FIC: The Two - [10/24] - R

[Andy Stoffel <see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: The Two (10/24)
AUTHOR: -Andy- (see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx)
RATING: R (For future violence and adult situations) 
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 plot and 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. Getting there.)
SPOILERS: All seasons of BtVS. Let's pretend Season 5 of Angel
didn't happen.
DISTRIBUTION: buffywantswillow, ikoly, and my blog fanfic pages.
Anyone else, e-mail me please.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: 
[1] Reminder - I write slowly. While I hope to have the next two
parts done by the end of October it probably won't happen.
[2] Feedback welcome/desired. Especially the kind that helps me
write better. This is a long part. And a bit heavy on the words.
I'm sure there are errors I missed.
[3] This and the previous 9 parts can be found in the archives
for this
list, on http://www.Ikoly.com, and my blog (along with the
occasional spoilers
for future parts).
[4] Getting there - It's almost been a year since I started - I
came up with the idea for this fic back in October 2003. And
another seven months before I started sharing it. At this point
it is almost half done.

- - -

Part X Title: "Who Are You?""

- - -

Willow shielded her eyes against the bright April sun pouring
into her bedroom. She felt like she hadn't slept at all. She
glared blearily over at the alarm clock on her night-stand.  It
was insisting with a loud blaring noise that she needed to get
up, now! Leaning over, she fumbled for the alarm's off switch
before falling back against her pillow.

She was unable to remember when she'd fallen asleep, her
thoughts occupied with the maddening puzzle that was Buffy
Summers. Her head still buzzing from the evening's events, she'd
tossed and turned for hours. The trip to LA hadn't provided the
insight into her character Willow had been looking for. Instead,
it had only added to her confused impression of the other woman.


Dwelling on the continuing mystery to the exclusion of all else,
even her normal thoughts about Buffy, she stumbled out of her
bedroom. Her surroundings barely registered as she removed her
pajamas and climbed half awake into the shower. The stinging
spray of hot water on her face and shoulders and the scent of
her favorite shampoo did little to clear the fog from her mind.
Not even switching to freezing cold water and ducking her head
under the cold spray for a few brief agonizing seconds just
before getting out of the shower seemed to help. 

Willow couldn't quite get a grip on what she'd seen during the
previous evening's activities. During the two fights she'd
witnessed, Buffy had almost seemed like two different people.
While she'd been an almost frighteningly efficient fighter in
both fights, during the first she'd been eerily calm, letting
the demons set the tone for the encounter. It was almost as if
she'd sensed that it was a deadly test of her fighting skills
and not just a fight to the death. There had been a recognizable
method to everything she did. If that had been it Willow would
have gladly welcomed her as a sparing partner for her slayer.

But a completely different side of Buffy's personality had
appeared when she'd fought the vampires later in the cemetery.
As she dried herself off in her usual methodical fashion, Willow
kept coming back to the image in her head of Buffy as someone
who seemed to take some delight in the violently physical
encounters. She couldn't ignore that there had been an extra
viciousness present in the battle with the vampires that hadn't
been there during the earlier fight with the demons. She hadn't
really been fighting them. She'd dismantled them and torn them
apart.

In more ways than one it had felt to Willow like she was
watching someone hunting. For the brief moments that the vampire
encounter lasted it had been as if Buffy was playing with them.
Like a large wild cat playing with a mouse. She had the distinct
impression that if she hadn't been there the fight would have
lasted a lot longer. And that attitude was not something she
really wanted Dawn to emulate. It went against everything the
Covens emphasized in Slayer and Guide training.

But earlier that evening at the karaoke bar, between the
different battles, she'd been the witty, knowledgeable person
Willow had come to know over the past few weeks. That Buffy was
someone she could definitely see herself spending time with.
Someone whose presence she really enjoyed. And someone she could
trust with her slayer. She didn't know where to begin in
reconciling these different images into one she could
understand. 

Looking in her mirror after she'd finished dressing, she
frowned, realizing that she'd subconsciously dressed in what her
friends called her people armor, clothes that let her blend in
with the crowd and hide her real feelings. Clothes her mother
would have dressed her in when she was a lot younger. She
groaned but didn't have the time to find something else to
change into, instead heading into her kitchen.

Sitting at her kitchen table deep in thought as she idly sipped
her coffee, she really wasn't sure what to do about the
situation. She'd carefully watched Buffy over the past few weeks
as she made use of the Coven's facilities. She'd also seen how
Buffy interacted with the people around her. She seemed to be
very careful about what she said or did. Almost as if she was
trying to avoid being noticed. And from that and the previous
night Willow wasn't sure if she really knew enough about either
Buffy's training or character to make the right decision.

