[November 22nd] [The Rockford Files-related] Chronicles of a Friendship, 22

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Title: Chronicles of a Friendship, scene 22
Day/Theme: November 22nd - Together as One
Series: The Rockford Files (using characters from The Queen of Peru episode)
Character/Pairing: Ginger Townsend, Lou Trevino
Rating: PG-13/T

Inspiration for this was the scene at the end of the first season of Sailor Moon, when the dead Senshis' spirits come back to assist Sailor Moon in the final assault on Queen Beryl/Metallia.

I can't decide if it's done or if I'll flesh it out some more, but I was worried I wouldn't have a chance to get it up if I didn't do it now, so I may come back and add more later....


By Lucky_Ladybug

Ginger groaned, slowly moving his hand across the cold, damp grass as he regained consciousness.

He stiffened when he touched another hand. “Lou?” he mumbled. He wasn’t sure what had happened at all. The only thing he could remember was that something had assaulted them both and sent them flying.

The hand felt like Lou’s, but it was limp. Ginger turned to look with a start. Lou was lying facedown in the grass, not moving.

Immediately Ginger pulled himself up and knelt next to Lou, giving him a gentle shake on the shoulder. “Lou!” he cried. “It’s me. Wake up!”

Lou didn’t respond. And before Ginger could check for a pulse, a chill ran up his spine. Something was there.

He looked up with a start. He couldn’t even see what it was; there were only two glowing, ominous eyes surrounded by heavy clouds and mists. It hovered there, watching him, waiting or perhaps threatening to make a move.

“Who are you?” Ginger demanded with a snarl. “What have you done to Lou?!”

Why did these bizarre things happen to them? Lou had bought a GPS system to avoid them becoming lost in concerning places. And it had worked fine . . . until tonight. In the middle of driving to their latest business conference, the GPS had suddenly gone berserk. Lou had stopped the car to try to figure out what was wrong, and somehow they had wound up chasing a dark figure through a park after it had run off with Ginger’s briefcase. Now this had happened.

The eyes just kept staring, malevolent, hateful. Ginger clenched a fist. “You have no cause to look like that,” he snarled. “If anyone should feel hateful, it is I. You attacked us without provocation or warning. You hurt Lou! Now I don’t know how to help him or what to do about you.”

“Ginger, the candle. Pick up the candle.”

Ginger started. “Lou?!” He looked to Lou, still lying lifeless in the grass. Lou had not spoken. But Ginger had clearly heard his voice.

Sheet-white, Ginger grabbed at Lou’s wrist, again trying to feel for a pulse. At the same moment, the creature lunged.

“Ginger, get it now!”

Ginger was forced to obey. He dove forward, grabbing the only candle he could see. It was white and enclosed in a glass container. Overgrown grass and fallen autumn leaves covered a flat stone object right next to the candle, but Ginger didn’t need to see it to know the truth.

“It’s not a park,” he whispered in sickened alarm. “It’s a cemetery.”

The being in the mist backed off as Ginger held up the candle. If anything, however, the eyes only became darker and angrier.

“Lou, what do I do with it?!” Ginger yelled.

“What you usually do with a candle. Light it!”

“With what?! Neither of us smoke!”

“There’s a lighter under the leaves.”

A gentle breeze started to blow some of the leaves away from the headstone. Furious, the being lunged at seemingly nothing.

Ginger’s eyes burned. “You’ve already hurt Lou’s body,” he growled. “I won’t let you harm his spirit, too!”

The breeze stopped moving the leaves as Lou was forced to abandon the task. Ginger pushed the rest aside, finally grabbing an old lighter out from under them. “There had better be fluid in this,” he muttered as he flicked the gears.

A flame sprang to life. Now the being was lunging at Ginger, who was forced to dive and struggle to light the candle’s wick at the same moment. The gentle breeze came between them and Ginger was chilled as he heard a pained cry. “Lou!”

Furious and worried, Ginger got to his feet with the lit candle and held it out, beginning to advance on the being. It backed up, deeper and deeper towards the trees.

The feel of an unseen hand came to rest over Ginger’s. “Keep driving it in there, Buddy,” Lou told him. “I’m right with you.”

“How do you even know what to do?” Ginger demanded. “And what are we doing? When will this be over?”

“The candle’s supposed to keep it at bay, I think. When it goes out, anyone passing this way is in trouble.” Lou paused. “That’s what the last victim was telling me.”

“Victim?” A sickening crunch made Ginger look down with a start. He had just stepped on a bony hand. An entire skeleton was stretched facedown in the grass. Appalled, Ginger carefully stepped over it.

“Put the candle right there at the edge of the woods,” Lou instructed. “That thing’ll have to stay in there for a while. Maybe that’ll buy us enough time to banish it back to Hell where it belongs.”

“So we’re playing exorcist again?” Ginger said in distaste.

