Sunnydale, California, mid-to-late May, 1999
Giles stared in horror as Buffy, his Slayer and the girl who had become like a daughter to him, revealed her true form.
"Hello Giles." Her words had a lisp as she spoke around the sharp and elongated teeth, and the smile she gave him was cold, a preview of the cruelty she promised to inflict. "Do you like my new look?" The vampire with Buffy's body struck a pose, then she lunged.
"Aargh!!!"
Rupert Giles lurched awake with a jolt from his nightmare. He frantically patted at his neck, feeling for blood and puncture marks. Finding none he sighed in relief. His vision blurry from a combination of lack of sleep mixed with copious amounts of hard liquor, clumsily grasped a bottle, his second? third?, of whiskey. At least he thought it was whiskey. He might've finished that off and started in on the brandy. It could even be the gin for all he knew, as he'd lost track several glasses ago. He blearily looked at the bottle, unable to read the label even though he'd focused, or attempted to, on the small letters.
The hell if I know, he thought, pouring the liquid into his glass without a care that some splashed over the sides. It was of no import of what the bottle contained, however. It was alcohol, and it would continue to keep his mind blissfully empty, scattering even his impressive ability to compartmentalize and calmly think through a crisis. The only problem with that notion, however, was that he was not facing a crisis. Oh no, it was a calamity. And it was not just Giles who was affected by this travesty, it was the whole bloody world.
"The Earth-hic-is-hic-doomed,"* Giles slurred, then barked out a laugh that was completely devoid of any humor. It was the type of laugh that would send cold chills down the spine of anyone unfortunate enough to have heard it. It was definitely warranted.
Giles' worst nightmare had come to life just as it had two years ago when the Hellmouth had made young Billy Palmer's nightmares a reality as well as the nightmares of other residents of Sunnydale. Those nightmares-Willow's stage fright, Xander's killer clown, and Cordelia's transformation into a nerd with bad hair, were even more laughable than they'd been then. Even Buffy's fear that her dad blamed her for the divorce and wanted her out of his life had been minor.
His first nightmares had been as absurd as his students'. Getting lost in the stacks and then losing the ability to read, both child's play when compared to stepping into that magically nighttime-during-the-day graveyard and seeing a gravestone with Buffy's name on it. It was a sight that had cut him to the quick (and was now a reality). It meant failure, and it was the greatest fear of every Watcher Giles had ever met.
And then when Buffy had "risen," seeing the features-the heavily ridged brow, the fangs and other crookedly sharp teeth, and yellow eyes, all indicating her vampirism, had actually nearly given him a heart attack. The relief felt by all when Billy had woken up and everything went back to normal… Well, let's just say no one was more relieved than Giles and for a reason he'd kept to himself. Once the nightmares were over there had been no need, so Giles had felt it was best not to reveal the Council's policy when it came to "assisting" vampires. A policy that had been a result of Angel's involvement in Buffy's life. To say the Council had been unhappy that the vampire, despite having his soul and working for the side of good, is an understatement. Travers had been particularly smug when Angelus had been released last year. It was the ultimate I told you so moment Travers had been waiting for.
"Smug bloody bas-bastaarr-" Giles slurred, too drunk to finish speaking coherently.
It was this subject of Angel reverting back to his natural evil sate that reminded him of an earlier conversation with Willow.
Who the bloody hell knows hours ago…
The sun was high in the sky-the safer time of day-and Giles had just arrived at the Rosenberg residence to cast the spell to disinvite vampires. He'd already done his apartment and Willow's house was next before heading to Xander's. Buffy's vampire counterpart had cleverly wrangled an invite to all three of their houses, even though Xander's had not been a regular location where they would convene.
Willow had just called for him to come in, as her parents were gone, when Giles had rang the doorbell. She was frantically shuffling through a stack of papers, while periodically looking into a box, and muttering to herself in a tone too low for Giles to understand what she was saying.
"Willow," Giles said. She didn't seem to hear him, only poked through the items in the box. "Willow!" Giles said louder.
"Stones, stones…got the stones. Bones, bones…don't have those," Willow continued to murmur, sifting through the box's contents. "Incense and candles…have plenty of those," she said with a small giggle that sounded too airy for the tragic circumstances they now found themselves in.
"WILLOW!" Giles shouted, grabbing the young girl's shoulders and swinging her around to face him.
