Threads: Insomnia (Part 9)
Nov. 14th, 2010 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akainagiThreads: Insomnia (Part 9)
Author: AkaiNagi
Rating: R for language
Genre: X-over with Stephen King’s Insomnia. AU: does not adhere to season three cannon i.e. Faith, Angel’s return, etc.
Summary: Buffy returns from Phoenix carrying a curse, one she must face alone. But when she disappears again, will anyone, even her Watcher, keep faith in her?
On Wednesday night, when Buffy never came to the Library, Giles was mildly alarmed.
When he called Buffy’s mother only to find that she had dropped her daughter off in front of the school hours ago, he (and Joyce too, for that matter) became quite seriously alarmed.
After he called the Scoobies, and none of them had heard from or seen Buffy since school that day, he was bordering on frantic.
And when she didn’t arrive for school the next morning, he was positively beside himself, not that anyone would guess behind his carefully schooled façade.
All Wednesday night had been spent researching the few clues Buffy had left him with over the phone: a four foot tall bald demon with pointy teeth who liked to play with scalpels. All night researching had left him with few contenders, and none who fit the description exactly.
He had managed to convince Joyce to claim illness on Buffy’s part to Principal Snyder, who personally made the phone call to question his least-favorite student’s absence. It had been a close call getting Buffy back into Sunnydale High to begin with after her summer sojourn. He didn’t want to give Herr Snyder any excuses.
He drafted the Scoobies to help him research. Thursday after school they all gathered in the library and helped Giles pour through demonology texts, looking for anything that matched Buffy’s sketchy description.
Xander was in a foul mood, and after listening to him grumble under his breath for the fourth time, Giles lost his already strained patience and asked him to spit it out.
“Am I the only one who’s facing reality here? Buffy acting all weird and then disappearing on us? Sound familiar? Don’t tell me you haven’t all thought about it? She’s up and gone on walkabout again and stuck us with the Hellmouth.”
“Xander!” Giles barked, probably louder than he should have, but at that point he was running on adrenaline and desperation. When the whole table resounded with silence, something in Giles snapped. Well,” he asked angrily, “Is that what you all think?”
“No!” Willow protested. “I mean, I know she’s been stressed out lately, and I know she’s been acting weird, and maybe she’s been hallucinating a little … and I’m not making a very good case, am I?”
“You might just want to stop while you’re ahead, hon,” Oz told her.
So Giles took a deep breath, reigned in his temper, thanked them for their assistance, and dismissed them for the evening. And when Willow came to him, her expression watery, and offered to stay and help him, he smiled at the dear girl and politely declined.
Buffy was his Slayer. It would take more than one day’s absence to shake his faith in her. But that left the other terrible possibility: that she had fallen prey to this new brand of demon.
And so he was left in the position he had hoped never to be in again. This was his fault. Had he bonded with her like he had promised himself he would after that interminably long summer, he would know where she was right now. As it was, he was again a clueless Watcher with a missing Slayer; unaware whether his charge was alive or dead, captive or walking free.
*~*~*~*
[I told you, shorts. I’ll fuck your friends over.]
With a cry of dismay, Buffy dropped the phone like it was on fire. Jack, who had retreated to the kitchen to make some coffee, came running.
“What?” He saw the look of horror on the girl’s face. “What happened?”
“Atropos,” she replied, her voice dead. “He’s still in Sunnydale. And he’s after my Watcher.”
She stood immobilized by shock for a second, then without warning took off out the door of Jack’s apartment, leaving Jack racing to catch up.
“What the hell’s a Watcher?” he yelled after her.
He followed her up the steps, but when he reached the roof, she was nowhere to be found. Then it dawned on him what she must be doing. He rose through the layers of existence. Auras flared to life around him, and there was Buffy, standing in the middle of the roof, screaming at the top of her lungs.
[“Clotho! Lachesis! Get your asses out here!”]
Jack tried to calm her down, but she had clearly long passed to point of placation.
[”Clotho! Lachesis! You want me to do your dirty work then you better get up here now”]
The two long-timers appeared instantly, their greenish aura’s flaring to life, and their faces filled with fear.
[Buffy, you must not spend any longer up here. There is no time-]
Buffy charged up to the two of them with a fury that caught them both off guard.
[”Listen you two. You want my help with your little hospital problem, that’s fine. But you will take me to Sunnydale now.”]
The pair’s expressions morphed from fear to panic.
[That is impossible, Buffy. You haven’t the time.]
Buffy grabbed the front of Clotho’s pristine white smock, her face within inches of the long-timer’s
[”It was you two who brought Atropos into my life, it’s your fault he’s threatening my friends. Now if he so much harms a hair on my Watcher’s head, you can kiss my help with your little Crimson King problem goodbye. He can blow the place to kingdom come for all I care. So take me to Sunnydale NOW.”]
Clotho and Lachesis looked at each other and, after a moment’s conference, nodded, their expressions grim.
Jack hurried to be included in the circle as the trio joined hands. Buffy looked at him.
[”This Watcher person is that important to you?”]
She joined her hand with his, completing the circle. Her gaze was steel.
[”The most important.”]
He grinned, trying hard not to be impressed by the girl’s moxie and failing completely. He squeezed her hand as the scenery of L.A. melted away around them.
