Title: Full Circle of Life
Chapter: The Calling/True Destiny
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: First Four Series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy. I would buy the show but I am broke.
Summary: Buffy's death results in a paradox. Years later Buffy and Xander are uniquely cursed by a demon; can they survive to fulfil a destiny that had already come to pass? (Not a post Gift Fic.)
AN: No Glory, no Dawn, and no Dracula. Riley died in the big battle *_* means Spell, '_' means thought "_" means speech.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: Jungles of Cambodia
Date/Time: August 12th 1997, Early Evening
Two people lay dieing on the floor of the jungle, surrounded by almost ninety dead demons. Both looked middle aged, the woman with long, flowing blond hair and deep green eyes, the man with short brown hair and soulful brown eyes. They were covered in wounds from the fight but it was the poison from the stab wounds that were killing them. The man had been stabbed in the thigh while the woman had her stab wound located in her stomach. They reached out and held each other's hand.
"I love you." The man croaked with his last breath.
"I know." The woman replied. "See you in a few months, Xand."
With those final words, Elizabeth 'Buffy' Anne Summers died alone.
********
Location: Summers' Residence, LA, California
Date/Time: Exact Same Time
Buffy slept peacefully, dreaming of her normal life. Suddenly her dreams faded and were replaced with nightmares of crosses, fire, dust, blood, vampires, demons and death. Unbeknownst to her, Buffy had just been called as the Slayer.
********
Location: Sunnydale Memorial Park, Sunnydale, California
Date/Time: December 10th, 2000, 12:45pm
Buffy and Xander were walking through Sunnydale Memorial Park, just spending time together, and trying to fix a slightly strained friendship. The sun shone down upon them and they seemed carefree.
A bystander would not guess that a few days before they had risked their lives to stop a cybernetic-demoniac hybrid and an army of demons and vampires, assisted by a covert military group of demon hunters and a neutered Master Vampire, who can not harm any humans. Neither would the bystander guess that it was a fairly normal occurrence for them.
As they wandered, they did not know that they were being observed. When Xander and Buffy reached a secluded part of the park that they knew well, from patrol, they were confronted with a demon. The demon was small and looked puny compared to some of the other demons that they had faced, Xander thought he could beat this demon in a fight. Unlike most other demons, however, this demon was smart and cunning.
"Hello Slayer." The demon said.
"Um. Hi." Buffy responded almost automatically.
The demon began to chant almost immediately and Buffy and Xander had no idea what was going on.
*Through time and space shall you pass, Past is the Future, the Future is Past, Lost in time, life on the line, Live, Fight, Work, All, Till the Slayer comes full circle.*
The demon repeated the words three times before either of them could do anything and with the last word, Buffy and Xander were consumed by darkness. When the darkness cleared they were no longer in Sunnydale.
********
Location: Not Sunnydale
Date/Time: Not December 10th, 2000, 12:45pm
Buffy and Xander were lying on the ground in the middle of a meadow when they awoke, with the early morning sun barely cresting the horizon. Looking around they saw evidence, in the form of smoke, of human habitation to the North-East. After checking their weapon situation (three stakes and two knives), Xander grabbing the larger knife and one stake, leaving the rest for Buffy, they headed for the settlement.
They moved cautiously through the peaceful countryside and quickly came in sight of the settlement. The settlement was a small village, the huts made of lumber and sun dried mud with thatched roofs and the villagers wearing cured hide clothing. Buffy and Xander reached the village just before noon, having viewed it from a hilltop a few miles away and approaching cautiously.
They noticed spears with bronze points scattered about the village and meat roasting over a communal fire. Over the hilltop on the far side of the village, Buffy saw movement and quickly realised that it was a group of five, fairly large demons.
"RUN!" Buffy shouted as she sprinted into the village, closely followed by Xander.
At first the villagers stared at Buffy and Xander, and then they saw where Buffy was pointing, at the charging demons, and ran the opposite way. Buffy and Xander prepared for a fight, each grabbing one spear, and Xander knelt down, grabbed a handful of earth, rubbed it into his palm and smelt it. Buffy stared at him like he was insane.
"What? So I liked Gladiator." Xander said with a grin.
"We are going to have a talk." Buffy said in reply.
