Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away there lived a king and his queen. They were both Good and Virtuous, but they had the worst of luck in child bearing. Still, they made due, and they were happy. One day, whilst in her bath, a frog appeared and said to the queen, “Madam, before this year ends, you shall have a daughter.” And in a year’s time, the frog’s words were fulfilled, and a beautiful little girl, whom the king and queen called Briar Rose, was born.
The king and queen were ecstatic, and so to celebrate, they invited only their kin and their greatest of friends to a feast, but also, they invited the wise women of the land. Unfortunately, the king only had twelve golden plates, and so he could only invite twelve of the thirteen wise women to the feast. And, oh! what a feast it was! With food covering the mile long table, and music heard all the way at the kingdom next, and garland decorating every window. It was something to behold, and every person there knew they were lucky to have been invited to such a feast! When the time came for giving presents, the princess received many a gift of hand crafted wooden cribs, and golden jewels, and, the best of all as long as she was concerned, toys galore! And then the twelve wise women began to give the princes each of her gifts.
When she lived in L.A., Buffy was popular. She was smart and funny and kind and confidant and full of love she could burst. And normal. She had friends, lots of them, and boys pining over her. She had malls to shop at and movies to watch and music to dance to. She had everything a teenage girl could want. Still, she felt like she was missing a piece of her. Then, she met Merrick and he told her she has this great title of Slayer Comma The that came with a heaping load of responsibility and world save-age and super girl super powers, and she thought, HEY MAYBE THIS IS THE PIECE THAT’S MISSING. MAYBE I KNEW I HAD A DESTINY AND NOW I KNOW IT. But, no, that wasn’t it. With her destiny in tow, Buffy did the one thing she could: she danced her dance and burned down her school’s gym and her mother packed her up and they moved to Sunnydale, where she kept on dancing her dance.
They bestowed upon her gifts of Beauty, of Wit, of Bravery, of Kindness, of Strength, of Determination, of Intelligence, of Confidence, of Leadership, of Curiosity, and of Love. And before the final wise woman could grant her gift, the jealous thirteenth woman walked into the castle in huff, and declared, “Because you dare not invite me to this party, in her fifteenth year, the princess will prick herself with a spindle, and fall down dead.” And, without saying a word more, she turned round and left the room.
The king and queen were devastated and began to cry, but the last wise woman, the one who had yet to bestow her gift, stepped forward and said, “I can not reverse this evil-woman’s curse, but I can soften it. The princess will not die, but she will fall into a deep slumber for a hundred years until a prince finds her and saves her.”
Still, the king ordered for every spindle to be removed from the land, and for fifteen years, the princess lived, ignorant to what a spindle was. On her fifteenth birthday, the princess’s curiosity got the better of her and she wandered into a tower she had never entered at the castle and at the top was a door with a crooked knob. She turned the knob and behind the door, she found a woman, spinning wool. Never having seen a spinning wheel before, again, her curiosity bid her to ask, “Woman, what is that you sitting at?”
“Why, it’s a spindle, of course,” replied the woman, with a smile.
“Is it fun? Sitting at a spindle,” the princess inquired further.
“It is great fun! Would you like to try,” the woman offered.
In Sunnydale she met Angel. And they fell in love. And she thought, OK, SO IT WASN’T DESTINY, SO MAYBE IT’S LOVE; MAYBE THE PIECE OF ME THAT’S MISSING IS LOVE. And that felt right, so she threw herself into her (epic) relationship with Angel.
Nodding, the princess sat at the spindle and scarcely had she touched the spindle, did she prick her finger with it, and dropped to a deep slumber, as did the entirety of her father’s kingdom. For a hundred years, the kingdom was frozen in time, not even a fly moving through. The course of time continued outside the kingdom, and nature cast a hedge of thorns around the kingdom.
But still it didn’t feel just right. And then he became evil and broke her heart and killed Ms. Calendar, and then she had to kill him and that broke her heart some more and then he came back and Buffy was happy. But then he left her and shattered her heart, and then it really didn’t feel right. And then Buffy hardened. Around her heart a bush of thorns grew, no one able to pass through.
Many a prince heard the story of the beautiful Briar Rose, stuck in time by a curse, and many a prince tried to work their way through the thorns growing around the castle. All failed. For one hundred years the princes slept, no one to rescue her from her curse.
