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Date Posted: 08:26:17 12/23/03 Tue
Author: Kuzibah
Author Host/IP: 12.175.117.195
Subject: New Holiday Fanfic (part 6)

Christmas Cards 2003
by Kuzibah

If these are new to you, and you’d like to read previous years’ stories, they can be found at my website: The Muse’s Oubliette.

Disclaimer: Characters and situations particular to the TV shows “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Evil Fox, and various other entities. No copyright infringement is intended or implied. Happy Holidays, you bloodsucking lawyers.

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

Robin and Faith: Scary Ghost Stories, and Tales of the Glories

The London night was bitterly cold, the city’s famous fog seeming to turn into ice as Faith and Robin breathed it into their mouths. Still, it was Christmas Eve, and the streets were still busy as shoppers picked up their last-minute gifts and items for Christmas dinner. Faith noticed, though, that small crowds formed around the hot chestnut sellers, and in the doorways of shops.

Robin led her down a quieter residential street, narrow and lined with old Victorian apartment buildings. They climbed the marble steps of one, slowly and with one hand on the rail to keep from sliding on the ice-slicked stone.

They stepped into the dim and somewhat Spartan lobby, and Robin led Faith up three flights and down the hall to one of the flats. He knocked, and a voice called, “who is it?”

“It’s Robin!”

“Come in!” came an excited voice.

Robin turned to Faith with a smile and led her inside. The flat was small, but cozy, with overstuffed furniture and walls lined with books. Near the window an elderly man sat in a rocker, a cane leaning on one knee. As they entered, he adjusted his thick glasses to see them better and broke into a delighted grin.

“Robin, my boy! Come in, come in. Let me see you better!”

Robin went down on one knee before the old man’s chair, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. “Stewart,” he said. “It’s so good to see you.” He stood again and drew Faith forward. “I have someone I want you to meet,” he said. “This is Faith.”

Faith extended one hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” she said.

Stewart took her hand and with surprising strength pulled her closer. “Please call me Stewart, my dear,” he said.

“Stewart was my mother’s watcher,” Robin said quietly.

“Robin was like a son to me,” Stewart said, a tear coming into his voice. “I’m so proud of what he’s done since his mother’s passing.” He wiped his eyes with his fingers. “But please, sit down. Would you like tea? I have a pot on the stove.”

Robin helped Faith into a low chair and moved towards the kitchen. “I’ll get it,” he said.

“So, Robin has told you about me, and his mother?” Stewart asked.

“Yeah, but it’s okay,” Faith said. “I’m a Slayer myself.”

Light dawned. “Of course,” Stewart said. “Yes. Faith. The second Slayer.” He chuckled warmly. “Not quite such a distinction now, from what I understand,” he said, “but I’ve only heard dribbles and drabs. You were both there. You must give me the whole story. I’m told it was quite the adventure.”

Faith smiled and leaned back to begin. “Well, it started for me when my ex-Watcher came to break me out of jail…”

- - - - -

Two hours later, they had given the retired Watcher as much of the story as they could, and he was once again dabbing tears from his cheeks. “I’m so proud of all of you,” he said. “And I’m so grateful I lived to see this day. With so many Slayers, we’ll be able to save so many more lives. Perhaps I’ll live to see the day all vampires are banished from this plane forever.”

“We can only hope,” Robin said.

Faith pointedly cleared her throat.

“With the exception of souled ones who helped save the world,” Robin amended.

“Damn straight,” Faith said.

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

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Replies:

[> Re: New Holiday Fanfic (part 7) -- Kuzibah, 08:28:26 12/23/03 Tue (12.175.117.195)

Willow: Make the Season Bright

Notes: This is based partly on the imaginary history I wrote for Oz, post-Sunnydale. The stories (in order) are:Boy on a String,In Days Beyond Recall,Strength, and Shadow Gypsies.
In short, Oz is performing with a traveling Circus in Europe, and is romantically involved with a Greek tumbler named Bema.

