Across The Night
Summary - Something's brewing on the Hellmouth. Spike and Buffy are wigging. Angel's dreaming. There's a slayer from the other side of the world. It is big with the uh and oh. B/S
Timeframe - Just before 'Dead Things' on Buffy. After 'Waiting in the Wings' on Angel. Title is from a silverchair song... not really anything to do with the story. You should get their new album though, it's bloody brilliant.
Rating - R (I think. American ratings are so weird.) Equivalent to M15+ if you wanna go the Aussie way.
Disclaimer - Not mine just borrowing. Would love to keep Spike though.
A/N - One of my first attempts at fanfic. Please read and review, I really wanna know what ya think. If you want it take it. I'd be flattered. Just let me know where it's going so I can gloat.
The Eye of the Beholder
The Scoobies all sat silently around the research table in the Magic Box. His eyes flickering around the girls, Xander suddenly realised that they had all retreated into themselves. They hadn't really talked since Buffy had come back. They hadn't really done anything unless a demon had been involved.
Settling his eyes on Buffy, Xander watched as she stared at the table. It wasn't staring in the strictest since, it was more like that time she became catatonic when they were running from Glory. The only difference was the occasional blink. Xander looked at Buffy closely. Under her make-up she looked like the ninth level of hell. She was tired, hell they all were. She was worse. Across her left cheek bone Xander could see a slight bruise, completely invisible if you weren't looking. What scared Xander most were her eyes. Once sparkling with life, he saw they were now glazed over like she was going to break any second. Buffy was hurting more they they could ever have conceived. Just looking in her eyes caused Xander's heart to shatter. Suddenly he knew that every breath hurt Buffy more than he could imagine. More than all the tragic events in her life combined ever could. And, gulp, her was a part of what caused that.
Fearing a huge public scene which no one was ready for, Xander tore his gaze from Buffy and turned to Willow. A look at his best friend and his shattered heart ceased to beat. Curled up in her chair Willow had dropped her perky facade and was letting him in more that she had since Oz. Noticing the the beads of sweat on her forehead, Xander knew he was only beginning to grasp how had the entire magic thing was for Willow. Xander stared shocked as Willow tightened her grip on the pencil she was holding in both hands and snapped it in two. Feeling like he had witnessed a private moment Xander turned away dumbfounded.
Xander had no idea they were hurting so much. How could things get so far out of control and he didn't notice? Struck by his revelations Xander gave his attentions to Dawn. Dawn sat slightly apart from the group apparently engrossed in "Looking for Alibrandi". Xander vaguely remembered her chatting away about the new exchange student from Australia - hence the teacher's new love of all things Down-Underish. Feeling Xander's eyes on her Dawn looked up, grinned at him before returning to the book. Xander watched as a myriad of expressions crossed the young teens face until she finally let out a small giggle. Okay, so maybe she was actually reading the book.
Feeling like a tool, Xander turned his attention to the counter where Anya stood doing the dance of capitalist superiority. One look at his love and Xander couldn't help but grin goofily. Her brute frankness and the way she wore her heart on her sleeve were what had attracted him to Anya in the first place. That and black condoms. There was no second guessing this girl. If she was upset he knew, if she was angry, boy did he know.
Xander sighed. Something had to be done about he gloomy mood. Even Anya's dance of capitalist superiority didn't have the usual zing to it. Sighing again Xander realized the usual jokes and banter weren't going to cut it this time. Ladies and Gentlemen, fasten your seat belts, Scooby airlines is about to crash. Big time.
**********************************************************************************
Angel stood alone in a corridor. Walking through the first door on the left he found himself in an empty room, the only sound a crying Connor. The door behind him slammed shut, silencing the crying. Angel turned and tried the door. Locked. Resting his head against the frame, Angel heard the sound of soft laughter. Turning Angel was faced with Buffy holding what looked to be a child.
"How did you..."
"What? Get here? Left Kansas a long time ago, Toto." As sudden as she had appeared she was gone.
Angel jumped a foot when he felt a warm hand on his arm. He looked down to see that the hand belonged to Willow.
"Come. I think you'll like this," Willow took Angel's hand and the scene changed.
Angel found himself in Buffy's kitchen still gripping Willow's hand. He watched as Xander, Anya, Dawn, Tara and Willow giggled in the kitchen. Surprised Angel once again looked down at his hand to see who's hand he was squeezing. He was even more surprised to find that Willow was still the person holding his hand.
"This is the real me," she stated, deadpan.
Angel looked at the Willow at his side again, noticing her eyes were black pools, her mouth was grim and her clothes just plain depressing. Shocked he looked at the Willow giggling in the kitchen and was comforted by the happy, perky girl he used to know.
