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buffyfic-digest       Thursday, October 8 1998       Volume 02 : Number 347



In this issue:

       BUFFYFIC: "Flies to Honey" (05/?) sequel to "The Necromancer"
       BUFFYFIC: Chronicles (28/?)

See the end of the digest for information on (un)subscribing to the buffyfic
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Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 23:06:45 -0700
From: "J. Jericho Born" <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: "Flies to Honey" (05/?) sequel to "The Necromancer"

TITLE: "Flies to Honey" (Part 05/?)
AUTHOR: J. Jericho Born
E-MAIL: [e-mail]
FEEDBACK: Please let me know what you think of my fanfic with some feedback.
DISTRIBUTION: The author reserves rights on this story. Please do not
distribute without expressed permission.
RATING: PG-13  Contains violence.
SPOILERS: Spoilers to previous fanfic.
DESCRIPTION: The sequel to "The Necromancer". Abel is now unconcious, but
attracting vampires like flies to honey. Buffy is caught between protecting
her enemy and helping her friend Willow find her beloved Oz. Meanwhile, Willow
gets deeper into magic and the occult in order to find a way to restore Oz to
human form.
DISCLAIMER: The writer of this unauthorized fan fiction is not affiliated with
any of the parties involved in the making of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The
characters are the property of Joss Whedon and whomever else the lawyers may
deem fit, they are used without permission. Technically that is not legal, but
I'm not anticipating any law suits. This work, the plot line, and the
characters introduced that are not already featured on Buffy the Vampire
Slayer are the work of Joshua Jericho Born, Copyright 1998.

==============

Scene 4

None of Willow's exploits into the dark arts had been as black as her current
interest. Necromancy, the study of death itself, was a lost and forbidden
calling even among those who outcasted themselves from society by practicing
witchcraft. In order to find out how to undo what Abel did to her lost love,
however, she must first find out exactly what was done. Therefore into the
darkness she went.

Determined, Willow tred into the underground lair, reassuring herself that her
endeavor would not go unrewarded. The air was heavy with the stench of
decaying corpses, obtrusively foul and nauseating. The bodies that lay there
were once reborn as zombies, ready to toil tirelessly, but when their master
fell their puppet life was lost and they returned to their worm feeding and
maggot breeding state.

Stepping over the odd corpse, Willow made her way to an all too familiar room.
She looked over where she remembered being strapped down to a table, about to
be subject to God knows what before Buffy saved her. The spot where their
enemy had his last concious thought looked conspiciously plain, devoid of
signifigance. She walked over to an open book. Presumably these were the
directions that Abel followed in order to be able to feel. Written in an
archaic, cryptic language, Willow had no use for it.

The potions and such in the far corner of the room caught Willow's attention.
She remembered Abel mixing something together, arrogantly as he was, and it
being needed to turn Oz into a werewolf. Hopeful, Willow herded a couple
marked bottles into her backpack. Perhaps she could use these to change Oz
back.

This room exhausted it's helpful potential and Willow made her way out. She
continued down the halls, remembering her way so she could backtrack, until
she came upon a room that caught her eye. The desk in the center of the room
was covered by a sea of books and documents while an equally impressive cache
of materials lay neatly tucked away on a bookshelf. Willow entered, shifting
her eyes side to side.

To her delight, Willow realized that although the manuscripts were in an
unknown language most of Abel's notes were in English. The scribblings ranged
from humorous to disturbing.

"Typical Maldini, always trying to do things the hard way. He'd write a fifty
page step by step description of the technique one can use to locate one's own
ass. Much like one's own ass, Kragen Demons are easier to feel for than to
search for like he prescribes," one note read.

Another note made Willow feel uneasy. Abel had written, "A werewolf! How
exciting! It will be good for me to handle one in my research. Also, the girl
with the amber hewn hair that's with him will suffice for my less studious
interests. I can grab them both while their together and kill two birds with
one stone."

Frustrated, Willow was not making any progress. She was leaving when she
noticed a few roughly written lines on a small scrap of paper.

