The Ghosts of Guardians Past
As Flynn walked out of the library, his heart was racing. They had saved the library. Again. The thought of how close it had been this time was more than a little terrifying, but then he thought about making his way through the temple with Ray. Images of his years as the librarian flashed in his mind. So many times he had wished they could have a real conversation, and when he got the chance, there were too many questions and not enough answers. Where could he even begin?
And then there was Eve. He really cared about her. She was an incredible, but she kept asking him to be someone he wasn't. They were just too different. He was a man of action, and she was a woman with a plan, a backup plan and a plan for if that plan didn't work. How could they ever make it work?
He had seen the writing on the wall when they split up after Prospero's return. The thought of Prospero reminded him that he had a mission. He could always bury himself in his work. He was at his desk grabbing a few things he would need, when his phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Flynn, dear, it's your mother. I was just wondering if you and Eve were going to make it to Christmas?"
"Um…"
"Flynn Carsen, what have you done?"
"What?" he whined.
"I know that tone of voice. Why did you chase away the first girlfriend I've met in years."
"I didn't chase her" he sighed. It was kind of the problem. "We just want different things."
"What about what I want? Namely... a grandchild before I die."
"Mom…"
"Ester Rosenbaum has a great- grandchild, and I am still waiting for one grandchild. Heck at this point I would be happy if you adopted a dog. At least then I'd have some one to spoil."
"I'm sorry," Flynn sighed. He thought about having a family sometimes, but if the last 11 years had taught him anything, it was that the life of a Librarian was unpredictable. He didn't want to be gone all the time like his father. If he was going to have a family he would have to give up the library, and he wasn't ready to do that yet.
"Oh well, If it wasn't right, it wasn't right. You deserve a woman as brilliant as you are…"
"Eve is brillant!"
"Will you be here at least?" she asked, ignoring hisinterruption.
"Yeah, Mom, I'll be there," he promised. "But I have to go now."
"Yes, back to work. I know my boy," she sighed. "Take care of yourself. I love you."
He didn't want to return to his rarely used apartment, so he used the back door to go to London. The rain matched his mood and it was only mid morning because of the time difference.
The sword of truth was the next artifact on his list. A sword with a similar description had recently been put up for auctions at Christie's. It was as good a place to start as any. After many hours of fruitless searching, he decided to check into a hotel and get some sleep.
He ordered room service, but fell asleep before it arrived. He felt like his head had just hit the pillow when there was a knock at the door. He moaned as he made his way to the door. He didn't even want to eat anymore, but he should at least let the bellboy pull the cart in.
He opened the door, and was shocked to see the person on the other side. He rubbed his eyes. It wasn't possible. His first guardian stood at his door, looking bored.
"Nicole?"
"Hello, Flynn."
"How are you here? You're dead…" He stumbled back and she walked into the room, shutting the door behind her.
"Yes, and now I am a ghost, here to tell you to quit being a wanker."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"I know I heard you, but you die in my arms, and then come back out of the blue and want to yell at me."
"Seems pretty reasonable to me," she shrugged, looking around the room.
"I've had a long day, Nicole. Can we just get to the point?"
"Consider this a wake up call. If you don't make some changes, you are going to end up just like me."
Flynn sat down on the bed, but Nicole pulled him back up.
"Come on, we have a schedule to keep," she said, and with a snap of her fingers, they were in a vast jungle.
"Where are we going?" he asked, looking around to gain his bearings.
"On an adventure, of course," she laughed, cutting through the thick under brush with her trusty machete.
"This is where we fought Wilde for the spear," he said after a few minutes.
"Got it in one, but you always were my clever Librarian," she said, her voice going soft for a moment.
"But why? I already know what happened. I was there."
"Look, do you remember how scared you were in the beginning?" Through the trees they could see their past selves.
"Of course! You were crazy, taking risks, running into danger…"
She snapped her fingers and they were in a desert. Shots ran out. Flynn knew where they were. A moment later, another Flynn, older than the first, ran directly into the gun fire. Another snap and he was taking on vampires with Simone. A few more and they came to the day he met Eve.
