I. King
Buffy shut the door as she entered Giles' place. He was slumped over his desk, snoring softly, with his nose pressed into the crease of the book he had previously been studying. She smiled and tickled his ear until he sat up, gasping.
"I'm up! What's wrong?!"
"Relax Giles, it's just me," Buffy said. He looked at her, hair mussed, glasses askew. She did her best not to laugh at him.
He took his glasses off, setting them on the desktop, and dragged a hand over his sleep-numbed face. "What time is it?"
She turned off the lamp on his desk, causing no visible dimming of the room's overall brightness. "6 am."
"Morning?" He shook his head to try and banish the cobwebs. "You patrolled all night?"
Buffy nodded then moved to flop into his easy chair. She pouted. "All night. Not a vamp, not a demon, nothing."
Giles looked concerned. "How long does that make?"
She sighed. "Nearly a month. Wish I could say I was happy for the downtime but I'm not. I'm starting to get antsy. Usually 'quiet' means 'plots that I don't know about'."
He stood, pacing near the desk for a moment before coming to sit on the table in front of her. "This time, I don't think that's the case."
"No?"
He shook his head. "No. I-I have a theory."
She leaned forward and smiled at him. "If you start singing, I'm going home to bed."
He too smiled at the distant memory, then rose and began to walk down the hall. "Just let me get some of my books."
Buffy shook her head and leaned back in the chair. "Don't forget your globe."
The doors of the castle burst open, admitting several uniformed soldiers, two of which carried another, who was injured. They brought him through the hall and into the main chamber. They brushed the antique silver candleholders off the table and onto the floor, without a second thought.
Together, the two soldiers gently lifted their burden onto the table. One removed his jacket, folding it quickly into a makeshift pillow under the bleeding man's head and put his hand to the man's pulse. "Fetch water and clean linen," he barked. "Someone get the Doctor!"
Several of the other men moved off to follow his orders. One came to his side. "General Selezeanu?"
He met the other man's eyes and shook his head solemnly. "Calin, you should bring Lady Buscan." He moved closer and whispered in the younger man's ear. "And Lilian."
The gravity of the situation showed on his face. "At once, Sir." He ran for the great staircase.
A clammy hand, slick with its own blood, reached up and grasped the General's arm. He looked down, meeting the pain-filled eyes of his longtime friend. The man on the table smiled up weakly, allowing that much more blood to trickle out the side of his mouth.
"How bad, Cezar?" His voice was hoarse.
The General clasped his hand and shrugged. "You'll be fine, Your Majesty."
He coughed. "The truth... please."
Cezar Selezeanu sighed. "I'm sorry Lucian. I've sent Lt. Tirlea for Lady Buscan."
With some effort, he nodded and gestured at his neck. "C-cover...cover it."
One of the soldiers brought Cezar some strips of cloth. He took a long one and wrapped it around his friend's throat, trying to obscure the horrible wound there.
"Lucian! Lucian no!" A woman's voice echoed throughout the main chamber from the top of the stairs. Her blue eyes grew wide as she saw all the blood surrounding her fiancé below. She drew her light blue, satin robe closed and pushed back her pitch black hair. The young soldier at her side had to caution her against descending the massive staircase at a run.
The grip of the dying man grew more insistent. "The line!"
"I know. We've sent for Lilian. It won't be long."
"Must be maintained. Must. The kingdom... m-must have... protector."
Cezar touched his shoulder. "Rest peacefully my friend. These worries are no longer yours. I will see to things. You have my word."
"Lucian?! I'm here!" The woman rushed to the king's other side, taking hold of his free hand. "Oh God... God no. Cezar, what happened? Oh God!" She began to cry.
He turned his attention from his friend to his love. "Shh... no tears. I feel no pain," he lied. His hand squeezed hers weakly. "I love you Relia."
She blinked tears back. "And I you my love. Always and none other."
His grip tightened ever so slightly. "No... live, Relia. Live, love, be well. Promise."
She nodded vehemently. "Anything, Love. Yes... yes."
