And That's What it's All About

Title: And That's What it's All About

Rating: K – Just talk of death and mentions of war. Since I saw kids younger than the younglings in the last film, well… I'm certain anyone can read this.

Genre: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Star Wars crossover. One-shot. Characters are Buffy Summers and a certain Jedi.

Summary: Buffy's vision quest takes a whole different direction…

Spoilers: Minor spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer leading up to 'The Gift'. Minor spoilers for all three prequel Star Wars films – very minor. There is dialogue from the episode 'Intervention' as well as a few others. I'm sure if you know canon well, you'll pick it up easily.

Timeline: This takes place over the course of 'Intervention'. The Star Wars end takes place during the Clone Wars.

Dedication: It's Christmas time! Once again, I decided to fulfill a request that no one else seemed willing to take. In my opinion, you are all chicken. While it could so easily be "well, let's just throw her in a portal and be done with it", I decided for something new. Although this is truly a one-shot, it can be taken so much further. Here's to Grace, my beta and my darned good friend, whose mighty presence I recently spent a week in… as in two weeks ago. This is your one-scene rewrite. I hope you enjoy. I hope it inspires you. And I hope this gets you off of my back about choosing a new genre… honestly!

x-o-x

And That's What it's All About

Okay, so maybe Giles thought he didn't look like an idiot as he hopped in his circle, jumped out and then shook his little rattling gourd. "And that's what it's all about," I muttered, rolling my eyes. Giles just gave me his usual patented glare before tipping his head to the desert around us. I think his signal to clear out before he got really annoyed was obvious at this point. I decided to do what he was hinting with the hemming and hawing.

I took a few precarious steps forward, hoping that something would jump out at me. This place is eerily familiar, looking like a trip I took through my own mind. It's funny, really. It's like a patented franchise for creepy things. I don't want to see wigged, but the whole atmosphere wasn't exactly welcome.

I can still hear Giles. He's not talking in English anymore. Then again, I think he likes some of those older languages. It just seems to be the type of thing he likes. I don't really pick up on anything else other than the wide desert and Giles's soft chanting. It was then I heard a low growl and glanced to my left, frowning slightly. It was a mountain lion… or a bobcat, or something. Like I know anything about zoology. It blinks at me and growls again. After Giles told me that he was transferring his guardianship to someone else, I really hoped it wasn't this lion that could likely eat me if I wasn't fed or hydrated in a week.

"Hello kitty," I began in my most welcoming voice. It stared at me for a moment before turning on its legs and starting off in a direction that was even farther from any signs of civilization. Knowing that this was some symbolic ritual that Giles had sworn by, I couldn't help but trust him. Given everything else that had been happening, it was all I had left. Taking a deep breath, we walked on.

After what seemed like miles, the cat finally stopped and turned to look at me again. Seeing a rock, I moved over towards it. Taking in my surroundings, I found that they matched my memories exactly… or better, this was the desert of my dreams. "I know this place," I murmured to no one in particular. The cat just blinked at me and I figured it couldn't understand what I was saying anyway. I took a deep breath and forced my attention on the sand. Was it just my imagination, or was it moving? The air seemed to move and with it came a voice that seemed to come from nowhere. As I was privileged to see and here things of a supernatural scale, I felt my Slayer sense tingle. My body tensed, prepared to face whatever anyone was willing to throw at me. At once, it seemed as though my tense body fell slack. I found myself suddenly drowsy and glanced around as the brilliant sunlight and warmth of the desert seemed to fall away. Before I could protest about this sudden shift in both earth and atmosphere, I saw nothing but darkness.

It seemed like an eternity before my eyes opened again. God knows I tried. But something kept them shut. It was frustrating for me, feeling something else slip through my hand. First it was my mother… then Dawn… and now…

Where in the hell was I?

This was no desert. It wasn't even outdoors. I looked to my left and saw a pane of windows that stretched as far as the eye could see. There were skyscrapers out there that seemed to dazzle in the glittering sunlight. But my eyes soon spotted movement… lots of movement.

Spaceships?

"What is this?" I asked in disbelief, quickly turning to glance to my right. Everything seemed to sink in at once. I was in a different place with spaceships. Right. And then I would pinch myself, wake up and find that this was only a dream. This had to be a dream. Whatever Giles said would happen was going terribly wrong. This was so wrong. Something was definitely off about this place.

