Fic: RFJ 1: Magician/Bateleur, part 4/4

[beccaelizabeth]

Ripper
Fools Journey
1
Magician/Bateleur

Part: 4/4

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. Refers to earlier series canon.
Second in my Fool's Journey series, the rest in memories here

Summary: Rupert Giles, Andrew Wells, and a situation in a dark house.

23500 words total, 3500 words this part

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.

I used Tarot cards as inspiration for the 22 episodes, hence 'Fools Journey'. The Fool is card 0. Card 1 of the Major Arcana is The Magician, also known as the Bateleur.

Part 1/4 here
Part 2/4 here
Part 3/4 here

*** *** ***

“Una!” Andrew said, with great relief. “Thank Yoda! You're okay!”

Una glanced at him, briefly, then went back to staring at Giles.

Giles kept his eyes on her. He was conscious of the stairs at his back, and weighed his options. On the one hand, it would be hard to get down them safely in a hurry. On the other, it would be easy to get down far enough to be out of the line of fire, albeit with anything from bruises to a broken neck. If Una pulled the trigger, he would likely be dead anyway, even if that was the tranquiliser gun.

But she might not know that.

“Una... You should be aware. Andrew has a time limit here, and he needs me alive and awake if he wants to survive,” Giles told her.

“It's true,” Andrew chimed in. “We did magic...”

“I noticed. Blocked all the doors and windows. Without asking me. Was it to keep me in? Were you that afraid I'd leave you, Andrew?”

“It wasn't like that. Magic is quirky, it just does stuff... Not that I want you to leave me. I'm... glad you didn't...” Andrew trailed off.

“Well you gave me so many choices.” Una said mockingly, then shook her head. “'Come with me and you'll be with people like you. Come with me and I'll help you, fix you. Come with me and we'll find where you come from.'” She grimaced and barked a humourless laugh. “Ha! I guess one out of three isn't bad.” She looked at Andrew, but kept the gun on Giles. “You took me in, you told me everything would be okay. You made me think you cared! But this is all about you, isn't it? What you need me to be. Well I'm not playing this your way any more.”

Andrew looked like she'd dropped a bomb on him, and wobbled against the wall again.

“Una, I realise you've had a bad experience with the Council,” Giles told her. “But I do believe Andrew has done his best by you.” Andrew threw him a very grateful look, with some surprise.

Giles kept looking at Una, and continued, “We all have our reasons, pasts that make us get involved in this kind of work. As you chose to get involved.” Giles looked away now, at the portal room beside him, filling up with mini demons, still pounding on the barriers. He said, “I'm told you took the Slayer oath.” He looked back at her.

She nodded, slowly, glancing at that room too.

“So we here are all sworn to protect this world.”

“I didn't know. I didn't know it would be like this! I just wanted somewhere to belong!”

Giles blinked and nodded slowly. But it was Andrew who spoke.

“I know, Una.”

She looked at him, and he continued.

“I know what that's like, and I know how far you can go... How far I used to go... Just to have somewhere. To be with people like you. But you have to decide, who do you want to be like?”

Now he stepped forwards, slowly, mostly getting between Giles and the gun. He gestured broadly at that end of the corridor.

“Maybe that is where you come from. But you don't have to stay there. Maybe... maybe part of you is like that. But you can be more.” His voice wobbled, and so did he, as he stepped slowly towards her. “I know you can. Really. Wouldn't you rather be a hero?”

Slowly, Una's gun hand sagged, and some of the tension went out of her. She looked down, then up at Giles, her face just full of confusion.

Then she snapped the gun up again, face set and determined. “Down!” She yelled, and Andrew dropped immediately.

Giles was only slightly slower, but he still felt the claws catch in the back of his coat before she had a clear shot.

The tranq gun made the usual pfft and thudded into something behind him, something that seemed considerably heavier than the small demons they'd been fighting. Giles rolled and scrambled to get away, pushing it into the barrier and himself into the opposite wall. It swiped at him once more, shreds of coat fabric on its claws, but then it went still. Slumped down in a heap, its frustrated brethren jumping up and down and hissing loudly at it from behind the red light.

