Disclaimer: I don't own AMC's "Preacher." Everything belongs to whoever owns them, my wishful thinking aside.
Authors Note #1: Based on the popular fan theory that Fiore and Deblanc are actually Genesis parents. I wanted to examine their backstory a bit and ended up getting ahead of myself, so-
Disclaimer:canon appropriate violence, blood, gore, injury, death, religious imagery/definitions/symbolism/discussion.
Temenos
Chapter Three
An indeterminable time - perhaps a thousand years, maybe less - found them tearing into each other in the center of a vast, natural crater. Fighting. Whirling. Striking. Parrying. Thrusting. He didn't have wings, but somehow he was soaring just as high. A silent song of his own pounding in his breast as they glided together, moving seamlessly. So evenly matched neither of them could gain a fair foothold against the other. And so in sync he wished he had an observer's eyes so he could watch from a distant perspective.
Because there were watchers.
Oh yes.
For the first time in memory. Angel and demon paused in mid-skirmish. Lowering their arms so they might watch together along the rim of the great crater. Whispering their names from Heights Rock to the Seventh circle of hell. Speaking with pride and revulsion - depending whose side you were on - about the two fighters that refused to give ground.
Behind him a legion of demons hissed and stomped. Shaking the ground with their might and chanting his name in hell-speak. Sounding out in a clash of metallic syllables and unforgiving harshness he no longer felt equal to. Perhaps he never had.
While on the Adelphi's side, a heavenly host sang on high. Thumping their hilts against their shields like a singular heartbeat. Holy consensus in the form of a hundred thousand ancient voices. Warriors of old who'd seen every battle play out - in Heaven, Earth and in Hell since time began, all turned their heads to watch.
Hours passed into days and still they didn't stop. Not until they were panting and flagging. Grappling like they could tear each other apart with their bare hands. Crawling through the muck and withered trees, weapons long forgotten in favor of brute strength and bare fists. So thickly smeared with filth and each other's red that no one could rightly tell where angel ended and demon began.
"Why don't you just die, demon?" the angel hissed. Teeth bared like they were a mirror images of each other - nude and mud-smeared. Host to the same, painfully conscious ferocity as the Adelphi's fingers wrapped around his throat the same moment he returned the favor. Throttling each other until the stars burned out and the relief of nothingness ended the fight on their behalf.
It was a fair question.
That was the first time they danced together.
"This never stops, you know?" he said to him the next time they met on the battlefield. Enjoying the way he could still startle him, even if it was only with words. Flicking unconcernedly at the blade that'd split him in half from shoulder to navel. Quietly bleeding out into the bone dry grass.
"This is the way things are," the angel replied grudgingly, lingering over the syllables like the act itself was unfamiliar. Looming over him as he sheathed his blades in the holster nestled in the small of his back before pulling out a jeweled dagger. Perhaps a gift from his superiors. His keen nose twitched he scented its freshness from the Holy forges. It was unbloodied. Clean. "The way they've always been and the way they'll always be."
"Is it? Does it?" he questioned angrily, uncertain where the thoughts were coming from and why but refusing to back down all the same. Tasting the complications that were building between them like insects spilling from their nests. Threatening to spread like the worst type of infestation.
"You're here. I'm here, yet I'm still here- why haven't you just ended it? Like you wanted to in the crater? Why are you even listening? Why-"
The angel decapitated him before he could finish. But not before a completely different type of expression spread across the Adelph's features. Emotions felt perhaps even for the first time.
Uncertainty.
Confusion.
Fear.
The last thing he remembered before Hell open underneath him, was fielding the desire to arc up and trace it with his tongue. To remember it's taste and the deepness of those new furrows, if only for a moment.
The rest happened quickly.
At least as far as anything concerning immortal beings ever moved quickly.
He changed tactics after that.
He spent the next few battles well away from him. Deliberately losing himself in the twisting crowd every time the angel spotted him and made a move to confront him. Much like the game human children played with relish, he hid while the angel - his angel - did the seeking. It was fascinating to witness because soon enough, frustration and rancor took over the being's usual serenity. Even the grim expression of battle he so often wore was divided by a frown as he hacked through the demons within reach - searching for him.
He chuckled into his palm as he darted close, letting their flesh almost brush. Sending ripples through the Adelphi's uniform as he darted into a hollowed cave directly behind the being and froze.
The angel's face was thunderous.
He knew he was being played with.
"You cannot hide forever," the angel rasped, turning slowly on his heel. Bare feet deceptively delicate for a being he'd once seen crush the skull of a fallen demon under his heel with barely any effort.
But still, he said nothing. Straining with the excitement of it all until a squadron of Seraphs soared high above. Calling out orders for a new charge. Aiming to take advantage of a weak spot in his brethren's ranks. Perhaps hoping to gain new ground while they still could.
He did not know.
He rarely paid attention to such things.
Instead he timed it perfectly. Waiting for just the right moment when the angel divided his attention and started to turn, before rippling from his hide-out like a river-water over familiar rocks. Beating the words before they reached their target as he ghosted past the angel's other side and safely into the crush of battle. Too fast to be caught but riding the ghost of the echoes so closely it must have seemed as though he'd whispered them directly in the angel's ear. As close as a lover and as dangerous as an-
"No," he agreed, voice scratchy with unused gentleness and honest mirth as the angel whirled. One large hand flaring outwards, surprisingly empty of the weapon he could have sworn the being had been clutching only seconds before. Fingers spread - raking through the air where he'd been only half a breath previously. "Where's the fun in that?"
He felt more like his old self than he had in centuries.
A/N: Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. – There will be more to come, stay tuned.