Chapter 1: Monotony
The sun was shining; the day was glorious. But, then again the sun always shone in Sunnydale. Not that it made much difference to the Watcher. Ex- Watcher. He was indoors in his apartment studying the large bound text that they had found in Ben's apartment. It was behind the painting as Buffy had told Dawn to look. The night she died.
It was a Tuesday, so business would be slow. Regardless, the shop would be safe in Anya's hands. She had proven herself to be a more than capable shopkeeper. He felt a twinge of pride at her progress. Then he felt pain, and guilt. He had felt pride at Buffy's progress for five years, and still she had died, doing what she had been chosen to do. He had been naïve, no, arrogant to believe his Slayer would live long enough to retire. "You couldn't even get her to her 21st birthday" he berated himself aloud. "The least you could do is translate this damn book for her." His tone was self- accusatory. He sighed. For three months he had tried to make some sense of one of the many bound pages, especially those booked marked pages. Book marked presumably by the man he had killed. He had had little success.
Holding the book in his hands it looked no different from any other ancient volume he had in his apartment. Brown leather-bound with crinkly, yellow pages, it did not seem spectacular. Nor did the text. But, it was IN ENGLISH. From a cursory glance, Giles could surmise that the book outdated the English language by some years.
Willow and the others had confirmed however that it was written in English. The only drawback was that you couldn't read it. Try as you might, it could not be read. It seemed somehow veiled to human eyes – and inhuman. Spike could not read it either.
Tara and Willow had tried every release and unveiling spell of which either witch had knowledge. Despite their great aptitude and talents for magic, they had yet to achieve any positive results.
Still, he had to try. The damn book was so bloody infuriating! Even if he didn't know a language, he could read another book and translate it. But this – this was right there, in his mother tongue and he couldn't read a word of it, save the title on the cover. It was Latin and read 'Texts of Knowledge'. Oh, that was helpful. Not for the first time he wondered at the peculiarity of a book with a Latin title but with English text as he rooted through a chest. Prying free his prize, a Latin volume titled 'Unveiling The Truth', he set about his task at a trudging pace.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dawn was bored. She had come straight to the Magic Box right after school, in hopes of finding the gang. But Xander was still at work, Giles researching at home, the Wicca pair at college and Spike... well; she hadn't expected to find Spike here anyway. What she had expected was Anya putting her to work sweeping the floor, which she had while she counted money at the till. Dawn didn't like being alone. Not since the night Buffy had... died.
Attempting to escape her designated chore, Dawn tried to manoeuvre Anya into teaching her how to use the till. She was successful, the ex-vengeance demon more than happy to show Dawn the workings of the tool that helped 'store and accumulate cash'.
"You see, Dawnie", Anya beamed, presenting the full till to Dawn. "Cash is the most liquid asset there is. Without cash, a capitalist system like ours wouldn't work. And then we'd be back to bartering hogsheads of mead for plain old hogsheads. Dawn smiled, nodding. Anya was very nice but she was just a little too enamoured with attaining monetary wealth.
The lecture was broken by the arrival of a customer, who Dawn silently praised. Anya went to assist the elderly woman after quickly telling Dawn to "closely watch the customer-shopkeeper interaction". As Anya engaged in conversation with the woman, Dawn quickly reached beneath the counter, into the display case and took a small little blue trinket with little jagged edges, which she promptly hid inside her back pocket.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That night, Tara was watching Dawn at Giles' apartment as he, Willow, Xander, Spike and the BuffyBot patrolled. "I don't get why we have to be here", complained Dawn. "I mean, have you seen the size of Giles' T.V? There's nothing to do here. Its so blah." Tara couldn't help but smile at Dawn's irritation and tried to soften the blow.
"Well, I think I saw an old Parcheesi upstairs, Sweety. Except, it was called 'Libido' or something." Tara smiled again and Dawn couldn't help but reciprocate. "Great, I'll just go get it", said Tara.
As Tara foraged upstairs Dawn found herself aimlessly wandering Giles' apartment. She walked into his study and looked at the open book on his desk. The book Buffy had told her where to find. She knew she couldn't read it, so instead she pulled the little tin trinket she had taken from the shop earlier today. She stared at it. It was a dull blue, not even pretty. But she had taken it.