Willow sighed and rubbed the back of her neck in frustration.
She was going to have to look much deeper before making a
decision about Buffy's participation in Dawn's training. She
needed to know more about her past, where she'd been, and who
the world thought she was before she could decide how to
proceed. That was much more important than her personal life.
Her interest in getting to know Buffy on a more personal level
would have to wait for now. Once her slayer was taken care of,
then she could decide if she even wanted to be more than friends
with the very complex person she was discovering.

As she washed her cup and straightened her kitchen before
heading to school, Willow decided to start her investigation
with the things she'd learned the previous night. 
There were a number of things she couldn't ask Buffy directly
without arousing her suspicions and would have to check into
herself. Beginning with the demon at the karaoke bar. It had
seemed to know both of them. Willow was certain she'd never met
him before and from Buffy's reaction she'd obviously never met
him before either.

But the information she'd gleaned from the friendly green
demon's comments seemed a good place to start. And from there...
everyone left some sort of trail when they interacted with the
world. A trail she could follow. Unfortunately, Wednesday was
her busiest class day so she wouldn't be able to pursue her
expanded investigation into Buffy Summers until her evening
session with Dawn was finished.

----

Following a quick dinner after sending a protesting Dawn home
early, Willow put the first part of her plan into action.
Fortunately, searching for information to explain what the demon
in the LA club had called Buffy Summers wasn't the onerous task
it could have been. A few years ago, as part of a college
project she'd managed to create a computerized index of all of
the Coven's books, turning a seemingly impossible task into the
merely tedious. 

Spending several hours on the task, she came to the conclusion
that there was nothing in the Coven's library or in her own
personal collection to explain the title 'Chosen' the way the
demon had used it. While it did appear in a number of the older
texts, none of the references seemed fit Buffy or the current
situation. She would have had to be a slayer for them to apply
and that was impossible. Not only was she very different from
any slayer she'd ever met or heard about but the Coven kept
track of all the slayers, even the ones who worked
independently, and she wasn't one of them.

She did find it interesting that Buffy hadn't seemed surprised
at the title the demon had given her or the reference to herself
as her witch. It was as if she'd heard it all before. She'd
seemed to fold in on herself though, Willow thought, as if it
brought back painful memories. If being called 'Chosen' caused
such a reaction in her it was obviously an important clue. More
important than any of the other things she'd seen or heard while
with Buffy the previous night. She just had to figure out what
it meant.

When a search of the other resources she had access to through
the Coven came up empty, Willow decided to take another tack.
She was obviously going to have to try a different approach to
solve the Buffy mystery. She'd been relying on Tara's psychic
examination of Buffy and hadn't gone the extra step of looking
for physical traces of her or her travels, electronic or
otherwise. It was possible the answers she was looking for were
in the places she should have checked first, in the government
records and private databases she'd avoided searching until now.

----

Hours later, just before sunrise, Willow stared at what she'd
uncovered. Whomever had created her identity had been very good
but not good enough. Just over a month ago there had been no
such person as Buffy Summers. It was as if she had suddenly
appeared out of thin air. There was no record of her past prior
to day of her encounter with Dawn. Nothing to indicate where
she'd learned everything she seemed to know. Which was seemingly
impossible. Unless she'd fooled Tara there should have been some
trace of her somewhere in a database, something older than what
she was able to find.

Not quite believing this, Willow could only assume that there
was some flaw in the programs she'd written years ago. It had
been so long since she'd needed to exercise her hacking skills
that she must have done something wrong. Something that
prevented them from sifting through the vast quantities of
information they could access around the world and finding what
she was looking for. Not even the fingerprints she'd managed to
copy had yielded anything. But figuring out what was wrong would
have to wait until she had the time.

For now she would have to go back to the tools she was more
comfortable with. With a little help from Tara she could use
magic instead of technology to track Buffy's origins. Rubbing
her back and looking at her watch, Willow checked the time to
make sure it wasn't too early to call Tara. 

"Tara? I need help with a spell. The one you use to trace
someone." She listened attentively for a minute. "Yeah. That
one. Who? Buffy Summers. No, she isn't lost. Something has come
up and I just need to know where she's been the last two
months." She put down the phone after receiving Tara's answer.
Now she just had to make it through a day of teaching until Tara
arrived. Sleep could wait.

