A man with shaggy dirty-blonde hair stared unimpressed at Nightmare, his brown eyes bored and his lips turned down in a frown. Derek scowled as he pushed up his glasses, not liking this-this man at all. First of all, what kind of person was named Nightmare? Obviously someone not to be trusted, and someone who has a theme for "Villain" and "dark stories". He also appeared to be very self-important, which was the reason Derek was even scowling in the first place.

And to think...this was the person Alexis spoke so highly of after she had a crazy animal-fetish man with white hair grab him and bring him here!? This was the person she was living with!? If Nightmare had tried anything with his little sister, he was gonna rip his fancy-ass hair out with his bare hands and dye it black, before hot-gluing it back onto his head and shoving his fist in the man's gut!

Nightmare's eyes widened at the violent thought and he quickly raised a hand up as blood spurted out of his mouth. Derek looked alarmed as the man suddenly fell forward weakly, paling considerably as strength left his body. As if on instinct Derek reached out and caught the man, before setting him gently and looked around for a trash can. Finding one close by, he grabbed it and placed it in front of the Incubus, having the man cough all the blood up in there as he rubbed a hand on his back comfortingly, easing the pain slightly as Nightmare vomited.

Derek's first-impression of the man went straight out of the window as his eyebrows furrowed with worry, his lips tilting down into a frown. This man was clearly badly sick...

Derek held his sister's hair back with his left hand and rubbed her back with his other, watching sadly as she vomited into the sink gasping for air. An eight-year-old shouldn't have to go through something like this... Alexis' lungs had constricted again and closed up, leaving her clawing at her throat and stumbling through the hallway. Derek had found her stumbling to the bathroom with a pale blue face, her eyes turning red and welling up with tears. Her convulsions were so bad that she ended up puking, and what was worse was that she still couldn't breathe.

His throat tightened and he swallowed, watching as his sister pounded her fists against her chest harshly as she tried to get her lungs to open again. She continued convulsing even after all her stomach acids had left her, and Derek could only image how painful it must be for her. His poor, poor baby sister...

Why did it have to be her and not him?

Nightmare had gorged up so much blood that he was practically sweating, leaning against Derek for help. He was breathing heavily for a few long moments before he was able to take the purple handkerchief out of his pocket and wipe the blood off of his lips.

When Derek had ran over to help him, Nightmare was confused. Derek had been thinking extremely violent thoughts about him and was hating on him, and then he was acting like...like he had just seen something devastating and wanted to do all he could to make it better. Then he had that flashback...

Derek was caring for Nightmare because he had seen how terrible sickness could be, and what a sickness can do... Nightmare took back his thoughts on Derek, knowing that he was actually a nice guy. He was similar to Alexis, or rather Alexis was similar to him. Neither liked to admit that they cared, but their actions always say otherwise.

Nightmare opened his mouth to apologize, but Derek shut him up with a fierce glare, growling, "Don't you dare even talk! Your throat is probably hell right about now and talking will only aggravate it! Now where's the damn kitchen? You need to wash your mouth out, and gurgling salt water can help soothe your throat. Just don't swallow it." Nightmare's eyes widened at all the thoughts going through Derek's mind-all of which involving different types of medical treatments that didn't really involve medicine or hospitals.

After reading Derek's mind, Nightmare understood perfectly well why.

For a long time, Alexis wasn't able to go to a hospital because the lacked the insurance and money. They had to rely on old wives' tales and search up different types of "treatments" for sicknesses and used that. They never really used proper hospital medicine until she turned twelve-the age she got her lung surgery. Alexis had been sick since she was five. Derek was the only one around when she had her fits, and grew accustomed to being her caretaker-being forced into the role of the overly worried and protective big brother. He was constantly plagued with the thoughts of his precious baby sister dying, horrified at the thought that there was nothing he could do to save her.

This is what caused Derek to scowl all the time, what made him act so rough with people and refusing to let them get close to both him and Alexis. He didn't like to talk about his feelings because it made him insecure and made him want to break. Derek was strong, but he knew that if someone broke through he would snap. He had dealt with the fear of losing a loved one; he didn't know what he would do if he allowed someone else to get close to him and they died, or worse, left him.

