407 - Seethe - And If My Love Had Never Let Me Go - dragonypoenix - BtVS dragonyphoenix

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Title: And If My Love Had Never Let Me Go 10/15
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 407 - Seethe
Warnings: None
Rating: PG
Summary: Trekker wrote a series called In Another Life where Rupert went back to the Council but never broke up with Ethan. In the chapter “The Dark Age, Postscript”, Ethan is drawn into a universe where his and Rupert's relationship had ended. It was such a fascinating idea I couldn't help but play with it. This is a remix of that chapter.
Note: The story shifts between the two verses but headers are included to orient the reader.



Whedonverse


Ethan was having a hell of a time getting past Rupert. “You don’t know how dangerous he is.”

“He’s me. How bad can he be?” Very bad based on Rayne’s earlier appearance but Ethan wasn’t about to share those feelings. He couldn’t be sure this Rupert wouldn’t try to trap him in this dimension where he didn’t belong..

Rupert’s stare said, more clearly than words, that Ethan was an idiot. “I can only hope that you’re joking.”

The door burst open before Ethan could respond. It was the children: Buffy, Willow, and Xander. Ah, good, allies at last. “Buffy, please explain to Rupert that he can’t hold me against my will.”

“He’s right,” Buffy told Rupert. “You shouldn’t be holding him. I should be beating him to a bloody pulp.” All three of the children were staring at him as if he’d just crawled out from under a rock. Perhaps Rupert hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d describe Rayne as a dangerous rogue. Buffy seemed to be getting ready to actually punch him. Ethan winced as Rupert threw himself between them. What was it with this dimension and beating up harmless visitors?

“It isn’t what you think,” he heard Rupert say.

“I’ll say. What’s with the sudden appearance of the Bon Jovi hairdo?” Trust Xander to be the same in all dimensions.

“I’m not him,” Ethan said. “You obviously can’t stand Rayne and I can’t say I blame you, but I’m not him. I’m much nicer that he is for one thing.” Much nicer than all of you, he added in his mind.

Buffy turned to Rupert for advice. “Giles, what’s going on?”

“This Ethan is from an alternate dimension.” Rupert’s words didn’t sound terribly convincing.

“A dimension in which the 80s never died?”

“Xander,” Willow warned. She sounded much like the girl from his dimension although without him to give her advice, she’d kept her hair long.

“His isn’t a vampire, is he?” Buffy sounded hopeful. “Because I can stake a vampire.”

“Ha ha,” Ethan replied to Xander. “The hair is Rupert’s fault.” He glanced at this dimension’s Rupert. “My Rupert’s fault that is.”

“Your Rupert?” Xander looked as if he were about to be ill. Buffy didn’t look much better but at least his words got her off the idea of staking him.

As the children turned on Rupert, Willow started babbling. “You and Giles? That’s so sweet. Um, I mean if you’re not evil like our Ethan Rayne.”

“You and Ethan?” Buffy was practically growling at Rupert.

Rupert ignored her. “He’s not evil, or at least not as far as I can tell.” Well, wasn’t that reassuring. “In fact he needs our help. Ethan, the Ethan from this dimension I mean …”

“Why don’t we just call him Rayne and me Ethan? That’ll make discussions simpler.”

“Right,” Rupert continued. “Rayne brought Ethan over.”

“So Ethan could help him with an evil plan?” Buffy asked.

“To hurt Rupert.” At a glare from Rupert, Ethan shut his mouth. Apparently the children in this dimension weren’t to know about Rupert’s past.

Willow caught on. “So our Rupert and Ethan were …”

“Perhaps we could address the problem at hand?” Rupert interrupted.

“Yeah,” Buffy agreed. “Moving on.”

“I don’t need help,” Ethan said. “I will get Rayne to send me home.”

“How?” Willow asked. “I mean, it’s not like he’s terribly helpful.”

“And there’s the whole we don’t want the two of you together if you are evil aspect,” Xander added.

