Fic Commentary: The Scarab, Chapter One
Jan. 24th, 2004 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bktheirregularI'm probably only going to do these over the weekends, two or perhaps three chapters a weekend. It'll take some time to do, and it'll be interspersed with my regular bibbling.
So, without further ado:
THE SCARAB
I originally called it "Mark of the Gods", referring to the mark that Jaffa in the Stargate canon wear on their foreheads, to show whose property they are. Four or five chapters in, I was driving to school ... or maybe to work, or back home, I forget ... and it just hit me: I needed a better title, and "The Scarab" fit much better, being a title much like those used in many Stargate episodes, and also - most importantly - a clear reference to the villain of the piece. I sucked up my pride and changed the name; I apologize to all those who looked in vain for the continuation of "Mark of the Gods".
BK the irregular
It really began as an extreme reaction to one too many bad crossovers. It seemed to me that the fact that both Buffy and Stargate had secret military operations in their respective canons was an obvious hook to use in a crossover ... and yet the crossover always seemed to be accomplished by some sort of Unbelievable Coincidence. I'd never read a Buffy/SG-1 crossover that made sense, so I decided to write one.
CHAPTER ONE: Gate Crasher
I picked chapter titles for the fic late in the writing phase, generally choosing simple titles that don't need much explaining. Somewhere I've got an LJ entry that explains each chapter title; I'll dig it up one of these days.
Sunnydale, California, August 2000
The date on this fic was very important: the events of the fic were going to be complicated enough that there was no way I'd be able to shoehorn them into a mid-season break, which pretty much mandated a summer setting, and Riley had to be a part of the equation. Ergo, summer after Buffy season four was the only time this would work. For Stargate purposes, I had much more flexibility; it helped that this took place after the events of "Seth", which set up quite a bit of background, but my only real concern was lining up the Stargate schedule with Buffy's. Stargate was on one of those odd cable network schedules at this point, so it turned out that it's set smack in the middle of their fourth season.
"More mashed potatoes, Riley?"
"Thanks, Joyce, but I couldn't eat another bite. My compliments to the chef," Riley said with a grin.
Joyce cleared her throat and beckoned her head to Buffy. Riley looked over, gasped theatrically, and said, "She cooks too?"
"Yep. Cook, slay, leap tall buildings at a single - well, two or three bounds anyway."
Willow giggled. "She can do tall fences at one bound, though." After a glance from Tara: "What? I've seen it."
I was inspired by the Christmas dinner in "The Body" when I wrote this; I wanted to show Buffy and Joyce growing closer, and Joyce being included more in the life of the Scoobies, as we would see in Buffy season five. The dinner setting also helps create a sense of calm.
Joyce glared at her daughter. "Is that how you were able to break curfew so easily all those times?"
Buffy ducked her head as she nibbled at the last of her salad. "Yeah. I'd go out, save the world, then do a standing jump to my window. That or the gymnastic thing. But I was under strict adult supervision."
"Honey, Giles doesn't count in that regard."
"Why not? He's an adult. Okay, the one time you really got to know him you were both adolescent-minded..."
Joyce flushed. "Wait until you have a child of your own, Buffy. I guarantee you she'll have you tearing your hair out."
Riley frowned. "Huh?"
Tara matched his frown. "I'll second that huh?"
Including Riley and Tara in the group, of course, means dishing the dirt on the embarassing stories.
Buffy looked at her mother, then put on her best cat-ate-the-canary smile. "This was a couple of years ago. The Mayor was setting up for a demon sacrifice, he needed the whole town out of commission, so he contracted out to Ethan Rayne - you met him, Riley, he's the one who turned Giles into the demon that time - anyway, Ethan managed to get the whole town flooded with this candy that turned everyone into teenagers. And with Mom being a wild child, and Giles being rebel-without-a-clue, one thing led to another and-"
I don't think Buffy ever missed a chance to torture Joyce about that.
"Who wants dessert?" Joyce broke in.
"-and we're having tiramisu. I'm in, Mom."
"Me too," Willow chirped.
Riley and Tara smiled and nodded. "So where is Giles anyway? And Xander?" Riley asked.
