It's Only Forever

Sword and Stake Home Gen/Ensemble Page Shippy (M/F) Page Slash (M/M) Page Short Stories Page

It's Only Forever—Not Long At All Chapter 1 2 3 4 6 7 8

by spikeNdru

BtVS/Labyrinth Crossover, Written for the Choose Your Author Ficathon.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter Five:  Life Can Be Easy

Giles and Xander stared at the apparently solid, blank wall in consternation.  Giles felt in his pocket for his handkerchief.

Polishing his glasses had  become something of a ritual for him; it helped him focus his thoughts.  These past five years

in Sunnydale had certainly reinforced the wisdom of his decision to select actual glass in his eyewear, rather than the

more easily-scratched plastic.

Xander closed one eye and stared fixedly at the wall.  Then he opened and closed the other eye.  Comprehension flooded

his expressive face and Giles could almost see a cartoon bubble with a light bulb appear over Xander's head.

Xander stretched both arms out before him like a caricature of a zombie walking, and headed toward the wall.  He

passed right through it, and Giles hurriedly replaced his glasses and followed.

"Ah, I should have considered the possibility of a quite clever trompe l'oeil; good work, Xander!"

"A what now?"

"A trompe l'oeill - an illusion to trick the eye."

Giles and Xander stood in a passageway between two identical walls.  The opening of the outside wall perfectly matched

the stonework of the inner wall, so the illusion of a solid wall was maintained until one actually stood between the two.

The two men looked to the right, and then toward the left.

"Which way, Giles?"

"There didn't seem to be any specific clues to guide them to choose one way or the other.

"I believe that we would agree that the Goblin King has a rather sinister attraction for young girls, yes?  The etymology

of the word 'sinister' comes from the Middle English sinistre, originally from the Latin sinistr-"

Xander pulled out a quarter and flipped it.  He slapped the quarter on the back of his hand and uncovered it.  "Tails.  Wanna

go left?"

"That was the suggestion I was attempting to make . . ."

"Alrighty, then!  Guess great minds do think alike."  Xander grinned, and Giles could not resist an answering smile.

They turned left and began to make their way down the passageway.

~*~*~*~*~*~

They followed the twists and turns of the passageway for the next hour, before Xander suggested they take a break

and have something to eat.

"Not those horrible energy biscuits you were trying to sell!"  Giles protested.

Xander grinned sheepishly.  "Naw.  They weren't fit for human consumption."

Giles was curious.  "Were you able to return them?"

"Nope.  I guess the company wasn't stupid.  Once they palmed 'em off on an unwary buyer, they weren't about to take

'em back."

"So, erm . . . what did you do with them?"

"I gave 'em to Spike on commission. Turns out, the demons love 'em, and we split the profits 50/50. I got my investment back and made a few bucks, and it kept Spike in blood and cigarettes for awhile so it all worked out." Xander rooted around in his backpack and then passed Giles a bottle of water, an apple, a packet of peanut butter crackers, and offered an un-toasted Pop-Tart, which Giles declined. "Your loss," Xander said as he happily unwrapped the Pop-Tart and bit into it with gusto.

Xander was actually good company, Giles realized, despite his deplorable taste in comestibles.

The brief rest and snack had restored their flagging energy and they were eager to continue their quest. Giles rose and

started off in the direction they had been going. He had only taken a few steps when he came to a dead end. He

turned the other way and Xander passed him and continued around a corner.

Giles frowned and hurried to catch up. “This was a dead end a minute ago.”

Xander turned in confusion. “No, that's the dead end behind you.”

They both stared as blocks of stone began shifting and moving, changing the passage from moment to moment.

“Shit! What are we supposed to do?”

“I suppose we could try one of these doors,” Giles suggested.

“What doors—?”

A pair of doors were standing right in front of them.

“But, which one?” Xander wondered.

The door spoke. “One of us leads to the castle, and the other leads to—”

“Ba ba ba bum!” the other door interjected.

“Certain death!” the doors chorused.

“Holy moly!” Xander yelled as he jumped back from the doors.

“But, which is which?” Giles mused.

“We can't tell you!” the doors replied. “You can only ask one of us,” the left door said. “It's in the rules,” the right door

added.