I then glanced to my right and received my second shock. Sitting on a fat little pouf about eight feet away was a creature smaller than I was. A quick search of my Slayer sense told me that this little creature was no demon, but I could sense a great deal of power in him. Him? It had to be a him. He just looked like a little masculine… okay, so I couldn't tell. He wasn't exactly wearing a dress or anything other than that resembling a toga. He was… green. He was little and green and wrinkled. He had batty ears that wouldn't look out of place on some primate except for the tufts of white hair protruding from them. His eyes were large and completely open. In turn, they took my breath away.

"What are you?" I tried, pushing the feeling that this was horribly wrong out of my mind.

"What I am, you need know not," the creature replied in a vague, croaky tone that was something like a combination of Kermit the Frog and something else I couldn't quite identify. "Hurt you, I will not."

"That's not very comforting," I replied, turning to face him. Perhaps he was easier to believe than those stupid ships flying outside.

"Questions, have you?"

Did I ever… I'm naturally suspicious by nature. It's just the way I am. I started with a deluge mainly because this was the strangest vision quest I had ever dreamed of. "Where is this place? Why are there ships flying outside? Where are we? Who are you? And why am I not in a desert?"

The creature just blinked at her patiently as I continued my verbal barrage.

"I'm really confused," I concluded, feeling somewhat ashamed as he looked at me. I hadn't withdrawn my gaze yet, no matter how much I wanted to. Damn, did I ever want to. "The last time I checked, I was in a desert following a mountain lion. Now I'm a thousand years in the future watching spaceships fly and looking at… are you a demon?"

"A demon?" the figure asked, lifting a gnarled hand to touch his brow. "Know of this demon, I do not. Believe you are what it is said you are, I do."

"Want to kick your ass, I do," I retorted. This cryptic bull was grating on my nerves. As soon as I got out of this, I was going to throttle my so-called Watcher.

"Hasten, you do, to violence and suspicion. Greed is not your nature. Knowledge is not your nature. Speak of why you have come, you will."

I sighed and glanced down at the floor. Even that looked about a thousand years ahead of the desert sand. "If Giles transferred his guardianship over to a three-foot-tall green fellow with wicked powers, then I'll eat my hat."

"A hat you do not wear," the figure continued again, this time pulling his gnarled hand to gesture at her.

Well, at least he could deadpan the obvious, I thought with a derisive snort. "I don't understand," I tried again. "Who are you?"

"Yoda," the figure replied, bowing his head. "Yoda, they call me."

No way… this wasn't… "No way!" I breathed, pressing a hand to my mouth. "You're… you're…"

He just blinked at me again as though I were something fascinating a scientist might want to study. Well, I am, but this is beside the point. I know who Yoda is. Giles's wisdom has been compared to Yoda's on several occasions. Could it possibly be true that this Yoda was the same Yoda that legend spoke of?

"Okay… you're my guide?" I had to do this the right way or I was totally going to do something regretful. There was a lot of power built into that small package.

"Your guide, I may be," Yoda replied in that cryptic tongue. "Called I was. Seek answers, you must."

"I do have questions," I admitted quietly. "But I'm… are you the right person to talk to?"

"You know me not," Yoda replied, his tone dropping slightly. "Great power you have. Great risks you take in coming here."

"I know, but I…" How could I explain to someone three-feet-tall and green that I felt like I was losing the very person I was. He seemed to sense my hesitance because his eyes met mine again and slowly he gave an encouraging nod. "I feel like I'm losing what I am," I continued. "It's about what I am."

"I know of you," Yoda advised. My eyebrows lifted as he continued on. "What you are and what you will be. Not different are we. Believe in the same credo, we do."

"What's that?" I asked, settling down on the pouf that was suddenly behind me. "How can we be alike?"

"Forge strength from emotions, we do. Be light in darkness we are. Use our powers for good, we do. Fight in wars, engage in battles all in the name of protecting our worlds. Lead with emotions, we must. To fear what we become is a path that leads to darkness. A path we cannot follow."

"So," I said, my mind spinning, "you're telling me that you fight for the greater good of humanity?" Though I emphasized the last word slightly, I caught the slight wince in his face. He was as far from human as I was from normal. He nodded. "Okay, so I think I'm starting to know. But… how do you do it? How can you do what you do and not feel like you're losing your ability to do small things?"

"Feel you are losing your ability to love?" Yoda asked, sounding surprised.

"Am I?"

Yoda shook his head slightly, withdrawing his gaze to the brilliant windows. "Lead with your heart, you always have. The call of destiny you follow. Brighter than fire your heart remains. A great beauty it still holds. A great tragedy is has to become."

Now I was getting confused again. "So I'm not losing it?"

