Loose Ends
Title: Loose Ends
Fandom: Ghostbusters
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Dana Barrett, Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore
Summary: Why Vigo the Carpathian persisted in attempting to steal Oscar Barrett's body. Dana finds out in the aftermath with the revelation of a secret of Egon Spengler, as he ties up a loose end.
Note: Written in early 2010. Archived from FFN. A conceptual crossover with Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters universe.
-
The first thing Ray Stantz had done when they returned from the museum, wearied but exhilarated (New Year celebrations did that to almost anyone) was to collapse into a chair, still slimed.
The first thing Peter Venkman had done was to scream with anguish, "Not my chair, Ray!"
In the middle of this chaos, Egon Spengler told Winston Zeddemore that he would be out for a bit. Winston raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. More often than not, it was Peter who was doing the late night jaunts. But right now, they were all too drained to do much else - even Peter had decided he'd rather stay here than in his flat because he was too tired from the museum.
"You look bad, man." Winston said, sombrely as he studied the weary exhaustion that showed in the slumping of Egon's shoulders, and the way he looked older than he really was.
"I know, Winston." Egon agreed. "But I have something. I'll be at Peter's apartment."
With that, Winston was left with settling a pained Peter who was, at the moment, the subject of affectionate hugs from Ray. And when Peter screamed for Winston to rescue him, please! - Winston was given a happy, slime-streaked hug as well.
Winston decided that maybe Egon had been smart to run away while he could. The mood slime was in a good mood though, and they really didn't want to make it angry while it was still all over Ray's clothing.
-
The streets were safe at night. The PKE meter that Egon always carried around with him kept picking up readings, and he wondered if it was residuals from the dried ectoplasm on his coveralls or something else in the streets.
Maybe both - but he had another purpose, and he reluctantly forced himself to continue on his way to Peter's apartment instead of scanning the streets for what he could see and what the PKE meter could detect.
He was already exhausted from combating Vigo, but he knew this had to be done early, or he would regret it. Sloth was a vice that Egon never allowed himself to indulge in. From young, he had learned of the value of good, hard work, and even now, it was no struggle to remind himself it was more important that he see Dana Barrett and Oscar immediately.
He finally reached Peter's apartment, and rapped on the door with his knuckles several times. He paused and waited. There was a pause - presumably, Dana was peeping through the peephole before she opened the door.
"Dr Spengler?" She asked, covering her mouth to suppress a yawn. Her curls were in disarray. It was late, and they were all tired, now that the adrenaline rush they had in the museum was fading away. "What are you doing here?"
"I need to talk to you about Oscar." Egon replied. "May I come in?"
"Oh, where are my manners?" She grimaced. "I'm sorry. Come in." She opened the door wider for him to enter, but he noticed the quick way she shut the door.
She would be suspicious for a time, after how the curator and Vigo had tried to steal Oscar. And he suspected that it would make his words less welcome, at a time like this. But it could not wait.
-
He bustled around in the kitchen, making himself a cup of tea. Dana herself preferred coffee. He lit the fire easily, and warmed the tea and the coffee quickly, before taking them into the living room.
"It's still a bit messy." She said, with a faint smile. "I think Oscar and I will be moving back to our apartment tomorrow. It's a bit late to be moving tonight."
He set the cup before her and sat down, cradling his own cup. He breathed the smell coming from the cup of tea and relaxed, feeling its warmth in his hand. It revitalised him a little, and it was in these moments when he was not forcing himself on that Egon realised exactly how tired he was.
"You said you needed to talk to me about Oscar." Dana prompted.
"Yes." Egon replied, stiltedly. Where did he start? It was easy for himself to begin - but his father had already known, as had his mother. Perhaps it was easy to start from someplace familiar. He was fortunate that Dana had been directly involved when they fought Gozer the Gozerian, and then Vigo. It made it easier to explain in a way that she would not disbelieve. "Do you remember what happened earlier?"