The redhead's gaze seemed to focus on him, finally. "Oh! Hi Giles." Willow's eyes were wide-too wide, and her smile was reminiscent of the rictus grin.
"Willow, what are you doing?" Giles asked, concern for his student lacing his tone.
She gave him a look like he'd just asked if she remembered how to get on the computer. "I'm gathering the ingredients for a spell, what's it look like?" she asked indignantly.
"I can see that, but-"
"I need animal bones. Do you have animal bones?" Willow cut him off, her tone frenetic.
"Y-yes, I do, but which spell, Willow?" Giles asked, a sense of foreboding creeping down his spine.
"Why, the Ritual of Restoration, of course. If you have the bones, then all we need is an Orb of Thesulah. I have everything else." She returned her attention to the box of supplies.
"Willow," he said, his heart breaking. He scolded himself, he should've realized beforehand that Willow would want to cast the Gypsy curse on Buffy.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry, but we can't restore Buffy's soul." Giles was surprised when Willow's expression didn't fall at his words, delivered in such a painful tone it would cause even the most hardened warrior to flinch.
Willow nodded at him. "I know the Orb is hard to find, but eBay deals in nearly everything. I'm sure we can find one there. The only issue might be the price, but I'm pretty thrifty with my allowance, so if you chip in, I think we'll be able to manage it. And depending on where it ships from it can be here in just a matter of days. And then we'll have the first Vampire Slayer who's a vampire. The vampire Vampire Slayer! Isn't that funny?" Again Willow laughed, but this time there was hope in it. The hope of a person wanting to change an unfavorable outcome, but also the hope of a young girl desperately just wanting her best friend back. Giles knew that desperation only too well. First with Jenny, and now with Buffy.
Giles prepared himself to administer the death knell on Willow's hope. "It's not about the Orb, Willow, I'm sorry."
"Whaddya mean?" Willow's wide hazel eyes pleaded with him not to dash the hope she desperately clung to. Unfortunately, Giles was about to crush her world entirely.
Giles took a deep breath. "When I spoke with Travers about the situation, he informed me that the Watchers Council vehemently and adamantly will not allow Buffy to be re-ensouled. There will be dire consequences if we try it." Giles did not tell Willow what those consequences would entail (a visit from the Watchers Council Special Operations team, to be exact), as he did not want to scare her even more at this particular moment in time.
"What?! Why?" she nearly shouted at him.
He sighed, and took off his glasses to clean them with the handkerchief he always carried in his pocket. "Because it is the policy of the Watchers Council to not assist vampires. It became a rule after Angel," saying that name left a sour taste in his mouth. "Began helping Buffy, long before they became a couple. That's why Kendra was so against helping Buffy to save Angel instead of focusing on defeating Spike and Drusilla. And they would not have approved of us trying to curse him again last Spring; not after Kendra was killed and Buffy had finally accepted that she would have to kill him." Giles put his glasses back on, and steeled his nerves to look at Willow.
Tears had welled in her eyes, her lips trembled, and her voice cracked as she said, "But we-no, the world needs a Slayer, Giles. Faith was evil before she fell into that coma, and if we can't curse Buffy to have her mostly back…then no one is safe."
He touched her shoulder in what he meant to be a comforting gesture. "I know. I honestly can't even try to tell you what's going to happen now.
Giles did know, though. The Special Ops team would be deployed to "eliminate" the obstacle in the way of turning any one of the Potentials in the world into a full-blown Slayer. And it would be one hell of a surprise when Collins, Weatherby and Smith showed up in Sunnydale and the 'Jane Doe', who'd fallen into a coma after being stabbed, disappeared from the hospital altogether with no one the wiser until she was long gone, especially with no one even noticing her departure. It would be quite the mystery for some time yet, to the Council's chagrin, as it did not appear Faith had awoken before she went missing.
"But-but why would the Council want to leave us so-so vulnerable?"
Another sigh. "Well, it was realized that it was far too…easy for the curse to be broken and the soul to be lost, and thus reverting the vampire to its evil, killing nature. And we've learned, painfully I might add, that Buffy and Angel couldn't be kept apart; not even a hell dimension could permanently separate them." Oh, the irony, Giles lamented to himself because they were all surely in a hell dimension now.
Willow shook her head at him, tears tracking down her cheeks. "No, no, no," she said over and over again. "I'm not part of the Council, I can curse her." Willow crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her chin out stubbornly. "They can't tell me what I can or can't do!" she added defiantly.
