Old Friends, New Friends
Author: Perletwo
Summary: To save
Dawn's life, Buffy and Spike have sacrificed a prized possession.
Spoilers: Crush
Rating: G
Disclaimers: Joss is God! Mutant Enemy *rocks*! Grr, arrgh! (please don't
sue me, 'k?)
A/N: Sequel to Colleen Hillerup's "Old Friends," with permission.
My girl bursts through the door to my world. I heard her come out
of
the water room, but she didn't come in to put on her nightgown like
usual. She's out of breath and she looks scared.
She hunts frantically through the things on the dresser, picking
things up and throwing them away, muttering something I can't make
out. Then she spots me up on the shelf and stretches up to get me,
almost losing the towel covering her.
"C'mon, Mr. Gordo. We've got a very important job to do."
Job? That's what Girl calls poking people with the sharp sticks. I
don't think poking them with me will work, Girl.
She runs, holding me tightly.
Running is fun. But I almost never see her this scared. It worries me.
****
"...another friend, one that will never leave you," I hear Yellow
saying as we fly down the stairs. "Not like the girl. You know how
they break." They do? Mine doesn't.
Then my girl turns me around so I can see what's happening.
Yellow is talking slow and softly to a big one with long black fur,
hard and white like him. She has a hand wrapped around the new brown-
furred girl's throat, pinning her to a wall, and the hand looks like
it has claws on it that'd cut.
Girl? I think you need something better than me to poke this one with!
"Give her this," she says, and pushes me into Yellow's hands. His
hands are so much colder than hers!
Yellow turns me around to look at him, then back to the black-furred
one. "Look, pet. This is Buffy's favourite friend. He'll be yours
forever and ever. He isn't pretty, like Miss Edith, but you can hold
him and love him and he'll never break."
Oh.
Girl? Can he do that?
I look again at Brown Fur. Her eyes are wide like Teddy's, she's
almost as white as Yellow and she's making little gurgling noises. I
can see the dents the black one's fingers are making on her.
Okay. This is a *very* important job.
The black one takes me away from Yellow with her free hand, but
doesn't let go of Brown Fur. "He's funny. He has the Slayer's love
all over him. He'll be so sad to say goodbye."
I will be sad, Black One, but I'll be your pig now too. You can hug
me and I'll take good care of you like I do my girl if you'll let
Brown Fur go, okay?
That's funny. She's holding me up to her ear, almost like..."What's
that? You'll be mine, now? Funny piggy."
She throws Brown Fur into Yellow's arms and holds me tight, and we
run out into the Big Place with Twinkly Lights.
****
Oh my goodness the black one runs fast! Everything looks all blurry!
Then she takes me into a big spooky old house and we rest on a low
sofa. It's very dark in here compared to my world.
"Sweet pig, sweeeet piiiig," she's crooning, rocking us back and
forth. It's nice, but a little strange. She sits us back up and looks
at me. "You're my new friend now, Piggie. My name is Drusilla, but my
true friends all call me Dru."
I'll be your friend, Drooo. My name is Mr. Gordo, but Piggie is okay.
"Is it? Mr. Gordo?" she asks, and holds me up to her ear again.
Drooo? Did you - hear that?
"Of course I did, silly pig. Do you like to sing? I used to sing to
Miss Edith, but she went away."
I'm sorry your friend went away. Maybe she'll come back?
"I wish - I wish she would, Mr. Gordo. She always told me lovely
things, I always knew I could count on her to tell me true things,"
Drooo says. She looks so sad, like she might cry. I hate when my
girls cry. Don't worry, Drooo. I'll do everything I can to make it
all better, I promise.
"Thank you, Mr. Gordo," she sniffles.
Drooo?
She stops looking far away and I can tell she sees me.
When my other girl held me close to her front I could hear her front
go thumpythumpythumpy. Why doesn't yours?
"I used to go thumpythumpythumpy, Pig. Then I stopped." Her dark eyes
go all funny again. "Angel made me stop. He didn't like the noise..."
She giggles strangely. I don't like it. Angel? My girl used to call
the dark one that came in through the window Angel. Could that be the
same one?
