You're like my fairy godmother, and Santa Claus, and Q all wrapped up into one! Q from Bond, not Star Trek.

Buffy ,'Help'


Buffista Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies  

Where the Buffistas let their fanfic creative juices flow. May contain erotica.


askye - Apr 22, 2003 7:42:48 am PDT #3623 of 10001
Thrive to spite them

Here's my Flashfic---unfortunatly I tried too much for 1000 words (well less than, in this case) and it still needs work but I ran out of time....

When Faith showed up unexpectedly at Wesley’s door, looking strangely vulnerable, her attitude and swagger worn thin. They left off the small talk and Faith cut to the chase.

"Be my Watcher."

The request stunned him. She refused to explain herself at first, choosing instead to talk about Buffy and the First Evil they'd defeated.

"She was the general, everyone following her. B had to make all the decisions, not that she wanted to. Those girls died, the potentials. Hurt, dying. And Xander..." Faith looked away, unable to finish.

"Everyone looking to her for answers. She’s got to decide who lives and who dies. You think I can do that? Be a general, plan an attack. Hell, B had a hard enough time letting them fight, sending those girls off to their deaths.” Faith shook her head, like she was trying to erase memories. “No one told me shit about Slayers being killed. Or that Buffy died again. Or that Willow tried to end the world. Everyone forgets about the extra Slayer. 'Cause B is the real deal, the original. They don't even remember why I'm doing my time."

He was impatient, there didn’t seem to be reason for this and she looked so unlike Faith. “Do you have a point?”

“Getting there. B died twice. Except there’s just me and her when there should be three. You wonder why that is?”

"There should be three?" Wesley echoed. The story had been going from A to Z and Faith had jumped the track to 3.14.

She moved around his living room restlessly. “It’s the first thing they tell you, well maybe the second…when one Slayer dies another is called. You should know that.”

Realization struck Wesley. “The line goes through you.”

A triumphant look crossed Faith’s face. “Yeah. That’s why I need you, to set things right.” For one horrified moment he thought Faith wanted him to kill Buffy, and then she asked, “You remember why I went to prison? You think anyone except Angel remembers?”

“You went to pay your debt.” Faith was idly toying with books on the shelves.

“Paying my debt to society when it’s not them I owe. My debt is to Buffy, Xander, Angel,” her eyes cut straight to Wesley, “you. Never going to pay that back sitting in jail. Never going to get repaid. Doesn’t do anyone any good. Buffy’s never going to have a life, she’ll die one day. I’ll be locked up tight, growing old, and who’s going to make sure the next Slayer’ll be called? There’s no Council to hire the job out.”

Wesley flinched but Faith didn’t sound bitter.

“I want to put things right. I can’t say anything to make it right or make up for the fact I enjoyed what I did.” She looked pointedly at him and smiled; now she looked like the Faith he remembered from before. “I enjoyed everything. Every cut, every whimper, not just while I did it. I used to dream about you, wake up all hot and sweaty, wet from thinking about the cuts and your blood, the way you looked all tied up.”

Wesley let the silence stretch between them. “I had nightmares. I hated you, for a very long time. Then I would remember what you looked like in the alley, yelling at Angel that you were evil, begging him to believe you. I don’t believe you enjoyed your dreams.” It had taken him this long to catch up to her train of thought, but Wesley thought he'd finally figured out what Faith wanted. He had to hear her say the words, to make it real. “How do you plan to put things right?”

The question seemed to unravel her control. Her attitude frayed at the edges, leaving her looking young and determined with her posturing. “One life for two. My life for theirs, Buffy and whoever comes after. Think it’s a fair trade? Buffy gets to be normal and the other gets to be special. Isn’t that what everyone wants?” She pushed him, moved him against the wall, he could feel her body hot against his. “Everyone wants B to have her life, be the good girl.”

Too many people had tried to goad him into anything for this to work, so he asked her softly, “What do you want?”

She looked as if she’d been undone. “Just once, for once, I want to do the right thing, have it be the right thing.” Words he could have spoken, her dark eyes looking into his, cutting through him. She pushed him into the wall, her hands against his chest.