- - - - -

Willow awoke at the Hotel Principe in Venice to a room filled with golden sunlight and the sensation of her girlfriend, Kennedy, drawing one strand of her hair over and over between her fingers. “Finally awake,” Kennedy said.

Willow stretched with a contented purr. “Yes,” she said, reaching up and drawing her lover into a deep kiss. “Mmm, I can’t believe we’re in Venice.”

“You deserve it,” Kennedy said. “You’ve been working your sexy ass off trying to get those Slayers rounded up, trained, and organized. I mean, you’ve spent the last six months traveling to some of the most exciting cities in the world, and all you’ve seen are train stations, hotel rooms, and people’s living rooms. It’s time you had some fun.”

A mischievous smile twitched at Willow’s lips. “When you’re right, you’re right,” she said, kissing Kennedy again. “So what are we doing today?”

Kennedy ran one hand down Willow’s stomach. “This is nice,” she said. “But after we’ve done some of this, I though we could just wander and sightsee. No destination, just go where the day takes us.”

“Sounds good to me.”

- - - - -

“Tell me again.”

“Kalimera,” Bema said, looking down at the blue-haired werewolf lying in her lap.

“Kalimera,” Oz repeated.

“Close enough,” Bema said. “Now good evening. Kalispera.”

“Kalispera,” Oz said.

Bema nodded. “Good. Now try this. S'agapo.”

Oz gave a contented smile. “S’agapo,” he said. “S’agapo. Je t'aime. Te amo. Ich liebe Dich. Te iu besc. I love you. I love you. I love you.”

“S’agapo,” Bema said, leaning down to kiss him. “S’agapo. I love you.” They embraced for along time, happy just to lie in one another’s arms, but at last they rose. The show must go on, and they needed an audience.

Circus Internationale’s general manager, Lewis Carling III, had requested that groups of performers go into the city to distribute flyers for the upcoming performances the week between Christmas and New Year’s; this was the usual way it was done, but this year Carling had gotten them all masks to seem more Venetian to the tourists filling the city. Bema, her brother Niklos, Niklos’s “husband” Eligio, their juggler friend Nox, and all of the other performers on flyer duty had been practicing their various acts while wearing the heavy papier-mâché masks. Bema and Oz had both gotten animal masks so they rather matched, Bema’s a fox, Oz’s a wolf, of course.

They dressed in satin and spangled clothes, and pulled the masks over their faces, laughing and touching noses. Oz examined himself in the mirror critically. “I should have dyed my hair dark gray,” he said, “to match the mask.”

Bema laughed. “Next time,” she said. “Today you are a blue wolf.”

They stepped out of Bema’s caravan, and waved to Eligio and Niklos and Nox, now making their way across the field.

- - - - -

Willow and Kennedy consulted their map yet again, helplessly and happily lost. They had no idea where they were and knew they’d have to pay a small fortune to get a water taxi to take them back to their hotel, but they had discovered spectacular palazzos, elegant canals, and amazing beauty around each corner. They had lunched at a perfect little café on coffee and biscotti, and now were crossing each bridge they came to, zig-zagging randomly through the city.

Willow was just about to suggest stopping for a gelato somewhere when they heard a commotion not far away. There was laughter and applause, and energetic guitar music. “Come on,” Kennedy said, taking Willow’s hand.

They reached the edge of the crowd in time to see a young man in a jeweled half-mask breathe fire into the air, and another masked boy and girl performing acrobatic stunts. The applause grew to a crescendo, and a voice made an announcement in Italian.

“What did he say?” Willow asked.

“Something about a circus,” Kennedy said.

“A circus?! Oh, Kennedy, let’s go.”

Kennedy grinned at Willow’s enthusiasm. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s just get the information.”

They pushed through the dispersing crowd to see the performers distributing multi-colored flyers. “I’ll get one,” Willow said, and she touched the musician on his shoulder. He turned to her and seemed to freeze. Willow smiled at him, thinking this was part of the performance, but the moment stretched out, and she felt a strange dread come over her.

