Chapter Three[III]: What's the Plan? (I)

Xenos Waters is just about ready to break down in tears as he sees the back of Felix's house in front of him. The hour and a half walk ( well, limp ) here had been brutal, not only had they moved incredibly slowly and painfully ( with his shoulder pulsing occasionally ), but at some point, it had started hailing of all things.

At this point, Xenos can positively say that this has been the worst day ever, the days he spent in his room because of the voices can't even hold a candle the sheer bullshit that has been happening in the matter of a few hours. Xenos can feel Felix straighten himself up weakly, their pace increasing slightly because of the sudden energy Xenos and, presumably, Felix feels now that their destination is only a measly ten meters away.

He clenches his teeth tightly to keep them from chattering as they trudge through the snow, harsh hail and ice-cold wind continuously hitting them from the back as though it was chasing after them. They make it to the door after what feels like an eternity, Felix reaching down with trembling hangs to grab the small, hidden key inside of a large plant pot filled with colourful rocks.

Xenos stares fixedly at the golden key as Felix clumsily pushes it into the lock, twisting until there's a soft click. Felix drops the key to the ground and quickly opens the door, Felix's grip far too weak to keep the wind from snatching the door and slamming it into the wall inside. Xenos stumbles inside with Felix before immediately collapsing, knees buckling as he feels the warm air inside brush against his cold, frozen fingers and face.

Felix somehow remains standing and, almost as if in a daze, limps over to the door and closes it, finally cutting off the wind and hail that had been bombarding them relentlessly for who knows how long. Xenos curls into a small ball, teeth chattering and body still freezing despite the significantly warmer air surrounding him.

He hears Felix's tried voice call out to him, "Xenos, the clothes."

Realizing that Felix is right, Xenos shakily stands up and begins to remove the wet clothing sticking to him just as Felix does, neither of them caring about the fact that they are basically strangers. After a long and pain-filled time, Xenos finally throws his pants into the pile of clothes, the action allowing for Xenos to see the large, colourful bruise covering the entirety of his left side.

His shoulder suddenly pulses and Xenos lets out a groan of pain, curling into himself slightly as he grabs a hold of his left shoulder. He immediately snaps his hand away, and it's not only because of the pain in his palm. "F-Felix," Xenos stammers, snapping his gaze towards Felix urgently, "what the hell is on my shoulder?"

Felix, who is now also only in boxers, noticeably winces at the question. He seems pained, which, to be honest, Felix probably is. Felix looks away from Xenos, a grimace clear on his stiff face. "I. . ." he hesitates, "I think it's better if you see it for yourself."

Xenos feels his heart drop to his stomach, dread blooming throughout his body as he feels panic surge up to his brain. He really, really doesn't want to look at his shoulder. Even though his hand is still mostly numb from the cold, the rough sandpaper texture of his skin is clear to him, Felix's reaction is simply reaffirming that something is indeed deeply wrong with his shoulder.

"The bathroom is this way," Felix says, limping toward the door directly across from them. Xenos mutely follows, his panic growing by the second. Felix opens the door, heading directly towards the large shower in the back. Xenos walks inside, automatically closing the door behind him before he turns to the left.

He freezes up, eyes blowing wide as his mouth instantly turns dry. He vaguely registers the sound of water pattering against tile despite the ringing in his ears. Xenos stares at his shoulder in a daze, wondering what in the hell that creature did to him before slowly bringing his right hand up to brush gently over his shoulder.

Because under and around the bloodied hand-print on his shoulder are scales. Glimmering black, pentagonal scales eerily similar to that of the ones on the creature seem to have replaced his skin, starting from the left side of the base of his neck all the way down to his elbow. "What. . ." Xenos stops talking, for the second time in his life at a complete and utter loss for words.

Xenos vision spins for a moment as nausea shoots up from his stomach, he has to grab a hold of the sink below the mirror to keep his balance. His fingers curl tightly around the sink, the pain that springs to life in his right hand an afterthought as he stares at his shoulder as though he is a man possessed.

The panic he felt before is now being replaced by shock, and all Xenos can do is stare blankly at the scales covering him. "Xenos," he hears Felix call out, trance breaking as he slowly looks away from his shoulder to Felix, blinking rapidly.

"Y-Yeah?"

Felix gestures towards the shower. "We need to deal with the frostbite."

Xenos blinks, suddenly reminded of the numbness in his fingers and toes. The pain from his right hand also makes itself known once more, and Xenos winces as he gently lets go of the sink, his blood leaving a mark in the shape of a hand on the white porcelain. "Yeah," Xenos says slowly, "right, the frostbite."

He walks into the shower with Felix, the warm water from the showerhead above them gently warming Xenos' fingers and toes. Felix closes the glass door to keep the water from getting out before leaning against the wall opposite of Xenos, they look at each other and, almost instantly, collapse to the ground.

Xenos cradles his shaking legs and places his forehead against his knees, shoulders shaking as he silently cries, salty tears dripping down from his face and mixing with the water cascading onto him. He's so tired, tired and hurting more than he's ever hurt in his life. His hand is bleeding, his fingers and toes probably have a minor case of frostbite, his side is bruised and some of his ribs are most likely broken, and his shoulder is covered by scales.

The sheer amount of misfortune that happened today is almost amazing, it's like Xenos and Felix are being targeted by some vengeful god who will do anything and everything to see that they're miserable and suffering. He chuckles wetly at the thought, his tears mostly stopped at this point as he looks up, making eye contact with Felix's blank stare.

Xenos can feel his lips twitch up. "Do you think we offended a god or something?"

Felix's stare suddenly focuses and he laughs dryly, bringing a hand up to brush back his flattened black curls. "Who knows? What did you do this morning?"

He shrugs, morbidly amused all of a sudden. "Hmm," Xenos hums, tapping his chin with his good hand. "Ah!" He holds up a finger. "I asked the triplets to draw a moustache on Poppy for two dollars."

Felix gasps as though that is the most devious and cruel thing he's ever heard. "Bribing children to commit assault? How awful!"

Xenos snorts as he leans against the wall. "Now we know what I did, but what did you do?"

Felix's lips come up into a smirk and he leans a little forward. "Want to know?" Xenos nods enthusiastically, just like the triplets did this morning. "Heh, I stole a cookie from the cookie jar and wrote my name on the jar."

"Vandalism and theft!" Xenos shouts, pointing accusingly at Felix. They stay like that for a moment before laughing, Xenos wincing in pain and grabbing his sides but continuing to do so. It feels good to laugh, he hasn't laughed for a while now. Xenos whips the tears from his face and smiles, standing up to wash the blood off of his shoulder properly.

The fact that there are scales on his shoulder is still freaking him out a bit ( okay, a lot ), but the panic and shock have subsided, for the most part, allowing him to think clearly once again. Xenos feels Felix's eyes on him and looks down, seeing Felix's dumbfounded gaze staring at the scales on his shoulder.

Before Xenos can even start to feel self-conscious, Felix points at the spot Xenos had been leaning on. Xenos raises a brow and turns around, only to stop mid-turn as he looks astounded at the scratches in the stone wall. He slowly looks at the scales, blinking somewhat stupidly at the ground up stone sticking to the back of his shoulder.

"What the fuck?"

"Holy shit!"