Fic: Convergent Slayers (6/?)

[annelise@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Sixth Part of a First Attempt At BuffyFic. *bounce*
Comments/Nude Alyson Pics/Etc. to: ladyvyxen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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"I hate February," said Anne-Lise, a hopelessly psychotic author 
with a penchant for Buffy. "It always makes me feel blue. I dreamed I 
was a vase of salt in the rain; Every day, I'm more diluted."
Soren blinked. "Meep," she complained. "Meep meep! More!"
"Okay already," Anne-Lise sulked. "Just another chapter then."

Anne-Lise.

--

The scoobs found themselves once more crammed into the cramped 
confines of Giles' car.
"Do you think I'd look good on a motorbike?" Willow pondered.
"What?" Xander asked, fazed. Giles studiously concentrated on the 
road.
"You know, like a Harley or something."
Buffy gave Willow a searching look. "You wanna end up like some old 
leather-crotched, hard-in-the-saddle biker-chick?"
"No..." Willow quailed. "But I just... Oh I don't know."
"Spill Wills." Xander turned in his seat. "What's going on in your 
Machiavellian little mind?"
Willow waved her arms - no simple feat in the back of Giles' 
car. "I just don't think the vamps will take me seriously if I wear 
pink sweaters, or carry a Hello Kitty backpack."
"But they look so good on you !" Buffy pointed out in a scandalised 
tone. In the ensuing silence, Buffy stared out of the window trying 
to imagine a naked Willow on a Harley.
"I wanna be the bad!" Willow blurted, inviting the other scoobs to 
share Buffy's strange mental vision.
"Are you sure Faith's dead?" Xander poked Giles, who gave him a 
spurious look. "She's not, like, possessing Willow?" Giles continued 
to study the road.
"Hey!" Willow fumed. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here." She 
folded her arms. "What's wrong with me wanting to change my look?"
Buffy lightly pressed her fingers against Willow's cheek. "Its not 
your fashion-sense we're worried about," she said, "although the 
gymnastic look is a bit much. Its just that we're not used to take-
charge Willow. Vamp Willow was enough!"
Willow flashed her resolve face. "For the first time in my life I 
can walk in dark alleyways without being frightened." she fumed. "You 
remember before you were called, Buffy? Do you remember what it felt 
like, in the night, to be alone and afraid?"
"I remember." Buffy whispered, thinking about the patrols she'd 
walked alone when Angel had gone bad. "Sometimes I still do."
"Well," Willow continued, "Now I'm able to join you in the good 
fight... and hopefully I'll not be get-in-the-way girl anymore."
Buffy puzzled. "Since when've you ever been 'in the way'? We'd have 
all been lost long ago without you. Don't you know how often I wished 
I could be just like you?"
Willow frowned. "Why would you want to be anything like me?" 
Xander affected a bad Cordelia imitation. "Willow, you really need 
to spank that inner moppet!" His attempt to cheer the Willster worked 
in the same way petrol would, if used to douse a forest fire. Willow 
was not amused.
"You're my Brainy Smurf!" Buffy shrugged. "Know what I'd give to 
wear a Brainy Smurf hat?"
"Know what I'd give for a photo of you wearing a Brainy Smurf hat?" 
Xander added.
Willow sighed, trying to break out of her fugue. "Sorry guys," she 
relented. "I guess I'm in a funk. I'm funking. Just colour me funked."
Buffy gave her an appreciative smile. "After we rescue my mom, you 
and I are going to have to have a serious... dance... session. And 
talk things through!" Her eyes caught Willow's.
"Okay." Willow tried on a small smile, just for the fit. "You know, 
I love it when we... do the dance session thing."
"The Bronze it is!" Xander chipped in, his smile resurfacing. He saw 
the Slayers' twin glare. "Hey, I'm subtext-blind!" he admitted.

*

Xander handed Buffy a loaded crossbow, while Giles found a metal 
fence railing with a spiked end, roughly six feet long, which he 
passed to Willow.
"I think this would be the best weapon for you," he told her. "We 
know you can handle yourself with a wooden Bo, and this isn't that 
much different."
"Thank Giles!" she gave it an experimental twirl. "Its heavier, but 
serviceable."
"Hey, Willow!" Buffy called out.
"Yep?" Willow walked over to her lover.
"I was just thinking about what you said in the car." Buffy gave her 
an inquisitive look. "I mean, about you wanting to be the bad."
Willow raised a cautious eyebrow. "What about it?"
"Well, I thought you liked doing homework, and research, and... 
stuff?"
Willow gave her a quirky grin. "Can't I be both? Bad-ass wicca and 
homework girl?"
Buffy shrugged. "You're a dichotomy," she said. "And although I 
don't know exactly what a dichotomy is, I'm pretty sure you are one."
"Or two." Willow kissed her lover. "You ready?"
"In for a penny," Buffy clipped the crossbow to her belt and pulled 
out Mr. Pointy. "In for a pounding."
"Let's dance." Willow agreed as she stalked towards the factory 
doors, Buffy in tow.
"Let's dance?" Giles echoed as he stood guard with Xander. He shook 
his head.
"Pretty cliche," Xander pointed out with affection. "But then, she's 
new to this." He clasped his hands together to ward off some of the 
cold. "You know, it just occurred to me that I'm probably more 
useless now than ever before. I mean, at least before I could, well, 
pretend I was protecting Willow, Or Cordelia, or whoever. But not 
anymore. I don't even know if they still need me, or if I'm just 
getting in the way." He looked up from the floor at Giles' face.
"They're in," Giles said, not having heard a word of Xander's 
soliloquy. "Let's give them a minute, and then see what we can do to 
help."
"Okay," Xander agreed.

