Dawn/Amanda (HL) - Prompt #060 (Lake)
Title: Skipping
Author: -Andy-
Rated: FR15
Disclaimer: BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon, Fox Television, etc. Highlander belongs to Panzer/Davis and a bunch of others. Assorted HP characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Prompt: #060, Lake.
Word count: 1,290 (30 of 100)
Note: This is set in the universe of my ficlet Gone, and occurs after Prompt #069.
She pulled into the dusty parking lot, the car coming to a quick stop with a crunch of tires on the rough gravel. Charlie sat still, just watching her languidly pull herself out of the car, and stare around at the empty lot before she started walking along the lake as if searching for something. Before getting out of the small car himself, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves after the harrowing trip in the muggle contraption. Unfolding himself from the cramped car, he stood and looked around, not quite sure how to react to what he was seeing.
It was a decent sized lake, approximately twice the size of the one near Hogwarts. He'd heard about Sunnydale, the small American city that had been destroyed by some unknown magic. Magic strong enough to destroy a city should have left some kind of trace behind. He almost expected to see the Dark Mark floating high above the water. But there was nothing. The reality of it was underwhelming.
He'd expected more. Something dramatic. Instead, he could hear some motorized muggle contraption in the distance, and the wind blowing through trees along the shore. And a lot of flat water with the occasional wave. He idly wondered where the water was coming from. The faint hint of salt seemed to indicate they were near the ocean but they seemed to be in a desert.
He wasn't sure why they were there; why she'd insisted on stopping here before heading home. Sure, after a discussion that had him feeling like he was arguing Ginny, she'd agreed to let him take her home, only finally giving in when he'd explained that he was following Dumbledore's orders. But she had insisted they make several stops along the way. The first had been at Heathrow Airport, where she'd retrieved a small bag from a storage locker before he guided her through wizarding customs for a portkey to Los Angeles. Then a nerve wracking trip up the coast to here. When this trip was finished he hoped to never get in a muggle car with her again.
When she'd completed her business here, whatever that was, they were going to drop the car off in the nearest city and he would apparate them the rest of the way to her destination in the north. And then he could give this Amanda person the wallet from Dumbledore and head home himself. He couldn't deny that Dawn was becoming more intriguing the longer he spent with her but the way she seemed to ignore any attempts he made to be friendly was a little disconcerting. Usually he just had to turn on the Weasley charm and women fell all over him.
Hurrying along behind her on the dirt path she'd found, Charlie walked swiftly to catch up. Stopping at her side, he watched her staring across the water. She seemed to be seeing something invisible to him.
"It feels like I was just here yesterday." she murmured, her voice just barely audible. "But it has been years."
"No one seems to know what really happened here." He said, stifling a yawn in the afternoon heat. "It just seemed to fall into the ground and fill up with water. It must have taken a lot of magic. A lot of wizards claim that they 'felt' it happen."
"Did you?" she asked. He detected a curious glint in her eyes.
"No. If it was caused by magic, it was too far away." He looked around.
"It was a kind of magic." She said. "But not anything you wizards would have used. I think." She frowned to herself.
"How do you know?" He asked, wondering about the expression on her face. She didn't answer directly.
"Our house was over there." She waved at a spot halfway across the lake. She walked off and he hurried to catch up. Stopping on a low bluff, she pointed down into the mirky waters. "My mother was buried here. I think. It has been a while. I wanted to be buried next to her." She shook her head. "Buffy's grave is near here somewhere. We moved Tara before the water reached her grave. But she was the only one we were able to save."
Charlie shivered. Working for Dumbledore and the Order, death wasn't new to him. But there was something different about the names she was mentioning and the way she talked about them. These were people she'd loved and had been loved by; not some faceless or deadly enemy.
She kept walking. They circled around the lake, eventually stopping almost directly across from where they'd started. He was surprised to see the remains of a road starting at the edge of the lake and heading out into the desert.
"People started leaving weeks before it happened." She told him, as if it wasn't important . "There were only twenty of us on the last bus out. And we almost didn't make it."
"So you saw what happened?" He asked eagerly, looking at her face. There'd been no first hand accounts other than some nonsense in the Quibbler that only Tonks seemed to believe. She shrugged.
