Leona and Ruggie (pt2)

Leona’s plan of Book 2 is compromised in the very beginning by Ruggie using his magic on UM to fetch a sandwich on Leona’s own orders. 

Ruggie injures several spelldrive athletes and drinks a magic-boosting potion from Azul to temporarily increase his abilities all according to Leona’s instructions, but when they fail Leona says that he no longer cares, surprising Ruggie.

Ruggie asks if Leona will be abandoning their dreams and Leona claims he was never actually invested in the first place:

“The whole thing amused me, so I threw you a bone. That’s all this was…you wanna hear the truth? You’re a hyena who grew up in a dump, and I’m a hated secondborn prince who won’t ever be king. And there is NO turning that around!”

When Ruggie and the rest of Savanaclaw’s athletes insist that they’re going to make him participate in the tournament anyway Leona turns his unique magic upon them. Jack says, “Everything the housewarden touched is turning to sand?!,” but this is possibly Jack underestimating Leona’s power:

Leona is capable of drying out objects and living creates entirely on accident and does not need to touch them, as repeated several times in the game, and even incorporeal things like other people’s magic spells.

In this scene in the novels Leona’s UM is described similar to a natural disaster, with the husks of dried-out insects falling from the air while he kinetically controls the sand he creates to smother everyone around him.

Something is raining from the sky. Insect carcasses. They are so dried out that the sound they make as they fall, like rain, is light and rustling.”

‘A magic like this exists?’ Yuuya coughs. The air he breathes irritates his throat.
Ace answers in a hoarse voice, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this. A unique magic like a natural disaster, drying everything out—is that even possible!?’
‘It seems that’s not all,’ Lilia calmly observes. ‘It seems he can freely manipulate the sand that he creates, as well.’
‘Normally, this sort of thing is impossible, right?’ Cater murmurs, his expression deadly serious. ‘This is incredible magical power…Savanaclaw’s housewarden isn’t just for show.’

The section of Leona asking, “How do you like that, Ruggie? Does it hurt? Is your mouth too dry to keep licking my boots? That was your finest talent, too,” is extended in the novel, with Ruggie standing up against Leona and saying he will never give up on his dreams.

Breaking the strained silence, Ruggie finally speaks up in his now hoarse voice.
‘No…’ Ruggie’s voice trembles, and Leona frowns. ‘What?’
‘My…dream…’
His body battered and the pain easily read upon his face, Ruggie still raises his voice.
‘I will…work my way up…!’
Ruggie cries out with everything he has, the sound echoing across the wasteland.
It isn’t particularly powerful. It lacks any real force, a feeble voice that can easily be blown away. And yet, it carries an unsettling determination.

When Ruggie insists on joining the fight against the overblotted-Leona, he asks, “So even the lowly hyena turns against me?”

As the overblotted Leona exclaims, “If I can’t overthrow the world, I’ll turn it to sand! It’s pointless— all of it!,” during the battle, Ruggie responds, “Have you always felt this way? All this time…?”

Leona seems to have little to no memory of having overblotted. When Crowley asks if he was responsible for the injures suffered spelldrive athletes via Ruggie’s unique magic, Leona confirms that he was.

Ruggie tells Leona, “Don’t think you’ve earned my forgiveness,” but also that it pains him to see such a pathetic look on Leona’s face, using his unique magic to make Leona smile.

We have seen Ruggie use his unique magic twice on Leona in-game, but with Leona being a powerful enough character to divert even Riddle’s unique magic it is possible that he was entirely capable of batting Ruggie away both times and chose not to.

Jack explains one of the reasons why he respects Ruggie so much, saying, “I was impressed by the way Ruggie never abandoned Leona and did everything he could to serve him.”

Ruggie comes close to reliving Leona’s betrayal during Leona’s dream of Book 7 where he becomes caught in darkness and Leona goes back in to save him.

Ruggie pleas, “whatever you do, please, PLEASE don’t let go of me! The last thing I want is to go out like this,” but Leona is not strong enough to pull them both out of the dark. Ruggie seems to assume that Leona is “gonna cut (him) loose again,” but Leona chooses to save Ruggie instead of himself.

Afterwards Azul observes, “I never thought l’d see Leona of all people dive into darkness on someone else’s behalf.”

Leona responds, “obviously I’d never abandon my friend. Isn’t that right, Ruggie?,” but Ruggie seems unconvinced, saying he was terrified that he was going to relive the experience of the spelldrive tournament.

Leona asks, “does this make us square for that?,” and Ruggie says no: “You’ve accumulated a lot of interest in the months since that whole mess. I’m gonna be milking that for a long while yet…So PLEASE don’t pull any stunts that could endanger your life!”

(Leona: “Would it kill you to just say thank you?” – Ruggie: “Thank you for saving me! Shyeheehee.”)

It is possible that Leona’s initial betrayal resulted in a shift in Leona and Ruggie’s relationship, communicated through how, during and after Book 2, Ruggie might have shifted to referring to Leona as “you” when he thinks Leona is out of line. More here ▶︎