Apocolypse - Take 8,436,279
 

by SpikesKat

Buffy and the gang were sitting around the table in the library; books littered the surface as they attempted to research the latest apocalypse about to befall Sunnydale.

Giles, naturally, had latched onto a book that could prove useful and was reading aloud, though not loud enough for everyone to hear. He paused suddenly and Buffy gave him her attention – not that she was really reading the book in front of her anyway.

“Hmmm…” Giles mumbled; he snatched his glasses off his face and chewed thoughtfully on one of the ends as he skimmed the rest of the page.

“Hmmm?” Buffy prodded.

“What? Oh, yes… it’s just that this prophecy is very polysemic in nature.”

“Polywhatsit?” Xander asked right on cue, his face a mask of confusion, saving Buffy the trouble.

“He means that there’s more than one way that it can be interpreted,” Willow said.

“Willow is correct.”

“How did you know that?” Xander asked at the same time. He couldn’t keep the accusation out of his tone. He turned to Buffy. “How does she know that?”

Willow blushed. Buffy shrugged her shoulders.

Giles cleared his throat to forestall a debate about Willow’s book smarts. Thankfully it was enough to get everyone’s attention back on him.

“As I was saying…” he began, ignoring Buffy’s muttered demand of, “In English” and Xander’s accompanying nod. “Prophecies can be construed many different ways. Determining their correct meaning… well… that is—”

“A guessing game,” Buffy concluded, no stranger to prophecies and their misconceptions. She rolled her eyes and earned a frown from Giles; however, he agreed with her.

“How about we go out and patrol, find this latest nasty and kill it, prophecy-interpreting completely avoided?” Xander said.

Buffy nodded. She was all for going out and killing things. It beat research any day. Given enough time, she’d find the thing responsible and pound it to a pulp, make it wish it never thought to come to her town and cause trouble.

“Interpreting the prophecy will lead us to who, or what, is behind this latest disturbance on the Hellmouth and help us determine the best means of dispatching it,” Giles informed him, though his gaze lighted on each of them as he spoke.

“So, more research,” Xander sighed, hands already reaching for the book in front of him.

“I’m afraid so,” Giles agreed.

Several hours later, the quiet was broken by the sound of breaking glass and high-pitched screams as the school was invaded by demons.

Xander jumped up and raced to the weapons chest and started distributing swords and crossbows. They took up defensive positions throughout the library and waited as the noise got louder as the demons got closer.

“Or, you know, we could just sit here and wait and let the nasties come to us,” Xander joked.

Giles frowned.

“They need to work on their timing though,” Buffy said, as the first demon burst through the swinging double doors. She raised her sword above her head and brought it down with a vicious swipe, easily separating the demon’s head from its shoulders. “If they’d shown up a few hours ago, the fight would be over by now, and I could have been at home in bed.”

Xander smiled and fired his crossbow at the second demon; the arrow lodged right between its eyes and it fell forward in a dead heap.

“Nice shot, Xan!” Buffy shouted.

“Thanks!”

Three more demons tried to get inside, but Buffy made quick work of slaying them and before long, there was a pile of dead demons on the floor of the library.

“Apocalypse averted!” Buffy announced triumphantly. Her nose wrinkled in distaste at the smell beginning to emanate from their carcasses. “Ugh! What’s that smell?”

“I’m not quite sure. Some type of toxin, maybe,” Giles suggested.

“If you say research, G-man, I may have to hurt you,” Xander said.

The End

Want to leave a REVIEW?