Abel stood in front of his door, staring hard at the gray surface. Bits of light pooled across the metal like stars and something tightened in his chest. All he had to do was open the door, walk in and pretend everything was fine. Best case scenario, Cain would probably say a few nasty things and then they'd move on with their lives. Worst case scenario, Cain would beat the shit out of him. Abel chewed his lip. Not exactly ideal situations but it wasn't like their relationship, or whatever it was, was functional in the first place.
He brought his hand up to the control. People had been shooting him strange looks the entire way back to his room, like they all knew something awful that he didn't. Like they all knew what was waiting behind the door. His hand halted over the interface. But this was his room, not just Cain's, and he had every right to go inside and try to piece himself back together in privacy. Abel's fingers pressed the door open.
A thick cloud of darkness and stale cigarette smoke rolled out to greet him. Abel covered his mouth and tried not to retch. Cain and his stupid cigarettes. Abel's hand fumbled for the vent control and a whirl of fan blades started to clear the room.
But there was no Cain, just the remains of his cigarette smoke. Abel stepped further into the room. The ash tray was clogged with cigarette butts, a few burn marks surrounding the dish. Their one and only chair lay on its side behind their bed. All four of its legs were bent at odd angles to match the dents in the wall. Abel sighed and dropped himself on their bed. He had spent the entire way back here psyching himself up, but leave it to Cain to not even be here. Probably off smirking and scheming Abel's demise from some dark corner of the Sleipnir. It wasn't like Cain had ever really hurt him, but there was always a shadow of implied violence waiting behind Cain's eyes.
Abel lay back on the bed, staring at the lights on the ceiling. He closed his eyes to avoid the glare of the lights but found stars on the inside of his eyelids. Starlight and screaming. Abel's eyes snapped open and he jolted up. His heart slammed against his ribs and a wave of nausea washed over him. They were just stars, he knew that, but everything was twisted and wrong. They weren't the same stars he'd fought for.
Abel stood and paced on the small square of carpet. If he couldn't close his eyes, then there was no use sitting in here marinating in Cain's cigarette smoke. Maybe he should go find Cain and get everything over with in a public area. Then, provided Abel could actually get to sleep, he wouldn't have to worry about Cain ambushing him the middle of the night.
Abel strode out of the room and stopped in front if the next door over. He sucked in a deep breath, his lungs straining. The team next to them weren't exactly friendly. But Abel had seen Cain chatting with the fighter a few times.
Abel pressed the call button and a soft ping sounded from somewhere behind the door. A few moments later the door slid open and a dark-haired fighter with hooded eyes stared back at Abel. A navigator was sprawled out on the bottom bunk and was watching Abel with equally lazy eyes. The fighter leaned against the door frame with a sneer.
"You lost or something?"
Abel felt his face flush bright red. This was such a bad idea.
"Um, no."
The fighter's eyebrow twitched up.
"What the hell do you want then?"
No wonder Cain was such an asshole if he was surrounded with people like this all day.
"Have you seen Cain around?"
The fighter let out a loud laugh.
"Cain? Nah, nobody has. Not since the idiot got himself thrown in the brig. Fuckin' hilarious though-"
Abel's heart skipped a beat.
"The brig? Why?"
The fighter let out another laugh.
"For being an idiot. Now fuck off, I've got better things to do than talk to his pansy navigator."
The door slid shut in Abel's face. The brig. Cain was in the brig. Abel groaned and rubbed his temples. Of course he was. Probably got into a fight over the last dinner roll and stabbed someone with a fork. Sadly not atypical behavior for Cain.
Abel sighed and walked back to his room. He turned the vents up and sat in the darkness, turning things over in his head. Maybe he could convince a guard to let him see Cain. But he'd need a peace offering if he went to go see him. Abel dug around in the drawers, coming up with a slightly crushed pack of cigarettes. This probably wouldn't work, but anything was better than sitting alone with his own mind right now. Abel tucked the cigarettes into his pocket and headed out the door.
