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Post by Xander Harris on Apr 28, 2008 8:06:02 GMT -5
Xander stood by his bed in the hotel, he had in his hands a box he had sent of before the collapse of Sunnydale. He had sent it to some distant relatives and told them to send it to his new address, when he found out where the heck his new address would be. Well the parcel had arrived today, and he opened it with some reserve. He knew what was inside and he had hoped to share this time with Anya, but she was gone, taken form him and the world by a evil malicious fiend.
He sat beside the box and opened it quietly and carefully. He carefully removed the tape that held it shut and removed the flaps to see inside. On top of a pile of Anya's clothes was two things that were precious, the ring he had given her when he had asked her to marry him and a photo album filled with images of happier times. He took the ring from the box and just looked at it. It belonged on her finger and her finger belonged on her hand which should have been in his right at this second but it wasn't, her hand and the rest of her was buried in the hole that once was Sunnydale.
He placed the ring on a chain that he had bought from a store that had no magical ties, he did not want to be doing anything that royally stupid again. He put the chain around his neck and fastened it, he would never take it off as a permanent reminder of his beloved Anya. He sighed softly at his memories of her. Her and him in the kitchen making tea. The two of them in the bedroom playing checkers. The two of them manning the starship enterprise... Wait that part didn't happen. He shook out of his daydream and picked up the photo album. He turned the page and saw the picture of him and Anya at the fair, he remembered that day. He turned the page and saw him and Anya having a picnic in their living room, he remembered that day too. Then he turned the page and saw him and Anya lying on the beach, and had no recollection of that day.
"Oh god" he said quietly, cos he knew what had happened, he had begun to forget Anya, well OK one date but it was still a big deal. He grabbed one of her shirts from the box and held it close, smelling it slightly. It smelled like Anya, fresh and fun and sweet. God he missed her so much that he just wanted to be with her, but he knew that'd be stupid and selfish, so he settled for sitting on the edge of his bed moping, holding Anya's shirt and letting a single tear drop. He hadn't really had a chance to cry over Anya's death yet cos he'd had so much to do to help Buffy, but now he was alone and had some Xander time, and all he wanted to do was let the finality of it hit him, Anya was gone, and he wanted her back so much.
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Post by Buffy Summers on Apr 28, 2008 16:39:41 GMT -5
In her large room, Buffy Summers stared out the huge window. One year ago, it would have been a beautiful view, full of people laughing while shining skyscrapers stood over head. Now that image was gone. Replaced by one where very few people were seen on the streets and all of them had large weapons by their side. New York City had gone from a glorious city, to an eyesore surrounded by large, concrete walls on all sides preventing any entrance or escape.
As the blonde slayer stared out the window, she wondered if Angel and his crew were alive or not. The last she had heard from them or L.A, hell was coming to town, literally. Things must have been alright because she had heard rumors of a safe haven there. She had also heard rumors of a British, blonde, good vampire hanging around with Angel. She didn’t let herself admit that there could be a slight chance that Spike was alive. She wasn’t ready to possibly loose another loved one.
Buffy looked around, realizing that she was very alone. She thought about maybe going out on patrol, but she felt too lazy to change out of her ‘Yummy Sushi’ pajamas. Willow most likely wanted some alone time with her loved one, considering that they were the only couple out of two to come out of the Hellmouth alive. She slowly got up from her cushy red chair that faced the window and decided to go see her Xander shaped friend.
Xander had seemed alone lately too. Who could blame him? Anya was fun to be around, and it hurt to see her gone. It hurt even more to see the pain on Xander’s face. Buffy new from experience that you can’t get over a loved one so easily and that you needed to give people space and comfort at the same time. She walked over to Xander’s room and softly knocking the door, not wanting to wake him in case he was asleep.
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Post by Xander Harris on Apr 29, 2008 7:16:41 GMT -5
Xander was in his own little world, a world where Anya was by his side as she should be, a world where he was able to be happy on his own accord. But he knew reality spoke different, he knew in reality the woman he thought he was destined to grow old with was now buried under mountains of cement and concrete. He had hoped she died before the hellmouth imploded, the thought of her seeing the roof come towards her was to much for Xander, he knew it would have terrified her, even more than bunnies. He was so proud of his girl and how she had fought, if only she could have lived.
Suddenly he heard a knock on the door, he couldn't let Buffy and Willow see him moping, he was Xander and Xander was supposed to be happy and cheery. "Just a second" he yelled, quickly putting the photo album in the box and closing it, completely forgetting the ring which was dangling from its chain in full view. He slid the box under his bed and ran to the door. He took a deep breath and put on a simple smile before opening it to see Buffy standing there "Hey Buffster, short time no see, come on in, I just made the bed, which we can ruin by sitting on it" he said, he hadn't really made the bed, what was the point when there was no one to share it with, "So what's the what Buffster? Any news on the demonic front or is this a rare social call" he said. He meant nothing mean by it and he made that clear in his tone, it was just that lately all the times he and Buffy had talked there was some daredevil death defying mission that he would have to do.
