Chapter 19: The Library
Disclaimer: Characters not mine, Sunnydale not mine, you know the drill.
Another long wait, sorry; this chapter is necessary for the (gasp) plot that's going to gradually emerge...it might be kind of tedious & long & boring, but I'll get to the interesting stuff soon enough, I hope.
>Also, just wanted to add a quick thank you for everybody who's still reviewing and reading this fic. Thanks! :-)
On with the story...
~
Xander led the way, and Buffy, now walking by herself but still feeling a stabbing pain in her head with every step, followed with Willow next to her.
When they reached their destination, Buffy blinked, confused. “Um, guys, isn’t this the library?”
Xander and Willow nodded.
Buffy, not quite getting it, continued, “Um, guys, I was thinking more of detouring to the nurse’s office for an Advil or something to get rid of this pounding headache before psych class. You know, school libraries tend to not help with headaches. Quite the opposite, actually.”
Willow finally spoke up. “Our school nurse was actually, um, well, she—“
Xander finished for her quickly, “Shediedbutthebodywasneverfoundandtheschoolishushingitup.”
There was a pause, then, “Xander? One more time, a little slower for the girl who could hardly walk two seconds ago maybe?”
In a small voice, Willow was the one to respond this time. “We think she died.”
“Oh.” Buffy decided not to press harder this time. “Still, though, the library?”
Xander gave a relieved sigh when he wasn’t forced to repeat what he just said. “Oh, yeah, the library’s used for study halls, but since the school doesn’t let anyone have a study hall in their schedule, you can get a pass to stay a period in the library. They call it independent study, and you can only do it during your elective class.”
Willow continued, “And plus Mr. Giles, the librarian here, whenever weird stuff happens, people come here and we hear he can help.”
Buffy raised an eyebrow. “Weird stuff? What kind of weird stuff? And plus, I fell asleep. How does that classify as ‘weird’?”
Willow avoided the first question, instead answering, “Well, I think maybe you can get a pass from Mr. Giles and skip psychology today because you really, really don’t want to go in there with a headache, and I know for a fact you won’t miss anything, because we’re presenting reports we’ve been working on and it’s a partner project, and the only person in the class without a partner right now is Riley and knowing Mrs. Walsh she’ll make you help him present anyway and give you your first grade on it and at least if you were in the library she’s obligated not to grade you at all until your first day in class.”
Buffy, taken aback, said, “Wow, Willow, you really thought all that out in the space between me waking up and walking over here? That’s…impressive.”
Xander also looked impressed, then grinned proudly. “That’s my Wills. But I’ve gotta be off, ladies. Woodworking. It’s the only class I’m not already failing. And it’s a lot of fun…in a manly sort of way. Um, yeah, I’ll just—go. See you in English!”
Willow looked around the library. “Where is Mr. Giles anyway? I’d think he’d notice if people intruded in the library, and—“
Right on cue, Giles emerged from the stacks, deep in conversation with—
“Angel!” Willow smiled. “And Mr. Giles.”
Giles looked over at Willow, a stunned expression on his face. “Oh, ah, Ms., Ms. Rosenburg, I didn’t hear you come in. I-Is there something I can get for you?”
Angel, also looking startled, gave Willow a weak, uncertain grin.
Buffy was staring at Giles, sensing a familiarity. He reminded her of that British man in her dream; Merrick. How the two were alike eluded her, except that they were close in age and both British.
Then, Giles began impulsively cleaning his glasses, and Buffy was certain there was a connection between the two. Maybe Giles could help her. If he really was the expert on all-things-wiggy, maybe she could really get some questions answered in the library this block.
She turned her attention back to the conversation between Willow and Giles, hearing her name mentioned.
Giles looked over at her. “Of-of course. Ms. Summers, and Ms. Rosenburg, if you’ll follow me I can write out the passes.”
They followed him into a smaller office, which had two walls filled with what seemed to be a personal collection of really ancient books. Buffy was once again struck by the parallels to her dream. Seemed like Willow was right, and something weird was going on.
Buffy took the pass Giles handed her, with instructions to give it to Mrs. Walsh the next day. Willow took her own pass, which was only to excuse her for being late to class, and gave a rushed goodbye to both Buffy and Angel before quickly going on her way.
~
Re-entering the main area of the library, Buffy saw Angel quickly move over to browse the bookshelves, still fidgeting nervously.
Turning her attention back to the librarian, Buffy hesitated, realizing how strange it would sound to just start telling this guy about a dream she just had, plus the fact that she’d had it during class, a general non-dreaming time of the day…
Giles, unsure but curious as to what Buffy wanted to say, asked, “Is there something the matter? Anything bothering you at all?”
All he knew was what Willow had mentioned, the deep-in-sleep thing and the near-collapsing upon awaking. Giles felt that it could be connected, if Angel’s visions had pinpointed this girl as somebody important to their cause…well, he intended to find out.
“Willow mentioned something about falling asleep?”
Buffy looked up, “Oh, so you know?” Giles nodded, waiting for her to go on.
Starting to pace, Buffy continued, “Well…I had a dream. Or something. There—there was a guy, like you, and he was talking to a girl, about my age, maybe a little older. It sounded like someone was planning on killing her. Actually, she said it was going to happen tomorrow night. And, um, there’s another thing. The person who was going to kill her…someone named Kakistos.”
“Kakistos?” The name sounded familiar. Giles was pretty sure that was a vampire. Well, it was another lead to research anyway.
