...Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.
Who: Rupert Giles and the First
What: How Giles finds out the Watchers had fallen.
When: Set during "Never Leave Me"
Why: The Watchers in my head are being loud, so I decided to blow them up.
Warnings: ...is it genocide if it's an order?
Randal is sitting on the kitchen counter, knees pulled up to his chest, watching Rupert as he made tea. There were three girls asleep on the bed and the television was on low- they’d fallen asleep watching the Simpsons dubbed in German. The newest girl, Franka, was curled with her arms around Molly. They looked alike, they could be sisters. The other girl, a Turkish Romani named Nina had tried to stay awake with Giles but eventually sleep had caught her as well.
They were all tired. Giles especially; even if he took great care to make sure the girls never suspected. Most of them trusted him already, because he was a Watcher and their own had allowed him to take them but a few, who hadn’t been contacted or hadn’t been known until the Seers found them; tended to regard him with suspicion. Those he had to earn their trust.
“You know,” Randal whispered finally, after he had motioned to the sugar for Giles. “I like you. Of course you don’t believe me…but I do.”
Giles glanced up at the ghost, but said nothing. He just braced himself and swallowed the tea which in all reality was just water colored caramel. He was too tired to register it was bad, or that he hadn’t eaten. Instead, he took the cup from the small kitchenette towards to the desk and began to go over the material spread there. Occasionally, he would scribble something on the hotel stationary and Randal would smirk, and peer over his shoulder like a child trying to cheat.
“…I could use someone like you.” It was Jenny now, and the sound her voice made Giles’ jaw tighten. “You wouldn’t consider a career change, would you? A man like you, Ripper” The name had never before sounded like a lullaby. “I can make you a god…” Jenny glanced to the bed, and the sleeping girls like she was studying a stray animal. “instead of a babysitter. Hmm?”
Giles began to draw little spirals on the notepad.
“No dice, eh England?”
His father spoke, as strong as he remembered, with the harsh face lined like granite. “Your father couldn’t control the sorts of power, I’d offer you…but I bet you can. You were always smarter. Luckier.”
“More ruthless.” Randal again. “With me, you could bring anyone of these back…and to hell with the price.” He smiled an ugly vicious smile that had never cursed Randal’s face. “ ‘Again, the Evil One took him up to a very high mountain, and let him see all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; And he said to him, All these things will I give you, if you will go down on your face and give me worship.’”
Giles looked up. He was getting annoyed but he didn’t dare speak. For one reason, he couldn’t risk the girl’s already shaky trust in him and the second- he’d knew the moment he allowed the First even the smallest opening; it would rip Giles’ heart out.
Loring again, and his father seemed sad. “This war will come, you know…despite your best intentions.” And now his mentor Archie who, like Loring, had been consumed by the Magicks they could not control and the Watchers refused to understand. “And the Watchers will fall. Of course, you knew eventually that would come…all great cultures do- the days of fighting me with frightened girls are over. And yet the Council chose to continue. They’re using the arrow and bow when I’m gearing up nuclear missiles…and you, dear Rupert Giles, know that. That’s what you tried to warn them abut…”
Jenny lifted her head, as if barely remembering something. “…as much as I love this game, I’m running short on time.” She kneeled down, becoming Buffy. The Slayer smiled when she felt the air cackle with Magicks. “Temper, Rupert. Someone might mistake you for going Dark.”
“Last chance,” Buffy continued her voice a little harder. “Here, you don’t even have to betray them- that’s how much I like you. Walk out the door. That is what you’re good at, after all. Leave these girls to me. I’ll even let you save a few of your friends but you have to act now…the ones in Sunnydale are mine of course…but there are others. Leave now and you’ll never know I killed them. You can think it was painless.”
Giles continued to watch her, his face unreadable. Then, stifling a yawn he rose, and began to peel out of his coat. He was about to lie down on the little foldaway couch when he heard the new voice.
“Or,” Quinton Travers said, having taken up the position at the desk. “You can know the truth.”
Giles felt his strength drain from him. He had to suck in air to keep from speaking, from startling the girls asleep behind him. Quinton merely smiled back at him, almost apologetically, before his aide Lydia appeared, then Miranda Keate the Headmistress of the Academy, then Declan Mosher, Abigail Wyndam, and another face, another- Watchers whose names he barely recalled, faces he’d gone to school with and lost touch, legends...Colonel William Zhao, Sam Zabuto.
Edna Giles.
Giles made it to the hotel’s hallway, before his legs finally failed him and gripping onto the door handle of the room as if he was afraid releasing it would make it too easy to keep walking, he slumped to his knees.
And Randal sat crossed legged on the floor opposite him, watching as the tears came but never a sound.