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Post by Buffy Summers on Apr 29, 2008 21:46:44 GMT -5
Buffy got the furrowed brow as Xander ‘welcomed’ her into his room. “I just wanted to see how you were.” the Slayer said cautiously as she entered the room and surveyed its surroundings. The bed was mostly made which was hopefully a good sign. Some random pieces of clothes were scattered around the room, not abnormal for Xander. So, Buffy wondered why he was acting so strange. “Are you okay Xand?” Buffy asked as she sat down on the wonderfully soft bed.
The last thing she wanted was for her any of her friends to feel depressed or lonely. And since Xander had lost a loved one which was bound to make one or both of the two feelings happened, Buffy wasn’t going to take any chances that her friend was at full Xander mode. Her bright green eyes shone up at her dear friend, pleading with him to tell her what was wrong. “Come. Sit. Tell Buffy.” She smiled, trying to get him to do the same.
She scooted over a little bit to make room for Xander to sit. Of course Buffy was the slayer, but she was a friend first and foremost, and that was what she was here to be. Buffy knew that she could never connect to Xander on the level that Willow could, but with her not here right now, she would try and be the best substitution around. Xander never really had any guy friends except for Reilly and Oz, and they left because of, (or something to do with) their girlfriends.
Giles was always more of the father figure for them all really, so he would be greater for more of a ‘what the hell am I doing’ talk, rather than ‘my girlfriend is dead and I need someone to talk to’, although the watcher did have a very good point of view on the subject. Buffy really wanted to help Xander, in any way she could.
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Post by Xander Harris on Apr 30, 2008 1:46:53 GMT -5
Xander kept his happy facade up fairly well, till Buffy started asking what was wrong, he almost had hoped that it was a death-defying mission cos that would hurt a lot less then the talk would. He closed the door and walked over to Buffy and sat down beside her "Nothings wrong Buff, I'm Jim dandy" he said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, then he looked at Buffy's eyes and could tell right away "You're not buying the happy Xander act are ya?" he said, burying his chin in his hands.
"It's just... I miss her Buff, I really miss her. God I'd give anything to get her back" he said, he had tried so hard to hide his pain and now here it was being bared for the world, by which I mean Buffy, to see. He couldn't cry, he had done so much of that lately that his eyeball was dry, and he couldn't sob cos he still had some pains in his chest from the sobbing he had done recently. "I know that I'll probably never see her again it's just... if this had happened 10 years ago when I hadn't seen people I cared about come back from the dead I might not even have thought about this but there's a part of me that just expects her to come through that door and stay"
He had thought about that a lot, it's what kept him up at night, now he had seen Buffy and Angel come back from the dead, and heard rumors that Spike had also done a reappearing trick he had that slim hope that Anya, his beloved Anya, might do the same. He stood up and pulled out the box from under his bed and put it on his lap "I just... this in here, her stuff? It doesn't cut it for me anymore. I need her Buff, and I need her now. That's why I need to ask you a huge favor" he said. It was the one thing he doubted in his mind that he should do, but he wanted a second opinion on it to make him certain it was a bad idea, and no opinion would matter to him more than Buffy's "Buff, I wanna bring her back. I mean she was killed by a bringer, those are mystical right?" he said, not pausing for breath, he was on a roll and wanted to get it all out "I was thinking we could look up some stuff and get Willow to do some spell to bring An back, but I'm worried Buff. If she's in heaven where she belongs than I'd be taking away something from her that I could never give her, but on the other hand if she's in a demonic hell dimension because of her Anyanka days than I'd be doing the right thing. So I need the opinion of someone who's been in Anya's position and you're the most qualified party, should I try Buff? Should I try and do this?" He said, he knew it was probably his worst idea ever but he knew now that it was possible, and if it worked he'd be able to hold Anya again, and that's what mattered the most to him.
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Post by Buffy Summers on Apr 30, 2008 21:27:00 GMT -5
Buffy listened and nodded along as Xander told her what he was feeling. It was more than natural, hell; it was expected, to feel this way after your boyfriend or girlfriend died. Buffy opened her mouth to say something about finding comfort and how hard it is to move on, when her friend asked the unthinkable. Her green eyes widened and her mouth dropped in shock.
“What? You wanna do what with huh?” She was in amazement that he would even ask her opinion on the matter. “Xander I…where do I start?” Buffy was angry. Not at Xander, but just angry at the idea. She stood up and began to pace around the room. She kept opening her mouth to say something deep, but soon shut it after hearing it in her head.
