Fanfic; Ghost of a Chance Part 1

[Jim_D_Means@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Nothing like writing a short story in between major story arcs. Kind of a pallete cleanser. 
This is the first part of a two parter, a Buffy/Charmed crossover, and a sequel to my own 
story, "Together Again For The First Time". So much for concept, let's have the story.

Disclaimers; That which was not created by Joss was created by Aaron Spelling. I'm making 
no money off this. I don't own these people, and if I did, Buffy wouldn't have given Parker 
or Riley the time of day.

Archive; Let me know first.

Feedback; Please do. Jim_D_Means@xxxxxxxxxxx

Summary; Sequel to "Together Again For The First Time". Willow faces the ghosts of her 
past. Can even the Power of Three save her and Buffy from a vengeful spirit?

Tonight's episode features music by DePeche Mode. All rights reserved.

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GHOST OF A CHANCE
By Kirayoshi

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Your own Personal Jesus,
Someone to hear your prayer,
Someone who's there.

Your own Personal Jesus,
Someone to hear your prayer,
Someone who cares.

Feeling unknown, when you're all alone,
Flesh and bone, by the telephone.
Pick up the receiver,
I'll make you a believer.
Don't play second best, put me to the test,
Things on your chest you need to confess,
I will deliver,
You know I'm a forgiver.

Reach out, touch faith!

--DePeche Mode
"Personal Jesus"

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San Francisco, August, 2009;

"Who are you?" the fearful countenance shouted at his first slave. The slave stood his 
ground, defiantly, saying "I'm Eric!" The demon slammed his fist onto the slave's head, hard 
enough to kill. 

The demon approached the next slave in line. "Who are you?" he demanded of the cowering 
girl.

"No-nobody," she whimpered. The demon nodded. Good answer.

The demon approached the third slave in line, a tall girl with long brown hair. "Who are 
you?" he demanded.

The girl looked at him; her eyes, her expression, everything about her shouting defiance. She 
smiled at the demon and introduced herself; "I'm Steffi. The Demon Killer. And you are?"

The brown haired girl then proceeded to fight her way through a horde of demon warriors, 
shouting to the assembled humans whom the demons had enslaved, "Anyone who's not 
having a good time, follow me!"

Buffy, Willow, and Cordy sat on the sofa of the Halliwells' living room, watching the 
videotape that Cordy had brought with her, as Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Leo looked on from 
their seats. Cordy watched with rapt attention, while Buffy and Willow covered their eyes in 
embarrassment, and the others just sat bemused.

"Geez, Buffy," Willow teased her fiancée, "Did you really say that?"

"Hey, it sounded good at the time," Buffy defended herself. "I mean, the company that's 
producing Cordy's show hired me on as a technical consultant, at least let them get the 
dialogue right. Right, Cordy?"

"Shh, shh," Cordy hushed her friends. "Here's my favorite part." The final scenes of the third 
season premiere of "Steffi the Demon Killer" showed Steffi Winters returning home after 
running away from Shoredrive, away from the grief of having to send her beloved Dominic to 
Hell. As her mother opened the door, Steffi stood there, sorrow and penitence in her deep 
brown eyes. A troubled mother-daughter relationship was given a second chance. The two 
women hugged. Cut to black, and the executive producer's name.

Everyone else applauded, while Cordy took a bow. "Thank yew, thank yew," she said, 
hamming it up for all it was worth.

"Hey, Cordy," Willow announced, "Congratulations on another sterling performance as Steffi 
Winters, the Chosen One."

"Go Steffi, Go Steffi, Go Steffi!" Phoebe chanted along, moving her arms in a boogie 
rotation. Prue and Piper looked quizzically at their sister, who just shrugged. "What? I think 
it's a cool show. Good job, Cordy." The other Halliwell sisters chuckled at Phoebe.

"Thanks," the actress replied. "But I couldn't have done it without my technical adviser, 
Buffy." She nodded toward the retired Slayer, who just acknowledged her with an amused 
glare. 

"You better believe it!" Buffy announced. When Cordy had approached her over two years 
ago with the idea of basing a television series on Buffy's experiences as the Slayer, she was 
dubious at first, but ultimately warmed to the idea. She had agreed to help develop the show 
on one condition; certain stories, certain events from her life, were never to see the screen. 
The world would never see either the more intimate encounters with Faith(named 'Hope' on 
the show), or the way Tara had betrayed Willow. Of course, Cordy had shown the original 
prints of the episodes to Buffy, shortly before they aired. She brought the season premiere 
with her to the party the Halliwells were holding for Buffy and Willow.

