This is my second BtVS fanfic, I know I really should finish my last story before beginning a new one but I couldn't help myself. So here we have good old Sunnydale in a dark light. To be honest, I took the Sunnydale from 'The Wish' where Cordelia makes that small wish which ends up changing the whole world. I just thought it should be more than just a single episode, so here it is.
Just so you know, Spike is human in this story, and also please don't sue me because of some of the parts I have given the characters. With that said, read, review and enjoy.
She regretted leaving home; she wished she hadn't left so very many years ago. It had been almost 10 years since she had runaway; she had caught a bus to L.A. and had been living there ever since. But now something was drawing her back to her home town, the bright, chipper town of Sunnydale.
Buffy adjusted her sunglasses and flicked her long, blonde curls over her shoulder as she drove along the dirt road. She had grown a lot since she had left at the young age of 13, she now felt stupid for running away when she was hardly a teenager; and although she had had her adventures, living with by herself for the first few months before she met a cool streetwise chick called Faith who had taken care of her on the mean streets of down town Los Angeles.
She did regret saying good bye to the person who had been like a big sister to her, teaching her how to fight, teaching her all about the cruel world that she had been facing since she was 7. Buffy had wanted to take Faith away from all that, bring her to Sunnydale and show her what life should be, but Faith had too much going for her at the moment; guys, a rebellious spirit and no fear what so ever.
Buffy however missed her mother, her baby sister and all the people she had left behind. She wondered if they would even remember her now, she hadn't been very close to anyone.
Her thoughts were put aside as the small town came into sight up ahead, but something was off. The Sunnydale she remembered was full of happy people, the sun always shining and a pleasant feel to the place. But as she drove closer and closer to the small town, Buffy realised that things had changed very quickly in 10 years.
She waited until she was driving between the buildings before she actually began to think about what she was seeing. The buildings were dark and dirty, the streets weren't too bad, but they certainly hadn't been driven on in a while; there were a few people walking around but they were all tense and curled up, hiding their faces and they looked scared.
Buffy couldn't understand what had happened. Sure, Sunnydale had its fair share of evil, you know, gangs and tough people, vandals and occasionally the strange murder that was blamed on all sorts of different monsters.
Buffy knew that monsters existed, vampires and werewolves and all that crap. She had come across a few in L.A. when she was out walking with Faith, but she never thought that her peaceful home town would ever be such a liveable place for them.
Buffy looked around for a car park but they all seemed to be filled with boxes and crates. She parked on the edge of the road and slipped elegantly out of her green Volkswagen beetle and looked around at the dark town. She removed her sunglasses and looked up at the sky as night was quickly drowning the town into darkness.
She began walking through the streets just examining all the changes that had been made. The buildings and houses were all still perfectly fine for living in, it was just the darkened streets that made them spookier then they really were.
Walking through an alley she found something unusual by her feet. She kneeled down to get a better look at it. It was a button, a very shiny button.
She wondered why such a pretty, clean button was just lying around in this grungy alleyway, but the idea that she had walked into a trap was becoming more and more like the situation around her.
A tall, dark figure jumped down from a fire escape and immediately grabbed Buffy's arms. He held them behind her back, pulling them so tightly she screamed. But Buffy was a fighter and she wanted to make it clear that she was not to be messed with. She spun around on her feet, surprising the creature enough for her to pull her arms free of his grip. She leaned back slightly and kicked the creature into a wall.
It was only when he got back up did she realise he was a vampire. "Just what I needed to make my life complete, a battle with a big-fanged idiot" Buffy said, clearly irritated. The vampire however noticed the confidence and fearlessness in her voice and ran away, leaving a very confused Buffy alone in the alley.
"Ok…." Buffy mumbled with a raised eyebrow. She had never seen a demon or vampire run from a fight before. She was about to turn around and continue her walk when she came face-to-face with yet another black figure. She jumped back in fright and prepared to attack.
But the figure didn't jump into action like she had expected, instead he didn't move at all. He did speak though, "Who are you? I haven't seen you in this town before" he said. Buffy relaxed but only slightly, it seemed apparent that this person wasn't going to attack her, well at least not right now.
