In A Hell Dimension Far Far Away…
Disclaimer: Star Wars is property of George Lucas. Buffy is property of Joss Whedon.
A/N: Okay guys, THIS IS IT!! Excluding the epilogue that I hope to have up sometime later this week- more than likely Thursday but you never know- this is the final chapter to my story!! I'm so SO excited!! My first completed fic EVER!! Ahhh…it feels reeeeeeally good. I pulled a complete all nighter (8pm-8am) to do this, and if anything is amiss, just tell me in a review and if needs be, I'll go back and edit. I want to clarify once again before everyone starts asking, THERE WILL BE ONE MORE CHAPTER: AN EPILOGUE. After that, this story is complete. Now, I did start all this, as evidenced by the strange inconclusiveness of chapter 1, with the intent to make this the first part of a three part series, but we'll just have to see. I might need a little time to recharge. So, here it is…I really hope everyone enjoys! And thanks once again to you guys!! I've really enjoyed writing this for you.
Home
Padme found Buffy about an hour later, curled up in the last place anyone might look for her, her assigned closet-like sleeping compartment on what Buffy now considered her home away from home, the Queen's Nabooian Cruiser.
But not even the claustrophobic sensation of the compartment or the stiff, flimsy bedding provided on a mattress that could have doubled in firmness with the one in Spike's crypt could tear Buffy's mind away from the dark thoughts that consumed it.
She had thought of her last words in her own dimension, words of comfort and strength to her little sister… "Be strong…live, for me." When she had said that to Dawn, Buffy had been thinking she was going to die, that the Powers That Be were opening down a stairway to heaven just for her in the form of the Key's inter-dimensional gateway.
Boy, the Power's sure played her… they were probably laughing their incorporeal asses off about right now.
And what was Dawn doing? Yea, she'd been the key, but memories made her real…they made her Dawn. A little, lost fourteen-year old whose dad had left when she was only a child and whose mother had recently died. A girl in strong need of family and support whose only remaining close relative had just jumped off a tower leaving her behind, completely alone save for the neurotic friends of her older sister and a chipped Vampire with a tendency to think of humans as happy meal with legs.
Heavy teardrops patterned the harsh mattress near Buffy's face and she wondered idly if they might make it any less forlorn- grant it that lovely lived-in texture.
Probably not.
She had been selfish when she'd left Dawn. Selfish when she'd left her friends. Selfish when she'd thought of this place as her afterlife… it wasn't her heaven. It was these peoples world she now lived in and it was her duty to protect it as she had the Hellmouth.
The hero-complex she'd given Padme for her justification to save the day was beginning to wear a little thin.
She'd been placed here for a reason and she had a debt to be paid for those she'd left behind to fend for themselves. It wasn't a hero-complex or a desire to play with the Jedi whose life she'd been thrown into that should motivate her-
It was her obligation and her debt to Dawn, Willow, Xander, and Giles. Even to Anya, Tara, and Spike that Buffy do whatever in her power to help those in need wherever she might end up. And with this in mind, she rolled over to find Padme staring intently down at her.
"Feeling better?" The young girl- no, Buffy corrected herself as she quickly wiped the moisture from her eyes- woman said as she gazed down serenely at the petite blonde who had almost cost her everything back in the swampy clearing in front of the Boss Gungan.
Buffy swallowed her emotions and promptly sitting up, swung both legs off the cramped bed to stand before the Queen. "Yes… and for what it's worth, I'm sorry about what happened."
"You didn't know," Padme said softly. A small grin forming, she added, "Which makes me feel very good about my security- an undercover Jedi like yourself not knowing of the decoy."
"I'm not," at Padme's confused look, Buffy clarified, "Not a Jedi, I mean. Ben…err, Obi-Wan, just made that up so Panaka would let me come with you." Padme, her secret revealed, deserved Buffy's.
However, to Buffy's surprise, instead of becoming upset or worried about the deception, Padme just laughed. "Oh good!" she said when she'd finally caught her breath.
"Huh? …you're not mad?" Buffy asked, puzzeled. She had been gearing up to go all explainy on her royalness.