"Actually, I've been butting heads with the network execs over the next season," Cordy 
admitted. "The fans and the suits want to get Steffi back together with Dominic, the good-
guy vampire, now that he's got his soul back and isn't the evil Dominus any more. But my 
producer and I want to develop the relationship between Steffi and Laurel Silverberg, maybe 
even making it a romance. Hey," she defended herself against Phoebe's laughter at the 
notion, patting Buffy on the knee. "I've got the real Steffi and Laurel right here, not to 
mention the addresses of several Steffi/Laurel fanfiction web sites, to back me up on this 
one."

"Yeah, but who'd ever believe it?" Piper asked. "Especially after the way Steffi pined away 
for Dominic." Buffy rolled her eyes, wishing not to be reminded of her past with Angel. 
"Anyway, congratulations again. You've got a winner here."

"And, while we're on the subject of congratulations," Leo interjected, raising his wine glass, 
"congratulations, Buffy and Willow, on your impending nuptials."

"Thanks, guys," Buffy said, as the Cordy and the Halliwell sisters applauded. 

"So, which one of you is the designated ball-and-chain?" Phoebe asked. Prue gave her a 
withering stare, but smiled slightly. Phoebe would never change, thank the Gods.

"Hey, seriously, guys," Leo, always the peacemaker between his sisters-in-law, changed the 
subject. "Who's going to come to the wedding?"

"Well," Buffy commented, "Mom and Giles, Willow's folks, Cordy, you guys, Angel, Oz and 
Amy-- Wills, didn't you say that Oz would play guitar at the service?"

"You mean Daniel? Yeah, and I heard him just yesterday. He's been practicing an acoustic 
guitar arrangement of 'Here Comes the Bride'. Sounds lovely."

"Great. Only, in this case, both of us are the brides."

"Hey, I'm just glad that Dad had agreed to give me away. It took him a while to accept that 
I'm gay, but now he and Mom are cool with it. How about your dad, Buff?"

Buffy fell silent, and Willow realized her mistake too late. "Oh, Buffy, I'm sorry, I didn't 
remember--"

"Hey, it's okay, Wills," Buffy hugged her wife-to-be for assurance. To the others, Buffy 
explained, "Six years ago, I confronted my dad about some of the decisions I made over my 
life. I didn't tell him about being the Slayer, or anything like that, but I did tell him that I loved 
women, not men, that I was gay, and he didn't take it well. I simply told him that this is who 
and what I am, and he could either accept it, or never cross my path again." She sighed 
deeply. "I think you can guess what he chose."

"Sorry, Buffy," Piper consoled her new-found friend. "I can't imagine any parent being so 
cruel to a child."

"It's all right," Buffy said, but the faraway look in her eyes told Willow that it wasn't. "He 
stopped being Dad long before that, he just didn't want the responsibility. His loss. Besides, 
Mom's found Giles, so she's happy now, and Giles has always been more of a dad to me 
than my father was." She smiled and added, "besides, I've got all of you, Mom, Daniel, 
Amy, and above all else, Willow," she gave the redhead beside her a squeeze, making 
Willow grin broadly, "hey, I'm blest to have this family."

"Then, to family," Phoebe announced, lifting her glass. The glasses clinked once more, then 
Buffy announced, "Well, Willow and I gotta go. Thanks for the preview, Cordy."

"You got it," Cordy said, as they saw Buffy and Willow off.

As Buffy and Willow strolled down the walkway, Phoebe shouted at them, "Hey, don't forget 
to swing by the P3 Thursday night. Lauryn Hill's playing there. Oh," she added, running 
back to grab something from the coffee table. "Willow, you forgot your purse --UNGGHH!" 
She suddenly doubled over, her head throbbing with an all-too familiar pain. Before her 
mind's eye, a movie played; Buffy and Willow being mowed down by a speeding car.

"Buffy, Willow! Stop!" she shrieked. The two girls turned their heads toward the young 
witch, as suddenly the screech of a tire skidding over asphalt filled the air around them. 
Acting on instinct, Piper stretched out her hand, and the car froze in its tracks, along with 
most of the rest of the neighborhood, stuck in time. Willow was immune to the effect of 
Piper's time-freeze powers, but Buffy was not; she was as stuck fast as the car.

Willow glanced around her, at the stopped car which would have surely killed both of them 
had not Piper intervened. "Oh Goddess," she muttered under her breath. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Leo admitted, as he approached the street where Willow and Buffy were 
standing. Taking Buffy by the arms, he said, "Let's just get Buffy out of the way, before Piper 
unfreezes the neighborhood."