"Xander's off with Anya somewhere. Giles said that he'd be by later; he thought he'd figured out why the demon population's grown so quiet the past few weeks," Buffy said.
"Gee, you think it might have something to do with the carnage in the Initiative?" Willow asked with a bit of razz in her voice.
"I dunno. I mean, things kinda picked up after we took Adam down, and then all of a sudden it dropped off the radar. The past week or so I haven't seen a thing." Buffy frowned. "Not even Spike."
Plot point setup alert.
Tara got up to collect dishes. "Sounds ... sounds like it's a good thing. You know, gift horses and all that."
"Yeah, but I don't want to get caught off guard, you know?"
One thing about plotting a story is that you don't want to waste an incredible amount of time on background and setup. You may need some, especially if you're introducing the characters to readers, but if you spend four chapters setting the stage, readers may get bored. And in a crossover especially, you'll want a fairly significant event to drive things forward.
Tara nodded.
And screamed as the door to the house got blasted off its hinges.
Something like, oh, say, that.
Two vampires lunged at the door, bouncing off the threshold. Buffy and Riley jumped aside to scramble for weapons; Buffy came up with a poker from the fireplace, Riley pulled out a baton that he snapped open with a flip of his wrist. Willow jumped to get Tara out of the way, and Joyce shrieked and jumped back into the dining room.
The vampires stepped back, and two demons came in, each bearing a long, elaborate staff with a flared end and an odd grip halfway down. Behind them came a third demon, carrying an odd device in its hand, and something that looked human - if very oddly dressed.
One thing I should note at this point: when I began the actual writing of this fic, back in 2002, I didn't have much in the way of a writing support mechanism. I hung out at the Cross and Stake board, but not enough to be one of their regulars. As a consequence, I had never had a beta to this point. If some of the action in the early going seems a little rough ... that may be because I was working on my own at this point.
Riley jumped at the first demon, drove it back to the door, only to be beaten back by the second. Buffy drove the second demon back with a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking it into the stairwell.
Then the third demon raised its device. The thing snapped open like a cobra preparing to strike, and spat a bolt of blue fire at Riley - who went down like a ton of bricks.
Joyce took one step to try and drag Riley out, only to be tagged herself as the device shrieked and spat fire again. Buffy jumped to help her mother - and suddenly every nerve in her body was aflame. Slayer strength to the rescue, she thought. Right now I'd be unconscious ... instead of wishing I was.
She collapsed, twitching, trying to will her legs to move.
Tara muttered something under her breath, gripping Willow's hand, then shouted out, "Ignis inciende!"
I never took Latin in school, so I don't know from nothing about spells and such. I think I may have read or heard that somewhere, and I threw it in. Plus, it would give Stargate readers who were wondering what the frell was going on a bit of character introduction: Tara's ability with magic and witchcraft.
One of the demons burst into flame, catching one of the vampires outside in the fireball; the demon dropped its staff, jumped out to roll on the lawn, while the vampire tried to do the same, losing the race and disintegrating into dust.
The demon with the zapping device turned it on Tara; an electronic shriek, and Tara was down.
Willow stood up, grabbed the fire tongs, and swung at the thing; senseless, mindless, she threw the tongs, catching the demon in the throat.
Then the other staff-wielding demon leveled its staff at her.
The narrow end of the staff split open with a buzz of electricity.
Willow put up her hands to defend herself...
...and the staff spat out a flame-colored bolt that slammed into her chest, sending her flying back into the fireplace with a crash.
Buffy moaned - she wanted to scream but she couldn't get her mouth to work right - and watched as Willow took one step forward, coughed once, twice ... a trickle of blood came from the corner of her mouth ... and she fell face first to the ground.
I figured it was best not to pull punches. I wanted to set things up so at the end of the story, the reader would want the Big Bad to go down painfully and spectacularly.
The human-looking creature stepped into the house. It looked over at the bodies strewn all over, paying special care to Willow's crumpled form. It nodded at the door-
-and Spike came walking in.
Right up until "Crush", I figured that Spike's invitation into the Summers house was still good. Also, the Big Bad entering the house uninvited was not a continuity gaffe. I'll try and explain that later.
