A New Path - BtVS/Tom Clancy: Jack Ryan sereis - FRT
Title: A New Path
Author: Beriaearwen
Crossover: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series
Characters: cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Domingo Chavez
Series: Same as Friendly Skies and New Friends
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Word Count: 1500
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy, etc. The characters of the Jack Ryan series belong to Tom Clancy. All are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes/Warnings: An extremely condensed version of the last few seasons of Buffy as they happened in this particular universe.
Summary: There are times in our lives when one chapter ends and a page is turned, waiting for us to fill it with a new chapter.
A New Path
By Beriaearwen
Buffy stood at the edge of the crater that used to be Sunnydale and thought over the events that led to this.
The year after Glory had been removed, a trio of wanna-be super-villains began terrorizing the city and especially Buffy and her friends. With guidance from Jack, John and Ding, they had managed to handle the trio legally through human means (mostly). Jack's friends at the FBI has really come through for the Scoobies.
Unfortunately, the trio staged a break-out while being transported out of Sunnydale. One of them, Warren Mears had gotten a gun and come after Buffy and her friends.
The whole gang had been over at her house for a cookout that Buffy's mom had decided to host. After firing at Buffy and hitting her in the chest, Warren had been chased off and fired wildly over his shoulder, hitting Tara right in the heart. The last thing Buffy heard as she passed out was Willow's unholy cry of anguish.
And that had begun all the trouble.
As it turned out, after de-ratting Amy, the once-again-human witch introduced Willow to some of the darker side of magic. Willow had gotten addicted, but managed to hide it.
Losing Tara allowed the dark magics with which Willow had been dabbling to take over. She'd gone on a rampage, sucking all the magic out of the books in Giles' shop and hunting down Warren.
She flayed Warren alive and then came to see Buffy.
From what she'd been told, Buffy knew her heart stopped on the operating table, but Willow came in just at that time, extracted the bullet and restarted her heart. Things she couldn't do for her lover.
Even with her slayer healing, it took Buffy a while to recover. By the time she was ready to leave the hospital, Willow had disappeared.
None of the Scoobies ever found out where she went during those months or what she did. Buffy suspected that it took her that long to find what she needed to bring Tara back.
Three months after Willow left, Buffy was out patrolling with Ding who was visiting when she felt something terribly wrong.
It took her a while to locate it and she'd been ever so grateful for her honey's professional training at that point in time. He followed along like a shadow, even she had trouble hearing him move through the night behind her.
There was a roll of unnatural thunder under the clear night sky and then a flash of lightning.
Buffy could still remember the shiver she felt at that unnatural progression.
They finally found the source of the disturbance, but too late to stop it.
Willow had dug up and then resurrected Tara.
The newly restored blonde was curled up in a fetal position, her arms around her head as if to block out the world and a soft whimper sounded from her.
Buffy remembered the sick feeling that hit her, not only from the stench of dark magic, or from the horror of seeing Tara returned, but from what her one-time best friend had become. The dark creature with veins standing out and writhing beneath her dead-looking skin and her intensely black hair and clothes bore almost no resemblance to the brilliant redhead she knew.
Ding's shot at Willow had chased her off without Tara, though the bullet came nowhere near hitting her.
They'd brought Tara to Buffy's house where the Summers family tended to her and tried to help her as much as they could. In reality, all of the group knew they would need to get Tara away from the Hellmouth if she was to ever recover, but they were afraid to mover her somewhere else until Willow had been stopped.
Though the thought of killing Willow sickened all the Scoobies, they knew it had to be considered and John Clark had come up with some potential ways to do it.
Fortunately, it never came to that. Between Giles and Xander, Willow had been reached and talked down.
Giles immediately took Willow to the coven that had helped him.
Joyce had decided she'd had enough of the Hellmouth for a while and, after packing up herself, Tara and Dawn headed eastward toward another coven they'd been told about. The coven would be able to give Tara the professional and magical help she needed to readjust to this world and it was near enough to a new, up-and-coming artist colony that Joyce would be able to make the contacts she needed to expand her gallery.
A few weeks after they all left, Buffy, Xander and Anya discovered that Tara hadn't come back alone.
Some weird Slayer dreams Buffy had gave her some direction and she'd contacted Giles about what she'd seen.
Also during that time, Ding had stopped by and he and Buffy had grown closer. In truth, it was during that time five months ago that Buffy discovered that the only futures she could picture for herself were ones with Ding by her side, or she by his. Realizing she was ready to settle down with the man she loved took quite a bit of adjusting for her.
Of course, the destruction of the Watcher's Council building in London and the deaths of countless potentials by what they discovered to be the Frist Evil proved and effective distraction.
During this time where they were fighting on the supernatural front, apparently human evil was also on the rise. Ding, John and Jack were tied up combating the terrorists and lunatics who were trying to end the world in non-supernatural ways.
