| Two By Two Hands of Blue by Thursday Next |
| Chapter #8 - Chapter 8: It's a Slayer Thing |
| Chapter 8: It’s a Slayer Thing Four faces looked at her with astonishment. Willow swallowed nervously. Questions and comments assailed her from all sides. “A Slayer?” “What’s a Slayer?” “That’s impossible!” “How?” “Why?” “Enough!” River’s voice stunned them all into silence. “Too many voices spoil the broth! It hurts my brain. One by one by one by one…” “Quite right, mei-mei,” Kaylee said soothingly as River lay her head on the table and covered her ears. “We’ll talk one at a time. Willow?” “A Slayer…is what Buffy is. She is Chosen. It means she has special abilities. She is strong, she can fight well. She sometimes has prophetic dreams. I think…I think that River has those abilities as well.” Willow related what had happened earlier with Jayne for the benefit of Simon, Spike and Buffy. “What with your dream, Buffy, I don’t think that it’s such a wild guess.” “But Buffy’s the Slayer, how can…” “I don’t know,” Willow said, “Perhaps River is the Slayer for this dimension. If it even is another dimension…But she doesn’t know, she has no watcher, and of course there’s the whole ‘crazy’ issue…” she looked at River nervously. Silence descended on the group sat around the table. Simon was the first to speak. “How…forgive me, but I don’t quite understand…how is someone ‘made’ a Slayer?” “You get Chosen,” Buffy shrugged, “You don’t choose it. After a Slayer dies, another is Called. Always a girl. I was 15 when I became the Slayer.” “Could someone be made a Slayer?” Kaylee asked innocently. “I mean, we know that these men with blue hands did something to River, and I’m assuming she wasn’t like this before…” “She wasn’t,” Simon said softly. “So, could they have made her…somehow…” “The source,” Buffy said quietly, an edge of excitement to her voice, “The missing source of Slayer power. We followed it and it brought us here…” she broke off and studied River, speculatively, “I assumed the source would be a box, not a girl…” she stopped as images from her dreams flashed before her eyes – blue hands holding a box, the men with blue hands who had River in chains, The Bringers, waiting, that rhyme….two by two, hands of blue…Buffy rose to her feet so quickly that Spike had to hold out a hand to steady her. She squeezed his hand automatically before releasing it, an unconscious acceptance of the support he always offered, that she hardly realised she needed. “Oh my god…I think you are right,” she said, addressing Kaylee and Willow together. “Somehow these men with blue hands got hold of Slayer power and tried to use it to make a Slayer.” Everyone looked at River, who was humming happily to herself, blissfully unaware of all the speculation surrounding her. “Obviously it worked…but not without consequences. What they did caused something to unbalance in her mind…” “Gos se…” Kaylee whistled, astonished. “It certainly explains why the Alliance are so desperate to get her back,” Simon said, grim faced. “Do you think…knowing this, is there any way to help her?” “Perhaps,” Buffy said, “I’m afraid I’m almost as much in the dark as you. But if these blue handed freaks did take the power source…they must have it somewhere still. And if we find it, there’s a chance we might be able to use it to reverse whatever they did to her.” “That’s all well and good, pet,” Spike spoke up, “But how exactly are we going to find these bastards? And how are we going to get in and get this source? I’m thinking they’re not exactly going to be rolling out the red carpet in welcome.” Buffy’s brows knitted in concentration. “The getting in and out without being killed part I’m going to leave up to Mal. It’s his area of expertise after all.” “Do you think Mal will agree to this? It sounds like a suicide mission,” Simon said. “I helped him on his mission, it’s only fair that he help out on this. Nobody need risk their lives if they aren’t willing, I won’t ask that of you.” “I’m willing to risk anything if there’s a chance we can help River,” Simon said seriously, “But I know that there’s those on the crew who won’t feel the same…” he didn’t need to name Jayne, they understood. “I’ll need you to come with me when I talk to him. But first we need to know exactly where it is we’re planning to break into. Willow, I need your help on this one,” Buffy said, turning to her friend. “Uh…ok. What do you want me to do?” “A locator spell.” “Oh good, because that turned out so well last time,” Spike muttered. “Spike, if you’ve got nothing to offer besides sarcastic comments you can leave,” Buffy snapped. Spike’s eyes flashed angrily but inside he felt helpless and frustrated. He didn’t like to be reminded that he had nothing to offer. Nothing to offer the mission, nothing to offer her. All he was good at was fighting and shagging…there was no immediate need for the former and if Buffy had any need for the latter she wasn’t showing it. Spike sighed and taking Buffy at her word, left the room. “How can I locate something when I don’t know what it is? I need something to focus,” Willow protested. “You’ve got River.” River looked at the sound of her name. “Focus on her, see if you can find out where the people are who did this to her.” “I’ve never done a spell exactly like that, but…I’ll try,” Willow said, licking her dry lips, nervously. “I’ll need you two to stay, help me keep River calm,” she said, looking up at Simon and Kaylee. “Of course, Willow, fang-xin, don’t worry,” Kaylee said, giving her shoulder a friendly squeeze. Buffy looked around for Spike but the vampire was nowhere to be seen. Buffy cursed to herself as she cast her mind over her recent words. Damned vampire, why did he have to be so sensitive? As Willow prepared for her spell, Buffy slipped out to look for Spike. She found him, eventually, up near the pilot’s cockpit, gazing out at the stars. She stopped in the doorway, watching him watching the sky. His pale skin contrasted with the blackness of the sky outside; there was a depth of feeling, of soul in his eyes that wrenched her heart to see. It struck Buffy as she continued to stare at him that he was beautiful and she wondered that she had never thought of it before. Attractive, sexy, yes, but beautiful…and yet he was. Buffy felt a curious ache in her chest that she tried to will away. She didn’t have time to explore her feelings for Spike, to see if she could ever forgive him, ever begin to love him. She didn’t have the time to spend in a relationship, building trust, worrying about feelings, living up to expectations. She didn’t have the luxury of allowing herself to care about someone. “Are you going to stand there all night, love, or are you going to come in?” Spike asked without taking his eyes off the sky beyond the glass. Buffy bit her lip, embarrassed. Of course he had known she was there. She was only glad he could not read what she was thinking. “I…I’d better see how Willow’s doing,” she stammered apologetically and turned to go. tbc A/N: Sorry, short chapter I know. BIG thanks to all the people reading and reviewing :) |