She stood up straight and brushed some loose hair out of her face. "Name's Buffy Summers, what's yours?" she titled her head to the side in a cute kind of way. She watched as the figure took a few steps forward out of the shadows and into a weak street light that was sitting above a most likely locked door.
Buffy tensed up again as this man's face was revealed. He was pale and tense; he had the most distinctive cheekbones and bleached blonde hair that was slicked back, making him look really cute and really dangerous at the same time. He was wearing all black; tight jeans, t-shirt and a long black duster that stopped just above his ankles.
Buffy was a little stunned at first; she had never seen anyone quite as impressive as this guy in L.A. If he was being taken on appearances this guy would take the cake, but people can be completely different then their first impression.
"Spike. What are you doing out here, pet? It's getting dark and these streets become extremely dangerous after dark. Hadn't you noticed the lack of people walking around?" he asked her, a small smirk creeping across his lips.
"I see people around, and I can take care of myself thank you" Buffy told him bitterly. She hated that just because she was blonde and pretty that every guy she met thought that she was a damsel in distress and in need a of rescuing. She was tough and didn't need some hot guy telling her otherwise.
"In case you hadn't noticed, those aren't people out there, love. They're vampires, most of them. There are one or two demons spilled into the mix. Hardly a place for a sweet thing like you to be walking through" Spike told her, taking a few steps closer to her.
Buffy wanted to move, she wanted to back away and get away from this guy, but she couldn't move. Spike was soon so close she could see his eyes in the shallow lighting. They were a striking blue, the bluest eyes she had ever seen. She was stuck in a trance just examining his eyes for a while.
Spike got just a little closer, she could feel his breath on her face now and it sent violent shivers down her spine; she was scared. But suddenly his eyes softened and his body relaxed. "Come with me, I'll take you somewhere safe" he told her quietly. Buffy was about to protest when another voice suddenly spoke up from behind Spike.
"Spike, you're supposed to be saving the innocent, not scaring them half to death" it was a female voice, young and sweet and yet rather demanding. Spike sighed and silently laughed as he rolled his eyes. He turned around and took a few steps towards the girl, who looked a little older then 15. He slouched against the wall next to her and smiled.
"I was just having a little fun, Niblet. Its not like I was gonna hurt her or anything" Spike explained with a chuckle. The girl just rolled her eyes and looked over at Buffy. She opened her mouth to say something but suddenly froze. She frowned and walked closer to Buffy, examining her face. "Do I know you?" Buffy asked, seeing the questioning look on the girl's face.
Suddenly, the girl flung her arms tightly around Buffy and hugged her. "Buffy! It's you! You came back!" she squealed. It was that high pitched sound that jogged Buffy's memory. She wrapped her arms around her and said, "My god, Dawn, I'm sorry for leaving. You've grown so much" she pulled back so she could get a good look at her baby sister.
Spike watched the two girls in fascination as they circled around each other. It was clear that this new girl would be sticking around for a while; he just hoped that she knew how to fight. "Keep your voices down. Come on, lets get out of this hellhole" he said, turning around and walking along the path Dawn had just come from. Buffy looked at Dawn and gave her a questioning look, to which she just smiled, and then followed after him.
They kept to the alleys for most of the way, Spike leading all the way. Buffy watched Spike closely; she couldn't get a good idea of his personality. He was either a very boring person (which couldn't be true) or he was an expert at hiding his emotions. He seemed dark and kinda scary, but the fact that Dawn seemed to not only know him well but trust him pushed the thought that he was evil out of her mind.
She followed him through the dimly lit streets, past heaps of houses; all dark and lifeless. They stopped outside the house that Buffy had grown up in. It was a wide, double-story house with a veranda at the front and the back.
Dawn grabbed Buffy's hand and dragged her inside, running. Spike on the other hand stood still. He stood alone in the early night, he wasn't going in right now; he had things to do. He spun on his heel and walked back into town.
Walking along the dirty sidewalk, Spike blended in well with the crowd of vampires in their black and blood red colours. He smirked as he watched vampire after vampire walk past him without a glance, they were just too stupid to realise he wasn't one of them. To them, he was like a Happy Meal on legs and they were as blind as bats.
