stilljustandrew | (no subject)

(no subject)

It's been dark for hours when they get to the empty warehouse. Andrew's visibly on edge, looking into the shadows and trying to stare in all directions at once, until Jonathan finds the unbolted door that let him out the first time and lets them both in now.

"We're gonna need some light," he says in an undertone as Jonathan closes the door behind them.

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She gives Jonathan a look composed of irritation over poorly-hidden wariness. "How do you even know D'Hoffryn?"

"We don't," Andrew says. "But, uh ... apparently he knows me."

He digs into his pocket, and comes up with a battered notebook. It's open to a page with a fairly recognizeable sigil drawn on it, and a certain incantation below.

"We could call him right now and ask him what he thinks," he offers, falsely bright. "I'm sure he won't mind."

"Seems to me you've got three choices," Jonathan says matter-of-factly. "You can undo the wish voluntarily. Or we can take that shiny bracelet by force and make you human. Or we can call D'Hoffryn and rat you out. So what's it going to be, Cia?"

Her mouth drops open. "How did y -- who says the bracelet's my power source?"

"I knew you have to keep it with you," he informs her. "And actually, it was a guess, but you just told me."

Another stare, and then her mouth snaps shut into a tight hard line of fury.

"Not very good at watching your words, are you," he observes rhetorically. "It's up to you where we go from here."

She glares from him to Andrew -- and suddenly smirks.

"Interesting choice of words. Maybe it should be up to you where we go from here, Levinson. After all, you've got the most to lose."

"What do you mean?" he asks warily, eyeing her.

"You know what never happened in this reality?" She takes another step toward him, still smirking. "You getting brought back to life by some wanna-Power-that-Be. Guess what that means."

He stares at her, with a flickering glance at Andrew.

"...I didn't pay the price."

"... what?" Andrew stares at him, then at Cia. "What price?"

"The price for getting brought back to life," Jonathan says swiftly, his stare at Cia turning challenging. Don't you dare.

"Was it worth it?" She spreads her hands, as though offering him a look at their surroundings. "Is it gonna be worth putting everything back like it was?"

"This isn't how the world is meant to be," Jonathan says quietly. "I don't belong here."

"You don't belong anywhere," she tells him. "You belong dead."

"Shut up," says Andrew abruptly, his voice shaking. "No he doesn't."

"Maybe," Jonathan tells her, "but I'm not. And I'm going to make the best of the second chance."

"Even if it means --?"

"Even if it means," he cuts her off, but he doesn't, for now, press on the issue of the wish. His eyes are troubled.

"What does it mean?"

Andrew looks from the demon to Jonathan, dread rising in his face.

"Jonathan, what does it mean?"

"Don't," Jonathan snaps at the demon. "Don't you tell him." Then turning to his friend, "I think what she's getting at is the price doesn't apply here. But... other you didn't take it so well when I told him what it was, and if she's right... I don't want it on your shoulders."

"Give me one good reason not to tell him," Cia says, and the look on her face is a triumphant smirk.

"If you don't, we won't tell D'Hoffryn what you did," Jonathan says, giving her a steely glare. "And I'll help you, if I can, make sure he never finds out. And if you do tell him, Cia, I will not rest until you're punished."

"Why, Jonathan," she marvels. "That sounded positively ... vengeful."