Time Explains Us by Erykah Miszti

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter Nine: The Face of the Future

The party stopped and every blob of energy was sent back to their own cell to cool off.

Xxxxxx

Buffy spun around to face the Gypsy.

"No!" She insisted. "It doesn't have to turn out that way."

"You understand nothing, little girl." The Gypsy said sadly. "What makes you think you know the future?"

"I know it. I come FROM the future. Or can't you see as far as that!" Buffy scoffed.

"I know all about you… Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." The Gypsy replied. Buffy tried not to react but she was still startled and suddenly very uncomfortable. "You closed the portal, you know. You saved your sister. Your friends think you're dead. They buried your lifeless – apparently dead - body. They grieve for you." She closed her eyes and inclined her head as if she were looking at something in the distance. "Especially the Witch. Her sorrow cuts across space and time like a knife. She burns."

Buffy blinked back tears at the thought of her friends in the future being sad. The Gypsy opened her eyes.

"Nice tombstone. Cute." She enthused cheerfully but then sobered up and looked sharply at Buffy. "The Vampire cried." She paused to sigh. "William must die. You cannot prevent it… or the world will end."

"Okay, so you say 'he must die'." Buffy acknowledged with a dramatic over-emphasis on 'he must die'. "But what does that mean? There's death and then there's…"

"Vampires." The Gypsy smiled. "Come on, Slayer, what fun would be if I told you how the story ends? Besides, what if I'm not one of your white hats? Do you think a human being would be this good at telling the future? I could be a black hearted demon intent on messing with your head and you'd never know to look at me."

"I could threaten to kill you." Buffy suggested sarcastically.

The Gypsy shrugged.

"I can see the future, child. I know you wont kill me. What good would a threat be?"

"Are you a demon then?" Buffy asked, frowning. Her spider-sense wasn't exhibiting a single tingle.

"Half and half." She replied with a broad smile. "You'll work everything out, Slayer, maybe not yet but you'll understand eventually. "

"Why is it always with the riddles?" Buffy pouted.

"Because you can't be told the truth. You have to work it out for yourself or you wont understand that is the truth."

"Thanks. You've been a great help."

"I've been more help to you than your Watcher's Council will be. They have their own agenda." She cautioned.

"I know, but I need to get home."

"Then put on your ruby slippers, click your heels and say it three times." The Gypsy shrugged dismissivley.

"Hey, how do you know that movie?" Buffy demanded.

"How many times! I can see the future… you think movies would have passed me by? It gets cold and lonely being a gypsy on the open road. It's like having video-on-demand… but I am more of a Matrix-girl these days. I love those flo-mo fight scenes."

Buffy waved dismissively and turned to go but the Gypsy called her back.

"Slayer, it can be a terrible burden… knowing what the future holds. We all have a destiny but the paths we take to reach it are not always straightforward. You must walk your own path and allow others to do the same. Everything does happen for a reason. Time will explain everything… oh, and sorry for the over reaction before... with William… I've been expecting you guys but it still felt like I overdid it." She smiled goofily.

Buffy was totally thrown.

"What? You did that deliberately?"

"Of course… everything for a reason. You'd better go find him."

Buffy glared at the Gypsy but headed for the door, or rather, the tent flap. She stopped at the last moment.

"Who are you?" She demanded curiously.

"Well, " Sighed the Gypsy. "Some might call me Mary Sue… but that would be really unfair. Since I'm not. I like to think of myself as more Deus Ex Machina but that'd be really pretentious of me."

Buffy's frown was starting to resemble a geological fault line by this point in the Gypsy's babbling. The Gypsy smiled depreciatingly.

"I'm just a gypsy you happened to stumble across on your travels. If you'd gone five miles to the left, you'd have met my sister instead… she's really good with crystals. She couldn't have told you your future but, for a shilling, she'd have cleansed your aura."

Xxxxxx

The festivities in the square were dying down now. A few drunken stragglers were all that remained of the revelers but, though she scanned the area carefully, Buffy couldn't spot William.

Buffy wandered through the square until she came to the rough stage and she finally found William sat on the floor to the side of it.

"William!" She sighed in relief.

He snorted and looked up at her.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" He demanded.

"What?" Buffy was blind-sided. She hadn't expected him to be angry.

He stood up and walked towards her menacingly.

"I know I'm not much of a man, but I am a man." He informed her bitterly. "I wont be ordered around like a child... not by you or anyone."

Buffy stood her ground.

"I was trying to protect you." She defended.

"Well, thank you." He sneered. "Making me look like a fool is a wonderful way to protect me. It isn't as if everyone has been doing that to me my entire life. I thought you were different."

"William… I'm sorry." Buffy tried to cut in but he was on a roll.

"I'm not a young boy in short trousers. I am grown up enough to make decisions about my own life." He took her arm roughly. "Now, I would like to know exactly what was going on back there."

"You want to know what was going on?" Buffy demanded, shaking his hand off her. "That woman was a flake! She was a nutcase... insane. I wanted you out of there before she scared the pants off you!"

"You think I am frightened of a mad woman! After everything we've been through these past few days! You must think me a complete fool!"

"I don't think you're a fool, William…" Buffy interjected.

"A child then… to be protected and mollycoddled." He complained, striding away from her.

"I'm not entirely sure what mollycoddled means… but…" Buffy broke off. "Oh, for pete's sake! I did what I thought was best at the time. That's what I do... protect people… and I don't have to answer to you about my actions." She stopped and sighed. "You have to trust me, even if you don't always like it. One day, I will explain it all to you… but not today."

He glared at her.

"That isn't good enough, Miss Buffy." He informed. "This is my life you're playing with… mine and my family's. I have a right to know what's going on."

Buffy couldn't look at him any longer. The floor suddenly became very interesting.

"I can't tell you." She replied ineffectually.

"Fine!" He snorted. "I place my life in your hands then, with no idea what it means to you or why you're doing this or what we're really dealing with. Save me, if you must, but do not speak to me again. We meet the coachman shortly after daybreak in front of the tavern. Be there promptly or I shall go without you."

With that he walked off and left her there, stunned.