Lou sighed. “It looks like it. Maybe we can keep some other poor saps from going through this.”

“Alright. The Saint Michael prayer?”

“Give it a try.” Another sigh. “I guess we’re gonna have to learn some more if that doesn’t work.”

“I thought you knew a great many,” Ginger remarked, wondering how he was managing to stay so calm when he didn’t even know if Lou would be alright. He supposed Lou’s usage of “we” was making him cling to that hope.

“Yeah, but not a lot of the ones for casting out evil spirits and demons,” Lou replied. “I didn’t really study that!”

Ginger drew a shuddering breath. He could still see the being’s eyes, flashing among the trees. Planting himself directly behind the candle, he began to recite the Saint Michael prayer.

The hatred was stronger in the woods the longer he spoke. When it reached its zenith, suddenly Ginger felt the hand again. Lou was there, protecting him, encouraging him. And with the prayer not seeming to have its desired effect, in desperation Ginger tried his own words.

“Be gone from here! Go back to your own dwelling and leave this place alone. No longer will you come around for the purpose of preying on unsuspecting people! In the name of God, depart!”

A strange, eerie boom, almost like a thunderclap, crashed through the sky and the ground simultaneously. Again Ginger was thrown backwards, landing next to Lou’s prone form. Dazed, he slumped into the grass and stared blankly into the sky.

What . . . what happened? Is it gone? Or did I commit a sacrilege by attempting to vanquish it my way?

I’m not cut out for this. Lou would be the better choice for this task.

But . . . but Lou is . . .

His eyes clouded over.
****
It was hard to say how long Ginger lay unconscious the second time. When again he woke, he gave a violent start, his eyes taking on sight once more.

“Lou?” he rasped. “Lou!”

As before, there was no answer.

Ginger sat up, in spite of the sudden dizziness and headache the movement brought, and immediately looked to Lou. He was still lying where Ginger had last seen him.

“No!” Ginger cried. “You can’t take him!” He wasn’t even sure whom he meant by “you”—the demon or God. But he gripped Lou’s thick shoulders, struggling to turn the younger man onto his back. Lou fell limply into place, not reacting.

Ginger was bending over him in an instant. “Lou! Wake up!” He pressed his ear against Lou’s chest, frantic to hear a heartbeat.

It was there.

Ginger straightened, pressing his fingers against Lou’s throat. The pulse was strong. And he could feel Lou’s steady breathing.

“Thank God,” he whispered. “Lou . . .”

He took up Lou’s hand, rubbing at it in a desperate attempt to revive him. At first there was no reaction. But then, weakly, Lou’s fingers brushed against Ginger’s hand.

“Lou! Can you hear me?” Ginger demanded. “Answer me if you can.”

A quiet groan. “Ginger . . .” Lou’s eyes fluttered open. “We did it.” He smiled.

Relief swept over Ginger. “It’s gone,” he declared. “But more importantly, you’re alive and awake.”

Lou squeezed Ginger’s hand. “Yeah.” He pushed himself up. “I don’t know what happened, but I remember talking to you, trying to help you, and that other guy trying to tell me about the demon hanging out here.”

Ginger frowned. “A demon wouldn’t have ever been mortal, would it?” He looked to the grave.

“I’m not sure. And I don’t know who’s buried there or what the connection was with the demon, if it wasn’t the demon.” Lou shuddered. “The thing about the candle and the lighter was just something the other victim thought of and hoped was part of the solution. He thought it was pretty weird to keep a lighter on a grave.”

“It is,” Ginger said flatly. He stood and reached to help Lou do likewise. “I don’t suppose he told you his name?”

“Bob Jensen,” Lou said as he accepted Ginger’s help. “We’ll have to tell the cops about the body, but unless there’s some I.D. with it we can’t give a name.”

“Let’s not give a name anyway,” Ginger grunted. “I don’t want to go back over where I saw it and search for a wallet or other identification.”

“Good point.” Lou sighed, stumbling to his feet and resting a hand on Ginger’s shoulder to steady himself. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Excellent plan. And I’m assuming we’ll discover that the GPS will work swimmingly now.”

“Probably,” Lou agreed. “Oh hey, here’s your briefcase.” He pointed to one lying on the grass near a headstone.

Ginger reached and picked it up. “I’m sure this wasn’t here before,” he remarked. “Unless I just didn’t notice it in all the commotion of battling a bloody demon.”

“I’m not sure it was there, either,” Lou mused. “Maybe Bob brought it over.”

“Perhaps.” Ginger glanced in the general direction of the skeleton. “Hopefully he’ll finally be at rest after we inform the authorities of his body’s location.”

“I hope so,” Lou said.

“Meanwhile, I’m more than grateful that you didn’t join him,” Ginger said as they headed back to the car. “I was never certain if you were dead or alive, especially after you began talking to me while you were lying senseless.”

