VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2, 3 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 21:35:25 08/08/02 Thu
Author: WillowX
Author Host/IP: AC9DEEA4.ipt.aol.com / 172.157.238.164
Subject: Children of the Earth (2/10) Part 2

Continuation from Part 1

“So all you have to go on are some tire marks and a smidge of black paint?” Xander said in a disbelieving sarcastic tone. I look down at the table where we are sitting in the Magic Box and notice all the hard “research” they no doubt have been doing ever since Buffy came by.

“Yes. Unless you found something incredibly helpful in last months issue of Modern Bride.” Two can play at that game.

“Doesn’t it bother you to be surrounded by these mystical objects and not be able to use them?” Ok…why is it that every time she opens her mouth shit pours out in large quantities?

“Anya.” Xander said impatiently.

“Xander. The tire marks were very visible which would mean the tires have to be fairly new…you know not worn out. Also, remember Buffy’s mystery van?? She said it was black. I think it’s too much of a coincidence. I know it’s a stretch but it’s the only thing we have. We don’t even know where Buffy is. She could have been run over by a car for all we know and be laying dead on the street but no one can see her!!!” I’m starting to freak myself out here.

“The books, the charms, the candles….. all of this must be driving you crazy. You’re almost like an alcoholic sitting at a bar not being able to drink.” She’s looking at me with a blank oblivious stare.

“Anya.” Xander said it louder this time. He looked at me, rolled his eyes, and continued “You’re right Will. I don’t know if Buffy realizes how much danger she’s in. The other objects that we found on the street have already started to deteriorate. We have to do something now.” Xander sounds very concerned. It’s amazing how much people grow. How much people change. Just the other day we were fighting over Barbies…I was never too partial to the Ken doll…go figure! But today he is a grown man engaged to be married.

“I’m thinking of going down to the DMV and getting a printout of all the black vans registered in Sunnydale. Then I’m going to cross reference it with this list of resent purchases I got from the Sunnydale Tire Kingdom. It’s worth a shot, it’s the only store in town that carries that make of tire. Once I have the addresses we can check them out one by one.”

Just then Anya leans in a sniffs me. “Did you just have sex? Cause you smell like sex.”

“ANYA!!!” Xander and I screamed simultaneously as I slam my fist hard on the table. That’s it!!! As soon as we find Buffy and fix her I’m coming back here and scratching Anya’s eyes out.

“Please. Can you focus for once?” Xander sounds really annoyed and Anya is ignoring him, no doubt thinking up her next stupid question. I’m done wasting my time. Placing both hands on the table I lift myself up in an indignant fashion preparing to storm out of the shop. Xander reaches out and grabs my arm.

“Willow wait!”

“NO!!!! I can’t wait!! I WON’T loose her again Xander, not NOW! I can’t! I have to go.” He looks at me with a puzzled look but let go of my arm none the less. The room was silent until I heard the familiar chime of the bell hung over the door as I left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I watched her with tears in my eyes as she got dressed and left the house. I hadn’t really left. I had no where to go. But she did. She looked determined. She was a girl with a purpose. Off to see Tara no doubt! I’m so confused. This is so confusing. I feel like I’ve been stuck on the same roller coaster ride for months. Every time it seems like it’s time to get off it just starts back up again.

She doesn’t want me. I don’t understand. I was so sure yesterday. So sure! The way she looked at me. The things she told me she felt while I was gone. The way we kissed. Oh…and let’s not forget TODAY!!! It was my name she was calling. ME!

I’ve been sitting around here for hours trying to figure this all out. The more I think about it the more confusing it gets. I was engrossed in my own thought when the telephone ring startled me.

“Hello?”

“Slayer!” A deep, almost inaudible, voice barks into the phone “We have the Witch! Meet us at the arcade on the corner of 7th street and Miller.” I could hear Willow screaming in the back. I couldn’t make out all of her words. But what I did hear clearly was her warning of a trap, “it’s a trap” she kept repeating, “ a trap.” Then the receiver went dead.

