The Simple Black Dress
by cathy nort
chapter 13
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As Buffy stared at the body of Amy Daley lights flicked on in the room.
"Oh Buffy. You just couldn't leave well enough alone." The voice came from behind Buffy. When she turned she saw Morgan standing at the bottom of the stairs and she was holding a pistol which was pointed directly at Buffy. At her side, her hand still on the light switch on the wall, was Daphne.
From behind Morgan Willow stepped out, a dazed, blank look on her face. Willow was wearing THAT black dress and, again, Buffy realized just how beautiful the red head was. Buffy, despite the situation, smiled at the Wiccan before turning her attention to Daphne.
The dark haired girl had an identical black dress on. That frightened Buffy more than the gun being aimed at her.
Daphne peered at Buffy through the mist a slight smile on her lips. Then she turned to Morgan. "Mother? She's ruined everything."
Mother! She had called Morgan mother!! Buffy took an involuntary step back. Confused by what she had just heard.
"I know dear." Morgan said. "We'll just have to make the best of it."
Daphne moved until she was face to face with Buffy. She looked at the Slayer with affection. "We could have been girl friends you know. You and I. Us. We could have been just like that day at the pond." As she spoke she ran her hand softly up and down Buffy's bare arm.
Buffy cringed at the touch.
"Oh well. I guess that's not going to be any more." Daphne turned and went back to where Willow was standing. She stood hands on hips studying the red head for a moment. "I suppose I will be quite able to have a fulfilling love life anyway. This body has a lot to offer."
Daphne wasn't referring to her body, Buffy knew. She was referring to Willow's.
"Willow. Hun. Come here." Buffy said.
It was Morgan who approached Buffy this time. "Don't bother. She really can't hear you. Not with it tonight you might say. Be a dear and turn around." Morgan waved the gun threateningly.
Buffy looked down at the revolver and stepped back. "What do you want? Leave Willow alone."
"I will," Morgan conceded. "If you do as I ask."
Buffy looked past Morgan to where Willow stood. She tried to assess her situation. She could try and attack Morgan. She was standing close enough that Buffy was confident she could get the gun from her before she had a chance to fire. Next to Willow Daphne seemed to read her thoughts for suddenly she had a gun pointed at Willow's head.
Buffy turned so that her back was to Morgan. When she did Morgan hit Buffy across the back of the head with the butt of the revolver knocking her out cold. Buffy sank to the ground without a sound and lay still. Morgan reached out with the toe of her boot and rolled Buffy onto her stomach.
"Forgive me Joyce but your little girl had that coming. She's ruined everything."
Morgan placed the gun in the belt of her jeans then went over to a small cabinet that was in the corner of the room. She opened it up and pulled out a handful of ropes. She went back to where Buffy laid and knelt down beside the unconscious girl.
Morgan drew Buffy's hands together so they were resting on her rump. She took a length of rope and folded it in half. She passed the loose ends through the looped end and then drew it over Buffy's wrists and pulled it tight. There was enough rope to wrap it several more times around the limp wrists before securing it with a half hitch knot. She repeated the process with Buffy's ankles. Finished she grabbed Buffy under the arms and dragged her over to the wall.
Satisfied Buffy was no longer a threat she turned back to Daphne and Willow. Willow hadn't moved through the whole thing. She stood looking at Buffy's crumbled form without expression.
"I guess we better get started." Morgan said. "I'll go back and get the book." Then she disappeared up the stairs. Dapne saw Buffy was starting to stir and went over to her.
"Rise and shine ex-girlfriend."
Buffy opened her eyes and saw Daphne's face within inches of hers. "We would have made a lovely couple," Daphne smirked. "Me.........you.........and," Daphne pointed over to where Willow was standing as still as a statue, "and so to speak........her."
Buffy shrank away as best she could as Daphne ran her hand across Buffy's bare leg.
"You're not Daphne." Buffy said. "You're Amy. That's what Daphne's mother meant that day when she said 'Daphne's not in there'. She was talking about who was inside the body. What have you done to her? To Daphne?"
Amy rolled her eyes and waved a hand to the ceiling. "She's just floating. Her soul, her essence. Poor dear has no body to travel in because mother and I took it. As you see."
Daphne/Amy stood up. "I was.........I mean Amy was very unhappy after she her face was scared. Looks, appearances are very important to a young, insecure girl. I wanted to kill myself after being disfigured. I didn't want to live. Oh, mother was so understanding and she did everything she could to make me happy but it was useless. I would have committed suicide in the end you know. That was were I was headed. I was so near. So very near. But mother wouldn't give up on her little girl. Her only child. I was her whole life and she couldn't bear to let me go. And then while researching for one of her novels she came across the story of Sister Manelga."
"Oh," Morgan had returned and was clutching a leather bound book to her bosom. "I see your filling Buffy in. Do you think that wise Amy?"
Amy/Daphne pursed her lips. "Why not? She deserves to know what is going to happen. And why. Why don't you tell her about Sister Manelga?"
Amy/Daphne touched the hem of the dress she was wearing. "And about these powerful dresses Willow and I are wearing."
Morgan put the book on the cabinet and walked over to where the form of Amy Daley was lying. She gazed down at the figure before speaking in a low voice. "It is all rather sad except it brought the Amy I love back to me. So Buffy I will tell you about the Sister."
"She was a common peasant girl in 14th century Hungary. At an early age she found her calling and went into the nunnery. She was very devout and by all accounts was a simple, kind nun until she discovered the dark side. She was only curious at first since it contradicted all she had ever believed. The truth was she was appalled by what she learned but the dark side soon captivated her and then in the end it swallowed her up. As she had given herself to God she now gave herself totally to the unholy. She fled the covenant and was soon practicing witchery. And she was a powerful witch who learned to cast the souls of the innocent adrift. She also learned to instill the souls of others into the vacated bodies that were left behind."
Morgan pointed to the book that she had placed on the cabinet. "The power to do what Sister Mangela did is all in there. I have done what she did. I have transferred the soul of my Amy into the body of Daphne."
"Yo.......you own that book?" Buffy asked.
"Of course not. It belongs to the present day followers of Sister Mangela. But I have been allowed to use it for this ..........second event."
"Did your husband know? Did he want Amy........"
"Of course not." It was Amy/Daphne that broke in. "Daddy was totally against it. When he learned about it he said it was unnatural. We fought over it all the time. I wanted out of this body so badly that mother and I would let nothing stand in our way."
Buffy was appalled. She had been denied the long term relationship of a father and it was beyond her understanding how one could deny that relationship. How one could destroy it. "How could you do this?"
The dark haired girls eyes seemed to glow with anger. "HOW COULD I NOT!! It was he who was denying me." Then she seemed to regain her composure for her voice turned mellow. "I took care of the matter as I saw fit. Daddy went to counsel meetings on Thursday nights. That doomed him you see for I waited for him on the hair pin turn at Coogan's Bluff. He drove fast. A bad habit of his so when I stepped out in front of his car like this," Amy/Daphne spread her arms out from her shoulders and threw her head back. It was the same pose Willow had displayed the night they played monopoly.
"So daddy had no choice but to hit me with the car or swerve. Do you know it didn't matter to me one way or another? If he had killed me I would be free of that hideous face." She shrugged. "As it was he veered off the road."
"To his death." Morgan said.
"To his death," Amy/Daphne repeated without a trace of emotion. "And here I am."