The demons continued to charge and the leading two were taken down by thrown spears as soon as they were in range. As they closed, one of the demons went after Xander, who faced it with his knife and stake at the ready, and the other two went after Buffy, who crippled one by throwing her knife into its kneecap. Buffy ducked under the wild swing by the demon, which expected back up from his buddy, caught the follow-up kick and knocked it to the ground by shattering the kneecap of its supporting leg.
Meanwhile Xander had blocked several punches and kicks from his demon, managing to disable one of its arms by introducing the bicep to his stake and cutting it a couple of time with the knife. Buffy quickly stabbed her first demon in the heart with a stake and moved onto the second as it pulled the knife out of its knee. Buffy moved forward, cautious of the knife which the demon held, and she noticed Xander capitalise on a mistake made by his demon opponent that allowed him to drive his knife through the demon's heart.
Buffy could not get an advantage against the last demon, which appeared to be the strongest of the group, so she kept its attention and allowed Xander to slip up behind it and slit its throat with his knife. Both Buffy and Xander looked around, gathered up their weapons, checked that the demons were dead and then finally relaxed, until they heard the cheer.
When they realised it was just the villagers they relaxed again, Buffy clutched her bruised ribs, where the last demon had gotten in a blow, and Xander had a few scratches on his arms from hid demon's claws. They were treated very well, shown to a hut which, they gathered from the hand gestures, they were given for at least the night and were brought food.
********
Location: Small Village (Unknown Location)
Date/Time: Late Afternoon, Same Day
Several hours later two men entered the hut to show them something. One of the men gave them each a small carved figurine, of themselves, to keep, at least he protested when they tried to return them. Both figurines were in fighting positions, the little Buffy wielding a stake, about to deliver an overhand blow, in typical vampire staking position, while the representation of Xander had a stake in his left hand, in a guard position, and a knife in his right, held low and in position to strike. They both recognised the stances as what they had done earlier.
The other man showed them a carved stone tablet, which the two men treated with reverence, which depicted a representation of the earlier fight. It showed Buffy and Xander, their faces recognisable, fighting back to back against a horde of demons that surrounded them, and while not technically accurate, it was a touching gesture.
Once shown, the two men bowed and carried the tablet out of the tent, leaving Buffy and Xander alone till dinner was delivered a short while later.
********
Location: Giles' Apartment, Sunnydale, California
Date/Time: December 10th, 2000, 4:15pm
"Buffy and Xander are missing!" Willow declared as she and Tara entered Giles' apartment.
"What? Are you sure?" Giles said looking up from the recently acquired book he was perusing.
"Yes. We were supposed to meed an hour and a quarter ago, we've look all over the place." Willow said with genuine concern.
Giles glanced down at the page he had turned to as the two witches had entered.
"Good Lord." Giles exclaimed. "It can't be. Oh my."
Tara walked to the almost catatonic Watcher then looked down at the book and gasped. There on the page was an engraving of two figures fighting demons. The caption underneath was strange and Tara read it aloud.
"This sixteenth centaury wood engraving is based on a discovered stone carving of unknown origin. It is believed to be a depiction of an early pairing of a Watcher and a Slayer, however there is the possibility that this is one of the only depictions and evidence of the existence of the demonic myth of two eternal warriors known as 'The Couple' who have been reported to have hunted down demonic forces for several thousand years."
The shocking thing about the engraving was that the two figures were recognisable as Buffy and Xander.
"I think we just figured out where Buffy and Xander went." Tara said, showing Willow the engraving. "They're in the past."
********
Location: Offices of Angel Investigations, LA, California
Date/Time: December 10th, 2000, 4:30pm
"Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless." Cordelia said into the phone.
"Cordy. This is Giles; I need to speak to Angel. It is of the utmost import." Came Giles' voice over the phone.
"Fine, I'll put him on. And couldn't you just say it was important." Cordelia said, before handing the phone to Angel.
"Angel." The souled vampire said.
"Angel. This is important. What do you know about 'The Couple'?"
"'The Couple' are supposed to be total kick ass demon hunters. Every demon was afraid of them, those that believed anyway. Why?" Angel inquired.
"I have reason to believe that Buffy and Xander may, in some way, be related to the myth of 'The Couple'" Giles said nervously.
"Impossible Giles. 'The Couple' are thousands of years old." Angel said dismissively.
"Yes, quite. Except that Buffy and Xander have disappeared and we have found an engraving based on an ancient carving that clearly depicts them in battle with demons. It appears that they have gone back in time." Giles said.
"Um, Giles. This is Cordy. Angel appears to have fainted. What's going on?" Cordelia demanded down the phone.
