From: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com (buffyfic-digest) To: buffyfic-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: buffyfic-digest V2 #219 Reply-To: $SENDER Sender: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk buffyfic-digest Wednesday, June 3 1998 Volume 02 : Number 219 In this issue: BUFFYFIC: Unravelling the Depths (5/7) BUFFYFIC: Unravelling the Depths (6/7) BUFFYFIC: Unravelling the Depths (7/7) BUFFYFIC: "Reunion" (The real 23/?) See the end of the digest for information on (un)subscribing to the buffyfic or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 23:52:15 From: LDS Subject: BUFFYFIC: Unravelling the Depths (5/7) Title: Unravelling the Depths (5/7) Author: Dawn Steele e-mail: steele@lillonet.org Summary: Giles' POV in Nightmares (1st season spoilers) Feedback: Yes please. Good or bad. ;-) Distribution: SunS page Disclaimers: Not mine! Dialogue recognized is from Nightmares, and written by someone else who did a good job and got paid for it. Anything you don't recognize is mine. Random babbling explanation: Written in response to the SunS Chaos POV challenge (http://www.enteract.com/~perridox/SunS/). Previously published in the "An Alternate Viewpoint" fanzine (see http://members.tripod.com/~natmerc/avzine.html) which is currently out of print, but will probably do a second run in September. Ok? Unravelling the Depths By Dawn Steele (steele@lillonet.org) Part 5/7 Finally giving up on finding Buffy, I started searching for Willow and Xander instead. Remarkably, as soon as I made the decision, I spotted Xander's distinctive maroon outfit heading towards me. Passing through some sort of plastic that was hanging from the ceiling, I saw both of them running straight at me. "No sign of Buffy?" They grabbed my arms, and started yelling as they pulled me backwards. Then I noticed... a deranged clown with a large knife, coming at us intent on murder. "Uh..." Deciding that retreat was the better part of valour in this case, I swiftly turned around, and quickly caught up with Xander and Willow. We were running through yet another plastic barrier when I sensed Xander stopping abruptly. I was just about to yell at him to come, when... he threw a punch that had the clown falling backwards and knocked him spread-eagled onto the floor. "You were a lousy clown!" Xander was shaking his fist to emphasize his points. "Your balloon animals were pathetic! Everyone can make a giraffe!" Leaving the clown behind, Xander joined Willow and I, and we all headed towards the exit of the school. It was only after we had reached the outside, and past the final plastic sheets coming down outside the building that I realized we must have been in one of Xander's nightmares. His next words confirmed it. Swept up in his dream, I had had little control over my own actions. Reality had bent and I had been a helpless, frightened pawn. "I feel good. I feel liberated!" A couple of screaming students jostled me as they passed behind me, but I determinedly did not look to see what they were running from. My own nightmares were bad enough, I did not intend to find myself in someone else's again. The seeming inability to control my own actions had been... quite awful. "You seem to be the only one..." I looked at Willow. Instead of her black dotted dress and red sweater, she was garbed in a turquoise oriental outfit with a red band around her waist. Her hair was in a tight topknot, and her face was covered in a thick layer of makeup. It seemed Xander and I weren't the only ones who had encountered Billy's influence. "Things are getting worse. In a few hours reality will fall completely into the realm of nightmares." "What do we do?" Willow said. "The only thing I can think of is to try, and wake Billy." With Billy awake, he would not be linked to the realm of nightmares, and reality should once again take hold. It have to take hold. If the effects of the nightmares were permanent... I didn't want to think about it. "No!" Xander protested. "We can't leave without Buffy!" "Agreed!" As if I would? We needed to find her . "But who knows where she might have gone?" "Excuse me? When did they put a cemetery in across the street?" I looked to where Willow was pointing, and saw a rolling mass of darkness enclosing a dark cemetery. Night was being held firmly in place despite the hot sun overhead. This was not good, not good at all. "And when did they make it night over there?" Xander said. There was really no question where we had to look for Buffy. Remembering more than