Rippner, 3

The Chronicles of Life and Death

Prologue

Summary: A string of bank robberies have left the Santa Barbara Police Department grasping at straws. Thanks to the relentless efforts from Henry Spencer, Shawn has been kept off the case. He wants neither Shawn nor Gus getting involved with the dangerous circumstances surrounding the unusual case. But nothing can stop Shawn. When he decides to take matters into his own hands he puts everyone he cares about in danger. At the same time, he's not sure he can hide his secret much longer. Will his relationship be able to survive the betrayal? The entire Santa Barbara Police Department is thrown for loops and shocked with an ending that no one could see coming.

Santa Barbara
1989

The sky had turned a deep, gray shade of blue within a matter of seconds. Neither Shawn nor Gus had counted on the rain when they had tracked themselves out into the woods. The two young boys were outfitted in their rattiest jeans and t-shirts as they hauled two large shovels over their shoulders. They had snagged the shovels from the behind Shawn's house despite the outstanding lack of permission.

"Gus," Shawn's voice was a mixture of sleepiness and determinedness. "Do you think that my dad was right?"

"Right about what?"

"Well he says that the treasure doesn't exist, that it's just an urban legend."

Gus looked up from the ground for a split second and then back down at his feet. "It's possible. I think grown-ups just don't like it when we get our hopes up."

The two fell quiet again. About a week ago Henry's brother had come through town bearing another one of his infamous stories about a hidden treasure that was buried in one of the caves deep inside the woods. Apparently several hundreds of years ago a big bad pirate had been at a loss for ideas as to where to hide loot. Naturally, Henry Spencer had been quick to crush the boys' dreams of hopping in the back of the truck with his brother and riding out in search of his new get-rich-quick-scheme. Of course this didn't really stop the two boys, they simply waited until Henry least expected it and snagged the two shovels from behind the house and took off before they could get caught.

Five minutes later, Shawn and Gus arrived at the foot of what was probably the deepest, darkest cave they had ever seen. Neither of the boys had ever really been allowed into the woods alone. They had always had Shawn's dad with them when they would go on their little adventures, and even then they were a lot closer to home.

"Do you think this is the one?" Gus finally spoke, turning his head slightly towards Shawn, but not looking at him.

Shawn shrugged. "How are you supposed to tell one cave from another one?"

They looked at each other and shrugged.

"I'll go in if you go in." Shawn stated with a slight nod.

"You're on." Gus grinned. The boys locked arms and stepped forward towards the cave.

Once they were just a few steps into the cave, the boys stopped dead in their tracks.

"Did…" Gus swallowed. "Did you say something?"

Shawn shook his head. "Nuh-uh."

"I-I think maybe we should go back-"

"Don't… don't be such a baby, Gus." Shawn stuttered, stepping backwards with his friend.

From somewhere deep inside the cave a low growl sounded, echoing off the walls of the cave. The boys paused for a split second before they let out a high-pitched scream that sounded like a cross between a small baby pig and a small girl. It had taken them almost two hours to hike out, but only a half hour to run home.

As soon as they were out of ear shot, a large, blonde figure emerged from the cave. Henry Spencer doubled over from laughter and then stood back up.

"Next time you'll listen to your old man!" He hollered.

Still Santa Barbara

20 Years later… give or take a day…

"Gus, don't pretend to be a porcupine smothered in peanut butter." Shawn scolded as he rummaged through the various papers and files on the Chiefs desk.

The Chief had left not even five minutes earlier and Shawn had taken it upon himself to sneak into the office to try and sneak a peek at the files concerning the latest case to come across her desk. Of course Gus had wined and protested the whole way. Which almost confused Shawn because even though he complained through the whole process, he was standing by window playing look out. One would think that if he was truly in disagreement with the idea, he would want to be as far away from the scene of the crime in case they got caught.

"That doesn't even make sense, Shawn."

"It does if you think about it." He paused, holding a couple envelopes in one hand, and what appeared to be a stack of crime scene photos… no… they were the Chiefs personal photos.

"I thought about it, Shawn, it doesn't make sense." Gus turned to him, "You're trying to say that I'm scared, but there's nothing scary about a porcupine covered in peanut butter!"

Shawn was back to rummaging through the contents of the desk. "You missed the entire point, Gus. Its not that a porcupine covered in peanut butter is scary, it's the poor little guy is scared because he's covered in peanut butter."

"That still doesn't make sense, Shawn!"

He shot Gus a small glare but didn't stop his work this time. "Don't you think that you would be scared if you were suddenly smothered in peanut butter?"

"Why would I be-"

"Gus, that is so beyond the point-"

"What on Earth is going on here?" The Chief was standing in the doorway with her hands her hips. Her blonde hair had been chopped a few inches shorter than the two men were used to.

"Karen," Shawn stood up a little higher and tried to put the papers in his hands down without having anyone realize it. "So nice to see you here-"

"Here?" She stepped further in. "In my office?"

Shawn nodded and swiveled his head trying to buy some time so he could think of his excuse. "I love this new hair!"

"New hair?..." She paused to look at Gus who was clearly trying to formulate his own excuse. "Do not try and change the subject, Mr. Spencer."

"Me? Change the wha…?" he feigned hurt. "Can you believe what she's accusing me of, Gus?"

"Shawn-now is not the time." He shook his head.

"He's right, Mr. Spencer." She walked up to the desk but was slightly caught off guard by the mess Shawn had made on her desk. Karen slowly looked up at the young man, "Are you looking for the Starlight Robberies file?"

"Chief, I wasn't looking for anything in particular…" he lifted his hands to his forehead and closed his eyes. "I was merely letting the spirits guide my wandering hands."

Karen tried her best to suppress an amused smirk as she did much of the time when she was around Spencer and his psychic antics. "Nice try… but you were told to stay away from this one. We don't need a psychic this time, its way to dangerous. We need to keep this one in the department."

Shawn looked hurt. "I practically am part of the department!"

"Not even close, Spencer." Lassitor piped in as he passed by.

The comment caught all three a little off guard, causing them to stop and simply look at each other for a moment. Shawn and Gus both shrugged, electing a classic eye role from the Chief.

In between the lines there's a lot of obscurity,

I'm not inclined to resign to maturity,

If its all right,

Then you're all wrong.

Why bounce around to the same damn song?

You'd rather run when you can crawl…

I know, you know,

That I'm not telling the truth.

I know, you know,

They just don't have any proof.

Embrace the deception,

Learn how to bend.

You worst inhabitations tend to

PSYCH you out in the end!

Authors Note:

Thank you for reading! This is my first Psych fanfiction-and my first fanfiction posted in over two years. I had to get another account because of some problems with my old one. Please Review! And thank you to CupCakeNinja918 for reading over the prologue for me. You rock! I would love to have feedback, love you guys!

Nina Rippner