Buffy Summers.
Xander Harris.
Willow Rosenburg.
Rupert Giles.
Carpathia.
Angel.
Cordelia Chase.
Oz.
Doris.
Principal Snyder.
Joyce Summers.
"I am so glad that my soul was restored, now I can be with you forever, that's the whole point."
Buffy looked into his beautiful, loving eyes, held her gaze for a few
seconds, and turned away to look at the sun and surf. Then she looked back into his adoring eyes, and said,
"Oh, Angel. I'm glad too, I missed you so much. I was so lost without you, I didn't know what to do when I had a problem, or. . ."
As she was kissing him, she looked over his shoulder and noticed that the once crystal blue, ocean was now black, gloomy, and milky. She stopped kissing him, and a shocked, worried look came across her face.
"Buffy, what's wrong? You look worried."
Angel looked at her, an evil, mad look came upon his face, and he started to laugh.
Buffy looked at him with tears welling in her eyes.
"How can you say that to me? What's wrong with you? Angel?"
She pushed him aside, feeling totally betrayed, and lost. She started to walk away from him, then he grabbed her arm.
"Hey Lover, where do you think you're going? Do you really think you can escape your destiny? Do you think you can just run away from it? Well, do you?!" He was getting meaner, and agressive by the minute, he started to yell at her even more.
"You can't run away and hide from it, it'll find you, it always does, and
will!"
Angel suddenly was disappearing right before her very eyes. Buffy started to scream out Angel's name but that was no help. She fell to the ground right in front of him, and started to cry. Angel's image was still there but not too clear, it was hazy. Buffy was panicking and she began to look around to find some help, she turned around and saw an old friend walking towards her. Buffy reconized her right away, she jumped up and embraced her friend into her arms.
"Oh my God, Kendra you're back! I'm so happy to see you, I thought you were. . ."
But before Buffy could finish Kendra interupted her,
Buffy looked around for Kendra and noticed that she dropped something. She went to pick it up. It was a tiny, gold cross. It was no bigger than her thumb nail. As she was picking it up, she saw a vision of a very beautiful girl walking towards her.
"Behind you." said the girl, as she walked passed Buffy.
Buffy turned around and saw Angel, and still could make out his image. She ran towards him. He just stood there looking very shocked and scared. He was mummbling something to himself, she still couldn't understand a word he was saying. She could make out some words though. "Phoenix. Back.Tortured. Gypsy. Spike. She. Dead. Loved".
Buffy could hear someone in the background chanting, all of a sudden Angel's eyes started to glow. He looked at her and said,
Buffy woke up in a panic, and in a terrible fright. She sat up in her bed
and looked around the room to find something that would remind her of her home. When she was a little girl, that would always calm her down. But as she looked around her small, dank, bare room, she saw and found nothing. Tears ran down her cheeks, and the sadness overwhelmed her. She missed her home, Sunnydale. The life she once had. She missed her friends, she missed her Angel. But importantly she missed her Mother.
She was thinking to herself. Thinking about her Mother, Willow, Xander, Giles, Oz, Kendra, god, even Cordelia. Suddenly her alarm clock went off interupting her thinking. It was time for work. She showered, got dressed, did her hair in braids, and went to the restaurant she worked at, Helen's Diner.
There she was greeted by her fellow colleages, and did her same-old routine she had been doing for 2 months now. One of the other waitresses greeted her at the counter.
About three hours passed, and it was time for Buffy's break. She took off her apron and placed it on the counter, and went into the kitchen to go get something to eat. And to catch up on her gossip.
Just then a slim, tall, beautiful girl with brunette hair, wearing a shiny,
red Donna Karen suit, real pretty, walked into the diner. You could totally tell that she wasn't from around here. She was holding a picture in her left hand, and proceded towards the counter, to the grouchy old waitress who was reading a book.
"Yeah, what'll it be?" said Doris with a heavy southern accent, then
she looked up at the brunette girl, and thought to herself that this girl
was going to be trouble.
"Arent' you just a wee-bit overdressed, Princess?" Commented Doris, who had been working at Helen's Diner for most of her life. So she kind of had a reason to be bitter and grumpy.
"Look, I never came here to be judged, especially by a person like
you. Okay? And you really shouldn't talk to people like that,
because one day you could just say that to the wrong person, and before you know it, your face could be thrown right into that cash register." Said the brunette named, Carpathia. Carpathia flashed Doris a little smile.
