Fic: RFJ 0: Before You 1/6

[beccaelizabeth]

Ripper
Fools Journey
0
Before You

Part: 1/6

Rating: I'm aiming for a tone much like Buffy or Angel, which are 15 to 18 rated in the UK.
Pairing(s): None. Yet.
Spoilers: Post Chosen, post Not Fade Away. Deals with the fallout.

Summary: Rupert Giles, Head of the Watchers Council, and ghosts.

Disclaimer: Joss told us to "Write fan fic."
So they're still his toys, but he seems to not mind us playing with them.
No money, no harm.

Thanks to pinkdormouse for beta.

Author's notes and warnings:
Once upon a time, there was to be a series called Ripper.
It would star Giles, and it would be about ghosts.
Well, I'm still waiting.
In the meantime, I figured I'd write it myself.
Since ghosts are a central feature, character death is going to happen throughout the series. But that doesn't always remove them from the story. So sometimes the warning is character death, and sometimes it is more character transformation.

This episode is 0 because it is the setup, a transitional episode getting all the characters in the right place. Also because I used Tarot cards as inspiration for the 22 episodes, hence 'Fools Journey', and the Fool is card 0.
*** *** ***



The Long Hall was not the most direct route to Rupert's office, but it was the one he took the most. He got the driver to drop him off at the service entrance and cut across the grass, nodding to the Slayer on duty as he went, then used one of the glassed in arches to get into the main building. This morning the sun shone straight onto the Wall, and the gold names burned bright against the dark wood panels.

Almost every day Giles walked along here, reading the names of Slayers. Names and dates. Only one date for every girl – the year they were Chosen, since that was the year the old Council started taking notice of them. And no date of death. When one Slayer died the next was Chosen. On to the next name.

Giles remained aware of the spaces between them, and how very short most were. All these girls, going back a thousand years, and still the Wall wasn't finished. Even filled it wouldn't list them all. Couldn't, no matter the length of the hall. The first Slayer had no Watcher, and no one knew when she was Chosen.

But the walk to his office took him forwards, from around Agatha the Slayer of 836 all the way to 1996 and the names he always paused to read despite knowing them so well – Buffy Summers, Kendra, Faith. And then the last entry in this the history of the old era:

Not waiting to be Chosen,
all Slayers make the Choice
2003
The optimism and courage in that was something he tried to carry through the day with him.

He climbed the stairs briskly, ever aware that this might constitute all the exercise he got in a day. Other denizens of Headquarters tended to use the lifts. Given that most of them were at least a decade older than Giles it was for many a necessity, a state Giles intended to avoid for as long as possible.

They also signed in formally at the front desk, following the official procedure. But arriving without fanfare gave Rupert the best chance of getting to his office before the cares of the day descended on him.

“Mr Giles!”

Or at least the same floor as his office. Giles ducked his head slightly and kept going.

“Rupert Giles!”

The voice sounded distantly familiar – known, but not expected here. Someone from the past perhaps?

“Ripper! Wait up!”

That brought him up sharply. Not a name he expected to hear in these halls. He pulled his hand out his pocket as he turned around, and tested the heft on his briefcase.

He didn't recognise the man hurrying towards him until he looked past the scars, and the years. Out of the past indeed – he hadn't seen him since they were 18. He kept his face neutral and held out his hand.

The other man took it and shook effusively. Giles started to grin.

“Ripper Giles! It's been forever!”

“A lifetime, almost. Good to see you, Edgar.”

“Please, call me Ed. I haven't used Edgar since I went back down under. Don't suppose you still go by Ripper yourself.”

“Not formally, no.”

“Reckon it would look a bit strange on the letterhead. 'Head of the Watchers Council – Ripper'. Mind you, you are still the big noise around here.”

Giles winced ever so slightly and replied “I'd like to think the job amounts to a bit more than, ah, hot air and making a stink.”

“Of course, of course. Signing my paycheck, for example. Crucial bit of work there.” Edgar winked, and Giles let his smile go just a little frosty.

Edgar changed tack almost smoothly. “So, you're the man in the know now – how are the others? Watcher Academy class of '72. What are they up to now?”

“Not much, I'm afraid.” Giles lost the smile entirely, and reached absently for his glasses before he noticed and put both hands on the briefcase instead. “I'm sorry, but after the Horror... well, very few of us survived, and none unscathed.” Then he looked away, aware how that sounded coming from him, talking to a man so visibly marked.

