Chapter Text
Chapter 7
Alex only managed to avoid Nigel for about two hours, until they had third period English together.
as soon as he opened the squeaky old wooden door, he expected to see his soul piercing eyes and knowing smirk, but more worrying than that was Nigel’s absence, for a hopeful second he thought that maybe that psychopath had finally left him alone.
That thought had changed quickly to an emotion he refused to acknowledge-.
“Ah, mr Forbes?”
Alex blinked up to look at his English teacher Mr Harrison, round nosed with tiny gold spectacles sitting on the end, short grey hair, wearing a olive green patterned jumper, white shirt and a bright red tie .
“Yes sir?”
Mr Harrison squished his face together, chin poking out and lips turning into a slight frown, he recognised that face instantly, some kind of regret mixed with a splash of apprehension , he plopped a large stack of miscellaneous books down oh his oak desk with a thud before sighing with a reply.
“Headmaster Forbes would like to see you in his office at once”.
Alex felt his stomach drop and his eyes widen, he started spiralling , they know, he thought. they know it was me, that’s why Nigel isn’t here, he’s spilled everything. he’s told on me, I’ll go to prison.
Alex froze on the spot, realising he was being watched, he can’t look guilty.
No, he’s a top A* level student, he’s ranked top 10 in the country, for his exam levels. as far as he knows, no one can prove anything.
he takes in a deep breath and pulls a confused face and takes a big sigh, like this whole thing is just a bother.
Alex nods to his teacher, before making a big gesture of turning around and stomping away like a bored teen .
Walking along the polished wooden floors of the corridors, Alex could feel his heart beating out of his chest and in no time at all, he found himself standing outside the ominous chestnut door with a big golden knocker in the centre.
he took a deep breath, before wrapping his fingers round the cold metal and thudding it against the door loudly, the vibration sunk deep into his skin .
“ENTER!”.
When Alex’s slender olive fingers pushed open the door, the first thing he saw was Nigel’s face.
A Cold emotionless void, his body twisted round to stare at him, Alex felt sick, he was sure Nigel had told his father everything, how he kidnapped him, how he held him out the train door, how he murdered Josh.
Then he saw his father, his eyes tightening with suspicion, as he looked up expectantly to his son.
he was sitting opposite Nigel, behind his imposing large desk that happened to match the chestnut door.
Headmaster Forbes frowned and gestured to the chair in the space next to his roommate.
As alex sunk himself into the red velvet cushion atop his chair, he fidgeted slightly. The ache between his shoulder burning violently. his hands gripping the underside of his seat, trying desperately not to touch his mark.
taking a shaky breath, He felt a cold hand over the top of his own clammy one.
He didn’t dare look at him, but he didn’t push the hand away either, in fact it centred him and when that hand squeezed his own tightly, he knew that he and nigel was in this together, he hadn’t betrayed him at all, he was helping him and together they were going to get away with murder.
The old man looked between the boys, before firmly directing his sharp gaze on his son. “Where were you last night?”.
They say the best lie, is actually the truth, but a more twisted version of course, Alex pondered this before making his decision.”I was with Nigel”.
Mr Forbes eyed the darker haired boy searching his pale face inch by inch to find any discrepancies, before turning back to his boy narrowing his eyes like he’s about to catch him out .
“And you were in your room all night?”.
Alex freezes, confused by his father’s expression and the condescending tone, he was going to say that they were together, studying and didn’t leave their shared room however, Alex feels like this is a trap so he changes his story.
“No, I couldn’t sleep and Nigel was still awake, I suggested going on a walk to get my head straight, we went up to the old cemetery up by the church.”
Headmaster Forbes frown deepened, as he turned back to Nigel “is that the truth of it, boy?”.
Nigel’s face remained void of any emotion, then it changed, he took a deep breath and looked down before, knitting his brows together and slowly rising his frosty blues.
A look of pure guilt splashed across his face, he looked hesitant before answering.
“No sir.”
Both Alex and his father’s eyes widened in surprise, but before any more came of it, Nigel quickly continued stammering out.
“It was my idea!, to leave the dorms, iv been struggling to settle in and well, I was desperate for some fresh air, Alex really helped me last night, he only came with me, to make sure I was safe, he’s been a good friend, I don’t want him to get in any trouble for my actions, I’m very sorry sir, it won’t happen again”.
Mr Forbes looked confused for a moment, peering over towards Alex searching for some kind of lie, only yesterday morning, was he demanding to be away from the colbie boy.
had he listen to him after all?, it appears so, seems like he’s finally growing up, hm.
There was once upon a time, where Alex had long for that look, he was almost desperate for it, bringing home dozens of trophies, from several sports to scholarly pursuits, but he never received this look, no matter what he did, it was never enough.
