Page 27 of Changeling
Nathan had to laugh. “I thought you knew him. Or at least used to.No, Sasha didn’t send me. Whatever you may think, we don’t have any power over him. He's just helping us out. We're friends. Not seals.”
“Friends who just happen to be fucking?” Lindsey shot back, looking Nathan up and down like he could smell Sasha all over him. He probably could. “So tell me, is that his trade off...oryours?”
Now this guy was getting on Nathan’s nerves. He glanced to the side at Charis. “You actually put up with this?”
Lindsey reared back and slammed Nathan into the wall again. That was it for Nathan’s right shoulder; it was definitely dislocated now. “Heleftus,” Lindsey snarled. “He’s the one who turned his back on his own people, on hisfriends. He’s the one who kills his own kind now. And in the name of what? Justice? She was family.”
“She was a murderer,” Nathan grit out in reply. He had no sympathy for Sasha’s girl-killing aunt. Right and wrong had plenty of grey areas, but some things were clear.
Lindsey shook his head. “How soon until he leads seals to the rest of us? And what then? They kill us all and he gets a free pass? I know better. Humans who know about our kind can't be trusted. You say you're not a seal, but what else are you then?”
This was a lost cause, and it wounded Nathan for Sasha’s sake, especially since it was so painfully obvious that Lindsey didn’t hate Sasha like he let on. “You don’t know anything,” Nathan said, “and it’s a shame. It’s a shame that the same story always repeats itself. Good guy gets the shaft because the people who are supposed to care about him won’t listen. Well…I listen. I've saved his life and he's saved mine. I don't need to explain myself to you.”
For a moment Nathan almost thought he was getting through to Lindsey. The green eyes lost their malice, looking on with curiosity instead. But too soon the sternness was back and Lindsey stepped in so close that Nathan wondered if he was done for.
“Never come looking for us again,” he said, before he turned to walk into the darkness of the alley, leaving Nathan behind. Then he was gone like a ghost melted back into the shadows.
Charis didn’t immediately follow him. Her face exuded sympathy, clearly torn between two men she obviously cared much about. Nathan could only imagine that her choice to ultimately side with Lindsey was out of love, and as much as he wanted to be angry, he couldn’t bring himself to hate her for that.
While Nathan was in a pretty sad condition right now, leaning into the wall behind him, neck throbbing in pain, right arm hanging limp out of joint, and chest stinging again, he attempted a weak smile. The pretty succubus seemed to be made up of all these delicate little pieces that weren't strong enough to get in the middle of this fight. Despite that, she remained behind long enough to walk up close to Nathan and speak tenderly.
“You look out for him?” she asked.
Nathan sighed a little before nodding. “We look out for each other.”
“Good,” Charis said, returning Nathan’s smile in a way that lit up her whole face. “Keep it up. Sometimes…it’s the good guys who need the most help, you know?” She turned her head to look after Lindsey.
“Yeah,” Nathan said, reaching his left hand up to hold his right shoulder. “I know.”
Again, Charis didn’t immediately leave, but leaned up and kissed Nathan on the cheek. When she did finally turn to follow after Lindsey, Nathan felt a small sense of accomplishment despite his failures.
“The others are approaching, Nathan. Are you all right?” Walter asked, stepping out of the shadows.
Nathan managed to retrieve his ankle blade, though not the pieces of the scanner quite yet, before the sounds of running feet approached and Jim and Sasha appeared from around the building. Both of them frantically looked Nathan over, taking in his injured state. He expected to be given a lot of shit for what he had done, but he also assumed it would mostly be wrapped in sympathy considering how beat up he was.
He was wrong.
“What the hell were you thinking!?” Sasha growled, his blue eyes shimmering in anger. “Lindsey could have killed you! Did you think you could make things better by hurting me more!?”
Jim looked just as upset at finding Nathan so beaten, but even he was slightly shocked by Sasha’s anger.
“I didn’t ask you to come to my rescue!” Sasha shouted in Nathan’s face. “You had no right to interfere in this!”
“Well excuse me!” Nathan yelled right back, easily falling into the fight since Sasha seemed so intent on making it one. “Maybe if you had actually stood up for yourself instead of cowering like a fucking child, I wouldn’t have needed to!”
Sasha’s eyes flashed red so fast that Nathan didn’t have time to defend himself as the incubus pushed him hard in the chest and knocked him back against the wall.
Nathan gasped as pain surged through his wounds and his now injured right shoulder.
“I don’t need you to protect me!” Sasha cried. "I’m not another brother for you to throw your life away for, Nathan!”
All the fight in Nathan instantly drained. His chest burned now, but not only because of the still tender wounds that had been struck by Sasha’s blow.
The weight of what Sasha had said hit the incubus and his glowing red eyes returned to blue. He stumbled back, staring in horror at Nathan. At Jim. AtNathan. “I didn’t…I didn’t mean that.”
“Yeah, I think you pretty much did,” Nathan grumbled softly, feeling so heavy suddenly, like his body carried more weight than his bones could support.
Sasha looked crushed, completely and utterly undone. Nathan’s instincts told him to help, protect, make better, makeright. Jim always told Nathan that he was too self-sacrificing, but did that have to be such a horrible thing?
