AN: It's finally here! Ok, so this fic is actually the result of me sitting at work daydreaming... I hope you enjoy it. It will be my most difficult fic so far because I'm making sure that the storyline lines up with that of the actual story. This all takes place after S7 of Buffy when anyone who "Can have the power, will have the power." So Just a warning, if you haven't read any of the Buffy comics, there will be spoilers. So here it is, Chapter 1. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Skins or Buffy or any of their fabulous characters. I just wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and we could all eat and be happy. *bursts into laughter*
Naomi
"No!" I shout, breathing heavily and sweating, as I wake up from my nightmare. The same nightmare I've been having since last summer. Around the same time everything started getting weird. I know what you're gonna ask. Weird, how? Well for starters, there's the whole suddenly being a super-ninja thing. Like, last week, Mum was teasing me, calling me a 'moody cow' like she always does and I threw a cushion at her like I always do. Only I usually miss. This time, not only did I nail her in the face, I also knocked her unconscious… with a fucking pillow!
The next day I was sitting on the roof of our house with a book and one of the shingles came loose, causing me to slip. I slid down the roof and I actually caught hold of the gutter before I fell. Even more amazing was that I pulled myself back onto the roof. I couldn't even do a push-up before.
The past few weeks I've been examining myself constantly, looking for signs of being a lab rat or even an angry spider bite. Yes, I know I'm not Spider-Man, but what would you do if you were suddenly so fucking bad ass?
BANG! BANG! BANG! I jump a bit as someone pounds on the front door. I quickly throw on a t-shirt and pants and make my way towards it. When I reach the top of the stairs I find Mum at the bottom holding open the door for a balding man in a tweed jacket, cleaning his glasses with his shirt.
"I did knock more politely," he explains, "but you weren't answering and I'm afraid that right now I can't be ignored. I'm here to see your daughter and it is imperative that I get to her before someone else does." The man explains in a stern voice that says 'I don't care if I'm being rude, you will listen to me.' Mum stares at him a moment, like she's trying to figure out if he's joking but then suddenly her face cracks into a smile.
"You've upset her, haven't you?" she asks, "Well you'd better have brought something good if you want her to forgive you; She's a right moody…" My eyes snap wide open in horror when I realize what she's implying. I fly down the stairs, shouting.
"Jesus, Mum!" What the fuck? He's old enough to be my Dad!" she shakes her head.
"Not possible, Love. Your Dad is probably hiding in Mexico to escape child support. No chance he would show up here." She says, completely misinterpreting the situation again. I roll my eyes and sigh. In one swift motion I grab my robe from its hook by the door, put it on, push past Mum, and shove the man back, closing the door behind me so that He and I are standing on the porch and Mum is inside the house.
"Sorry about her." I tell him and he smiles awkwardly.
"That's quite alright." He says, though I don't think he really means it. He still looks very flustered. I feel sorry for him. But more importantly, I want to know who he is.
"Good." I say, "So who the fuck are you?" His eyebrows shoot up but he quickly composes himself. He pulls his glasses off and wipes them with his shirt again.
"Rupert Giles." He says, putting his glasses back on and extending his hand for me to shake. I take it and he smiles. "Now we've never been wrong before but its always best to be sure before changing a person's life that you do, in fact, have the right person. You are Naomi Campbell, are you not?" I don't like the sound of that, but this guy's not going to go anywhere so I'll take my chances.
"I am." I tell him, "And I already know who you are, but I still don't know what you're doing here."
"Do you have a television, Naomi?" he says and I cock an eyebrow at him but answer truthfully.
"No. Someone keeps stealing it." That last part wasn't exactly important for him to know, but I'm still pissed, ok? Mr. Giles looks like a light bulb just illuminated over his head.
"Well that explains why we had to come looking for you. Everyone else has seen the commercial." I hear him mumble something about 'teenage girls and their television' as he pulls out a video camera. He opens the viewing screen and presses a button before handing it to me. There is a boy, or maybe a man, its hard to tell his age, with reddish brown hair and a high pitched voice on the screen. He talks about girls with 'unexplained strength and agility' and 'strange nightmares' and 'being attacked by monsters'. Mr. Giles takes the camera back from me.
"Any of that sound familiar?" he asks, I'm getting a bit freaked out, now, but decide to remain calm until he finally explains himself.
"Well I haven't been attacked by monsters." I tell him, though that's not entirely true.
"What about very strong me with bumpy foreheads and sharp teeth?" he asks and my blood runs cold. So that was real, then. I just nod.
"What did you do with him?" he asks.
"Locked him in my neighbour's dog cage in their back yard and ran like hell; stayed at a friend's house because I was too scared to come home. He was gone the next morning, but the cage was still locked." I tell him and he smiles.
"Very resourceful, Naomi. Is the cage still in the same place?" he asks and I nod. He asks to see it and once there he kneels down and picks up a handful of dust from beneath the cage.
"This is the part when I tell you why I'm here." He says, holding up the dust and letting it fall to the ground through his fingers. "This is what's left of the vampire you locked in this cage." He tells me and I laugh.
"Vampire?" I ask, incredulously. I could tell this guy was a bit weird but I didn't think he was mad. Fuck's sake, why do they always come to my house? "Do you need a place to sleep? Cos you don't have to prove you're insane, Mum will let you stay, anyway."
"You said you'd been having the dreams." He said, looking confused. It did seem to all makes sense now that he was here to fill in the blanks but that didn't mean I had to accept it.
