~It’s never over,
my kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder
It’s never over,
all my riches for her smiles
when I slept so soft against her
It’s never over,
all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter
It’s never over,
she’s the tear that hangs inside my soul forever~
- Jeff Buckley, “Lover, You Should Have Come Over”
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“Hey, baby. It’s me.”
...
“I know. Buffy wants me to stay for a bit, because, you know, big Apocalypse brewing.”
...
“Yeah, I know there’s always one of those, but the thing about Apocalypses is, you don’t stop them, world go poof.”
...
“...You did?”
...
“She did?”
...
“Oh.”
...
“Oh!”
...
“All right. I’ll call again as soon as I can.”
Willow hung up the phone with a pensive look. She knew that she should be able to trust Kennedy alone in Rio... but those little doubts just kept on nagging at her. Devil Willow, sitting on her left shoulder, could be awfully vocal at times. She took a deep breath. It was no use being a worry-wart... worry-wart? Did you really get warts from worrying? Could you look at a person and say, “Hey, look at that wart, looks like she was worrying too much?” ... Probably not.
Still, even at the best of times, her relationship with Kennedy just didn’t feel quite right. It wasn’t Kennedy’s fault, really. They loved each other, certainly. They had to, didn’t they? They were a couple, and that’s what couples did. And they had great times together, especially since leaving Sunnydale. So why did it seem like there was something missing, even during their best moments together? Something important. Kennedy just wasn’t...
“Tara.”
The word was spoken softly, and Willow’s face fell. That familiar grief-tinged warmth came rushing over her at the thought of her dead lover. For a moment, the sense of Tara’s presence was so intense that Willow actually looked over her shoulder, expecting to see her there.
Nothing.
Dust motes floating in the light.
Willow tried to ignore the aching of her heart.
------------------------------
Quickened
by P.H. Wise
A Buffy crossover fanfic
Chapter 12: Without You
Disclaimer: I don’t own Buffy. I don’t own Angel. I don’t own Highlander. Please don’t sue me. I’m only a poor starving writer. I have no money.
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It was a slow night at Slayer Central. No vampire activity to speak of, and the demons were laying low. Several patrols had been sent out, but the worst they had run into was an attempted mugging. Even so, there was a certain tension in the city of Rome. You could feel it in the air – the storm was coming, and although it was yet calm, thunderheads were gathering on the horizon.
The Slayers could feel it more intensely than the others; that nagging awareness that something was off; that distant sense of building wrongness. It tended to make them extra-cranky.
Speaking of Slayers, they had found quite a few more with Willow actively on the job (as opposed to partying with Kennedy in Rio). In the week since Willow’s arrival, they had recovered six newbies, four of whom had been right under Giles’ nose in England, with another two in Prague. Giles had gathered up the four in England and flown in a few nights ago.
Buffy had asked her one night exactly how many Slayers there were in the world, and Willow had smiled the strangest smile before replying, “Lots.” She could just see Tara’s reaction to that same comment: a shy, goofy, sexy smile...
Well, that didn’t work. No matter how hard she tried to distract herself, Willow’s thoughts always seemed to come full circle and land on Tara, who was precisely who she was trying not to think about.
She could feel Buffy and Faith through the link that had formed between them on the day of Buffy’s resurrection, even if none of the three had ever wholly acknowledged it. It was similar to the link she felt to the newly called Slayers, and yet different in that Buffy and Faith could sense her as well, and each other, while the link with the other Slayers was strictly one way. That was another thing to bring up at the council meeting, she supposed. That and the question of how they had survived casting the Spell of Life in the first place. It made her cringe to think of the kind of power she had just casually played with in those days. If Tara hadn’t been there... and there she went again.
“Come on, me,” she said. “Don’t be a big dummy. Kennedy is here for you, now.”
Willow’s heart sank.
--------------------------------
Dawn scowled at the schoolbook that lay open before her.
She hadn’t anticipated this particular consequence of convincing Buffy that they were going to fix what was wrong with the spell that kept her human. She’d been determined to enjoy what little time she had left. Buffy had decided that if she wasn’t going to give up on Dawn’s survival, then she wasn’t going to let Dawn get away without continuing her studies.
So here she was, sitting in the library at Slayer Central, pouring over a calculus book. Giles was rummaging through the stacks, and the sound of Faith and Buffy’s training session with the newbie slayers came drifting in from outside.
