(A/N): Hey Guys! So, I'm in maths now, just finished a test actually... the teacher told us to get on a maths website when we were done, but flash player is required and isn't working, so I took this opportunity to write. Yay!

Leo

I sat in the depths of the Forbidden forest, struggling to resist the ever growing urge to rock back and forth into insanity. I could hear everything, but did my best to limit it to the interior of the forest instead of going anywhere near the beings in the castle, for the sake of my sanity. Every little creak a tree made, giant spiders skittering after the hoof-beats of a deer, birds building their nests and singing to their chicks- I could even hear, and smell, the centaurs that were exceptionally territorial of their forest. I tried to steer clear of them- and the thestrals, seeing as I had a certain kind of respect for them- and I gave the spiders a wide birth both for Hagrid's sake, and my own.

I caught the scent of a deer, a little ways away- not one currently being chased by a spider- and without conscious thought, slipped into Sensory Alert. With barely a twitch I was halfway across the forest with the deer in my grasp, my teeth tearing at its flesh. Seconds later, I managed to force myself to release it when it inevitably weakened, and I dropped to my knees on the forest floor as it fled, stumbling from blood loss. My eyes swam, and I realised that I was crying. I slowly slipped back out of Sensory Alert, having to focus harder than I would've liked in order to do so.

This was why I had left Elaine- why I was avoiding everyone as of late. I knew how dangerous I could be, especially now, after my recent run-ins with multiple different kinds of blood- Brooke's, my friends, my own, another vampire's... I wasn't strong enough to resist any more, so I was lowering the risk of losing control by lessening the time I spent around humans. Of course, my friends being my friends- an oddly demanding and dependent group of people- they were also very eager to force me to spend time with them. Which was highly likely to end in their downfall. Their deaths.

They were so sure, so certain that I was completely safe- a dog with a muzzle... but the muzzle I wore was so very close to coming loose, barely hanging on by a thread, and I didn't want them to know. I didn't want them to find out, especially in the way I knew was probably inevitable... the worst case scenario, this time, was me killing or seriously injuring one or more of them- or someone else- and I couldn't handle the thought of that.

So, I stayed away- but they didn't know why... and that made them all too curious.

(A/N): So, what did you think?

Also, it's self-harm awareness day today, (march 1st!) and no one in my entire school other than me is wearing an orange ribbon, or has butterflies on their wrist for the butterfly project, or 'LOVE' on their arms, for the Writing Love on Her Arm project... kind of disappointing really.

This chapter has had edits made to it on 1/3/24 - formatting, and reconfiguring of sentences so they make a bit more sense. I mean, it's an angst chapter, so it makes a minimal amount of sense in general, but yeah. Hopefully at least you understand the gist of what Leo's worried about.