417 - Fireworks - fireworks prompt scene from Giles as Big Bad - dragonyphoenix - BtVS

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Title: scene from Giles as the Big Bad, which now has a name: Don't Ask Why You Must Hurt So Much

Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 417 - Fireworks
Warnings: None
Rating: R for violence against a child or against what looks like a child
Summary: Continuation of the lighthouse scene, which was the first time Rupert gave in to Eyghon's demands.

When Rupert crawled back up from the sand, he saw Eyghon running through the water, smashing the back of the boat as he ran past. Rupert chased after but the demon was gone, vanished from his sight, by the time he reached the boat. Eyghon could be anywhere in that dark water but Rupert didn’t need to know where it was. He knew where it was going. To the lighthouse, to Lundy island.

The boat’s motor was broken but there were at least two oars in the boat, kept for emergencies and shallow channels. Rupert pushed the boat off the shore, picked up on of the paddles and set course for the lighthouse. Eyghon was swimming. Surely he could beat the demon to the island. He had to. He was fairly certain there were at least two dozen people living on Lundy.

The island was silent except for the sound of water lapping against the shore. Rupert had no idea if he’d beaten Eyghon to Lundy or not. The lighthouse sat atop a cliff, high above the beach. Rupert pulled up next to a dock and tied the boat. Having no other direction, Rupert set off toward the lighthouse. Just past the end of the dock he found a shovel lying in the road. Picking it up, he took a few swings.

When he cleared the cliffs, Rupert saw the girl, seven or eight years old at most, sitting in the road. She was dressed in her nightgown, her ash-blonde hair pulled back into a pigtail. She was sitting up but her legs were folded in tight to her body. Good Lord, children. Rupert hadn’t allowed himself to think there might be children on the island. “Are you,” he asked, “Are you alright?”

She didn’t reply but merely continued staring out over the water.

“Can I take you home? Where are your parents?”

“Dead.”

Good Lord. He held out a hand. “Come with me.” He could put her on the boat, send it out into the channel. Eyghon wouldn’t get her there.

By the light of the full moon, the girl looked almost ethereal but then she smiled at him. It wasn’t a smile, it was a leer, an expression that should never be on a child’s face. “But you could tuck yourself into bed with me, if you like.”

Rupert froze. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, but it isn’t safe here.”

The girl stood but didn’t take his outstretched hand. “God, you just don’t change, do you?”

Good Lord, no.

“It’s not safe. Save the child. You’re like a woman, Ripper. You cry at every funeral. You never had the strength for me. You don’t deserve me. But guess what? You’ve got me.” The girl’s high-piping voice changed to the rough growl of a demon. “Under your skin.”

Rupert took two steps back. No, not a child. He’d killed Randall. It’d had to be done to stop Eyghon’s rampage but he couldn’t do that again, not to a little girl.

“What’s the matter, Ripper? Not man enough to take me on?”

The shovel almost fell from Rupert’s grip but Giles grabbed on tightly, both hands at the ready. Rupert couldn’t handle bludgeoning a child but it wasn’t a child and something had to be done. Rupert couldn’t do it, but Giles could. “You won’t get past me, demon. I’ve killed you before. I’ll do it again no matter what form you take.”

The demon shrugged. “Then you’ll have to kill me, again and again and again. Rupert’s weak. He can’t stand the pain. He’ll let me out again.”

“You’ll never get near him again,” Giles growled. “Not if I bash you into a pulp first.”

Eyghon’s laughter ran eerily out of the child’s throat. “You can’t stop me. I’m in his head. You can’t reach me there but I can reach Rupert. I can tie him up in knots and make him dance to my tune. And you, you’re as weak as Rupert. You can’t hit me.”

Giles looked down at the demon in a child’s body. Eyghon was right. He did feel a certain reluctance to hit the girl. “I don’t have to hit you. I’m not Rupert’s only guardian.” Giles let Ripper out to play. The shovel swung, hard and fast, catching the demon on the side of the head. Blood sprayed up, hanging like fireworks in the air for one frozen moment. The shovel swung around again and again. When it was done, Ripper dropped the shovel and stepped back from the green ooze that had been a child’s body. Giles stepped carefully around the gunk as he scanned the island. It was unlikely that Eyghon had left anyone alive but Giles had to be sure. There couldn’t be any witnesses.


Ethan woke to a pounding at the door. Gods, the sun was barely up. Rolling over he pulled a pillow over his head. If he ignored them long enough, they’d go away.

“Ethan.” He bolted out of bed. It was Ripper’s voice but he’d only ever heard that level of desperation in Ripper’s voice once before, on the night that Ripper had beaten the demon that had taken over Randall’s body to death. On the night that Ripper had left him, presumably forever.

When Ethan opened the door, Ripper practically fell into his arms. Ethan cradled Ripper, drawing him into the apartment, slamming the door shut. It wasn’t as if any of the other squatters were about to complain about the noise and they all certainly had a healthy respect for Ripper’s more violent tendencies, but Ethan wasn’t about to let them see Ripper like this. He let Ripper half-drop down onto the room’s only chair, an old bean bag that Thomas had scrounged up from God knows where.

Ripper looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks. His face was so stubbled Ethan thought he might be growing a beard and his eyes were bloodshot. “Ethan?”

“Shh,” Ethan replied. “I’m here. Tell me what’s going on.”

Ripper stared off at nothing. “Bones and guts. Blood spurting. Everywhere I looked. For the past two months, ever since …”

Ethan, in his thoughts, finished Ripper’s words: ever since Eyghon.

Ripper, blinked confusedly at him. “Ethan? What am I doing here?”

“Saying something about blood.”

Ripper blinked again. “Blood. Viscera. No …” Eh looked at Ethan. “I’m sorry. What? I don’t seem to recall …” He glanced about the flat but it seemed as if he almost didn’t recognize it. “I should be up at Oxford. My exams.”

“Can keep until you’ve gotten some sleep. You’re in no shape to drive, Ripper.”

The bed, an old futon mattress, smelled slightly of mildew. Ethan lit an incense stick against the smell even though Ripper dropped off as soon as his body hit the bed. Ethan joined him but lay there staring at Ripper for hours, wondering what could have brought this pillar of strength to such a sorry state.

Ethan woke to an arm pressing against his throat and Ripper straddled over him. Ripper’s earlier tears hadn’t given way to rage but to an unexpected detachment. “I told you to stay away.”

Ethan pushed at the arm but not with enough force to move it. It moved anyway, just enough to allow him breath to answer. “You came to me, you bloody bastard.”

Ripper glanced about the room. At least he seemed to recognize it this time. The arm loosened a bit more. Ripper brought a hand to Ethan’s face and brushed his thumb against Ethan’s jaw. The closeness vanished as suddenly as it had arrived. Ripper, once again seeming detached from his actions, lowered his arm, choking off Ethan’s air. “Leave town. Go where I can’t find you, where I’d never think to look for you. Never return.”

With those words, Ripper was gone, out the door so fast that Ethan could barely follow his passage out the room with his eyes. Sitting up, Ethan rubbed at his throat. What the hell had that been?