Kennedy came up beside her. “Did you get it?” she said, and Willow reached out to take her hand. Kennedy glared at the wolf-masked boy. “What’s going on?” she said.

The girl tumbler, wearing a fox-mask, joined her fellow performer. “Oz?” she said. “Who is this woman?”

- - - - -

Bema sat beside the American girl, Kennedy, watching through the steamed-up window of the bakery café as Oz and Willow, his lost first love, got “caught up.” She was so miserable she was afraid she would burst into childish tears in front of this perfect stranger.

She was only slightly consoled by the look on the other girl’s face. Apparently, she had never heard of Oz.

Bema wasn’t sure who had it worse.

- - - - -

Willow and Oz had each told the other, in short, unadorned sentences, how they had both gotten to Venice on Christmas Eve, and now sat silently staring into cooling cups of coffee. Oz spoke first.

“So…” he began. “What happened to Tara?”

Tears formed in Willow’s eyes, and spilled onto her cheeks. “She died,” she said quietly, and Oz reached out to take her hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and they were silent once more.

- - - - -

They exited most of an hour later, both crossing to their respective partners. Kennedy and Willow joined hands, turning away from the other couple, but Oz stood a little apart from Bema, his back to them all.

“What happened?” Kennedy asked, and Willow shook her head.

“We’ll talk at the hotel,” she said.

Bema trembled, her mouth too dry to say anything at all.

At last Oz turned around and reached for her, and she came to his side. “Willow, this is Bema,” he said. “We’ve been together for two years.”

- - - - -

Oz made Willow promise to contact him if he was needed. He had the wolf entirely in control, he told her, and those powers could be useful to the new force of Slayers. Willow promised to stay in touch, and they agreed to meet again after the new year, when the circus went on break.

Then they parted, walking in opposite directions, like in a movie.

Oz and Bema walked in silence for awhile, until they reached a palazzo with a tall pillared gallery. Oz pulled his lover into the inky darkness, and into his arms. She shivered against him.

“Are you cold?” he asked, and she shook her head.

“Afraid?”

She nodded.

“Afraid of me?”

“No, never that,” Bema said, speaking for the first time since leaving Willow.

“You should be,” Oz whispered, his mouth against her throat.

“I know you would never hurt me,” she said.

“Because you think I’m a good werewolf?” Oz said. “Because I’m not.”

“No,” Bema said. “Because you love me.”

Oz gave a long sigh, and Bema held her breath.

“Yes, I do,” he said after several long seconds. “And I needed to see Willow again to realize it.”

Bema squeezed him tight. “And I love you, too,” she said.

Oz kissed her, her cheeks, her eyelids, her chin. “Marry me,” he said. “Be my wife.”

Bema let out her breath. “Yes,” she said.


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[> Re: New Holiday Fanfic (part 6) -- wwolfe, 12:57:08 12/23/03 Tue (161.149.63.106)

I love the denoument of Oz and Willow's story. I'd be surprised if they ever actually saw each other again, but this is a respectful, bittersweet farewell. And I really like Oz's lines about himself at the very end - it manages both to acknowledge the darkness while voting for hope. Which seems appropriate to the season.


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[> [> Re: New Holiday Fanfic (part 6) -- Kuzibah, 13:44:27 12/23/03 Tue (12.175.117.195)

It's a strange thing to see someone you've been carrying a torch for after an absence and realizing your feelings for that person have completely changed. But I think Oz (or my imaginary Oz, I should say) needed to get past that so he can make a life with Bema.

I mentioned in my live journal there will probably be more to this story in February.


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[> [> [> Re: New Holiday Fanfic (part 6) -- wwolfe, 16:34:46 12/23/03 Tue (161.149.63.106)

I saw your LJ entry just a moment ago. I look forward to what comes next.


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