Leo had never realized how important a heart was to the everyday functions of his livelihood until he no longer felt it being retained within his chest. He could reach his fingers up, feel them graze against the curve of the Sun and would not once meet his heart again.

There's this sort of panic that goes through your mind when you finally settle into a skeleton no longer containing a heart. When it is first ripped away from you, it is almost impossible to notice. The scars are fresh, yes, but your body stills holds hollow memories of what it was like to still have an organ steadily drumming against your ribcage. It takes a while before it truly dawns on you that there is no pace set for the blood pumping through your veins, no leader to tell you there are things left in the world to fight for.

Be glad you still have a heart.

Broken, scarred, sliced thin, or held together by pieces of scotch tape.

A heart is a heart, and it reminds you that there is a battle you must see through till the end. It won't let you back down when the fight seems almost impossible to win and it will never let you quit when you feel like it may all be too much.

Be glad you have something forcing you to fight, to endure, to persevere.

There was a distant, abrupt moment of discord that passed through Leo's mind as the ring of his cellphone erupted throughout his hotel room.

Why would someone interrupt your inner turmoil? Don't they know how utterly rude they are barging in at such a time?

Leo tightened his grasp on the bottle that sat in the inescapable prison of his fingers, bringing the cool glass up to his lips and taking a swig of the vile liquid. The flames that licked his throat made him think about how tough it must be to be a Dragon and have to endure such pain every time you spoke, but the thought was quickly eradicated and he set the bottle down on the table beside him to free his hand.

He reached for his phone, answering the call with a quick click of his thumb on the touchscreen before he pressed it to his ear.

"I've been trying to reach you for almost an hour, sir, are you alright?" a smooth, foreign voice resided on the other end of the call. Concern laced itself with their words, but not enough for Leo to think that they really knew him all that well.

That, and the fact that they'd given him the title that they did. He most assuredly was not a "sir" and anyone who knew him wouldn't deem him as such.

"Who are you?" his voice was gruff, the words scratching their way up his throat as if they'd been dying to be equipped. He hadn't spoken in almost two days, unless you counted the conversations that always ended in him questioning how much sanity he still held within him.

"Would you not be more interested in the identity of the little heathen that murdered one Dorian H'Langraash?" the voice was lilting, a sweet poisonous spell that entered Leo's mind slowly at first, drawing him out of his drunken stupor.

It took his mind a brief moment to process these words being fed to it.

"You know the identity of the individual in question?" Leo asked in return, rubbing grogginess from his eyes as he sat forward in his seat.

"Not exactly... not yet, at least, I'm performing the ritual tonight. It's merely a simple tracking spell, but I feel like involving someone who has been a part of the investigation would make the findings more substantial and concrete. Together, we could pin down the exact whereabouts of the murderer and their identity," the witch held a silent promise to the weight of her words, guaranteeing that Leo felt the gravity of her offer as it perched itself on his shoulders.

"Where are you performing this ritual?" Leo's brain wanted to yell "STRANGER DANGER" at him, but he couldn't find within himself the desire to listen.

"Where doesn't really matter, you can pick any place that makes you feel safe enough to be comfortable during the process. Just be sure that you bring the stolen page from the Word of Atropos so we can track it," the voice stated this matter-of-factly, having knowing what his question was implying. It was as if the Witch had known the exact way to further gain his interest in the idea.

"Sanctuary," Leo uttered this word before he'd even thought of it, having named the only place in the world where he still felt safe.

"Sanctuary?" the voice asked in reply, rolling the word over her tongue as if it didn't strike a familiar chord within her mind.

Anyone who is an Other knows what Sanctuary is, Leo, and if she doesn't she isn't worth our time.

I am well aware of that thought, thank you for pointing it out though. For a second I was beginning to think that you wanted to be nice to me.

Us? Get along with you? Please, I know you're trying to be sarcastic, Leo, and if I had a physical form I would take great pleasure in punching you in the face for it. However, I am only a figment of your insanity and therefore my torture will have to remain in here.

"Sanctuary," Leo said the word again, fully aware that the Witch was merely trying to toy with him in order to gauge his reaction.

So he refused to give one. He channeled his father and played the role of passive, disinterested asshole.

The role felt far too natural as he slipped it onto his shoulders and wore it like a cape.

"Of course," the Witch let out a barely noticeable sigh of disappointment, "I'll meet you there before the sun has set, when the moon is just peeking above the horizon," her voice was calm as it dissipated into nothingness and Leo was once again left in the silence of his room.