"I watched Sunnydale fall into a huge hole in the ground." She seemed to be thinking. Her face had taken on a sad expression, her eyelids half closed, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly. He wondered if kissing her would make her smile. "Not something you forget."
"Did you see what caused it?" He leaned over the edge for a moment before turning and following the road with his eyes, trying to imagine what it must have been like. Trying to imagine the little girl she must have been, frightened by the violence.
Dawn stared out over the murky water. It didn't feel real. The streets and buildings were all gone. She'd seen Sunnydale destroyed years ago and she'd relived that destruction in nightmares for several years afterward, but she'd been standing in it only days ago. Something had compelled her to visit Sunnydale before heading to Seacover and Amanda. She hadn't bothered justifying herself to Charlie, the wizard-boy. If he wanted to follow her all the way to Seacover because Dumbledore had ordered him to, he was going to have to live with her attitude.
Dawn thought she'd been prepared but the reality was still a shock.
Bending down, she picked up several smooth stones. Ignoring the latest question from Charlie, she mentally weighed the stones. Dropping the smallest into a pocket, she swung her arm several times in a short arc before releasing the remaining stone sideways across the lake. It skipped several times before sinking.
"No." she answered, taking a deep breath. "We were at the high school and things started shaking. We all ran onto the bus and got as far away as possible." It wasn't a lie, actually. She hadn't seen what Spike had done.
"Oh." He said, clearly disappointed.
Dawn repressed a snort. He'd been digging for information from her the entire trip. Either he was nosey or he thought he could charm her into his bed. But, redheads? Not her thing. Willow had been cute but it had been Tara that she'd had a crush on. And Amanda, whatever color her hair was, had a hold on her that she thought she'd never escape.
Just thinking of her partner in crime, whom she hadn't seen in months, was enough to interrupt whatever hold Sunnydale exerted. Turning around, Dawn headed back towards their rental, knowing Charlie would follow. If everything cooperated, they could be in Seacover for dinner. And if she were lucky, MacLeod would be out of town and she would have Amanda all to herself.
My Prompt Table
Author: -Andy-
Rated: FR15
Disclaimer: BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon, Fox Television, etc. Highlander belongs to Panzer/Davis and a bunch of others. Assorted HP characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Prompt: #060, Lake.
Word count: 1,290 (30 of 100)
Note: This is set in the universe of my ficlet Gone, and occurs after Prompt #069.
She pulled into the dusty parking lot, the car coming to a quick stop with a crunch of tires on the rough gravel. Charlie sat still, just watching her languidly pull herself out of the car, and stare around at the empty lot before she started walking along the lake as if searching for something. Before getting out of the small car himself, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves after the harrowing trip in the muggle contraption. Unfolding himself from the cramped car, he stood and looked around, not quite sure how to react to what he was seeing.
It was a decent sized lake, approximately twice the size of the one near Hogwarts. He'd heard about Sunnydale, the small American city that had been destroyed by some unknown magic. Magic strong enough to destroy a city should have left some kind of trace behind. He almost expected to see the Dark Mark floating high above the water. But there was nothing. The reality of it was underwhelming.
He'd expected more. Something dramatic. Instead, he could hear some motorized muggle contraption in the distance, and the wind blowing through trees along the shore. And a lot of flat water with the occasional wave. He idly wondered where the water was coming from. The faint hint of salt seemed to indicate they were near the ocean but they seemed to be in a desert.
He wasn't sure why they were there; why she'd insisted on stopping here before heading home. Sure, after a discussion that had him feeling like he was arguing Ginny, she'd agreed to let him take her home, only finally giving in when he'd explained that he was following Dumbledore's orders. But she had insisted they make several stops along the way. The first had been at Heathrow Airport, where she'd retrieved a small bag from a storage locker before he guided her through wizarding customs for a portkey to Los Angeles. Then a nerve wracking trip up the coast to here. When this trip was finished he hoped to never get in a muggle car with her again.
