Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
Wild Horses:
Wish Upon a Star
By
Faerie Knight
"You want to know what I wish?" A lovely teenage brunette asked.
She was talking to a new student named Anya. The girl had asked the brunette what she wished for after a talk about cheating boyfriends and men in general being pigs. Throughout the multiverse this had happened many times. And it would happen again even more. Yet this time Cordelia Chase paused and thought for a moment. She'd been about to say she wished Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale. But a thought occurred to her. If Buffy hadn't been around, she'd have been dead several times over.
It was she, not Buffy that had insisted on going to that frat party. Then there was the freakishness surrounding Cheerleader tryouts. Buffy had been affected, but would that have happened without her? She didn't like Summers. Tolerate, yes but never like. And her life had gotten increasingly dangerous ever since Summers had come to town. But Chase had to reluctantly admit that Summers saved lives all the time, and often it was her own. As bad as it was, how much worse would it be without someone keeping the weird in check?
Then again, how often had Summer's ego and selfishness caused problems? "I wish a real hero had come to Sunnydale instead of Buffy Summers. Someone who understands about loss and duty."
Anya's face became all wrinkly and veiny as she said "Done."
Wild Horses:
Wish Upon a Star
By
Faerie Knight
She was old. Older then many stars in fact. Sam Masaki had been born in the the late 1980's on Earth. But that was eons ago. How many? She didn't know. Sam had stopped tracking her age around her ten thousandth birthday. Of course the trips to other dimensions, accidental time travel, and other strangeness in her life made tracking age even harder. Long ago Sam had discovered she was immortal, which was rather annoying at times.
The reason for immortality was the same reason for her being a woman. Sam hadn't been born a woman. That had been a result of a Chinese curse picked up while chasing an international terrorist named Ryoga Hibiki. Of course she'd not been the only one with that curse. The other had been a man named Ranma Saotome, or rather as it had turned out Ranma Masaki. The two had been partners, room mates, and eventually husband and wife.
Sam had been the husband, Ranma never did forgive his great grandfather for that. Over time that respect had indeed grown into love. And they had raised a lovely daughter. Watching their daughter grow into a champion of justice had been hard. But what could one expect from the child of two of Earth's best known heroes? Not that their daughter had known this. They had raised her on another planet.
But she was old. And today Sam was feeling every second of her extreme age. The reason was because Ranma was gone. The one person who'd been a constant for longer then several civilizations had died the previous week. And it wasn't even a good death either. No heroic last stand, no saving lives, just a senseless tragedy. There had been a mechanical malfunction in the reactor on the cruiser Ranma had been inspecting. One minute everything was fine, the next the Galactic Police cruiser was a fireball. Not even a warning about the immanent melt down.
Granted, the construction firm was now being investigated. But that still meant that Sam Masaki was alone. There was also the fact that she was drunk. Really drunk. The liquor being consumed was extremely expensive, one thimble sized serving could cost more then some planets. It was strong enough to cause a wookie to pass out, if wookies were real. Not quite strong enough to get some dwarves she'd met drunk though. Darven Shieldtalker had preferred dwarven ales that were potent enough to be used as orbital rocket fuel. Sam was on her sixth bottle.
Sam was trying to drink herself into the grave. It wasn't working though. It should have worked. But something was preventing the alcohol poisoning from having more effect then making her drunk. There was only so much abuse the human body can take. And despite her long life Sam was still human. Well, mostly human. But the desired result still didn't come. All the woman did was pass out.
When she awoke it was with a splitting headache. The light was too damn bright too. Wait, why the hell was she outside? Last Sam knew she had been in her room aboard her and Ranma's tree ship. It almost looked like... No, not possible. Earth's gone. I watched it get swallowed by the sun. Movement caused Sam to quickly turn her head to the left. This proved to be a mistake though. It did reveal two figures standing before her. People she'd met a long long time ago. People who were suppose to be dead.
"Janis and Enki?!" She groaned.
The two faced god chuckled. "No, my name is Janus. Although I am surprised you know who my friend is."
Sam groaned and shook her head. Icy blue hair fell across her eyes. This too was a bit alarming. She'd not worn her hair long in five centuries. Only then did the hung over woman notice that she looked and felt far younger then she had any right to. It had taken an excessively long time for her body to age. When ten thousand years old she'd still looked to be about sixteen when in her cursed form.
