[buffywantswillow]FIC: The Last Death (4/?)

[Jessica Cioffi <cioffi@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Disclaimer: Okay, now Yancy belongs to me too. Nyah nyah. Yancy and
Doran ... that's it. My big stash of characters. Oh well, everyone
else is a Mutant Enemy. I mean, belongs to Mutant Enemy and their
fearless leader Joss. *grr arggh*

Title: THE LAST DEATH (cuatro/yo no se)
Author: JD (that's me ... still).
Spoilers: None ... that I know of.
Notes: In my world ... anything can happen. But must happen for a
reason.
Other categories follow suit to the last installments.

THE LAST DEATH (4/?)

Willow's eyes grew wide with anticipation. Her mind raced over the
topics the book must have held. The table of contents ran through her
mind. Pages 1-45, Spells to vanquish the nasties, pages 46-105 spells
to calm the wild heart, pages 106- Suddenly, mid-thought, Willow felt
different. She felt fear or sadness or nervousness. She couldn't place
it exactly, but it felt like she realized something and it startled her.

Willow looked up to find Dorian staring at her. She could feel her
eyes growing larger. Her red eyebrows furrowed with the frustration of
the unknown. She felt a longing to be somewhere, with someone, but
neither the person or place were familiar.

"Oh, Willow," Dorian said soft enough for it to have been a sigh, "I
should have known."

Willow stood up, and although she wanted to back away from Dorian,
she felt something pulling her closer to her. Her face had gone white.
"What was in the book?" Willow asked, her voice soft and low, although
her mind was screaming the very same question.

"It's not the book ... it's ...," Dorian turned to Giles. "I need to
talk with you ... privately." Dorian pulled Giles into the kitchen
without another word.

"Will? You ok?" Buffy asked as she ran to her friend. Buffy hadn't
taken her eyes off of Willow since she went pale. "What the hell just
happened? Did she do something to you? If she did something, I ... "

"No, Buffy. She didn't," Willow spoke as though she was coming out
of a trance. "do anything. I was thinking about what the book could
have been and then I got ... I don't know. I kinda felt like a deer in
headlights."

Willow cheeks had begun to regain their peachy complexion. Buffy
was able to calm down once Willow started looking, and sounding, like
Willow again. Buffy draped her arm around her shaken friend and led her
to the couch.

"She's not!" Giles voice rang from the kitchen. "It's not the same!"

Buffy and Willow looked at each other in shock. They had known
Giles long enough to know that his guest must have said something
horrible about Willow in order to get a rise like that out of him.

"Giles, you must believe me. I saw it." Dorian's voice was gentle
but sure. "Why would I lie about this, Giles? Giles?"

Giles had re-entered the living room, leaving Dorian in the
kitchen. Without missing a step, he walked to the couch, grabbed each
of Willow's arms and lifted her from the couch. Too surprised to try to
escape his grasp or mutter any statement of pain, Willow soon found
herself eye-to-eye with her friend and mentor.

"Giles!" Buffy shouted as she stood up, "let go of her!"

"I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to see for myself," Giles
said reassuringly, concentrating on Willow's eyes. "Just look me
straight in the eye." Giles deflated as though he was punched in the
chest. He had his answer and it wasn't the one he wanted. He turned to
Dorian, closed his eyes and lowered his head in defeat. "I never
noticed."

"You never wanted to notice." Dorian turned her attention from
Giles to Willow. "Nevermind the book for now. I think you need to hear
more about Yancy."

"Story time is not what we need. Just give answers. Plain old
answers." Buffy was fuming. Not only did she feel like she was being
jerked around, but now her best friend and confidant was also being
jerked around, only this time physically. "If something is wrong with
Willow, I want to know right now."

"Nothing is wrong with her. That much I can promise you." Dorian
was still looking at Willow. "She is very strong and will be very
important to you ..."

"She is already important to me." Buffy said. Willow smiled sadly.
She loved hearing those words, but was afraid of the prophecy she was
about to receive.

"Yes, but in an arbitrary way. Buffy, Willow will be the most
important person you will ever know. More important than Giles, your
own mother ... she will be your redemption."

"Buffy," Giles interjected, "if you let her tell you what happened,
it will all fall into place. She knows things that, well, only one like
her could know. Just listen."

All eyes turned back to Dorian. She took her place in Giles'
overstuffed chair and filled the air with the tale of a Watcher, a
Slayer and ... an other. Looking around the room, she once again saw
those characters. One with the same face, but the others with new
faces. Stopping her eyes on the fair skinned red-head, she silently
reprimanded herself for allowing her realization to startle her ... and
the young woman.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Giles and Yancy walked silently along the edge of the wooded
grove. Yancy had grown stronger in her three years with Giles, yet she
was still conquering control issues. Her moves were clean and
technical, but she found herself flustered very easily. Her mind
wandered often, leaving her an open target.

