FIC: Five (BtVS/Firefly, Nikki Wood/Various, PG-13)
TITLE: Five
RATING: PG-13
FANDOMS: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly
PAIRING: Nikki Wood/various
SUMMARY: A girl for all seasons.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Written for the femslash_minis Nikki Wood round for rebcake who wanted music/dancing/nightlife, thrilling heroics, and jewelry.
Sineya
Sineya lays Nikki down in the soft sand. The heat of the day's sun, the heat of their fire has seeped into the sand; now, it warms Nikki's bare skin. She closes her eyes for a moment, her fine senses taking in the crackle of the burning wood and the feel of the sand cradling her; she opens her eyes and sees the indigo night sky above, sparkling brightly with a universe of stars.
Sineya paints Nikki's face, the fingers of these hands that craft death soft as she spreads the clay over Nikki's cheeks. Sineya lays a necklace of bones over Nikki's collarbone. Nikki closes her eyes and feels the weight of the bones laying across her chest. Her eyes are still closed as Sineya leans over her and kisses her.
Buffy
Nikki bites into a ripe orange slice, the juice trickling down the corner of her mouth. Buffy's eyes are too intent on Nikki as her tongue slicks over the corner of her mouth, lapping up the spilled juice, and Nikki raises and eyebrow, grins. Buffy blushes.
After brunch, they have manicures in Buffy's bedroom. Buffy holds Nikki's hand in her own as she gently pushes Nikki's cuticles back. Nikki feels the warmth of Buffy's skin against her own, and cannot help herself; she curls her fingers around Buffy's, and they are still for a long moment, holding hands.
Faith
They dance. The two of them become the sun of the crowded nightclub: the entire world inside these four walls revolves around them. There is alcohol, just enough to make the world warm and inviting, a cracked open oyster salting the tongue, ready to be swallowed. There is music, loud enough to cut off all other noises, loud enough to beat like a second pulse behind their breastbones. Nikki takes Faith's hand, and they dance through the night.
Kennedy
Smoke clogs the air, the acrid smoke of insulation burning.
“Just another day in paradise!” Kennedy yells.
Nikki blocks the exit, making sure that the vamps that aren't killed by the fire don't make it out to the street. Kennedy takes the windows, knocking back vamps with a fireman's ax before they can escape into the night.
Nikki is staking her last vamp when Kennedy swoons. Nikki jumps into the fray, using her stake and Kennedy's ax to make the last members of the nest into ash.
Nikki carries Kennedy out of the building like a honeymooner carrying his wife across the threshold.
River
The scythe looks like it could weigh more than River's thin frame, yet she wields it as though it weighs nothing. Nikki watches her through the crush of Reavers-glimpses of River between the flash of the scythe in the dark, the flash of Nikki's knife digging into Reaver flesh. River balances her weight against the weight of the scythe, her whole body's weight held on one delicately curved bare foot, toe extended in a dancer's pointe.
Nikki sweats, the heat of the room and these many bodies pulling close around her. River's hair whips around her small shoulders as she comes back to both feet, her scythe falling like a guillotine.
Nikki and River meet in the center of the room, hip-to-hip, shoulder-to-shoulder, the two of them together against the world.