It was only instinct to the pain that had Cain jerking, trying to pull away. Abel wouldn't allow that with his iron grip on Cain's shoulder and something inside of him was grateful; he didn't really intend to deny his brother whatever anger he felt like expressing. At least it was some kind of emotion. Some of the bullet wounds began to close, the aggravated ones having trouble around the searing heat of the gun pulling them further apart, and his head was stuck somewhere between clarity and the fire in his nerve endings.
"This is what giving up looks like to you?" It was in response to what Raine had said, but mostly said for his own benefit. Was this giving up? It was... it wasn't Abel, he did have to remind himself of that, but the fact that even the shadow hadn't gone for anything lethal made it easy for him to simply take whatever damage it dished out without complaint. He turned to look Abel in those Reaper-drowned eyes, back from where he had involuntarily looked away in pain, and swallowed back a protest. This wasn't Abel. Right? He didn't need to explain himself to anyone who wasn't actually Abel. He didn't.
"giving up is what you've already done." Abel-notAbel shifted, position changing almost too fast to catch while he knocked Cain to the ground with one hand, the other holding his upper arm in such a way that the force of the fall resulted in a sickening crack. He dropped the arm, stepped on the half-closed fist and prompted even more terrible sounds before the business end of a rifle was pressed underneath Cain's chin. No need to get down on his new level in order to deal with him. "when you took everything from me, when you did not tell me that i would die. you gave up, Cain, when you killed me."
That was it. It wasn't even Abel's voice, but the sound of his brother through the filter of a Reaper in some twisted amalgam that still made no sense. It wasn't his voice, but that accusation speaking aloud the thing Cain had always claimed responsibility for and vindicating thousands of years of damage. His brother's death was his own fault, sure as the original Cain had killed his older brother eons before Remus and Romulus were born, and it tore something precious from him to have Abel himself agree. His next breath was wracked with pain, but not of the physical sort, not in reaction to the multiple breaks along his dominant arm or anything Abel had inflicted on him.
no subject
"This is what giving up looks like to you?" It was in response to what Raine had said, but mostly said for his own benefit. Was this giving up? It was... it wasn't Abel, he did have to remind himself of that, but the fact that even the shadow hadn't gone for anything lethal made it easy for him to simply take whatever damage it dished out without complaint. He turned to look Abel in those Reaper-drowned eyes, back from where he had involuntarily looked away in pain, and swallowed back a protest. This wasn't Abel. Right? He didn't need to explain himself to anyone who wasn't actually Abel. He didn't.
"giving up is what you've already done." Abel-notAbel shifted, position changing almost too fast to catch while he knocked Cain to the ground with one hand, the other holding his upper arm in such a way that the force of the fall resulted in a sickening crack. He dropped the arm, stepped on the half-closed fist and prompted even more terrible sounds before the business end of a rifle was pressed underneath Cain's chin. No need to get down on his new level in order to deal with him. "when you took everything from me, when you did not tell me that i would die. you gave up, Cain, when you killed me."
That was it. It wasn't even Abel's voice, but the sound of his brother through the filter of a Reaper in some twisted amalgam that still made no sense. It wasn't his voice, but that accusation speaking aloud the thing Cain had always claimed responsibility for and vindicating thousands of years of damage. His brother's death was his own fault, sure as the original Cain had killed his older brother eons before Remus and Romulus were born, and it tore something precious from him to have Abel himself agree. His next breath was wracked with pain, but not of the physical sort, not in reaction to the multiple breaks along his dominant arm or anything Abel had inflicted on him.
"I know."