Disclaimer: Joss, WB, UPN et al. own Buffy. Neil Gaiman and his
compatriots own the rights to the Sandman. Terry Pratchett owns the
Discworld.
Title: When Duty Is Not Enough
Author: Paradigm Shifter
Rating: R. Again.
Feedback: Oh, please! Feedback is good. Trust me.
Thanks: Bobby Cox (again), Matt, Danii (for the explanation), Red, and all the reviewers for the previous one. Dragon Hulk for all the help he has been. Danii and Dragon Hulk were both instrumental in this fic. Thank you both. And Teri: as always.
Reviewers, thank you: X-Over, Teri, physicsteach and Herald-Mage Brianna.
Notes: OK, I meant for 'A Death' to be a one shot. What happened? It grows. They always do...
Continuity: 'A Death in the Family?'
Desire watched from the opposite side of the road as the door exploded outwards, and Willow stormed away, energies crackling black and purple in the night.
Desire smiled. "Ah... so full of fire. It really takes so little to make her fall to her desires of power... its almost no fun at all, any more..."
He faded as a car horn blasted at Willow as she stalked across the road. A half a second later, he faded back in in surprise.
With one flick of her wrist, Willow turned the car that had honked her into a pillar of flame.
Desire raised an eyebrow. "Now that, I wasn't expecting..."
"Your eye, Xander?" Giles pushed again, "and this time, do please tell us before you get interrupted."
Xander cast an unhappy glance to the door where Willow had left, and nodded. "I got Destiny to rewrite the Book... I asked him to change the past."
The chorus of rapid fire questions and angry exclamations was exactly what he was expecting.
"You mean you can change the past?!"
"You did WHAT?"
"You..."
"Do you have any idea...!"
"...how dangerous that is!"
"Impossible!"
"It can't be done!"
Xander held his hands up. "Hey! Woah! Slow down there! One at a time."
Dawn gained Xander's attention through being the quietest question. "You mean... you could save Mom? That she never would have died?" The pain in her voice nearly broke his heart.
Buffy latched on to that, too. "Could you?" She spun on Destiny, and approached menacingly. "You could have saved my mother?"
Destiny looked at her from within his cowl. "It was her appointed time." The finality in his words made it sound like a complete explanation.
Xander put a comforting hand on Buffy's shoulder, turning her gently away from Destiny, before moving over to hug Dawn – who was fighting to not cry.
"It's not the same thing, Dawn... Joyce died of natural causes; nothing can save you when the time comes. It was her time, Dawn. Just be happy with the time you had with her..."
Dawn nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. The Death of Rats hopped on her shoulder and patted her hair sympathetically, a mournful SQUEE-IK trying to offer her some support.
"Could you have saved Tara?" Giles asked quietly, not sure whether the question should be asked. The group were worried about Willow's new explosion, and the Endless had spent a while explaining to them after her outburst, that following her would be fruitless: Buffy wanted to follow, but memories are strange things... all of them from the last time came flooding back.
Xander looked distinctly unhappy, until Destiny spoke. "It is not as simple as that. Tara had a destiny to complete... more of a destiny than simply being a recreative toy for the False Wicca... do not try to derail fate or destiny, neither like being thwarted."
"False Wicca?" Faith asked.
"Willow." Xander said flatly. On the betrayed looks of the Scoobies, he defended himself, "hey, what do you expect? Wiccan's are supposed to work for the Earth Balance! Not go 'grrr' when their lovers get killed. Hell, if she was pushing it to the extreme, she should be so involved in the earth and the 'balance' that she shouldn't even have a lover! Terra would be all she needed: if she had attained that level. And with her use of magic prior to that, she was already dangerously close to losing it. Even her start wasn't the greatest: her first spell was to curse a soul into a vampire..."
He saw Buffy open her mouth, and continued quickly, "OK, so it was Angel, and hehadasoul. Whatever. It still goes against the natural order to curse an innocent with the hell of being a demon. Which is what the Romany's did when they cursed Angelus – and which, incidentally, they are now paying for – and what Willow did, what we all did – when we got your precious Angel back."
"I loved him!" Buffy shouted aloud.
"So you did," Xander shot back. "Interesting, isn't it? How those that deal in death are always drawn to it. Assassins... murderers..." he shot a meaningful look at Buffy and Faith, "Slayers."
"I often feel that people such as us should not visit cemeteries." On Xander's quirked eyebrow, Death shot back, "what? It was in a show I watched once!"
