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giles_shorts2016-02-20 11:54 pm
katleept.livejournal.com) wrote in giles_shorts2016-02-20 11:54 pm
Entry tags:
Two Giles Ficlets for the David Bowie Song Titles Challenge
Thank you, mod, for honoring David this way. <3
Title: From Ashes to Ashes
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Character/Pairing: Giles, Buffy
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
giles_shorts: David Bowie Song Titles (Ashes to Ashes)
Warning(s): Character Death
Word Count: 400
Date Written: 20 February, 2016
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Whedon, not the author, and are used without permission.
He kneels in the dirt beside her grave. Flames flicker in the reflection of his spectacles. They've slipped from their proper place on his nose, but tonight, he doesn't push them back up. Tonight, he doesn't rise as he has for so many nights now to fight the dead, but his focus is still on the dead.
The others may find him here. Let them. There is nothing they can do now. He made a promise. He made so many promises to her, but this one he will keep. He promised no one would dig her up, and so he hasn't even to set this fire to her bones. It's already burning through the ground, and it will burn deeper. The blaze is magical, and when it's gone, there will be nothing left of her from whence she can be resurrected.
This time, she will have her peace, but he knows he'll never have peace again. Her head stone is untouched by the fire. It reads as the first one did: She saved the world. A lot. His Slayer did indeed save the world far more times than it, or any of them in it, deserved. His friend saved him.
He reaches out to the gravestone, remembering the feel of her smaller hand in his. She was so much younger, so much smaller, than he, and yet, she was braver, stronger, even smarter in some ways. She saved him time and again from the world, from the monsters in it, and from himself, the latter more times than he cares to remember.
Tears blur the flames dancing in his vision. He leans his head against her gravestone, the cement smooth and somehow still feeling cold beneath his palm despite the nearby blaze. He closes his eyes.
Something touches his shoulder. The elderly Watcher's eyes snap open, and for a moment, just a moment, he thinks he can see his Slayer standing again by his side. "From ashes to ashes," he whispers when he is certain he was only imagining her ghost. "We rise, and we return. No one will hurt you now, Buffy. No one will use you ever again." Not her friends, not the world, and not himself.
But God knows he'll never stop hurting. Rupert closes his eyes again and lays his head against her stone, and as the fire blazes, his Slayer stands watch always beside him.
The End
Title: Full
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Character/Pairing: Giles, Willow
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt:giles_shorts: David Bowie Song Titles (We Are Hungry Men, When I Live My Dream, An Occasional Dream, Fill Your Heart, Because You're Young)
Warning(s): None
Timeline: Post Band Candy
Word Count: 402
Date Written: 20 February, 2016
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Whedon, not the author, and are used without permission.
Halloween night leaves him feeling at a loss, his mind buzzing with questions and too much alcohol and drugs. He's still in a fog the next day when he enters the school. His spiritual load feels far too heavy to carry this day. His shoulders are slumped. He doesn't care when his glasses slip down his nose. His hair is disheveled, and his attire not much better.
He struggles through the morning check ins, not that there's many books being returned. There are never many being checked out, so the number returning are always few. Still, it's difficult to concentrate on anything. Last night, he was on the top of the world. Today, he's buzzing like he is from the occasional dream from his youth.
He felt the power last night. He had it in his grasp. He was young again. He could have had everything, but today, he has so little except questions and duties. One of the things he realized last night when he came to was that they are all hungry. They're all starving for something. Last night, he was almost filled on magickal power and the glory of having everything he wanted, from all the cash he could burn to a beautiful woman on his arm.
Buffy and her friends are watching him skeptically. He looks up when he hears them laughing, his face burning, but they're not talking about him. Of course. They're young; he's old. They can not be bothered to think much of him, which, again, is why his Slayer so seldom listens to him.
But when the bell rings and the others scatter for glass, the young, brilliant redhead stays behind. His surprise must be evident when he looks at her for she squares her thin shoulders and boldly meets his gaze. Then her eyes drop from his. He edges closer, curious. He's never known her to miss a class unless the world was hanging in the balance.
Very softly, she speaks, but when she does, she belies the knowledge of her youth. "They need you, you know." Her words are quiet and hurried as she almost runs from the library, but they are new food for thought. This time, finally, Rupert smiles. Once again, he puts away the dreams of Ripper and his childhood, but this time, this new, dawning day with lessons to teach his Slayers and others, finally, he feels full.
