Solflare: The Painter's Secret

Sharp air plummeted out of Leon's lungs as he leveled his burning gaze at the blue-scaled being.

The Hi-no-Kami with the red cloth hummed in his left hand. The golden-bladed one glowed in his right.

Bones crackled within his knuckles as he gripped both hilts.

The Blue-Flamed Dragon's scales clicked. It hurled Tiger's head sideways. The skull shattered against the stone wall of the Storm compound with a wet, heavy thud.

Chunks of the stone wall rained on the dead leaves as the Blue-Flamed Dragon inhaled. Blue flames gushed out of the slits between his scales.

A wail of wind swept through the courtyard, snapping the remaining branches off the dying fig tree.

'This is the last thing I will do.' Leon blinked once. 'For you, Mom. For you, Little Athena.'

Metal and bone clicked as he dashed forward.

The ground cracked beneath his boots with every step. Gravel and stone buried under the courtyard floor split upward.

The Blue-Flamed Dragon roared. A concussive wave of blue fire erupted from his open mouth and rolled toward Leon.

Leon's golden-bladed Hi-no-Kami blazed. He swung it in a wide arc and cut through the wave of blue fire with a deafening screech.

Blue embers rained on the courtyard walls. The fig tree caught flame and burned.

Before the smoke cleared, the Blue-Flamed Dragon was already inside it.

A thick-veined arm broke through the smoke and closed around Leon's throat.

The grip crushed inward. Bones in Leon's neck groaned under the pressure.

Scales scraped against Leon's skin when the Dragon lifted him clean off the ground and slammed him into the fountain's stone edge.

Water erupted sideways. The stone split into three pieces. Rotting leaves and dark water soaked into Leon's war suit.

Sharp air hissed out of his nose as his back screamed from the impact. The black cloth on his neck tightened, then flared outward.

He gripped the Dragon's wrist with his left hand and drove the red-cloth Hi-no-Kami straight through the gap between two scales on the Dragon's forearm.

The blade ground against the inner surface of the scales before finding soft tissue beneath.

A thundering growl shot out of the Dragon. He loosened his grip for a fraction.

Leon seized it.

He twisted the blade, wrenched himself free, and dropped to one knee on the broken fountain edge. His boots found grip on the wet stone.

He shot upward.

The golden Hi-no-Kami drove into the Dragon's left shoulder. The scales deflected it sideways, but the impact forced the Dragon back two steps.

His boots dug into the earth. Blue flames erupted from the wounds on his forearm and shoulder, cauterizing them instantly.

He shifted his dead-cold eyes to Leon.

'He does not feel pain the same way.' Leon's chest heaved. 'He burns himself shut.'

The Dragon's right arm reared back. Blue flame gathered around his fist like a second skin.

Leon moved.

He dropped under the swing and let the blow pass over him. The force of it shredded the air above his head and snapped two of the iron bars from the compound gate behind him.

He drove both swords upward as he rose. One blade caught the Dragon's ribcage. The other raked across the back of his scaled neck.

Neither pierced through.

The Dragon caught Leon's right wrist with his free hand and squeezed.

Bones flexed. Leon's grip on the golden Hi-no-Kami faltered.

The Dragon twisted. A sharp crack erupted from Leon's wrist.

The golden Hi-no-Kami dropped from his fingers and rang against the wet stone.

A knee drove into Leon's ribs. He felt two give instantly. Pain exploded from his left side. His legs buckled.

He slammed his boots on the ground and forced himself upright.

Blood dripped from his chin to the broken courtyard floor. He leveled his gaze at the Dragon through the burning curtain of his own hair.

One sword left.

He exhaled once.

'Dad.'

The red cloth wrapped around the hilt of the remaining Hi-no-Kami flapped against his wrist. A thin gold glow traced down the blade from hilt to tip.

Leon's right wrist throbbed. He switched the sword to his left hand.

The Dragon charged.

Blue flames billowed off his shoulders and back as he crossed the courtyard in two strides.

Leon moved to meet him.

He did not dodge. He did not drift sideways. He went straight into it the way he had learned to go straight into things he could not outrun.

The Dragon's fist caught him across the left side of his jaw. Leon's head snapped sideways. Stars bled across his vision.

His feet left the ground for a second.

When they returned, he was already driving the red-cloth Hi-no-Kami into the gap between the Dragon's third and fourth rib scales with everything he had left.

The blade ground through. Slow. Grinding. Then through.

Four inches. Five.

The Dragon's roar shook the mansion walls. Glass that had survived the earlier shattering finally gave up and rained down from the upper windows.

