Barren Crossroads

Eyes are the Windows

The same guilt twisted in his chest, and knotted his stomach.

Michael heard the sharp grating noise of the metal door at the top of the stairs that led to his prison opening again. He steeled himself. It could be anything- the jailer with the food, Ryan back to gloat, or Jace, with another message, but always, always with Ryan. Michael didn't know how much more he could take, and not for the first time, he wondered how Kaelie had survived any of it and not broken.

The light shifted outside of his cell as the shadow of someone coming down the stairs and into the hallway flickered on the walls. Michael forced himself to stand, and clenched his jaw against the groan that threatened to tear from his chest.

He crossed his arms against his chest, and tried to ignore the pervasive feeling of weakness that was all he felt anymore. He heard the sound of Lilith's sobbing hiccup and stop next to him and the drag and scuffle as she made herself stand. As he pressed himself closer to the door to see who came down the hall, he caught the light reflecting dully off of dark inky hair and broad shoulders as the person kept their head ducked.

The only thing that really distinguished Jace between his father any more were the ragged, raised scars that covered most of his visible skin, including the smooth skin of his face by his eye and across his cheek. Objectively, he was still fairly handsome, Michael thought. He pushed a shining, polished metal cart down the hall, and the wheels squeaked and rang as they moved down the hard stone path. He stopped in front of the thin bit of wall that separated his and Lilith's cell. He pushed the cart against the opposite side of the wall.

He stood silently for a moment, his gray eyes cast down at the floor, not willing to meet his or Lilith's. Michael knew she was mirroring his position, arms against her chest, curled around herself, and pressed against the door to see out. Jace turned a small blade over and over in his hands and something tinkled in his pocket as he shifted. On the bottom level of the cart were two covered plates of food- Michael could smell it and his mouth watered, and suddenly he wanted to sob.

"What do you want, traitor?" he spit at Jace, and he hated the harsh edge that hate had started to put in his voice. If he was honest, it was hard not to hate Jace, even just a little, after everything. Even though he knew Jace had been through as much, if not more than him at this point, he alway seemed to come out of it, while Michael's friends- Lilith and Kaelie, and Ben, and Sarah, all seemed to be lost.

Jace sighed, and the sound was so filled with pain and longing and exhaustion that Michael almost forgot that Jace was only 24. He seemed so much older now, like the trauma had etched out lifetimes in his body. He looked up at them both then and raised his eyebrows, waiting to get their full attention.

Michael just stared. "I'm here for information. You knew it would come to this eventually," he said, in the same, cold, even voice that his father used. Michael knew it was all a lie, an act, but the sound made him shiver all the same.

"I don't know what you're talking about." It was Lilith this time, with her small, musical voice. It was full of venom and Jace didn't flinch at it.

"I know that Kaelie is looking for something. I want you to tell me what. And why. She'd have told you before you helped her to escape. I know she would. I found her, but I haven't found what she's trying to find. But I will."

Michael heard as Lilith inhaled sharply. "You found her?"

Jace didn't answer. After several more minutes he looked up at them again, still playing the small blade between his fingers. It reminded Michael of Kaelie and his heart ached. "I'll start with you," he said, and pointed the blade at Lilith.

Michael wanted to scream, the roar of anger and frustration building so hard in his chest that it cramped and his throat burned. "Leave her the fuck alone, you creep," he spat. Jace flinched at the word, and when he looked up at Michael again, his grey eyes were baleful, full of sorrow and remorse. Like he was trying to show Michael that he'd never hurt Lilith.

Michael didn't know if he'd believe that anymore. By way of placation, Jace pressed a key card to the door and a small hatch opened near Michael's chest. Jace handed the food through the hatch. Michael tried to resist it, but he was hungry, ravenous, and he fell to the ground, tearing at the food with filthy fingers and shoveling it into his mouth. Tears salted his tongue as he ate.

--

Lilith hated the weight that slumped Jace shoulders as he opened her cell and crowded her away from the door. Very quietly, and opening his mouth as little as he could he said "Don't try anything. Barely convinced him to let me in hear alone. Have to be convincing."

Once he got in, his cart behind him, he handed her the plate of food. He turned away, graciously as she tore into it and didn't say a word when she finished it in a few minutes and licked her filthy hands clean. His nose scrunched, and she could see him trying to breathe shallowly through his mouth, but he also, kindly, did not comment on the stench of human waste that filled the stale air in her cell.

He faced her again and spoke in that same clipped, quiet voice, only so she could hear. "He thinks I am going to torture you. Like I did to Kaelie. Only way to convince him. I copied files on computer. Need your help to break encryption. Will show you in a minute. Have to convince him."

He grabbed her by her shoulder, hard, but not hard enough that she really felt it and made a show of dragging her to the middle of the room. For show, Lilith said "Fuck you!"

He sat her down on her ass, hard, and gave her a warning glare. It didn't reach his eyes. He picked up the same small blade he'd been playing with. In his other hand, he held a small vial of blood. As she raised her eyebrow, he positioned himself just where he was looming over her, covering her with his large body, and blocking the cameras. "It's mine," he said. "Not going to cut you, but he has to think I did. You'll have to make a show of it. Michael is going to kill me."

Quick as a flash, and with the grace he'd picked up from spending so long with them, Lilith watched as Jace opened the vial, and tipped a few drops along the blade, and then he crouched in front of her. "You will tell me what you know, monster," he said in a louder, crueler voice than he'd ever used on her. His eyes looked infinitely tired and sad.

He brought the blade down in a wide, arcing blow, aiming for her cheek. It didn't touch her so much as it gently caressed along her skin, and left a gleaming trail of red in its wake. Lilith caught on quickly and slapped a hand to her face, smearing the blood and yelping. "No," she shouted back. "You already know, I never will."

"We'll see about that," Jace said.

He brought the blade down again, and again he missed her, and again she yelped, and she could hear Michael's heavy breathing as he fought to control himself in the next cell. "Fuck you!" she shouted again.

Just let the blade clatter to the floor and very subtly smeared some blood from the vial onto his clenched fist. "Don't worry, it's mine," he mouthed at her, and one side of his mouth twitched, like he wanted to smile.

"What did Kaelie go after?" he demanded loudly. "I don't want to do this Lilith, but you're not giving me à choice." He swung at her, and Lilith flinched away hard, but his knuckled barely touched her, going for à blow against her face that left another smear of blood, and then another "driving" blow into her stomach. Lilith doubled over for good effect. She coughed and sputtered, and even though it was fake, it felt like her chest cracked open. She was so weak, more breakable than she'd ever felt in her life.

She felt Jace's strong fingers in her hair. "Sorry," he muttered in her hair, and then he yanked her head back sharply to look at him. His face loomed close to hers.

"I'll ask again. What is she after? Where did she go? Why would you let her go? Especially you, Lilith? I thought you didn't trust her anymore?" he asked.

Lilith felt another slew of tears prick at the backs of her eyes. "I told you I don't know. And if I did, you'd kill me before you ever got it out of me."

Jace tilted his head at her, like he was considering the idea. For à minute his eyes went flat, almost unfocused, like he was thinking of something else entirely. "Well. I suppose you could be right. But how would you feel if I went into the next room? I know how you feel about him. You think I'm blind? You think he is? If he wanted you, Lilith, don't you think he'd have had you already? I mean, you keep throwing yourself at him."

Lilith hated him. She knew he was pretending, she knew he had to, she knew he hated it, but in