When she'd completed her business here, whatever that was, they were going to drop the car off in the nearest city and he would apparate them the rest of the way to her destination in the north. And then he could give this Amanda person the wallet from Dumbledore and head home himself. He couldn't deny that Dawn was becoming more intriguing the longer he spent with her but the way she seemed to ignore any attempts he made to be friendly was a little disconcerting. Usually he just had to turn on the Weasley charm and women fell all over him.
Hurrying along behind her on the dirt path she'd found, Charlie walked swiftly to catch up. Stopping at her side, he watched her staring across the water. She seemed to be seeing something invisible to him.
"It feels like I was just here yesterday." she murmured, her voice just barely audible. "But it has been years."
"No one seems to know what really happened here." He said, stifling a yawn in the afternoon heat. "It just seemed to fall into the ground and fill up with water. It must have taken a lot of magic. A lot of wizards claim that they 'felt' it happen."
"Did you?" she asked. He detected a curious glint in her eyes.
"No. If it was caused by magic, it was too far away." He looked around.
"It was a kind of magic." She said. "But not anything you wizards would have used. I think." She frowned to herself.
"How do you know?" He asked, wondering about the expression on her face. She didn't answer directly.
"Our house was over there." She waved at a spot halfway across the lake. She walked off and he hurried to catch up. Stopping on a low bluff, she pointed down into the mirky waters. "My mother was buried here. I think. It has been a while. I wanted to be buried next to her." She shook her head. "Buffy's grave is near here somewhere. We moved Tara before the water reached her grave. But she was the only one we were able to save."
Charlie shivered. Working for Dumbledore and the Order, death wasn't new to him. But there was something different about the names she was mentioning and the way she talked about them. These were people she'd loved and had been loved by; not some faceless or deadly enemy.
She kept walking. They circled around the lake, eventually stopping almost directly across from where they'd started. He was surprised to see the remains of a road starting at the edge of the lake and heading out into the desert.
"People started leaving weeks before it happened." She told him, as if it wasn't important . "There were only twenty of us on the last bus out. And we almost didn't make it."
"So you saw what happened?" He asked eagerly, looking at her face. There'd been no first hand accounts other than some nonsense in the Quibbler that only Tonks seemed to believe. She shrugged.
"I watched Sunnydale fall into a huge hole in the ground." She seemed to be thinking. Her face had taken on a sad expression, her eyelids half closed, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly. He wondered if kissing her would make her smile. "Not something you forget."
"Did you see what caused it?" He leaned over the edge for a moment before turning and following the road with his eyes, trying to imagine what it must have been like. Trying to imagine the little girl she must have been, frightened by the violence.
Dawn stared out over the murky water. It didn't feel real. The streets and buildings were all gone. She'd seen Sunnydale destroyed years ago and she'd relived that destruction in nightmares for several years afterward, but she'd been standing in it only days ago. Something had compelled her to visit Sunnydale before heading to Seacover and Amanda. She hadn't bothered justifying herself to Charlie, the wizard-boy. If he wanted to follow her all the way to Seacover because Dumbledore had ordered him to, he was going to have to live with her attitude.
Dawn thought she'd been prepared but the reality was still a shock.
Bending down, she picked up several smooth stones. Ignoring the latest question from Charlie, she mentally weighed the stones. Dropping the smallest into a pocket, she swung her arm several times in a short arc before releasing the remaining stone sideways across the lake. It skipped several times before sinking.
"No." she answered, taking a deep breath. "We were at the high school and things started shaking. We all ran onto the bus and got as far away as possible." It wasn't a lie, actually. She hadn't seen what Spike had done.
"Oh." He said, clearly disappointed.
Dawn repressed a snort. He'd been digging for information from her the entire trip. Either he was nosey or he thought he could charm her into his bed. But, redheads? Not her thing. Willow had been cute but it had been Tara that she'd had a crush on. And Amanda, whatever color her hair was, had a hold on her that she thought she'd never escape.
Just thinking of her partner in crime, whom she hadn't seen in months, was enough to interrupt whatever hold Sunnydale exerted. Turning around, Dawn headed back towards their rental, knowing Charlie would follow. If everything cooperated, they could be in Seacover for dinner. And if she were lucky, MacLeod would be out of town and she would have Amanda all to herself.
My Prompt Table