----

Letting Tara into her apartment late Thursday evening, Willow
hugged her before directing her to her study. The ingredients
Tara had requested for the spell were already laid out on her
work table, waiting to be used.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tara asked her, looking at
the table for a moment before turning back to Willow with some
concern.

"Yes. I really need to know who she is!" Willow said. "I've
checked everything I can think of.  And found nothing useful. As
far as I can tell a month ago she didn't exist."

"She wasn't lying about her name." Tara reminded her as she laid
out the things she'd brought with her. "Or her feelings."

"I know. But that doesn't make any sense." Willow grumbled. "I
even tried to check her fingerprints." Willow blushed at Tara's
raised eyebrow. "Someone went to some effort to put her in all
the right places but if you look closely it's all fake."

"Willow? Why are you so upset?" Tara asked quietly. "We've
already checked her out. No matter what the computers say she is
real." She looked closer at her friend. "Don't we know enough
about her?"

"How can I trust her around Dawn or the Coven if we don't really
know who she is or where she comes from?" Willow asked.

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Tara asked her with a
small smile.

Willow blushed before shaking her head and answering her
question. "Tara, I really like her!" she told her nervously. "I
really do. I can't explain it. When I'm standing next to her the
world feels brighter, more real somehow." She dropped down with
a sigh onto the window seat next to the table.

"But?" Tara asked with a small frown.

"What if what I feel isn't real?" Willow looked down at her
hands. "What if that's all an illusion? There was something
different about her when we were in LA Tuesday night. Something
older, more focused. It was kind of scary. I felt insignificant
next to her."

Tara looked at her, sitting there like a small, lost child.
Willow had obviously not slept well for several days and the
situation was preying on her insecurities. "Let's do the spell
before we worry about something like that." she told her gently,
gesturing to the table.

Willow watched Tara carefully as she worked through the spell.
The Slayer covens preferred to use simple spells. Except for the
occasional ceremony, they rarely used flashy looking magic,
instead going for the simple and direct approach. Willow's
magical training and skills were geared towards helping her
slayer, to protect her and deal with magical threats as quickly
as possible. The kind of spell she needed here operated at a
completely different level. It invoked forces that Willow rarely
worked with and that required a more subtle approach.

Tara was the coven's local expert with this other style of
magic, her movements sure and controlled as she blended the
necessary ingredients together, occasionally murmuring an
invocation to one of the coven's patron deities. Watching her
almost hypnotic movements served to calm Willow.

"Okay." she told Willow, after steadily working on the spell for
almost an hour "Where did you want to start?"

Willow placed several maps on the table. "I think we should
start at least a month ago." she told her. "Several days before
Dawn first met her. If we could find out where she was before
she came here..."

"Okay. We'll need the map of the world." Tara told her. "She
could have come here from anywhere."

Willow pulled out the map Tara had requested and placed it where
she indicated. She watched avidly as Tara sprinkled a portion of
her concoction above the map, murmuring several words under her
breath as she did so, too low for Willow to make them out. There
was a flash and the potion seemed to be absorbed into the map
without leaving a trace.

"That's odd." Tara told her in surprise. She sprinkled more of
the potion on the map, varying her incantation slightly. The
results where the same.

"Did she change her name?" Willow asked curiously.

"That wouldn't affect this spell. It works with her aura and
since that is unique her name doesn't matter." Tara thought for
a moment. "We know what day Dawn met her. Let's start there and
work our way back."

Several hours later, they were no closer to an answer than
they'd been before. The results had them baffled. They'd ended
up with a reasonably clear idea of Buffy's travels since she'd
met Dawn. Nothing too surprising. But everything before that was
just a blank.

"Willow, I think you are just going to have to ask her what you
want to know." the blonde Wiccan told her, stretching and
rubbing the back of her neck. "Something is preventing me from
seeing what she was doing before she met Dawn."

"Okay..." Willow answered reluctantly and sighed. "I'll ask her
tomorrow night."

"Don't worry about it. We know she isn't a danger to us." Tara
reminded her. "You're just going to have to do this the hard
way, by trusting her to tell you the truth." She started packing
up her tools. "I need to get home. Why don't you give me a call
this weekend after you talk with her? Okay?"

"Okay." Willow answered reluctantly before following her to the
door and escorting her to her car.

----

It had been a quiet Friday afternoon in the bookshop. In one of
her rare afternoon visits Madeline had kept Buffy busy
cataloging the books in the shop, starting with the ones out
front. Sitting at the counter and idly looking through the
Sunnydale Chronicle during a much needed break, Buffy could hear
Madeline puttering around in the back, busily unpacking a large
box that had arrived that morning.

