The Dresden Files / Bob / #10. Mystical
Title: Just Reward
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Bob, Harry
Prompt: 10. Mystical
Word Count: 1,247
Rating: PG
Summary: "The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it." ~ John Ruskin
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me; just passing through.
Notes: Spoilers and epilogue to Things That Go Bump
Table: Here There be Ghosts
Harry Dresden was in a good mood. Not surprising, considering what had transpired just a few hours before. Whistling a happy, if somewhat tuneless, little ditty, he closed the apartment door with a bump of his hip and shrugged out of his jacket.
"Hi honey, I'm home," he called. The cheeky grin he wore quickly faded when no snide and cutting rejoinder was forthcoming. Dammit.
Harry really couldn't blame Bob for subjecting him to a spectral cold shoulder. After all, he'd essentially ordered the ghost to risk his very existence by sending him out into the darkness that had swallowed the building and everyone within it. The distilled essence of death, as Bob had so eloquently described it; the memory of which only served to make Harry feel all the more guilty for betraying his trust.
Tossing his jacket over the back of the nearest chair, he went in search of the recalcitrant spirit. Since he'd placed Bob's skull inside the lab, that seemed the best place to begin.
"Careful," cautioned a sharp voice as Harry pushed open the portion of wall that concealed the entrance.
Pausing to peer around the door's edge, he was greeted by the disconcerting sight of Bob standing just a few inches away, his face literally buried within a thick, leather-bound volume.
"What are you doing?" asked Harry as he carefully edged inside.
"Refreshing myself on the power and nature of dracoforms," came the slightly muffled response. "I do not intend to be caught with my proverbial trousers down should we encounter another." Bob took a step back, pulling his essence from the pages of the book as he stood upright. "Page 437," he continued, turning to regard Harry. "You might wish to make a note of it and read the entry at your earliest convenience."
"I don't think we're likely to be invaded by dragons anytime soon, Bob."
"Nevertheless, one cannot be too careful. If this one had a mate or offspring…"
"Gee, thanks Bob." Harry made a sour face. "I really needed something to bring down my mood."
"Sorry," sniffed the necromancer stiffly. "I was just trying to be helpful."
"You've already been more than helpful. You saved our bacon back there."
It took a moment for Bob to translate that euphemism into a compliment. "I merely provided the information necessary to aid you in a solution," he replied with uncustomary modesty.
"Like I said." Harry sighed. "Look, Bob, I'm sorry. If there had been any other way than sending you out into that shit…"
"Had I been in your position, I would undoubtedly have done the same thing. In truth, there was no better candidate for the job."
"You could have said no."
Bob arched an elegant pale eyebrow. "In front of Mai and her wardens? I think not. Nor would I have. I was glad to be of service, Harry. Not to them, but to you." The alternative would have been unthinkable, for he had no doubt that Harry himself would have undertaken the attempt to walk through that infernal Darkness - and died. "No apology is necessary."
"Yes it is. Humor me, okay? It makes me feel better."
Bob quirked a tiny mile. "Very well."
"I'm sorry."
"And I accept your apology," he replied with a slight bow.
It didn't erase the guilt Harry felt for having risked Bob's existence, but it helped.
"At least the whole sordid affair is satisfactorily concluded," continued Bob, neatly turning the subject neatly away from the discomfort that threatened to settle between them. "Personally, I thought Mai and Morgan would never leave. Although I would not have minded Amber lingering. She was a comely wench and not as narrow minded as the other wardens."
"Yet."
"Yet," agreed Bob with a sigh.
Harry pursed his lips, his expression becoming thoughtful. "Ya know, come to think of it, they took their time clearing out, didn't they?"
"They did seem to linger overlong, yes."
"You don't suppose they were snooping around, do you?"
Now there was an unhappy thought. "I cannot say," Bob admitted. "Once the danger was averted and all set back to rights, I ceased to spy on our uninvited guests."
"Could they have taken something without us knowing it?"
"I cannot say with regard to the rest of the rooms, but there is nothing missing from the lab." When Harry's gaze moved to the rune-engraved skull on the worktable, Bob assured him, "No one so much as glanced its way."
"You sure about that?"
"They never set foot within this room. Of that I am certain." For one thing, any unauthorized entry would have activated a dozen protective wards.
"Absolutely certain?"
"Completely."
Harry's brows drew down into a deeper frown as he continued to consider the skull. If no one had entered the lab, why then did he feel as if something were missing. Something important?