Abel crossed his arms tightly across his chest. He remembered now why he had never been to the brig before. Three fighters stood in the elevator with him, eyeing him up with predatory glares. Abel glared back at them with what he hoped at least looked like a glare. Cain always laughed when Abel glared at him. You lose your glasses or something?
"Fighter base level."
The three men offered Abel a final smirk before filing into the dark hallway. The elevator doors slid shut and Abel released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. The elevator descended further into the depths of the Sleipnir. So far so good.
The elevator came to a soft halt on the bottom floor and the doors slid open. Darkness sucked at the light spilling from the elevator's soft light.
"Brig."
Abel drew in a deep breath and strode into the darkness. As long as he looked like he knew what he was doing, he'd probably be fine. At least that was what he kept telling himself. As he walked down the hallway the small lights flickered to life overhead and then extinguished as he passed, leaving nothing but darkness behind.
At the end of the corridor was a bored guard staring at Abel with glazed eyes. He tilted his head and looked Abel up and down.
"What are you doing here?"
Abel cleared his throat and tried a nice smile on.
"I'm looking for a fighter named Cain."
The guard's eye brows twitched upwards.
"You his navigator?"
"Yes."
The guard shook his head slowly.
"Well shit. I guess you're here to see him?"
Abel nodded. The guard sighed and stood up. He towered over Abel and cast a heavy shadow over him. Abel shivered and stepped back cautiously. He'd heard a lot of stories that started off like this.
"Unauthorized visits are prohibited, but if anyone asks, I didn't let you in here."
"Really?"
It was suspiciously too easy, but the guard seemed more bored than dangerous. The guard punched in a code and the heavy door slid open.
"Don't know how you do it kid, but I admire your tenacity."
Abel stepped past the threshold.
"Thanks?"
The guard smirked and shook his head again.
"He's in three. I normally warn people not to get too close, you're his navigator. You probably know that already."
The door slid shut behind Abel and a strange silence filled his ears. The hum of the Sleipnir was stronger in here and he could feel it thrumming underneath his skin. Nausea churned inside his stomach put he pushed the feeling down. A short corridor lay in front of him with bars the entire length of each wall. It was strange to see something so technologically ancient in a ship like the Sleipnir. Abel padded down the passageway, ignoring the other inmates staring out at him from the darkness.
Three. Abel peered into the cell; spotting Cain's form slumped in a dark corner. He looked so weak and defeated that it disturbed Abel for a moment. Like Cain screaming in his black flight suit. Abel squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. This wasn't the time for a panic attack. His eyes curled open and he focused on Cain.
"Cain?"
Cain's head twitched at the sound but he didn't look up.
"Fuck off."
Abel recoiled and something pinched between his ribs. But it wasn't like he hadn't come all the way down here expecting Cain to run at him with open arms.
"Cain, it's me."
Cain head snapped towards Abel and his eyes widened. Abel couldn't tell if it was anger or just Cain's default face that glared back at him, but it was more intense than he would have liked. Abel offered a hesitant smile to counteract Cain's piercing glare and shook the pack of cigarettes at him.
"Brought you some cigarettes."
Cain rolled onto his feet and closed the distance between them in four sharp steps. His hands snaked through the bars and grabbed Abel's shirt, yanking Abel into the bars. Dark circles had pooled underneath Cain's eyes and they had lost their usual intensity. Just unfocused and tired.
"You little shit."
Definitely not the reaction Abel was hoping for. Cain's face was too close, his breath rolling over Abel's skin. Abel tried to pry Cain's hands loose but he held on tighter.
"Let go of-"
"You're supposed to be dead."
Abel's heart crunched against his lungs. Cain was an asshole, but every time something awful came out of Cain's mouth it always surprised Abel.
"Well I'm not. Let go of me or-"
Cain's lips curled up into an ugly snarl.
"Or what princess? I'm the fighter, you're the navigator. Have you still got that mixed up?"
