Disclaimers: See Part 1
Feedback: All comments, criticisms and
flames are welcome. You can find me at saberprime@angelfire.com
“Buffy I’m your brother,” said Joshua.
Buffy didn’t react in the slightest, except that she
stopped breathing. “Sorry, what?” she
acted like she hadn’t heard him.
Joshua, playing along, repeated, “I’m your bro…”
“I heard you the first time!” shouted the distraught
Slayer, or whatever she was. She got up
and began to hyperventilate, babbling on in barely coherent sentences. “What do you…no, you can’t be my…well,
OK, there was the fact that I hugged you when we first met, but that’s not…and
then there’s the fact that I can teleport and make myself invisible…No, I can’t
be your sister…My mother died, she never got pregnant again…how could you be my
brother…My brother is an Archangel, so what does that make my father,
Michael? No, no, I don’t have a
brother…you can’t be my brother, so…why are you my brother? Giles, a little help here?” she finally
looked to her Watcher, as she had often done for guidance and sanity where she
saw none.
“What do you mean you’re her brother? Were…were you, that is to say, did you die
before you were born, and thus…?” asked Giles, stepping in to “save” his
daughter.
“No, uh…Giles, is it?
No I was not born to Joyce Summers, and died early or in the womb, and
then left in Heaven where I became an Archangel, no nothing like that. Buffy and I had the same parents. As did the others that I am looking for on
Earth. Maybe this will be easier if I
tell you the whole, or at least most of the story. Since I don’t want to repeat myself, lets wait for Xander to come
in and get settled. Buffy, would you
please open the front door?” requested Joshua.
Buffy, desperate to do anything to get her mind off of
the concept of a brother and parents she’s never known, immediately goes to do
as requested. Five seconds after the
door is wide open, Xander stumbles in carrying at least seven, maybe more,
large pizza boxes, with all the extras on top.
You know, breadsticks, Buffalo wings, cheese bread, soda, and everything
else.
Buffy, taking pity on Xander, offered to help, “Xander,
would you like some help with those?”
“Buffy?” asked Xander in a scared voice. Then, recalling, he says again, “Oh, Buffy!” in a more confident
tone, “Oh, yeah, I’d love some help.
Maybe the sodas and all the other stuff. And half the pizza boxes but be careful, they’re hot. I had to beg and plead the guys to let me
use their disposable hot gloves, though those are starting to…wear…a
little……thin…” Xander trailed off as
Buffy took the twelve very hot pizza boxes in one hand, and took the
other stuff in his arms in her other hand and walked casually over to the
table. Not even a hint of the fact that
it could all go tumbling at the slightest step she took.
“What?” said the short blond girl when she noticed everyone
staring at her.
“Well, gee Buff, I knew you were strong, the whole Slayer
strength going for you, but I didn’t think even you could balance that many
boxes and sodas and stuff.” commented the brown haired young man.
Joshua snickered from his chair, causing all attention in
the room to go straight to him. He
stopped laughing and sat a little straighter.
“Maybe I should tell you all the surprises before I get into the details
Buffy. Please, sit down. Just listening can’t harm you. And you have all your friends here to
support and protect you. So please?”
said Joshua.
Buffy frowned a little, and then looked into the faces of
everyone there. What she saw in each,
love, support, friendship, gave her strength and she took her seat next to
Joshua. Xander grabbed the top pizza
box, and took a seat between Anya and Joshua.
Before he continued, Joshua turned to Xander, “Pepperoni?”
Xander shook his head, opened the box and pulled out a
slice, “Cheese. Pepperoni’s third from
the bottom.” said Xander as he stuffed his face.
Joshua’s eyes lit up and he held out his hand and looked
towards the stack of pizzas. There was
a flash of the same pure white light, and the third from the bottom pizza
disappeared, only to reappear in his outstretched hand. He opened it and the scent of baked
pepperoni pizza filled the room. He
quickly took out a slice, and began to “chow down” on it. His eyes rolled back in ecstasy on the first
bite. “I love pepperoni pizza! Every time that I get to come to Earth, for
whatever reason, I indulge as much as possible.” said the Archangel as he ate
another piece.
Buffy watched the two eat with a gaunt and hungry look,
then she glanced at the stack of pizza boxes.
Sensing what she was thinking, Xander told her, “Hawaiian Specialty is the
one on the bottom. Sorry Buff.” Then he scarfed his face some more.
Buffy looked at Joshua and asked, “Can I do that? That thing you did with the pizza box. Could you teach me to do that, like you
taught me the teleporting thing?”
Joshua paused as he finished one slice before taking another. “I don’t have to teach you anything
Buffy. The knowledge is there, as is
the power. You just have to really want
it, and it’ll happen.”
At this, Buffy just smiled and closed her eyes tight in
concentration. All of a sudden, there
was a flash of gold light and gold sprinkles in the middle of the mostly empty
table. Once the sprinkles had
dissipated, everyone could see the largest Hawaiian Specialty pizza that anyone
had ever seen. Soon, its smell over ran
the smell of the other pizzas. The
Hawaiian Specialty pizza was not all that popular of a pizza, nor all that
cheap to make. It was made out of a
special dough, most often made in Hawaii, had “Sun dried Tomato” sauce,
“coconut milk” cheese, and was covered in Hawaiian and sea toppings. Pineapples, hams, peppers and other edible
herbs, but most of all, anchovies and lobster cuttings. Buffy and Dawn were the only ones of the
“Slayerettes” that ate it.
“Or you could just make your own.” Commented Joshua as he
picked up another slice of his pepperoni.
Buffy reached for a rather large slice of the pizza that
she had seemingly made out of thin air, and paused before biting into it,
asking, “You mean, this isn’t the pizza from the box? I made this like out of thin air?” She then took a very large bite of it into her mouth. Joshua only nodded.
Giles, Willow, Tara, and Anya looked at the three eating
pizza, looked at each other in turn, and as if in unanimous decision, each made
a grab for a different pizza box.
Twenty minutes later, everyone had had their fill, and Buffy had even
gotten Joshua to try a slice of the pizza on the table. He had almost immediately choked, but
managed to get it all down. Coughing
loudly, but not choking, Joshua managed to get out, “Not…<cough>, not too
bad. Whoa boy, I forgot the kind of
tastes you used to have. Good thing I
love you way too much to hate anything that you love. But if you ever, ever ask me to try this thing again, I
will personally get all of your old boyfriends together and convince them to
try dating you again.”
Joshua again noticed that his words troubled his
sister. “Ah, shit, I’m sorry. I don’t mean this world’s old
boyfriends. Ah, Mother above! Buffy listen to me, you aren’t Buffy Summers
anymore. Not anymore. Not completely anyway. Buffy, remember when I said keep an open
mind? Well, this is the part that I was
talking about. The part that I’m your
brother was just a warm up, and it doesn’t even begin to cover all the bases.”
Buffy paled slightly, but steeled herself, ordering
herself not to flip out the last time this man had revealed something to
her. “OK. What is it that I need to know?”
