It had been a fairly exhausting day and despite Leon’s practically inhumane energy levels, by the time they reached the inn he was aching for a good night’s sleep. He barely paid attention to any new Nobodies apart from Skeet, not bothering to subtly hide his actions as he inched away from the oversized cockroach. The farther they got from the Nobody the better Leon felt until he collapsed into his sleeping bag facing the fire. It was warm and cozy, prompting him to immediately fall asleep with a content sigh. 

It was peaceful and relaxing at first, until the first of the distorted faces made a guest appearance in his normally barren dreams whose landscape rapidly morphed into one of black waves as dark as a bottomless abyss. Again and again the face resurfaced, until Leon was curled up, tense and clutching his sleeping bag so tightly his knuckles turned paper-white. It was horrifying. 

After several hours of horrible, mutated faces beneath billowing waves, Leon was ready to throw up the moment he awoke. Though his skin was paler than usual, there seemed to be nothing off about him, however. He quickly squashed down the horrific night’s memories back into the recesses of his mind and focused on the bright sunlight streaming from a peanut-shaped window. It wasn’t real. It was over. 

Reassuring himself with thoughts of the kind, Leon stretched and bid his two companions a hearty good morning before reaching for several waffles and munching on them. He briefly questioned the origin of the waffle, his face completely stuffed, hoping it wasn’t personally prepared by Skeet. Because that would suck big time, he decided, and wolfed down four more before settling down on the floor fairly comfortably, waiting for Ace and Cello to finish after brushing his teeth and washing his face. The cat had decided to read a magazine, giving Leon enough time to take out his pocket mirror – one he’d managed to hang on to – and check his reflection. It wasn’t ideal – his hair was a tad messier than usual and there was a cut on his jawline but it wasn’t as worse as it could be, he decided, pocketing the mirror again. He was lucky he hadn’t lost his earrings yet. 

“Not exactly,” Leon laughed but didn’t elaborate further. “Though I suspect I should stay away from water and aquatic creatures, particularly mermaids,” He muttered to himself, his voice nearly inaudible. As they approached the other group in the distance, Leon found himself mildly shocked at the size. Weren’t there supposed to be more? It felt like there were so little, barely any left as compared to the ones who’d come to Nowhere in the first place. Apprehension rose up and gripped at his throat and it was a while before he managed to squash it down, reassuring himself with hollow hopes of [i]‘it wasn’t that bad’[/i] and [i]‘they probably got lost and are staying with some Nobodies quite happily’[/i]. It wasn’t the best of approaches but for now, it certainly worked.

Upon seeing the waving black and white bunnies, Leon waved back, a wide grin on his face. The Nobodies he’d encountered were few and far in between as most he’d only caught a fleeting glimpse of. And now here were five or six more, if he wasn’t mistaken by the looks of the group. By the time they reached the group of humans, Leon could see each and every one clearly. 

The humans were fairly normal and looked just like he’d expected to, just slightly worse for wear and some even unhappy. He briefly wondered why they seemed so miserable and the dream flashed through his mind, making his wonder for only a second whether they’d had the same dreams. Surely it couldn’t be the lovely Nowhere, right? 

As for the Nobodies, there was mermaid – an aquatic creature! Leon briefly considered keeping his distance from her but moments later, decided he couldn’t. She seemed friendly enough and just as interesting as the others, she couldn’t possibly have anything in common with the terrifying faces – a birdlike Nobody, one man and two girls sporting bunny ears and another bird-like man. They certainly were an interesting bunch, he decided and greeted every single Nobody and human personally. 

“Hello, I’m Leon Elliott. Nice to meet you at last, I hope we get along well.” A warm, sometimes reassuring smile and a small bow of his head. He’d done this countless times before, but this time it felt different. No doubt at least a few would consider his earrings strange, but he’d grown used to it and continued smiling warmly, doing nothing to detract from his friendly persona.