"No, relieved actually. I kept thinking how odd you acted for a Jedi- how your emotions always seemed to guide you." Her relief spun, Padme arched an eyebrow and asked with only the slightest hint of suspicion, "But what were you doing on Tatooine then?"
"Moving on."
Padme's expression softened as her mouth formed an empathetic, "Oh."
Although Padme might never know what Buffy had exactly meant, she knew that the young woman understood. Her respect for the teenaged Queen increased tenfold.
Padme's gaze fell from Buffy's intense eyes and she must have noticed the mud stains on the chest area of white combat suit that Eirtaé had found for the Slayer in Padme's royal wardrobe. "We're fixing to travel to Theed, where my palace is," Padme began slowly before grabbing Buffy's hand- much like Willow used to do when they had first met. Flashing Buffy a bright smile, the young Queen began to lead her away from the dark sleeping compartment. "I think I might just have another outfit you'd appreciate…"
In Buffy's mind, Naboo's capital city of Theeds much resembled the image of what the ancient city of Atlantis might have looked like. The architecture was classical and domed, white marbled and grandiose with a flare for old-world that belied the subtle undertone of razor technology brimming just beneath its quiet gardens and overlooking verandas. Stately townhouses and majestic market centers- all of the same rosy hue- dotted the skyline set against a strikingly picturesque, wide river.
It was the prettiest city Buffy had ever seen.
But she'd have to take the tour later as now was the time for stealthy-ness. She was tip-toeing several paces behind Padme, who was now officially her new best friend after supplying her with the ensemble she now sported: A ribbed, cobalt tank made of a silky yet highly durable fabric that fell elegantly to her waist and pooled in shimmery waves at the high neckline, allowing air to hit the Slayer's delicate collarbone. The black pants, not leather, were just as smooth, but of a denser material that reassured Buffy they would be able to sustain a hit or two. They ended by flaring down nicely to a pair of sharp ankle high boots, also of the black variety, that were just as stylish as they were functional. The look was completed with the vibrosword infused with cortosis alloy and the small blaster, both attached to a black belt that hung loosely around her hips. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a chic ponytail done up by Padme herself.
The Queen and Buffy were followed by the stone-faced Eirtaé, the stoically composed Obi-Wan, and an anxious-faced Anakin as they carefully made their way through the enormous central plaza toward the entrance to the main hanger via darting behind walls and buildings. They were silently being trailed by about twenty of Padme's loyal guards.
They came to an abrupt halt, initiated by Padme who pulled out a small red laser light to signal across the plaza to Captain Panaka who was leading their other contingent.
Panaka, his frown lines running so deep they threatened to remain locked that way if he persisted in his grimness, signaled back in a way reminiscent of Riley's exacting soldier-boy days.
From behind her, Buffy heard Obi-Wan whisper to Anakin, "Once we're inside, I want you to find a place to hide, Anakin." There was a groan of disappointment, but Obi-Wan persisted adamantly, "And then I'm going to need you to stay there."
A pause, and then a reluctant, "Alright…sure." Not in the least convincing. Artoo whistled from beside Buffy as if concurring.
Buffy had no doubt the kid would be in the thick of it if at all possible. She made a note to ensure the kid did as Be… Obi-Wan had told him.
Droid troops- slender robotic affairs with billed faces and blank stares with bodies of a light beige metallic color- milled restlessly about the tank-filled plaza only meters from where the Galactic Scoobies were parked.
One of the guards at the very tail end of Panaka's group became a little too careless and was sighted by several of the droids at the far end of the plaza. With no hesitation, they sounded the alarm and began firing their blasters. Some of the Panaka's guards began firing back and an all-out ruckus erupted.
Padme used the distraction to rush her group into the main hanger while Panaka's group set about engaging the droid platoon covering the plaza in earnest.
As Buffy and the others ran through the hanger doors, loud alarms sounded and more battle droids appeared out of nowhere and started firing on them. Padme and her guards ran for cover behind star-fighters and crates in the large, open facility and began firing back.
