Chapter Text
Once upon a time, there was a boy.
He woke up every day in a cold, empty house, took his usual way to school and blended in seamlessly into the crowd of faces. He attended class and was even more unseen and unnoticed there, fading into the background. At the end of each day, the boy would go back to his cold, empty house… and the cycle would begin again. Sometimes, he could go entire days without speaking a word to anyone. People were polite enough to him of course, but he could clearly see he remained a footnote in their lives. Unwanted, superfluous everywhere he went. His was a miserable and empty existence.
Over time, this began to weigh on him heavier and heavier.
He had a name, but would anybody speak it?
He had a face, but could anybody remember it if they tried?
Desperate and at the end of his rope, the boy went to sleep one night vowing that things would soon change.
And change they did.
Because soon after that, the boy summoned a demon.
It started with a conversation.
Leona Kingscholar, formerly the King of Beasts, had accidentally revealed himself in front of his brother, saying a little too much in a heated argument. Being so completely at his brother’s mercy drove Leona mad, so he’d taken himself out of the equation almost entirely, spending most of his time at Night Raven College. It was then that he had begun to think things through properly, admitting the truth – the throne had brought him nothing before and it would bring him nothing now. Leona was, plainly speaking, sick of lying to himself.
He wanted no part in his brother’s happy little family, but neither did he want to try and ruin it again.
Of course, that was when life decided to screw Leona over and an attempted assassination on Farena was pinned on him to the public eye.
It was like a slap in the face, a cruel reminder that no matter how the world changed, no matter what Leona tried, he would always remain stuck in the same old, same old.
The demon was once immensely powerful, limited by only the day. He revelled in his power, a terror and a nightmare both to ordinary folk and those under his command. His very name struck fear into people’s hearts.
Then, one day, the demon fell into a deep, deep slumber. He slept on for centuries as the world changed around him, and when he woke up, he was no longer as powerful as he once was.
When the boy summoned him, the demon sought to manipulate instead of destroy. He listened to the boy’s story and acted sympathetic and kind – as kind as someone like him could be anyway – to him, offering a trade. In return for his soul, the demon would grant the boy his desire. Any single desire he would name, he’d fulfil to the best of his ability. The boy agreed and the demon rejoiced that he would soon be granted freedom of movement once more, for with the soul he would also take the body. He was sure he knew what the boy, pitiful and hungry for attention as he was, would choose.
Their bargain was struck and the demon asked what the boy desired.
With the sweetest smile, the boy answered that what he truly, from the bottom of his heart, desired… was the demon’s power for his own.
If the accusation made by his sister-in-law and the cascade of consequences from it were the cause, then the thing with Ruggie Bucchi was the final straw.
Truthfully speaking, his arrangement with Ruggie was the only good relationship Leona had left in his life at this point. It was an easy, straight-forward give and take. A transaction, nothing more. Leona found himself grateful for it, the simple nature of Ruggie’s desires. Bit by bit, he found himself letting his guard down, relying on this one piece of normalcy to take his mind off the mess that was his life.
It was just easier with Ruggie, who was predictable in his ruthless, practical ambition.
But the problem was, it was Ruggie’s nature to reach for more and Leona didn’t truly know him that well after all.
(Things were always going to go that way, because Ruggie cared too much and Leona was too mistrustful to handle something as genuine as that.)
Bound by his word and their bargain, the demon found it was his own consciousness being absorbed into the boy’s instead of the other way around. That was when he realised the truth.
The boy hadn’t lied to him, not really. He truly did lead a miserable, cursed existence, he was indeed alone and unnoticed everywhere he went. In his heart of hearts, however? The thing that weighed on him the most? Was intense, soul-crushing, boredom.
People were predictable to him, their motives, wants and actions clear as day. He was calculating and manipulative to his core and he knew the people around him like the back of his hand, after growing up with them. Arrogant as he was, the boy found them completely uninteresting, their company dull and their concerns in day to day life banal. He despised even the idea of remaining as insignificant as they were his entire life. Going through the motions of life, like a nameless rodent trapped in a hamster wheel.
So he decided to summon a demon, simply to see if he could.
The demon, impressed by the boy’s audacity and the twisted nature of his soul, decided to turn the bargain into both their benefit. He allowed their souls to be joined, melding together, and from then on they were as one.
…
And that’s my story!
The biggest problem with Leona Kingscholar was not in fact his general attitude, the widely-assumed attempted fratricide or any of the things rumours suggested. It wasn’t what happened with Ruggie, or his rapid spiral afterwards. Though those were certainly issues enough on their own, far more concerning was the end result of all those factors added together. Or, to be more specific, the risk they put Leona under.
Soon after the new term began, there would be an incident at Night Raven College. The first, as it turned out, of many such incidents.
(Usually speaking, Leona would never be careless enough to drive himself into overblot.)
(But there was only so much a person could take…)
There now. Wasn’t that you wanted? A good story?
Hey, I’m talking to you! It’s rude to ignore someone, you know-
-your highness.