TITLE: A New Life 5/6
AUTHOR: Anne
RATING: PG
PAIRING: Giles/Buffy
FEEDBACK: Oh yes please!
E-MAIL: bookmangal@yahoo.fr
CATEGORY: Action/Adventure
SUMMARY: Q gives Buffy and Giles a new life.
SPOILERS: none.
TIMELINE: Set in the future.
DISTRIBUTION: ODD; The BG Zone; Tweedy book guy; WatcherGirls. UCSL. Anyone else ask first please.
DISCLAIMER: The characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Productions, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the UPN Television Network. The story is written for the pleasure of the author and readers, and has no lucrative purpose whatsoever.
DISCLAIMER: For Star Trek the Next Generation: I do not own ST: TNG in any way or form. The Next Generation and related material are the property of Paramount Pictures. Characters used here are done so for fun, not profit. No copyright infringement is intended. Please don't reproduce this story anywhere without the author's consent.
WARNING: graphic violence. Hot sex. Character death. Tissue warning!
THANKS: thank you Annuette and Caz.

London, Council Compound, 8 years later. Office of Sir Edward Giles, High Chairman

Sir Edward poured himself a glass of Scotch and returned to sit down in his big armchair. His glance settled for nth time of the morning on the photo of his son Rupert placed in a frame put on his desk). It was his birthday today and it exactly had been ten years and three months since he had died in the crash of the Council's jet, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, while he came back to London from a conference in New York. The old man let flow his tears freely on his pale and hollow cheeks and dipped his lips into the amber liquid. His hand trembled and his teeth clicked on the glass. One suddenly knocked at the door and he controlled himself. He dried his tears with his handkerchief then launched:

"Come!"

The door opened and Quentin Travers entered. Without a word the leader of the Council's Special Operations Unit went to the television, switched on it and put the BBC World.

"Quentin, what happens?"

"Excuse me Edward, but I believe that you should look at this report. He concerns you."

"What? How so?"

"You missed the beginning of the story, but it is not the most important. You could see it during the next flash."

The old man put his glasses on his nose and came to sit down on the Chesterfield in front of the television. He saw a journalist of CNN at the edge of a quay. The said man:

" … The team of American biologists lead by professor Herbert, discovered three natives' tribes still living at the Stone Age time on Poa, an island lost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean while he studied the fauna and the local flora. As Poa was isolated, and was almost inaccessible by boat because of the dangerous reefs, which surround it, and the numerous wild tempests' occurring in the vicinity, the island was judged without interest and nobody visited for almost three centuries! On this island the scientists made another discovery: a lifeboat from the 20th century! Almost ten years ago, a jet crashed several miles of Poa. Apparently there was a survivor who arrived with his lifeboat on this lost island … I speak in the past because the man died one year ago during a duel with the leader of the tribe of Harrii. This man had indeed become a warrior of the tribe of Itami, had got married and he even had a son. His wife an American woman the only survivor of the wreck of her parents' boat 14 years ago who had managed to reach Poa and his son are alive and they're fine. One still don't know the identity of this man, but the natives gave a description of the castaway who became a warrior of the Paleolithic: it was a white man, tall, with brown smoothly curled hair, he had green eyes and a distinguishing feature a scar on his forehead, to the right…"

Travers switched off the television.

"Oh dear Lord!" Edward Giles murmured astonished.

"I would have preferred that Rupert was alive Edward." Travers said to the old man who was bewildered.

"Yes, naturally me too. Quentin, return the body of my son here and his wife and my grandson, and all the things, which belonged to Rupert. And make it fast, please."

"Yes Edward."

"Quentin, also find Ethan Rayne. I am going to need him to return Rupert to life."

"Understood."

When Travers had left, the old man took the frame, which contained the photo of his son, smiled widely, and said:

"You are finally going to return home Rupert. And I look forward to knowing your family." He picked up the receiver of the telephone with his other hand and dialed the number of the manor house. Elizabeth would be crazy with enjoyment to learn that someone had found Rupert's body and that Rayne was going to bring him back to life soon, and of course that Rupert also had a wife and a son. " Elizabeth? It is Edward … "

*
* *

Two weeks later

Ethan Rayne bent towards the coffin, which was in the middle of the vast living room, on the floor. The tub and the lid were attached one to another by robust crossed lianas. He frowned observing the sculptured effigy (and schematized one) in bottom-relief and painted on the lid. It represented a naked, muscular man, his body painted in blue and green, armed with a round shield decorated with a tiger and holding a lance. He had a dimple in the chin, green eyes, a big forehead, with a scar on it … Ethan opened his eyes wide in bewilderment recognizing his old mate Rupert, then he moved back, shaken and pale. Giles was in this coffin. He blinked twice very surprised. He thought that his body was lost…

The sorcerer gave a start when the door opened. He turned around and saw in front of him a naked boy about 8 years old who starred at him with an intense curiosity. His milky skin was covered with geometrical motives painted in blue and green, he had wavy dark hair and blue eyes. The small warrior held a small bow and had a quiver filled with arrows on his shoulder. One was ready to be shot.

"I am not your enemy little warrior." Ethan said kneeling down to be at the level of the child. "What is your name?"

"My name is Rooper. As my father. Who are you?"

"My name is Ethan Rayne."

Rooper's eyes widened. "Oh! You're the sorcerer! My grandfather told me you were coming here. You're my father's best friend! When will you bring him back to life?"