Anakin sprinted under a Naboo fighter and crouched, covering his ears tightly as the blaster fire exploded all around him. Several times, he was forced to duck and roll as blaster bolts whizzed dangerously by and exploded near to the ship he was hiding under. But his podracing reflexes, his midichlorians, or whatever powered his little body never allowed him even close to the shots. -Buffy had made sure he was protected before she joined in the fray. How Artoo, who had rolled up behind the boy like a dutiful puppy managed to avoid the shots, she'd never know.
Obi-Wan's blue lightsaber hummed to life beside her as he effortlessly deflected a bolt aimed at Padme's back. The deflected shot reined down on the droid who'd fired it and the machine crumpled like a crucified Vampire. A dozen more shots centered on Obi-Wan and he met every one of them, bouncing them back in the same manner and never breaking a sweat.
In her element, Buffy unlatched the sword on her hip and wielding it like she'd known it her entire life, began demolishing droids left and right. Her fluid, even motions resembled that of a dance as she twisted and jabbed, flipped and sliced.
The droids cut like butter, far more tender than the undead flesh she was used to slaying and Buffy mercilessly hacked them down, falling twenty or so in a few short minutes.
Once the guard's blaster fire, Obi-Wan's deflected shots, and Buffy's sword had cut down the majority of the droids, Padme ordered the pilots who'd been held at gun-point in the hanger when they'd arrived to, "Get to your ships!"
Frantically, the pilots and artoo units began running for the Naboo fighter-crafts stacked all throughout the hanger bay. One ran to the ship Anakin and R2-D2 had been hiding under and ordered them out of the way as he hopped in and began revving it for flight. All around them, ships were starting to levitate out of the hanger. Heavy blaster fire from the remaining droids who had cowardly waited as their metallic brethren had been diced to pieces to engage was being directed at the fighters now.
Artoo whistled shrilly to Anakin from the next nearest ship and the boy quickly ran and hopped into its small cockpit, ducking below the seat's walls as the blasts continued to rain overhead.
Just then, Captain Panaka and the rest of the Queen's guards rushed into the hanger and overwhelmed the last vestiges of the pestering droids. Padme, Obi-Wan, and Buffy quickly ran up to join him.
Her knuckles white along the long-nosed blaster in her hands, Padme said, "My guess is the Viceroy's in the throne room." She looked to Obi-Wan for confirmation.
He nodded in support. "I agree."
That sealed the deal and everyone started to head for the hanger's exit, passing as they did so the fighter where Anakin was hiding. Artoo whistled a greeting as Anakin's small head peeped out from the cockpit. "Hey! Wait up!" he shouted and began to climb out.
"No can do," Buffy said, stopping him in his tracks. "Your safest bet would be right where you are."
"But, I…"
"Buffy's right," Obi-Wan said in a voice that commanded obedience. "Stay in that cockpit." Anakin quickly sat back down.
Buffy glanced at Obi-Wan as they continued heading for the exit and for an instant, their gazes met and she saw the warmth reflected in his. She nodded back- trying to send the message that it was all good, that she understood they'd never be able to be anything more than friends, and that it was okay with her- but she wasn't sure how much of it he received because at that very moment, as they were about to go through the doors, everyone suddenly scattered to reveal a very pissed-off, very evil looking Tiggy standing imposingly with his arms folded as he blocked their path.
Padme, her handmaidens, her guards and even Panaka all shied away, sensing the danger. Obi-Wan alone stepped forward to meet the tattooed demon, the warmth in his eyes replaced with an icy edge. He calmly told the others, "I'll handle this…" as he nudged off old brownie, letting it fall in a lonely heap at the heels of his equally brown tall boots.
The demon…Sith…whatever he was called, did likewise, mirroring the move in almost a taunting manner before they simultaneously ignited their opposing lightsabers.
-Obi-Wan's blue beam looking very small and insignificant before the double-edged and much larger red one.
Buffy lingered indecisively for a moment, caught between the desire to protect Padme and the urge to wipe the smug look off of Tiggy's striped face.