At length, the sounds of training faded, and Faith came walking into the library, heading for the water fountain near the entrance. She leaned over and took a long drink from the cool water before glancing over at Dawn at her table. “Hey,” she called. “What’s B got you studying?”
Dawn met Faith’s gaze. “Complicated pebbles,” she deadpanned.
Faith was nonplused, but the sound of Giles’ faint laughter drifted out from behind the stacks.
Dawn half smiled. At least SOMEONE got the joke.
After a beat, Faith spoke again. “You sure you wouldn’t rather be livin’ it up?” An ironic smile graced her lips, “I know if my days were numbered, that’s what I’d be doing.”
“Says a Slayer.”
Faith shrugged. “I’m just sayin’ is all.”
Dawn rose to her feet. “For your information, my days aren’t numbered.” She waited a beat. “Except in the way that everyone’s days are numbered.” Another beat. “Except Buffy’s days, that is.” A final beat. “I’m babbling, aren’t I?”
Faith nodded, her ironic smile shifting several points in the spectrum towards amused. “Yup.”
Dawn blushed. After a moment, she asked, “Are you going to be ready for the big council meeting that Buffy’s called?”
“Rock ‘em sock ‘em.”
“Huh?” Dawn asked.
Faith looked annoyed. “Yeah, I’ll be ready. How about you? You ready to wow everyone with your new powers?”
“I guess,” Dawn replied.
The sound of voices came drifting in from outside, signaling the approach of Buffy and Willow.
“... so I need you to book Xander a flight...” Buffy was saying, with Willow nodding her understanding.
Dawn spoke up, interrupting Buffy. “Don’t bother. I’ll get him.”
All eyes went to Dawn.
“Maybe that’s not such a good idea...” Buffy began.
Dawn didn’t listen. Concentrating intently, her eyes lit up with a green glow. A crackling portal snapped into being directly in front of her, and Xander stepped out a moment later.
He promptly freaked.
“Ye GADS!” he said, eyes widening as he whirled around to take in his new surroundings. He calmed slightly when he saw where he was, and who had brought him here. “Geeze, Dawnmeister, next time, call before you...” he waved his hands dramatically before creasing his brow in worry. “And since when were you big with the mojo, anyways?”
That was when he noticed what the others were staring at – not him, but at the library table.
The table that they had been planning to hold their big meeting at.
The table that Dawn’s portal had sliced cleanly in half.
All eyes went to Dawn.
“Umm... oops?”
-----------------------
In the end, when all of the difficulties and all the insanity inherent in planning a meeting of the new Watcher’s Council had been dealt with, and all of the necessary people had been assembled, they gathered there in the library, seated in a large circle around the remains of the table that they had intended to use. There sat Buffy, with Xander on her right, and Willow on her left. There sat Dawn. And Giles. Faith. Joe Dawson, with Methos at his side. Several others were present as well, representatives of the new Watchers Council, survivors of the battle at the Hellmouth who had been sent to the middle-east and Asia.
There were many things discussed. Things were going well in Africa, especially in the less civilized areas. Apparently, when the Watcher’s Council had been formally established in England, the older order of Shadow-Men had not gone gently into that long night, but had quietly persisted there, watching and waiting. The more primitive the area, the more likely it was that there were members of the old order present. Even in civilized areas, you could generally count on finding at least one or two. Xander and Robin had made great progress in bringing the older order into an alliance with the new Watcher’s Council, even though memories were long, and the Shadow-Men had never forgiven the original Council for their racist exclusion of every last member who had not been white back during the time of its founding.
Things were going well in Japan, though they were having some trouble in China with the local authorities, who were naturally distrustful of the sort of people that seemed to gravitate towards Watchers and Slayers.
The Middle-East, though, that was a problem, mostly on account of the dangers inherent in being a woman in that area. Visibly strong women were almost unheard of in some areas, and in the worst places, going outside without being veiled would literally get acid thrown in your face by a fanatical male. Not to mention that the very existence of a Slayer was seen as a challenge to the traditional patriarchal way of society, and many of the religious zealots did not take kindly to anything that challenged their way of life. And that raised all sorts of uncomfortable questions about the Slayer’s role in society – should she be a protector only, or should she be an agent of change as well? At present, secrecy and security were the primary concerns in that area, although there were certainly more problems than just that. Keeping the two Israeli Slayers and the four Islamic Slayers from killing each other required near Herculean efforts. It was at that point that Giles made a muttered comment about the whole area having gone downhill in the wake of the purge of most of their artists, philosophers, writers, and scholars some seven centuries earlier. Even so, it wasn’t all bad, and the Watchers Council had found allies in unexpected places. Those clerics who really did have a clue about what was going on in the world (read: knew about demons and vampires) were all too happy to have the help of active Slayers.