He continued scouting the town, stepping in whenever he found a vampire who was feeling a bit peckish. He hardly fought; they really weren't worth the energy. Watching his latest rescue run off into the night, he sighed. He walked deeper into the cemetery he had found himself in. He did this most nights; walking alone in the darkness he wondered how it was possible that he was still human.
Walking anywhere in this town after dark was an extreme sport, you were lucky if you made it across the street without being attacked. Spike knew that someone like him would be a treasured addition to the 'family', so it was pretty impressive that he managed to last this long without a single bite. "7 years, bloody hell" Spike thought out loud. He had arrived 7 years ago, 7 years of his life had been wasted in this town.
'I wouldn't be here if the stupid people of Sunnydale would just brighten up enough to get the hell out of this town' he thought. He just couldn't understand why the population of the town hadn't decreased very much over the past decade due to people moving away. It had, however dropped massively due to vampire attacks, every night around 5 people died and by the next night another 3 vampires would rise.
The vampire population was getting too big, even with him and the gang killing countless vampires off every night their numbers just wouldn't sink.
Spike looked up at the black night sky, it was cloudy and not a single star could be seen. He wanted to see the stars again, see the moon on a not-full-moon night, but as long as the town was ruled by evil that would never happen here.
He snatched a cigarette from the left pocket of his duster, then retrieved a silver light from the right. He held the flame to the tip of the cigarette and watched the end ignite. He flicked the lid on the lighter back and slipped it back into his pocket. The night drew on silently with each gasp of smoke he took, it did him damage he knew, but it gave him a sense of comfort, an essence of home, a place he would never see again.
Dawn basically dragged Buffy into the house. Stopping once inside the front door, Dawn entered the lounge room and announced a new arrival. "Buffy, came here! Look, Uncle she's back!" Dawn squealed in excitement as she pulled Buffy out from behind the wall. She looked into the room and saw six people, only three of whom she knew.
The oldest one, an old British man named Rupert Giles, stood up and slowly approached Buffy. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug. "Hi Uncle Rupert, I'm home again" she said. Giles hugged her tightly; he had never thought he would ever see his oldest niece again. "Buffy, I am so happy to see you. Where have you been all these years? And my god you've grown" he told her.
He broke away from her and held her hand, spinning her around to get a better look at the beautiful, mature woman she had grown into. But his eyes still lied to him, even now, when he saw that rebellious little girl.
Buffy looked over at two of her old friends, well, they were kinda friends. They went to the same school together and they weren't enemies or anything. "Hello Amy, hi Jonathan" she said, adding a small wave. They both smiled and waved back. At that time, Dawn decided to start with the introductions.
"Buffy, this is Oz" Dawn said, pointing to an orange-haired guy who was lying on the floor, upside-down, holding a large book above him. Then Dawn pointed to a shy looking fellow, sandy blonde and a little skittish, he was sitting on the couch next to Jonathan. "That's Andrew" Dawn told her, before pointing to a shy blonde girl with dark roots. She was sitting on the couch against the far wall and she kept fiddling with the edge of the page she was reading. "And that's Tara. She's new, only arrived in town a few months ago" Dawn explained.
Buffy greeted each of them with a handshake and a wave. She took a seat next to Tara and looked over at the book she was reading. It was then that he noticed that there were heaps of old books lying around all over the room. "What's with the homework club?" she asked, scanning over all the topics that were printed and painted on the hard covers; most of them said stuff like 'Vampires of Time' or something like 'Sunny Hellmouth' which seemed a particularly weird title as the book looked older then the town it's self.
Giles looked around at the mess and gave Buffy an apologetic smile as he began picking up the clutter and piling the books in stacks on the coffee table. "We were just doing some early night research. Fighting demons and such we need to know what we're up against every time we step out that door" Giles explained.
