Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Eight
Get A Jiffy On
A/N So I was reading Ethan's wiki page earlier, and found out that Jane Espenson once eluded to Giles and Ethan's past, suspecting that at one point they'd had a sexual relationship. Now, I wasn't going to do anything with it, BUT it was so tempting. Bi Giles would be a total icon. So that's what the hinting is here, but I'm not planning to make it into a bigger thing. They're done with whatever they had.
New Sunnydale, the world without shrimp - November 1st 2006
Giles had a weird feeling, a gut feeling that something was about to happen. He glanced around the room and saw Ethan hastily packing weapons into an old backpack. The two abandoned cups from earlier sitting cold on the table. Sun was shining through the windows, the morning glow had him staring for a minute before reality came back to him. Demons on the loose, Ethan Rayne in his flat, gut feeling something was wrong. Was it wrong that he felt excited? That for the first time in months, the thrilling feeling of hunting demons was loose in his bloodstream. Not particularly, he'd grown up being taught this, being told this was his destiny. Now it was back he felt a sense of familiarity he'd desperately missed as Buffy got more independent.
"Ready Ripper?" Ethan called from the kitchen when he was raiding the fridge, "for the road?" He said, Giles nodded reluctantly and looked back out the window. There was a figure standing at the end of the road. Turned away from him, dark hair, white dress. He blinked and she was gone, just like that. Then he glanced down at his bed, nestled in the corner of his tiny flat, and her body appeared on top of the covers. Giles shook and took his glasses off, but when he looked back she was gone again. Just like that.
"I am going insane." He said to himself, "it's the lack of sleep." But he knew it wasn't, grief was haunting him. Had been for years, following him around wherever he went. The dreams were new though. He shook it off and walked into the kitchen, picking up his own bag and pulling Ethan out of the flat. "Come on, it's about time we got rid of this demon, whatever it is."
The streets were empty, a cool newly November breeze blew around them. Giles scanned the few streets in front of them and there was just nothing. Not even a morning dog walker. "This way," he called to Ethan, who was hobbling a little better now. Before he'd started on the fridge he'd had a rummage through the first aid kit, why he hadn't thought of that earlier, he didn't know.
They trailed on, through parts and other parts of the town. Stalking the empty streets, apparently everyone had gotten the memo that Halloween was very much over and the demons would be back on the prowl as of tonight. There was just nothing, but the eerie feeling was following Giles around like a bad penny. He wasn't acting smartly at all, hunting demons they'd never seen before, in the early morning, when most demons were asleep in their various underground hideouts, they were being stupid. He should've left Ethan back at the Magic Box in case they needed supplies, he couldn't even run, he was going to be useless in a fight against any demon.
Giles rubbed his forehead for a while, pondering on what to do next. Ethan was looking at him expectantly, but bent over, out of breath. Giles paused, and looked around him. A chill hit him in the back of his neck, the hairs standing up on end as his feeling of unease heightened. They were here. They were hiding somewhere in plain sight. Giles racked his brain for anything on invisible demons but he was coming up empty. "They're here," he whispered to Ethan who whipped his head round in the least stealthy move he'd ever seen. He resisted putting his face into his palms and forgetting the world for trying to place to gut feeling he was having.
Then he saw it, the tiniest flash of blue glinting in the sunlight. A reflection off a wingmirror of a car parked on the sidewalk. They were on an ordinary street, in one of the many cars parked up and down the road. This place was abandoned but perfect, they could do battle here and the damage wouldn't be too bad. Giles knew the demon had sussed out this particular detail, it'd driven them here. Baited and trapped. There were more flashes, brighter and brighter until three demons came into view, surrounding them. Giles dived for the ground and tried to crawl through one of the demon's legs. They were big, just under seven feet, and jacked. If Giles had had the time to stand around and study them he would've assessed they were the perfect fighting demons.
Their muscles weren't just big, they were huge! Giles was having a rather odd flashback to the genie in Aladdin, because the demons were blue and big and zoning in on Ethan. He internally cursed himself for leaving him in the circle, for just ditching the guy he hated/was trying to protect/maybe used to have a thing for. He heard Ethan crying out for him, but the demons had formed a tighter huddle now, almost like they doing a ritual. Giles dropped his backpack and took out an axe, mentally thanked Ethan for packing it, and then yelled a war cry at the blue formation.
He lunged forward on his right leg, and swung the axe over his head. It came crashing down on the demon's back, blue blood spurting out and hitting him in the face. But it didn't seem to even feel it, it certainly didn't flinch. The force of the axe was so much that Giles fell backwards onto the concrete. The demon turned around, baring its teeth - which were like jagged shards of clear glass. Giles was willing to bet they had venom sacs too. He was backing away slowly on his hands, no longer thinking about Ethan at all and trying to save himself. His axe was still sticking out of the demon's back, the demon that was walking towards him, its lips peeling backwards, revealing yet another row of gruesome teeth.
