Brown Liquid

Leonel sat upon a mountain peak in silence, his conversation with his mother running through his mind.

After that event, his father had become a lot more subdued and it seemed it was his mother who slowly helped him to return to a semblance of his former self. Once that fact settled in, the rest of their story practically wrote itself.

The Void Palace experienced Val's fury once, they had no intention of going through it again just to enforce a dated pregnancy rule. In the end, Leonel was born and his father became a much more reserved man.

What Leonel cared the most about, though, wasn't the fact his father was such a different man from himself, and it wasn't even about all the ammo he had gotten himself, it was rather about the fact that his father had chosen to aim his blade toward the Void Palace in all his rage.

Even without having been there, Leonel didn't need to be a genius to understand…

The Void Palace had played a part in his grandfather's death.

Leonel's gaze flickered with rage, the dense rock he was sitting upon cracking beneath just the slightest intention. If that was true, he wouldn't mind finishing what his father started.

"Leo?"

Leonel blinked several times as though he was scaring his fury away. When he turned back, he found Joel standing there and couldn't help but sigh.

Joel had initially thought that Leonel's fury was aimed toward him, but it was clear that this wasn't the case. He plopped down by Leonel's side, handing him a bottle of brown liquid. Even if Leonel had been mad at him, there was no way he would just turn away and leave now. It was precisely the moments where Leonel was acting the most unlike himself that he needed his brothers by his side.

Leonel looked at it and chuckled. "You know I don't drink."

Joel smiled. "I know, you've always been a pussy in that regard, sipping on your little girl drinks."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a little cosmopolitan in your life from time to time. It's your loss, not mine."

Leonel wasn't very surprised that the usually reserved and silent Joel was so vulgar and outgoing in private like this. Joel only spoke like this when it was only the two of them. Whenever the others were there, he'd always take the role of second in command, his actions serving to amplify Leonel's own.

Leonel's shadow was quite a large one to fill. Not everyone could pull off the kind, charismatic leader role that everyone would still follow to the depths of hell well. Most would end up being too nice and lose the edge a ruler should have. So, Joel didn't try to tap dance it at all and only less loose in very rare occasions.

Knowing this, Leonel couldn't continue to refuse the bottle and took a swing. But, he almost immediately began coughing.

"What the hell is this shit? Rubbing alcohol? Are you trying to poison me?"

Joel burst into a fit of laughter. "It's good stuff, right?

Joel threw his head back, taking two deep gulps. Leonel didn't know how he did it, he felt like his whole body was burning from just a single sip. He was really putting his Metal Body and Scarlet Star Force to shame today.

He tried to keep up with Joel, but he found his vision swimming. The fogginess of his mind wasn't something Leonel had experienced before, this was definitely some strong alcohol, definitely Fifth Dimensional. Who knew how Joel got his hands on it?

The two ended up half passed out, staring up at the sky of dusk. The day had waned on them without them even noticing.

"You know, man…" Joel hiccupped. "… You let things bottle up inside you too much. I've never seen you snap like that…"

Leonel let out an odd cross of a laugh, cough and wheeze. It seemed like he might hack up a lung. Content is property © .

"I know… It was embarrassing right…? I didn't even know how to face you guys…"

"… There you… go again… Why is that… your first reaction…? Everyone… Everyone wanted to be there for you."

"… I did something … stupid."

"Everyone does… stupid things sometimes…"

"Not me… Never me… It doesn't make sense … None of it makes sense…"

Leonel didn't even seem to be stringing together coherent thoughts anymore. If he ever remembered this night, he would definitely swear off alcohol. He liked to have full control of his faculties, and he most definitely did not at this moment.

Luckily, this was one of the few times he would have such a luxury with his mother watching over him. This might be one of the last times for a long while that he could get to do this.

"Not everything… has to make sense… idiot…"

Leonel hiccupped in response. It was hard to tell whether he registered these words or not, but what he did know was that he was very tired. He still hadn't rested since he finished his Divine Armor, and his head butting with Wise Star Order hadn't helped in the slightest.

"… If Newton didn't want… everything to make sense… we wouldn't have calculus…" Leonel eventually said.

"… Do you think… Newton was thinking about calculus… When he was boning his wife…?"

"… He probably would … have been better at it… if he did…"

Joel rolled over, sputtering out a swig he had taken. He coughed out his laughter, half dying and half fighting for his next breath. In his drunken state, Leonel's words were at least ten times funnier than it should have been and air seemed to be even harder to get.

"… Only you… Only you would say that…"

"… Only I'm… Always right…"

"Well… Mr. Always … Right… Newton didn't actually have … a wife… the man… died a virgin… Is that… that the role model…. you want?"

Leonel finally didn't answer immediately. And when he did, he was half asleep.

"… Fuck."