The End, Chapter Five ~ The
Explanation
From: "Little Slayer" <little_slayer@hotmail.com>
Author: Little Slayer
Email: little_slayer@hotmail.com
Title: The End
Distribution: Anyone can have it. Just ask.
Rating: Well, it’s a prologue. There isn’t really
anything bad in it.
PG, for now. There is some graphic things and people die.
Author’s Note: Yes I do realize that there have been
and still are a
lot of beginning of Season Three fanfics out there. I’m
posting it
anyway. Oh, and I’m a total die-hard B/A fan. So
don’t worry,
everything’s going to be fine for him and Buffy. Well,
maybe.
Feedback: Yes! In fact it’s required! If
you don’t send feedback,
I’ll sick Angelus on you. Oooh, that’d be really
nice. No, actually I
can’t, because…
Disclaimer: I don’t own him! Or Buffy, Angel,
Giles, Willow, Joyce,
and everyone else. They’re all in here. I don’t
even own Angel’s
nickname of Peaches. That’s some other author’s
and I don’t remember
their name. The only thing I own is Mya. She’s
mine. I created her.
That and the plot. That’s mine too. All the
Buffyverse people belong
to Joss Whedon and anyone else who legally owns them.
Chapter Five, The Explanation
Buffy slowly
wandered towards the library. She had fallen asleep later
the night before, after her dream. But she was only able to
do that
when she made herself a little place on the floor in Spike and
Dru’s
room. She shuddered inside when she thought about the fact
she didn’t
have a mom to do those things anymore. She knew from the
obituary that
her mom’s funeral service had been the day after she had
found the body
lying on the kitchen floor. Buffy was still in so much
shock that she
didn’t even bother going. Whistler had told her how
her mother died,
besides the obvious broken neck. Apparently, the mayor was
some evil
guy and hired some people to break in and invite some vampires.
*I
wonder if I’ve already killed who did it…or if I can
still have that
pleasure,* she thought before stepping into the library.
They needed to
make a plan, then, as soon as the demon was killed, Buffy planned
to get
as far from Sunnydale as she could. Giles blamed her, and
she still
hadn’t dealt with everything yet. Not that she wanted
to; it was pretty
obvious that Mya and Angel had a thing going on. Buffy felt
her stomach
twist and she pushed away the nauseating feeling that erupted in
her
body.
“Did she say when
she’d get here?” Buffy heard a voice ask as she stood
outside of the doors. She peered in and saw less people
than she
thought. Spike and Dru were there, only to keep Buffy’s
emotions
protected and in control, Whistler was there to help research and
the
only others were Giles and Angel. Buffy sighed gratefully
and pushed
open the door.
“Speak of the
devil,” Spike muttered.
“Very funny,”
Buffy said with a raised eyebrow. She shook her hair, to
make sure all of the vampire dust came out of her hair, then
crossed the
library to Whistler’s side. “So, where do we
start?” she asked.
“By, surprisingly
enough, research,” Giles said. Buffy nodded and set
down her slaying bag.
“Joy,” she
muttered and sat down. “What do I do?”
“Well, the only
books I have concerning this that are in English, the
others have already gotten to, so, I’m not sure.” Giles
said slowly.
Buffy shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and looked at the
doors.
“I could do
another sweep down by the Bronze,” she suggested.
“No, buff, not
with the way you’ve been sleeping,” Drusilla told her.
“We need you in peek condition.” Buffy’s
shoulders sagged at her only
escape route and she sighed.
“Then what should
I do?” she asked again.
“How about you
tell us what you’ve been doing for the past year and a
half,” Giles suggested, his tone slightly cold and harsh.
Swallowing
hard, Buffy nodded.
“Okay.
Well, it was about eight months ago…”
*****
Buffy sat in her
room, staring off into space when she heard a knock at
the door. She didn’t move. The person at the
door continued to knock
until she heard a small scratching at the doorknob. She
didn’t care.
She was almost 18 and the terrors of last year came back to her
mind in
full force. Tears started to stream down her face and she
curled up
into a tiny ball.
“Slayer?” a
semi-familiar voice called out. “Slayer?”
“She’s not
‘ere,” another voice said. “Can we go now,
ducks?”
“No,” the
third said sharply. “We have to find her. You
guys can come
in.” Spike and Dru stepped through the thresh-hold.
Whistler walked in
and looked around. “There she is.”
“Hey Slayer,”
Spike said. Buffy didn’t move. “Hey luv, is
she dead?”
“No Spike,”
Drusilla answered. “She’s not dead.”
Concerned, Drusilla
walked over to the edge of Buffy’s bed. “Buffy…er,
Slayer, whatever…are
you okay?” Buffy didn’t do anything but lay there
and cry.
“She’s not
answering, ducks, let’s go,” Spike whined. “Before
the
Slayer there gets in a stake-happy mood.”
