A Simple Choice
Author's Note: I've recently become a big fan of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. I remember watching the series when the first few episodes aired and then lost track of it up until recently. I've been getting back into watching the new ones and filling in the gaps by reading episode guides and buying the DVD sets as they are released. As such, a few of my details may be off. This is a simple story as I just wanted to try my hand at getting Buffy's character and I think it will fit in well with the trials she goes through in season two. If you like this story, please drop a good review. If enough people enjoy it, I might try my hand at some other Buffy fiction sometimes when my Babylon 5 story starts giving me writer's block. Where this story is set chronologically isn't too important but I'd say somewhere in season two between 'Passion' and 'Becoming'.
All of that in mind, I hope you enjoy. Now, on with the show.
A Simple Choice
She walked down through the hall aimlessly, scanning the blank faces in front of her. Her duty to protect them aside, none of these people mattered, nothing mattered anymore aside from the obligation with which she was now burdened. Even in the sunlight, it was something she could not escape thinking about for Angel was the person that dominated her thoughts and all she could visualize was killing him, knowing it would be the most difficult challenge she would ever face. It seemed like not such a long time ago, she was in his arms, having never felt more content, safe or loved. Then, it all changed.
Her blood boiled at the thought of everything that had happened in the short months since then. She hated everything Angel did, everything he had become but she could not escape the fact that she still loved everything he used to be and could still be. Times like these, she felt as though she would trade anything for a life that wasn't so complicated, where she wasn't burdened with such responsibilities, where she could be normal. Though she has accepted her path and place in life, part of her could not help but wish for something simpler, if only for a moment or for a lifetime.
The sun shined brightly on the high school campus as she stepped onto the grass, eager to distance herself from the foreboding halls of the school. It was a midday, the better part of the student body taking to sitting outside in the clean spring air rather than spending yet another day packing themselves into the cafeteria. On this day, Buffy Summers had no interest in eating. In fact, she had no interest in anything aside from waiting for night to fall and the hunt to begin. All she wanted was to kill him, bring this chapter of her life to a close and, in doing so, try to forget that she ever loved that thing.
Deciding to make for the library and proceeding across the open area with haste, something she noticed from the corner of her eye took her away from everything, her destination and all the thoughts she had prior. A boy sat a table, a dark brown hardcover book in one hand a diet soda can in the other. She turned slowly and watched as he nursed the drink and flipped through the pages, noticing she had never seen this man before. Were she to guess, he was about six feet tall, a good build, not muscular but not someone who had let them self go. While she would not consider him to be a knock-out gorgeous man, he was attractive, with dark brown hair, green eyes, well dressed in a gray polo shirt, light blue jeans, brown belt and shoes. Aside from the physical aspect, there was something else about him, something she could not quite put her finger on.
Suddenly uninterested in anything else, slaying included; Buffy leaned against a nearby try, twirling her blond hair about one finger and watched him. She could feel something was different about him, far from what she felt when dealing with vampires or other such foul creatures. This was a feeling of total peace, something she felt almost surrounding her as she gazed intently at him. He proceeded about his business, reading and finishing off the rest of his drink, not noticing her.
She now desperately wanted, more than anything, more than her desire to kill Angel, to walk over, putting a smile on her face, sit down at that table and simply say hello. How hard could that be she wondered. Though she longed to do so and nothing else, something held her back. She needed this more than anything, wanted it more than anything but, something inside her whispered that everything would change if she did. Trying to dismiss the feeling, she took a single step forward, only to hesitate and retreat back to her tree, again leaning upon it.
"Go to him," a familiar voice broke the serene silence that had settled around her. She looked over her shoulder, seeing the man who, in the past two years had been more than her teacher, more than her trainer, more than her friend, more than her father. Though he spoke the words she needed to her, his voice was wrought with concern. Her eyes widened, seeking an explanation as he approached her. "Go to him Buffy," his voice changed suddenly, calm but concerned. It was a different type of concern however, the type of concern she heard in the movies when a father prepared to give away his daughter. "Go to him," Giles pleaded with her, wanting her to do so. "And the concerns of the world will no longer be upon your shoulders. Go to him and you will lead a normal life. The two of you will know love beyond comparison and endless happiness until the rest of your lives but, there is a price, you will no longer be the slayer."
Buffy's head turned back to him. Giles made it all sound so simple when the decision was too difficult for her to even understand. How could she make that choice? To abandon everything she has ever known or to turn her back on what could be her only chance to live a truly happy life. "You've come to talk me out of it?" Buffy choked on the words as she felt the emotions burn inside of her, emotions she had fought to keep in check.
"On the contrary," Giles answered. "It is your choice, I simply came to tell you of the ramifications. You know what your life will be like if you do not go to him and you know what it will be like if you do. It is now for you to decide, I cannot interfere." Buffy not taking her eyes from the man, Giles turned and left, leaving her alone to make the choice.
For what seemed like hours, she stood and stared at him, fighting with the choice she had to make. Only minutes before, she longed for a choice like this, thinking she would take this option in an instant but now, that it was here in front of her, she could not bring herself to it. How could a choice between happiness and killing be this difficult? Because, as much as she now wanted to, she could not deny what she was.
She buried her head into the tree, no longer able to hold back as she slammed her fist against the hard bark. Her hand throbbed and her heart beat. The pain from the drop of blood running down her fist could not content with the pain from the tear running down her cheek. Bringing her tear stained face to again look at him and at would could be her last chance for true happiness, she made her choice.
***
A rustle of grass, the sound of someone running away caught his ear, pulling his eyes away from the old volume of poetry. Though he barely saw her, he wondered why the beautiful woman was running away so quickly.
"Probably has to get ready for a date," he whispered a concession as he returned to the book, thinking not again about the mysterious girl.
The End