“I’ve found he’s really helpful after a few punches.” Ethan wasn’t entirely certain Buffy wasn’t referring to him. He wanted to go home. His Buffy could be violent of course – she was the Slayer after all – but her violence was somehow both protective and comforting. He’d never appreciated that aspect of her before.

Ethan half fell back to sit on the table. He wasn’t going for a chair again, not after being tied to one. While he let them argue over whether he was evil and what Rupert’s relationship to Rayne had once been, Ethan sat there and wished he was as good as Rayne seemed to be at vanishing. For all he knew Rayne was halfway out of town by now. Ethan was about to barge back into the argument when he was distracted by an odd tingling on his left hand.

His wedding band seemed to be glowing, but no, not the band. The stone was glowing, the ruby carved with an image of a scarab, the ruby attuned to Rupert’s essence, not this Rupert but his own dearly beloved Rupert.

Ethan leaped to his feet. “I need a bowl and water.” The other four stopped arguing to stare stupidly at him. “Now!”

Rupert was the first to react. “I have a Slavic ceremonial dish in my office. I tend to leave my paperclips there but I can dump them out. Will that do?”

“Is it suitable for scrying?” Ethan wanted to scream. Couldn’t he just go get it?

“Yes.”

“And water,” Willow said. “You have that pitcher where you keep water for your tea.”

“Yes, Willow, I had thought of that.”

Ethan ignored how condescending this Rupert was being to Willow. “Please, get them now.” Ethan pulled off his wedding band and tossed it into the dark scrying dish. The water, which had been sloshing as Rupert filled the dish, started to seethe. Ethan wished it would clear. They’d never be able to talk until the water had calmed.

“Ethan?” There was a flash of Rupert’s familiar goatee as the water calmed for just a moment, but then his Rupert was gone again.

“Come through, damn you,” Ethan yelled at the dish.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Xander asked.

“Do we want to help?” Buffy said “We don’t know who or what he’s calling through.”

“With the water bubbling like that,” Willow said, “maybe ice would work better. At least it’d be still.”

“No,” Rupert replied. “With the power required for the scrying spell, ice would crack the dish.”

“Come on,” Ethan said, terrified they’d lose the connection although now that his clever husband had shown the way, he could scry to them if this didn’t work.

The water cleared. Ethan heard himself call out. “Rupert.”

It was followed by Buffy’s voice. “Oh my God, what’s with the beard?”

“Hey, is that me?” he heard from the other side of the scrying. Three heads pushed into view, the Buffy, Willow, and Xander who were familiar to him.

“Ethan,” the Willow in the bowl said. “You’re alive!”

As this dimension’s Willow commented on her other self’s hair, Ethan felt his heart fall. You’re alive? That didn’t bode well. “It’s delightful to see you too, but let me talk to Rupert again.” The three faces fell away, leaving his Rupet alone in the scrying dish. “Dearheart?” Ethan heard Xander choke behind him at that word. “I’m alive? What did she mean?”

“You’re in a coma.”

This dimension’s Rupert had been hanging back. Now he came forward, moving the children out of the way, and gazed down into the scrying dish. Ethan watched his own Rupert’s eyes widen in shock even though he must have realized a Rupert would be here after seeing the children. But, yes, it would be disturbing to see your lover with another version of yourself. “Rupert meet, erm, Rupert. His Ethan, whom we’re calling Rayne, brought me over.”

“Ethan is fully physically incarnate other there?” this dimension’s Rupert asked. It was a good question, a brilliant question actually, given what it meant.

“Yes,” his Rupert replied. Buffy’s face appeared in the scrying dish. She goggled for a moment, presumably at the clean-shaven Rupert, but then went on. “He’s here but he’s in a coma. He’s deteriorating.”

Rupert, this dimension’s Rupert, took three clumsy steps back, as uncoordinated as if he’d just taken a punch to the gut. He obviously saw the danger.

“How long do I have?” Ethan asked.

“The doctors say it’s a matter of hours.”

Hours. Rayne had said Ethan wouldn’t be here long. When Rayne had denied that his words were a threat, he’d been lying. Ethan was dying.