It's taken me weeks to post this (I'm really terribly self-concious when it comes to my own writing, especially since I haven't written fanfiction in years!) but here goes...
challenge: Interaction between dead characters
He woke up in a bright place, too bright for it to seem real, and for a few seconds the light hurt his eyes too much for his surroundings to be clear to him.
Lindsey realized that he was lying on the ground, it was hard but soft at the same time, covered with a layer of moist green grass that came into focus in an almost bizarre manner. Green grass? Sunshine? Chirping birds?
Was this real? It didn't seem like his reality. He recalled darkness, pain and sharp piercing sounds.
"Hello Lindsey."
A serene voice spoke gently and quickly Lindsey pushed himself up, half crouching in a shielded stance, raising his arms to protect his head but found himself staring not at a threat but into the wide and benign eyes of a beautiful young woman.
She was sitting on a soft pale blue blanket, her hair was light brown, shimmered almost in gold, and her bright eyes were as heavily lidded as her lips were plump. She wore a dress, it looked old-fashioned, turquoise and gold in shades and next to her lay a little deer, leaning against her thigh while she patted it softly.
Seeing no immediate danger Lindsey sat up, lowered his arms and gave the surroundings another glance. He was in a clearing, almost fairy-tale like, with a slow flowing creek, a bushy green forrest surrounding them and small colorful birds and butterflies flying through the sunshine drenched air.
It more than a little freaked him out. Where the hell was he?
"Who are you? Where am I?" He demanded instantly.
There was a long pause where the woman only smiled kindly at him, secretly almost, and kept patting the kid next to her.
When her silence began to bear signifigance to him he sighed. "Hello to you too..." he slowly replied to her previous greeting. "Now who are you?"
The woman smiled again. "My name is not important."
"Hell it is!" He barked.
"I'm Tara."
Finding no solace in this knowledge he jumped to his feet and flung his arms out in frustration.
"And this place?"
"Goes by many names. Some might even be familiar to you."
"Name one of them."
She only smiled enigmatically, continuing to stroke the animal, feeding it little bits of grass every now and then.
Lindsey just watched her for a while, willing her to speak, willing his own mind to come to terms with whatever weird dimension he had been sucked into. It took him a long moment before the last events he remembered resurfaced in his mind. His body sagged with an exhausted sigh at the realization.
"I'm dead aren't I?" He asked the woman. "Angel's flunkie..." Barely containing a wave of rage he shook with frustration, balling his fists and gritting his teeth at the memory of those shots.
She looked up at him and tilted her head gingerly to the side. "That's not important either."
"Are you kidding me lady? That's the only thing that's important. I'm dead! What else could possibly matter?"
When Tara only smiled again Lindsey groaned at the look she gave him.
"Oh stop with the enigmatic bullshit. I worked for Wolfram and Hart, I know a mystical force when I see one. You don't need to convince me that this is some kind of mojo place. I get it."
Tara nodded her head evenly. "Agitation is common at this stage. I remember the feeling. Your earthly coil still lingers. It'll fade with time... probably."
"And what's this? Some kind of crossroads? Limbo?"
"Your life was always at a crossroads Lindsey. We are our actions. Choices... that's what matters. Especially here."
"And you're what? Some kind of spirit guide? Here to show me the errors of my ways? Well Marley you can put your shackles aside cause I know the errors of my ways and I think we both know that there are no pearly gates waiting for me."
He was about to stalk off into the surrounding forrest, wide and unknown though it was, when she spoke again. This time with a sharper and louder tone of voice.
"Do you want to know why you're here Lindsey?"
He stopped instantly, felt tempted in flinging a flippant barb her way, but was cowed by his own need of knowing. "I... yes..." Grumpily he added. "And I'll take that explanation of where ''here'' is too."
Tara looked up from the deer and into his eyes with an unforeseen directness. "Your contract with Wolfram and Hart extends past your human life."
This was not news to Lindsey.
"So why aren't I in their hell-zone doing corporate filing for an eternity?"
"This I don't now."
He snorted. "Not imporant right?"
"I know you have a choice."
The clearness of her voice, the brightness of her eyes, in combination with her words caused Lindsey to chuckle. Choice? He was dead. What kind of choices did he have? Shaking his head, grunting again, he rolled his eyes at the banality of the word now.
"Don't tell me this is some place where I have to make some kind of eternal afterlife choice between good and evil? I thought I passed that line many, many years ago."
Tara smiled tragically, her shoulders rolling back in a half-shrug.
"The afterlife isn't quite so simple as you may think, I'm afraid there are plenty of gray areas here too. But you do get a choice."