The demon bent over the man and hissed loudly. Spittle and flecks of green venom landed on his face. But he didn't move, he was shaking, his hair still on end, fear controlling his body. "Stay away from us," the demon hissed at him. It's voice like a brazing wind - harsh and gritty. Giles felt himself nodding, he was conscious enough to feel it happening, to feel himself doing to the demon's bidding. He knew they were going to take Ethan away, he could feel his emotions dying and logic overtaking. He just had to play along like he was hypnotised. But he was hypnotised! I hear you shouting. Yes, the demon was attempting to hypnotise him with its piercing gaze and flecks of spit, but Giles had been hypnotised before. Drusilla had changed his brain chemistry, and the vampire's power was stronger than this mere demon. Giles recognised what was happening and shook himself out of it. All he had to do now was get up.
The demon eased off, strolling back to the group, yanking the axe from its back and starting the chant again with the others. Ethan was huddled over himself on the floor, reciting the words 'I'm not gonna die,' over and over, because fear was controlling him too, and he was paralysed. Giles picked himself up off the empty road and picked up the blue tipped axe, blood dripping off the end like he'd just committed the raid on Lindisfarne.
He took a good look at the demon, having the time to properly study it. Then he swung his axe right into the demon's ankle, right into the back of its Achilles tendon. The beast went thundering to the ground, falling backwards as Giles yanked back the axe from its foot. As he ran around swinging the axe into the other two demon's and letting Ethan free of his blue prison, he looked up for a split second and everything turned white. Ethan disappeared from view, the demons faded from the ground and he was left standing with his axe aloft, mid-swing, looking at one person he'd never seen before, and another he knew.
The Higher Realms, the world without shrimp - November 1st 2006
He dropped the axe when he face fell into his view. He didn't care if he was dreaming, because he could see her, she was right there, right in front of him. "Jenny," he said under his breath, disbelief filling his brain. Then louder, "Jenny, is it? Is that really you? Where am I?" He said in a jumble of things. But Jenny didn't say a word, she didn't even smile, she just kept staring straight ahead.
"She can't speak, not yet. She doesn't know where we are." The woman next to her piped up.
Giles didn't take her eyes off her as he replied, he couldn't, what if she disappeared again? "I-I don't understand. Where are we?"
The woman in white shook her head and laughed a little at his human curiosity. A trait she'd never understand. "You're in the Higher Realms, honey." In this incarnation, the Higher Power sounded a bit like a school girl on steroids, even down to the girlish giggle and New York accent. Giles wondered for a brief second, if all Higher Powers were American, or this one was fresh out of the academy. Did they have an academy for Higher Powers? He shook his head before he got too deep into his wondering thoughts.
"Why am I here? Why is Jenny here?" He said, trying to get her attention but failing. "And cut the cryptic, I've had a very long night and very little sleep. Oh and another thing," he continued, his energy renewing, "what's going to happen to Ethan? I know I'm not supposed to care, but there he was on my doorstep and I do, I do care." He admitted, pushing up his glasses and holding his forehead, realising for the first time, what he was saying was true.
"Okay Mr Giles, please calm down. There is nothing fear here. You are here in the Higher Realms because the Powers That Be have decided to reward you," Giles was about to butt in with 'why?' but the Higher Power continued. "After Miss Jenny here died her unfortunate death at the hands of Angelus, you have been heading down a dark path." Again, Giles moved to object but the Power held up a 'wait' finger. "Then the fates were messed with once more, the amulet delivered to Sunnydale, William the Bloody's golden hour. All this sent you back to Somerset, we had not anticipated this. The Powers believe you are important Rupert Giles, the watcher to Buffy Summers, an important figure in her life. The Powers suspect you have a role to play, there will become a time when you are needed again. We are trying to fix our mistakes, we let Angelus get out of hand," the Power pointed at Jenny, "she was never meant to die. So she will be restored to you." Giles nodded, taking in all the information like a pill that was hard to swallow. He rubbed his head some more, that seemed to help. "As for Ethan Rayne, he will be fine, in fact-" the Power summoned a sort of ethereal tablet and showed him the scene he'd just left.
The images flashed rather quickly before him, but Giles was able to take in several points. Three blue demons lying on the ground as if dead, but probably just stunned, his own body frozen mid-swing, and Ethan staring at him. It took him a couple of minutes to realise Giles was somewhere else and something very odd was happening. He was scanning the street with an anxious look on his face. One Giles took to mean he was debating running off. He wouldn't be surprised if he did, even after everything Giles had done for him. Then he paused, looked around him some more and then kissed Giles on the cheek and then ran/hobbled off in the other direction.
"Oh," Giles said, almost blushing but then remembering what the Power had just said about Jenny. "Wait, restoring Jenny to- what?"
The Higher Power giggled her high-pitched giggle again. "The Powers That Be have decided to restore Jennifer Calendar, as you knew her, and change the course of your fate Mr Giles." Giles blinked at her a few times before pushing up his glasses. "She will be back with you soon enough," Giles looked as puzzled as he was feeling, 'restored,' what the hell did that mean? Technically her body no longer existed and she had no real grave, only a false one Giles left flowers at once a year on her birthday. The Power was talking again but he was so in his own head he didn't hear a word she was saying. "Goodbye Mr Giles."