The proud gaze of his farther, only sickened him now, Alex thought it pretty obvious, that whatever kind of god, we have is cruel and it certainly doesn’t tolerate begging. that’s the way of things isn’t it?, when you desperately yearn for something.
you will never receive it ,but the moment you no longer need or want it, it will simply fall into your hands, only to be Discarded, while the gods laugh down at you.
of course his fathers, new found proudness of Alex, would have something to do with (getting along) with Nigel, if only he knew the truth of it.
“Well!?”
Alex looked up at his father, absentmindedly rubbing the aching bite mark Nigel gifted him earlier, realising he was being asked to confirm Nigel’s story.
“Yes sir, that’s the truth”.
Headmaster Forbes looks over the boys again, .he remembers that Alex was friends with that poor boy.
about four hours ago now, there was a policeman, sitting in this very office telling him about a tragic accident, that one of the lads, Josh Camble ,had been out of bed last night and had fallen off a train.
the police confirmed they weren’t suspicious of a homicide, as they found homemade fun snaps (little white paper wrapped balls that contain a chemical compound, that you throw on the ground and they make a popping snapping sound).
the police did a small investigation and came to the conclusion, that the boy was throwing them out the open train door, when he slipped and fell out, dying on impact.
“ mr Colbie, you may be dismissed, Alex, stay behind please”.
When Alex heard his father call for him to stay, he looked directly at Nigel , who was slowly rising, out of his chair, completely unbothered.
heart starting to thud once again, Nigel gave him such a discreet nod he almost missed it, but it gave Alex the courage he needed, to plaster a small face of indifference, before turning around to face his father.
Nigel took his time leaving the room, but when the door thud shut behind him it echoed, almost as loud as Nigel’s ego seemed to.
His father gave a big huff of his chest before coldly spilling the deed of joshes death.
Alex had been waiting for this moment all night, practicing for it really, he needing to be convincing and this was his Que.
As if it was pure instinct, Alex furrows his eyebrows in shock horror, pausing for a moment before speaking with a horse voice. “that’s why I didn’t see him this morning at breakfast?”.
“I’m afraid so, I’m only telling you this, because I know you was close with the boy”.
Alex nodded in a solum understanding, before carefully crafting his facial expressions into an offending hurtful look, with a splash of anger.
“hold on!, is this why you, was asking where me and Nigel was last night?”.
Mr Forbes took another annoyed sigh. “ Nigel and I, Alex!, how do you suppose your going to pass you’re English exams, if you cannot even speak properly!!”.
Alex seethed. “ is that all you care about?, my friend is dead!?, and all you can think about is my exam results!”.
His father slammed his hands on the desk, as he raised his voice.
“Mr cambles future maybe gone, but yours is not!, you need to start thinking about your future Alex!, and the future of the club!”
Alex couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he shoots up from his chair, grasping the polished wood of the desk, so violently he feels a few fingernails snap.
before he can spit any savage words at his father, he takes a deep calming breath, in, out.
he remembers his purpose, getting away with murder, he’s just lost a friend, he’s in shock, he’s sad, he should be acting differently from his normal self.
so Alex sculpts his face into a hauntingly depressed look, lips desperately trying not to smile.
And looking as if holding back tears, like the English school boy he is, repressing his ( non existent) emotions, he looks up to his father slowly with direct eye contact and just nods.
“ can I leave now?”.
Headmaster Forbes looks away before answering with a stern.
“you may”.
Later that day Alex started working on set for the school play, it was a punishment him and Josh was supposed to do together for their interruption of the school assembly, lucky barstard Alex thought he’d rather be dead too, than standing out in the cold painting set backgrounds ugh-.
Alex was pulled out of his thoughts by loud giggling as a group of girls from some catholic girls school not far from here, one in particular he knew Susan. she was one of the leads in the play, Alex had seen her rehearse earlier, she wasn’t a half bad actress.
She was staring at him now covering her mouth with the girls surrounding her whispering. Alex smiled at her out of politeness and they all laughed and ran towards their bus.
The rest of the day went by rather slowly. Alex realised as he got into bed that evening, that he hadn’t seen Nigel since his fathers study this morning.
it was quite a nice rest bite however that didn’t last long. Alex felt like he had, no sooner closed his eyes, that he dreamed of Nigel’s soft whispers and red lips.
Alex felt groggy as he heard more whispers.
“Jack ?”.
“Jack!?”.
Then he felt a weight on the bed and Alex realises he wasn’t dreaming at all.
“Alex!?, wake up”.
Alex reluctantly sat up a little when the shaking started. “ what the hell do you want?, ugh, why can’t I even just sleep, just one bloody night!”.
Nigels face was smug as usual and slightly excited.. “ Come on, get up, I need to show you something”.
