arescere ✿ xavier thorpe

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19 - rather be dead

and he unpacked his room into xavier's. reaching to flip the bed when a folded note flew through the window. xavier disappeared to go paint, apparently he had a studio somewhere in the woods. leaving him alone in his new room. but only to find things waving at him from the window. opening the note it was in fact wednesday old writing.

𝔪𝔢𝔢𝔱 𝔞𝔱 𝔭𝔬𝔢

did she mean the edgar allen poe statue? one of peter's worst traits was succumbing to curiosity. and that's how he found himself sneaking across the quad in sweats and a zip up hoodie

"i saw you." she muttered, appearing from the darkness and he tried to act like she hadn't scared him.

"not hard, we go to school together." he replied sarcastically but she did not look mused. was she ever?

"no in a vision." she replied, before turning on her heel and walking away.

"what? don't walk away." he shouted, quick to start walking beside her,hoping she would tell him more.

"it was with crackstone."

"from the 1600's? and i was there?" he questioned side glancing at her as they headed for the exit of nevermore gates. the path to jericho stretching before them.

"it was you."

"that's not possible." he mumbled, head bowing. he knew of this. his grandmother had mentioned something about this, she was a seer. a belfiore boy forever to live. but not him, out of all of them. he certainly hadn't lived before. crackstone was from the 16th century, the witch era. maybe she had been bewitched. they walked in silence towards the town. not a sound around them. an adventure of kinds. he had not expected a casual trip to the morgue. but then looking at the girl beside him, he should know better than that. this is somewhere a girl like her visited often, she had death written all over her.

"while i do the autopsy, you two find the files of the monster's other victims and make copies." wednesday ordered as she opened her little bag of trinkets. well tools for the autopsy. peter holding his handout for thing to climb onto. lifting the hand to his shoulder as he disappeared down one of the many rooms looking for a file room. instead finding themselves in the photocopy room. thing using the printer whilst peter was curiously looking at the random scraps of paper around the room. finding a folder with that all so well known red ink.

case of rowan laslow
confidential.

and he grabbed it, not even bothering to make a photocopy. when car lights were seen outside. rushing to inform wednesday. only for things to beat him. and the doors opened as he sucked in a breath. holding his hand over his mouth and nose, not wanting his breathing to be heard. and it stopped the smell of the morgue.

"whatever, or whoever is responsible for these killings. in all my years, i've never seen injuries like them. i thought you should see this before i issue my report on the latest victim" he heard the doctor say as peter tried not to gag as he laid here. the smell of death around wednesday was bad enough but lying with actual dead bodies. whole different experience.

"the killer cut two toes of the victim's left foot. best guess, they used a surgical saw. the final autopsy reports still pending"

"the minute it's done, send it straight to my desk.
media blackout on the toes."

"sure thing sheriff, been a busy couple of weeks, huh? at least i'm going out in style. friday is my last day."

"happy retirement doc."

"i noticed that belfiore boy seems to be showing up frequently."

"i'm dealing with it." peter's eyes went wide, looking over the ledge to wednesday who was staring right back up at him. before her tray was pulled out. hearing the doc talk about her being dead before he left. peter slammed the door open with his fist and pulled the tra out. jumping onto the floor as things moved to get wednesday out.

"five more minutes, i was just getting comfortable."

"we don't have the time wednesday."

peter snuck past ms thornhill who was mysteriously creeping round halls. rushing back to his room before remembering the swap. spinning on his heel and sneaking by her one more time as he headed in the direction of xavier's dorm. xavier who laid in his bed, watching a movie on his phone. sheets a tangled mess. his hair fell onto his pillows but from here his neck was exposed. and he stared at the red marks slashed across the boy's pale neck. claw marks. a monster. and his brows furrowed. the red marks were contrasted against the pale skin.

"are you watching 27 dress?'' peter questioned and xavier let out a scream as he threw his phone under the covers. whining as he craned his neck to see peter stood there. once tired eyes filled with horror.

"no."

"are you sure, it looked like 27 dresses." he knew it was 27 dresses, i mean the shot was of james marsden in front of the wardrobe with the 27 dresses.

"it was porn."

"right." and peter chuckled heading to the bathroom as he shrugged off his jacket. leaving him a printed tee as he stared at his reflection. ignoring the darkness as he splashed water on his face. 

"thorpe, you're still bleeding.'' peter mumbled and the boy's hand instantly reached for his neck. the red liquid spilling onto his fingers. watching as his whole body shuddered at such. face painted with fear, peter wondered if xavier could paint emotions like his face did.

"how'd that happen?" he asked as he watched xavier sit, face twisted in pain.

"painting."

"your art, it hurts you? can it do that?" xavier merely mumbled in repose as peter got up from his bed. finding the first aid kit in the bottom drawer of his desk. walking over to the long haired boy.

"i don't need your help."

"yes you do." and xavier groaned as he felt peter's cold touch against the warm wound. using an alcohol wipe to cleans the blood as he cleaned it. one of his hands resting on the boy's neck as he held him in place as the other placed a tiny bit of the tape to keep the cuts from being open.

"are you okay?"

"i'm fine."

"what was it? the drawing." he questioned, tracing his finger under xavier's jaw, making him look up at him. cold eyes meeting warm.

"a monster." he spoke softly. and peter nodded before leaving xavier. something about peter's touch was comforting yet so cold. like he was draining life from him but he gained it instead. and watched as the boy moved back to his bed.

"enjoy the rest of the 27 dresses."