A few sparks of Cain's old style of anger flashed around his face. Abel pushed down the dread in his chest and placed his hand on Cain's fist. Abel hoped his glare was convincing enough.
"Let go."
Cain's grip tightened and he pulled Abel closer against the bars. The metal ached against the scar tissue traced across Abel's chest but he kept his gaze leveled with Cain's. A strange look crossed Cain's face. Not quite anger, but something Abel couldn't quite identify. An uncomfortable mix of frustration and sadness.
Then it was gone. Cain retracted his face from between the bars and he grabbed the pack of cigarettes out of Abel's grasp. Cain fished out his matches and lit up a cigarette. The smoke drifted through the bars and curled around the light from the ceiling. Abel frowned and crossed his arms.
"You're welcome."
Cain shrugged and took another slow drag of his cigarette.
"Yea yea, how they hell you get in here? Suck the guard's dick or something?"
It was nice to know that getting blown into the vacuum of space hadn't had too much of an effect on Cain.
"No. How did you end up in here? Did they finally catch you assaulting personnel?"
They exchanged glares through the smoky silence. The entire point of coming down here was to deal with Cain's complexes, but the theory was much easier than reality. Cain slumped against the wall and stared at the cigarette smoke curling around his hand.
"Watch your mouth Abel."
His voice wasn't the usual harshness, but so soft Abel barely heard it. Long shadows crossed Cain's face and he suddenly looked a lot older than he should have. Abel bit his lip, wishing he had kept that last remark to himself.
"When do you get out?"
Cain blew more smoke out of his nostrils and watched it drift towards Abel.
"Don't know. Could be in a couple of days."
"A couple of days?! What did you do?"
Cain's eyes snapped up to Abel's and Abel took an instinctual step back. Cain looked different in the shadows, more feral and dangerous than before, but there was a desperate quality to his anger.
"None of your business."
Abel frowned but kept silent. Something was up with Cain and Abel didn't feel like opening a door he wasn't sure he could close. Abel gave a defeated sigh and rubbed his temples.
"Fine-"
The entrance door slid open and the guard shouted into the brig.
"Navigator, ten seconds and you're out!"
Cain snorted and slid down to the floor, smoke swirling around his body. Abel's frown deepened. This wasn't how this was supposed to have gone.
"Navigator, let's go."
Cain sneered, a flash of his canines in the dark. Abel took a few steps towards the exit but paused to look back at Cain slumped in the darkness. All he could think of was the cosmos reflecting off a visor. Abel shivered.
"Cain-"
The sneer flickered into a cruel, vicious smile.
"See you in a couple of days, navigator."
Abel pushed his lips into a flat line and stalked towards the exit. He was an idiot to think talking to Cain would get anything done; every time he tried it just left an angry emptiness in his chest. The door slid closed behind him and he could feel the guard's eyes on him. Abel's looked up on him and tried to put a pleasant look on his face but found his muscles weren't moving the way he wanted them to.
"Thanks for letting me in."
The guard shrugged.
"Don't look so crushed kid, you're lucky."
"Lucky?"
The guard chuckled.
"It's not like I wasn't watching you two-"
Abel's eyes widened and he felt a flush of red flood across his face.
"Please don't-"
The guard shook his head, the laughter still in his voice.
"Your fighter almost ripped Bering's arm off when he came down here. Had to knock him out cold just to get him to let go. But I didn't have to do that for you, did I?"
An awkward sensation prickled across Abel's skin. Cain had tried to rip Commander Bering's arm off. Of course he had. How Cain got off on these sorts of things so lightly was more of a mystery than Cain.
"I guess not."
The guard snorted.
"You better get out of here before anyone sees you down here. But trust me when I say you're lucky, navigator."
Abel nodded and tried another smile and found his muscles actually did what he wanted them to. He walked back into the darkness and towards the light of the elevator.
A/N: They must have to calculate the weight-allowance for emotional baggage on starships. Or maybe that's factored into the artificial gravity.
Hope this is heading in a reasonable direction