Some one has my Willow! I heard her screams. She is amazing, even while in danger her first instinct is to protect me, at the cost of her own life. The room around me is spinning and my heart is pounding. She might not want me, but she is still my best friend, and I will always protect her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Damnit!!! I don’t know how I always get myself in trouble! I knew I should have asked Xander to come with me when I checked out the addresses. Hmph… and I’m supposed to be the smart one of the group! I’m not feeling very smart now. Here I am being held hostage by three…umm…nerds? It’s the only thing I can come up with. Nerds! I got jumped by a gang of invisible nerds! One of them definitely sounds familiar but every time he speaks and I look in the direction of his voice, his tone immediately becomes deeper. The drive over here was worse than a lobotomy. They argued over everything, including and not limited to… who would win in a fight between Lara Croft and Alice of Resident Evil. The worst part was that after a few minutes I found the arguments presented to be convincing. I’m exhausted already.

This is a trap. They plan on killing Buffy! Before I was caught snooping around their crap I read the laser guns schematics. It has three settings. One that makes the object invisible, one that reverses it, and one that disintegrates it! You can guess which one the laser is set to now?

“Where is your mighty Slayer now Witch?” The one holding the invisibility gun says in a sarcastic tone. He seems to be the leader.

“Where are your sidekicks?” If it’s sarcasm he wants it’s sarcasm he’ll get. The rest of the invisible nerd herd had been playing arcade games and arguing in the distance since we got here.

“My sidekicks?” He chuckles eerily. “Sidekicks are for heroes. I am not a hero. I have accomplices. You, on the other hand, are a sidekick and a really bad one at that. You look like the type that always gets in the way. Always needs rescuing. Always in danger. Hmph… I’m surprised the Slayer hasn’t killed you herself just to eliminate the extra baggage.” My nerve endings were tickling. The magic was calling me, urging me, persuading me to use my strength. With one swift hand gesture I could end all this today. No more nerds. Just then….

“Pssstttt!” Followed by the familiar sound of a fist banging against flesh and the crash of the invisibility gun as it hit the floor by my feet. Two seconds later the sound of a huge thump on the nearby air hokey table. What the hell?

“I’d like to side kick your ass!!” Buffy said in a triumphant tone. My heart warmed at the sound of her voice. She really was my hero. Little does she know how much.

“Buffy!! There’s three of them.”

“Will! Quick get the laser gun!”

The scene was nothing short of chaos. The patrons of the Arcade began a stampede as soon as the huge thump was heard. My arms were tired and my hands were shacking from my near slip up. It took a few seconds of fidgeting with the laser gun to change the settings. Catching the nerds by surprise, with one flip of the switch one by one I reversed their invisibility.

Buffy… yay for me!

Oh my god…Warren….Buffy Bots sick daddy!!

OH MY GOD… not Jonathan!!!... and…

Huh?... the Dell Guy???

Buffy and I were on one end of the Arcade and the three nerds stood at the other. Warren looked a bit banged up holding his left cheek. He was no doubt the leader that Buffy snuck up on and pummeled.

“Jonathan, how could you do this to me? Of all the people.” Buffy said in disgust. The look on his face was haunting, full of shame and hurt.

“SHUT UP SLAYER!!! We are your arch nemesis’s.” Warren interrupted.

Just then the Dell Guy pulls out a gun from his back pack. My eyes widened in terror. Not even Buffy can fight that. Slowly he lifts his arm to shoulder level, aiming the weapon at Buffy, when out of the blue Jonathan clunks him in the head with a near by air hockey puck. Boy he had a soft noggin!

Buffy was busy capturing the other two when I look up just in time to watch Warren exist out the back door. My body is overwhelmed by exhaustion and I haven’t got the strength to follow in pursuit…just like that he was gone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I stood on the corner and watched as the police car drove off with Jonathan and …um… Andrew I think he said his name was. Two out of three is not that bad. Besides, how much damage can one lonely nerd do anyways? Out of the corner of my eye I see Willow sitting alone on a street bench, crouched over holding her head in her hands. She looked pained. I walk over to her hesitantly and sit at her side. Slowly she lifts her head to look at me.

“Headache?” I ask.