Buffy finally got on her knees and looked Xander dead in the eye. “Xand, I love Anya. You know that. But we can’t risk something this huge on her. Either she’s in hell, which is bad enough, but the only thing worse would be to rip her out from literal heaven. I know I’m not the poster child for stable thinking, but we…we just can’t risk it.” Buffy wished now that the rest of the gang was here to help him out through this dark time.
Giles would be cleaning his glasses while Willow talked about how bad this could go. Buffy took Xander’s hands in hers and gave him silent comfort. “I love you Xander. I hate to see you this way.” She bit her lip, trying to think of something to make her friend feel better, but what could she do? He had lost the love of his life, and Buffy knew herself, that you can never fully recover from something like that…even if they do come back.
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Post by Charles Gunn on May 1, 2008 7:54:12 GMT -5
~Hotel Lobby~
Gun entered casually the smiling Buffy right on his heels. He was immediately approached by the hotel staff, who seemed confused by the appearance of a soldier in one of the last civilian accommodation's. Gun's heavy swat gear and combat boots attracted more then a little attention.
"How many times do I have to explain? This is Buffy...Buffy Summers, she's staying here, I think. She must have gotten lost, or wandered off."
"We don't have record of her checking out." The clerk at the counter said confused.
"Then just give me the room number and I'll take her back up."
"I cannot, I've been given strict instructions..." the man replied rudely.
"Then give her the room number." He said smiling coyly. The man prattled off the number to Buffy quickly and then began to protest when Gunn escorted her to the elevator.
"Nice hotel, reminds of...home." Gunn said quietly in the elevator as it was on it's the way up to the floor in question. The Elevator's music was a playful tune, Gunn tried to remember...something about 'The Girl from Amphetamine', at least he thought that was the name.
He felt some odd responsibility to the woman. Even though they had never met he knew that, despite her current mental state, she meant something to Angel. She was a force for good, one that had saved the world several times over. If she meant that much then she was worth protecting. He looked over at the girl and smiled. 'She's pretty as Angel said.' He thought calmly folding his arms.
The elevator door opened to a spacious suite floor that was relatively quiet for the late evening hour that it was.
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Post by Xander Harris on May 1, 2008 7:58:06 GMT -5
Xander sat there and listened as Buffy told him what he knew in his head, but his heart was begging him differently. He knew that it was foolish and risky and he could even be depriving Anya of literal heaven, something he never wanted to do.
Xander smiled a little when Buffy finished "I loves ya too Buff, and you're right. I know it's not a good idea, in fact it's probably my stupidest idea ever and that has some steady competition, but I just feel so lost without her. Remember how bad I was when I left her at the alter? well this feels a million times worse cos I know I can't win her back" he looked into Buffy's eyes and it hit him, the thing he had refused to say or believe finnaly hit him, and it had a good hit "She's gone Buff, she's really really gone" He buried his face in his hands "I'm never gonna see her again am I?" he asked Buffy, a mild sob in his voice. He didn't want to break down in front of Buffy, but at the same time his pent up emotions were killing him.
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Post by Buffybot on May 2, 2008 18:52:36 GMT -5
Buffybot followed behind Gunn closely. The bounce in her step was the same one that was programmed in. She looked happy sure enough, that was how she was supposed to look. She flashed her big, toothy smile at everyone she saw. Most of them looked scared and moved quickly away. Buffybot couldn't understand that. Did they know what was wrong with her? Were they scared she would hurt them?
Buffybot could tell that Gunn was not having a good time with the hotel staff. She wanted to do something. To help. But she didn't dare. What if she was ordered to do something? Then she would have to do it. Buffybot was scared. She didn't want to hurt anyone else. She hated her new programming.
She stood silently in the elevator. The music didn't quite reach her ears. She was waiting to see the real Buffy. She could tell her where to find Willow. Willow would fix her. She knew she would. She had to. And then Buffybot could help instead of hurt. That was what she was supposed to do!
When they reached the suite floor, Buffybot stepped out of the elevator and didn't even pause. She found the door that was the real Buffy's. She didn't knock. She just walked in. The her dismay, it was empty. But she didn't give up. She stepped out of the room and opened more doors down the aisle until... There she was! The Real Buffy and her Xander friend!
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Post by Willow Rosenberg on May 3, 2008 10:44:10 GMT -5
It had been a long day, she was ready for sleeping. She had been out for a few hours with Kennedy doing a patrol. Willow would have much preferred to be in the hotel doing other things but Kennedy had insisted upon going out and Willow thought perhaps she was right...it wasn't completely dark when they had started out but now the moon rose high in the sky and Willow could imagine all the things that would be coming out right about now. She gave a slight shiver and then rolled her eyes, she the great black magic woman was shivering at the evil around the city.
