(A/N): Hey Guys! So, back to the story, two chapters in one night, yay!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Leo, Elaine, Shari, Nicholai, Mia, Brooke, Cipicia, Jonothan, Lisbet, and Quiggly.

Leo

That statement terrified me, but I managed- only just- to keep control of my emotions as my mother exited the room, humming quietly. I felt as though I was on the verge of hyperventilating; after everything that woman- my own mother, who shared blood with me- had done to me, I had a right to be horrified. Not just the physical abuse but the verbal as well, not to mention the mind games she was so adept at playing. Just the thought of that woman scared the shit out of me, and she knew it; even if she had been oblivious to it before I had left- which she certainly hadn't been- it was obvious by the way she looked at me, the sharp awareness that sparkled in those otherwise cold and hollow eyes, that she was conscious of the fear she was inspiring in me, now.

In the state I was, weakened and chained to the cold stone slab beneath my back, I had no way to fight her off- fight back- and that terrified me to no end. I had to struggle to hold back tears as I fell into my darker thoughts. What would she do to me? Would I ever see my family and friends again? Would I stay sane? The last two I highly doubted. This was my mother- she had only ever shown me the bare minimum of kindness as far back as I could remember, even in those rare moments where she wasn't displaying just how cruel she could be. She was cunning and resourceful, a master manipulator- she had ways of getting what she wanted... though what that was, I had no clue. Was she just doing this to punish me, or did she have some other motive? The last time I saw her was three years ago, and that experience hadn't exactly left me fully intact- how had her fury grown in that time? And... what did that mean for me?

I struggled against the chain around my left wrist, tugging and flexing my arm in an attempt to worm out of it or to pull it out of the stone- it didn't budge in the slightest, and the realisation that I was suddenly weaker than a human hit me like a bludger. I rested my head against the stone in an attempt to persuade the room to stop spinning quite so violently, before raising my free hand to gingerly touch the side of my neck where Lisbet's teeth had cut into my neck. Why? What reason did she, a vampire, have to bite another vampire, or half-vampire? It was just bizarre. I winced as a shock of pain flowed through my body in response to my fingers carefully brushing the area, and I wondered if this was what Elaine had felt after she had been bitten.

It was like my whole body was hot and throbbing with pain; my head felt like someone had stuffed it with mothballs- not painful just yet, but definitely cloudy... I pulled my fingers away and brought them in front of my eyes, holding them there as I waited for my vision to stop swimming- no blood on my fingers. I reached down cautiously, feeling along my side where the shard of glass had pierced me, and felt a slight discomfort in that area, but when I pulled my hand back there was no blood on my skin other than that which had dried on my shirt.

I was confused for a few minutes, alone in a room lit only by the moonlight streaming in from the window, when I was finally able to force myself to pay attention and got my first good look around- and realising that I knew exactly where I was. "Home," I murmured stupidly, absolutely astonished- it was the house I had lived and grown in for the first seven years of my life... why would she bring me back here? Just to be able to gloat more appropriately? To remind me of exactly where I had come from, even if I no longer fit this life the way I once did?

I flinched as I heard the door open again, bracing myself for the pain I expected to follow as I turned my head towards the opening- only to find I hadn't prepared anywhere near enough, my eyes widening and my mouth falling open at the sight of my little sister peering at me from the doorway. "Mia..." I whispered, recognising her immediately- almost instinctively- before wincing and shaking my head, barely being able to bring myself to regret the action as my vision swam again. I tried to squirm away as she approached but she placed a hand on mine, rendering me motionless... though not by my own intent. "Mia," I said, as if to reaffirm that this was her, and she was actually here- with me.

"Leo," She teased in reply, a small smile gracing her lips, and I stared at her for a second, my eyes desperately darting over all of her but specifically her face, hungry for the familiar sight before I remembered who I was talking to, and why I was here.

"Just get it over with," I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut tightly- awaiting whatever punishment my little sister had been trained to inflict upon me. The Mia I knew would have hated this- hated hurting me- but it had been a long couple few years since I had last seen her- since we had been united- so if she was under the impression that she had to do so in order to get through this... I wouldn't fight it. Not that I could have, even if I wanted to.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Leo."

The statement startled me so much that my eyes were forced open once more, and I blinked a single time in confusion before meeting her steady gaze. "Then... why are you here?" She seemed a little hurt by the question, before she glanced down my body and shrugged as if the answer was obvious.

"You're my brother... I'm here to help you." I stared at her for a few seconds before shaking my head, horrified.

"No. Mia, no. Don't do anything stupid, don't do anything I-" She rolled her eyes, cutting me off.

"Don't do anything you wouldn't do? And what wouldn't you do to help me, if I was in this same situation?"

