By request, I made a follow-up chapter. As soon as I
created this, my Beta reader (Katrina) decided that I should do a reaction post. Well,
apparently she's not the only one.
May contain some dialogue from "Chosen" and "Empty Spaces", when Anya
does her favorite "you were blah blah blah" speech - ignore the spoilage.
Doesn't really contain any anyway. Enjoy!
Reviews are most welcome.
* * * * *
Epitaph, Part II
The small double suite of room 221 in the Best Western East, Cleveland
was crowded with scoobies. They all were waiting impatiently as Andrew dramatically opened
his video camera and pulled out the tape. "Ta-da!" he said triumphantly.
The entire room groaned. Buffy, Faith, Giles, Willow, Kennedy, Xander
and Dawn were all gathered on the two beds, popcorn and sodas in tow for what Andrew had
promised to be an entertaining experience. The other slayers were out in the other two
bedrooms the group had rented until they could find their home and Principal Wood was at
work as deputy superintendant of the Cleveland school district.
Andrew slipped the tape inside the borrowed VCR and pressed play.
Immediately, Andrew's face was seen as he confessed to killing his best friend. With a
quick apology, he seized the remote from Xander and fast forwarded it to the end of his
speech.
"Now we have quality entertainment," Xander quipped, raising
his fist in glee. Buffy and Faith, sitting side-by-side on the bed Buffy shared with Dawn,
rolled their eyes.
"Quiet!" Andrew hushed them, waiting for Anya's speech.
Suddenly, Anya sprang to life.
"What the hell?" Faith muttered, but Xander quietly hushed
her.
And they watched in silence.
* * *
Even five minutes after the tape had ended, there wasn't a dry eye in
the room. Even Faith, usually emotionally cool, had wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her
denim jacket.
"Wow," Buffy finally said, staring at the television screen.
"Wow indeed," said Xander, sounding awed. "That's my
girl, always doing the stupid thing."
"It wasn't so stupid," Dawn protested, feebly wiping her own
tears away. "She was always insulting us. She was always using her wit and sarcasm to
put us down. And now, she shows herself."
"She was a very vulnerable woman," Giles replied, removing
his glasses to clean them. "We just never knew how much."
Xander finally took the remote from Andrew and pressed stop. "I
don't know about the rest of you, but seeing her face a few months after she... died... it
makes things so much easier. It's so much easier when she says goodbye first."
That started Dawn on another tear rampage. Faith quickly shoved the
kleenex box toward her.
"She did," Buffy said, her voice sounding somewhat tight as
she turned to Willow. "Will?"
"She said that you were luckier than all of us, that whenever we
needed a leader, you were automatically chosen. And she finally admits that you were
chosen for a reason, Buffy. You died twice and you're still standing. If you could inspire
loyalty from a thousand-year-old ex-demon, who can't?"
Buffy nodded, feeling a deep resolve inside herself. Even after Spike's
death, Anya's hadn't quite reached her yet. But now it was beginning to take its toll.
"I loved her," Xander burst out. Willow leaned over the bed
that Faith had and took Xander's hand. "I still do."
"She wasn't a slayer. She probably predates a lot of them. But she
had the power of her choice, and her choice was to follow you," Willow said softly,
turning back to Buffy. "She died stronger than she ever was, because she believed in
something other than death, darkness and the eternal torment of men, and that was the
power that is you."
Buffy tried to smile and cast a glance at Faith, who closed her mouth.
"She wasn't much of a slayer, but she was one hell of a woman."
There was a collective group of smiles around the room.
"I miss her," Andrew whined.
"We all do," Xander said, clapping Andrew's shoulder as he
stood up. "We all will."
Buffy and Faith got to their feet, glancing at the buckets of discarded
popcorn. "Who wants to do a movie?" Faith asked. "There's a rippin' new
show down at the Cineplex. Buffy?"
"Yeah," she said, reaching for her jacket. "Let's
go."
They all began to crowd out of the room, one by one. Xander hung back
though, shouting "Be along in a minute!" and took Andrew's arm. "Do you
think I could have your tape? Or could you make a copy of it?"
"Yeah," said Andrew, ejecting the tape and handing it with a
shaking hand back to Xander. "Xander?"
"Yeah?" Xander replied, turning around.
"She said your name," Andrew admitted in a low voice.
"After the screaming, after she fell, she said your name. Before she died, the last
thoughts she had were of you."
Xander tried to smile, yet his mouth wouldn't form. Setting the tape
aside, he would watch it again, later, when they had returned from the movie.
But for now, it was time to move on.