Oh, Willow, Giles thought, a heavy sigh escaping him as his heart broke further. Now he had to tell her about the Special Ops team. He couldn't risk her trying to cast the curse anyway.
"Willow, if you even attempt to find an Orb of Thesulah, or the Council becomes aware by the smallest hint we're trying to curse Buffy, we will all die."
Willow paled, but Giles continued so that there was no possibility she would misunderstand how serious his warning was. She needed to know what the consequences would be.
"There is an elite team of three men that is a part of the Watchers Council. They are charged with handling morally ambiguous missions such as interrogations, kidnappings, assassinations, and smuggling. They've never had a contract on a human that I know of, but in the world of international sorcery, things get... complicated.
"The Council would've preferred if Jenny hadn't successfully translated the lost ritual. They would want to eliminate all who have helped cast the curse, or know how it can be done now that it's been rediscovered. You, me, Xander, Oz, even Cordelia won't be safe in Carpinteria."
Giles began cleaning his glasses again.
"I'm positive this would be a time when the Council would suspend their morality ethics and have the team target humans. They would deem it an acceptably evil act for the greater good."
"That-that's just…I don't know what that is," Willow said, her tone incredulous.
Giles replaced his glasses and could see that she looked like she might vomit. He agreed with that sentiment wholeheartedly.
"So sh-she's," Willow's voice cracked, "she's really lost to us?"
His tone soft, Giles said, "I'm afraid so."
And so Giles just held Willow as she broke down, letting her pour out her grief in agonized sobs, biting his lip as he attempted to keep a tight rein on his emotions. He didn't try to whisper or make shushing noises of reassurance for they would only be false platitudes. It would not be okay. It would never be okay ever again.
January 25, 1999
Happy: feeling or showing pleasure or contentment
Relief: a feeling of reassurance and relaxation following release from anxiety or distress.
Pride: a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired
Grief: deep sorrow, especially that caused by someone's death
Regret: a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done
The happiness and relief Giles felt was so intense that he almost felt lightheaded. The Cruciamentum was over, and Buffy had passed the vigorous testing of her skills. His Slayer was alive! After years of hearing the censure in the voices of his colleagues after it was discovered he'd dabbled in dark magic in his youth, he, Rupert Giles, could add his name to the list of Watchers whose Slayer passed the Cruciamentum!
It had been over twenty years since he'd left his "Ripper" days behind him and he still had to endure that stain on his reputation. Giles wouldn't deny how terrible the business with Eyghon had been-both times. Quentin often took great delight in reminding him that it was his, as if Ethan, Philip, Diedre, and Thomas had not also participated, arrogance which led to the death of his friend Randall when they failed to exorcise Eyghon from him, and then the deaths of Philip, Diedre, and Thomas not quite two years ago. But now he was redeemed. Buffy had survived against all odds, especially as nearly everything that could go wrong during a Cruciamentum had gone wrong.
Not only had Zachary Kralik, an insane vampire who'd been a serial killer before he'd been turned, escaped his bondage before he was meant to be let loose, he'd also killed Blair and Hobson, the two Council members Quentin had brought along to prepare Buffy's "arena" and turned them into vampires. The most unexpected occurrence was that Kralik had abducted Buffy's mother, and tragically, had been killed by the vampire before Buffy had killed Kralik after she'd dealt with Blair and Hobson.
Giles very much regretted that Joyce had died. She had been a lovely woman and wonderful mother. He also felt a certain amount of guilt, as it had been he who had administered the organic compound that had caused Buffy to lose her Slayer powers. Thankfully, Buffy did not know this because he feared she might blame him for her mother's death. She would likely feel betrayed that he was responsible for her lost powers and then had lied to her, telling her he had no idea what was happening to her. He couldn't deny that she would be correct, but Giles was just following his orders from Quentin to uphold the tradition of the Cruciamentum.
Giles had spent the last few days worried sick. Angel had called, saying that he'd not heard from Buffy since she'd left his mansion the night prior to his phone call. He had already checked the Summers' house, Buffy wasn't home, nor was she with Willow. Giles had then called Xander, that was a bust. Although it had been a long shot he'd even called Cordelia. Not one of them had heard from Buffy.
