LIBERTY

Chapter XIII

"You said you wanted to talk?"

"Something like that." Axel rolled up another joint and offered Leon one but he declined.

"Alright what is this about?" Leon spoke up. "I know you won't beat me up cause you wouldn't have picked out a public spot to meet, so what is it that you wanna talk about?"

Axel turned his head to face him, blowing a big cloud of smoke. "Why don't you tell me?"

"What?"

"I know what you're up to. You're lucky she's stupid and oblivious, but I'm not."

Leon clenched his teeth. "What's it to you? You hate her with a passion, why'd you even care?"

"Cause she's my sister," Axel reasoned as he watched the view – the pull of the ocean, the twinkling waves kissing the shoreline. Even nature was pathetic.

"Stop fooling yourself," Leon scoffed. "I'm just trynna help her, that's all."

Axel locked his eyes with his. "What's it to you? Why do you even care?"

Leon held the McCoy's gaze for a full minute before exhaling loudly. He grunted as he took a seat on the bench, not refusing the joint being passed to him. He inhaled it slowly, basking in the glory of the sudden serenity that washed over him.

"I know what she's going through, been there myself," he eventually said as he also followed the motion of the waves. "I always knew that I wasn't me, you know? There was something about the way people would look at me, talk to me, like I was this person they thought they knew, but I wasn't. It wasn't me, I was somebody else." Leon turned to look at Axel. "Libby's somebody else too."

Axel merely blinked. "I know," he said. "I know."

"But she doesn't know."

"No, she doesn't."

"Doesn't she deserve to know?"

"Maybe." Axel wet his lips. "I don't know."

"Do you love her?" Leon suddenly asked.

Axel glanced at him before quickly looking away. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a simple question with a very simple answer."

"Maybe. I don't know," was his monotone response. He grabbed the joint from Leon's fingers and took one long drag, gazing at the ground. 

Leon shot him a baffled look. "You don't know? You don't know if you love her?"

"Do you love her?" he shot back in an even voice.

Leon paused. "Maybe. I don't know."

Axel snorted, an amused smile tugging at his lips but it didn't reach his eyes. He grabbed the envelope and smacked it against Leon's chest a little too hard.

Leon grunted. "What's this?" It didn't seem like he was going to get any answers from Axel so he decided to see for himself. There was a letter and a couple of pictures and Leon felt the blood drain from his face.

"Where the fuck did you get these?" he whispered, unable to find his voice.

"Adam," was the only thing Axel said but it was enough clarification. "He knows about you, Leon."

Leon cleared his throat, composing himself after the initial shock. "Is that why you wanted to meet? To warn me off?"

Axel stood up and tucked his hands in his pockets. "I wanted to meet to tell you to be careful. You're playing a game with my brother and Adam plays dirty – he cheats, doesn't play by the rules only his, he'll never let you win."