My little fic of spoileryness

[zarahemla]

Title: Here comes two of you
Author: Zara Hemla (shutupmulder@yahoo.com)
Website: if.lightquencher.net
Fandom: Buffy/Discworld
Spoilers: Everything. Ev-ry-thing! (through finale)
Rating: PG
Summary: Anya doesn't miss anything.


Here comes two of you
by Zara Hemla


Anya stands up slowly, looks down at her body lying
sprawled on the bloody floor of Sunnydale High
School. She turns to the figure next to her.

"So that's it then?"

YES.

"That was dying?"

IT WAS.

"Huh." She looks down at herself. "I don't look any
different. Shouldn't I be ... carrying my own head
or see-through or something?"

DO YOU WANT TO BE?

"No . . . I look good. I'm a very pretty dead
person."

She preens a little, but then looks back at the
carnage. Watches quietly as Andrew, hidden away
behind the last monster she'd killed, pushes the body
away and stands up, aided by one of the Slayers.

"He's all right then. Good. I chopped that bastard
up all right! I didn't know I'd do that well. And
the end wasn't so bad. Just a thump! Barely even
pain. And then. . . . "

The figure beside her, black-robed, deeply silent,
just nods. Twirls his scythe slightly. Watches with
her as if he has all the time in the world. Which,
come to think of it, is odd, because he ought to be
pretty busy, what with all the dying going on.

"So do we have to go yet?" asks Anya, feeling kind
of guilty. "Because I kind of want to see how it
ends."

Death nods his head. SO DO I.

"Oh, so you've been interested in the battle too?"

I AM. I HAVE ESCORTED SEVERAL SLAYERS TO THEIR REST
ALREADY.

"Oh!" Anya claps her hands. "The spell worked!"

IT DID.

"And some of them died. Well, like I didn't see that
coming." She rolls her eyes. "Probably got a big
head about all their powers, and next thing you know,
bam! Sword in the gullet." She ponders a moment.
"Like me. But without the big head."

Xander suddenly pitches past, calling her name but
of course getting no answer. He yells raggedly until
Willow finally drags him away from the scene and out
of the building.

The roof and walls start to shake, but Anya doesn't
feel it. And when a big chunk of plaster comes down
on her body, it doesn't touch her or Death. More
chunks come down, burying her body along with those
she has riven.

Suddenly the scene shifts a little: Death is pulling
her along beside him. She sees her body moving
fluidly away, along with the north hall, the walls
going past, and suddenly they are standing in the
sun, watching the potentials – the new Slayers – and
the surviving civilians load themselves onto a school
bus.

"Oh, good idea! I bet Giles thought of it. All that
booklearning lets you think sideways. I'd just
be running down the street screaming my head off."

The high school begins to fall noisily into its own
pit, and Anya has a sudden thought.

"Are you the Death for all those ... monsters from
the Hellmouth? And if you are, shouldn't you be down
there with them?"

Death turns his head away from the school and looks
at her for a minute. If eyesockets could be
assessing, his would be.

NO. THOSE CREATURES HAVE THEIR OWN DEATH. YOU ARE
THE LAST.

"The last?"

THE LAST HUMAN CASUALTY OF THIS BATTLE.

Anya stops for a minute, then nods. "Oh. Then
everyone else gets out all right? On the bus?"

YES.

"And Xander . . . he goes on okay? Even without me?"

YES. FOR NOW. I CANNOT TELL YOU THE FUTURE.

"Oh, um . . . that's all right." She watches the bus
dwindle into the distance at a racketing speed, while
Sunnydale crushes itself into dust and powder.

"Wow," says Anya eventually. She and Death now
appear to be standing on air, because the earth has
dropped itself about a hundred feet straight down.
"Now that's a big hole in the ground."

Death says nothing. For a moment, both of them stand
in the stark silence of a town that doesn't exist
anymore. Then Death turns to her.

IT IS TIME TO LEAVE HERE.

Anya smiles. She is not nervous. It's like a new
step in the adventure she'd been having ever since
she made her choice to be human.

"So where are we going now?" she asks.

WE SHALL SEE, says Death.

The two of them disappear to all sight, but an adept
listener might have heard Anya enquire, "Are there
bunnies . . . there?" and might even have heard
Death's reply:

DO YOU WANT THERE TO BE?

--end--

Note: If you have read the Discworld books, you know
that Death talks in capital letters. If you haven't,
you probably didn't get this far, or if you did,
you're going, "Wha? Huh? Wha?" But anyway, he does.
He just does.
Title from Velvet Underground's "Beginning to see the
light": "Here comes two of you. Which one will you
choose?"


Because in spite of myself, I felt something. Something small, but something. I was very happy with the finale. Very happy. Perhaps some discussion later, after I eat lunch. Mmmm...leftover pork sandwich.

Comments

[vivien]

Oooooh, thank you for writing this. It really helped with my sadness for poor Anya being left there in the dust and rubble. Very very nice. And very very Anya.

[zarahemla.livejournal.com]

It was sad wasn't it? :( Sadder than I expected. Thanks for the nice words.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

I love this. Looooove it. Love Death, love Anya. This just...works. Thank you.

[zarahemla.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweetie.

[aevalin.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooo I love it. And that's the way Anya would have gone out too. I rewatched the Body last night. And Anya would have wanted to experience it all :)

[zarahemla.livejournal.com]

I don't think she could have torn herself away before the end. & I don't think she should've had to. :)

[blonde-cecile.livejournal.com]

I absolutely loved this. :) I'm actually unfamiliar with Discworld, but I still loved this. Your Anya is spot-on!