Not taking his eyes from her, he spoke. "Cezar, watch over her..."
"Anything, Lucian," he echoed. He too found himself blinking against an onslaught of emotion. Battle hardened soldiers weren't supposed to cry in situations like this, he'd always told himself. He wished his body had listened.
Relia kneeled beside the table, placing kisses on Lucian's hand. He smiled at her. "Beautiful..." he whispered faintly. "Love you..." His chest stopped its labored rise and fall, his eyes still and staring forward like lifeless glass.
She watched breathlessly as Cezar reached over and closed his friend's eyes one last time. She put her forehead down on Lucian's hand and wept.
A man in his late fifties stumbled in to the room, hastily throwing on a robe. Behind him was a red-haired girl in her twenties wearing a flannel nightgown.
"Lilian," Cezar said. "We will need you to begin the research first thing tomorrow. For now, please take Lady Buscan to her room.”
She nodded and came to the Lady's side. Helping her up, she put an arm around her waist and guided her up the stairs.
"What's going on here," the other man said, walking forward.
Cezar lay Lucian's arms straight at his sides. "What's going on, Chancellor, is that King Lucian the Second is dead."
"Good Lord." The man crossed himself.
Their eyes met for the first time that night. "Stefan. Leave us."
Realization dawned. The Chancellor nodded, turned and left the room. A non-verbal indication from the General had Lt. Tirlea clearing out the rest of the men. Soon, Cezar was left alone with the body of the king.
The General paced the room, noting with a humorless smile that Lt. Tirlea had left his bag tucked just under the table. He moved forward, knelt down, and opened it. He stood once more, a stake and mallet in his hands.
Silently, he poised the stake over the dead king's heart. He raised the mallet high in the air, took a deep breath, and swiftly brought it down.
Giles handed Buffy a book, opened to a picture. "The Hellmouth?" She asked.
"A Hellmouth," he corrected.
"A?"
"There is more than one Hellmouth, Buffy. It seems, from the Watchers Council reports at least, that there are in fact approximately 13 active Hellmouths across the world at any given time. There are 5 known to be extinct. And another 6 which are currently... dormant. One Hellmouth is always predominately imbued with energy. For the last hundred years or so, it's been the one here in Sunnydale."
"So our Hellmouth is sick?"
"I believe... possibly, it may be going dormant."
"You... you don't seem all that cheery about that, Giles. I mean, no more creepies? That sounds like a video party with carmel corn at the very least."
"No more creepies here, Buffy. Energy is constant. When it diminishes in one place, it transfers to another."
"So somebody else is about to have a monsterfest open up in their backyard?"
"Well... seeing that things have been slow here for awhile, I imagine, it's already happened. The question is, where?"
"I wouldn't worry about that too much." At his questioning look, she spoke again. "Well, when this Hellmouth kicked up into high gear, The Powers seemed to have arranged things so that Mom would move us here. I'm sure if it's something I need to take care of, I'll get pulled there somehow. Unless of course something has decided that a local girl needs to make good. Then I guess I'm looking forward to an untimely demise by a straggler Sunnydale badness."
"Buffy, don't talk like that. For all we know, this is simply a dry spell. As I said before, all of this is only a theory."
She yawned. "Sorry. Guess I'm just cranky."
He smiled. "Don't be silly. You haven't had any sleep."
"Have you? I mean, other than one or two hours of book-cushioned napping?"
He shook his head. "I'm afraid not. But I want to keep researching this. You can stay here and sleep if you'd like. I'm sure there's a shirt of mine or something upstairs that will fit you. Help yourself."
"Uh huh, and where will you sleep?"
"Oh I'll get some sleep on the couch later... after..." He gestured with the book in his hand.
She took it from him and set it on his desk. Wrapping her hand around his now empty one, she began to lead him toward the stairs. "If the Hellmouth is going black then there's no rush and you need sleep. The book will still be here Giles. Come on, we can share the bed."
"Buffy...I don't..."