"Going after the Opal of Samarrah alone? Did you even know what you were doing or did you just wing it?" Nicole asked.
"I've been the Librarian for longer than anyone in a hundred years. I know what I'm doing," Flynn said smugly.
"And you couldn't stop to defuse the bomb first, before opening the case?"
"Eve had just shot three men, jumped from a second story ramp and chased down two more suspects. There was no reason to believe she wasn't capable of defusing the bomb on her own."
"You got lucky and you know it," Nicole challenged.
"I trusted my instincts."
"And at the Loom?" Nicole snapped her fingers again, and they were watching Eve bleed to death. "You were so focused on bringing back the Library that you almost lost her."
"But I didn't."
"You would have lost her, if not for Galahad, you still might…"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Maybe you changed her fate, or maybe you just put it off for a while. Maybe she will still give her life for you."
"No. No… I changed the loom. I changed her fate. I changed…"
He woke up in his hotel room, tangle in his sheets. It was just a dream, he thought. It was just a dream, and he just needed some sleep. He pulled the blankets over his head and went back to sleep.
"OH! UUHHHH, this is a bad one, this is a really bad one," a voice pulled Flynn from sleep.
"Ray?" Flynn asked, blinking his eyes. The embodiment of the library was clutching his head, ten empty milkshake glasses scattered around him.
"It hurts Flynn," Ray whined, rubbing his temples.
"It's alright. It's just sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. It will pass in a minute."
Ray nodded and kept rubbing his temples until the worst of his brain freeze work off.
"Thanks Flynn, you always know how to take care of me," Ray said with an affectionate smile.
"Anytime Ray, but how are you here? I thought once we returned you to the library you would become a none physical entity again."
"I'm not really here Flynn. I am just a manifestation of your unconscious. I am here to show you the present."
"So this is like, a christmas carol thing? I knew I should have been more careful when I was at Dicken's house. I wonder what I touched… the bust? that quill? Maybe it was…"
"Flynn! Focus, we don't have much time," Ray yelled.
"Alright, alright, what are we going to see?"
Ray smiled and snapped his fingers. In a flash, they were in the Library.
"What do I need to see here?" Flynn asked.
"Not what, who…" Ray answered pointing to a light at the end of the hall way. Flynn went toward the light. It was past midnight in Portland, but he knew exactly who he would find.
"She doesn't want to see me," Flynn said sadly.
"She won't. We aren't really here, just look," Ray said pushing him toward the door.
Eve sat at his desk reading a copy of The Tempest. She had stacks of books all around her, and she was referencing them while scribbling notes on a pad. He moved to look over her shoulder, and smiled at what he saw. She was making plans to protect the Library and defeat Prospero. In the margins, she was already make contingencies.
"Come on Colonel," Jenkins said as he walked into the room. He took a moment to glare at Flynn as if he could see him standing there, before he continued. "You've been up for two days, time for sleep."
When Eve looked up, Flynn noticed evidence of dried tears on her cheeks.
"I'm almost done here, Jenkins. You go on and I will lock up when I'm finished." She rubbed her cheeks and rolled her shoulders, but it only showed how tired she truly was.
"No but, Colonel. Everyone needs sleep, even you," Jenkins said pulling her to her feet.
"You and your care taking," she sighed. "I really think I am on to something. I think if we…"
"You can tell me in the morning, after you've slept, and eaten, and showered." Jenkins scrunched his nose in distaste.
"Sleep is for the weak, and I do not smell that bad."
"If you say so."
As they left the room, Flynn turned back to Ray.
"So she is working late, so what? I work late all the time."
Ray shook his head and snapped his fingers. The room started to spin, but then didn't leave. Instead they saw Eve night after night, slowly working herself to death. She lost weight, and became more and more detached from the LITs as they started to take on more and more missions without her.
"You put her in charge of protecting the Library, and you know how serious she is about her commitments," Ray said quietly. Before their eyes, Eve slowly deteriorated. When it seemed like it couldn't get any worse, Ray snapped his fingers and they were on a cliff. Eve and the LITs were fighting the fictionals, while Prospero was summoning another storm. Eve tried to stop him. She grabbed the staff he held over his head, and was thrown thirty feet back where her head hitting a rock.
