Leon woke up with a cold sweat. His heart beat was racing and his breath was short and choppy. He put a hand over his heart and tried controlling his breathing. It was the same nightmare since that Christmas when Sillie died.

He rolled over in his bed and looked at the alarm clock. It read three in the morning and his alarm was set at six. He sighed and reached for his clock to turn off the alarm. When he woke up from his nightmare, he could not go back to sleep.

It was said that one of Mr. Valiant's competitors planted a bomb and Sillie was too close to it. Her parents gave her a beautiful funeral and everyone from school went.

Sillie's parents never found peace. Her mother killed herself a week after the funeral. Her father transferred all his money to Leon before disappearing. Leon liked to think that he became a wilderness man and hiked mountains or traveled through jungles. However, five years later they found him in a hotel bathroom, dead in the bath. Overdose.

Leon's father thought it would be a good idea to have Leon see a therapist, Dr. Hady.

Leon remembered almost fighting the man when he said Cece was never real. He said that Leon was only recreating the stories that his grandmother told him about her Imaginary Friend. He said that there was no monster that killed Sillie. He said Leon changed reality to fit what he understood and knew.

He said a lot of things Leon did not agree with but his father made him continue therapy and he still goes to this day. Sixteen years later.

He was a sophomore in college, playing soccer. He was good enough to have a scholarship but since he was still loaded with the Valiant's riches, he told the coach to give the money to someone who needed it.

Leon turned on his lamp and hopped out of bed. He then made the bed and tucked in the corners. He looked out the window, it was still dark outside but he might as well get his run out of the way.

He did not share his dorm room so he did not have to worry about waking up a roommate. Well, he did have one roommate. Spots. Spots was the Dalmatian puppy that Sillie was going to give him. Thanks to current technology, you could pay to have pets live longer. Spots was sixteen years old but thanks to money and technology, he was the equivalent to four years old.

The school did not allow pets but thanks to Dr. Hady, Spots was a therapy dog that Leon needed at all times because of his anxiety and depression. In reality, Leon just liked having Spots around.

Spots was still sleeping on his bed.

Leon changed into running shorts and a tight black shirt. He then tied his running shoes. He turned around and grabbed his earbuds and watch from his desk. They were next to a picture of him with his father and Nana.

Nana was getting old and stayed in a retirement home since she had fallen twice while his father was at work. Since they could afford it, they thought it would be the best idea.

As he was walking out of his room, he put the watch on. It was next to the silver bracelet that he never took off. He stared at the bracelet for a moment before putting in his ear buds.

Nana swears that Cece gave him that bracelet and he vaguely remembers a voice screaming at him to put it on. He wishes he could remember her face. Or anything, for that matter. All his memories when he was younger are hazy.

Dr. Hady said his mind was trying to suppress a traumatic experience. He said Leon was trying to forget about the bomb incident and what he saw. That was why he could not remember things that well.

Leon tapped the screen on his watch and selected music. The music was rock from the 2000's. His father introduced him to it. Disturbed was his favorite band.

Leon started running as "Down With the Sickness" by Disturbed played.

After Sillie died, Leon fell into a major depression. He did not talk to anyone and barely ate. Nana and Papa tried keeping the news of Mrs. Valiant's death from him but he found out at school. Leon couldn't go to school for the longest time after that and was almost held back but since he was smart, they let him continue.

Dr. Hady thought it would be a good idea for him to join a sport. He would have to be social and it would help focus his mind on other things. Papa thought it would be a bad idea because of his one blind eye but eventually agreed to it.

When Leon was five years old, he joined a soccer team. It was hard for him at first, being blind in one eye and all. He soon caught a hold of things and Dr. Hady was right. Leon put all his efforts into soccer and studying.

He quickly became the star striker on every team he was on. Everyone loved him but he was still quiet and hardly talked to anyone. Teammates had gotten used to this and had accepted his muteness. Nobody teased him. Everyone seemed to know about his past.

Leon had grown bangs to cover the right side of his face to hide his white eye and he always wore dull colors to hide from attention. He never liked standing out but on the field, he loved the feeling of scoring. It gave him a sense of accomplishment and he did not mind people cheering for him.