Doris glared at Carpathia, and said, "Look, what do you want? You obviously want something, hell, you're probably looking for someone, aren't you?"
"Her," Carpathia handed Doris a picture of a girl, a girl closely
resembling Buffy.
Buffy heard everything that Carpathia just told Doris. She began to worry, she wanted to know who was looking for her, and how she knew everything that happened, and she wanted to know how she got so close to finding her. She decided to look out of the tiny window in the kitchen door, but she couldn't see anything. She took a deep breath, opened the door, and walked over to the counter. She
needed an excuse to be there, she grabbed a rag and began to wipe the counter. She looked across the room and saw Doris talking to the girl who was looking for her. Buffy recognized the girl, but from where?
"Well, have you? Have you seen her?" Asked Carpathia very impatiently.
Doris looked up at her, then looked at the picture again. She recognized the girl in the picture right away. It was the new, quiet girl Anne. Doris thought to herself, 'So, Anne is actually this Bunny Summer's girl. Well,
whatever the reason maybe she's here for a reason. She's probably here hiding, wanting to start all over again, poor thing. She's probably scared, and doesn't have a friend in the world.' Doris turned around and saw Buffy cleaning the counter Buffy looked up and stared at Doris. Doris gave her a little nod, and turned back around.
"Nope. I can't say that I have seen this Bunny girl." She handed the photo back to Carpathia, and looked down. Carpathia got frustrated, she knew that Doris was covering for Buffy. But the question is, why?
"It's not Bunny, her name is Buffy. Look lady, I'm tired, and I'm angry,
and I'm stressed out. Pissing me off won't do you any good. I know that you've seen her, I know that she's in this miserable little hell whole, you call a town! She could even be working here! But why are you lying to me? Why?! Why won't you just tell me? Because if you don't, I will be forced to rip your heart out and then stab you to death with that pencil over there. Now, tell me where she is! It's important that I find her!" said Carpathia who was now beginning to get aggressive, and fustrated.
Doris was now beginning to feel a little uncomfortable and scared around Carpathia. She didn't know what to do. Should she just tell her that Buffy was here? Or should she not, because she doesn't know exactly why Buffy is here? There could be a really good reason, maybe she's here to escape an abusive lover? Who knows. She needed time to think, and to stall. She backed up just a little bit away from Carpathia, because she had a look in her eye, that was just scary. If looks could kill, this one would have.
Buffy was listening to the conversation. And Carpathia could sense it too.
She could also sense that Buffy was scared that someone knew where she
was. She was scared that somebody would drag her back to Sunnydale. Buffy
wasn't ready for
that. Not just yet. She wasn't ready to face Giles her Watcher, her
friends, her mother,
or her destiny.
A shocked, bewildered look came across her face. She finally recognized the
girl. She was from Buffy's dream. She noticed that the girl was wearing a
tiny, gold cross on a gold chain. The same exact one that Kendra dropped.
Buffy couldn't figure out the connection, or why the
girl was looking for her, the only thing she figured out was that the girl
was not vampire, or a demon because of the cross, and plus it's daylight.
"I honestly haven't seen this girl. I am sorry. And even if I have, you'll
never find her. You'll find her when she wants to be found. Other
than that, you're looking
for a lost cause. Now if you'll excuse me, it's my break. God, knows that I
deserve one now,
after all that I went through, just now."
She walked away, very quickly and went into the kitchen. By this
time, Carpathia was more angrier, and more determined to find Buffy. But
why though? She took a deep breath, and proceded to the door, she turned
around one last time, and she saw Buffy. There eyes met, and Buffy quickly
looked down, Carpathia shook her head and left.
Buffy looked up and saw that she was gone, and she saw Carpathia giving the
finger to the place as well. Buffy didn't know what to do, she was so
confused. Who was that girl? What
did she want? Why is she here? Why is she so determined to find me? How
does she know me? Where did she get my picture from? What important
responibility? Does she know that I'm the Slayer? These questions kept
running through Buffy's head. Finally, she shook her head, and ran after
Carpathia.
"What took you so long? If someone wanted to find me, and knew my whole
life story, I would've jetted after them, just like a bat outta hell. And
believe me, I would know." Carpathia was sitting on a bench and smoking a
cigarette. Buffy confronted her, and sat down right beside her. Then she
got up, confused. She began to yell at her.
