A Bed of Bones, for wal_lace [BtVS; R]
Title: A Bed of Bones
Author: schizoauthoress
Recipient: wal_lace
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel
Rating: R, violent death
Spoilers: Buffy season 7 finale, kinda?
Warnings: As I said, violent death. Some disturbing imagery.
Request: #4 - Now I'm on the road with Faith and Giles. Maybe we'll make it, maybe we won't.
Summary: Rona at the end of the world.
Notes: Not beta-read, but it's readable and overall correct. If you see any errors, let me know; I will fix them.
A BED OF BONES
Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other.
--Carol Saline
I really didn't sign on for this, but then again, what Slayer does?
Even after Big Buffy and the rest of the old-timers put an end to that "one girl in all the world" nonsense, we found plenty of girls unwilling to abandon the lives they'd made (or wanted to make) in order to fight evil. Most of the time, the other Slayers would work them over -- I don't mean that they beat anyone up, not physically, but with so many different people on our side, it was easy to find someone who had the talent (or similar personality, or friendly nature) convince a less-than-thrilled new girl that being a Slayer wasn't all that bad.
I never bothered. If I'd been given the choice -- hell, from what I heard secondhand whenever we let Andrew talk too much, if Buffy had been given the choice -- I wouldn't be doing this kind of thing.
I meant what I said, years ago, in Sunnydale -- I'd come to them for protection, not to sign on to their war.
I got involved in their war anyway.
Whenever we came across a particularly resistant untrained Slayer, the rest of the New Council would try to sell her on saving the world, punishing the wicked, keeping mankind safe...blah blah blah. If it didn't work, I usually ended up taking the girl aside and talking over the bad parts. You know, getting hurt all the time, having to keep secrets, leaving your family, terrible hours...and the weird thing is, every so often, it worked.
In fact, that's how I managed to recruit my best Slayer friend, Norma. Funny how "not lying" and "not glossing over the truth" was our last resort back then.
****
It's all different now. There's nothing to hide -- no way to hide what's come out of the dark places to hunt us.
This particular apocalypse caught us unawares. Though there were a lot more of us now, I always felt like trouble bred that much faster and nastier. We numbered in the thousands -- they numbered in the millions.
We lost Xander first -- or at least, lost contact with him. I don't know if he ever recovered from losing Anya during the last battle in Sunnydale -- he retreated from most of us and took the assignments that no one really wanted, especially Africa. I'd been there a couple times, and it was cool, but Xander was our semi-permanent posting on that continent. That was where some of the biggest, oldest gateways were...and the biggest gateways released the biggest monsters.
****
I know the monsters didn't come from the Hellmouths. It wasn't anything so formal. It was more like...if our world had had a protective barrier around it, and all the hell dimensions that surround it had been chipping away at the barrier until there were plenty of weak spots. And they all decided to crash through at the same time.
I might be a reluctant Slayer, but I'm no slouch when it comes to fighting. I did survive the battle of Sunnydale, after all. And over this past year, I've fought a lot. There's been a lot of scary shit in the world -- vampires and half-demons are the least of it. I don't know what to call them, really. I've seen Cerberus pacing the banks of the Mississippi River -- I've seen the video footage of Leviathan -- I've seen creatures that should only exist on the movie screen...
As if all the dark things of our human imaginings were given life, and came to destroy us for it.
****
Willow and her coven went down fighting, and the place that they died is pretty much the only place that the monsters won't go. We send the survivors there whenever we can, but I don't think that very many of the New Council wants to stay there. A lot of good people died there. A lot of friends.
Including Norma.
I see her face sometimes, out of the corner of my eye, whenever other humans crowd around us. And I see her face in my dreams, as she dies again and again, blood leaking out of her ruined eyes like tears and her screaming at me to end it; she struggles against the Lamia again, lacerated by those cat-claw hands and crushed by the thing's snaky body. She was not the first, nor the last, Slayer that I had to mercy-kill that day. When the New Council fell...
Those of us who could run did so. I don't care what Giles calls it, it wasn't a retreat of any kind. We ran for our lives.
And when we finally stopped, I was washing blood out of my hair for days.
****
When I found the Lamia again, I sank my axe into her back, severing her spinal cord. As the serpent half of her body thrashed uselessly at me, I put out her eyes with my stake. She was shrieking at me, but I don't remember the words, as I leveraged the axe out of her back.
I don't think there were any words in her screaming when I stood on her left arm and chopped off her hand. I know that there wasn't when I chopped off the other. I'd never had a sister before Norma, and thanks to those damned hands, I never would again. So I was going to take them from the Lamia.
Her blood was black and hot as it splattered onto me. But the protective charm that Faith had taken from Willow and given to me held on -- instead of burning me like acid, it beaded against my skin and slid off like oil. Lucky thing, too. She writhed around and waved her useless stumps in anger at me, bleeding all over the place.
I don't know how long she took to die. It was dark when I went into her lair, and bright day when I came out, dragging her by her beautiful golden hair.
****
Now I'm on the road with Faith and Giles.
It's not always a losing battle. Some of the old stories told the truth about the weaknesses these monsters have, and even without his books, Giles knows a lot of the old stories.
And Faith is a good fighter. Maybe she's the only "original Slayer" left -- we haven't heard from Buffy since Sydney fell -- but she doesn't act like she's better than me. We all know who handles an axe better.
I don't know exactly where we're going. I follow Faith's lead and watch Giles's back. I kill the monsters and put a brave smile on for the people we save.
Maybe we'll make it, maybe we won't.