"How could I not?" She asked, amused. She tried to sip the coffee, and gasped as it burned her tongue. Egon didn't drink from his yet, although he liked his tea hot. The warmth against his skin was more soothing, and he could not bring himself to drink yet. He set it down for a moment. Their hands brushed. "Egon, you're freezing." She said, startled. "What happened?"
Another sign of being drained, he mused. He leaned forward a little.
"Mrs Barrett," Egon said, clinically, and detachedly, "There are many things in this world that people do not admit to. Most of them are what we deal with, as Ghostbusters."
She nodded impatiently - she already knew all that.
"Ghosts are one thing. You have likely experienced at least one haunting. There are gods as well - like Gozer. And then…there was Vigo, who tried to use a dark ritual to possess Oscar's body and to bring himself back to life. That was ritualistic magic." He paused, and gave a faint smile at her look of confusion. "But what puzzled me was - why did Vigo choose Oscar? Why did he keep going after Oscar? It was entirely possible to have Poha steal any child. Then I came to my conclusion. Before that…I need to see Oscar."
"Didn't you run all the tests with Peter and Ray?" Dana protested, protectively. She had enough near-scares with people coming after Oscar, and while she knew there was nothing to fear from Egon, she still didn't like the idea of someone else peering at Oscar.
"Not all." Egon said, solemnly. He did not elaborate.
-
Oscar was wide-awake, which was odd, given the insane hour they were all up at. Egon decided not to question his luck.
He started sketching the required equations. He only needed one Salamander, he reminded them. Not a bevvy of them, not a host of them. Just one.
When the glowing equation was finished, it hung in the air for a moment and vanished, and then a Salamander appeared, twining about his arm. What did he want? He hadn't called in a while, they were beginning to think something was wrong.
Nothing much, Egon explained. He needed the Salamander to play with the boy - to see if the boy was able to recognise it. Could he do that?
Of course! The Salamander responded, more than glad by the spark of Fire energy that Egon fed it. It moved from him, in one swift movement to Oscar. Dana gasped, and Egon glanced at her. "Don't worry," He said, trying to be reassuring. "I need to know if Oscar can see him."
Oscar gargled, and reached out his hand towards the moving Salamander. It darted leftwards, and his eyes followed. Finally, the Salamander coiled all about his hand, and Oscar gave a baby laugh, waving his hand about.
"What is that?" Dana asked, a worried frown on her face.
"Thank you." Egon said, and he pulled the equation for the dismissal of the Salamander, which grew brighter and brighter for a moment before it faded and vanished. "That was a Salamander."
"And you - you - "
"Summoned it." Egon gave a great sigh, and Oscar cried. Dana went over to her son, cradling him in her arms and rocking him, trying to stop his sobs. "Vigo was one kind of magician. He was what we call a Dark magician. One who uses human sacrifice and pain to gain power."
"And you are another." Dana guessed. A flame flickered on the tip of Egon's finger, and then vanished.
"Yes. My colleagues…do not know. I ask you to keep it this way."
"Why?" She asked, puzzled. Now Oscar was more quiet, but she rocked him anyway, finding the motions somehow soothing. "Would they care?"
Egon ignored the question. "The other kind…draw their power from the classical Greek elements. I myself am a fire magician. I needed to know if Oscar could see them. I could vaguely tell - but I wanted to make sure." He held up the PKE meter and adjusted it, and immediately, the readings spiked.
"Oscar is what we call a Sensitive. Perhaps he is an elemental magician - but I cannot tell beyond the faint inclination he has for air. A Sensitive can see the elementals, the spirits…and more. This was why Vigo kept trying to claim Oscar. He needed someone else with the gift, and Oscar's Sensitivity was an added bonus. It meant Oscar had no defenses against being possessed."
Dana listened, alarmed. "So he's a walking spirit magnet."
