The slender redhead moved her way through the graveyard with elegant
moves
rarely seen in a mortal of her age, totally unaware of the dark eyes
that
watched her from the dark black shadows. Her path led her straight
to a
black marble stone with gold gothic engraving.
As she approached it, a game faced vampire rushed out of the shadows
at her
but a stake emerged from her sleeve into her hand. She turned, hitting
him
with a roundhouse kick before simply staking him and returning the
stake to
its hiding place in one fluent move, stunning the silent watcher. It
was
more the move of an experienced Slayer rather than the witch he knew
her to
be.
The young woman continued onto the stone where she knelt down and traced
the
name engraved there. She sat back on her heels and raised her hands
to the
night sky, murmuring a few words in an unknown tongue. A glowing silver
rose
appreciated in front of her and she bowed her head in silent thanks.
Taking
the rose, she placed it in front of the stone, somehow attaching it
to the
headstone with a slight movement of her hand.
She then rose gracefully to her feet, pulling her long leather jacket
around
her small frame to ward off the sudden evening breeze. She stepped
back and
looked down at the headstone.
“Hi Buffy. I’m back again.” She began her soft voice clear in the quiet
night. “Goddess, it’s hard to believe you’ve been gone a year already.
I
still turn round to tell you something and you’re not there. I think
that’s
when I miss you the most.”
She grinned. “But that’s not the reason while I am here tonight. Giles
and
Joyce got shackled, as Spike so elegantly put it, today. That’s right,
they
finally made it official, Buffy and your mother was beautiful.”
She sighed deeply. “We’re going back to LA in an hour or so. Doyle and
Cordelia have already left. You’d think the PTB’s would give us one
week off
but no, the moment Giles had driven away, Doyle had a vision. Some
children
are in trouble from a clan of vampires.”
“Willow!”
“Here Angel.” She called back.
The dark haired vampire came out of the shadows and moved to her side.
She
put her arm around his waist and he rested his around her shoulders.
“Ready
to go, little one.”
“Ready.” She looked up at him. “I’ve renewed the blessing.”
“I thought that’s what you might be doing when you disappeared.” He
bent his
head and kissed her, then looked at the headstone. “Spike said he’d
be by
later, Buff, with Laura and Tamara. Keep an eye on them.”
He started to draw his slender redhead away and she looked back over
her
shoulder. “See you later, Buffy.” Blowing a kiss at the headstone,
she
looked back up the vampire. “Let’s go home, Angel.”
As the couple walked away, the silent watcher moved out of the shadows
to
take their place. Upon his face was a pained grimace, a grimace that
grew
more pronounced as his attempt to touch the headstone was prevented.
He laughed bitterly. “I suppose it’s only right, especially after the
way I
left last year. I’m sorry, Buff. I let my fear take over and ran. I
shouldn’t have done that to either of you but Will looks happy enough.
Deadboy’s good for something after all.”
He started to walk away but stopped, bowing his head. “I’m sorry I never
said goodbye, especially now you’re gone. You’ll never know just how
sorry I
am now.”
He turned round to look at the headstone. “But I’m fighting again, Buffster.
Not the way you did or the way Wills does, but I’m definitely fighting
in my
own way. It will never make up for running away, I know that but it’s
all I
can do to make up.”
He sighed deeply. “And maybe one day, I’ll find enough courage to face
Wills.”
With that, Xander Harris once again walked away from Sunnydale.
The End