Master...
Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse,
.
Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant
Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...
PG-13/Borderline R
Summary: An alternate series one story, just before The Harvest. What if the Master had learned about...The Jacket...? And had more flexibility in his ability to adjust his battle plans...?
Spoilers for Him...
Part X...Conculsion…
"Charges set, sir!" one of the team reported to Tristam, still on the phone to Bunny...er Buffy with Xander in the cab of Uncle Rory's machine. Giles, beside his fellow Watcher stared at him...
Reynolds shook his head...We can't risk waiting much longer, he noted. Turning back to the phone...
"Miss Summers?...We are ready to collapse the Master's cavern. I strongly urge you to leave that machine. You must know we will not hesitate even for your sake..."
"Go ahead and kill me!" Buffy yelled.
Hello?...she stared at the phone. Call terminated...
Damn!...I guess that's what they were planning to do, huh?...she noted to Xander.
"They're very dedicated...Like me with Heiny." she smiled.
Heiny...? he thought.
"Ummn...Buf...Bunny...There's no point in dying here. It won't do your Master any good. And these guys are all Giles clones, Brits…They mean what they say when it's about Duty and all..."
Yeah...she sighed.
Well...Xander...I guess we should leave...she smiled.
"You do realize you're my hostage now...Right?" she raised her stake, sliding over to his side of the cab...
But I'm sure I won't have to kill you until we get to Heinrich...she noted.
Great...he sighed.
"OK...Xander...When I say the word...I'm gonna have you open the door and we're going out. Looking like I'm surrendering to make a deal or something? But if you try to run away...I won't have time to remember you're my friend..."
"We're still friends...?" he eyed her.
"Practically brother and sister..." she beamed.
Oh...he looked down...
"Xander...Is that so bad?" she patted his hand.
Nah...he smiled back.
"But of course you will kill me if..."
Sorry...she bit her lip, a sheepish expression on her face. And raised her stake...
"Get ready to move..."
She punched her redial...
"Hey, Mister...We're coming out. Hold it just a minute. I got a hostage, you know."
Reynolds held a hand up as he listened...
"Hold, lads...!" he yelled. Looking at Giles...
Get every man with a dart in position...Now...he whispered to the Ripper. Who headed off...
"All right, Miss Summers... If you come out, we'll hold off a bit. But just three minutes..."
Buffy...Xander eyed her. She frowned.
"Sorry...Bunny...You can't save him. They'll set off the three explosions, one after the other. And the third will finish him..."
He's through...
She glared at Xander...But...Having already reached the same conclusion…
Look...she nudged Xander with her free hand. As they watched Giles move off from Reynolds...
"He's trying to get the guys over to catch me...Good ole Giles..." she beamed.
"Kinda glad in a way I didn't catch him...
Though I told you Heinrich was gonna spare both of you? For my sake? He's really so kind when you get to know the real Him..." she gushed.
….
So... Wesley smiled at Miss Rosenberg. Still tied to the pole the team had secured her to, lying pole/back side down...
"Lets sum up...You are in thrall. It's obviously not a chemical. Though extremely fast-acting...It does not require constant contact with the user..."
"The thraller or thrallee...?" Willow asked...Looking up at Wesley...
Sorry...I always wondered which was the correct term...she explained.
"Thraller...I believe...Jackson?" Wesley eyed a team member who'd been thumbing through a book of thrall spells…
Thraller, Jackson nodded.
Anyway... Wesley continued in a precise tone. "A spell is involved...But apparently of short-range, else every female in Sunnydale would be rushing to your Lord's defense now..."
"They will be..." Willow noted proudly as she could in her current position...
"Soon as my Master rises..."
"Ah...So the thrall mechanism requires contact with the thraller..." Wesley nodded.
Damn...Willow cursed herself. Outwitted me again...Guy is good.
"By the way, Miss Rosenberg? Shouldn't he really be...Buffy's Master...?" Wesley eyed her.