But his kind nature showed through at Nightmare's fit, revealing just what kind of person Derek really was.

"Just guide me to the kitchen, don't actually talk."

Nightmare let Derek sling one of his arms around his shoulders, helping him walk down the hallways.

Gray was stunned to see Derek, a man who was so rude to him when they met, carrying the Incubus down the hallway with a worried look in his eyes, scowling all the while.


"Who the fuck do you think you are kissing my little sister like that?" Derek demanded, causing Pierce to squeak in terror as he hid behind me, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Wh-Whoa, D-Derek, it's-it's okay, it's just Pierce!" Derek's left eyebrow twitched as he looked down at me, causing me to tense and smile sheepishly. I reached behind me and grabbed Pierce's arm, causing the mouse to whimper. Poor guy... "I-I mean, he kisses everyone! S-Such as Nightmare," Derek scowled, despite his slight fondness for his Incubus friend. Poor Nightmare somehow ended up getting Derek on his good side-how, I have no idea. I just know he did, "and-and Elliot, and even Peter! He-He kisses Alice, too-or-or he at least tries too..."

"And...?"

"Um, that's-that's pretty much it, really. Everyone else hates him."

"Oh, I can understand perfectly well why everyone hates that little mouse." Both Pierce and I flinched. I didn't understand why Derek was being so mean towards Pierce-my brother loved mice. He told me that one time when he was in elementary, someone brought in a pet mouse named Scurry for show-and-tell. "How many kisses have you stolen from my sister!? Answer me, rat!"

Pierce let out a distressed squeak and was about to run away, but I quickly lunged and wrapped my arms around his waist, tackling him to the ground. "NO! No running away! My-My brother's just in a bad mood right now, that's all! He-He doesn't mean any of it Pierce! R-Really!"

Pierce looked at me with tear filled eyes and I flinched. I could hear my brother tapping his foot in the background. "B-But he-He hates me! He says he hates me!"

Derek gave Pierce a thin smile, saying with narrowed eyes and raised eyebrow, "Oh, hate you? Never. I just...highly dislike you." Pierce let out a wail as he started to cry, tears streaming down his cheeks.

I sat up and pulled Pierce onto his knees, the boy obviously ready to run again. I cupped his cheeks and looked him in the eyes, trying to at least as he kept closing them, "Pierce-Pierce, look at me. Look at me. Derek's obviously upset because someone broke his favorite screwdriver-" Derek's eyes widened at my words, confusion spreading across his face like a wildfire. "-and doesn't understand what he's talking about. Right, right?"

Pierce sniffled and looked at me with a trembling bottom lip, causing me to bite the inside of my cheek as he said, "B-But...But he..."

"Derek's just being a jerk because I like you more than him right now. Now stop crying before I beat you, okay!?" I swear, my violence gets toned down when I'm around my brother. Weird. "Now-Now go and hug Nightmare; We can go hang out at the Amusement Park later." Pierce appeared reluctant, but shot forward and pressed his lips against mine before standing up and turning tail towards Nightmare's room. I breathed out deeply and relaxed, having tensed during the quick kiss. I then turned my head and glared at my brother, pissed off that he made my Pierce cry-That-That came out wrong.

I-I'm just mad that he made Pierce cry. Not-Not my Pierce. Ob-Obviously that was a-a stutter in my thoughts. Y-Yeah...

Derek looked alarmed and confused as to why I was suddenly angry at him.


Derek lounged in Nightmare's room on the couch, scowling with his arms crossed. He was moping. Derek was originally in Julius' room, but Julius got fed up with his depressed aura and sent him out to bother someone else. Nightmare was Derek's next best choice, and Nightmare would actually hear Derek out if he bothered.

"...What did I even...?" He muttered, fiddling with the screwdriver he was holding in his hands. He was now currently hunched over and staring intently at the object in his hands, without really looking at it. He had already memorized every single scratch and stain on it, and could now only mull over his thoughts and figure out why Alexis was so mad at him.

