FIC: The Two - [1/?] - R

[Andy Stoffel <see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx>]

[FYI - This is my first attempt at using the Yahoo Web Mail
interface to post something this long. Hopefully it won't screw
it up %-) ]

TITLE: The Two (1/?)
AUTHOR: -Andy- (see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx)
RATING: R (For future violence and Adult situations) - (though
Parts 1 thru 5 just barely make it to a PG-13)
STATUS: A WiP.
DISCLAIMER: This is a derivative work. All characters belong to
Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox Television, and others. I don't
own any of this, just the words gluing my story together.
SUMMARY: Buffy meets a different kind of Willow in an alternate
universe. (It really is gonna be a B/W folks. Eventually. But
not right away.)
SPOILERS: All seasons of BtVS.
DISTRIBUTION: buffywantswillow and my blog fanfic pages. Anyone
else, e-mail me please.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: 
[1] Inspired by (but not based on) something that was quickly
covered in a flashback in a Willow/AU fanfic except with Buffy
as the main character.
[2] I write slowly. This first part was written a while ago. I
have a few other parts also written and will post them as I
revise them. Then the posting schedule will settle down to
approx. once or twice a month, depending upon life and progress
on other fics.
[3] Alternate Title: "The World Without CoWs"

- - -

Part I - "I Don't think we're in Kansas anymore."


She woke up abruptly, not knowing where she was or how she got
there. Sitting up, she noticed a dim purple glow in the air
around her that quickly faded. Cautiously looking around, she
seemed to be lying on a bed in her old room in the house in
Sunnydale. There was just enough moonlight shining in to show
her that she was fully clothed in one of her newly favorite
slaying outfits, all green khaki and black leather.

Trying to get a feel for her surroundings she could tell that
there was something slightly off about the room. Something was
missing. Some element that would have made this her room wasn't
there. It felt different at some level she couldn't explain to
herself. There was a subtle something, almost a flavor, a tone,
an aura the room possessed that indicated to her subconscious
mind that even though it looked like her old home she didn't own
this room. She didn't belong here.

And then there were the obvious differences. The smell was
different. No matter how she'd tried over the years, with
different perfumes, oils, and deodorizers, she had never been
quite able to get rid of the faint metallic smell of the knives,
swords, and hand axes she'd kept in her weapons chest. And it
was noticeably absent from this room.

The bed was different. This was the kind of soft, fluffy,
comfortable bed that her mother had always had. It hinted at a
gentle person, not someone like herself. It was not the bed of a
slayer, a dealer of death and defeater of prophecy. It hinted at
things she'd lost long ago. Parts of her soul she'd hidden away
and forgotten. And if it had been daylight she was sure she
would see more differences that were now hiding in the shadows.

While sitting there, another very important fact intruded upon
her consciousness. This couldn't possibly be her room. It had
ceased to exist two years ago along with the rest of Sunnydale.
It and the house it was in had fallen into the ground when they
had fought their last battle against the First Evil. As much as
she would always miss it, there was no going back to 1630
Revello Drive.

It was with that thought that she realized that she wasn't
alone. Someone else was sharing this bed with her. And from the
unfamiliar sounds and smells, it was a female someone.

She'd shared her bed with very few people over the years, both
men and women, for a multitude of reasons. Most of them were
long gone, some their choice, some hers. While she didn't
remember falling asleep the previous evening, the lonelier she
became the more she seemed to crave being alone. She was certain
that she wouldn't have spent the previous night with a stranger
given a choice.

Luckily, she was able to get off of the bed without waking her
unknowing bed mate. Looking over at the slight, blanket shrouded
figure, all she could see in the faint moonlight were a few
stray blond hairs poking out from underneath the pillow covered
head.

Silently debating the wisdom of staying there until her
unwitting roommate woke up and asked for an explanation of her
presence or exploring and trying to figure out what was
happening on her own, true to her slayer roots, Buffy chose the
active option and quietly snuck out of the room, pausing briefly
to ensure that she hadn't woken the room's slumbering occupant.

