Chapter 17 Manipulating Caitlyn For Dummies
"What type of proposal?" Lindy asked with a steely gaze.
"You've said I have the power to do anything, but I use it wrong." Leon explained. "So I'd like you to make the decisions and I'll tell Caitlyn to carry out your orders. Sound fair?"
Lindy's eyes trembled before she turned away.
"Hoh? What's wrong?" Leon asked mockingly.
"Fine, but proving I'd make the same manipulative decisions to survive doesn't prove I'm a psychopath!" She snapped.
BOOOOM!
The building shook more intensely, causing Caitlyn's carefree smile to darken, but she remained sleeping. He wasn't in danger yet.
"I agree." Leon replied while nudging Caitlyn, "It means you're worse, because you don't have an excuse."
Lindy's face contorted when she heard his statement. "Are you just looking for fights?"
"Not at all, Lindy," Leon chuckled, "It's just that, from what I understand, the sane men tried kidnapping Caitlyn immediately and then tried killing you all on sight."
Lindy's expression crumbled.
"So far, my track record is killing the guy who shot an arrow at me behind my back and saving the person currently threatening me, left and right." Leon laughed.
Lindy balled her fist up tightly. She hated being compared to a psychopath but knew he was right.
Perhaps all people turned into such people during the apocalypse. She wasn't unreasonable enough to put that strange fact together.
"You've made your point. Are you seriously going to make me make all the decisions when I know you're right?" Lindy asked breathlessly.
"Of course," Leon chuckled, "After all if you didn't, you'd never truly understand."
"Understand what?" She asked aggressively.
"Wait for it." He requested with a smile.
"What—"
BOOOOM!
Leon casually pushed Caitlyn off his shoulder when the building shook, letting her head smash against the ground.
"What the fuck was that!?" Lindy yelled.
"[That] was what you need to understand." He replied with a mocking smile.
"Leon! Leon, what's… oh, thank god!"
"I'm alright, Cait—oof!" Leon started replying before taking two G's worth of Caitlyn to the chest.
Leon chuckled and hugged her. He was grateful, knowing that he had an alarm clock for danger.
"Caitlyn, we need to leave. For the next hour, Lindy will be making decisions." He explained, "So if I repeat her requests, that's why."
Caitlyn looked to him and then to Lindy with a murderous expression that chilled the latter to the bone.
"I'm not taking her side or trusting her more." Leon replied, "We're doing this to see if we can trust her, period. Do you understand?"
Caitlyn's eyes lit up instantly in enthusiastic understanding, shocking Lindy, who immediately recognized the value of good communication.
"Y-Yes, thank you for letting me be a part of the group." Lindy stuttered.
"Of course, Lindy." Caitlyn replied, using the tone and manner of the [friend] she knew.
"So, what's the plan?" Leon asked.
Lindy froze. It finally dawned on her that instantly moving meant not creating a gimp blimp to fly away. Not that she had the means to, anyway.
So they were in a shaky building, in a warzone, without the ability to fly.
Lindy turned to Leon nervously, but he narrowed his eyes in response.
"We should get out of the building before it crumbles." Lindy began after a deep breath, "Caitlyn, we need you up here watching from above. You have wings, so you can fly to us to provide support."
Then she turned to Leon.
"Leon, move ahead to scout the situation and establish the best escape route. Sarah, go with Leon to provide a full barrier and medical—"
"Not happening, bitch." Caitlyn growled coldly.
"W-Wait, what?" Lindy stuttered in disbelief.
"I said, that's not going to happen cunt." The angel reaffirmed firmly, without even looking at Leon.
The atmosphere turned frigid, and Lindy felt Caitlyn's killing intent's full, raw power.
BOOOOOOOM!!
An explosion hit two floors down, shaking the building violently.
"She's new, Caitlyn." Leon chuckled.
The man rubbed Caitlyn's shoulder to calm her down.
"Lindy, I'll do as you say and request the same of Caitlyn, but I feel inclined to give you a pointer."
Then his eyes turned sharp and narrowed.
"However, your order is dangerous, Caitlyn loves me, and it's the apocalypse," Leon continued, "If you separate us, you're liable to fall from that window."
He pointed to the shattered window.
"I-I see…." Lindy replied dumbly.
"Yes. So when you make decisions, always keep Caitlyn and I together, and order nothing that might trigger this [beautiful] woman to retaliate." Leon explained.
Caitlyn's eyes sparkled. Lindy was jealous she didn't have that power but considering Leon used it to save her life, she wasn't complaining.
"As the person that makes the decisions, that's my pointer to the rookie." He concluded.
When Lindy saw Leon's sinister smile, she finally understood the purpose behind his game.
Leon's deal wasn't a shaming exercise to prove that manipulation was natural.
No! He was making her understand the [importance of manipulating the fucking shit out of Caitlyn Mira like one's life depended on it] because it did!
It finally dawned on her how horrifying the situation she was in was.
"T-Thank you, Leon. Can… Can you please continue providing me with pointers?" Lindy asked desperately.
