13. Honest / Bob the Skull
Title: Cruel to be Kind
Author: Cyloran
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Bob, Harry
Prompt: 13. Honest
Word Count: 400
Rating: G
Summary: Harry finally demands the truth.
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me. Just passing through.
Table: Here There be Ghosts
Harry clasped the small gold frame between his hands, as if to a lifeline. The man and the boy smiling up at him were strangers now. Phantoms from a distant past, when life had been much simpler. It had certainly been happier. He had his father and the comfort of knowing that he was loved for who he was.
Until Justin Morningway took it all away, twenty-five years ago today.
Hot tears shimmered in Harry's dark eyes as he looked up from the photograph toward the figure standing in a shadowed corner of the room. "You knew," he accused.
"No." Bob stood as still as death, arms rigid by his side; an easy target for Harry's grief. He had never doubted that this day would come; it had merely been a question of when. "Not at first."
"But you suspected."
"Yes."
"And you never told me."
"I couldn't be certain. Not until much later."
"And when you were certain?" Harry's voice was deceptively calm but Bob could sense the rage and pain trembling beneath it. "When you knew for a fact that my Uncle had murdered my father with black magic? You still didn't tell me."
"You were a teenager. You were settled, doing well. Almost happy again. What good would it have done to tell you then?"
"You lied to me."
"Never," said Bob, the accusation and all it implied a knife to his heart. "I merely omitted the truth."
"He murdered my father! I had the right to know!"
Bob visibly winced, the blade twisting deeper. "Yes you did," he admitted, willing Harry to understand. "But not while you were under Justin's roof. Not while you were still vulnerable. I knew your temper, Harry! Who better? If you had known then, you would have challenged him before you were ready. You were too young and inexperienced."
"It was going to happen anyway," said Harry fiercely. "You only delayed the inevitable."
"But had the confrontation come sooner, the outcome would have been much different."
Harry turned back to the photograph and the image of the only person who had ever truly loved him. "As if you cared."
"Whether you believe it or not, I did." Bob drew himself up to his full height, his agony clearly evident on his lean face had Harry cared to look. "And I do," he concluded softly as he vanished back into his skull.
Author: Cyloran
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Bob, Harry
Prompt: 13. Honest
Word Count: 400
Rating: G
Summary: Harry finally demands the truth.
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me. Just passing through.
Table: Here There be Ghosts
Harry clasped the small gold frame between his hands, as if to a lifeline. The man and the boy smiling up at him were strangers now. Phantoms from a distant past, when life had been much simpler. It had certainly been happier. He had his father and the comfort of knowing that he was loved for who he was.
Until Justin Morningway took it all away, twenty-five years ago today.
Hot tears shimmered in Harry's dark eyes as he looked up from the photograph toward the figure standing in a shadowed corner of the room. "You knew," he accused.
"No." Bob stood as still as death, arms rigid by his side; an easy target for Harry's grief. He had never doubted that this day would come; it had merely been a question of when. "Not at first."
"But you suspected."
"Yes."
"And you never told me."
"I couldn't be certain. Not until much later."
"And when you were certain?" Harry's voice was deceptively calm but Bob could sense the rage and pain trembling beneath it. "When you knew for a fact that my Uncle had murdered my father with black magic? You still didn't tell me."
"You were a teenager. You were settled, doing well. Almost happy again. What good would it have done to tell you then?"
"You lied to me."
"Never," said Bob, the accusation and all it implied a knife to his heart. "I merely omitted the truth."
"He murdered my father! I had the right to know!"
Bob visibly winced, the blade twisting deeper. "Yes you did," he admitted, willing Harry to understand. "But not while you were under Justin's roof. Not while you were still vulnerable. I knew your temper, Harry! Who better? If you had known then, you would have challenged him before you were ready. You were too young and inexperienced."
"It was going to happen anyway," said Harry fiercely. "You only delayed the inevitable."
"But had the confrontation come sooner, the outcome would have been much different."
Harry turned back to the photograph and the image of the only person who had ever truly loved him. "As if you cared."
"Whether you believe it or not, I did." Bob drew himself up to his full height, his agony clearly evident on his lean face had Harry cared to look. "And I do," he concluded softly as he vanished back into his skull.