In the two years since she'd seen her house she'd forgotten what
it looked like without dozens of young women occupying every
possible nook and cranny. Looking around, it took her a few
moments to orient herself and to determine that yes, this place
was very much like her old house, with a few minor cosmetic
differences.

The carpet was softer under the thin soles her leather clad
feet, the wallpaper less dingy, and the stairs hadn't seen as
much wear as she remembered. If she looked harder, she was sure
she would find missing all the spots where she remembered
Xander's handiwork repairing some fixture broken in a fight with
some demon that managed to get in the house. Yes, it looked like
her house, but it wasn't.

Wandering down the upstairs hallway, with curiosity getting the
better of her, Buffy looked in what would have been Dawn's room.
> From the boy band posters plainly visible on the walls it was
obviously the room of a teenage girl but in the faint light
there were no pictures or other clues to reveal the identity of
the occupant and the bed was empty. But standing in the doorway,
Buffy could feel herself relax slightly. There was something
about this room that she found more welcoming than the room she
had woken up in.

Something about the room spoke to her and she found herself
thinking 'This is what a slayers' bedroom feels like.' She'd
lived with enough other slayers since Willow had performed her
spell to recognize the signs, to feel the presence of a slayer.
If she could, she would stay here all night. But this really
wasn't a good idea, no matter how familiar and comforting it
felt. Poking around in the dark in a slayer's house was a
guaranteed recipe for getting hurt, even for another slayer.

Stretching out with her slayer enhanced senses, the only person
she could detect in the house was the sleeping person in the
bedroom she had just left. But the house had the signs of being
occupied by at least two persons. Like most predators, slayers
had a tendency to be very territorial and if this one was out
patrolling her hunting grounds Buffy didn't really want to be
found wandering around this house when she got home. Especially
if the other person was a member of the slayer's family. She
remembered how she'd reacted to Faith when she'd first shown up
in Sunnydale and had no desire to provoke this slayer.

The only question was whether to wait for her to come home or to
find somewhere else to go to that would be seen as the least
threatening and least likely to cause a violent reaction. While
going downstairs, away from the currently sleeping occupant, was
a good start, staying in the house wouldn't be good and could
also be seen as confrontational. Not the message she wanted to
get across.

But she also wasn't going to run away. She'd learned over the
years that she functioned better with the direct approach. While
it was risky to just wait and see what would happen Buffy's
instincts were telling her to do just that. Once she'd dealt
with the local slayer, made her presence known, she could start
thinking about finding out where she really was and how to get
home.

And there was the added bonus that hunting for the slayer on her
home turf, even if it looked a lot like Sunnydale, without an
understanding of the local demon population could get her into
trouble she couldn't get out of and it had been a while since
she had intentionally done something that foolish. Especially
without any backup. And the results from that fiasco still
haunted her even if Xander had forgiven her long ago.

The best place to wait, given the situation, seemed to be the
back porch. Sitting on a porch was a friendly thing that enemies
rarely did. Well, anyone except Spike and he'd always been an
exception even before becoming an important part of her life,
And even now she still missed him, two years after she'd lost
him.

Turning thought into action Buffy went through the kitchen door
and found the most visible part of the porch where she didn't
feel vulnerable, a porch swing near the door, and quietly
meditated, a habit she'd picked up following the destruction of
Sunnydale, while she waited, the events of the past few minutes
running through her mind and just now really hitting her.

Giles and Willow would be so proud of her restraint. She was
thinking and planning before acting. She just hoped she would
have a chance to tell them.

- - -

Walking into her backyard after a quiet, uneventful patrol, she
sense a presence before seeing anything. It wasn't quite the
chalkboard scraping on her nerves that she normally felt around
the rare vampire that occasionally visited the local closed
hellmouth. It was more like the feeling that someone was
massaging the back of her neck and pulling on the hair there at
the same time. Not the most pleasant feeling, but not painful.