Buffy fell to the ground, in tears. She sobbed uncontrollably. Carpathia
felt sorry for her, she knew exactly what Buffy was going through.
Being a teenage girl, the
Slayer, sending her Vampire boyfriend to hell, having only one parent to
take care of her, battling evil, the pressures of life, school and slaying.
It was all taking it's toll on her. Carpathia got up and crouched beside
Buffy, and put her hand on Buffy's back, and tried to comfort her. Buffy
felt a little better, she eventually stopped crying, and she
looked at Carpathia.
"Here, let's sit on the bench, okay? The ground is hard and, not to mention
dirty. Well, like this bench is any cleaner. But, you know." Carpathia gave
Buffy a little smile.
Buffy smiled back, and laughed. Carpathia handed her some kleenex. They
both got up and
sat on the bench. Buffy continued to cry, and Carpathia continued to hand
Buffy kleenex. Carpathia
told Buffy to let it all out, to just cry until there were no more tears
left. And Buffy did. She sat there
watching Buffy, and waiting until she was done crying, so Carpathia could
tell her why she's here, and
about everything. But, she didn't know how to tell her,
Buffy finally stopped crying, she asked, "Who are you? Why are you here?
What do you want from
me? Did Giles send you? How do you know my name? Why are you looking for
me? Why. . ."
But before Buffy could finish, Carpathia cut her off. She paused and
thought to herself how can she
explain everything to Buffy. Buffy was becoming impatient and she wanted
answers.
"Okay, where do I begin?"
"Carpathia? That's a nice name. It sounds mid-evil. I like it."
"The Council sent me here to take you back to Sunnydale, so you can resume
your destiny, your duty,
your obligation. Once that's done I'm supposed to help you with something
big, and when that's done
I get to go," She paused, and smiled, "home."
"The Council? What's that? And, I'm not going back to Sunnydale! I'm
staying here! I'm not going
back just because you get points for a good deed, and then you get to go
"home". Let's get that
straight, alright?"
"Excuse me, don't you ever talk to me like that again," Carpathia got up
and stood in front of Buffy. "Do you know who you're talking to? Where do
you get off? Huh? I don't get points for a 'good deed'. My soul
gets eternal peace, something that I must have! And something that I need
and deserve. If you knew all of the things that I went through, or saw some
of the things that I saw, then you would want your soul
and conscience to be at ease, hence, eternal peace."
Buffy was very scared,
and she felt like a fool,
for blowing up at Carpathia like that. She could see that Carpathia was
very sensitive about this issue, and the she probably didn't like to talk
about it.
"I'm really sorry, Carpathia," Buffy continued, "how but we start over
again?"
Angel swept Buffy's golden blonde hair off of her face, and tucked it
behind her left ear. He held Buffy in his muscular arms, and he leaned
closer to her, and whispered something into her ear.
"Buffy, shhhhh." Angel said, and then he kissed her.
"Angel, look at the ocean, it's black. It looks so dead."
"It's just like our relationship, Buffy. Dead."
"Angel, what are you trying to say? What ever it is, it doesn't make any sense. Just stop it!"
"I am dead, you fool. It was all your fault. But don't worry about me,
worry about your boyfriend Angelus. He's stuck in hell because of you. Look at him disappear right before your very eyes. Just like that day when you killed him."
And with that word Kendra went up in smoke.
"I'm sorry, Buffy. I. . .I didn't mean too. I love you. I will always love
you. . . .even if you kill me."
With that word, he then disappeared for good. And the chanting stopped.
"Hi, Anne. How's it going?" the girl asked.
Buffy responded wearily, "Oh, hey Steph. I'm doing fine, kinda tired
though. What about you?"
"Girl, I know the feeling. It's this town, it has a way of making you feel
little, and lost, and tired. God, I really need to get out of here! I gotta
go, Doris is giving me 'the look'. See ya."
"Bye." said Buffy, she did a half wave, sighed, and went and did her job. She couldn't stop thinking about what Steph said about this town. Buffy thought to herself, "She's right, you know."
"Wow, good guess. How did you know that?"
"Just a hunch. So who are you looking for?"
"Have you seen this girl? I think she might be here. In this town, god
knows why. Anyways, she ran away from home, and I'm trying to find her. She has a very important responsibility that she must look after. The sooner she comes home, the better. Her name is Buffy Summers, she's 17 years old, and she's from Sunnydale California. Have you seen her?"