But movement from the very far end of the hanger caught everyone's attention as six-wheeled droids rolled in and transformed into their battle positions. "Destroyers!" one of the guards shouted in a panic as he dove behind a wall.
Tiggy, seizing the opportunity, began his assault on Obi-Wan and the two began their lethal ballet, slowly edging their way out the door and away from the Destroyers.
The Destroyers themselves began their death-squad like advance and opened fire. Hundreds of laser bolts rained down mercilessly. Buffy catapulted herself through the air and shoved Padme out of the way just as a shot sailed through where the Queen had been standing only a fraction of a moment before. The two roughly hit the floor and witnessed the carnage as the machines systematically annihilated everything before them.
The handmaidens, guards and the Captain all desperately sought cover, but the Destroyer's were much more persistent than the droids had been and quickly, guards began to drop like flies.
And then, like when a welcome friend happened to show up to assist unexpectedly at the graveyard late one night as she was slaying by her lonesome, large lasers from the ship Anakin was hidden in began blasting the Destroyers to bits.
With Tiggy and the Destroyers both otherwise engaged, Padme, Panaka and her guards rushed out the exit into one of the palace's adjoining hallways.
Their prey all removed, save Buffy who they didn't seem to find worth the trouble, the Destroyers turned their full attention on Anakin's fighter-ship. Never hesitating, Buffy ran and pounced on the nearest one, swinging so forcefully with her charged-up sword that it cleaved the ample robot in two. Sparks shot up from both ends a second before it exploded, but Buffy was already jumping to the next and doing the same, her odd sword and her intensified strength allowing her to penetrate the distracted backs of the Destroyer's energy shields.
Just finished dicing the last of them- the rest more or less incapacitated- Buffy looked up to find Anakin's ship was gone. She dashed to the edge of the hanger, where all the other ships had disappeared on their way to go destroy the control ship their pilot had pointed out earlier as they had been about to land on Naboo but saw nothing.
…the ground was too far below to make out the ships that hadn't managed to escape the anti-aircraft bombardment.
Buffy stared out into the sky at the edge of the hanger for a minute, her bottom lip trembling, before she deactivated the sword and firmly reattached it to her belt. Spinning around, she made like an Olympic sprinter and charged out the door and down the hallway the direction Ben and Tiggy had been progressing.
She'd be damned to a hell dimension for all eternity if she let Ben down and allowed him to go and get himself killed.
All she could do for Anakin…Anakin and Padme, was to hope…and wish like crazy that the stupid demon that had split Xander in two- cloning him- could have chosen that moment to attack.
She felt like she was chasing her own ghost; the laughing, maniacal face of Drucilla taunting her from her mind's eye as she had run her heart out through the empty hallways of the old Sunnydale High on her way to the hated library to find Kendra's quiet figure crumpled lifelessly atop the worn tile in a pool of her own blood.
Her sides heaving and her breath now coming in shallow gasps, Buffy dug into an even faster gear as the demons of her past paraded gleefully through her terrified thoughts. Her legs churned like pistons beneath her on the narrow steel mesh bridge as the rapid, steady pounding increased in tempo. She was moving so quickly, her senses guiding her from catwalk to catwalk, that pretty soon, the pounding faded and she found herself nearly flying she was running so fast.
Her tremendous heart about to burst, she at last spotted them.
They were swiftly exchanging blows down a narrow hallway just ahead of Buffy. She couldn't see Ben's face, his back was to her as he pressed Tiggy down the corridor, but she could make out the trembling in his shoulder muscles and the way his parries were coming in longer, slower arcs. He was tiring and from the smug look in Tiggy's glowing demonic eyes, she knew that it was almost over. Obi-Wan might be the one pushing, but Tiggy was the one in charge, leading him to his grave all the same.
Pushing herself beyond the pain, beyond the suffering, blistering needles of agony in her protesting body, Buffy pressed onward, her sights locked vehemently onto those hateful, predatory eyes.