She and Ding had kept each other updated on their battles, but last night Buffy had been unable to tell him that this could well be the last time they spoke, so she recorded her thoughts and put the file in an email to him, setting the send time to delivery it just as they would be leaving the house.
Her plan had been anything but sane and certainly wasn't something she thought either of her mentors or Ding would approve, but it was the only option she could see.
She'd asked Tara to come back a few weeks before to help them magically. The shy blonde had returned with two new friends from the coven where she'd been recovering. Joyce and Dawn had been back for several months, but as the town emptied and the danger escalated, they'd had a serious talk.
The end result was that Joyce, Buffy and Dawn had packed what they wanted form the house, packed up the art gallery and relocated back to the are of the artist colony Joyce now represented.
After retrieving the scythe and thanking God that she'd been smart enough to only bring Spike with her, she, Tara, Tara's friends and Giles had sat up examining it and figuring out if Buffy's crazy plan could work.
It did. The potentials were now active slayers, at least the ones within the current acceptable age range.
They'd taken on the First Evil and its army. Spike had given his unlife in the final battle, but they had beaten back the darkness.
Now standing on the edge of the crater, Buffy could see the future she wanted and realized it was actually within her grasp.
The sound of a helicopter approaching finally entered her conscious mind. A smile lit her face as she realized what that meant.
She turned and watched as it landed, the others gathering around and behind her.
Shielding her eyes from the dust kicked up by the rotors she watched as a familiar form stepped off the plane and started jogging toward her.
She moved at slayer speed and met him half way.
After kissing the daylights out of each other, Buffy sighed in contentment as she rested her head on his shoulder and basked in the wonderful security of being in Ding's arms.
After a moment, she felt Ding pull back a little and looked up. His face was serious and she could easily read the evidence of his worry for her. She felt a pang of guilt for it, but wouldn't have changed what she did.
“Don't ever do that to me again. I nearly had a heart attack when I got your message. If you ever planto do something so dangerous again, tell me before hand.”
“So you can talk me out of it?” she asked evenly, not sure where Ding was going with this.
“So we can look for other solutions together and if we can't find them, then at least I can be at your side.
Buffy reached up and stroked his face. Only one thing came to mind at his words. “I love you.”
“I love you,” Ding repeated back. He leaned down and placed a gentle, loving kiss on Buffy's lips before pulling back and looking into her eyes. “Marry me.”
The smile that bloomed on Buffy's face could have lit most of California. “Yes.”
End
Author: Beriaearwen
Crossover: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series
Characters: cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Domingo Chavez
Series: Same as Friendly Skies and New Friends
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Word Count: 1500
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy, etc. The characters of the Jack Ryan series belong to Tom Clancy. All are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes/Warnings: An extremely condensed version of the last few seasons of Buffy as they happened in this particular universe.
Summary: There are times in our lives when one chapter ends and a page is turned, waiting for us to fill it with a new chapter.
A New Path
By Beriaearwen
Buffy stood at the edge of the crater that used to be Sunnydale and thought over the events that led to this.
The year after Glory had been removed, a trio of wanna-be super-villains began terrorizing the city and especially Buffy and her friends. With guidance from Jack, John and Ding, they had managed to handle the trio legally through human means (mostly). Jack's friends at the FBI has really come through for the Scoobies.
Unfortunately, the trio staged a break-out while being transported out of Sunnydale. One of them, Warren Mears had gotten a gun and come after Buffy and her friends.
The whole gang had been over at her house for a cookout that Buffy's mom had decided to host. After firing at Buffy and hitting her in the chest, Warren had been chased off and fired wildly over his shoulder, hitting Tara right in the heart. The last thing Buffy heard as she passed out was Willow's unholy cry of anguish.
And that had begun all the trouble.
As it turned out, after de-ratting Amy, the once-again-human witch introduced Willow to some of the darker side of magic. Willow had gotten addicted, but managed to hide it.
Losing Tara allowed the dark magics with which Willow had been dabbling to take over. She'd gone on a rampage, sucking all the magic out of the books in Giles' shop and hunting down Warren.
She flayed Warren alive and then came to see Buffy.
From what she'd been told, Buffy knew her heart stopped on the operating table, but Willow came in just at that time, extracted the bullet and restarted her heart. Things she couldn't do for her lover.
Even with her slayer healing, it took Buffy a while to recover. By the time she was ready to leave the hospital, Willow had disappeared.
None of the Scoobies ever found out where she went during those months or what she did. Buffy suspected that it took her that long to find what she needed to bring Tara back.
Three months after Willow left, Buffy was out patrolling with Ding who was visiting when she felt something terribly wrong.
It took her a while to locate it and she'd been ever so grateful for her honey's professional training at that point in time. He followed along like a shadow, even she had trouble hearing him move through the night behind her.