“I don’t think I was sure either,” Lou admitted quietly. “I just had to keep hoping that it wasn’t permanent.”

“And why did it happen only to you and not to both of us?” Ginger wondered.

Lou looked away.

Ginger immediately noticed. “You know more than you’re saying,” he demanded.

Lou sighed. “Ginger . . .”

“Tell me.” Ginger’s voice left no room for arguments.

“. . . It pulled my spirit out of my body,” Lou admitted.

“What?!”

“It tried to do the same thing to you. I kind of . . . got in the way and wouldn’t let it do it. And that other victim came to help.”

“And you both got hurt.” Ginger stopped walking and turned to face Lou, deeply shaken and concerned.

“Well . . . just our spirits,” Lou said.

“And then you were hurt again when you got in front of me and took the force of the demon’s later attack,” Ginger continued.

“I’m okay now, Ginger,” Lou tried to assure him. “I just feel a little worn-out and weak. I’ll be fine with some rest.”

Ginger wasn’t at all convinced. Damage to a spirit sounded alarming. “You didn’t start talking to me as soon as I woke up the first time,” he remembered. “That was because you were hurt from fending off the demon, wasn’t it? If you had been able to speak, you wouldn’t have let me worry.”

Lou sighed and finally nodded. “I was kind of dazed,” he confessed.

“Bah! That’s probably a mild word for it.” Ginger studied Lou for a long moment, searching for some abnormality in his eyes or any other indication of how badly he had been hurt. But there was nothing he could see and at last he stepped back, still not convinced but not knowing what else to do.

“Let’s go, Ginger,” Lou pleaded. “There’s nothing you can do here.”

Ginger knew that was true, save for one important thing. He stepped back, a prayer for Lou’s well-being in his heart. “Very well. We’ll go on to town.”

They resumed walking. After a moment of silence, Lou spoke again. “You’d know I’d jump in to do anything I could to save you, don’t you, Buddy?”

“Of course. I would have done the same thing. But you can’t blame me for being upset and worried.”

“I don’t,” Lou assured him.

They reached the car and stopped, looking to each other. Which one of them should drive? They had both been hurt.

“I’ll take over driving, at least to start with,” Ginger announced. “You were hurt worse than I.”

“Maybe,” Lou said in concern, “but you were knocked out twice in the space of an hour.”

Ginger scowled at the reminder. “If I start feeling ill, I’ll pull over and you can try your hand at it, if you feel any more able than I. And if not, I suppose we’ll have to spend the night at the side of the road.” That was a thought he didn’t relish, but it would be better than running the risk of an accident.

Lou considered that and finally nodded, handing over the keys. “Okay.”

They settled into the car and Ginger drove off, eager to leave the cemetery behind. He hoped that he and Lou would only need to report the body and not come back here with the police.

Perhaps, he thought, they could simply ring the police and report the body anonymously. Right now, he just wanted to get to town and find their hotel. Both of them needed a good, long, normal sleep.
****
It was in the middle of the night when Ginger was suddenly awakened by Lou crying out and gasping in pain and horror. Ginger sprang upright and whirled, looking to the other bed in the hotel suite. Lou was sprawled on the mattress, the covers flung far and wide. He was clearly asleep, but not at peace.

Frowning, Ginger got up and crossed the room. “Lou,” he called, laying a hand on Lou’s shoulder. “Lou, wake up.”

Lou immediately grabbed Ginger’s wrist, ready to throw him over his shoulder and at the wall. Ginger planted his feet and gripped Lou’s muscular arm, not about to be moved without a struggle.

“Lou!” he commanded. “It’s me. Wake up, now!”

Lou’s eyes flew open and he stared, breathing heavily. As his vision cleared and he focused on Ginger, he let go of his friend in horror. “Oh no,” he moaned. “Ginger, I almost hurt you.”

“You didn’t know it was me,” Ginger replied.

Lou shook his head, sinking farther into the pillows. “I was dreaming about when that thing pulled me out of my body.”

Ginger wasn’t surprised. “Was it painful?”

“Yeah. Really painful. More than that, though, I think it was just about the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me personally. I didn’t know anything could even do something horrible like that!”

“Neither did I. Even though it happens in fiction.” Ginger took hold of the comforter quilt and began to pull it up from where Lou had flung it to the side of the bed.

Lou took it and held onto the edges. “I’m not sure I can go back to sleep,” he said. “At least not for a while. But I don’t want to keep you up.”

Ginger grunted. “If I stay up, it’s by my own choice.” He sat on the edge of the bed.

Lou was grateful for the company. Ginger stayed and talked with him as the night hours ticked by, until finally Lou felt he was sleepy enough to doze. As his eyes sagged shut, Ginger got up and returned to the other bed.

With the peaceful assurance that all was well and Ginger was close at hand, Lou dropped into a pleasant sleep that lasted until they needed to get up for the business meeting.