"So you found a place where the grass is greener…"
Cain blinked and lifted his head, turning around. Eve stood there, as still as a statue, her gaze frighteningly cold as she stared at her eldest son. Cain blinked back in response, the silence almost suffocating. It didn't last too long, but it felt like years as his mother held his gaze, scrutinizing him, sizing him up, inspecting him. When she stepped forward, he reeled back on instinct, pure hesitance and confusion shining through his eyes as he drew himself backwards and took a slightly stumbling step back. For a moment, he didn't realize that everything around them was frighteningly blank and still, not quite darkness but not quite light, either.
"And you jumped the fence to the other side." Eve's hands clenched into fists at her sides, tears flooding her eyes as her angry gaze held Cain's. "Is it good? Did you finally get the world I could never provide?"
Cain opened his mouth to respond, but it felt like needles had stuck through his throat, unable to move, to breathe, to speak. He just stared, flinching with each step that Eve took toward him, cringing backwards and expecting the worst. But her advance was slow, taking her time with every careful, deliberate step.
"Well, I hope you're proud of your big decision…"
He wished he could say something. I'm sorry seemed like… too little, but he couldn't just… stand there in silence. He had to speak, he had to explain himself. Could he explain himself?
"Yeah, I hope it's all that you want, and more."
Cain licked his lips and tried again.
Nothing came out.
Eve stopped in front of him and lifted a hand. Cain flinched, violently so, as his mother's hand settled on the side of his face. "Now you're free…" she murmured, her gaze sharpening as she let her hand drift down to his chin, fingernails digging into the skin. "From the agonizing life you were living before."
Mom, he wanted to say, so badly, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
"And, you say what you need to say." A hand on his chest, fingers digging into his shirt. Cain looked down, then back up, forced to meet her steady stare as she yanked him forward. "So that you get to walk away." Her lips curled slightly into a sneer. "It would kill you to have to stay trapped, when you've got something new."
Cain shuddered, trying once more. I'm sorry.
"Well, I'm sorry you had it rough." Eve pouted slightly, eyes glittering with malice. "And I'm sorry I'm not enough." She laughed, sharply, as she tugged him closer. "Thank God they'll punish you." She shoved him back abruptly, and disappeared.
Cain flinched, but it only got worse when it suddenly felt like he was falling. The darkness whizzed past him, sending him spiraling into a seemingly endless loop of nothingness, an abyss, a void - before he landed. The force brought him to his knees, gasping as he fell and tried to keep himself upright, hands pressed to the ground as he stared down. His breath came in heavy, sharp gasps as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, cringing at the sound of his mother's voice in his head. Clear as day.
"So, you got what you always wanted?
So, you got your dream come true?
Good for you!
Good for you, you, you!
Got a taste of a life so perfect…
So, you did what you had to do?
Good for you
Good for you…"
A few beats of silence passed. Cain bit his lip and tried to stand up, but he felt frozen.
Then he felt a hand on his chin. The touch was soft and gentle, and as he raised his head, he was shocked to see a pair of familiar blue eyes, looking almost concerned before her expression twisted into something much more angry, much more hurt. Betrayal. Cain's heart ached.
"Does it cross your mind to be slightly sorry?" Chloe crouched down in front of him, her hand still settled on his chin as he forced his head up further, making him wince. "Do you even care, what you did was wrong?"
Cain shuddered and opened his mouth, but Chloe's thumb came up, tracing over his lips and sending him into a startled silence.
"Was it fun…?"
A smile, barely there, mirthless, angry, hateful.
"Well, I hope you had a blast…" Chloe leaned in close, and Cain breathed out sharply as he felt her lips brush against his, just barely. Enough pressure that he could feel it. And she breathed out softly into his mouth, sending him spiraling back into that dizzying nothingness at the scent, the taste of her…
Her expression twisted again. "While you dragged me along."
And then, like Eve, she was gone.
But another familiar face took her place, and Cain's heart sank impossibly lower.
"And you say what you need to say!"
His brother's hands clasped around his neck, forcing him to his feet and shoving him backwards, against a wall Cain hadn't known was there. He choked out a gasp, breath leaving him for a moment as he stared at Abel through wide, pained eyes.
"And you play who you need to play," Abel hissed, leaning forward and digging his fingers into his brother's chest, sharp enough to draw blood. Cain drew back a bit, as far as he could, a shudder running down his spine. "And if somebody's in your way?"
Abel's form flickered, lifeless eyes staring back at Cain for a moment, blood trickling down the side of his mouth, going hopelessly pale. Cain's heart sank again at the sight, of what his brother had looked like so long ago, after he had… after he'd…
"Crush them-" Abel was normal again, a vile grin on his face now as he slammed a hand through his brother's chest, finally drawing a noise from the man's lips - a scream. "And leave them behind!"
