|
Title: Afterlife Happens
Author: Ivy Gort
Spoilers: Up to Afterlife
Email: Ivygort@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Rating:PG
Feedback: Yes, Please! I live on
it!
Archive: Please Ask.
Pairing: Buffy and Willow
Previous Parts: http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=30044
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I'm just torturing
them for you.
Summary: Willow has to deal with the consequences
of her actions.
BETA: Ann Marie is the Great Goddess, without her
this part would be in shambles.
Special Note: BH Virgo and Ann Marie were subjected to 3 different drafts
of this monster! I will never be able to repay them for patience and
guidance!
Note: I took "liberties" with the Myth of Oirsis,
Seth, and Isis.
Lastly, I am no Mad Hamlet.
Afterlife Happens
Part Seven
"We can drop you off on our way to taking Buffy to the council for treatment?." "What do you mean drop me
off? You can?t take Buffy to He looks guiltily away from me, and I know his plan. "You?re going to keep her drugged!" I can?t seem to lower my volume. I hear footsteps on the stairs and Dawn and Xander?s voices. But it's just Dawnthat comes into the room. " "I don't understand? I'm against the very thought of the Council having their hands on Buffy in this state ? Oh wait a minute, yes, I do understand!" I shout back at him. "They think of her as a tool only, Giles, not as a friend, or a sister, or a daughter. They don?t love her!" "What?" Dawn gasped. "You can't be serious!" Score one for her,at least she didn't shout. Now it?s his turn to jump to his feet angrily. "They can keep heralive, they can give her the professional help that she needs to get through this ? crises!" He half-pleads withDawn and half-orders her to understand. Dawn answers him; I?m too shocked to say anything. "They don?t love her! They want her to get better so she can just go out and fight their little war. Well she died for them and I won?t let her die?again." The youngest Summers finishes, crossing her arms in frontof her. It?s not a protectivestance, it?s the mirror image of the Slayer?s "I?m going to kick your ass" stance. But, something that Dawn just said sets off--I don?t know what--I can feel the answer surfacing, I can?t push it, I have to wait for it to come to me. I go sit down and just listen for a change. Giles looks away from us both. "No Slayer was called. So the line runs through Faith, they don?t want Buffy to die." He doesn?t sound entirely convinced. He shakes off whatever doubts he has and turns back to Dawn. Since I?m sitting down and quiet I think he feels I?ve given up the argument. "Well, how do theyexpect to keep her there? She?s the Slayer, if she really wants to get out she will!" Dawn counters sarcastically, then she glances to me for help, I just shake my head. Giles is right, wecan?t keep Buffy here in the house?she?s the Slayer, she could have overpowered us all earlier. And let's not forget all the weapons and sharp objects we keep around. All she would have to do is grab a knife or a sword, or even a crossbow, and it would be over. ?Then why did she choose a razor blade? Her father?s razor?? "They have ways of? neutralizing her ? extra abilities." Giles? face has turned nearly white; the words he just uttered are so extremely distasteful to him. Dawn gasps, "You want to take Buffy and stick her in a?a prison! You want to strip away the very things that make her Buffy!" Giles flinches as if each word Dawn says is a physical blow; he remembers her eighteenth birthday. I think he?s had more nightmares about it than Buffy. "That?s not living." Dawn is relentless as she takes an aggressive step closer to him. Note to self: never try to cross the youngest Summers. "I know, but at least she?ll be alive!" Finally, that insane British reserve is broken as Gilesyells back at Dawn. He falls, more than sits, back on the couch. "What kind of lifeis that Giles?" Dawn presses, her voice cracks and she has to clear her throat before continuing. "You want to keep her locked up, away from the sun, in a chemically induced haze? How could that possibly help her? This isn?t something in her mind, this is a trauma and she needs us, she needs all of us!" She finishes by uncrossing her arms; fists clinched at her sides, once again a mirror copy of Buffy. She stares down at him. Giles holds her gaze for just a moment then he drops his eyes. "I just don?t want her to die again, I?I don?t know if I couldlive through it.? He whispers, looking away. Giles looks like he?s shrinking, aging before my very eyes. ?This way she could get better?maybe?one day?" The tears overflow and start streaking down his face. Now it?s his turn to clear his throat. He takes off his glasses to clean them, trying to gain some composure. "At least where there is life, there is hope." He says putting his glasses back on, determined. And I have nothingto say to that, he?s right. Where there is life, there is always hope. Dawn gives up, in that one point they agree. She goes around the coffee table and sits next to him; he breaks down in her arms and begins to cry. She comforts him in much the same way that he did me a few a minutes ago. My terrible mistake is bringing us together, instead of separating us, like I feared it would whenI found out about Buffy being in heaven. I hated myself, I wanted to die, I wanted to kill Buffy?I thought I was damned?that I deserved to be in Hell. I thought I was damned, so why did it matter what did? Maybe I?m not damned? Why it does matter? We love each other, that?s why. That?s the basic truth in all this ?mess; we simply and completelylove each other. When I thought the only answer was to kill my best friend, I didn?t because of Dawn. It would have crushed her to come home and find her sister dead. Buffy didn?t fight us or try to overpower us because she still loves us. ?Why the razor blade instead of a dagger? BecauseXander gave her the dagger for her birthday, the sword was from Giles for Christmas her senior year in High School, the Crossbow from Dawn, the knife from me ?. That?s the key and an idea springs forth?. Love is the key. I think. "Giles?" He looks up at me and I continue. "Will you give me one chance to talk to Buffy before the council takes her?" "What are you going to do?" He asks, hope shining in his eyes, in his face, in the way he lifts his shoulders and pulls out of Dawn?s embrace. Then I can see him come crashing down. "I won?t allow you to place a, Gea, a magical compulsion on Buffy or to erase her memory ?" I hear Dawn?s gasp and ignore it. I have to think, I have to concentrate on Buffy. She?s all that matters right now. I interrupt him. "First I doubt I could place a strong enough Gea on her to keep her from figuring out some way to hurt herself." I hold up my fingers counting them down. "Second, ?Hello, Heaven!? It was a huge crime ripping her out of there; it wouldbe a bigger one wiping her memory." "Then what do you plan?" Such a simple question ?such a long answer. "I don?t know." Ok--not so long. "But, I sort of need her to wake up; if it doesn?t work ? then atleast she?ll be able to say good-bye to us before she leaves?" He nods, only I?m not sure he knows what he?s agreeing to. He's not sure, because I?m not sure and it's my plan. "She should begin to wake in 2 to 3 hours," he continues standing. "She?ll be fully awake by mid morning." Giles finishes speaking on a yawn; it's contiguous because I yawn too. Once again, I am exhausted. Though I don?t understand why Osiris has been quiet for all this time. Maybe he knows I will never let him win? "Ok you two go to bed. I?ll relieve Xander for a few hours." Dawn has turned into a little general. I want to protest, but just can?t. I?m too tired. Dawn stands up and points atthe couch. "Giles, sit down before you fall down." And the funny thing is that he obeys her. " But I think I havethe key, I just hope that Buffy still can feel love; it might pale in comparison to heaven and it might not be enough?. There is only one person on this earth that can help Buffy and I know who it is. TBC in Part Seven
B |