Back at the magic shop, Giles was just going through all of
his "personal collection" books that he had hidden in the shop. Willow, feeling extremely guilty and like a
very bad person, was going through them with him and deciding which ones she
was going to keep. Suddenly, barely
thirty minutes after she and Tara left, Buffy returned in a resounding tone of
bells and red light.
"Hey guys! Watch ya
doin'?" Buffy asked casually, as she used to when she just walked into the
store. Anya, behind the cash register
replied, "Counting my money." Buffy
grinned.
"So you gave the store to Anya huh? Good call. Never saw anybody go after the buck, and knew enough about the merchandise
as her. I'm sure that Xander's just
thrilled." Buffy said.
"Don't you mean 'Alexander'?" Willow asked in a frigid
voice.
"Cold Red." Buffy stated. Then, she walked up behind the red haired girl and put her hand on the
girls shoulder.
"Willow, I wish that it didn't have to be this way. And I love Giles. He was my father when I didn't have one. And you are right, if I were still regular
Buffy, then I would put up more of a fight to protect him. Well, hate to burst your happy reality
bubble, but I'm not exactly the same Buffy. Especially when it comes to my cousin." Buffy ended the sentence with
the impression of dislike.
Willow stopped what she was doing and turned to Buffy. As though she hadn't heard her, she asked,
"Where's Tara?"
Buffy didn't feel like lying, so she told the truth. "I left her in your room. I also promised her that I would keep you
busy until she had time to sort out what I told her."
"What did you tell her?" Willow asked, slightly outraged
that her former best friend would've told her girlfriend something to
upset the timid blond.
Buffy only looked steadily at Willow and answered, "The
Truth." Willow's anger seemed to
deflate at that and she could only respond in "Oh," and "Well, OK then. I'm sorry I lost my temper."
"Its OK Will. Your
luck with Tara and gods haven't exactly had a good history of late, I know why
you're protective of her. But don't
worry, she's safe and in her room. Besides, I came to finish off the pizzas, you wanna help?" Buffy
offered.
Willow politely declined and nodded to Giles and the stacks
of books they were going through. Buffy
only shrugged and got a slice of pizza, scarfed it, and took another one before
heading back over to Willow and Giles. The books were scattered here and there, none open, but just by looking,
Buffy could tell what contents they held. There was a stack near Willow, one's Buffy imagined she wanted to keep,
and there were still two more boxes by Giles' ankles.
"Looks like that may take a while. Want some help?" Buffy offered again.
"Ofcourse. We'd
appreciate as many hands…" before Giles could finish, Buffy waved her hand at
the books, and in a flash of red and gold sprinkles, the books began to fly
around the room. Or more to the point,
the ones that might as well have been rubbish were thrown to the walls and some
landed in garbage cans, and about thirty or so, including any and all in the
boxes, stacked themselves neatly around Willow. "…as…we…can…get." Giles finished.
"Um, thanks Buffy, but what about the other books?" Willow
asked.
"Oh, those are mostly garbage or stuff you could recite in
your sleep. These are the books that
you'll be needing for the next few weeks. Joshua said he would help you with the research, so I'll let him help
you sort them out." Buffy answered.
"You know, that's the second time that you to have
mentioned me and research. If I'm going
to be a goddess like the rest of you, why do I need to research, I know
everything right?" Willow asked incredulously.
"Well, yes and no. Yes you'll be a goddess, but no, you won't know everything, and you
won't be like the rest of us. You're
kind of special Willow. Even for a
god. See, we can't give you back your
godhood like we can with most of the others, you have to earn it back
yourself. And as a matter of fact, you
will know everything, but only because you researched it and found it out for
yourself. That's probably why you'll be
the last one to be re-awakened. Sorry Will." Buffy explained.
