Fic: Its Grimy Up North (2/?)

[buffythebushkangaroo@xxxxxxxxxxx]

I urge everyone to read the original Grim Up North by Spik.

Its great!

Anne-Lise.

--

Down in the pouring rain, two figures battle. And get wet.
"Don't make me angry!" The demon growled as he threw yet more 
furious punches at his target, knocking her into the shadows. "You 
won't like me when I'm angry!" 
"Eat me!" Her voice changed as she spoke, becoming more feral. She 
walked forwards into the light, her ears pricked and claws 
ready. "Now look what you've done," she sighed.
As she ripped into the demon, a dark figure watched her from the 
shadows, scribbling notes into a tattered leather-bound writing-pad. 
"Bugger," she said when it wall all over. "I chipped a claw."

*

As Buffy and Willow trudged into the Arrivals lounge they noticed 
someone holding a card with 'Buff Willow' written on it. He was tall, 
late 20's (but looked older) and seemed very much out of place.
"Hi, that's sort of us." said Buffy, pointing to the card. Willow 
flexed a muscle behind her with a grin.
"Yeah? Cool. So, you *are* real! I'm Joe, Torr's brother. Torr 
would've liked to have met you herself, but she's a bit of a party 
animal at night and likes to play with her food."
"I'm Buffy, this is Willow," Buffy replied. "So is the weather 
always this shitty?"
"Never been to England before?" Joe asked, visibly relaxing. "If its 
not pissing down, its either snowing or just plain overcast. We do 
get the odd day of sun but normally it's just a brief interlude 
before the next downpour." 
He picked their bags up and led them to where the car was parked.
"Hey, are you alright?" Buffy asked Willow with a trace of concern, 
noticing her friend seemed to be in a daze.
"I'm just tired." she yawned. "What time is it here?"
"Early", Joe replied. In England, any time before noon was early, 
especially on weekdays. "Don't worry, you can sleep in the car. I 
know what the jetlag's like." As they turned the corner they were 
confronted by a beat-up black Mini. "Let me apologise now for the 
car. Torr takes the van out on patrol, and this is the only other 
transport we have."
"Can't be as bad as Giles' Citroen," Willow stated obliviously.
"If it runs, then it'll do," remarked Buffy as she and Willow 
squeezed into the back. They studiously pushed crisp packets, Terry 
Pratchett novels and what could have been either a used condom or a 
deflated balloon dog into the footwell.
"Oh, it runs." smirked Joe. The engine started with a loud backfire, 
and they headed away from the airport. Willow immediately began to 
snore in a light trill, her head in Buffy's lap.
Buffy sighed wistfully, and stroked Willow's hair.

*

"I thought I told you to kill the slayer!" Graham petulantly 
screamed at the drenched man in front of him.
"Sir! Yessir! B...but she wasn't exactly human..."
"Well, you obviously didn't try hard enough," he replied as he drove 
a sword through the man. The man fell over, sideways, comically with 
a 'Wah!'.
"He was right, though. About the slayer not being completely human." 
A dark figure revealed himself from the shadows, "I watched her fight 
today. She's a demon-spawn, wolfen."
"Your point being?"
"She doesn't have to wait 'til the end of the month to act like a 
bitch?"
"Hmm, yes. That is interesting. I'd better report this to my 
superiors."

*

"Here we are!" said Joe, far too cheerfully, as he pulled into the 
car-park underneath the building that housed his and Torr's 
apartment. Buffy had spent the journey making note of how dark and 
grey the city looked, and how she'd swap this place for somewhere on 
a hellmouth anyday. Whereas Willow had just woken up, having spent 
the majority of the short journey sleeping with her head on Buffy's 
lap, wondering why she hadn't done this more often. It was so 
incredibly warm and cosy...
Joe parked next to the entrance foyer and started unloading the 
luggage from the car. Thankfully they'd both travelled light as not 
much luggage could have been fitted in the car, and the only time 
he'd tried to use a trailer, the car had amusingly accelerated 
backwards on a steep hill. He led them through the foyer to the lifts 
and pressed the button for the 5th floor.
"I hope you don't mind sharing Torr's room. There's a big double bed 
in there. We've only got the two bedrooms and Torr's rarely in 
anyway." Joe said as the lift reached their floor.
"That's OK, we don't mind." Willow grinned, her face going as red as 
Buffy's.
"Well I suppose I ought to give you the tour." commented Joe, as he 
opened the door to their rather spacious apartment.
Buffy immediately started comparing the place to Angel's mansion.

