13: Pancake Divination
“Um… pancakes, anyone?”
Willow’s shaky voice reverberated around the room, where everybody was still looking at the spot Kendra had vacated. An aura of wonder and amazement hung palpably over them, broken by Daniel stepping forwards to face Spike.
“Oh, and, just to set the record straight… I’m not a half-grown weakling. And we both got out of the nursery about twelve years ago.”
Spike snorted, finding refuge in sarcasm from what Whistler had said. “Oh, is that so? How old are you?”
“Fifteen,” Daniel replied softly.
“Exactly,” he smirked. “Half-grown weakling. You just proved my point.”
“Hey, lay off him, evil undead,” Xander defended him. “At least his heart beats.”
“He’s still a half-grown weakling.”
Daniel’s eyes flared angrily, but Cassandra stepped up put a hand gently on his elbow. “That’s Spike, and that’s Xander,” she informed him quietly.
“Here, how do you know my name?”
“Cool,” Xander looked pleased. “You know my name as well, huh?”
“How do you know everything?” Buffy asked. “We’ve never seen you before in our lives.”
“Maybe something Hellmouthy,” Willow suggested.
Giles sighed, and began to clean his glasses. “I suspect that there is a lot that you need to tell us. Frankly, I’m still quite tired from our encounter with the First Slayer. Willow, are those pancakes still on offer? Things might be easier to digest while we’re eating.”
“It’d make sense, wouldn’t it?” Spike snickered. “You can only digest if you eat, after all.”
Giles glared at him, giving him the famous look of librarians worldwide when they find people eating inside libraries. “I’m not in the mood, Spike. Whistler sent you for a reason, I believe. But that doesn’t mean I have to listen to your smart comments.”
“Whatever, Rupes,” Spike shrugged offhandedly, sauntering into the dining room, mostly everyone following. Willow immediately began sorting out ingredients on the island, not noticing the girl in the doorway until she softly cleared her throat.
“Um… I was just wondering, can I help?” Cassandra half-squeaked.
“Sure,” Willow grinned. “Here, help me beat up the eggs.”
They mixed in silence for a while, occasionally giggling over the argument clearly going on in the dining room. Eventually, Daniel slipped in as well.
“Mr. Giles thinks that we should call Tara and Anya here,” he said uncomfortably. “He said you knew their numbers?”
“Oh, of course…”
As Willow reached for the telephone, Daniel joined Cassandra. Soon, sizzling noises rent the air, filling the room with a delicious smell. The doorbell rang.
As Tara and Anya filed in, it suddenly struck Cassandra that she was still in shock. Barely a day ago, she’d been lying in hospital, her body battered and bruised, and a pessimistic view of the future. Now, however, she was in the land of dreams. These weren’t actors she was seeing. This was the real deal. She’d seen them last night, in the exhausting aftermath of a magical spell…
There was magic in this world.
The thought hit her hardest amongst all of her musings. The Powers that Be had sent them here for a reason. But she was still completely confused. What good could she do here?
Reality began to sink in. This was a world of magic, yes. But also demons and darkness and evil. She was standing on the doorway of the Hellmouth itself.
So not going to think about that.
It scared her. She looked at Willow and Tara, smiling and laughing together as they trooped into the dining room, and saw instead Tara shot, lying on the floor, blood oozing from the wound. I promise I won’t let that happen. Maybe this is why…
She saw Willow filled with dark magic, wreaking bloody horror across Sunnydale, and Warren, completely skinned in the throes of death.
Oh God… please may I be able to stop that from happening…
She saw Anya following them, kissing Xander when she reached him. But then she saw Anya, cloven in two by a Bringer’s sword.
She stayed and fought. She didn’t deserve to die. None of them did. I’m going to try…
She heard Giles’ voice rise over Spike’s in the room next door, and saw Buffy, crying, as Giles left for England. Saw everyone in the group rent apart.
I am not going to let that happen! Giles’ leaving triggered off everything else… or at least helped to…
With the realization slowly dawning on her of what she was supposed to do, she began to shake uncontrollably. Daniel looked alarmed.
“Cassandra, what’s wrong!”
“I’ll tell you later,” she gulped, forcing down the panic. He began to notice something else strange.
“Why are you putting chilli in this last one?” his eyes widened. “Why are you putting a lot of chilli in this last one?”
“Spike,” she explained, glad to escape further questioning. “His tastebuds aren’t exactly like ours, and I’ve already checked the fridge. There isn’t any blood.”
Daniel took a long and shaky breath. “This is going to take a lot of getting used to,” he muttered. “It feels like I’m in a dream.”
“I know,” she finally put the last, chilli pancake on a plate, and took them all in.