The fact that eventually their hair had turned gray and age lines had started to appear had been counted as a good thing by herself and Ranma. It had meant that they weren't truly immortal. They would still eventually die of old age. Just as the gods themselves did after a rather long time. Which was one reason why Sam was shocked to see Enki. He and his wife Mystra had passed on about eight eons ago, passing on the mantles of Goddess of Magic and Mistress of the Weave to their daughter Eria.
"Why am I young?" Sam asked tiredly.
This time it was Enki who answered. "Because a vengeance demon overstepped her bounds. Our Earth has no heroes that match the requirements. That, and a delightful young woman suggested you to take the place of the Hellmouth's guardian."
Sam's headache was instantly disregarded. 'Hellmouth' did not sound good. She'd faced enough demonic invasions in the twenty first century to last several lifetimes.
"Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem," Enki continued. "The wish normally is allowed as one step on a champion's path to their destiny. Unfortunately the demon involved has done something unforeseen. Instead of pushing the young champion into a self contained sub dimension as expected, the demon Anyanka has removed the Hellmouth Guardian from the entire timeline. Fortunately the nature of the wish requires a hero to replace her. If someone isn't inserted the word apocalypse wouldn't be too far wrong."
The two faced deity, Janus, smirked and handed Sam a glass filled with hot water. "You might want to change. And put cloths on. Don't worry, I heard about your old problem. It's fixed."
Sam looked around as the two gods vanished. There was a door standing in the middle of the park not ten feet away. And at her feet was an outfit she hadn't seen since first leaving Earth. There was a red silk shirt and black silk 'kung fu' style pants. There also were a pair of combat slippers like Ranma use to wear. As for why she'd been told to get dressed? Sam realized that while she'd passed out wearing the overly complicated dress currently in style, she had woken up with nothing on. Son of a god damn bitch! They did this deliberately didn't they?
There was only one reason for handing her hot water. Curious, she dumped it upon her head. At which point a tingling sensation not felt since she'd been 20,000 washed over her. Or rather it washed over him. For the first time in eons Sam Masaki was once again male. And apparently fifteen again for the third time, judging by the loss of height. Quickly he got dressed, wondering why they hadn't provided any undergarments. With nothing else to do he opened the door and stepped through.
Only to find himself waking up again. This time it was without the serious hangover. Thankfully. And it was in a bedroom he didn't recognize. Wait, I'm... Damn. So it wasn't a dream. The alarm started to go off, causing him to slap the snooze button hard. The crunch of plastic being crushed made him stop and stair. What the fuck? How the hell did I do that? I'm not in my ice form. Actually, hang on. I don't feel cold? Can't remember the last time I actually felt warm.
"Samantha Samuel Summers!" A woman called from below. "Hurry up or you'll be late!"
He noticed pictures on the dresser of himself at various ages as both a boy and a girl. Along with a lovely looking woman and an unknown man. Since he was still wearing the garments provided by Janus he merely rummaged for underwear. Annoyingly he couldn't find anything except thong style panties. And several sets of rather risque bras Which he refused to wear. Oddly enough there was a note in the underwear drawer.
Sorry about the clothing. Buffy Summers had not
been very fond of practical undergarments as you
can see. I incorporated the required support into
the shirt and pants. However you probably should
put on one of the thongs for gym class.
Love and kisses, Janus
"Gym class? Don't tell me I'm suppose to be in school again..."
When he finally did make it downstairs it was to find a light breakfast on the dining room table, and dozens of cardboard moving boxes piled up in every room. The woman proved to be the same one from the photographs. She looked tired though. And he could see signs that the woman had been crying. Joyce Summers, Mom his mind supplied. This was baffling since he'd never seen the woman before. That and his mother had been Amelia Bricklebuster.
"Samantha? Really?" He couldn't help but ask.
"We've gone over this before Sam. Your father picked that name out before you were born. And it's a tradition among the Leighdy family."
Sam couldn't help but snort. "It's a rather idiotic tradition then. What, is the family cursed to die out if boys aren't named as if they were girls?"
The woman, Joyce, laughed. But it was a nervous laugh.
"There is a curse isn't there?"
Joyce nodded slightly. "My father was actually surprised when I was born. I was the first daughter in the family since the curse was started. Your cousin Susan knows more about it though."
As he ate Sam couldn't help but grimace. "If you believe in curses, I suppose you know something about a 'hell mouth guardian' too?"
