rating: PG 16-R, angst, heartache, violence
the QPC site: http://quickie.moonlightpaths.com
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Distribution: any lists that I send this to, WLS, QPC, Bite Me, Cat, Feen, Soulmates, WWW - anyone else please ask
note: set in AU season 6. Willow and Tara never got back together after Glory, and instead Willow hooked up with Spike. Tara left Sunnydale. Willow resurrected Buffy. Buffy then proceeded to use Spike while he was dating Willow, without Willow's knowledge.
for Fayth, Jenni and Janet, who asked so nicely.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Xander didn't want to believe the rumor when he heard it. He wanted the pair of young women behind him to be talking about some soap opera, or trashy romance. But he couldn't stop himself from listening as they talked.
"That girl who was in your class, Buffy, wasn't it? The class Protector chick? She had this big fight with a redhead earlier." The blond talking had long curls, reminding him of Harmony.
"What sort of fight? What was it about?" Her friend had short dark hair and a tattoo of something green peeking up from under her shirt. Some sort of scaled foot with claws...
There was a shrug. "Sounded like Buffy was screwing Red's boyfriend. And she was so harsh about it too. Didn't even try to excuse it. She was all 'I knew he'd come' and 'he wanted me, you know he did.' It was just... harsh."
"Oh my God... that is so harsh. Just... he's cute, I want to have him? That is so wrong." Dark hair sounded sort of shocked in the tone that said she was hoping for all the sordid details.
Xander hadn't been able to listen to any more. Even if it wasn't true, couldn't be true. Buffy wouldn't do that to Willow. Because Buffy only had one red head that she knew. Willow, who was happily dating... living with Spike. While Xander was pretty sure that Willow could do better than some vampire, it wasn't his choice - it was hers. And she'd said that she loved Spike.
But if the redhead was Willow... No, Spike and Buffy? That was just... wrong on so many levels. It couldn't have been Buffy and Willow... There must be some other blond that looked like Buffy that had a red headed friend.
He was still trying to convince himself that it was impossible when he got to the Magic Box. He'd promised Anya a night out, dinner at this new restaurant that she wanted to try. Buffy was there, training in the back. He could hear the noises of her punching the equipment, feet shuffling on the floor.
"Xander? What's wrong?" Anya's worried voice pulled him back to the present.
He shook his head, trying to push away his doubts. "Just... I heard a rumor today. It's sticking in my head. Honey, you've been around a while, seen lots of relationships. How solid do you think Willow and Spike are?"
Anya's eyes lit up. "A rumor? What sort of rumor? Share!"
Xander sighed. "It's just... Apparently somebody that might or might not be Buffy had a fight with a redhead in the Espresso pump today. It seems that the blonde in question is sleeping with the redhead's boyfriend. From the sounds of it, she wasn't even pretending to be sorry."
"ohhhh." Anya almost seemed to deflate. "That's... despicable. Maybe someone that I know owes me a favor... I would say that Willow and Spike are pretty strong, but... He's still got something for Dru which could cause problems, and he was so obsessed over Buffy last year. I would hope... If she did that to Willow, I'll curse her with boils. Puss filled purple boils."
Xander sighed weakly. He knew all about having a 'thing' for Buffy, he'd had one of those himself. It's death had been slow and painful. "We can go ask her if she's seen Willow. That should clear it up, because... Buffy wouldn't... she wouldn't do that to Wills." He wondered if it was as obvious to Anya as it was to himself that he wasn't quite certain of that at all.
They slipped towards the back, looking on as Buffy moved through her pattern, kicks and punches connecting with the dummy. She was wearing close fitting leggings, and this little tank top that rode up a bit... Yeah, it was easy to see why someone might get a thing for Buffy.
Xander smiled, waving at Buffy. "Hey Buff. Have you seen Willow today?"
"Briefly. She was at the coffee shop, being all sad and poor-me." Buffy sounded... curiously unconcerned.
Xander frowned, wondering What was wrong with Buffy? She'd seemed a bit off since Willow had brought her back, but... she sounded so cold. He had a bad feeling, like his stomach was trying to creep away. "What was Wills upset about?"
"Nothing important. Not really. She just made a mistake in judgment." Buffy still punched the dummy, her expression one of emotionless concentration.
That bad feeling was getting bigger, and there was something else, like something very solid, something that should have been indestructible was cracking. He asked the question, knowing even as the words came out that he would hate the answer. "What bad judgment was that?"
"She thought Spike was a person. He's not a person, just a thing. Just a nothing." Her voice held a bit of an edge, like half strangled anger.
And with a horrible sinking feeling, Xander knew that it was all true. It had been Buffy, she had been... with Spike. She had betrayed Willow. He almost didn't recognize his own voice as the words pulled themselves free. "My God... You really are fucking him. How could you do that to her?"
Buffy turned to look at him, her eyes dark pits of almost inhuman anger. "How could I do this to Willow? Why not? Do you know what she did? I was happy! I was in heaven, and now I'm here! And she had the nerve to insult me, to tell me that I would never go back. I'm the Slayer, Heaven is my reward for this life."
Xander felt as if his outside was numb, wrapped around a seething core of nearly frozen nausea. "You... can't even see how that was wrong. And here I thought you were a hero."
He bolted from the back room, hoping that he could make it to the bathroom before he vomited up all of this pain, the sense of betrayal and shame. To think that he'd looked up to Buffy... counted her as a hero. He'd put her on a pedestal, and now that pedestal was shattered.
Dimly, he could hear Anya screaming at the Slayer, calling her names in dozens of languages. Talking about the horrible vengeances that she'd wrecked on other people for actions almost the same as what the Slayer had done. Threatening to call similar curses on her.
She wasn't Buffy anymore. Buffy was gone, still dead. He didn't know this person, this cold, emotionless thing in the back room. But Anya was right... there was a need for vengeance.
The END