She turned and smiled. "Tempting though it is, I promise not to ravish you in your sleep, okay? It's just a bed. And I for one am too tired for anything but sleep."
As she continued to lead him up the stairs, he couldn't help a smile. "Well only if you promise."
"Lilian, how is it coming?" Stefan Dimir said as he peered around the door. His daughter was sitting at her computer, surrounded by books and scribbled-on bits of paper.
The young woman pushed back her curly red hair, to reveal an almost equally red, tearstained face. She cleared her throat. "It's going well, Father."
"Oh? Have you tracked the right branch of the family?"
"Better." He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I think I'll have an address for you by the end of the day."
He took her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "This is wonderful. I'll let Cezar know. He'll be ready to leave right after the funeral."
Two Days Later
Buffy opened the door to Giles’. When she did she found a strange man standing near the kitchen door, while her Watcher sat on one of the barstools, finishing off a drink. Knowing Giles as well as she did, she could tell that whoever this stranger was, he was the cause of the nervous, almost imperceptible, shake of Giles’ hand. She shut the door louder than was necessary to call attention to her presence.
“What’s going on, Giles?” she said, fixing a glare at the stranger.
“Buffy… good. Um… sit-sit down please.”
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your guest?”
“In due course. Sit for now, please?”
She sat on his couch, not taking her eyes off the stranger. Moments later, Giles joined her. He held two glasses, both containing amber liquid. Seeing this, Buffy’s eyes widened. “Giles, talk to me.” He handed her one of the glasses. She exhaled loudly and set her glass down on the table. She snatched his glass from him and set it next to her own. Buffy took Giles’ hand in hers and met his eyes. “You’re scaring the Hell out of me, Giles. What is this?”
“Buffy, this gentleman is General Cezar Selezeanu. He is the military leader of Terennoaptre, a small country in the Carpathians. They have rather a unique vampire problem, have for centuries. However, recently, it’s gotten worse.”
“The Hellmouth?”
Giles nodded. “It seems that the lesser Hellmouth in the Terennoaptrian capital of Pazitore is the one which has inherited the energy of our own, hibernating, Hellmouth.”
“And… they’ve come to get a Slayer?”
Giles smiled tightly. “N-no. Not exactly.” He exhaled. “The Terennoaptrian royal line has been bred from warriors and scholars throughout the centuries. Their royals are no mere figureheads. The King… or Queen… is expected to protect their citizenry from the vampire menace. To fight alongside the military to keep order… to maintain security.”
He reached for his glass. Buffy stopped his hand. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the pillows. “A few days ago, the current monarch, King Lucian the Second, was killed in battle. He left no issue.” Giles opened his eyes to meet Buffy’s confused gaze. “That means he had no children.”
She slapped his arm. “I know what it means, you big dork, I just don’t understand where we fit in.”
“I’m getting there.”
“By way of Bolivia.” She smiled.
“Since there were no direct descendents, this forced the royal genealogist to climb back up the family tree a few generations. T-to follow a different branch until they found a living heir to the line. They traced the line to a male descendant. A new king.” He squeezed her hand in his own. “Me.”
Buffy blinked. “What?”
“Perhaps the two of you should discuss this alone?” Cezar said.
Giles stood and walked to him. “That might be best.” He shook his hand. “I will need a few days to settle my affairs here.”
“We can spare no more than three. Will that be sufficient?”
“I will make sure it is.”
“Then I will be at the hotel, should you need me, Your Highness.”
Giles blushed a little and smiled. “Uh, yes well… thank you.” Giles turned to walk Cezar to the door. When he did, he noted Buffy chugging down her nearly forgotten drink.
Once Cezar had gone, Giles reclaimed his seat next to Buffy on the couch. Before he could stop her, Buffy reached out for his untouched drink and chugged that as well. “You seem to be handling this well.”
“Guess you’ve made up your mind to go then?”
“Buffy.” He sighed. “What else can I do? I’ve been called.”
“Chosen,” she corrected with a sad smile.