“What, these?” Ed brought his bad hand up between them, the scars twisting his remaining fingers into claws. He couldn't raise it very far, or hold it up long. “No worries, mate. My Slayer got out, and that's what matters. I'm good. You came out alright, of course, and good thing too, or we wouldn't have anyone left those Slayers would listen to. And I just saw Fairfax in the hall, so he's fine.” He saw the way Rupert's face fell. “Isn't he?”

Giles sighed. “You saw him, but did you shake his hand?”

Edgar paused, losing his good cheer. “You mean... the First Evil? Still?”

“Probably not, unless it moved from the horrific to the vaguely disquieting. No, we think it's simply that some people don't let a little thing like death keep them from their work.” Giles smiled bitterly, the joke become habit around the HQ.

Edgar looked lost, and then grim. “So, Fairfax, dead. And I heard about Parnet. The rest?”

“From our class... aside from us two, there's Anderson. We got him the best standard of care we could. Twenty-four hours a day.” Giles gave Edgar a moment, then tried to explain. “I'm sorry. But most of us – we were assigned potential Slayers, you see. Usually years ago. I was the last... So when the First tried to wipe out the line...”

“We were their last line of defence. And we failed.”

“Some of us.” Giles agreed. “But some got them to Sunnydale, or just away. They died... like a Watcher should.”

“A Watcher shouldn't die, Giles.” Edgar quietly disagreed. “We didn't expect a quiet life, sure, but we expected to retire. Like our fathers, and their fathers before them.” He closed his eyes and asked, “Their families... did they..?”

“It varies,” Giles replied gently. “A lot of them were gone already, or at school. The First ignored the Academy, thank God. Just dealt with... the immediate threats. The rest... I'm afraid you'll find that everyone here, all the Watchers, lost somebody. Family or friends. Somebody.”

Edgar nodded slowly, then opened his eyes again and put a polite smile on. “Well. I knew it was bad. The Australian branch lost a lot of people too. I just... didn't realise we'd got off light.”

“It wasn't light for any of us. We all did our part.” Giles tried to reassure, but it came out rather flat. Too many times through the same conversation, trying to pull the Council back together.

Behind Edgar someone stepped into the corridor, carrying a stack of files. His face lit up when he saw the Council Head and he started to hurry over.

Giles stepped back and said to Edgar, “We should talk more. See my secretary, get her to pencil you in for lunch before you leave. I'm sorry, schedules you know, I have to...”

Edgar glanced over his shoulder and saw the incoming bureaucracy. He nodded, “Of course, of course.” Then with just the slightest smirk he turned around to face the other man. “Excuse me, have we met? I'm Ed...”

While the other man was diverted Giles made his escape.

He used the private door to his office and sat down with a sigh, pausing a moment to enjoy the last of the silence. Then he put his briefcase on the desk, unsnapped the clasps, and pulled out the files from yesterday. He flicked on the intercom. “Ms Wayland?”

“Yes, Mr Giles. I have your morning schedule waiting, and an early appointment here hoping you can squeeze them in.”

“Of course. Yes, bring the schedule through.” He reached for the switch again and paused. “Oh, and Harriet? Have the Wards & Cleansing team move us up on the rotation.”

“Ghosts again?”

Giles sighed. “Ghosts.”


***
Part Two here
Part Three here
Part Four here
Part Five here
Part Six here

completed, 30890 words

Comments

[sparklebutch.livejournal.com]

This is good. I *love* the idea.

[beccaelizabeth]

thanks :)

Nice job

[yorick28.livejournal.com]

A very good beginning, becca. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with this. :)

Sara

Re: Nice job

[beccaelizabeth]

thanks :)

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Good to see you starting to post this.

Gina

[beccaelizabeth]

:)

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely start! Poor Ed, it's always hard coming back to the old haunts :-)

Julia, work to do...

[beccaelizabeth]

thanks :)

Very happy!

[(Anonymous)]

A ghost story!! Excellent. Very nice scene setting - what it's like in the new Watcher world. I liked the bits about how the past is still present (the names of the slayers, Giles and Edgar talking about how old times, etc.) - very fitting for a story about people from the past that don't seem to want to leave.

I particularly like your quote / phrase: "Not waiting to be Chosen, all Slayers make the Choice". Really sums up the idea well.

Looking forward to the whole story, becca!

Lola

Re: Very happy!

[beccaelizabeth]

:)

glad you liked the phrasing. took the longest time fiddling with it.

Nice Work

[onjel-b.livejournal.com]

A good start! I shouldn't have read it, because now I won't get any work done!

I like it and will keep reading to see more!

Onjel

Re: Nice Work

[beccaelizabeth]

cool :)

[anne_d]

I finally found time to start reading, and I'm already hooked. This is neat, becca!

[beccaelizabeth]

thanksyou :)