All of his world narrowed to the man in front of him. Cain coughed to clear out his throat and then rolled onto his knees and rocked to his feet in a surprisingly smooth motion, all without taking his eyes off of Abel's face. He knew this form, the terrible merging between his brother and his own Reaper that should never have been. Although it had seemed frightening then, the image in front of him was even worse, even further decayed from the man that his brother still was.

And yet.

Abel still had his mannerisms, his expressions and everything about his countenance. It was right, and that was why it was wrong. For as much as Abel was confounded by human culture and emotions, he was still a part of it, still possessed those feelings for himself. This Abel in front of him seemed to have both feet in the grave and watched Cain with his brother's usual amount of intense scrutiny.

"so this is where you have been," Abel said. His voice was flat, the only indication of his thoughts being the tilt of his head that he maintained. "you cannot simply run as soon as things become troubled between us, Cain. i have found you now."

"That's not what this is." Cain's reaction was immediate, instinctive in response to the accusation of his brother. He wouldn't dare just leave Abel like that. "I didn't run anywhere."

Abel's neck straightened out, no longer 'smiling'. "you always run."

As they spoke, the black ooze standing in for a dead man's blood began to fill up inside of an invisible mold in the shape of a new hand. It spilled around inside until it was completely reformed, skin and nails all back in place, now glowing a purple-black as Abel raised it toward Cain and shot off a blast of death magic energy. It struck Cain straight on and he fell to his knees with an unimpressive cry while clutching at his midsection where blood began to spill outside the large hole that had been made there. Ah shit, that definitely burned.