Joshua sighed and steeled himself for whatever response
that was to come. “Buffy,” he began
slowly, “Buffy, I know this will sound unbelievable, but some of the things you
have just done have proven it beyond any shadow of doubt that your mind and
emotions may tell you. Buffy, you are a
god.”
Joshua almost winced and braced himself, but forced his
body to stay still and take whatever reaction his sister would give. He expected disbelief, he expected another
panic attack, he might’ve even expected total calm and acceptance, but he never
expected total rage.
“What?” she asked in her Slayer “I’m about to kill you
because I’m angry” voice.
Joshua paled and backed up slightly. “Um, Buffy, um, is there a reason why this
might upset you?” he asked cautiously.
Her face was etched in fury, and everyone knew her reasons were more
than justified.
“Do you know what “killed” me two weeks ago?” Buffy
asked.
“Not specifically, no.
I knew about the dimensional rift, and what caused it to open, but
despite where I’m from current affairs is not often a priority on the message
board. I know enough that I could find
you and the others, and get generals on the backgrounds of each, but no, I
don’t know what “killed” you two weeks ago.” answered Joshua.
“I was fighting a god.
A demon god that wanted to go back to her “realm”, to her home realm,
and it turns out that I was exactly like her?” accused the enraged girl.
Joshua’s face scrunched in confusion. “Um, what was this god’s name, if it had
one?”
Buffy’s stony features stared back at the Archangel. “Glory.
Her name was Glory.” she said.
Joshua’s face remained the epitome of confusion until
Giles stepped in, “Her minions called her Glorificus.” Joshua’s face fell and his eyes bulged. “Glor…Glorificus…? But, how? She was to be
trapped inside a normal man. With no
way to break free. No way at all. Heavens above Hell, I didn’t even know that
she was on the Earth Realm.
Glorificus. I…can’t…believe…it…”
said Joshua, looking like he’d just been told the world was going to end in the
next thirty seconds.
“What happened to her?
Is she still around? I mean, how
did she get out in the first place?” Joshua asked.
“She stole people’s sanity, to give herself enough
balance to break through. After that,
it was just a matter of fighting for control.”
It was Tara that spoke this. All
eyes turned to her and Willow held her closer.
“Tara, baby, are you all right?” Willow asked in a
singsong baby voice.
“I’m fine Willow.
It’s just that I’ve been thinking about…it…for the past couple of weeks,
and… and I figured out why she did it, and in some cases how. I…I don’t remember everything, but I
remember enough to know…to remember what it was like for her, to be trapped
inside of Ben.” said the small blond wicca.
She trembled slightly as she recalled once again the feeling, the…
“Oh Lord All
Mighty. Tara…we…we had no
idea. I mean, none of us knew that it
was Glorificus free on Earth that was here.
If we had, we would’ve sent someone, I would’ve even come myself if I
knew that it was Glorificus. It was
when Buffy first died that we, myself and our parents, became aware that she
had come of age, that you were all still on Earth and for the most part,
safe. After that, Father spent a great
deal more time checking up on everyone here, unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly
leave our Realm, and I still had responsibilities back home that could not be
put off just to check on my sister. So
when it was finally found out that Buffy had briefly entered a demon dimension,
my trip was planned, and my tickets were bought, as they say.”
“When everyone in Heaven heard what had happened to Tara,
I couldn’t wait another minute, so I rushed everything as much as
possible. Then, Buffy made the
call. It wasn’t conscious really, and
it wasn’t really a call. When you
jumped into the dimensional rift Buffy, the part of you that still was a god,
called out for help, called out to come home.
My trip wasn’t delayed any longer, and whatever responsibilities I would
leave unattended would be taken care of until I returned, and returned with everybody. The next moment that Buffy appeared on
Earth, I was taken to that exact time and place and guaranteed enough power and
tools that I would need to assure the safe return of everyone to our home
Realm.” Joshua finished.
After about a minute of total silence, Anya asked what
everyone was thinking, “Everyone?”
Joshua smiled. “Buffy, you are a
god. But long ago, I can’t say exactly
how long, all the gods of our Realm were forced to leave. Not because of anything bad or whatever, but
because our Realm needed to experience a time without the gods, so you
left. I couldn’t leave because of the
role I play in the grand scheme of things, but all of the others didn’t really
need to stay. So, when the time came,
everyone left for Earth.”
“Once they were here, I don’t know exactly, but they all
decided to try living as ordinary humans.
I don’t think many succeeded.
Almost all of the “special” or super powered humans of the past fifty
years or so has no doubt been one of these gods. So, what I’m saying here is, that however many years ago it would
have taken, you chose a woman, Joyce Summers, and because she was sterile, you
blessed her with a child, yourself.
Unfortunately, well maybe not totally unplanned, but you ended up being
the chosen one. The Slayer. Yet, and I can’t say I’m surprised, you
found some of the others, and they found you, and you became friends in this
life.”
Buffy shook her head, trying to absorb all of this. “OK,” she began, “What you’re saying is that
I was born a god in this Realm in Heaven, then one day all of us gods left and
I put myself in my mother’s womb so I could be the Slayer? OK, I can keep an open mind, but this is
stretching it.”
“As I said, what you’ve already done proves it beyond any
and all doubt. And there’s more.” he
said. At this he looked at Willow and
Tara, and Tara sensing his gaze looked up, which in turn caused Willow to look
up.
“That’s right.
You kept mentioning me. And you
said something about my mother.” said Tara as she held Willow’s hand. Suddenly the blonde’s eyes widened, “Is Buffy
my mother?! I mean, my godhood mother?”
At this, Joshua burst out laughing so loud that everyone
jumped in surprise. He wiped away tears
from his eyes and stopped laughing after a bit. Getting serious he said, “Well, yes, Tara it is true that you are
one of the gods of our Realm, but Buffy is not your mother. And yes, you do know your mother in this
life. In fact, she is in this very
room. And if you’re also wondering,
yes, she is a she.”
“So what am I god of?” Buffy suddenly asked. Joshua turned his attention back to his
sister, but before he could answer her she asked another, “I mean, Glory was
part of a god-tri-umpheret or something, and then she tried to take over. So what are Tara and I gods over? Or are we just gods because of our powers
and nothing more?”
“Buffy,” said Joshua to stop her babbling. “Sorry,” came the response.
“Well, Tara is the Goddess of Peace and Purity within the
lands of Anton, Amphora, and Quiltius.
Understand, these are like countries, provinces, continents on the
chosen planet in our Realm.” explained Joshua.
“Chosen planet?” asked Xander.
“Well, in each Realm, there is one planet, or city, or
maybe even just building that is the center of everything. Attention, money, popularity, even the
attention of the gods and God All mighty. For example, in this Realm, in this
universe, in this reality, the chosen planet is Earth. God made
countless other planets throughout the cosmos and Heavens, so why does He send His only son to this planet to die for one species on
a planet so full of diverse life that more than half of them go extinct
practically over night? Makes you feel
kind of special huh? Well, in our Realm
the planet is called Anton. It’s much
smaller than Earth, and only has one ocean.