"Bring her," the man-creature said, its voice harsh and guttural, and Spike nodded solemnly.
"Yes, my lord Kheper," Spike intoned, without the slightest mocking tone, and gently picked Willow's broken body up.
I have to be honest: I cribbed the name "Kheper" from Kimberly Rector and Martha Wilson's When Hellmouths Collide, the Gold Standard of crossover fics. Some explanation may be in order here.
When I was putting together the outline, I needed a name for my Big Bad. I wanted a name out of Egyptian mythology, but something that hadn't been used in Stargate canon. I wanted a name that was unlikely to be used for a Stargate villain. In casting about for names, I ran across WHC's references to an Egyptian sorcerer named Kheper; I looked up the name on the 'net, digging into sites on Egyptian mythology ... and liked what I found.
Giles gives the exposition on Kheper in Egyptian mythology in Chapter Two; basically, "Kheper" or "Khepri" was the name the Egyptians gave to the scarab symbolizing Ra, so I figured there was a chance there'd be a Kheper in the court of Ra back when Ra was running things in Stargate canon. The mythology isn't clear whether Kheper was supposed to be a god in his own right, or whether Kheper was merely a symbol of Ra. I took that inconsistency and developed it into an uncertainty on Kheper's part as to his role in the House of Ra, and all of a sudden the motives of my Big Bad snapped into focus. Gestalt.
Thank you, thank you, and now back to the plot.
That did it. Buffy surged, got back to her feet unsteadily, and reached for a stake. "You're dead," she rasped. "You hear me? You're dead."
Kheper strode to her and raised a hand, and Buffy found herself transfixed. "I will decide who dies," he said. His eyes flashed white, glowing eerily. "Life and death are the province of your god." His hand was glowing - actually it wasn't the hand itself, but a glowing jewel in a ribbon-like bracelet that entwined the palm of his hand - and Buffy felt as though her head were ready to explode.
Clunky dialogue, I know. Villains in the Stargate canon tend to talk like that, though. Particularly pompous snake-heads with God complexes. Also, I was incredibly relieved to note on re-reading this that when Kheper's eyes flashed, Riley was already down for the count. It'll make sense in Chapter Two.
"You will understand in time," Kheper said. He nodded to the demon with the snake-like thing in its hand, and it spat blue fire at her again.
If asked under oath, I'll claim that Kheper didn't see Buffy get hit the first time. The dialogue doesn't match up to the fact that Buffy just got hit with a killing shot, and I'd bet a beta would have caught it. Too bad I didn't get one for another nine chapters or so. The fault is entirely my own.
Buffy screamed this time, and whether her voice faded from the pain, or it was just her consciousness fading out, she didn't know and didn't care.
* * * * * * *
**river**
**flash**
**marketplace**
**flash**
**pyramid**
**flash**
**procession - a young man - eyes glowing - symbol of the sun at his back**
A little evocative of "Restless", with Slayer dreams mixed in. Evoking a dream-like state isn't too easy when you're dealing with the written word and trying to create a visual.
**flash**
**Spike - and Willow - Willow with a hole in her chest - "What looks alive is not always alive," Spike said - Willow looked up and the hole in her chest was healed, closed, whole again under the burn - "Death isn't always forever," Willow said**
Blatantly symbolic, anvil-to-the-head imagery. I would like to say that it also foreshadows plot points about Kheper and his minion-in-chief (of whom more later), but I would be lying.
Buffy looked, and the desert was at war. She looked and saw someone fighting a creature with an eagle's head - it was the First Slayer - no, Kendra, no, it was Faith, wait, it was Buffy herself off in the distance-
This is supposed to be a depiction of the rebellion that drove Ra and the System Lords away from Earth, if only in small snippets. As for the inclusion of an unknown Slayer? I suspect a Goa'uld would fit the Slayer's definition of monsters, and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that a Slayer was involved in the uprising.
-and then it was the First Slayer again, brought before the golden bright young man with the jewel in his palm, and he was anointing her, no, killing her, breaking her mind apart and his eyes were flashing-
"Know the power of your god," he said, and then the desert erupted in flame.