"Of course, As long as you keep me near you, I'll give you pointers. Now take a deep breath and have confidence. I have confidence in you." Leon replied with a gentle smile.
Lindy instantly desired to deck the man in the face. She now knew she needed them to move as a single unit to get pointers.
Worse, she was playing chess to trigger the land mine in front of her!
"Okay," She said with a deep breath, "Sarah, you're with me on ground patrol. Keep me safe with barriers while conserving mana."
Sarah nodded with a meek expression.
"L-Leon…." Lindy stopped immediately.
Not only could she not order around Caitlyn, but she also had to play mental chess with Leon too!
She didn't have to worry about protecting them, but she couldn't ask him anything without potentially waking the beast.
"Yes?" Leon asked with a straight face.
"Y-You and Caitlyn are on aerial defense." Lindy winced, "Please protect us from threats in the sky."
Leon turned to Caitlyn. "Can you take care of threats in the sky for me?"
"Of course!" Caitlyn replied enthusiastically.
Caitlyn summoned her angel wings and kneeled. Leon immediately choked her hard before jumping on, preparing for high speeds.
"W-Wait, where are you going?" Lindy stuttered.
"To take care of—aghhhhhhhhh! Caitlynnnnnnnn!"
The two shot out the window at a ghostly speed, leaving a wind tunnel in the room.
Understanding that she was completely helpless without them, she ran to the other side of the room to look out of the window.
"KEEEYAAAAAAH—"
CRAAAAASH!
Broken glass began raining from the skies, leaving a [Christmas miracle] type vibe.
She watched the shards falling to the ground in slow motion. They looked like beautiful glowing prisms as they reflected the moonlight and flickering firelight.
There were thousands of them, and they stole her breath away.
She tried to catch one in a mesmerized state but pulled her hand back at lightning speeds at the last second.
The body of a four-ton flying death machine nearly took her wrist with it on its trip down to hell.
BOOOOOOOM!
"W-What the fuck!?" Lindy shuttered.
In her haze and self-centered mindset, she forgot about Sarah and couldn't hear her!
An icy chill crawled down her spine at the thought she'd lose her support, too!
BOOOM!
"CAAAW?"
"Sar—"
Lindy turned around to see Sarah watching Caitlyn single-handedly skull fucking a flying armor regiment with a sexually aroused look on her face.
When Sarah noticed Lindy's gaze, she immediately started trembling.
Lindy stared at her friend in disbelief. "You've been fak—"
"Kiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
BOOOOOOM!
"Fuuuuuucccckkkk MeEeEeEe!" Lindy cried. Her voice trembled from the turbulence in the building.
A large, ugly Gryphon-esque creature flew into the area and tried to catch Caitlyn and Leon in its claws.
It missed and flew straight into the building Lindy and Sarah were standing in, causing it to shake violently.
The building started to shift, and the floor began tilting in the early stages of collapse.
"Caitlyn, let's get those two from the building." Leon sighed, "I'll take Lindy's wrist, you take Sarah's."
"But, love… you're visibly annoyed with Lindy, so why?" Caitlyn asked hesitantly.
"Lindy can make us water, and Sarah can heal wounds." He replied, "Plus, my choking will get so much more rewarding with lindy's weight added in."
"Say no more, I'm on it!"
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! There's no time…." Lindy cried.
Her mind shut down. If she called Caitlyn, she might not get heard.
Sarah was also present, and Leon wouldn't prioritize her life when she was the troublemaker.
She considered jumping and wondered if her body would survive the fifty-foot fall.
It probably would, but then she'd probably have a broken leg and get eaten immediately.
Water? Was there something that could help? Should she brace herself on something and have Sarah create a barrier?
She felt a tug on her shoulder in the midst of her internal nightmare.
"Lindy! P-Please snap out of it!" Sarah cried, "Look up!"
Leon was in front of her eyes with an annoyed expression.
He was holding out his hand, and she wasn't taking it.
Lindy looked at him as though he was an angel. She now knew that his psychotic ways were as shockingly friendly as imaginable.
"I-I'm…." She whimpered softly.
Despite him continuously helping him, she was so rude to him. She didn't even treat him like a human being.
What a joke. Lindy needed to be grateful just to be alive, yet she was—
Leon's face cramped up in irritation while watching her introspective soap opera moment.
He was holding out her hand to prevent her from being flattened in a building collapse, and she was using the time to examine her treatment of him? What the fuck!?
It was great she was finally processing the obvious, but time management!
"Sor—aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Leon grabbed her wrist in the most ungentlemen-like fashion imaginable and yanked her into the air. A split second later, Caitlyn shot to the cosmos with a profound look on her face.
—
[A/N: Remember, yanderes don't become yanderes because they fall in love a character and then become mental and emotional calamaties—it's the other way around.
Try not to worry that no one can compete with Caitlyn because she's a natural yandere in the wild. Sometimes the quietest of people can become the most explosive characters when they fall in love. *insert demon horns emoji*]