*

"Willow?" Buffy's voice called out.
"I'm here," Willow answered.
"Where? I can't see anything!" A low, deep-throated growl emanated 
from behind Buffy and she heard the sound of Willow choking. "Willow!"
Willow struggled to breathe and realised she couldn't. She clutched 
at the hand that was causing her so much torment, but it was too 
strong for her to budge. Her vision was just beginning to blur when 
she felt an infinitesimal drop in pressure. The pain was still there, 
but lessening by tiny degrees, and she struggled for breath. Then the 
hand was gone, and she felt the light patina of dusted vampire as it 
landed on her bare arms.
"You okay, Willow?" Buffy asked.
"I guess so. Thanks."
"S'okay. Friends don't let friends choke."
Willow smiled in the darkness. "We should make that our mission 
statement."
The two Slayers suddenly had to shield their eyes as powerful 
halogen lights lit up the factory floor. As the glare diminished, 
Buffy could see her mother tied to a chair in the centre of a circle 
of demons and vampires.
Willow moaned. "Its like a scene from Batman!"
"If there's a penguin demon, its yours." Buffy twirled Mr. Pointy.

*

"Now?" Xander asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. 
It was freezing!
"Yes, lets." Giles led the way.
"Direct frontal assault," Xander mused as they entered the 
factory. "Whose plan was this, anyway?"
Giles' mouth firmed into a line. "Since when has Buffy ever waited 
for me to formulate a plan?" he muttered. "Oh no, that would be far 
too sensible."
"I'm sensing bitterness," Xander said. "And bitterness leads to..."
"Shut up." Giles held up his hand to ward off further 
comment. "Listen!" Footfalls, muffled but recognisable, approached 
them. 
Giles raised his crossbow and Xander levelled his Smith and Wesson, 
his other hand checking to ensure the cross around his neck was still 
dangling by its cord. A white ghost-like shadow flitted past them, 
moving incredibly fast.
"Woah!" Xander freaked. "What was that?"
"My Slayer." Another shadow moved, and an old man of oriental 
leaning approached the two scoobs.
"Sensei Kobo, I presume?" Giles asked.
"Rupert. Its been a long time." Kobo greeted.

*

Inside the factory, Buffy and Willow engaged in back-to-back 
combat. Buffy's favourite stake had been wrested from her grip and 
her crossbow had shot its payload, but she was still doggedly 
fighting using her fists and feet. Willow's metal spike seemed to be 
travelling faster than she could possibly control, spinning wildly at 
a sizeable fraction of the speed of terror. Both had resolve faces, 
and both felt the nagging doubt that they'd bitten off more than they 
could chew. Especially as another dozen vampires had belatedly joined 
the fray.
"Watashi wa sodoshi desu!" A ring of steel followed the 
incomprehensible battle-cry which distracted Buffy momentarily, but 
fortunately her assailant was equally distracted, and subsequently 
dusted.
"Thanks!" Buffy exclaimed, and turned to aid a flagging Willow. The 
fight ended quite quickly once the vampires realised they were 
seriously outmatched, and they fled from the battle-weary Slayers.
"Mom, are you okay?" Buffy untied Joyce who stood up shakily, 
massaging the raw rope-burns on her wrists.
"Buffy! Thank god you came." She gave her daughter a hug which Buffy 
gratefully sank into. "Now die!" Joyce's face took on its vampiric 
form and she sank her fang teeth into Buffy's neck.
"No!" Willow, stunned into immobility, screamed in shock. Kyoko, 
however, had no such issues. She ran her sword through Joyce's heart 
and into Buffy's shoulder. Joyce dissolved into dust, and Kyoko 
nonchalantly pulled her sword free from Buffy, who fell to her knees.
"Oh God, Buffy..." Willow couldn't find the words, but Buffy wasn't 
able to listen anyway. She lived, for the moment, in her own 
nightmare made real.
Kyoko sheathed her sword, turned, and walked wordlessly away from 
the two Slayers.