“Okay.
Slayer, if you need anything, we’ll leave a number,”
Drusilla
said. After getting no response, Dru tore a piece of paper
from a
note-pad near the phone and wrote down a number. “Bye
Slayer.” The
three walked to the door.
“Buffy,”
Buffy called out quietly.
“What?”
Spike asked.
“Don’t call
me ‘Slayer’. My name is Buffy,” she repeated.
“And no,
I’m not okay.”
*****
Angel looked up
from his book he was skimming while Buffy stopped for a
second and opened a can of Mountain Dew that had been in her bag.
“I know, not my
most proud moments,” she said, half-laughing.
“So, what did you
do next?” Angel asked. He had to admit that he was
getting sucked into Buffy’s story more than he could be; he
had research
to do.
“It was so long
ago,” Buffy said. “I don’t really remember.
I just
talked with Dru and got over some stuff.”
“Oh,” Angel
replied. His eyes met hers for a second and then she
looked away. “So, what happened after that?”
“We went around
the world and killed stuff, Peaches,” Spike muttered.
“Bloody Slayer said that already. Or maybe your old
age is finally
getting to you.”
“Sit N’
Spin, if you don’t shut up I will…” Buffy started.
“Sorry Slayer.
I’ll be good,” he muttered. Whistler raised an
eyebrow
and continued to read his book.
“Hey watcher,”
he said. “I think I found something.” Giles
walked
over to Whistler and skimmed through the page he indicated.
“Oh dear,”
Giles whispered. “Oh dear, oh dear.”
“Translation?”
Spike asked.
“Something bad’s
written on that page, and it probably means I’m going
to die,” Buffy muttered. “So Whistler, give me a
weapon and point me in
the direction of where the baddie is.”
“Don’t you
care if you die?” Angel asked incredulously. Buffy
looked
at him sadly and shrugged.
“It’s not
like I have anything to live for,” she whispered. The
others
were quiet for a few moments and Buffy polished off her pop.
“Buffy, we’ll
need to know some things about Trick. Do you think you
could go and persuade Willy?” Whistler asked.
“Send Spike,”
Buffy said. “I’m tired.”
“Spike’ll
probably kill him,” Whistler pointed out. Buffy sighed
and
then nodded.
“Okay, fine.
I’ll do that then I’ll take a quick sweep by the park.”
Whistler nodded and he and Giles began to discuss the book.
“I’ll go
with you,” Angel said. “We need to talk.”
“Dun, dun,
duuunnnn,” Spike muttered. Drusilla smacked him on the
arm
and he looked up at her innocently. “What?”
“You know damn
well, ‘what’,” she hissed.
“A little less
racket from the peanut gallery,” Buffy muttered then
looked at Angel. “Okay, then I guess I could walk you
home or
something.” Angel nodded and they gathered their
things. “Don’t wait
up Dru, I don’t know when I’ll be done patrolling.”
“Kay,” Dru
replied and smiled at her. “Have fun.”
Buffy raised her
eyebrow and pulled on her leather jacket. She headed out of
the library
with Angel at her heels.
*****
Willy finished
putting away the bottles of alcohol and blood that he
kept in his bar. The door opened and a little bell rang up
the stairs.
“We’re
closed,” he called up. Nothing. Curiously, he
pulled out a
cross and walked towards the stairs. A figure came out of
the darkness
and Willy swung the cross wildly.
“Will you watch
it with that thing?” Angel asked annoyed.
“Angel, buddy.
Didn’t realize it was you. gosh, you’ve gotten
more
quiet in your recent humanisms. What can I do you for?”
Willy walked
back to the counter and set down his cross.
“Human?
What the hell is he talking about?” a female voice demanded.
Angel looked back over his shoulder and frowned.
“You didn’t
know?” he asked.
“Know what?”
Buffy asked as she descended down the stairs.
“I’m human,”
Angel said quietly. Buffy stopped and a look of pure
shock raced over her pretty features.
“Okay, we really
do need to talk,” she muttered then looked at Willy.
“Hiya Willy. How’s business?”
“Slayer?
When did, I mean, uh, hi.” Willy scratched his head.
“So
you’re why they’ve practically ran into hiding.”
“Who?” Angel
asked.
“The vamps.”
“Sorry ‘bout
that Willy. Don’t worry though, I’ll be gone in a
few
days, one way or another.” Buffy replied. “We
want to know about a vamp
named Trick.”
“Trick? I
don’t know him,” Willy replied nervously.
“You lie to me,
Willy, and I’ll personally see that Spike and Drusilla
come here and rip you to shreds. I’d do it myself, but
I really don’t
want to get blood on my jacket.”
“He’s…”
Willy’s shoulders hung defeatedly and he sighed.
