Gone Means Forever: Part Two
by AllUNeedIsLove
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, etc.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Part Two

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Buffy Summers and Alexander Harris, report to the school library, please. Miss Summers and Mister Harris to the library."

The announcement startled Buffy, as she looked across the classroom to meet Xander's eye. It was Giles, of course. The two of them visited Giles often, every free period and many when they should be in class. Giles had never called for them, though; he knew they would always be there soon. This had to be serious, so serious that it couldn't wait a few periods. Buffy's stomach clenched in nervousness. It shouldn't be something on the vampire front. There had been the average bunch of vamps around lately, not anything unusual, but not few enough to be worrying, either. No strange omens, no confusing references. Life was normal. As normal as life could be, over the Hellmouth.

"Buffy, Alexander, you may go," their chemistry teacher said. "But be sure to complete the homework assignments, and get a copy of the notes from this class." They nodded hastily, grabbing their books and dashing out the door.

Once they were past hearing distance, Xander said, "What's Giles up to now?"

Buffy shook her head and shrugged. "It's Giles. You never know." A pause. "But I get the feeling it's something important." Xander nodded in agreement. "He's never called for us before."

"So this is something new," Xander said. "Great. That's just what we need, something new that we've never faced before. And it doesn't sound good."

"You said you wanted challenges, Xander," Buffy added simply, as they walked into the library.

Giles stood, waiting for them, a piece of crisp white paper in his hand. "You ought to read this," he said. His face was a study in neutrality and emotionlessness.

They held it between them. It was typing paper. It had a few lines of computer text on it. They read it together.

"Dear Buffy, Xander, and Giles,

"This wasn't an easy decision. It took both of us a long time, and we decided we wouldn't tell you until we were sure. But we are sure. We've already started it, in fact, so we can't turn back now.

"But we want you here now. Because you care. Because we care. Because we all need a chance to say goodbye.

"Yours through eternity,
Willow, and Angel."

They were silent for a moment, then Buffy spoke.

"We're going."

Giles nodded. "Yes, of course. Provided we can figure out where it is we're going."

"How'd you get this? Where did it come from?"

"Um, well...it was an e-mail."

Buffy fought back the obvious, crazy reaction, to ask Willow to trace the letter for them. The next response was the smarter one. "Ms. Calendar. We ask Ms. Calendar. C'mon, let's go."

Buffy had responded to the message and the feelings by taking control and trying to react. Xander still felt numb. He clutched the letter in his hand, reading it over and over until the words were stuck in his brain. He followed Buffy and Giles down the corridor, not quite sure what was going on. Only knowing that Willow had somehow reached to him. That she wanted him. And that he would have a chance to be with her. He snapped back into reality. I'll have a chance to be with her if we find them.

They'd reached the computer room, and Ms. Calendar looked up from her desk in surprise.

"Can you trace an e-mail for us?" Buffy asked without preamble, and she studied the group for a moment.

"Depends on how specific you want to be. I can tell you which state in the United States it's from, or which country in the world. And it depends on the place, or I might be able to tell you more."

Buffy nodded. She could tell she was being more than a bit controlling, but she didn't care. "It's in Giles' teacher's account. I doubt he has many messages there to choose from."

Ms. Calendar sat down, grasping the seriousness of the moment. "Password?" she asked Giles, and he supplied it. Quickly she reached the librarian's e-mail account, and sure enough only a single message was there.

Ms. Calendar tried carefully not to read the message, looking instead to the addresses at the top. "Simple," she said. "You could figure this out...mailed from the University of Grenada. Spain."

Buffy nodded, and Giles beat her to the words. "Thank you, Ms. Calendar. Come, children, we must be going." Buffy and Xander followed her out silently, Buffy flashing her a grateful smile.

Once they were back in the safety of the library, Giles asked that they sit down while he phoned the airlines from his office. Buffy chose to pace around, while Xander was still extremely stunned.

"Buffy," he said finally. "You know what this means..."

She stopped still, and looked into his eyes.

