"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 XXI...
Fortuna, Imperious Goddess...From Carmina Burana...
"O Fortuna, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning;
Hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it;
Poverty and power- it melts them like ice.
Fate - monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy.
Fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved.
So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the
strong man, everyone weep with me!"
"What...?" Xander stared at Willow.
"It's true, Xander..." she sighed. "And not all that surprising...After the fact..."
"Buried in the house...?"
"Well not that part. But Dawn and...Cicely...Yeah...In the house..."
"And Dawn is..."
"Like I said, it's not that surprising...After the fact..."
He rose and began pacing the hotel lobby...Pausing in front of her...
"You saw a tombstone. Not a body...Bodies..."
"That Mr. Knowles will help arrange to have them exhumed and whatever's there reburied. But Xander...I think they're there..."
If even he takes it like this...? she sighed.
"Where's Dawn?" he suddenly asked. "She hasn't gone and told her this story...?"
"She's telling her right now, I think..."
"Wil, for God's sake..."
"Xander...What do you expect her to do?"
"And will this do any good? Saying for the moment it could be true..."
"Dawn deserves to know who her father was..."
"Spike?"
"William...Xander, an innocent man. Who saved us all..."
"Fine...Great..." he waved a hand. "But aren't you letting Cicely rush this? Wil, you have Buffy in costume with an accent and a tombstone..."
"Meaning?"
"There is one other possibility even Giles doesn't seem too willing to consider…" Xander sighed.
"It could be psychological…" he eyed Willow.
"What? You think she's crazy?"
"Only if you consider assuming the identity of the century-plus dead Slayer widow of the Undead lover you abandoned to die alone crazy…" he noted quietly.
"Buffy?" Willow hesitated…No…Nah…I wouldn't even…
"No…Xander, she may be out of herself but not…"
"Willow, think about it. Since she was fourteen Buf's been on a never-ending gotta-save-the-world, fight-to-the-death treadmill involving killing things that seem pretty damn human. And whatever the Council fed her about the people who became these things most were innocent victims, at least to begin with. Then she falls for a souled vamp, Angel, who was a monster but found a soul. Which her Council had never hinted was possible, though Giles sure as hell accepted it at face value without much question when the Brooding One showed…And sought redemption. Not only is she unable to help him, in the end she has to send him to Hell. Then, later finds it was possible to get him out and that he..."
He eyed her...
"...Might have appreciated a little help. He was different with her after that, you know that. I'm not saying he blamed her but..."
"Then she meets Spike, probably…And I admit this only 'cause I have to…The most human unsouled vamp we've ever met. Who later spends years not only telling her he loves her but actually proves it. And ends up winning his soul back. Another little thing the Council failed to ever mention to her, that vamps' souls could be restored without even a curse…All for love of her…"
He put a hand up as she tried to interrupt...
"Wait…Then a twist. Restored soul boy II is quite willing to accept she can't love him, goes to his death for her in fact sure she doesn't, couldn't love him. All the while her dear Council doing its damnedest to get him out of the way, soul or no soul…And why? Because they've got his blood and Cicely's and their kid's on their hands. And they've been trembling in their shoes that one day it would come back to haunt them. Sure that it would be at the hands of a great Slayer. Maybe to the point they wanted it to happen, get it over with...Purge their souls, maybe..."
"But she knows all these things about Cicely…How could…?"
"The Watchers know…Spike knew some of the story. She could have learned some from either of them and ferreted out more on her own. Just because she didn't tell us doesn't mean she couldn't have. You oughta know by now not to underestimate Buffy's abilities, Willow..."
"But the personality, the manner…Heck even the way she walks…Buffy's not that good an actress, Xander."
"Not normally…But she sure has the motivation..."
"But Henri believes her…He was sure."
"Maybe…And maybe he wants to believe it too. Her return proves something for him, too, you know..."
"She's not crazy, Xander. A lot more bitter and angrier than that pleasant manner might ever show. But not crazy..."
…
Underground archives of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists...
Andrew eyed Buffy carefully…
"Nice…" he nodded to Roger. "Either she's the best android I've ever seen. And Warren was the best roboman I knew of, give him that…Or…"
"Andrew?" Buffy stared. "What are you talking about?" she looked at Giles, then Roger…
"It's all right, Ms. Summers…" Roger said, soothingly. "Code B-neutral…"
She froze…And her face changed slightly. Morphing into a young woman similar in appearance to Buffy but not quite Buffy. Finally stabilizing into a rather eerie hairless form...Some definite electronic components of some sort attached to her skull and neck...
"Some kind of spell distortion for the appearance?" Andrew asked. Roger nodding… "And…" he pulled up a sleeve of her blouse on her extended but frozen right arm. The skin stopping just above the wrist to reveal a transparent silicone surface, metal and plastic components, yet underneath… "Robotic components on an organic structure…"
"Cyborg?" Andrew examined the arm carefully…And a bit eagerly…
Haven't had a good nerdfest in months…
"Yes, but the organics are also unique…" Roger paused. "She was a vampire when the Initiative captured her…And chipped her, like Spike."
"What?"
"And like Spike, the result was a partial surfacing of her trapped soul. In her case, she sought us out…Not really sure what she wanted, poor thing…But hoping we could help her…"
"But a vampire cyborg? With Buffy's appearance…?"
"She could be a number of women under this glam. Though she was a good candidate largely because she looked a deal like Buffy. And somewhere in her soul she desperately desired to be a champion of Good. Not the pathetic victim she'd been for fifty years…"
"And this is your counterattacking force?"
