Title: Sunnydale Lost
Author: TardisIsTheOnlyWaytoTravel
Summary: YAHF. That Halloween, Buffy chooses to don a white dress and a pair of angelic wings instead of the noblewoman's outfit.
Author notes:
This is the first BtVS fic I've ever written, so the characterisations may be slightly off in parts. If so, I apologise.
Also, ffnet is playing with my paragraph breaks and formatting. So sorry if anything ends up confusing. I tried.
SUNNYDALE LOST
CHAPTER ONE
Buffy frowned as she examined the racks of costumes. Her last date with Angel hadn't gone so well, and what she really wanted was something that would impress him, something that could help things move along between them.
She knew there were going to be problems, a two hundred year old vampire and a teenage vampire slayer dating, but she hadn't expected it to be this hard. Maybe that had been dumb of her, but that was how it was.
She'd thought about dressing up like the girl in the Watcher's diary, and she'd even found the perfect dress, but… while she and Willow had been marvelling over it, Willow has suddenly got a hesitant look on her face.
"Buffy…" she ventured.
"It looks just like the one in the drawing," Buffy continued, not really paying attention to the sudden change in Willow's tone of voice.
"Yeah, it does," Willow agreed unhappily. "But, Buffy, isn't that sort've… like false advertising?"
"What?" Buffy finally looked away from the dress to give her friend a confused look.
"I mean," Willow explained, a little nervously, "what if Angel takes it the wrong way? This isn't the 18th century anymore. If you want things to work between you he needs to accept that you're a modern 20th century girl. Just, what if he gets the wrong idea and thinks you're willing to be all, delicate and meek and stuff?"
Buffy had reacted with consternation, but when she thought about it, Willow was probably right. She was a kick-arse vampire slayer, for crying out loud, not some 'delicate flower' who needed protecting and would just do whatever a man told her to. So the Lady Buffy costume was out.
Xander had picked out a toy machine gun and had some army fatigues at home, so he'd sorted out his costume, and was now trying to convince Willow to pick something a bit more interesting this year than her usual ghost outfit, leaving Buffy to look for her own costume herself.
Buffy gave a sigh and was close to giving up when she noticed some feathers hiding behind a bunch of costumes near the back of the store.
Curiously she reached up to push the other costumes out of the way, and pulled out
…an enormous set of white, angelic wings.
Buffy couldn't help her gasp of appreciation. The wings were pretty realistic-looking, instead of the usual silly fluffy things that got sold as costumes, and they were made of real feathers. It must have taken a lot of time and effort to make these, What was really impressive though was the fact that they were actually six wings, all packed closely together, all attaching to a sort of harness-thing that went around the torso.
"Quite magnificent, aren't they?" said a voice just behind Buffy.
She jumped and whipped around to see the shop owner standing there, looking at the costume wings.
"They came from some stage production, I believe," the man continued, unperturbed by Buffy's startled reaction. "Far better quality than the usual costume wings. They go with this outfit, here."
He reached into the rack, and pushing several things aside, pulled out a long white dress with bell sleeves.
"It's beautiful," Buffy said happily. "Although, what's with all the wings? Isn't that kinda overkill?"
"I do believe that the number of wings indicates that it is an archangel costume, rather than that of a mere angel," the shop owner explained. "I am sure you would look delightfully in it."
Buffy's face fell as reality caught up to her.
"I can't. There's no way I can afford something like that," she replied sadly. She tried to smile. "Thanks anyway."
"Nonsense," the shop owner declared briskly. "I feel quite… moved… to make you an offer you can't refuse." He gently took hold of Buffy's shoulders and steered her to the nearest mirror, and held the simple gown up against her to give Buffy an idea of what it would look like on.
Buffy stared at her reflection, imagining what she would look like if she wore the dress with the wings out behind her, her blonde hair spilling over her shoulders, done in loose curls maybe…
"Well, if you're sure…" she said uncertainly, unwilling to pass on the awesome costume if she could possibly afford it somehow.
Ethan Rayne smiled. It wasn't a nice smile.
o0o o0o o0o
"Spike? Do you love my insides? The bits you can't see?"
Spike turned away from the TV screen to look at the other vampire, who looked as dreamy as usual, and was carrying one of her dolls.
"Eyeballs to entrails, my sweet," he replied, not in the least discomposed by the odd question. "That's why I have to stuffy this Slayer. Once I know her, I can kill her. And once I kill her, you can have your run of Sunnyhell and get well again."
Most vampires didn't have a romantic bone in their body. William, on the other hand, had been enough of a romantic before being Turned that some of it couldn't help but stick.
"Don't worry," Drusilla said pensively. "Everything's switching. Outside to inside. She will burn in the light."
Spike blinked; that was an unusually cryptic pronouncement, even for Drusilla.
"Really," he asked, intrigued. Burning in the light? The only thing he could think of that could cause such a thing was being turned to a vampire. This sounded promising. "Did my pet have a vision?"
"Do you know what I miss?" Drusilla asked in a complete non-sequitur. "Leeches."
"Talk to daddy," Spike said patiently, used to these abrupt changes of subject. "This thing that makes the Slayer burn. When is it?"
"Tomorrow," Drusilla responded.
"But tomorrow's Halloween," Spike protested skeptically. "Nothing happens on Halloween."
"Someone's come to change it all," Drusilla said, in a far-away voice. "Someone new."