Willow was way beyond confused right now. First, Tara shows up with Buffy, then three
seconds later, in a bolt of lightning, a man claiming to be Buffy's older
brother, and her's as well, and tells them they're all gods. Then Buffy herself tells Giles that he's
gonna die because she needs to counter balance her power with a cousin she
doesn't even like, then she takes Tara off somewhere, shows up half an hour
later saying Tara's safe, but needs time alone to process the "Truth", and she
and this older brother of hers are going to be doing research so that she can
learn everything to become a goddess. Yes, Willow was confused.
Then out of the blue, Buffy asks them, "So, do you guys
still patrol?"
Giles and Willow turned to her, then to each other with
confused looks on their faces. Giles
took the first shot. "Um, well, uh,
on…on-on occasion, yes we still go out, as a group on patrol." Then Willow tried, "Well, ya see Buffy, ever
since you died, things have just kind of gone quiet. I think it was because Glory was the one pulling most of the
strings, and now that she's gone, well, there's not really been much
activity. So, well, we still go out, as
a group, about once a week or so. Then
there is Spike, Xander, and Dawn. They
sometimes visit your grave and if they ever see any then they, you know, poof."
At Willow's ending words, Buffy got a kind of glazed look
over her face. Then it immediately
turned to that of Buffy's "I'm about to start crying, so be ready" face. Her face scrunched and her eyes squeezed
shut. The tears fell after that. Willow immediately switched to "best friend"
mode.
"Buffy what is it?" she cried out as she ran to hug her
friend, sister goddess or not.
Buffy didn't respond at first, and just held onto Willow
for comfort. After a minute or so,
Buffy stopped crying and looked Willow in the eye, tear-stained blotched to
concerned friendly. "Willow, oh God forgive me! Willow, Spike is my son, and I let him get
turned into a vampire!" Buffy exclaimed.
The reaction that anyone would expect was evident in
everyone in the room. Willow's eyes
went wide and her breathing stopped for a minute or two. Giles took off his glasses, rubbed them on
his jacket, rubbed his nose, put the glasses back on, only to take them back
off and put them inside his jacket. Anya stopped counting "her" money and stared wide-eyed at the hugging
pair.
"Come again?" Willow finally managed to get out.
Before Buffy could reply, a flash of pure white light
heralded Joshua's arrival in the shop. "Buffy! What is it?" he yelled
as he came up to his sisters.
Buffy turned her tear-stained face up to the Archangel and
told him. "Spike's a vampire! Because I couldn't protect him! And when I was Buffy, when I was the Slayer
I treated him like dirt! My own son
Joshua! I treated him like he was
nothing! He loved me, and what do I do,
I not only turn him down, I spit in his face and throw insults and make fun of
him! Joshua, he's my son!!"
Joshua immediately knew what the problem was. "Buffy, calm down! Calm down. That's
it. Calm down. Buffy, Spike was given a mortal life and
made his decisions. Admitted, at some
points they may have been the wrong ones, but they were still his
decisions. You can't blame yourself."
"Um, Joshua," Willow looked up at him, still holding
Buffy. "Yes Willow?" he looked back at
her. "Would you mind exactly explaining
how Spike of all people could be Buffy's son?" Willow then gave
him the resolve look. And he paled.
"Well, it's kind of complicated. And definitely…" Joshua began, only to be interrupted by
Buffy. "Not my real, mortal son
Willow. My godhood son. My second actually. He is a god just like us, and many, many
others. Willow…,"
"Maybe we should sit down to talk about this." Joshua
finished for her. Willow nodded, and
they were seated once again at the table, this time with Joshua sitting across
from Buffy and Willow, his two favorite sisters.
"OK. In the
beginning of our Realm, there were out parents, and our Uncle. They are called the Guardians of the
Realm. Now, when it was agreed that Man
would be the creature that lived in our Realm, God said that the Guardians must appoint lesser guardians to
watch over man. And so our Parents had
children." Joshua began.
