{oOo}

Fulgrim moved oddly. He fought with the skills he always had, of course. There had been nothing new to learn or absorb while confined to the picture.

He was stiff-over thinking how to use his body. Too conscious of himself. But that wasn't it. It was natural for him to be a bit unsteady now that he was back in his own body. Natural to leave openings if you wanted your opponent to hit you.

It was his reactions that were off. Not merely how he deliberately took falls badly, but in how his body moved when he didn't think. Certain parts of the unconscious movements weren't Fulgrim at all.

From how he constantly curled and uncurled his fingers, to a particularly deft four point recovery. The Night Haunter knocked his brother down like a man trying to skip stones across a pond. Trying to get the spin, the angle, the speed and timing right.

Early and Fulgrim fell before his body adjusted itself, late and Fulgrim forced his body out of the near instinctive fighting reaction so he would be hurt more on the impact.

Just right...Just right and Konrad was able to start building a picture of those snapshots that made Fulgrim's eyes go too wide and white all around the edges.

Sometimes the reactions that came out locked away in his brother's rubio spinal tracks weren't his brother's.

With the information he had the conclusion was obvious.

Sometimes his brother moved like a daemon. And it frightened Fulgrim.

{oOo}

Konrad's plan to keep Fulgrim away from Ferrus Manus as the latter recuperated had one significant flaw, namely it did not take the other Primarch's personality into account. Ferrus Manus was not going something as insignificant as broken bones stop him.

That and one of his men had been nice enough to tell him that that idiot Curze was sparring Fulgrim. He should not have given in to weakness and kept vigil. While his brother primarch had undoubtedly a mind suitable for planning Fulgrim's rescue, Ferrus Manus ought to have realized Curze was not suited for the task of dealing with trauma.

So, instead of lying in bed, Ferrus Manus was up. His chest didn't hurt as badly anymore, anyway. So what if he couldn't walk as fast?

He stopped in the door, watching the scene with a frown. This was not right. At all.

"That's enough," he said firmly.

{oOo}