Gaius 'no more Mister Nice Gaius' Travers (excelsior) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-08-15 03:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1980-08] august, gaius travers, james potter |
14/15 August 1980.
WHO: James Potter and Gaius Travers
WHAT: Going to Vegas. Surprise!
WHERE: Vegas, duh.
WHEN: 14/15 August 1980.
STATUS: Complete.
James didn't know what he was doing. Well, he knew in that sort of obvious way, that he was hear in the house, with an unconscious Gaius, who was magically tied to a chair and sporting a very broken arm, but in the more existential way of what the fuck am I doing he had no clue. He wanted answers, he deserved answers, and he was going to get them. He was angry and he was shaking and he tried to force himself to think of Lily, or Harry, or Sirius to calm down, but then it only came up in a blur of how he'd missed the last seven weeks of his best friend's life because of the man sitting there in front of him. The room was dimly lit and the furniture from an era long gone. The air smelled stale and it only added to the surreal reality James had made for himself. "Rennervate." James was glaring daggers at Gaius and his wand was pointed at the Death Eater's face. "You'd better talk fast," James said in a low voice, sounding more like his Uncle Charlus when he was angry than he'd have liked. Gaius had no idea where he was when he opened his eyes. He could only see the darkness surrounding them -- and James. His broken arm throbbed as he instinctively leaned against the ropes binding him, ignoring the headache that nearly robbed him of what little vision he had in the room they occupied. Whether from panic, pain or actual heat, sweat began beading on his forehead and the back of his neck, dripping down from behind his ears. "James," he said, voice coming in a croak. "What is it that you want to hear, exactly? I had nothing to do with what happened to them." "I want to hear what you had to do with me," James snapped. "I want to hear the truth. Remus took me, and I know you didn't put that in my head, but you told Marly was in on it and I don't believe you. And I don't believe Lily was in on it, but I want you to tell me. I want the truth," he said, his own voice sounding shaky as what he was doing finally started to catch up with his brain. "You did this to me," he accused. "Made me all fucked up and crazy. You want to see me practice crucios?" he asked, half laughing. "Want to see me act like a Death Eater? Cause I can show you what I learned." He kicked the leg of Gaius's chair and knocked the whole thing over with him in it, the ropes pressing into him even harder. "I thought you were my friend. I trusted you." The ground came up to meet Gaius when the chair fell, knocking his head against the hard floor and rubbing sections of his skin raw where the rope rubbed against them. He let out a sharp cry of pain that was very much involuntary but he bit his lip to hold in the pathetic whimper that rushed to follow it. The last time he'd been tied up, he'd felt almost this helpless, but this time, there wasn't a hag to tear through the ropes. It was just him and his entirely too-mortal body. "Just because you do not believe me," he said after a moment, sounding out of breath. "That does not mean I am not telling you the truth." He doubted very much that anything he could say in this position could change his mind -- he could brainwash people and influence them to think what he wanted, but he couldn't perform miracles. First, he'd need his wand. "Let me go, James." "Fuck you," was James's very mature response. He used his wand to right the chair. "How's your arm feel?" he asked, meanly. "Bet it'd be nice if I'd fix it for you, wouldn't it? Bet it'd be nice if there were healers here, or your friends, or somebody, but they're never going to find you. No one knows this house exists. So you start talking or you learn to love these four walls because you're going to be seeing a lot of them," he warned. He took a few steps back to lean against the arm of a tattered sofa. "How long does it take an isolated person to break?" he asked. "You're the expert. How long do you think you have it in you to keep lying to me?" At James' righting the chair, Gaius groaned in spite of himself as the ropes dug into the areas they'd already left sans several layers of skin. He wasn't completely sure what James had done to his arm or if he'd done anything else to him while he'd been unconscious. He strained against the ropes enough to look down, trying to investigate the damage, but it only caused more pain and he gave up after a few short moments. He needed to find a way out. He couldn't be in the same place with James while he was like this. He knew what he could do -- he'd heard it from those he'd actually fought. He should have been more careful. He shouldn't have trusted him. He shouldn't have ever been so stupid as to consider him a friend, as if that were at all possible. "You should know by now that I am not exceedingly popular among my peers," he said, furrowing his brow. Beyond the inevitably instinct of self-preservation, Gaius told himself that he was ready to take whatever James had to give in order to protect the few that he actually cared about. He couldn't allow them to be used against him -- not again. "You were my only friend, James. I trusted you." "You're here because I considered you a friend," James said evenly. "If you were anyone else I'd be turning you over to Jo and the ex-Ministry or the Order and I'd let them get information out of you. I know Lily would like a turn at you," he added. "But manipulation and those first two weeks aside you were decent," he said quietly, some of his anger waning. "But if you won't tell me the truth, I'll find another way to get it. You might not have friends, but you have your sisters," he warned. "And Livi is so sweet. Maybe I'll offer to help her look for you," he said. It was bullshit-- after what James and Lily had done to Iago and Atticus there was no way in hell he'd be getting back near anyone but he'd taken Gaius before Gaius had a chance to know that. These threats held water. "How long do you think she'd hold up?" he asked. "Do you think she'd like to see all my new spells?" he added innocently. "You did this to me. I wasn't this person before. You made me into this and you'd better fucking tell me the truth and fix it or so help me what's left of your life is going to be shit!" He sent a blasting hex at one of the back legs of the chair and it tipped again, though the bindings held. Again the bindings tore at him and again Gaius winced, clenching his teeth together in an attempt to bite back the signs of how much this was hurting him. The immediate anger that rose in him as soon as James mentioned Lavinia was only distracted by the pain, but it