I blinked, thinking it over, and realised that she was, unfortunately, talking absolute sense. "Mia, no," I stated firmly, but she only glared at me, looking rather like a grumpy cat before she moved to my left side, and I heard the clink of the chain wrapped around my wrists before it fell away, and she lifted a key into my eye line. "You'll get caught!" I hissed quietly, trying to talk some sense into her, but she shook her head.

"They'll never know it was me." She sounded mostly sure of herself, flashing me a confident smile I knew was utterly manufactured. Even in my weakened state I heard the footsteps before her, and barely managed to force her under a table with a particularly long tablecloth on the opposite side of the room and return to the stone slab before the door was pushed open, and my mother swept into the room.

Her eyes widened as she saw me standing, unchained, and she jabbed her wand into my face- an echo of the last time she had done so, the day I- "And how did you do this?" She hissed, her lips pulling back over her teeth in a sinister way, and I had barely any warning before the word left her lips. It was an inconsequential thing to dwell on, but the fact that she hadn't cast it non-verbally like last time stuck in my brain as if someone had nailed it there. "Crucio!"

The familiar spell relegated me to writhing in pain on the floor- although I wasn't really aware of the surface underneath me, only the pain I was currently experiencing. The nails may have been metaphorical before but now it felt as though someone was literally hammering them into my skull, with no regard for the damage it might do- or maybe they just didn't care. I couldn't think of anything but how badly I wanted the agony to end, so I didn't have a thought conscious enough to pray that Mia wouldn't do anything stupid in the mean time- fortunately, I got lucky... and after what felt like hours of pain but was probably only for a few minutes, the pain subsided slowly and I was free to open my eyes. I met Mia's wide, frightened eyes in the gap between the tablecloth and the ground- she must have pressed her face to the floor in order to be able to see what was happening, what our mother was doing to me. She hadn't witnessed it the last time, and I wished, almost more than anything, that I could have kept her from seeing it this time, too. I turned my head, and looked directly up into my mother's eyes instead- pale, ice blue instead of blue-green.

"This is what you deserve... you little monster." Her voice was quiet, and it held a hollow air to it- as though she couldn't even muster up the energy to show her true anger. She raised her hand my face and grabbed it, her sharpened nails digging into my skin- not that I could really feel them, considering the pain I had already experienced. "But-" She paused, the emptiness receding slightly, and she managed to put on an almost pleasant demeanor- almost. There was an edge to it that made a shiver run down my spine, but that was nothing new for her and I. "We're going to make a deal."

She was acting sweet once again, and I was more scared than ever. A deal? What could she possibly want from me? Without warning, in one shockingly quick movement that reminded me of a striking viper, she fished something from her pocket- a vial full of a thick liquid the color of the night sky- and levered my jaw open by clenching her fingers down on either side of my cheeks. Before I had time to react, she tipped the contents into my mouth and clasped her other hand over my mouth and nose, forcing me to swallow the revolting liquid- if you could even call it that. It crawled down my throat like a living thing that found itself rather resistant to being swallowed, and burnt as it went, like some sort of acid, or maybe an acrid smoke.

"What-?" I rolled sideways as soon as she released my face, gagging- I had a brief, nonsensical moment of fear about being punished if I threw up on the rug. "What was that?" I managed to ask, panting thickly as it continued to sting my throat, and carved a fiery path down to my stomach.

"It-" She was cut off as the door opened again- well, actually, it didn't open... it was kicked in, completely off of its hinges. My mother was knocked aside, and as a figure stepped into my view, I lifted my head to look them in the face.

"You?" I asked, utterly perplexed, before my vision swam again, and I collapsed.

(A/N): Who?

This chapter has had pretty major edits made to it on 19/2/24 - formatting stuff, plus making Cipicia sound less 'Disney Villain'-esque, and adding some more context to things that happened here, given the more in depth discussion of the past that I've been doing recently, particularly in the 'Little Leo'/'Miss High Society Governess' arcs. I also changed certain things that you won't strictly notice here, like how I previously mentioned that Cipicia's wand was white, and now the color isn't mentioned at all- I went through and picked which wand type I think suits her the best, and it wasn't a white one, is all I'll say for now (I'll definitely mention it later, it's just kind of... telling, so I'm not saying it here, so early on). If you're here from further in the story, if you're wondering why Leo calls her Mia instead of her full name, which he was primarily forced to call her the last time he would've seen her (before he was kicked out), it's because they're alone and it's the nickname he used when they were alone together, and he's so happy to see her that he sort of forgot about that rule at first. Then of course, he remembered where he was, and would've started calling her by her full name if she hadn't surprised the shit out of him by still being on his side, and then he was so just... struck by fondness for her that he was like, 'I can't give you a hug right now, but DAMN I LOVE YOU', which is why he still calls her Mia, which becomes the norm for him, now. Also can I just say, I think it's really funny that this isn't the last time we see this particular person (LiLaMoYa, my love!) knock a door off of it's hinges? It's also kind of fitting, considering the parallel between this, the first time we see it, and the next time.