The Lighting Butterfly (Giles+/Anya; G/K; A Magick Shop)

[katleept.livejournal.com]

Title: The Lighting Butterfly
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Character/Pairing: Giles+/Anya (depending on your POV), Xander/Anya
Rating: G/K
Challenge/Prompt: giles_shorts: A Magick Shop
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 480
Date Written: 18 April, 2016
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Whedon, not the author, and are used without permission.




He watches her as she moves around the shop. She reminds him of a butterfly flitting gracefully to and fro, lighting on one customer at a time and amazing them with whatever she's saying. He knows well that they have more male customers than many magic shops not because they're truly interested in their purchases but rather because they're interested in watching, same as he though he knows he should not. She always finds a common bond with the women, too, making them laugh and smile despite whatever woes brought them here in the first place.

Anya, he's come to learn, has that impression on people. She can make a killer smile and lighten any one's load. Yet she herself, he knows, is prone to more darkness than any one, even her fiance, suspects. He's seen her fingers linger on his volumes of dark magic. He's seen her eyes become wistful and darkened by the shadows of the past. She was once, not too long ago, a very strong Demoness, a force with which to be reckoned as he's heard her remind others. She was never meant to be merely a human, despite being born one, but she's become one again out of love.

And she shines with that love. Xander is the reason for the sparkle in her eyes and the smile on her face. The boy is the reason why came away from the darkness and why she still doesn't succumb to the temptation. She could have her powers back very easily, as well as her role as a Vengeance Demon. The darkness and her lords miss her, but she will not succumb.

She will not return to them because of Xander and Giles, has come to suspect, because of her friendships with the others, as well. He likes to think perhaps he is among that number. Perhaps he is one of the ones she does not wish to see harmed and whose friendship she values. Perhaps she has come to care for him a little as he has come to care for her.

She makes him laugh every day. No matter his mood, no matter how much the darkness pulls, no matter how dire the circumstances with his cherished Slayer, she always makes him smile and laugh and feel so much younger than he truly is. Rupert slides his glasses from his nose and cleans them, and when he puts them back in place on his aging face, he sees her standing and smiling at him.

His heart instantly warms, but then she's away again, dancing, flying, though not really, through his shop. She lights on another customer and another, and he knows she could even sell ice to an Eskimo. He knows, too, she could make them smile. No matter how cold the Winter, she could warm their heart just as she warms his every day.

The End