She hadn't wanted to stay out, she thought perhaps Kennedy was a little annoyed with her going back but Willow wanted to see Buffy. They hadn't really seen each other for awhile...that is seen each other in a friendly setting. Buffy had been busy with setting things up in New York and keeping in contact with the slayer camps. Willow closed her eyes and gave into the feeling of light tearing at her body, when she opened her eyes she was in Buffy's room; but there was no Buffy. "Darn." She glanced around and then with a sigh teleported into Xander's room "Hey Xand have you seen-" she looked at Buffy beside him and finished in a slightly amused voice "Buffy." She looked across the room to where Gunn and another Buffy stood "Buffys? Gunn??" her voice betrayed her surprise "Did someone forget to invte me to the party?"
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Post by Charles Gunn on May 4, 2008 2:41:55 GMT -5
"Hey..." Gunn said alarmed slightly taken off-guard by the swift move off the elevator. As she approached and entered the room, he stopped short of entering on the sight of another Buffy and a pirate. He assumed pirate, but then noticing a shirt that said normal dude, he assumed normal pirate dude.
"Buffy I don't think you should be in Buffy's...room." The last few words from Gunn's mouth tapered off slowly.
Then there was the second Buffy...
"Am I dreaming...or are there two 'Buffy's' in here...and a pirate just dressed up as a normal guy?" Gunn said as he shook his head once and allowed his eyes to bounce from one person to the next in rapid succession.
"Willow...hey, hi. So do you clone all your friends or just the ones that ask nice?" Gunn asked sarcastically as he tried to wrap his head around two petite blond slayers. He supposed that if he hadn't been fighting unspeakable demon spawn for the better part of three years that all of this would have freaked him out. There was an upside to hanging out with an en-souled vampire...you learned to expect weird and get over the freaky.
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Post by Xander Harris on May 4, 2008 7:46:31 GMT -5
Xander was a bit of a ball of nerves ,but the second the door opened and the Buffybot walked in he took a deep breath and composed himself as quickly as he could, which was good because the next person who appeared in the room was a human and therefore could sense emotions. More to the point it was Willow and she usually could sense Xander's emotions "No Will, there's no party. Buff was just helping me fix my bed up on account of me having no idea how you're supposed to do it. It's the corners that get me every time" he said, before glancing over at Buffy, begging her with his eyes not to talk about what he had just talked to her about. He didn't want anyone to know he had had a mild breakdown, especially Willow. He turned to the guy who had joined them "Nah, I'm not a pirate, well I was once but that was a Halloween thing. No I'm just a regular guy with a deep fear of eye-poppin preachers" he said with a fake smile, cos inside he wasn't smiling, he was silently dying.
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Post by Charles Gunn on May 4, 2008 11:49:43 GMT -5
"Uh-huh...still confused. Nice to meet you 'regular guy'. Gunn, it's Charles Gunn actually, but most people just call me Gunn. So someone wanna explain the whole doppleganger thing? Or should I just break into the mini bar and wait for the cliff notes?" Gunn said as he folded his arms and turned towards Willow slightly. It was nice to be around people also accustomed to the freaky. In fact the guy reminded him of himself a bit, but there was a certain pain his eyes...eye.
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Post by Willow Rosenberg on May 4, 2008 18:37:25 GMT -5
Willow sighed quietly, she could sense Xander's sorrow even though he was smiling and making a weak joke. She glanced around the room, it looked like their timing had been bad. She glanced over at the "other" Buffy and shook her head "Gunn this is Buffy-bot our um double for the slayer." she looked over at the actual Buffy and smiled wryly "Sometimes she fools people." She had done a great job fooling Glory...of course Glory wasn't all that smart...A shadow passed over her face but she pushed it away and stood with a half amused smile on her face but knowing everyone in that room was most definately not alright.
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Post by Buffy Summers on May 4, 2008 19:12:01 GMT -5
Buffy was having a nice moment with Xander when out of the blue; three people entered one after the other. She was shocked when she saw the Buffybot standing behind a man she had never seen before. Buffy recognized his name once he mentioned it. Angel had brought up his gang once or twice, and that name had been so memorable that it seemed to stick in her head.
“You’re Gunn, right?” She asked stepping foreword. “As you can tell, I’m the real Buffy. Sorry about the confusion.” Her eyes seemed drawn to the Buffybot. No matter how many times she had seen that thing it was still really creepy to be in the same room as it. Buffy had been wanting to ask someone, anyone a dire question. “Did everyone in L.A…you know…live?” She looked down at the ground. More than anything, if Spike was alive, she wanted him along with Angel to have survived.
(Sorry you guys. My muse is gone so this post is really crappy)
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