At this point Alex had woken up enough to notice Nigel was fully dressed coat, shoes and all.
“uuuughhhhh”. Alex threw himself back down holding the pillow down on his face, literally trying to suffocate himself before huffing and giving up, maybe too easily.
The walk to the train station brought back a few memories of the night before, mostly him dragging Nigel back while he sulked.
“You know, you promised my father less than 12 hours ago, that you wasn’t going to leave the school grounds again and that you was sooo very sorry”.
Nigel smiled at this, turning to Alex “ that’s exactly why, we’ll get away with it, he won’t expect us to break the rules again so soon, after all, we’re supposed to be feeling sorry for ourselves, and griefing I suppose”.
After a tedious and silent train ride, Nigel grabbed Alex’s arm and leads him along into the dark, traipsing through a damp street, the lamp posts reflecting in the puddles like stars in the sky.
Nigel takes the lead as they turn to face a large, old brick house engulfed by rain dripping trees and darkness. “Is this your house?. Where are your parents?”.
Nigel sighs and continues walking ahead, manoeuvring to the side of the house. “probably away”.
Alex follows him hesitantly and stops when he comes across a black metal fence and little gate, with stone steps leading down into the darkness.
Nigel pulls out a small torch handing it to Alex and then a key out of his pocket bending down to unlock the rusty gate, when they hear a dog barking loudly. Alex stills, as the large creature runs at him, then thankfully past him, he’s never been a big fan of animals.
Nigel leans down to greet the dog. “Luther, hey!”. Alex’s eyes dart between the pet and Nigel, and saw he was genuinely happy to see the dog. which was odd to him, with all the dead animals he surrounded himself with, he wouldn’t think He particularly liked them either.
“Is he yours?”.
Nigel looks up at him then.” He’s next doors, he’s beautiful isn’t he?”.
Alex ducks his face into his scarf and raises his eyebrows at him, as the dog runs off, back where it came from.
Nigel stands up and puts the key back into his pocket. Locking eyes with Alex. “Iv never brought anybody here before, you’re the first. Okay?. The first!”.
He just stares back, at the dark haired boy, not quite sure what to say, there’s a certain vulnerableness to Nigel’s voice, that he’s never heard before.
He breaks the eye contact, as he opens the gate and trails confidently down into the depths, as Alex cautiously follows. It leads them into a sort of basement area of the house, filled with old furniture and rats squeaking about.
Alex moves forward and almost trips, knocking something metal into the ground, the clanking noises echoing throughout the underground.
They both pause, as they hear a groan followed by large heavy footsteps thudding around above them. dirt and dust shake from the ceiling and a cabinet door shrieks open.
Alex holds his breath and looks over to Nigel, who only smiles and whispers. “he’s got the gun”.
His mouth opens in horror, but before he can speak, Luther starts barking rapidly followed by a loud muttering of complaints and more footsteps.
After a minute or two Alex Inhales a deep breath, his shoulders relaxing slightly before knitting his brows and angry whispers back to Nigel. “ I’m leaving!”.
“Wait!”. Nigel grabs Alex, stopping him in his tracks. “ just let me show you something, it’s just in here”.
Nigel walks over to a old moldy looking mattress and shoves it out the way, revealing a hole in the wall.
Alex blanches at Nigel, not having to state the obvious, but Nigel just stares back with a hopeful look on his face, like a small child wanting to show you a picture they drew. Alex sighs, well if crawling through this hole in the wall of a basement, leads to his death, at least he knows his face will look pretty as a wall mount.
He follows Nigel through on his hands and knees, until they come across a wooden board. Nigel moves it aside and steps through, yet another hole and Alex quickly follows, wanting to get out of the dirt, as quick as possible.
This room is different, the walls are tiled on one side and painted a shinnied white on the other, tubes filled with chemicals, like the ones in their room, however unlike their room, there are large test tubes and glass bowls filled with animal heads and other parts, and what can only be described as, murder tools lining the walls on display.
Because of course Nigel has a morgue in his basement. why not?, after all. Alex decides he’s definitely not going further into, whatever kind of room this is and takes a seat by the entrance, to his left he notices shelves filled with books of various kinds, mostly medical and taxidermy and a bunch of note books, that look very familiar.
“Do you like it?”.
Alex is pulled out of his thoughts by Nigel’s question, he stared up at him and then past him, to what looks like a black pirate flag.
Nigel notices this and scoffs. “ if you’re the expert, tell me the history of the flag?”.
Alex gives Nigel a funny look, before smirking at him. “What?, you mean Captain Hook and long John silver?”.
Nigel’s red lips pout and form a unimpressed frown. “ you know so little about the things closest to you.
Alex shuffles uncomfortably. “ is that supposed to be a riddle?”.