“How the hell did we miss that one?” Giles exclaimed, breathing hard from the surprise.

“Una, thank you, you saved our lives!” Andrew said, with much emphasis.

Giles looked up and blinked. “Ah, yes, thank you, Una.” He pushed up against the wall and got to his feet. “I'm not sure the coat could have stopped another strike. Even the reinforcements are rather worn by now.” He grimaced at the damage, but remained undamaged himself.

Una came over to look at the downed demon. It looked like a stretched out version of the smaller demons, but with a grossly distended belly where they had only skin and bone. She looked up past it, at the mini demons, and at the large one beyond the portal. The one she had called mother.

Then she sighed, and turned her back on them.

“I'm still not going to kill them,” she told Andrew. “Not on purpose. I thought we could just knock them all out. Except this thing is empty.” She tossed Andrew the gun, who caught it awkwardly and checked it over by habit, then holstered it inside his jacket.

She also pulled off the sword. She stared at it a long moment, then held it out to Giles. “Here. But... not if you don't have to, okay? Not if there's another way.”

Giles nodded, and accepted the weapon, settling it across his back. The key chain, now an encumbrance, he gave back to Andrew.

Andrew pocketed it absently, looking at the bat and sword. “How did you get these anyway? I thought I left them in my room.”

“Oh you did. I just broke through the ceiling a couple of times. It's pretty easy.”

From the doorway behind her came a sudden silence, all the demons freezing in place. Then they turned to face their Mother, who hissed some command at them. And the whole room broke into cackling glee.

“Oh Hell,” Giles swore. Beside him, Andrew had turned white.

In the portal room, demons started leaping for the ceiling, swiping at it with sharp little claws.

“Andrew, plan B, now,” Giles said, pulling the Doors book from his pocket. He flicked to the unlocking incantation and showed Andrew.

“Una, we're going in,” Andrew said. “I'll play this, you clear the way and keep them off Giles, okay?” He went to stand on the left of the door and touched the doorpost with one hand, the other holding his flute ready.

Una looked bleak, but nodded. She looked at her bat, and the mass of demons within. Then she looked down at the larger one currently blocking the door, and got a wicked grin. She grabbed it by wrists and ankles, picked it up, and started to swing. “I'll make a hole,” she promised.

Giles pocketed the book, pulled his sword with his left hand, and with his right touched the right doorpost.

Inside, the demons, too small to reach the ceiling just by jumping, were discovering cooperation, throwing each other up.

Giles and Andrew spoke their bit of Latin. “Janus, we give thanks. Let the way be open.” Janus heard and obliged. The red light winked out, and the barrier was down.

Past the two Watchers flew the knocked out demon, knocking numerous smaller versions out the way. It landed next to the portal, and a giant arm came through to scoop it up and pull it back in. Then the assembled demons turned towards the door and charged.

Andrew brought flute to lips and started to play.

The whole room slowed.

Giles held his breath, hoping.

Una stepped past him, and with the baseball bat she flicked the mini demons back to their Mother, treading carefully and kicking slowly to make space.

Giles stepped inside, and started sliding the wall to get to the far window. With all these demons here he couldn't see it any more, but that was where they'd left the book. Like many portal keys it was tied to their dimension, so it should still be in the room... somewhere.

Andrew leaned against the door frame behind him, stared at Una, and kept playing.

Now the little demons dropped off the ceiling, control lost, and the ones on the floor started shuffling away from Giles, towards the giant beyond the gate.

Una shuffled along behind them, no longer hitting anything.

Giles thought he saw the book, revealed next to the window frame. Right where Andrew dropped it. But Andrew had been clawed by that long arm. The arm that was now reaching through and waving at the little demons, as the Mother hissed and screeched at them. It was still mobile, unaffected in its own world. He could only hope it would remain distracted long enough for him to act.