"You will lose concentration if you concentrate too hard on it."
Giles said, smiling a little to show his supporting her efforts. She
hated the paradoxes that came with being a Slayer.

"Sh"

"Now don't get upset, I was just saying ..." Giles found it hard to
speak once Yancy had a firm grip on his mouth. Once he nodded that he
understood it was quiet time, she let go.

The Slayer headed toward an old oak tree. She turned to Giles and
pointed skyward. Giles nodded and moved away from her, allowing her to
work. With a fair amount of ease, the Slayer almost silently climbed to
the fourth branch and perched there. Her face wasn't visible from the
ground as she was looking further upward.

"I will come down if you promise not to hurt me." A female voice
called from above her.

"I won't promise anything until I see you." Yancy called upward.

A dirty face peeked out from behind the leaves. Her eyes were
closed tightly and her faced was scrunched up as though she might have
to look at something horrendous. Yancy's laughter gave the girl reason
to loosen her face muscles and open her eyes to a squint.

"Are you laughing at me?" She almost sounded hurt.

"I'm sorry, but you look ridiculous." Yancy almost fell backward,
"your face all pruned up. Come down from there."

"No."

"Please?" Yancy said in the sweetest tone she could muster.

"You promise not to laugh at me anymore?"

"Hey, I'm sorry, but you have to admit, that," she emphasised THAT
while pointing to the girl's face, "was not at all what I expected to
see." Her face quickly grew serious. "Now, come on down. I will if you
will." Yancy had already moved down one branch.

The two girls moved deftly through the branches until they reach
solid ground. Yancy watched as the other girl practically slid down the
trunk. Once on the ground, she kept her face toward the tree. Yancy
thought she heard her mumbling.

"Are you talking to me?" Yancy asked. "If you are, I can't hear
you."

"I wasn't talking," she said, "to you."

"Who then?"

"No one. Just, " she turned around and as she did, tilted her head
to the grass in quiet contemplation, "it's just something that I do. I
can't help it." She didn't look at Yancy when speaking to her.

"Why were you in the tree?" Yancy asked. "And what's your name?"

"I was trying to get away from ..." she stopped to ponder what it
was she was trying to escape from, "... something, I don't know what. I
saw this oak and I climbed up and stayed there until I thought it was
safe. Then you came along and frightened me back up."

"And ... "

"And? Oh," the girl replied, "Doran. And yours?"

"Yan. Yancy, really, but Yan is just as good." She said.
"Something, not someone was chasing you?"

"I don't know what it was, or who it might have been," Doran
explained. "I was heading home from the market when I felt something
following me. I got scared, dropped my bundles and ran."

"It looks like you fell a few times. Come closer, let me look at
you." Yancy said with genuine concern.

"Once I'm home, I'll be fine." Doran said, avoiding eye contact.
"You said your name was Yancy? That's odd."

Giles, in the meantime, made his way over from his hiding place near
the pond. He couldn't make out the face of the girl his Slayer was
talking to. He knew her, but he couldn't place her. She was too young
for him to have gone to school with, yet she had a familiarity of an old
friend.

"Giles, this is Doran, the Tree Climber," Yancy said with a wink.
"She thinks I have an odd name."

"No, you have a fine name. I just thought it was something else."
Doran's brows crinkled, wrinkling the skin above her nose.

"You're hurt child," Giles declared as he opened his bag.

"Please, don't worry about me. Save your ointments and apothecary's
herbs. I will be fine. I have what I need at home." Doran turned her
body away from the two good samaritans. "Humbly, I thank you, but I
really must get home."

Yancy turned, as if to walk with her, and Doran tilted her head
upward, meeting Yancy's eyes. Yancy's perlized green eyes met the hazy
blue of Doran's. Yancy looked at Doran closely, not daring to miss a
detail. Her nose, which had earlier been crinkled in fear, was strong
and straight. Her lips, which had been pursed together, were now full
and gently fell into a relaxed smile. And most intriguing were the
light brown spots that dotted her fragile face.

"You don't have to walk with me. I'll be okay now." Doran was now
standing at full height, no more slouching in shyness or hiding her
gorgeous face. "Thank you anyway."

"What did you think my name was?" Yancy asked, stopping Doran in her
tracks.

"Slater or ... Sayer ... I don't know. I thought it sounded like
that, but I must have heard wrong." Doran replied.

"Who did you hear my name from?" Yancy implored.

"I - I -have to go. Perhaps we will meet again, Slay ... Yan." Doran
quickly moved into the brush.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

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