Bob moved a bit closer, taking care not to touch the younger wizard. "You are troubled."
"You could say that. Thing is, I'm not really sure why." The longer Harry stood there, the more certain he was that something was amiss. But what? Damn it, it felt like it was staring right at him! Why couldn't he see?
And then it struck him.
Harry pointed to the skull. "There was a rune there."
"There are quite a number of runes there," said Bob dryly.
"No, I mean there. Right there." He touched the bone at the bridge of the nose, between the dark eye sockets. "And now it's not."
"What?" Bob instantly bent forward for a closer look and stared in confused surprise. "That isn't possible."
"But it is gone," confirmed Harry as he ran his fingertip over the tiny portion of unblemished surface. "Do you feel any different?"
"Not in the slightest. But then, I daresay the removal of one rune among a hundred would hardly be noticeable."
"Maybe not," Harry admitted. "Which rune was it?"
"One of several to ensure submission and obedience."
"And now it's gone. Maybe because it's not necessary." Harry turned from his contemplation of the skull to its owner. "Because you'd have gone out into that stuff even if I hadn't asked you to."
Bob shifted a bit uncomfortably, avoiding Harry's gaze. "I was the best candidate, as well you know." The only candidate, in fact.
"Yeah. That's what I thought." Because the old ghost considered himself expendable, while Harry was not. "You'd have risked yourself of your own free will. Not because some friggin curse made you do it." For me.
"Really, Harry. You don’t seriously mean to imply that Mai removed the rune as some manner of reward, do you? Good intentions or no, neither she nor the Council has ever given a damn about my welfare. Why should they start now?"
"It's not Mai's style, is it?"
"I am afraid not." Bob looked at him with undisguised affection. "But I thank you for the thought."
Still, Harry continued to rub his finger over that tiny, unblemished speck of bone long after the ghost had vanished back into his skull.
No, it wasn't Mai's style, or anyone else on the High Council, either. Yet Harry couldn't shake the feeling that something monumental had happened with the rune's disappearance. Had it been intended as a reward for Bob's selfless act? And if so, who was the benefactor? More importantly, could the remaining runes also be removed and the curse broken?
Harry preferred to think so. One down; ninety-nine to go.
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Bob, Harry
Prompt: 10. Mystical
Word Count: 1,247
Rating: PG
Summary: "The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it." ~ John Ruskin
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me; just passing through.
Notes: Spoilers and epilogue to Things That Go Bump
Table: Here There be Ghosts
Harry Dresden was in a good mood. Not surprising, considering what had transpired just a few hours before. Whistling a happy, if somewhat tuneless, little ditty, he closed the apartment door with a bump of his hip and shrugged out of his jacket.
"Hi honey, I'm home," he called. The cheeky grin he wore quickly faded when no snide and cutting rejoinder was forthcoming. Dammit.
Harry really couldn't blame Bob for subjecting him to a spectral cold shoulder. After all, he'd essentially ordered the ghost to risk his very existence by sending him out into the darkness that had swallowed the building and everyone within it. The distilled essence of death, as Bob had so eloquently described it; the memory of which only served to make Harry feel all the more guilty for betraying his trust.
Tossing his jacket over the back of the nearest chair, he went in search of the recalcitrant spirit. Since he'd placed Bob's skull inside the lab, that seemed the best place to begin.
"Careful," cautioned a sharp voice as Harry pushed open the portion of wall that concealed the entrance.
Pausing to peer around the door's edge, he was greeted by the disconcerting sight of Bob standing just a few inches away, his face literally buried within a thick, leather-bound volume.
"What are you doing?" asked Harry as he carefully edged inside.
"Refreshing myself on the power and nature of dracoforms," came the slightly muffled response. "I do not intend to be caught with my proverbial trousers down should we encounter another." Bob took a step back, pulling his essence from the pages of the book as he stood upright. "Page 437," he continued, turning to regard Harry. "You might wish to make a note of it and read the entry at your earliest convenience."
"I don't think we're likely to be invaded by dragons anytime soon, Bob."
"Nevertheless, one cannot be too careful. If this one had a mate or offspring…"
"Gee, thanks Bob." Harry made a sour face. "I really needed something to bring down my mood."
"Sorry," sniffed the necromancer stiffly. "I was just trying to be helpful."
"You've already been more than helpful. You saved our bacon back there."