“Yes, alright. Chosen, if you prefer. I can help those people with my knowledge, my training.”
“You’ll be a wonderful King,” Buffy said.
“Yes, well I’m not so certain about that. But I do feel as though I could be useful to them.”
She touched his hand. “I’m coming with you, Giles.”
“Buffy…”
“I’m not going to leave you to fight monsters all alone.”
“Think about this. This isn’t another place in California, or even America for that matter. You’d be leaving everything you’ve ever known, to live in a foreign country, halfway around the world, just to keep me from fighting monsters without you.”
“Isn’t that what you did for me?”
He took hold of her hand. “Buffy, you’re under no obligation to me.”
“Giles, if the Hellmouth has popped up over there, then I’m needed just as much as I was here. Dawn’s over in England with Willow and Tara and by the time she comes back to Sunnydale, if she ever decides to, she’ll be a grown woman and in no need of my supervision.”
He smiled and squeezed her hand. “I appreciate the sentiment, Buffy, but I want you to think this through. It’ll be three days before I leave. Think things over in the meantime. I won’t blame you if you decide to stay.”
She leaned against his chest and he embraced her. “I will think it over. But I’m coming with you mister. You’d better just get used to the idea.”
II. Farewell Sunnydale
Three Days Later
Though it had been almost 11 years since Rupert Giles had needed to crate up all his belongings in preparation of moving his whole life across the globe, he still fancied himself rather good at it. His clothing and small personal articles were packed snugly in a 5-piece matching maroon leather luggage set that the Council had provided when he was first assigned his Slayer. Placed alongside the set were his well-worn brown leather attaché, that used to be his daily companion at Sunnydale High, and his large black travel bag, which had accompanied him across the Atlantic many times. These were all set against the wall next to the front door. Near the base of the stairs were large crates, five stacks of four tall, with strips of blue plastic tape across their lids. This was the coding for his library and occult artifacts. These, like his clothes, were to accompany him on the plane. If his books wound up at the bottom of the ocean, he wanted to be right there with them. In the area where the dining table had once stood, the remainder of the crates were gathered. These had either brown, green, or red tape strips upon them and were to be shipped later.
He took one last look around what had been his home for a decade. For the millionth time, he was happy he hadn’t let the lease go, nor moved all his belongings, when he had attempted a move back to England after Buffy had been killed in the battle with Glory. He had so many memories here, both good and bad, and mostly involving Buffy. He smiled, thinking ‘At least she will be coming with me.’ He still wasn’t quite sure why she had made that decision. She could have just as easily stayed in Sunnydale to play Auntie for Xander and Anya’s forthcoming baby. She could have gone to Oxford to be with Dawn, Willow and Tara. He came to the conclusion that she felt a duty to protect those over the active Hellmouth, wherever that may be. For that, he felt immensely proud of her and only slightly sad for himself.
As if on cue, there was a knock on his door. He opened it and found Buffy there, smiling at him, a large powder blue suitcase in one hand and an equally big red plaid one in the other. She pushed past him inside the door and dropped them next to his luggage. Giles spotted Xander outside, opening the trunk of his car. They waved to each other.
“Traveling light?” Giles grinned.
She took a quick look around at all the crates. “Only compared to you. Come back to the car and help me out?”
“There’s more?”
“The backseat is full of luggage and I’ve got some boxes in the trunk. And if I break Xander a month before he becomes a father, Anya’s going to be very upset with me. And the last thing I need right now is to piss off a hormonal ex-vengeance demon.”
She finally noticed what he was wearing, a light grey suit that she hadn’t seen him wear since high school. He looked exactly the same. She ran her hand down the jacket’s lapel. “Well, this is a trip down memory lane.”
“Is it outdated?” He bowed his head a little, adjusting his glasses.
“Nah. A classic. You look very handsome, Kingypoo.” A thought struck her. “Uh, am I underdressed?”
Giles glanced over her tea-length floral summer-dress with its halter top. “No, Buffy. You look quite lovely.” She smiled brightly. “You may want to take a sweater with you on the plane though. It might be a bit cool for you once we’re there.”