It read, "From all I can discern, the same procedure outlined in Bhadoven's
Anamoulous Beastiary for 'curing' a werewolf can be used to make a periodic
werewolf more permanent. A few commom reagents mixed in equal portions, spread
on the subject, and ignited with a focused blast of hellfire should do the
trick. I'm rather dissatisfied, it's like playing with a child's toys."

Rejoice, that was it. Willow enthusiastically shoved the scrap paper into her
pocket. Then a thought hit her, who was she going to get to summon a blast of
hellfire? She slumped her shoulders back down, disappointed to say the least.
After a few moments thought, she perked back up. It was resolved then, she'd
just have to learn the whole hellfire thing herself.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 00:42:05 -0700
From: [e-mail] (C. Catherine)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Chronicles (28/?)

TITLE: Chronicles of the White Knight #28 Voices
AUTHOR: Taygeta
E-MAIL: [e-mail]
FEEDBACK:  Very muchly wanted (bad or good...whatever the complaint)
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just tell me first.
RATING: PG
KEYWORDS: Buffy/Xander fanfic
DISCLAIMER:  The characters portrayed in this fanfic and any such
reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series belong to their
creator, Joss Whedon, and their owners, Mutant Enemy productions, Kuzui
Productions, Sanddollar Productions, and 20th Century Fox. In other
words, they do not belong to me.  Copyright infringement not intended.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chronicles of the White Knight
#28 Voices
By: Taygeta

BlipàBlipàBlipàthe sound of the heart monitor echoed, breaking the
would-be silence of the room.  Xander lay in the hospital bed, bruised
and bandaged, but alive.  Yet, the sight of his unanimated features due
to heavy sedation tugged at Buffy's heart as she sat looking at him in a
chair a few feet away.  With a sigh, she stood up and carefully sat on
the edge of the hospital bed, entwining the fingers of her left hand in
his right and began in a whisper, "Xanderàif I could onlyà"

"Buffyàyou okay?"  Willow inquired as she walked in the room carefully.

The slayer, surprised, quickly removed her hand from his, although not
quick enough, and said, "Yeah, I'm okay, but that's more than I can say
for Xander."

Willow smiled softly as she walked towards his still form and tentatively
kissed his forehead, "He'll be okayàhe's Xander, nothing wounds him too
long.  He'll pull through, eventually."

"But when's the eventual, Will?" she asked, "Todayàtomorrowàthe doctor
says he's going to make it, but how?  How?!  He can barely walkàthat son
of a - I can't believe Angel - " Buffy stammered in frustration, "Godàwhy
is it that when things seem bad enough as it is, everything just becomes
even worse?"

"BuffyàBuffyà" hushed Willow as she took her friend into her arms, "Calm
downàhe's going to be okayàhe's going to be okay!"

"How can you be so sure?" she responded pulling away from her friend's
grasp, "How do you know?"

The redhead sighed as she fiddled with the buttons of her brown sweater
before meeting her friend's passionate expression, "I don't know, but I
can't imagine it any other way.  He's going to make it and walk or no
walk, we're his friends and we're going to help him no matter the cost."

"But, I'm not his friendàI - I'm just his ex-girlfriend that he can't
even bare to look at," she replied as she grabbed her bag and reached for
the door knob.

"That's not true!  Buffy, Xander loves you àyou know that!"  Willow
insisted as she grabbed the wrist the held the knob, "he told you so."

"He was obviously delusional.  He used toàthat I know for sure, but he
hates me nowàhates me for what I did to him!  I hurt him and I never
wanted to do that to himàever.  You can't take away pain, Willàyou can
forgive it and you can say you forget it, but it's there and it never
goes away."

Having heard that, Willow backed away and asked as she folded her arms to
her chest, "Where are you going?"

Buffy looked at her friend as she opened the door, "The sun's coming down
soon and I've let it come down too many times.  I'm going to end it now,
that's where I'm going, The End.  And I'm going to make damn sure that
it's not mine, but ifà"  She glanced at Xander for a second, and
continued, "But if something does happen, tell him I love himàtell him
something that tells him I care."

"You're not ready!" she tried to insist holding back the door.

"No, I've been ready," Buffy said shaking her head and meeting her eyes,
"I've just been stalling and looked what happened because of that.  Angel
dies tonight."

