towerofanimus | Herald of the Future

Entry tags:

Herald of the Future

Characters: Abel Nightroad and Cain Knightlord
Setting: Their room
Format: Actionspam
Summary: Cain and Abel got very dead, they're waking up.
Warnings: Mentions of death, probably foul language.

[There was a resounding CRACK and then everything had gone black. Not more than a heartbeat of consciousness left to know he was dying for certain, and yet he managed to feel so much in that singular moment.

Fear... He had never been afraid of dying, he had never truly believed that it would happen. He had always had the security of being the most valuable commodity on Mars, as well as being the pinnacle of achievement even among the clones. When things seemed bad or hopeless, he always believed in their superiority deep inside. He had never really been afraid, because he didn't have to be.

But more than anything, there was fear for his brother. He was so scared of Abel dying too, of his twin getting hurt in any way. Sheer gripping terror of separation, of being alone. They were one... one heart, one mind, just two sides to the same coin. They weren't made to be alone, they couldn't endure it. People might believe that Cain would cope with that possibility better, that he was more mature and level-headed. But the truth was, Cain needed Abel more than he needed oxygen, and the thought of being separated with such finality was enough to have him losing his mind.

Anger... It took him by surprise, the sheer force of his rage, like a swirling tsunami crashing through his body and razing everything else to the ground. He was furious that his death should be so meaningless, so ignoble, so... SOON. He had been patient, he had been SO patient, smiling and waiting for the perfect moments to act in order to get the future he wanted. He had deserved that future. He was better than them, better than anything they could throw at him, and he absolutely refused to die as a tool to humanity.

And then... it was all gone.

How long it had been, he didn't know. An hour? A day? A week? All he knew is that he had been dead, and now he was suddenly breathing once more. Unharmed, no pain, just sucking in a ragged breath as his body refused to move. Paralysed... he was... It might have been more frightening if his whole being wasn't focused on his brother, long minutes passing with only the sound of his hammering heartbeat for company.

Until abruptly he was moving... lurching off the bed almost drunkenly and looking around wildly for his brother, blue eyes intense as they swept the room.]

ABEL!

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[in perfect unison, the exact moment his brother had taken that ragged inhale and begun the infuriating and nerve-wracking ten minute wait through paralysis... so had Abel.

he had been in the Administrative levels.

he had entered the orange surgery bereft of tools.

he had not walked out alive.

he doesn't even recall how he met his end... it had happened so fast -- everything after seeing his brother a bloodied smear... it had dissolved into red. everything was red-- red with fury, a fury that still fucking pumped like blood in his veins. he was livid. he was furious.

he was... so... so fucking afraid.

a connection that should never be severed had torn apart as if it had never existed. a hollow, sharp ache where Cain should always be-- it had been gone. he had been gone; Abel had been alone... Cain had--

he is ripping upright in a dizzying sway, not needing to take time to steady his head or clear his vision before he was pulled like a magnet toward his other half.

he didn't say a word, just-- pulled him in, arms shaking, and squeezed for dear life.

...you died.

the sight of his twin being beaten into a bloody pulp between those security doors was all he could see and he almost didn't believe he was alive. in one piece. here, okay.

.....you died.]

[He still has hope that Abel had made it out of there alive, however far the odds had seemed to be. His brother was an expert fighter, and it seemed Ruana had been on their side as much as she could be...

Perhaps he'll never know how lucky he was to die first, and never feel the chill of having his other half ripped away from him like that.

His arms have closed around Abel without even a second of conscious thought, pressing his temple against his brother's and exhaling a ragged breath. This was... his fault. He had said the risk was worth going down there, he had led them back along that corridor, he had...]

...sorry, I'm so...

[he doesn't hear it-- wouldn't care if he did, just holding him so insanely tightly his brother is sure to have the air squeezed out of his lungs.

you died... you died, Cain. they ripped you away, and-- you died.

they killed you.

they killed you...]

[Had he d...ied too?

He can barely stand the thought, but he knows it has to be a possibility. That sick rage simmering just below the surface and threatening to boil over at the sight of his brother's grief.]

Abel...

[he curls fingers into Cain's shirt, pulling him close as they can get as if in some effort to erase the possibility there could ever be that gaping distance between them again.

now was not a time to think -- he wasn't going to try. he's just going to feel you solid, and whole, and... alive, unhurt and--

they killed you...]

[Abel's heartbeat is fast and flighty, hammering in a wild thud inside his chest, and it's matched only by Cain's own. As ever, they are in perfect synchronisation, and it doesn't seem real there could even have been a single second where this wasn't true.]

I'm... I'm okay.

[Whatever he felt about this, far from resolved, the most important thing would always be Abel. Pressing them closer together in comfort, identical halves melding to make a whole.]

[okay?

under different circumstances, if his head were... well, screwed on straight (oh the irony after just losing it) -- he might laugh, bitterly. he might even punch him.

you're not okay... you fucking died and none of this is okay...

they took you AWAY from him and killed you and he couldn't do anything but watch, do you... get it, do you get it...

knuckles are already white where they grip into fabric, but it's close to ripping now for how coiled tight his fingers are... with a faint tremble. it's rage-- and fear. a possessive... incredulity that something that belongs to him-- the one thing that has always been steady and constant and invulnerable to circumstance... was so easily... destroyed and ripped away from him.]

...

[He understands.

Perhaps more than Abel would give it credit for... At the heart of it all, they were still one person and Cain understood that fear and rage better than anyone else.

It's still there, simmering just beneath the surface, like ants crawling beneath his skin. He's never been so angry in his entire life, never so powerless either.

It won't be forgotten.

But he has always been an expert at compartmentalising himself, for better or worse, and this anger has no place erupting right now. He is the foil, as always, to his brother. When Abel is fearful, Cain is calm. When Abel is angry, Cain is soothing. When Abel is drowning, Cain is steady... even if he doesn't feel it.

And so his arms are closing tighter around his brother and pulling him almost onto his lap where he was still sat on the bed, lips resting in silver hair to press an almost fierce kiss to his head.

Possessive, protective... this was his brother, and they had no right to make him feel like this. His, not theirs.]

[he doesn't let Cain tug him down -- because down, he can't feel the way his brother's heart is beating and he wants to.

he wants to know he's alive. he just...]

--they killed you.

[it's ragged... incredulous. he cannot... fucking believe that any of it was real. it is so utterly detached from any scenario that seems plausible in his mind... and never had he thought that the consequences for being discovered down the elevator would be unceremonious execution.

to watch his brother be... slaughtered.]

I... know, I know.

[He remembers the moment of death, he remembers watching Abel through fuzzy vision right up until that final smash that had sent his skull caving in and killed him near instantly.

Fingers tighten in the bedclothes they had been provided with, smelling sterile scents and wishing this weren't true after all. Just a dream, just a simulation, anything but the reality it had been.]

Do you fucking know?

[because he doesn't think you do. it was... black, and it was empty and it was nothing and it wasn't--

...that was not the part that hurt at all, how could they... take you away, you're his, Cain, you're -his- and they're not allowed t... o have you, so... how is this...

how did he let this happen?]

[The only answer he has to give is to somehow pull Abel closer to him, leaving no air left between them at all.

He is still yours, brother. Always and forever. Not even death can change that.]

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Sometime after the above thread

1/2 -- Abel will answer with 2/2

2/2 <:

tagging because I love you both (what is sleep)

LSKJDFLKJ just abel this time as cain is sleeping... LIKE YOU GO TO BED /shoos

awww I WENT TO SLEEP wwwwww

<:

<3

/holds...

/petpets

/purrrrrs

/scritches

/lskdjflkjsdf rolls happily!