Bravely Into Tomorrow
by GylzGirl
Disc: Joss the eternally generous, though perplexingly evil, owneth all. I owneth only my own disturbing thoughts which happened to form a plot.
SPOILERS: THE WISH
Rating: PG-13 probably, for violence
Type: Angst? you're soaking in it!
Summary: Basically a sort of "What if" story. As in, what if breaking the necklace didn't immediately release the spell?
Written: Winter of 98-99
******
Giles smashed the pendant with all the strength he could muster. As it shattered, the scream of Anyanka dissipated. When he looked up, she was gone. He sank to his knees and placed his head on the table, exhausted and thoroughly confused. Why was he still here? Obviously, he had broken the spell, eliminated Anyanka's power, but nothing had changed. Maybe she'd been right. Maybe he was just an idealistic fool. He sighed and staggered back to his feet. Well, it was one less demon he'd have to contend with. That was a small comfort at least. He looked to his watch. There were only a few hours left till daylight. Then, he supposed, he'd finally know whether this Buffy, the Slayer that was to have been his, was worth the faith Cordelia had shown. He wondered vaguely what was keeping Oz and Larry. They should have reported in by now. Giles wandered to his kitchen, filled a glass with water and opened one of his many prescription medicine bottles. He palmed a Valium, washed it down, and made his way to his living room sofa.
He really was going to have to see about having the Slayer reassigned to Sunnydale. Maybe Nancy's idea of documenting on videotape the war zone the town had become would finally make a diff...no, no that was right. Nancy was dead now, like Amy and Jessie before her. He rubbed his face in his hands and leaned back. He just kept losing them, all of them. This had to stop. Maybe Buffy Summers was the answer. He fell into a restless sleep.
"Giles?! Giles wake up!!" Giles' eyes groggily opened to Oz's nearly panicked face. "Thank God! I thought you'd OD'ed again!"
"That only happened once," he said, sitting up and trying to shake out the cobwebs from his mind.
"Twice."
"Twice, well whatever." His eyes scanned up and caught sight of the thickening blood on the boy's forehead. "My God, you're hurt." He grabbed Oz gently by the shoulders and sat him down beside him. "Sit here and I'll go get the med kit. Where's Larry?" The librarian went to the kitchen and reemerged with a large white metal box.
"He's um...he gave his life for me to get away. Slayer's dead too, Giles. The Master broke her neck."
Giles shook his head, trying to fight back the tears that threatened. Larry was gone too and now he was responsible for calling a Slayer to her death. He refocused himself and tended to Oz's wound.
"On the plus side, Larry and I managed to stake Willow, and the Slayer took out Xander before she went."
"I uh, I suppose that's something." He finished applying the bandage. "And the factory? Was it destroyed?"
"No. Come tomorrow night, it'll be ready to start processing humans. But, we know where it is now. It's in the abandoned Kettleman warehouse off of Sixth." There was a knock on the door.
"Rupert?! Rupert it's me! Let me in PLEASE!!!"
"Jenny?!" 'No, God it can't be.' For her safety, he had sent her to his Father's in England weeks ago. What the hell was she doing back here?
He opened the door and caught sight of her face, scratched, slightly bloodied, nearly hysterical. "Get in here!" He pulled her against him. She was trembling, freezing. "What are you doing wandering around out there at night? You know better!" He kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly. "Come to that, what are you doing here at all?" He looked into her teary eyes. "I sent you two to safety," he lovingly stroked her belly, "I don't want our child facing these horrors as her introduction into the world."
"I'm sorry Rupert. I just, I just missed you."
"Did my Father say something? Do something to make you feel unwelcome?"
"No, nothing like that. I think I need to sit down. I've been running for hours."
"Of course," He walked her to the couch and sat her down beside Oz.
"Hey Mrs. G," Oz's eyes were filled with concern.
Jenny smiled and brushed a hand across his hair. "Oz." Her hand pressed down a little and the other hand grabbed his chin. Before anyone knew what was happening, Jenny had snapped his neck and dropped his corpse to the floor.
A freezing wave of shock ran through Giles' body. "Jenny? Why?" When she looked up at him, smiling, it was no longer his Jenny but the vampire demon who had taken her body. Giles could no longer hold back his tears. "I wanted to you to be safe, our baby. I sent you away."
Jenny rubbed her stomach. "We never made it. Amazingly enough, it seems the Watchers aren't the only ones with prophecy books. The Master has some too. This one told him that our child would be a very powerful Slayer. He couldn't let that come to be." Giles felt as though his very heart had been crushed inside his chest. He fell back against the wall, weeping.