Angel looked over happy Willow's shoulder and the laughter in the kitchen suddenly went on mute. Buffy and Spike were sitting side-by-side on the back porch laughing grimly about something one of them had just said. Before he could ask depressed Willow dropped his hand and the scene changed again.
Angel was alone in the Hyperion Lobby. Connor rested in his arms. Cordelia gracefully came down the stairs, her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, dressed casually in sweats.
"We're not going to find it here," she told Angel as she reached him. "Click your heals together three times. That's not going to work."
Cordelia pointed over Angel's shoulder and pointed to Wes, Fred and Gunn all working in complete silence. Gunn was shadow boxing, Wes bent over some texts whilst Fred was researching on the computer, glasses sliding down her nose.
"You're gonna need all the help you can get and then some."
Angel sat bolt upright in his bed breathing hard.
"Keep on down, keep on down the road." He heard someone sing softly from the corner of the room. Angel looked over to see Spike calmly smoking his cigarette while he played cards with a young brunette girl who quite possibly could have been Dawn.
The vampire with a soul woke for real this time.
"Man you musta been out. He was screaming the house down." Angel looked around the room slightly disorientated by his dream. Locating the speaker, he found Cordelia looking at him quite amused whilst she gently nursing Connor as she fed him from a bottle.
"Bad dream, huh?" she asked looking pointedly at the dishevelled sheets.
"What? Oh, yeah." Angel paused. "Cordy, what are you doing? It's," Angel looked at the clock and trailed off, "one in the afternoon." Cordelia looked at Angel quite amused. "Cordy can you leave so I can get up?"
Cordelia looked at Angel like he had just grown a second head. "Why do I hav - oh." Blushing slightly Cordelia gathered Connor more securely in her arms and left the room.
Sighing as he got up, Angel tried to shrug the unpleasantness of his dreams from his thoughts. Passing it off as just being tired Angel, now fully clothed, left the room to find Cordelia levitating slightly at the doorway. Seeing Angel Cordelia began to explain her vision, "Buffy, Willow, Xander and the rest of the gang all fighting some demons. Real kinda vague." Cordelia and Angel stood in the corridor looking at each other disbelievingly.
"We're going to Sunnydale," Angel announced, breaking a long silence.
Cordelia looked at Angel, her protest written all over her face. Angel just knew her first words were going to be about the telephone. Before she could open her mouth Angel cut Cordelia off.
"I had a dream," he said simply.
TBC
Summary - Something's brewing on the Hellmouth. Spike and Buffy are wigging. Angel's dreaming. There's a slayer from the other side of the world. It is big with the uh and oh. B/S
Timeframe - Just before 'Dead Things' on Buffy. After 'Waiting in the Wings' on Angel. Title is from a silverchair song... not really anything to do with the story. You should get their new album though, it's bloody brilliant.
Rating - R (I think. American ratings are so weird.) Equivalent to M15+ if you wanna go the Aussie way.
Disclaimer - Not mine just borrowing. Would love to keep Spike though.
A/N - One of my first attempts at fanfic. Please read and review, I really wanna know what ya think. If you want it take it. I'd be flattered. Just let me know where it's going so I can gloat.
The Eye of the Beholder
The Scoobies all sat silently around the research table in the Magic Box. His eyes flickering around the girls, Xander suddenly realised that they had all retreated into themselves. They hadn't really talked since Buffy had come back. They hadn't really done anything unless a demon had been involved.
Settling his eyes on Buffy, Xander watched as she stared at the table. It wasn't staring in the strictest since, it was more like that time she became catatonic when they were running from Glory. The only difference was the occasional blink. Xander looked at Buffy closely. Under her make-up she looked like the ninth level of hell. She was tired, hell they all were. She was worse. Across her left cheek bone Xander could see a slight bruise, completely invisible if you weren't looking. What scared Xander most were her eyes. Once sparkling with life, he saw they were now glazed over like she was going to break any second. Buffy was hurting more they they could ever have conceived. Just looking in her eyes caused Xander's heart to shatter. Suddenly he knew that every breath hurt Buffy more than he could imagine. More than all the tragic events in her life combined ever could. And, gulp, her was a part of what caused that.
Fearing a huge public scene which no one was ready for, Xander tore his gaze from Buffy and turned to Willow. A look at his best friend and his shattered heart ceased to beat. Curled up in her chair Willow had dropped her perky facade and was letting him in more that she had since Oz. Noticing the the beads of sweat on her forehead, Xander knew he was only beginning to grasp how had the entire magic thing was for Willow. Xander stared shocked as Willow tightened her grip on the pencil she was holding in both hands and snapped it in two. Feeling like he had witnessed a private moment Xander turned away dumbfounded.