"I have, really fucking cryptic and scary dreams." I tell him, "And what the fuck is a slayer?" I add, using the word from my nightmares.
"A slayer kills vampires and demons. She protects the word from evil forces that mean to destroy it. More importantly in your case, a slayer is what you are." I just shake my head. Nope! Not happening! Those dreams were very clear about one thing, and me being the chick that saves the world because the last one got herself killed? Not my idea of fun!
"What happened to the last one?" I ask and he smiles.
"Oh, nothing." He says, "Things don't work that way anymore. Not since Sunnydale. Buffy is very much alive and well, along with hundreds more of you." I only vaguely heard the rest of what he said because my head was stuck on one thing.
"Sunnydale? You mean that town that's now a giant crater in the middle of California? You had something to do with that?" I ask, feeling more and more overwhelmed by the minute.
"Yes, well, you see, the city was built on a Hellmouth…" I stop him before he can say something even more outrageous.
"Ok, town was crawling with monsters, I get it. But back on topic, thanks for explaining the dreams but I have a feeling that's not why you're here." Now its his turn to look incredulous.
"I thought it was obvious, Naomi, you need to come with us and begin your training." He says.
"What?" I shout at him. "I can't just leave! I've got school! I start College in a month!" Something told me this wasn't a weekend trip.
"You'll study with the other girls. Each group has it's own tutor. You'll be with Willow. I taught her, personally, when she was in High School and she's brilliant. She can teach you everything you need to know." As I mull it over and am about to tell him I don't want to leave my Mum alone, we're interrupted.
"Giles?" A small but husky voice says as it's owner appears around the corner and steps onto the porch. She's little, only about 5'2" or 5'3" with bright red hair.
"Hello, Emily." Mr. Giles greets her, We've found her. Meet Naomi Campbell." He says, gesturing to me. She looks confused for a moment as she turns to face me but quickly recovers and smiles warmly.
"Hey, Blondie." She says, "bad luck in the name department, yeah?" the penny drops as to why she looked confused and I grimace by way of response.
"My mum lived under a rock." I deadpan and she smiles. I shake my head when I realize I'm staring.
"So you've found her, let's go. I promised Dawn I'd teach her how to play poker." Emily says impatiently and Mr. Giles sighs. He removes his glasses and wipes his glasses on his shirt again.
"Don't you think they're clean enough?" I ask him and Emily snorts loudly. Mr. Giles glares at her and she's silenced.
"Naomi was just about to tell me if she was ready to come with us." He says in a voice of forced calm before turning to me expectantly. The 'dog cage' incident had proved how scary vampires can be. So having someone teach me how to fight them would be a plus. And everything about me wants to go anywhere Emily is right about now. And as weird as that feels, I'm going with it. My threshold for weird has grown, recently.
"Sure." I tell him, "just let me pack some things."
"Just grab your favourite clothes." Emily tells me, "Giles provides everything we need and we're on the move a lot. The less stuff you have the easier it all is."
"I don't provide those things, Emily, the Council does." Mr. Giles protests.
"You are the Council." Emily says with a shrug and he seemingly agrees.
"What do I tell my Mum?" I ask and Emily smiles. I think I see sadness behind that smile and I frown.
"It's not a secret anymore. Everyone knows about us. Tell her the truth." She encourages and though I wonder why she sounds so sad, I decide not to ask and simply nod.
I run into the house and up the stairs. I grab my favourite bag that says 'Warning: May Contain Ideas' and I stuff it full of my favourite clothes. All of which I did, in fact, get at Oxfam. Who knew $20 could go such a long way? Then I threw off my robe and changed into a pair of tight jeans and a baggy white T-shirt with a pig on it. I tie my hair up into a loose bun and slip into a pair of converse before making my way downstairs to see my Mum.
"Mum, Mum," I call as I make my way down the hall to her room…"I know it's early, but…" I stop mid-sentence when I see her peeking through the blinds at the front porch. "What is this, surveillance culture?" She turns around, beaming.
"It's nice to see you with a guy. Makes a change." She says happily.
"He's my Watcher." I say and she frowns in confusion.
"Your what?" she asks. I'm not one for long conversations unless they're meaningful so I take a deep breath in preparation for the bomb I'm about to drop.
"Vampires are real and don't look at me like I'm mad, I killed one last Thursday. Anyway, there's this group of girls who were born to fight them and other demons to protect the planet and it turns out that I'm one of them. So I'm going with him and he's going to take me somewhere and teach me how to be a Slayer." Throughout my confession Mum's expression had changed from amusement, to shock, to excitement, to confusion, and then back to amusement again.
"Who's the girl?" she asks, jerking her head towards the window. Suddenly I feel embarrassed and I have no idea why.
"Emily." I tell her, trying not to let it show. "She's a slayer, too." Mum smiles very cryptically and steps forward to give me a hug.
"Be good, Love." She says into my hair, "And be careful. I can't tell you how proud I am that you're going to save the world, but I don't want to lose you in the process." She's holding my shoulders and looking me straight in the eye, now. She's trying to tell me one simple thing: Don't get killed. I nod and pull her in again.
"I love you, Mum." She takes a strand of my hair and strokes it.
"I love you too, baby. Now go dust some leeches!" I roll my eyes and smile. And with one last kiss to Mum's cheek I'm out the front door and on my way to a completely different world within the one I've always known.
AN: So... Skinsverse and Buffyverse collide! Waddaya think? Hope you like it. :)
See you next time.