"I'm sorry, Aren," Leon said, "but I think you should've seen this coming."
Leon let out a slow breath and rubbed his face. "I met you the first time I came here because I saw potential. A good teammate. Someone I could stand beside, or control. Someone I could use."
He laughed bitterly. "But the moment I actually met you, everything fell apart. Every single thing you did was better than what I imagined myself capable of. From the very first moment you stole my kill, I understood something."
Leon looked up, eyes sharp. "You were a threat to my existence in the Trials."
He continued, his voice growing heavier. "I thought if I stayed long enough, I'd find a way to pull you under my wing. Friendship, control, something. But you're unresponsive to all of it. You don't bend."
"When the millipede took you away the first time," Leon admitted, "I wished you'd died there. Stayed there. It would've been easier for me. But you came back."
