Revelations in the Warehouse District [Xaver]

[Elliot Nadres]

After a night like tonight, most would've just gone home. Called it a night, forgotten the rest of the evening and slept off whatever had happened. But not Elliot. The marks that still burned across his pale features showed the tell tale signs and the faint traces of blood only made it all the more clear. Another night with Xences. The truth was still safe, however, so whatever brutalities that had been suffered were worth it. It'd taken a few hours to get the woman back to almost full health and forgetting what had happened. A few dollars in her pocket, a warm meal, and she was back home. Of course- the expenditure of his energies cost him a bit on his on healing times but in the end it was worth it. He'd saved the woman's life and hopefully she'd soon forget even meeting him. Xences by now was just a lost memory-- all he'd ever be, if Elliot had his way.

Xaver would still know, and so would the Non-human government. For all his posturing Xences was ridiculously ill-suited for the life he tried to lead. He lacked motivation, he lacked logic. He lacked self control and for all the world it took everything for him to control himself. But if he wanted to really end things and stop the problems he'd have to stay by Xences side and, naturally, everyone else he kept tabs on. If anyone knew the real truth there'd be a ridiculous response- rage, anger, shock, suprise.. He'd absolutely end up dead. But no one would find out. The secret would stay with him, even when it came so close to crashing down.

As always, he was heading to the delivery point. A large coat thrown over what he had been wearing, a hood to disguise not only his features, but the blood and marks from the evening. A simple piece of paper was all it took and, as always, Xaver would know the truth of his brother's actions along with countless others. The next stop would be one of the random Sleuths he'd started providing info to and, finally, home. Of course there'd be no sleep however- there was no time for that.

A single glance was all it took before he slipped the small piece of paper into the mail slot of what appeared to be some random abandoned building. Then... he was off. The world none the wiser of the diminutive fallen's choices, or of his dedication.

[Xaver Xian]

Xaver had made his way down to the warehouse mostly on a whim.
He’d spent his entire day in his office but had gotten little done, his thoughts and attentions remaining with the notes he had been receiving about his brother for the last few weeks. He had been getting them for months from some unknown source, but the last few weeks had been particularly disgruntling. Xences had, from what they relayed, been only getting worse. After a surprisingly nominal bit of prying and prodding, he’d figured out where the messages were coming from. Frustrated with his twin and the anonymity of the notes, Xaver had left early with a heavy coat and weighted curiosity. He was going to find out the source of all of this, damn it, for they were either trying to probe some reaction out of him or for some reason were spying on his brother. Neither were particularly good.

He shrugged more comfortably into his coat as he leaned back against the wall of the alley hidden behind the designated drop-spot mailbox. Shadows encasing his lean form already clad with a black coat, slacks, and shoes, he was indiscernible from the wall. He waited patiently, allowing his mind to wander. Alone, for there was no one else he would send to take care of personal matters. A strange position for a Fallen prince, probably, but he cared little. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he nestled into the disheveled bricks with the air of a man borderline comfortable - never enough so that he was a sitting duck, but at ease enough that when a figure approached the mailbox he was not startled. His patience had paid off in that he had the upper hand enough to slip from the alley and approach the figure without being noticed.

“Stop,” his low tones rumbled from behind the surprisingly small figure. He gripped the little person by the collar with one hand so they wouldn’t run, his other pushing their arm with an almost gentle reassurance so that they faced him. His dark blue gaze bored into the shadows of the hood, the brow of his handsome face furrowing slightly. “What are you doing?”
It was a loaded question.

[Elliot Nadres]

"Me? I'm just walking. There's no crime against that." Inwardly, Elliot cursed himself for not having caught onto being watched. He'd never let himself been caught off guard before but now.. well, now her he was being held into place by the twin of the... thing.. that had just gotten done nearly murdering a woman on the basis of madness. Things weren't exactly going his way and if Elliot allowed himself to admit it (which he wouldn't) all he really wanted was to just get home and get some sleep.

Still, that wasn't going to happen. It was going to be up the moment Xaver caught glance of him- Elliot Nadres involvement with Xences was no small, trivial fact. The advisor's son acting how he did wasn't a secret. His sister was respectable but the boy? well, no wonder he'd fallen in with the crazy Xian.

"Let go of me. I've places to be. I don't have time for this. You've no right to touch me." Dismissive, and assertive. If he was afraid, it clearly wasn't coming through and like many other things.. he wasn't going to let it show. If he was as scared as his mind could let him be, it wasn't clear. Of course he wasn't scared-- the situation earlier had been far more nerve wrecking than this would ever even begin to be by nature of individuals involved alone. But, still. He hadn't quite been ready to give up that bad guy image yet, much less to the person closest related to his current target.

[Xaver Xian]

“Just walking, huh?”

His low tones bit through the chilly silence with ease. Xaver let the small person in his grasp rattle on for a bit before he reached up and tugged the figure’s hood back, yanking it away from their head and revealing the face that had eluded his curiosities from the first letter he’d received. It was dark surprise that fluttered over Xaver’s handsome features, his brow creasing further and the hand at the young man’s collar only tightening on the fabric.