"Shh, my poor Love. This is no time for tears. You should rejoice. My Master has found a spell so we may keep our baby. It will be a Goddess among vampires and ring in our rule over the humans, a glorious, endless night. But, our child needs her Father, and I've been so lonely Rupert. I've been watching you. I've seen that ache in your eyes. Give up your fight and come be with us. You're so tired. You hurt so much. Let me make it better?"
"Yes," his voice was tight with emotion. "I want to be with you. Make it all stop. Please?"
Jenny smiled and sauntered up to him, placing a light peck on his trembling lips. "Don't be afraid of me. It won't hurt for long." Her mouth slid across his neck, resting over the jugular vein. He slid the stake down from his sweater's sleeve and stabbed her through the heart. She gasped up at him, in shock and pain.
"My poor Jenny Love. Forgive me please." She dissolved into a rain of dust. He slid down the wall, head in his hands, too stunned to cry, just waiting for the sun to rise.
******
Dawn came as it always did and Rupert Giles met it, ready. He drove Oz's van to the military base just outside of town and broke into the supply shed. After losing three squads of recruits, the base had a strict in-barrack curfew for all personnel from sundown to sunrise. Giles pulled away with a fully stocked van before the first watch was out of bed.
Giles spent the early morning wiring the Kettleman warehouse with explosives and dousing it with gasoline for added effect. Now, he was treating the Bronze to the same preparations. When he had finished, he drove a few blocks away. As the sun reached its apex at the stroke of noon, all of Sunnydale was shaken by the tremendous blast. Smoke billowed up, debris rained down, and car alarms blared in the distance. Giles calmly walked to the edge of the fiery block where the Bronze had been and lit a cigarette off of the nightclub's burning sign. "Brave new world indeed." He walked away certain in the knowledge of two things, that the remaining sunlight hours would take care of most of the vamps the explosion had not and that once and for all, Ripper was back and would protect the town of Sunnydale by whatever means necessary. He checked his watch to see if it was too early to call England and ring up his old mate, Ethan Rayne.
******
Rupert Giles straightened his tie and walked across the courtyard of Sunnydale High. Buffy was late again and he was intending to scold her, but as soon as he saw her laughing and smiling with her friends, his resolve softened a bit. He simply walked by them, acknowledging the chorus of "Hey Giles" with a smile and, not breaking stride, made eye contact with Buffy and pointed to his watch.
She beamed a smile, "I know I'm late, be right there Giles." He turned in step and moved on to the main hall.
As he was about to enter, Cordelia shoved passed him at the entrance. "Sorry Giles," she turned and smiled.
Giles smiled back. She walked away. Suddenly, as if in pain, Giles brought his hands to his head. He was having an amazingly clear vision of Cordelia standing before him in that outfit, just outside his reach, and being murdered by the vampires Willow and Xander. His step faltered and he teetered back against the wall. When he opened his eyes, everything was as it had been. Confused and disoriented, he plowed ahead into the main hall and on to the library.
Buffy noticed her Watcher's near collapse and jumped to her feet. "Uh I'll talk to you later guys," she ran off, leaving the very human Willow and Xander behind.
Giles entered the library and went straight to his office. He hung up his coat and unbuttoned his vest. He was about to sit when the pain hit him again, this time harder, dropping him to his knees. Giles closed his eyes and was horrified at all the death he saw, students, colleagues, Oz, and Dear God, Jenny! Not his Jenny! "Not again!"
Buffy entered the library and heard crying coming from Giles' office. She ran in to find his unconscious body curled up on the floor, shaking and sobbing. She dropped to her knees and pulled him across her lap. "Oh my God! Giles? Giles?!"
Giles could hear Buffy's voice calling to him. Her face materialized before him, scarred mouth, cold eyes. He shivered and opened his eyes. Buffy's face materialized before him. She was nearly crying she was so concerned for him. A relieved smile played at the edge of her mouth as she watched him awake. "Thank goodness! Giles are you okay?"
"Buffy?" He sat himself up and wrapped his arms around her. The images were fading quickly but not the emotions they had left behind.
"Giles what happened?"
"I-I'm not sure. I just..." he dropped his eyes, suddenly embarrassed to have had her find him on the floor and then hug her frantically with no explanation to give," I just must have passed out."
"Maybe you need some more time off?"
"No, I'll be all right. S-sorry if I worried you." Though he wanted to, he could not seem to loosen his grip on her.
"It's okay. I think I owe you some in the worry department after this summer." He was trembling, obviously needing this contact with her and too ashamed to admit it. "It's okay Giles," she whispered in his ear, "for once, let it out. Let me take care of you." For the first time since Jenny died, Giles let the tears come unabated as his Slayer cradled him in her arms.
by GylzGirl
Disc: Joss the eternally generous, though perplexingly evil, owneth all. I owneth only my own disturbing thoughts which happened to form a plot.