"Lose your love would be to lose what you are. Reject it, you cannot. Risks you have taken. Love will you know." He gave her another one of his patented looks. "Feel your power, I do. Feel your love, your compassion, your passion… it will last forever. Your question, I have answered." Seeing the surprised look on my face, he must have realized that he was being a little too cryptic again. "A gift, you have. Chosen you were. Believe you must the power of your love. Believe you must the power of your destiny."

But my mind was stuck on the gift part. "There's a gift? What gift… is it a gift I have or a gift I need to give to someone?"

He bowed his head again, looking as though this were some great turmoil to admit. "Death is your gift."

"I… what?"

"Death is your gift."

"Death is nobody's gift," I replied coolly, my voice cracking slightly. "How can you say that? If you know what I am, then you know who I am. You know I've lost people, people I love. My mother just died. If killing a few demons and vamps now and then makes the world a safer place, then I'll for it, but—"

"Enough, is it?" Yoda asked, his voice rising above my own. "No joy in such death, you find. No future is there. No life beyond death in that. Risks you will take. Sacrifice, avengement… do what is necessary to ensure others live, you will. This is why death is your gift."

"How can you say that?" I asked. My voice is getting softer as the emotions come out of me. Everything I had been holding onto, everything worth clinging to… everything I am… it just felt as though it were spilling out into this brightly lit room in front of this little creature called Yoda.

"Worth more than you know, you are," Yoda continued. He was pointing at me again. "Selfless love, you know. Those you lose, do not grieve. Miss them, do not. Mourn them, do not. A great joy is it to fulfill their life in the Force."

"The Force?" I asked quizzically. Of course, I thought dryly. There had to be some sort of religion involved with all this preacher's talk.

"What binds us all to the world the Force is," Yoda replied. "Connects us to each living thing, the Force does. Believe that your power holds the Force, I do."

"What do you mean?" I whispered. "Are you saying that…"

"More to you, I believe there is. More to come, there will be." He gazed up at me again. "Go, you must. Believe in your heart, you will. Trust in your love, you can."

As I felt the drowsiness come over me, I feel his gaze start to blur. It's as though he's putting me in a hypnosis that I can't exactly get away from.

"Chosen you may be," he said in that same croaky voice. I knew at once who he reminded me of… some television celebrity that wasn't green and a frog, though he sort of resembled Kermit… "Live in the shadow of darkness, you do. Given freely to what you will be, you are not… yet… ready…"

"Ready?" I murmured… I feel drunk now. His words aren't making any sense, sort of like a nursery rhyme sung in another language. Maybe Sumerian. Giles was really going to suffer if I ever saw him again. Yet before I can open my mouth to speak, darkness washes over me and I hear Yoda's voice for the last time.

"This world is called Coruscant. Remember it, you will."

I awoke with a snap, glancing around me. It was deep in the middle of the night. I had been sleeping. Had I dreamt everything? Where was I? What was that? And why was I suddenly having a sudden need to throttle my Watcher?

Standing up, I glanced at the stars. Suddenly, I realized how small I felt. I had just talked to Yoda. The Yoda. The one Giles was compared to by Xander. But I realized that this vision quest was one I had to keep to myself, except for the few stray words running through my mind – "risks, you take" and "believe in your heart, you will", "death is your gift" and, lastly, "remember it". Remember what? A world with spaceships, skyscrapers and three-foot-tall aliens named Yoda? What the hell had I just put myself through? A sudden ache began in my neck and my sudden need to throttle my Watcher came back. And yet… this creature had known what I was. He understood what it was like to want more from yourself. He knew I loved selflessly. He knew I loved wholly.

And yet his words intrigued me. It was almost like a standing invitation to something, wasn't it? Hadn't he said there were wars? Hadn't he said that fighting demons and vampires wasn't enough for me anymore? Facing Glory was bad enough. Protection Dawn was the hardest thing I had ever done. But in that vision quest there had been something else. There was a word of hope, a whisper of promise. There was something more. I could be something more. This was beyond fighting gods from hell and protecting a key of mystical energy. This was about saving my soul, a soul I thought I had lost.

I suddenly lost the need to hurt my Watcher. Perhaps he had been right.

He was sitting on the hood of the car, sipping from a thermos when he saw me approach. He straightened up as I stopped in front of him, my arms crossed.

For a moment, we just stared at one another.

"You know," I said at last, walking past him to the car, smothering a yawn with my hand, "he does sound like you."

x-o-x

The End

If you could be so kind as to leave your comments and critiques… thanks!