Sorry for long post but I want to give as much detail so you all can know whats going on)

So I'm trying to upgrade certain switches in my house to smart switches. The Leviton D26HD switches. I have been able to do a few already but came across one I'm having trouble with. Essentially, I have a weird 3 way switch where wallbox A looks like the attached wallbox A picture and my wallbox b looks like the other attached picture.

The original switch at wallbox A however didn't turn anything on or off as far as i can tell but when i did disconnect all the wires, no wires in wallbox B were "hot" when all the wires in wallbox A were exposed and not connected either but one line wire was hot at box B when box A was connected to the old switch, so i know they're connected somehow still.

The wiring at wallbox A had the line and two black load wires all pigtailed together and then that pigtail connected to the switch. The only other wires going into the switch at box A was the red wire and the ground wire.

When I wired the new smart switch first at box A and then tried again at box B, the light didn't come on. ie, the switch wasn't turning the light fixture on (though I know the switch had power to it as it showed up in the leviton app and the led on the switch itself was working).

2 questions

1. Are the wallboxes normal? Like, is there abnormal wiring happening in it?

2. I noticed the red traveler wire was not hot when I had the smart switch installed at box B. So at box A, can I connect the traveler wire directly to the line wire? Is it ever ok to directly crimp a traveler wire directly to a line wire? (Also i don't care if the switch at box A continues to not turn anything specifically on or off. Just want the new switch at box B to turn the lights on)