Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire
Chp.20
A Fallen Warrior at the Crater
Info: Chp.1
* ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They watched her turn to them, with abject horror they seen her hit
her knees, and fall face first into the dirt right before their
eyes. Standing in silence for what seemed to be an eternity, but
was in all actuality just a few seconds.
Xander stood there thinking it looked like one of those slow
motion replays of a football game, and they had just about won the
Super Bowl when their number one player went down for the count,
with just ten seconds left on the clock.
Dawn was the first person to come out of the horror filled
silence. Rushing over to her sister. "B-Buffy?" She stutters,
flipping the slayer off of her stomach, and onto her back. She
shakes her helplessly, trying to rouse her, but gets no response
for her efforts.
Just as soon as she quits with the shaking she hears the shuffle
of many feet, rushing behind her. With tears streaming down her
face she refuses to look up to see who all had made their way over
to her fallen sister.
"What's going on, what happened to Buffy?" She knew that was one
of the slayers, she couldn't make out which one, because as the
girl had asked everyone else had decided to speak all at once.
"Oh, how the mighty fall." She knew that had to be the little
pipsqueak Andrew, who else would say something so inane and stupid,
at a time like this, at least it wasn't a Star Wars reference.
Faith squats down beside the two sisters, "Is she alright? Why'd
she collapse?" The dark slayer asks directly to Dawn. "Yo, B. Wake
up. You just saved the world again, it's time to be normal, and go
to Disneyland." She jokes, but without any real humor directed into
the sentence. Pushing the blonde slayers shoulder, she makes the
girls' head loll to the side. She cocks her head, scrunching her
brows together as she gets a look at Buffy's face. "Uh, guys, her
eyes are open." She says stating the obvious, as she also notices
the glassy look in the fallen slayers eyes.
Giles hadn't been able to see anything for all the Slayers had
rushed over in front of him, their enhanced abilities making them
much faster than him. "Oh, dear lord." He exclaims.
Dawn couldn't see the watcher, but she just knew that he was
standing somewhere cleaning his glasses.
Willow had been the second person out of her surprised horror, and
had followed Dawn as she made her way over to her sister. "Giles."
Dawn heard the red headed witch say, but still didn't look up from
Buffy lying in the dirt at the edge of the crater. "It's like that
time when Glory made off with Dawn. I think she's catatonic,
again." 'Willow, sweet little Willow' Dawn thinks to herself,
'well except when she goes all dark and veiny, that is'
Finally finding the strength to look from her sisters limp body,
Dawn looks at the people kneeling and standing around her, her eyes
land on the resident Wicca. "You helped her last time, do
something, wake her up. Do whatever you did last time. Help her."
She screams, imploring Willow to do something, anything, with her
eyes. "You have to help her." She whispers, her eyes glassy with
unshed tears, as she clears a strand of dirty hair from her eyes,
and looks back down to her sister. The tears start to fall, hitting
the tail of Buffy's shirt, and making a wet spot on the grungy
fabric.
Willow comes around to the teenagers' side, placing a comforting
hand on her shoulder. "Dawnie, even if I had the supplies to do the
mind walking spell again. I don't know if it would work a second
time." She explains, looking from the bereft girl, to the prone
figure of her best friend lying in the dirt.
"We could get the supplies, Will. It never hurts to try." Xander
cuts in, standing right behind the two girls. Placing his hands on
Willows shoulders and turning her to face him. "We can't leave her
in this condition. She's been our best friend since sophomore year
of high school. We're the Scooby's, we always try and help."
Willow takes in a deep breath, looking into the pain filled eyes
of the one person in the world that knew her the best. Placing a
hand over his heart, she lays her head on the shoulder opposite of
the hand. Letting the breath out slowly. "Of course I'll try.
There's no question of that. It's just I haven't any supplies, and
there's not a quiet room for me to do it in. Seeing as I have no
room." She tries for a joke, but it doesn't go over. There's just
too much heartache at the moment.
Xander wraps his arms around the witch, letting his shoulders sag.