"Yes." Egon nodded. "I can give you the name card of one of the Sensitive water magicians. Vigo was a danger who had to be busted. But Alec should be able to ward and help Oscar when he gets older. For now…I can shield him."
"Thank you." Dana said. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. For his part, Egon looked uncomfortable, and a little rigidly shocked.
He cleared his throat. "I need you to keep Oscar here for a while." He commented, before his hands were moving again, and he was writing a whole series of equations in the air, in red-orange fire. It was slower this time. The impromptu shield he had thrown up in the museum still had not been enough against the onslaught of Dark air magic that Vigo had thrown at them, and he had paid for it with the pain of the electric shocks they suffered.
But it could have been worse.
Dana paused. Something didn't add up. "Why could I see the Salamander?" She asked, suddenly. "If you were testing Oscar…"
Egon blinked. "It should be obvious where Oscar got his Sensitivity from." He said. "It is stronger in him…and I suspect that for you, it might have been backlash from being possessed by Zuul."
Dana flinched reflexively at the name. Some memories would never entirely go away.
-
When Egon was done, Dana could not really tell any difference, but she supposed that Egon knew what he was doing.
She let him out.
It was a cold night, Egon knew, but the cold didn't really get to him, except by making him somewhat unhappy if it was too cold. At least he could walk back to the firehouse, knowing Dana would say nothing, and that Oscar would be safe - until he grew up and his talents started to manifest.
Now, he just needed to make sure there were no copies of Vigo's painting. Could the spirit even be split among several copies of paintings?
It was in the middle of this musings that Egon returned to the firehouse, and found himself at the receiving end of a grumpy, goo-soaked Peter, who was still waiting for Ray and Winston to be done with the showers.
"Great, Egon's back, and you're all still not done!" He called, grumpily.
Egon smiled - slightly. He wasn't always used to it, being a serious person, but he supposed Venkman would say he was getting better.
"Where were you, anyway?" Peter grumbled.
"Tying up loose ends, Venkman." And that was all he would say.
Fandom: Ghostbusters
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Dana Barrett, Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore
Summary: Why Vigo the Carpathian persisted in attempting to steal Oscar Barrett's body. Dana finds out in the aftermath with the revelation of a secret of Egon Spengler, as he ties up a loose end.
Note: Written in early 2010. Archived from FFN. A conceptual crossover with Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters universe.
-
The first thing Ray Stantz had done when they returned from the museum, wearied but exhilarated (New Year celebrations did that to almost anyone) was to collapse into a chair, still slimed.
The first thing Peter Venkman had done was to scream with anguish, "Not my chair, Ray!"
In the middle of this chaos, Egon Spengler told Winston Zeddemore that he would be out for a bit. Winston raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. More often than not, it was Peter who was doing the late night jaunts. But right now, they were all too drained to do much else - even Peter had decided he'd rather stay here than in his flat because he was too tired from the museum.
"You look bad, man." Winston said, sombrely as he studied the weary exhaustion that showed in the slumping of Egon's shoulders, and the way he looked older than he really was.
"I know, Winston." Egon agreed. "But I have something. I'll be at Peter's apartment."
With that, Winston was left with settling a pained Peter who was, at the moment, the subject of affectionate hugs from Ray. And when Peter screamed for Winston to rescue him, please! - Winston was given a happy, slime-streaked hug as well.
Winston decided that maybe Egon had been smart to run away while he could. The mood slime was in a good mood though, and they really didn't want to make it angry while it was still all over Ray's clothing.
-
The streets were safe at night. The PKE meter that Egon always carried around with him kept picking up readings, and he wondered if it was residuals from the dried ectoplasm on his coveralls or something else in the streets.
Maybe both - but he had another purpose, and he reluctantly forced himself to continue on his way to Peter's apartment instead of scanning the streets for what he could see and what the PKE meter could detect.