Buffy leaned forward and picked up a book labelled 'Teeth, Claws and Murderous Humans'. Buffy raised an eyebrow and looked back at Giles. He noticed the funny look she was giving him and looked over to see the title of the book she was holding. "Some light reading, huh? You have many human murderers in this town?" Buffy asked, still giving Giles that funny look. He chuckled, clearly embarrassed as he answered, "That book explains how to tell the difference between a demon or vampire murder and a human murder….. and no, we don't have any human murderers in this town; everyone is far too scared of the demons and vampires to really hate anyone enough to kill them. Fear has the town by their necks" Giles admitted.
Buffy looked back at the book and placed it on the coffee table, atop a pile of 5 very thick books. "So what's the point in having that book then?" she asked, looking around the room, inviting everyone else to join in when they felt like it. Oz suddenly decided to speak up. "There is no point; we just have every book that the town could offer…. I grabbed a copy of every book on demons and vampires I could find, I didn't have time to check all the titles and anyway, at the time that book was still useful" he explained.
Dawn jumped down on the couch closest to the door and stretched her legs out, it was incredible how long her legs had grown since the last time Buffy had seen her when she was 7. Now she was 17 and Buffy regretted leaving more then ever, she had missed so much of her baby sister's life.
Giles gave Dawn a scolding look as she made sure she was taking up the whole couch, to which he had been sitting on; but she just closed her eyes and grinned. Buffy chuckled at her sister's attitude, she was defiantly trouble.
Speaking of trouble, she had only just noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where is Spike? Didn't he follow us in?" she asked, standing up to look at the door as if he would be just standing there. "Oh, he probably went off to patrol. Killing vampires is like a sport to him. He grew up in a town that was completely over run with them, and yet he is still human. He is so cool" Dawn had a silly grin on her face when she said that last part. This made Buffy giggle and ask, "You don't have a crush on him do you?"
Dawn suddenly shot up into a sitting position and glared at her big sister. "No, I don't! He's just super cool, and he's saved my life like a million times" she exclaimed, but the tone she had zoned into at the second sentence gave it all away. Buffy nearly laughed, the last guy she could remember Dawn having a crush on was a dorky redhead with lots of freckles. Why she ever like him was beyond her understanding.
Then a voice came through from the kitchen, saying, "Dinner is ready to all of you who are hungry" a tall, thin woman with black hair said as she poked her head through the doorway. Buffy spun around and ran up to her, giving her a big hug. "Aunty Jenny! I missed you so much!" Buffy told her. Jenny was at first completely stunned, but then wrapped her arms around her niece and kissed the top of her head, a few tears slipping down her cheeks. "My god, Buffy you're alive and well. I never thought I'd see you again. Why did you runaway? Your mother was devastated after you left" Jenny told her.
But the words were out before she knew what she had said. Buffy looked up at her aunty, beaming with delight as she asked, "Hey, where is Mum?" Suddenly everyone in the room looked at the floor, upset and feeling completely horrible at telling such a happy Buffy the truth; all except Oz of course who was as emotionless as Spike, maybe more.
Buffy looked around and frowned. "What's wrong? Why are you all looking so sad?" then it hit her. The smile fell from her lips and her eyes became glassy. Giles slowly approached Buffy and said, putting his hands comfortingly on her shoulders, "Buffy, I'm sorry but….. your mother is dead." Buffy fell into his arms in tears, she could hardly breathe. Her mother had always been there for her, except when she ran away of course, but the idea of her still being at home waiting for her had always kept the option of going home surfaced in her mind.
Giles rubbed his hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her and slow the tears, but he knew it was impossible. The thought of his dead sister caused him so much guilt e could hardly stand it. Buffy stopped crying and pulled back to look at Giles. "What happened? To Mum, to the town… what happened after I left?" she asked.
Giles took a deep breath and decided that it was story time. He took Buffy over to the couch Dawn had been lying on and sat her down. Dawn crawled up next to her big sister and laid her head on Buffy's shoulder. Oz put his book on the floor and pulled himself onto the couch, next to Tara. Amy threw her book away and sat on the edge of the coffee table. Jonathan and Andrew both sat on the floor and looked up expectedly at Giles and Jenny sat in a comfy chair, ready for the stories ahead.
Next chapter we shall hear about the town's history. It didn't start as exciting as I had hoped but it will get better. Please tell me what you think, until next time, cheerio.