Six Words
SUMMARY: The much asked for (well…two ppl at least…) sequel to 'Balance Restored'. Everyone's reactions to their own letters.
It would definitely help if you read the first one and the little companion piece that goes with it.
SPOILERS: S7, up to 'Showtime'.
DISCLAIMER: *sighs* do we really have to do this again? Yes. Oh, fine. They're not mine.
NOTE: I haven't been keeping up with AtS, mainly cos I really can't be bothered until it actually airs in Australia. So…I'm gonna take big liberties when I get up the Angel stuff. I'll put another note in there when I get up to it.
ONWARDS:
PROLOGUE
The house was quiet when the Slayers-in-Training awoke. The sun was barely showing in the sky, peeking through the clouds every few seconds, then ducking behind them again. Four out of the five SIT's were slowly becoming more awoke down in the living room whilst the fifth SIT was upstairs sharing a room with the redheaded best friend of the Slayer.
The Slayer's other best friend, a lanky brown haired boy with a ready smile and a joking nature was bunked on the couch to watch over the SIT's while Buffy was out of the house.
The Slayer's younger sister was up in the Slayer's room, watching over a platinum haired vampire that was only just beginning to regain consciousness. None of the SIT's really understood why the Slayer had taken so many measures to ensure the safety of a vampire, but they had seen the Slayer destroy the Turokhan and were therefore fairly confident that the Slayer knew what she was doing.
What they didn't know, however, was that the Slayer wasn't in the house with them. She'd left an hour earlier, walking towards the hellmouth with determination and a little trepidation. What they also didn't know was that the First had now been completely banished from the earthly plain and would no longer be trying to kill them off one-by-one.
The first SIT to awaken completely was an African-American girl, young, only about thirteen, by the name of Rona. She'd been the last to arrive in the Summers' house. She felt completely safe in the house, even though the house was still slightly in shambles after being completely trashed several days ago. She felt safe because the Slayer had rescued her from certain death before she'd even said a word to Rona.
Rona stretch, accidentally kicking another of the SIT's. The other girl groaned sleepily and rolled over in her sleeping bag, stretching her sore back. She was a British girl of about fourteen with a cockney accent and slightly red hair. She'd been one of the first three SIT's to arrive at the house.
"Sorry Molly," Rona whispered.
Molly blinked a little to adjust to the light and realised that it had been Rona's foot that had awoken her.
"Not a problem," Molly replied. She unzipped her sleeping bag and sat up cross legged, looking around the slightly darkened room. Her gaze fell on a taller girl that usually wore a beret. The only time she was without it was when she slept.
The taller girl, an American of about fifteen, Vi, awoke slowly. She looked over to Molly and gave a sleepy wave.
"What time is it?" Vi asked, her voice deepened by fatigue.
"Just after seven," Molly replied.
Vi groaned, feeling it was far too early to be awake. The groan awakened a shorter brown haired girl, Chloe who was about fourteen. Chloe sighed, not liking being awoken.
"Do we gotta get up?" Chloe moaned.
"Do we have to," Molly corrected, "and yes, we probably should."
Xander rolled over, having being slightly awake before they had started speaking. He opened one eye and saw that the girls looked as though they were getting ready to get up/
"Morning," Xander mumbled, forcing himself to sit up.
He couldn't believe how tired he was. He didn't know how the Slayer could live with so little sleep. She'd seemed so awake during the battle, and Xander was exhausted from just watching it.
"Morning Xander," the others replied.
Now almost fully awoke, the girls stood and made their way to the kitchen, most of their stomachs growling insistently, Xander following them, rubbing his eyes blearily. They met the two fully dressed figures of the fifth Slayer in training as well as the Slayer's redheaded best friend.
"Morning guys," the redhead said brightly.
"Hey Willow," the girls replied. "Morning Kennedy."
The fifth SIT, Kennedy, an attractive seventeen year old waved her greeting to the girls.
"You guys hungry?" Willow asked.
As though on cue, Kennedy's stomach growled audibly, causing the other SIT's to begin laughing. Willow grinned at the girl who she was beginning to have feelings for. "I'll take that as a yes." Kennedy smiled sheepishly, and followed as the others went into the kitchen.
The first to enter, Molly, stopped short when she saw the two slumped figures in the kitchen.
"Mr Giles?" Molly asked quietly.
The British Watcher barely heard the girls come in. His eyes were beginning to hurt from trying to keep his tears at bay. He was concentrating on his breathing so that he wouldn't have to concentrate on the truth about his Slayer. He was concentrating on anything rather than the fact that he no longer had a Slayer.
The four other SIT's loitered behind Molly, unsure of what to do. They didn't know the Watcher all that well, and they really didn't know his companion well at all, except to know that she spoke very truthfully and with very little tact most of the time. And that she'd been a demon at one stage.
Willow and Xander pushed through to the front, their stomachs dropping almost instantly when they saw her two friends sitting at the table, desolately.
"Giles?" Willow reached out to touch his shoulder, startling Giles out of his trance. He looked up at them and tried to give Willow a smile.
"Are you alright?" Rona asked from behind Molly.