The door closed behind her and Willow stood looking at its gray paint for
awhile, unsure of what to say or where to go, but finally, she whispered,
"Good luck."

Turning to Xander, she pulled the chair against the wall closer to the
bed, and clasped his right hand.  It was virtually bandaged free, saved
for the finger splint that was miniscule in comparison to his bandaged
head, swollen eyes and cheeks, broken left arm, and the cast encumbering
his barely mobile right leg.

"It's strange seeing you like thisàI mean, you always broke bones when we
were kids, but never this bad.  The worst it ever came before was when
Frankie Hertz beat you up when we were 7 and you had to get cast on your
arm and a finger splint for your pinkie.  And I thought you looked
terrible thenàno offense or anything.  Xanderàthings use to be so much
easier back thenàwe didn't have to worry about a vampire reeking his
revenge on humanity, heckàwe didn't even have to worry about the standing
question of the opposite sex.

"Where have the days gone and why - of all people - did they lead you to
this?  Is it destiny?  Fate?  The course of the stars?"  She glanced at
his right hand that she held and recalled how he had told her once that
he was contemplating on becoming a writer and although the idea seemed
abstract at the time, it didn't seem that strange now.  "Maybe it is
destinyàmaybe you'll one day write a book about all of this.  Obviously,
you're gonna have to change the locale and the names of the characters or
Cordelia's probably gonna start thinking that she's the main character -
maybe that's why nothing happened to this hand or maybeàmaybe it's sheer
luck?  Whatever it is, I'll be there for youàI'll always be there for you
like you've been there for me and she'll be there too.  You know who I
meanàno matter what she does or says, or more really, everything she does
or says, tells me that she still loves you.  I just hope that you haven't
the slightest doubt about that."

"UmàWillow?"  Giles interrupted as he prudently entreated on their
privacy, "H -how is he?"

"Hey, Giles," she responded softly, "h - he's doing okay, I mean, he's
still under some pretty good dosage of medicine cause ofày'know the pain
and recovery and stuff, but other than that, he's okay and before you
know it, he's probably going to make another joke about tweed."

The Watcher chuckled softly, "Well, we can't do without that, now, can
we?"

"I'm gonna go and call my parentsàthey've been pretty worried about
Xander ever since Buffy called me to come here.  They're probably going
to want to know what's going on - or wellàwhat I can tell them happened,"
Willow said as she walked towards the door and she paused, "You do know
where Buffy went to do, don't you?"

He swallowed apprehensively and nodded, "YesàI know what Buffy is going
to *attempt* to accomplish."

"Then you don't think she's going to - "

"What I think, Willow, is that Buffy will do what she has to do, when she
has to do it, and whether it occurs now or later is up to Angelus.  She
will find him when he wants to be found."

"Oh," she replied and turned the knob.

"Why not use the phone in here?" he inquired as he wiped his glasses with
a handkerchief from his pocket.

She glanced at the phone and then at him with a smile, "It's okayàI can
use the one outside."

Rupert Giles sighed as he took in the still figure of one of his
"Slayerettes," and sat in the chair last occupied by Willow.  The room
was a dreary as any hospital room could be and last he recalled occupying
such a building was when Buffy had fallen illàand prayed to God that such
past incidences would not occur this latest duration spent here.  Still,
God only knew what havoc and destruction lay elsewhere, particularly
pertaining to a certain slayer and her vampirical adversary.

"Well, Xanderàit seems that wishes don't really come true as one would
like and life's 'wicked hexes' are not soon to fade, but rather soon to
grow and engulf the cursed, but I suppose we can't say we didn't - we
didn't try.  Although, I never thought all of our trying would amount to
this and as annoyed as I seem to be at you at times, Xander, I wish this
on no one, especially not on yourself.  I probably wouldn't tell you this
if you were conscious, but you're growing upàfor the better - despite the
abnormalities we're faced against - you all are.  And I hope that - that
within this spectrum of time, I've at least taught you something
meaningful."

"Don't worry, Gilesàyou've taught us a lot," Cordelia said from behind
him, "More than we'll ever let you know, but you've taught us a lot."

"That's very kind of you to say, thank you," he said standing up, "Now,
if you'd excuse me, Cordelia, I'm going to get some tea."

