Ethan Godfrey (thearrowhead) wrote in btvsal, @ 2010-09-28 14:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | ethan godfrey, place: la, ~robert crawford |
So We Meet Again, Mr. Crawford...
Who: Ethan Godfrey & Introducing Robert Crawford
Where: Random church
When: Sept. 8th, late afternoon. (Backdated like whoa.)
Rachelle had called Ethan the other day, letting him know when that dinner with her and Neely was, which was tomorrow. Little did Ethan know that very different plans would unfold tomorrow evening, but that was niether here nor there for the time being.
While he'd constructed his own prayer stand for his own personal use at the Hyperion, Ethan needed the comfort the inside of a church often gave him. Which was how Ethan came to end up back in the chruch he'd been staying at until the Hyperion had been deemed ready for Slayers and Watchers to move into, if necessary.
As soon as Ethan stepped into the church, the blissful, calming silence enveloped him. The achingly familiar smells of the church assaulted his senses and the Hunter finally found the modicum of peace he'd been seeking since Rachelle's phone call. Ethan picked a middle pew and sank to his knees.
Churches had always been soothing to Robert, probably a result of his upbringing with the fervent religious zeal of the Inquisitors. Things had been getting really crazy around town lately, and it was getting worse. In fact, if it hadn't been for his training, he'd probably have been dead many many times over, or even succumbed to an even worse fate. "Better dead than undead" was a thought that had echoed through his mind many many times over the past couple weeks as he fought with the things that he'd been trained from birth to combat.
These things and more were what brought the young man to the church this evening. Kneeling and praying fervently near the altar he was dressed in his armor and cowl, his sword unsheathed before him, his ears picked up the sounds of someone else entering. Someone whose footsteps almost seemed familiar to him, but he quickly banished such thoughts. If he were to allow his prayers to waver, he might fall from favor and be forsaken at what might be the most dangerous hunt in his life.
Ethan had been so absorbed in his current problem, that he'd failed to notice, at first, the figure knelt in front of the altar. When he looked up, the Hunter stopped in mid-sentence. There was no mistaking the uniform, the stance, the set of the shoulders...All the visuals caused a flood of emotions in Ethan; Chief among them was his shame all those years ago and the sadness at the end of a friendship. Ethan and Robert had not parted on the best of terms.
As he finished his prayer, Robert became keenly aware that there was an almost palpable silence hanging in the air and he somehow knew that the incredibly familiar presence was exactly who he'd suspected it was.
"You're supposed to be dead. I was told that they'd sent a disciplinary squad after you and Satan's whore." he stated as he got back to his feet, not even turning to face his former friend.
"They did," Ethan replied quietly. He finally lifted his gaze to Robert's back, "...When they found me, I was already dead for all intents and purposes." By the time the small group had found Ethan and Irene, he'd made Irene disappear...and faked his own death with the help of a vampire. At the time, he'd loathed it, but Yoshiro had proven himself capable on more than one occasion of being helpful and respectable.
"So I see." Robert responded in a rather flat tone, his eyes narrowing behind the cowl he wore when he was performing his duties as an Inquisitor. "You are aware that after your betrayal they watched us all far closer than they ever had before, watching us for the slightest sign of potentially betraying the ideals to which we were raised."
Sheathing his sword, the Inquisitor walked up the aisle towards the Hunter, but it was obvious that he was ready to act at a moment's notice, should Ethan decide to launch some sort of attack.
"If I didn't know better, I'd have thought I might be laying eyes upon some sort of demon taking the guise of Ethan Godfrey, but we're standing on consecrated ground. So what are you doing here, seeing as how you turned your back on the Church." he added, leaving the accusation to hang in the air.
A dry laugh came from Ethan, "Turned my..." He sputtered and laughed again with a shake of his head, "I have never turned my back on the Church!" Ethan bit back anything else he was going to say as it was pointless to get angry, to give Robert's brainwashed ideals any more fodder than he'd already given him. The younger man closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself and then opened them to look at Robert again, "...I still pray every day, Robert. God always listens."
"You threw away everything. Your home, your calling, for some girl. You were a part of something special, Ethan. You were helping to turn back the tides of the Evil One, yet you gave that all up!" the armored man responded, finding that seeing his long-lost friend for the first time in many years combined with the present events was resulting in his having issues keeping his fervor for the cause.
Ethan nodded, "Of course I gave it up! They were going to commit a sin against an innocent woman, Robert! Did you conviently forget, Thou shalt not kill, or does that not apply to human beings anymore?"
Shaking his head, Robert seemed weary, as if this were a conversation he'd had far too many times before. "If they choose to ally themselves with demons, then it doesn't. They also say Suffer not a witch to live or did you learn nothing from what the Captain told us as children?" he spat back. Almost as soon as he said it, Rob wished he hadn't. Even mentioning the Captain, whose sword he carried, was a painful memory for Rob, one that he himself didn't like reliving.
"But I tire of debating rhetoric with you, Ethan. I suggest you keep yourself off the streets. The entire Order has come here as of late to fight the impending apocalypse, and I doubt you'd find any of our brothers who would be willing to let you live if they found you." he cautioned, not sure whether or not to let Ethan know that while the Order had come to town, they'd also taken heavy casualties over the past few days.
Robert was not the only one that felt the loss of a commrade. At the mention of the Captain who had taught them everything they knew, an awkward pause descended between the two men. Ethan still felt the loss as well as Robert, but he knew the slightly older man had been much more affected by the Captain's death than he.
After a moment passed, Ethan quietly responded, "Thank you for your concern, Robert, but I'm quite capable of taking care of myself as you should well know." Ethan had considered Robert like a brother, and it had hurt, painfully, when he was forced to leave.
"Yes, I'm well aware. In days like these, we indeed could make use of one so skilled." Robert acknowledged somewhat grudgingly. "But the fact remains that you have allied with the enemy. You allowed that... creature to lead you away from the light. I will spare you in honor of the fact that you were once as my brother, but my warning remains. Should any of the Order find you in days such as these, they may not take the time to converse as we have."
With that, Robby took a deep breath and once more began striding across the sanctuary of the Church towards the doors, not knowing what may be awaiting him outside. "Maybe if I survive this night, we shall meet again. I do pray, however that no matter what the outcome of tomorrow may be that we both find our peace."