“I have every right,” he said quietly. “The right to know who is passing me information. True or false? I do not know, but… Matters of the blood, Elliot Nadres. You, of all people, should know the delicacy of such matters.”

Xaver’s dark oceans swarmed with fury and power that was censored in all other aspects of his face. The gateways to his old soul, they looked upon the younger man with a quieted tension, not quite sure what to make of what he saw. He knew of Elliot. Knew that he frequented his twin brother’s presence, which was enough to be wary of. Xences wasn’t exactly known to have honorable followers, let alone many Xaver would deem civilized. He also knew of the man’s sister. Gone missing, the same night Elliot himself was found near dead. An odd and looming past for a fellow that kept himself in wanton company. One would think he’d have learned a lesson of any sort. Though, it wasn’t his charity that had let his known-innocent sister disappear. Xaver’s mouth twitched into a deeper frown.

Because of his associations, Elliot could very much be telling the truth. Which was disturbing. Or, he could be in alliance with Xences and they could be targeting Xaver, himself. Which was even more disconcerting.

Xaver and his twin had been opposites from birth. It was a new and modern thing, however, the range of disgust and hatred they shared of one another these days.

He set the man down lightly, unaware that he had lifted the tiny form from the earth by a few inches. Breathing in, Xaver's head tilted slightly as he caught the scent of his brother. Not around them, for Xences was not there... but on Elliot. He blinked, and for the first time noticed the bruises that littered the small man's face with varying severity. Bruises, blood, freshly torn flesh, and the smell of Xences...
The harshness of Xaver's features fell away, the gentle, calm man breaking through the veil and outwardly tilting into acknowledgement. Not so much pity as understanding, knowing exactly where those injuries came from.

"Why did he hit you?"

[Elliot Nadres]

"Always." Elliot's voice cut back, dismissively. When Xaver yanked the hood back, Elliot made no attempt to hide who he was and instead he simply stared. Eyes level with smile just barely brimming at the edge of his lips. No wonder he'd been smacked around.

"Do you? You could very well know what was going on-- without me. But you require me, in a sense. I'm a necessity. And don't you even dare lecture me about the delicacies of family. You can't even begin to understand just how much the situation matters. It's everything I am and will be. The past is nothing." his eyes momentarily flashed. He definitely had his father's genes, that's for sure. Still- before the disappearance of his sister, Elliot had never been this passionate, or this vocal. Sure, he'd ran around with opinions, but in the end.. if anyone had known his sister.. it would've been something she would have said.

He watched Xaver's features carefully, analyzing the expressions as he went through his thoughts, vaguely wondering what his reaction would be. The fact that he'd been lifted off the ground didn't matter, and the truth of the matter was that it didn't matter.

Elliot, despite every secret, every hidden agenda and every under spoken truth.. was a very proud individual. The gentle acknowledgment of the bruises and blood was just enough to really set him on the defensive.

"Because I'm just too cocky and I've got a mouth. That, and I wouldn't.." He paused, only once searching for the word to use in discomfort. "Be with a woman he'd nearly killed. I saved her life before coming here." His eyes honed in on Xaver's with a dedication that was unwavering. "Your brother is an idiot and a fool who'd have been arrested ages ago, if it wasn't for the ineptitude of the sleuths. I could hand him over to them, if I wanted. But that'd be a waste. You.. you have to understand the gravity of what he does. Of his madness. If it's not stopped by you as a matter in the family however.."

Elliot's eyes rose to meet Xavers, no submission, no fear, not even a glimmer of anything even close to acknowledgment of Xaver's position over him. "I will kill him. I am not afraid of him, you, or anyone else. The loss of my sister is more important to me than you can even begin to comprehend, Xaver Xian." He threw the full name in there, a poignant return to the way he'd been addressed before.

[Xaver Xian]

“Everything you are?”

Xaver arched a raven brow, catching on to something as Elliot continued without a hiccup. Catching something he was probably not meant to note or read into, comparing suddenly what he knew of Elliot. What it was, he couldn’t quite tell. He stored it into his thoughts, for later.

Elliot was cocky and he sure did have a mouth. Xaver could, in some sense, see exactly why his less patient half had smacked the small man. The second of amusement that braved to toy at his mouth was quickly snuffed out at Elliot continued. The lines of Xaver’s features hardened as he learned of what his brother had done, and of what Elliot had had to fix. To heal..

Xaver met his gaze with eyes that gave little and absorbed all.

“I do understand this,” he said, the quietness of his tones not displacing the dark severity of them. “I understand what he has been doing. What he has become.”
His blue gaze darkened.
“You will not kill him. That is something I will do, myself.”

It felt like it had always been so. Xences had a lot to pay for, in the way of sins. For years, centuries, even, Xaver had known his brother’s tirade would eventually to come to an end. An end that would have to be forced by his own hand.
Some part of him wished it wasn’t so.

“Good,” he said, a directness in his gaze now sharply refocusing onto Elliot. “There is no room for fear. Less for sensitivity.”