"The sorry -excuse for a cafeteria doesn't have tea, but you could take
their mock off of French Vanillaàit's great compared to their wannabe
HazelNut stuff," she quipped.  "You'd think with all the dead that come
through here, they'd have enough money for some of the good stuff.
Y'know Taster's Choice."

"Umàt - thank you," he muttered as he closed the door behind him
wondering if  he should have taught them the wonders of a good cup of
tea, or at least, the brand names of good coffee.  He continued under his
breath as he walked to the cafeteria, "Taster's Choice, indeedà"

The stylish brunette eyed her former boyfriend carefully as she stood
beside the bed and responded bluntly, "What can I tell you, Xander?  You
look terrible, and I à"  She paused and exhaled, "I want you to get
better - you have to get better - 'causeàwell àI miss you.  I know we did
the whole 'we're friends again' thing, but I want to hang with you,
insult youà like old times, except without all the uhày'know trips to the
closet.  Although I'm sure Buffy's gonna stake out the vicinity to make
sure there isn't a closet within a hundred-foot radius."

She laughed nervously at her own joke, "Seriously, though, about Buffy, I
meant what I said before about how I saw a certain permanence to you
guys.  I really did see that, and I really hate to admit it, but I was
always jealous because I knew that from the start.  Not really, but
sub-consciously.  No matter what I did and no matter what was going, she
was your number one priority.  I could only be so lucky to find a guy
that thought of me before anyone else and I'm glad she found you Xander,
'cause you're a great guyàwhen you're not making with the tried funny."

"UhàCordelia?"  Oz said carefully as he walked into the room, "You're
purse is ringing."

Her eyes widened, "Ohàohàit's probably my parent's wondering where I am
so lateàum, thanks."

"You'reà" he began, but she flew out the door before he could finish
lamely, "àwelcome, yeah."

He was about to follow her exit, but he turned to look at Xander.  He let
go of the doorknob and walked towards the hospital bed, sitting down on
the chair that had been moved by Willow.

"Look, I know you have this quasi-antagonism concept with me, and
perfectly understandable seeing as that Willow has been your bestest bud
since forever, and obviously you kind of see me as the guy that's taking
up a lot of her time.  I know you don't think too much of me, and I
pretty much don't know you enough to think much of you, but I do know
that Will cares about you.  I don't like seeing that expression that's
been permanent on her face for this entire time.  When she saw you coming
out of surgery, I couldn't take that look away from her eyes, but you
can.  All you gotta do is come out of this all right.  I'm not asking for
me, Xander, far from, but I am asking for her, for your best friend."

Oz paused and was about to walk out, but he turned to glance at him, "Not
that you can hear me any better now or anything, butàuhàBuffy needs you
too and I know you need her.  Couldn't do without the other, you know?
Like I said, the last time we actually had a decent conversation, I know
the feeling."  He shook his head and chuckled softly, feeling strange
talking to a sedated Xander, but he had to admit, as he walked out of the
room, at least it enabled him to get a word in edgewise.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy walked into the white hospital building and she couldn't believe
that after all those hours she was coming back to where she had left.  It
was late and visiting hours had come and gone, but as she came to
Xander's hospital room door she thought, <hey, that's never stopped me
before, so why should it stop me now?>

Gently opening and closing the door, she looked around the room and found
a single bright lamp glowing beside the bed, providing the only light for
the curtain-drawn room.  Placing her Slayer Utility Bag down on the
floor, she sat at the edge of the bed once more and entwined her fingers
in that of his right.

"Xander," she began as she pushed a wisp of her blonde hair out of her
eyes with her free hand.  "Last night, was the first time, in a long
time, that I was truly afraid.  I wasn't afraid of him and I wasn't
afraid of the future that he represented for me.  What I was afraid of,
what plagued me the entire time I knew you were on that operating table,
was that whatever my future was going to be, you weren't going to be in
it.  I need you, Xander, I need you to be apart of my life again.  I - I
love you."

Bring!  Bring!

The phone beside the bed shrilled and Buffy instantaneously grabbed it
before it could ring any further.  It was nearly 3 and she wondered who
could possibly be calling at this ungodly hour.

"Hello?"

"It's timeà"


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