The Watcher nodded and forced himself to stand up, trying not to let his shoulders slump with defeat. How ironic, he thought to himself. Defeated when we've just won the biggest battle of our lives.
Rona looked towards the young woman beside Giles, who had her head bowed. The SIT looked at the other four, wondering what to do.
"Should we maybe get Buffy?" Rona asked quietly. "She'd know what to do."
The Watcher, Rupert Giles, very nearly broke down at the whispered name of his Slayer. Yes, his Slayer would have known what to do for him, but his Slayer was no more. He was no longer her Watcher.
"You can't," came the strangled reply from the young woman at the counter. The ex-demon, Anya Jenkins, finally looked up. The four SIT's shifted uncomfortably as they saw that the older girl had tears running down her face.
"What do you mean 'we can't' Anya?" Willow asked nervously, afraid that she already knew the answer. "Did she go out? Isn't it too early for her to be at work?"
Anya stood up and forced herself to meet Willow's eyes. She saw the fear on the redheaded girls face and knew that now was not the time for accusations. Besides which, Anya had been just as much at fault as Willow had been. Anya glanced quickly at Xander and decided she didn't like the desolate in his eyes anymore than she liked the same look that was residing in Willow's.
"I mean, we can't get her, because she's gone to destroy the First," Anya replied.
The five SIT's looked at each other in shock. They hadn't been excepting for that to happen. They'd expected to at least be included in the battle.
"By herself?" Kennedy asked, feeling a little slighted at being left out.
Anya nodded, but kept her eyes trained on Willow.
"How could she defeat the first without any help?" Molly asked curiously. She'd known that the Slayer was strong, but to have her go off by herself and destroy something like the first just seemed amazing.
"Because, the only way to get rid of the First was to kill the thing that allowed the First to be here in the first place," Anya explained.
"So, what'd she hafta kill?" Rona asked, not aware of the serious tension in the room between Willow and Anya. "A demon? Vampire? Another of those Turokan thingies?"
Anya swallowed hard and forced herself not to cry as she replied to Rona's question without looking at the young girl.
"Herself. She had to kill herself."
Silence reigned for a matter of seconds before the five SIT's burst out with questions that were indecipherable in the babble of noise that erupted.
"Herself?" "Killed?" "No!" "She can't!" "Allowed the First to be here?" "Buffy…" "She can't be dead!"
The shattering of a glass cup shocked them all into silence again as they turned to look at Giles who had just thrown a glass of water across the room at the door in his anger and frustration. Without a word, the Watcher left the room, unable to deal with the questions, the noise, the fact that his 'daughter' was dead.
He stalked past the group and walked briskly up the stairs, desperate to get as far away from the SIT's as possible.
The SIT's turned their attention to Willow, Xander and Anya; Willow and Xander in tears and Anya barely able to contain her own.
"It was 'cos of the spell, wasn't it?" Willow whispered.
Anya nodded. "Yeah. 'Cos of our spell."
Their audience looked at each other in confusion. Spell?
"How did you find out?" Xander managed to ask.
"Giles and I went to visit the Beljoxes Eye. It told us that the balance was off. And the only way to have it rebalanced, was…"
"To destroy the variable," Willow finished.
Willow went silent for a moment, trying to process this information. She'd brought the Slayer back and because of that the First had started creating chaos amongst the SIT's and their Watchers. As guilt threatened to overwhelm her, another important thought came to her mind.
"Where's Dawnie?"
"Up with Spike," Anya replied.
Willow nodded and felt the urge to go and see the younger girl, the only familial link to the Slayer. Willow pushed past the five SIT's to make her way upstairs to the Slayers room where the blonde vampire, spike, William the Bloody, was resting quietly. Anya and Xander followed her up the stairs and into the room, neither of them wanting to be left out.
Willow walked inside, surprised to see Giles in the room as well. Spike was lying on the bed, propped up by pillows, Dawn sobbing on his chest with the vampire's arms around her comfortingly. Giles was seated in the desk chair, a blank look on his face. It was obvious that the Slayer's younger sister already knew the fate that had been handed to the Chosen One.
Spike was the only one to notice the redhead and the (currently) blonde girls as well as the dark haired boy. He gave them what was meant to be a comforting smile, but it ended up shaky and sad.
"You three orright?"
Willow shook her head, afraid to speak for fear that she would just begin talking about how badly she felt. Spike shifted his legs, moving slowly. Willow realised that he'd made room at the end of the bed for her, and she gratefully sat down. She hadn't realised how weak at the knees she felt.
The Slayer's younger sister looked up as the bed shifted slightly. She saw Willow's tears and let go of Spike to give Willow a hug. Willow hugged the younger girl, the Key to Dimensions, a young sixteen year old girl named Dawn.
They hugged for what seemed like hours. Dawn finally pulled back and stood up, moving over to the desk. She picked up several pieces of paper and walked back to the group. She handed them each a small slip of paper that held only six words on each.
"They're from Buffy," Dawn whispered, her voice sore and tired.
The gang nodded mutely and unfolded their papers, reading the final words of the Slayer, Buffy Summers.