[”Then what are we waiting for?”]
Author: AkaiNagi
Rating: R for language
Genre: X-over with Stephen King’s Insomnia. AU: does not adhere to season three cannon i.e. Faith, Angel’s return, etc.
Summary: Buffy returns from Phoenix carrying a curse, one she must face alone. But when she disappears again, will anyone, even her Watcher, keep faith in her?
On Wednesday night, when Buffy never came to the Library, Giles was mildly alarmed.
When he called Buffy’s mother only to find that she had dropped her daughter off in front of the school hours ago, he (and Joyce too, for that matter) became quite seriously alarmed.
After he called the Scoobies, and none of them had heard from or seen Buffy since school that day, he was bordering on frantic.
And when she didn’t arrive for school the next morning, he was positively beside himself, not that anyone would guess behind his carefully schooled façade.
All Wednesday night had been spent researching the few clues Buffy had left him with over the phone: a four foot tall bald demon with pointy teeth who liked to play with scalpels. All night researching had left him with few contenders, and none who fit the description exactly.
He had managed to convince Joyce to claim illness on Buffy’s part to Principal Snyder, who personally made the phone call to question his least-favorite student’s absence. It had been a close call getting Buffy back into Sunnydale High to begin with after her summer sojourn. He didn’t want to give Herr Snyder any excuses.
He drafted the Scoobies to help him research. Thursday after school they all gathered in the library and helped Giles pour through demonology texts, looking for anything that matched Buffy’s sketchy description.
Xander was in a foul mood, and after listening to him grumble under his breath for the fourth time, Giles lost his already strained patience and asked him to spit it out.
“Am I the only one who’s facing reality here? Buffy acting all weird and then disappearing on us? Sound familiar? Don’t tell me you haven’t all thought about it? She’s up and gone on walkabout again and stuck us with the Hellmouth.”
“Xander!” Giles barked, probably louder than he should have, but at that point he was running on adrenaline and desperation. When the whole table resounded with silence, something in Giles snapped. Well,” he asked angrily, “Is that what you all think?”
“No!” Willow protested. “I mean, I know she’s been stressed out lately, and I know she’s been acting weird, and maybe she’s been hallucinating a little … and I’m not making a very good case, am I?”
“You might just want to stop while you’re ahead, hon,” Oz told her.
So Giles took a deep breath, reigned in his temper, thanked them for their assistance, and dismissed them for the evening. And when Willow came to him, her expression watery, and offered to stay and help him, he smiled at the dear girl and politely declined.
Buffy was his Slayer. It would take more than one day’s absence to shake his faith in her. But that left the other terrible possibility: that she had fallen prey to this new brand of demon.
And so he was left in the position he had hoped never to be in again. This was his fault. Had he bonded with her like he had promised himself he would after that interminably long summer, he would know where she was right now. As it was, he was again a clueless Watcher with a missing Slayer; unaware whether his charge was alive or dead, captive or walking free.
*~*~*~*
[I told you, shorts. I’ll fuck your friends over.]
With a cry of dismay, Buffy dropped the phone like it was on fire. Jack, who had retreated to the kitchen to make some coffee, came running.
“What?” He saw the look of horror on the girl’s face. “What happened?”
“Atropos,” she replied, her voice dead. “He’s still in Sunnydale. And he’s after my Watcher.”
She stood immobilized by shock for a second, then without warning took off out the door of Jack’s apartment, leaving Jack racing to catch up.
“What the hell’s a Watcher?” he yelled after her.
He followed her up the steps, but when he reached the roof, she was nowhere to be found. Then it dawned on him what she must be doing. He rose through the layers of existence. Auras flared to life around him, and there was Buffy, standing in the middle of the roof, screaming at the top of her lungs.
[“Clotho! Lachesis! Get your asses out here!”]
Jack tried to calm her down, but she had clearly long passed to point of placation.
[”Clotho! Lachesis! You want me to do your dirty work then you better get up here now”]
The two long-timers appeared instantly, their greenish aura’s flaring to life, and their faces filled with fear.
[Buffy, you must not spend any longer up here. There is no time-]
Buffy charged up to the two of them with a fury that caught them both off guard.
[”Listen you two. You want my help with your little hospital problem, that’s fine. But you will take me to Sunnydale now.”]
The pair’s expressions morphed from fear to panic.
[That is impossible, Buffy. You haven’t the time.]
Buffy grabbed the front of Clotho’s pristine white smock, her face within inches of the long-timer’s
[”It was you two who brought Atropos into my life, it’s your fault he’s threatening my friends. Now if he so much harms a hair on my Watcher’s head, you can kiss my help with your little Crimson King problem goodbye. He can blow the place to kingdom come for all I care. So take me to Sunnydale NOW.”]
Clotho and Lachesis looked at each other and, after a moment’s conference, nodded, their expressions grim.
Jack hurried to be included in the circle as the trio joined hands. Buffy looked at him.
[”This Watcher person is that important to you?”]
She joined her hand with his, completing the circle. Her gaze was steel.
[”The most important.”]
He grinned, trying hard not to be impressed by the girl’s moxie and failing completely. He squeezed her hand as the scenery of L.A. melted away around them.
[”Then what are we waiting for?”]