Faith opened her mouth, and shut it again before she put her foot in it. Robin reached across and squeezed her hand gently.
"We were all guilty of revelling in the darkness, Buffy. You did. Willow did. Giles did, although that was more before our time... I did. Faith did. Oz did. What, you think a werewolf is normal? Or how about multiple possessions? I was in as deep, if not deeper than any of you, because I was maintaining the 'normal' façade, even with everything I'd – we'd – been through. I didn't have a break from the Slaying, Buffy... when I wasn't hanging around with you or Willow, or Slaying, I was hiding from my parents."
Xander sighed. "I guess we've all got a little darkness in us somewhere, Buffy. It's just a matter of finding it. You found yours in your little love affairs with the things you were meant to kill... Willow found it in magic, Oz found it in his Wolf, and I found it in my family life. In many ways, Giles was the only one of us that was sensible... he had the brains to get out of his darkness before it consumed him. And no, I haven't forgotten Eghyon. The point is, Giles... you were tested, and survived."
"But the book is special. You can't bring back the dead, much as I would like to in some cases. You can't do lots of things. But it does tell you what's important."
"And what is that?" Giles asked.
Destiny looked at him. "Everything."
"Everything?" Giles and Robin echoed.
"The Book had the Past and the Future written in it."
Dawn looked at him. "You mean, we can read it and see what's going to happen next?"
Buffy jumped in, almost tearing the book out of Destiny's hands. "Hey! That's great! We can see how much we kick the next big bads butt!" The book landed heavily on the table, Destiny did not move to stop the blonde Slayer, although Death looked less than impressed. Buffy opened the book – or rather, she tried to. It refused to budge.
"Hey! It's stuck!" Pulling harder, Buffy strained at the cover. It still did not move. She wheeled on Destiny. "That's cheating!"
Destiny stepped forward to the table and opened the book easily. "It knows who tries to open it. Those unfit are not allowed."
Buffy growled at the insult, but barged next to Destiny to read the book now it was open. She turned a few pages, and frowned in confused anger.
"It's blank!"
Xander slammed the book shut, nearly trapping Buffy's fingers as he did so. "Enough!" He handed the book back to Destiny. "The reason it's blank for you, Buffy, is that you aren't prepared for the knowledge it would give you. I can read bits of it... the rest is blank for me, too. Only Destiny knows and has read all of the Book."
Destiny continued Xander's words. "Mortal Destiny is laid in stone... it cannot be changed. Therefore, they cannot read the book because they are unprepared for that which they would see. Instead of you reading the book, the book would read you... and devour you whole."
"Destiny rewrote the Book in the one place where it affected me, and no one else: where I lost my eye. Caleb was a minor nuisance, the First Evil stripped him of any humanity he had, so it didn't apply to him, either. The reason I suddenly have my eye back... is because as far as history is concerned, I never lost it. So my having lost an eye is corrected by history as it goes along. It took causality about five minutes to catch up when Destiny had finished... and that was this evening, while I was out for my walk. Dream and Death stayed for a while to make sure that everything had gone alright, but as you can see... it did."
"Would it work for others?" Buffy asked, her eyes dancing with hope, "if Angel lost his soul again, could you just rewrite history to give it back?"
Xander shrugged. "Not quite the same thing, Buffy. If you're talking about being a necrophiliac again, then no... because, firstly, a mortal would be involved, and secondly... that's just wrong! Haven't you learned yet?"
Buffy's eyes went from hopeful to murderous. Xander continued, "Oh, no, sorry, that's a continuation of point number one. I guess the second one would be: when did Angel get promoted to one of the Endless? Did I miss the memo or something?" He addressed the last question to Dream, who cocked his head and shrugged.
"Who made you an... Endless, anyway?!" Buffy demanded, "There are much more worthy people out there! Angel! Spike!"
"Hm... can't see any roots," Xander mused, "must have had some peroxide leak through the last time you did your hair, Buff... were you not paying attention, or did I not explain it in words of one syllable? I've always been Honour. Except when I was Duty. But that's neither here nor there. No one 'made' me a member of the Endless... no one 'decides' who is and who isn't. It's Xander... Alexander LaVelle Harris who I haven't always been!"
He turned to Dream, Destiny and Death. "Thanks for the backup. I guess I was kinda hoping my 'family' would understand better than they have done. I'll see you soon." Then he turned to the shocked and silent Scoobies. "I'll be... around. See ya."
