[Reviews - 126]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 28044 times

- Text Size +




Author's Chapter Notes:
Betaed by Maria and Flight Of Fancy.

Especially Flight Of Fancy have worked hard on my story, so let me know what you think of it now.
"Sorry, Giles, it's my job."

She walked determined out of the library. It's my job to slay the demons of this world until I die, even if that happens to be tonight. I wish it wasn't, I'm not done. I wanna do things, see the world, and try an adult relationship. Watch the new movie they put up yesterday. Go to college, try all the flavors of icecream there are. There is so much I haven't tried yet.

She wiped at a tear that was slowly making its way down her cheek. I’ve never seen Giles make a mistake about a prophecy, but I really hope he has this time. I hope and I pray that he’s wrong.

Everything after that happened so quickly, though it felt like a movie that moved too slow. Some of it repeated itself, again and again, until finally, there was nothing but peace.

-------

In the library, the phone began to ring loudly in the otherwise quiet room, startling the group of people gathered there.

Giles hurried to pick up the phone. "Buffy?"

"Am I correct in assuming that I'm talking with Mr. Giles?"

"Yes, this is Rupert Giles, how may I help you?" With his free hand he took off his glasses, and then rubbed his brow.

"One moment please, Mr. Quentin Travers wishes to speak with you."

"Mr. Giles, Quentin Travers here. I’m sorry to inform you that a new Slayer has been called."

"Oh my God, then it was true." Giles leaned heavily against the desk.

"I assume that you know how your Slayer died?" Giles heard the question from afar, as he turned around and looked over the small group that had gathered in the library to wait for Buffy’s return with him.

Xander and Willow were sitting at the table together, holding on to each other. Angel was on the stairs, head bowed.

Giles came back to himself when he heard the question asked again. "Yes, in fact I do. It was written that The Master would kill her. It seems he has fulfilled the prophecy."

"Seems? What do you mean by that? Didn’t you see him kill her?"

"No, Sir, I was not with her, but I will immediately go out to look for her body."

"Then the vampire must have seen her die?"

Giles whipped off his glasses, which he had just put back on. He stuttered in a voice filled with defeat, "S.. she was alone."

Travers raised his voice. "Why was she alone, especially when it was prophesied that she was at risk of dying?"

"Not at risk. It said quite clearly that The Master would kill her when he tried to break free. So, as you can see, there wasn’t anything that anyone could do about it."

Travers screamed so loud that even Xander and Willow could hear him. Angel had been listening to the whole conversation, and now his head was even more bowed. "You stupid, ignorant fool. You are a Watcher, or, you’re supposed to be. Apparently, you missed the lectures we held about prophecies."

"What do you mean, Sir?" Giles watched as Willow cried and Xander tried to comfort her.

"Now listen up. In fact, you’d better write this down. A prophecy doesn’t have to come true, literally. We have seen that if watchers go with their Slayer, they can often change the outcome of a prophecy. Why do you think her first watcher died? He was standing by her side, protecting his Slayer, as you should have been."

Giles sank down to sit on the floor, his glasses in hand, head bowed. "You mean to say that if I had gone with my Slayer, she would still be alive?"

"You, or that vampire who claims to have a soul. Yes, maybe, it’s hard to say. The only thing to do now though, is to find her body and make sure that she hasn’t been turned. However, I’m afraid that we have no use for your services after this fiasco. I will be sure to notify you formally, probably by mail. Goodbye, Mr. Giles."

Giles raised his head to lean it back against the desk, his tears making him blind to everything for a moment. He couldn’t even be bothered to hang up the phone, just letting it fall out of his grasp to lie on the floor.

Angel raised his eyes to Giles. "It may be our fault that she’s dead?"

"Yes, it seems so."

Xander shouted hysterically. "What does that mean? It’s your fault? Could you have stopped it? I don’t understand. You told us that nothing that could stop a prophecy from coming true."

Giles got up from the floor, found a handkerchief, and started to clean his glasses. "Well, it seems that if one or all of us had gone along with her," He stopped, taking a deep breath before he continued. "We might have changed the prophecy, and she might have lived." To die another day, he thought. That is the life of a Slayer. To live with death every day of their lives, for as long as they are allowed to live.

Willow began to cry louder.

"Xander, why don’t you take Willow home? Maybe stay with her tonight, while I go out and try to find Buffy’s body. Can I count on your help, Angel?"

Angel nodded and started toward the exit.

Xander protested. "Why does he get to help? We wanna help. She was our friend." Even now that she is dead, he butts in. She was my friend, not his. He’s the evil undead.

"I might not have known her as long as you, but I hope that she counted me as one of her friends. Besides, I can find her faster." Angel responded to Xander, like a father educating a child.

Xander got in his face, moving until they were almost nose to nose. "Yeah? And we should just believe that?"

"Xander, stop it." Giles tried to separate them.

"He’s right, Xander. He can follow her trail by scenting where she walked."

“You mean like a dog? That fits him," Xander said with a snarl.

"Enough is enough, Xander! Will you please stop arguing and take Willow home!"

Willow spoke up for the first time. "Will you please call us later? When you have found her? So we can see her, maybe, and say goodbye?"

"I’ll call as soon as I know something. Let's get started, Angel." I hope the children will be able to see her and say their goodbyes. That The Master and his minions didn’t let their hate for the Slayer cause them to mutilate her body.

He collected a crossbow and a couple of stakes. On the way out of the library Giles spoke to the vampire beside him. "Do you want a weapon, Angel?"

"No, I’ve got what I need."

Outside the school, they stopped and looked around.

“Which way, Angel?"

"That way, I think." He pointed the way with a nod of his head.

"Think? Can’t you say which way she went with any certainty?"