There was a roll of unnatural thunder under the clear night sky and then a flash of lightning.
Buffy could still remember the shiver she felt at that unnatural progression.
They finally found the source of the disturbance, but too late to stop it.
Willow had dug up and then resurrected Tara.
The newly restored blonde was curled up in a fetal position, her arms around her head as if to block out the world and a soft whimper sounded from her.
Buffy remembered the sick feeling that hit her, not only from the stench of dark magic, or from the horror of seeing Tara returned, but from what her one-time best friend had become. The dark creature with veins standing out and writhing beneath her dead-looking skin and her intensely black hair and clothes bore almost no resemblance to the brilliant redhead she knew.
Ding's shot at Willow had chased her off without Tara, though the bullet came nowhere near hitting her.
They'd brought Tara to Buffy's house where the Summers family tended to her and tried to help her as much as they could. In reality, all of the group knew they would need to get Tara away from the Hellmouth if she was to ever recover, but they were afraid to mover her somewhere else until Willow had been stopped.
Though the thought of killing Willow sickened all the Scoobies, they knew it had to be considered and John Clark had come up with some potential ways to do it.
Fortunately, it never came to that. Between Giles and Xander, Willow had been reached and talked down.
Giles immediately took Willow to the coven that had helped him.
Joyce had decided she'd had enough of the Hellmouth for a while and, after packing up herself, Tara and Dawn headed eastward toward another coven they'd been told about. The coven would be able to give Tara the professional and magical help she needed to readjust to this world and it was near enough to a new, up-and-coming artist colony that Joyce would be able to make the contacts she needed to expand her gallery.
A few weeks after they all left, Buffy, Xander and Anya discovered that Tara hadn't come back alone.
Some weird Slayer dreams Buffy had gave her some direction and she'd contacted Giles about what she'd seen.
Also during that time, Ding had stopped by and he and Buffy had grown closer. In truth, it was during that time five months ago that Buffy discovered that the only futures she could picture for herself were ones with Ding by her side, or she by his. Realizing she was ready to settle down with the man she loved took quite a bit of adjusting for her.
Of course, the destruction of the Watcher's Council building in London and the deaths of countless potentials by what they discovered to be the Frist Evil proved and effective distraction.
During this time where they were fighting on the supernatural front, apparently human evil was also on the rise. Ding, John and Jack were tied up combating the terrorists and lunatics who were trying to end the world in non-supernatural ways.
She and Ding had kept each other updated on their battles, but last night Buffy had been unable to tell him that this could well be the last time they spoke, so she recorded her thoughts and put the file in an email to him, setting the send time to delivery it just as they would be leaving the house.
Her plan had been anything but sane and certainly wasn't something she thought either of her mentors or Ding would approve, but it was the only option she could see.
She'd asked Tara to come back a few weeks before to help them magically. The shy blonde had returned with two new friends from the coven where she'd been recovering. Joyce and Dawn had been back for several months, but as the town emptied and the danger escalated, they'd had a serious talk.
The end result was that Joyce, Buffy and Dawn had packed what they wanted form the house, packed up the art gallery and relocated back to the are of the artist colony Joyce now represented.
After retrieving the scythe and thanking God that she'd been smart enough to only bring Spike with her, she, Tara, Tara's friends and Giles had sat up examining it and figuring out if Buffy's crazy plan could work.
It did. The potentials were now active slayers, at least the ones within the current acceptable age range.
They'd taken on the First Evil and its army. Spike had given his unlife in the final battle, but they had beaten back the darkness.
Now standing on the edge of the crater, Buffy could see the future she wanted and realized it was actually within her grasp.
The sound of a helicopter approaching finally entered her conscious mind. A smile lit her face as she realized what that meant.
She turned and watched as it landed, the others gathering around and behind her.
Shielding her eyes from the dust kicked up by the rotors she watched as a familiar form stepped off the plane and started jogging toward her.
She moved at slayer speed and met him half way.
After kissing the daylights out of each other, Buffy sighed in contentment as she rested her head on his shoulder and basked in the wonderful security of being in Ding's arms.
After a moment, she felt Ding pull back a little and looked up. His face was serious and she could easily read the evidence of his worry for her. She felt a pang of guilt for it, but wouldn't have changed what she did.
“Don't ever do that to me again. I nearly had a heart attack when I got your message. If you ever planto do something so dangerous again, tell me before hand.”
“So you can talk me out of it?” she asked evenly, not sure where Ding was going with this.
“So we can look for other solutions together and if we can't find them, then at least I can be at your side.
Buffy reached up and stroked his face. Only one thing came to mind at his words. “I love you.”
“I love you,” Ding repeated back. He leaned down and placed a gentle, loving kiss on Buffy's lips before pulling back and looking into her eyes. “Marry me.”
The smile that bloomed on Buffy's face could have lit most of California. “Yes.”
End