“I have one in the car.”
As Buffy started out, Giles tried to pick up one of her suitcases and couldn’t. He followed her outside. “Um about your luggage… I’m a King now, I think that means I get minions. Perhaps we ought to wait for them.”
She faced him and arched an eyebrow. “Relax Giles, I brought the heaviest ones in myself. I wouldn’t want to you to hurt your Royal Back.”
“Ah, as opposed to the Royal Pain in my Royal Arse that you usually supply?”
“Oh, is that so?” She stalked toward him, a twinkle in her eyes.
Giles began to back up but couldn’t keep the corner of his mouth from twitching into a smile. He held out an admonishing finger as he retreated. “Now Buffy, you’re moving to my country. That means you’re one of my subjects and whatever you’re planning on doing to me i-is probably treason!”
She pounced on him, tackling him onto the lawn. She dug her fingers into his ribs. He laughed and twisted beneath her. “I depose thee! Cruel tyrant!”
He tried to return the onslaught, but she was kneeling on his jacket sleeves. “Xander!” he panted between laughs. “Some assistance?!”
Giles ‘oophed’ as Xander jumped atop both him and Buffy. Xander grabbed her by the wrists and rolled her on top of him.
“I got ‘er, My Liege,” Xander said as Buffy thrashed on top of him.
Giles smiled wickedly as he heaved himself to a sitting position. Ribs aching pleasantly and still panting for breath from so much laughter, he lunged forward and began tickling her mercilessly. “REVENGE!” he shouted. Buffy squealed and began to laugh. “Foul revolutionary! Your rebellion shall be crushed! Bloody insurrectionist!”
He tickled her freely until Xander began laughing so hard he could no longer hold her. Buffy, still giggling, brought her hands up to Giles’ chest. It was a struggle but he continued his tickle attack. “Giles! GILES! Sto-stop it! C’mon! Giles STOP! I’M GONNA PEE!”
The sound of a throat clearing followed by, “Excuse me, Your Majesty,” caused everyone to stop and turn. Cezar Selezeanu stood uncomfortably on the walkway. “I have… brought the movers.” He gestured toward the street where a moving van, and a slightly larger truck were parked. Five strong-looking young men began to pile out of the vehicles.
Untangling themselves, the threesome stood and began brushing grass off of each other. Buffy and Xander were each a little embarrassed, mostly because they feared they’d made the new King look bad in front of the General. Giles simply walked up to Cezar and lightly clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You have perfect timing, Cezar. How we were going to get all of our belongings shifted was exactly the matter we were discussing.”
For the first time since his appearance in their lives, Cezar smiled. In Buffy’s opinion, it took years off of him. He was roughly Giles’ height and age, with very short black hair, brown eyes and stern features. He was dressed in a navy colored suit. Buffy guessed it was not his normal apparel from his apparent discomfort in wearing it. She recognized “duty-face” when she saw it. She scrunched up her nose and made a mental note never to tell him that he had “duty-face”.
“Cezar Selezeanu,” Giles said as he walked the man over to them. “This is Xander Harris. He is one of our closest friends.”
Xander shook the older man’s hand. “You’ll take good care of them, won’t you?”
“You have my word on that, Mr. Harris.”
“And this is Buffy Summers. The two of you weren’t exactly properly introduced the other day.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Buffy said to him as he took her hand. “You’ll find I can be a little overprotective when it comes to Giles at times.”
“That is to be expected,” he said with a small smile as he kissed the back of her hand. “I understand that all of this must be something of a shock but I am pleased that you’ve decided to escort our King and make Terennoaptre your home.” Cezar released her hand and turned his attention to Giles once more. “Our flight is scheduled to leave in two hours.”
“Yes, let me show you in. Buffy?”
“The luggage in the car is for the plane. The boxes in the trunk can be shipped.”
Cezar directed two of the moving men to Xander’s car. The rest followed him and Giles inside.
