Doe's POV:
I definitely didn't miss those stairs we had to take while returning from the dining hall either.
Those things were torture devices in of themselves.
To me at least, Xander on the other hand wasn't fighting for his breath quite like I was.
Stupid vampires.
Much to my appreciation though, the hallway of our floor was vacant, so no one else could hear my struggle.
Xander still looked disrupted in a different sense with every step we took towards Nico's room, probably running over what he was going to say as he always did for important conversations as not to mess up.
And then get completely thrown off when the other person doesn't perfectly match the script he made in his head.
One day he'll learn... I hope.
"Try to at least look like you're not nervous," I suggested.
He let out a little groan, most likely at the fact that his nerves were that obvious.
To me at least.
"What would you suggest then?"
With the step I kept behind him, I didn't have to maneuver much to lift my hand and flick his spine right between his shoulder blades.
He gave me the reaction I was going for, immediately bringing his shoulders back to straighten his posture.
So he didn't look like he was about to fold in on himself.
"That, for starters."
He blinked in the realization that he was slouching in the first place, as we turned into the short dead-end hall that Nico's door sat in the middle of.
I momentarily thought about just heading down to the next one to our door and let him do this alone, but very quickly decided against it.
We both stopped once we reached the door, Xander letting out a quick but soft preparatory sigh.
"Do you plan on going in?" I asked.
He rubbed the folded paper through his pocket.
"Not really. I just kinda planned on it being a quick conversation."
Good enough for now I suppose.
I inclined my head while setting my back against the wall right beside the door, waving for him to get on with it.
And surprisingly, with no further hesitation he did, raising his hand to do the same rhythmic knock I'm sure everyone knew at this point.
He again straightened himself as I made him do before in the time it took Nico to answer the door.
"What do you want." The words sounded right after the sound of the door opened, that familiar annoyance already in his voice.
Actually no... this one sounded just noticeably different.
"Ah, yes. A warm hello to you too brother who I love so much." He cooed, adding those quick innocent blinks to it and everything.
My hand nearly met my face at the sound of it.
Really?
Nico, per usual, must have matched my reaction to all of this, the silence from him giving me enough input.
Xanders excited stance deflated after a while, his next words coming out flat.
"Really dude? Not even a 'Hi'?"
My hand did meet my face this time, quietly though as not sway either of their attention.
I had no idea what kind of approach this was, but It didn't feel like one you should take with Nico.
Or at least that was my thought process before I reminded myself that he knew Nico much more than I did.
I'd seen a hint of the bond they had as brothers nearly two years ago and just watched it get worse from there.
I didn't know what they were like before Layla became an issue.
My hand dropped, deciding to just sit and watch how this all played out.
Or fall apart as Nico's sigh cut through the air.
Yeah okay, he wasn't in the mood, but this time I didn't think it stemmed from Xander.
I wonder if Khloe's okay.
"If all you wanted was to bother someone go do it to someone else." He snapped.
I watched panic flash across Xander's face for just a second before his body acted, sticking his foot into the room to stop the door.
"Wait wait okay I do actually have to tell you something." He finally mentioned as he composed himself again.
I faintly heard the backward footstep from Nico.
"Since you weren't at dinner I thought that I'd tell you about the announcement that they made during it."
Another slightly awkward silence that he filled.
"It's that time of the year again so the pet doctors will arrive tomorrow afternoon to collect all the pets in the castle. They said to get as much use out of them as we can tonight because they'll be at the clinic for two days before they're returned."
There was a clanging from the inside of the room, grabbing my attention for a short second.
Xander's too if the turning of his head told me anything.
"Oh," Was Nico's subtle reply.
He sounded more bummed about this than I was.
Xander took that as his cue to take out the paper
"Yep. They passed out the forms to fill out as usual so I grabbed Khloe's for you."
Nico must have taken it since Xander's hand returned to his pocket.
Okay, this was going better...
"It's a little different from the past forms and they explained them to us but," he lifted his shoulders, "You're a doctor I'm sure you can figure them out."
"Yeah... Thank you."