*

Over in Sunnydale, same bat-time, same bat-channel...
"Get the stake," yelled Giles as one of the vampires held him 
against the wall. Xander picked himself up off the ground and grabbed 
the stake from Anya. He plunged... And nothing happened. He grabbed 
the real stake from Anya and passed her back the dildo as the female 
vampire snarled, preparing to get personal with Giles' neck.
"I wanted to kill her, not give her a happy!" he shouted at his 
green-haired lover as the she-vamp became dust.
"I quite agree," said Giles as he cleaned his glasses.
"I wonder how they're getting on?" Xander asked with a sigh.
"Oh I'm sure they're fine. Even with Spike helping them." Giles 
replied, coughing slightly.
"Not Joyce and Tara, I meant Buffy and Willow."
"Oh... I'm sure they'll ring if there's anything wrong."

*

"This is so much fun!" Joyce squealed as she sat on the wall next to 
Tara, eating low-fat yoghurt from a large tub as Spike made with the 
flurries of punches.
"Yeah? Yeah? You want some of me?" Spike litanied as he indulged his 
inner demon.
Tara nodded, bovinely.

*

Back in Manchester, City of Demons...
"This is a nice apartment." Willow commented as they returned to the 
open-plan Main Room.
"Cheers," Joe acknowledged as he brought over their drinks.
Buffy and Willow squeezed up together the sofa, and Buffy decided 
now was as good a time as any to ask the question that had been 
bugging her.
"So, how long has Torr been a Slayer?"
"Since sometime around the summer of '99. I'm not sure exactly 
when," Joe replied, sitting down in the chair opposite.
"Faith," Buffy thought out loud.
"Faith? Another slayer?" Joe asked.
"Long story." Buffy answered, not wanting to have to go through it 
all.
"Buffy died. Kendra was called. Kendra died, Faith was called," 
Willow summarised.
Buffy shot her a glare. "Well, okay. Not so long."
"You died?" Joe asked, rather perplexed.
"Only for a little while," Buffy squeaked. "I got better." Buffy 
hoped she wouldn't have to go into too much detail.
Willow turned to face Buffy. "So, you did kill Faith after all."
"This is way too confusing," Joe commented, trying to fathom why 
Buffy would have wanted to kill another slayer. Would she want to 
kill Torr? Was she like a schoolgirl version of the Highlander?
"Buffy almost gutted Faith," replied Willow, turning back to face 
Joe, who didn't seem to me any less mystified. Was Willow a groupie?
"There were circumstances," Buffy interrupted, noticing Joe looking 
even more confused and worried now. "She turned to the Dark Side, 
killed a few people, and tried to kill the people I love most."
Willow continued, "We never even considered whether Faith might 
have died and then been revived."
"So this Faith person is still alive? Three slayers?" asked Joe.
"Yep. Although Faith's in jail now." Buffy replied.
"Where she belongs," added Willow. "I even cast a spell so that she 
will always drop the soap in the shower. Big fun."
Joe noticed the venom in the tone of Willow's voice and wondered 
what this Faith character had done, but decided now was probably not 
the time to ask.
They were all relieved when the phone rang breaking the uneasy 
silence that had ensued. As Joe went to answer it, the jetlag began 
to catch up with Willow again and she decided that it might be a good 
time to go and have a lie down. Buffy decided to stay as the jetlag 
wasn't affecting her as much, she also had more questions she wanted 
to ask.
Willow pouted, bigtime, but went to climb into bed. Alone.

*

End Part 2