He was already exhausted from combating Vigo, but he knew this had to be done early, or he would regret it. Sloth was a vice that Egon never allowed himself to indulge in. From young, he had learned of the value of good, hard work, and even now, it was no struggle to remind himself it was more important that he see Dana Barrett and Oscar immediately.
He finally reached Peter's apartment, and rapped on the door with his knuckles several times. He paused and waited. There was a pause - presumably, Dana was peeping through the peephole before she opened the door.
"Dr Spengler?" She asked, covering her mouth to suppress a yawn. Her curls were in disarray. It was late, and they were all tired, now that the adrenaline rush they had in the museum was fading away. "What are you doing here?"
"I need to talk to you about Oscar." Egon replied. "May I come in?"
"Oh, where are my manners?" She grimaced. "I'm sorry. Come in." She opened the door wider for him to enter, but he noticed the quick way she shut the door.
She would be suspicious for a time, after how the curator and Vigo had tried to steal Oscar. And he suspected that it would make his words less welcome, at a time like this. But it could not wait.
-
He bustled around in the kitchen, making himself a cup of tea. Dana herself preferred coffee. He lit the fire easily, and warmed the tea and the coffee quickly, before taking them into the living room.
"It's still a bit messy." She said, with a faint smile. "I think Oscar and I will be moving back to our apartment tomorrow. It's a bit late to be moving tonight."
He set the cup before her and sat down, cradling his own cup. He breathed the smell coming from the cup of tea and relaxed, feeling its warmth in his hand. It revitalised him a little, and it was in these moments when he was not forcing himself on that Egon realised exactly how tired he was.
"You said you needed to talk to me about Oscar." Dana prompted.
"Yes." Egon replied, stiltedly. Where did he start? It was easy for himself to begin - but his father had already known, as had his mother. Perhaps it was easy to start from someplace familiar. He was fortunate that Dana had been directly involved when they fought Gozer the Gozerian, and then Vigo. It made it easier to explain in a way that she would not disbelieve. "Do you remember what happened earlier?"
"How could I not?" She asked, amused. She tried to sip the coffee, and gasped as it burned her tongue. Egon didn't drink from his yet, although he liked his tea hot. The warmth against his skin was more soothing, and he could not bring himself to drink yet. He set it down for a moment. Their hands brushed. "Egon, you're freezing." She said, startled. "What happened?"
Another sign of being drained, he mused. He leaned forward a little.
"Mrs Barrett," Egon said, clinically, and detachedly, "There are many things in this world that people do not admit to. Most of them are what we deal with, as Ghostbusters."
She nodded impatiently - she already knew all that.
"Ghosts are one thing. You have likely experienced at least one haunting. There are gods as well - like Gozer. And then…there was Vigo, who tried to use a dark ritual to possess Oscar's body and to bring himself back to life. That was ritualistic magic." He paused, and gave a faint smile at her look of confusion. "But what puzzled me was - why did Vigo choose Oscar? Why did he keep going after Oscar? It was entirely possible to have Poha steal any child. Then I came to my conclusion. Before that…I need to see Oscar."
"Didn't you run all the tests with Peter and Ray?" Dana protested, protectively. She had enough near-scares with people coming after Oscar, and while she knew there was nothing to fear from Egon, she still didn't like the idea of someone else peering at Oscar.
"Not all." Egon said, solemnly. He did not elaborate.
-
Oscar was wide-awake, which was odd, given the insane hour they were all up at. Egon decided not to question his luck.
He started sketching the required equations. He only needed one Salamander, he reminded them. Not a bevvy of them, not a host of them. Just one.
When the glowing equation was finished, it hung in the air for a moment and vanished, and then a Salamander appeared, twining about his arm. What did he want? He hadn't called in a while, they were beginning to think something was wrong.
Nothing much, Egon explained. He needed the Salamander to play with the boy - to see if the boy was able to recognise it. Could he do that?
