171 fanfic: Doing the right thing

[mierke.livejournal.com]

Title: Doing the right thing
Author: Mierke
Fandom & Disclaimer: Buffy’s not mine, it’s Joss Whedon’s. I’m just borrowing his world and very thankful for the chance.
Pairing/Characters: Giles
Prompt: 171. Black – Anxious (for still_grrr
Words: 337
Rating: G
Spoilers/Timeline: Set sometime during the final three episodes of season six

He had been so sure then that he was doing the right thing. Leaving Buffy behind had been immensely difficult, and there hadn’t been a day since that he hadn’t thought of her. He had never though of returning, not really. Every time the idea popped up in his head he had written down all the things that had forced him to make the decision to leave Sunnydale behind.

But he had worried every day. Worried that she had died without him knowing anything about it; worried that she had died because he wasn’t there anymore to protect and guide her. Then he chided himself for thinking that he could have been of any use, that an old man like him could teach her anything anymore, and turned to his life as it was now. He had never really settled in, back in his hometown, as if he had been waiting on the moment that he would leave again.

When the coven had contacted him, he had felt almost every emotion possible to feel. He felt angry, that nobody had told him about how bad it had been for Willow and he childishly felt anger that he wasn’t told about Tara’s death the moment it had happened. He felt guilt, guilty for not guiding Willow better, for not being there for her when she had set her first steps in witchcraft. He felt fear, fear for what Willow would do and what it would do to Willow, but even more for what fighting her best friend would do to Buffy, to his Slayer. He felt sad, on the plane to Sunnydale he cried tears for a woman he had come to known as a very gentle and pure soul.

But mostly he felt anxious. Anxious to return, anxious to do something about it. Anxious to finally be able to help, be able to mean something again to the world he had left behind. He would do anything in his power to save the world, and the girl.

Comments

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

great work :)

[mierke.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

[mierke.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad it seemed real :)

[laucus.livejournal.com]

Lovely little ficlet! I particularly like the bit about Giles fearing and mourning Willow. And the structure of the second-to-last paragraph is rather poignant, in my opinion.

(And totally random: I read the last line and immediately thought of the Heroes' tagline 'Save the cheerleader, save the world' xD)

[mierke.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! :)

(LOL, now you pointed it out I can't read the last line without thinking of Heroes!)