Buffy looked up to face a ... man? It had the stylized head of a cobra, carried one of those killing staffs, but the head was metal-
-it opened, sliding back like a visor, to collapse into a collar around the man's neck. So he was a man, only huge. He looked down at her, and the sun glinted off a gilded oval on his forehead, creating a halo around his ebony shaved skull.
I don't know why, but I always had the sense that Teal'c was a massive individual. I don't know how big he actually is, but considering that Buffy's about the size of a parsnip, Teal'c would leave an impression of sheer size.
"False god," he said, and suddenly he was in normal clothes, but still with the golden brand on his forehead. "Dead false god."
Then there was Giles, thank God, only there were two of him, and one wasn't Giles, she must have been thrown by the glasses...
This really comes out if you look at Perri's wallpaper. And later on, the bad guys will make the same mistake. *g*
Giles-but-not-Giles said, "You have to understand that the power they have, they stole."
Then Giles-really-Giles said, "The power you wield is yours by right."
Not-Giles with the Stargate crypticness, really-Giles with the Buffy crypticness. Deliberate choice.
Golden-forehead-guy loomed over her, and he sounded an awful lot like Giles as he said, "Buffy? Buffy?"
* * * * * * *
"...Buffy?"
It was Giles, really Giles, and everyone was hovering around her. Mom, and Riley, Tara, Xander, Anya-
"Giles?"
"Thank God you're all right. You've been unconscious nearly fourteen hours, Buffy."
"Wow," Buffy answered. "It was weird. I had this dream, Giles - the house got stormed, everyone was getting bug-zapped and this Egyptian-looking guy walked in, and he had Spike wrapped around his finger, then it got real weird, I was in Egypt, it just ... wow. Will, you're okay, right?"
Nobody spoke.
Buffy counted faces, and her heart turned to ice.
No Willow.
"Buffy ... the attack was real."
Buffy blinked. "But Will ... she's okay, right?" she asked, her voice cracking.
Giles blinked back tears. "They killed her, Buffy. Willow's gone."
I figured that would get the plot going.
---
Hopefully the commentary isn't too intrusive, or too much with the bibbling and navel-gazing.
Chapter 2 tomorrow.
Close entry.
So, without further ado:
THE SCARAB
I originally called it "Mark of the Gods", referring to the mark that Jaffa in the Stargate canon wear on their foreheads, to show whose property they are. Four or five chapters in, I was driving to school ... or maybe to work, or back home, I forget ... and it just hit me: I needed a better title, and "The Scarab" fit much better, being a title much like those used in many Stargate episodes, and also - most importantly - a clear reference to the villain of the piece. I sucked up my pride and changed the name; I apologize to all those who looked in vain for the continuation of "Mark of the Gods".
BK the irregular
It really began as an extreme reaction to one too many bad crossovers. It seemed to me that the fact that both Buffy and Stargate had secret military operations in their respective canons was an obvious hook to use in a crossover ... and yet the crossover always seemed to be accomplished by some sort of Unbelievable Coincidence. I'd never read a Buffy/SG-1 crossover that made sense, so I decided to write one.
CHAPTER ONE: Gate Crasher
I picked chapter titles for the fic late in the writing phase, generally choosing simple titles that don't need much explaining. Somewhere I've got an LJ entry that explains each chapter title; I'll dig it up one of these days.
Sunnydale, California, August 2000
The date on this fic was very important: the events of the fic were going to be complicated enough that there was no way I'd be able to shoehorn them into a mid-season break, which pretty much mandated a summer setting, and Riley had to be a part of the equation. Ergo, summer after Buffy season four was the only time this would work. For Stargate purposes, I had much more flexibility; it helped that this took place after the events of "Seth", which set up quite a bit of background, but my only real concern was lining up the Stargate schedule with Buffy's. Stargate was on one of those odd cable network schedules at this point, so it turned out that it's set smack in the middle of their fourth season.
"More mashed potatoes, Riley?"
"Thanks, Joyce, but I couldn't eat another bite. My compliments to the chef," Riley said with a grin.
Joyce cleared her throat and beckoned her head to Buffy. Riley looked over, gasped theatrically, and said, "She cooks too?"