Ben and the demon were now clear of the corridor and fighting in a round chamber room covered in silver mechanical plating. A large hole stood out prominently in the center of the circular room, its shape strongly resembling that of a very large and menacing donut hole.
Buffy was three feet away from them when a hissing noise sounded and a pulsing red ray shot immediately up, forming a wall between Ben and herself. Her senses screamed out in panic and using reflexes no human- nor many Jedi for that matter- would have been able to equal, she skidded to the ground and jabbed the sword still at her hip sharply into the flooring making a sort of anchor that stopped her a mere inch from the deadly laser.
Her Spidey-senses still burning with warning throughout her pounding veins, Buffy quickly shuffled back another foot and laid there for a second panting.
Unsteadily wavering to her feet, her calves on fire, her breath gone and her knees shaking badly, Buffy watched with frustration as the demon unleashed a new torrent of lightening speed and strength on the battered Jedi.
She wanted desperately to call out, to distract Tiggy in anyway she could, but she feared any movement on her part might just as easily throw Ben off.
Ben was sweating now, something Buffy had never seen him do before. His ice-cream coolness had melted into a desperate struggle simply to stay alive and with it, the sure, graceful strokes of his lightsaber had dissolved into frantic thrusts and jabs, all of which were on the defensive. He was gallantly fighting with everything he had left, somehow managing to meet each of the Sith's inhumanly fast blows. Their lightsabers, especially Ben's since he had to use two strokes for every one of Tiggy's, were moving too quickly for the eye to follow.
The Sith tightened its focus still further and its assault quickened to a sickening pace that Buffy knew Ben would never be able to match in his weakened state.
An understandable falter on his part repaid Ben with a deep slice to his leg, tearing the flesh to the bone- the blood refusing to fall as it was cauterized instantly upon contact with the red laser. Ben screamed out in pain and stumbled back…the opening the Sith had been aiming for the whole time.
With Ben's scream, a scream from a man who probably wasn't in the habit of screaming that much, Buffy's blood ran cold and when she saw him stumble back and Tig go in for the kill, she lost herself. Screaming at the top of her lungs, as she never had before- not even the time she'd let loose her vocals on the heart-stealing Gentlemen callers- and waving her hands frantically around in the air like a madwoman, she caught the Sith's attention. He glanced her way, his eyes narrowing in recognition long enough for Ben to lurch forward on his good leg and heave his blue beam through one side of the double-ended red lightsaber handle.
One of the red beams fell off and disappeared, effectively removed from its power source. Now the demon's lightsaber was on equal footing with Ben's… too bad the Jedi himself wasn't.
The Sith knocked Ben backward with a swift kick to the gut and then turned for a fraction of a second as Ben was falling away to look up at where Buffy stood behind the deathly red energy ray, petrified with fear for Ben. In that moment, he smiled at her- the most horrible smile she'd ever seen in her life…
…and then he shoved his single red beamed lightsaber through Obi-Wan's stomach.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!" Buffy screamed as her knees gave way and she collapsed to the ground at the same moment Obi-Wan's lifeless body did so only ten agonizing feet away from her. His lightsaber fell uselessly from his hand and rolled harmlessly several feet away, deactivating upon leaving its master's grip.
Falling with his back to Buffy, she could only see the way his head slumped over- causing his neck to bend at an odd angle- his back to sag heavily- his spine tapped of life- and the eerie way in which his brown boots fell atop one another with no force of their own.
And it was at that moment that the energy wall graciously chose to open.
Buffy hardly seemed to notice the change, her eyes only registering the stillness of the fallen Jedi. Her knees were on the ground, her hands, forgotten, hanging uselessly by her sides as the demon slowly sauntered up to her.
"Silly, pathetic little girl…" the demon chastised as it stopped smoothly before her, the tiger ready to pounce on its prey. After a pause, in which Buffy still refused to move, even after the shocking realization that it could indeed talk, it lazily inquired of her, "Are you going to cry now?"
Buffy, giving a sniff, finally looked up to meet its hungry gaze. "No…" she whispered at last, her thin voice cracking. And then in a flash, she withdrew her small blaster from its holster at her belt and without aiming, shot him through the heart.