Ofcourse that ocean covers the entire bottom half of the planet, but you
get the idea.”
“OK, so Tara is the goddess of peace, what am I? What do I do? What other powers and stuff can I do?” asked Buffy impatiently.
Joshua smiled like the cat that just ate the canary. “Well, you Buffy, you are the Goddess of Love
and Happiness of children and girls. At
least, that’s what it says on most of your temples. What isn’t commonly known, except through story lore and Myth, is
that you are the Princess of the gods.
A title given you by the fact that you are the first daughter born to
our father and mother. It is not a
light title, nor one that you have ever taken lightly. Basically, it means that you are in charge
when Daddy, Mommy, or I are not in the room.”
Buffy sat in shock.
She didn’t know what to say. Not
only was she still alive and on Earth, when she should have been dead, but she
was a god, and not just any god, but the goddess of love and happiness. To top that, she was a princess too. Now all she needed to hear was that she was
married. She looked fearfully at her
brother. Her brother! When did she get herself a brother?
It was like Joshua was reading her mind as he answered
her question before she could even form the words to ask it. “No, you are not married. But that doesn’t mean that you’re a
virgin. The princess title aside, the
title of Love goddess has its own set of responsibilities. Two of which I imagine you can guess.”
Tara interrupted, “Um, Joshua, uh who is my mother? I mean my godhood mother. You said it wasn’t Buffy right? So, um who is she? I’d-I’d really like to talk with her.”
Joshua’s gaze downshifted right then. “Um Tara.
Buffy, who has re-attained her powers as a goddess, still hasn’t gotten
her memories as one back. So, even if I
told you who your mother is, she would still be in her mortal form, and only
have her mortal memories. Don’t worry
though, there’s a hypnosis technique that can help each of you get back in
touch with your powers and memories.”
“Let’s do it,” said Buffy out of the blue.
“Huh?” said Joshua.
“Let’s do it.
This hypnosis thing. I know
you’re telling the truth, and I don’t want you telling me any more about my
past. I want to remember it. You said you could do it, so lets do it.”
Buffy told him. He only shrugged and
said, “OK, you’re the princess.”
He stood up and indicated that she should also. He then walked into the back room, Buffy on
his heels. The others, weren’t sure if
they should follow or not, until Joshua said to them, “Well, coming?” Immediately they all rushed like third
graders to the playground, even Giles.
When they all got to the back room, they saw Buffy
sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, and Joshua standing about five
feet away from her. He looked up at
them. “Well, come on in, but you don’t
want to crowd around. When Buffy gets
back in touch with her powers and memories, I imagine there might be some
powerful discharges of energy. Just
warning you.”
“Ready?” he asked.
“Ready,” she said.
“OK Buffy,” said Joshua, sitting backwards on a chair in
front of the woman, “I want you to relax, as much as possible. Just let the tension flow out of you and
focus your mind. Focus it inwards,
where you can see yourself, where you can see all the parts of your
personality, your body, and your mind.
Once you have that, let me know.”
Buffy closed her eyes, concentrating. After about a minute, she tensed a
little. “Relax Buffy, it’ll come, just
let it come and don’t fight it. Relax,”
reminded Joshua. Again Buffy relaxed
and about a minute later she announced, “I have it.”
“Good,” said Joshua.
“Now, I want you to focus on one part of your personality, one part of
your body, and one part of your mind.
You may choose which to focus on.
Let me know what you see when you’ve done that.”
Almost immediately, “A triangle.”
Joshua smiled and turned to the others. “She focused on her love for others, her
hand, and her upper consciousness.” Joshua told them.
Buffy opened her eyes.
“How did you know that?” she asked.
Keeping the smile, Joshua explained, “What you just did
was what we call, “Seeing Yourself.” It
allows ‘us’ to find out if anything is wrong with us, or allow us access to
parts of our bodies, minds, or other things that we can’t normally access
consciously or even subconsciously.
When we focus on particular parts of each part of us, we usually see a
shape. For most, this shape is roughly
identical, if they focus on the same parts.
You focused on the strongest part of your personality, you hand, and
your upper consciousness, or what people call the ‘real’ you. When one of us does that, we see a
triangle. Usually different colors,
various shapes, but the basic is a triangle.
There’s also a way to tell if a certain part of you is injured or in
trouble or just different. The shape
that you saw was kind of weak on the right side, wasn’t it?”
Buffy’s eyes widened and silently nodded. “Well, that’s because your upper
consciousness is damaged, you don’t remember everything about you. It should fill out when we finish up.”
Joshua explained. “Now Buffy, I want
you to concentrate again. See
yourself. That was basically a warm up
to let you know what exactly you’re doing.
Now, let me know when you see yourself.”
After about thirty or so seconds, Buffy announced, “OK, I
have it again. Now what do I do?”
“OK, now I want you to focus on your love.” Joshua told
her.
“What?! What are
you talking about my love? What’s that
look like?” complained Buffy.
“Buffy, you are the Goddess of Love. Your powers and abilities and just about
everything that makes you a god is centered around your ability to love, and to
accept and receive love. Buffy, you are
full of love. I don’t think it would be
that difficult to find in yourself what I’m talking about.”
“Well, OK. I’m
getting a real big déjà vu here, but could you give me a hint as to what I have
to focus on here? Please?” pleaded
Buffy.
“OK. You love
Willow right? Like a sister,
right? You love Alexander? You love Tara? You loved Angel?” Joshua offered.
“How do you know about Angel?” asked Willow, of all
people.
Joshua turned to her, shrugged and simply said, “Gossip,”
The brown haired angel turned back to his sister, and the
small blond woman nodded her head, her eyes still closed. “OK.
I-I think I see something, but it’s insubstantial, I can’t really see it
all that well,” she told him.
“That’s OK.
There is just a couple more steps to go through,” he told her. “Now, I want you to focus as hard as you can
on the love you have for each and everyone of the people that you have loved in
this life. I want you to focus on it
until you feel it as fresh as the day you realized that you did. It should become a little more substantial
after that. Once you’ve done that, I
want you to remember all of the people that have loved you in return, and I
want you to put yourself in their shoes.
Feel the love that they gave to you as if it were your own, and add it
to what you are already feeling. Once
you’ve done this, you should be able to see that love as a real substance that
you can touch and see. Touch it.”
“What about Spike?” Xander asked, interrupting.
“Spike?” asked Joshua.
“Um, yeah, Spike.
Formally William the Bloody.
He’s a vampire that previously killed two Slayers, and tried to kill
Buffy. Until this government agency
kidnapped him and put a chip in his head that made him kind of impotent.”
Xander elaborated.
“Impotent?” asked the Archangel.
“He couldn’t hurt any humans without getting something
like a migraine, only a thousand times worse.
When he couldn’t kill Buffy, about three or four months ago he fell in
love with her instead. It was really
creepy,” continued Willow for Xander.