It took a moment for Bob to translate that euphemism into a compliment. "I merely provided the information necessary to aid you in a solution," he replied with uncustomary modesty.
"Like I said." Harry sighed. "Look, Bob, I'm sorry. If there had been any other way than sending you out into that shit…"
"Had I been in your position, I would undoubtedly have done the same thing. In truth, there was no better candidate for the job."
"You could have said no."
Bob arched an elegant pale eyebrow. "In front of Mai and her wardens? I think not. Nor would I have. I was glad to be of service, Harry. Not to them, but to you." The alternative would have been unthinkable, for he had no doubt that Harry himself would have undertaken the attempt to walk through that infernal Darkness - and died. "No apology is necessary."
"Yes it is. Humor me, okay? It makes me feel better."
Bob quirked a tiny mile. "Very well."
"I'm sorry."
"And I accept your apology," he replied with a slight bow.
It didn't erase the guilt Harry felt for having risked Bob's existence, but it helped.
"At least the whole sordid affair is satisfactorily concluded," continued Bob, neatly turning the subject neatly away from the discomfort that threatened to settle between them. "Personally, I thought Mai and Morgan would never leave. Although I would not have minded Amber lingering. She was a comely wench and not as narrow minded as the other wardens."
"Yet."
"Yet," agreed Bob with a sigh.
Harry pursed his lips, his expression becoming thoughtful. "Ya know, come to think of it, they took their time clearing out, didn't they?"
"They did seem to linger overlong, yes."
"You don't suppose they were snooping around, do you?"
Now there was an unhappy thought. "I cannot say," Bob admitted. "Once the danger was averted and all set back to rights, I ceased to spy on our uninvited guests."
"Could they have taken something without us knowing it?"
"I cannot say with regard to the rest of the rooms, but there is nothing missing from the lab." When Harry's gaze moved to the rune-engraved skull on the worktable, Bob assured him, "No one so much as glanced its way."
"You sure about that?"
"They never set foot within this room. Of that I am certain." For one thing, any unauthorized entry would have activated a dozen protective wards.
"Absolutely certain?"
"Completely."
Harry's brows drew down into a deeper frown as he continued to consider the skull. If no one had entered the lab, why then did he feel as if something were missing. Something important?
Bob moved a bit closer, taking care not to touch the younger wizard. "You are troubled."
"You could say that. Thing is, I'm not really sure why." The longer Harry stood there, the more certain he was that something was amiss. But what? Damn it, it felt like it was staring right at him! Why couldn't he see?
And then it struck him.
Harry pointed to the skull. "There was a rune there."
"There are quite a number of runes there," said Bob dryly.
"No, I mean there. Right there." He touched the bone at the bridge of the nose, between the dark eye sockets. "And now it's not."
"What?" Bob instantly bent forward for a closer look and stared in confused surprise. "That isn't possible."
"But it is gone," confirmed Harry as he ran his fingertip over the tiny portion of unblemished surface. "Do you feel any different?"
"Not in the slightest. But then, I daresay the removal of one rune among a hundred would hardly be noticeable."
"Maybe not," Harry admitted. "Which rune was it?"
"One of several to ensure submission and obedience."
"And now it's gone. Maybe because it's not necessary." Harry turned from his contemplation of the skull to its owner. "Because you'd have gone out into that stuff even if I hadn't asked you to."
Bob shifted a bit uncomfortably, avoiding Harry's gaze. "I was the best candidate, as well you know." The only candidate, in fact.
"Yeah. That's what I thought." Because the old ghost considered himself expendable, while Harry was not. "You'd have risked yourself of your own free will. Not because some friggin curse made you do it." For me.
"Really, Harry. You don’t seriously mean to imply that Mai removed the rune as some manner of reward, do you? Good intentions or no, neither she nor the Council has ever given a damn about my welfare. Why should they start now?"
"It's not Mai's style, is it?"
"I am afraid not." Bob looked at him with undisguised affection. "But I thank you for the thought."
Still, Harry continued to rub his finger over that tiny, unblemished speck of bone long after the ghost had vanished back into his skull.
No, it wasn't Mai's style, or anyone else on the High Council, either. Yet Harry couldn't shake the feeling that something monumental had happened with the rune's disappearance. Had it been intended as a reward for Bob's selfless act? And if so, who was the benefactor? More importantly, could the remaining runes also be removed and the curse broken?
Harry preferred to think so. One down; ninety-nine to go.