"I was going to kill you, you asshole."
A look of surprise flitted across Tiggy's face as he staggered back, but he didn't fall. His blood began to pool out of the wound in great spurts, but he still didn't fall. With a sinking feeling, Buffy realized he might not even have a heart.
Guess the old fashioned decapitation would just have to work.
She shot him several more times for good measure and then, when he still didn't fall, she dropped the blaster and with a scream of rage, unlatched her sword, activated it and sprung at him like a bullet.
He was somehow ready for her and his sole red lightsaber blade hummed to life just before the tip of Buffy's glowing vibrosword could reach his neck. The blades burned against each other for a moment and Buffy used the battle of brawn to surprise him with her Slayer strength. She easily out-powered him and although her sword was groaning under the pressure, Tiggy was forced to fall back.
She didn't allow him an inch however, and followed up with an immediate kick to the face. Then another parry of their sabers, Buffy's beginning to sputter, and then yet another harsh kick to his striped face.
She had him pinned with his heels licking the edge of the donut hole; it finally looked like game-over. He must have felt that his end was imminent as well as he resolutely stated through a bloodied mouth, "I will not be defeated by you…"
"Really?" Buffy asked darkly, as she raised her sword to finish him off. "Could have fooled me…"
But he feinted sideways and drew his lightsaber up in a powerful thrust that shattered her blade all the way to its hilt. The energy released as the vibrosword cracked, electrocuted Buffy and she fell backward in pain and surprise.
The Sith raised its gloved hand, like it had that day in the desert when it had nearly choked her to death through the force. Buffy didn't stop for a repeat. Instead, she quickly leapt and nimbly got herself out of the way. They played cat and mouse for several minutes, the energy leaving her with every supernatural leap she had to make in order to dodge his force assaults. At her end, Buffy faked a misstep and fell within a hand's reach of Ben's lightsaber.
As she knew he would, Tiggy gleefully sauntered up to her to finish the job. When he was within striking distance, she grasped the lightsaber and it ignited, washing her exhausted face in its welcoming blue glow.
She thrust it at his ankles with the intent of slicing them both off, but he read her mind and jumped at the last second, Ben's humming blue beam touching nothing but air.
And then he knocked the lightsaber away from her as though her grip on it had been nothing- and perhaps it was in her feverish, spent muscles- and using the force, he put the inevitable chokehold around her neck and lifted her by it onto her feet and then off her feet until she was hovering in air, suspended by the invisible hand choking her throat and threw her into the rounded silver wall, pinning her there.
Buffy watched him coming to her and closed her eyes. Unable to breathe, unable to choke…she felt an intense dread begin to creep up her spinal chord like ice-water and she realized she was going into shock. Seeing only a thick, red layer of blood flashing behind her eyelids, she snapped them open in panic and saw the same color reflected in his eyes, only inches away from hers.
He pressed against her, his arms on either side and leaning in until there was no space between them. He whispered enticingly, "I could let you live…" as if it were a suggestion. He ran a gloved finger along her jaw.
Now going into shock with the added joy of nauseousness, Buffy's strangled attempts to whimper only made her gag as the force holding her there wouldn't allow it and she felt herself beginning to fade away.
Maybe she'd find home this time…
But an odd sound pierced the nothingness of her awaited death. It was the hum of Ben's blue lightsaber, peeking out through the Sith's gut.
Tiggy gasped and looked down in shock. Suddenly, the force released Buffy and she slipped to the ground, gasping down lungfulls of sweet air as she went.
She looked up and there stood Obi-Wan, swaying on his feet, his lightsaber humming protectively in front of him and a near gaping hole in his stomach at almost exactly the same place he'd run through the demon.
He was grimacing in pain, his face ashen and drawn and his breaths coming at arduous intervals unlike Buffy's currently frantic intake.
But he was alive!
He spared a look for her, one brimming with relief and then his blue eyes rolled up in the back of his head and he crumpled to the ground, fainted. His blue blade shorted out even before he had made impact once more with the floor.