“Oh”
All of a sudden, Buffy gasped. All eyes were immediately back on her. As they watched, the familiar red and pink aura had completely
engulfed her, and tiny bolts of pink and gold lightning danced all over her
seated form. There was a sound like a
loud vacuum and distant thunder, as a ball of pink lightning energy coalesced
inside Buffy’s body and then visibly traveled up until it reached her
head. A sudden wind more powerful that
tornado gale force winds, whipped through the room and at the end of it, Buffy
cried out.
Then it all just stopped, and Buffy, looking normal,
collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.
Immediately everyone was beside her, but Joshua who was the first there,
held onto Buffy. “Shhhhhhh, shhhhhhh,”
Joshua tried to quiet everybody. Once
the commotion stopped, Joshua carried Buffy back out to the main room and laid her
gently on the table. Stepping back, he
joined the others that were huddled together all a little angry with him; he
could tell.
“All right, before you go pointing fingers and
everything, allow me to remind you that Buffy was the one who wanted to do it
immediately. As for that, I think it
was just a little bit too much of a rush for her. She’s fine. She just
needs to rest for a bit,” said Joshua.
“Oh, will that happen to me when I…” Tara started to ask.
Joshua shrugged, “I’m not sure. I can guarantee you that it won’t happen to all of you. But don’t worry, it’s more like jumping off
a skyscraper with a bungee cord or a parachute. But a whole lot more intense.
I think its just because she tried to fight it at first, but since she
went looking for it and found it, it wouldn’t be stopped. Just be aware that you have to embrace your
powers, no matter what they’re based on.”
A groan from the table turned everybody around and before
Joshua could blink, everyone was surrounding Buffy, trying to see if she was
all right. Slowly Buffy returned to
consciousness, and as she did, the memories slowly surfaced. First were the forgotten ones, the times she
spent as a child of the heavens, then as a little human girl playing in a field
her father made just for her, and growing up to her maturity, all of her
mistakes, all of her blessings and memories as the goddess of love. It wasn’t until hate entered man’s heart did
she include the happiness of children and girls. She protected them all, and she never abused her
responsibilities. Her powers? Oh yeah, all the time, but never her
responsibilities. She also remembered
the day that she and all her family and friends left their Realm, and why.
Then came the memories of this life. She remembered Joyce Summers, her mother
that had loved her and cared for her more than even she, the goddess of love
could imagine. She remembered her
childhood, she remembered being called, she remembered staking her first
vampire, the gym, she remembered meeting Angel, the Harvest, the Master, Spike,
Angelus, the Initiative, Adam. She
remembered Faith. Oh God in Heaven, she remembered
Faith. Faith and Kendra were the two
things she had not expected to encounter on Earth, but she wasn’t the real Slayer,
she just happened to choose along the bloodline and got picked.
Then, other memories came. The memories that the monks had given her. She remembered the day her mother and father
had come home with Dawn, she remembered Dawn’s first day of school, Dawn
learning how to ride a bike, their first fight, everything that Dawn would’ve
experienced had she really been with Buffy through the blond Slayer’s
life. She remembered the Tower, Glory,
Ben. And she knew what had happened to
them. Using her powers it was easy
enough, but deep down, she wasn’t really surprised that it had been Ripper who
had done it.
Opening her eyes, Buffy saw about five different heads
floating around her in her vision. It
reminded her of the time that she had woken up from fainting when she had that
mind reading power. At least this time
she didn’t hear their thoughts as she woke up and looked at them.
“It’s OK guys.
I’m fine, except maybe a little crowded,” she said as she lay there.
Slowly, they got the hint and backed off a little,
letting her sit up at the least.
“Buffy, what happened?” asked Giles, always the concerned father
figure. It was strange hearing the
question so filled with concern coming from someone who held within them a
being of such ruthlessness.
“Do you remember anything? Are you all right? You
passed out,” informed Willow. Dear
Willow, her Special Guardian, her dearest sister.
Buffy turned to Willow and smiled as bright a smile as
Joshua did the moment that he saw her.
“Don’t worry Wills, I’m all right.
Actually I’m better than all right.
I remember, I remember everything.
Especially how to do this.” Buffy said as she was suddenly surrounded by
the pink and red aura, though it seemed to be even more substantiated, and the
gold sprinkles. Something else that was
different from her earlier uses was a ball of gold energy, setting off more of
the gold sprinkles, traveled from the center of her being to the top of her
head as she disappeared from the table, and reappeared beside Joshua in an identical
fashion. Ofcourse the bells could still
be heard.
“Wow!” exclaimed Xander.
“Yeah, what he said,” Willow casually said. “By the way, did you figure out what the
bells were? Now that you got your
memory back and all?”
Buffy smiled brightly again and slowly she walked back to
Willow, till she stood less than a foot from the taller redhead. She shrugged and said, “I think it’s just
something to add in with the special effects, but with the sound more than the visual. You know, like Aphrodite on the Hercules TV
show? Since we’re both goddesses of
love, I guess some things have to remain standard, huh?”
“Oh,”
Buffy was still smiling.
She couldn’t help it, Willow, next to Joshua and Alexander, had been her
favorite sibling, and the fact that she was her best friend in her life on
Earth made her all the more special to her.
“Uh, Buffy, why are you smiling at me like that?” asked the nervous
redhead.
“I just really missed my sister is all,” was all Buffy
said. Then she hugged Willow in a
bone-jarring bear hug.
“Uh, yeah, I really missed you too Buffy. Especially since I thought you were dead for
two weeks and what do you mean you missed your sister and now you’re hugging
me?” Willow babbled.
Buffy chuckled and struggled to hold back her tears. “Wills, you’ve got to try it. It’s a rush and a half and then some. Unfortunately, I was so startled by the
sheer amount of my power that I held back some, and that kind of created a
vacuum sort of. Whatever you do when
it’s your turn, believe me when I say jump in head and feet first. Don’t hold back for anything. But it was still wicked cool!”
“Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that I’m one of you
too? I’m a god, uh, a goddess?” asked
Willow, panicked.
“Yes, you are Willow,” Joshua told her, coming up beside
Buffy. “As is Tara, and Alexander.”
“What about Giles?” she asked.
Buffy then let her go and the love goddesses face most
definitely went down a notch or two.
Joshua was still hung on who this Giles was, an old man, a Watcher, that
somehow knew everybody and owned the shop where they met. “OK, sorry to disappoint, but there is no
god in our Realm named Giles.
Sorry Watcher. But… Wait a minute,” Joshua paused and stepped closer to estranged old Englishman. “You are one of us! Buffy, explanation please.”
Buffy appeared saddened as she did just that. “He’s Ripper Joshua. He’s Ripper.”
Joshua paled slightly and nodded in understanding. Everyone else was confused as anything at
the moment though.
“Wait, wait, wait just a moment,” Giles stuttered. “What does my old college nickname have to
do with me being one of your gods? And
why are you two looking like you just proclaimed my death sentence?”
“Because we have in a way Giles.” Buffy answered him.