"I was the first born, at all. And so, I was made an Archangel, as is custom and required of all
Realm Masters' first born. The second
to be born was Ripper, under my Uncle and another joining. Our parents, as you might say, are married
and life-mates. Our Uncle takes
whomever he can get. Next to be born
was Alexander, and almost immediately after him was Buffy, who was declared
Princess of the Gods. Then was Ripper's
younger sister, Tyranny, or Tyra for short. She was said to be the most beautiful of the gods. After that, they started having kids like
crazy. After Buffy, Cordelia was born,
after Cordelia, Gunn, after him, Amalgamy, or Amy, and then Willow, Crow, and
Michael. On Ripper's side, after Tyra,
there's Amanda, who is called the Raven, Jenny, Sarah, Oz, Ellen, Helen and her
twin sister Hellan. And guess what,
here's where it starts to get weird." Joshua continued.
"Hold on for just a minute, Cordelia is one of
us!??" Willow practically shouted.
Buffy and Joshua only nodded. Then Willow snorted, shrugged and muttered, "No wonder I never
liked her that much,"
Joshua gave a lopsided grin and continued on, "Well,
despite having so much family, and gods already, these gods themselves began to
have children, except for five of us. I, being an Archangel am not allowed to so much as touch a woman, if you
know what I mean. Oz, being the animal
man, can't get a woman to come near him, and is said to be the founding father
of the satire and centaur races in our home Realm. Unsubstantiated though. Ellen's gay, and has sworn off having children ever, and the twins,
Helen and Hellan, are, or were anyway, too busy to actually consider family
ties beyond their siblings and cousins."
As Willow noticed that he didn't say her name, her eyes
began to slowly get very, very large. Almost larger than her sockets. "Um, Buffy, why didn't he say my name?" she whispered in a not so soft
whisper that was easily heard, even by Anya.
"Continuing on, Buffy was the first to have a child. She went on to have six more after him. Four daughters, three sons total. Alexander had three daughters, all mortal
and they were great heroes of their times. He has had one son, who was raised to godhood in our Realm by the Holy One Himself. Cordelia has three daughters and two
sons. Gunn has only had mortal children
thus far and since he is the God of Sex, it's not really surprising." Joshua
stopped to gage Willow's reaction.
She barely batted an eyebrow as she stated deadpan, "He's
actually called the god of sex?" Buffy,
who was struggling to keep a straight face, snorted in with-strained laughter.
Joshua blushed and elaborated. "Actually, he's the God of Blessings, and sex is one way to have
children, and having a whole lot of children is considered to be blessed."
Seeing Willow's skeptical look, Joshua cleared his throat
and finished up. "Anyway, moving
on. Amy has four children, two twin
sons, and two twin daughters. Willow,
you have one daughter. Crow is the
father of the immortals in our Realm and can be counted in the hundreds. Michael has one son, who he named
Gabriel. Ripper has only ever had
half-god children who never proved themselves enough to deserve full godhood
and immortality. Tyra has four
children, all immortal, none gods. Amanda is Crow's wife. Jenny has
five sons, two immortal, one a fellow god, and one a hero, the other his complete
opposite. It has been written that
neither will die, except in the hands of the other. And Sarah, she's the mother of another wildlife, the plants and
trees of our Realm. Since she happens
to be an actual tree, don't be too surprised by that."
"Who's my daughter?" Willow asked the moment he finished
talking. Joshua was about to answer
when he caught Buffy's eye. Then he
shut up and just teleported out of there.
"Hey! He can't do
that! Buffy, tell him he can't do
that! He's not supposed to do
that! He should've at least had the
decency to say good bye." She complained. Buffy then got up and picked up a note of white construction paper in
the shape of the star of Bethlehem.
Buffy read the note aloud, after opening it up. "Dear Willow. I'm sorry for leaving like this, but don't worry, we always leave
little explanations in one form or another if we have to leave suddenly. I think I heard something from Oz just now
and like when I heard Buffy crying, I had to check it out immediately. Oh, and if you want to know who your godhood
daughter is, start reading through the books that Buffy picked out for
you. And you might want to get the two
out of the green garbage pail, you'll need about three references out of
them. Love and signed, your first
guardian angel, Joshua."
