Flashback:
The leader that she'd just recently gotten used to… had drowned in the liquor he chose to submerge into.
Chapter 11: No More
The limo finally stopped at the front of the mansion after a long drive back to the HQ. Lil had tried to immerse herself in thought, but it was impossible.
Seeing the boss so… dead. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, and knowing that he was too far away from everyone made it worse. Lil would never be able to make it through his thick wall.
The boss struggled to open the limo door after his 5th bottle, after which he'd run out, and he stumbled on his way up the stairs to the mansion. Surprisingly, to Lil, he was an amazing drunk. At 5 drinks, she would barely be able to stand on two feet.
On the steps, everyone's favorite prince sat there, looking bored. A smile lit up his face in the most sadistic way possible as Squalo raced by him and said prince walked down to Lil when the limo driver drove off to park the limo somewhere.
"Lili-chan, you're back, ushishishi~ I've been bored~"
Lil looked at Bel as his smile slowly turned to a quizzical frown. The longer she stared at him, the more she realized that she missed him.
She bit her lip in an effort to keep herself from crying. Bel tilted his head in wonder as that smile slowly appeared again. "What the hell do you need, Lilie? Ushi, are you hungry?~"
Lil shook her head as the tears streamed down her face, one after another. She hiccupped in the struggle to keep from wailing aloud.
"Aww, Lilie… what's the matter?" That teasing tone couldn't have made her cry any harder as she covered her face in an attempt to hide those stupid fucking tears that had disgraced her in front of Bel, of all people.
She shook her head in a tear-blinded stupor. "No… no…" Lil begged herself to stop; crying made her weak. In the Varia, no one cries. It made her look so incredibly weak, yet she couldn't stop.
An arm curled around her as she was ushered into Bel's shirt. "Lilie, why do you cry in front of the prince, ushi~?" Despite the pain that she tried to hide, despite the pain Lil struggled to let out, Bel could still taunt her and treat her as if he was above her.
"Bel…" Lil choked out, shaking her head in an attempt to bite back these stupid tears. "I-I missed you."
No matter how much she'd regret saying it later; Lil knew that before the stupid hit, everything was normal. Now that the boss's heart was broken, now that the fire in his eyes disappeared… everything wouldn't be normal anymore.
It caused Lil to yearn for the old days that occurred only hours before this very moment.
"The prince also missed his princess, ushishi~" Bel laughed again as he rubbed the top of her head as if she was a pet. The very gesture made Lil's face heat up in the usual irritation, but Bel made a surprised 'hm?', causing Lil to think nothing of it. He must have spotted that stupid gash that was probably still covered in dirt.
"Lilie, you're injured, ushi~!" The taunting laugh only intensified as he pulled away from her and put his arm around her shoulders. "Lussu-chan will fix you~."
After they walked inside, a mischievous Fran appeared from a side corridor. "Lili-chan, welcome back." "And exactly what the hell are you doing here, you little shit? I thought I told you to quit following me~" Bel's irritated voice only added to the sense of normality around here.
Fran ignored the annoyed prince as he turned to the small Lil. "Remember what I said before you left? It happened again." Lil's eyebrows knitted themselves together in confusion as she thought back to before the hit. Fran had told her something about how Bel was acting weird and noticing little things about her that had creeped the poor frog out. Lil's eyes widened in interest.
"What did you tell her, ushishi~?" Bel laughed nervously as he tried to get Fran to tell him what was going on, but Fran shrugged. "It's an inside joke, senpai." Bel stomped his foot exasperatedly. "I'm a prince; I deserve to know, ushi~!"
Fran rolled his eyes and looked at Lil as he suddenly tilted his head. "Eh? Lili-chan, have you been crying? Your eyes, both of them, are red." "I-um…" Lil struggled to explain the situation before the quiet kid shrugged and walked off from where he had come from. "Just kidding. I already know; I was watching you. Bye, Lili-chan, we'll talk later."
"Tch. Stupid fucking frog." Bel snorted as Fran disappeared from sight. "We don't have time to mingle with the commoners anyway, right Lilie, ushishishishi~?" Lil smiled a small, unsure smile as they walked off toward the kitchen. Luss would have normally been in there, but the kitchen was vacant.
Bel shrugged slowly as he rubbed Lil's head again. "Where's that freak, ushi~?" Lil shrugged as she looked down at the kitchen tile, avoiding Bel's 'gaze'. "It's fine, it doesn't hurt, Bel."