When Buffy still had not shown up at school or even called to let them know she was okay, then realizing Joyce was also missing, Giles knew something was wrong. He and the Scoobies plus Cordelia (she'd made it clear she was no longer a Scooby since she and Xander were no longer dating, but she still wanted to help because she did care about Buffy, too) had went on high alert, none of them objecting when Angel joined their search. The sun had just set on the third day when Buffy had shown up at the library, their "home base" for their search. Giles had been going out of his mind in his worry. He'd even risked his job when in a private telephone conversation he'd told Quentin he was going to tell Buffy about the test and his role in it when, or if, they found her. Apathetic as ever, the man had just said that Giles would be fired from the Council if he did, and he would be replaced as Buffy's Watcher before he began to arrange his return to London, apparently assuming Buffy had been lost.
She was clearly traumatized by her ordeal. It had been bone chilling to listen as she detailed how a lunatic vampire had stalked her on her way home from Angel's. He'd let her get to safety inside her house, just taunting her because he wanted the Slayer to discover his cruel game. Kralik needed her to go home to find that her mom had been abducted by the Polaroids he'd left on the front porch. Buffy said she'd then stocked up on weapons, stakes and holy water before she went to the address written on one of the snapshots. Giles had lightly admonished her when she said she was too shaken up to call him or any of the others for help, that all she could think about was saving her mom. She said she was lucky because she managed to kill one of the vampires with her crossbow, before finding the corpse of another man.
There had been no sign of the stalker vampire before Buffy had found her mom bound to a chair and gagged in a small room by herself. It was Joyce who had saved her daughter's life at the cost of her own. She'd had just enough time to tell Buffy about his psychotic behavior and how he needed pills to "treat" whatever illness he purported (vampires did not need medications to treat illnesses. It was simply a delusion carried over from his human lunacy), to suffer from before Kralik had darted into the room and snapped Joyce's neck right in front of Buffy's eyes. She'd run then, as the vampire followed at a sedate pace, laughing all the while, telling her about his "problem with mothers". By the time he'd caught up to her, Buffy was waiting for him with his bottle of pills and a glass filled with holy water. When his psychotic episode hit him he'd momentarily abandoned his pursuit for a handful of pills and then chugged nearly the whole glass of water he didn't know was blessed, burning himself up from the inside out.
Understandably, Buffy had not been herself upon her return. She was still in shock, her pallor very pale and her skin cold as ice. Buffy had said she would figure out what to do the next day; that she was not ready to contact the police or her father yet. Giles understood her request for a little time before they would have to deal with the human authorities. He had been slightly hurt when she'd declined his offer to stay at his home in favor of Angel's, but he knew Angel was once again a permanent fixture in their lives, and it was only natural she would want the solace of her vampire boyfriend's presence.
The ringing of the telephone broke Giles from his reverie.
"Hello?"
"Congratulations, Rupert. You get to join the very short list of Watchers whose Slayer survived the Cruciamentum." The gravelly monotonous voice of the head of the Watchers Council greeted him over the line.
Giles took a deep breath, calming himself so he didn't begin yelling at the man who obviously had a heart made of ice. "Yes, I'll just pop open the champagne while Buffy grieves for her mother and two other families grieve the loss of their loved ones, too, shall I?" he said dryly.
There was a harrumph followed by, "There is no need for dramatics, Rupert. Of course Mrs. Summers' death is a tragic accident, and Blair and Hobson knew the risks, as did their families."
"I'm sure that will be sufficiently comforting," Giles said, not bothering to moderate his derisive tone.
"Hmm, yes, well, the Council is here for anything Miss Summers may require, of course."
"Of course," Giles repeated. The line went dead.
Sanctimonious wanker, Giles thought as he replaced the receiver on the cradle.
Giles decided to have a nightcap before going to bed. He poured two fingers of brandy into a tumbler, and threw it back quickly, feeling like he deserved the burn of the liquor as it made its way down his throat. He poured another finger, then lifted his glass in a toast to Joyce Summers, the most recent casualty in the fight against evil.
He took a sip of the liquor this time, and silently promised that he would always look after Buffy in her mother's absence.
Same line (without the hiccups) from Giles in 7x22 "Chosen" just before the battle down in the Hellmouth and also a throwback from when he said "The Earth is doomed" at the end of 1x2 "The Harvest."
A rictus grin occurs when a corpse is in the early stages of decomposition. You'll see that it's extremely creepy and unsettling if you google it.
Okay, so my plan is to get a chapter out every three weeks, but there might be times it's a little longer than that, or sometimes earlier. It just depends on what's happening in my life, and this is just a hobby for fun, and I have other obligations that take priority. :)