He breathes in, coughing on the dust floating in the air. "We just
saved the world, again, and we're gonna celebrate by letting Willow
walk around in Buffy's head. It's a party." He says in an
unenthusiastic way, his voice grating harshly, as he runs his hand
down his best friends back. At least he still has her, even if he
doesn't have Anya anymore. He really did love that girl, and as he
holds Willow, his tears begin to fall, not only for the loss of his
love, but for everything they'd lost living on the Hellmouth.
"Uh, excuse me?" Kennedy rounds to the couple embracing in the
middle of the road, placing her hands on her hips. "But we have no
where to go, and definitely no where to do this mind walk spell
thing." Her voice takes on a matter-of-fact tone, as she takes in
the comfort that the two people are taking in each other, becoming
jealous at the display.
Taking her head from Xanders shoulder, Willow looks over to her
girlfriend, glaring at her. Her gaze slips from Kennedy to Faith.
Faith takes in the silent invitation that Willow gives her. The
oldest, not in a state of catatonia, slayer straightens her
shoulders, taking up the mantle of general considering that the
real general had recently been lying on her face in the dirt,
beside the huge crater. Her eyes fall on the watcher about three
feet behind her, now. "I think I know a place that we can go. I
know for a fact that this person wouldn't turn Buffy away for any
reason." She states.
Giles nods his head, putting his partly cleaned glasses back on
his nose. "Yes, I'm quite sure that person wouldn't." He says
getting the look that Faith had given him. Clearing his throat,
"Let's get everyone back on the bus. Willow?"
The witch turns to the watcher, who looks as if he's aged years,
in the past week. She doesn't answer him, just looks him over.
"Could you help take care of all of the injured girls? The ones
who weren't hurt will help out." He asks her.
Nodding her head, she takes Kennedy's hand and leads her back to
the bus. Stopping just outside of it, they look at each other, and
have a quick word then end it with a kiss. They climb the steps
into the bus, as what's left of the Scooby's watch.
Giles clears his throat again, looking to Xander, who is still
mulling over the loss of Anya. "Xander?" He asks quietly, noticing
the searing pain of the man across from him. The man had no
semblance of being there so lost in his thoughts as he was.
Xander shakes his head, ridding it of the hurtful memories of his
ex-demon lover. "Yeah?" He answers, looking up to the watchers
eyes.
"I hate to ask this of you, but could you please help me get Buffy
situated, and into that god awful contraption." He points over to
the school bus, parked in the middle of the road.
Xander plants a smile on his face, even though he doesn't feel
like smiling at the moment. "Sure, G-man. You know anything for the
Buffster." He looks down at his friend lying at his feet. His false
smile slips completely from his face, as he reaches down and lifts
her torso from the ground.
Giles lets the inane nickname slide as he takes on the task of
picking up Buffy's legs, and starts moving her with Xanders help
over to the bus.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
(Chapter twenty is finally here. I'm so sorry it took so long. We
had inspection at work Friday, and I was so totally worn out from
it. Then yesterday, I had to go in early to my other job, and
didn't get home until almost six last night. Then since it was
Valentines, I spent the rest of the night with the hubby. I hope
that this was worth the wait. I told you guys it would reveal
something, but not everything.)
Spuffyfan4eva: You made the right bloody call, but that's not all
of it, and I'm not gonna ruin the story. I am so totally out of
cookies though, would love more.
Culf: Damn, that was a pretty good guess, but I'm not gonna tell
anything that might ruin the story. This chapter is supposed to
reveal a little, but not all of what's gonna happen.
Lilmamday: You gave me a good idea; it wasn't in any way bad. I
promise, but on the whole mind thing. With this chapter you might
think that, but it's not all of what's going on. I still have lots
of surprises. Hang in there.
Buffyfan: You're so right. I loved Anya, why would I want to change
her personality? She just wouldn't be Anya if she didn't mention
Sex and money.
Roxie: Thanks, you went and put another smile on my face. I hope
you liked what I revealed a little of in this chapter.
