[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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[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.

[gothamsheiress]

Welp.

Brix's just gonna let that one sit like a lead weight in the middle of the room for a minute.

[stilljustandrew]

His gaze drops away from hers again; his cheeks and the tips of his ears flush red, with something that might be shame.



"I wasn't His yet," he says, very low, pleading for understanding. "I, I was still His enemy back then."

[gothamsheiress]

"And after he killed you, were you no longer his enemy?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Not -- not right after." He looks at her, uncertain, shading towards wary.

[gothamsheiress]

"Why not?"

[stilljustandrew]

"I was still being stubborn," he says doggedly. "I had to learn better."

[gothamsheiress]

"You had to learn better than to dislike the being that killed you. That killed you to prove to you that he would be able to control you even in death."

[stilljustandrew]

He shuts his eyes.

"Stop saying that."

[gothamsheiress]

"Shall I say instead 'you had to learn better than to be the enemy of the angel that killed you so you wouldn't try to die'?"