Buffy smiled as she handed Willow the note. "That was sweet of him, don't you think?"
she asked. Willow only grimaced and
felt like she had just been left out of some loop.
"Buffy, I… I really
don't know what's going on here. I feel
like I've been left out of the loop somehow." Willow expressed her
concerns. "First, Tara shows up with
you walking beside her, looking very, very much alive I might add, and then
three seconds later, this Joshua claiming first to be an Archangel, then your
brother, and then saying that all of us are gods and have to go home with you
two. Buffy…I…I just want things to be
like they were, when you were just my BF that just happened to kill demons and
vampires. Then along came Dawn, and
I'll admit that I was spending more time with Tara, and we just never had time
to spend with each other, ya know?"
Buffy lost some of her perkiness, and sat down next to
Willow. She knew there was no easy
solution to this problem, because it was a problem of the heart, and if there
was anything that she understood at all, it was the heart. "Willow, I'm not…I'm not going to pretend
that everything is peachy keen OK. I'll
never lie to you, and in a way, I never have. The only time that I have lied or hidden something from you is to
protect you. It's the whole big
protective sister thing, ya know? Willow, you've been through a lot these past few weeks, and I figure,
with all that's happened today, you need a break. Know what I'm saying?" Buffy was smiling again. But it
was a smile that Willow always correlated with her best friend, and a very
devious, but fun, plan.
Willow sorted through all the places that Buffy and her had
ever had fun together. Then she sorted
them through with the events that led them to those spots. Only one place went with the current
situation. Willow started shaking her
head, though a smile was beginning to form on her lips.
"No, no way Buffy. I still have classes today, I seriously don't have time to do that,
today and practically all week. It is
exam week next week you know?" Willow tried to divert the goddess from the path
she seemed to be traveling on.
But Buffy the Love Goddess was not listening. She was only smiling and staring at Willow,
a familiar gleam in her eyes. "Buffy,
no! I can't, no! Buffy!!" Willow screamed at the last second
before Buffy took the helpless girl by the arm and teleported them to a special
place that nobody knew about.
Buffy had taken Willow here shortly after the whole "Will
spell" incident. Willow was still in
major grief over Oz just leaving, and she hadn't met Tara yet. Buffy sometimes when on a late patrol or
something took the chance to go to a certain spot in the surrounding forest. It was the top of a hill, just above and
behind the tree line. One could see the
entire town of Sunnydale from this spot. It was actually the spot where Buffy had found Angel, where he had tried
to kill himself by waiting for the sun after he had come back from Hell. Then the snow had come and there was no sun,
Angel was saved and Buffy had given him back some small measure of hope for
continued existence. She came back here
once in a while to remember and appreciate everything she fought for. Was forced to fight for.
When she and Willow materialized, it was still morning, so
didn't quite have the romantic effect that sunset or dawn had with it. But it was still a beautiful spot. When Buffy had brought Willow here the first
time, they had to trek through the forest for nearly an hour. Then they got here just at sunset, and
Willow was stunned into silence. It was
the most beautiful site that the little witch had ever seen. The way the golden sun reflected off the
rocks, made the trees blend into something else with shadows and gold
light. The red clouds, purple sky,
everything there was just so beautiful that no words could ever fully describe
it.
As soon as she took three steps into the clearing, she
broke down and began to sob and cry about everything that had happened to
her. Buffy helped her to stand and told
her the story of the place, how she had tried to give Angel hope. She figured that if she could do it once
with a three hundred year old vampire, then a teenage angst boyfriend missing
hacker/wicca shouldn't be any problem. They spent nearly the entire night talking about things there on that
hill. They learned much about
themselves, more about how they felt about things, and revealed a couple
secrets with promises and blood oaths of secrecy. It was a good memory.
But to Willow, it was only a memory. There was no way that Buffy could bring back
that night, or the feelings when they shared their souls. Besides, this was not her Buffy, not
anymore. In a way, she was kind of
glad, but severely depressed about it. Buffy was no longer the Slayer, and she was even a god, or goddess
really, but that meant she was immortal and she didn't have to worry about
dying or anything like that. But now
what? she asked herself.
