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This page was last updated: August 31, 1998
(c)August 1998
URL: willow9.htmlThe following is a bit of alternative fiction based on certain characters from the Xenaverse It is not meant to infringe on anyone else's rights. If you don't agree or disapprove, please go read something else.
This story is part of an Altaverse based on Bite Me and the Fonder Heart. It can be found, along with other such stories, at The Realms of the Xenaverse, under Blood and Roses. Xena is Ares' Daughter and Gabrielle is Bacchus' Daughter
Characters from Buffy: Vampire Slayer have also been borrowed for the purposes of this story. All of this is written with the utmost affection and the no desire for renumeration (except for possible emails). The same above disclaimer is in effect. There are certain changes that have been made to accomadate this particular Xenaverse. Buffy's Vampires are really part of the Kin, renamed for purposes of this story
Xex Alert: Yes, there definitely will be, between two consenting immortal women even. Maybe even more
Violence Alert: Yes, probably, given that this is a story involving slayage and Xena.
Gabrielle studied the undeniable flickering of the Fire deep in her lover's eyes and bit back a resigned sigh. She had hoped to put off having this conversation until they were back in the City... but it now looked like she didn't have a choice. "Maybe Buffy's right, Xena," she began hesitantly, knowing that the warrior was on a hair-trigger at the moment and hoping for one last respite.
Blue eyes narrowed sharply as they focused on the golden outline of the bard. "What are you saying?" She shifted her stance and ran a long-fingered hand through her hair. Both women seemed oblivious to the red-headed teenager's presence, and Willow sank slightly back into the shadows. She didn't want to intrude on their conversation, but she equally did not want to miss a minute of what she had a feeling was a very important discussion between her aunt and Xena.
Gabrielle took a deep breath. "I'm saying I think we should go back to the City and let the slayer and the Watcher sort this out."
"What?" Xena's incredulous word echoed Willow's thoughts. "Are you mad, Gabrielle?" The warrior strode across the library. "Look at this place, will you? We've got probably the flakiest slayer in the history of... history, a Watcher who's a glorified librarian, and a group of teenagers who run around calling themselves 'the Team.' If that's not a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is."
"Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't," Gabrielle hedged. "But I think our presence is only going to make things worse. If the kin haven't sensed us yet, it's only a matter of time. And if they weren't after Willow before, they will be once they figure out the connection."
"All the more reason for us to stay." Xena immediately pounced upon the point. Willow had to agree with the dark warrior. Unlike Xander, this teenager harbored no illusions about being a slayer-- she wanted as much defense standing between her and the demonspawn as possible. "Besides, how do we know how competent this Buffy is anyway?" the warrior continued. "It's not exactly like she's gonna get a lot of training from what's his name."
"Hey!" Willow exclaimed, instinctively defending her friend. "We've been doing pretty well until now." The words leapt out of the slender red-head before she could stop them. She braced herself for the ferocious glare in the warrior's eyes, but when they turned on her, they were surprisingly gentle.
Xena searched Willow's face for long moments, then nodded in wry acknowledgment. "Yes, you have. I'm sorry, Willow, I didn't mean to insult your friend," she apologized, ignoring Gabrielle's skyrocketing brows. "It's just that you have to admit, things are getting a little out of hand here. You said so yourself."
Willow nodded unhappily. "Things were going fine until Buffy and Angel..." Her words drifted off... she really didn't want to think about that. Well, she did, but not really. Buffy and Angel loved each other, why did that have to be a bad thing for the universe? She looked into the unwavering eyes focused upon her and felt like they were just about the most comforting sight in the world. With a broken sob, she hurled herself into the startled warrior's arms, and it all came tumbling out. "Now Miss Calendar's dead, Giles doesn't care about anything; Angel's trying to kill us all to get back at Buffy; and Buffy..." She choked on her best friend's name. She was really worried about her, and the blond girl wouldn't even talk to Willow-- who was supposed to be her best friend in the world. Willow sighed heavily. "I just don't know what to do. And I'm so tired..." Xena's strong arms surrounded her in a soothing embrace, and she could smell the warm scent of the warrior's skin beneath the dark blue T-shirt. A shocked part of her mind noted that the warrior's body was a combination of lean hardness and surprising softness, and it seemed to go on forever, wrapping Willow in a haven of skin and muscle and bone... a living shield. No wonder Aunt Gabrielle loves her... she thought distractedly.
Her tears were soaking the tall woman's shirt, but Xena didn't seem to pay it any mind. "Shh..." she murmured, her hands automatically coming up to stroke the girl's long hair. "I know... It must be hard holding everything together when it seems like the world's gone crazy."
"I don't care about the world," came the muffled reply. "Just my friends."
A deep chuckle rumbled though Willow's hearing as Xena answered. "It's the same thing, little one. Your world is who you love. And you love them all-- Buffy, Giles, even Angel."
Over the top of Willow's head, she could see Gabrielle watching them, the surprise still evident on her face. "Sensitive chats" had always been the bard's area of expertise, but Willow was in such obvious pain, and she resembled the bard so much in her youth that Xena had been helpless to do anything but respond. Holding Gabrielle had always worked, and it looked like her progeny was no different. Just the feeling of Xena's arms around her seemed to quiet the girl and ease her anguish, until her crying was only a muted sniffling. She gave the bard a slight shrug with her eyebrows and continued to hold Willow until the teenager seemed to realize where she was and who exactly it was hugging her.
"Oh..." she gasped. "I'm really... I'm sorry..." Willow hastily backed away, remembering the warrior's earlier comment to Buffy. I'm not normally a touchy-feely type... A warm smile lit Xena's features, reminding Willow of how absolutely beautiful her aunt's lover was. People tended to forget that once they keyed in on that whole "Destroyer of Nations" thing. "I'm sorry," she apologized again, this time for the errant thoughts that strayed through her mind.