America... well, they didn’t actually have anyone in America at the moment. Out of all of the nations in the world, America had been hit the hardest by the First’s purge of potential Slayers. Oh, some had survived, but they were much more uncommon there than in other parts of the world. There were two confirmed active Slayers in the United States, although Willow said she could sense more than that – one was a girl named Cassie Fraiser out in Colorado, and the other, Dana, who was in Los Angeles.
“Hey,” Faith said, “No problem there. If she’s in Los Angeles, then Angel and his crew can find her for us and send her on over.”
Buffy shook her head sadly. “Angel’s not playing for our team anymore.”
Faith’s expression went stormy at that. “What?”
“He’s the new CEO of the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram and Hart.”
“WHAT!?”
Xander smiled sardonically. “Anyone who’s surprised by this, raise your hand?”
Faith brought her angry glare to bear on Xander. “Can it, Zeppo. The rest of you think whatever you want, but I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. I owe him that much, at least.”
Buffy looked thoughtful for a moment. “Do ya think he lost his soul again?”
“He should really learn to keep better track of that,” Xander quipped.
Willow shook her head. “No, he couldn’t have – cause the last time I put it back in him, I decided that enough was enough, and I kinda, well, changed the spell a bit.”
Buffy raised an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
“Well, this time I cast it without that annoying perfect happiness clause. So if he’s gone evil, it’s because he’s chosen to, not because he’s all soulless.”
“I’m tellin ya,” said Faith, “We should have a little more faith in him than that.”
“Be that as it may,” said Giles, “Even if he is still trustworthy, the good people at Wolfram and Hart most certainly are not. And it raises the uncomfortable question of exactly how long he’ll remain trustworthy if he remains in that position.” He took off his glasses and cleaned them. “Run down the list of the companies that they represent, and you’ll find most of the greatest enemies of mankind. Weyland-Yutani. Yoyodyne. Newscorp. And that’s only for starters.”
“Any recommendations?” Buffy asked.
Giles shrugged. “Andrew has made excellent progress in his training to be a Watcher. I suggest we send him to retrieve this ‘Dana,’ as well as Miss Fraiser.”
Faith rolled her eyes. “Don’t send Watcher-Boy without backup. He’d need at least a dozen Slayers just to avoid getting killed.”
Methos spoke up then. “You joke about it, but you’re probably right. You don’t want to mess around when Wolfram and Hart is concerned. They’re as dangerous as they come.”
“Speaking from past experience, Adam?” Buffy asked.
Methos shrugged. “Let’s just say I know enough to know that you don’t take half measures where they’re concerned.”
“Right,” said Buffy, pinching the bridge of her nose, “Dozen Slayers.”
Joe Dawson was giving his report now, giving Buffy his findings on the renegade Watchers. Faith shifted uncomfortably as she heard the news. They were killing Immortals, yes. But they were also fighting demons and vampires, and protecting the normal humans.
“I don’t suppose there’s any chance of convincing them that not all Immortals are evil?” Willow asked.
Joe shook his head. “They’re pretty fanatical about it. Their leader’s name is Marcus Travers, and he... well, he’s very charismatic, very brilliant, but not particularly tolerant.”
The expressions of the original Scoobies went dark at that. “Any relation to Quentin Travers?” Dawn asked.
Joe nodded. “Yeah, he’s the old man’s kid. You people knew Quentin?”
Buffy nodded faintly. “We’ve had the displeasure.”
Joe laughed. “Yeah, that was Quentin. A son of a bitch, but very good at what he did. Anyways, I’ve typed it all up in my report.”
Buffy nodded. “And that brings us to... Mr. Pierson.” She glanced at Methos.
Methos nodded, and began his tale of his efforts to locate and gather up those Watchers who had survived the First’s purge. It was slow going, mostly on account of the fact that most of them didn’t want to be found, but he had successfully convinced some twelve of them to join the new Council thus far. He had met with more than that, but many of them were uncomfortable with the idea of having an Immortal as head of the council, much less an Immortal Slayer.
As Methos concluded his report, Buffy nodded tiredly. “Right. Giles, you’re up.”