He walked out again, back into the night.
End.
Review? :)
And yes, there is another sequel in the works.
Title: When Duty Is Not Enough
Author: Paradigm Shifter
Rating: R. Again.
Feedback: Oh, please! Feedback is good. Trust me.
Thanks: Bobby Cox (again), Matt, Danii (for the explanation), Red, and all the reviewers for the previous one. Dragon Hulk for all the help he has been. Danii and Dragon Hulk were both instrumental in this fic. Thank you both. And Teri: as always.
Reviewers, thank you: X-Over, Teri, physicsteach and Herald-Mage Brianna.
Notes: OK, I meant for 'A Death' to be a one shot. What happened? It grows. They always do...
Continuity: 'A Death in the Family?'
Desire watched from the opposite side of the road as the door exploded outwards, and Willow stormed away, energies crackling black and purple in the night.
Desire smiled. "Ah... so full of fire. It really takes so little to make her fall to her desires of power... its almost no fun at all, any more..."
He faded as a car horn blasted at Willow as she stalked across the road. A half a second later, he faded back in in surprise.
With one flick of her wrist, Willow turned the car that had honked her into a pillar of flame.
Desire raised an eyebrow. "Now that, I wasn't expecting..."
"Your eye, Xander?" Giles pushed again, "and this time, do please tell us before you get interrupted."
Xander cast an unhappy glance to the door where Willow had left, and nodded. "I got Destiny to rewrite the Book... I asked him to change the past."
The chorus of rapid fire questions and angry exclamations was exactly what he was expecting.
"You mean you can change the past?!"
"You did WHAT?"
"You..."
"Do you have any idea...!"
"...how dangerous that is!"
"Impossible!"
"It can't be done!"
Xander held his hands up. "Hey! Woah! Slow down there! One at a time."
Dawn gained Xander's attention through being the quietest question. "You mean... you could save Mom? That she never would have died?" The pain in her voice nearly broke his heart.
Buffy latched on to that, too. "Could you?" She spun on Destiny, and approached menacingly. "You could have saved my mother?"
Destiny looked at her from within his cowl. "It was her appointed time." The finality in his words made it sound like a complete explanation.
Xander put a comforting hand on Buffy's shoulder, turning her gently away from Destiny, before moving over to hug Dawn – who was fighting to not cry.
"It's not the same thing, Dawn... Joyce died of natural causes; nothing can save you when the time comes. It was her time, Dawn. Just be happy with the time you had with her..."
Dawn nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. The Death of Rats hopped on her shoulder and patted her hair sympathetically, a mournful SQUEE-IK trying to offer her some support.
"Could you have saved Tara?" Giles asked quietly, not sure whether the question should be asked. The group were worried about Willow's new explosion, and the Endless had spent a while explaining to them after her outburst, that following her would be fruitless: Buffy wanted to follow, but memories are strange things... all of them from the last time came flooding back.
Xander looked distinctly unhappy, until Destiny spoke. "It is not as simple as that. Tara had a destiny to complete... more of a destiny than simply being a recreative toy for the False Wicca... do not try to derail fate or destiny, neither like being thwarted."
"False Wicca?" Faith asked.
"Willow." Xander said flatly. On the betrayed looks of the Scoobies, he defended himself, "hey, what do you expect? Wiccan's are supposed to work for the Earth Balance! Not go 'grrr' when their lovers get killed. Hell, if she was pushing it to the extreme, she should be so involved in the earth and the 'balance' that she shouldn't even have a lover! Terra would be all she needed: if she had attained that level. And with her use of magic prior to that, she was already dangerously close to losing it. Even her start wasn't the greatest: her first spell was to curse a soul into a vampire..."
He saw Buffy open her mouth, and continued quickly, "OK, so it was Angel, and hehadasoul. Whatever. It still goes against the natural order to curse an innocent with the hell of being a demon. Which is what the Romany's did when they cursed Angelus – and which, incidentally, they are now paying for – and what Willow did, what we all did – when we got your precious Angel back."
"I loved him!" Buffy shouted aloud.
"So you did," Xander shot back. "Interesting, isn't it? How those that deal in death are always drawn to it. Assassins... murderers..." he shot a meaningful look at Buffy and Faith, "Slayers."
"I often feel that people such as us should not visit cemeteries." On Xander's quirked eyebrow, Death shot back, "what? It was in a show I watched once!"
Faith opened her mouth, and shut it again before she put her foot in it. Robin reached across and squeezed her hand gently.
