Greys III - Revelations

Chapter 28 - Hard Places

At the beginning of their sparring session - though 'sparring' didn't quite seem to accurately encompass the acts in front of me - their hits were met with muttered Angel names and cheap heals so they could continue. But soon, the fight became more vicious and the hits more deadly, no time given to heal or recover. Both bled and broke the other, and then continued like this truly was a fight to the death.

I was enchanted as I watched, lost in seeing their power, their calculation, but also their brutality, their natures. James had never fought like this before, at the crosswords of sick enjoyment, life-or-death defense, and true murderous intent. I felt like I was watching how James would be with a worthy opponent, methodically understanding his foe more. And Malachi doing just the same, reading James more with each movement, each strike or defense. A battle of minds as well as bodies, seeing who could learn and therefore anticipate their opponent first.

I found myself holding my breath or flinching when either of them would land a particularly damaging blow, though they didn't seem to mind or notice. Malachi even less-so than James, like the pain didn't register, like he couldn't feel it in his Shift. And maybe he couldn't, maybe in his nature his vision tunneled to only see the target before him, maybe he fell into his nature even deeper than either of us did.

After a time that could have been minutes or hours, the training-versus-reality line was crossed as James spun away from a strike that would have easily caved in a Human's chest. But Malachi snapped his hand to my Pair's throat and flung him against the wall like he weighed nothing. I heard James' head hit with a crack as his body slackened for a moment. He didn't fall, regaining control the fraction of a second later, but it was still enough of an opening for the perfectly honed weapon he was facing.

Malachi was already before him, holding James' head against the wall by a hand knotted in his hair. I saw the flash of a memory behind my eyes, Malachi's memory as James had held his head steady in a similar way. Then Malachi's fist was halfway across the distance to James' upturned face, his whole body thrown into the punch. I felt panic rise as I realized that Ailech wasn't here to heal, that I didn't have time for a shield, that this would surely crush my Pair's skull. It looked like it would cave the cement wall behind him too.

But then Malachi stumbled back, his hands gripping his collar, his knuckles white. He fell to his knees with a cry, his black eyes going wide with the closest thing to panic I had ever seen on a Shifted face as he trembled. For a moment I thought the movement was from pain, like Grayson or Cordelia's gift, like the Serpentine's poison, but then I noticed differences. It wasn't so much a tremble as a twitch, a vibration, like a current was running through his body, making it jump and spasm.

Malachi fell forward until he was doubled over on the ground, convulsions still rippling down his back as a whimper escaped his lips, noisy wet breaths following as he writhed. His hands found their way up to his white hair as he curled in, tucking his head down as if that could protect him. He was bowed like he had been in my last memory, as he waited for the Collector's punishment after James had left, and the similarity made the room seem to spin.

What seemed forever passed as we watched the collar's punishment continue to run through Malachi. Eventually, his twitches subsided, the tension in his body relaxing until he stilled fully. After another moment he braced himself with one hand on the ground and looked up through damp hair with still-black eyes, his needled teeth bared.

"I'll fucking kill Abby," he ground out in his low, rumbling voice. And if the look on his face meant anything, I believed him.