Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Joss owns all rights to the Buffy & Angel characters; I don't.
Spoilers: None, unless you haven't seen Season 5, particularly 'The Body'.
Summary: Buffy's journey into the 'afterlife' - Buffy is reunited with her mother and is able to release some of her anguish over her mother's death.
Feedback: Please R/R and send it to the email addy above; it would be deeply appreciated.
Status: Completed.
A hush murmured over the room. Buffy shut her eyes as she tiptoed lightly around to face the entrance. The airy feminine voice that had previously spoken had fallen silent. With reluctance, Buffy raised her eyelids to view her guest. Her jaw dropped at the apparition. The vocal tone had equaled her mother's own sound, but little else remained as she had remembered. Buffy scrutinized the other soul, noting each discrepancy.
The young radiant woman, clad in a sleeveless purple robe, had blonde flowing hair in gorgeous thick curls down to the small of her back. White and pink flowers adorned a gold sash wrapped around her waist. The woman's skin was unblemished and remarkably tanned. Like Buffy, she exuded a white glow. Buffy did surmise one similarity, in the young woman's facial features. The wrinkles and tired eyes may have been smoothed over and brightened by heavenly intervention, but the woman whose face she viewed was undeniably her mother.
"Mummy," Buffy reclaimed softly, but with increased conviction. The woman nodded, smiling warmly. Overjoyed, Buffy rushed into the woman's outstretched arms that enclosed her spirit with tenderness and unconditional love.
"Oh, honey," she exhaled in a relieved whisper, "I've been waiting for this opportunity."
"Why didn't come right away?" her daughter inquired, pulling back a tad from her aura. "I-I thought I heard your voice, when I initially entered the light - I heard something. A faint cry, but it was my name...it sounded like you. I thought you'd be here. But there was only this demon - a guide - Bob. Where were you? Why aren't you here with me? Mom?"
"Shhhh," the woman soothed, drawing Buffy back into her. "There's a time and place for everything. First, there's something I have to show you, something just for you."
Her mom relaxed her embrace and permitted Buffy to initiate the parting. Taking Buffy's hand into her own, Joyce led her daughter out of the cabin. A dirt path cropped up for them to travel. It ran along the left side of the cabin and to the back. As they entered the backyard, Buffy shuddered from the chill as her paradise rippled away.
A light blue sky with lavender wispy clouds replaced her indigo one. No mountains or luscious green valley or babbling brook. Instead Buffy found herself amid a labyrinth of hedges that towered over her. Covering the hedges, a plethora of lilacs bloomed in splotches of luminous white and sparkling purple. Along the bottom, flashy red Dragon snaps and sunny yellow Marigolds alternately lined the zigzagging dirt walkway they traversed to the center.
"Here we are," Joyce announced when they reached their destination. Buffy released her mother's hand and stepped out from her shadow. The sight was breathtaking; Buffy stared at the scene, speechless. "I always loved a good work of art."
A magnificent marble fountain, with two meticulously sculpted statues, sat in the heart of the heavily flowered garden. Buffy identified the stately figures to be Greek goddesses - Demeter and Persephone. Pansies, geraniums, chrysanthemums, lilies, gladiola, and hundreds of other species of flowers showered down in colorful gushes, encircling the labyrinth's inner wall. Inlaid square stones accent a walkway around the fountain. Four black granite benches rest next to the fountain's base at key directional points. Sticking up from the rain of flowers, pink cherry blossoms sprinkled on branches of trees. On the far side of the garden, passed the grand water display, Buffy swore she spied a willow tree.
"Come - sit down," Joyce prodded, guiding Buffy across the stones and to the first granite bench. Buffy perched on the left side, angling inward so that she could still observe her mom while they conversed. Joyce took the opposite side and mimicked Buffy's posture. Buffy opened her mouth to speak, but Joyce beat her to it. "I know you have lots of questions, but I'm afraid time is short."
"What?" Buffy grumbled. How could time be short - slow, yes - but short seemed inconceivable? "You only died six months ago."
Joyce patted Buffy's knees tenderly. "I understand you haven't learned much yet and it's not my place to explain. I'm sorry, hon. Bob's an excellent guide."
"You had him, too?"
Joyce chuckled, "of course not, dear. I wasn't a warrior like you, so my passing was mundane. I entered with a multitude of souls through a central location. We did have a guide of sorts - more like an angel. You know like a rotund little cherub."