“One of us always tells the truth—” “And one of us always lies”  “He always lies.”  “I do not!  I tell the truth!”  “Oh, what a

lie!”  “Ha ha ha!  He's the liar!”

Giles' head was beginning to hurt.

“Oo!  Oo!  I know this!”  Xander exclaimed.  He stepped up to the doors with new confidence.  He pointed to the door on the

right.

“All right.  Answer 'yes' or 'no'. Would the other door tell me that this way leads to the castle?”

“Yes?”  The door on the right answered tentatively.

“Then the other door leads to the castle and this door leads to certain death!” Xander flashed a triumphant grin at Giles.

“He could be telling the truth,” the right door protested.

“But then you wouldn't be,” Xander reasoned.  “So if you said he said 'yes', the answer is 'no'.”

“I could be telling the truth.”

“Then he'd be lying, and the answer would still be 'no'.”

Even the doors began to look confused.  “Is that right?” the door on the right asked his fellow.  “I don't know!  I've never

understood it,” the door on the left complained.

“No!  It's right.  I figured it out.  Let's go, Giles!”

Xander opened the door on the left, stepped through, and disappeared.

“Oh, bloody hell!”


~*~*~*~*~*~
Selected dialogue from the 1986 film, The Labyrinth. 
~*~*~*~*~*~


Dawn was blossoming as she had never been permitted to do in Sunnydale.  

At first, she had been viewed as nothing more than the annoying kid sister, cramping Buffy's and the Scoobies' styles.  Well,

except for Xander.  Pretend-Xander in her pretend-history had always been nice to her; but even pretend-Xander had eventually

succumbed to the lures of a real relationship with Anya, and the amount of time he had available for pretend-Dawn was severely

reduced.

Later, when it was discovered that she was not Buffy's kid sister at all, but was instead a mystical glowing Key thingy that had

to be protected, then she got plenty of attention.  But it wasn't the kind of attention she longed for and needed. By then, her

pretend-family and friends all knew that she wasn't real.  The only one who continued to treat her as a real person was Spike, but

she was no longer sure if that was because he really liked spending time with her, or if he had just been trying to get close to

Buffy, like everyone else seemed to think.

She was special to Jareth, though, and he had never even met Buffy.  He treated her like a real, live grown-up person, not like a

15-year-old kid!  And, hey!  She was thousands of years old—like Anya—so how come Anya got to be an adult instead of a kid?

Everybody knew that Anya was boinking Xander, and nobody cared that she had only been human for a few years. Not that I

want to actually boink anyone, Dawn thought hastily, but if I did, I just know they'd all have a cow!  I just want to matter to

someone . . .

She guessed she did matter to Jareth, because he was having a ball just for her. He'd given her a beautiful white gown that she

just knew would make her look like a Faerie Princess, and was inviting all his friends to meet her—he wouldn't do that if he thought

of her as just an annoying kid.  Although he reminded her a bit of Spike, Jareth wasn't quite as . . . earthy . . . as Spike was.

Jareth would do anything in his power for her—he was so romantic!  He just wanted her to love him.  Emotionally—not physically—

she was sure boinking was the last thing on Jareth's mind.  He had always been a perfect gentleman with her, and, after all, she

was only fifteen.  And she thought she just might be beginning to love him.  What was left for her in Sunnydale?  Nothing but pain

and grief.  Here, she had the potential to find love and happiness, and if it was all a fantasy, so what?  Her entire existence was a

fantasy, and if she had to choose, she guessed she'd choose the one in which she got to be a Princess, instead of the one in

which she brought nothing but pain and death to all those around her.

Dawn picked up the frothy white gown and held it against herself.  She looked in the mirror and her vision began to blur.  Instead

of a gawky teenager in a sweater and jeans, wistfully imagining how she would look in that exquisite gown, she was perfectly

dressed and coiffed, whirling in the arms of her prince to the strains of a haunting melody.

Dawn smiled and closed her eyes as she gave herself up to the romance of the fantasy.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Continue to Chapter Six

Sword and Stake Home Gen/Ensemble Page Shippy (M/F) Page Slash (M/M) Page Short Stories Page