"Ohh yes, that's moyy Angel, Pig. 'E was wild about your Slayer, 'e
was," she says, brushing the fur on top of my head with one
hand. "*I* knew she'd be sorry. Pretty name, pretty face, pretty
voice, Angel 'as. But they all lie for 'im, 'cause all 'e does
when 'e loves is lie. But she didn't ask me," she singsongs, "an' she
was so sor-ry..."
Oh. I'm glad he doesn't come anymore. I like the yellow one better
anyway. He makes my other girl laugh and smile and feel better.
"My Spike," she says dreamily. "Always so good and kind to me, 'e
was. 'E made me a happy home for such a long time, just us and Miss
Edith and the other dollies..." She's rocking again. "Now 'e's making
a happy home with the Slayer and her pretty dolly. She an' Angel are
always taking away my 'omes..."
I'm sure she doesn't mean to, Drooo. She's a nice girl. I don't know
about that Angel, though.
Her eyes darken again.
"Ohhhh yes, Angel meant to take away my 'ome right enough. Did it,
too. 'E took away my mummy an' my daddy an' my brothers and sister
an' my uncles an' I think my old Nana too. Everyone just thought she
went 'cause she was so old, but I knew better."
Drooo hugs me again, and I do my best to hug back. This is worse hurt
than hugs maybe can fix, though, I think.
" 'E wanted me to have nobody left to count on but 'im, you see. An'
then 'e went away too...I counted on my Spike for so long, but then I
could see your girl all over him, laughing, calling to him...An' then
there was nobody I could count on but Miss Edith, but I can't
find 'er. So you see? I 'ad to take a dolly from the Slayer. She 'as
all my dollies to play with. She can spare one!"
It's okay, Drooo. I'll play with you. You can count on me, I promise.
I never lie to my girls either.
"Sweet pig. Lucky girls we are." She smiles, tickling my tummy.
"Want
to see something pretty, Mr. Gordo?"
She carries me over to a funny wall. It has a hole in it like my
world does, but the hole goes all the way up and down to the top and
bottom walls. She opens the door with the squares in it in the hole
and takes me outside.
It *is* pretty out here. There's lots of plants with colorful things
on them, and big stone dolls and a little water wall, and the Giant
Twinkly Thing shines down and covers it all in a pretty blue light,
and the plants make it smell sweet.
"Isn't this nice, Mr. Gordo? This is the night-blooming jasmine, it
wakes up when I do," she giggles. "I don't know what this plant is,
so I just call it Mariana. It likes it when I sing it to sleep just
before the day starts. This is ivy, isn't it pretty? Reminds me
of 'ome, it does..." She looks sad again.
Drooo?
She looks down at me.
Can you sing to me? Something sweet?
That makes her smile, and she lays me down in her arms.
"Aaa-las my lo-oove, you dooo me wrooong," she croons, turning around
and around on the Big Place's stone floor in the blue light. "to ca-
aast me off so dis-cour-teously...For I 'ave lo-oved you well and
long, de-liiighting i-in your com-pa-ny...Greeen-sle-eeeves was all
my joy, Greeen-sle-eeves was my dee-light...Greeen-sle-eeeves was
my 'eart of go-old...And who-ooo but my la-aady Greeen-sleeeves..."
She pulls me up against her front again, still dancing slow around
and around. "Your vows you've bro-ooken like my 'eart, Oh why did you
so-ooo en-raap-tuure me?...Now I re-ma-aiin a world a-paaart, But
my 'eart re-ma-aiiins in cap-tiii-vi-ty..."
****
A long time later the light gets brighter and less blue, and Drooo
carries me inside and pulls thick dark cloth over the holes in the
walls. She cuddles up to me on the couch and goes to sleep, cooing
and petting me at first, and then she gets very very still and quiet,
not at all like my other girl when she sleeps.
I wonder why Drooo can hear me talk, when other big ones can't? Is
that why she misses her Miss Edith so much?
I feel so bad for Drooo. I know where everything is in my world and
who belongs there and who doesn't. But Drooo's world changes around
her all the time, nothing's ever the same.
But she scares me too, because she's like my girl was when she was
little. Only Drooo's not a little one anymore, she's a big one,
strong and monstrous like the ones my girl pokes with the sharp
things. And she doesn't seem to know it. She's almost squeezed the
stuffing out of me more than once.
I guess this is going to be my world now.