"Yep. Cook, slay, leap tall buildings at a single - well, two or three bounds anyway."
Willow giggled. "She can do tall fences at one bound, though." After a glance from Tara: "What? I've seen it."
I was inspired by the Christmas dinner in "The Body" when I wrote this; I wanted to show Buffy and Joyce growing closer, and Joyce being included more in the life of the Scoobies, as we would see in Buffy season five. The dinner setting also helps create a sense of calm.
Joyce glared at her daughter. "Is that how you were able to break curfew so easily all those times?"
Buffy ducked her head as she nibbled at the last of her salad. "Yeah. I'd go out, save the world, then do a standing jump to my window. That or the gymnastic thing. But I was under strict adult supervision."
"Honey, Giles doesn't count in that regard."
"Why not? He's an adult. Okay, the one time you really got to know him you were both adolescent-minded..."
Joyce flushed. "Wait until you have a child of your own, Buffy. I guarantee you she'll have you tearing your hair out."
Riley frowned. "Huh?"
Tara matched his frown. "I'll second that huh?"
Including Riley and Tara in the group, of course, means dishing the dirt on the embarassing stories.
Buffy looked at her mother, then put on her best cat-ate-the-canary smile. "This was a couple of years ago. The Mayor was setting up for a demon sacrifice, he needed the whole town out of commission, so he contracted out to Ethan Rayne - you met him, Riley, he's the one who turned Giles into the demon that time - anyway, Ethan managed to get the whole town flooded with this candy that turned everyone into teenagers. And with Mom being a wild child, and Giles being rebel-without-a-clue, one thing led to another and-"
I don't think Buffy ever missed a chance to torture Joyce about that.
"Who wants dessert?" Joyce broke in.
"-and we're having tiramisu. I'm in, Mom."
"Me too," Willow chirped.
Riley and Tara smiled and nodded. "So where is Giles anyway? And Xander?" Riley asked.
"Xander's off with Anya somewhere. Giles said that he'd be by later; he thought he'd figured out why the demon population's grown so quiet the past few weeks," Buffy said.
"Gee, you think it might have something to do with the carnage in the Initiative?" Willow asked with a bit of razz in her voice.
"I dunno. I mean, things kinda picked up after we took Adam down, and then all of a sudden it dropped off the radar. The past week or so I haven't seen a thing." Buffy frowned. "Not even Spike."
Plot point setup alert.
Tara got up to collect dishes. "Sounds ... sounds like it's a good thing. You know, gift horses and all that."
"Yeah, but I don't want to get caught off guard, you know?"
One thing about plotting a story is that you don't want to waste an incredible amount of time on background and setup. You may need some, especially if you're introducing the characters to readers, but if you spend four chapters setting the stage, readers may get bored. And in a crossover especially, you'll want a fairly significant event to drive things forward.
Tara nodded.
And screamed as the door to the house got blasted off its hinges.
Something like, oh, say, that.
Two vampires lunged at the door, bouncing off the threshold. Buffy and Riley jumped aside to scramble for weapons; Buffy came up with a poker from the fireplace, Riley pulled out a baton that he snapped open with a flip of his wrist. Willow jumped to get Tara out of the way, and Joyce shrieked and jumped back into the dining room.
The vampires stepped back, and two demons came in, each bearing a long, elaborate staff with a flared end and an odd grip halfway down. Behind them came a third demon, carrying an odd device in its hand, and something that looked human - if very oddly dressed.
One thing I should note at this point: when I began the actual writing of this fic, back in 2002, I didn't have much in the way of a writing support mechanism. I hung out at the Cross and Stake board, but not enough to be one of their regulars. As a consequence, I had never had a beta to this point. If some of the action in the early going seems a little rough ... that may be because I was working on my own at this point.
Riley jumped at the first demon, drove it back to the door, only to be beaten back by the second. Buffy drove the second demon back with a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking it into the stairwell.
Then the third demon raised its device. The thing snapped open like a cobra preparing to strike, and spat a bolt of blue fire at Riley - who went down like a ton of bricks.
