DISCLAIMER: Buffy belongs to Mutant Enemy and the evil genius known as Joss Whedon …..I only borrow them with deep respect! Please don´t sue me!!
Selena and her folks are mine….
NOTES: Thanx for the feedback! Special thanx to organized chaos for those very nice remarks that make my writer heart very happy!
That´s what keeps me going!
Will have more soon!
THINGS PAST
„ He loves you very much …."
Buffy could feel the world go dark around her until there was nothing left. It felt like falling, like rushing down an elevator shaft. There was nothing left, nothing to cling to but the sound of Selena´s voice. The world had become a swirling mess.
" …when I look into his heart I can see that he holds you dear above everything else. You are more important to him than his own survival. I don´t know what it is that keeps you away, that prevents you from giving in to this feeling…..but take my advice; don´t let this pass you by. Somebody who will love you like this, seeing who you really all with all your flaws, your weaknesses and short-comings, your strength. Love you for what you really are without wanting to change a single thing is such a rare thing …..don´t let pride stand in your way. I will show you the price to pay for not seeing and then you will decide if it´s worth loosing your vampire….."
Buffy winced. She found herself still on her feet in a darkening room with walls of rough stone. There was a window high up in the wall through which mountains could be seen, a forest in winter. At the other side of the room was an open fireplace, the only source of light and warmth in the room.
" What the hell is going on?" Buffy whispered to herself.
Selena stood in front of the fire-place as though she did not notice Buffy. It took the slayer to realize that this was indeed the case. It was as though she wasn´t really there, as though she was just a fly on the wall.
The fairy wore an ivory coloured dress with wide arms. The upper part was tight, with a low neckline that only hinted at the perfect cleavage, while the skirts were a billowing mass of shiny material that swished around her legs, hiding her feet completely.
" Please , I beg of you …don´t go!"
She was pacing in front of the fire, her voice for once feeble and raw with emotion.
She was talking to a tall man, her whole figure dwarfed by his size. He was wearing an armour unlike any Buffy had ever seen in books or even a museum. His dark brown hair fell to his shoulders, he was handsome in his very own rugged way. His hands were curled around Selena´s upper arms in a gesture that seemed familiar, almost intimate.
" I have to …my father called to me!" his voice was dark and firm.
" Your human father, the father who did not acknowledge you until he needed your help!"
Selena stared up at him, craning her neck to look up at his face.
" He is old, Amoret…"
Buffy stared at them, dimly remembering that this was Selena´s second name. Amoret …….she apparently did not use that name anymore.
"He is scared!", she spat out as though the words left a bitter taste in her mouth.
" He is old and scared. Menoth, king of the winterlands, he can feel death coming to claim him and now he calls for his son….the son of the fairy- creature that he could not suffer to look upon all his life. The constant reminder of his own mortality! Now that the darkness and the ice are coming to conquer this world again, to bury all life, bringing the creatures of the dark with them……now he calls to you to save his kingdom. To save what cannot be saved!"
Buffy could see tears glitter in the fairy ´s eyes, the sadness and grief in her features left her beauty unperturbed.
" That may be so, but he is still my father and I his son! I have a duty , Amoret! I cannot let his people perish!"
" Those people made you an outcast at the court of your own father!"
Selena freed herself from his grasp, stumbling back a few steps.
" They shunned your mother because she was fairy, because she did not age like your father! She gave him a son and they drove her away because they could not stand to be around her! The drove her away and you with her …..your father´s only son! And now you want to save them?"
She started pacing the room again, her eyes never leaving his face. Thunder rolled in the distance. Her multicoloured hair spilled over the back of her ivory dress like a shining waterfall.
" We have a duty to protect them.." he said quietly.
As Selena stood to face him, Buffy instinctively took a step backwards until she felt the rough stone of the wall in her back.
" Why…?" Selena whispered, shaking her head.
" You have not seen what I have seen! I was there when the people of your father still dwelled in caves, the different tribes slaughtering each other over nothing……they are animals and they hate us!"
He moved towards her in two long strides, his hand cradling her cheek gently.
" How can they not hate such beauty…….beauty like yours that will never fade. You, my princess will never know the cold touch of the ages; you will never wither away and die. The fairy are eternal, immortal……"
" Evarion ….." she whispered, leaning against him, clinging to him as though her life depended on it.
" Please don´t leave! I have this feeling of impending doom, the feeling that if you leave ……you may never return!"
He laughed pulling her to him.
" You could come with me…." he whispered into her hair.
Selena looked up, staring at him.
" How can you ask me that? You know that I can not go with you. I am a princess of the
ancient blood, daughter of Oberon and Titania. I will not suffer what has been done to your mother!"
She grabbed his hands, squeezing them so hard that her knuckles turned white.
" Neither should you, my love! They will only see you for what your mother was! You don´t age….."
" I age slower than the humans, Amoret, but I do age ……I can take an arrow to the chest, maybe even a sword, and survive ……but eventually I will die. I am not immortal!"
The look Buffy saw on Selena´s face was of utter grief and pain. She looked like she had been struck, as though the flawless white skin of her face would scatter and fall apart in a thousand pieces.
" Not if you stay here with me…." she breathed heavily.
" We removed ourselves from their sphere. You could stay here with me where summer is eternal. We can be happy here…….my love, forever!"
" You know I can´t!" He said, his voice clipped and hoarse.
" But I will return …."
" There is no stopping the ice or the wild hordes that come with it, Evarion! I have seen it before! You could die out there, fighting the war that is not yours!"
She reached up to touch his face.
" If you love me, you will not leave me!"
He laughed sadly, covering her hand with one of his, planting a kiss on the palm.
" For your love…." He said grimly
" For your love I would have lit the world on fire, princess!"
" And yet it is not enough…." She said, her voice filled with bitterness.
" Wait for me…."
He kissed her forehead, then stepped back, looking at her as though he was trying to imprint her picture into his mind.
Their parting kiss was fierce, passionate. Even as he moved away from her, Selena still held on to him, until he stepped out of the door.
Then she crumbled to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut, crying, sobbing, and making sounds like an animal in pain.
Another man came in, carefully gathering her up from the floor.
Buffy tried to suppress a gasp. This was most likely the most handsome man she had ever seen. He was beautiful and at the same time undoubtedly masculine with black hair and straight, aristocratic features that seemed strangely exotic.
" Princess……."
" Help me up, Cay…." She said, taking a deep breath. Slowly steadying herself, she stepped away from him. She still held on to his hand, as she turned towards the window.
" You are not well….."
Buffy could almost see the feeling seeping away from the fairy´s face until it was unadorned. Buffy recognized the expression all too well. It was that blank, lifeless face that she had seen earlier.
" My heart ……today my heart is riding into a battle that cannot be won. I fear I shall never see it again." She whispered tonelessly.
Cay stared at her, his face unreadable.
She turned back to him, her face still empty and dead.
" What is it?"
" I should not bother your ladyship at this time…."
" I said what is it?"
" Your cousin, my princess…"
