Feast of All Saints Ficlet

[alixtii]

A follow-up (sorta) to my All Hallows Eve ficlet for cadence_k. Dawn/Giles, 308 words. Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, here.

Richmond, England—November 1, 2019

Giles stood in front of the giant Sunnydale cenotaph. Even when he was gone, the giant monument would remain, the first thing one noticed upon entering the Watcher’s Cemetary. They had lost many people in Sunnydale. Anya. Joyce.

Jenny.

He had taken the train into London that morning, stopped at the Council Headquarters to take care of some business, then took the Tube out to the suburbs. He had come alone; Dawn wouldn’t understand the significance of the day. But while you could take the Watcher out of the Church of England, you couldn’t take the Anglican out of the Watcher.

He continued through the cemetery, stopping at each of the graves of fallen warriors. Kendra. Xander and Willow. Buffy.

The second time Buffy had died, she had gone to Heaven. Not the Judeo-Christian construct, or at least he supposed not, but it was right that she had been rewarded for her service. Now that she was dead once again, having died one more time to protect someone she loved, he refused to believe that she could be anywhere else. They all deserved an afterlife of eternal rewards. It had been his job to make sure that they didn’t have to endanger their souls to be heroes. His job, and now Dawn’s as well.

“Grant us grace so to follow your blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He felt strange, saying the old Christian prayer, but it felt right somehow.

“Amen.”

Giles turned in shock to see Dawn standing behind him. “What are you doing here?” he asked softly.

Dawn’s smile was sad as she stepped towards him, took his hand in hers. “I know you better than that, Rupert.”

---

Go to:
"Feast of All Souls"

Comments

[cadence-k.livejournal.com]

I promise that I'm not stalking your lj. I was just about to turn off the computer when this popped up!

I think I've told you several times before that I love your future fics. I think it's because you take these teenage characters and manage to write them as adults in a way that keeps their characterization really solid. I love Giles in this, of course, but the little part we see of Dawn is my favorite.

Loved it! Thank you so much for sharing.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Please, stalk my lj!

I love writing these futurefics, so I'm glad you enjoy them. Little details--like Dawn calling Giles "Rupert" here--count for so much.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

That was sweet.

Gina

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Thanks! They're sweet together. Who would have thought Dawn/Giles fluff would have worked so well?

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

It's not a pairing that would have occurred to me, even though I'm big on age-gap relationships (with or without Giles).

Gina

[youngest-one.livejournal.com]

Very nice. Dawn/Giles isn't a ship that usually appeals to me, but you did it well here.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Oh, fantastic! (Poking around your LJ a little after your comment over in cqs, though I didn't actually learn what I came to find, i.e., what's the source of that terrific icon?)

I'm not generally a fanfiction kind of person, but a few things have recently caught my interest, thanks to daysofawesome, which you might--or might not--be interested in skimming, given that it's on the one hand a different religion than yours (I'm assuming that you're writing here about your own religion, based on the "we Episcopalians/Anglicans" in your first-at-the-moment post in your LJ), but on the other hand a serious exploration of religion in fanfic. Or not so serious, it's hard to tell. Er. Anyway. Point is, loved the story.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

The Kitty/Emma icon which is currently my default (and is used for this comment) is from Astonishing X-Men's first arc, Gifted. I don't know the issue number off the top of my head but it'd be within the first half-dozen.

I wasn't an Episcopalian when I wrote this, as I was still in undergrad at the time (where I was very active in the Roman Catholic community even though I am not and have never been Roman Catholic), but I am now.

I've heard about daysofawesome just recently and am excited about what I can do with Kitty for it next time it rolls around.

Thank you for the feedback.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

*claps*

Very nice work.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Thank you!