Giles nodded, and began his own report. “Much of my own efforts have gone towards research into the entity known as Eater of Souls, and it is quite a frustrating field of study. Many of the accounts on the matter are contradictory, written hastily in a haze of panic and fear. I have, however, found one promising lead: an authoritative book on the subject, currently held within the vaults of the Vatican.”
Methos grinned faintly. “But here’s the question, do the Vatican’s vaults really contain confiscated tomes on Witchcraft, Sorcery, and Demonology, or are they just full of medieval pornography?”
Faith laughed, as did Xander and several others. Joe rolled his eyes. Giles became flustered, and couldn’t continue for a few moments. At length, he regained his composure and went on. “Yes, well, the old Watcher’s Council had an arrangement with the Vatican, but there’s no guarantee that the Pope will honour it with the new.”
And that brought them to Willow.
“Um, right. I’ve been looking into Dawn’s problem. And Buffy’s problem, too.”
The others looked at her expectantly, and with a nervous laugh, she went on.
“The first thing I should say is that...” she looked at Buffy. “You know the spell that made you Immortal?”
Buffy smiled ever so faintly, though it was more a bitter smile than anything else. “No, I’d forgotten all about it.”
Willow nodded. “Apparently, it had some consequences that we didn’t, you know, know about.”
“Tell us something we don’t know,” said Buffy.
“Julius Ceaser had a thing for toes,” Yeah, that was Methos.
Joe laughed. The others stared blankly at the oldest Immortal for a long moment before Willow continued.
“For one thing, it kinda made a link between you, Faith, and me.”
“A link?” Faith asked, frowning.
“You know how you can kinda sense where Buffy and I are pretty much all the time?”
“Isn’t it that way with all the other Slayers?”
Willow shook her head. “No, that’s more of a one way thing. I can sense them, not the other way around.”
“So what’s your point, Red?” Faith asked. “I dunno about you, but being able to sense your and Buffy’s presence? Not the most horrifying side-effect I can imagine.”
“Well, we don’t know WHY we can sense each other. If it was just Buffy and I, I could understand, but why are you in the link as well? And we also don’t know if there were other side effects. I think it’s worth researching.”
Buffy shrugged. “All right. What about Dawn’s problem?”
“Oh yeah,” said Willow faintly, “That.” She waited a beat. “I might have found something that will help, but I don’t know if it’s a very good idea to use it.” Willow paused a moment as that information sank in. “What I mean is, it would slow down the decay rate of the spell and everything, but it involves big time dark primordial powers.”
“Do it,” said Buffy.
Willow frowned. “I don’t know that you understand what you’re asking, Buffy...”
“I’m asking you to save Dawn.”
Willow met Buffy’s gaze evenly. “So it’s not OK for you to sell your soul to Wolfram and Hart to save her, but it’s perfectly OK for me to consign my soul to darkness?”
Buffy flinched.
“And there’s another thing: anyone else think that Wolfram and Hart’s timing in sending that Morgan woman over here was just a LITTLE bit convenient? Did they know about the situation beforehand? Or was that Seer working for them to begin with?”
Buffy glared at Willow. “I don’t have the answers here. I’m trying to figure it out just like all the rest of you.” Her expression softened at that. “Look, everyone. I know things haven’t been easy. But things that are worth doing are rarely easy. It’s been rough, but we’re doing this. We’re going to build something that will last. We’re GOING to stop this Apocalypse, save Dawn, and stop anything else that comes out way. There’s no one else who can.”
----------------------------------
Some time later, the meeting over and done with, Buffy sat behind her desk in the Slayer’s dorm, trying to get things done. It was amazing how much paperwork was required for the establishment of the new council.
Buffy hated paperwork.
Xander knocked on the open door.
Buffy looked up. “Something I can do for you, Xander?”
“Hard at work, Buffster?”
She smiled faintly. “You have no idea.”
Xander nodded. “Probably not. But when was the last time you did anyone for fun?” Xander waited a beat. And then he turned beet red. “... AnyTHING. Any THING for fun.”
Buffy laughed. “I missed you, Xander.”
“So when WAS the last time you did anything for fun?”
Buffy didn’t have an answer. She hadn’t had time lately for... well, anything. With one thing after another after another, she’d been in near constant Slayer mode for the last few months.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
Buffy raised an eyebrow. “So what would you suggest?”
--------------------------
Ten minutes later, Xander, Buffy, Willow, and Dawn departed from Slayer Central, on their way for some serious shopping.
“So,” Dawn asked, a silly smile on her face as they went out, “Do they even HAVE malls in Rome?”
END CHAPTER 12
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