What: How Giles finds out the Watchers had fallen.
When: Set during "Never Leave Me"
Why: The Watchers in my head are being loud, so I decided to blow them up.
Warnings: ...is it genocide if it's an order?
Randal is sitting on the kitchen counter, knees pulled up to his chest, watching Rupert as he made tea. There were three girls asleep on the bed and the television was on low- they’d fallen asleep watching the Simpsons dubbed in German. The newest girl, Franka, was curled with her arms around Molly. They looked alike, they could be sisters. The other girl, a Turkish Romani named Nina had tried to stay awake with Giles but eventually sleep had caught her as well.
They were all tired. Giles especially; even if he took great care to make sure the girls never suspected. Most of them trusted him already, because he was a Watcher and their own had allowed him to take them but a few, who hadn’t been contacted or hadn’t been known until the Seers found them; tended to regard him with suspicion. Those he had to earn their trust.
“You know,” Randal whispered finally, after he had motioned to the sugar for Giles. “I like you. Of course you don’t believe me…but I do.”
Giles glanced up at the ghost, but said nothing. He just braced himself and swallowed the tea which in all reality was just water colored caramel. He was too tired to register it was bad, or that he hadn’t eaten. Instead, he took the cup from the small kitchenette towards to the desk and began to go over the material spread there. Occasionally, he would scribble something on the hotel stationary and Randal would smirk, and peer over his shoulder like a child trying to cheat.
“…I could use someone like you.” It was Jenny now, and the sound her voice made Giles’ jaw tighten. “You wouldn’t consider a career change, would you? A man like you, Ripper” The name had never before sounded like a lullaby. “I can make you a god…” Jenny glanced to the bed, and the sleeping girls like she was studying a stray animal. “instead of a babysitter. Hmm?”
Giles began to draw little spirals on the notepad.
“No dice, eh England?”
His father spoke, as strong as he remembered, with the harsh face lined like granite. “Your father couldn’t control the sorts of power, I’d offer you…but I bet you can. You were always smarter. Luckier.”
“More ruthless.” Randal again. “With me, you could bring anyone of these back…and to hell with the price.” He smiled an ugly vicious smile that had never cursed Randal’s face. “ ‘Again, the Evil One took him up to a very high mountain, and let him see all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; And he said to him, All these things will I give you, if you will go down on your face and give me worship.’”
Giles looked up. He was getting annoyed but he didn’t dare speak. For one reason, he couldn’t risk the girl’s already shaky trust in him and the second- he’d knew the moment he allowed the First even the smallest opening; it would rip Giles’ heart out.
Loring again, and his father seemed sad. “This war will come, you know…despite your best intentions.” And now his mentor Archie who, like Loring, had been consumed by the Magicks they could not control and the Watchers refused to understand. “And the Watchers will fall. Of course, you knew eventually that would come…all great cultures do- the days of fighting me with frightened girls are over. And yet the Council chose to continue. They’re using the arrow and bow when I’m gearing up nuclear missiles…and you, dear Rupert Giles, know that. That’s what you tried to warn them abut…”
Jenny lifted her head, as if barely remembering something. “…as much as I love this game, I’m running short on time.” She kneeled down, becoming Buffy. The Slayer smiled when she felt the air cackle with Magicks. “Temper, Rupert. Someone might mistake you for going Dark.”
“Last chance,” Buffy continued her voice a little harder. “Here, you don’t even have to betray them- that’s how much I like you. Walk out the door. That is what you’re good at, after all. Leave these girls to me. I’ll even let you save a few of your friends but you have to act now…the ones in Sunnydale are mine of course…but there are others. Leave now and you’ll never know I killed them. You can think it was painless.”
Giles continued to watch her, his face unreadable. Then, stifling a yawn he rose, and began to peel out of his coat. He was about to lie down on the little foldaway couch when he heard the new voice.
“Or,” Quinton Travers said, having taken up the position at the desk. “You can know the truth.”
Giles felt his strength drain from him. He had to suck in air to keep from speaking, from startling the girls asleep behind him. Quinton merely smiled back at him, almost apologetically, before his aide Lydia appeared, then Miranda Keate the Headmistress of the Academy, then Declan Mosher, Abigail Wyndam, and another face, another- Watchers whose names he barely recalled, faces he’d gone to school with and lost touch, legends...Colonel William Zhao, Sam Zabuto.
Edna Giles.
Giles made it to the hotel’s hallway, before his legs finally failed him and gripping onto the door handle of the room as if he was afraid releasing it would make it too easy to keep walking, he slumped to his knees.
And Randal sat crossed legged on the floor opposite him, watching as the tears came but never a sound.