"We were all guilty of revelling in the darkness, Buffy. You did. Willow did. Giles did, although that was more before our time... I did. Faith did. Oz did. What, you think a werewolf is normal? Or how about multiple possessions? I was in as deep, if not deeper than any of you, because I was maintaining the 'normal' façade, even with everything I'd – we'd – been through. I didn't have a break from the Slaying, Buffy... when I wasn't hanging around with you or Willow, or Slaying, I was hiding from my parents."
Xander sighed. "I guess we've all got a little darkness in us somewhere, Buffy. It's just a matter of finding it. You found yours in your little love affairs with the things you were meant to kill... Willow found it in magic, Oz found it in his Wolf, and I found it in my family life. In many ways, Giles was the only one of us that was sensible... he had the brains to get out of his darkness before it consumed him. And no, I haven't forgotten Eghyon. The point is, Giles... you were tested, and survived."
"But the book is special. You can't bring back the dead, much as I would like to in some cases. You can't do lots of things. But it does tell you what's important."
"And what is that?" Giles asked.
Destiny looked at him. "Everything."
"Everything?" Giles and Robin echoed.
"The Book had the Past and the Future written in it."
Dawn looked at him. "You mean, we can read it and see what's going to happen next?"
Buffy jumped in, almost tearing the book out of Destiny's hands. "Hey! That's great! We can see how much we kick the next big bads butt!" The book landed heavily on the table, Destiny did not move to stop the blonde Slayer, although Death looked less than impressed. Buffy opened the book – or rather, she tried to. It refused to budge.
"Hey! It's stuck!" Pulling harder, Buffy strained at the cover. It still did not move. She wheeled on Destiny. "That's cheating!"
Destiny stepped forward to the table and opened the book easily. "It knows who tries to open it. Those unfit are not allowed."
Buffy growled at the insult, but barged next to Destiny to read the book now it was open. She turned a few pages, and frowned in confused anger.
"It's blank!"
Xander slammed the book shut, nearly trapping Buffy's fingers as he did so. "Enough!" He handed the book back to Destiny. "The reason it's blank for you, Buffy, is that you aren't prepared for the knowledge it would give you. I can read bits of it... the rest is blank for me, too. Only Destiny knows and has read all of the Book."
Destiny continued Xander's words. "Mortal Destiny is laid in stone... it cannot be changed. Therefore, they cannot read the book because they are unprepared for that which they would see. Instead of you reading the book, the book would read you... and devour you whole."
"Destiny rewrote the Book in the one place where it affected me, and no one else: where I lost my eye. Caleb was a minor nuisance, the First Evil stripped him of any humanity he had, so it didn't apply to him, either. The reason I suddenly have my eye back... is because as far as history is concerned, I never lost it. So my having lost an eye is corrected by history as it goes along. It took causality about five minutes to catch up when Destiny had finished... and that was this evening, while I was out for my walk. Dream and Death stayed for a while to make sure that everything had gone alright, but as you can see... it did."
"Would it work for others?" Buffy asked, her eyes dancing with hope, "if Angel lost his soul again, could you just rewrite history to give it back?"
Xander shrugged. "Not quite the same thing, Buffy. If you're talking about being a necrophiliac again, then no... because, firstly, a mortal would be involved, and secondly... that's just wrong! Haven't you learned yet?"
Buffy's eyes went from hopeful to murderous. Xander continued, "Oh, no, sorry, that's a continuation of point number one. I guess the second one would be: when did Angel get promoted to one of the Endless? Did I miss the memo or something?" He addressed the last question to Dream, who cocked his head and shrugged.
"Who made you an... Endless, anyway?!" Buffy demanded, "There are much more worthy people out there! Angel! Spike!"
"Hm... can't see any roots," Xander mused, "must have had some peroxide leak through the last time you did your hair, Buff... were you not paying attention, or did I not explain it in words of one syllable? I've always been Honour. Except when I was Duty. But that's neither here nor there. No one 'made' me a member of the Endless... no one 'decides' who is and who isn't. It's Xander... Alexander LaVelle Harris who I haven't always been!"
He turned to Dream, Destiny and Death. "Thanks for the backup. I guess I was kinda hoping my 'family' would understand better than they have done. I'll see you soon." Then he turned to the shocked and silent Scoobies. "I'll be... around. See ya."
He walked out again, back into the night.
End.
Review? :)
And yes, there is another sequel in the works.