“Ripper is the God of War and Suffering in all realms.”
Joshua explained further. “It is a
burdensome title and responsibility, and I’m sorry to say that it leaves its
mark on the bearer. Ripper is still one
of us, and our friend and cousin. But
he is a very cruel and devastating creature when he is in his element, death
and destruction. The nicest way to say
it is, he’s a killer.”
Giles appeared struck by that last statement. He didn’t understand what they were saying
yet, but he immediately identified the traits that he shared with this
“Ripper”. He wondered why he even came
up with that nickname for himself. “I…I
still don’t understand…” he said.
“Giles, let me try and explain,” said the blonde
goddess. “I’m not Elizabeth Anne
“Buffy” Summers anymore. I’m just
Buffy, the Love Goddess. Yet, in many
ways I still am that Buffy because so much of me went into that young mortal
girl. With you, it won’t be quite the
same. I know what you did to Ben, and
I’m not angry with you. I can forgive
you as easily, if not more than you yourself can. I know as well as you do how much of you is Ripper, and how much
is Rupert Giles, Watcher, guardian of the Slayer, and surrogate father to Buffy
Summers. Right now, there’s more Giles
than there is Ripper. But when you
re-attain your godhood, when you remember who Ripper is, Giles will be
gone. There will be trace elements of
him, but only because of the memories that Ripper will keep. So, in the end, it will be as if Rupert
Giles really is dead.”
“Buffy…” Willow tried.
“So what are you saying?
You’re going to kill Giles, just so you can have a god that you don’t
even like back?” shouted Xander angrily.
“No! I love
Ripper! Just as I love all of you! And I love Giles, but Giles is a mortal that
was shaped out of the Watcher’s council training and then my love. I could do the same thing to every god in
Anton, but that would leave them all nothing but careless, yet heart filled
fools! Ripper is needed to help
maintain the balance. He’s my counterpart,
my cousin, and my friend! Giles is but
a small portion of him given human emotions and an attachment to Buffy Summers,
who died two weeks ago saving a sister that doesn’t even exist!!” Buffy
screamed.
Everyone was silent after the tirade, and as Buffy
realized what all she had said, she immediately felt the remorse and pain of
the whole room. “Oh, Giles…I, I’m so
sorry, I…I didn’t,”
“No it’s all right Buffy. I understand completely.
Besides, my life was feeling rather empty without you here. The Watcher’s Council, after you got me my
job back was undoubtedly going to call me back to England as soon as they heard
about “your” death. I’d be glad to know
that I’ll still be with you, at least in some part.” Giles consoled her.
Fresh tears were flowing from Buffy’s eyes as she mourned
the pain that she had caused, not only him but her other friends and
family. Joshua stood silently by, his
hands in his pockets and head bowed slightly.
Anya, the only one that seemed unaffected by this, asked the typical
selfish Anya-response question, “Since you’re leaving with them, does that mean
that I get to keep the shop now?”
Joshua, Buffy, and amazingly Giles all smiled and started
chuckling at her remark. “What’s so
funny? I was being serious,” said the ex-demon. They began to laugh all the harder.
“Well, why you three yuck it up, I’ve got a question.”
Xander said interrupting. “What happens
to Willow Tara and me when we remember?
What kind of gods were we? Was I
some kind of Hades god of the underworld person or something?”
Joshua shook his head and said seriously, “We don’t have
an underworld in heaven. We do have an
Angel of Death, but she’s not a god that came to Earth.”
Buffy decided to answer Xander’s question. “No Xander, you won’t be like Giles. You’ll be more like me. Tara’s the Goddess of Peace and Purity. She’s sort of the complete opposite of
Ripper, and she’s what the mortals of our Realm ask for in times of turmoil and
suffering. She’s a peacemaker and since
she’s my niece she has a lot of love within her as well. Of what I know of Tara the mortal, she has
flourished in her goddess persona for many years, and it seems the only thing
that sustained her through a very rough family life. The only thing that will change is how she reacts to the rest of
us. You’ll see why when you find out
who her mother is.”
“Willow, my dear Willow.
The only thing that is different between you and my dearest sister is
that my sister is not the shy type of person.
She is much like the woman that you have become. If this is mine, or Buffy Summers influence
then I am greatly honored that I could help you to become the person that I
love today. My sister, she babbles, she
gets confused sometimes, but she is caring to all those around her, and there
is not a person in Heaven or Hell that she could possibly hate or despise. In times of need, she is calm, confident,
and easily takes control of the situation in the crisis. As I said, the only difference is that my
sister is not the shy type.”
“And my dear Xander.
You are the embodiment of my brother, my older brother Alexander. He is the God of Justice and Truth. No doubt, in my presence you can already
feel your blood boiling at the injustice of Giles dying, or even feeling the
lingering pain of my own death at so young an age. Or maybe the injustice of Joyce dying of something so minor when
everybody said that she would be fine.
Or maybe even…”
“All right!
You’re right! I do feel my blood
boiling at all of these injustices that I can’t take care of myself, and I do
wish that I could make everything right!
And its not right to kill off Giles like this! There’s got to be something that you can…” Xander pleaded.
“Alexander, you are the God of Justice, but you are also the
God of Truth.” Joshua interrupted. “You
know as well as we do that this must be the way that it is. Nothing, not how you feel, not how we feel,
not how Giles feels can change the truth of that fact.”
“What’s your point?” Xander, or is it Alexander now, said
bitterly.
“ My point is, that each of you has a place where you
belong in our Realm, just as I do. Each
of you is needed. And so each of you
will be reawakened.” Buffy continued, “But if it helps, there will be little
else of you changed either Xander.
Alexander, my brother, is a good man.
He has a heart of gold and the will of a lion. Xander, so much of you, the first day that I met you, was so much
like my brother all ready. Then as time
went by and you gained more self-confidence, you became exactly like my
brother. We all have our moments and
times of doubt, but you have the same sense of humor, the same love for life,
the same sense of honor and justice. Let
me ask you one more thing, and I’ll tell you how you’ll feel before you tell me,
OK?”
“OK, try me,” he challenged.
“You’ll feel loss, regret in its deepest form and maybe a
slight case of anger and fury. But
mostly you might feel confused for no reason at all.” Buffy told him.
“Are you going to ask your question or not?” he asked
impatiently.
“Do you think that Faith was punished fairly for all of
the crimes she committed against the state and against us?” it came out of
nowhere.
And damned if he didn’t feel exactly as she had described
as he realized the question. He felt
regret in the deepest parts of his soul, wishing that he could have done
something to turn the brunette Slayer from the dark path that she
traveled. Then he remembered all the
things she had done; killed, lied to her friends, tortured Buffy, kicked him
out right after having sex with him!
He was briefly filled with a flash of furious anger, but it quickly
faded away as he thought of the answer to the question. Was she punished fairly? She had been alienated, chased by the
police, and forced to face her piers.
Now she was incarcerated in the LA county jail until her court date in
three months. (A whole lot of backwater
garbage and stuff)
So he was confused.