What? So he insulted the mouse and yelled at him; big deal. He kissed his sister and not just his sister, but three other guys and another chick! And what's worse, one of those guys Pierce kissed was his best friend, and another was a creepy pedophile who liked dressing up as a rabbit! Derek refused to believe people were actually half-animal. That was the only line he refused to cross. Even if he did pull on Pierce's tail a little too hard once and sent the mouse into a crying fit...

Alexis raged at him then...again.

"...Nightmare...can I ask you something?" Nightmare could almost feel an amuse smirk slip onto his lips at the familiarity of this scene. The two siblings were really more alike than they thought. "Why is Alexis so mad at me?"

"Why?" Nightmare repeated, turning around in his chair as he crossed his legs. He raised an eyebrow at the man and said, "Perhaps it's because you insulted someone she cared for deeply. She does have feelings for the mouse, you know."

Derek's head shot up as the screwdriver nearly fell out of his hands. "What!?" His eyes grew uncharacteristically wide. "Th-That kid!? She seriously likes that kid!? Why not Boris!? Or Julius-" He cut himself off, scowling when he remembered how old Julius was. Honestly, Derek thought that if Julius was just seven years younger than his current age, which was twenty-seven and only a couple years older than Derek, Alexis and he could get together. Derek would say yes to them getting together.

And why would he let Alexis get together with Julius? Why, because Julius was probably the only sensible person out of the entire world of Wonderland and would take proper care of his sister. Gray was alright, but he was way too old... He was thirty-two, if he remembered correctly. Boris was too reckless, and Pierce just liked to kiss too many things. There was also something...dark about him that rubbed him the wrong way. Nightmare was another option, but he was Alexis' "brother" figure while Derek was gone. But now that he was back in her life...

Nightmare's face turned bright red and he quickly ran over to a trash can, throwing up blood. "Sh-She's fifteen! S-Surely you can't be serious!?"

Derek looked up with a completely serious look on his mature face, saying, "It's either you or Julius, and I'm fairly certain you're younger. I refuse to have that little mouse get together with my baby sister!"

"I'm twenty-eight! Julius is twenty-seven!"

"...I'm twenty-five, your point? You two are the only ones I'm willing to give her too, but you both are too old!" Nightmare looked slightly appalled at the indirect insult and muttered to himself,

"I'm twenty-eight...that's not old..."

"Ace is twenty-four and he's a complete psychopath, and I'm fairly certain he's gay for Julius, so he's definitely out of the picture." Nightmare held back a snort at the thought of Ace being gay. "Gowland's, like, forty so hell no. Elliot...I don't even know how old he is!"

"Twenty-three." Derek's head shot up, eyes wide. Nightmare flinched, realizing he made a mistake by telling Derek Elliot's age.

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing!" He squeaked and went back to doing his paperwork. Willingly.

"That's seven years...That's just a measly seven years! This is perfect! What is their relationship right now?"

Nightmare could only wince as he apologized mentally to Alexis, horrified at accidentally giving her brother the role of matchmaker, when it was so obvious that the poor girl was madly in love with Pierce.


"...Elliot..." I began slowly, eying the stiff rabbit worriedly. My neck hurt from looking up at him. "Why do you look like you just got beat up by a screwdriver, and why are you giving me flowers?"

"Y-Your brother...has this idea..." Elliot swallowed and flinched, his ears drooping to the side of his head, "that-that we...should get together."

"...Dude, you serious?"

Suddenly a screwdriver flew out of nowhere and slammed straight into Elliot's skull, causing the poor hare to cry out with tears in his eyes. "I-I can't do this! I'm sorry!"

"You ruin everything!" Derek screamed at him, raging from his spot in the bushes. Derek froze when Alexis turned her gaze to look at him, a completely blank look on her face. However, he could see the dark intent etched in her eyes, promising dark things.

Derek turned tail and ran, planning to hide in Julius' room.

"This never happened," I told Elliot, who nodded in agreement as he rubbed the side of his head.


"You realize that hiding in here is pointless and that Alexis will find you one way or another, correct?"

"Sh-Shut up, Julius! You don't know that! Now give me a screwdriver!"

"No. If you wanted a tool, you should have never thrown yours at Elliot in a blind rage."