Of course! The Salamander responded, more than glad by the spark of Fire energy that Egon fed it. It moved from him, in one swift movement to Oscar. Dana gasped, and Egon glanced at her. "Don't worry," He said, trying to be reassuring. "I need to know if Oscar can see him."
Oscar gargled, and reached out his hand towards the moving Salamander. It darted leftwards, and his eyes followed. Finally, the Salamander coiled all about his hand, and Oscar gave a baby laugh, waving his hand about.
"What is that?" Dana asked, a worried frown on her face.
"Thank you." Egon said, and he pulled the equation for the dismissal of the Salamander, which grew brighter and brighter for a moment before it faded and vanished. "That was a Salamander."
"And you - you - "
"Summoned it." Egon gave a great sigh, and Oscar cried. Dana went over to her son, cradling him in her arms and rocking him, trying to stop his sobs. "Vigo was one kind of magician. He was what we call a Dark magician. One who uses human sacrifice and pain to gain power."
"And you are another." Dana guessed. A flame flickered on the tip of Egon's finger, and then vanished.
"Yes. My colleagues…do not know. I ask you to keep it this way."
"Why?" She asked, puzzled. Now Oscar was more quiet, but she rocked him anyway, finding the motions somehow soothing. "Would they care?"
Egon ignored the question. "The other kind…draw their power from the classical Greek elements. I myself am a fire magician. I needed to know if Oscar could see them. I could vaguely tell - but I wanted to make sure." He held up the PKE meter and adjusted it, and immediately, the readings spiked.
"Oscar is what we call a Sensitive. Perhaps he is an elemental magician - but I cannot tell beyond the faint inclination he has for air. A Sensitive can see the elementals, the spirits…and more. This was why Vigo kept trying to claim Oscar. He needed someone else with the gift, and Oscar's Sensitivity was an added bonus. It meant Oscar had no defenses against being possessed."
Dana listened, alarmed. "So he's a walking spirit magnet."
"Yes." Egon nodded. "I can give you the name card of one of the Sensitive water magicians. Vigo was a danger who had to be busted. But Alec should be able to ward and help Oscar when he gets older. For now…I can shield him."
"Thank you." Dana said. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. For his part, Egon looked uncomfortable, and a little rigidly shocked.
He cleared his throat. "I need you to keep Oscar here for a while." He commented, before his hands were moving again, and he was writing a whole series of equations in the air, in red-orange fire. It was slower this time. The impromptu shield he had thrown up in the museum still had not been enough against the onslaught of Dark air magic that Vigo had thrown at them, and he had paid for it with the pain of the electric shocks they suffered.
But it could have been worse.
Dana paused. Something didn't add up. "Why could I see the Salamander?" She asked, suddenly. "If you were testing Oscar…"
Egon blinked. "It should be obvious where Oscar got his Sensitivity from." He said. "It is stronger in him…and I suspect that for you, it might have been backlash from being possessed by Zuul."
Dana flinched reflexively at the name. Some memories would never entirely go away.
-
When Egon was done, Dana could not really tell any difference, but she supposed that Egon knew what he was doing.
She let him out.
It was a cold night, Egon knew, but the cold didn't really get to him, except by making him somewhat unhappy if it was too cold. At least he could walk back to the firehouse, knowing Dana would say nothing, and that Oscar would be safe - until he grew up and his talents started to manifest.
Now, he just needed to make sure there were no copies of Vigo's painting. Could the spirit even be split among several copies of paintings?
It was in the middle of this musings that Egon returned to the firehouse, and found himself at the receiving end of a grumpy, goo-soaked Peter, who was still waiting for Ray and Winston to be done with the showers.
"Great, Egon's back, and you're all still not done!" He called, grumpily.
Egon smiled - slightly. He wasn't always used to it, being a serious person, but he supposed Venkman would say he was getting better.
"Where were you, anyway?" Peter grumbled.
"Tying up loose ends, Venkman." And that was all he would say.