****
Sometime while Drooo sleeps I fall off the couch, and she wakes
suddenly.
"Mr. Gordo?" She looks around, panicked, and spots me on the floor. I
don't like the look on her face.
"Bad, bad pig you've been, trying to run away," she hisses. "Good
pigs stay where they're wanted. Good pigs don't try to run away from
their new daddies. Bad pigs have to be punished."
I'm sorry, Drooo. I didn't mean to make you mad, I just fell down....
"Ohhh, I know how *that* song goes, Mr. Gordo. Bad pigs always say
they didn't mean to get away, but their new daddies know better and
they punish them and punish them until they don't want to run away
anymore..." Her eyes get kinda dreamy. Then she pulls a wide ribbon
out of her dress.
"Bad pigs don't get to see how they're going to be punished," she
hisses, and ties the ribbon over my eyes. The world gets very dark.
I can feel her start to hit me, lashing at me with something long and
stringy that snaps at my fur. A bootlace maybe? It doesn't hurt
exactly, it just makes me feel bad that my new girl is so angry with
me.
She's hitting me with the stringy thing very slow, drawing it out,
and then she pets me where she hit and croons to me before she does
it again someplace else. After awhile she wears herself out and
collapses, crying, on the sofa. Please don't cry, Drooo. I'll be
good. I promise.
Is this how my girl's first dark one treated her? She said Angel was
her new daddy, didn't she?
Yellow never hurts my girl. He wouldn't even hurt Drooo when she was
going to hurt Brown Fur. I bet he never hurt Drooo before, either.
I'm so glad my girl has Yellow now. I'm so glad the dark ones don't
come anymore. I don't want that Angel person to do to my girl what he
did to Drooo.
But what am I going to do about my new girl? If Yellow couldn't make
her all better, how can I?
****
Later the door to the Big Stone World opens, creaking slowly, and I
see a shadow creep over the sofa we're lying on. Drooo stirs and sits
up slowly. "Whaa - who -"
"I'm not here to hurt you," Brown Fur whispers. "I just - came to
talk." Drooo stiffens and closes her arms around me tighter.
"I - I brought you one of Spike's bags of blood to eat. I hoped if I
brought you some ready-to-eat you might leave mine right where it
is...so we can talk. Okay?" She holds the bag out, and after staring
at it a long moment Drooo snatches it out of her hand. Her face
changes and she bites into the bag like an animal.
Brown Fur climbs up on the arm of the sofa, tucking one leg under
her. "Okay?" she asks again, and Drooo nods.
"Spike told me all about you, Drusilla...about how Angel took your
family away from you. I know you won't believe me, but I sorta know
how that feels." Droo snorts.
"I do. I've never really known my Dad, he left when I was real
little. I never see him anymore. My Mom always took care of us,
always...but she died last year. I was so scared, and I felt so
alone...I tried, I tried a spell to raise her from the dead. Guess
I'm not much of a witch, though, 'cause what I got back...well, it
wasn't really her, just a puppet that moved through the magic."
Droo's eyes widen, and I can tell she's interested.
"So then Buffy took care of me, but it was hard, because all these
weird scary people kept showing up and trying to either kidnap or
kill me. They needed my blood for some kind of magic spell, see, I
don't really understand it, but Giles said they only had one shot,
everything would line up perfectly for the spell just the once. They
almost did it too...but, but Buffy...she, she *died.* She let them
kill her to stop the spell, so I could live." Brown Fur's crying now.
Oh my. So that's why my girl and our big one went away. I didn't
understand, before. No wonder everyone cried so much when she was
gone.
"You're lying. I just saw the Slayer yesterday."
"Yeah. Seems like our friends are better witches'n me. 'Cause they
really did bring her back to life. Real life, not just - a piece of
meat being moved around by magic. Only, she didn't want to come back.
She was in Heaven." Drooo's grip on me loosens so much at that I
almost fall again, but she catches me.
"So you see. Somebody goes and dies for you, you *really* want
everything to be okay for them, you know? I *really* want to make
everything right for Buffy. I wish I could make everything right for
you, too, Drusilla, but I don't think anybody's that powerful, not
even the friends that brought my sister back."
Brown Fur stops and takes a deep breath. Drooo can't take her eyes
off her.
"So. I cut out of school right after my first class today and did the
only thing I could think of to make things better for both of you."
