The Dresden Files / Bob / #17. Jaded
Title: Ever Present Past
Author: Cyloran
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Bob, Morgan
Prompt: 17. Jaded
Word Count: 665
Rating: G
Summary:
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me. Just passing through.
Notes: Missing scene from Things That Go Bump
Table: Here There be Ghosts
As silent as a shadow, Bob stood apart from the proceedings and, for all intents and purposes, ignored. A circumstance that, in this instance, suited him perfectly well.
Still weak from her ordeal, Ancient Mai offered little protest as her two remaining protectors prepared her for the journey back to the safety of the High Council's chambers. Amber, young and inexperienced and eager to please, offered encouraging words and a gentle touch. Morgan waited near at hand, his dark eyes filled with suspicion and keenly watching -- not Mai and his trainee but the environment in which they found themselves and those who dwelled within.
Bob could not help but wonder if all of the Council's Chief Wardens were formed from the same paranoid mold. Morgan shared so many traits with his predecessors that he might well have been the very same creature: fanatically loyal, unyielding, and quick to condemn and destroy with fierce, unquestioning obedience at the Council's command.
Morgan's eyes narrowed. "What are you looking at, ghost?" he demanded.
"The past," replied Bob with disdain as he abruptly turned and walked away, clearly dismissing Morgan, Amber, and their charge.
A blink later and suddenly Morgan was standing directly before him, an imposing ebony barrier. "If you think that these events have exposed a weakness in the High Council, think again. If you're looking for a means to revenge yourself-"
"I am looking for you to stop hounding Harry for one mistake and leave him be," countered Bob sharply, not the least bit intimidated. "He has suffered enough."
"Dresden can't be trusted."
"So you say. Yet you came to him for protection."
"There was no time and no choice," growled Morgan. "If it were up to me, we'd have sheltered elsewhere."
"And so would find yourself either trapped on the Other Side with the Dracoform or dead. Very probably both."
"We would have prevailed," insisted the Warden.
"Would you so? I sincerely doubt it but, please, by all means - keep telling yourself that," replied Bob, as if speaking to a mentally challenged student. Cold blue eyes met Morgan's in unflinching challenge. "Admit it, Morgan. Without Harry, you would be dead right now. You and your charges."
"I will admit nothing of the kind." Morgan's fingers tensed on the hilt of his sword, as if he wished nothing more than to lift the blade and dispose of his antagonist. "Neither of you can be trusted. Ever. Not Dresden. Not you." Dark eyes flashed. "Especially not you."
"You thought me useful enough an hour ago."
"Because you were expendable."
The comment did not anger the ghost as Morgan intended. Instead, surprisingly, the apparition merely sighed with exasperation and - weariness?
"Which begs a question I have longed to ask you for some time," replied Bob grimly. "If I am not to be trusted - if my existence is so terrible and dangerous, why suffer it at all? You need only destroy the skull to set your mind at ease." The ghost waved an elegant, pale hand to indicate the relic sitting upon a shelf. "Remove the protective wards and smash it to pieces. Destroy my soul forever and have done with it."
"Don't think that I haven't been tempted. But the artifact belongs to Dresden."
"Why does that make a difference?"
"It is the Law."
"The Law." The word was bile on Bob's tongue. It was the Council's Law that had condemned him to an eternity of servitude for an act of love. The Law that had very nearly condemned Harry Dresden to death for the act of defending himself against his Uncle's evil. "Of course. What other reason could there be?" said Bob acidly. He abruptly vanished before he was tempted to say something far worse.
Morgan stood a moment longer, looking at the spot where the ghost had been.
"The Law," he reaffirmed to that empty space. "And … because Dresden needs you," he reluctantly concluded, as if the words had been dragged out of him.
Author: Cyloran
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Bob, Morgan
Prompt: 17. Jaded
Word Count: 665
Rating: G
Summary:
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me. Just passing through.
Notes: Missing scene from Things That Go Bump
Table: Here There be Ghosts
As silent as a shadow, Bob stood apart from the proceedings and, for all intents and purposes, ignored. A circumstance that, in this instance, suited him perfectly well.
Still weak from her ordeal, Ancient Mai offered little protest as her two remaining protectors prepared her for the journey back to the safety of the High Council's chambers. Amber, young and inexperienced and eager to please, offered encouraging words and a gentle touch. Morgan waited near at hand, his dark eyes filled with suspicion and keenly watching -- not Mai and his trainee but the environment in which they found themselves and those who dwelled within.
Bob could not help but wonder if all of the Council's Chief Wardens were formed from the same paranoid mold. Morgan shared so many traits with his predecessors that he might well have been the very same creature: fanatically loyal, unyielding, and quick to condemn and destroy with fierce, unquestioning obedience at the Council's command.
Morgan's eyes narrowed. "What are you looking at, ghost?" he demanded.
"The past," replied Bob with disdain as he abruptly turned and walked away, clearly dismissing Morgan, Amber, and their charge.
A blink later and suddenly Morgan was standing directly before him, an imposing ebony barrier. "If you think that these events have exposed a weakness in the High Council, think again. If you're looking for a means to revenge yourself-"
"I am looking for you to stop hounding Harry for one mistake and leave him be," countered Bob sharply, not the least bit intimidated. "He has suffered enough."
"Dresden can't be trusted."
"So you say. Yet you came to him for protection."
"There was no time and no choice," growled Morgan. "If it were up to me, we'd have sheltered elsewhere."
"And so would find yourself either trapped on the Other Side with the Dracoform or dead. Very probably both."
"We would have prevailed," insisted the Warden.
"Would you so? I sincerely doubt it but, please, by all means - keep telling yourself that," replied Bob, as if speaking to a mentally challenged student. Cold blue eyes met Morgan's in unflinching challenge. "Admit it, Morgan. Without Harry, you would be dead right now. You and your charges."
"I will admit nothing of the kind." Morgan's fingers tensed on the hilt of his sword, as if he wished nothing more than to lift the blade and dispose of his antagonist. "Neither of you can be trusted. Ever. Not Dresden. Not you." Dark eyes flashed. "Especially not you."
"You thought me useful enough an hour ago."
"Because you were expendable."
The comment did not anger the ghost as Morgan intended. Instead, surprisingly, the apparition merely sighed with exasperation and - weariness?
"Which begs a question I have longed to ask you for some time," replied Bob grimly. "If I am not to be trusted - if my existence is so terrible and dangerous, why suffer it at all? You need only destroy the skull to set your mind at ease." The ghost waved an elegant, pale hand to indicate the relic sitting upon a shelf. "Remove the protective wards and smash it to pieces. Destroy my soul forever and have done with it."
"Don't think that I haven't been tempted. But the artifact belongs to Dresden."
"Why does that make a difference?"
"It is the Law."
"The Law." The word was bile on Bob's tongue. It was the Council's Law that had condemned him to an eternity of servitude for an act of love. The Law that had very nearly condemned Harry Dresden to death for the act of defending himself against his Uncle's evil. "Of course. What other reason could there be?" said Bob acidly. He abruptly vanished before he was tempted to say something far worse.
Morgan stood a moment longer, looking at the spot where the ghost had been.
"The Law," he reaffirmed to that empty space. "And … because Dresden needs you," he reluctantly concluded, as if the words had been dragged out of him.