Personally, yeah he felt that she deserved another chance, but that was
him. He had forgiven her a long time
ago. But the court system seemed to
disagree with him, and despite all its flaws, it was still the law, and there
was also a part of him, the raging part that wanted her to suffer for all
eternity. He sighed. “I don’t know.” He finally answered.
Satisfied, Buffy finally got off his back. And onto Joshua’s. Literally.
“So, Big Bro.
How’s it been hanging at home and when can we go back? As absolutely great as Earth is, I really
wanna see Mom and Dad again. By the way
did you find Uncle Fey?” she asked.
Joshua grunted slightly when the blond had jumped on him,
but he smiled. He had missed her
antics. Standing as straight as he
could, making it as difficult as possible for the woman to remain on him, he
answered, “Actually, yes we did find ‘Uncle Fey’. About two days after everybody left. And we can go home when we’ve found everybody and reawakened
their godhoods. As for Mom and Dad,
they miss you. They miss just about
everybody actually. Except for Oz. He always smelled.”
“Oz?” Willow asked.
Buffy’s eyes widened in shock as she remembered Oz, both
Oz’s. “Oh, Mother in Heaven! I’ve completely forgotten about Oz! He was here! And so was Cordelia, but she’ll be easy to find. Oz left about seven, almost eight months ago
to find a cure/control over his werewolf side!
His cousin, here on Earth was a were wolf and bit him. Willow and Oz dated in high school, then he
ran across this female were wolf, and lets just say that he didn’t exactly
trust himself, with the wolf inside of him, around Willow anymore. Then he showed up again and got captured by
the Initiative.”
“OK, as fascinating as the whole story is, do you know
where he is now?” Joshua interrupted.
Buffy shook her head no, “No idea. He took off and hasn’t been back since.”
“Wait a minute.” Willow said, “Oz is a god too? What’s he, the god of music?”
“Um, no, but it is one of his famous talents.” Joshua
answered, smirking. “He’s the God of,
well, he’s the God of Animals to put it simply.”
At everyone’s confused looks, Joshua tried to
elaborate. “Well, it was decided when
our parents were first given the Realm we live in that they could pretty much
do whatever they wanted with it. Catch
was, they wanted to fill it with something more than just stuff, and so they
asked God if they could fill it
up with creatures, living thinking things.
He agreed, but said that only one creature could reside there. Long story short, Mom and Dad chose to have
Man, humans, as the creature of their Realm.
Well, there’s a very good reason why it says in the Word that God created man in His own image. Turns out, that in Heaven, man has the exact same powers pretty
much. He can create whatever his mind
imagines. So after a time, the humans
of our Realm were getting bored with just farming and living. They wanted to hunt, so they began to
imagine and “create” animals within the Realm.
These animals are a lot like medieval monsters and lore creatures. You know, dragons, man-wolves, winged-lions,
unicorns, and ofcourse animals they could hunt like deer, antelope, ferriers,
various birds, and so forth. Well,
there had to be somebody to keep all these animals in check and to make sure
that Man could not create more dangerous creatures, so Oz was given the
job. Funny thing is, he always had a
crush on Willow, but she never returned his feelings, always too wrapped up in
her own work.”
“So, uh, who’s next?
I mean this all sounds great, but like Buffy, I’d rather remember it
rather than hear about it. And I want
to meet Tara’s mother, too,” said Willow after he finished.
As she said this, Joshua and Buffy exchanged a brief
look. Turning back to Willow, his
youngest sister, Joshua informed them, “Well, uh that’s the thing. Buffy just re-attained her powers
today. That kind of put a big surge of
power right on top of another big power source, the Hellmouth. For safety sakes, we have to kind of space
out the re-awakenings. So tomorrow I’ll
give Alexander and Ripper their swords, and I’ll start helping Willow with her
research. Buffy, maybe you should have
a talk or two with Tara. In the
meantime, I’ll see if I can find Oz and get a message to him to come back here
ASAP. Have fun kids!” And with that, he disappeared in his unique
teleportation signature.
“Uh, Buffy what did he mean, help me with research?”
Willow asked nervously.
“I get a sword?
Cool!” Xander exclaimed.
“Talk about what Buffy?” Tara.
“Buffy are you sure you’re all right? I mean if you need to rest or even eat
something more after your ordeal, I’ll be happy to…” Giles.
“GUYS!” Buffy yelled over their voices. Suddenly all talk ceased.
“Giles. He’s
right about the whole power thing, but there’s more to it.” She began. “Since I am the goddess of love, in order to
keep me and my power stabilized, I have to have a counterpart to my
powers. I need the god of war in his
position of power in order to maintain the balance. So, what I’m saying is that tomorrow, you’ll be given back your
godhood. We’re giving Xander back his
sword because we both know that Xander will want to hold on for as long as he
can, and will resist whatever it would take for him to access his powers. For you, I imagine as soon as you have your
sword back in your hand, you’ll know exactly what to do.”
“I-I…I understand Buffy.
What is it exactly that you need me to do?” Giles asked quietly.
“Well, I suggest giving all your books to Willow, because
Ripper was never exactly the bookworm type.
That and she’ll need all the information she can get for the upcoming
weeks. And don’t worry Giles. You’ll still be there. It’s not like you haven’t been aware of the
different person that exists inside of you.
You’ve been trying to hide him for a long time. I imagine that he’ll do the same with you,
but whatever happens, he’s a part of you, and you’re a part of him. That and you’ll look a whole lot younger,
plus the whole god part of it.”
“Younger?” Giles brightened.
Buffy only smiled her “devil’s” smile and turned to
Tara. “We need to talk.” With that, Buffy took Tara’s hand and together
they disappeared in Buffy’s own unique teleport. Now that the “gods” were gone, the others began to wonder what to
do with themselves. Giles went over to
some legal documents he had in a drawer, which he had been contemplating. Now, he immediately signed them and
presented them to Anya.
“Anya, the store’s all yours. Legally. I had these
drawn up last week sometime; I’ve just been waiting for the time to do
something with them. I figure now is as
good a time as any,” he says as she looks soulfully up at him. She surprises him by suddenly taking him up
in a hug.
“Thank you for everything Giles,” she says quietly. He mutters something back, which she thinks
sounds a lot like, “You’re welcome…daughter,”
In the room that Willow and Tara had
been sharing since the renovations to their previous room began, (Glory ripped
the wall off of it), a pink, red and gold flash announced the arrival of two
young blond women. Or at least one
appeared to be young, though in a way she was older than any civilization alive
today. Tara was more than a little
surprised to suddenly find herself in her room of the past few weeks.
“Buffy? What
happened? How’d we get here?” Tara
asked in a panic.
“Tara, calm down.
Remember the thing with Joshua, he teleported you and Willow to the
magic shop. I just did the same
thing. Relax Tara it’s me. We just need to talk for a bit. I figured you’d want to do it in more
comfortable surroundings.” Buffy explained.
“Oh, OK.