“Yeah,” Buffy replied, deciding to just get her last thought out in the open, “and they were talking about how, how this Kakistos guy, well, I mean you know, it was just a dream, and I guess I dreamt that Kakistos was some kind of ancient vampire master or something.” Buffy gave a short, nervous laugh. “So, yeah, that’s it. Um, I-I don’t know why that bothered me so much now, actually, it seems kind of silly…”
Buffy was afraid of how Giles would react. For a moment, she regretted spilling her story to this random librarian guy. I mean, what’s he going to do? I just told him I dreamt some girl’s going to be murdered tomorrow night by a vampire. Oh god, I should’ve just gone to psych class. Maybe he’ll just send me to the guidance counselor. Maybe the counselor’s dead too. No! Since when did I get so morbid? What is with this whole death thing anyway?
Giles blinked. His initial reaction had been Yes! I knew that’s where I’d heard of him. Kakistos is a reclusive vampire of the most ancient order…
His second thought was Could she possibly have had a vision? No, that doesn’t sound quite like a vision. Angel’s visions are extremely brief flashes, and he maintains consciousness.
~
The two of them processed their thoughts a minute longer, with Angel unobstrusively watching them from the other end of the stacks. When he heard Giles say ‘Kakistos,’ Angel immediately began looking up the name.
Giles finally took a breath. “Buffy, I have a few questions I need to ask you before I can give you my opinion on this matter. First of all, what do you think about your own dream? Does it feel real, do you really believe it will happen? How much about this dream were you familiar with?”
Buffy thought she knew what he was hinting at, but was still cautious in her reply. “It was—really realistic. The whole dream, well, it was less of a dream, and more of a, like, out-of-body experience. It felt like I was really there. I mean, I was there, and I guess that’s what made it so weird. I’ve only had dreams like that when th—“ Buffy stopped her line of thought there, instead finishing, “I believe it. I do think it’s going to happen, and call me crazy, but it’s like I feel some kind of connection to the girl, I mean, yeah, complete stranger to me, but still…”
Giles was thinking furiously. This dream of hers, how she felt; there was only one kind of dream Giles knew of that resembled it. Only one kind of person who would have them. And they were usually prophetic. But there was no possible way that—
“Buffy, did you happen to catch any names, or could you perhaps describe these people to me?”
“Oh!” Buffy nodded. “The girl, she had dark hair, medium height, um, strong, and her name was Faith. And the British guy with all the books was Ricky. I mean, Merrick.”
Buffy looked at Giles to see if it helped at all. Giles seemed genuinely interested and calm about the dream so far. At the moment, though, he seemed to be scrubbing his glasses with an inattentive fervor that had Buffy feeling just a bit concerned. He was staring back at his office hard enough to burn a hole through the books there.
“Faith and Merrick,” he whispered to himself. He was quite sure Faith was the current Slayer. Giles had been forced to quit the Council not too long ago, but he had always been left out on important news. Therefore, his knowledge of current Slayer/Watcher issues was very limited. But still, this didn’t help with figuring out Buffy’s situation. In fact, it raised a myriad of new questions that could not be asked or answered at the moment. He anticipated much research later tonight. Angel would most likely want to help, too.
Swiftly resettling his glasses, Giles turned his gaze back to Buffy. “I need to think some more on this issue. It is an urgent matter, and though there may not be much I can do, I will do what I can. I do want you to know, though, that I intend to keep you informed and I am taking this message very seriously.”
“Ok. And, thank you.” Buffy was surprised by how seriously Giles had taken her dream. It had come completely unexpected, but despite all that she had said earlier, she was glad she’d told Giles, because Buffy really did think it was real, though it sounded impossible and not remotely related to her. Except for all those connections she notice before…
Giles disappeared into the stacks, and Buffy moved over to a table. Pulling out her binder, she smiled when she noticed that Willow had tucked her history notes in her binder. Buffy pulled them out and glanced over all the material she had missed. Unable to focus on them, she wondered briefly how the teacher had failed to notice her sleeping the entire time. It was something else weird. She decided she would ask Giles some time, to tell her more about the school, or maybe the whole town. There was way too much creepiness here. Buffy suddenly realized she had tons of questions she wanted to ask Giles. For one thing, vampires. He had believed her, and he hadn’t been surprised or anything. He had to know something about all this. Feeling her headache returning, Buffy leaned back and briefly closed her eyes.
~
Giles quickly moved over to where Angel was standing with a book in his hands. He filled him on the new details from Buffy, and Angel showed Giles what he’d discovered about Kakistos.
Angel read out the prophecy he’d found inscribed in the back cover, quickly translating the Latin in his head. He’d been spending every elective period in the library since school started, “independently studying” Latin with Giles, and had gotten this arrangement approved by Flutie.
“It pretty much says that there’ll be a great battle with Kakistos against the ‘one brought forth,’ and very specifically that one will die during battle but not by the other’s hand. Oh, and the one who doesn’t die will ‘be forever scarred’ but there’s something about him being made a master of ancient vampires with his victory. Which I take it means Kakistos wins. I think the Powers that Be slipped up; I bet they weren’t going to tell everyone the winner when they gave that prophecy. Their mysteriosity-meter is losing points.”
“Ah, yes, but with what Buffy said,” Giles interjected, “Merrick seems to plan on joining the battle, fiddling with the conditions a bit. I dare say I never took Merrick as the active, sacrificial Watcher type. Maybe the field work with the Slayer really did change him…he was ever the snob before.”
Angel, now curious, asked, “What’s with the whole Watcher Council thing anyway? You never ended up telling me about Watchers, and the girls—Slayers, right? I’m thinking they’re related to what we’ve been trying to piece together for a little while now.”
Giles sighed. “Alright, I’ll tell you everything I remember, but you’ll have to meet me here as usual, after school. Besides that discussion, we will need to search some more concerning the very immediate concern brought to our attention today. So, can you make it?”
Angel rolled his eyes. “Giles, you know by now this is all I have after school, ever, to look forward to. I’ll be here. Let’s get on with the Latin for today, then.”
~
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