“No, it’s about you, your future”. Nigel gets up and sits closer to Alex . “Do you know who my father is?…..he’s grand master of your fathers order”.
Alex frowns at Nigel, taking it as an insult. Is he trying to say that, he’s better than me because his father is higher up than his?. “Yea, so what?”.
He slowly looks him up and down, Nigel smirks then, he enjoys his paramounts defensiveness. He scoffs loudly before replying. “ it’s nothing more than puerile male bonding now, but it was once something, really something, I mean these were great men. Men that kings knelt before, but they lost there way and now it’s up to us, to take on that mantel”.
Alex is taken back to say the least, I mean he knew Nigel was insane, but now this religious nonsense too. He chuckles to himself and try’s to leave again, but the darker haired boy is quicker, grabbing his shoulder.
Alex stills, as their faces are inches apart, Nigel’s hand moves up to his face, caressing his index finger over Alex’s freckles, before whispering softly. “ Alex, we’ve been chosen”.
God definitely hates him he thinks nonchalantly, dragging him out of bed for the second night in a row, to listen to more of this nonsense. at this point Alex’s body is running on sheer willpower alone and he’s out of patience.
He rips Nigel’s hand away from his face, with as much Energy as he can muster, before concluding that going along, with this concoction of madness, will get him in bed quicker than fighting it.
Alex sounds almost depressed as he asks. “what have we been chosen for, Nigel?”.
The pale boy smiles brightly, likes he’s just been presented with a huge slice of cake (or maybe found a new dead animal to dissect). He reaches over to a small box and pulls out a jack of spades. “Do you know when playing cards, first appeared?”.
Alex just shrugged, still thinking about his bed .
“The start of the 12th century and that was the start of the real brotherhood”. Nigel got more excited as he spoke. “ I mean, imagine what it must have been like, the loss of the holy land, the templars abandoning the church, the death of becket. And out of this comes this simple logical game, I mean it’s just a game, but it’s a game born of injustice, hardship, suffering…….death. now that is truly an age to revere.”
Alex didn’t know what he expected from this little trip, but it certainly wasn’t this. he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“your fucked!”.
Nigel didn’t appreciate that statement, and he got uncomfortably close to Alex once again.
“You can’t deny the truths this card has seen, and the truths, we can show it again”. Nigel gazed longingly into Alex’s green eyes, hopeful.
“So why am I here Nigel?”.
Nigel half stands up, crouching over to his book shelf and pulls a large red book out, handing it to Alex.
“Look up Jack”.
“What?”
“Look up Jack!”.
Alex begrudgingly takes the book, as Nigel takes his seat next to him again. Flicking through the pages, he finds what he’s looking for, but before he can reply Nigel smugly butts in. “ it says knave, doesn’t it?. Do you know what a knave is?”.
The red head gives a bored “yes”. As Nigel continues on.
“Unprincipled man, a rogue”. Nigel leans toward him, with a lusty grin. “ that’s what you are, Alex”. Alex subconsciously leans in closer to Nigel, as he continues to speak.
Nigel picks the jack of spades up again and points to the black symbol in the corner, tapping it a few times with his finger. “ do you know what this is?”.
Alex looks over at it, for a second before answering. “ it’s a spade?”. The dark haired boy looks up at him again, darting his tongue out, to slowly lick his lips.
“A spade represents a tip of a pike. Do you know what a pike is ?”.
“It’s a kind of spear”.
“Hm, an implement for killing, that’s what I am”. Nigel leans in, so close their lips almost touch, and alex feels compelled, by what he isn’t sure, god perhaps, the deep, want he feels in his soul or maybe it’s Nigel himself, but either way, he doesn’t move a muscle.
Nigel whispers softly. “This is our time…..Jack”.
Alex doesn’t know why he does this, just that he’s tired of fighting with Nigel, with himself, he’s been caught in this siren song and the ending is inevitable, so why resist.
Alex leans forward, his lips caressing Nigel’s. it’s gentle at first, soft even, until it wasn’t.
Nigel’s lips consume him entirely, his body burns like hell fire, as he grabs the back of Nigel’s head, pushing them closer together, his tongue entering Nigel’s warm mouth, swiping at his teeth and they moan in sync.
The kiss is boarding on cannibalistic, as it grows more fearsome by the second. he can taste him, sweet like honey and bitter like blood.
Nigel smirks to himself, as he pulls away from the kiss, leaving Alex wanting. it’s not what he initially planned, but it will work just as well. he can give his Jack whatever he needs, be his weapon and his beloved Maraclea.
He reaches up, and wipes his thumb over jacks lower lip, staring into his very soul. “ we’ve been brought together for a reason and it’s written here”. The dark haired boy places his hand over Alex’s heart and then his own. “ for eternity”.