Papa and Nana saw young Leon when he was playing soccer. The moment he stepped off the field, however, all his vibrant color was drained and he was gone.

Leon lost track of how long he was running, but at some point, he watched the sun rise.

.

Cecilia sat on the top of the bleachers and looked down at Leon Boston warming up on the green field below.

She loved watching him play soccer. It reminded her of when they used to play together sixteen years ago.

That Christmas changed the both of them forever. Cecilia became the most powerful Imaginary Friend. Leon became a lone wolf.

After Cecilia slaughtered all the sins in the one pocket of Shadow World, she teleported to James. He was pretty startled seeing that she did not wash the blood off of her. She also did not know how to change back to normal, so she still looked like a terrifying being.

After she was cleaned up and found out that when she was calm, she looked like her old self, James called a meeting with all the leaders.

Cecilia explained what happened but made one small lie. She told the leaders that Sillie's other eye had burned with Belial. She knew that they would take it away from Leon and she could not let go of her one chance of him ever seeing her again.

Even though it did not work that night, she still held hope.

The leaders decided that each section would designate a guard and all seven guards would protect the one eye in the Main tower.

James and the other leaders did not know what to do with her, at the time. Once again, warm colors and cool colors argued. Warm colors said it was unfair that a person so powerful belonged to one section. They said that Cecilia unhinged the balance of things.

She thought it was almost funny how she always caused the leaders to argue.

The whole time, Cecilia stared at her father. She was no longer afraid of him or needed his approval. She was much more powerful than him, and he knew it. It made her happy to watch his face match his hair as he called for her banishment.

"You would do that to your own daughter?" James asked him.

"I would do it to protect my section," he said.

Cecilia smiled when he said that.

James turned around to check if she was okay and his face went pale.

"You're doing the scary thing," he whispered. The "scary thing" being her transforming.

"Oops," she said as she tried calming down. She usually felt her skin tingle when she transformed but when she did this, she felt nothing. It all felt natural.

She could sense the fright of the leaders. It was like a putrid odor spreading through out the room.

"She can't even control it!" Her father had yelled.

"Then we will teach her!" James yelled back. He then took a deep breath and controlled his temper, "Cecilia is still Cecilia. Stop acting as if she is some kind of monster."

Technically, she did have demonic energy, which did make her some kind of monster. But she had to give props to James for convincing the room to let her stay in the Imaginary World.

She had moved out of her parents house and lived in her own condo. She was hardly there, though. The place was scarcely decorated. The only things in her bedroom was the bed, night stand, and closet. On the nightstand was two pictures with out frames. One was of her and Leon. The other was a group picture of Leon, Sillie, Elijah, and her.

She felt it was her responsibility to tell Elijah's family what happened to him. She even told them that she was the one who killed him. They understood that she had no other choice and did not resent her. She left them as they cried and never saw them again.

She tried throwing the pictures away multiple times, she even went five years with out looking at Leon. She went to the funeral but left after that.

She thought if she forgot Leon, she would feel better. She then realized that she could never forget him and was tormented with out checking in on him. She checks on him at least once a month.

James asked her once if she wanted to be assigned to another child.

She nearly punched him through the wall.

He then told her that she could do what ever she wanted, as long as she ran it through him first. For the five years, she traveled the World in search of other demons.

She only meet one, Arnon. The only thing Arnon said was the Upper World would be vulnerable because of the Imaginary World. He did not explain himself, he was not a chatter box like Belial. He even insulted Belial and called him a disgrace to the Lower World.

Belial did not like that. His rage inside her was so strong, Cecilia could not keep her composure and ended up killing Arnon before she could learn any more information.

After that, she went back to the Imaginary World and worked as James right hand. She no longer had aspirations to replace him as leader. Maybe one day, but she now saw that that day was not today.

Nate still works as a child's Friend. He no longer talks to their father after Cecilia told him how he wanted to banish her. Because of this, his section had abandoned him. He is not allowed in the Red tower. He gets his missions from Main tower, assigned by Leader James Purple.