Victory is so close, Bear, we can make your father proud.

This has nothing to do with him anymore, nor has it ever had anything to do with being victorious.

Are you trying to say that you want Justice? That your intentions have been pure and when you finally leave this Earth, you'll be accepted into Heaven because of it? Is that what you want to believe?

Leo felt a dark, cynical laugh rise in his throat and he snarled softly.

I don't want Justice. I want to serve it. I want to be it's Harbinger.

Leo ignored the throbbing pain that danced across his temple, screwed the lid back onto the bottle of alcohol beside him and stretched his limbs to prepare himself for whatever lay ahead.

Whoever had caused this widespread death, misery, and pain deserved no mercy. No, they deserved the same sinister fate that had befallen the various Investigators because of their actions.

I like this side of you Bear. I feel comfortable in this darkness.

So do I.

Leo plucked his coat from the hanger in the closet and pulled it on almost carelessly, feeling as though the weight of the fabric were a comfort he hadn't known he needed.

Oh boy, you've watched too many action movies. Do you think anyone can see you thinking you look cool right now?

Leo sighed, ignoring the smart comment as he slipped his phone, wallet, and keys into his pocket. He then tucked a dagger into the waistband of his jeans, feeling it press against his hip and causing him to smile.

I will serve Justice.

Leo made it back to Sanctuary well before he needed to be there, but he wanted to be sure that the atmosphere was prepared for a Witch. That included taking care of his father.

Imagine dragging someone with power into the home of those that would do anything for more of it. Wouldn't you want to ensure that the worst of them weren't going to bother her? They would definitely sense her presence, but should she have to worry that her life was in danger because of her very existence?

Should I feel bad about bringing her here?

She's a Witch, she signed herself up for being ostracized and she knew what she was getting into the moment she agreed to show up here. Sanctuary is your only home anymore, Leo, don't forget that.

Without Mal, there was not a single other place in the world that Leo could feel he belonged. It was either being alone for the rest of his existence or resigning himself to his fate. He would always be an Enlightened, no matter how hard he tried he could not hide this fact and it was time he learned to accept it. It was time for him to stop fighting against the core of his very being.

"Bear, the investigation is not yet done why are you home?" his father's voice was concerned, but it wasn't for Leo's well-being. He knew better than to hope for that. No, his father would never worry about the fact that Leo had been afraid for his life from the moment that he started investigating.

His existence meant nothing if he had never triumphed in anything.

At least, that's what he'd been raised to believe.

"I am incredibly close to solving this, sir, I just need you to leave Sanctuary for the night so we can trace our clues back to the killer. I invited a Witch over, and I don't want your presence scaring her off," Leo was matter-of-fact with this statement, and he didn't care that his voice was ice and his mannerisms stone. His father was not perceptive enough to even notice, so it didn't matter what he said or did.

"You want me to leave Sanctuary when a Witch is gonna be here? No way would I miss that for the world," there was a wild look of amusement in the eyes of James Wilder, and a crooked smile graced his lips.

"Yes, I demand that you leave," Leo crossed his arms across his chest, and let his eyes bore directly into the murky depths of his fathers'. James had eyes that never seemed to settle on one color, as if they got bored as quickly as the man who controlled them.

Leo had never known exactly what his father looked like, only that his features were always contorted into a sinister limbo of insanity and sanity. Some moments he would look like a complete lunatic and others he would look as if he had a family of four and it was the single greatest achievement he had ever accomplished. There was never an in between anymore. At some point in his life, he had started to blur the lines between delusional and sane.

James looked at Leo with questions riddling his gaze, and anger forcing his jaw to clamp shut and clench tightly. His eyebrows furrowed.

Leo had never been one to give any orders, especially when he was never the one with the most power held within the palm of his hand. Leo had never thought that he could be stronger than the man that raised him. Leo had been raised to believe in himself, but not enough to believe that he could be better than his father. No, that would mean that he could defy the very man that gave him life and that would be the most sacrilegious thing he could possibly do.

"You demand that I leave?" there was amusement in his voice, and it was easy to tell that he was trying to tell if this conversation was a figment of his insanity or it was reality. When he had finally settled on it being reality, it was evident in the way that he clenched his fist that he wanted to swing at his offspring. I mean, the audacity of Leo to talk to his father in such a way? After everything he'd done for him?

