Buffy stood before the mansions gates; she had a single brown suitcase in hand that held important possessions such as soap, a tooth brush and her stuffed pig Mr. Gordo. She shut her eyes remembering her last moments in Sunnydale.
"A mutant Slayer. That's-that's quite a challenge for a watcher I'm not sure how to alter your training quite yet." Giles murmured taking off his glasses as he inspected the blond. "You won't have to worry about that, I can't stay here." Buffy replied. Giles looked at her in surprise.
"Buffy you really don't have a choice, you're the Slayer you have a duty and the Mast-"
"Giles I can't stay here, I don't have control of this power. It's Dangerous, and it scares me. I need to be somewhere where someone can help me and it's not here."
Buffy licked her lips opening her eyes again from the memory just as the gates swung open. "Welcome young lady." She heard a voice in her head that she'd heard before years ago.
"Buffy, you've been having trouble fitting in lately with your telekinetic powers budding. You aren't in control of it; you're causing damage and it's becoming apparent." Christopher said.
"People are angry, mommy and daddy are fighting…" The girl murmured, her eyes downcast.
"Well that's why Ms. Tan and I are here. We can help you hone your powers. We've started a school for the gifted. For people like you, and us." This caused Buffy to stare at them with a curious intensity. "You can read minds too, and she can control metal." Mattea smirked in response.
"Would you like to come with us?" She asked the brunette. Buffy smiled in return just as the French doors were rattled.
Buffy walked through the gates and surveyed the front yard of the school. It was wide and open a long pathway extended towards the mansions tall staircase, and Buffy slowly began walking towards it with a heavy heart.
"But what about the Master Buff? You aren't just gonna leave us with him… I mean if he opens the Hellmouth it's not gonna take long for rest of the world to go down with Sunnydale." Willow told her best friend nervously.
"I know Will, but I'm leaving you in good hands." Buffy smiled comfortingly rubbing the girl's arm. Xander's head snapped up at that, he'd been staring at the ground at hearing the news that the current love of his life was already planning to skip town. "Whose good hands would those be?" He asked.
"Angel." She replied.
"Angel's a vampire." He spat.
"Angel has a soul. He's good; and besides don't you remember the prophecy? I'll die if I take on The Master. Didn't you vote that I live?" She asked when Xander didn't reply.
"Does Angel know?" asked Willow.
"So soon." Angel asked taking in the blond beauty that stood before him. He didn't want to ruin the moment, it seemed like she had dressed up for him. She was in a short black dress and black knee high boots. "I know." She replied; her voice was quiet. "I thought we got really close and I thought that-" She'd been moving closer to him as she spoke. He lightly placed his hands on her shoulders "I love you." He blurted. She held his gaze for a moment.
"Well, uh, talk about the wrong time." She chuckled bitterly breaking the intense stare. "I wish so much that I could stay here and help fight the Master, but this power is just getting scarier and scarier and I guess it's cool when I can just make vampires explode with my mind when they really piss me off but what if the next person to piss me off isn't another evil ex of yours?" She said her voice heavy with tears.
"I understand." Angel told her. "I just wish it didn't happen to be that way." He sighed pulling away to reach into the pocket of his dark jeans. He opened his fisted hand to reveal a small silver ring. "I wanted to give this to you." He told her, as she responded by gingerly lifting the small silver band from his large cold hand. "The crown represents loyalty the hands friendship and the heart… well you know."
"It's beautiful." She whispered.
"Wear it with the heart pointing towards you, it means you belong to somebody." He rose his hand in to reveal the same ring "Like this." She took his hand and brought the ring to her lips kissing it.
"Would you like to come with us?" Mattea asked the brunette. Buffy smiled in return just as the French doors were rattled. Buffy bent her head forward in response, staring intensely at the door. Christopher was the first to realize what she was doing. "Buffy, I think you should let your mother in." He told her nonchalantly. Buffy didn't reply; she seemed much too focused on keeping the door shut.