"Why did you bring me here Buffy? I told you, I have classes today." Willow exasperated.
"I know, and don't worry, you won't be late or
anything. But you needed your own time
out from things. And if memory serves
correctly, the last time we were both here, it did you some major good in the
emotional relief department." Buffy explained.
"OK, but why did you bring me here? Aside from being slightly overwhelmed about
my best friend not being dead, and telling my girlfriend some "Truth" that Tara
has to spend the rest of the day away from me because of it, well, yeah, I
guess I have been a little stressed." Willow babbled.
"I figured that you could get everything out into the
open. You know, the whole tantrum thing
for dying in the first place and all that. It sort of helped to clear the air when I came back from running away at
the beginning of senior year. Though I
think dealing with the zombies that Mom had unwittingly set upon us had more of
a key element in that." Buffy explained further.
"But, but Buffy, I could never throw a tantrum at you! And that whole zombie thing, you know
fighting the forces of darkness really did have more to do than the party or
getting everything out in the open. Actually, I think that it was the getting everything out in the open
that split us up in the first place, don't you think?" Willow defended.
Buffy only gave the red haired Wicca a look that the young
woman knew well. "Well, OK, yeah, you
did die, and leave all of us with like two weeks of thinking you were dead, and
I had to miss your funeral to get Angel, because I knew that you would want him
to know. I don't know how I knew that
you would want that, just like I still don't know where I got the impression
that you gave me permission to babble this morning…"
"Actually, Willow, I really was there this morning." Buffy
interrupted. "It was the first place
that I appeared after…you know. Then I
saw you, Xander…Dawn. I didn't want any
of you to see me. And I guess, I did
want Tara to see me. And so she
could. I'm still not entirely sure what
happened Willow, but I am so sorry for the pain that I've put you through. My only wish is that I could somehow,
someway take that pain from you."
Willow looked from her seat on the rocks at the standing
red clad goddess. Speaking of which,
"Nice outfit," Willow complimented in a heavy voice. Buffy looked down at the dress and sweater Tara had helped her
pick. She shrugged.
"Tara helped me pick it out. I think it kind of takes after your style of long dresses and
sweaters and stuff. You know," Buffy
commented.
"Yeah," Willow nodded.
Looking closer, and standing and coming up to her "sister",
Willow touched a finger to the gold locket around the woman's neck. "That's a very pretty locket. I don't think I've ever seen you wear
something that wasn't a cross."
Again, Buffy shrugged. "It's my symbol. Almost all of
the gods have at least one. For the
most part, Giles, or Ripper anyway, has the sword, the swords over the shield,
the spear and the sword, and the sword on the battlefield as his symbols. Alexander's symbol is actually one thing,
his sword, Alexiend. It is the purest
symbol of justice in Anton, and any mortal who wields it, or is in the mere
presence of it, is compelled to tell the truth. My symbol, well, I'm the goddess of love, what else would my
symbol be. Everything having to do with
Valentine's Day, and that's me. Well,
me when I have a boyfriend."
Willow broke out in a giggle fit, as did Buffy as they
recalled a certain event. "Hey," Willow
said after she caught her breath, "you, you didn't have anything to do with
that love spell that Xander cast, did you?"
Buffy merely shook her head. "It was entirely his screw up. Though, I gotta admire him for not taking advantage of me when I was
practically throwing myself on him, begging him to undress me. Lucky for both of us that day that, when it
comes to family, he can actually control himself."
Willow nodded. "But
in answer to your question, no, while I was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I never
so much as once had access to a single amount of my godhood powers. Except when I died. See, I still wanted to stay with you guys; I
had more to live for than to die for. So, I guess subconsciously, I tapped into a little of my power, and that
gave me enough of a boost, along with Xander's help, to come back to life with
a whole lot more fighting power than before. I'll show you what I mean tonight when we go on patrol."
