Disclaimer: Joss Whedon created the Buffy and Angel characters and settings. I'm just borrowing them.
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It wasn't until we returned to the Hyperion that I managed to get Giles alone for long enough to discuss my newfound abilities. He was a bit skeptical at first -- not that I blame him -- but after I gently lifted him up and floated him around the room while leaning casually against he wall, he started to believe me.
He came to the obvious conclusion as to how it had happened and asked the next most obvious question, "Do you sense any darkness?"
"Everyone has some darkness, Giles. You know that."
"You have more control over that than almost anyone on the planet. There are members of the Devon Coven who have been devoted to good for thirty years who have more of a dark side than you do. But with Willow's power --"
"I can't say," I said. "I don't, don't feel darker than usual. Do you know a good way to find out?"
Giles said, "Not that I can use myself. But Althenea -- the head of the Devon Coven -- should be able to recommend someone local."
"I can read everyone's aura except my own," I said. "And they're so much clearer than they used to be. It's like, like before? I could tell roughly where someone was on the balance between good and evil, and -- obviously, like with Buffy and Faith --- tell whether they're who they say they are. Now? I can tell exactly where people are on the scale. I mean, I can see slight gradations. For instance, your aura shows you as being devoted to good -- but also the evil you've done in the past. I can also see emotions in the aura -- you're concerned right now, but not panicked."
Giles frowned, but it was a frown of curiosity rather than displeasure. "May I try an experiment?" I nodded. "I'm going to say three things. Tell me if I'm lying on any of them." He took a breath and then said, "My full name is Rupert St. Martin Giles. I watch professional wrestling both for professional reasons and because I find it amusing. The first woman I was ever attracted to was named Vivian Mahmoud, and she was one of my schoolmates growing up."
"The third one is the lie -- at least the second half is," I said. "Vivian Mahmoud was not one of your schoolmates."
He nodded and smiled. "Indeed not. She was the mother of one of my schoolmates. Beautiful woman. About twenty years too old for me, alas."
Then I laughed. "You watch professional wrestling?"
"Tell no one," he said.
"Your secret's safe with me."
"This is uncanny," Giles said. "Did you have to concentrate to see whether or not I was lying?"
I shook my head, "Not, not really. Just a little bit. I don't see auras unless I want to, but it's not hard to want to."
"You realize what a tremendous ability that is?" Giles said. "You are a Truthseeker. It's one of the rarest magical talents there is. Willow's power combined with your natural ability to read auras -- this is astonishing."
"Other than auras and telekinesis," I said, "I haven't experimented with anything else. And I won't, unless it becomes absolutely necessary -- my own defense or, or the defense of another -- until whoever Althenea recommends can look into my magick. But I hope it happens before we leave LA--"
"We're not going to be able go anywhere until the Watchers Council is complete. We need to find half a dozen field offices around the world and make sure there are people there ready to be Watchers and train Slayers. That's at least a month away. The Council is even now contacting the girls who were found by the Devon Coven and are offering them -- if they're underage -- "scholarships" to a private school, or, if they're adults and able to make their own decisions, they're not bothering with the cover story. Half of the worldwide offices will be "private schools," including the one in Maryland. The other half will be for the older Slayers -- and the experienced ones. We're trying to do two per continent."
"So, there'll be fourteen," I said, wanting to see if Giles got the joke.
"No, I said 12 -- why -- Oh. Despite there technically being seven continents, I believe that Antarctica is fine on its own."
"Think of all the poor innocent penguins you've just condemned," I said. "No one to help them when the Fyarl demons attack." My eyes widened. "Unless the penguins have their own Slayer? In every generation there is a Chosen Chick. She alone will waddle against the sharks, the leopard seals, and the Orcas of darkness. She is -- the Whaler."
Giles said, "I give that speech entirely too often," then chuckled, saying, "Somehow, I doubt it."
Practically everyone not either in the hospital, like Rona, or waiting for someone to get out of the hospital, like Faith, was waiting for me in the Hyperion lobby when I left Giles' temporary quarters. I got hugged by about a dozen new Slayers, all thanking me and making sure I was okay, then everyone else, starting with Dawn and Buffy and ending with Kennedy.
After the welcome back broke up, I found myself sitting with Buffy, Dawn, Anya, Xander, and Kennedy. "So what'd you go hole up with Giles about?" Xander said.
I didn't see any reason not to tell them, "My hair's not the only thing that changed. Apparently, to, to make sure I could complete the spell, Willow gave me not only her hair color -- but a lot of her power. I needed to tell Giles about it first in case he was worried about something. It turns out he is."
"What?" Dawn asked.
"Because, before she was killed, Willow had been turning her power to the darker side."
Buffy caught on immediately. "You're not dark."
Kennedy said. "You're probably the lightest person I've ever met."
I smiled, "Thanks," I said. "But I understand his concern. So I'm not going to use my powers for a bit -- most of them, anyway, not until he's sure."