"What do you want from me? Most importantly, how did you find me? What do
you mean 'whole life story'? How do you know me? God, this is, this is,
it's killing me. Ugh, I am so confused!"
'Yeah, hi, ummm,
I'm a demon from Hell, thanks to Angelus. Anyways i'm supposed to help you,
and
when I'm done my mission and helping you, the Council will forgive me and
then my soul can rest in eternal peace, and be with William the man I
love.'
Yeah, real smooth. Just tell Buffy that.
'Thanks to Angelus, I lived a live
of hell, and torment. That, thanks
to Angelus I lost my child, my fiance, my family, and my life. And then he
showed me his world, he taught me everything, and said that I was a
"natural". For two decades I killed without remorse, I hunted with the
Master, Darla, Luke, Angelus, Gina, Kinjaro, and Spike, and I loved it, and
so did they. Then came the worst day of my life, the day of the Dark
Phoenix.' Carpathia shook her head, and came out of her little world.
"How about with your name?" said Buffy sarcastically.
"Don't talk back to me, little girl. Now listen carefully, because I'm only
going to explain this one, that's all! Don't interupt me, and don't ask any
questions until I'm done. 'kay?"
"Okay." Buffy said timidly.
"My name is Carpathia, I'm here to help you I don't know how long I'm
supposed to help you
for, but I know it's going to be awhile." Buffy was very confused, she
coulnd't figure out if Carpathia was
a shrink or if she was hired by Giles or her Mother to find and help her.
She didn't know what to make of
this. She decided to have no more thoughts, and to listen to Carpathia and
her story.
"Thanks." Carpathia was shocked that Buffy didn't recognize the name. She
waited until Buffy
was going to say something else, or when Buffy realized who exactly
Carpathia was.
But she didn't so Carpathia went on with her story.
"Sure." She sat back down again, next to Buffy.
"Who is the Council?"
"The Council is made up of good demons, monsters, and Watcher's.
They look after everything in the Slayer Realm.
They're the ones who chose you to become the Slayer. They also chose
Mr. Rupert Giles to
become your Watcher, and they chose Kendra to be the Slayer when you died
for one minute. They realized that they made that mistake, and know their
kicking themselves in the ass everyday, for that
one. It's funny actually. They do a lot of stuff, they appoint and choose
the Slayer's and the Watcher's
and the good Demons. Are you following? Or should I explain it better?"
"No, I'm following you, a little unclear but that's okay. But why did they
send you, to help me? See, I'm unsure if you're a Demon, or whatever."
"Why?" asked Carpathia.
"Well, for one it's daylight out, and two you're wearing a cross. But on
the other hand, my Slayer sense is tingling and it's telling me that you're
a demon, or something kind of evil. And I'm pretty much confused
right now. So. . ."
"I am a Demon, a good one though. I've been clean for about 4 decades now.
I wasn't always "good", I used to be a real bad-ass. I was a vampire once,
but then I, well
it really wasn't my choice, it was decided for me, I evoked a real powerful
demon into me and this demon was unstoppable, real unpredictable. But
something went terribly wrong, and it never really worked, that's what
everyone thought. But I knew it worked because I felt very
different. I became crazy, and incredibly powerful. I escaped and I almost
killed anyone who tried to stop me, I killed an entire village, and then I
went into hiding. See, now one told me that when I get like that I should
stop because it drains my energy and I become very weak. About a two weeks
passed, and
I was still weak, I didn't know how to harness my powers for evil. I was
actually good, I became good, like I was before I turned into a
Vampire. I remembered all of the horrible things I had done, all of the
people I killed, I was experiencing remorse and sorrow. I became very
depressed, and I hid away from civilization for another 2 weeks. Then I
said to myself, 'Carpathia, pull your head out of your ass, and get a grip.
You now have this, thing inside of you, use it to do some good for a
change.' And I did.
I met another good demon, The Whistler, and he took me under his wing and
showed me how to become
good again, to do good things, and to be rewarded for them. He introduced
me to the Council, at first they didn't believe I was good, because I was
very infamous when I was a Vampire. Anyways, when they
found out I had the thing inside me, they wanted to kill me right
there on the spot. But then Whistler stopped them, and convinced them to
give me a try. They did, they asked me what I wanted the most, and I told
them
'I want the Vampire who did this to me to suffer, and to die."