She stared out of the window facing Main Street. The people
passing by on the sidewalk and going about their business seemed
oblivious to the storm her enhanced senses were warning her
about. Giles would have called it a metaphor for her life. She
had just started to feel comfortable with her current situation
and the people she was coming to know in this place. She wasn't
looking forward to the chaos it could bring but Buffy knew she
had to head back to LA soon. She needed to find out what the
green demon had meant when it had spoken to her and to see if it
knew anything that could help her get home.

She hadn't seen Willow since their trip to LA two days ago and
while she knew there was no reason to expect her to show up
every day, she'd still felt cheated by her absence from Tony's
the past two evenings. Sighing, she tried to steer her thoughts
away from the redhead with little success. She knew she'd
reacted badly to what the demon had said but she hadn't been
able to help it. From Willow's continued absence she assumed she
hadn't hidden it as well as she'd hoped.

The soft, solid sound of two books being dropped onto the
counter brought her attention back to where she was sitting.
Startled, Buffy looked up to find Madeline gazing intently at
her over the top of her reading glasses. "What's this?" she
asked curiously.

"Things you'll need." Madeline told her simply as if that was
all the explanation she needed to give her.

Buffy cautiously picked up the top book and flipped through it.
It was a slim volume, written in an almost familiar language.
But not familiar enough to enable her to read it. "Why do I need
something I can't read?"

Madeline smiled at her cryptically before pointing at the other
book. "This should help." She then turned to leave using the
front door, pausing just inside the door to remark cryptically -
"Have you ever wondered who the first guardians of the Chosen
were?" before disappearing into the evening pedestrian traffic
before Buffy could respond.

Buffy sat there for a few minutes, just staring at the door
until she was able to overcome the surprise she'd felt at
Madeline's comment. This wasn't the first indication that
Madeline knew more about what was going on in Sunnydale than
anyone else she'd met  there so far. But she was also very good
at avoiding any opportunity for Buffy to learn more than she was
willing to share.

Shaking her head, Buffy went back to her inventory. Madeline
trusted her enough to let her finish it on her own and she had
no plans to disappoint her.

By the time she was done it was dinner time and all she wanted
to do was spend the evening soaking in her tub. She'd been
unable to resist purchasing her favorite soaps and bath oils
when she'd seen the over-sized tub in her rented loft. It was
one of the few luxuries she'd allowed herself in her loft. 

Tonight she planned on skipping her normal evening visit to
Tony's and soak in her tub. She didn't think anyone would miss
her, especially the absent Willow. And if Tony was interested in
her company he would get plenty of it when she helped him out at
the festival the following afternoon. There was plenty of time
to relax and soak out the day's dust before shadowing Dawn on
her normal patrol.

----

The rain had been sudden, catching her umbrellaless on the way
to Tony's. Once more shaking her damp hair, Willow looked around
the bar, sighing in disappointment. She'd been sitting at the
bar for several minutes and had yet to see Buffy anywhere. They
hadn't talked since the LA trip but Willow had expected to find
her at Tony's like always. She'd planned on confronting her with
what she and Tara had discovered. Accidentally running into her
at the bar had seemed like the best way to confront her with her
questions. It was one of the few neutral places where they could
talk. But she hadn't counted on her not being there.

"Tony? Have you seen Buffy Summers?" she asked hopefully when he
came to take her order.

"She's not here tonight." He gave her a sharp look. "You might
want to try her at home."

"Thanks." She said, her small bubble of courage suddenly
deflating. From his expression she could tell he wasn't happy
with her for some reason, but she just couldn't find the energy
to care. It had taken a lot out of her to screw together her
courage tonight to come looking for Buffy. She had nothing left
to deal with anyone else.

Without saying anything further, she turned around and made her
way out of the bar, back into the rain, intent on heading home.
She knew it was silly but she didn't feel comfortable with the
idea of going to Buffy's apartment uninvited. It was a long damp
walk back to her apartment, the rain drenched town perfectly
matching her mood.

----

Standing in the park in the early Saturday morning mist, Buffy
stared in disbelief over the lid of her coffee at the booth Tony
was assembling. "Why did I agree to this?" she asked him.

Pausing for a minute and pretending to think, he answered her
with an amused "Because you love me?"

"Not enough to do this..." she told him with a wink before
taking another sip from her steaming cup.

He waved at the stack of cups on the booth's counter and the
beer and wine kegs lining the back. "All the beer you can
drink?" 