Tiggy staggered around for a second longer, thrown off balance and in a world of pain. Buffy took no pity and flung herself at him, grabbing the red lightsaber's handle and prying it from his weakened grip just as he had earlier done to her. With a howl of rage, she reactivated it and promptly lobbed off his head. His headless corpse stood there grotesquely for a moment before it began to sink but Buffy never allowed it the chance. She kicked it in the blaster-shot chest so hard it flew back through the air and sailed neatly into the donut hole where it was lost from sight.
Deactivating the red lightsaber, she rushed to Obi-Wan's side, kicking the Sith's head without a second thought to join its body.
"Obi-Wan!" she cried, the tears freely falling down her cheeks now and soaking his soft brown hair as she dropped to his side and clutched his head and torso to her body, rocking incessantly back and forth in a frenzied, half-crazed manner.
"Pl…ease…stop. I think…. I'm oing…to beee….sick," Ben muttered weakly against her chest and she immediately stopped.
"I'm so sorry, Ben!" Buffy wailed, completely beside herself. How bad was he hurt? How long did he have to live? Why hadn't she stepped to his side the moment the Sith had appeared? "I didn't even bring a robe for you to throw up on!!"
"It's okay…" Ben whispered softly, a small grin quirking his lips upward in between the grimaces of pain. His eyes were still shut, but the grin calmed Buffy considerably.
She hiccupped as the last of her tears finally subsided and said in a much sturdier voice, "Are you? Okay, I mean? Because….because you can't die, see? I...I somehow sorta ended up having to have you in this world. And," she swallowed another hiccup and wiped the tears from her cheeks and where they had dribbled erratically down her neck on their journey to Ben's hair, and then continued, her words becoming faster and shriller as she rambled, "And, well…I know you're kinda off limits- maybe one of the draws in my messed up head- but it's alright. I was trying to tell you earlier, I'm fine with whatever works for you…not saying I'll actually be fine, but you know, I'll live with it because you're…well, you're my Ben…my sugary sweet, slightly sour, rocky-hunky-roaded ice-cream flavored Ben...and being your friend is way more important to me than never getting to…"
Obi-Wan reached up to the back of her head and very gently laid his cold hand over the bruised skin at the nape of her neck, below her miraculously still intact ponytail. His arm suddenly seeming to lose all its strength with that act, it dragged Buffy's whole head down to the level of his face. His somehow still-closed-eyes were then able to find her lips and press them gently to his own.
It was only a brush, a fleeting whisper of a sweet harbor Buffy had been longing to sail, but it was enough. Enough to make her completely forget what non-sense she'd been going on about and deepen the kiss, longing to apologize and convey every last bit of herself through it. He responded back, a little slowly at first, but he was definitely working with her. And soon, they were really out to sea, working together, Buffy lost in his cinnamon-y tasting goodness. All too quickly, he abruptly broke it off. Casting her a lingering smirk at her answering groan of annoyance, he passed out once again.
Buffy, with Ben's upper body still cradled tightly in her arms, rested her forehead against his and sighed.
Kissing Obi-Wan was definitely different from kissing anyone else she'd ever smacked lips with before-
…Angel had always been careful, restrained- when he wasn't Angelus- and delicate as though she were made of glass. Parker…had been a joke. Riley had been eager and just a little clumsy. A farm-boy with his first real girlfriend- which she had enjoyed on some level… And sure, if she had to go down the list of memorable kisses, her and Spike's Willowy induced engagement had been full of them. Sexy, passionate, searing kisses that made her blood boil. But they hadn't been real… and as nice an undead Vamp as Spike could sometimes occasionally manage to be, and as good as kisser as he often bragged to be, he didn't make her stomach tie in knots or her skin crawl- except for occasionally from the urge to stake him- in the way it should whenever the one you really like is near
…the way she'd longed to touch Angel back when she had been a sixteen-year old teenager in love for the very first time.
No, kissing Obi-Wan wasn't like any of that. It was like being right at home…in a hell dimension far far away…
-the ice-creamy sort.