“Mother of all headaches, the headache that invented all the other headaches, the Obi-Wan of the headache galaxy.” She ranted faintly. Even her goofy rants sound cute. Suddenly I remembered …she doesn’t want me…my heart burned. I sat there quietly by her side on the extreme end of the bench agonizing on what’s to come. When can I finally get off this roller coaster?

“Today was a weird day.” Willow said in a soft voice.

“Yep... today ranked way up there on the weirdness scale with “switching bodies” “loosing souls” and “split personalities”.” I agreed without sounding agreeable. Hmmm… well it made more sense in my head.

“Are we good?” She asked cautiously.

“It depends what your interpretation of good is.” Let’s see how long I can dance around the pile of shit without stepping on it.

“I want it in Buffy terms.” Damnit!!! Apparently not too long!

“Well if you want to know what I think, I have no idea where we are at all.” She flinched when I said it. But…hey…she asked, I answered.

“You’re absolutely right. We have to talk about last night.” Oh great. Now she’s gonna dump me! Can I even be dumped? It’s not like we were officially going out or anything. Still this sounds like a “dumping” speech if you ask me. Wonderful! Don’t I wish I was invisible NOW?

“Look Will don’t worry. There is nothing to talk about. Emotions were running high. I know you love Tara. It’s o…..” She silenced me with her finger. She likes to do that a lot...shut me up and stuff.

“I love YOU silly. I always have...from day one.” My heart ached when she said this. I was sure she was about to give me the “I don’t want to ruin our friendship” speech.

“So why didn’t you say it last night?”

“You fell asleep before I had the chance to.”

“Oh. But then….why did you cast me off today at the house?”

“Hello??? Invisible!!! You were invisible!!! I didn’t cast you off, I was worried about you. Plus, I was freaking out!!” She moves closer to me and turns my face until our eyes meet. Her eyes look really tired and sincere.

“I love you Buffy…..the way you love me. I too wanted to make love to you today. Being with you would be my dreams come true. But when we make love for the first time, I want to be able to look into your eyes. I want to memorize every curve of your body, enjoy every freckle and every birthmark. We couldn’t have done that today.” I had butterflies setting up camp in my stomach. Having her sit so close to me was driving me crazy. Everything about her was accentuated. Her eyes were greener, her voice was softer, and her scent was sweeter. She reached out with her hand in search of mine. Once she found it we sat there together in silence for a while.

There is something about holding hands with someone you care about that is absolutely breathtaking. I’ve always thought that our hands connect us to the outside world. With them we can make someone scream in pleasure or cry out in pain. When you hold someone’s hand you share an intimate act displayed in a public manner. It’s a way of telling the world around you that you are connected to that person. I love holding hands…but moreover…I love holding Willow’s hand!

After a few minutes she finally broke the silence. “I think we want to move to fast.”

“What do you mean?” I ask confused.

“Well….we need to get to know each other again Buffy.”

“What are you talking about? You’re my best friend!”

“Buffy, let’s be honest, we haven’t been friends for almost six month’s now. A few days ago I thought you hated me and last night everything changed. We need to get to know each other on a different level…a romantic level.”

“You wanna date?” I ask confused.

“Yes. I wanna date. I so want to date you!!” The idea was beginning to grow on me already. We could go to the movies, out to dinner, to the bronze…together…as a couple. We can even hold hands the whole time. If we start dating that would make her my girlfriend! Wow…. I got a girlfriend… and it’s WILLOW!!! Yeah this idea is sounding great.

“I have just one request Will, can we sleep together?” Her eyes widened and her face turned all sorts of interesting shades of red.

With a nervous giggle she replied, “That’s not slow Buffy! That’s full speeds ahead!! Faster than a speeding bullet!”

“I didn’t mean SLEEP, I meant sleep…as in catching z’s.” Her expression was still the same. Red all over!

“Last night Will, with you in my arms, was the only night that I slept in ages. I don’t know what it was exactly. Maybe it was the smell of your hair or the sound of you breathing or the warmth of your body. It was something about you, next to me, that finally helped me relax. I promise we won’t do the other type of “sleep” until you’re good a ready.” I looked at her as I said this, her expression was that of understanding. Maybe she felt the same thing.

