Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:01:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Jason Decade <femtoka2@yahoo.com> Subject: Slayers United 6 Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters are copyright and trademarks of WB, David Greenwalt, Joss Whedon, 20th Century Fox, and others. Chapter 6: Best friends "Oh god! When Sunnydale caved I thought we were through with things like this." I said, staring at 'it'. Dawn nodded, " I thought that evil like this only existed in Sunnydale." she said. "we could always pull a Buffy on it." I said quickly. Dawn Chuckled, " Good idea. We could blow it up!" she said excitedly. "Don't say that too loudly. So are you ready?" I asked. "I've been here for two semesters, are you ready?" Dawn asked. I nodded, " No. But I can do this...I'm the slayer." I said, marching forward with Dawn. "Not sure that'll help here." Dawn smiled as we entered the school. "Back to high school? I still say I'd rather do the singing and dancing thing." I said, nervously walking into the school. "So, are you coming back to Scotland with us?" Dawn smiled, walking with me. "Don't know." I said quickly, " There's the 'slayer central' part, but I don't see myself being the co-op slayer. Slayer cells. Scary...as...hell." "Oh." Dawn said disapointedly. "But we're so gonna be in communication!" I said excitedly, " Dawnie, you're my best friend and you're off to Berkley. Me, not so much. I have the grades, I guess, but it's not me." Dawn nodded as we walked, " So, has Connor called?" she asked. "Nah. If he's anything like Angel, I figure it'll be a while before I see him again. I just hope they get what they went for." I said, glancing around at the mixture of people. Some were American, but a lot were from here and there, " So, have you heard Carlos?" I asked. Dawn sighed, " Yes!" she said, shocking me, " There is a party and they want us to come." she said in a state of excitement. "Us?" I asked. "Yeah. Apparently kicking Doug's ass made no bias against you. In fact, it put you in a high standing with them. That is until you saved Kelly and him, " Dawn smiled. "I always do the dumb thing. Reality is one hell of a drug." I said, causing Dawn to laugh. We stopped Carlos and his gang walked upon us and stopped in front of us. "Hi." Carlos said, not taking his eyes off Dawn, " Are you guys coming to the party?" he asked. "Sure." Dawn smiled. "What about you?" Micah asked, smiling at me. I shrugged, " Not sure. I mean, maybe if I had a reason. I could be saving the world that night." I joked. Dawn looked at me with shock, " Umm, but I'm pretty sure I'll be there." I said, finally ending my part of the conversation. "Alrighty then." Doug said unhappily, " You're coming, yay." "Don't mind him." Kelly said, punching him in the chest, " I wanna say thanks for saving me from...the mugger?" she smiled. "You're welcome." I said, hearing the bell ring, " I've got class, er, that way. I gotta make with the learnin." I said, speeding off to class. "Dawn, is he always like that?" Kelly asked. Dawn shook her head, " No, he's just trying to...um...adjust." she said quickly, " I'd better go too. See ya guys." she said, leaving. ======================================================================================================================= "So, this Titan guy...killed is family? Titan is a...what?" Buffy asked. "I honestly don't know much. He appears to be human, very magical. In this equation, she's be more like a hired hand, something else entirely is pulling the strings." Giles explained, " I fear that whatever hired him may know more about Austin being a slayer than we do." "That theory is based on..." Xander asked. "He knew about Austin before we did the 'smite of the scythe'." Willow answered, " Even though I still don't get the whole 'Male Slayer' thing. I accept it because, hey, there's nothing good on tv." "The primal chick said that it was normal, so relax red. We should move on from that." Faith said, " Besides, it's about time we got some new blood around here." she finished. "We're swimmin in new blood, here." Xander smirked, " Five hundred slayers...Rowena, Leah, Chatsu...you know, new blood. But I do see why watchers are way older than me. Watching is very boring." "Well, you're sorta making with the Fury." Willow smirked. "Enough of the Colonel Fury jokes." Xander laughed. "Okay, Watcher." Buffy chuckled. "Something just hit me." Willow said from nowhere, " Why didn't Angel go and see the guy Spike did about a permanent soul?" "Wouldn't solve his less than human problem." Buffy answered, " I wonder why we never though about it." she said in deep thought. "The point..." Giles interjected, " is that we know nothing, despite our connections, we are not ready to face the Titan." "Austin's not ready either." Buffy said quickly. "The boys' got skills." Faith smiled. "I'm with Buffy." Willow started. "As always." Faith said, under her breath. Willow continued, " He's in no hurry to be one of the potentials. Everytime anyone mentions Scotland, he gets all dodgy and avoidy on the subject." Willow said. "He's not potential." Faith said, " He's a free