Ficlet: Absent Ghost FRT/PG
Title: Absent Ghost
Author: Gabrielle
Rating: FRT/PG
Word Count: 478
Prompt: #16 Tara
Characters/Pairing: Mentions Willow/Tara
Summary: Willow waits for someone who never comes.
Distribution: Here and at my site only.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Joss and a bunch of other people who are not now and have never been me.
Absent Ghost
There are reasons why Willow stays in Brazil. Not the pulsing nightlife her callow young lover so enjoys; not the heat and the spice that are so different from Sunnydale as to constitute almost a whole other world. No, it’s nights like these that keep Willow in Brazil. Nights when Kennedy is off sharing her favours with the numberless others she either thinks Willow is too stupid to know about or too desperate to care about, telling Willow the cheap and facile lie that she’s ‘patrolling’ only to come home smelling of liquor and someone else’s sweat. Nights that are Willow’s own, when she can come here, to this eerily quiet place on the edge of town; a place shunned by locals and tourists alike; a place where Willow finds the only comfort she’s known in so very long.
Some nights it’s Anya she meets here. Anya, with her endless questions about Xander and her harsh, blunt, yet well-meant advice; who always notices what she’s done with her hair and who tells Willow that there really is more to life than orgasms, as if she’s teaching Willow something new and important and profound, urging her to reclaim her independence.
Some nights it’s Jesse. Jesse, who tries to convince her that he’s long since forgiven Xander for ending his life and her for being the best friend of The Slayer and for building a life without him or Xander in it. He tries to tell her that she deserves better than what she has and that it’s time for her to leave, to go back to the real world and reclaim her purpose, even if it means leaving him behind forever.
There are also the nights when it is Jenny Calendar who comes, who tells Willow how proud she is of her and of everything she’s done. Who shushes Willow when she brings up her dealings with Rack and her attempt to end the world. Magic is a powerful thing, Jenny tells her, and it’s easy for it to get the best of you. What’s not so easy is turning the tables and getting the best of it. She tells Willow that she’s good and strong and powerful and that there’s so much more for her out there.
There is one ghost, though, who is never there when Willow arrives, whose voice never soothes her and whose presence never comforts her.
So Willow stays in Brazil. Lets Kennedy believe she’s got a pet witch she can lead around by the nose. Lets the days pass, each one a little bit emptier than the last. Waits for the ever-more frequent nights when she can go to her secret haunt. Because, until Tara comes, Willow can’t help but stay, can’t help but visit that strange, quiet place. Even if it means waiting for her love until she herself dies.
The End.
Author: Gabrielle
Rating: FRT/PG
Word Count: 478
Prompt: #16 Tara
Characters/Pairing: Mentions Willow/Tara
Summary: Willow waits for someone who never comes.
Distribution: Here and at my site only.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Joss and a bunch of other people who are not now and have never been me.
Absent Ghost
There are reasons why Willow stays in Brazil. Not the pulsing nightlife her callow young lover so enjoys; not the heat and the spice that are so different from Sunnydale as to constitute almost a whole other world. No, it’s nights like these that keep Willow in Brazil. Nights when Kennedy is off sharing her favours with the numberless others she either thinks Willow is too stupid to know about or too desperate to care about, telling Willow the cheap and facile lie that she’s ‘patrolling’ only to come home smelling of liquor and someone else’s sweat. Nights that are Willow’s own, when she can come here, to this eerily quiet place on the edge of town; a place shunned by locals and tourists alike; a place where Willow finds the only comfort she’s known in so very long.
Some nights it’s Anya she meets here. Anya, with her endless questions about Xander and her harsh, blunt, yet well-meant advice; who always notices what she’s done with her hair and who tells Willow that there really is more to life than orgasms, as if she’s teaching Willow something new and important and profound, urging her to reclaim her independence.
Some nights it’s Jesse. Jesse, who tries to convince her that he’s long since forgiven Xander for ending his life and her for being the best friend of The Slayer and for building a life without him or Xander in it. He tries to tell her that she deserves better than what she has and that it’s time for her to leave, to go back to the real world and reclaim her purpose, even if it means leaving him behind forever.
There are also the nights when it is Jenny Calendar who comes, who tells Willow how proud she is of her and of everything she’s done. Who shushes Willow when she brings up her dealings with Rack and her attempt to end the world. Magic is a powerful thing, Jenny tells her, and it’s easy for it to get the best of you. What’s not so easy is turning the tables and getting the best of it. She tells Willow that she’s good and strong and powerful and that there’s so much more for her out there.
There is one ghost, though, who is never there when Willow arrives, whose voice never soothes her and whose presence never comforts her.
So Willow stays in Brazil. Lets Kennedy believe she’s got a pet witch she can lead around by the nose. Lets the days pass, each one a little bit emptier than the last. Waits for the ever-more frequent nights when she can go to her secret haunt. Because, until Tara comes, Willow can’t help but stay, can’t help but visit that strange, quiet place. Even if it means waiting for her love until she herself dies.
The End.