FIC: Splitted: Prologue

[eridan22000@xxxxxxxx]

I have ben a lurker on this list for quite a while. That is mostly 
because I have just recently started to watch Btvs (which I consider 
being a great show!). But now I feel ready to post my own story. 
Feedback would be welcome. By the way...I have read many of the 
stories posted to the list and I really enjoy reading them.


Disclaimer: The Characters of Buffy: The Vampire slayer do not belong 
to me, but to Joss Whedon. The story is mine, as well as the 
characters of "Eridan" and "Na'Dara". 

Another Disclaimer: If I am putting small things wrong, please be 
gentle with me. I have to rely on older episodes, since I am from 
Germany. So, please don't kill me.

Spoilers: I do not know the exact name of the episode, but this fic 
takes place after Oz has left Willow due to the incident with Veruca.

Splitted - Prologue

The sky over Sunnydale was bright blue and the sun sent golden, 
warming beams down on the crowds who were walking down the streets of 
the town.
But Willow did not notice the warmth. She did hardly notice anything 
at all. 
Since Oz had left Sunnydale the only thing she felt was this terrible 
emptines inside her heart. And, though she cursed herself for being 
so selfish, a certain amount of anger.
She had loved him with all her heart and he had first betrayed her 
with this b.... Veruca, who had been a werewolf, too. And then, after 
he had killed Veruca while being a werewolf, he had left her alone. 
He had left her when she had needed him most. 
Her friends tried their best to comfort her, but that had been of no 
use. The pain did not subside. Instead, it seemed to increase with 
every passing minute.
Willow did not care if she bumped in various bypassers as she walked 
home. 
People rushed around her, but she noticed no one. 
One of her closest friends could have been standing before her and 
she would not have noticed it.

But then there was this terrible noise that shook her out of her 
depressive thoughts.
Brakes were screeching and a loud "bump" could be heard.
Willow lifted her head - for the first time in what had semed like an 
eternity.

The noise had come from behind a corner and Willow chose to examine 
the source of the noise. Perhaps she could help. 
The witch was not that much depressed that she could leave someone 
alone who probably needed help.

So she went quickly around the corner. A car was standing there and a 
woman was lying in front of it. Blood covered her clothes. The driver 
of the car was nowhere to be seen. 

A huge crowd already had gathered around the place of the accident. 
But as always...
when there were many people, no one felt compelled to help. 

No one seemed to care about the woman. or about the missing driver. 
So Willow chose to help. She could not work healing magic, at least 
not in front of so many people and not as fast as would be needed to 
save the woman's life.

But she knew enough about first aid. 
With her elbows, the red-haired witch made her way through the crowd, 
ignoring shouts and curses from people she had stabbed. 
She knelt down next to the woman and began to remove the woman's 
clothes. 

Suddenly the woman turned her head and stared at Willow from clear 
green eyes. 
In spite of the pain, her eyes were alive and clear. And so.....old.
>From what Willow was able to see, the woman could not have been older 
than 30. But these eyes....they looked as if they had seen eons.
And then, before Willow was able to react, the woman had raised her 
(broken!) arms and touched Willow's face with her bloody hands.
Willow was too startled to react. The woman forced Willow to look 
directly into these eon-old eyes and whispered, " So much pain in 
such a young woman's eyes. It's a pity. 
I shall give you something that will ease your pain, dear. Finally, 
it is over for me..."

Her head dropped back onto the street and her hands released Willo's 
face.

But it had not ended. Inside of Willow's head the witch heard a 
whisper:

"I am Na'Dara, the last guardian, the keeper of the seal. I shall 
help you in the tasks that lie ahead. But I need something in 
return...."

Willow never heard what the whisper wanted. 
She faded.



Deep in the night.....

Buffy Summers wandered alone through the park, her hand clutching the 
wooden stake tightly, the only thing that indicated that she was not 
just walking around but hunting.
But her mind was not fully on hunting.
Her mind was on her best friend Willow.
The red-haired witch had been betrayed by Oz, her lover, who 
unfortunately was also a werewolf.
And now, after an incident with another werewolf ( named Veruca, the 
woman Oz betrayed Willow with), Oz had left Sunnydale. Willow was 
completely down and all her and her friend's efforts to make her feel 
better had helped nothing.
Now she was desparately thinking about a way to make Willow feel 
better again. 
Anything that would help she would do. Sometimes Buffy thought if it 
was only friendship she felt for Willow or something deeper....

The hand that grabbed her shoulder roughly jolted her out of her 
thoughts.
Buffy whirled around...and stared into the ugly face of a vampire.
And out of the bushes, three more vampires were crawling.
Uh oh, she thought, this is going to be a hot ride.

She brought her foot up and it thundered into the vampire's face, 
causing the vampire to stumble backwards with an angry snarl.
As if this had been a command, all newcomers set up their "game 
faces" and attacked as well.

Buffy fought fast, furious and well. But she saw that the vampires 
were good as well. She managed to impale one of them with a stake, 
but the other three brought her down.
As she was lying on the ground and the three vampires grinned down on 
her, she heard something.
The vampires heard it as well and they all turned around.

Too late.

Suddenly, a dark figure emerged from the shadows and thundered into 
the vampires.
Buffy only saw a wide black cape and a glimpse of metal and gold. 
Before the figure began to battle the vampires.
The first vampire attacked the person with his hands, but the figure 
simply steepped aside and began to puck the vampire in a manic 
rhythm. Finally, the figure lifted her foot and sent the vampire 
flying into a hedge. Then she lifted her hand and pointed at the 
vampire. Biffy gasped when she saw a beam of pure SUNLIGHT emerge 
from the figure's hands and engulf the vampire, who began to scream 
and soon crumbled to dust.
Then the figure turned her head to face the other vampires. Buffy 
caught a glimpse of red hair. The figure did not pay enough attention 
to what was going around in her back and a vampire seized the chance 
to grab her/him and try to bite.
But when he sank his teeth into his victim's neck, he screamed and 
gagged. The figure turned around and said in a terrible voive that 
sounded as if hundreds of people were talking at the same time, " You 
are not going to learn anything, are you?"
Then, the warrior's hand thundered forward and grabbed the vampire, 
who also crumbled to dust.
The third vampire knew that he had no chance agaoinst this eerie 
warrior and ran. But he never reached the hedge. The person threw 
soething after him and the vampire stumbled. He was a pile of dust 
before he hit the ground.

Then the figure went towards Buffy. While she came near, Buffy could 
see that she was indeed a woman, clothed in a metal breastplate, a 
leather belt with a sword (?) dangling from it, leather boots, 
leather trousers, metal arm protection and a golden headband with a 
jewel in its midst. But the slayer wasn't able to see the face yet. 
While walking towards her, her rescuer said, "Not the best 
performance for a slayer, dear. You really need to practice if you 
want to survive a real assault."
Now she was near enough for Buffy to look at her face. And when Buffy 
recognized her, the slayer went pale......

That's it for now.
Eridan
Proud wearer of the mask of irony