"Who?"
Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!
Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...
General audience level...
Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present…With help from an Immortal source.
Part IV…
"So..." Dawn eyed Giles as she, he, Willow, Xander, Andrew, and two Slayers, assigned by Andrew as Councilor bodyguards over Giles' protests. Buffy seeming a bit mercurial just now, despite her promise of forbearance...Sat in the waiting room. The hospital staff, barely restored to a semblance of order, still eyeing them suspiciously from time to time...
Buffy currently sleeping with her 'niece-in-law' of sorts, Ms. Olive Knowles in careful attendance...
"You never told Buffy...Or us..."
"No...And I've told you why..." Giles said, quietly.
"It wasn't the Council's decision to make..." Dawn noted.
"There was no way to be sure there was any connection of her and William until..."
"...Until she proved it...Giles..." Xander sighed. "You should've told us...At least after Spike got the soul back..."
"And perhaps lose Buffy to Cicely? In the midst of her battle with the First...As we seem to be now..." Giles noted.
"Is that all you cared about? Beating the First?" Dawn glared. "If you'd told Buffy...God...She would've freaked, maybe...But...It wouldn't have come on her like this."
"Have we lost her?" Willow asked. "Is Cicely here for good?"
"It's not right, even if I feel bad for her..." Dawn shook her head. "She can't have Buffy..."
"What if she is Buffy...?" Xander asked.
They looked at him...
"Buffy might be Cicely...Just no memory till now..."
"But she doesn't remember Buffy...At all..." Dawn pointed out. "Not even me..."
"Well, Dawn..." Willow began.
Xander waving a bit...Wil...
"I'm only a fake memory, you mean?" Dawn frowned. "And now I'm gone..."
"Sorry..."
"Well, I haven't dissolved yet...And you all remember me...?"
"Right?..." she eyed them.
Sure, yeah...Our lil' Dawny...Willow and Xander nodded hastily...
"So she oughta...Buffy's been pushed out. For now...And we gotta get her back..."
"We could try an exorcism..." Willow suggested. "Though I kinda feel bad, doing it to Cicely..."
"We mustn't proceed without more information. She's agreed to let us study her...I think we should not try anything at this moment without that study…" Giles... "After all, it is quite possible the cause is a physical one..."
"Konked on the head, she's Cicely..." Xander nodded. "I've seen that one many times on TV..."
"So...We konk once more and she's Buffy..." Dawn insisted.
"We 'konk' as you put it without knowing what we're doing and we put her in a coma for good. Or more likely, turn her completely against us..." Giles noted.
"For now, she's willing to cooperate to some extent. Lets see what we can learn..." he said.
All right?...he eyed their faces. Vague, hesitant nods...
"Giles...Don't take this wrong." Willow looked at him. "But...Can we trust you and the Council...?"
He looked at her and the others, whose faces, no longer vague, eyed him carefully. Saying nothing...
…
"I know this must be hard for you..." Buffy looked at Dawn now beside her in the cargo van Giles had rented...Just barely large enough in the empty rear to handle the entire group...Now uncomfortably seated on cushions...
"The bus was easier on the derriere...But I'll live."
"I mean...Me...And your sister being...Gone..."
"Yeah...But she's a fighter...She'll be back."
"I didn't force her out, Miss Summers. You should know that..."
"Yeah...Well...You may as well know. I'm not really Buffy's sister..."
"Oh...?"
"I'm an energy key...A goddess'...Some monks locked me up in human form and used Buffy in some way as the template. And stuffed fake memories of me in her and all of us...So I'm not really Buffy's sister..."
"I'm...Sorry...A goddess, you say?"
"Dead...Buffy took her out."
"Nice...I beat a minor deity once. A male...Fellow somewhat like Thor, the Norse god..."
"The one with the hammer?"
"Yes...You people still read mythology...?"
"I guess...Everybody knows Thor...He used to have his own comic strip..."
"Comic...Strip?..." Buffy asked.
"I'll show you when we hit a town..."
"Are you cold? Perhaps you should zip your zipper thing up..." Buffy eyed the coat she'd managed to get the girl to put on...
"Buffy, it's not cold. And I'm dressed fine for nowadays...Better than a lot of girls I know..."
"Trollops?" she asked.
"Well...A couple are headed that way..." Dawn grinned faintly. "Come on, it must be nice not to wear a corset, right?"
"So long as I eat a quarter of a single meal a day and wretch that up..." Buffy frowned. "What kind of fiend invented this barbaric practice of trying to maintain the body weight of a dying infant..."
"Gay fashion designers...Well, you've never had to worry. What with the Slayer energy and all..."
"Not very happy fashion designers if I catch up to them. I hope you eat...Ummn...Dawn..."
"Thanks...For using the name...Yeah, I chow pretty well...Still got the teenage metabolism..."
"Oh...Nice...But you said you were not my...Buffy's...Sister...In fact?"
"Made from her to be her sister. Artificial, I guess..."
"Forgive me...You sound more like a daughter..."
"Buffy and I try to avoid thinking like that. And I remember my mom...Her mom..."
"I see...Well, I shall try to think of you as my new sister...Is that all right? I never had a sister...Always did want one. I…" she paused, wiping at her eyes…
"Uh…Sure...Till Buffy comes back..."
"Certainly..."
"I'm really sorry about Spike...William..."
"Not as much as I..." Buffy sighed. "But if his soul was free at the end...Perhaps that's as much as I could have done for him...No..." she suddenly shook her head.
"We deserved to have a life...Together..."
And if there is a God in Heaven...Whatever the price...
"It's rough...Xander lost Anya then too...Though things hadn't worked out so well for them..."
"Sandler had a wife...?"