"Speaking of patrol," Willow interrupted again, "what about
Spike? He's been at your grave every
night since they put, uh…put it up. Or
in, or…"
Buffy began to laugh again at Willow's inability to express
the proper language. Finally she just
waved Willow off trying to get it exactly right. "I know what you're saying Willow. I guess I'm kind of lucky on that mark that I came back in the
day rather than at night, huh?"
"Well, uh, yeah, I guess," Willow responded. "But what are we going to do about
Spike? I mean, maybe you could go by
his crypt sometime today, you certainly have the time now, huh? I just think that we should work out what
we're going to tell him when he sees you, and how he's your son and
everything. By the way, you never did
tell me who my daughter was."
"No I didn't," Buffy noted, turning around to the woods.
"There's something else bothering you, Buffy. I can tell," Willow observed as she looked
at the goddesses backside. "Why did you
bring me here? This isn't just about
me. Buffy, please, tell me what's going
on?"
Buffy's shoulder's drooped several inches, as she seemed to
sigh. "Angel," was all she said.
Immediately Willow understood every one of the fears the
former Slayer was withholding. "Is
he…?" she asked. Buffy shook her
head. "No, he has his own destiny. He was chosen by the Powers That Be. They just used me, I am the goddess of love,
to help him develop his more caring side. They knew that one day I would have to return, with the others, and they
made arrangements. I suppose that is
why we never really worked out. I know
that you don't remember this, but he was actually turned back into a human
once. We spent a glorious day together,
enjoying each other in body, love, . . . humanity. Then, when we finally killed the demon that had transformed him,
he asked the Powers That Be, the Oracles, to change him back, to turn back time
so that he could stop it from happening. The day never happened. But I
remember, he remembers. I wish I could
tell him. But he can never know Willow,
he can never know. All he can know is
that Cordelia is a goddess, and that she's leaving this Realm for our home. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to
be the one that goes and gets her."
"Why?" Willow asked.
Buffy shrugged once again. "Just a feeling. Plus, despite
our current dissimilarities, Cordelia and I were very good friends, and good
sisters back home. Not as close as you
and I, but still… Also, I'm kind of
close to my other nieces, Cordelia's three daughters. Call it a hunch, but I think that I may have to help them sooner
than I'll have to bring Cordelia back. Just a hunch…" Buffy trailed off. Once again she shrugged and looked at a gold watch that had suddenly
appeared on her wrist as she looked at it.
"Oh, wow, look at the time. It's almost time for your computer engineering class with
Professor Schmidt. Tell you what, I'll
drop us off at the shop so you can pick up any class books you need, I'll grab
the rest of the pizza, and then I'll teleport you to all of your classes
today. We'll be so close that you'll be
sick of me by the afternoon." Buffy grabbed Willow's arm before she could
respond and teleported them in a flash of light and chime of bells back to the
magic shop.
Author's
Note:
Geez
Louise people! I see dozens to hundreds
of stories on here with absolutely no reviews, and twelve hours after I post my
first and only I might add, story, I'm getting at least seven already. I was actually hoping to start a weekly
update for new chapters, like five or six at a time, and maybe a new story each
Friday night, but after Reviews from tony covey, Prince Charon, and Adia ba, I've
decided to put up, early, the next chapter with this message added. I really and honestly appreciate the input,
and Adia ba, actually this was a spur of the moment and I only started writing
this like three weeks ago. I mean I put
this story on here just last night, and I've already finished the next two
chapters and started on the third after. Oh, and tony, sorry to disappoint, but as you can read in this
installment, Angel is just Angel. Instead, try and think of current Sci-fi and popular people that have
identical first names to the gods I've named so far. Characters or real life. Just a small hint; who do you think that Cordelia's three
daughters are going to be? I'll try not
to disappoint or confuse you with upcoming chapters, and I hope to get to Giles/Ripper's
transformation by this Friday. Keep the
support coming, but if you've read this, please don't ask me about updates
anymore, just say you love the story and hope for more. Thank you so much, signed,
(and
not the Archangel)
Joshua