Timeless Assassin

*Hop*

As Leo felt the familiar weight of his pet settle onto his shoulder, he gave the little frog a light pat on the head with his index finger before continuing deeper into the house, quickly ascending the stairs and turning toward the section where Luke's room was supposed to be.

Just like in the video call, Luke was still in a critical condition even today, as a collection of doctors and Alia stood waiting outside his room, all of whom looked up in surprise upon seeing Leo approach.

"Leo?"

Alia called out in shock, her eyes widening before a smile broke across her face as she moved forward and cheerfully pulled him into a hug, clearly delighted to see him alive and back home.

"Sister-in-law…" Leo acknowledged, faintly returning her embrace before letting go and immediately steering the conversation toward what truly mattered.

"How is he? Is Luke fine?" he asked, as Alia momentarily looked confused as to how Leo already knew about Luke's injury, but quickly shook the thought aside and began explaining his condition.

"He's better than before. The doctors say his body is responding to healing magic and is slowly stabilizing. However, they also say that his response to healing magic is far slower than that of a normal person.

Under usual circumstances, with the amount of healing potions he's ingested, he should be fully healed by now. But it's almost as if out of the entire dosage he takes in a day, barely two to three percent is effectively absorbed, and even that efficiency drops the more frequently we give him the medicine.

It's like… whatever was used to injure him makes it impossible for his body to heal, and that's why the doctors presume that it will likely be four to six months minimum before he can get off this bed," Alia explained in detail, as Leo felt his anger flare the more he listened.

"Who did this?" he asked in a grave tone, fully prepared to punish whoever it was that had hurt his brother, however, Alia only hung her head in shame and did not respond.

"We don't know… we— we weren't together.

Nobody knows what happened to Luke or you during these past few months.

Elena and Jacob were together.

Amanda and myself were together.

But you and Luke were on your own.

We have absolutely no idea what happened to either of you, and since Luke still isn't conscious, he can't tell us the tale either.

But according to the doctors, whatever happened to him didn't occur in just one day.

Some of the cuts on his body are months old, while others are relatively fresh.

However, even the cuts on his body that are months old, did not get properly cleaned or treated, which suggests that Luke was probably running for his life and did not have time to clean or treat them on the regular.

He's apparently been pushing his body to the edge for the past nine to twelve months without pause.

And that's why he's in the critical condition that he's in now.

This wasn't a one-day job.

Someone had been hunting him for months like an animal." Alia narrated, her voice trailing off as Leo's fury silently escalated.

Someone had been barbarically hunting his brother for months now?

That was absolutely unacceptable.

And once he found out who it was, regardless of whether it was a God, a guild or a common citizen, Leo vowed to destroy them for putting his brother in a coma.

"Can I at least see him?" he asked Alia, who quickly nodded and began ushering some of the doctors aside, clearing a path for Leo to enter Luke's room, where his brother, still looking sickly and frail, lay motionless on a single bed with an oxygen mask strapped to his face and several life-supporting devices connected to his body.

'Brother…' Leo thought emotionally, his chest tightening as he took in the pitiful state of the once-vibrant man.

His heart bled at the sight, yet he did not look away.

He did not close his eyes.

Instead, he stood tall and drew in a long breath, letting the moment imprint itself upon his memory, vowing to find and annihilate whoever it was that had placed his brother in this condition, regardless of the cost or consequence.

'Don't worry, brother. The day you wake up from your coma… is the day someone else takes your place here,' Leo thought darkly, as he stood by the bedside for a full twenty minutes, doing nothing but silently staring at Luke's still frame, committing every detail of his sickly body to memory, before eventually turning to walk out of the room.

Outside, he looked each and every doctor in the eye, his gaze sharp and heavy with an unspoken warning, as he reminded them to take good care of his brother, or be prepared to join him in the afterlife if he died.

"Amanda is in the third room down the hall on the left…" Alia said when he finally began walking away, as Leo smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

*Step*

*Step*

Having met both his mother and brother, Leo now wanted to finally meet the love of his life, the girl who had haunted his dreams ever since their separation, the one person whose absence had hurt him just as much as his brother's injuries.

*Thump*

*Thump*

As he walked slowly down the corridor, he felt his heartbeat pick up, not from fear or anxiety, but from a cocktail of longing, hope, and anticipation that had fermented over years.

When he finally reached the third door on the left, he paused momentarily and raised his hand to knock.

*Knock*

*Knock*

No response.

He waited for a moment, but still heard nothing from inside, which led him to gently turn the handle and step inside without waiting any longer.

What greeted him was exactly what he expected to see when he entered Amanda's room on any given day, as instead of laying on the bed reading a journal, or sitting by the window to look at the garden below like a typical girly girl, Amanda sat by the office desk in her room, completely engrossed in her work, surrounded by tools, wires, and open panels.

Her sleeves were rolled up, a smudge of oil streaked across her cheek, and her hands seemed to be working with delicate precision on what appeared to be a damaged circuit board.

Her brows were furrowed, her lips slightly parted in concentration, as she did not even look up when he entered, probably being too absorbed in recalibrating something that was clearly holding her full attention.

Leo stood silently for a moment, unsure whether to call her name or wait, but eventually decided neither felt quite right.

So instead, he walked up behind her, and without a word, gently placed both his hands over her eyes.

"Alia, I told you to stop—" Amanda snapped, clearly irritated as she raised a hand to shoo him away, only to stop mid-motion as something about the touch felt different.

Her body went completely still.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Slowly, hesitantly, she turned around, her eyes meeting his, as she noticed those cloudy gray eyes and that unmistakable smug smile, which instantly made her mind turn blank from sudden shock and recognition.

"Leo…?" she whispered, her voice barely audible, as if speaking the name aloud might make him disappear like a cruel hallucination.

For a full twenty seconds, she just kept staring at his face in confusion, unsure whether this was just another fever dream, or was it actual reality?

As it wasn't until Leo reached out and pulled her in for a kiss, that she finally realize that this was indeed reality.