She shivered, and cuddled up to the male vampire.
"The flame will burn us all," she muttered, very softly; but Spike was already giving orders, and didn't pay any attention.
o0o o0o o0o
Xander approached the Summers' residence dressed in a set of military fatigues and the cheap plastic machine gun he'd picked up from Ethan's earlier.
He wasn't entirely sure what Buffy had bought – whatever it was, it had to be pretty complicated, because Buffy had popped up next to he and Willow carrying not only a large plastic bag, but a giant protective zip-up bag that had a plastic handle protruding from the top.
As he knocked on the door he wondered idly whether Willow would be wearing the cowgirl costume Buffy had talked her into buying. It was a cute costume, and not very revealing, but even so it would probably show too much skin for Willow, who was painfully shy about that sort of thing.
"Cowgirl Willow or Ghost Willow?" he asked aloud, right before the door opened.
"Private Harris," Xander announced, walking inside, "reporting for – "
His eyes found Buffy, and he totally forgot about what he was saying as his mouth fell open.
Buffy was a vision in white, with a large pair of intricately-made feathery wings stretching out behind her, and carefully set hair falling across her shoulders in loose golden curls. She was smiling at Xander's stunned expression.
"Buffy," Xander proclaimed. "Angel Buffiel. I am in awe. I completely renounce spandex."
Buffy raised an eyebrow.
"'Angel Buffiel?'"
"Hey," Xander defended himself, "I was rendered speechless in the face of such beauty. My usual dashing vocabulary deserted me."
Buffy smiled at him.
"Hi…" Willow's voice came unsurely from the stairs.
The angel and the soldier turned to see… a figure hiding beneath a large white sheet with the word 'BOO' written on it.
Buffy sighed in disappointment. Her friend was never going to get male attention if she couldn't muster up just a teeny amount of confidence!
"Hey, Will, that's a nice 'boo' you have there," Xander greeted Willow diplomatically.
"Come on," Buffy grumbled. "Let's go."
She shot Willow a 'what gives?' look as they followed Xander out the door, but the sheet-covered figure just hung its head miserably.
Buffy just shook her head.
The three friends turned up at the school to find kids running everywhere.
"Cool wings!" a little girl in a fairy outfit chirped in awe.
"Thanks," Buffy said, smiling down at her. The kid was adorable, and the look of admiration was pretty cute too.
"No need to talk to them, Summers!" Snyder snapped, appearing at her shoulder with two children. "The last thing they need is your influence. Here's your group. Just bring them back in one piece and I won't expel you."
He stalked away, and Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Hey," she told the kids. "I'm Buffy. Come on. Let's go get some candy."
The kids all agreed with this suggestion.
It turned out taking a few kids trick-or-treating wasn't as bad as Buffy had anticipated, although someone her own age to talk to would have been nice.
Buffy consoled herself with the fact that she would be meeting up with Angel later, and he was bound to be bowled over by her costume. Her half-hearted smile brightened at the thought.
"What'd Mrs Davis give you?" she asked the kids, as they returned from the current house looking dejected.
The kids opened their hands in unison to reveal brand-new toothbrushes.
Buffy fought the urge to giggle at their looks of indignant disappointment.
"She must be stopped," she said solemnly, before grinning brightly. "Let's hit one more house. We still have a few minutes before we've got to get back."
With happy whoops and smiles her group of children ran off towards the next house.
o0o o0o o0o
On the other side of town, Ethan's was closed for the night, but the store wasn't empty. In the back room stood a figure in a black robe, kneeling before a statue.
"The world that denies thee, thou inhabit. The peace that ignores thee, thou corrupt."
Dabbing blood on his face, Ethan continued his incantations.
"Janus, this night is yours!" he finished in Latin.
The candles suddenly blew out, leaving the statue glowing a sickly green.
Ethan pulled back his hood, and a wicked smirk spread across his face.
"Show time."
o0o o0o o0o
Buffy was about to call out to her group of kids that it was time to head back when something exploded within her.
Light burst from every cell and raced through her veins. Buffy collapsed onto the road, her head colliding with the bitumen, but she wasn't aware of it. A Presence bloomed within her and spread out throughout Buffy's body and mind, so bright and pure that it burned away everything in its path, consuming everything that was not good and strong, and hollowing her out inside.
All of Buffy's petty worries and insecurities and grievances were swept away in that wall of holy flame; all her small attachments and unimportant quirks of personality ebbed away in the blaze of fire, leaving only the strong, basic elements of who she was. The Slayer spirit seethed and sent out tendrils everywhere, latching on as best it could; but there was a wave of righteous anger from the Presence at the demonic taint, and even it was swept away and withered into nothing under the onslaught of such holy power.
Wearing the mortal body like a shell, the Presence twitched its fingers, feeling the digits curl and uncurl.
Emerald eyes opened in a perfect, ageless face surrounded by locks that glowed like liquid gold. They gazed out at the imperfect world, overrun by darkness, and felt their Purpose strengthen, determined to sanctify this cursed path of land and cast out the damned and the soulless.
Six pairs of shining wings unfolded, radiating light like a bright star in the night, dwarfing the body they were attached to with their size and sheer strength.
A sword appeared in one gently golden hand, bright and silver.
The twelve wings began to beat, and the Archangel Uriel – Archangel of Light, of Repentance, but also of Heavenly Fire and Divine Punishment – ascended into the night.
END CHAPTER