F A N F I C T I O N > B U F F Y V E R S E
Something Good by Amberina
My everything aches. My head, my back, my brain. And Giles is dying, and I want to tell him how I feel, but it's not the time, so I keep my mouth shut. Some people think that I'm not capable of doing so, but I am. I just usually don't see the point. But now I do.
Giles is dying, and I love him. But it is not the time to burden him with how I feel, so I just sit beside him, silently hoping that he'll make it through. I wish I could use my powers to grant my own wishes, because if I could, I would eviscerate Willow for this. She hurt Giles, and I wish I could make her hurt, but I can't. So I sit here and I wait for him to die. I know he will. A tear slips down my cheek and falls on him, but he doesn't notice. He's to weak to take notice of anything.
Suddenly his eyes open, and he whispers, it's hardly audible, but I catch it. He whispers, "There."
I'm not sure what that means, so I ask, "What?"
There are tremors not unlike an earthquake, they've been going on for awhile, and Willow is responsible. She's trying to end the world, and everything in it, and I know she will succeed. So I sit here beside Giles, and I wait for him to die, and I wait to die myself. Big dying thing, going on, and I don't like it. I want to cry, and I don't like that either. I normally don't cry, I usually get angry, and I am angry, but I can't do anything about it, so I just want to cry.
"Giles? Giles, don't die, not yet. I . . . there are . . . I need to tell you." And finally I am crying, and the tears flow freely. "Thanks for coming. I mean, it was nice of you to teleport all this way - "
And then there is another tremor and after it is over, I continue. "Though, in retrospect, it might have been better if you hadn't come and given her all that magick that made her like ten times more powerful. That would have been a plus."
Giles reaches up, and he touches my hand with his, and the look in his eyes . . . what is that? He's not . . . But he is, I realize. He's looking at me like I look at him, with affection, with love. "It's not over."
I am so happy. I am so happy that I don't know how to describe it. All I can say is, "Giles? You're not dead."
"No," he says and I want to hug him. So I do, and he grunts in pain. "However, I am still in some pain."
I release him, and feel stupid for hugging him, but I know I couldn't have stopped myself if I tried. "Why aren't you dead?" I ask. "Why aren't I dead?"
"The threat's gone," he informs me. "Willow's been stopped."
The implications of this wash over me, and I say solemnly, "You mean she's . . . ?"
"She's alive. The magick she took from me, it did what I hoped it would."
She's alive. That's good, right? I can't help but feel a little disappointed. But I am so proud of Giles, of what he did. He truly is an amazing man. "You dosed her," I say with wonder. "You knew she was going to take your powers all along!"
"Well, I knew there was a possibility. The gift I was given by the coven was the true essence of Magick. Which comes, in all it's purity, from the earth itself. Willow's magick came from a place of rage and power."
"Oh, and the vengeance. Don't forget the vengeance."
Giles smiles softly, and I cannot tell you how happy I am to see that. "How could I?" At the moment I wanted to blurt out how I felt about him, but he continued speaking, so I keep quiet. "In any case, the magick she took from me tapped into the spark of humanity she had left. Allowed her to feel again, giving Xander the opportunity to reach her."
Okay, I didn't see that one coming. "Xander?"
"Yes, it was he that got to her in time." He looks at me, and he's smiling, and I want to kiss him, but I resist the urge. "He saved us all."
I help him stand up, and we make our way out of our shop, through the rubble and he's leaning on my shoulder and he's so close to me . . . He's so close, and it feels so good, it feels so right. "Where do you want to go?" I ask him.
He thinks and stops for a moment to catch his breath and says, finally, "A hotel room would be the best option, at this point."
I silently agree and then wonder how we're going to get anywhere. The streets are littered with the destruction Willow caused, and all of the cars are ruined.
"Oh, my," he says, taking stock of his surroundings. "This . . . We have to walk."
"You can't!" I protest, and he limps up to a bench and sits down on it.
"You're right," he says softly, and I am surprised by the words. No one ever says I am right.
He lifts his face up to the sun, and his features are illuminated by the harsh light. He looks great, even with the bloody gash on his forehead, and all the bruises. He looks so Giles-like, and so dashing, and he was so brave, and so sexy, and I do what I've wanted to do for a while. I lean in and kiss him.
I pull back and wait for his reaction, expecting it to be surprise, of course, and I expect him to tell me that it would never work between us, and that he doesn't feel like that towards me, but he doesn't do any of that. Instead, he opens his eyes and looks at me, his eyes full of emotion, and he pulls my face back to meet his in a passionate kiss that seems to go on and on. Finally we break apart to breathe, and we sit there silently.
He takes my hand in his and leans back to feel the sun on his face some more, and I do the same. We sit there, fingers intertwined, both reveling in the second chance to breathe, to love.
"Giles?" I say softly, not opening my eyes.
"Shh, Anya. Everything is going to be all right."
I smile and I know that he's right. Everything is going to be all right. For once, everything is going to turn out how it should, because how could it not? After all that has happened in the last few weeks, we all need something good, and I've found my something good. I've found Giles.