Continued from here.
Arkash pursed his lips, then shook his head. "I came here to kill you, but I'm not sure I want to, now that I'm here," he explained while he stared at the intricate tapestry of Brodie's rug. "I wanted to look you in the eyes while I carved the skin from your bones, I wanted to tell you all the evils you'd done to me, make you realize just where you'd gone wrong before I took your life with this knife," he spoke while twirling Brodie's own dagger in his claws. "But I'm not so sure that's what I want, now."
Arkash pressed the point of the dagger to the fingertip of his index finger on his other hand and gently twirled the blade while his palm continued to bleed. "What I'd done to you...?" The human asked as though he'd done nothing wrong. Arkash's gaze drifted across the room to settle on him, where the man produced his other hand, the arm Arkash had bitten. His serrated, hook-like teeth had done a larger number than he first realized; Brodie's arm was a prosthetic, not even an artificed golem. "You bit out too much of my wrist; they couldn't fix it," the broken man explained.
Arkash scoffed, "at least you have both your eyes." Even though he spoke as if he didn't care, his misty gaze traced the wound. He'd never thought that he might have maimed the bully.
"Sure, but..." The human returned, then pressed a hand to his chest. "My heart's fucked too, has been since I woke up; they couldn't stop the bleeding in time, and my head went too long without air, they said. Now I can't even run without dropping."
Arkash watched him with a furrow to his brow, then dipped his gaze a bit and shook his head. "Brodie," he stated firmly. "The hollows you sent for me blinded me and cost me my arm after putting me asleep for a month," he began. "In that month, my dad, the sick old horse your brothers beat and kicked on the floor, took his own life because he thought I'd left him." His voice wavered as he continued, and his claws shook. Brodie really meant to say he'd suffered more than the man he'd repeatedly attacked and robbed? It made the lizard furious. "You're not the victim here. All of this is YOUR fault," he spoke up, making the rage in his heart known without speaking too loudly.
"Wait," the human spoke, and held up his hand. "What.... What hollows? I was out for weeks after you bit me, no one said..." Arkash furrowed his brow. He'd really put Brodie in a coma? Had the Argent not mentioned the hollows because he'd supposedly escaped them?
"It was Alec or Chad, then..."
"Arkash, please... I'm sorry about your dad, I'm sorry for everything, I'd take it back if I could..."
The rathor grinned a bit and shook his head. "No, you're not," he spoke so matter-of-factly. "You're only sorry because you think I'm going to kill you; because I'm the terrorist you see in wanted posters around town; because I've spilled Celebrant blood." He stood at that and sheathed the dagger. "I think I do want to kill you..." he trailed on, then stepped toward the window. "But on the other hand, you seem to think your life's miserable now. It might be better to live with your weakness." He thought aloud without looking at the person he'd otherwise murder.
"...You mean... You're leaving?" The man asked, somewhat hopeful.
"Undecided," Arkash answered with a frown. He could still hear the man's heart beating out of his chest, but his own heartbeat wasn't that much better. It still staggered him that the monster from his nightmares could tremble so at the sight of him. "I blamed you for making me what I am today; a killer, a criminal, a revolutionary. I thought of you like the monster that lurked the streets, an unbeatable force I had to avoid... But we've swapped," he realized. "I'm the monster now, and you're a helpless cripple." He found burning anger in Brodie's eyes when he turned to look at the man from over his shoulder. "Does that hurt?" The rathor taunted. "I thought you'd broken me, but you only made me stronger. I broke you. I've ruined you beyond repair!"
Was it wrong to be so proud of his feat? To cripple and ruin someone he hated? Brodie was quiet, staring down the lizard with the intent to burn holes in his scales. "Nothing?" he questioned. "Not even a smidge of pride?" He watched the broken man with great amusement as he approached the man's bedside. His own heart raced ahead of him. The power he carried was intoxicating; he didn't just take pride in what he did; he loved it.
Brodie's burning gaze faltered a little when the lizard stopped at his bedside, then broke into a flinch when he drew the dagger on his hip. Brodie stayed where he was, and Arkash extended the handle of the dagger to the belittled monster. The human's eyes looked up at the rath where he stood, then lowered to the offered weapon. Arkash gave it a wave and offered "It's yours, isn't it? Go ahead, take it."
Despite his obvious rage, the human hesitated. A shaky hand reached out to take the dagger, and Arkash let him have it. The human took a moment to look between his long lost dagger and the rath, then threw his fist forward in an effort to stab him. In a flash, Arkash deflected the strike with a flick of his bloodshaped dagger and cut through the weaker steel with a ping that saw the metal fall quietly on the human's bedsheets. Brodie stared in horror and looked between the handle of his dagger, and Arkash's jagged, serrated blood knife before his gaze fell on the rath's burning, misty eyes.
At once, Arkash swept his free claw to grasp the human by the scruff, and pulled him partially out of the sheets to press his back to the headboard. Shocked, Brodie dropped the handle of his knife and moved both his prosthetic and flesh arm to hold the rathor's wrist. Arkash was by no means strong, but he could handle Brodie's weight fine with the headboard's support. "Weak," Arkash all but spat as he pressed a knee into the bed and leaned forward to stare down the trembling human with his piercing yellow eyes. "Totally powerless."
Brodie shook tremors as Arkash squeezed him into the headboard, then muttered a quiet, angered "get the fuck off me..."
His own heart ran rapidly like the roll of a drum while he stared the helpless Brodie down, and Brodie's own heartbeat quickened in tandem. Everything in him was firing off at once, it felt like, and his throat burned while he thought of all the things he could do to Brodie, completely of his own will. He had absolute power in their dynamic. If he so wished, he could kill the man, hurt him, even kiss him. For reasons unknown to him, the latter thought took up the forefront of his mind.
A slight dip of his head followed the thought, and Brodie's angry features softened in confusion. Before the human could fully process what he meant to do, he leaned forward and pressed his firm, unmoving lips to Brodie's. The human tensed up and drew a deep breath through his nose while the rath held the press and his gaze softened a little to return the gesture. He felt the human's lips mold to the shape of his own in tandem with his eyes closing. Arkash's heart skipped a beat at the sight, and he watched with intrigue as the man's skin darkened a few shades.
Before his mind could run too wild, he broke the kiss and looked over the human while they breathed. "W-What the fuck..." Brodie stammered in the afterglow. Arkash said nothing, but his smile spoke a thousand words. He could still feel the warmth of the human's lips on his muzzle as he let the man down, then stepped off the bed and walked backwards to the windowsill. "Wait..." Brodie called as the rath lifted the lock on the window, but the rath continued to climb up on the sill all the same.
"Be glad I didn't cut your throat instead," was all he spoke on the matter with a glance back at the flushed human, but he was admittedly just as embarrassed. Then, in a push of his legs, he threw himself from the second story and rolled across the icy street to break his fall. Arkash kicked up his form and turned with a flick of his feathered cloak to spy the Savant in the window. Dread and regret filled the space of his mind that had once been overcome with obscene desires. As he disappeared into the nearest alley, he couldn't help but tense up and cringe at what had just happened. Whatever the case, it was strange that he couldn't tell if Brodie hated it or not. It was even stranger that he cared.