Crash. Boom.
It sounded like glass was hitting the ground intentionally and a gun went off as Lil stiffened.
The boss.
He was too drunk to be using those damn things, and as soon as he got up there he probably grabbed another drink or two. Or three. Or ten.
"I-I'll talk to you later, Bel!" Lil raced away and out of his grip as he stared after her, wondering what the hell was going on. After a second, he laughed his stupid laugh and Lil disappeared out of sight.
She raced down the marble hallways and avoided maids when she could. Lil had heard all of those noises from the kitchen. What the hell was the boss up to? How was he feeling?
Her heart ached with sympathy. If she had been told those things, she probably would have killed herself. Not because she was weak, but because of the pain that would have engulfed her.
"You damn-!" "GET MER MORE FURKING WHISKEH, GOF DAMNIT."
Lil's eyes widened as she slowed to a stop near the grand marble stairs that led to Xanxus's office. The boss sounded drunker than she thought he was; he could hardly speak.
Squalo tumbled out of the door as a bottle came flying out over his head, crashing to pieces on the stairs.
Fear was evident in Lil's eyes as she walked toward the beyond-pissed shark. "S-Squa-san… how many?"
Squalo stared at her with irritation in his eyes. "How many what?"
Lil's eyebrows meshed together in what she knew must have been concern. "Bottles. How many has he-"
"He's had eight at least. Ran out and now he wants more." Squalo had a somber expression on his face for a moment before turning left, probably going toward the kitchen.
"E-eight?" Lil stammered as he walked by her. "W-what the hell are you doing, getting him more? He'll die!"
Squalo looked back at her with confusion in his gray eyes. "And if I don't get him more, we'll all die." Lil shook her head, starting up the stairs. "He can't have any more! If he does, he'll kill himself!"
"Lil! Don't you fucking dare go up those stairs! He'll kill you if you go in there without any alcohol!" Squalo sounded exasperated as he growled at her menacingly, getting out his sword and waving it around for a moment before slowly bringing it down. "It doesn't matter anyway… he probably would rather kill himself more than anything at the moment anyway."
That very last sentence was all it took for Lil to realize that's exactly what she needed to do. She seriously needed to go in there and help him. It didn't take long to relate how he was feeling to a particular phenomenon that she experienced. Lil knew how he felt, and he needed someone to help him through it. Without another word to the captain, she turned and walked up the glass-covered stairs.
"VOIIIII! God dammit, Lil! You're fucking stupid! Fine! If you wanna get shot, go ahead!" Squalo shook his head and wove his sword around again as he raced to wherever the hell he was going.
Lil turned her attention to the grand doors to the office. She had to break down his damn walls before it was too late. She opened the doors with as much force as her tiny body could muster up as she braced herself for any projectiles that could be flying her way, but none came.
In the dark office, the boss held his own head down as the bottles on his desk sat there, waiting for an unsuspecting person such as Lil to be thrown at. The door swung closed behind her, startling Xanxus as he looked around wildly before setting his eyes on her.
"Alcohol?" Surprisingly, that one word did not slur as Lil neared him and shook her head. "N-no…"
The boss picked up a bottle and threw it at her, as she suspected, but the throw was completely uncoordinated and the bottle flew over her head. It smashed against the wall behind her and the boss only muttered to his drunken self as she knelt down and began picking up the pieces of the smashed liquor bottle.
"Boss… why? Why are you drinking?" Lil kept her voice to a hushed whisper. She didn't want to anger him while he was in this state of mind.
"Soz I ken git one helllllll of ah angover." As controlled as his voice was, the slur only worsened the more he tried to speak.
Lil shook her head slowly, throwing the broken pieces into the trashcan near the door as she turned to him. "No… no, that's bad, you'll kill yourself…" She realized how much of a disaster this was turning out to be; since she hadn't really thought over what the hell she was going to say, she turned out to sound really uneducated and stupid.
Xanxus looked at her with a wild look in his red eyes as he struggled to stand and pulled out his guns. "Why da hail arr you in heer anyweh? No lickher…" The alcohol coursed through his veins as he struggled to aim at a shocked Lil.
"Boss… boss, no, you're too drunk to be handling those…" Lil slowly approached the armed man as he struggled to take aim. "Mah gunz. Die, Leelanau."
He pulled one of the triggers, but his aim was horribly off as he shot the wall behind her, leaving a small hole.