Joyce took one step to try and drag Riley out, only to be tagged herself as the device shrieked and spat fire again. Buffy jumped to help her mother - and suddenly every nerve in her body was aflame. Slayer strength to the rescue, she thought. Right now I'd be unconscious ... instead of wishing I was.
She collapsed, twitching, trying to will her legs to move.
Tara muttered something under her breath, gripping Willow's hand, then shouted out, "Ignis inciende!"
I never took Latin in school, so I don't know from nothing about spells and such. I think I may have read or heard that somewhere, and I threw it in. Plus, it would give Stargate readers who were wondering what the frell was going on a bit of character introduction: Tara's ability with magic and witchcraft.
One of the demons burst into flame, catching one of the vampires outside in the fireball; the demon dropped its staff, jumped out to roll on the lawn, while the vampire tried to do the same, losing the race and disintegrating into dust.
The demon with the zapping device turned it on Tara; an electronic shriek, and Tara was down.
Willow stood up, grabbed the fire tongs, and swung at the thing; senseless, mindless, she threw the tongs, catching the demon in the throat.
Then the other staff-wielding demon leveled its staff at her.
The narrow end of the staff split open with a buzz of electricity.
Willow put up her hands to defend herself...
...and the staff spat out a flame-colored bolt that slammed into her chest, sending her flying back into the fireplace with a crash.
Buffy moaned - she wanted to scream but she couldn't get her mouth to work right - and watched as Willow took one step forward, coughed once, twice ... a trickle of blood came from the corner of her mouth ... and she fell face first to the ground.
I figured it was best not to pull punches. I wanted to set things up so at the end of the story, the reader would want the Big Bad to go down painfully and spectacularly.
The human-looking creature stepped into the house. It looked over at the bodies strewn all over, paying special care to Willow's crumpled form. It nodded at the door-
-and Spike came walking in.
Right up until "Crush", I figured that Spike's invitation into the Summers house was still good. Also, the Big Bad entering the house uninvited was not a continuity gaffe. I'll try and explain that later.
"Bring her," the man-creature said, its voice harsh and guttural, and Spike nodded solemnly.
"Yes, my lord Kheper," Spike intoned, without the slightest mocking tone, and gently picked Willow's broken body up.
I have to be honest: I cribbed the name "Kheper" from Kimberly Rector and Martha Wilson's When Hellmouths Collide, the Gold Standard of crossover fics. Some explanation may be in order here.
When I was putting together the outline, I needed a name for my Big Bad. I wanted a name out of Egyptian mythology, but something that hadn't been used in Stargate canon. I wanted a name that was unlikely to be used for a Stargate villain. In casting about for names, I ran across WHC's references to an Egyptian sorcerer named Kheper; I looked up the name on the 'net, digging into sites on Egyptian mythology ... and liked what I found.
Giles gives the exposition on Kheper in Egyptian mythology in Chapter Two; basically, "Kheper" or "Khepri" was the name the Egyptians gave to the scarab symbolizing Ra, so I figured there was a chance there'd be a Kheper in the court of Ra back when Ra was running things in Stargate canon. The mythology isn't clear whether Kheper was supposed to be a god in his own right, or whether Kheper was merely a symbol of Ra. I took that inconsistency and developed it into an uncertainty on Kheper's part as to his role in the House of Ra, and all of a sudden the motives of my Big Bad snapped into focus. Gestalt.
Thank you, thank you, and now back to the plot.
That did it. Buffy surged, got back to her feet unsteadily, and reached for a stake. "You're dead," she rasped. "You hear me? You're dead."
Kheper strode to her and raised a hand, and Buffy found herself transfixed. "I will decide who dies," he said. His eyes flashed white, glowing eerily. "Life and death are the province of your god." His hand was glowing - actually it wasn't the hand itself, but a glowing jewel in a ribbon-like bracelet that entwined the palm of his hand - and Buffy felt as though her head were ready to explode.
Clunky dialogue, I know. Villains in the Stargate canon tend to talk like that, though. Particularly pompous snake-heads with God complexes. Also, I was incredibly relieved to note on re-reading this that when Kheper's eyes flashed, Riley was already down for the count. It'll make sense in Chapter Two.
