Xaldin had decided long ago that there was something rabid about the Superior's pet seer. Nothing overt, nothing obvious, despite Xigbar's occasional quip about Seven frothing at the mouth when angered. But the Luna Diviner was unnerving, nonetheless, for reasons Xaldin wasn't sure he could name.
There was plenty about Saix to make Xaldin's hackles rise. How he rarely left the Superior's side, glaring at anyone who dared take up Xemnas's time. How such proprietary behavior was especially evident whenever Xaldin himself tried to exchange words with the Organization's leader, Saix's eyes from across the room burrowing into the back of Xaldin's head until Xaldin was tense enough from the scrutiny that it was either leave or throw Saix through a wall. But Xaldin could have ignored all that well enough, his memories of dealing with his often difficult fellow apprentices in Radiant Garden still etched into his mind, if it wasn't for the intent behind the stare that Xaldin couldn't bring himself to entirely dismiss. As if Saix was just waiting for Xemnas to stop paying attention long enough for him to tear out Xaldin's throat.
Most of the time, Xaldin could write it off as displacement, his resentment towards the Luna Diviner manifesting as thoughts of Seven possessing the same restrained antagonism, but then Xaldin would move to go, his meeting with the Superior concluded, to see Saix's snarl disappear under a hastily concocted veneer of civility. Occasionally, it was all Xaldin could do not to snarl back.
It was only a few weeks after the fall of Castle Oblivion, an event which left everyone feeling, as much as they were capable, exhausted and paranoid and anxious, that Xaldin entered Xemnas's office unannounced to speak about a possible rearrangement of the mission roster. The only problem was that the other inhabitant of the room wasn't the Superior.
Xaldin had already strode a few steps past the doorway and was through half a sentence about why putting Axel in a partnership with anyone but Roxas was bound to go poorly by the time he noticed that the Superior wasn't behind his desk, and abruptly stopped talking. However, silence didn't hover in the air for long.
"The Superior isn't here."
Xaldin felt himself shudder, a visceral response that once might have meant something, but he had been divorced from his emotional state too long to remember the supposed correlation. If he had expected to run into anyone lingering around Xemnas's office, it was Saix, but there was something wrong with the Luna Diviner's voice. It was far more strained than usual, guttural, as if he had forgotten that he knew how to speak.
Xaldin turned around slowly, his hands twitching. Whatever Saix said to him was always rather reminiscent of a threat, but this time it was more akin to holding a knife close enough to his throat to draw blood. The way Seven didn't blink wasn't particularly reassuring, either. He wanted to summon his lances, but didn't. To attack another Organization member would be a crime he wasn't sure Xemnas would forgive.
Failing to do so, however, turned out to be an even bigger mistake.
Saix slammed into Xaldin at such speed that Xaldin was actually knocked off his feet, cracking his head on the pale imitation marble hard enough to make his vision swim, the distraction of pain giving Saix enough time to position himself, his knees on Xaldin's upper arms, one hand burrowed into Xaldin's braids while the other wrapped around his throat. Xaldin felt the hard prick of a thumbnail that was far too sharp at the hollow right above his collarbone, but it wasn't until Saix started pulling his head back, slowly, yanking at the roots of his hair, that Xaldin began to choke.
His skull was still pounding too much to make real resistance at all feasible, but sheer physical reflex was enough to make him twist under Saix's grip, his breathing harsh and erratic in his ears. The air twisted around them, slightly disheveling Saix's hair but otherwise completely ineffectual. Xaldin was capable of summoning a tornado if he so wished, but such effort required concentration that he couldn't muster when he was unable to get air into his lungs and the pounding between his ears refused to cease, even for a moment.
Saix gave no sign of noticing the breeze. Never even moved his gaze from Xaldin's own. It was then, feeling dazed and sick and suffocated, that Xaldin absurdly realized he'd been using the wrong adjective. Saix wasn't rabid. He was wild, something bestial forced unwillingly into a human's skin. Perhaps literally. Not even the Superior knew what Saix's Somebody had looked like.
After a moment, the pressure on Xaldin's throat eased, though the same could not be said for the grip on his hair. Xaldin coughed, the memory of the pressure imprinted on his neck where Saix's nails had broken skin and in the way he was still having trouble remembering how to breathe.
It was still not a good position to be in, and Xaldin had never liked the idea of being helpless. He narrowed his eyes, and tried to discount the way Saix's gaze had shifted to the marks he had left on Xaldin's throat. "I have no idea what you think you're doing, Number Seven, but Xemnas will not be pleased with a Nobody who attacks a fellow Organization member unprovoked." The words came out more hurried than he would have liked, bordering on panicked. He sounded weak. And he still couldn't get enough leverage with his elbows to throw off the mad seer.
Instead of replying, Saix bit him. Hard, where muscle connected the neck to the shoulder. Xaldin felt the teeth dig in and cursed, blood already dripping down the curve of his neck. Saix's mouth was still rimmed with red when he pulled away, though his features were oddly serene, his eyes dilated in a way Xaldin wasn't used to seeing on anyone who hadn't just... Oh, light.
"Little more than an animal, aren't you," Xaldin hissed. He ignored his own racing pulse—blood or not, this was not the sort of fight he had envisioned having when the inevitable showdown with the upstart occurred, even if his body disagreed—and took advantage of Saix's lassitude long enough to throw the Luna Diviner off himself was a well-placed elbow right under the ribcage.
Saix predictably, damn him, landed neatly in a crouch, one hand spread out flat on the ground for balance and his head tilted slightly to the side. His tongue darted out, licking up the remnants of blood from his lips. Xaldin couldn't help but notice that even Saix's teeth looked sharper tonight. Light, to have to deal with a berserker's moods…
"You should have stayed away, lancer."
Xaldin pushed himself to his feet, one hand clasped to his neck to stem the blood flow. It wasn't much help. "Know your place, Seven. You have no right to lay claim to Xemnas."
Saix laughed, a harsh, barking sound that contained little mirth. He, too, moved to stand, towering over Xaldin by a few good inches even with this distance between them. "The Superior has little to do with… this. I can smell your physical reactions just as well as the blood now on your fingers. You fear me, as you always have, no matter how well you think you may hide it. On tonight of all nights, you should not have challenged me." He grinned. His pupils had reverted to normal, but they still shone unnaturally under the light of Kingdom Hearts. "But now, lancer, there is no question between us at all."
He took a step towards Xaldin. Then another. Xaldin did not back away. The fact that he wanted to was bad enough. "What are you talking about?"
Saix stopped less than a pace from Xaldin. He hadn't stopped grinning. This close, Xaldin could discern that the tips of Saix's incisors were still visibly red. "And I thought that you of all Nobodies would know." The Luna Diviner closed the rest of the gap between them, his breath hot against Xaldin's ear and his hand wrapped painfully around the back of Xaldin's neck. And for the first time in his life, Xaldin's body completely betrayed him; he froze. "Don't you see, lancer? I've won."