"You know I don't drink beer unless I'm desparate. Not even the
stuff you serve." She reminded him with a small smile, peering
curiously over the side of the booth.

"Guilt?" He tried again, grinning back at her.

"Guilt for what?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as she watched
him put up posters for his regular bands along the back of the
booth.

"At all of the money I'm not making because you won't come work
for me." At her frown he tried again - "Because I offered to pay
you? And I said it would be fun?"

"Ah..." she perked up. "That would be it. You promised me fun
and money and food. But you didn't say anything about the cute
guys." She pouted at him, waving her free hand at the other
booths going up around them.

Tony gave her a look. "I didn't think you would be interested in
the scenery."

"Huh? Why not?" Buffy frowned at him again but he just shrugged
and winked at her before putting the finishing touches on his
booth. Buffy looked around at the other local businesses setting
up their booths for the Sunnydale Chamber of Commerce's annual
Spring Fest. Most of them seemed to be restaurants or bars.
Madeline had been amused when she'd suggested a booth for the
bookshop but hadn't objected when she'd asked for Saturday off
to help out Tony.

"So what do you want me to do...?" she asked, finishing up her
coffee and tossing it into a nearby trash can.

----

Following the crowds, Dawn dragged a reluctant Willow into the
park. "Come on!"

"Tell me again why we're not at the beach with your sister?"
Willow grumbled to her slayer as she looked around in amazement
at the park in the early afternoon. It was full of people
gathered around booths for every imaginable business in
Sunnydale. She hadn't realized it had become such a big event.
It was only the second year the Chamber of Commerce had managed
to put it together. She'd missed the Festival the first year.
She'd spent that weekend with Dawn in a retreat in a small
resort north of Sunnydale, introducing her to visiting Coven
elders who'd wanted to meet their newest slayer.

"Why are we here?" she asked again.

"You have to check this out!" Dawn insisted. "I think the Coven
needs a booth next year."

"Dawn, we don't need to advertise like this." Willow said
quietly. "Everyone who needs us knows how to find us." 

"Could you at least mention the idea the next time you meet with
the Elders?" Dawn pleaded.

"Okay. Now what did you want to show me?" Willow looked around,
nothing really standing out and still not sure why Dawn had
wanted to come. 

"All of the restaurants in town have booths here." Dawn told her
eagerly. "And they are all supposed to have free samples."

Willow groaned. "Why am I not surprised." She looked at her
slayer's happy grin. "Didn't you already eat lunch?"

"That's not the point. Look over there..." Dawn pointed off to
one side. "Even the local bars are here. Do you think they'll
serve me?" she asked with a knowing grin as she dragged Willow
in that direction.

"No. Definitely not!" Willow firmly told her. "They know
better."

"Ms. Rosenberg!" Dawn pouted. "I've been good. Not even a small
cup?"

"We'll see." Willow mumbled. She wasn't going to pretend that
Dawn wasn't a normal teenager but she would only bend so far,
even for her slayer.

By this point, even with Willow's token resistance, they'd
reached the section of the festival reserved for the local bars.
Willow, not interested in drinking in public on a Saturday
afternoon, attempted to steer Dawn quickly through to the
adjacent section of booths to a tent set up for anyone sampling
the available food. Her journey was interrupted when Dawn yanked
on her arm and pulled her in the direction of one of the busier
booths.

"Is that who I think it is?" she asked.

Willow stared through the crowd. Serving drinks and chattering
away to Tony Denova in his booth was Buffy Summers. Stomping
down on her feelings to keep them under control, Willow
attempted to stay detached as she watched Buffy apparently
enjoying herself and the attention of her audience of young men.

"You didn't tell me she was going to be here!" Dawn scolded her.
"Let's go say hello."

"I didn't know" Willow admitted morosely, staring at the blonde
with a sad expression on her face. "You go ahead. I'll see you
back at the house later for training." Her attempt at flight was
stopped only briefly.

"Awe... come on." Dawn gave her an encouraging smile. "I bet
she'll be glad to see you."

"No, I have other things to do this afternoon." Willow
protested, finally pulling her hand free. "I'll see you later."
And she slipped into the crowd, intent on heading home and
avoiding any questions from the frowning slayer she was leaving
behind.

----

"Any chance for a sample?" 

Feeling a slight tingle and hearing a familiar voice, Buffy
turned around to see Dawn patiently standing next to her side of
the booth. Raising an eyebrow at the young woman she pointed at
the legal age sign at the back of the booth and told her -
"Sure, if you don't mind something non-alcoholic."