spirit. Reminds me of me." Buffy chuckled, " Really? I'm not getting that." she gigled. "Regardless, he's in real danger. This 'Titan' could show up any time and...we're...how can I put this?" Giles asked. "Screwed?" Faith blurted. "With a capital SCREW." Xander said slowly. Buffy stood, " Giles and Willow, find stuff on Titan. Xander, Faith, Robin and I will go and look for him." she said. They all nodded and headed in different directions. ======================================================================================================================== Dawn and I walked down the hall, Dawn was jubilated, but I was very not. I was the opposite, very un-jubilated. I had begun to feel the dreaded senioritis and my mind was on aut. Dawn must have noticed because we stopped and she looked directly at me, waving her hand in front of my face. "Are you okay?" Dawn asked. I nodded, " I'm just...I didn't take my SATs." I said boredly. "Um, that's okay. We went to Sunnydale high." she joked. I shook my head, " i was never going to take them. I'm an ACT type guy. You love school and school loves you. Not complicated. I'm less than enthused by school...me and school, we're complicated." I pouted. "Oh, come on! We're going to have fun. This time it's different. We can be more...relaxed. Plus, Micah's totally hitting on you. The others might not suspect, but I'm smarter than that." she smiled giddily. "Really?" I asked, then I snapped out of it, " Doesn't matter. Besides school, being a slayer and Connor..." I started. "Ok. Connor is going back to L.A. and are you really gonna wait for him?" Dawn asked "Not the point. There is a powerful demon out there trying to kill me. Not sure why, but it's bound to be a showdown." I said as we walked by two people making out, " That cuts it, I'm gonna make out with a vampire. It worked for Buffy." Dawn nodded, " I'm just sayin, we could both have boyfriends at the same time." she said, still as giddy as before. The bell rang and I looked around, " This is where I leave you." I smirked, walking away to Mr. Cerguess' class. I was almost there when I ran into someone at the door! I looked up and saw Micah beaming down at me, " Sorry. Thought I had the right of way." I said nervously. "It's okay. Wasn't that bad, could have lost a bumper though." Micah smiled. I smiled, " Funny guy." I said, walking through the door and sitting in an empty seat beside Kelly. Micah sat in the desk beside mine and flashed me a big smile, causing me to smile and blush. I thought about what Dawn said, maybe he did like me and maybe I liked him, but there was obviously no way I could get involved with someone else. Connor was...thousands of miles away. I wasn't listening to Mr. Cerguess. What he was saying was irrelevant. The whole thing was irrelevant. I shouldn't have to declined to join the slayerettes (At least that's what I'm calling them.). Maybe I needed some good healthy training. I wasn't a 'school' oriented guy. I am a good student and a non-troublemaker, but school never felt right. I can see why they made a male slayer, the first slayer and everyone since had been and would be women...female, meaning not of the male. It was the greatest revenge. Make guys feel the way they did, but what I didn't get is why me? Maybe it was to show that man or woman, being the slayer isn't easy. Then there was my birthday. My birthday. I'm gonna be eighteen. Dawn was eighteen and she loved rubbing it in. It was scary, the thought of being alone. Being the slayer made me feel that way, even though there were more slayers, they were brought in and used to fight in battle. They died early. On the upside, I guess they didn't have to watch their relatives die, not all of them. Half of them were just plucked out of their lives, but not me. My parents had been witches and at first, that was my explanation of being a slayer, but after meeting with Senaya, the first slayer, I figured out that it was suppoed to happen and my parents were innocent. I say were with the saddness of loss. "Mr. Young." Mr. Cerguess said from the board, " Mr. Young, could you please solve this?" he asked. "Ummm..." I sighed, looking at the board, " The sum of two square roots is the..." I finished, but what I said wasn't important. ======================================================================================================================= "Hurry!" Xander said from the window, " He's coming! Even I can see him and I only have one eye!" he joked. "But you have that really good hearing. It's like a bat's. In fact, I'll call it bat-tacular." Willow smiled, " Hey, did I just rhyme?" "Yes, honey, you did." Kennedy said, hanging the last banner. Buffy joined Giles, Xander, and Kennedy in frontof the door, " Get Ready!" she said. Dawn and I fell through the door in time to hear them shout, " Surprise!" and I took a stance immediately. I fell out of it only when I realized what they had done. I looked from them to Dawn, " Oh...Thank you guys so much." I said, crossing the room to the other slayers and a large banner that proclaimed my birthday. "Well, lately you've been a bit down and we just wanted to cheer you