Lil grabbed ahold of the guns and pulled them out of his hands easily, discarding the threats behind her. "Boss, please don't… I'm trying to help you!"
Despite being unarmed, he looked at her quizzically. His pupils were obviously dilated with intoxication, but he shrugged and slumped back down in his chair.
"Boss… go to sleep, please…" Lil even found herself begging him; if he fell asleep, he wouldn't go into a drunken rage and kill everyone. She could also have the opportunity to talk to the others, hide his weapons, and come up with a pact not to give their leader any sort of alcoholic beverage.
Xanxus stared at her as his eyes narrowed in a familiar way, but he shrugged without speaking. "I'm sure if you sleep, um…" Improvise. C'mon… "T-there will be alcohol waiting for you when you wake up."
And if he remembers that when he wakes up, after Lil rids the entire mansion of alcohol, we all know who dies first.
The boss only stared at her and laid back in his chair, staring.
Lil's mind scrambled as she thought fast; what the hell do you do to get people to fall asleep?! She tried to get close to him as his eyes began to close and his head fell onto his fist.
Managing to not look threatening, she reached out to touch his hair. Surprisingly, as course and almost unkempt as it looked, it was soft and silky. Knowing that this was a one-time deal, she lavished in the moment and thought about how she would go to Lussuria and tell him that she managed to touch his untouchable head of hair, but that was beside the point.
Lil began to rub his head when his muscles tensed up, but another drunken mumble came out of his mouth. Lil couldn't personally hear what he said, but his muscles soon relaxed until he slumped into slumber.
She crept away into the corner and picked up his guns, slowly walking out of the door. Lil placed them right outside as she went back in to pick up the remaining empty liquor bottles to prevent them from hitting or hurting anyone else… not to mention to not help jog his memory about her trying to help him.
"I'd rather work with him while he's sober," she muttered to herself as she came out from the office, closing the door as softly as she could.
Nonetheless, Lil couldn't believe that she'd done it. She'd gone in there expecting to be seriously injured, but due to his slowed and fucked up senses due to intoxication, she survived the encounter.
"Lili-chan!~" Lil turned her entire head to the left to see who was speaking, which had been Lussuria. "Come over here, I have a surprise for you!"
Despite all of the incriminating evidence that she had, Lil picked up the guns and most of the bottles as she headed toward Lussuria. "Look at your new room! Don't worry, it's been done since this morning… but I took the liberty of decorating it for you and placing all of the furniture, even your clothes! You're officially moved in, Lili-chan!"
Lil was genuinely surprised when she saw how large this new room was. She had a beautiful French-style window and beautiful lights and beautiful space that wasn't taken up by a mirror, a dresser, some end tables, a beautiful bed with those curtains like in the movies. She could see a door to what she knew was her very own bathroom with a sink and a shower… wow…
The color scheme was a soft yet beautiful purple with the occasional white, such as the curtains, as Lussuria swooned. "Well? Lili-chan, do you like it?~" Lil nodded in awe as she looked around. Before she could even comment, Luss spotted the contents in her arms.
"Hmm? Lili-chan, what do you have there? I didn't know that you drank…" He looked closer until his expression turned worried. "T-that's the boss's favorite whiskey… did you steal it?" Lil shook her head as she handed him the bottles and threw the guns underneath her bed.
"No… well… yes, but I wasn't the one who drank it. Xanxus has had more than enough alcohol today, so I took all of his weapons and stuff and well… yeah."
It was a pretty shitty way of explaining it, but Luss seemed to get the drift as he exclaimed: "Were those… h-his guns?! How did you even get ahold of those?!"
Lil couldn't help but shrug as her hands shook with the sin of taking the boss's weapons. "He was too drunk to even hold them right… I took them so he wouldn't hurt anyone or himself…"
Luss tapped his lips in confusion. "So… Lili-chan, what are you trying to do?" Lil looked into those dark sunglasses of his and stated her answer; "I want to help the boss with his drinking problem."
Golly, I actually enjoyed writing this chapter. The reviews that I've received are helping me a lot, as I have tried to post at least once every day until break is over (don't take me up on that promise).
I loved this chapter, personally. Holy crap. So proud of myself, actually xD It takes effort to type like you're drunk, so dun judge meh. Also, if he seemed a little OOC, he was drunk. I think we'd all be OOC if we were drunk… right? O.o
I'm in the writing mood, so if a random next chapter appears, don't spaz. (again, ignore this xD).
Okay, review, lemme see what you thought, ushi~