That was another thing that changed and really startled Cecilia when she found out. James and Nate. At first she thought it was a bromance. After a year or two, it became a romance. Cecilia was confused at first how he could flirt with her and then go out with her brother. She then realized that James in nature was a flirt and somehow convinced her once emotionless brother to fall in love with him.

She thinks it started when she told James about Nate's situation. James felt sympathetic and offered to help him. He found a way to assign him missions through Main tower.

One day, when she was going to report to James, she walked in on them in an intense make out session. After her shock, she wondered how Nate was able to get into the Purple tower. First of all, guards are not allowed to let any other color in. Second, there was a force field around Jame's office preventing other people from teleporting directly inside. That was how Cecilia got in, though. She would teleport directly inside his office, saying it saved her time. She was powerful enough to go through the force field. However, after that encounter, she knocked. Nate told her that James will lower the force field for Nate to teleport in.

Later, she told Nate she was happy for them, and proud of how far he had come. She never thought he would ever have a significant other. They had another sibling moment where they were both vulnerable. Cecilia found out, however, that she could no longer cry. She tried, she wanted to, even, but they would not come.

She heard a whistle and saw Leon pass the ball back before running forward. He was the best soccer player she had ever seen. Well, she might be biased, but he was good. His teammate started dribbling the ball. He passed it to Leon who then crossed the ball across the field to his open teammate. Leon ran towards the goal. His teammate crossed the ball into the right position and Leon headed the ball into the back of the net. He yelled into the sky and threw his arms back as his teammates hugged him.

Cecilia hollered and clapped. Belial was probably making a comment about nobody being able to hear her so why make a ruckus. She was able to tune him out now with all the practice from the past years. She talked to him when she was bored or when it was important to.

Gabriel only talked to her when it was important but the last time that happened was when she was with Arnon. She said, "be careful".

"Is that her?" Cecilia heard a voice say.

"I think so."

"What should we do?"

Cecilia looked at the lower stands and saw two female blue Imaginary Friends talking to each other. When they made eye contact with her, they turned around.

"You don't have to do anything," she said into their minds.

"H-How is she doing that?"

"Magic," Cecilia smiled and then put her focus back on the game.

It was too easy messing with them.

"She really is the most powerful Friend," one of the girls said. She had a pixie hair cut. Her outfit had ten black lines. She stood up from her seat and started walking towards Cecilia. Cecilia raised an eye brow.

"What are you doing?" her friend whispered.

"Sh. Watch Mikey for me," she said. She stopped feet in front of her.

"My name is Kim. Which child is yours," she asked.

Cecilia tilted her head. It was not every day that someone who did not know her before her transformation confronted her.

"How long have you been a Friend?" Cecilia asked instead.

"About a month now," Kim said. Cecilia could sense she was nervous. She motioned to the seat next to her. Kim hesitantly sat down.

Cecilia said, "so you're new."

"Yes ma'am," Kim said. Cecilia smiled at the word "ma'am".

Cecilia pointed to Leon who was juking out a defender, "that one is mine."

Kim opened her mouth but then closed it.

"Yes, he is too old to see me," Cecilia answered her question.

"I thought it was recommended to not see the child after they have lost their innocence," Kim said.

Cecilia knew that. It was in all the books, all the lessons she had learned in the Academy.

"It's a different situation with us, Kimmy," Cecilia said, "I hope you're never in it."

Kim asked, "m-may I call you Cecilia?"

"That is my name," she said.

"I just- I just wanted to tell you that I always saw you as a role model, since the days you were in the Academy. I always looked up to you. I know people are scared of you now, but I know you would never hurt us," Kim said, "I want to follow you, wherever you go. That's why I joined the Academy!"

Cecilia sighed and patted Kim's thigh, "Go back to Mikey, Kimmy. Your child is the one you should be following."

Kim looked down as she nodded, "yes, ma'am." She stood up and walked down to her friend, pulling a little boy close to her.

Cecilia looked up in time to see Leon score another goal.