Giles slid the wall right to the corner, then stepped forward and bent down for the book.

Andrew stopped playing.

“Una! Come back!” he called to her.

Una stood still and blinked dizzily.

The little demons around her hissed, and turned to face Giles.

“Andrew!” he barked, and the boy started playing again. He grabbed the book and straightened up, then saw movement from the portal and threw himself forward at the far corner, away from the portal and effectively behind it. The arm lashed out, behind him, unable to reach.

But now he was trapped, every demon in the room between him and the way out.

The demons were no longer moving to the portal. Some of them were looking at him. They twitched and started reaching out in his direction.

Giles got the sword ready.

And Andrew stopped playing again.

Giles swore as the demons rushed him.

“Una, get out! I can't do this to you!” Andrew called out.

Una darted to the back wall and swung her bat with a will. She yelled at Andrew. “Play! We have to fix this!”

Andrew was fighting too now, kicking back one demon, another on its way. “Not and lose you!”

“We protect the world, Andrew! Even from things like me!” She hissed, and bared her pointed teeth.

But he still hesitated. And now a grey demon was grappling for the flute.

Giles had no room to maneuver. The demons didn't like the blade, but it wouldn't be long before one got through.

“Andrew! I need time!” Giles yelled at him.

And Una pushed away.

She crossed the room again, moving demon fast, and grabbed the demon that had hold of the flute. She threw it back at the portal, knocking others out the way with the bat. Then she grabbed Andrew's hands and brought the flute up to his mouth.

“Play.” She ordered, pulled him down, and kissed him on the forehead.

Then she dived in to the mass of demons right in front of the gate.

Too many, even for her, she was swarmed instantly. And Andrew had no choice.

He raised the flute again, and again started to play.

Straight away Giles got the breathing space he needed. He sheathed the sword, needing both hands for the book. And now he had to search his memory, draw on his training, and try and remember the names of the Dreegugze worlds.

Andrew wobbled and ended up leaning against the door frame.

Giles found the right page, quickly found the window incantation, then paged through looking for the way to close it.

Andrew started to slide down the door. The tune changed, just a little, and the demons started to move towards the portal again. The little ones started to jump back through, and on the floor, Una was gradually revealed again.

Spell found, Giles pulled components from his pockets. Salt for cleansing, no surprise. He threw it at the blood on the floor with a whispered word and the blood started to fade. Herbs now, and a stone from their realm. A chunk of quartz would do, and the herbs were in his top right pocket. These had to go in the opened door, and he skirted the wall again quickly to get a good angle.

The arm reached out at him once more, but hampered by the returning little ones it didn't hit.

A few words in Greek over the herbs, and something said to the stone that sounded like nonsense but he could feel the power of.

Nearly all the demons were gone now, and Andrew was left sitting on the floor, his music slowing but not stopped.

Una pushed herself up, wobbling. She was bleeding, vivid red.

She used her club as a prop, and looked up through the portal as the last few little demons left.

“Una. My baby,” the Mother demon hissed from beyond. And the arm reached out and snatched her up.

“No!” Andrew called, dropping the flute.

But Giles, spell gathering and more than half done, could not hesitate. Una vanished into the demon's dark world. Giles said the last necessary words, and threw the stone in after her. “Seal!”

And the portal did.

The room filled with a brilliant flash, momentarily blinding them both, and when it was gone, it took all trace of magic with it.

The walls did not shake. The floor did not tremble. There was no portal in the house any more.

“Una...” Andrew whispered, lost, and quiet.

*** *** ***

Giles walked over to him, bone tired. He looked down at the book, then closed it, and dropped it in his pocket.

Andrew kept staring at what wasn't there.

Giles offered, quietly, “She will be remembered.”

It wasn't enough. He knew very well, there wasn't anything that could make this better.

But they didn't have time.

“Come on,” Giles said, offering a hand. “We still have two spells to unlock. Before either one of us drops.”