SPOILERS: THE WISH
Rating: PG-13 probably, for violence
Type: Angst? you're soaking in it!
Summary: Basically a sort of "What if" story. As in, what if breaking the necklace didn't immediately release the spell?
Written: Winter of 98-99
******
Giles smashed the pendant with all the strength he could muster. As it shattered, the scream of Anyanka dissipated. When he looked up, she was gone. He sank to his knees and placed his head on the table, exhausted and thoroughly confused. Why was he still here? Obviously, he had broken the spell, eliminated Anyanka's power, but nothing had changed. Maybe she'd been right. Maybe he was just an idealistic fool. He sighed and staggered back to his feet. Well, it was one less demon he'd have to contend with. That was a small comfort at least. He looked to his watch. There were only a few hours left till daylight. Then, he supposed, he'd finally know whether this Buffy, the Slayer that was to have been his, was worth the faith Cordelia had shown. He wondered vaguely what was keeping Oz and Larry. They should have reported in by now. Giles wandered to his kitchen, filled a glass with water and opened one of his many prescription medicine bottles. He palmed a Valium, washed it down, and made his way to his living room sofa.
He really was going to have to see about having the Slayer reassigned to Sunnydale. Maybe Nancy's idea of documenting on videotape the war zone the town had become would finally make a diff...no, no that was right. Nancy was dead now, like Amy and Jessie before her. He rubbed his face in his hands and leaned back. He just kept losing them, all of them. This had to stop. Maybe Buffy Summers was the answer. He fell into a restless sleep.
"Giles?! Giles wake up!!" Giles' eyes groggily opened to Oz's nearly panicked face. "Thank God! I thought you'd OD'ed again!"
"That only happened once," he said, sitting up and trying to shake out the cobwebs from his mind.
"Twice."
"Twice, well whatever." His eyes scanned up and caught sight of the thickening blood on the boy's forehead. "My God, you're hurt." He grabbed Oz gently by the shoulders and sat him down beside him. "Sit here and I'll go get the med kit. Where's Larry?" The librarian went to the kitchen and reemerged with a large white metal box.
"He's um...he gave his life for me to get away. Slayer's dead too, Giles. The Master broke her neck."
Giles shook his head, trying to fight back the tears that threatened. Larry was gone too and now he was responsible for calling a Slayer to her death. He refocused himself and tended to Oz's wound.
"On the plus side, Larry and I managed to stake Willow, and the Slayer took out Xander before she went."
"I uh, I suppose that's something." He finished applying the bandage. "And the factory? Was it destroyed?"
"No. Come tomorrow night, it'll be ready to start processing humans. But, we know where it is now. It's in the abandoned Kettleman warehouse off of Sixth." There was a knock on the door.
"Rupert?! Rupert it's me! Let me in PLEASE!!!"
"Jenny?!" 'No, God it can't be.' For her safety, he had sent her to his Father's in England weeks ago. What the hell was she doing back here?
He opened the door and caught sight of her face, scratched, slightly bloodied, nearly hysterical. "Get in here!" He pulled her against him. She was trembling, freezing. "What are you doing wandering around out there at night? You know better!" He kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly. "Come to that, what are you doing here at all?" He looked into her teary eyes. "I sent you two to safety," he lovingly stroked her belly, "I don't want our child facing these horrors as her introduction into the world."
"I'm sorry Rupert. I just, I just missed you."
"Did my Father say something? Do something to make you feel unwelcome?"
"No, nothing like that. I think I need to sit down. I've been running for hours."
"Of course," He walked her to the couch and sat her down beside Oz.
"Hey Mrs. G," Oz's eyes were filled with concern.
Jenny smiled and brushed a hand across his hair. "Oz." Her hand pressed down a little and the other hand grabbed his chin. Before anyone knew what was happening, Jenny had snapped his neck and dropped his corpse to the floor.
A freezing wave of shock ran through Giles' body. "Jenny? Why?" When she looked up at him, smiling, it was no longer his Jenny but the vampire demon who had taken her body. Giles could no longer hold back his tears. "I wanted to you to be safe, our baby. I sent you away."
Jenny rubbed her stomach. "We never made it. Amazingly enough, it seems the Watchers aren't the only ones with prophecy books. The Master has some too. This one told him that our child would be a very powerful Slayer. He couldn't let that come to be." Giles felt as though his very heart had been crushed inside his chest. He fell back against the wall, weeping.