"She is his most important asset you know. And being the Slayer, naturally he'd be planning to take her for his Queen..."
"That's only for the present...Tactical reasons!" Willow insisted.
"He's merely using her until his Ascension...Then he'll..."
Well...She paused...A sad expression on her face. Even in thrall, she had to be honest with herself...
"I guess...She's the One..." she admitted.
"But I can still serve Him til death...And beyond...In some small way.
Don't ya think...Wesley?" she asked pathetically.
"I'm sure he appreciates your services..." he gallantly nodded.
Aw...He doesn't even know I'm His...she sighed.
"Oh...? I can't believe that..." Wesley shook his head.
"It's true. I was just looking in his church window…At him and Bunny...Together...I was trying to betray Him to Giles over my phone..." she looked away, ashamed.
"Then I saw his Jacket and how great he looked in it..." she beamed.
"Jacket...?" Wesley asked innocently.
Jackson eyed Edward beside him...The spell artifact...
Oh...Yeah...Willow nodded. "This really neat old Sunnydale High jacket, with a big S on the left? Looked sooo good on Heinrich...You wouldn't believe."
I think I would... Wesley smiled kindly.
Say... she smiled back.
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to untie me now that we're getting on so well? Let me use the facilities…?"
I'm sorry...he shook his head.
Geesh...she frowned at him.
"On his worst day, Heinrich was never that cruel to his victims..."
….
Ok... Bunny...er Buffy...Tensed, nodding at Xander...
Open the door and on the count of three...One...
Xander raced out the open door of the cab, leaving dear Bunny...er Buffy...With jaw hanging...
"Xander?...You're my hostage!" she cried after him. Hopping out herself...
The various Council team members who'd moved up fired their darts at her...She dodging nimbly.
Damn...How could Xander do that to me? He was gonna be my human shield...she groused to herself as she raced for the hole where the tunnel surface exit had been.
"Bunny!..." Xander called to her, he having reached the hole first. Expecting she'd make for it if the others failed to stop her...
She slashed at him to get him out of her way. Pointless to drag him down to the lair...And actually she'd accomplished her initial goal of reaching the entranceway even without her shield...
"You can't help him now...!" he cried as she leapt in…
"I can die with Him!" she hollered back. Disappearing into the tunnel depths...
And maybe...Still a little bit more...she thought. Racing down the tunnel...
"No, Xander!" Giles rushing up, held him back from the pit's edge. About to hop in...
"She'd only kill you now if you try to stop her..."
"We can't help her now..." Giles told him. "Even the entire team would never make it to her this way through all those creatures. It will be sundown in less than an hour. We must collapse the cavern before the Master's vampires are free to roam out..."
"No..." Xander stared back.
"Giles, there's another way. I told her just now there'd be three explosions...One after the other...Not the whole set at once. But if we set off just one heavy charge…The shovel might be able to break through there right away without destroying the entire place. We'd have the light on our side and we could get down fast by dropping cables...
She'll be waiting for the other explosions...Hoping somehow to save her boyfriend. With the others dead or hiding from the light maybe we could reach her before she realized." he finished.
Right...Giles nodded crisply. Waving down the fast-approaching Reynolds, he quickly outlined Xander's plan. And insisted on its implementation with a non-negotiable stare...
So...Xander thought, watching a coolly precise and forceful Giles he'd never suspected existed within...
That's Ripper.
…
Several vamps looked up at the remaining exit tunnel to see the Slayer racing towards them...
"Bunny?...What happened...?" one called.
She waved a hand... "All set!" And raced for the church...
Yeah! a number cheered…
"That's our Slayer!"
No need to have them all getting panicky now...At least not until the end came...
And not before she'd rendered her last service to her beloved...
Just as she reached the church and hurried in, the most powerful blast by far yet shook the whole cavern. Several rock masses came down, destroying a number of the faithful...
