The sound of Leo's laughter lingered in the air, low and jagged, like metal dragged across concrete. It echoed between the stands, wrapping itself around the smoke and fire that clung to the dome. For a moment, nothing moved. Nothing dared to.
Tobi stood perfectly still. His hands hung loose at his sides, though blood dripped steadily from his knuckles, the crimson lines cutting their way down to the tips of his fingers. The world around him had narrowed to one shape and one shape only. Leo.
Every other sound bled out. The screams in the distance, the gunfire, the groan of twisted metal—all of it blurred into a single dull hum behind his ears. His heartbeat no longer raced like it did before; it pulsed low, slow, steady, like a drum beneath the earth. His chest rose and fell as if someone else was breathing through him.
'Don't think,' something inside whispered. 'You don't need to think.'
The air between them grew heavy, stretched thin like thread. Leo wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his wrist, grinning through the crimson. "There it is," he murmured, his voice dripping with something halfway between excitement and hunger. "That look. I like that look."
Tobi didn't respond. He didn't even blink. His eyes locked on Leo with a focus he didn't know he was capable of, a stare stripped of the boy who second-guessed everything. It wasn't rage that burned in him anymore. It was something quieter, sharper, instinctual.
Leo tilted his head slightly, his grin widening. "What, not gonna say anything? You're just gonna stare at me like that?" He flexed his fingers, blood still slick on his palm where the knife had gone through. "Good. I like that too."
The smoke around them twisted in the heat, curling up in ribbons as a gust of air swept through the stands. The banners flapped weakly, and the fire cracked somewhere high above. It was like the world itself had stopped to hold its breath. Tobi crouched slightly, not a single thought in his head. His body moved before he told it to. His weight shifted to the balls of his feet. His shoulders squared. His breathing slowed to a crawl. The voice that had spent years screaming run finally fell silent.
Leo noticed the shift. His grin twitched into something sharper. "Oh… there you are, puppy eyes."
Amelia's body lay crumpled behind him, unconscious but alive. Tobi didn't turn to look at her. He didn't need to. He could feel her there, like a pulse at his back. He remembered her reaching out to him, telling him to breathe. He remembered how small he felt. He remembered hating it. But that wasn't him now. Now there was nothing left but the weight in his hands, the slow burn in his chest, and the boy standing across from him with blood on his teeth and a grin that begged for violence.
Leo shifted into a low stance, his bare feet sliding against the cracked concrete. "Alright then," he exhaled, the grin stretching wider. The silence cracked like a fault line. Finally, Tobi moved.
And the storm finally broke.
Leo blinked and a fist was already in front of his face. It came so fast that for a heartbeat he swore it appeared out of thin air. He leaned back, spine bending in an impossible arc, his hair brushing the cracked floor as the knuckles passed just a hair's breadth from his skin. His hands slammed the ground behind him and he propelled himself into a back handspring, his movements loose and sharp at the same time, like an animal dancing just out of reach.
His heel carved the air in a clean arc and collided with Tobi's jaw. It cracked through the air like a whip. Any other time, Tobi would have folded under that kick, crumbled and gasped for breath, but this time he absorbed it like stone taking a storm. His head snapped to the side, his jaw screaming with pain, but his balance didn't break. The world sharpened at the edges, as if every sound, every movement had grown teeth.
Tobi's leg shot forward, not with panic or hesitation, but clean precision. His kick buried itself in Leo's ribs with a thud that knocked the air from the boy's lungs. Leo stumbled a step back, grin splitting wider across his face, blood still streaking the corner of his mouth. Neither of them said a word. There was no room for words now.
They collided again. Tobi's fist swept upward in a hook aimed at the jaw. Leo tilted his head like a dog dodging a swing and slid low, his movements wild, fluid, unpredictable. He twisted on his heel, launching an elbow at Tobi's temple. Tobi brought his forearm up, the impact rattling bone against bone. It stung down to his fingertips, but he didn't flinch. He pushed forward, shoulder checking Leo off balance before throwing another right.
Leo ducked under it with a laugh that never fully left his throat, dragging the back of his hand against the ground to pivot into a spinning kick. Tobi blocked with both arms, his boots scraping against the steps as the blow landed, vibrating through his entire frame. He pushed forward, grabbing Leo by the collar of his cut-up cloak, but Leo snaked his way out like a serpent, twisting out of the grip and flipping backward, landing in a low crouch.
Their fighting styles clashed like storm and stone. Leo moved like he wasn't bound by structure, each strike a reaction, each dodge pure instinct. His body flowed, boneless and feral, a creature that had learned to survive in chaos. Tobi, on the other hand, fought with a deliberate rhythm. Every punch thrown with purpose. Every step placed with weight. The difference between them was night and day.
But neither was winning. Not yet.
Tobi lunged forward, throwing a straight jab that Leo caught between his palms. Leo laughed under his breath and twisted, aiming a knee for Tobi's ribs. Tobi twisted with him, letting the strike graze him but not sink in, then hooked an arm around Leo's waist and slammed him into a row of seats. The iron screamed under the impact, the railing bending from the weight. Leo's grin didn't falter. If anything, it widened, blood dripping from his lip like a badge of honor.
Leo shoved off the rail with both feet, flipping over Tobi's head. He landed behind him in a crouch and swung at the back of Tobi's knee, but Tobi anticipated it. He pivoted on his heel and brought his elbow crashing down on Leo's forearm. The Zodiac hissed, jerking his arm back before spinning low again, his shoulder slamming into Tobi's stomach.
They broke apart only to collide again, fists cracking against bone, feet scraping against steps slick with blood and rubble. Every movement was faster, heavier. Tobi's breath rasped through his teeth, his body burning but refusing to slow down. Leo's laughter bled through every strike, his movements growing more unhinged, more frenzied.
Then Leo twisted on his heel, crouched low, and drove a brutal kick straight into Tobi's gut. The impact lifted him off his feet, sending him crashing sideways across several rows of seats. Wood splintered and metal bent as Tobi rolled and hit the railing hard, his breath ripped out of him. Leo wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, chuckling like he'd just heard a private joke. "Yeah…" he rasped to himself, his voice breathy and wild. "That's it, puppy eyes."
Tobi's fingers dug into the floor as he pushed himself up, every nerve in his body alive. He didn't feel fear anymore. Just the pulse of something deeper, older, pulling him back to his feet. The fight wasn't over.
It had only just begun.