"We have reason to believe that Xander and Buffy have gone back in time and are a demon hunting duo know as 'The Couple'"
"Thank you Giles. If you don't mind, I'm going to hang up now and then faint. Call again soon."
True to her word, Cordelia calmly hung up the phone and then fainted dead away.
********
Location: Small Village (Unknown Location)
Date/Time: Early Morning, Twenty Years Later
Buffy walked slowly through the village, receiving and giving greetings to her friends. Buffy and Xander had quickly picked up the language that the villagers used, a rather simplistic language that they suspected was the root language for sever 'Ancient Languages' that they knew about through Giles.
The previous night, after a lengthy discussion in English about what they were doing and possible ramifications of the spell that had been cast upon them, they had decided that they had to leave the village to find any answers. Over the twenty years they had lived in the village, they had rarely spoken English, only between themselves and for concepts not expressible in the villager's language.
Another reason they had decided to leave was the fact that at first they had aged normally, until they reached the age of thirty-five. They had not visibly aged a day in the last four years, and they had a feeling that they would never age any farther. Buffy ducked through the doorway of the hut that had been her home, with Xander for the last twenty years and saw Xander packing all their belongings.
After that first day, all those years ago, Buffy and Xander had not worn their cloths from 2000AD; they wore cured leather like the other villagers, however they had kept their future clothing until they had disintegrated, and they also never let the steel knives out of their possession, for fear that they might inadvertently change the future or create a scandal when an archaeologist finds an 'ancient' knife made in Korea in 1999.
Xander had bundled her clothing, share of the weapons, including two bronze tipped spears, and her figurine on her bed and was finishing tying the straps on his bundles. Buffy slipped the figurine into her belt pouch, slung the bundle of clothing, with one of the spears attached, over her shoulder, but with the spear easily accessible, took up the other spear as a walking staff and looked around.
Xander was adjusting how his bundle sat on his shoulder and absently twirling his spear/walking staff. After giving a final goodbye to the villagers, Buffy and Xander walked off, coincidently in the same direction that they had initially approached the village from. Taking one last look at their home for the prior two decades, the two travellers started down the far slope of the hill and out of sight of the village.
TBC.
Chapter: The Calling/True Destiny
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: First Four Series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy. I would buy the show but I am broke.
Summary: Buffy's death results in a paradox. Years later Buffy and Xander are uniquely cursed by a demon; can they survive to fulfil a destiny that had already come to pass? (Not a post Gift Fic.)
AN: No Glory, no Dawn, and no Dracula. Riley died in the big battle *_* means Spell, '_' means thought "_" means speech.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: Jungles of Cambodia
Date/Time: August 12th 1997, Early Evening
Two people lay dieing on the floor of the jungle, surrounded by almost ninety dead demons. Both looked middle aged, the woman with long, flowing blond hair and deep green eyes, the man with short brown hair and soulful brown eyes. They were covered in wounds from the fight but it was the poison from the stab wounds that were killing them. The man had been stabbed in the thigh while the woman had her stab wound located in her stomach. They reached out and held each other's hand.
"I love you." The man croaked with his last breath.
"I know." The woman replied. "See you in a few months, Xand."
With those final words, Elizabeth 'Buffy' Anne Summers died alone.
********
Location: Summers' Residence, LA, California
Date/Time: Exact Same Time
Buffy slept peacefully, dreaming of her normal life. Suddenly her dreams faded and were replaced with nightmares of crosses, fire, dust, blood, vampires, demons and death. Unbeknownst to her, Buffy had just been called as the Slayer.
********
Location: Sunnydale Memorial Park, Sunnydale, California
Date/Time: December 10th, 2000, 12:45pm
Buffy and Xander were walking through Sunnydale Memorial Park, just spending time together, and trying to fix a slightly strained friendship. The sun shone down upon them and they seemed carefree.
A bystander would not guess that a few days before they had risked their lives to stop a cybernetic-demoniac hybrid and an army of demons and vampires, assisted by a covert military group of demon hunters and a neutered Master Vampire, who can not harm any humans. Neither would the bystander guess that it was a fairly normal occurrence for them.
As they wandered, they did not know that they were being observed. When Xander and Buffy reached a secluded part of the park that they knew well, from patrol, they were confronted with a demon. The demon was small and looked puny compared to some of the other demons that they had faced, Xander thought he could beat this demon in a fight. Unlike most other demons, however, this demon was smart and cunning.