Xander had no idea they were hurting so much. How could things get so far out of control and he didn't notice? Struck by his revelations Xander gave his attentions to Dawn. Dawn sat slightly apart from the group apparently engrossed in "Looking for Alibrandi". Xander vaguely remembered her chatting away about the new exchange student from Australia - hence the teacher's new love of all things Down-Underish. Feeling Xander's eyes on her Dawn looked up, grinned at him before returning to the book. Xander watched as a myriad of expressions crossed the young teens face until she finally let out a small giggle. Okay, so maybe she was actually reading the book.
Feeling like a tool, Xander turned his attention to the counter where Anya stood doing the dance of capitalist superiority. One look at his love and Xander couldn't help but grin goofily. Her brute frankness and the way she wore her heart on her sleeve were what had attracted him to Anya in the first place. That and black condoms. There was no second guessing this girl. If she was upset he knew, if she was angry, boy did he know.
Xander sighed. Something had to be done about he gloomy mood. Even Anya's dance of capitalist superiority didn't have the usual zing to it. Sighing again Xander realized the usual jokes and banter weren't going to cut it this time. Ladies and Gentlemen, fasten your seat belts, Scooby airlines is about to crash. Big time.
**********************************************************************************
Angel stood alone in a corridor. Walking through the first door on the left he found himself in an empty room, the only sound a crying Connor. The door behind him slammed shut, silencing the crying. Angel turned and tried the door. Locked. Resting his head against the frame, Angel heard the sound of soft laughter. Turning Angel was faced with Buffy holding what looked to be a child.
"How did you..."
"What? Get here? Left Kansas a long time ago, Toto." As sudden as she had appeared she was gone.
Angel jumped a foot when he felt a warm hand on his arm. He looked down to see that the hand belonged to Willow.
"Come. I think you'll like this," Willow took Angel's hand and the scene changed.
Angel found himself in Buffy's kitchen still gripping Willow's hand. He watched as Xander, Anya, Dawn, Tara and Willow giggled in the kitchen. Surprised Angel once again looked down at his hand to see who's hand he was squeezing. He was even more surprised to find that Willow was still the person holding his hand.
"This is the real me," she stated, deadpan.
Angel looked at the Willow at his side again, noticing her eyes were black pools, her mouth was grim and her clothes just plain depressing. Shocked he looked at the Willow giggling in the kitchen and was comforted by the happy, perky girl he used to know.
Angel looked over happy Willow's shoulder and the laughter in the kitchen suddenly went on mute. Buffy and Spike were sitting side-by-side on the back porch laughing grimly about something one of them had just said. Before he could ask depressed Willow dropped his hand and the scene changed again.
Angel was alone in the Hyperion Lobby. Connor rested in his arms. Cordelia gracefully came down the stairs, her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, dressed casually in sweats.
"We're not going to find it here," she told Angel as she reached him. "Click your heals together three times. That's not going to work."
Cordelia pointed over Angel's shoulder and pointed to Wes, Fred and Gunn all working in complete silence. Gunn was shadow boxing, Wes bent over some texts whilst Fred was researching on the computer, glasses sliding down her nose.
"You're gonna need all the help you can get and then some."
Angel sat bolt upright in his bed breathing hard.
"Keep on down, keep on down the road." He heard someone sing softly from the corner of the room. Angel looked over to see Spike calmly smoking his cigarette while he played cards with a young brunette girl who quite possibly could have been Dawn.
The vampire with a soul woke for real this time.
"Man you musta been out. He was screaming the house down." Angel looked around the room slightly disorientated by his dream. Locating the speaker, he found Cordelia looking at him quite amused whilst she gently nursing Connor as she fed him from a bottle.
"Bad dream, huh?" she asked looking pointedly at the dishevelled sheets.
"What? Oh, yeah." Angel paused. "Cordy, what are you doing? It's," Angel looked at the clock and trailed off, "one in the afternoon." Cordelia looked at Angel quite amused. "Cordy can you leave so I can get up?"
Cordelia looked at Angel like he had just grown a second head. "Why do I hav - oh." Blushing slightly Cordelia gathered Connor more securely in her arms and left the room.
Sighing as he got up, Angel tried to shrug the unpleasantness of his dreams from his thoughts. Passing it off as just being tired Angel, now fully clothed, left the room to find Cordelia levitating slightly at the doorway. Seeing Angel Cordelia began to explain her vision, "Buffy, Willow, Xander and the rest of the gang all fighting some demons. Real kinda vague." Cordelia and Angel stood in the corridor looking at each other disbelievingly.
"We're going to Sunnydale," Angel announced, breaking a long silence.
Cordelia looked at Angel, her protest written all over her face. Angel just knew her first words were going to be about the telephone. Before she could open her mouth Angel cut Cordelia off.
"I had a dream," he said simply.
TBC