"Yes, is that so hard to believe? You either leave as I have requested of you, or I'll make you leave," Leo didn't look away from James, staying rooted in his spot and his newfound sense of self.

It's not that he finds himself to be a better man than his father (even though literally anyone can see that he is in every way imaginable). It's because his father was a cruel, selfish man that did not care about who he hurt and how much pain he caused.

Remember when he murdered your mother in cold blood because she wanted to take you and your sister away from here? Because she knew what becoming Enlightened would do to you? Your mother wanted to keep you sane, and yet here we are.

Why is it that it has taken you this long to stand up to him, Leo? Are you as weak as he wants you to believe you are?

No, of course I'm not. I am a stronger man than he will ever be.

So show him... take your justice, and find peace of mind along with it.

Leo already knew that ridding the world of his father would not bring him peace and it would definitely not satiate him. That didn't stop him from yearning to do what he'd promised his mother all those years ago.

Remember when you cradled her head as she died? Remember the fire in her eyes as it slowly dwindled into embers that eventually died out? Remember how much you hated yourself for not being able to stop him? Because we remember it very clearly, Bear... that was the first time we met, remember?

Everything went black. Leo's memories bled together and he couldn't bring himself back into focus long enough to understand what he was doing. It wasn't until his eyes narrowed on the blood that was streaked across his clothes that he was fully yanked out of his daze.

He'd killed his own father.

He had no remorse for doing it, either. Where there should be grief, sorrow, or melancholy there was none to be found. There was only a sense of calm, a wave of complacency.

Killing him does not make me a monster, it makes me a hero. I have done good in this world, scream it from the rooftops. Sanctuary will once again be Sanctuary.

"Leo Wilder?" a hesitant voice broke the silence that had fallen around him, a small hand grabbing his shoulder.

Leo looked at the small stature of the Witch. She stood roughly at the height of 5'0" and her skin was pale but covered in intricate tattoos drawn on with silver ink. Her eyes were the color of sapphires, but there were clusters of stars in them that more resembled a Nebula adding color to the night sky.

Leo was unsure how she could even see anything with eyes like that. Would the stars not blind her to the point of only being able to distinguish shapes?

"Let's get this started, we don't have much time," there was a fervency to her nature now, and if she had seen the dead body laying in the dirt or the blood staining his white t-shirt she didn't mention any of it.

She instead wrapped her fingers around his wrist and dragged him to the open area of the Sanctuary Courtyard. They were surrounded by wildlife here, as his father had always believed that nature was a conduit to the energy of the world. Let it be known that before he had sacrificed his sanity for power, James Wilder was a highly intelligent individual.

Let it also be known that his knowledge had driven him to seek more of it, that at the end of the day he went crazy for the power that is held within knowledge.

"...Murderer," Leo focused on the conversation at hand, and although he felt his heart race at this word that the Witch muttered it wasn't because of what he'd done.

It was because of what he knew he had to do.

Are we gonna get to kill more people, Bear?

It's like Christmas. This new Bear just keeps on giving us gifts.

He didn't feel the need to reply, so he just let his lips curve up into a smile as he drew the piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the Witch. Her grin almost matched his as she snatched it from his fingers.

She held the piece of paper up to the sky so that it was basked in the gentle light of a shy moon. She drew in a deep breath, letting her eyes mimic the pattern of the constellations that filled the night sky as she mumbled a string of words that Leo could not decipher.

The ground beneath his feet shook violently, racked by tremors that surely should have brought Sanctuary crumbling down. He watched the witch as she seemed to float just an inch above the earthquake, stuck in a spell. She extended her right arm into the air, opening her fist as if the answers to all her questions were mingling with the wind coursing through the air.

A chill harshly plucked the keys of Leo's spine, the Witch whipped her head in his direction and her eyes glazed over with the fog that came leisurely strolling in.

"Scion of the Seelie Court... Ivy Harlow... Hiding in a bunker underneath Garfield Park Conservatory..." the Witch spoke in short, staccato bursts to release all the information she had on the killer from the confines of her magic.

Leo absent-mindedly reached for the dagger that pressed against his hip and didn't noticeably relax until he still felt that it was there.

I will be the Harbinger of Justice.

||||\||||\/||||/||||

"The bastard child of an Elder Fae, huh?" Leo stared down the pathetic excuse of a human being, cerulean eyes filled with no remorse as they stared back.

