dragonyphoenix

“So, an escalator huh?”

Willow had stopped responding. She wouldn't even look at him and, wait, was her hair getting darker? He really didn't want to have to flee to Mexico again especially since there was no Jonathan to flee with this time.

“I'd always thought the road to Hell would be more of a water slide than a road. You know, once you get on then you're sliding down and you can't stop even if you want to, not until you hit bottom except that in this case the bottom would be Hell instead of water but water slides are sort of fun so I'm not sure that works. Maybe it's more like an elevator. You don't think anything about it when you get on because you're busy ignoring the other passengers and listening to the Muzak – sort of like Zach on B5, except he didn't listen to Muzak, when he accepted the Night Watch armband, not realizing they're all evil and stuff – and then you realize that you're on an elevator straight to Hell – again like Zach because he started seeing that Night Watch was bad but he couldn't get out, not until the Captain and Garibaldi asked him to turn on the Night Watch, but that doesn't work either because in an elevator you can always push a button and stop at the next floor. So maybe it's more like a cartoon, like when Wile E Coyote runs off the cliff but he doesn't fall because he doesn't know there's air under his feet but then he does see there's no ground and that's when he falls.”

Willow didn't look any happier. As Andrew held on tightly, the handrail rumbled in his grip. He glanced behind and up and then back down again. The escalator vanished off into the distance both above and below them. “So, an escalator huh?”

Title: And I Shall Defend My Queen
Fandom: BtVS
Characters: Andrew
Rating: G
Concrit: Please, in comments
Summary: While he's not a warrior, Andrew can find a way to serve.
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but they will be... once I've taken over the world! Bwah-ha-ha
Note: Written for a prompt at Open on Sunday: defend - but not posted there because it's more than a hundred words.
Note: This is set after Season 8. I don't recall what happens to Andrew in the comics, but here he loses the others after the final battle and sets off on his own.
Word Count: 181

“I am Hatter Madigan, and I shall defend my Queen.” As the comic hit the table, Andrew stood and donned his top hat. Well, it was really more of a bowler that someone had abandoned at the library, but that didn't matter. He was a Hatter and could make do with the materials at hand. Stretching out one arm, he nodded his head to the right, intending to roll the hat along his arm and grab it with a dramatic flourish. The hat fell to the floor.

He left the hat where it was. After the final battle, after he'd lost everyone, Andrew had tried to find the remaining Slayers. And he had found them: in London, Paris, New York. After his ribs had been broken, he'd stopped looking.

Since then he'd taken over an obscure Council library. His signature still worked on the legal side of things, and he'd even been able to secure funds for new books. Someday a new hero would rise, and he would preserve the knowledge until that day, until the day that she needed it.