FallenDruid
A/N: You know what really torques me off? Trying to go from British slang when I'm speaking from Giles to California Airhead slang when I'm speaking as Buffy/Cordy/Willow/Xander. I'm not that up on pop culture. Tis a sad, sad thing that I can sound more British than American without even attempting to do so. And I've never even been to the East coast, let alone England...(sulks off, muttering underneath his breath.)
Ph34r.
Disclaimer: Neither Sailor Moon or B: tVS belong to me. I just like to make with the hurting.
The light faded. Standing where Xander had fallen was a tall, Junoesque
woman, wearing finely crafted, emerald enameled half-plate armor over chain mail
so fine that it flows like silk, shimmering in the moonlight. In one hand she
bore a spear seven and a half feet long, the point decorated with runic
inscriptions seemingly floating on the metal, in the other, a winged helmet.
Firmly seating her helmet on her head, she hefts her spear. Buffy scrambles to
a stop, trying to figure out what is going on.
The demon stands still, its mouth hanging open, revealing a truly disgusting array of unclean teeth.
The woman looks directly at the monster, miniature lightning bolts crackling about her form, charging her hair which rises up in a blue-brown halo behind her. "Ykkar banahogg."
The demon has time to say one thing before the spear, almost invisible behind its corona of blue-white lightning, strikes. "Oh, fuck." The spear torches through it, so much energy grounding through the monster all at once that it instantly flash boiled and chunkified. The spear continued for some distance before getting lodged in the cement and stone of a mausoleum...behind the mausoleum that the demon had sprung from.
She gazes with satisfaction upon the chunks of demon, and then she looks to
Willow. "Ykkar spor reka, ond-systir." She slumps slightly, and then looks
around the clearing, evaluating threats. Her gaze comes to rest on Buffy, and
stops for a long moment before softening. She inclines her head gracefully,
acknowledging her. "Banamadr." And she faints, falling to the ground.
Giles' Apartment
Buffy looked frankly ridiculous as she maneuvered the stairs, heading towards
Giles' apartment, Willow supporting herself with an arm around Buffys waist,
carrying a girl who was considerably taller than she herself. "Giles!" She
hollers, kicking at the door gently. "C'mon, open up already." A few moments
pass, then a rustling sound approaches the door. "Giles! She hollers again.
He opens the door, blinking owlishly at her through his glasses. "Good,
grief, Buffy, why didn't you simply use the key I lent you?" Buffy stares at
her for another few seconds before catching on to her burden. "Oh! Oh, dear
lord. Here, pass me Willow."
"I'm awake!" Willow slurs out, wavering as she steps towards Giles, grasping his hand and steadying considerably. He leads her to the couch, where he lays her out.
As he's doing that, Buffy sets down her other burden on a sturdy chair. It
creaked slightly, and the girl squirreled around to a more comfortable position
without waking. Buffy looked the unconscious woman up and down, carefully.
She was heavy, a lot heavier than even her height and armor would account for.
And that armor...no straps, no buckles, no cords, not even a seam that she
could see. "So how the hell do you get it off?" She wondered out loud.
"Hmm?" Giles asks, as he returns from the kitchen.
"Nothing, Giles...just thinking out loud. How's Willow doing?"
"One moment." He tucks the cold compress under her head, along with a pillow,
and fishes out a pen light. As he shines the light in her eyes, he continues
speaking. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"Sure, Giles." She said, sitting down on the floor, against the wall, as Giles eases Willow's shoes off. "We were sitting and talking, and then Willow spotted a couple vampires, so I got up to dust them-"
"Where?"
"Near the center of Lakeview Cemetery, by one of those Mausoleum things."
Giles nods. "Continue."
"Anyways, I was fighting them, they were pretty decent, not great, but enough to get my blood pumping. So anyways, the next thing that happens, is I hear Willow cry out, and I turn around, and she's lying on the grass, unconscious and Xan looks like he's gonna go nuts. I killed one of the vampires, and then moved to kill the thing that hurt Willow, but the other vamp blocked me. The next thing that I heard was this god-awful THUMP noise, and I turn, and Xander's against a gravestone, like he's hurt, real bad, and he coughs up blood, so I run to him-
"The other vampire?" Giles asks, quietly.
"He's dust," Buffy says, distantly, her eyes unfocused. "I was mad, not sure
what happened he was in my way and then suddenly, poof, vamp gone. So then I
ran for the monster, and Xander says something, I dunno what, wasn't English"
Giles takes his glasses off and begins to polish them. He motions for her to
continue. "Anyway, I think he's threatening it or something, and then foom!
