you," Leo smiled sadly at the doctor and grinned, obviously fake.

"Of course I will, thanks, Dr. Harris, I'll see you next week!" Dr. Harris nodded as he watched the boy leave and looking down at the list he had in his hand.

Schizophrenia

Depression

Post-Traumatic Stress-Disorder

Insomnia-Disorder

Multiple-Personality Disorder

Adjustment Disorder

Those were the words written on that notepad, over the course of almost two years Dr. Harris had collected a lot of data and Leo, and these were the disorders or mental illnesses that Leo suffered from.

It was quite the list, but he had seen worse.

But, for someone of Leo's skills and intelligence, those tiny little attributes could result in what Dr. Harris feared Leo would turn into.

Something even Leo was scared he would turn into.

The Black Reaper.