( The real world )
Leo was downright depressed when he logged out of Terra Nova at the last possible minute.
He was hunting everything in sight like a madman, everything from squirrels to deers to mountain lions, raising his level up, just so that he could have some margin of safety, until he was forced to logout to report for duty.
"Hey Leo, you're too late today, come on now, roll call is in five minutes, we got to run" Luke said, as he seemed surprised as to why Leo logged out so late.
However, Leo kept sitting where he was, almost as if he was rooted to his spot as he kept staring at his ankle bracelet that could electrocute him at any moment, sending him to the afterlife.
" Leo! Hey- Leo! The hell? Are you even listening to me?" Luke shouted, feeling worried as to why Leo was not responding to him, as his shouts made Leo reflexively glance towards him.
The moment Luke looked into Leo's hollow eyes, he realized that something had rattled Leo to his core, as his brothers usual mischievous eyes did not have their usual lusture to them today.
" Hey? You okay? Leo? What happened?" Luke asked as he walked over to Leo, as Amanda peeked into the hall as well, all the commotion taking her by surprise.
"Huh? I'm okay-" Leo said, when he saw Luke walking over to him, as he instantly stood up and rushed to the bathroom.
"Shit- it's so late, you guys head over, I'm right behind you" Leo said, as he urged Luke and Amanda to leave as he realized that him being late might lead to those two missing their roll call as well, if they waited for him anymore.
" What happened?" Amanda asked Luke, as Luke shook his head in dismissal.
" I don't know, but he's probably had a hard day in the game…." Luke said, as he glanced towards the bathroom and then towards Amanda as he let out a deep sigh.
" We should probably go, Leo will run and catch-up. It'll take us atleast 3 minutes to join the queue for roll call" Luke said, as he and Amanda left the room, leaving Leo alone with his thoughts.
**************
Leo knew that his situation right now was not the best, on one hand he knew that he needed to tell Luke about the fact that he may die anyday now. However, on the other hand he also knew that he could never explain his story to Luke without revealing his identity as 'TheBoss', which would lead to him recieving instant death.
Regardless of how he tried to play this, it seemed like all roads lead to death and once again the only way out for him was to 'Fake it till he made it' as he he could only pretend that everything was okay as he struggled for survival daily.
Dark thoughts about how Luke and Amanda would feel once he abruptly died did cloud Leo's mind, however, despite the dark thoughts, he did not let them distract him while at work, as even at his worst he recieved an S evaluation for his workday.
If anything, by the end of his workshift as Luke and Amanda met him once again, he was cheery and normal as he stepped up his actor facade to the next stage.
Like a true artist, he suppressed all his psychological fears, all his doubts internally and presented a perfect facade on the outside which even his brother failed to see through.
Although he did ask Leo about what was bothering him when he logged out of the game, Leo conveniently lied his way through it, making up some elaborate story as Luke bought it and made a light joke about it to make Leo feel better.
Chuckling with him, Leo dismissed the worry as he asked Luke about his progress in the game, as Luke proudly told him about how he had managed to tame the mount he was trying to tame since very long and how happy it made him feel.
Luke also told Leo about his preperation for the upcoming Grand Tournament and reminded Leo that the open round selections were going to start in two and a half months.
Luke really wanted his younger brother to take part in the open tournament, however, Leo kept dismissing the idea, telling Luke that he would definitely think about it.
Just like that, another day passed, as Leo entered the game once again.
************
( The virtual world, Terra Nova )
Once Leo logged back into the game, he rushed off to hunt with the sole objective in his mind being to level up as much as possible.
He was currently level 90, however, his displayed level was now 110 since Cervantez hit level 100 yesterday.
He was tethering at the edge of elimination and needed to save his life anyhow, as he made it his goal to gain atleast 3 levels daily.
Combining the skills 'Vanish' with 'Kill Strike', he pretty much one-shot all the prey he wanted to take out as he gained 3 levels in a matter of two hours, returning on-time for his daily skill training session.
" Master Ben, I think I'm ready to learn the last technique. I feel like my grip over the first two core moves has reached a satisfactory level, please proceed to teach me the third move-" Leo said, as Ben shook his head in disapproval.
"You're too hasty, boy, you need to have more patience, you're already learning too fast. Take some time to consolidate as well" Ben suggested as Leo begged him with desperate eyes.
"I want to take part in this year's Grand Tournament, and I will only feel prepared for it if I know all 3 of your core moves.
Please master Ben, guide me towards mastering the third move before the tournament starts" Leo requested as Ben fell silent by his strong request.
Internally, Ben felt like it was the story that he told Leo that was making him behave this way, as he felt like Leo did not need to fight his battles for him.
However, on the other hand he also felt Leo's hunger to learn behind his desperate plea as he wondered if teaching him the move now would help him learn in an expedited way.
"Arghhhh, fine" he relented eventually, mostly because Leo was always such an obedient student that him strongly requesting something made Ben feel like he should relent for once.