[leon] into the dragon's den

The plan was simple. Go in. Kill the dragon. Get the prize. Of course, there had to be strategy to it. He was supposed to distract the beast while another killed it. Aim for the eyes. That’s what the direction said. And yet, when it came down to it, Leon decided that screw the plan, that the plan wasn’t fun, and ran straight in, sword overheard yelling out a battle cry. In an instant, he was dragon food. Swallowed up whole as the words ‘Game Over’ flashed on his screen. Leon stared for a moment as the animation replayed before throwing the controller. He’d been trying to kill the best for three hours now, and this was probably the fiftieth time he’d tried. Then again, he never did the strategy. Where was the fun in that? Screw distractions, just run in and beat the crap out of the dragon.

Sighing, Leon decided that he probably should quit for a little bit, and grab something to eat. How long had he been playing that game? He’d been battling the boss for three hours, but he’d been playing for much longer before that. He checked the time, discovering that he had wasted his entire weekend off of work playing the game. He’d been up for nearly two days straight now. But he didn’t feel tired. It was weird. He felt like he had just woken up. Maybe he did and he just dreamt playing that game… No, he had the saved data to prove it. Damn. He stared in his fridge for probably ten minutes just staring at the little bit of food he had before a knock came at his door. He pulled out his carton of milk and took a drink, a little bit of milk spilling down his chin, and placed it back in the fridge.

Leon walked up to his door and opened it, smiling widely as he saw the guy behind it. He lunged forward, throwing his arms around Zanith and patting his back before pushing himself away. “Hey Zan! What’s up? D’you wanna come inside and play games?

Leon didn’t think anything of the fact that Zan was all closed off. Zan could be like that sometimes, Leon supposed. Leon was like that sometimes. Okay, that was a lie. But that was because Leon was special. He was always a special sort of boy in a way in the fact he was always happy and loved to meet other people and just be with someone else. Perhaps that was why he liked games so much, because then he wouldn’t be alone when he knew he couldn’t really just go out and meet random people because he was on the run. Not from the authorities but his past life. Still, whatever the case, he was happy to see his friend.

When Zan mentioned an adventure, Leon’s eyes lit up and he immediately got excited. Maybe they would go to the harbor and he would run off the edge again, on purpose, but Zan could teach him how to swim so he wouldn’t drown. That would be so much fun. But then Zan motioned to the sword on his back and Leon’s eyes lit up even more. A sword. That was so cool. He wondered where Zan could’ve gotten one. But if the adventure was dangerous, then why was he here? Why was he asking him for help? Leon knew that he was a klutz, and most people would think he would get in the way for even a simple picnic or game of football. Oh, that made Leon feel so happy that despite the fact he was a walking accident, Zan wanted him to join him on his mission. It would be just like in his games! But Zan would be the main character. Darn. He wanted to be the main character. But he would settle for the main character’s best friend. But not in the game he was just playing. The best friend died saving the main character probably five hours ago. But in other games it didn’t happen.

“Oh, okay. Let’s see… Weapons…” He looked around his apartment and saw a kitchen knife but his eyes continued around as he remembered a very special weapon that he kept with him at all times. “Just a sec.” He walked from the door, leaving it open so Zan could come in if he wanted, but also since they were going to leave, Leon would easily be able to get out of the little apartment to go on this adventure. He pulled out a knife, probably about half the size of Zan’s sword and held it up. There were engravings all over, with the letter ‘S’ along the side. Leon grinned. “Would this work?” He held it up to Zan so he could see it. “My dad bought it for me when I was a kid. He said that when I was in hu- I mean, trouble, I could use it to defend myself.” As long as he didn’t hurt himself in the process. Then again, he didn’t know why there was an S on the knife, nor why he kind of felt like he was going to something about human form just a second ago. And why he felt like someone else must have given him the knife because it felt like he got it after his dad died. Psh. He was probably just tired and a bit crazy.

Now Leon wished he didn’t waste his time on that game instead of sleeping. This would be fun. They were going on an adventure and it sounded like fun. Maybe now he’d actually use his knife. Every time he needed to use it he never had it. It was too pretty and bulky to just carry around. Plus he was sure that his boss at Any Given Sundae would not be happy if he came in with a weapon in his belt or something. And he didn’t want to trip and fall and kill himself. That was always a possibility. He seemed to have terrible balance when it came to standing like normal people, though for some reason he could balance really well on all fours. He was weird like that. But it wasn’t like he could just walk around on his hands and feet. People would stare and he didn’t need attention.

“Well, my dad doesn’t… didn’t like modern stuff. No pepper spray for me.” Which was kind of funny considered he was shot and killed by a guy as he tried to protect him from the shooter. His dad didn’t like guns or anything modern, so there was really no way to defend himself, though he put up a fight, Leon remembered. Or at least he thought he remembered. Could be his memories trying to fill themselves in, especially since he tried to forget that day which was seared into the back of his mind.

Sweater? Oh right. The cold. It was getting later in the year. Leon quickly pulled out a sweatshirt from Keita & Son, a read one with gold letters, and tucked the knife in his belt. He wondered where they were going. But he bet no matter what happened he would have fun. “Alright then! Let’s go. Where are we going? Is there a prize at the end? Like, are we saving a princess or something?”

Leon laughed and shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe he liked knives. It’s kinda impractical though. Usually the guy who follows me around helps me if I’m in trouble. Never really need it in the end. Can’t really carry it around without people thinking I’m weird.” Heck, it was hard to just walk around and have people not think he was weird. Especially when he wanted to run around on all fours, or when eh was just running around and walking of piers… oh wait, that only happened twice. And once he saved himself, and the other he met Zan during. Oh right, Zan was good at swimming, Leon had to remember to ask him to teach him how to swim someday. He hadn’t done that yet.

Huh. No saving princesses? Weird. Was he like one of those solo mercenary types? Oh, those were fun too. Maybe he broke the law for justice or something. “Well, adventures are cool too. I wonder if there will be treasure at the end.” It really felt odd talking about going on an adventure like that, when it really seemed like that wasn’t really how real life worked, that was just how the games went. But Zan didn’t seem to deny any of the game-esque notions he had been saying, so Leon just continued with them. If it did turn out to be like a game and they were going to battle orcs or zombies or something, that would be cool too. But weird. Leon wasn’t the brightest, but he knew that stuff was fake. But it was fun to fantasize about.

Leon blinked a couple times when Zan said under the clock tower. He didn’t know it had a basement, but that was cool. “It’s okay, I can see in the dark well… maybe we could stop by a store and grab one before though. So you can see as well.”