Had it been a race then Spike would have started running on the ‘b’ of the bang from the starter’s pistol. In his current, permanently suited-up condition, raw energy and aggression pounded through the veins around which blood hadn’t pumped since Queen Victoria began wearing black.
As soon as Giles made his move Spike burst out of the store, pushed through The Khatojanan before they could react and with a yell of triumph sprinted towards Freedom Plaza. What a brilliant plan! Of course the man who’d done all the thinking had just been hacked to death by a gang of demons, still Spike wasn’t going to let that bring him down.
Buffy was going to be troubled by this news, Spike considered that a bonus. She’d be all upset and he’d be there to comfort her. Once these reject St Michaels had been dealt with they could have themselves some quality time. Half an hour with him and he’d make her forget the Watcher’s name. Spike executed a jaunty, balletic leap over a trash can - it was turning out to be quite a night.
********************
At first Buffy was bored, sat behind the earthmover, using the flat of the Scythe to tap out little tunes on one of its wheels, waiting for her bickering back-up team to show. Then all of a sudden the sky had been filled with The Khatojanan, not stylishly gliding like the one she’d seen taking off before, but flapping their wings to gain as much speed as possible, determinedly flying towards where she had come from. It could only mean that Giles and Spike were in trouble.
Successful slaying was all about priorities; when fully in the zone emotions fell away and logic took over. Spike’s accusation that she would take risks in order to protect Giles was wrong, she proved that now by not following the demons. Buffy was here to take down an enemy, one that had possibly left itself vulnerable to attack. Duty came first, she ran back into the tower.
Sure enough, only the ten spell casting Khatojanan remained. Their harmonic chanting had become more urgent and jarring and no new members of the tribe were emerging from the circle. These had to be the ones that needed to be wiped out, Buffy guessed that the best way of helping Giles and Spike would be to try again. Moving with greater confidence this time, becoming more deadly with the Scythe at every stroke she managed to cut down five of them before it became apparent that she had just made a huge mistake.
********************
There had been noise, heat and hurt. He crashed to the ground bracing himself for the final blow - which never came. Giles opened his eyes, shocked to discover that he was totally alone.
He also saw that he was barely any distance at all from the store, what his heightened senses had recorded as a chase and a struggle had clearly only lasted for the briefest of moments. Because they had all tried to attack, The Khatojanan had mainly succeeded in getting in each other’s way. Rendering their broadswords largely useless as there was no room to swing and thrust effectively. The intended multiple stab wounds had become bruises from sword hilts pressed into use as improvised cudgels.
On the second attempt Giles shakily stood up, unable to fully grasp the fact that he’d survived. With some trepidation he ran through a rough mental and physical check-list and was staggered to discover that he was in one piece. No hit had been hard enough to shatter bone and no cut was so deep that the bleeding wouldn’t stop. Certain death had become merely painful inconvenience, he was alive.
********************
In a heartbeat the second floor was full, once their power source was down to fifty percent The Khatojanan were instantaneously recalled to replenish and protect. They formed a circle three deep with their backs to the one from which their energy and orders came. Each layer adjusted their height, some stood, some crouched, some kneeled so that they slotted together presenting potential adversaries with a solid three hundred and sixty degree wall of armour and outstretched swords.
Buffy jumped back, trying not to gag on the sickening odour emanating from each supernatural warrior. Mind racing with possible courses of action, she froze and was pleased that The Khatojanan weren‘t moving either. As there were dozens of them and one of her, stillness was of the good. She didn’t know how long she stood there before a voice called out from the top of the stairwell:
‘Feathery tossers don’t seem to be too quick at workin’ stuff out. Keep pretending you’re not there, perhaps they’ll start to believe it.’
‘Great advice. Giles, give me a real solution.’
There was a pause.
‘It’s just me, Slayer,’ said Spike as gently as he could. ‘He isn’t coming.’
Buffy knew that Spike was spiteful, manipulative and just plain vicious, she also knew that he wouldn’t lie to her about Giles. Something whistled over her head, she saw The Khatojanan turn then was grabbed and dragged onto the landing.
‘Distraction,’ said Spike proudly. ‘I worked it out at the store.’
‘What did you throw?’
Buffy was curious, the landing was empty and bare.
‘One of me boots.’
The way Spike said it struck Buffy as hilarious, she laughed until tears came and the grief hit her. Careful not to grin until Buffy was in his arms, Spike rocked her gently and made calming noises.
‘Come on then,’ he said after a while. ‘Splitting time.’
‘We’re not done here.’
Spike put his arm around her shoulders and tried to lead her away, speaking as if she were either very young or very old.
‘Now’s not the time for heroics,’ he opined with exaggerated patience. ‘They’ve already topped Rupes and I don’t want you to be next, sweetheart.’
Buffy remained rooted to the spot.
‘And Sunnydale, what about all the people? If we stop now everyone will die.’
‘Casualties of war,’ Spike said, hoping that he sounded genuine. ‘Regrets and all that. Call in the Council, they’ll come and sort it, then you and me can…’
He trailed off, realising that he’d gone too far. He couldn’t help it, the sight of the Slayer, all distressed and teary, wanting to comforted by him was more than a vamp could resist.
‘You and me can what?’
Disgusted, Buffy pushed Spike away.
‘Is this all some game to you? Giles is dead and you’re looking for a date! You have two seconds to be somewhere that’s else then you die.’
Spike didn’t move.
‘Can’t do that,’ he said. ‘Not leaving you here alone.’
‘She won’t be.’
Buffy ran down the stairs towards Giles who held out an arm to halt her progress, knowing that she hugged hardest when emotional. So she stopped in front of him, reaching up to stroke his face.