"Oh, so you're not alone?" Buffy spoke, with a hint of resentment. Her warrior status excluded her from companionship - save from Bob, who'd leave her once his mission was done. However, her mother - an ordinary soul - got to spend eternity with other beings. It was unfair.
"Not initially, but I had by own purchase of heaven - my own world - after we learned the Process."
"Process?"
"Oops, sorry - I shouldn't have said that, your Process is not the same as mine. I thought you knew your fate already; I'm terribly sorry. Let's not waste time comparing our deaths," Joyce clamored to change the subject, nervously eyeing the churning water beside her. She composed herself, than returned her gaze to Buffy. "Wasn't it nice of Brian to send me those flowers? Oh, I liked him. I was so looking forward to another date with him."
"Bry- huh?" Buffy queried, caught off guard with her mother's ramblings of her solitary date prior to her demise. "Oh, right. It's the last thing I remem..." The flowers, sitting in the foyer, had drawn her attention. She'd picked up the accompanying card, read it, than went into the family room - discovering to her horror, Joyce's motionless body. "I'm sorry. If I had only started CPR - not frozen up - when I saw you, I could have..."
Joyce shook her head curtly, "I was gone long before you came home."
"No, no, no - I-I could have saved you. I'm certain I could have. You weren't supposed to die. There was so much left to your life," Buffy pleaded hotly. Joyce continued gazing at her agitated daughter with a calm and collected stance.
"It was my time; no one wants a loved one to go, but even the mother of the Slayer has to step back and allow her daughter room to mature. I knew you'd be okay. You have the best friends any one could hope for, and Rupert - he's a wonderful mentor for you and Dawn."
"You remember Dawn?"
"Vaguely. It's cloudy. When I saw my life, all I could recall was you and your dad. I didn't understand why this young girl suddenly showed up - it was confusing. But than it came back to me. She was the Key and needed your protection. Everything you've done for her has been for the best - even if it seemed harsh. The Resurrection spell she cast would have worked, you know. It wouldn't have truly been 'me' because the spell alters a soul's make-up, twists it - darkens its color. Luckily, you convinced her to take the correct course of action. You did your best; I trust you're friends will do the same for her also."
"Actually Spike's watching over her. At least that's what I gleamed from the little snippet I saw acted out at the Magic Box between them."
"Unnerving as it sounds, I think Spike's doing the right thing. He took good care of us while we were in his charge - I felt safe with him. I don't think he would let any harm come to her."
"Neither would Angel," snapped Buffy bitterly. "I'm not sure Spike's intention are exactly pure. He is still a vampire - even with the chip; I can't forget what he is. And neither should Dawn."
"So's Angel," countered her mother. Buffy tensed up, preparing to defend her ex-lover. Joyce cut her off, "Either one is capable of letting his inner demon get the best of him. However, I don't want to exhaust my last shreds of time quarreling over vampires with you - we did enough of over the past couple years."
"Neither do I," Buffy agreed, releasing her anger and regaining peace.
A black crow swept in from above and landed on the statue of Persephone. Buffy twisted her upper body to observe the bird as it's 'caw, caw, caw' screeched through the stillness. Joyce's smile faded to a frown.
"Oh, darn - I'm sorry, dear. I have to go," she declared.
"No, you - we just got here. It can't be over; we need more-," Buffy stammered, "I haven't told you about your funeral or-"
"I saw it; you did good. Exceptionally well under the circumstances. You held everything together. I'm proud of you - I'll always be. Good-bye, my dear sweet little girl." Her mom rose from the bench with Buffy following suit. She rapidly embraced her daughter for the last time. Into Buffy's ear, her mother whispered, "take the garden, it's yours - think of me always."
"Good-bye, mom, good-bye," Buffy sobbed into her mother's radiant shoulder. "I've wanted to say that since..." Before she completed her declaration, Joyce's apparition dissolved into a column of white smoke. The crow cawed again and the smoke traveled to the bird's cry. The bird opened its black beak, inhaling the smoke swiftly. It cawed, than fluttered out the way it had entered.
Buffy stared sorrowfully at the retreating crow, barely noticing the sky change back to indigo. When she brought her eyes back down to the ground, the front door of the cabin greeted her. The garden wiped away.
To Be Continued...