“He’s in the
old mansion that Angel set up shop in a while back. They’re
preparing
for some new prophecy. It seems the hell mouth’s going
to open, and
nobody’s here to stop it. Well, that was then.”
Buffy cocked her head
then nodded, satisfied.
“Thanks Willy,
knew I could count on you,” she said then turned to
leave.
“Hey Slayer,”
Willy called up to her. She stopped and looked at him.
“Good luck.” She nodded and then left.
Angel looked oddly at Willy
then headed up after Buffy. “Slayers,” Willy
muttered. “Always bad for
business.”
*****
“Buffy!
Wait up!” Angel called out to Buffy. She slowed to a
stop
then turned to look at Angel. “Thanks,” he
muttered and fell into step
next to her.
“So, human,”
she started.
“Yeah. It’s
a lot to take in. I know.” Buffy stared down at
the
ground and then glanced sideways at Angel.
“So, no curse or
anything,” she prodded.
“Nope. None.
Just me and a human body that’s still as strong as it
was as a vampire.” *And still as gorgeous,* Buffy
thought.
“Angel? Do
you…never mind.” Buffy picked up her pace a
little and
Angel did the same.
“What?”
“Its…do you
know exactly how beautiful you are?” she asked, blushing.
Angel stopped in his tracks and blinked, as if he didn’t
hear right.
“Beautiful?”
Buffy stopped a few feet in front of him and turned to
face him, always avoiding his eyes. “To be honest, I
didn’t think
that’s what you would’ve called me when…if you
ever came back.”
“What did you
think I’d call you?” Buffy asked cautiously.
“A monster,”
Angel replied quietly. Buffy looked up into his eyes and
fought back tears.
“No. Don’t
even think that. It’s not true, and I never thought
it,”
she told him sharply.
“But all the
things I – ”
“Demon. The
DEMON!” Buffy insisted.
“You don’t
believe that,” Angel said bitterly.
“I have this
conversation almost daily with Spike and Drusilla and I
always win. If I thought you were a monster, I would’ve
staked you long
ago.” Angel looked down at Buffy. “Besides,
if it weren’t for me, he
never would’ve been re-introduced to the world.”
“It wasn’t
your fault,” Angel said forcefully.
“I made you loose
your soul.”
“You made me
happy.”
“I killed you and
sent you to hell.”
“You saved the
world.”
“I destroyed
everything you worked for.”
“You made me
human.” Buffy opened her mouth to reply then looked up
at
him, confusion showing in her eyes.
“Huh?” she
asked. Angel stepped forward and pressed her hand against
his chest, right over his heart. She could feel it thumping
loudly
inside Angel’s chest.
“If you hadn’t
saved the world by sending me to hell, Willow and Giles
never would’ve gotten me out and I never would’ve
become human.” Buffy
pulled away her hand and resisted the urge to run into his arms.
“I
love – ”
“Mya,” Buffy
finished. “I’ve seen how you look at her.”
“No!” Angel
said. “No. I don’t love her. All it
was, was a dumb
little crush. I was fascinated with her, and I felt sorry
for her. She
didn’t have any friends. So I became her friend.”
“So…who do
you love?” Buffy asked hesitantly. Angel put his
fingers
under Buffy’s chin and lifted her face so he could look into
her eyes.
“Do you really
need to ask me that?” he asked. Buffy pulled away and
turned to walk down the street.
“I’ve had a
lot of bad experiences Angel, and somehow, the words
‘scarred for life’ come to mind.” Angel
walked up behind her and bent
down to whisper in her ear.
“You Buffy.
I’ve never stopped.” After getting no reply,
Angel took
in a deep breath and continued down the street to his house to
brood.
Quietly, Buffy followed in step behind him. When they
reached the front
door, Angel pulled out his keys and unlocked it. “Good-night,
Buffy.”
“Angel, wait a
sec,” Buffy said. He turned and looked into her eyes.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said to me. I
blamed myself for a
lot of things that happened to you, I still do. But nothing’s
going to
change the past. And I know, now more than ever, that I’ll
love you to
the end.” Angel stood quietly for a moment then
stopped fighting the
urge to pull Buffy into his arms. Their lips met in an
electrifyingly
soft kiss that slowly grew stronger and more passionate.
“I’ve missed
you so much,” Angel murmured when it was over.
“I’ve missed
you too, Angel,” Buffy whispered. Silently, she took
his
hand and the two walked into Angel’s house.
*****
Down the street, a
dark figure pulled out into the shadows and glared
at Angel’s house as the bedroom light lit and two figures
melted onto
the bed. Mya clenched her stake and bit down on the inside
of her cheek
so hard blood came pouring into her mouth.
“So Miss Summers,
you’re trying to hoarde into *my* life? I don’t
think so. You’ll pay for this, *Buffy*, you’ll
pay,” she hissed then
blended back into the shadows.