“What side do you want, the left or the right?” This is her way of saying yes. I smiled at her. I really wanted the bottom but hey…

We both sat again in comfortable silence, digesting what was just said. I want to be with her more than anything. I want this to work. I want her to know everything about me. I want to share my life with her forever. As I’m thinking these things one thought kept popping into my head…Spike! The Sunnydale rule is that secrets usually bust out in a very public and hurtful way, like the time I kept Angel being alive a secret or the time that Willow and Xander fooled around in secret. I could go on and on. The last thing I need is for her to find out about Spike from someone else or worse…from Spike! I need to tell her the truth. I want to tell her the truth. But how? How do I tell the woman I just confessed my love too that I had an affair with someone else not three days ago? I’m staring forward blankly when suddenly the thought hit me.

“I slept with Spike.” The ripping off band aids method… all at once!

“You WHAT?” She said with a surprised look on her face.

“I slept with Spike.”

“Why do I have the feeling it wasn’t in a snuggly way?”

“Because it wasn’t! It was in a rough, dirty, knocking down buildings sort of way.”

“When?” Her expression is stoic. For a slip second I saw of flash of Oz in her.

“Like three days ago.”

“Why?” This one took longer to answer.

“I’ve been asking myself that question for three days straight and I still don’t know why. Will you accept that it was a HUGE mistake as the answer for now?” She looked at me hesitantly.

“Do you love him?”

“Absolutely not!” Semi pleased with this response, she turned her face forward once more to stare into nothingness.

Silence ensued again as we sat watching the sunset. My brain was working a mile a minute. There were children entering and exiting the arcade. The sound of their faint laughter and the hum of the cars passing in the street were oddly beginning to soothe me. I looked down at our hands and I couldn’t tell which fingers were hers and which were mine. I bring her hand up to my lips and kiss it gently. As I am doing this she brings her other hand up to my cheek and caresses my face softly.

“I never hated you!” I say looking straight at her.

“What?” I caught her of guard.

“You said that a few days ago you thought I hated you. I never did! Ever! It’s not possible for me to hate you.”

She looked at me for a few seconds without saying a word and then she agreed, “I know what you mean Buffy. I know what you mean.”

Using the hand that was still cradling my face she laid my head on her shoulder as we continued sitting on the bench holding each other. The sun had already set and the streets were dark. I closed my eyes to fully appreciate this moment, sitting here in the dark, holding Willow’s hand, with my head on her shoulder. This moment was perfect. I wanted it to last forever.

Suddenly Willow jerked, like she had just remembered something important. “Buffy!!! I forgot to ask…how did it go at the Department of Children Services?” I roll my eyes when I hear the question.

“Bad! Very Bad! They said I had to get a job!”

“A what?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The lair looks as if a bomb exploded. Everything is disheveled and out of place. The faster I try to pack and get out, the longer everything seems to take. I only have a few hours before those idiots turn me in. I can’t believe he actually did it. Jonathan….Mr. Benedict Arnold himself! I will make him pay dearly for what he did! Helping the Slayer! That Bitch! One day she’ll find herself at the wrong end of her pointy stick, and when she does I will laugh and rejoice and celebrate!

The phone rang and my body froze in fear. Only one person has this number and he’s the last person I want to hear from right now.

“Hello?”

“You’ve failed me again.” The familiar deep voice said over the phone. I was afraid of this.

“How did you find out so quick? It just happened!”

“Hmm…my dear boy, I know everything.”

“Jonathan double crossed us. I told you he couldn’t be trusted.” It wasn’t my fault and I WASN’T taking the blame for it.

“SHUT UP! If you hadn’t been so greedy in the first place she would be dead already!”

“I was two seconds away from killing the Slayer this time but…”

“You imbecile! The Slayer is of no importance to me. That is your personal vendetta. The Witch, however, must die…at any cost!”

“I understand Sir. I won’t fail you again.”


To be continued in Chapter 3 “First Date”

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.