END
crossposted to schizoauthoress
Author: schizoauthoress
Recipient: wal_lace
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel
Rating: R, violent death
Spoilers: Buffy season 7 finale, kinda?
Warnings: As I said, violent death. Some disturbing imagery.
Request: #4 - Now I'm on the road with Faith and Giles. Maybe we'll make it, maybe we won't.
Summary: Rona at the end of the world.
Notes: Not beta-read, but it's readable and overall correct. If you see any errors, let me know; I will fix them.
A BED OF BONES
Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other.
--Carol Saline
I really didn't sign on for this, but then again, what Slayer does?
Even after Big Buffy and the rest of the old-timers put an end to that "one girl in all the world" nonsense, we found plenty of girls unwilling to abandon the lives they'd made (or wanted to make) in order to fight evil. Most of the time, the other Slayers would work them over -- I don't mean that they beat anyone up, not physically, but with so many different people on our side, it was easy to find someone who had the talent (or similar personality, or friendly nature) convince a less-than-thrilled new girl that being a Slayer wasn't all that bad.
I never bothered. If I'd been given the choice -- hell, from what I heard secondhand whenever we let Andrew talk too much, if Buffy had been given the choice -- I wouldn't be doing this kind of thing.
I meant what I said, years ago, in Sunnydale -- I'd come to them for protection, not to sign on to their war.
I got involved in their war anyway.
Whenever we came across a particularly resistant untrained Slayer, the rest of the New Council would try to sell her on saving the world, punishing the wicked, keeping mankind safe...blah blah blah. If it didn't work, I usually ended up taking the girl aside and talking over the bad parts. You know, getting hurt all the time, having to keep secrets, leaving your family, terrible hours...and the weird thing is, every so often, it worked.
In fact, that's how I managed to recruit my best Slayer friend, Norma. Funny how "not lying" and "not glossing over the truth" was our last resort back then.
****
It's all different now. There's nothing to hide -- no way to hide what's come out of the dark places to hunt us.
This particular apocalypse caught us unawares. Though there were a lot more of us now, I always felt like trouble bred that much faster and nastier. We numbered in the thousands -- they numbered in the millions.
We lost Xander first -- or at least, lost contact with him. I don't know if he ever recovered from losing Anya during the last battle in Sunnydale -- he retreated from most of us and took the assignments that no one really wanted, especially Africa. I'd been there a couple times, and it was cool, but Xander was our semi-permanent posting on that continent. That was where some of the biggest, oldest gateways were...and the biggest gateways released the biggest monsters.
****
I know the monsters didn't come from the Hellmouths. It wasn't anything so formal. It was more like...if our world had had a protective barrier around it, and all the hell dimensions that surround it had been chipping away at the barrier until there were plenty of weak spots. And they all decided to crash through at the same time.
I might be a reluctant Slayer, but I'm no slouch when it comes to fighting. I did survive the battle of Sunnydale, after all. And over this past year, I've fought a lot. There's been a lot of scary shit in the world -- vampires and half-demons are the least of it. I don't know what to call them, really. I've seen Cerberus pacing the banks of the Mississippi River -- I've seen the video footage of Leviathan -- I've seen creatures that should only exist on the movie screen...
As if all the dark things of our human imaginings were given life, and came to destroy us for it.
****
Willow and her coven went down fighting, and the place that they died is pretty much the only place that the monsters won't go. We send the survivors there whenever we can, but I don't think that very many of the New Council wants to stay there. A lot of good people died there. A lot of friends.
Including Norma.
I see her face sometimes, out of the corner of my eye, whenever other humans crowd around us. And I see her face in my dreams, as she dies again and again, blood leaking out of her ruined eyes like tears and her screaming at me to end it; she struggles against the Lamia again, lacerated by those cat-claw hands and crushed by the thing's snaky body. She was not the first, nor the last, Slayer that I had to mercy-kill that day. When the New Council fell...
Those of us who could run did so. I don't care what Giles calls it, it wasn't a retreat of any kind. We ran for our lives.
And when we finally stopped, I was washing blood out of my hair for days.
****
When I found the Lamia again, I sank my axe into her back, severing her spinal cord. As the serpent half of her body thrashed uselessly at me, I put out her eyes with my stake. She was shrieking at me, but I don't remember the words, as I leveraged the axe out of her back.
I don't think there were any words in her screaming when I stood on her left arm and chopped off her hand. I know that there wasn't when I chopped off the other. I'd never had a sister before Norma, and thanks to those damned hands, I never would again. So I was going to take them from the Lamia.
Her blood was black and hot as it splattered onto me. But the protective charm that Faith had taken from Willow and given to me held on -- instead of burning me like acid, it beaded against my skin and slid off like oil. Lucky thing, too. She writhed around and waved her useless stumps in anger at me, bleeding all over the place.
I don't know how long she took to die. It was dark when I went into her lair, and bright day when I came out, dragging her by her beautiful golden hair.
****
Now I'm on the road with Faith and Giles.
It's not always a losing battle. Some of the old stories told the truth about the weaknesses these monsters have, and even without his books, Giles knows a lot of the old stories.
And Faith is a good fighter. Maybe she's the only "original Slayer" left -- we haven't heard from Buffy since Sydney fell -- but she doesn't act like she's better than me. We all know who handles an axe better.
I don't know exactly where we're going. I follow Faith's lead and watch Giles's back. I kill the monsters and put a brave smile on for the people we save.
Maybe we'll make it, maybe we won't.
END
crossposted to schizoauthoress