This brilliant white light covered him, and when it was gone/she," Buffy
indicates the sleeping woman, "Was there. She jabbered something at the demon,
it was just standing there, it's mouth open, and then it swears 'Oh, Fuck,' and
then a lightning bolt hit him."
Giles sits up, and asks intensely, "Is the demon dead?"
"Uh, yeah, pretty sure." Buffy drags a piece of...something out of her hair.
"Just loving this job. More and more every day." She flicks the piece of
demon into the cold fireplace. "So anyways, Then I noticed she didn't have her
spear with her, so I figured that was the 'lightning bolt' that hit the demon."
"Spear? Could you describe it for me?"
"Sure. Uh, the haft thingy was taller than she is, maybe seven feet or so long, and the blade went on for another foot almost. Looked like there was some stuff carved into the spearhead, but I didn't get a good look at it. Had a studded metal butt cap, too."
"I'd have to see the weapon...Buffy, do you know where it is?"
"Uhm, maybe. I'm pretty sure it's still at Lakeview, somewhere. Anyways, I'm not done yet. She killed the demon, then she looked at Willow said some more gibberish, something something on sister, then she saw me, said something like ban a mother, fainted, and Xander was still gone so I grabbed them both and carried them here."
"Hmm...on sister...ban a mother..." Giles finishes pulling Willows' shoes off,
and pulls an afghan up to cover her. "Banamadr? Ond-syster?"
"Yeah...Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what she said." Buffy replied, wide eyed. "What's it mean?"
Giles sat down, feeling ineffably exhausted. "She Named you, Buffy. And called Willow her 'soul sister.'"
Buffy frowns. "So ban a mother means Buffy in her language?"
Giles frowns, and starts polishing his glasses. "No. Banamadr means...Slayer. Perhaps Death Dealer...no...Slayer is a much more concise word."
"She...she could tell what I am...just by looking at me?"
Giles stared at her for a long second. "Perhaps...and perhaps not. Now, you said that Xander disappeared, and this...woman appeared in the same breath?"
"Yes." Buffy studies Giles carefully. He has a distant look on his face,
and he's still polishing his glasses. She looks around the room more carefully,
noting the somewhat neat stacks of books laying on the coffee table, as well as
the afghan and pillow that had already been on the couch. "Is something
apocalipty going on?"
"No." Giles said faintly. His voice increased in strength slowly. "I've
just been doing a bit of research on the side for Xander." He whispers to
himself, almost too low for Buffy to hear. "Too little, too late, now, I
fear..." He shakes his head slightly, and slides his glasses back on. "Buffy.
I need you to go back to the graveyard and retrieve her spear."
"Alrighty." Buffy turns to leave, but pauses, head down. "Do...do you think Xander is okay? I mean, wherever he is?"
Giles looks at the young woman in the chair near him. "I believe...that he is...closer, than you might think. Wherever he is...whoever found him...is taking good care of him."
"You really believe that?" Buffy asks, quietly, turning back to face him,
noticing that not once did his gaze waver from the unconscious woman's face.
"With all my heart." Giles said, sincerely, finally looking her in the eyes.
She nods. "Right." And walks out to the entryway...where she stopped suddenly. "Giles!" She yells. "The spear is here!" And there it was, leaned neatly up by the umbrella rack, leather sheath firmly secured around the blade.
"R-really? Fascinating." Giles stepped out into the entryway to get a look at the weapon himself. "Fascinating." He adjusted his glasses, and stepped forward, one hand stretching out to touch the haft. A warning spark leapt out at him, blue white. He yelped and stepped backwards.
"Giles? You all right?" Buffy asks from where she was standing.
"Fine...fine. It was just a light jolt, only a warning. I suspect it would go much harsher if I were to attempt doing that again."
"You want me to try?"
"No...no, that's quite all right. I do believe that that is a perfectly
acceptable position for the blade to be at." He grins wryly. "Or at least,
not dangerous enough to force a test of the safeguards on the weapon." He
yawns, widely. "Go home, Buffy. Get some sleep. Oh, and call Willow's
parents, and inform them-"
"That she's sleeping over at my house, so sorry we forget to tell them earlier, yadda yadda yadda." She grins at him wryly. "I have done this before." Exit, stage left, Buffy.
Giles smirks at her retreating back. "A fact I am well aware of."