"Eve!" Cassandra called, but she couldn't go to the older woman, because she was fighting off the Evil queen. Flynn watched in horror as Stone was thrown off the cliff by Moriarty. By the time Ezekiel defeated Long John Silver and ran to the fallen Guardian's side she was already gone.
"This isn't real," Flynn said turning away from the scene. "You said yourself this isn't real."
"Not yet, but it might be. She had a good plan, but a Guardian needs her Librarian just as much as a Librarian needs their Guardian."
"No. No, this isn't real. I won't let it be. This can't be real," he shut his eyes against the scene, and when he opened them again he was back in his hotel room alone. Always alone. "It was just a dream. I just need some dreamless sleep."
He pulled the covers over his head, and went back to sleep. When he woke again, it was because he was shivering. He stuck his head out of the blankets and saw that the window was open. He got out of bed, and tried to close the window, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.
"Ah ha, I got it. I know what this is. I'm going to turn around, and the iconic symbol of death in black robes will be there," he said, as he closed the window without turning around.
"Not quite," Charlene snapped irritably. In an instant, Flynn whipped around and scooped Charlene into his arms.
"Oh my god, I can't believe it's really you! This is amazing," Flynn rambled excitedly, wrapping her in a tight hug.
Charlene stood awkwardly in his arms, before giving him a small pat on the back."We are actually on a schedule so if you wouldn't mind…"
"Of course, of course," Flynn laughed hugging her one last time before he took a step back. "So? We are going to see what becomes of me?"
"No." She snapped her fingers and they were in the library, but something was off. Eve wasn't sitting at her desk. The chair was occupied by a younger Charlene.
"When was this?" Flynn asked. He had always assumed that she had been with the Library for a long time, but there was no way to know how long.
"The 60's," She answered with a shrug. "I wasn't always the caretaker. The Library originally recruited me to be a guardian. I was pretty good at it too, but the Librarian at the time thought I was unnecessary. He thought that… Well let's just say he started to believe he knew everything. He didn't, of course, but such hubris almost always comes with so- called genius. What both you and he failed to realize is the guardian's job is not to protect your body, thought we often do. The guardian's true mission is to protect the Librarian's soul."
"Soul?" Flynn snorted.
"Yes, soul. What could be more important than that?" She asked seriously.
Flynn was surprised, and so he gave it more thought. Moments passed as he babbled to himself about everything he had seen and done as the librarian, and all the things he had heard his predecessors.
"My Librarian couldn't be saved. The pull of infinite power was too much for him, or I wasn't enough. In the end, he was destroyed by his belief that he could use magic to save everyone," she said sadly.
"And Edward, Nicole's librarian, was destroyed by his greed," Flynn realized. "But why let me go so long without a guardian?"
"You had us. The Library knew that we were looking out for you. You looked to Judson and I for guidance. When it sensed a coming danger, it summoned another to come and take our place."
"But why Eve? We are so different."
"As trite as it sounds, you balance each other out. A guardian keeps the Librarian's feet on the ground. They remind you of the bigger picture. You genius types tend to get bogged down in little things."
"You called me a genius!"
"Don't let it go to your head," she frowned.
"Of course not," he laughed. "So, what you are telling me is that I should go back and patch things up with Eve?"
"Your partnership is important. Your relationship is not my concern. Many Librarians have traveled the same path, and it has ended badly... but who knows, you always were a little different," she shrugged and snapped.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his hotel room. His head was swimming as he tried to figure out if it had been a dream or magic which had given him a glimpse into her possible future. Either way, he knew he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep, so he got up and started to eat the now cold room service. When had he brought the tray in, he wondered. He didn't remember, but he must have…
Then he looked around the room more closely. The sword of truth sat on the dresser, surrounded by empty milk shake glasses. Suddenly, he knew there was only one thing to do.
He grabbed the sword and called Jenkins.