Andrew blinked a few times, then took the hand and let himself be pulled up.

The flute rolled away. He made no attempt to pick it up again.

Back in the bedroom where Giles first woke up, he steered Andrew over to the window frame, and held the book out for the both of them to read from. The spell came down with little fanfare, and Giles sighed with relief as the magical drain was halved.

Still one spell left to go.

Andrew was now only responding to physical prompts, apparently oblivious to words, so Giles kept a hand on his shoulder and pushed him gently down the hall. When they got to the stairs, Andrew slipped, and Giles had to grab him one handed. He kept an arm around him as best he could, and they went down together.

At the front door Giles hesitated. He really should check the rest of the house.

“Andrew, will you be okay for a minute?” he asked. Then again, after a moment, “Andrew?”

Andrew blinked slowly, then focused on Giles. “Yeah... One minute. I'm... kind of wiped.” He leaned against the front door, pushing aside Giles' helping hand.

Giles looked at him with some concern, then turned and hurried down the corridor. He grabbed the knife out of the wall on the way past. He hoped there were no more demons left, but even tired as he was he couldn't afford to take risks.

The kitchen was entirely wrecked. The table was broken in half now, and the fridge gaped open. Inside there were scraps of red meat, and one organ Giles would rather not identify, probably from the butcher's shop. On the floor were scraps of shed skin, as well as the broken remains of the demons they had fought. But there were no more hiding places, and the window remained closed.

He came back by way of the connecting door. It led to a dining room, and from there to the living room, both only as wrecked as he'd expect from a house Andrew lived in. Their mobile phones were on the table by the front door. Giles dropped the knife and scooped them up, then rejoined Andrew.

“All clear. Here.” He held out Andrew's phone, and waited as Andrew's slowed reactions caught up.

Andrew took the phone, then turned, and touched one side of the door. “I'll... need to see the words again,” he said, voice slower than actions.

“Last time,” Giles reassured him. “Then you can rest.” He got Doors out, turned to the right page, and together they read.

“Janus, we give thanks. Let the way be open.”

One last time, Janus heard and obliged... though perhaps more slowly. Giles made mental note to not try this again soon. Janus was too duplex to risk annoying, or giving claims on them. They always risked attracting his dolorous aspect.

Though the events of this day had surely been two faced and double edged enough to satisfy.

Giles sighed, and put the book away.

Behind him, he heard a soft thud. He turned, and saw Andrew sitting on the stairs. He looked utterly exhausted. And no wonder – however much magic the flute had of itself, Andrew's own power moved through it to work his will. Between them they'd done more work than Giles had since leaving Sunnydale.

Plus, of course, he'd opened the portal in the first place. And presumably been awake through all the hours Giles spent chained to the bed.

Giles got his phone out, and fiddled with the menus looking for the right number. “I'll call a Council team in. They'll clean up here...”

“No,” Andrew said, indistinctly. He blinked, then focused on Giles, and spoke more clearly. “No. I'll do it. This was... mine. All of it. I can finish it.”

“You sure?” Giles asked. “You look...”

“Fine. I'll be fine,” Andrew said, somewhat unconvincing in his torn clothes, slumped unmoving on the steps. But he was insistent. “The house will be fine. I'll do it.”

Giles measured him with a look, then nodded. “All right.” He could send a team later, if necessary. But he didn't think he would.

Andrew nodded slightly too, then went unfocused again.

Giles changed numbers, and called a taxi, getting the address off a letter. There was no way he was walking home in this state.

The taxi company was used to him. A few words, and they'd send someone who wouldn't have a problem with the weapons. Or the blood.

Perhaps he should stop off at the hospital first.

Suddenly rather unsteady himself, Giles took a seat in the living room, and waited.

Minutes ticked by, and he allowed himself to simply do nothing for this little while.

When the taxi pulled up outside, he pulled himself to his feet, and went wearily to the front door.

“Bye,” Andrew told him, in a small unsteady voice.

