Thinking about this AU again
“You didn’t have to kill him,” Neil said. His steps were sticky from the drying blood, the man’s desperate pleas ringing in his ears alongside the echo of Aaron’s gun.
Aaron didn’t bother giving Neil even a glance, simply continued down the street. He moved slow and easy, as if the weight of what he had just done, what he had just taken, was nothing. In a sick rush, Neil thought of his childhood home, of the predators that had lurked there.
“You could have left him alive,” he pressed. “Sent him back to Riko as a message.”
“Is that not what I’ve done? Tell me, what message would you have given him? I have found a dead body speaks louder than any words. Especially when it comes to people like us.”
“He wasn’t anyone,” Neil hissed. “He had no fight with you!”
“Actions have consequences,” he said simply, as uncaring as he had been breaking the man’s fingers.
Rage and disgust curled up in Neil, rotten and foul. “You know what I think? I think you like it. I think you enjoy when people fear you, take pleasure in cutting them down. I know people like you, Aaron Minyard. I know a monster when I see one.”
Now Aaron turned on him, violence in his step. Even with his hands still hanging loose by his sides, Neil tensed. He knew first hand how quick of a draw the man was.
“Let me tell you what I see when I look at you, Nathaniel. You are the coward who cut and run, abandoning the same people you swore to protect. You are the horror of your father, in image and talent. You are so terrified of stepping into your birthright you can’t see how you’ve become something worse.
“You think I like it?” Aaron continued, pressing close enough to force Neil back a step, away from the threat cracking through him. “You’re right. Every time, I enjoy it. Ever since the first time I watched the realization on their faces when they realized they were going to die, I’ve liked it. Because ever since that moment, since their deaths, no one has touched Andrew. I have kept him safe for years. And that, Nathaniel, is why I don’t blink.” He stepped back, cool indifference once again sliding over his face. “That’s the difference between us. I don’t care about being a monster. I know who I am.”