"It's okay, Willow. Really." Xena reassured the teen, quashing the urge to hug her again. Willow looked scared and startled... the same way Gabrielle had that first night she had stumbled into Xena's campsite, so lonely and hungry and afraid. Even though Xena hadn't realized it, she had given up to a piece of her heart that night to the village girl kneeling by her fire. Now-- to her amazement-- she felt another tiny piece surrender to the girl in front of her.
Now Willow turned beseeching golden eyes on her aunt. "Please don't go, Aunt Gabrielle. We need you and Xena."
Gabrielle bounced a helpless look between her niece and her lover. Everything in her was screaming to just grab Xena-- and Willow too, if she had to-- and just hightail it as far away from Sunnydale as possible. So many years of treading lightly in the shadows had given her a feel for the delicate equilibrium between the Twilight and Waking Realms.
And she had a very bad feeling that everything had just taken a huge turn for the worse.
The Bronze was, as usual, smoky and dark and crowded with every teen in Sunnydale. If they weren't at the mall or the movies, they were here. Especially on a Friday night. Music throbbed loudly through the place, rendering conversation impossible, but that was fine with the slayer, who basically just wanted a chance to cool off.
Damn her... That furking warrior who thought she knew everything-- Buffy could just tell it from the smug look in her pale blue eyes. So what-- she had been around for two thousand years. So what-- she was the Daughter of the God of War. So what-- her relationship with the Sunwalker made them essential for the world to exist.
So what? The warrior didn't know Sunnydale. Or the Hellmouth. Or the demonspawn they faced.
But everyone else was acting like Xena knew it all.
She didn't mind the bard so much... Gabrielle just kind of gave off these soothing vibes that calmed her slayer sense even as it stroked it. Those green eyes seemed really accepting and kind... not like the warrior's... They were always prowling, searching, testing....
Just like hers were now. Buffy automatically scanned the exits, regular and fire, noted who was standing where, while her subconscious slayer's instincts checked for ghouls of all sorts.
Nope, the Bronze was clean.
They didn't go here much, the demons. They knew it was her turf... usually the only ones who stumbled in here were the newly-born or newly-arrived, and Buffy could generally dispatch them without too much difficulty. Those nightcrawlers who had been around for a while preferred to creep around the edges of the cemetary, waiting until they knew if she was hunting that night before beginning their own hunts.
She was proud of the work she had done here in Sunnydale. Sure, she got tired of staking vampires and exposing werewolves and stuff... and Giles could really be a drag. But all in all, her life hadn't been that bad. She had Willow and Xander to talk to... even Cordelia could be okay when she wasn't off on some cool-chick-head-trip... And then there was Angel.
Dark, handsome, soul-torn Angel... to whom she had given her heart... and who she thought had given her his.
While she was damning people... Damn Miss Calendar... Her curse had set all this up. Had made her think Angel could love... and what was worse, made him believe he had a soul.
Now everything was all messed up. She didn't know how to make it better-- she wondered if she even wanted to anymore. She was tired now... tired of slaying, tired of living a double life-- making her mother believe she was a "normal" teenager. Really, who believed there were normal teenagers anywhere? Everyone seemed to be on Jerry Springer with some freakish secret. She was starting to believe that being a slayer on the scale of things wasn't that big a deal.
Buffy continued to stalk through the club with a murderous glare that put off many would-be suitors in the room before finding someplace to sit down and brood. After almost two years in Sunnydale, Buffy already had an... odd... reputation, but most guys were willing to overlook that. After all, thick blond hair and a killer bod usually reduced them to babbling idiots... Okay, so most of them didn't have very far to devolve.. but still... the guys were usually more forgiving than the girls. She shuddered to realize that were it not for her calling, she would be just like them.
One of the sheep.
"Hello O' Mighty Slayer..." Xander bounced into her line of vision, obviously have come here look for her. Coredelia wasn't too far behind, but when the other girl saw Buffy, she spun around and joined another group of kids, ostentatiously ignoring Buffy and Xander. "We got work to do or what?"
"Cordelia's mad at you." Buffy nodded at the girl's stiff back.
"Cordy's always mad at me. She hates me. I hate her... It's a mutual thing." Xander waved her concern away and settled himself opposite her. Buffy was sitting with her back to the wall at one of the corner tables that offered her a full view of the room.
Buffy only shook her head. "That's totally dysfunctional, Xander."
"What can I say? It's a dysfuctional world. We are the products of our environments." He put his elbows on the table and leaned forward conspiratorially. "So? What did you think?"
Although Buffy knew exactly what he was talking about, she arched a sardonic brow. "About what?"
"Come on, Buff. You know what. Xena and Gabrielle. Can you believe that they're related to Willow?" He shook his head. "Man, I would've never guessed that in a million years."
"Willow is related to Gabrielle. Not Xena."
"Yeah, whatever. I get the feeling with those two it's a package deal or nothing." He grinned, losing himself for a brief moment of what exactly a "package" deal of Xena and Gabrielle might be likes.
Having seen that look in his eyes before, Buffy ordered flatly, "Get your mind out of the gutter."
Xander wasn't phased at all. "Hey, I'm a teenager... My mind rarely escapes the gutter. You're lucky to have this much of me paying attention. Speaking of which, what's the plan for tonight?"
Buffy looked at her friend a long moment, then shook her head slowly. "I don't know, Xander. I just don't know."
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This page was last updated: August 31, 1998
(c)August 1998
URL: willow9.html