Everyone muttered words of appreciation, and Willow beamed. Cassandra managed a shy smile, and Daniel coughed uncomfortably. Golden syrup and honey were quickly emptied. But when she put Spike’s plate in front of him, he raised a scarred eyebrow.
“Why’s mine orange?”
Cassandra blushed. “Um… I know you like chilli. And I know your tastebuds aren’t exactly in full working order, so…”
He looked at her suspiciously as she blushed, and
then took a careful bite. Despite his attempt to keep his face sour and menacing, he failed, and a small smile lit his handsome features.
“Thanks,” he whispered, taking care that no-one else heard him but her.
“No problem,” she smiled shyly again, and then when back to sit with Daniel.
The Scoobies tucked in with relish, and even Spike was enjoying the chilli pancakes. He’d never really thought of this option before. He could actually taste it, which was definitely of the good…
Oh bollocks. I’m talking like them. I’m going mad… oh bloody hell… gotta go back to my crypt and think things through…-
“Now,” Giles’ voice shocked him out of his thoughts. “Would you care to tell us your story?”
Buffy looked at her seemingly unflappable Watcher in admiration. Right now, she just wanted to put her head under her pillow and stay there, preferably for the next couple of years. Too much had happened in too short a span of time for her to process it.
“Well… I don’t actually know,” Daniel took the lead after a quick glance to Cassandra. “We were in hospital one second, and then we were someplace else, and someone was talking to us.”
“I think it was probably a delegate of the powers,” Cassandra added. “They said a lot of things I didn’t understand at the time… and there were a lot of images that I kept seeing from this world. Then they spouted off this weird rhyme before they sent us, and that’s really all.”
“A rhyme, you say?” Giles leaned forwards, completely enraptured and in full Watcher-mode. “Do you remember it? It could be vitally important.”
“Not all of it, but…”
“You have been chosen,
Before the death of Time,
To follow the path,
And teach with song and Rhyme
Wisdom of the Ancient,
Follow bardic trail,
Companion to the Singer,
For Light to win, prevail
The First and Last have conquered,
Undo what has gone before,
Or else all Heart has failed,
And lost this endless War
This battle must be won
Though both sides may win and lose,
But the fighting must be done,
For the Heart to finally choose
Argue, lie, tell truths and hate,
Work against the other Fate,
Guide and save, protect and fall,
Die and live again for all…”
Daniel finished, and then saw everyone looking at him in astonishment, save Cassandra who was merely smiling. She’d long ago learnt of his phenomenal memory. “What?”
“Well, I must say,” Giles immediately produced a pen and paper, and began writing notes down furiously. “Could you please repeat that?”
Daniel obediently repeated the poem, and Giles leapt up.
“Research,” he exclaimed excitedly. “We must go back to my apartment! I’ve never seen a prophecy like this before!”
“Do you want us to look it up on the internet?” Willow asked.
“Yes,” Giles nodded. “Xander, Anya, to the books!”
“Well, I’m not wanted,” Spike stood up abruptly and pulled his duster about him. “I’ll just go back to the crypt.”
“But i-it’s daytime,” Tara stuttered. “W-won’t you get b-burnt?”
“Sewer system,” Spike shrugged. “I left the manhole open.”
“You can stay here for the day, if you want,” Buffy felt the words coming out of her mouth.
He looked at her in surprise, but then shook his head. “No, it’s okay. ‘M hungry, anyway. No blood here.”
“Thanks for that wonderful observation, Peroxide boy,” Xander said scathingly.
“Well, of course, there is,” Spike grinned evilly. “But it happens to be situated in your body. Care to cut a vein, Whelp?”
Before Xander could reply, Spike had collected his blanket and run out of the door, smoking again.
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Buffy was looking so obviously bored Cassandra had to look sympathetic. Anya and Xander were snuggling together on the pretext of both reading the same book. Even Willow and Tara were giggling by their computer. Giles was the only one reading animatedly.
Cassandra felt completely useless. And she could feel Daniel tense next to her. Suddenly, she had an idea.
“Is it alright if we explore the town?” she asked Buffy quietly.
“Sure!” Buffy leapt up, smiling cheerily, thanking the teenager silently for this opportunity of freedom. “I can show you around!”
“Not now, Buffy,” Giles said absentmindedly. “I need you to look over this. I’m sure Daniel and Cassandra would like to familiarize themselves with Sunnydale, though. Just don’t go near the old High School.”
Before anyone could object, Cassandra had dragged Daniel out into the warm sunlight, and out into the heart of Sunnydale.
“Where are we going?” Daniel asked, bewildered.
“To see Spike.”
8 8 8
(Well? Like that? Little button...)
[Reviews - 34]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 1470 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm so sorry I haven't posted for a while. I really have no excuse, I need to write more often :P