"That stinks," Dawn said.
"No -- because what I can do -- here. Each of you tell me something about yourself. Make it up or tell the truth -- just be sure it's something I wouldn't know."
They all seemed puzzled until Anya said, "Oh, for crying out loud. In the universe where Xander and Willow were vampires, I tried to strangle Giles."
Buffy said, "The only thing I managed to save from Sunnydale is this --"
As she pulled a stake out of her pocket, Xander grinned and said, "Mr. Pointy!"
Buffy returned the grin and continued, --"the Scythe, and the clothes on my back."
Xander said, "My middle name is Marshall."
Dawn said, "Anya didn't find everything I shoplifted from the Magic Box, but I was too afraid to return the necklaces I found later, so I threw them away." Anya glared at her.
Kennedy said, "Even though I'm from New England I'm actually a Yankees fan."
I said, "Anya, I'm sure Giles wouldn't be angry with you this much later. Buffy, I'm so sorry. I wish you'd also been able to save Mr. Gordo and that little umbrella. Xander, I don't know what your middle name is, but it's not Marshall. Dawn, you know Anya found everything. And Kennedy, you are indeed a Yankees fan."
"You can tell when people are lying," Anya said.
"And emotions, and how good they are -- a lot better than I used to. Giles called what I am now a 'Truthseeker' and said it, it was very rare."
"I'm impressed," Kennedy said; and she wasn't lying, I could tell from her aura. I'd just begun to notice that her emotion, when she looked at me, had strong elements of both romantic and friendly love, when I forced myself to stop reading auras.
It would be tempting to use the ability all the time. Tempting, but wrong. I wasn't entitled to everyone's secrets.
Unfortunately, as Isaac Asimov once said, "You can't put the mushroom cloud back in that nice shiny uranium sphere." Kennedy was very close to being in love with me, if she wasn't already.
Either Kennedy didn't realize how much she was genuinely attracted to me, or she did and for some reason she was downplaying it – probably because she didn't want to frighten me off by coming on too strong.
Which was sweet, in a way. Kennedy was a high-pressure type of person. Until this moment, I didn't even realize she had speeds beyond "stop" and "go all out." If she was willing to try to ease off in order to "pursue me," that spoke to how serious she was about it.
I wasn't that attracted to her in return. But if she was willing to try to moderate her aggressiveness for me, then I was certainly going to give her her chance to win me over.
Willow, I prayed inwardly. Give me a sign. If I open myself to this, you know it doesn't mean I love you any less. But if you disapprove, I won't. Show me, sweetie. Either way.
Kennedy frowned for a second before I said, "Thanks, Kennedy. It, it could be very useful. I'm just glad I can turn it on and off. I wouldn't want to go around all the time knowing what everyone was feeling." The frown left her face. Apparently her fears had been quelled.
Buffy laughed and said, "I can sympathize." I must have looked confused, because she said, "Willow never told you about the time I could read minds?" I said that she hadn't, so she told me the story. It did sound nightmarish, but it obviously had a happy ending.
"I, I couldn't handle that," I said. "If you couldn't, I certainly couldn't."
"Don't say that," Kennedy said. "Remember, you're tough. Tough chicks can handle anything thrown at them. Buffy handled it. You could too."
Right then someone called Xander and Anya to go look at something, and the group broke up. Buffy and Kennedy went off to talk to some of the former Potentials – some of the ones I wasn't that familiar with.
Dawn stayed behind. "She's into you, you know." Proving that you didn't need to be able to read auras to notice these things. Buffy, Xander and Anya apparently hadn't been able to tell, though Xander and Anya were spending more time looking into each other's eyes than anything else, so they might not have noticed if Kennedy had stripped naked and screamed "take me!" in the middle of the Hyperion lobby.
"If you mean Kennedy, I know," I said. "If you mean anyone else –"
"No, I meant Kennedy," Dawn said. "You planning to let her down easy?"
"Actually," I said, "I'm not necessarily going to let her down at all."
I watched Dawn intently to gauge her reaction. She'd always been one of the biggest fans of Willow's and my relationship, and had taken her death as hard as anyone. I didn't check her aura.
An array of emotions played out on her face – anger, disappointment, happiness – before she finally said, quietly, "Are you sure?"
"No," I said. "I'm fairly sure Willow wouldn't disapprove--" I'm still waiting for that sign, baby – "I know I'll be with her again someday. But the rest of you –"
"I can't say it'd be the easiest thing in the world for me to see you with someone who isn't Willow," Dawn said. "But I know you loved her more than anything and I think you're right – she would approve. If it's the right person." She looked over at Kennedy, who was doing some mock-sparring with another Slayer. "Is she the right person?"
"I asked Willow to give me a sign one way or the other," I admitted. "So far? Nothing."
"Maybe that's your sign right there," Dawn said. "It's not Willow's call. It's not mine either. It's yours." Then she said, fiercely, "But if she hurts you, I'll kill her."
And that was all the sign I needed.