Many tried. There was Scott Hope (he was nice) and Parker (if he counts) and Riley (oh Riley poor, poor Riley) and Richard (Xander’s construction worker friend). And Spike. So many tried to cut through, and they all failed. If you ask Xander when exactly it was Buffy hardened the way she did, he’d say it was when she died-the second time. Willow would say it was after her mother’s death. Giles thinks it was after he left her after she came back. But Dawn knows that the only thing that could hurt Buffy the way she hurt was love. So after Angel left her, Buffy went through the motions of living. She did the shopping with Willow and the Bollywood night with Xander and the training with Giles and the bickering with Dawn. She even tried the dating with Riley. The First Slayer told her she was full of love. Spike himself once told her the only reason she lives now was for the friends she had around her, for the love she had for them and the love they had in return. But still, Buffy’s heart was asleep. Nothing could awaken it. Nothing could get passed the wall of thorns around it to try.
That is, until one day, a prince from a neighbouring kingdom heard of the story of Briar Rose, and declared he would save her. Everyone warned him not to go, his mother wept and pleaded for him to remain safe at home. “There are many other beautiful girls in this kingdom,” she implored. But he was insistent. This was not a challenge for him; he didn’t want her because she was unattainable to the rest of the world. He knew in his heart that she was the one. And so he set out on finding her. The journey over was difficult; he encountered trolls and other sorts of demons. Even a fire breathing dragon. But he fought, and every time he arose successful and carried on, until he finally arrived at the foot of the kingdom and saw the thorns waiting for him.
Suddenly, he felt fear run through him. He wondered if he could really do this. If he could really succeed where so many others had failed. He hesitated and almost turned back. But then his resolve settled and he turned back to the hedge. What the prince did not know, however, was that this very day was the hundredth anniversary of the princess’s fifteenth birthday. And the curse had finally been lifted. When the prince drew his sword to start hacking at the thorns, he found that they began to turn into beautiful flowers, which parted on their own accord as he walked further on. As he walked into the castle, he found the court frozen in place. He saw horses and pigeons asleep where they stood, men and women of the court sleeping soundly on the floor, and up on the throne lay the king and queen, dozing. He walked further on into the kitchen, where the cook held on to his apprentice looking angry; they too were frozen, and in the courtyard was the maid, half way done plucking the hen for dinner. He continued walking until he saw the tower in which the princess had fallen, and climbed the stairs to the room with the crooked door knob. He turned the knob and there he saw the princess: blonde hair flowing over her shoulders, eyelids closed, covering her shining green eyes. He walked over slowly and planted a kiss on her lips, and it was then that she woke.
Still, one man tried all he could. He fought, he begged, he cried. He went to Africa, risked his life, fought a wish-demon of some sort and won a soul. For her. And still, he didn’t manage to get through. Not really. And then, he died, saving the world. For her. But he still hadn’t gotten through, although she told him he had. But he knew he hadn’t. And she knew he hadn’t, because that piece of her was still missing. And when, like many others in the world in which they lived, he returned from the dead, he was too scared to go back to her. And so Buffy’s heart hardened some more; it continued to sleep like it had for so long. Who knows how long now? Five years seemed like a hundred without love. And Buffy kept going through the motions. And then, one day, Spike came back. Her knight in shining leather coat.
“And as she laid her eyes on the prince, she fell in love with him. And she thought time was going to stop, but it didn’t. The world continued on, and so did their love, ” Buffy closed the book as she finished reading the final words to the five year old laying next to her. “The End,” she declared, “Time for nighty-night, Joy.”
“Aw! Can’t you read me one more, Aunty Buffy,” the little girl begged.
“I would, but your mother would kill me. Come on, give your Aunt a kiss goodnight.”
After her kiss, Buffy tucked in her niece, turned off the lights, and walked out. Right into the arms of her love. She was happy. That piece she had felt was missing had finally been found when Spike walked back into her life, bruised from the battle that brought him there. She was happy. He knocked on her door, and she opened it. She turned the knob and let him in. And he kissed her and her heart awoke. And she thought time was going to stop, but it didn’t. The world continued on, and so did their love.
Author's Chapter Notes:
It's my first fic so I'd love feedback. Hope you enjoy
Chapter End Notes:
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