"She’s walked here so many times. All I can do is try to pick out the strongest scent. That should be the most recent, and should point us in the right direction."

"Let's go then."

They walked for a while in silence, Giles following Angel. Suddenly, Angel stopped so abruptly that Giles walked right into him. He took a step back, covered his nose with one hand, and ripped off his glasses with the other. "What in God's name made you stop?"

"Blood! I smell her blood, and if I’m not mistaken, her smell is overlapping here. Like she’s going back the way she came."

"Strange," Giles commented. They walked back, following almost the same route.

"Her smell is mixed with others. Maybe she helped someone?"

"Hmm," Giles grumbled.

They came to a halt just outside the cemetery gate. "It stops here."

"What do you mean? Have you lost her scent?"

"It’s like she vanished into thin air."

"What if she was carried away?"

"Then I would still smell her in the air." Angel started to walk around in circles, trying to catch her smell. "I’m getting nothing at all. That must mean that she was transported away in a car."

Giles searched through his pocket for a hanky and started polishing his glasses. "Why would they take her with them?"

"I have no idea whatsoever. The only thing I can think of is a ritual to free The Master."

Giles put his glasses back on. "Then there should be something in the books about it. I'd better go back and check them, since we don’t seem to be getting anywhere here."

Angel nodded. "I’ll look around and try to find The Master’s lair. Maybe they’ve taken her body there. That would be logical if there is a ritual involved."

"I’ll head back to the school. Will you please check in when you know something? Come to my apartment tomorrow night after dark, at least. I think I’ll take a little time off."

-------

The first thing Giles did when he arrived at the school, was to go over the prophecy about Buffy’s death with a fine tooth comb. He didn't find anything new. Nothing about any ritual, just that she would die at the hands of The Master.

Giles leaned back in his chair. One hand held his glasses, while he pinched the bridge of his nose with the other, like he was trying to stop an oncoming headache. He slowly got up from the chair, and went into his office to get the bottle he had stashed in the back of his lowest drawer.

He really needed a drink. Actually, he needed several, but he had too much to do while waiting for Buffy’s body to be found. Giles poured a large measure of whiskey into a coffee mug, took a swallow, refilled the mug, and then replaced the bottle in the drawer where it belonged.

He walked back into the main room and sat down, slowly sipping from his mug while he thought about what he had to do in the next days. Where did the janitor store the boxes I used when I brought my books here? The cellar, maybe?

Slowly he got to his feet, feeling exhausted, but knowing he had work to do. After he collected the boxes from the cellar, happy to have guessed correctly where they were stored, he began to gather his books and pile them on the library table while taking the occasional sip of whiskey from his mug. Giles was absorbed in his books, and was startled when he heard the library doors open. He yelled from the stacks: "Is that you Angel?"

"No, it’s me, Xander."

Giles stepped out from the stacks to see Xander standing at the desk. "What are you doing here, Xander? I thought that you went home with Willow?"

He looked down. "Yeah, but I couldn't stand it. Willow wouldn’t stop crying and blaming herself for not going along to help Buffy.”

"And you just left her alone?" Giles asked outraged.

Xander looked up at Giles, who was still standing on the stairs. "No, of course not. Her mum was at home, and it became kind of awkward. She thought I was Willow’s boyfriend, and that I had hurt her."

"What did you tell her?" Giles asked as he came down the stairs.

Xander helped Giles get the books down on the table. "We said that a friend of ours was missing, and it’s not even a lie. I guess that since you haven’t called yet, you had no luck finding her body?"

"That’s correct. We lost her trail after a short time." He sat down.

Xander joined him. "What are you doing here?"

"I’m packing my books together." Giles claimed his mug again.

"Why?" Xander asked.

Giles wrapped his hands around his mug, as if he was trying to warm his hands. "There are several reasons: First of all, I need all my time to find out what happened tonight, and for that I need my books." He stopped to take a sip from his mug.

"And? You said that there were several reasons," Xander asked curiously.

Giles was quiet for a couple of minutes before he answered, causing Xander to become anxious."Yes, there is. First as I said: I have to find out what happened tonight. Second: I need a break, and I don’t even know if I’ll have a job tomorrow."

"You think Principal Snyder will blame you because Buffy is gone? He can’t do that! He can’t fire you because of that, but even if he does, you’ll still be a Watcher.”

"That is where you might be incorrect. You know that The Watcher’s Council called today, to tell me that a new Slayer has been called."

"Yes, I know that. I was in the room when they called." Does he think that I'm stupid or something?

Giles sighed heavily. "They did more than tell me that a new Slayer was called. They also blamed me for Buffy’s death, and Travers told me that I shouldn't count on having a job as a watcher in the future."


"Oh, I see," Xander said. "But then, you have your job here at the school, as the librarian. It’s not that bad." Xander smiled a little.

Giles smiled sadly. "It’s not that easy. You see, it was The Watcher’s Council that made it so that I got this job, and they can take it away again, along with my title as Watcher. They have enough power to have me deported, just like that." He snapped his fingers.

"Oh, so you may have to leave for England?" the boy asked. "Then we’ll be all alone! Who’ll watch the Hellmouth? Willow and I can’t do it without help."

Giles sighed again. "I don’t think you’ll have to. As I see it, Angel is trying to earn redemption for what he has done in the past, so he can probably be convinced to help out."

"Angel! Always Angel! I don’t want to hear his name. It’s his fault that she’s dead," Xander screamed.

Giles stood up and started to pack his books, not looking at Xander. "You seem to have a selective memory. You forget that we all agreed not to go with her, not to help her. We said that she was the Slayer and needed to fight her battles alone." He looked up, but Xander wasn't meeting his eyes. "If you don’t have anything better to do, you can help me pack everything up and get the boxes out to my car."





You must login (register) to review.