Sure. So, what do you want to
talk about?” Tara asked as she sat down on the bed. Absentmindedly she grabbed a pink heart-shaped pillow to her
chest.
Buffy smiled. She
looked down at herself then, and casually conjured a mirror in a flash of gold
sprinkles right next to her, so that Tara could also see the reflection. “This outfit is starting to get old. How about I change it? You know some of my favorite times at home
was playing “dress up” with you and Cordelia.
Here what do you think of this outfit?” Buffy snapped her fingers and in
a flash of red sparks and pink sprinkles, she was wearing a completely
different outfit.
The colors were still primarily pink and red, but instead
of the masculine female look she’d had, now she was more the ‘sexual predator
of all females in the world’. She had
on 4 in. red stiletto heels, a really, really, almost obscenely short hot pink
mini-skirt, a bare midriff spaghetti strap red tank top that had in pink
letters the words, “KISS ME”, and she also had on gold bracelets, and Tara
noticed a very cute gold heart pendant around the goddesses neck. Buffy’s hair had also been redone. Instead of the straight, parted down the
middle look that she had that night so many weeks ago, it was now kind of
curled. It fell in long luxurious locks
around her head, like it had when she had faced Dracula that time. (Just think beginning of season 5, end of
season 4)
“Cordelia? As in
Cordelia in LA that works with Angel, who Willow went to visit some weeks
ago? That Cordelia?” Tara asked,
disbelief evident in her voice.
Buffy smiled brightly.
“Yes that Cordelia. I refuse to
believe for even a second that that’s a common name on Earth. And yes, Tara, she’s also one of us. Goddess of the Stars and Skies if I remember
correctly. And not movie stars, as I know
she’ll not doubt think. So what do you
think?” indicating her outfit that she had made out of thin air.
“It’s…uh,
very-very nice. Uh, Buffy what is it
that you needed to talk to me about? I
mean if you don’t approve of my relationship with Willow because she’s your
sister, then I can talk to her about it, I guess,” said Tara in her calm
peaceful voice.
“No, its not that I don’t approve Tara. I say if love is there, let it blossom. And I don’t have any problems with whoever
Willow chooses to see. It’s just
that…this outfit screams “Slut!” doesn’t it?
OK, next!” and Buffy snapped her fingers again. In a similar flash her outfit changed again.
This time, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but
the outfit was still pink and red. The
outfit was still more feminine than what Buffy normally wore, but what Buffy
normally wore had mostly to do with her Slayer activities. She was wearing a long red dress, with a
slit up to her knees in the back, a pink cardigan, and the same stiletto heels,
only pink instead of red this time.
Tara saw that while the jewelry that she had on earlier had disappeared,
the gold pendant had remained.
“I like that better,” Tara commented, trying to keep
Buffy on track. “So, do you remember
who my mother is? Or, is she the same
as your mother, back in our home Realm?”
Buffy smiled briefly at her reflection, musing to
herself. “No Tara, you were born to one
of the Gods, not the Guardians, my parents.
You’re my niece actually. My
favorite, but not my only, niece actually.
You are the daughter of my youngest and dearest sister. She’s everybody’s favorite. Not a mean bone in her body. So, you think Willow will like this
one? Heels aside, I think this kind of
takes after her fashion for long dresses and sweaters. Don’t you think?”
Tara nodded silently, trying to put the picture
together. “Yeah, it kind of does. But I was just wondering, are you going to
tell me who my mother is or not?”
Buffy looked in the mirror one last time, and then waved
her hand and it disappeared in a flash of gold sparkles and sound of
bells. Her expression appeared pained
as she sat next to her niece on the young woman’s bed.
“Tara, I don’t know quite how to tell you this, but I
guess better now than when you remember yourself,” began Buffy. “Tara, I’m just the goddess of love, so I
don’t know everything or how and why things work out the way they do. And despite my being said goddess now,
doesn’t mean that I was when I was still Buffy Summers. Just keep all this in mind when I tell you…”
“Buffy, just tell me,” ordered Tara, “who is my mother?”
“Willow” came the short reply.
“Huh?” Tara had seemingly taken after Buffy in accepting
news about family. Mimicking Buffy
almost exactly, right down to the not breathing. Then she started breathing again, but much quicker than
before. She also became slightly
flustered.
“Wha-what do you-you-you…what do you m-mmea-mean,
Willow’s m-mm-my-my mother?” she stuttered out. Buffy, with a very saddened expression, could only nod.
Tara’s eyes widened, partly in fear, mostly in shock as
she tried to absorb the fact that she had been dating and sleeping with her
godhood mother for the past year.
Despite not being Christian, and not exactly being raised in a proper
family, Tara knew and believed that incest was very, very wrong. She felt like fainting. Well, she definitely wanted to faint, but
she didn’t.
Tara gulped as she turned to her aunt Buffy and
asked the question that Buffy had been fearing she’d ask. “What do I tell Willow?”
Buffy, keeping as straight a face as possible, offered
her several answers, “Well, you could tell her the truth upfront, and
experience days or maybe even weeks of uncomfortable time together due to the
awkwardness of the situation. OR you
could wait until you re-awaken your godhood and tell her then, and that would
only leave you on the uncomfortable end of it.
But then she might get concerned why you would be a little bit more
“closed off” if you know what I mean.
Then she’d start asking questions, you’d tell her nothing’s wrong, and
then she’d finally come to me, or Joshua or anyone else awakened before you,
and ask one of us what was wrong with you.
Me, personally, I’d tell her to ask you about it because its your
business. Then she’d go straight back
to you and do just that and wouldn’t give up until you finally gave in, telling
her. After all that she might even
start out with the ‘resolve face’. You
would tell her everything’s fine, nothings wrong, she’d say she knew you were
lying and you’d come up with some lame excuse, like “I’ve just been tired
lately, a lot’s been going on”, but she wouldn’t accept that and would keep
pestering you until you finally either blurted or shouted it out at her. Then you’d both have angry and uncomfortable
times, and anyway I guess it doesn’t matter because Willow’s going to be pretty
busy over the next few days and maybe even weeks. It all depends on her really.”
“But it really depends on what you want to do. So I guess my answer is, what do you want to
tell her?” Buffy asked her niece seriously.
Tara sat still for several moments, trying to absorb all
that Buffy had told her, or guessed for her.
Then she shrugged and said the ever popular, “I don’t know. I guess I have to think about it. I just wish that…I don’t know what I
wish. I wish that I had more time to
think about it.”
“You have all the time you need Tara. You can stay here for the rest of the day,
or I can take you some place else that will give you more space to think. It is entirely your choice little one. Tell you what, I’ll do my best to keep
Willow busy for the rest of the day, and maybe even the night. Then, tomorrow when we give Giles and Xander
their swords, you can decide what to do.
I promise, the next time you’ll see Willow is at the Magic shop tomorrow
morning.”
