Buffy felt a cool breeze stirring her hair. It brought visions of warm sunny days back to her. In the background she could hear the ocean. Slowly, cautiously, she opened her eyes. To her surprise she saw a clear, blue sky above her. She sat up and found herself sitting on a sandy beach. In front of her was the ocean, calm and placid. There was palm trees all along the beach, which seemed to go on forever.
“Buffy? Are you awake?” Startled she looked around quickly looking for the owner of the voice. It didn’t take her long to find it.
Hurrying down the voice was a beautiful young woman dressed in a white gown. Buffy looked down at herself and realized that she was wearing a similar dress, but instead of white she had pink. The women had long straight gold hair that formed a halo around her. Buffy watched the beautiful women approach her.
“Who are you? Where am I?” She asked beginning to panic. There was something about her paradise surroundings that sent her warning flag flying. Something was not quite right.
“ It’s alright Slayer. No need to panic, you’re safe here.” The girl said, admiring the beach herself. She looked at Buffy with a concerned look on her face. “ Try and relax for me, please. You’re not making matters easier.”
“Easy for you? Are you kidding? Is this some kind of sick joke?” Buffy asked picking herself up off the warm sand. “ You are so going to get it if you don’t explain to me what the hell I’m doing here!”
The girl chuckled a little. “ Hearing you brings back so many memories. Well enough of my trip down memory lane. Buffy I want you to think for me. What’s the last thing you can remember?”
Buffy thought back. Her memory seemed to be full of little holes. “ I…I can’t remember anything. My thoughts seemed to have fallen into a black hole or something.” She stammered clearly upset.
The girl looked on calmly as Buffy stumbled along close to a mental breakdown. “ Let me help.” She said before holding her empty hand out.
Buffy looked at her empty palm quizzically. “ Do you think I’m crazy? I’m not. Your mind games aren’t going to work on me.” She tried to walk away but the voice of the girl stopped her in tracks.
“ Look.” She held her hand out and suddenly it wasn’t empty. In it sat the picture of her and Angel, the one that she had seen on his dresser. Suddenly all of the memories came back to her causing her to sit down heavily in the sand. She felt cold all over and the sound of the ocean echoed in her ears. Her face paled as a disturbing thought crossed her mind.
“ Am I dead?” She whispered looking up at the girl. Tears flooded her eyes as she remembered the look on Angel’s face.
“ My name’s Lilly, and you’re not dead. I used to be a watcher and this is your paradise. The place between death and life.” Lilly said gently.
“ Am I dying?” Buffy rephrased her question. Lilly nodded and Buffy felt the coldness wash over her.
“ Your fate is being decided. You will slide back and forth between this realm and your life until it is decided. You have much to do I believe.” Lilly said and Buffy knew exactly what she was talking about.
“ You’re telling me this so I can fix everything, aren’t you? You’re giving me a chance to make everything right before I leave.” Lilly nodded yes to Buffy’s question. She was surprised she had understood so quickly. There was so much Buffy had to do and it was her job to guide her.
“ Their here.” Willow said spotting Oz and Buffy’s mom. They had just walked into the ER and were soaking wet. She watched as Oz led Joyce over to their group. Greetings went around before questions were asked.
“ Any word?” Joyce said concerned. Angel shook his head and glanced around their complete circle. They had chosen a quiet corner away from the crowd where they could talk without being heard. He was leaning up against the wall opposite Spike. Willow sat in the center with Giles to her right, Xander and Anya on her left. Oz and Buffy’s mom, Joyce, took seats across from them.
“ We’ve been waiting for you guys before we delved deeper into the cause of all this. Now that you’re here we can begin.” Giles said looking over at Angel. Joyce’s mouth dropped open when she realized Angel was there. She had been to frazzled to notice him before.
“ What are you doing here?” She asked Angel angry. “ I thought…” Her voice trailed off and Willow cut in.
“ Joyce, I really don’t think this is the time or the place. I know everybody has a lot to talk about but that can all wait.” Her voice was patient but it held a sharp undercurrent. “ Angel could you please tell us all that you know?”
Angel looked at her with admiration before speaking. “ As most of you have figured out already I didn’t leave town again. I have been living in my mansion as if everything was normal. Tonight I came home after a long day and found Buffy collapsed on my bedroom floor. She was only half-conscious. I knew she needed a hospital. I called Willow and explained to her to get you together and meet me here. It had already started pouring rain so the only other option I had was to call Spike here.”
“ Go figure he called me right when I was a little busy.” Spike said quietly. He hadn’t said much during Angel’s briefing, so when he spoke it caught everyone’s attention.
“ What could you have possibly been doing? I mean how busy could a broken vampire be on a Friday night?” Xander asked, reminding everybody of the intense dislike he held for both Spike and Angel.
Spike glared back at Xander before chuckling. “ Well boy, if you must know I was drunk off my ass. I’ve had a long day and I needed a drink.”
Well, well Xander wasn’t expecting that one was he? Willow thought amused at the bluntness of Spike’s answer.
“ If you two are done maybe we could let Angel finish?” Giles put in. Even though it was amusing to him too, he knew that they didn’t have time for it.
“ So Spike showed up and we got Buffy downstairs and into the car. She was shaking and pale. On the way over here…” Angel paused and looked over at Spike. His gaze held a question for Spike. Should we tell them about what was said by us and by Buffy, on the way over here? Spike stared back at him before shaking his head gently. No body else noticed the exchange, no body except Willow.
Are they actually sharing something? Spike and Angel getting along like old friends? Did I miss something? Willow asked herself.
“ Anyway we ended up here. That’s where my part of this story ends.” Angel finished. Silence descended before Xander spoke.
“ I have a little question. I’m just curious but why was Buff at Angel’s place to begin with?” He asked not realizing he had just voiced the one question almost everybody was asking themselves.
“ He has a good question. If Buffy hasn’t seen Angel in all this time why would she just show up there? That doesn’t seem like something Buffy would put herself through.” Giles said thoughtfully.
Oz looked around at them amazed. “ You guys really haven’t been paying that much attention to her lately, have you?” He said angry.
How could they have overlooked so much? He asked himself. All eyes turned to him.
“ Are you implying that I’ve been ignoring my daughter?” Joyce asked defensively. She glared at him.
Oz sighed realizing he should have chosen better words. “ I don’t want to offend anybody or make this any harder then it already is. Has she mentioned to any of you her sleeping problems lately?” Most of them nodded a yes to his question. “ Trust me on this one, I know more then you think.”
“ Why were you with her tonight?” Willow asked suddenly, as if a light had just flipped on in her head. Angel looked up surprised.
“ You were with her tonight? How come everybody left that little bit out?” He snapped toward Oz and continued. “ I think you need to explain everything.”
Oz shook his head. “ This is probably hazardous to my health but I can’t tell you that. Only Buffy can tell you.”
Angel watched Willow out of the corner of his eye. He watched her pale and close her eyes for a moment. She stood abruptly and walked away from the group. Silence fell over the group. No spoke, nobody seemed to breathe.
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
