The heavy hum of rain beating against the outside of Leo's apartment slowly summoned him from his sleep.
He lifted his head at an angle, observing the countless droplets of water on his window.
With a long, arduous stretch, he got himself up and out of bed.
Some time later, he sat on the edge of his bed and straightened the rest of his black uniform.
He sat there, looking around the dim room.
He wasn't remotely used to this much free time in the morning. At least since becoming a Professor.
After a bit, he stood up and walked into the claustrophobically small kitchen, stopping before the cheap coffee maker.
He used to be unreasonably efficient with the machine. But now, he failed to remember even the first steps.
He took a folded manual and wiped the dust off its surface.
Over the course of a few minutes, his muscles regained their memory and led the rest of the way.
Finally, he was met with a regular cup of coffee.
It sat there, light steam rising from its top.
He felt strangely proud over it. Almost too proud to even drink it.
After shaking off the feeling, he took it and sipped.
Just as terrible as he remembered.
Perfection.
Perfection…
His gaze slowly turned to a table that lay against the wall, opposite his bed.
A photograph rested on it.
The same one he used to have on his desk in his classroom.
Leaving the kitchen, he walked towards the table and held up the image to himself.
His eyes remained on it for a while, fixated on Charlotte and her beaming smile.
Beside her was him. Not nearly as happy as he should've looked, the ungrateful bastard.
He could almost hear her laugh just then, a strange ache softly coursing through his chest like ghostly hands grasping at his heart.
"For Maria."
He had to keep telling himself that.
Over and over again.
Until it worked.
For a while there, he almost convinced himself it did work. That he was truly moving on from Charlotte.
In reality, he hadn't taken a step.
Instead, he only averted his gaze.
He felt his stomach churn and twist.
A similar pain to starvation, yet he felt no need to eat.
He set the photo back down, straightening it before leaving the apartment.
Outside, he let the rain pour on him. It had grown much softer by this point, only being a light drizzle.
Some walking later, he entered the Reveur Headquarters with slightly damp hair.
Caspian turned, having sensed his ambient Somnia.
Their eyes locked for a moment.
"Morning."
Leo returned a polite nod.
"Good morning, Casper."
Caspian's eyes remained on his, as if searching their depths.
He looked away eventually, almost seeming guilty.
"I… I have a task for you."
Leo's brow lightly furrowed.
Something about Caspian's tone felt off at that moment. Assuming it was nothing more than a lingering morning drowsiness, Leo dismissed it.
"What do you got for me?"
Caspian fell silent once more before continuing.
"I need you to go down to the Insomniac Correctional Facility. Fill out a report on Abel Benenson's current condition."
Leo's eyes widened as he remembered the man who had been yelling at him back at the debriefing for Pierre's death.
Leo stood in silence, processing the news.
Insomniac.
A term used to describe Reveurs who were suspected of being in the early stages of corrupting into Cryptids.
He understood that the man had seemed a bit erratic at the time, but he couldn't understand how it would be necessary to consider the man an Insomniac.
He had just lost his younger brother that day, after all.
Ultimately, Abel was a Reveur, so Leo just accepted it as it was.
Reveurs who dropped out of the Augustinian Military were legally required to check into the ICF.
` Better safe than sorry, I suppose. `
For whatever reason, Leo didn't have to do that when he left.
Perhaps they knew he'd return.
Breaking the silence, Leo asked in a curious tone, "How exactly do I fill out this report?"
Caspian led him into the back office, searching through some file cabinets before fetching out a blank document.
He put the paper out towards Leo.
"It's pretty simple. Name, patient number, and current condition."
Leo nodded, taking the sheet and turning to leave.
After some time, he had arrived at his destination.
It had taken him more time than expected, only going off rough directions and a broad description of the building, but he was sure he made it.
On the East side of Augustine, hugging the wall, was the Insomniac Correctional Facility.
The imposing structure loomed over him, most of its mass veiled behind the morning fog.
As tall and intimidating as it was, Leo was quite surprised to not have noticed it before. Several pipes ran in and out of the side of the facility.
Leo thought to himself as he examined it.
` Quite the brutalist look for a correctional facility. And are the pipes really necessary? There must be a lot of people to air condition. `
He continued forward, finding himself in a brightly lit waiting area.
He only had a few seconds to look around the lobby before someone called his name with slight disbelief.
"Captain Morwyn?"
He turned, seeing a young man behind the counter. Some sort of receptionist, it seemed.
Leo swallowed awkwardly before walking up to the front counter.
"Yes, that's me."
The man had fallen quiet for some moments, too shell shocked to respond in a reasonable time.
"It's a great pleasure to meet you, Captain Morwyn sir! What can I do for you today?"
Leo nearly cringed at the man's formalities, but decided to just let him have his moment.
"I'm filling out a status report on Abel Benenson. Where could I find him?"
The man seemed to think for some moments before responding.
"I'm not too sure about where each patient is being held, but I can let you through and you could speak to someone in there about it."
The man nudged in the direction of steel double doors.
Likely, they were tightly sealed and only able to open from the other side of the desk.
Leo nodded.
"Yes, that will do."
The man beamed with excitement to do even the simplest task for him. In this case, it was clicking a button.
The mechanisms within the door shifted and creaked, before making a sharp click, indicating it had unlocked.
He entered and walked through a short hallway that led him into some sort of employee-only area.
It was a bit similar to the lounge they had up at the Reveur Headquarters.
Just as he decided to walk in and ask someone for directions, he heard it.
A low, husky voice sounded from behind him. As rough as gravel.
"Long time no see… Reaper."
Leo turned to the familiar voice.
A tall man with black, slicked-back hair leaning against a wall, draped in a noir-like trenchcoat.
His grey eyes held bags below them,
Leo swallowed, a slight anxiousness building up within him at the sight of the man.
"Hello, Nikolai."