Tara smiled at Buffy’s attempt to help, but she felt,
more like she knew that avoiding Willow right now would not make the
confrontation any easier, and in fact might make it worse. Tara asked her aunt a question that was
suddenly nagging at her like an annoying puppy. “Buffy, why…how do you think that Willow and I even developed
a…a…a r-ro-rom-man-romantic relationship if we, or our spirits anyway, were
that of a mother and daughter. I’ve
read in some cases, that twins, or siblings of one life might be lovers in the
next, and vice versa, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it happening to a
mother and daughter. So, I was just
wondering if you had any ideas about how, or maybe why it happened.”
Buffy’s face scrunched as she sat there thinking. After about a minute, “Well, like I said
Tara, I don’t know everything, but the best that I can give is the fact that we
all chose to be the same ages when we chose our mortal forms. Also, there is a very strong connection
between you and Willow. There is a
similar connection between all the gods and their children, but I think its
strongest between you two because you are Willow’s only child. You see, you are the Goddess of peace, and
Willow is practically filled with this as well as many other things. Just as I am filled with love, and etc, you
are filled with peace and purity of spirit.
There is also a direct link between your powers and Willow’s. I think this is what first drew you two
together. After that, I imagine it was
just that you opened up to each other on intimate and personal levels. Then there was also that encounter with an
evil vampire Willow from an alternate reality, trust me you don’t want to know. Anyway, Willow saw something in this version
of herself that she had never really admitted to, mostly at the time because of
Oz. When Oz left, she was forced to
face it and you just happened to be the one that she was on intimate terms with
when she did.”
“There’s also a story, Realmly speaking ofcourse, that
might better explain the connection between your powers, but it’s really
long. I’ll tell it to you some
day. It involves Willow, ofcourse, and
a quest that I sent her on. The story
has been called by bards and storytellers, “Defer’N’falliah Neh’Fall”. Or in English, “The Guardian’s quest for an
apple.”
At this Tara’s face was like that of a two year old child
that had to tell their parent something so important and she
stood up and went over to her closet.
She opened it, sat the pillow inside and started digging for something
in the back. Apparently she found what
she was looking for because she came back less than a minute later, holding a
relatively small brown leather tome.
Buffy could make out the Latin words on the cover, (Translated; I don’t
know any Latin!) “Secrets of the Heavens and Basic Workings of the Gods,”
“Interesting title for a very old book. It must be, what? About two thousand, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four
years old?” Buffy asked.
“How-how, how did you know that?” Tara asked surprised.
“Old knowledge,” was Buffy’s only answer, and it was
obvious to Tara that she wouldn’t get any more of one out of the newly awakened
goddess.
“Well, I found this book in Giles’, I mean Ripper’s, I
mean…” Tara started to say.
“Giles is fine for now.
Ripper’s a god, Giles is a Librarian.” Buffy told her.
“OK. Anyway, I
found this book in one of Giles’ forbidden stacks, but there’s nothing really
magic in here, at least nothing more than old legends and stories of magical
creatures and stuff. So, I kind of took
it. I’ve only been able to translate
some of the basic text, like the intro, something that looks like the Table of
Contents, and a list at the back of it.
Though, at first I thought they were like a translation guide, but now,
I think they might be names.”
“Oh kaayyy.” Buffy drew out the word, not quite
understanding where Tara was going with this.
“That name, or title or whatever sounded familiar. It’s a name from this book.” Tara opened the
tome to the back, on a certain page and began skimming the pages. “Here!
Defer’N’. I translated it to, “The
Guardian” or the protector or something along those lines. You don’t think that maybe this tome is from
your Realm, I mean our Realm, do you?”
Buffy paused, looking at the book. No doubt some part of Giles had recognized
this tome for what it was and had kept it hidden and safe. Looking closer, she could see something
more. A god had written this. Almost exactly how long ago that she had
said it had been written. Taking the
old leather book from Tara, she looked closer at it. Yes, a god, and one of them no doubt about it. But she hadn’t written it, and neither had
any of the others that were here in Sunnydale.
Tracing, as best she could, the aura that the words were written with,
flipping through the pages, Buffy found what she was looking for. It was the last name on the list of names
that Tara had pointed out to her. The
name was; “Ly’Marvue N Fartrus’d Fire……………………………………..Liam, God of Lore and
Fires of Anton.” In short, her
youngest son, the God of storytelling had written this so that they could
remember themselves and their Realm when they needed to. Smart boy.
“No Tara, it’s not from our Realm. It’s about our Realm.” Buffy explained to
her. “It was written here, on Earth,
but by one of us. My son actually. His name is Liam, and he is the God of Lore
and the guardian of Fire and so forth in Anton. He wrote this tome so that we would not forget where we came from
and who we are. It carries a good portion
of the myths and legends of what we did in our Realms as gods that made heroes,
made and stopped wars, saved people and killed them. Our mistakes, our jealousies, our valor’s and our strengths. You might want to read it. Though it is written in the home language of
Anton, so you might not be able to understand it.”
“Oh, well, how long do you think before I can read
it?” Tara asked, suddenly excited by having a book that told her almost
everything about where she came from.
Buffy only shrugged.
“I don’t see why you can’t read it now,” the goddess commented. “Huh?
What do you mean?” Tara asked.
Buffy suddenly smiled like the Cheshire cat, as Tara was
learning she did a lot. “Here. It’s something we can do you know. Grant gifts to mortals. Since you already know, at least in a way,
how to read Gaelic, I’ll just grant you access to that knowledge. Not that tough to do really. Hold still, and look at the words while I’m
doing this.”
Tara turned to the book, and Buffy inched closer to
her. Then, Buffy held her right hand up
to just behind Tara’s head, a spark of red energy forming at her
fingertips. Slowly the energy increased
in intensity and light as Buffy concentrated, never blinking or not looking at
Tara’s turned head. Then, the energy
shot from Buffy’s fingers the short distance to Tara’s head and the young
mortal woman was surrounded in a slight red glow.
As Tara looked at the words, all of a sudden, they began
to make perfect sense. She could read
them! She could understand! Too excited for words, she turns to Buffy,
only to see the goddess gone. There was
a note though. It was on red
construction paper, in the shape of a heart.
Tara grabbed it, opened it up and read:
“ Dear Tara,
Sorry to bail on you like this, but
apparently I’m not up to full strength yet.
That
spell took a lot out of me. Don’t worry
little one, I’m fine. I just need to
finish
off the rest of the pizza back at the magic shop. I’ll keep to my promise
about
keeping Willow out of the room for today.
I think I can keep her busy.
Hope
you two don’t share a bank account.
Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow
morning, maybe around 9 o’clock. I know
you
don’t have any classes for the rest of today, and tomorrow you may not even
have
to deal with them ever again. Love you
little one, I’ll see you in the morning.
Love,
Your Auntie Goddess,
Buffy”
Tara smiled at the note, and sat it down, picked up the
book, and opened it to the first page.
She didn’t stop reading until long after the sun had gone down. Then, she just lay in her bed, awake and
dreaming of what new adventures she and the Gods of Anton would soon be
doing. After a while she finally
drifted off to pleasant dreams in slumber land.