Well, here it is! Finally, the LAST CHAPTER! YAY!
Enjoy, cuz you've been waiting a loooong time!
When to Run Away
Jonathan's corpse laughed heartily. Warren grinned. Gina screamed. Andrew stood still. He had nothing left to give this nightmare.
"Quite the pair o' lungs she's got on her, hey, Andrew?" Warren said with a chuckle. "I like it!"
"Let her go, Warren. I'll s-stay, and y-you can do whatever you w-want to me, but l-let her go. Y-you said yourself you don't need her."
Warren cocked his head to the side disapprovingly. "You've resorted to pleading for your new girlfriend's life, have you? How irritatingly noble."
"I'm not t-trying to be noble. I just d-don't want you to h-hurt her because of me."
Jonathan got up and brushed himself off. "It's funny, Andrew. See, even when we were playing at super-villainy, I never guessed you'd have a mean streak. Guess I shouldn't have underestimated the power of being blond."
"Hey! Just because I killed you doesn't mean you get to be a jerk." Andrew scowled.
"Sure it does!" Jonathan returned. "It gives me every right. I'm DEAD. And it's your fault!"
Gina pulled herself together enough to realize that the corpse was advancing on her. "Oh, gross." She tried to back away, but could not command her legs to move.
"You're extremely pretty, Miss," Jonathan told her. "I never would have been able to tell you that in real life, but now that I'm dead it doesn't seem like such a big deal."
"Andrew, don't be rude. Introduce her to Jonathan," Warren prompted.
"Uh, Jonathan, this is Gina, Gina, Jonathan," he presented them to each other. "Jonathan, if you t-touch her, I will k-kill you again."
Jonathan frowned at his former accomplice. "How rude,"
"I agree." Warren nodded. "Well—" he rubbed his hands together "—what say you to getting down to business?"
The corpse turned back to Gina. In the blink of an eye, his hands were around Gina's throat.
"No!" Andrew could not move. "Warren, please!"
"Save her, Andrew. Help her! You can do it, if you could just take four steps forward. Oh, but you're stuck! You're feet are rooted into the dirt. Dammit, why am I doing this to you, right? We used to be friends. We used to mean something to each other! Just believe that it's for the greater good—or evil, actually." Warren laughed. "You see, you've proven your usefulness to me once again; I'll use her blood to complete the ritual that you chickened out of. And then I shall rise and destroy, just like we planned."
Andrew tuned Warren out. He should have expected that, given Andrew's attention span for such long-winded speeches. Andrew focused instead on Gina. He had to get to her. He had to stop Jonathan before it was too late. But how? He wondered how much of his friend was left in the mind of the corpse, or if it was just a tool Warren was using to reach his ends.
There was only one way to find out.
"I taped over your Battletech tapes with Deep Space Nine."
Jonathan released Gina and whirled on Andrew. "You what?" he roared.
Warren frowned. "Uh, Jonathan—"
Andrew set his shoulders back and stuck out his jaw. "You heard me,"
Gina coughed and gasped for breath. She managed a weak, "Andy, don't…" as Jonathan stalked toward him.
"It's all right, Gina. I know what I'm doing," he reassured her.
Jonathan nodded. "So do I. I'm going to kill you."
"What?" Warren burst in. "No! Not yet, you brainless…corpse!"
Jonathan growled at Warren, then turned back to Andrew. "I'm going to kill you very, very, very slowly and painfully."
Andrew winced at his words, but stood his ground as bravely as he could. "Bring it on," he said, narrowing his eyes. "It's what I deserve," he added to himself.
Gina sprinted for the shovel leaning against the wall.
"Jonathan!" Warren cried out, reaching towards her in vain.
It was too late. Andrew ducked just in time as Gina swung the shovel at the corpse's head. The neck separated easily, and the body dropped to the ground.
"NO!" Warren screamed. "This isn't finished! For either of you! Not by a long shot!" and then he vanished.
"We'll be waiting," Andrew replied. He felt it was appropriate at that particular point in time.
Gina smiled at him. They fell into each other's arms and kissed passionately.
~ * ~
"Andrew! Andrew! Are you deaf?!"
"Huh?" He shook his head to clear the cobwebs. He looked around him, reminding himself of his surroundings. He inched closer to the edge of the roof to peer down on Buffy.
"I said," the Slayer emphasized, "Get down, before you fall down." She shook her head, then went into her house, mumbling about hostages and Potentials and why they all had to fall on her.
"Guestage," Andrew said to himself. "I'm not a hostage anymore. I'm a guestage because they aren't forcing me to stay, nor are they forcing me to leave."
He crawled back to the window, and went inside, wondering if he would survive what was coming, and if so, what his future would hold…
It wasn't the ending I was originally planning, but it just felt right while I was writing it to do that. This way, it doesn't affect the way the show ended, etc, etc. Well, that makes it sound like a safe ending, but that wasn't why I originally did it. I kinda had this thought that, "Hey, you know what would be cool? If it was all a daydream—a prelude to 'Storyteller'! Yeah!" So, that's why I did it. (If you wanted the breakdown.) Anyways, I hope you enjoyed. I liked writing it, as long as it took to do…Thanks for reading! Now, please review and put a smile of satisfaction on my face! Thanks again!