*

"Sensei." Kyoko approached her Watcher, who stood talking to the two 
strangers she'd passed when she came in.
"Kyoko." Kobo greeted. "Are things secure?" 
Xander eyed the new Slayer, noticing the blood coating her arms, 
and the way her breasts rose and fell despite the fact she didn't 
need to breathe...
"Hai," Kyoko's voice brought Xander's attention back from the land 
of cleavage. "But there was problem. I think one vampire I kill 
was... hahasan to the other Slayer."
"Hahasan?" Xander blinked. "Is she talking about Angel?" he asked 
Giles.
"No." Kobo said, gravely. "Hahasan means mother, my young friend."
"Oh my god!" Giles ran into the factory proper, needing to help 
Buffy somehow, some way.
"There's little we can do here," Kobo told his Slayer. "Let's go. We 
will meet with the other Slayer when things are less... distracting."
"Hai, sensei." Kyoko took Kobo's arm, offering support to her ageing 
Watcher as they walked off into the night.
Xander shook his head. Those guys weren't made from human parts. He 
blinked, realising that one of them, in fact, definitely wasn't 
human. He headed back outside to the car. He'd no words of comfort he 
could offer to Buffy, nothing that could help. He'd let her find her 
own balance, then offer sympathy or support later. Help in any small 
way he could. After all, that's what he always did, all he could ever 
do. He hated not being able to do more, be more. He still loved her, 
and every day she seemed further away.

*

"I couldn't stop her!" Buffy agonised. "I wanted to, but I couldn't."
"Kyoko, or your mother?" Giles demanded, his voice unreasonably 
harsh to Willow's mind.
"My mother." Buffy looked up, a steely glint in her eye that gave 
Giles some relief. Her resilience hadn't broken. "Kyoko did the right 
thing, I don't blame her for what she did. My mother was already 
dead." Buffy's voice broke once more and she burst into tears. Giles 
helped her up from the floor, then took her in his arms, 
uncharacteristically, and smoothed the tear-dampened hair from her 
forehead.
"I'm so sorry," he said. "I know that sounds... feeble, but its all 
I can say." He relinquished his hold on Buffy intending to let Willow 
provide the comfort he couldn't, but Willow didn't move. She seemed 
lost in a nightmare of her own. "I'm sorry," he repeated.
"Let's get out of here," Buffy whispered, "I need fresh air." She 
looked down at the blood still flowing from her shoulder. "And a 
bandage," she added.
Willow managed to catch Buffy before she fainted from blood loss, 
but it was a close call.

*

"Three Slayers?" The Master cried out. "Three?" He threw a chair 
across the room into the far wall, where a leg broke off.
"It changes everything," Tara said.
"It changes nothing! Our plans for the Fourth Empire must not be 
hindered further." The Master's childlike face glowered with 
unrestrained evil. "Things have gone too far for us to back away and 
hide now. We'll just have to be more careful, be less 
confrontational." He turned to an aide. "Summon the Chosen!"
"You're missing the point," Tara fumed. "Willow's now a Slayer. This 
changes everything! Don't you understand, there's three of them! The 
power of three times three. One of them's a potent wicca!"
The child-master had lived a long time, and he knew when to be the 
mercilessly cruel tyrant, and when to listen. "No," he said. "I don't 
understand. Explain it to us." His eyes took on a feral look as he 
gestured to the other assembled demons. "And use small words so we 
will all understand."

*

"Please," Buffy asked, "Don't leave me alone tonight. I need you to 
hold me, make me feel... real."
Willow kissed her, softly. "Of course," she whispered. "I'm here 
for you. I'll always be here for you."

*

Willow woke up to the languorous warmth of sunlight on her naked 
skin, and the note on Buffy's pillow. Even before she read it she had 
an idea what it would say. The last time Buffy had been this down 
she'd pulled an Amelia Earhart for the whole Summer, and had hidden 
from the world so effectively even Giles with his Watcher resources 
hadn't been able to find her. She dreaded the words she expected to 
find.

Gone for pancakes. Had a maple craving! 
Will bring back enough for two. 
You looked peaceful, so I had to leave you asleep!
- Love, Buffy.

Willow cried until the tears wouldn't fall anymore, and that's when 
she heard Buffy's voice call, "Hey sleepyhead, want a pancake?"

*

Xander opened Giles' front door. "Hey, Giles," he called. "Mr. 
Miyagi's here to see you." Xander ushered the old Watcher in, 
ignoring the angry look in the small man's eyes.
"Hello Rupert," Kobo greeted. "We need to talk."
Giles nodded. "You came alone?"
"Of course." Kobo replied. "My Slayer has an aversion to being 
destroyed by sunlight."
"Oh yes, silly me. I forgot," said Giles, who hadn't. "Would you 
care for some tea?"

*

Buffy and Willow pulled apart when there was a knock on the door to 
their dorm. They'd spent a short while blissfully licking maple syrup 
off each other's naked bodies, and they were both now a little sticky.
"Coming!" Buffy announced, and cast about for some clothes. Willow 
put on her pyjamas again, and pulled her duvet up to her neck. Buffy 
rolled her eyes, shrugged into a shirt and jeans, and answered the 
door.
"Riley!" she gasped, as he hugged her tight. He kissed her, 
sensually. Both Buffy's and Willow's eyes widened in shock, and Riley 
broke the kiss feeling the resistance. "You didn't miss me?" he asked.

*

End Part 6