Kari: The last line of the previous chapter was meant to make you
go WHAT! On the Spike with dark hair question, can I just say did
that man not look fine? Then Angel asking him if he is a Nazi, and
him turning around and saying no I just ate one. Funniest line in
the whole Episode, I could go on and on, but rambling here and I
have more people to answer.
Pai yuy: I have to say that I love Spike, and I watch every little
move he makes. Plus he has the same kind of personality that I do.
Tamarynd: Glad to see another new name on the review list. To
answer your question, as you can see Dawn is definitely in this.
Inkling: Don't you just hate cliffhangers? Anyway, I'm going on a
wild ride with this one, I'm just going with my mind on this. Hang
in there, it's gonna be a long ride, too.
Darklover: I don't like Wood either, but he was the only character
that I could use as another doctor. On a personal note, he was a
character that they could've done without.
Buffspike: Here's the update you asked for. Did you like?
Ekmw511: I think I might have just thrown you back into the whole
epilogueie thing. I told everyone that it was still being
completely set up, and I'm on chapter thirty of the damned thing.
Spoiler Alert: Angel: Why We Fight, and well just a little rant.
Okay, Spike was looking very hot with the dark hair, now wasn't he?
And the Nazi coat, he just can't keep away from the dead cow can
he? I'm not complaining just making an observation, also where the
hell was Dru? I mean if they were gonna capture Spike why not take
the loony, too. She is just as notorious, if not more so than
Spike? This makes no sense in my way of thinking. Now for sad news,
the WB is canceling Angel, ERRRR! The only thing is and this is
what I'm hoping for that they will not Shanshu Angel and if they do
I hope that they give the reward to Spike also. But I've heard or
read a few things about a Spike spin-off, so I would prefer that
they not give the reward to either of the vamps with souls, so that
they can let Spike work towards it like Angel is trying to, then
have a movie where all the characters from both Buffy and Angel
fight the big Apocalypse, and then we get to see the whole Shanshu
with Buffy watching. Now how cool would that be?
Chp.20
A Fallen Warrior at the Crater
Info: Chp.1
* ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They watched her turn to them, with abject horror they seen her hit
her knees, and fall face first into the dirt right before their
eyes. Standing in silence for what seemed to be an eternity, but
was in all actuality just a few seconds.
Xander stood there thinking it looked like one of those slow
motion replays of a football game, and they had just about won the
Super Bowl when their number one player went down for the count,
with just ten seconds left on the clock.
Dawn was the first person to come out of the horror filled
silence. Rushing over to her sister. "B-Buffy?" She stutters,
flipping the slayer off of her stomach, and onto her back. She
shakes her helplessly, trying to rouse her, but gets no response
for her efforts.
Just as soon as she quits with the shaking she hears the shuffle
of many feet, rushing behind her. With tears streaming down her
face she refuses to look up to see who all had made their way over
to her fallen sister.
"What's going on, what happened to Buffy?" She knew that was one
of the slayers, she couldn't make out which one, because as the
girl had asked everyone else had decided to speak all at once.
"Oh, how the mighty fall." She knew that had to be the little
pipsqueak Andrew, who else would say something so inane and stupid,
at a time like this, at least it wasn't a Star Wars reference.
Faith squats down beside the two sisters, "Is she alright? Why'd
she collapse?" The dark slayer asks directly to Dawn. "Yo, B. Wake
up. You just saved the world again, it's time to be normal, and go
to Disneyland." She jokes, but without any real humor directed into
the sentence. Pushing the blonde slayers shoulder, she makes the
girls' head loll to the side. She cocks her head, scrunching her
brows together as she gets a look at Buffy's face. "Uh, guys, her
eyes are open." She says stating the obvious, as she also notices
the glassy look in the fallen slayers eyes.
Giles hadn't been able to see anything for all the Slayers had
rushed over in front of him, their enhanced abilities making them
much faster than him. "Oh, dear lord." He exclaims.
Dawn couldn't see the watcher, but she just knew that he was
standing somewhere cleaning his glasses.