"Bunny!" A still drug-recovering groggy Darla eyed her within the church...
"I couldn't stop them, Darla..." she moved toward the chamber door.
Darla grabbed at her...
"What can we do for Him now?" she pleaded.
"We can't possibly get Him to safety!...He can't leave this building!"
"The chamber is sturdy. I'll try to shield Him when the final blast comes...Maybe I can hide him if I survive."
We should all go...Darla insisted. The other females rising...
Cover him with our worthless bodies...
No!...Buffy sternly commanded.
"We don't want the humans to find a lot of vamp ashes in the chamber...Let the others surround you, Darla. If you're all killed...They'll believe you were He, protected by His faithful."
Darla frowned...But winced as a large rumble and crash was heard...
Light!...A scream from outside...Along with the sounds of dozens of panicking, dusting vampires...
"No time to argue!...Am I His second-in-command or no?" Bunny...er Buffy glared.
Get around me...Darla called to the others...
"Like you're protecting me...Hurry!"
"Save Him, Bunny!" she eyed the Slayer...Who nodded.
I will...she thought. Opening the chamber door...
In the only way I can…
"Bunny! What's happened?" Heinrich cried.
At least the most important part...I will...she promised herself, shutting the door behind her...
….
Boom!...Uncle Rory's shovel crashed down again on the ground above. Rapidly widening the gaping hole in the cavern roof...
The church below rocked and heaved...More rocks crashing down on the weakening ceiling...
…
Bunny and Heinrich Love Theme (Romeo and Juliet)
"There's nothing more to be done, my love..." Buffy sadly noted to the anxious Master. Eyeing The Jacket...Which called out to her...As if telling her what was the only thing to do...
"They're going to destroy you. And I can't stop them. But...I can help you still..."
Another crash on the cavern roof...Several pieces of ceiling fell...Light shafts now peeping through...Imprisoning the Master in his spot.
"What do you mean?! If you love me, go and kill them!" he nervously waved at her.
"I couldn't now sweetheart. They're about to set off the final blasts..." she sighed.
"I'm so sorry, dearest...But thank God I got back to you in time..."
Hmmn...Heinrich frowned at The Jacket...
Beginning to think this was a bad investment and a bad idea from the start...
"What do you mean? You can help me? Can you get me out of here...?" he stared at the light shafts...
No...she shook her head.
"Oh...Right...The mutual death scene..." he rolled his eyes.
Now that's what I call help...he sighed.
Still...He thought. Astonishing himself...
Poor Bunny meant well...
"Oh, no dear..." Buffy smiled at her beloved...
"It's your soul I can help now...I have the power to free your human soul."
Ummn...Bunny...Heinrich paused. Listening to the shouts outside...
"My soul is long gone..."
"No, no...Heinrich...Your soul is trapped…Buried within the evil someone encased it in centuries ago." Buffy insisted. Rather emphatically…
(Just like William's...A voice within gave encouragement...)
Yes... she nodded. Staring at Him...
"I know it now...I couldn't have come to love You so much unless Your poor trapped soul was calling to me..."
"What!..." Heinrich stared.
"Now Bunny...I appreciate your desire to see me in the best possible light, but..."
"It's my Gift to reach that soul..." she noted. "And free it...
And then...When this place collapses around our dead/destroyed bodies. My soul will join yours..."
She blinked a bit...Hmmn...
"Guess we will be doing the mutual death scene at that..." she bit her lip... "Sorry if I'm being lame, darling."
The chamber door was forced open…And shut...
"Sir...?...Ma'am...?" Simon eyed Buffy and a desperately backing away Heinrich. Penned by light beams in his dark corner...
"The humans have blasted part of the cavern roof away!" he began.
"Simon!" Heinrich cried.
"She's lost her mind! Stop her…!"
Buffy whirled on the research chief...Grabbing his arm before he could run...