one nightmare I had had that took place in a cemetery at night... I had to force myself to walk faster rather than to turn around, and pretend to myself that Buffy could still be somewhere inside the school. Willow and Xander walked beside me. I was glad they were there, and glad despite myself, that they had persisted in helping Buffy in her trials since discovering she was the Slayer. It meant more worry late at night when I thought of the danger they were placing themselves in, but... if it meant Buffy's life was even marginally safer, I was willing to live with it. We stepped through the cemetery gate, and night enfolded us. The grass was springy beneath my feet, and we walked without talking. "Whose nightmare is this?" Xander commented. As if there was any doubt. I think I saw it first. I I saw it first. "It's mine." Disbelieving, I knelt down by the fresh grave, heedless of the soil grinding itself into my pants. My eyes read the inscription on the headstone, read it so now that I wished I could go blind. 'Buffy Summers, 1981 - 1997, Rest in Peace'. The words were a mockery. Sixteen years old, and.... "I failed... in my duty to protect you." I let myself sigh deeply in misery. "I should have been more... cautious... taken more time to train you." My heart felt still and heavy in my chest. How could Buffy be dead? Her life was so bright and warm -- giving my own much more carefully led life joy and meaning. "But you were so gifted... and the evil was so great." I touched the fresh earth, and prayed desperately to all the gods that this was nightmare, that Buffy was somewhere else -- anywhere else -- and hadn't been affected. "I'm sorry." A hand reached out of the dirt, and latched onto my own. Scrambling backwards, I half-pulled, and half-pushed myself away. Stepping back until I was almost next to Xander and Willow, I... I recognized her, and relief blossomed within me. My nightmare have ended, and Buffy was here! Buffy stood there, head down, and brushed the loose dirt off her clothing. Apparently she was concerned with her appearance even at a time like this. When she should have been... Just what had happened to her? "Buffy?" Responding to my call, she looked up, smiled, and my soul turned to ice. Her face was that of a vampire, with sharpened teeth, and glowing eyes. "I thought I was dead!" The happiness expressed in her voice made the demonic folds on her face twist oddly. "Buffy -- your face!" Willow sounded scared. was scared. Her hands spread over her face, feeling the folds and twists of unfamiliar tissue. She knew what had happened. "Oh, God." I watched her shoulders start to shake. This wasn't my nightmare at all -- it was hers, and I couldn't think of anything I could do to help her. "Buffy?" Xander reached out a hand, but Buffy turned away from them. Hiding her face. I to help her -- there was no choice. Without her help, we might not be able to reach Billy. Without her will actively fighting against the vampirish state she found herself in -- we could be all in trouble. Without... my help, she might not be able to survive. "You never told me you dreamt of becoming a vampire." I stepped up close beside her; hopefully, reassuringly close. She shook her head, denying my words. "This isn't a dream." If the whole situation hadn't been so bloody , I would have laughed. "No... no it's not." Moving around her, I positioned myself in front of her. Her head was down, and she wasn't looking at me. "But there's a chance we can make it go ." I leaned down, my head next to hers. "This comes from Billy. Now if we can only wake him up... I believe..." I to believe, "... the nightmares will stop and reality will shift back into place -- but we do it now!" I told myself. . "I need you to hold together long enough to help us..." Helping others was ingrained in her very being. Part and parcel of her personality. She could do it. "Can you do that?" She looked up at me, and I saw her -- saw the real Buffy through the guise of the monster that wore her face. Buffy was scared, but she was fighting it. She nodded, and when she spoke, her voice was rough with effort. "Yeah, I think I can." "Thank you." I glanced up at Willow and Xander to see how they were taking all this. Shock was perhaps the best description. Buffy followed my glance, looking over at them. "But we better hurry -- 'cause I'm getting hungry." She strode off, Xander following close behind her. "That's a... a joke, right?" I didn't hear Buffy's reply, if she made one. Forcing myself to place one foot in front of the other, I followed them. We to get to the hospital. Willow started walking beside me. "Are you sure everything will go back once he's awake?" "Oh?" It took a moment for her words to register. Of I wasn't sure! A lie was the only answer. "Ah... positive." "Well how do we wake Billy up?" She was clearly excited, and thinking up possibilities that I didn't even want to consider. "What if we ?" "Willow? shut up." I could see Buffy's figure ahead of us, walking rapidly back towards the school grounds. I hoped she was heading towards my car. (end of part 5/7) steele@lillonet.org "I wouldn't be caught dead with a necrophiliac." ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 23:57:07 From: LDS Subject: BUFFYFIC: Unravelling the Depths (6/7) Title: Unravelling the Depths (6/7) Author: Dawn Steele e-mail: steele@lillonet.org Summary: Giles' POV in Nightmares (1st season spoilers) Feedback: Yes please. Good or bad. ;-) Distribution: SunS page Disclaimers: Not mine! Dialogue recognized is from Nightmares, and written by someone else who did a good job and got paid for it. Anything you don't recognize is mine. Random babbling explanation: Written in response to the SunS Chaos POV challenge (http://www.enteract.com/~perridox/SunS/). Previously published in the "An Alternate Viewpoint" fanzine (see http://members.tripod.com/~natmerc/avzine.html) which is currently out of print, but will probably do a second run in September. Ok? Unravelling the Depths By Dawn Steele (steele@lillonet.org) Part 6/7 After a very unpleasant ride all cramped together in my car, with Buffy's eyes returning repeatedly to my neck, we arrived to find seemingly the whole hospital screaming. Orderlies, nurses, doctors, and all the ambulatory patients were running through the halls. Here, close to Billy's influence, the nightmares must be continuous by now. Running down the hallway towards where I remembered Billy's room to be, I saw the doctor who was treating Billy. "Doctor! Is the boy Billy still here..." My voice trailed off as I got a better look at him. He was in his own world, staring at the misshapen lumps of what used to be his hands. "My hands..." Ignoring us, the doctor moved on down the hallway. Spotting the door to Billy's room, I hurried through it and moved to the right side of his bed, with Xander right behind me. Willow went to the other side by the window, and Buffy stayed next to the door. All ready, positioned for action, and... helpless. "What now?" What indeed, Xander. What indeed. "Um... ah..." I leaned forward, getting closer to the unconscious boy in the bed. He seemed too frail to have caused this whole disaster. "Billy! Billy?" "That won't work." Startled, I looked up. There, right beside Willow, was a duplicate of the boy on the bed. He looked sad, scared, and... slightly off -- as if he wasn't really there. It was Billy's astral body. Either he had grown strong enough to be seen by anyone, or Buffy's presence in the room made him visible. Something to think about . "Billy... uh, Billy, you to wake up." I compared the two of them, and despite the awareness in the eyes of the boy standing beside Willow, the boy in the bed was the more of the two. "No! I told her... I have to hide." "Why? From what?" me, Billy. Let me know how to break this spell that's turning all our fears against us. "From him...." Buffy's voice echoed from the doorway. She was looking out down into the hall. I turned around, and peered through the window. There, shambling towards us, was a huge monstrosity of a man with a deformed face, and a large club extending past where his right hand should have been. "Oh man... What do we do?" Xander must have seen the monster as well. "I think I know." Buffy tore off her jacket, and moved into the hallway, confronting the monster out of Billy's nightmares. Confronting it for him, and for all of us. The room, and the sounds in the rest of the hospital receded, and I focussed on what Buffy was saying. Intent now on the inevitable fight that would occur in the hallway. "Scary... I'll tell you something though. There are a scarier things than you." She stepped forward until I could see her better through the window. Her eyes were glowing now, and anger suffused her demonic looking face. "And I'm one of them." She growled deeply and attacked him, knocking him to the floor. I watched them fight back and forth. Whatever this monster was, he was taking on both a vampire and a Slayer's strength. It was pushing her back.... Buffy was thrown through the air, and landed at the end of Billy's