Hot blue fluid soaked Leon's fingers. Not blood. Something thicker. Burning at his skin.

He held the blade in.

The Dragon's palm crashed down on Leon's shoulder. The impact drove Leon to one knee on the wet stone. But he kept his grip on the hilt.

The Dragon's blue flames erupted at Leon's back. The war suit cracked across the spine. Heat seared through.

Leon clenched his jaw and pushed the blade another inch.

A concussive wave blasted outward from the Dragon's chest. It threw Leon off his feet and sent him rolling twice across the broken courtyard floor.

He stopped on his back.

The Hi-no-Kami was no longer in his hand.

He turned his head and saw it lying on the ground between him and the Dragon. The red cloth at its hilt was partially burnt.

The Dragon pulled the blade from between his own ribs. A guttural sound escaped him as the tip came free. Blue fluid poured from the wound.

He looked at the blade. Then at Leon.

Then he turned and drove the Hi-no-Kami point-first into the courtyard stone.

Leon blinked at the sky. His chest moved up and down in shallow pulls. The clouds above Bastion City swam through his fading vision.

'Not enough.'

He pressed both palms on the wet ground and pushed himself upright. His arms shook. His broken ribs ground against each other.

He stood.

The Dragon watched him stand with blue flames still smoking from his wound.

Leon's left arm hung wrong at the elbow. His jaw was split. Blood tracked down his neck from the corner of his mouth to the collar of the war suit.

He took one step forward.

Then another.

The Dragon did not move.

Leon reached the Hi-no-Kami and pulled it from the stone.

The red cloth at the hilt tapped twice against his palm.

He breathed once. Then he raised it.

The Dragon charged.

They collided in the center of the dead courtyard. It was not a clash of swords or blows. It was the sound of something final happening without announcement.

---

When the silence returned, the Blue-Flamed Dragon was on one knee.

Blue fluid dripped from between two scales at his neck. The Hi-no-Kami was no longer in Leon's hand.

Leon was on the ground.

Both knees. Both palms flat on the broken stone. His head hung between his shoulders.

The night above Bastion City was quiet. The violet light had pulled back to a dim glow at the edge of the clouds.

Crows settled back onto the burnt branches of the fig tree one by one.

The Dragon pressed his palm against his neck. He leveled a cold gaze at Leon's lowered head. His chest moved with labored pulls. Blue flame leaked between his fingers at the wound.

He remained on one knee.

Leon's palms slipped sideways on the wet stone. He caught himself and stopped moving.

Running boots hit the compound path.

Zoe rounded the broken gate with her silver hair wild across her face. She stopped when she saw the Dragon on one knee, then Leon on the ground, and made a sound that had no name.

She reached Leon in three strides and dropped beside him.

Her palms went to his face. His skin was cold.

"Leon." Her voice came out broken. "Leon, look at me."

He turned his head toward her. His eyes moved to her face and focused slowly.

"Mom." His voice was barely audible. "And Lily."

Zoe's throat closed.

"Doctor Mike." Leon blinked once. "Tell him. Whatever matches."

Her hands shook against his cheeks. "Stop. Stop talking like that."

"I'm not being dramatic." The same quiet correction. His voice was going but his register was not. "You know I'm not."

A sound escaped her that she did not try to stop.

Leon's left hand found hers on the broken stone between them. His fingers closed around it.

"The life we wanted." His thumb moved across her knuckles once. He shifted his gaze from her face to her stomach. Something moved behind his eyes. "Tell him."

Zoe pressed her forehead against his and sobbed without sound.

Behind her, the Dragon pulled himself to standing on one leg. He looked at the two figures on the ground for a long moment. Blue flames sputtered at his wound and dimmed.

He exhaled once. Then he turned and walked through the compound gate.

His footsteps faded down the street of Bastion City without looking back.

The Hi-no-Kami lay on the broken courtyard stone where Leon had dropped it. Its blade had gone dark. The red cloth at the hilt moved once in the night wind and went still.

Leon's eyes were closed.

His chest moved. Small and shallow. But moving.

Zoe kept his hand pressed between both of hers. She did not let go.

The night settled over the Storm compound. Crickets returned to the iron bars. The stagnant fountain reflected the last dim flicker of the violet light above the city before it faded entirely.

On Leon's forehead, the Y mark appeared.

No flash. No heat. No sound.

It simply formed. A single clean line in the skin above the bridge of his nose.

It remained for three seconds.

Then it faded the way a flame fades when there is nothing left to burn it.

Zoe pressed his hand against her chest and stayed there.

THE END