Lost in her own thoughts, Dawn was startled by Tara's voice right outside the study. She quickly gripped the trinket in her palm, suppressing a little whimper as she pricked herself; a tiny little trickle of blood running down her palm went unnoticed. "I have the game set up, Sweety. But I get to be 'blue', okay?" Relief washed over Dawn as she realised Tara hadn't noticed she was holding anything and she quickly replaced the little trinket back in her pocket as soon as the opportunity arose. She hadn't seen the miniscule drop of blood fall to the open book.
"Any slayage?" asked Dawn as Giles and the others returned, looking rather worn out from patrol.
"Yes, you might say that", wheezed Giles as he moved his hand to the torn sleeve of his jacket. In his other hand, he held a wicked looking half-moon ax, which seemed very dirty.
"GrandPa Watcher had himself an encounter with a vamp", mocked Spike "a very big, thick necked vamp."
"I damn-well killed him, didn't I" said an exasperated Giles matter-of-factly. Spike raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you know what they say, 'Third hack lucky'. Least you got one. Bob the Builder here nearly had a heart-attack trying to keep up with the other one", said Spike indicating Xander, whose hands were on his knees, as he gasped for breath. He mouthed something back at Spike, but the just shook his head and continued panting.
"I think it went swell, Spike killed the most vampires!", exclaimed a happy BuffyBot. Dawn frowned inwardly. Every time she saw the BuffyBot it was a painful reminder that her sister was gone. But she understood the need for the demon-underworld to believe that the Slayer still patrolled Sunnydale and The Hellmouth.
"Yeah, great. Whatever," muttered an unhappy Spike. "Now, tell me Watcher. Why is it we're all here? We've all got homes to go to." Willow and Tara both gave Spike disapproving looks. Giles replied indignantly,
"Actually, Spike, I don't seem to recall inviting you here at all." Spike shrugged, taking a drag from his cigarette and replied
"Well, you know, got to try to keep up with current affairs. Know what I mean?"
Giles turned go upstairs and at least change his shirt before he revealed why he had gathered them here. He wondered how they'd react to his decision to return home to England. As he headed up the stairs he heard Spike ask "Any blood in the fridge?" He chose not to acknowledge the question.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Willow's arm around her shoulders, Tara asked if she had had any problems while patrolling, but was answered by Anya's exclamation of "Problems? Are you nuts? The evil fiends were running away from her!" Anya nodded frantically; eyes wide open. "She was dusting vamps with friggin' fireballs! Right, Xander?" Xander coughed and gave a thumbs up. Tara turned to Willow, a concerned look on her face.
"R-really? You were okay doing that?" Willow seemed a little embarrassed by the attention she was receiving.
"It was nothing really" she tried to reassure Tara. "Just a minor Khaarghian flame spell. Nothing special." Tara made a quick grin and asked,
"Was it, um, extra-flamey?" Willow seemed momentarily shocked but then remembered that nobody else in the room knew what Tara was talking about. With an ear-to-ear grin Willow said, "Sure was."
"What does she mean 'extra-flamey'?" asked Anya. "Is there a less flamey fireball you could have used?" Anya pulled at her jacket's sleeve and said to Willow "cause you singed my jacket! Xander, tell her!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Spike found no blood in Giles' kitchen, but discovered a brandy-bottle in the cabinet. The Bot entered as he poured himself a glass. "Hey, Spike", she said in a cheery tone. "What's that you're drinking?" Spike muttered the answer under his breath, not really caring whether or not she heard. "Brandy? Yep, you like brandy. And Buffy, too", grinned the Bot as Spike grimaced in mental anguish. "How come you don't like to do stuff anymore? I find you very attractive. Spike glared angrily, downing the glass.
"Listen Bot, alright? Red fixed you to stop all that, so bloody stop it!" Spike was leaving the kitchen as she asked why. In the living room, he informed Willow of the Bot's malfunction before grumpily flinging himself onto the nearest couch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Upstairs, Giles in fresh clothes was readying for the unpleasant task at hand. He had been Buffy's Watcher. With her gone, it was time for him to step out of the way and allow the others to lead their own lives. "Alright, Rupert. Steady on", he thought to himself aloud. At the bottom of the stairs he dared a peek into the living room and decided he could use a drink first. Finding the brandy in the kitchen empty, he headed for his study and the scotch he kept there. Reaching above his desk he took the bottle and filled a glass.
Taking a drink, Giles looked at the damn book on the table. He would be taking it with him back to England. Perhaps The Council could – "Oh, my god", he managed to utter as he looked at the page.