"Awe..." Dawn gave her a pleading, puppy dog look.

"Sorry, not gonna work." Buffy told her, handing her a cup of
soda. "And what would your sister and Ms. Rosenberg think?"

"My sister is at the beach." Dawn told her with a shrug. "And
Ms. Rosenberg ran away as soon as she saw you, otherwise we
could ask her."

"She did what?" Buffy frowned at her, feeling herself blush.

"Ran away." Dawn frowned. "Said she had something better to do
than come over here."

"Oh." From the look Dawn gave her, Buffy was sure her
disappointment was plainly visible. In an attempt to distract
her, she put on her best perky cheerleader face and gesturing at
the festival asked her - "What do you think?"

"Not bad. Are you going to drop by the house afterward?" she
asked eagerly.

"No, the Festival runs until dark. And then it'll take an hour
to pack everything up." She shrugged. "I'll probably just head
home afterward."

"Oh. Well, I'm going to check out everything else. Do you want
me to let Willow know where you'll be?" Dawn asked with what
Buffy guessed was a hopeful smile.

"It doesn't matter." Buffy watched her shake her head in
response before leaving. Struggling to regain her positive
attitude, Buffy returned to serving the crowd around the booth.

----

Dawn's Sunday morning patrols, when she typically tried to cover
the entire town in a single night, were usually long and boring.
She hadn't seen anything and wondered if someone else was
killing her vampires. It certainly gave her plenty of time to
think. She still didn't know if she would be able to spend any
time sparring with Buffy Summers. The last time she'd asked Ms.
Rosenberg had mumbled something to the effect that she was still
thinking about the idea but Dawn knew something was going on.
Her Guide had been buried in books and scrolls for the past few
days, stopping only for her classes at the high school and when
she'd managed to drag her to the park the previous day.

Lost in thought as she wandered through several cemeteries, Dawn
was no longer confident in her earlier feeling that something
was going to happen between the two women, if it hadn't already.
She'd felt sure enough about it a week earlier to confront both
of them but since then she'd started having doubts. The few
times she'd seen them together since then she hadn't noticed any
recognizable signs of attraction between them. Having seen how
Ms. Rosenberg normally acted around other women she'd been
interested in, her current behavior was puzzling. She hadn't
even wanted to go back to the festival when they'd finished
training for the day. Not even when Dawn had mentioned that Ms.
Summers would still be there. They'd both acted strangely at the
festival and she wasn't quite sure what to think. 

Dawn occasionally caught a slight tingle at the far reaches of
her enhanced senses. Since it never got closer she assumed it
was Ms. Summers keeping up her daily bit of slayer stalking. A
demon or vampire would have attacked her instead of just
watching from a distance.

Just as she reached her backyard, the sudden crash of thunder
and smell of ozone caused Dawn to reflexively jump. That had
been fairly close. And suddenly,  with no warning, she was
blinded by a series of flashes. It seemed as if she was in the
middle of a severe thunderstorm or a fight between two powerful
magic users. And with no way to escape.

----

The air in Sunnydale had felt charged all evening at a just
barely noticeable level. While it hadn't increased much as she
shadowed Dawn during much of her early morning patrol, the
feeling that something was going to happen seemed to suddenly
increase as Dawn reached her street. Buffy was starting to feel
like she'd stepped into a large bubble of static electricity.
She was sure that at any moment her hair would start to stand on
end. She was surprised she wasn't glowing from the amount of
electricity that seemed to be in the air.

At the moment Dawn entered her backyard Buffy heard a large
crashing noise, almost like thunder. Rushing forward, she was
knocked off her feet by a wave of energy just as she reached the
edge of the yard. Staggering quickly to her feet in the now
static free air, Buffy could see Dawn lying in a crumpled heap
in the yard, not far from where she'd last seen her.

There was a brief stillness in the air. Rushing to the fallen
slayer, and picking her up, Buffy carried Dawn towards the only
available shelter she could see. In an attempt to reach safety
before anything else happened she carried the injured girl onto
her back porch. As she pounded on the door, Buffy could feel the
air around them starting to charge again. She was about to put
Dawn down and apply force to the situation when the inner door
opened.

- - -

  TBC in "Sister Mary Sunshine"

- - -

Hope y'all enjoyed this expositiony part. The next few parts
should be a bit more action oriented as Buffy deals with her
annual Hellmouthy apocalypse. 

=====
-
- http://radio.weblogs.com/0104508/
-


		
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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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