The woman who was apparently suppose to be his mother paled. "What do you mean?"
Sam blinked in surprise before shrugging. "No idea. Two gods told me I was suppose to replace a hell mouth guardian who got erased from the timeline. Something about a vengeance demon overstepping bounds. Next thing I know I'm a teenager again hearing you yelling for someone named Samantha. Name's Sam Masaki. Or it was, I think I'm suppose to be taking the place of your daughter."
XxXxX
Walking to the local high school was a welcome change of pace. For once in his life Sam was able to walk normally while male. He still couldn't figure out what was going on though. His powers seemed to be on the blink. A sprinkler hitting him seemed to be par for the course though. This triggered the long familiar transformation into a busty teenage girl. Fortunately the note had told the truth. Sam hadn't even had to adjust the shirt after changing.
A teenage boy riding a skateboard ht a railing hard once Sam had arrived at the school. His first response of "Can I have you" caused Sam to roll her eyes. That was one of the lamest pickup lines she'd ever heard. Not one of the most offensive though. That honor went to a fopish nobleman from Jurai. All six hundred of the offensive pickup lines on Sam's list came from him. To be honest 'can I have you' only ranked eight hundred and thirty seven on the lamest pickup lines list.
"No, you can't have me. But if you could help me find the library I'd appreciate it. Oh, and some hot water too."
As it turned out the water heater at Sunnydale High had been broken for the last week. This too was par for the course. What wasn't business as usual was the middle aged librarian who handed Sam a book called Vampyre. An ancient tome that looked to be a collection of information rather then a work of fiction. This caused her eyes to narrow dangerously. Vampires were seriously bad news in her experience.
"Are you trying to tell me there's a sizable vampire infestation in this dimension?" Sam asked the librarian.
XxXxX
The vampire stared incredulously at the teenager with icy blue hair. This teenager was holding a Super Soaker which had just been fired at the girl's undead opponent. For her part, the girl was surprised firing pressurized water hadn't worked very well. Damn, guess these aren't actual vampires. The teen dropped the toy gun. Moisture then coalesced into a pair of tonfa made of ice. Demon possessed corpses, according to that book. Damn good thing I don't have to worry about a damn VI.
"You know," the teen said, "since you're a demon... I don't have to hold back. So why don't you drop the boy and run back to your master. Tell him his apocalypse has been canceled. Otherwise I'll break every bone in your arms, legs, half your ribs, and then send you back to your master."
The vampire had a dot of blood on his forehead. The plan had been for him to rampage through the streets of Sunnydale. It had been for him to drain hundreds, if not thousands of people as part of a ritual to break The Master free from his prison. That plan had ran into a rather curvy problem. The problem was known as Samantha Summers. Summers, who felt like the Slayer. Yet no Slayer had ever been able to form weapons of ice. Or turn into living ice. And then the pain started.
First it was his wrist that was shattered by the ice tonfa. Next it was the left fibia, followed by the right kneecap. And as the vampire's first intended victim fled Sam continued her brutal assault. When other vampires tried to assist their leader, she paused in the dismantling to pummel them into broken pieces. One recently turned girl found her head caved in. Her boyfriend discovered that having a fist sized spike of ice shoved through one's heart is a bad thing for vampires.
XxXxX
The master, Heinrich Nest stared at the minion laying before him in disappointment. Luke had been chosen as the vessel for the harvest. He was the strongest vampire who was currently serving Nest. Yet before The Master was a pittiful wreck. If there was a single bone other then the skull that wasn't broken it wasn't visible to casual inspection.
"Well?" Nest demanded with mounting fury.
Luke would have shuddered in fear if he could move under his own power. "T-the s-slayer s-s-says 'y-your a-apocolypse is c-canceled.."
Author Notes: This is a far future continuation of my Wild Horses series. It goes (in order)
1. Wild Horses Can't Be Tamed (completed)
2. Of Fish, Ponds, and Wild Horses (completed)
3. Wild Horses Sometimes Breed (ongoing)
I'm still working on the next chapter of Wild Horses Sometimes Breed, and my other stories in progress. But this was an idea that I just had to get out there. Originally this was going to be a full multi-chapter story. But to be honest my muse has abandoned me on it. So a few brief scenes to set the stage. Maybe I'll return someday to flesh it out more.