[reverse darkest timeline AU: cellthread #2]

[stilljustandrew]

[Previously: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

What's worried Baby the most, over the past few days --

Well. What's upset her the most is Andrew's consistent refusal to speak to her mind-to-mind, or out loud beyond the few necessary words she might exchange with any other inmate, such as requests for food, fresh clothes, an extra blanket.

But what's worried her is that he hasn't asked for anything to pass the time. No tablet with games or videos on it, no pencil and paper, no baseball to bounce off the opposite wall.

No books.



In the cell, Andrew finishes his breakfast (cornflakes, with sliced banana), sets aside the bowl, and settles down leaning against the wall.

Comments

[hadyougoing]

A slight pause as Ava takes her in--the change in her height, her skin.

Her tone.

"Thank you," she says, polite and business-as-usual.

(She does not say: See how easy that was?)

"I understand that. And I promise you I know how serious this is--hell, I'm the one who got Andrew's sentence extended past our dinky three-day maximum or whatever it is for kidnapping attempts. We're not gonna let him do this again."

[forewarned_is]

"Good."

She doesn't sound particularly reassured.

"As I said: I'll be keeping my own watch."

[hadyougoing]

"Understood."

It's what she would've done before she joined Security.

Ava dips a respectful nod, which is as close as she gets to curtsying these days.

"Sorry to chase you down." (She isn't.) "Have a good night, ma'am."

[forewarned_is]

She gives a bare nod back, and sweeps out.

[hadyougoing]

Ava trudges back to Andrew's cell.


"Making friends and influencing people," she notes cheerfully.

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew swallows.

"Is she gone?"

[hadyougoing]

She nods.

[stilljustandrew]

"Good."

He's hugging his knees again.

"I don't know who she is but she hates me."

[hadyougoing]

"Have you ever seen her before?"

[stilljustandrew]

He shakes his head.

(It's the truth.)

[hadyougoing]

Ava sighs.

"Then I don't think she hates you, Andrew. Just your boss."

Which, again, is because he's the literal devil.

[stilljustandrew]

He looks down.

"Then she hates me because I'm His," he mumbles.

[hadyougoing]

It sucks that Ava has nobody to hyperbolically pray to for patience.

"And what that means," she adds, slight emphasis on the last word.

[stilljustandrew]

"It means I'm not on her side."

There's a touch of stubbornness, now, in the set of his shoulders.

"Someone's always gonna hate me 'cause I'm not on their side."

[hadyougoing]

Ava's eyebrows arch.



"Andrew, do you remember how many people I've killed?"

[stilljustandrew]

His glance flicks up; he looks uncertain where this is going.

"... I don't think you ever said a number."

[hadyougoing]

Her lips quirk.

"Yeah, I don't remember. Dozens, though. I don't even remember what they all looked like--after awhile they started to blur."

[stilljustandrew]

"How come you're telling me this now?"

[hadyougoing]

"Because that's the side I was on."

Ava regards him with a sliver of bitter smile.

"The side that measures how strong you are by how many people you've screwed over. That likes to watch people bleed."

[stilljustandrew]

"Lot of sides are like that." Sullenly, now.

[hadyougoing]

Ava snorts.

"Oh, okay. That'd make Jenny Yi feel a lot better, I should've tried telling her that."

[stilljustandrew]

And for the first time, a spark of irritation.

"Or hey, what about that guy who got you before you got him? What side was he on?"

[hadyougoing]

Her eyebrows arch.

"Uh, Jake drank the Kool-Aid."

(As it were.)

[stilljustandrew]

"Right. That's 'cause your side wasn't a side. Cause Azazel was an asshole."

[hadyougoing]

"Oh my gosh, so Lucifer doesn't kill people? Or drive them crazy, or chase them with hellhounds or anything?"