"An Enlightened who fancies themself a hero, huh?" her voice dripping with disgust and a slight bristle of annoyance struck the air like a bell harshly forcing you to wonder for whom it tolls.

Does she think that her attitude will make you NOT want to kill her or something?

"So you figured out what I did, does that mean you're going to turn me in now to my father? Get all the recognition you deserve for solving the mystery? Get brownie points from the Fae? It's all bullshit, anyways, you shouldn't be searching for anything from them," Ivy sighed with disinterest, as if she really didn't give a shit that she had caused so much pain for so many people. Did she not understand the gravity of the situation? Did she not realize how many families were left with gaping holes in them now? How many parents lost their children, how many people put their lives on the line just to figure out why in the world someone would want to kill a Dragon?

"Not exactly, I have another idea in mind but I do want some answers first," Leo spoke softly, narrowing his eyes as he motion for the girl to sit down in her chair. She obliged without hesitation, curiosity leading her to believe that maybe she'd get away with her crimes.

No mercy will come to you in the end, Ivy, but I won't let you know that just yet.

"Ask away, I have no shame in what I did," Ivy replied, a smirk dancing playfully on her pale lips as she flipped the wavy tresses of golden blonde over her shoulder. Her teeth were perfectly straight, her nails perfectly manicured and her physique perfectly toned. She was the embodiment of the flawless Fae. The human part was confined to the inside. It was dark, willing to crack apart the entire world to make itself known. It had been trapped for her entire life, and she had gotten her chance to unleash it.

"Why did you kill Dorian?" Leo questioned her the one thing he knew he would never be able to fully understand.

"Dorian was merely a pawn in my grand scheme, you see... he was in the right place at the right time. I wanted to start a war, to cause uproar, and the only way that was going to happen was if I caused destruction and suffering. Without the actual power of a fae, I had to resort to more archaic ways of getting what I wanted," she paused briefly, losing herself in her monologue, "My entire life, I've been trying to show my father that a human can have power too, that they don't need magic to alter their surroundings. He didn't believe me, I mean, why would he listen to the child he never wanted? In the end, I always knew I'd be caught, that someone would be smart enough to figure it all out. In fact, I was hoping it would happen because once he finds out he will never doubt a mere mortal again. I am human and I caused the disaster that made the whole Other world collapse," her lips curved into this sinister grin, oozing with delight at what she'd done.

This bitch is actually proud of herself for this?

"Do you know how many people died because of this investigation? How many people won't go back home to their families all because you were trying to prove a point?"

"Ah, who cares? In the end, all that really matters is that the suffering I caused will be a permanent staple in your world. A human will have left an everlasting impression on those that figure themselves above all of the chaos of the world. What a storybook ending," Leo gritted his teeth as she spoke, his hand itching to reach out and clasp around her throat. The way she spoke was as if she wasn't really involved in the conversation, but watching it like a fond replay of her favorite memory.

No death that he could give her would satisfy him. She deserved to suffer far more than he could provide without driving himself entirely insane.

"You really have no remorse for what you did?"

Ivy laughed and shook her head, looking at Leo as if he had asked the most asinine question she had ever heard.

"Why should I?"

Something came over Leo, and his arm had morphed into an eldritch appendage that snaked its way around her neck and squeezed even as she clawed at it, struggling against the very thing that could end her life. For the first time since he had met her, there was fear in her eyes and panic on her features. He was aware as it happened this time, but even if he wanted to stop himself he wouldn't.

I need to see her suffer for what she's done.

Don't we all?

Is this really suffering for her, though? The only thing you're showing her is that her plan worked and she's infected you with the pain she wanted to spread like a disease.

If you kill her-

I'm not killing her.

Which was the truth in the end.

Leo wasn't killing her. No, he knew better than to hope that he would get peace from that outcome. He was only crushing her throat to the point that she would no longer be able to speak.

Leo knows better than anyone that silence is the worst kind of torture to exist in the world, especially when you wish to scream your triumph from the rooftops so that it will fall upon even deaf ears.

She would not be able to gloat about what she did to her father's face, only be able to watch as her fate unfolded itself before her. One day, she would get the justice that she deserved for all the suffering she had caused.

Leo was not God, and he knew that this wasn't his choice to decide that today would be that day.

So, he waited until her lack of oxygen had caused a loss of consciousness and he resigned to let her justice come in the form of punishment from the highest power that a Mortal could bow to.

Her father would get to choose what to do with her, and Leo knows exactly what a father who hated his offspring would do to be rid of them.