"Hello Slayer." The demon said.
"Um. Hi." Buffy responded almost automatically.
The demon began to chant almost immediately and Buffy and Xander had no idea what was going on.
*Through time and space shall you pass, Past is the Future, the Future is Past, Lost in time, life on the line, Live, Fight, Work, All, Till the Slayer comes full circle.*
The demon repeated the words three times before either of them could do anything and with the last word, Buffy and Xander were consumed by darkness. When the darkness cleared they were no longer in Sunnydale.
********
Location: Not Sunnydale
Date/Time: Not December 10th, 2000, 12:45pm
Buffy and Xander were lying on the ground in the middle of a meadow when they awoke, with the early morning sun barely cresting the horizon. Looking around they saw evidence, in the form of smoke, of human habitation to the North-East. After checking their weapon situation (three stakes and two knives), Xander grabbing the larger knife and one stake, leaving the rest for Buffy, they headed for the settlement.
They moved cautiously through the peaceful countryside and quickly came in sight of the settlement. The settlement was a small village, the huts made of lumber and sun dried mud with thatched roofs and the villagers wearing cured hide clothing. Buffy and Xander reached the village just before noon, having viewed it from a hilltop a few miles away and approaching cautiously.
They noticed spears with bronze points scattered about the village and meat roasting over a communal fire. Over the hilltop on the far side of the village, Buffy saw movement and quickly realised that it was a group of five, fairly large demons.
"RUN!" Buffy shouted as she sprinted into the village, closely followed by Xander.
At first the villagers stared at Buffy and Xander, and then they saw where Buffy was pointing, at the charging demons, and ran the opposite way. Buffy and Xander prepared for a fight, each grabbing one spear, and Xander knelt down, grabbed a handful of earth, rubbed it into his palm and smelt it. Buffy stared at him like he was insane.
"What? So I liked Gladiator." Xander said with a grin.
"We are going to have a talk." Buffy said in reply.
The demons continued to charge and the leading two were taken down by thrown spears as soon as they were in range. As they closed, one of the demons went after Xander, who faced it with his knife and stake at the ready, and the other two went after Buffy, who crippled one by throwing her knife into its kneecap. Buffy ducked under the wild swing by the demon, which expected back up from his buddy, caught the follow-up kick and knocked it to the ground by shattering the kneecap of its supporting leg.
Meanwhile Xander had blocked several punches and kicks from his demon, managing to disable one of its arms by introducing the bicep to his stake and cutting it a couple of time with the knife. Buffy quickly stabbed her first demon in the heart with a stake and moved onto the second as it pulled the knife out of its knee. Buffy moved forward, cautious of the knife which the demon held, and she noticed Xander capitalise on a mistake made by his demon opponent that allowed him to drive his knife through the demon's heart.
Buffy could not get an advantage against the last demon, which appeared to be the strongest of the group, so she kept its attention and allowed Xander to slip up behind it and slit its throat with his knife. Both Buffy and Xander looked around, gathered up their weapons, checked that the demons were dead and then finally relaxed, until they heard the cheer.
When they realised it was just the villagers they relaxed again, Buffy clutched her bruised ribs, where the last demon had gotten in a blow, and Xander had a few scratches on his arms from hid demon's claws. They were treated very well, shown to a hut which, they gathered from the hand gestures, they were given for at least the night and were brought food.
********
Location: Small Village (Unknown Location)
Date/Time: Late Afternoon, Same Day
Several hours later two men entered the hut to show them something. One of the men gave them each a small carved figurine, of themselves, to keep, at least he protested when they tried to return them. Both figurines were in fighting positions, the little Buffy wielding a stake, about to deliver an overhand blow, in typical vampire staking position, while the representation of Xander had a stake in his left hand, in a guard position, and a knife in his right, held low and in position to strike. They both recognised the stances as what they had done earlier.
The other man showed them a carved stone tablet, which the two men treated with reverence, which depicted a representation of the earlier fight. It showed Buffy and Xander, their faces recognisable, fighting back to back against a horde of demons that surrounded them, and while not technically accurate, it was a touching gesture.
Once shown, the two men bowed and carried the tablet out of the tent, leaving Buffy and Xander alone till dinner was delivered a short while later.
********
Location: Giles' Apartment, Sunnydale, California
Date/Time: December 10th, 2000, 4:15pm
"Buffy and Xander are missing!" Willow declared as she and Tara entered Giles' apartment.