‘Not dead,’ she stated, words suddenly being very hard to find.
‘Far from it,’ confirmed Giles with a quick smile.
The moment was broken by Spike.
‘I’m moved, really I am. But now’s not the time.’
The three of them huddled together on the landing, leaning to look into the shell of the second floor. The Khatojanan were becoming more confident, moving forward then returning to their original formation, going a few paces further each time.
‘Best get those brains working, Rupes.’
Giles glanced at Buffy who shook her head.
‘I’ve got nothing.’
The Khatojanan began beating their swords against their breastplates, the harsh metallic rhythm echoing around the building, setting their hidden opponent’s teeth on edge.
‘Throw the Scythe at the pipes, try to hit above the circle,’ commanded Giles in a voice that left no room for disagreement.
With unerring accuracy Buffy did so, The Khatojanan instantly closed together as, with a loud hiss, gas and chemicals poured out of the neatly severed pipes. It was a sultry summer night, there was no breeze to carry them away.
‘Now what?’
‘I have a lighter,’ said Giles, he fumbled through his pockets as he started to walk towards The Khatojanan.
‘Giles, no,’ shouted Buffy going to pull him back. Then Giles stopped anyway, turning his pockets inside out.
‘Yeah, it was a nice idea,’ mocked Spike, who strode past Giles, stopping momentarily to wave the lighter in his face. ‘Got to ’ave this to see it through.’
Spike was now closer to The Khatojanan than either Buffy or Giles would have dared.
‘You’d better take the quick way out,’ he said gesturing towards the gaps where windows had yet to be placed. ‘There’s about to be a hellava bang.’
He held the lighter out.
‘We doing this right, Watcher? What‘s your prophecy say?’
‘The Risen will die for eternity,’ quoted Giles, giving voice to the ending that he’d not shared with Buffy in the belief that it could only mean her.
With a grunt of effort Spike morphed, appearing human, staring soulfully at Buffy.
‘I‘ll be dreaming of you.’
He turned his back on them, flicking open the lid of the Zippo. When he spoke again the slight thickening of his words indicated that he’d slipped back into vampire mode.
‘Time to go.’
They were two floors up, less than three metres. It was possible to survive a fall from that height, then again it was possible to die falling off a chair. Hesitation wasn’t an option, Buffy and Giles ran to the nearest gap, jumped and fell.
The force of the hot air from the explosion hit Buffy’s back while she was still in the air pushing her forward, she hit the ground, uncontrollably rolling down the hill as twisted metal, glass and other wreckage rained down all around her. Eventually she slid to a halt, winded and filthy but unharmed.
‘Giles?’ she called out. ‘Giles?’
She found him a few metres away, laying on his back, motionless.
‘Are you okay?’
‘I will be,’ he replied steadily.
‘Should I get help?’
Before Giles could answer a secondary blast ripped through what was left of Freedom Plaza with such force that the ground shook beneath them. Buffy flung herself onto the dirt as another deadly shower of shards and rubble plummeted from the sky.
At last there was silence. Then the noise of far-off but fast approaching sirens.
She rolled over, surprised and relieved when Giles put an arm around her and held her close.
‘Now I totally quit.’
‘Please mean that.’
A single feather floated lazily down, landing on Buffy’s stomach - Giles brushed it away.
‘I don’t quit,’ he said. ‘I never will. Does does that bother you?’
‘Not sure.’
The only thing she’d ever been sure of was Slaying, now facing a future without that, nothing seemed certain. Being with Giles meant living in London, meant living with him and Spike had been right, after all this time she still didn’t really know who he was.
‘Are we going to make it?’ She blurted out, unable to stop herself.
‘We can try, and hopefully be happy whilst we do so.’
That was good enough. Buffy knew that she loved Giles, everything else could wait. For now she was perfectly content to lie with him and look up at the stars.
The End
The Challenge by Cindy B
Since Sunnydale sank, Buffy has gotten herself into a rut. She is living in Rome so that Dawn can attend school there, but her life has kind of been put on hold. She is casually dating the immortal, but it is nothing serious...(i.e. no strong feelings or
sex)...and she has no idea how to move on. Giles being the wonderful man/watcher he is decides to do right by Buffy. He comes to see her and gives her a HUGE check for back pay from the Council. Then he gives her a beautiful gold watch and tells
her to enjoy her retirement and to enjoy the rest of her life. The End...Only not. Buffy, being the contrary person that she is, is not pleased. She feels like she has been
"metaphorically" booted to the curb. She might not be the only Slayer anymore, but that doesn't mean that she isn't The Chosen One. So Buffy decides to continue the fight from a new angle.
Requirements:
* Buffy, under the alias Elizabeth Winters, joins the Watcher Training program and manages to go through at least 3 months of Watcher training before anyone has a clue who she really is.
* One of the Professor's has to be exceptionally hard/critical of Elizabeth, but only because he/she sees so much potential in her.
* There is a class or class period dedicated to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her methods. (The Good, the bad and the ugly.)
* No MEGA powerful Witchy Willow.
* Buffy has to publicly "adjust" the attitude of an out of control Slayer.
* AND, above all else...A happy B/G ending.
Optional:
* Elizabeth's study group gets extra credit due to some unexpected hands on experience in vampire slayage.
* Giles gets a sexy new secretary (male or female).
* Giles can't seem to hide how excited he is that Buffy is near.
* A rumour circulates that Elizabeth gets such good marks because she is sleeping with the Head of the Council.
* A Watcher/Slayer bonding type prophecy of the B/G kind.
* The Scythe is an incredible weapon, but only Buffy can wield
it's full power.
* No Scoobies.
* Faith kicks Kennedy's ass.
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