bed, jarring it slightly. Shaking herself up, she was ready when the monster attacked her again. She grabbed its misshapen arm, broke it over her knee, and then slammed him against the wall. It slumped down -- beaten. I was so proud of her. "Is... is he dead?" Billy's voice interrupted the silence, but I kept still watching Buffy. Trying to assess if she needed me or not. A trial she might be to her school teachers, but Buffy was inordinately quick thinking in battle. She had a connection with this Billy. I only hoped that she could use it. "Come here, Billy." Her voice was calm. "But I... I don't..." Billy protested. "You have to do the rest." Billy's Astral body slowly walked over to Buffy and took her hand. He looked up trustingly into her face. "What are they doing?" Willow's voice broke the stillness that had descended into the room. I raised my hand to stop her talking, never taking my eyes off the tableau in front of me. Buffy knew what she was doing, and I had a good idea as well. "I get it." Xander said. I remembered him punching the insane clown in the High School and acknowledged that yes, perhaps he did. Right now, Billy had to do the rest. Buffy looked down into Billy's eyes. "No more hiding." He let go of her hand, and knelt down by the monster. Grabbing the bottom of its face, and pulled.... There was a strange ripping noise as if all of reality was being altered, and a bright flash of light. When my eyes cleared, I realized Xander and Willow were wearing the clothes they had started the day with. That meant... Buffy was still standing near the doorway, but... her face was smooth, young, and human again. She touched her skin, and... smiled. My whole body, held stiff and tight for the past hour, released, and I grinned. Things were back to normal, was back to normal, and we had succeeded. "Hey! He's waking up." Xander was standing by Billy's bedside. I turned and, along with everyone else, gathered around the bed. Billy's eyes flickered a couple of times and then slowly opened. He looked at us, and his gaze finally settled on Buffy. "I had the strangest dream." Lifting up a weak arm, he pointed towards her. "... and you were in it," he gestured towards me, "and you... Who you people? "Let's get a doctor." More happy than I could remember being in a very long time, I headed towards the door with Xander following behind me. Just before we left the room, a man appeared. He was wearing a sweatsuit with a baseball cap, and a whistle on a string around his neck. "Oh... huh! Billy's got company." I smiled. Normality intrudes. The man removed his baseball cap, revealing balding black hair. "I... I'm his kiddy league coach. I come by here every day, just hoping against hope that he's... going to wake up soon." He smiled. "He's my 'Lucky 19'." ... Looking into the room, Buffy caught my gaze and held it. Acknowledgement of the man's words passed between us. This was the man... the monster, who had caused Billy such misery, and started the whole miserable chain of events. "So... how is he?" In answer to the coach's words, Buffy moved aside to reveal Billy lying on the bed behind her. "He's awake." Condemnation filled her voice. "What?" The coach, startled, moved inside the room. Rapidly, I closed the distance behind him, my hand so very reaching out to hold to edge of the doorway -- and block him from leaving. Xander followed my move, and stayed right next to the door. Buffy continued to fulfill the man's destiny. Setting up his doom with words instead of fists. "You blamed him for losing the game. So you caught up with him afterwards, didn't you?" "What are you talking about?" Billy propped himself up on his left arm, and used the other to tear out the unneeded air tube inserted into his nose. "You said that it was my fault that we lost." Losing nerve, the coach made a break for it... and found Xander and I waiting for him. With the two of us, he didn't have a chance. I enjoyed playing a physical role at last against an opponent I could handle. After the confusing nightmares of this past day... I would let him escape from the consequences he had brought upon himself. "It my fault! There's eight other players on the team. know that." Billy, finished with destroying his own personal monster, leaned back into the bed. "Nice going." Buffy said. I shifted my grip on the man. "Willow? Why don't you go and get hospital security? I believe the police will want to talk with him." (end of part 6/7) steele@lillonet.org "I wouldn't be caught dead with a necrophiliac." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jun 1998 00:00:08 From: LDS Subject: BUFFYFIC: Unravelling the Depths (7/7) Last part! Hope you enjoyed it. :) Title: Unravelling the Depths (2/7) Author: Dawn Steele e-mail: steele@lillonet.org Summary: Giles' POV in Nightmares (1st season spoilers) Feedback: Yes please. Good or bad. ;-) Distribution: SunS page Disclaimers: Not mine! Dialogue recognized is from Nightmares, and written by someone else who did a good job and got paid for it. Anything you don't recognize is mine. Random babbling explanation: Written in response to the SunS Chaos POV challenge (http://www.enteract.com/~perridox/SunS/). Previously published in the "An Alternate Viewpoint" fanzine (see http://members.tripod.com/~natmerc/avzine.html) which is currently out of print, but will probably do a second run in September. Ok? Unravelling the Depths By Dawn Steele (steele@lillonet.org) Part 7/7 Buffy and I met in the library shortly after the last bell had rung. She seemed... fine. But then, she always bounced back remarkably quickly. I wondered if it was a trait that all Slayers shared, or if those who didn't have it merely had very short careers. "Hi Giles! I'm off for court-regulated quality time for the weekend -- Sunnydale will have to survive without me." She dropped her school books on the counter, and hopped up to sit on the table where I was clearing away the newspapers. "What's the scoop on the teacher's lounge gossip?" "Well..." I put all the Sunnydale Press newspapers into a pile for later recycling. "No one is really talking, but they all agreed that the students were 'restless' and nothing was accomplished today. They were complaining about having to repeat everything tomorrow when I left them." "Meaning they can't remember anything either. The few people I've talked to remember some weird daydreams, but not much else. How come we do?" Buffy was staring off into space, absently kicking her legs. "I imagine it's... partially repressed events, and partially because we actually what was going on, and were close to Billy." "Yeah." She was preoccupied. Not really even though she was talking to me. I wanted to ask her what had happened in the graveyard before we arrived, but I didn't. She would just give me part of the story, and pretend it wasn't important, just as she tried to pretend most of the time that she had a normal life. It was a character trait that would get her into trouble some day. The time would come, and as a Slayer living on a Hellmouth, the day come when she wouldn't be able to handle everything by herself. If only... I could only hope that she would come and talk to me before she started to break. "Buffy?" "Hm? What?" "I'd like to know if I've really met your father." I remembered the man who'd come into the library. Large, cheerful, and... coming when Buffy had not expected him. The next time I had seen her, she was a vampire, and we had more immediate concerns ahead of us. Buffy turned towards me. Her eyes were sad, but determined. This was one Slayer that mere nightmares couldn't break. Bend perhaps, but not break. "Nope -- but he'll be outside any minute, wanna meet him?" "Some other time perhaps." Perhaps -- and someday I might even understand what Buffy was really thinking. In the meantime, I would try to protect her as much as I could. That was my job... and right now what she really needed was to be away from Sunnydale, and her so very dangerous life. "Vampire activity has been moderately low since you killed Darla." I sighed, hoping nothing too important would happen while she was gone. "Have a good weekend off." "Yes! I am released from my prison. The almighty God of Plastic Credit awaits me!" Buffy jumped off the table, and headed towards the door. There, she stopped and turned, smiling cheerfully. "You have a good weekend too. Sleep tight... and don't let the bed bugs bite." I didn't even want to about bed bugs. THE END steele@lillonet.org "I wouldn't be caught dead with a necrophiliac." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Jun 1998 17:20:01 EDT From: ingrid29@juno.com (Ingrid E Stanton) Subject: BUFFYFIC: "Reunion" (The real 23/?) DISCLAIMER: The characters? They ain’t mine. SUMMARY: Back to the past… FEEDBACK: I hate feedback. Don’t send it. (Just kidding. - Does anybody ever *not* want feedback? REQUESTS FOR PARTS: Give ‘em here! (Ingrid29@juno.com) NOTE: This is the REAL part 23. Accept no imitations. WARNING, dears: Some violence ahead... ********* "Reunion," by Ingrid Part Twenty-three: "Culmination" ********* Buffy flew. She didn’t look around; she didn’t look back. She knew where she was going. Hysterical as she’d been, she remembered every detail of the way as if it had been yesterday. Even the rock music from the stereo of the car was pounding in her ears. Now she was back there, and everyone else faded away. In the distance, she saw the smoke, the fire, and the figures near it. They grew larger, and soon she could recognize faces of flickering terror. Without processing anything but the task at hand, she gripped the orb tighter and leapt into the scene like it was a painting. Giles’ face was calm, and when he saw her with the orb, he didn’t seem to notice that she was ten years older and merely grabbed the thing and continued to chant. Until Spike tackled him and the orb hit the tree behind them. She grimaced as the thing tapped against the tree, but it remained intact. "Giles!" Spike was pummeling the watcher viciously; blindly. He couldn’t seem to see anything else but the red-hot anger consuming him. Buffy knocked him off Giles easily. He was unprepared for an outside attack in his rage. She could keep him at bay while Giles finished the spell. She watched him get up and fetch the orb again. He was chanting like he’d never stopped, and the orb began to glow. Just then she heard another scream from behind the tree and her stomach oozed. Willow. Again. She dropped Spike and rocketed past him to see the body of a red-haired teenager enveloped in the vampire’s arms, struggling against him with every ounce of strength she possessed. But it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. And she could have stopped it. She hit Angelus hard, and he fell backwards, dropping his bloody dinner. And she waited for Giles to finish. But he didn’t. And instantly, she knew. Behind the tree, Spike was ripping at Giles shoulder, and Giles was grappling with him, trying to finish the words. He choked out a few syllables. Buffy rushed at them. Then she felt something pulling at her back. She turned around to meet Angelus’ amused expression, as he watched Spike pull the stake from his sleeve and stab Giles in the shoulder. "Aww…He missed," Angel sneered in her ear. Buffy hit him in the stomach and raced back towards Giles where spike was preparing for another strike, but this one was aimed to kill. "Uh, uh," Angel scolded from behind, returning to grab her by the waist. She suddenly realized how powerless she was as time slowed down, and she screamed in anticipation of the coming blow. It never came. She saw a figure dart in between the two men and Spike’s stake cut into flesh. But not Giles. Willow. "What are you doin’ here?" he demanded savagely, barely able to speak. She didn’t answer, instead looking at Giles briefly and yelling at him to get up and finish. He did. Moving jerkily, he reclaimed the sphere and finished the spell, collapsing against the tree. In a split second, Buffy had been released by a writhing Angel, and she ran over to Giles, who’d collapsed against the tree, unconscious. Things were becoming fainter before her eyes suddenly as she felt his pulse. Alive. She’d done it. Then she looked behind her just in time to catch a vision of Willow with a stake planted in her chest. Dust. There were two distinctive flashes of light, and then all the rest was caught up in a glowing blur becoming fainter. Blackness swam before her eyes and she gave into the dark, shutting them, and relaxing against the ground. If it was the ground. She felt completely turned around now. Lost. And suddenly something sweet touched her, something more real than any dream. *He* touched her, pulled her to him, and she let him, completely still and dead. Somehow, she knew he was crying. Then all shimmered gold and white and she felt herself slip away. *** END PART 23. "God help me, if he doesn’t stop, I’ll go out of my mind in a minute." "Why Don’t you? That would be something, anyway." - --John Osborne, "Look Back In Anger" _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ End of buffyfic-digest V2 #219 ****************************** To subscribe to buffyfic or buffyfic-digest, send the command subscribe buffyfic-digest or subscribe buffy to majordomo@xmission.com. You will need to go through a confirmation process, and the listowners have to manually approve your subscription request, so it may take some time. To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@xmission.com with unsubscribe buffyfic-digest or unsubscribe buffyfic in the body. 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