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snoggedAs a special gift to my readers, I would like to offer up the epilogue for Mission X. Without question, this fic has been an incredible journey for me as a writer and it also clocks in as being the longest I've ever written. The final word count, for those of you who are curious, was: 25,374.
Hope you enjoy!
Title: Mission X (Epilogue)
Author: snogged
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Co. own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don’t.
Pairing: Willow/Riley
Word Count: 385
Overall Rating/Warnings: FRT-13/PG-13 to FRAO/NC-17; language, angst, drama, violence, het sex, sexual innuendo.
Setting: AU! Season 6. Parts of this story come from the established canon plot lines and others are my own desire to twist things my way.
Summary: When Riley comes back to Sunnydale, he stays for a reason that’s not Buffy.
Beta: the amazing Gabrielle and the awesome![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angelskuuipo.
Previous Chapters
Banners byrua1412: One / Two
Three Weeks Later
Willow curled up on her side, resting her head on Riley’s shoulder, her body exhausted and boneless from the paces of their intensive love-making. Since getting the green light from the doctors a few days ago, Riley had pretty much made it his mission to teach her body tricks it had never learned before.
Not that she minded, of course. She had always been a firm believer in the adage: knowledge is power. It was something she could depend on, something that made her stable, something that…
Had helped her kill Lazarus. Had helped her remove the blood and flesh from beneath her fingernails.
Unfortunately, her vast array of knowledge didn’t help her forget what she had done. It didn’t help her forget the crime she had committed. She had killed someone and the deep scars that marked Riley’s abdomen were a constant reminder of how deep the well of her rage ran.
She would forever be a prisoner of her own guilt and no amount of sex or kisses or cuddles would really change that.
Luckily for her, when she told Riley about it, he refused to stop looking at her differently. He seemed to understand that she had been changed by what had happened that night. He also seemed to understand what it meant to watch someone’s life leave their eyes, given his military background. Despite all of that, though, she noticed that it made him love her even more than he did before.
Closing her eyes, Willow focused on the soft, steady beat of Riley’s heart. She liked the way it thumped against her cheek, liked the way it interrupted her thoughts – so much so that she didn’t hear the beeping noise of Riley’s computer or notice the tell-tale illumination of the screen lighting up.
It took the sound of Sam’s voice to make either of them pay attention.
“Sorry to bug you, but I thought there was something you should know.”
Riley and Willow both turned to look at the screen, listening to Sam’s story about how General Huth had come to Nepal and how there had been a string of murders in the area. Young girls falling prey to some unknown terror that had left a single message in its wake:
From beneath you, it devours.
[End]
Hope you enjoy!
Title: Mission X (Epilogue)
Author: snogged
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Co. own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don’t.
Pairing: Willow/Riley
Word Count: 385
Overall Rating/Warnings: FRT-13/PG-13 to FRAO/NC-17; language, angst, drama, violence, het sex, sexual innuendo.
Setting: AU! Season 6. Parts of this story come from the established canon plot lines and others are my own desire to twist things my way.
Summary: When Riley comes back to Sunnydale, he stays for a reason that’s not Buffy.
Beta: the amazing Gabrielle and the awesome
angelskuuipo.Previous Chapters
Banners by
rua1412: One / Two Three Weeks Later
Willow curled up on her side, resting her head on Riley’s shoulder, her body exhausted and boneless from the paces of their intensive love-making. Since getting the green light from the doctors a few days ago, Riley had pretty much made it his mission to teach her body tricks it had never learned before.
Not that she minded, of course. She had always been a firm believer in the adage: knowledge is power. It was something she could depend on, something that made her stable, something that…
Had helped her kill Lazarus. Had helped her remove the blood and flesh from beneath her fingernails.
Unfortunately, her vast array of knowledge didn’t help her forget what she had done. It didn’t help her forget the crime she had committed. She had killed someone and the deep scars that marked Riley’s abdomen were a constant reminder of how deep the well of her rage ran.
She would forever be a prisoner of her own guilt and no amount of sex or kisses or cuddles would really change that.
Luckily for her, when she told Riley about it, he refused to stop looking at her differently. He seemed to understand that she had been changed by what had happened that night. He also seemed to understand what it meant to watch someone’s life leave their eyes, given his military background. Despite all of that, though, she noticed that it made him love her even more than he did before.
Closing her eyes, Willow focused on the soft, steady beat of Riley’s heart. She liked the way it thumped against her cheek, liked the way it interrupted her thoughts – so much so that she didn’t hear the beeping noise of Riley’s computer or notice the tell-tale illumination of the screen lighting up.
It took the sound of Sam’s voice to make either of them pay attention.
“Sorry to bug you, but I thought there was something you should know.”
Riley and Willow both turned to look at the screen, listening to Sam’s story about how General Huth had come to Nepal and how there had been a string of murders in the area. Young girls falling prey to some unknown terror that had left a single message in its wake:
From beneath you, it devours.
[End]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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on 2010-06-13 11:34 pm (UTC)Gabrielle
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on 2010-06-14 12:07 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-06-14 12:10 am (UTC)And you bet I'm going to incorporate psych stuff. It's important. :)
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on 2010-06-14 12:11 am (UTC)Thank you so very much! It means a lot.
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on 2010-06-14 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-06-14 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-06-14 07:39 am (UTC)I loved it greatly, the First finale touch was amazing.
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on 2010-06-14 02:43 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-06-14 03:57 pm (UTC)Thanks for being a most awesome beta! And for walking down the streets of Chicago talking about it all. :)
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on 2010-06-14 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-06-20 06:30 am (UTC)This was awesome and thank you so much for the great read :)
Kudos!
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on 2010-06-21 03:57 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-08-17 12:49 pm (UTC)This was splendid. It was amazing start to finish. I like how you blended season 7 into the end there. That was fitting.
This was so well done, I don't really have the right words so I'm going to stop rambling now.
no subject
on 2010-08-17 02:29 pm (UTC)