"It wasn't a blind rage!" Derek protested, "I want my sister to have a boyfriend who will actually care for her properly and not treat her like trash! She needs a mature respectable person to take care of her!"

Julius's right eye twitched as he put down his wrench, annoyed at Derek's behavior. Most days he was tolerable, and other times Julius found in Derek a good friend, but on days like these... He wanted nothing more than to pour scalding hot coffee on him and hit him upside the head with a wrench. "Have you ever thought of respecting your sister's decision? Have you bothered to take her feelings into consideration?"

The blue-eyed adult watched as Derek visibly wilted, scowling as he turned his head with a frown. "Of course I have...I just..." His face turned a little red as he gazed at Julius out of the corner of his eyes before glaring at a wall. "I just don't want her to be hurt, okay!?"

Julius sighed and placed a hand against his head. "You're hurting her by going against her. She doesn't want Elliot, or Nightmare, or anyone else." Julius calmly left himself out of the group, as he found himself slightly perturbed by the very idea, "She cares for the mouse. Leave her love life be as is."

Derek sighed, admitting to himself that Julius was right, before scowling again. He wanted to throw something-maybe even punch a wall. Oh, or bang his head off of a desk. "Yeah, yeah...whatever."

Suddenly the door slammed open. "Julius, where the heck is Derek?" I demanded, turning my head only to freeze when said adult reached over and hugged me. "Hey-Hey! Derek, what's the big-?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" He refused to look at me. "I was scared and I didn't want you hurt by that stupid mouse, so I tried to take matters into my own hands. Don't...don't be mad at me, alright? I don't know what to do when you're mad at me."

"..." I was silent, debating whether to smack him upside the head or not, before scowling and saying, "Yeah, yeah...Fine. Whatever. I don't care. Just don't do it again! It's annoying when you start acting like that!" I hated when he went and acts completely different. It was probably because his blood type was AB. Like Kyoya and Mitsukuni from Ouran High School Host Club. Split-personality or whatever AB blood does to you. I mean, I have the same blood type, but I don't think I go and act weird like he does...

Jeez, brothers are messed up. You gotta love 'em though.

"Okay, fine. I won't. Just...just don't regret your choice, alright? I love you."

I grinned up at him, "Love you, too."

Julius cut in, eye twitching, "If you two are done making-up, can you get out!? You're distracting me from my work!"

I screamed as I ducked an oncoming wrench, Derek leaning backwards and slamming the door to the Clover Tower open.

April Season sucked. Though, at least my brother finally got out of his little cramped up room and made some friends... I'm happy for him. He actually has friends now, Nightmare and Julius, and wasn't a complete loner...


"Okay, listen here, mouse," Derek growled, glaring at Pierce. "If you do anything that hurts her...I'm gonna skin you alive and kill you, then I'm gonna let that cat finish off your remains. Got it?" Poor Pierce was being held by his ear, so tears were in his eyes. He squeaked in fear and terror and cried out,

"I-I got it! I-I would never hurt Alexis-Chuu! She-She's my only friend!" Derek paused, loosening his grip on Pierce's ear just a little. He narrowed his eyes as he looked down, observing Pierce and trying to tell if he was lying. "I-I love her! She-She's my friend a-and I love her and I'd never hurt her!"

"...Better not." He muttered and released Pierce, who was left to nurse his poor abused ear. He then turned his head and questioned curiously, raising an eyebrow, "What's with the hair? Why's it two colors? Did you dye it?"

"D-Dye?" Pierce squeaked, flinching underneath Derek's gaze. "N-Natural...My hair's natural..."

Derek scowled, before eyeing Pierce out of the corner of his eyes. Pierce froze, tensing and preparing to run for his life. "You're...a mouse, right?"

"Y-Yes!" Pierce squeaked and flinched, seeing Derek raise his hand. His eyes shot open when Derek ruffled his hair.

"G-Good... I-I'm not saying it's a good thing that you're a mouse, but, uh...they're my favorite animal, so...Be good to my little sis, okay?"

Pierce stared up at Derek stunned, before smiling. He nodded. "Okay-Chuu!"