EMPIRE chapter three
The EMPIRE hyperdrabble project continues! Bigger even this time! Why?? LAte due to internet woes, x-posted (if my net woes actually subside) to Open on Sunday.
EMPIRE
Chapter Three - Breakfast in Bed
“Rise and shine, mate. Egg and toast all right?”
Gunn’s eyelids flickered open, and he knew right away something was wrong. EVERYTHING was wrong.
“What...IS this?”
“Breakfast in bed?” Spike shrugged, setting the food down on a table. “Better’n I got when I came back, let me tell you.”
“..Back..?”
Gunn stared at his hands through glassy eyes, spied the rough stitching mapped over discoloured skin. He suppressed the urge to panic.
“No...”
“Thing is, Chuck...we’re in a bit of a fix, yeah? And you won’t BELIEVE where we are.
“So self-pity can wait. We’re on the clock.”
********
“OK, for serious? Cut it out. NOW.”
“...say again, Xander?” Buffy held the phone close, trying to shut the weird kid out. “...No, I NEED to know what’s going down in LA. If that vision of Angel was real...”
“Buffy, please!” Dawn protested, politely restrained by two slayers, “...I’ll stop borrowing your clothes, I’ll do laundry, make you breakfast in bed for a YEAR, just...STOP this!”
Buffy turned, annoyed, and Dawn saw the distance in her eyes. She didn’t know her.
This was bad.
“Take her to town,” Buffy ordered, “..I do NOT have time for groupies right now.”
********
“I’m on it.”
Setting the phone down and walking across the room, Willow sat meditatively, drawing a stare from Kennedy, lazily eating a breakfast of raisin bread in their bed. Willow wished she wouldn’t do that.
“What’re you on?”
“Mystic hooha in California,” Willow said, eyes shut, “...Xander wants me to...”
A flash of energy blasted out from Willow’s mind, tossing Kennedy to the ground. Willow fell, and her slayer scrambled to her side.
“Baby! Are you all right?”
Willow’s eyes opened, and stared at Kennedy.
“I’m fine,” came the words, cautious, and then a smile. A cruel smile.
“...’baby’.”
********
“Why, mister Finn. Breakfast in bed? What’s the occasion?”
Riley stepped into the hut carrying mango and bread on a tray, smiling gently. “Just celebrating some downtime after another job well survived,” he said, “...and maybe thanking you for saving my butt. Again.”
“Hmm. Well, I’m quite fond of that butt, so...”
A bright flash sprang up between Sam and Riley Finn. Breakfast fell and Riley’s sidearm flashed, but the image was gone in seconds. A man, in terrible agony, reaching out across worlds.
“Riley?”
Finn saw the image of Angel again in his head. “I think downtime’s over, babe.”
********
“Happy Mother’s Day!”
Joyce and Hank looked up from their bed to see their 13 year old, precocious little Buffy, storming into the bedroom with what looked like a disastrous tray of misshapen pancakes and spilled milk. They were still simple, family times then. Three years yet until Merrick, and Lothos, and days of horror.
“Why, thank you sweetie!” Joyce gushed, sitting up, when something caught her ear. She looked about, suddenly concerned.
“Where...where’s Dawn?”
“Who?” Hank and Buffy asked, and Joyce shook her head. What was she saying? Who WAS Dawn?
And where was that whistling coming from..?
********
“Understand...this has been decided by greater powers even than yourself. The Wolf, the Ram and the Hart, whilst they breakfasted on dying dreams across a bed of brittle spite, made counsel with the power of powers, and these things were agreed upon.”
“And I’m sure not ungrateful for the resurrection,” the man said to the demon, wearing a suit of new flesh belched forward from the pits of Hell, “..but, Los Angeles? It’s so...Sodom and Gomorrah.”
“You will fix that. The players called will need organization. YOU shall provide that...your honour.”
The Mayor smiled genially. “Call me Richard.”
********
TEN YEARS LATER...
She wished she’d made her breakfast in bed. Just once. Which was SO lame it made her wince, but whatever. It would have been nice, just once.
Bitch. Just had to go and die, didn’t she?
They’d been the last...EVERYone was gone, now. All dead. Nothing left but Empire. They finally won.
She stepped towards the edge, stinging rain pounding down over shattered landscape...let them HAVE this nightmare world. She was through fighting.
Tears and raindrops ran over Faith’s scars, and she looked down into the abyss. The end. At last.
