Dan let go of Leon. With Lisa pulling him from behind, Leon and Lisa both fell backward away from Dan.
Then, with a shake of his hand, Dan threw Mathew off. He grabbed Bear and gave him a backhand slap so hard that Bear was knocked unconscious.
He grabbed Leon from Lisa's grasp and threw her away too.
"What were you saying, you little shit?" Dan spoke.
Mathew saw Dan pick up Leon. He screamed and ran to save him.
Whaack!
Mathew saw Leon's head jerk backward as he fell unconscious with a single hit. Tears finally appeared in Mathew's swollen eyes.
Dan tossed unconscious Leon to Lisa.
"With this, his memory should be back," Dan said with a smirk on his face as the other gangsters laughed at his joke. One of them chimed in:
"You hit him so hard — what if he loses these memories too?"
"That's a good point," Dan said as he walked toward his gang, his voice trailing behind him, reaching Mathew:
"Well, we'll just have to beat him again."
—
Leon woke up with a sharp pain in his head. He felt his left cheek throbbing with pain. He opened his eyes in a dimly lit room; in the center, a small oil lamp was placed.
Leon saw Mathew covering Roan with a half-torn piece of blanket.
"Mathew, he's burning," Lisa's voice reached his ears.
"Wait here, I'll get some medicine," Mathew stood up and started digging in a corner of the room. He soon recovered a few coins, which he carefully hid in his pants before sneaking outside.
Seeing Leon wake up, Lisa came closer and put her hand on his temple.
"Thank god you're alright," she said.
Leon looked at her bruised face. One of her eyes was turning deep purple.
Just then, Leon heard Bear speak for the first time.
"You shouldn't have done that, Leon," Bear said as he looked at Leon's swollen cheek.
"Those damn bastards, even to a child…" Bear muttered under his breath.
"Let's just forget what happened, okay? Can we focus on Roan now? He's burning with fever," said a blond girl who was sitting by Roan's side.
Mira was putting a wet cloth on Roan's forehead. She would take the same piece of cloth, dip it in water, and put it again on his temples.
Leon understood what was happening. The earlier incident must have been traumatizing for Roan, giving him a fever. Although Leon was not a doctor, he knew how serious a fever from mental shock could be.
He gripped himself with guilt. It was his fault that these kids had to go through so much. First, because of his actions, they hadn't met their quota — whatever that was — and then Mathew had suffered a brutal beating. Roan was sick, and Lisa and Bear had been injured.
Mathew came back with the medicine, feeding it to Roan. He told everyone to relax — he had talked to a pharmacist nearby about Roan's condition, and that pharmacist had reassured him that this medicine would work.
Leon saw Mathew dig up the same corner again and hide the remaining coins. Lisa was sitting right next to Leon, looking worriedly at the sleeping Roan. Leon leaned slightly and whispered into her ear:
"Uhh, Lisa, who is Dan? And what is this about a quota?"
Lisa, wiping the tears from her eyes, answered:
"Dan is part of a Blade Gang that controls a big part of the slums. They use kids like us who don't have parents. They make us beg on various streets of this slum. We have a daily goal to fill at least ten bronze coins per person. If we complete the quota, they reward us with food. If we don't, that's what happens," Lisa said, pointing at Mathew, whose whole face was bruised black and purple.
There was pain in her voice.
"This isn't the first time this has happened. Last time they even kil—"
"Lisa, stop it," Mathew interrupted. "It's for the best if he doesn't remember."
Leon saw Mathew's face grimace in pain, but he insisted:
"But Mathew, I want to know. It's really important to me. I don't feel like I'm complete without my memories," Leon argued. He wanted to know what had happened. He wanted to know more about this world.
"I want to know everything, Mathew. It will make me whole."
Mathew took a few moments to think but finally relented.
"You used to have a brother called Jack. He looked quite similar to you, but he was much older — older than me. He was stronger and smarter too. You and Roan were failing to meet your quota every time, so he would cover for you — giving both of you his share. He was smart and resourceful and knew how to haggle for money from travelers and shopkeepers. He earned enough to fill both your and Roan's quota every day. But sometimes his own fill would fall short. He received beatings from Dan every few days. One day, Dan was especially in a foul mood — maybe because he got scolded by a superior or maybe because Sara rejected him again. So, when he found out that Jack failed to meet his quota again, in his rage, he beat him," Mathew grimaced as he clenched his teeth.
"To death."
Lisa continued where Mathew left off.
"It happened two days ago. You were in denial of what had happened and insisted that Jack was all right. Today, when we were distracted, you ran off into the trash field where Dan and his men had thrown Jack's body."
Leon now understood the whole picture. The body he had seen near the pool of black water with similar hair as his belonged to Jack.
Leon had found out his brother had died — and that's when he had possessed this body.
Did that mean the real Leon of this world had died that day for some reason? and Leon of earth possessed his body at that same point ??