up. It is your birthday afterall..." Buffy smiled, " Isn't it?" I nodded, " Yes, thank you." I said. "Good news." Giles said happily, " We have decided that your new watcher is Xander. I thought of Andrew, but that would be disastorous at best." he smiled. I looked at Xander, " We he-men can take on any feat." I joked. Xander beat on his chest, " Manly me, hungry. Need beef." he smiled. Buffy sighed, " Now that we're done with that, can we get to the cake? My tummy's all rumbly." she said, rubbing her stomach. "I have an announcement." Giles said quickly, " I'm going to England for a while. Although I've been running the Watcher's Council from here, there are things that need my immediate attention. I shall take the potentials..." "Slayerettes." I corrected. Giles smiled, " Slayerettes, sorry. I'm taking them and Andrew, so they can help me with a problem." he said. "Problem?" Buffy asked. Giles nodded uneasily, " Not to worry. There is a slight problem with annexing and...um, thing. You know, Watcher sort of stuff." he said swiftly. Buffy crossed her arms and looked at him, " Giles..." she said, tapping her heels. "It's nothing, I assure you." Giles said, walking to the kitchen, Buffy following. The rest of the group was speechless. Willow, Kennedy, Xander, and some of the slayers stood at the door, but Dawn and I sat on the couch, " So, what were things like before you guys went into the Hellmouth? Like the night before, or whatever?" I asked. "Tense." Dawn answered, " Things got bad. There was sex and...stuff." "Sex? I miss the good things." I pouted. Dawn sighed, " I'm ashamed to say it, but we kicked Buffy out; It was just after she led us into the winery and Caleb made Xander's eye go poof." she said quickly. I stared at her in disbelief. "Okay, more like squash, but..." Dawn said. "Let me get this right, you threw her out of her own house?" I asked. "Yes, but..." she stared. "The house she inherited when Joyce..." I said loudly. Dawn looked around, " It was my house too! And it helped Buffy find the scythe thingy." she said, trying to justify kicking her sister out of her house. I nodded, " You ungrateful skank." I said, rising from my seat, " The lot of you threw her out of her own house and yet she risked her ass for you?! She even shared her power." I said, causing the party to stop and everyone to look at me. Buffy and Giles sped from the kitchen and stood beside Willow and Xander, watching us. "What's going on?" Buffy asked. I stared at her, " You let them bully you out of your own house?" I asked. "What? Wha...are you talking about what happened before we went into the Hellmouth?" Buffy asked. "Yeah. That's not just something that happened, it's mutiny! I mean you've died twice to protect the world, including everyone." I said with anger boiling from me. Buffy shrugged sadly, " Yeah, but it's the past." she said. Kennedy stepped into my view, " Buffy deserved it. She was talking about having us go back just after we'd gotten our asses handed to us and we were scared!" she said, trying to explain. I chuckled, " You went anyways! I bet you were the horse pulling the bandwagon, weren't you? In just the few days I've known you, I already want to snap your neck and bury you in the backyard." I said with a smile. Willow looked worried and stepped in front of Kennedy, " Ok, everybody, let's calm down." she said softly. "And where were you?! You and Pirate of Anya Island? Lookin for treasure? You're her best friends and she's saved your asses more times than possible, yet you let this happen. If we weren't such good friends, I'd introduce you to my fist, Wil." I said angrily. Willow frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but Xander spoke, " Look, we did what we felt was best." he said, not believing it himself. I looked at Buffy, " Under all that hot, sexy carpenter is an asshole waiting to happen." I said, " Already happened." I said. I stopped at the knock at the door and everyone turned to see Connor, " Join the party." i said becoming even angrier. Connor nodded and walked in, " What's going on?" he asked, slowly walking to me, " Are you okay? What happened?" he asked. "Oh, so you wanna know? I mean Angel called Buffy and while I enjoyed the message, you could've...what are you doing here?" I asked, realizing he was supposed to be back in L.A. "I came back for you." Connor said innocently. "You really need to calm down." Kennedy said intensely. I laughed, " Back off slayer Z." I said, turning back to Connor. She tapped my shoulder and I turned to catch a her right hook! I smiled, " Thank you." I said, grabbing her hair and throwing her across the room and through the dining room table. She got up and instantly and tried to hit me again, but I ducked and kicked her in the stomach! As I kicked her again, she caught my leg, but I kicked her with the other foot and flipped backwards, landing right in front of Connor. She jumped at me, but I moved and she landed on Connor! I grabbed the back of her coat and slammed her into the wall and threw her farther away. As I walked to Kennedy, Willow raised her hand, " Block!" she said, creating a forcefield. I raised my