The sun was shining; the day was glorious. But, then again the sun always shone in Sunnydale. Not that it made much difference to the Watcher. Ex- Watcher. He was indoors in his apartment studying the large bound text that they had found in Ben's apartment. It was behind the painting as Buffy had told Dawn to look. The night she died.
It was a Tuesday, so business would be slow. Regardless, the shop would be safe in Anya's hands. She had proven herself to be a more than capable shopkeeper. He felt a twinge of pride at her progress. Then he felt pain, and guilt. He had felt pride at Buffy's progress for five years, and still she had died, doing what she had been chosen to do. He had been naïve, no, arrogant to believe his Slayer would live long enough to retire. "You couldn't even get her to her 21st birthday" he berated himself aloud. "The least you could do is translate this damn book for her." His tone was self- accusatory. He sighed. For three months he had tried to make some sense of one of the many bound pages, especially those booked marked pages. Book marked presumably by the man he had killed. He had had little success.
Holding the book in his hands it looked no different from any other ancient volume he had in his apartment. Brown leather-bound with crinkly, yellow pages, it did not seem spectacular. Nor did the text. But, it was IN ENGLISH. From a cursory glance, Giles could surmise that the book outdated the English language by some years.
Willow and the others had confirmed however that it was written in English. The only drawback was that you couldn't read it. Try as you might, it could not be read. It seemed somehow veiled to human eyes – and inhuman. Spike could not read it either.
Tara and Willow had tried every release and unveiling spell of which either witch had knowledge. Despite their great aptitude and talents for magic, they had yet to achieve any positive results.
Still, he had to try. The damn book was so bloody infuriating! Even if he didn't know a language, he could read another book and translate it. But this – this was right there, in his mother tongue and he couldn't read a word of it, save the title on the cover. It was Latin and read 'Texts of Knowledge'. Oh, that was helpful. Not for the first time he wondered at the peculiarity of a book with a Latin title but with English text as he rooted through a chest. Prying free his prize, a Latin volume titled 'Unveiling The Truth', he set about his task at a trudging pace.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dawn was bored. She had come straight to the Magic Box right after school, in hopes of finding the gang. But Xander was still at work, Giles researching at home, the Wicca pair at college and Spike... well; she hadn't expected to find Spike here anyway. What she had expected was Anya putting her to work sweeping the floor, which she had while she counted money at the till. Dawn didn't like being alone. Not since the night Buffy had... died.
Attempting to escape her designated chore, Dawn tried to manoeuvre Anya into teaching her how to use the till. She was successful, the ex-vengeance demon more than happy to show Dawn the workings of the tool that helped 'store and accumulate cash'.
"You see, Dawnie", Anya beamed, presenting the full till to Dawn. "Cash is the most liquid asset there is. Without cash, a capitalist system like ours wouldn't work. And then we'd be back to bartering hogsheads of mead for plain old hogsheads. Dawn smiled, nodding. Anya was very nice but she was just a little too enamoured with attaining monetary wealth.
The lecture was broken by the arrival of a customer, who Dawn silently praised. Anya went to assist the elderly woman after quickly telling Dawn to "closely watch the customer-shopkeeper interaction". As Anya engaged in conversation with the woman, Dawn quickly reached beneath the counter, into the display case and took a small little blue trinket with little jagged edges, which she promptly hid inside her back pocket.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That night, Tara was watching Dawn at Giles' apartment as he, Willow, Xander, Spike and the BuffyBot patrolled. "I don't get why we have to be here", complained Dawn. "I mean, have you seen the size of Giles' T.V? There's nothing to do here. Its so blah." Tara couldn't help but smile at Dawn's irritation and tried to soften the blow.
"Well, I think I saw an old Parcheesi upstairs, Sweety. Except, it was called 'Libido' or something." Tara smiled again and Dawn couldn't help but reciprocate. "Great, I'll just go get it", said Tara.
As Tara foraged upstairs Dawn found herself aimlessly wandering Giles' apartment. She walked into his study and looked at the open book on his desk. The book Buffy had told her where to find. She knew she couldn't read it, so instead she pulled the little tin trinket she had taken from the shop earlier today. She stared at it. It was a dull blue, not even pretty. But she had taken it.