returned as soon as the initial shock of falling -- again -- subsided. "I swear to Merlin if you go anywhere near her, I do not care who you are or what I consider you, i will make you regret it. She's just a girl. She doesn't need to be involved in this." He tried once again to struggle against the ropes holding him, hoping that they'd been loosened by the fall, but it was hopeless. He was trapped here and sure that James would eventually kill him, with or without answers. And if not, he was sure that he would turn him over to the terrorists just as he'd said. "You don't want to do this, James," he said after a moment's pause, sounding far calmer than he had before but much weaker than he'd have preferred. "You don't want to become a monster. You are a good person, I know it. Do not let your misplaced anger change that." "I was a good person," James said evenly. "When the ex-Ministry people had all those girls hostage I was totally against it. I wouldn't hurt a woman, I wouldn't hurt someone who was innocent-- That was James Potter. I don't know who the hell I am now. I don't know what I'm capable of. And all I'm asking is for some guidance," James said. He walked over to where Gaius was, helpless on the floor and picked up the chair leg that he'd hexed off to tip him. He flipped it in his hand like a toy beater's bat and leaned down on one knee. "So tell me who betrayed me, and who didn't, and Lavinia won't ever learn what this feels like," he said, right before slamming the chair piece down on Gaius's broken arm, right over the wrist. He let the wood drop and stood up. "You've got five minutes before I'm expected elsewhere. Tell me what I want to know." The pain that coursed upward from his damage wrist was unlike anything Gaius had felt in months -- right now, it seemed worse than Bellatrix's Cruciatus and more painful than being set on fire or having his stomach torn open by some stupid tree. That was likely only the immediateness of it speaking or a combination of the feeling of his jagged, broken bones grinding against each other and the completely disarming vulnerability he had no choice but to feel in his current predicament. Tears stung the backs of his eyes and he closed them, not wanting James to see him that way, and rested his head against the cold of the floor. "Please let me go," he said, sounding fainter and weaker than he had before. "Let me help you." James lost his breath slightly as he realized what he'd just done. This wasn't him. This wasn't him. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt her," James said. He used a repairing charm to stick the piece of wood back to the chair and tip it back up. He rewarded the binding spells twice just in case and then bent down on one knee in front of Gaius to look at his wrist. "You could help me by admitting that Lily had nothing to do with me being taken," he said quietly. "You could tell the truth and I would let you go." James wasn't a healer by any means but his Quidditch bone repair experience made it possible for him to mend Gaius's wrist at least enough to make it less excruciating. "But until then, you're staying here, and you'll put up with my moods when I visit and you'll put up with these walls when I don't," he sound icily. "And if you hear scuffling upstairs it's me and your sister. You did this to me, and if you'd fix me, I'd be the James Potter who didn't believe in torture. Until then? You're fucked." Gaius shut his eyes tighter and he swallowed back the 'thank you' he'd had halfway out of his mouth when James mentioned his sister again. The surge of anger and adrenaline rushing through him made his lungs refuse to work -- he couldn't get a breath of air to speak, couldn't do any more than open his eyes to glare at him. The pain in his wrist had subsided, but the idea of anything happening to his sister again because of him was much worse. He couldn't help but imagine what he might do to her -- what some one like James, with his sordid past marriage and veritable sex obsession might do while he was stuck in a basement somewhere, helpless to keep her from seeing the world the way he was beginning to see it. "Let me go," he insisted again when he could finally breathe. "You are only making things worse for yourself. She's just a girl. She has done nothing to anyone. Her innocence is not a prize that will make you feel better about youself, Potter." James laughed, understanding the insinuation there. "Your sister's virtue is your responsibility and you're doing precious little to protect it, tied up in a chair in the middle of a vacant house, on a vacant road, in a vacant corner in the middle of fucking nowhere." James stood up. "I'm done with this conversation. You had your chance. If you'd have been a friend to me I'd have been a friend to you, but we're not getting anywhere," James said. He wasn't leaving Gaius with anything to eat or drink and no way to get to a restroom. It was cruel but not much less than James had been put through in isolation. "I will be back, but I can't say when. Guess it depends on Uncle Charlus's schedule for me." "James," Gaius called out, feeling completely panicked at the idea of being alone -- he had patients to attend to in addition to protecting his sisters, serving his Lord and doing everything else that needed doing. There was no time for him to be locked away at James' discretion. "James, please. Let me go." In his panic, he tried to keep his wits about him -- maybe if he gave him something, even something small, he would let him go. "I don't know if Marlene and Lily were involved," he said, a rush of words escaping his mouth having barely been thought through. There had to be some way to create doubt -- without it, all of this work was for nothing. Gaius didn't know if it was worth anything even now, after what he'd done, but maybe the situation could be remedied. Maybe he could find some way to fix it. "But Remus brought you to me. And how could his own wife not know? And if she knew, it seems fairly likely that Evans would have suspected something herself. It all fits, James." "You were betrayed." James looked at Gaius and considered what he said, chewing on his bottom lip as he tended to do when he was deep in thought. Sirius's words kept coming back to him. "And why would Lily be trying so hard to get me back then?" he asked. "Why would she send me somewhere to have me fixed only to beg me back? If she'd wanted me dead I was sleeping next to her every night. It doesn't make sense, and you're the reason I couldn't see that until today." James shook his head. "I'd hoped that you'd help me but maybe you just need more time," he said, using a very fake calm voice. "And I'm willing to give you that." And without another word he was out the door, locking it magically and then resetting the wards. He needed to go see Lily. |