hand and shouted, " No!" shattering the forcefield and walking to Kennedy, as I was upon her, someone tackled me to the ground! I kicked and fought, trying to fight out of the grasp. I looked back at Connor, who as holding me and I head butted him! "What is your problem?!" Dawn shouted. "My parents threw me out!" I shouted finally, " They found out that I didn't...that I was...and they threw me out! After a week of...out, I called them and they apologized and when I got back, they were dead. I never got the chance to see them because they betrayed me and you did the same!" I said, watching their faces go from shock to unbearable sympathy. I couldn't bear it and I broke Connor's hold and walked out. ========================================================================================================================= Willow smiled at me from the door. Somehow, I couldn't manage to smile back, I just looked down at the bed. She made a sad face and walked into my room, sitting on the bed. "Awww, sweetie." she said sympathetically, " I'm so sorry for what you went through...and I know Kennedy's a little rough around the edges....razor-like, but I love her." she said softly. My eyebrows raised, " Couldn't you just go back to guys?" I asked. "can you quit guys?" she smirked. "Nevermind," I smirked, " Willow, I'm a slayer now, does that mean I'm not a witch anymore?" I asked. Willow shook her head, " Not sure, but judging by what happened tonight, I'd say you can still make the mojo." she said. "You go through life and you just get used to being one thing, then something else gets thrown at you." I said angrily, " My parents were the witches, they taught me stuff, but...I guess it wasn't enought." I said sadly. "When we left Sunnydale, we promised that we'd start thinking more about us. We neglected ourselves for so long and it's nice to just think about ourselves for once." Willow smiled, " Now that we have help in saving the world, we can help each other." "I think I'll just become a vengeance demon." I said sarcastically. "Really? They tried to recruit me, but I'm not all vengeancy anymore. Why won't you?" Willow asked. "They don't pay overtime." I joked. We laughed as Buffy walked into the room, " Hey, what's the joke?" she asked. "Something about a vengeance demon." Willow chuckled. Buffy nodded in confusion, " It's a joke, right? There wasn't any wishes?" she asked. "None whatsoever, we're all still miserable." I joked, " Buffy, how's Kennedy and the others?" I asked. "She'll live. Not seriously hurt, but we need to talk." Buffy said, standing by the bed. "You might as well sit." I said comfortably. Buffy nodded and sat opposite Willow, " I miss Tara. And Anya. And Cordy...and Angel and Connor and Spike and Oz...." I said quickly. Willow looked at me strangely, " Oz? What would make you say Oz?" she asked. "Well, he has made appearances in dreams, one in particular." I said, causing Buffy and Willow to stare at me in shock, " Not that type of dream, not entirely, this one happened when the first threw me through the door. He visited me with the monks and Anya and Tara, and even Wesley. You remember, uptight, young, british-er version of Giles." I explained. "Oh." Buffy said, " Well, if it makes you feel any better, Angel called. He was cryptic." "Ooooh! old school Angel. I miss old school Angel." Willow said, " Except the part where he turned evil and tried to snap my neck." "Ditto." I added. "Yeah." Buffy chuckled, " But Connor's on his way back, that is if you don't wanna see him. Angel also mentioned someone else." "Who's that Buffster." Xander asked from the door. he walked in and stood at the bed, " Spill, who'd he meet?" she asked. "Spike." Buffy said simply. Willow and Xander's expressions changed instantly and I looked at her strangely. "Well, Spike...gee, thought he was making with the actually being dead." Willow said nervously. "Hard decision." Xander said without thinking. "Yeah." Buffy said, looking at us sadly. "Don't worry, we'll get through this." Xander said without thinking again. "I'm just glad that another hook-up'll get me and Angel out of the spotlight." Buffy joked. I sighed, " Connor. Tall, cute, brooding...has a thing for slayers." I smirked. "You're dating Connor?" Xander asked. "So, what're ya gonna do? I mean, is he not going back to school?" Willow asked, " Cause school is the funnest." "Kinda wonderin that myself." I said quickly. "So, you're...gay." Xander asked. "I miss school." Willow said. "Don't worry, things have a way of working out...or going straight to hell." Buffy said nervously. "So, you and Connor are gay...together?" Xander said, still trying to reaffirm this knowledge. I smiled and looked at them, " Wish I had my own Xander and Willow...sorta." I said softly, " You're her..." "Sidekicks?" Xander asked somewhat angrily. "No." Buffy smiled. "I was gonna go with best friends." I said, causing them to smile at them, " but I do have a question. Why didn't Angel just go to the same demony-shaman thing that gave spike his soul back?" I asked, causing them all to think about it. I smiled as Dawn and Connor stood at the door, " Maybe I already do.".