Giles turned to look at him.

Andrew sat exactly as he had when he'd dropped there, propped arms on knees, tilted slightly to one side.

He was crying again.

No big drama this time. Just tears. Falling in a steady trickle down his wet face.

His eyes stared off into the distance, unfocused.

He looked utterly lost.

Giles looked at him, his expression both frustrated and kind.

He might have made this mess, but knowing that, there was no need to leave him in it.

Giles reached out a hand, and spoke softly to the young man.

“Come on. We'll get you looked after.”

Andrew, slowly, looked up at him, then reached out and hauled himself up.

They walked out the door together, into the grey afternoon.

*** END ***

Comments

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

oh so well done! Thank you for writing this! You made me like Andrew!

[beccaelizabeth]

thanksyou :)
you're welcome :)
and yaays :)

[agilesreader.livejournal.com]

I loved this! I think you did a great job with Giles and Andrew!

[beccaelizabeth]

Thanks :)
Glad you liked it :)

[anne_d]

Nicely done, be.

Andrew has grown up a little, and I think he's got more power than he knows - Giles seems to have picked up on it.

[beccaelizabeth]

:)

The thing about 'Andrew grows up a little' as a plot is it needs to happen *so many times* before he catches up...
;)

I always figure demon summoning and control - and surviving to try it more than once - implies a certain degree of power.

Giles was actually paying attention by the end of all this, so yes, I think he has a clearer idea of Andrew now.

[anne_d]

Oh, Andrew has a lot of growing up to do. This was just one step, but it was a pretty major one. Maybe next time, he'll remember to think before he acts. Or not - I think Andrew is never going to be a "real" grownup. He'll always act on impulse.

Assume the IMO and all that.

[beccaelizabeth]

Speaking as a writer, I'd say instead that making Andrew a functional grown up is something of a challenge... So, fun.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed reading this both times. Very much looking forward to whatever you've got planned next.

[beccaelizabeth]

cool, thanks :)

[bitterbyrden.livejournal.com]

This was great! I don't know how I found it... the Herald maybe? But I loved it. Definitely came across as an episode. And Yoda knows, I miss Andrew. Even if your Andrew is straight (!!), hearing what is clearly his voice come through is just what I needed. Thanks so much!

[beccaelizabeth]

thanksyou :)
glad you like dit.

My Andrew... I rather hope he is as straight as canon Andrew. Who is twitchy about people thinking he is not-straight, and has been known to wander off all dressed up fancy with a couple of pretty girls.

Giles makes some assumptions, and Giles is the point of view character, but what he thinks is going on and what is actually happening don't always line up.

[bitterbyrden.livejournal.com]

It's true. It's very similar to canon. Even though, to be honest, I never bought those two blondes in TGIQ to be romantic interests. I think they were his hags. All that about "people changing"? Yeeeaaah. Aside from how they wanted us to see Willow, I have a strong suspicion that people actually *can't* change their sexual preference.

But that's another argument, for another lifetime. I loved the story and thought your Andrew sounded right on. I'm sort of sensitive to his voice, as I wrote him a lot. Trio!fic is where I entered the fandom fic world. Mostly slash, so... haha. It's obvious where my POV falls.

[beccaelizabeth]

I'm more from a queer theory, fluid sexuality point of view
but take your point.


glad you like Andrew in the story :)

[sweetdoggie.livejournal.com]

What a great story! Wonderful premise. Andrew is such an idiot--yes, he wants to do the right thing, but he's perfectly willing to break all the rules, take whatever shortcuts he feels are needed, because he thinks he knows best. He's very much like Willow before her time in Devon. I think the Council would keep him around because they would want to keep an eye on him. He's bright, he's powerful, and he's led as easily as a puppy on a leash. Not the sort of person you want running around loose.

[beccaelizabeth]

thanksyou :-)

"puppy on a leash" - yes. :eyeroll:

I plan more stories to show what the Council end up doing with him.

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