[reverse darkest timeline AU: cellthread #3]

[stilljustandrew]

It's been about two days.

Nobody's come for him.



Andrew's lying down, staring at the far wall.

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[stilljustandrew]

"Okay."

[gothamsheiress]

"I am not interested in forcing my presence on you," she says. "You asked me to come back, but I'll return later if you don't wish to have me here now."

[stilljustandrew]

He lifts his head to look up at her, blinking as though the light's too bright for his eyes.

"You can come in."

[gothamsheiress]

"All right."

She steps forward through the transparent barrier and takes a seat, on the chair this time.

And just -- sits for a moment, observing Andrew closely.

[stilljustandrew]

He looks ... listless isn't nearly strong enough a word. Drained, maybe; enervated, not by any great exertion but by leaden despair. As she sits down, he lowers his head back to the pillow, like it's too heavy to hold up.

(His wrists aren't bound anymore; the zip tie is gone. But he's lying with his forearms together, as though they still are.)



"Maybe He thinks I'm dead." Low and dull, and as though continuing a conversation already in progress.

[gothamsheiress]

A little of the tension in her shoulders eases -- not because this is any improvement, but it at least means he's still willing to talk to her.

"Would he not be able to sense if you were or were not?"

[stilljustandrew]

"... I don't know." He shakes his head. "But He can't reach me in dreams, and ... and maybe He doesn't know why. I, I don't know."

[gothamsheiress]

Brix nods slowly.

"If he thinks you're dead, he may never come for you."

[stilljustandrew]

He blinks hard, and nods unsteadily.

"Because if I, if I died here, we don't ... we don't know if He could find me again. To bring me back."

[gothamsheiress]

". . . Bring you back?" She blinks at him.

[stilljustandrew]

"Back to life."

His eyes go to her again; the curiosity in them is faint, leaden, but there.

"Can angels not do that where you're from?"

[gothamsheiress]

Alarms begin to shout in her head.

"I don't know," she manages after a startled moment. "I haven't heard of such a thing. And I've never met an angel to ask."

[stilljustandrew]

"Oh."

That moment of interest flickers out, and his gaze sinks back to the far wall.



"He did that for me once." Much lower. "To show me."

[gothamsheiress]

"He brought you back from the dead."

[stilljustandrew]

He nods. "So I wouldn't ..."

The words trail off.

[gothamsheiress]

Well, Brix isn't about to prompt him. She's too busy trying to rein in her horror enough to hear anything besides her blood rushing in her ears.

[stilljustandrew]

"This was early," he says finally, very soft. "When I was still fighting Him. And, and first they told me He could do that, and then later He showed me."

He swallows.

"So I wouldn't try to die."

[gothamsheiress]

"He killed you?"

[stilljustandrew]

"To bring me back. So I'd understand."

He shifts, tucking his arms around himself as though cold.

[gothamsheiress]

"Andrew--"

She breaks off, runs a hand over her face, trying to collect her thoughts.

"How -- do you feel about that, now?"

[stilljustandrew]

He blinks at her.

"... that he brought me back?"

[gothamsheiress]

"That he killed you in the first place," flatly.

[stilljustandrew]

"It wasn't ... He didn't want me dead. It was just to show me. Because I didn't believe it until then, not really. And He --"

He pushes himself up on one arm, halfway to sitting.

Barely above a whisper: "He held me while I was dying. And He told me not to be afraid."

[gothamsheiress]

"While he killed you."

[stilljustandrew]

He opens his mouth, and closes it.

Nods.