Looking at her house, there seemed to be a small woman sitting
on the back porch and watching her as if waiting for her to get
home. Hopefully it wasn't her sister, though the chances of it
being someone else were very slim so close to dawn.

To add to her nervous feelings, something large was following
her. A something giving off that vampire-like vibe with a faint
hint of danger.

She had managed to keep her late night excursions a secret for
months but eventually even her oblivious sister was bound to
discover how often she wasn't in her bed for large parts of the
night. Even fighting a master vampire in her back yard would be
preferable to her sister finding out about her secret life. But
both happening on the same night would not be a highlight of her
brief career as a slayer. Even her Guide with the local coven
wouldn't be too pleased.

> From the sidewalk the woman sitting there looked enough like her
sister in appearance that she was startled into saying her name
- "Beth. . . ?"

The woman cocked her head at her in a manner eerily reminiscent
of her sister but upon cautiously approaching and examining her
from a slight distance the next thing she blurted out was a
surprised "You're not my sister!"

While at a distance she could have been mistaken for her sister,
up close this woman appeared older and harder in some
undefinable way that her bubbly, ex-cheerleader sister couldn't
match.

Standing up and flashing a faintly predatory grin, the woman
replied - "No, I expect I'm not. "

- - -

While waiting for the slayer to return from patrol, Buffy had
plenty of time to gather her thoughts, come to a conclusion
about her situation and make a few decisions. From the
appearance of things around here - the almost but not quite same
look to the house and the yard; in fact, that the house was here
at all; she had somehow fallen into some sort of parallel
universe or dimension.

Where ever she was didn't seem to have that oppressive, dark
feeling to it that she had always gotten near active hellmouths
and the other distinctly evil places she'd visited since
becoming a slayer.

A few years ago, following the Vampire Willow incident she had
spent a little time discussing the idea of parallel universes
and dimensions with Giles and her friends. She could no longer
remember most of their discussion but what had stayed with her
was Giles' advice on what to do should she ever happen to end up
in a similar situation in a parallel dimension.

Giles had advised stealth and observation and more than a little
caution when dealing with people who would seem to be people she
knew but wouldn't really be them. Just because they looked
similar, forgetting they weren't the people she knew could be
fatal. And the most important part of surviving in such a
situation was staying alive. In the past she would have just
ignored such advice but she'd grown a lot since then.

Once she had made some sort of accommodation with the local
slayer she would need to find a place to stay and a job of some
sort until she was able to get a firm grasp on the way this
different world worked. She had no desire to end up on the wrong
side before she even knew what the sides were and what they were
fighting for.

Once she was settled in she could focus on finding out how she
got here and how to get back to her own universe. Hopefully this
slayer had access to information that could help her.

With a mental grimace, she hoped she could find something better
than her last entry level job at a Double Meat Palace. And that
she didn't have to fight her way back to her home universe.

It was at this point that she became aware of a slight tingling,
almost like the subtle feelings she had always felt when around
Faith. It could only be the slayer returning home. From a
distance, she appeared to be the same size her sister had been
that year before Sunnydale became an advertisement for a poorly
done urban renewal project. But Dawn had still been at that
awkward stage of adolescence back then and this girl moved with
the grace of a small wildcat.

"Beth. . . ?"

Obviously this girl thought she was someone familiar. Her next
words and the way she looked as she got closer confirmed in
Buffy's mind that she was in an alternate universe of some sort.

Stopping a safe distance away, "You're not my sister!" said the
girl who could have been Dawn's twin, if that twin had spent the
past year training to be a slayer. And if Dawn had started
wearing leather hand-me-downs from the local demon bikers club
or getting fashion tips from Faith.

Buffy's first reaction was to attempt to explain why she
happened to be sitting on that porch. That idea lasted for less
than a second. Saying too much before knowing the local
situation could be a bad idea. Standing, Buffy decided to answer
with as much confidence as she could muster in the
circumstances. How she acted now was very important.

"No, I expect I'm not. " 

- - -

TBC in Part II "Getting Down to Business"

- - -

-Andy-


=====
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                     'Choices'

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