Chloe and Eve's voices joined Abel, sending Cain into a startled silence until his brother jerked his hand back, and another scream tore from Cain's throat as he did so. He could feel the pain as vividly as if it were real, as well as the sudden, gaping hole in his chest, blood soaking into his shirt and trickling down his chest as he stared, wide-eyed, at the heart Abel held in his hand. Still pulsing. Still beating.
"Well, I guess if I'm not of use
Go ahead, you can cut me loose
Go ahead, now, I won't mind!"
Abel crushed the heart in his fist, and despite it not being a part of Cain anymore, it felt like a complete heart attack. He screamed again and crumpled to the ground, to his knees, a sob finally breaking through his lips.
"I'll shut my mouth
And I'll let you go."
Cain's blood ran cold.
Adam knelt before him, on one knee, hand gripping Cain's hair and tilting his head back. Cain met his father's gaze through wide, terrified eyes.
"Is that good for you?" Adam sneered. "Would that be good for you?" More shapes flickered and formed behind him, and Cain leaned back when he saw they were Ella, and Michael. Michael with an angry glare, and Ella with that same betrayal.
"You!"
"You!"
"I'll just sit back, while you run the show-" Cain spun around, Adam disappearing from his sight as he forced himself to his feet with wide eyes, staring face to face with none other than Lucifer. The Devil grinned at him, shark-like as ever. "Is that good for you? Would that be good for you, you, you?"
Cain just shook his head, gripping his hair tightly as he staggered back. The darkness around them disappeared, and suddenly he could see himself, standing toe-to-toe with Abel, a rock in his hand. Slamming it into his brother's skull over, and over, and over again until Abel had crumpled to the ground, lifeless, beneath him. And Cain hadn't even stopped then. Hadn't realized what he'd done then. He kept going.
Nausea boiled in the pit of his stomach. He choked out a scream and reached a hand out, futile.
"I'll shut my mouth, and I'll let you go
Is that good for you? Would that be good for you, you, you?
I'll just sit back while you run the show
Is that good for you?
Good for you?"
The scene changed, the precinct. Wooing Chloe, flirting with her, smiling at her. Making her smile back. Sweet-talking. Kissing. The passion, the lust, the sin - the need. Something he thought she could give him, something he'd used her for. The dizziness returned and it very nearly brought him to his knees.
Both scenes repeated.
"So you got what you always wanted?
So you got your dream come true?
Good for you! Good for you, you, you!
Got a taste of a life so perfect
Now you say that you're someone new!"
Something broke in him, again, watching himself kill his brother. Watching Abel beg and plead with him, only to be…
"Good for you!
Good for you!"
And then Chloe… Oh, what had he done to her? Why had he strung her along the way he did, why did he have to use her? He did genuinely care for her. The betrayed look on her face before… Something else broke inside of him.
"Good for you!"
There was something so horribly twisted about the amount of pain that flooded him at Ella's cold, betrayed stare, too.
"Good for you!"
And he didn't even want to think about how small Lucifer's glare suddenly made him feel.
And this scene was new, but familiar all the same.
The abandoned warehouse. Face to face with Michael, fighting him. Well, hardly fighting. Only fighting because Michael wanted him to, Michael wanted it to be fair. This time it was from his own point of view, slammed hard into the ground on his back with the sword poised over his chest, ready to strike.
At the last second, the form flickered.
And it was Abel towering over him, the sword replaced with a rock. Cain's pupils shrunk, not in fear, but in realization. Abel knelt beside him, reaching out and touching his cheek with a certain kind of tenderness. And for a moment, Cain gave in. He let his guard down, leaning into the touch, eyes shutting for a moment, just aching for any kind of physical contact that didn't hurt. He didn't notice the warehouse change, the ground under them replaced with grass.
Didn't notice when he was suddenly on his knees, Abel on the ground in front of him. Didn't notice until he felt his own arms go up. He snapped his eyes open, a scream tearing from his throat at the realization, trying to stop himself.
"So, you got what you always wanted," Abel breathed out, just as the rock connected with his skull with a horrifying crunch.
Later, it would replay again.
It would go on for longer periods of time the more times it seemed to reset. Some ended in his brother's death. Some ended in his own. Some just ended in torture. Abel would be standing over him, knives, guns, any weapon of choice. And he would rip into him - not just with weapons, but with words. He wouldn't stop until he had Cain on his knees, sobbing, apologizing and pleading and begging for him to kill him, to punish him - because he knew he deserved to be punishment. And he was getting that punishment.
So when it reset, as much as he hated it…
Good for you, a part of him would whisper, soft and taunting. In his brother's voice, of course, always at the front of his mind, painfully cold. Good for you…