“See you soon...love.”
...TO BE CONTINUED!
EMPIRE
Chapter Three - Breakfast in Bed
“Rise and shine, mate. Egg and toast all right?”
Gunn’s eyelids flickered open, and he knew right away something was wrong. EVERYTHING was wrong.
“What...IS this?”
“Breakfast in bed?” Spike shrugged, setting the food down on a table. “Better’n I got when I came back, let me tell you.”
“..Back..?”
Gunn stared at his hands through glassy eyes, spied the rough stitching mapped over discoloured skin. He suppressed the urge to panic.
“No...”
“Thing is, Chuck...we’re in a bit of a fix, yeah? And you won’t BELIEVE where we are.
“So self-pity can wait. We’re on the clock.”
********
“OK, for serious? Cut it out. NOW.”
“...say again, Xander?” Buffy held the phone close, trying to shut the weird kid out. “...No, I NEED to know what’s going down in LA. If that vision of Angel was real...”
“Buffy, please!” Dawn protested, politely restrained by two slayers, “...I’ll stop borrowing your clothes, I’ll do laundry, make you breakfast in bed for a YEAR, just...STOP this!”
Buffy turned, annoyed, and Dawn saw the distance in her eyes. She didn’t know her.
This was bad.
“Take her to town,” Buffy ordered, “..I do NOT have time for groupies right now.”
********
“I’m on it.”
Setting the phone down and walking across the room, Willow sat meditatively, drawing a stare from Kennedy, lazily eating a breakfast of raisin bread in their bed. Willow wished she wouldn’t do that.
“What’re you on?”
“Mystic hooha in California,” Willow said, eyes shut, “...Xander wants me to...”
A flash of energy blasted out from Willow’s mind, tossing Kennedy to the ground. Willow fell, and her slayer scrambled to her side.
“Baby! Are you all right?”
Willow’s eyes opened, and stared at Kennedy.
“I’m fine,” came the words, cautious, and then a smile. A cruel smile.
“...’baby’.”
********
“Why, mister Finn. Breakfast in bed? What’s the occasion?”
Riley stepped into the hut carrying mango and bread on a tray, smiling gently. “Just celebrating some downtime after another job well survived,” he said, “...and maybe thanking you for saving my butt. Again.”
“Hmm. Well, I’m quite fond of that butt, so...”
A bright flash sprang up between Sam and Riley Finn. Breakfast fell and Riley’s sidearm flashed, but the image was gone in seconds. A man, in terrible agony, reaching out across worlds.
“Riley?”
Finn saw the image of Angel again in his head. “I think downtime’s over, babe.”
********
“Happy Mother’s Day!”
Joyce and Hank looked up from their bed to see their 13 year old, precocious little Buffy, storming into the bedroom with what looked like a disastrous tray of misshapen pancakes and spilled milk. They were still simple, family times then. Three years yet until Merrick, and Lothos, and days of horror.
“Why, thank you sweetie!” Joyce gushed, sitting up, when something caught her ear. She looked about, suddenly concerned.
“Where...where’s Dawn?”
“Who?” Hank and Buffy asked, and Joyce shook her head. What was she saying? Who WAS Dawn?
And where was that whistling coming from..?
********
“Understand...this has been decided by greater powers even than yourself. The Wolf, the Ram and the Hart, whilst they breakfasted on dying dreams across a bed of brittle spite, made counsel with the power of powers, and these things were agreed upon.”
“And I’m sure not ungrateful for the resurrection,” the man said to the demon, wearing a suit of new flesh belched forward from the pits of Hell, “..but, Los Angeles? It’s so...Sodom and Gomorrah.”
“You will fix that. The players called will need organization. YOU shall provide that...your honour.”
The Mayor smiled genially. “Call me Richard.”
********
TEN YEARS LATER...
She wished she’d made her breakfast in bed. Just once. Which was SO lame it made her wince, but whatever. It would have been nice, just once.
Bitch. Just had to go and die, didn’t she?
They’d been the last...EVERYone was gone, now. All dead. Nothing left but Empire. They finally won.
She stepped towards the edge, stinging rain pounding down over shattered landscape...let them HAVE this nightmare world. She was through fighting.
Tears and raindrops ran over Faith’s scars, and she looked down into the abyss. The end. At last.
“See you soon...love.”
...TO BE CONTINUED!