Willow had been the second person out of her surprised horror, and
had followed Dawn as she made her way over to her sister. "Giles."
Dawn heard the red headed witch say, but still didn't look up from
Buffy lying in the dirt at the edge of the crater. "It's like that
time when Glory made off with Dawn. I think she's catatonic,
again." 'Willow, sweet little Willow' Dawn thinks to herself,
'well except when she goes all dark and veiny, that is'
Finally finding the strength to look from her sisters limp body,
Dawn looks at the people kneeling and standing around her, her eyes
land on the resident Wicca. "You helped her last time, do
something, wake her up. Do whatever you did last time. Help her."
She screams, imploring Willow to do something, anything, with her
eyes. "You have to help her." She whispers, her eyes glassy with
unshed tears, as she clears a strand of dirty hair from her eyes,
and looks back down to her sister. The tears start to fall, hitting
the tail of Buffy's shirt, and making a wet spot on the grungy
fabric.
Willow comes around to the teenagers' side, placing a comforting
hand on her shoulder. "Dawnie, even if I had the supplies to do the
mind walking spell again. I don't know if it would work a second
time." She explains, looking from the bereft girl, to the prone
figure of her best friend lying in the dirt.
"We could get the supplies, Will. It never hurts to try." Xander
cuts in, standing right behind the two girls. Placing his hands on
Willows shoulders and turning her to face him. "We can't leave her
in this condition. She's been our best friend since sophomore year
of high school. We're the Scooby's, we always try and help."
Willow takes in a deep breath, looking into the pain filled eyes
of the one person in the world that knew her the best. Placing a
hand over his heart, she lays her head on the shoulder opposite of
the hand. Letting the breath out slowly. "Of course I'll try.
There's no question of that. It's just I haven't any supplies, and
there's not a quiet room for me to do it in. Seeing as I have no
room." She tries for a joke, but it doesn't go over. There's just
too much heartache at the moment.
Xander wraps his arms around the witch, letting his shoulders sag.
He breathes in, coughing on the dust floating in the air. "We just
saved the world, again, and we're gonna celebrate by letting Willow
walk around in Buffy's head. It's a party." He says in an
unenthusiastic way, his voice grating harshly, as he runs his hand
down his best friends back. At least he still has her, even if he
doesn't have Anya anymore. He really did love that girl, and as he
holds Willow, his tears begin to fall, not only for the loss of his
love, but for everything they'd lost living on the Hellmouth.
"Uh, excuse me?" Kennedy rounds to the couple embracing in the
middle of the road, placing her hands on her hips. "But we have no
where to go, and definitely no where to do this mind walk spell
thing." Her voice takes on a matter-of-fact tone, as she takes in
the comfort that the two people are taking in each other, becoming
jealous at the display.
Taking her head from Xanders shoulder, Willow looks over to her
girlfriend, glaring at her. Her gaze slips from Kennedy to Faith.
Faith takes in the silent invitation that Willow gives her. The
oldest, not in a state of catatonia, slayer straightens her
shoulders, taking up the mantle of general considering that the
real general had recently been lying on her face in the dirt,
beside the huge crater. Her eyes fall on the watcher about three
feet behind her, now. "I think I know a place that we can go. I
know for a fact that this person wouldn't turn Buffy away for any
reason." She states.
Giles nods his head, putting his partly cleaned glasses back on
his nose. "Yes, I'm quite sure that person wouldn't." He says
getting the look that Faith had given him. Clearing his throat,
"Let's get everyone back on the bus. Willow?"
The witch turns to the watcher, who looks as if he's aged years,
in the past week. She doesn't answer him, just looks him over.
"Could you help take care of all of the injured girls? The ones
who weren't hurt will help out." He asks her.
Nodding her head, she takes Kennedy's hand and leads her back to
the bus. Stopping just outside of it, they look at each other, and
have a quick word then end it with a kiss. They climb the steps
into the bus, as what's left of the Scooby's watch.