"What? Are you sure?" Giles said looking up from the recently acquired book he was perusing.
"Yes. We were supposed to meed an hour and a quarter ago, we've look all over the place." Willow said with genuine concern.
Giles glanced down at the page he had turned to as the two witches had entered.
"Good Lord." Giles exclaimed. "It can't be. Oh my."
Tara walked to the almost catatonic Watcher then looked down at the book and gasped. There on the page was an engraving of two figures fighting demons. The caption underneath was strange and Tara read it aloud.
"This sixteenth centaury wood engraving is based on a discovered stone carving of unknown origin. It is believed to be a depiction of an early pairing of a Watcher and a Slayer, however there is the possibility that this is one of the only depictions and evidence of the existence of the demonic myth of two eternal warriors known as 'The Couple' who have been reported to have hunted down demonic forces for several thousand years."
The shocking thing about the engraving was that the two figures were recognisable as Buffy and Xander.
"I think we just figured out where Buffy and Xander went." Tara said, showing Willow the engraving. "They're in the past."
********
Location: Offices of Angel Investigations, LA, California
Date/Time: December 10th, 2000, 4:30pm
"Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless." Cordelia said into the phone.
"Cordy. This is Giles; I need to speak to Angel. It is of the utmost import." Came Giles' voice over the phone.
"Fine, I'll put him on. And couldn't you just say it was important." Cordelia said, before handing the phone to Angel.
"Angel." The souled vampire said.
"Angel. This is important. What do you know about 'The Couple'?"
"'The Couple' are supposed to be total kick ass demon hunters. Every demon was afraid of them, those that believed anyway. Why?" Angel inquired.
"I have reason to believe that Buffy and Xander may, in some way, be related to the myth of 'The Couple'" Giles said nervously.
"Impossible Giles. 'The Couple' are thousands of years old." Angel said dismissively.
"Yes, quite. Except that Buffy and Xander have disappeared and we have found an engraving based on an ancient carving that clearly depicts them in battle with demons. It appears that they have gone back in time." Giles said.
"Um, Giles. This is Cordy. Angel appears to have fainted. What's going on?" Cordelia demanded down the phone.
"We have reason to believe that Xander and Buffy have gone back in time and are a demon hunting duo know as 'The Couple'"
"Thank you Giles. If you don't mind, I'm going to hang up now and then faint. Call again soon."
True to her word, Cordelia calmly hung up the phone and then fainted dead away.
********
Location: Small Village (Unknown Location)
Date/Time: Early Morning, Twenty Years Later
Buffy walked slowly through the village, receiving and giving greetings to her friends. Buffy and Xander had quickly picked up the language that the villagers used, a rather simplistic language that they suspected was the root language for sever 'Ancient Languages' that they knew about through Giles.
The previous night, after a lengthy discussion in English about what they were doing and possible ramifications of the spell that had been cast upon them, they had decided that they had to leave the village to find any answers. Over the twenty years they had lived in the village, they had rarely spoken English, only between themselves and for concepts not expressible in the villager's language.
Another reason they had decided to leave was the fact that at first they had aged normally, until they reached the age of thirty-five. They had not visibly aged a day in the last four years, and they had a feeling that they would never age any farther. Buffy ducked through the doorway of the hut that had been her home, with Xander for the last twenty years and saw Xander packing all their belongings.
After that first day, all those years ago, Buffy and Xander had not worn their cloths from 2000AD; they wore cured leather like the other villagers, however they had kept their future clothing until they had disintegrated, and they also never let the steel knives out of their possession, for fear that they might inadvertently change the future or create a scandal when an archaeologist finds an 'ancient' knife made in Korea in 1999.
Xander had bundled her clothing, share of the weapons, including two bronze tipped spears, and her figurine on her bed and was finishing tying the straps on his bundles. Buffy slipped the figurine into her belt pouch, slung the bundle of clothing, with one of the spears attached, over her shoulder, but with the spear easily accessible, took up the other spear as a walking staff and looked around.
Xander was adjusting how his bundle sat on his shoulder and absently twirling his spear/walking staff. After giving a final goodbye to the villagers, Buffy and Xander walked off, coincidently in the same direction that they had initially approached the village from. Taking one last look at their home for the prior two decades, the two travellers started down the far slope of the hill and out of sight of the village.
TBC.