She rummages in her little bag with the long strap and pulls out a
cloth bundle. "I found Miss Edith for you. She was at the train
station, in the lost and found box. I think she got pushed up in the
blankets on the train you came into town on last time." She unwraps
it and there's a pretty dark-furred china doll, with a red ribbon
tied over its eyes.
Drooo makes a high-pitched cry and reaches out for the doll. Brown
Fur pulls it back. "But I want Mr. Gordo back. A dolly of yours for a
dolly of my sister's, remember?"
Drooo looks terribly hurt. "But...but Mr. Gordo is my *sweet* pig! I
like him. And he likes me, too!"
||Is that my girl? Girl? Where are you? I can't see you! It's been so
long, I've missed you so much!||
Her eyes get big. "Miss Edith!" she whispers.
||Ohhhh my Girl!!!||
"Do we have a deal?" Brown Fur asks. Drooo looks from Miss Edith to
me and back again, then kisses me on the snout. "I'm sorry, Mr.
Gordo. I'll miss you, but Miss Edith needs me!"
They make the swap, and there's a tense moment when Drooo grabs Brown
Fur and pulls her into her arms. But she just wants to hug, not
bite. "You're a good dolly. Thank you for bringing Miss Edith home to
me..."
"You're welcome," Brown Fur croaks, and then the door opens with a
bang. "DAWN?!" Yellow one!
He gets very scared when he sees Drooo holding Brown Fur. No, Yellow!
It's okay! I think she's holding Brown Fur too tight, but she doesn't
want to hurt her!
"My Spike! Look!" She lets go and holds up Miss Edith. "The
Slayer's
dolly went and got Miss Edith for me! Isn't it lovely?"
"Yes, pet, very lovely," he says soothingly, easing me and Brown Fur
away from Drooo. "I'm very happy for you both."
"I know, you're always so good to us, my Spike..." She starts humming
and dancing around with Miss Edith, and Yellow's nudging us back to
the door. "STOP!"
We stop, and Drooo steps up to us, Yellow watching her every move.
She drops to her knees in front of Brown Fur, so she's almost nose-to-
nose to me. "Miss Edith and I want to say goodbye. Miss Edith, this
is Mr. Gordo, he's the Slayer's special friend. He kept me company
while the Slayer's dolly looked for you for me."
||Hello, Mr. Gordo. Thank you for taking care of my girl. She needs a
lot of taking care of, and she's had nobody but me since Mispike
left.||
Hi, Miss Edith. Drooo missed you an awful lot, she didn't mean to
leave you behind. Don't be mad at her, okay?
||I'm not. She forgets things sometimes. But she usually remembers
before they get away from her like this time. I always forgive my
best girl. Don't you?||
Yes, I do. Drooo is lucky to have you.
"I certainly am, sweet pig," Drooo whispers, stroking the fur on top
of my head. "You've been a good friend, Mr. Gordo, but I know you
miss your old home, just like Miss Edith missed her home. You take
good care of my Spike, all ri'?"
I will, Drooo, I promise. I'll miss you too. Will you and Miss Edith
come and see me again sometime?
||Oh yes, Girl, let's!||
"Miss Edith and I would like that very much, pig. We'll have tea."
I've never had a T. Sometimes Yellow lets me have some of his Hot
Shock Let though.
Drooo laughs, a nice laugh this time. "Chocolate it shall be then,
pig!" Yellow and Brown Fur are looking at each other in amazement.
Drooo gives me a last hug and kiss and turns away, Miss Edith gazing
over her girl's shoulder.
||Goodbye, Mr. Gordo.||
Yellow hustles us out of there quick.
****
He yells at Brown Fur on the way. "Dawn, *what* were you thinking!
NEVER scare me like that again!"
"I knew what I was doing!" she pouts. "It worked, didn't
it?"
"That's not the point..."
They're still bickering when we go in the Big World with Walls, and
my girl comes racing down the stairs to hug Dawn. "My God, Dawn,
where have you BEEN?! The school called, we've been looking all
over..."
My girl's eyes get big when Brown Fur explains, Yellow glowering over
her shoulder.
The look of joy on my girl's face when Brown Fur gives me back to her
shuts him up good, though.
My world is a good place.
It's good to be back.