Giles clears his throat again, looking to Xander, who is still
mulling over the loss of Anya. "Xander?" He asks quietly, noticing
the searing pain of the man across from him. The man had no
semblance of being there so lost in his thoughts as he was.
Xander shakes his head, ridding it of the hurtful memories of his
ex-demon lover. "Yeah?" He answers, looking up to the watchers
eyes.
"I hate to ask this of you, but could you please help me get Buffy
situated, and into that god awful contraption." He points over to
the school bus, parked in the middle of the road.
Xander plants a smile on his face, even though he doesn't feel
like smiling at the moment. "Sure, G-man. You know anything for the
Buffster." He looks down at his friend lying at his feet. His false
smile slips completely from his face, as he reaches down and lifts
her torso from the ground.
Giles lets the inane nickname slide as he takes on the task of
picking up Buffy's legs, and starts moving her with Xanders help
over to the bus.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
(Chapter twenty is finally here. I'm so sorry it took so long. We
had inspection at work Friday, and I was so totally worn out from
it. Then yesterday, I had to go in early to my other job, and
didn't get home until almost six last night. Then since it was
Valentines, I spent the rest of the night with the hubby. I hope
that this was worth the wait. I told you guys it would reveal
something, but not everything.)
Spuffyfan4eva: You made the right bloody call, but that's not all
of it, and I'm not gonna ruin the story. I am so totally out of
cookies though, would love more.
Culf: Damn, that was a pretty good guess, but I'm not gonna tell
anything that might ruin the story. This chapter is supposed to
reveal a little, but not all of what's gonna happen.
Lilmamday: You gave me a good idea; it wasn't in any way bad. I
promise, but on the whole mind thing. With this chapter you might
think that, but it's not all of what's going on. I still have lots
of surprises. Hang in there.
Buffyfan: You're so right. I loved Anya, why would I want to change
her personality? She just wouldn't be Anya if she didn't mention
Sex and money.
Roxie: Thanks, you went and put another smile on my face. I hope
you liked what I revealed a little of in this chapter.
Kari: The last line of the previous chapter was meant to make you
go WHAT! On the Spike with dark hair question, can I just say did
that man not look fine? Then Angel asking him if he is a Nazi, and
him turning around and saying no I just ate one. Funniest line in
the whole Episode, I could go on and on, but rambling here and I
have more people to answer.
Pai yuy: I have to say that I love Spike, and I watch every little
move he makes. Plus he has the same kind of personality that I do.
Tamarynd: Glad to see another new name on the review list. To
answer your question, as you can see Dawn is definitely in this.
Inkling: Don't you just hate cliffhangers? Anyway, I'm going on a
wild ride with this one, I'm just going with my mind on this. Hang
in there, it's gonna be a long ride, too.
Darklover: I don't like Wood either, but he was the only character
that I could use as another doctor. On a personal note, he was a
character that they could've done without.
Buffspike: Here's the update you asked for. Did you like?
Ekmw511: I think I might have just thrown you back into the whole
epilogueie thing. I told everyone that it was still being
completely set up, and I'm on chapter thirty of the damned thing.
Spoiler Alert: Angel: Why We Fight, and well just a little rant.
Okay, Spike was looking very hot with the dark hair, now wasn't he?
And the Nazi coat, he just can't keep away from the dead cow can
he? I'm not complaining just making an observation, also where the
hell was Dru? I mean if they were gonna capture Spike why not take
the loony, too. She is just as notorious, if not more so than
Spike? This makes no sense in my way of thinking. Now for sad news,
the WB is canceling Angel, ERRRR! The only thing is and this is
what I'm hoping for that they will not Shanshu Angel and if they do
I hope that they give the reward to Spike also. But I've heard or
read a few things about a Spike spin-off, so I would prefer that
they not give the reward to either of the vamps with souls, so that
they can let Spike work towards it like Angel is trying to, then
have a movie where all the characters from both Buffy and Angel
fight the big Apocalypse, and then we get to see the whole Shanshu
with Buffy watching. Now how cool would that be?