"She's already got demonic strength..." Wyndham-Price noted, carefully. "The cyborg components not only give her additional strength and ability. They allow us to control her demon, even largely expel it. A mix of the components and spell protection allow her to operate in daylight and conceal her former nature…Even a powerful demon would take her aura for that of a Slayer."
"But she thinks she's Buffy…"
"A good deal of her human memories were gone or damaged when she came to us. She'd been attacked repeatedly by other vampires. Giving her new memories and a new personality grounded her and helped fight back her demon…"
"In effect, Andrew…We've given her a partial cure…" Giles noted.
"Cure?" Andrew let go the arm. Eyeing the frozen figure before him…
"She hasn't got a free will. She's just a robot…A slave…How could you call this a 'cure'…?"
"Her original personality isn't completely destroyed, Andrew. She's allowed to revert to it…And I assure you, she's quite grateful…" Giles looked at Roger who turned to the cyborg.
"O-active…Hello, Gretchen." he smiled to the young woman who looked at him. "Doktor Wyndham-Price?", a slight German accent…Her features a slight bit heavier, older than Buffy.
"You know Chairman Giles. This is Mr. Wells, the companion of your alter ego, Ms. Summers…"
"Herr Wells?" she offered a hand. "I hope the demonstration was not…" she hesitated. "Disturbing?"
"Ummn…No…Ummn…"
"Gretchen Moltke…" she smiled. "At least, I am fairly sure that vas my name…"
…
"Dawn..."
"No..." Dawn waved a hand at Buffy... "No..."
"Dawn, I wouldn't..."
"Just...Leave me alone." But she hesitated.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of..." Buffy moved to her, arm outreached. "Your..."
"Don't say it!" Dawn snapped, waving her off... "Just don't!"
"Do you want to go back?"
"Just let me be...I'll see you later." calming tone...
"I don't like to leave you here alone..."
"I'm fine...It's perfectly fine here. I'm just gonna do some shopping and sight seein' on my own. I'll see you later..."
"All right..." Buffy sighed. "Dawn, I would never have told you to hurt you..."
"Fine...I'll deal...I'm fine." she headed off. Hands clenched...
Oh...Daddy...Daddy...Forgive me...
"I'm sorry Will..." Buffy murmured as she stood watching Dawn hurry off down the street. Her own hands twisting...
"I had to...I had to...
I can't do this alone..."
…
"And it doesn't bother you to be forced to be someone else. To give up your own soul...After you've won it back?" Andrew asked.
"I did many terrible things with my demon here...I vant...Want to do some good, Mr. Wells." Gretchen sighed. "And I can't go back to my old life now. I've been dead fifty years. But as to my soul…The Watchers gife me a choice in the matter. I have chosen to help, you know. If it means I help protect the Slayer who saved so many...I'm grateful for the chance to do so. And I vas un...An actress...Long ago..."
"It's not fair...Not right..."
"Life isn't fair, Wells..." Wyndham-Price said quietly. "But we do plan to try and find ways for our people like Gretchen to have some sort of lives. And those who don't wish to help us...We don't force them..."
"But many do..." Giles noted. "They want to help fight those who took their lives away..."
"Like you took William's and Cicely's...?" Andrew eyed him.
"Yes..." Wyndham-Price nodded calmly.
"Andrew..." Gretchen smiled at him wanly. A bit disconcerting, given the mix of borg components and as he now noted, slightly greenish tinge of skin color. "If you knew what my existence vas before my freedom. The Council has freed us, my comrades und I...All of us who have chosen this path agree..."
"Comrades? How many?" he asked.
"Over two thousand now..." Roger...
"And she...Sorry, you..." he addressed Gretchen. "Are playing Buffy...Why? Does she know?"
"Especially right now, Ms. Summers needs a stand-in, Wells..." Roger, firmly. "She's provoked a great deal of wrath by defeating the First. Angel may even have joined their ranks. And if those enemies become fully aware of her current vulnerability..."
"You haven't told her, have you?"
"Gretchen and two others have been in training..." Giles explained. "We'll explain when they're ready..."
"She'll never agree to that...Someone else taking the bullet for her."
"Buffy, perhaps not...Cicely, however..." Giles noted. "She wants freedom and time to rediscover her past, after all...And there's Dawn to think of...Especially for Cicely..."
"Especially? Why?"
"Mrs. Walthrop would be especially anxious to avoid any harm coming to Ms. Summers' sister..." Roger, somewhat hastily.
"Yes..." Giles, imperturbably. "Andrew, it's simply a little extra protection for Buffy when she may be a bit off-stride, to say the least. And perhaps a little relief...Which you of all people must agree she's earned..."
"Not without her agreeing..." Andrew insisted. "It's great of you, Ms. Moltke, but she's gotta say yes..."
"We'd hoped you'd be the one to put it to her..." Roger eyed him.
"As your first assignment as her Watcher..." Giles added.
"Please, Mr. Wells..." Gretchen smiled again. "Let me do what little I can to help her. I assure you I'll be very careful in the role and I can defend myself."
"Against...Angel?" Andrew asked.
"If need be..." Roger replied. "But we still don't know exactly what Angel may be up to..."
"He could be leading the Partners on." Andrew looked at Giles. Who gave a thoughtful look...
"We've considered that. All the more reason then to have someone he trusts implicitly and could contact without danger to the real Buffy. Andrew, if he has turned, soul as well as demon, to Evil, his first target would naturally be Buffy..."
"I'll speak to her...But she meets Gretchen and hears the whole story..."
"We've no intention of keeping anything from her..." Giles said.
"But what about Angel?And your son?" Andrew turned to Roger. "We're not just going to sit around and wait to see if he's turned are we?"
"We've considered a possible plan of action..." Giles noted.