Oooh a 'thank you'.
It sounded genuine too.
Dang, I was way too into these brother's relationship...
Well, I did want him to get better. To fix all of this.
It was what I've wanted for a while now, so I guess it only made sense for me to be a little excited about it.
Xander bowed his head, stepping out with the door handle in his hand.
"Consider it payment for fixing my pet's shoulder." were his last cheekily-spoken words before he shut the door himself.
Just to lean his hands against it while he let out a very deep breath.
He looked to me soon after, for what looked like some sort of approval
"You really could have gone without that last part, but other than that I'd say it went well," I noted, pushing myself from the wall.
I noticed the small smile on his face once he stood straight again.
"I personally thought that last part was completely necessary," he disputed, waving for me to join him so we could head back to our room.
"That was just the warm-up though, with me and Khloe being gone for two days, I'd say there'd be no better time to actually talk to him than during one of those days, right?"
The look on his face as we turned back into the main hall made me believe for a second that he was going to dispute me.
Lucky for him, he didn't.
"You're right. I'll uh- I'll ask him for drinks or something and see how that goes."
Well, props on him for at least having the outline of a plan.
"You drink?" I perplexed.
I don't think I've ever seen him drink anything other than blood or water.
He found my surprise funny, apparently.
"On occasion," He began, "I'm not the fanciest connoisseur of alcohol, nor do I prefer any of the really hard stuff, but there are things that I like. Nico used to be a real snob about it back at our place, so I think it'll make for a nice nostalgic setting for how things used to be before I beg for his forgiveness and all that."
He was talking so lightly about it now, but I couldn't even begin to imagine what mess he'll turn into when the time finally comes.
Judging by how he was with me.
But his plan did sound like a good one.
And that was hard to come by when it came to him.
"That sounds great," I admitted, wanting to add as much support as I could, "You'll have to tell me how it goes."
"Yeah duh," he started, like it was obvious to begin with, " You get to hear all of my stupid-"
His hand was on my upper arm the very moment his sentence stopped, causing my steps to halt with it.
The look on his face once I turned to see it made my stomach turn.
His eyes were wide, pupils already matching a snake's.
No. No no no.
The light hairs on the skin of his arm all stood straight with the rest of him.
His next exhale came with a slight tremor, head slowly turning behind us as if moving too fast would be dangerous.
I found myself frozen by his reaction alone, not being able to look with him if I tried.
Not since the scene right now was so similar to what I saw last night before she came pounding at our door.
I tried and tried to force myself to see where he was looking and instead got met with a single word that kicked every single one of my fears into gear.
"Fuck."
A dull pain radiated from my back as I found myself almost slammed against the wall, the only thing stopping my head from the same fate being the hand that Xander placed between it and the wall.
I barely even got to process the fact of his body in front of mine, and the closeness of it before the sound of shredding fabric tore through my ears, and a faint breeze lifted my hair.
His entire body tightened violently, jolting forward towards where he had caged mine against the wall.
The tension and strain in his throat showed brutally with the agonized groan that ripped out of it, despite how hard it seemed he was trying to suppress it.
His inhale that followed came as a hiss through his clenched teeth, the sound of his claws piercing through the wall beside my head.
I could feel it too through the hand he still had behind my head and the breaths that were now heavy.
"Xander," The word squeaked out as nothing but a pathetic, anxiety-ridden whisper, glancing up to see his face where it was with the top of his head too pressed against the wall.
I couldn't even tell what the word itself stemmed from.
One eye looked to open at the sound of it, the other still squeezed shut.
Even still, it looked me over, the smallest hint of relief showing through the pain as it did.
Any other semblance of other words burned into nothing the second that familiar metallic scent hit my nose.
Except, unlike other times, the blood wasn't mine.
Oh my god.
I couldn't think. I couldn't even begin to try to wrap my head around what just happened.
As much as I tried, I was stuck in shock for the moment, the only thing that finally cut me out being the voice of the woman that haunted me in every imaginable way.
"Well," She spoke from behind him, calm and collected, "You weren't who I was aiming for."