DÉJÀ VU
Chapter one: Who's That Girl?
Written by:Twinstar
Disclaimer: All
Characters belong to Joss except for a few exceptions.
There are no real spoilers but this takes place after season
5 finale of Buffy and season 2 of Angel.
The demise of Buffy has my creative juices flowing and this is my second
story dealing with her death.
This takes place 25 years after the finales and it's a
different time and place but some things always stay the same.
This story is really the first one that I've involved time
and my own characters, I hope you guys like it. As usual I crave feed-back so here is my address twinstar_dust@hotmail.com
Dedicated to Sara Lee, Ryan, Mystic, Erinne, Alyssa, Matt
and everyone else who has supported me in my creative endeavours.
*Indicates Buffy's POV otherwise it's Angel's.
Enjoy!
**********************
Paris, France
2026
Here I am again at my favourite outside bistro drinking a latte
at a leisurely pace absorbing the experience rather than the coffee
itself. I watch the people going by and
wonder what's going on in their lives.
At the corner a young man is waiting with a white rose behind his
back. He looks nervous and is shuffling
his feet not being able to keep still.
He suddenly turns his head when a woman shouts out his name while
crossing the street, her hand up in the air to catch his attention. He smiles and embraces the woman when she
reaches him. He picks her up and twirls
her around and their laughter is carried in the air to my ears. I crack a smile and then grief washes over
me because I know I'll never experience that kind of emotion…again. The young
man sets the woman down and hands her the rose and he gets a sweet kiss for his
nice gesture. They walk away, her hand
in his, and I am left here stirring my coffee.
My napkin drops to the ground, after a warm spring breeze
picks up, and I bend down to retrieve it.
As I come back up I glance towards the sky and the warm sun hits my face
and even after all these years I savour the warm feeling on my skin. Yes, I'm finally human after all the years
of walking this earth as an undead with a soul.
The breeze also brings the fragrance of vanilla to my
nose. I close my eyes and take a deep
breath, the smell penetrating into my lungs.
It triggers a memory and a single tear escapes my left eye. I remember the person who smelled of vanilla
and who still carries my heart, I remember Buffy.
I look down into my coffee but I have a far away look in my
eyes. I go back to the days when I was
most happy and at the same time the saddest time as well. The thoughts flood into my brain and I remember…
The day I first saw her.
She was walking down the steps of her high school. She's surrounded with friends and she's
young and carefree and wearing the biggest smile on her face. Just one look at her and at her innocence
and naiveté I knew I had to protect her.
She was about to face her destiny and all the evils of the world because
of her calling as the Slayer and she needed a friend. I was caught in her world and I felt alive but at the same time
trapped in a lie. I was pretending I
was human but in reality I was a thing that Buffy was sworn to kill. I was a vampire…
I fought by her side and with the help of her friends Willow
and Xander; and her watcher Giles we kept the hellmouth safe. Our friendship blossomed into love and for a
while it was the greatest experience of my live. And that said a lot considering I'm over 200 years old. But it was not meant to be. What I thought was my salvation became my
very damnation. On the night we
consummated our love for each other my soul was ripped away from me and I
became evil again. The curse that was
put on me by a band of gypsies had a clause. In the event I experienced true
happiness I would turn back into Angelus, my evil self. For causing the death of their most
favourite daughter I was never to be truly happy, I was meant to walk the earth
incomplete for all of eternity. That
was their revenge for my past sins.
I tormented Buffy and her friends and I even killed the
lover of Giles who happened to be a direct descendant of the gypsies that
cursed me. Buffy finally stopped me by
sending me back to hell but not before Willow casted a binding spell to restore
my soul.
When I came back from hell, the love Buffy and I had for
each other was still there. The only
difference was that we knew the consequences of our happiness. We tried being friends but we were still
drawn together just like a moth to a flame and just as deadly. I believed that leaving her would make
things easier on us. We still both had
destinies to fulfill and we couldn't reach them while tiptoeing around each
other. That's when I decided that the
best thing to do was leave. It was the
hardest thing I have ever done and I was torn into two. I made the decision to let go of the one
thing that meant anything to me. Buffy
was my soul mate, my life, my heart, my purpose, my being.
I made my way to Los Angeles and with help of Cordelia,
Buffy's high school friend; Doyle a half demon with visions; and later Whesley
an ex-watcher and Gunn an ex-gang member who knew the existence of demons; we
protected the innocent.
Everything turned out fine and for a while I was
content. My life was so busy I didn't
have the time to brood over the lost of not being with Buffy. But every time our paths crossed it became
harder and harder to let her go. Oh and
I have memories that I still take comfort in even to this very day. The memories of that forgotten day has
sustained me and I still smile thinking about the events even if those memories
are mine alone.
Then one day she was gone…forever… and I didn't even have a
chance to say good-bye. She died being a
hero and saving the world. But I wish
with my very being that I had a chance to see her and tell her how much she
meant to me. She was the light of my
darkness and she never knew how much I loved her…
Ironically years later I was granted humanity for all my
good deeds as a warrior for the Powers That Be. The same higher beings that
created the day that never was and the same beings that let me down. I pleaded to them to give me back Buffy but
the only thing they could say was that their hands where tied. I was on my knees begging them to return the
other half of the destined ones whose purpose was to fight evil. I was willing to give up everything even my
chance of being human again but nothing worked. Their parting words of 'things will be revealed' puzzled me and
it's still a mystery to this very day.
I have been a human now for almost two years and I still
can't believe that my dreams have finally come true. The feeling of the sun on my skin, the soft beating of my heart,
the breaths of air that my lungs take to give me life still make me
speechless. But when my reward came to
me it was very bittersweet. I wanted to
become human so that I could be with my love and she wasn't able to share the
joy of my humanity. I never forgave the
Powers because deep down inside I knew they had the resources so that Buffy and
I could be together. Finally… the way
it was meant to be.
The smell of perfume that smells like vanilla and a soft
whimsical laughter brings me out of my reliving of bittersweet memories of the
past. I turn my head to the source of
the sound. A slow tingling sensation
creeps up my back and settles on my neck and I experience the feeling of déjà
vu. A young lady is laughing with a
flower vendor who is selling white roses.
I move my head to try to get a better view but I can't see her face
because her long blonde hair is in the way.
She brushes her hair out of her face and my heart skips a beat. I slowly get up and my hands that can't keep
from shaking are covered with sweat. My
first thoughts is that the unidentified woman is Buffy…but it can't be…Buffy is
dead and it's been 25 years. This woman
is the age that Buffy was when she died years ago. I slowly make my way towards her but the crowds of people walking
hamper my way. I frantically push my
way to the vendor but as I reach the spot…she is gone…and I'm left wondering…
who's that girl?