“This is the right thing.” A question and a reassurance.

Wesley pushed Faith's hands away, flexed his wrist and sent the sheathed knife between her ribs, through her heart. Her head snapped up; she looked shocked and grateful. Wesley held her as his hands slicked with her blood and her eyes grew dim.

The water swirled down the drain, pink-tinged against the white porcelain as Wesley washed his hands again. Looking up, he caught his reflection in mirror and saw a lifetime of good intentions shot to hell. He wondered if this was one more misstep, or if this time he got it right. He shut off the tap and walked back to the living room. Faith lay on the couch; it wasn't possible for him to pretend she was asleep; her clothes were already stiffening with blood. He knelt beside the couch and brushed her tangled hair from her face. He kept at it until her hair was free of tangles; there was nothing he could do about her clothes. The only thing left was to call Angel. He closed her eyes and told her again, “It was the right thing.”

If it wasn't, he’d shoulder the blame. He was her Watcher.


Connie Neil - Apr 22, 2003 8:25:37 am PDT #3624 of 10001
brillig

That's twisted, askye. Very Wes and Faith.


askye - Apr 22, 2003 8:27:16 am PDT #3625 of 10001
Thrive to spite them

Thanks! I think I'm going to let it rest and then expand it so everyone's motivations aren't so rushed.


Beverly - Apr 22, 2003 9:10:30 am PDT #3626 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.

Alison, love this:

Think it’s a fair trade? Buffy gets to be normal and the other gets to be special. Isn’t that what everyone wants?”

but this?

sent the sheathed knife between her ribs

I think you need to get the sheath off it first.

Very twisted indeed.

connie, loving your Xander. Couple of tee-niney nitpicks.

Tara was laying [lying] down with her head in Willow's lap.

Xander was in the seat (right) behind Anya and hanging over her seat back, watching everything. Spike had taken the spot (right) behind Joyce and Dawn for now

I'd suggest choosing one "right," especially since Buffy says "right?" in the next sentence.


Connie Neil - Apr 22, 2003 9:19:44 am PDT #3627 of 10001
brillig

Right.

Hey, it was nearly 2 AM when I finally agreed that it had gone far enough to stop and I should get to bed.


Beverly - Apr 22, 2003 9:23:58 am PDT #3628 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.

Lurvely. I said tee-niney. Wee things not really worthy of mention, given the overall glow of yumminess given off by the whole piece.

Truly, the characters are each right, and right there. As usual with your stuff, connie, I "see" the characters as I read, and hear the lines in their voices.


Am-Chau Yarkona - Apr 22, 2003 9:25:16 am PDT #3629 of 10001
I bop to Wittgenstein. -- Nutty

connie, that's wonderful stuff.


askye - Apr 22, 2003 9:58:05 am PDT #3630 of 10001
Thrive to spite them

Beverly, thanks, I pretty much wrote that part around midnight and was trying to indicate he was using a hidden wrist knife thing. That's one reason I want to rewrite the story.


Deena - Apr 22, 2003 1:01:25 pm PDT #3631 of 10001
How are you me? You need to stop that. Only I can be me. ~Kara

Askye, that's very nicely twisted. I like it. I didn't think it felt especially rushed. The first sentence isn't a sentence:

When Faith showed up unexpectedly at Wesley’s door, looking strangely vulnerable, her attitude and swagger worn thin.

I think something's missing in there. Otherwise, it's sick and hot.

Truly, the characters are each right, and right there. As usual with your stuff, connie, I "see" the characters as I read, and hear the lines in their voices.

Beverly is me.


askye - Apr 22, 2003 2:10:12 pm PDT #3632 of 10001
Thrive to spite them

Deena it really isn't a sentence because Wes washing his hands was originally the opening paragraph only in present tense and set off so that all the action between Faith and Wes was a flashback until it got to Wes combing the tangles out of Faith's hair, that was flipped back to present time.

So it was, Wes going out, Faith's body, then flipping to Faith at the door, only with pronouns. I realized the mistake when I was reading over it as I was about to hit post in LJ so I had to make a quick fix.