The End
Title: From Ashes to Ashes
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Character/Pairing: Giles, Buffy
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt:
giles_shorts: David Bowie Song Titles (Ashes to Ashes)Warning(s): Character Death
Word Count: 400
Date Written: 20 February, 2016
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Whedon, not the author, and are used without permission.
He kneels in the dirt beside her grave. Flames flicker in the reflection of his spectacles. They've slipped from their proper place on his nose, but tonight, he doesn't push them back up. Tonight, he doesn't rise as he has for so many nights now to fight the dead, but his focus is still on the dead.
The others may find him here. Let them. There is nothing they can do now. He made a promise. He made so many promises to her, but this one he will keep. He promised no one would dig her up, and so he hasn't even to set this fire to her bones. It's already burning through the ground, and it will burn deeper. The blaze is magical, and when it's gone, there will be nothing left of her from whence she can be resurrected.
This time, she will have her peace, but he knows he'll never have peace again. Her head stone is untouched by the fire. It reads as the first one did: She saved the world. A lot. His Slayer did indeed save the world far more times than it, or any of them in it, deserved. His friend saved him.
He reaches out to the gravestone, remembering the feel of her smaller hand in his. She was so much younger, so much smaller, than he, and yet, she was braver, stronger, even smarter in some ways. She saved him time and again from the world, from the monsters in it, and from himself, the latter more times than he cares to remember.
Tears blur the flames dancing in his vision. He leans his head against her gravestone, the cement smooth and somehow still feeling cold beneath his palm despite the nearby blaze. He closes his eyes.
Something touches his shoulder. The elderly Watcher's eyes snap open, and for a moment, just a moment, he thinks he can see his Slayer standing again by his side. "From ashes to ashes," he whispers when he is certain he was only imagining her ghost. "We rise, and we return. No one will hurt you now, Buffy. No one will use you ever again." Not her friends, not the world, and not himself.
But God knows he'll never stop hurting. Rupert closes his eyes again and lays his head against her stone, and as the fire blazes, his Slayer stands watch always beside him.
The End
Title: Full
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Character/Pairing: Giles, Willow
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt:
giles_shorts: David Bowie Song Titles (We Are Hungry Men, When I Live My Dream, An Occasional Dream, Fill Your Heart, Because You're Young)Warning(s): None
Timeline: Post Band Candy
Word Count: 402
Date Written: 20 February, 2016
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Whedon, not the author, and are used without permission.
Halloween night leaves him feeling at a loss, his mind buzzing with questions and too much alcohol and drugs. He's still in a fog the next day when he enters the school. His spiritual load feels far too heavy to carry this day. His shoulders are slumped. He doesn't care when his glasses slip down his nose. His hair is disheveled, and his attire not much better.
He struggles through the morning check ins, not that there's many books being returned. There are never many being checked out, so the number returning are always few. Still, it's difficult to concentrate on anything. Last night, he was on the top of the world. Today, he's buzzing like he is from the occasional dream from his youth.
He felt the power last night. He had it in his grasp. He was young again. He could have had everything, but today, he has so little except questions and duties. One of the things he realized last night when he came to was that they are all hungry. They're all starving for something. Last night, he was almost filled on magickal power and the glory of having everything he wanted, from all the cash he could burn to a beautiful woman on his arm.
Buffy and her friends are watching him skeptically. He looks up when he hears them laughing, his face burning, but they're not talking about him. Of course. They're young; he's old. They can not be bothered to think much of him, which, again, is why his Slayer so seldom listens to him.
But when the bell rings and the others scatter for glass, the young, brilliant redhead stays behind. His surprise must be evident when he looks at her for she squares her thin shoulders and boldly meets his gaze. Then her eyes drop from his. He edges closer, curious. He's never known her to miss a class unless the world was hanging in the balance.
Very softly, she speaks, but when she does, she belies the knowledge of her youth. "They need you, you know." Her words are quiet and hurried as she almost runs from the library, but they are new food for thought. This time, finally, Rupert smiles. Once again, he puts away the dreams of Ripper and his childhood, but this time, this new, dawning day with lessons to teach his Slayers and others, finally, he feels full.
The End
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