"Ex-fiancee...The marriage never quite came off..." she yawned.
"You've been up all night...You should rest..." Buffy told her.
"Yeah, a little...You won't do anything stupid like trying to hop out of the van? Or kill everybody while I'm out?"
"No...I promise..."Buffy put up a hand.
"Talk to Willow...She misses you. And it hurts that you've been keepin' with Ms. Knowles all the time..." Dawn noted quietly.
"I'll try...Go to sleep..."
"Is she singing a lullaby?" Xander eyed Willow as they watched Buffy stroke Dawn's hair, singing softly to her...
"Anything's better than the threats and clothing commentary...Even Buffy's singing..." Willow noted.
"Yeah...But she actually sounds good..."
"Yeah...Oh...Our Buffy is gone, Xander...Gone..." he patted her, indicating for Kennedy to take her...
"Sandler?..." Buffy had left Dawn and come over...
"Yeah..." Xander, resigned.
"I'm sorry to hear from Dawn that you lost someone...The other day..."
"Thanks..." he nodded.
"She must have been very special..."
"Yeah..."
"I'm truly sorry I don't remember her..."
"Not your fault...No prob..."
"You look so much like my Henry..." she sat by him. "I hope that doesn't bother you...He was like a brother to me all my life...Even after the Council turned on me, I still had him..."
"I'm glad..."
Brother...Condemned throughout time I guess...he sighed.
Sorry, An...I didn't mean for it to come out that way...
"I didn't mean to frighten the others earlier. Though... "
"I understand...Lose your guy to Drusilla. Wake up a century later in the middle of a bunch of Slayers and co...Freak city..."
"Yes...'Freak city'...Hmmn..." eyes narrowed.
"You know of Drusilla...?" she asked, trying to keep it light...
"We've met...She's the only vamp Buffy never quite beat in a straight fight..."
Damn...
Though on the other hand...
"And you know..."
"LA...Los Angeles...Last we heard, anyway. Wait...Buffy, you're not going after her? Not now, anyway..."
"I'm going to see my husband's grave...Then we'll see..."
"You're in no shape to meet Dru. She'd kill you..."
"No...She won't. But you're right...I will wait until the time is right...Put some meat and muscle back on this skeleton." Wan smile.
"She's not to blame, you know...Her soul..."
"I only blame the demon. I've no interest in the soul...But it's kind of you to be concerned...Henry was always trying to keep me from getting in over my depth, poor fellow. I loved him dearly for it..."
"Well...Maybe there's always one of us to look out for you..." he smiled.
"Good...Pardon me, may I ask..."
"The First's minion Caleb...A little nasty joke on his part...But I'm ok with it."
"Oh...Did Buffy...?"
"Oh, yeah..."
"Good for her...I'd have been glad to take of it myself, though, I want you to know..."
"Thanks...Buffy..."
"Would you mind very much...Calling me Cicely? From you it sounds right..."
He hesitated. "I don't think Dawn would want me to..."
"Oh, yes…I quite understand..." she nodded. "I meant no disrespect to your friend..."
"Hey guys..." Willow had come over. "Ok if I...?"
"Certainly..." Buffy nodded. "Willow..." she spoke carefully...
"Yeah...Thanks..."
"Might I ask...Miss Rosenberg...?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you of the Hebrew faith...?"
…..
"What are all those people doing...?" Buffy eyed the crowd by a photo stand. "Get your photo taken at the Great Sunnydale Crater" sign prominent on the stand...
"They're getting their photos...Photographs taken at the Crater." Willow braced for another anti-American comment. Which Buffy seemed to have no end of these days... "Macabre, I know..."
Buffy shrugged. "People used to do that all the time in my day...Anything tragic or on a colossal scale draws them in...And if both combine..."
Andrew came to them, photo in hand...
"Very nice, Mr. Wells..." Buffy nodded at the image. "Perhaps I should have one done as well. To remember this place by..." she turned to look at the Crater from where they stood behind a newly constructed guard rail...
"Where was...?"
"Sunnydale was that way..." Willow pointed. "And the Hellmouth just up there...It was in our old high school...And the idiots on the Town Council rebuilt it right over the Mouth..."
"Destiny..." Buffy said quietly. "As with us..."
Dawn came over, bearing Diet Coke. Eyeing Willow...
No signs of suicide being painless as yet...Willow's look saying...
"I'm sorry I don't have anything of his..." Dawn sighed.
"Oh, wait..." she reached in her pockets...Yeah...
"He gave me this..." she handed it to Buffy. Who held the ticket gently...
"From a game...Soccer...In England. His favorite team, Manchester, beat the other guys by two. He always said...It was worth being Undead to..." Dawn teared up a little.
"Thank you..." Buffy embraced her. "I know you cared for him..."
"I'm sorry..." Dawn sobbed. "I should have told him I forgave him before. I shoulda been nicer after he got the soul...I'm sorry...William."
Xander came to them. Willow crying softly now...
"I'm glad you made us come...Cicely..." he eyed Buffy. "We need to come back..."
He looked out over the Crater... "An...I'm so sorry I wasn't there...Forgive me...You know I loved you..." Willow patting him.
"Will..." he called. "I'm sorry we weren't better friends at the end. But maybe we were...I don't know...Anyway, you did good...Thanks, pal."
"Yeah..." Willow called. "We miss you, Will...Thanks..."
They paused...Buffy shook her head...
"I can't say goodbye. But thank you for showing me you all did care...And for letting me come...And know..." she smiled.
"...that his spirit's not gone out of this world..." she eyed them.
From the van where he stood, waiting with several Slayers and Ms. Knowles, Andrew making a rather needless report, Giles watched...Expressionless...