Buffy took Xander’s hand, walked him to the car and sat on the hood. He joined her. Keeping her hand in his, he squeezed it. “So you guys are really going through with this, huh?”
She shrugged. “Giles seems to think this is something he’s got to do.”
“And you?”
“I couldn’t let him go… not alone.” Xander smiled at her. “What?”
“You didn’t want to be without him.”
She thought for a moment. “Yes, that’s part of it.”
“So, what’s that about?”
“I don’t know that it’s about anything. It’s just how I feel.”
“Careful Buff, that’s just how I started thinking about Anya… right before we started dating.”
“Giles and me…dating? That would be… strange to say the least.”
“Strange. Yeah. And strange never happens around here. Strange like marrying an ex-vengeance demon.”
“Or dating a werewolf,” Buffy added.
“Or your best friend, the thoroughly California girl, moving to another country your other friend has now become King of.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Apocalypses included, that may be the strangest thing yet.” She heard Xander sniffle beside her. She looked into his eyes. “Xander Harris, are you crying?”
“I feel like I’m never going to see you guys again.”
She embraced him. “Don’t be stupid. Giles is King. I’m sure he can wrangle free airfare or something. After all, we’re gonna have to see that beautiful little baby sometime, right?”
He nodded against her shoulder. “It’s just… I’ll miss you guys. A lot.”
She kissed his cheek. “Only about half as much as we’ll miss you.”
When they parted, Giles was standing beside the car. Xander released Buffy, got off the hood and hugged Giles, hard. Buffy grinned and Giles blinked back tears as his arms came around Xander.
“Xander was worried he’d never see us again,” Buffy said.
“Don’t be silly, Xander. I’m King. I’m sure that’s almost as good as frequent flyer miles or something.”
“That’s what Buffy said,” Xander said, releasing Giles and smiling at him.
“Well then, there you are.”
Buffy hopped down off the car to stand beside the two men.
“I guess I’d better get going. I don’t want to start another blubberfest and I’ve still got a gallon of southern apple pie ice cream to get for Anya. Oh! Speaking of my bride…” He reached into his pocket and produced a small envelope. “She was sorry she couldn’t see you off herself.”
“Tell her we’re thinking of her,” Giles said, taking the envelope.
Xander nodded. He got into his car, shut the door and rolled down the window. “You’ll both write?”
“We will,” Buffy said. Giles nodded.
Xander smiled. “Love you guys.”
“Love you too, Xander,” Buffy said. They backed away from the car and Xander drove off.
Buffy slid her arm around Giles’ waist. He did the same. As they began to walk, a limousine pulled up next to the curb. Cezar soon appeared beside them. “Your Highness. Miss Summers. If you would care to get in? Everything is under control here and the driver knows what time you need to be at the airport. He is at your disposal until then.”
Buffy and Giles looked at each other. “One last trip around town?” she suggested.
“Sounds perfect,” Giles said. He held open the door and got in after her.
“I will see you both in two hours,” Cezar said then shut the door.
The window to the front rolled down. “Where to, Your Majesty?”
“A leisurely drive around the town, if you would be so kind.”
“Certainly.” The window went up again to give them privacy.
Giles pulled out Anya’s envelope and opened it. Inside was a hundred dollar bill. Buffy and Giles exchanged smiles.
“From anyone else, that might have been an insult,” Giles said.
“Yeah, but from Anya, it’s better than a Hallmark card.”
As they passed by the ruins of Sunnydale High, Buffy put her hand in his. “So we’re really doing this, huh?”
“Any second thoughts?”
She shook her head. “You?”
“Perhaps one or two. Never been King of anything before.”
“If it makes you feel any better, neither have I.”
He smiled. “It’s a bit… intimidating.”
“You’ll do great, Giles. I know it. I’m really proud of you.” She hugged him.
“Thank you,” he said, moving his arms around her.
She stayed in his embrace and touched her hand against the window on his side. “Farewell Sunnydale. Hello Terennoaptre.”
To Be Continued....