Thanks for all the reviews, updates, etc.! I'm hurrying to finish this before any more happens on the show!
2
To find you with the living, not the dead,
To find you glad of me;
The other figure appeared, becoming visible as he hit the pavement, back first. Nathan landed on top of him, eliciting groans from both men. The stranger had cushioned his blow; Quickly, Nathan rolled over onto his side, clutching his newly-mangled elbow. He was almost afraid to see if the other man was…
Alive? Sure enough, the man was no longer on his back but on his stomach, pushing himself up into a crouching position on his knees. His head was still bent in agony, but Nathan could still tell that the stranger was younger than himself. The back of his dark head was drenched in blood, matching the stain Nathan now noticed on the pavement.
"Are you okay?" Nathan asked cautiously. His voice rang out in the deserted street. He could see a new fire blazing from a nearby building as sirens blared and faded into the background.
"No," the man wheezed. "I broke my fucking spine." And as Nathan watched, the other man arched his back painfully and popped every single vertebrae back into place.
But it was his voice that really caught Nathan's attention.
"Why did you save me?" Nathan asked, panic and fear coloring his voice. Half of him couldn't believe this could be happening; the other half would die all over again if it wasn't.
The younger hero was sitting up now, but Nathan still couldn't get a good look at him. His head was still turned away, as if he was studying the inferno creeping toward them.
"Because I could," the stranger finally answered, confused but sure. He couldn't say himself why he had come. The man being attacked had held no significance… or did he?
"Peter?" Nathan called, a last ditch attempt to prove his hopes weren't in vain.
"How do you know- " Peter turned to look at the man he had just saved, and their eyes locked.
The gaze was fatal - in more ways than one.
Peter's physical world flipped, in a similar fashion as his emotions, in an instant. For one fraction of a second he was looking at his forgotten brother's smiling face; he blinked and an icy hand was clamped around his throat, cutting off his oxygen supply.
"A touching reunion," the hooded figure hissed, hoisting Peter up so his feet dangled above the ground. "But our fight is just beginning."