She opened her hands and from nowhere a set of documents appeared into her open palms.
"Contracts? Know I know you're kidding." Though derisive in his tone Lindsey peered curiously at them and stepped closer, sinking into a crouch to accept the papers when she handed them his way. They looked like contracts similar to those he had signed so many years ago to a certain law firm, well aware of the consequences of that action, or so he had thought at least.
He peered down at the printed text. Within seconds what he read infuriated him.
"Are you freaking kidding me? You want me to be some kind of guide? To help Angel? Angel!"
Tara remained calm. "If need be."
"He killed me!"
"He's of great importance to some."
"He killed me! Had me shot!" He slapped his own chest where the bullets had pierced his skin, getting another wave of fury at the thought of what that green skinned demon had done to him. What Angel had made him do.
"I don't make he rules Lindsey."
Lindsey shot to his feet again, he stalked a few steps away from her but then turned around and headed back, furiously waving the documents in her beautiful face. "You're crazy! Who are you? Why are you guiding me? You've got the wrong guy, I don't know you lady. If you're my spirit guide shouldn't know I know you? Shouldn't you be someone familiar like my dead grandfather or someone?"
Tara stood up to face him.
He took a step back.
She smiled again, still frustratingly peaceful in her demeanor. "This world does not exist to appease or comfort you Lindsey. I'm here to inform you, who I am... well I'm no one. I'm everyone... I'm just a messenger. Nothing more." She tilted her head to the side and gave the documents a nod. "It doesn't really matter who I am or why I was chosen to be here."
Lindsey, taking a moment to breathe looked at the papers in his hands. "Signing these will protect me from Wolfram and Hart?"
"To violate one you have to sign another. I am sorry but that is how it needs to be done." For a second she looked very sad. Then she smiled again. "It was a pleasure meeting you Lindsey McDonald. I really wish I could help you... but the choice is yours."
When Lindsey looked up from the documents in his hands the woman was gone, the baby deer still lay on the blanket she had been sitting upon and just as he was about to turn away he noticed that next to it something shimmered.
Lindsey frowned and crouched down, leaning closer to inspect the shiny surface of an old looking but pristine dagger. He took it into his hand, gazed at the peacefully resting kid, then he looked down at the contacts in his other hand.... choices...
The word had never seemed heavier on his mind than now.
challenge: Interaction between dead characters
Lindsey in Limbo
He woke up in a bright place, too bright for it to seem real, and for a few seconds the light hurt his eyes too much for his surroundings to be clear to him.
Lindsey realized that he was lying on the ground, it was hard but soft at the same time, covered with a layer of moist green grass that came into focus in an almost bizarre manner. Green grass? Sunshine? Chirping birds?
Was this real? It didn't seem like his reality. He recalled darkness, pain and sharp piercing sounds.
"Hello Lindsey."
A serene voice spoke gently and quickly Lindsey pushed himself up, half crouching in a shielded stance, raising his arms to protect his head but found himself staring not at a threat but into the wide and benign eyes of a beautiful young woman.
She was sitting on a soft pale blue blanket, her hair was light brown, shimmered almost in gold, and her bright eyes were as heavily lidded as her lips were plump. She wore a dress, it looked old-fashioned, turquoise and gold in shades and next to her lay a little deer, leaning against her thigh while she patted it softly.
Seeing no immediate danger Lindsey sat up, lowered his arms and gave the surroundings another glance. He was in a clearing, almost fairy-tale like, with a slow flowing creek, a bushy green forrest surrounding them and small colorful birds and butterflies flying through the sunshine drenched air.
It more than a little freaked him out. Where the hell was he?
"Who are you? Where am I?" He demanded instantly.
There was a long pause where the woman only smiled kindly at him, secretly almost, and kept patting the kid next to her.
When her silence began to bear signifigance to him he sighed. "Hello to you too..." he slowly replied to her previous greeting. "Now who are you?"
The woman smiled again. "My name is not important."
"Hell it is!" He barked.
"I'm Tara."
Finding no solace in this knowledge he jumped to his feet and flung his arms out in frustration.
"And this place?"
"Goes by many names. Some might even be familiar to you."
"Name one of them."
She only smiled enigmatically, continuing to stroke the animal, feeding it little bits of grass every now and then.
Lindsey just watched her for a while, willing her to speak, willing his own mind to come to terms with whatever weird dimension he had been sucked into. It took him a long moment before the last events he remembered resurfaced in his mind. His body sagged with an exhausted sigh at the realization.