Ethan blinked twice, astonished. "Your father? Rupert is your father? How is it possible?"

The boy grinned then he giggled, amused. "You don't know how babies are created?"

The door of the big room opened again and Edward Giles entered. He frowned noticing that Rooper was naked, body-painted and armed.

"Rooper where are your clothes? And why are you painted and armed? You have no enemies here."

"I do not like having clothes on Edward, it bothers me." The child said gazing at his grandfather. "And I have paintings on my skin and I am armed because I want to hunt! I know that I have no enemies here but Burton said to me that you hunted the fox. I too want to hunt the fox too! But… what is a fox granddad?"

"It is a carnivorous mammal with a sharp snout and a long bushy tail. It is red. But one does not hunt foxes with a bow and arrow, Rooper. If you go wash your skin and dress I promise to take you hunting on horseback. What do you say about it?"

Rooper beamed. "I like horses! All right!"

He went away running. "Horse! Horse! Hooorse! " He cried out.

Edward Giles grinned. "It is incredible, It's like seeing Rupert again, at that age he also liked being naked and he also liked horses, but he did not like hunting." He approached Ethan. "I have a long story to tell you Ethan, sit down, please. Do you want to drink anything? "

Ethan shook his head. "No, thank you."

"It was not easy to find you."

"I'm a very busy man Lord Giles and I work all over the world, but you know that because I work for the Council. When Travers reached me, I was in China, in a remote place near the Tibetan border."

Ethan sat on the Chesterfield placed in front of the fireplace. Edward Giles joined him with a glass of Scotch in his hand. He immediately started to tell the sorcerer what happened on Poa. When he had ended, he asked Ethan:

"I want you to use your powers and return my son back to life Ethan."

Ethan nodded. "It is as I suspected, when I saw Rupert's coffin. I am going to do it naturally, with great pleasure, for this little boy Rooper, who needs his father… I do not want him to grow up without his father as I did … and I am naturally going to do it for Rupert, because he is my best friend and I miss him a lot." The door of the living room opened again and Rooper entered again, dressed, body paintings-less and he even had shoes. He ran in the direction of his grandfather and took him by his hand.

"We are going to go riding grandfather?"

Edward shook his head. "Would you not prefer to ride with your father? Ethan is going to bring him back to life soon."

The boy nodded. "Yes! When?"

When Ethan saw Buffy enter the vast living room, her beauty amazed him. She had an angel's face and goddess's body. He was immediately aroused and had to murmur a spell to deflate his rising erection. Elizabeth Giles stood beside her.

"Buffy, let me present to you Ethan Rayne, he is the great sorcerer who is going to return Rupert back to life. He's an old friend of his. Ethan, this is Buffy, Rupert's wife."

Buffy came to kiss Ethan on his cheek. He blushed. "Thank you very much Mr. Rayne.

"It's a real pleasure, Mrs. Giles." [Oh God! she's so very beautiful! Lucky Rupert! He always had the beautiful girls!]

*
* *

Same place, later

Rooper knelt down near Ethan, who sat Indian style in the center of a magic circle and looked at the book, which he held on his lap.

"What do you read?"

"It's a magic spell. The one, which is going to allow me to bring your father back to life, Rooper."

"When are you going to bring him back to life Ethan?"

"In some hours. I have to wait till it is dark and the full moon shines in the sky."

"Oh! It is not for a long time! I look forward to seeing my father! Mom said to me that he's tall, very strong, that he has a lot of courage, that he is a big warrior! You know Ethan he killed many Harrii warriors before dying. He killed their Leader Dahuma."

"Yes, I know, your grandfather told me everything about your father. It's quite an amazing story. Your father was… is the bravest man that I know Rooper, and later you will be like him, a big warrior, tall, strong and full of courage. You will be a Watcher… But did your grandfather tell you anything about the Council and the Watchers?"

Roper nodded. "Yes, he told me about demons, vampires and about the Slayers too. I would like to be a watcher later yes but a great sorcerer like you too Ethan. Do you believe that I could be a great sorcerer?"

"To be a sorcerer you need magic but the most important thing is to possess powers, mystical energies. Your father has mystical energies. So I think you have them too. Let me see…"

Ethan touched the forehead of the child and under his fingers felt the almost imperceptible vibrations of his powers. They were tiny because Rooper was still young. Later, as a teenager, they would increase in intensity, proportionate to his powers, and he should then discover them by using them, use them to understand all his potential. Rooper if he wanted it, could be a powerful sorcerer and work like him and for the Council, to fight against the forces of Evil. But it was more likely that he would become a great Watcher as his father and maybe the Council would give him a Slayer to train and to protect.

"Yes you have powers Rooper, and later you could be a sorcerer. But you have time to choose to be a Watcher or a sorcerer."

"If my father has powers, why did he choose to be a Watcher rather than to be a sorcerer?"

"Your father has always preferred weapons, all of them, to the magic spells. That is why he trained… that is why he is going to train all the Watchers again soon."

Roper beamed. "Will he train me?"

Ethan nodded. "Probably when you're older." He got up and Rooper imitated him immediately. "Do you want to go outside to take a stroll with me in the park? I'll tell you lots of things about your father. I'm going to start with his childhood."

Rooper nodded. "Yes I'd like it very much Ethan, thank you."

NEXT