Dimensional Descent

The atmosphere was quite somber, and maybe the location didn’t help very much. Leonel’s brothers sat in silence around a table, bottles of alcohol sitting half finished as they reclined, lost in their own worlds. The smell was so strong that it felt as though a mixture of 99% rubbing alcohol and a field of roses were smashed and mashed into one, releasing a peculiar scent that made one’s nose red.

They had been stuck like that for quite a long time. It was as though they could feel the heaviness of Leonel’s mood, and it had been transferred over to them. This couldn’t be helped. After being resurrected under Leonel’s power, they felt the influence of his soul. Once they regained their own bodies, they no longer felt that sort of fanaticism that his soul constructs did, but they could still feel Leonel more clearly than they could in the past. This was only more exaggerated since some of them had experienced that feeling not just once, but twice.

Leonel hadn’t come to see them since his father had died. He didn’t even have much patience for Aina and his own mother, let alone others. But that didn’t mean that they weren’t very worried about him.

James suddenly sighed. ”That guy...”

”What do you think, James? Is he finished?” Raj asked somewhat absentmindedly.

James laughed. ”Why are you asking me? Do I look introspective to you?”

”Dumbass. We’re asking you about someone else, what would you need to be introspective for?” Milan mumbled.

”Smart ass, don’t you know you’re supposed to be a dumb jock?”

”Then what’s your excuse?” Milan snorted.

”What are you trying to say?”

”Don’t think I forgot. All those dropped passes in the championship game? You can’t even call yourself a jock, so what are you exactly? Just dumb?”

James’ gaze flashed. He seemed to be about to lose his temper, but in the end he sighed, just leaning back and pretending as though he hadn’t heard anything. He truly didn’t have much of a right to get mad about this matter.

”What happened that day anyway? You never told us,” Raj asked. He didn’t seem to get the memo that they were trying to move on, but truthfully they felt it was about time they talked about this matter. James had been gone for so long, he couldn’t just come back after betraying them not just once, but twice, and expect not to have to explain himself.

Of course, the championship game was a minor matter in the grand scheme. They already had three trophies and they didn’t really care all that much about winning again, especially when the Metamorphosis came afterward. But the reason why they separated in the first place, the matters of the Royal Blue Fort and how Leonel and Aina almost died... those were completely separate matters.

In reality, they wouldn’t even know the details of this matter if it wasn’t for Leonel getting drunk that one time on Planet Luxnix. He had been with Joel back then, and he opened up about a lot, including the matter that separated him and James. If not for this, who knows if they would even be aware of what had happened. That man hated explaining anything.

James sighed again. ”Fine, fine. I guess I should be an adult and own up to my mistakes, huh?”

”Oh man, he finally grew a pair, look at my boy grow up.”

”Fuck you,” James said with a laugh. ”It’s not that complicated. You know that the quarterback of the Angels Academy pricks was Conrad Siegfried? The Siegfried family is a Governor Duke family, or rather... was. My old man wanted a favor from them. Well... it was probably more complicated than that?”

”What’s that supposed to mean?”

”My old man rarely has one-step plans. Conrad is also a bit of a dumbass. He would be an easy pawn to use so long as he was buttered up. Too bad my sister-in-law killed him for being a horndog.”

”Too bad, is it?” Milan sneered.

James shrugged. ”It’s fair of you all to be mad, but quite frankly, I still can’t be bothered to care about football. It was just a means to an end to me, and it was also too easy. But in typical Leonel fashion, he went and won it on his own without considering anybody else.”

”You actually still have the cheek to say that?” Franco laughed.

”Well, I do know him the best. I just accept him for his flaws.”

”What about your flaws?”

James laughed again. ”I didn’t say I didn’t have any... But Leonel’s flaws... Well, they’re more complicated.”

”So you do have an answer? Then what’re you tiptoeing around it for?”

”Because even if I said it, I don’t know if you guys would believe me.”

”Just say it.”

James fell into silence, his gaze flickering. His eyes were half closed due to the alcohol.

”Leonel’s a bit of a... sociopath. He doesn’t have normal emotions I don’t think, and he fakes most of it because he’s smart enough to do so. You wouldn’t even realize if you didn’t spend a long time with him, and even then you wouldn’t notice unless you piss him off enough like I have.

”But that’s not the important part. I don’t even really think it’s his fault, not that it’s a choice to be a sociopath. Before the Metamorphosis, I thought he was bipolar, he had two personalities. If I had to name them, I’d say that one is probably his ”true self” and the second is the man his father raised.

”Well, that’s what I thought before the Metamorphosis anyway. But now, I think I have a better explanation.

”You know how everyone’s always saying that the future affects the past? I think that Leonel is in that sort of situation. His two mentalities... one is his ”true self”, as in his current immature self, and the second is his ”future self”.

”The reason he’s so arrogant, the reason he’s so indifferent... it’s probably the reason he loves my sister-in-law so much. The reason he doesn’t take anyone seriously isn’t because he’s stupid, it isn’t because he’s a prick, but it’s because there’s a very important portion of him that’s already earned the right to have that level of confidence.

”Unfortunately... his current self hasn’t earned that right yet.”