Conscious.

eta...

Conscious, except I think the parallel will end, pretty much there, if I continue the story.

Willow as Doubting Thomas ("Put your hand into my bra...") was wonderful.

I especially like the Spike and Xander interaction. Xander's change of attitude towards the follically fried one was nicely done.

When Buffy Comes Marching Home part two

"Aren't you going to answer it?" asked Anya.

"Well, I suppose I didn't really finish. I was at peace, and knew everyone I loved was all right until 3 days ago."

"Actually, you were in the cellar, here," said Anya. "Willow did some sort of spell so you wouldn't stink up the joint, but it was creepy and not pleasant having you around. Let me tell you."

"Well, the conscious parts of me were in a heavenly place. And I thought--as I said--that everyone was all right, and everything was okay. Then I got this image--it was a priest, or maybe a minister--but he had one of those collar thingies on, so I think he was a priest. He was in the woods, praying over--I dunno--the ground. I realized he was praying over me. Then I saw you all clearly."

It always wigs me when people know what I'm doing or thinking, when I don't know they know. One time, Buffy got mind reading powers from some cootie she caught from a demon. It almost drove her crazy. It did drive me crazy. I couldn't stop thinking about sex, because I didn't want her to know how much I thought about sex. And Willow? She just started doing this thing where she talks to us--breaks into our brains--ESP-style. It freaks me right out. Anyhow, when Buffy said she saw us all clearly, I started doing a total recall of the past 3 days. You know, a person does a lot of things in private over a three day period. This could drive me to drink. I decided to just ask--get it over with, you know. "How clearly, Buff?"

She looked at me and laughed. My discomfort must have been written on my face. "I could only see you at certain times, Xander."

"What times?"

"I saw you bury me. I saw Giles come back to the grave later that night, with Dawn. I saw Willow and Tara there, the next morning, and Spike the next night."

"And that made you come back?"

"Well, no. I mean, it was nice, if sad, knowing you missed me, but I saw other things too. I don't know that I was seeing things that actually happened, or if I was having visions."

"What did you see?"

"For one thing, I saw Faith. She's in trouble. She's in prison. We knew that, but someone is trying to kill her. I just saw flashes, though."

This was too much for Willow. "You came back for Faith?"

"I came back because I'm not finished yet. The slayer line, it has to continue. With Faith in jail, who else is there?"

"There's me," said the Buffy bot. I'd say I think she was feeling like Buffy was stealing her thunder, but robots don't think. Do they?

Giles had been silent this whole time. Now he was leaning on the table, head in his hands. Willow asked, "Giles, are you okay?"

"God no. This is all my fault."

"Your fault? Fault? What could be wrong with it," asked Willow.

"Consecrating the ground was supposed to release Buffy from her duties as slayer. Instead, it appears to have dragged her out of heaven."

"I was given a choice, Giles."

"You were?"

"Yes. Well, nobody talked to me, but I came back on my own. I wasn't dragged out."

"For goodness sake, why?"

"I saw other things, too. There's some kind of vicious vampire--like a primeval vampire. First, I saw the first slayer fighting one, and dying, then Faith. Then they took over the world."

"Dear Lord."

"I saw me, too. Although I think it was Buffy-bot."

"How sweet," said the bot.

"Well, I don't know. You looked like you were up to no good."

"With Spike?"

Buffy coughed and rolled her eyes. The rest of us just laughed. Spike was no longer in the doorway. I'm not sure where he'd gotten to. I wasn't paying attention. "No, not with Spike. It looked like you were fighting for the other side."

"Well, how do you know it was me?"

"Who else would it be?"

"How do you know it wasn't you?"

"I don't. But whomever it was, she looked just like us."

"Pretty?"

"Yes, very."

Giles said, "I've got to call Father Iverson, and try to figure out what went wrong."

"But Giles, I told you, it was my choice to come back."

"Yes, Buffy. And I can't even begin to express my joy at seeing you again. But your choice--I was...I was trying to take that away from you."

"How so?"

"There's a fault in the slayer line I think, Buffy. When you died the first time, Kendra was called. When Kendra died, Faith was called. You retained your slayer powers, but when you died, nobody was called."

"Yeah Giles, but we always figured I passed the torch when the Master drowned me. The line goes through Faith, right?"

"That's what I'd always assumed. But there are things I can't go into right now, until I've done a bit more research, and a bit of follow up with Father Iverson. Suffice it to say, with your vision of Faith's death, and these primeval vampires taking over the world, I'm not certain anyone will be called if/when Faith dies."

"Good thing Buffy's back then, right?" asked Dawn. Poor Dawn. She'd hardly said a word. She looked like she was afraid Buffy was going to disappear at any moment. I know I was.

"No rest for the weary, I guess," said Buffy.

To be continued.

(NOTE: I currently don't have a word processing program. I'm working blind. If you notice anything goofy, please let me know.)

QUESTIONS: With an AU--is it okay that I've stolen lines of dialogue from canon? I liked the idea that Spike would still know how many days since Buffy had died, and I liked the idea that Buffy thought of heaven in the same way, but I don't know if it's some fan fiction faux pas.

Anne--thank you! I always like the Spike-Xander dynamic. There was a point at which they could have become friends, if either of them had bent just a bit. I don't want to totally violate that, but I want to keep up that feeling.

I think it's perfectly ok to refer to canon...god knows I do. Well, if She likes funky crossovers. Although I was tempted to make my tag "Canon? We don't need no stinking canon." after getting lectured about it.(It could also be a fic thread title, she said, hopefully)

I think it's perfectly ok to refer to canon...god knows I do.

This is sort of rewriting season 6, though--changing the premise of Buffy's resurrection--but I'm stealing lines from s6 episodes that dealt with it. Oh well, never said I wasn't a badfic hack.

It never occurred to me to wonder...I was like Faith."Want Take.Have." Is that so wrong?(Or like the Criminal on the Simpsons, "Yoink!") Maybe I should go be painfully self-conscious now and reflect on the error of my ways....I'm learning from the best.

I don't find it jarring to use canon elements in AUs -- there's quite a tradition of "change just one thing" in SF AUs that would support many essential-to-character traits and actions occurring regardless.

Is actually stealing a line okay?

Is actually stealing a line okay?

Absolutely fine, I'd say -- part of the point of fic, whether it's AU or not, is weaving in canon elements with your own story to make something new of them. I spin things off from bits of dialog all the time, and I don't see any reason not to do it just because it's an AU.

It occurs to me that I am in fact totally ignorant of the canonical rules regarding fic, since up until recently all mine were essentially original characters, moving through an AU of someone else's landscape. But I can't - from this seat of newbiehood - see any reason why, if it enhances the story, the writer shouldn't go with existing dialogue.