Willow helped Leo lift her beloved onto the sidewalk, and nodded to Piper, who gestured 
again, and unfroze time. The car drove off, unheeding of its speed, tires screaming all the 
way. Buffy blinked and looked around her, asking, "Shouldn't I be closer to our car by now? 
I mean, I do understand the fundamental principals of walking--"

"It's okay, Buffy," Prue answered as she and her sisters gathered around the confused ex- 
slayer. "That crazy driver nearly turned you into Flatgirl and Ribbon. Good thing Phoebe 
had that vision about the car when she grabbed your purse."

"Whoa," Buffy breathed. Willow just nodded her head in agreement. "But we're okay, right? 
Just a near-accident."

"I don't know," Leo said ominously. "I thought I saw someone inside the car."

"Yeah, Leo," Cordy interjected. "That would be the driver. Probably a drunk driver, or 
road rage or something."

"No, it wasn't that," Leo replied. Piper stood beside her husband, her protector, her 
Whitelighter. She saw the look in his eyes, recognized the tone in his voice. "Is it something 
supernatural, honey?"

"It must be," Leo turned to his wife. "The driver looked human, but I couldn't make out a 
clear picture. Only a sense of what it was. And it was moving when you froze the car."

"Then it must be a demon or warlock, or some such," Piper reasoned. "Which means that 
someone may be out to get Buffy and Willow."

"Yeah," Buffy admitted. "It's happened before. Demons trying to peg the retired Slayer. 
Kinda like a dare, see who can get closest to me."

"Hey, Leo," Prue suggested, "could you recognize that vibe you got off of the car if you 
browsed through the Book of Shadows?"

"Could be worth a try," Leo agreed. He and the women headed back into the Halliwell 
mansion, and up to the attic, where Prue, Piper and Phoebe located their family grimoire, the 
Book of Shadows. It was this book that first brought the disparate sisters together all those 
years ago, revealing their heritage as the Charmed Ones, three mighty witches, one of the 
most powerful forces of good the world has ever seen. Buffy, Willow and Cordy watched 
on as the three witches and Leo looked through the book.

"Find anything, Leo?" Piper asked anxiously.

"Not yet," he said as he thumbed through a few more pages. "It didn't seem too powerful, 
just malevolent. Wait," he said suddenly as his eyes rested on a particular page and he read 
the words. "Here we are."

The Halliwell sisters read over his shoulder as Willow looked on. "A vengeance demon," 
Leo read. "Customarily these entities are former human beings, particularly mages, who have 
been wronged by someone. So great is their thirst for vengeance that they give up their 
mortality, and become demons who live to wreak vengeance against those who have 
wronged others the way they were wronged."

"Okay," Phoebe looked down, "So much for the sales pitch, how do we vanquish it?" Buffy 
had to smile as she heard that. It reminded her of herself as the slayer. Never mind the 
family history, Giles, just tell me how to slay it. Indeed, seeing Leo hunched over the Book 
of Shadows, Buffy and Willow were reminded of a young Giles.

"Looks easy enough," Leo answered. "Iambic quadrameter verse, recited by the three of 
you in unison."

"A power of three spell," Prue stated. "Nothing too messy though. What I want to know is 
why is a vengeance demon gunning for Buffy?"

"It's not Buffy," Willow suddenly blurted out. All eyes looked at her, and Willow started to 
feel a little self conscious. "It's me," she admitted timidly.

Cordy looked at her old friend, concern clouding her brown eyes. "You think it's Anya, 
don't you?"

"Anya?" the sisters asked in unison.

"Anyanka," Willow stated, "was a former vengeance demon. Buffy stripped her of her 
powers after she tortured Cordy with a twisted 'It's a Wonderful Life' scenario. She later 
tried to draw a vampire version of me from an alternate universe. After that, she changed her 
attitude, and became devoted to our friend Xander. In her own twisted, oversexed way, she 
fell in love with him. When he died, I think she blamed me," and she's not the only one, she 
thought ruefully, "'cause I was dating the girl who killed her, and she disappeared from the 
face of the earth. I guess she must have gotten her powers back and now wants me out of 
the way for Xander's death." Her eyes were hooded and her head was bent low, so none 
could read her expression.

None, except for her lover and fiancée. Buffy had seen her in this state before, when she 
blamed herself for Xander's death by the magic of Willow's ex-girlfriend Tara. Buffy held 
Willow in her arms, and said, "Don't worry. You didn't do anything to hurt Xander. And if 
Anya tries anything against you, I'll show her what vengeance is really about."

Willow reveled in the feeling of Buffy's strong arms around her shoulders, but she still couldn't 
shake her own guilt. Did she kill Xander, by loving Tara? 

And if Anya was targeting her, would she survive?

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"This is true love. You think this happens every day?" --Westley, "The Princess Bride"

"I love you guys too? Uh, guys, oxygen, becoming an issue!" --Willow, "Dopplegangland"