Help!...He cried. His cry lost in the shouts and rumbles from outside as she covered his mouth...
"Damn you, you coward...Fight her!" the Master glared. Looking for any break in the light shafts...As Simon helplessly struggled.
Hmmn...Funny, she thought.
"Simon? Do we know each other from somewhere?" she asked, holding the stake at his chest...
He stared up at her...What?
Of course...she glared at him…A last door opening…
"Farris? You murdering bastard!" she cried, in a British accent. While Heinrich stared in surprise...
Simon for his part...suddenly recognizing the accent she'd taken on...
"Cicely...?" he gasped as she staked him.
Bastard...she stared at his remains...
Suddenly she blinked at Heinrich, shrugging...
"Don't know what came over me..." she paused.
"You're insane, girl! Get away from me!" the Master hollered.
Help!...he yelped.
Always possible the Watchers' Council might consider him a worthy prize intact…So much useful intelligence to be obtained…
"Help! Anyone!"
She came over to him, raising her stake. Gently...
"What are you doing, Bunny?!" he cried.
"Slayer, you are mine, I command you." the Master solemnly intoned. Applying his hypnotic technique...
I'm sorry...Darling...Buffy sighed.
"It's true...I am yours...Forever..."
But love pretty much beats out hypnotic thrall...
"Heinrich...Sometimes love means doing things your beloved may not understand, but you know are for his best..." she murmured.
And it's your soul I adore. My darling...She staked him as he desperately tried to back away...
But...Even as he dusted. An unmistakable look of joyful peace on his face in that last second...
Someone...Cared. At last…
It may not have been the real thing...But for the centuries-condemned Heinrich Nast, his torment at the acts of his demon at last over...
It would do...
She knelt...And buried her face in his Jacket, sobbing...
And waited for the next blasts…Staring up at the creaking beams of her tomb...
She was still gently sobbing when Xander burst into the chamber and fired his dart...
…
"Normally..." Reynolds sighed...Eyeing Giles and Xander. And a newly arrived, darkness having fell...Angel...
"The Council would never go for this…A memory spell on the Slayer. But given the circumstances...And the potential psychological trauma..."
"Are you guys sure about this?" Xander stared.
"It's safe…?"
"It should be quite harmless, Xander..." Giles noted. "On both Bunny..." The others stared at him...
Oh...Sorry...
"On both Buffy and Willow...
We'll simply reconstruct what happened from the time just before Buffy was first exposed to the Jacket. They'll believe the Harvest was attempted but failed and that the Master was afterwards defeated by Buffy. Their minds will fill in any details under hypnosis during their joint debriefing stage. And we just have to make sure we agree with whatever scenario they construct between them..."
I dunno... Xander sighed.
"Do you want them to learn they were both deliriously happy slaves of that thing?" Giles eyed him.
Hmmn...Mrs. Bunny Nast...Xander thought. No, not even Buffy could bear that...
Ok...he nodded.
"All right then..." Reynolds nodded. "Then we are all in agreement...And this incident will be expunged from all Council records. The version our dear ladies construct between them under therapy tonight will be taken down as the true history of these last few days..."
"Angel?..." Giles eyed the vampire. Who nodded ascent...
Anything to keep History from learning how small my part was here...he thought.
"What about that Jacket?..." Wesley asked, speaking up from his spot near his superiors...
"I mean...Mr. Harris may have set it on fire and destroyed it when he threw it at Darla and her burning companions before she escaped. But we still don't know where the hell it came from...
And...I can't see Sunnydale High as having any particular appeal for Heinrich Nast that he would feel compelled to model his greatest weapon on one of their football jackets."
"You know..." Xander pondered.
"It did kinda remind me of the jacket Lance...Our football team captain...Used to have. Before he wound up in the hospital last week. After his girlfriends Bev, Marie, and Linda beat him up cause he ran out on them when some punks jumped them...
Always was quite a hit with the ladies..."