"You will understand in time," Kheper said. He nodded to the demon with the snake-like thing in its hand, and it spat blue fire at her again.
If asked under oath, I'll claim that Kheper didn't see Buffy get hit the first time. The dialogue doesn't match up to the fact that Buffy just got hit with a killing shot, and I'd bet a beta would have caught it. Too bad I didn't get one for another nine chapters or so. The fault is entirely my own.
Buffy screamed this time, and whether her voice faded from the pain, or it was just her consciousness fading out, she didn't know and didn't care.
* * * * * * *
**river**
**flash**
**marketplace**
**flash**
**pyramid**
**flash**
**procession - a young man - eyes glowing - symbol of the sun at his back**
A little evocative of "Restless", with Slayer dreams mixed in. Evoking a dream-like state isn't too easy when you're dealing with the written word and trying to create a visual.
**flash**
**Spike - and Willow - Willow with a hole in her chest - "What looks alive is not always alive," Spike said - Willow looked up and the hole in her chest was healed, closed, whole again under the burn - "Death isn't always forever," Willow said**
Blatantly symbolic, anvil-to-the-head imagery. I would like to say that it also foreshadows plot points about Kheper and his minion-in-chief (of whom more later), but I would be lying.
Buffy looked, and the desert was at war. She looked and saw someone fighting a creature with an eagle's head - it was the First Slayer - no, Kendra, no, it was Faith, wait, it was Buffy herself off in the distance-
This is supposed to be a depiction of the rebellion that drove Ra and the System Lords away from Earth, if only in small snippets. As for the inclusion of an unknown Slayer? I suspect a Goa'uld would fit the Slayer's definition of monsters, and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that a Slayer was involved in the uprising.
-and then it was the First Slayer again, brought before the golden bright young man with the jewel in his palm, and he was anointing her, no, killing her, breaking her mind apart and his eyes were flashing-
"Know the power of your god," he said, and then the desert erupted in flame.
Buffy looked up to face a ... man? It had the stylized head of a cobra, carried one of those killing staffs, but the head was metal-
-it opened, sliding back like a visor, to collapse into a collar around the man's neck. So he was a man, only huge. He looked down at her, and the sun glinted off a gilded oval on his forehead, creating a halo around his ebony shaved skull.
I don't know why, but I always had the sense that Teal'c was a massive individual. I don't know how big he actually is, but considering that Buffy's about the size of a parsnip, Teal'c would leave an impression of sheer size.
"False god," he said, and suddenly he was in normal clothes, but still with the golden brand on his forehead. "Dead false god."
Then there was Giles, thank God, only there were two of him, and one wasn't Giles, she must have been thrown by the glasses...
This really comes out if you look at Perri's wallpaper. And later on, the bad guys will make the same mistake. *g*
Giles-but-not-Giles said, "You have to understand that the power they have, they stole."
Then Giles-really-Giles said, "The power you wield is yours by right."
Not-Giles with the Stargate crypticness, really-Giles with the Buffy crypticness. Deliberate choice.
Golden-forehead-guy loomed over her, and he sounded an awful lot like Giles as he said, "Buffy? Buffy?"
* * * * * * *
"...Buffy?"
It was Giles, really Giles, and everyone was hovering around her. Mom, and Riley, Tara, Xander, Anya-
"Giles?"
"Thank God you're all right. You've been unconscious nearly fourteen hours, Buffy."
"Wow," Buffy answered. "It was weird. I had this dream, Giles - the house got stormed, everyone was getting bug-zapped and this Egyptian-looking guy walked in, and he had Spike wrapped around his finger, then it got real weird, I was in Egypt, it just ... wow. Will, you're okay, right?"
Nobody spoke.
Buffy counted faces, and her heart turned to ice.
No Willow.
"Buffy ... the attack was real."
Buffy blinked. "But Will ... she's okay, right?" she asked, her voice cracking.
Giles blinked back tears. "They killed her, Buffy. Willow's gone."
I figured that would get the plot going.
---
Hopefully the commentary isn't too intrusive, or too much with the bibbling and navel-gazing.
Chapter 2 tomorrow.
Close entry.