"Shh, my poor Love. This is no time for tears. You should rejoice. My Master has found a spell so we may keep our baby. It will be a Goddess among vampires and ring in our rule over the humans, a glorious, endless night. But, our child needs her Father, and I've been so lonely Rupert. I've been watching you. I've seen that ache in your eyes. Give up your fight and come be with us. You're so tired. You hurt so much. Let me make it better?"
"Yes," his voice was tight with emotion. "I want to be with you. Make it all stop. Please?"
Jenny smiled and sauntered up to him, placing a light peck on his trembling lips. "Don't be afraid of me. It won't hurt for long." Her mouth slid across his neck, resting over the jugular vein. He slid the stake down from his sweater's sleeve and stabbed her through the heart. She gasped up at him, in shock and pain.
"My poor Jenny Love. Forgive me please." She dissolved into a rain of dust. He slid down the wall, head in his hands, too stunned to cry, just waiting for the sun to rise.
******
Dawn came as it always did and Rupert Giles met it, ready. He drove Oz's van to the military base just outside of town and broke into the supply shed. After losing three squads of recruits, the base had a strict in-barrack curfew for all personnel from sundown to sunrise. Giles pulled away with a fully stocked van before the first watch was out of bed.
Giles spent the early morning wiring the Kettleman warehouse with explosives and dousing it with gasoline for added effect. Now, he was treating the Bronze to the same preparations. When he had finished, he drove a few blocks away. As the sun reached its apex at the stroke of noon, all of Sunnydale was shaken by the tremendous blast. Smoke billowed up, debris rained down, and car alarms blared in the distance. Giles calmly walked to the edge of the fiery block where the Bronze had been and lit a cigarette off of the nightclub's burning sign. "Brave new world indeed." He walked away certain in the knowledge of two things, that the remaining sunlight hours would take care of most of the vamps the explosion had not and that once and for all, Ripper was back and would protect the town of Sunnydale by whatever means necessary. He checked his watch to see if it was too early to call England and ring up his old mate, Ethan Rayne.
******
Rupert Giles straightened his tie and walked across the courtyard of Sunnydale High. Buffy was late again and he was intending to scold her, but as soon as he saw her laughing and smiling with her friends, his resolve softened a bit. He simply walked by them, acknowledging the chorus of "Hey Giles" with a smile and, not breaking stride, made eye contact with Buffy and pointed to his watch.
She beamed a smile, "I know I'm late, be right there Giles." He turned in step and moved on to the main hall.
As he was about to enter, Cordelia shoved passed him at the entrance. "Sorry Giles," she turned and smiled.
Giles smiled back. She walked away. Suddenly, as if in pain, Giles brought his hands to his head. He was having an amazingly clear vision of Cordelia standing before him in that outfit, just outside his reach, and being murdered by the vampires Willow and Xander. His step faltered and he teetered back against the wall. When he opened his eyes, everything was as it had been. Confused and disoriented, he plowed ahead into the main hall and on to the library.
Buffy noticed her Watcher's near collapse and jumped to her feet. "Uh I'll talk to you later guys," she ran off, leaving the very human Willow and Xander behind.
Giles entered the library and went straight to his office. He hung up his coat and unbuttoned his vest. He was about to sit when the pain hit him again, this time harder, dropping him to his knees. Giles closed his eyes and was horrified at all the death he saw, students, colleagues, Oz, and Dear God, Jenny! Not his Jenny! "Not again!"
Buffy entered the library and heard crying coming from Giles' office. She ran in to find his unconscious body curled up on the floor, shaking and sobbing. She dropped to her knees and pulled him across her lap. "Oh my God! Giles? Giles?!"
Giles could hear Buffy's voice calling to him. Her face materialized before him, scarred mouth, cold eyes. He shivered and opened his eyes. Buffy's face materialized before him. She was nearly crying she was so concerned for him. A relieved smile played at the edge of her mouth as she watched him awake. "Thank goodness! Giles are you okay?"
"Buffy?" He sat himself up and wrapped his arms around her. The images were fading quickly but not the emotions they had left behind.
"Giles what happened?"
"I-I'm not sure. I just..." he dropped his eyes, suddenly embarrassed to have had her find him on the floor and then hug her frantically with no explanation to give," I just must have passed out."
"Maybe you need some more time off?"
"No, I'll be all right. S-sorry if I worried you." Though he wanted to, he could not seem to loosen his grip on her.
"It's okay. I think I owe you some in the worry department after this summer." He was trembling, obviously needing this contact with her and too ashamed to admit it. "It's okay Giles," she whispered in his ear, "for once, let it out. Let me take care of you." For the first time since Jenny died, Giles let the tears come unabated as his Slayer cradled him in her arms.