"I'm dead aren't I?" He asked the woman. "Angel's flunkie..." Barely containing a wave of rage he shook with frustration, balling his fists and gritting his teeth at the memory of those shots.
She looked up at him and tilted her head gingerly to the side. "That's not important either."
"Are you kidding me lady? That's the only thing that's important. I'm dead! What else could possibly matter?"
When Tara only smiled again Lindsey groaned at the look she gave him.
"Oh stop with the enigmatic bullshit. I worked for Wolfram and Hart, I know a mystical force when I see one. You don't need to convince me that this is some kind of mojo place. I get it."
Tara nodded her head evenly. "Agitation is common at this stage. I remember the feeling. Your earthly coil still lingers. It'll fade with time... probably."
"And what's this? Some kind of crossroads? Limbo?"
"Your life was always at a crossroads Lindsey. We are our actions. Choices... that's what matters. Especially here."
"And you're what? Some kind of spirit guide? Here to show me the errors of my ways? Well Marley you can put your shackles aside cause I know the errors of my ways and I think we both know that there are no pearly gates waiting for me."
He was about to stalk off into the surrounding forrest, wide and unknown though it was, when she spoke again. This time with a sharper and louder tone of voice.
"Do you want to know why you're here Lindsey?"
He stopped instantly, felt tempted in flinging a flippant barb her way, but was cowed by his own need of knowing. "I... yes..." Grumpily he added. "And I'll take that explanation of where ''here'' is too."
Tara looked up from the deer and into his eyes with an unforeseen directness. "Your contract with Wolfram and Hart extends past your human life."
This was not news to Lindsey.
"So why aren't I in their hell-zone doing corporate filing for an eternity?"
"This I don't now."
He snorted. "Not imporant right?"
"I know you have a choice."
The clearness of her voice, the brightness of her eyes, in combination with her words caused Lindsey to chuckle. Choice? He was dead. What kind of choices did he have? Shaking his head, grunting again, he rolled his eyes at the banality of the word now.
"Don't tell me this is some place where I have to make some kind of eternal afterlife choice between good and evil? I thought I passed that line many, many years ago."
Tara smiled tragically, her shoulders rolling back in a half-shrug.
"The afterlife isn't quite so simple as you may think, I'm afraid there are plenty of gray areas here too. But you do get a choice."
She opened her hands and from nowhere a set of documents appeared into her open palms.
"Contracts? Know I know you're kidding." Though derisive in his tone Lindsey peered curiously at them and stepped closer, sinking into a crouch to accept the papers when she handed them his way. They looked like contracts similar to those he had signed so many years ago to a certain law firm, well aware of the consequences of that action, or so he had thought at least.
He peered down at the printed text. Within seconds what he read infuriated him.
"Are you freaking kidding me? You want me to be some kind of guide? To help Angel? Angel!"
Tara remained calm. "If need be."
"He killed me!"
"He's of great importance to some."
"He killed me! Had me shot!" He slapped his own chest where the bullets had pierced his skin, getting another wave of fury at the thought of what that green skinned demon had done to him. What Angel had made him do.
"I don't make he rules Lindsey."
Lindsey shot to his feet again, he stalked a few steps away from her but then turned around and headed back, furiously waving the documents in her beautiful face. "You're crazy! Who are you? Why are you guiding me? You've got the wrong guy, I don't know you lady. If you're my spirit guide shouldn't know I know you? Shouldn't you be someone familiar like my dead grandfather or someone?"
Tara stood up to face him.
He took a step back.
She smiled again, still frustratingly peaceful in her demeanor. "This world does not exist to appease or comfort you Lindsey. I'm here to inform you, who I am... well I'm no one. I'm everyone... I'm just a messenger. Nothing more." She tilted her head to the side and gave the documents a nod. "It doesn't really matter who I am or why I was chosen to be here."
Lindsey, taking a moment to breathe looked at the papers in his hands. "Signing these will protect me from Wolfram and Hart?"
"To violate one you have to sign another. I am sorry but that is how it needs to be done." For a second she looked very sad. Then she smiled again. "It was a pleasure meeting you Lindsey McDonald. I really wish I could help you... but the choice is yours."
When Lindsey looked up from the documents in his hands the woman was gone, the baby deer still lay on the blanket she had been sitting upon and just as he was about to turn away he noticed that next to it something shimmered.
Lindsey frowned and crouched down, leaning closer to inspect the shiny surface of an old looking but pristine dagger. He took it into his hand, gazed at the peacefully resting kid, then he looked down at the contacts in his other hand.... choices...
The word had never seemed heavier on his mind than now.
-END-