"Xander. I know what this means. It means so much. It means that they're alive."

"That they want to be with us."

"That they want us to find them."

"That something has changed, with them."

"And that something important is about to happen," added Giles, stepping out of his office. "We fly to Spain this evening."

Buffy looked out of the window at the rolling waves of the Atlantic far below, glimpsed through wisps of clouds in the dark night. It was late, and many of the passengers on their plane had chosen to recline their seats and get some sleep, Buffy was wide awake. She couldn't even think about sleeping at a time like this. She turned to Xander, beside her, wide awake as well. When he saw her watching him, he met her eyes, smiling tensely. Giles, across the aisle, had brought some of his old books in his carry-on, even here. She'd glanced at the books a few times, and they seemed to be about gypsies, and curses.

That fit in with what they knew. Angel and Willow had traveled to Europe, searching for the gypsy band, the Rom, who had long ago cursed Angel by returning his soul. They had hoped to convince the gypsies to help Willow somehow; this was the first that their friends in Sunnydale had heard from them.

Had they found the gypsies, and a way for Willow to be saved? Or had they given up, and simply wanted to see Buffy and Xander and Giles before they ended their lives? There were so many possibilities. All Buffy knew was that she was going to have at least one chance to see her dear friend and the one who she loved. And that was one more chance than she'd counted on.

Buffy sighed, thinking for the first time of Sunnydale. Her mother would be worried, the school would be upset. The alibi they'd created was shaky at best. They'd notified the school of a conference on ancient history, needing two student representatives and a teacher-chaperone, which was starting nearly immediately. Tossing in a bunch of credentials and stressing the academic importance to placify the school, as well as mentioning a prestigious award which non-participating schools would be disqualified from, Ms. Calendar and Cordelia had helped them back up the story, asking no questions but simply helping. The school had promised to notify Buffy and Xander's parents, which seemed like it would be more convincing than if the teenagers had told them themselves.

They really hadn't had much time, and the alibi was nowhere near as important as reaching Willow and Angel. So they had caught the earliest plane to New York, then switched onto one to Spain. It was early morning now, as they neared Granada, and the sky was still dark, but Buffy couldn't feel drowsy. Tense, yes, excited, yes, worried, yes, curious, yes. There were so many things to feel and so many thoughts to think.

All together, they had been on the planes for ten or eleven hours, next to each other the entire way, and had spoken perhaps once or twice. So Buffy was surprised when Xander leaned over to her, speaking in a low voice.

"I remember being about ten years old. I was on a Little League team, and that year we'd finally made it to the township playoffs. I was so excited, and so proud. I was pretty damn full of myself. I told Willow that I was the best player on the team, that I was going to be the hero and win the game for the team. I kept saying it, over and over again, until I started thinking that I was so good, I was too good for anyone. I was too good for Willow. I wouldn't talk with her any more, or play softball with her anymore. She was just a girl, anyway.

I didn't expect it, but Willow came to the game anyway, even after all that. I was playing a pretty average game, and our team was down by three runs in the bottom of the ninth. It was one of those situations you hear about all the time; bases loaded, two outs. And the hero comes up to the plate. That was me. I kept telling myself, "I'm the best. I'm the best." I could see myself hitting a grand slam to win the game. I would be such a hero.

But I didn't. I ended up with a little pop fly to the first baseman. And that was the game. The other kids gave me some dirty looks. We watched the other team celebrate, but I didn't care. I'd screwed it up for everyone. After everyone left, I stayed there, sitting on the bench with my head in my hands. I was a little boy, I didn't want anyone to see me cry. And that was when Willow came. She never said I told you so, she wasn't angry at how I'd treated her, and she pretended she didn't see the tears, for my sake. She just gave me a hug and invited me to her house to play catch so I wouldn't be lonely. That was Willow."

Buffy didn't know what to say. She put her hand on top of Xander's and clenched it tightly. They sat that way until the biting voice of the stewardess cut in, "Now arriving in Granada, Spain."


This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=1795