Lost in her own thoughts, Dawn was startled by Tara's voice right outside the study. She quickly gripped the trinket in her palm, suppressing a little whimper as she pricked herself; a tiny little trickle of blood running down her palm went unnoticed. "I have the game set up, Sweety. But I get to be 'blue', okay?" Relief washed over Dawn as she realised Tara hadn't noticed she was holding anything and she quickly replaced the little trinket back in her pocket as soon as the opportunity arose. She hadn't seen the miniscule drop of blood fall to the open book.
"Any slayage?" asked Dawn as Giles and the others returned, looking rather worn out from patrol.
"Yes, you might say that", wheezed Giles as he moved his hand to the torn sleeve of his jacket. In his other hand, he held a wicked looking half-moon ax, which seemed very dirty.
"GrandPa Watcher had himself an encounter with a vamp", mocked Spike "a very big, thick necked vamp."
"I damn-well killed him, didn't I" said an exasperated Giles matter-of-factly. Spike raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you know what they say, 'Third hack lucky'. Least you got one. Bob the Builder here nearly had a heart-attack trying to keep up with the other one", said Spike indicating Xander, whose hands were on his knees, as he gasped for breath. He mouthed something back at Spike, but the just shook his head and continued panting.
"I think it went swell, Spike killed the most vampires!", exclaimed a happy BuffyBot. Dawn frowned inwardly. Every time she saw the BuffyBot it was a painful reminder that her sister was gone. But she understood the need for the demon-underworld to believe that the Slayer still patrolled Sunnydale and The Hellmouth.
"Yeah, great. Whatever," muttered an unhappy Spike. "Now, tell me Watcher. Why is it we're all here? We've all got homes to go to." Willow and Tara both gave Spike disapproving looks. Giles replied indignantly,
"Actually, Spike, I don't seem to recall inviting you here at all." Spike shrugged, taking a drag from his cigarette and replied
"Well, you know, got to try to keep up with current affairs. Know what I mean?"
Giles turned go upstairs and at least change his shirt before he revealed why he had gathered them here. He wondered how they'd react to his decision to return home to England. As he headed up the stairs he heard Spike ask "Any blood in the fridge?" He chose not to acknowledge the question.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Willow's arm around her shoulders, Tara asked if she had had any problems while patrolling, but was answered by Anya's exclamation of "Problems? Are you nuts? The evil fiends were running away from her!" Anya nodded frantically; eyes wide open. "She was dusting vamps with friggin' fireballs! Right, Xander?" Xander coughed and gave a thumbs up. Tara turned to Willow, a concerned look on her face.
"R-really? You were okay doing that?" Willow seemed a little embarrassed by the attention she was receiving.
"It was nothing really" she tried to reassure Tara. "Just a minor Khaarghian flame spell. Nothing special." Tara made a quick grin and asked,
"Was it, um, extra-flamey?" Willow seemed momentarily shocked but then remembered that nobody else in the room knew what Tara was talking about. With an ear-to-ear grin Willow said, "Sure was."
"What does she mean 'extra-flamey'?" asked Anya. "Is there a less flamey fireball you could have used?" Anya pulled at her jacket's sleeve and said to Willow "cause you singed my jacket! Xander, tell her!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Spike found no blood in Giles' kitchen, but discovered a brandy-bottle in the cabinet. The Bot entered as he poured himself a glass. "Hey, Spike", she said in a cheery tone. "What's that you're drinking?" Spike muttered the answer under his breath, not really caring whether or not she heard. "Brandy? Yep, you like brandy. And Buffy, too", grinned the Bot as Spike grimaced in mental anguish. "How come you don't like to do stuff anymore? I find you very attractive. Spike glared angrily, downing the glass.
"Listen Bot, alright? Red fixed you to stop all that, so bloody stop it!" Spike was leaving the kitchen as she asked why. In the living room, he informed Willow of the Bot's malfunction before grumpily flinging himself onto the nearest couch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Upstairs, Giles in fresh clothes was readying for the unpleasant task at hand. He had been Buffy's Watcher. With her gone, it was time for him to step out of the way and allow the others to lead their own lives. "Alright, Rupert. Steady on", he thought to himself aloud. At the bottom of the stairs he dared a peek into the living room and decided he could use a drink first. Finding the brandy in the kitchen empty, he headed for his study and the scotch he kept there. Reaching above his desk he took the bottle and filled a glass.
Taking a drink, Giles looked at the damn book on the table. He would be taking it with him back to England. Perhaps The Council could – "Oh, my god", he managed to utter as he looked at the page.