"What's going on in there!" Mrs. Summers shouted. "Buffy! Buffy, darling, are you alright!" Her mother cried frantically. "What are you people doing?! Hank! Hank! HANK! Get up here!" She shouted.
"Buffy stop it!" Mattea said in worry, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders. Buffy shook her head, letting go just as her father burst through the door wide-eyed and furious. He took in the scene, first spotting Professor Smith in his wheel chair, then Mattea with her hands on Buffy's shoulders. "Get your hands off of her! What were you doing?!" He shouted; his blue eyes were dark with fury. Mattea quickly complied. "Why couldn't we get through that door?!"
"It was a misunderstanding; we're only here to offer to help this young lady-" Professor Smith began.
"What makes you think she needs help?" He demanded calming down slightly, having seen that Buffy was all right, but was still nevertheless angry.
"We know what she is." Mattea tried to explain.
"What she is? She's normal, healthy, twelve-year-old girl is what she is, and I don't know what kind of help you want to provide for her, but I don't think I like it." He told them furiously.
"You're an ignorant jerk!" Mattea exclaimed. "You're daughter's special and you know it. She's better than you, you're only human." She sneered.
"I think you should leave." Mrs. Summers interrupted.
"We told you it was a misunderstanding! You daughter's having trouble controlling her powers, that's all-" This time it was Christopher that cut her off.
"It's alright Mattea. If the Summers' want to turn a blind eye towards this anomaly; even though I've already told Mrs. Summers her daughter is exceptionally powerful for her age, that's their choice. Sooner or later they'll have to realize that they can't handle her."
"Please, just leave. We don't care about this. Whatever's to come we'll deal with it. As a family." The girl's mother pleaded.
Mattea glared a moment longer before taking a hold of Smith's wheel chair and heading for the door.
"If you ever need me, you know where you can find me." The professor said putting a finger to his head in parting to Buffy who hadn't moved from her place on the couch. She didn't respond, but stared wide eyed after the first two people she'd ever met that could understand her, as they left her behind.
Now she stood before the tall brown doors and as if sensing her they slowly swung open. Shrugging she entered cautiously looking around for any sign of life. The mansion was empty and gave off a weird feeling "But then again I'm not exactly the epitome of normal." She reminded herself shaking off the feeling. She suddenly sensed movement from the staircase above. A floating yellow chair with a man she remembered from years ago hovered down to meet her. His hair was still a dark brown colour with wisps of white in it, although he now sported a comb over. His glasses were still a lot larger than the usual kind but they suited him.
"Hi." Buffy said waving slightly. "You were either expecting me or you psychically knew I was at the gates."
"Both actually." Smiled the Professor. "I could sense your powers being used again, they're growing, both in power and out of your control." He commented. "I didn't need to be born psychic to know you'd decide come here within a few years."
"I wanted to." Buffy said. "It's just my parents…"
"Oh I know." He replied.
"Sooo…" She said when suddenly a ramp of ice cut between them and a boy who seemed to be made completely of ice surfed by.
"Jon!" Professor Smith called after him. The boy ramped back and turned from ice into flesh. He appeared to be about eleven of twelve and Latino.
"When this ice melts you're making sure my carpets dry, and I don't care if that means drinking the water off of the floor." He told the boy sternly.
"Drink?" He asked in shock. "Come on Professor, you just taught me how to make these and you think I'm not going to use it?"
"Oh you can use it, just not in my foyer." He replied.
"Aw man." He groaned trudging out of the foyer to find cleaning utensils.
Buffy laughed a bit sensing a slight lightness in the air despite the trouble the boy was in.
"That's Jon Agudelo otherwise known as Iceman, he's one of my first students he just came in a few months ago, second to Tyler Shepherd." Professor Smith explained. "I'll show you to your room." Smith offered. "So far that's all we've got but I'm hoping in time this place'll actually be a safe haven for mutants who need a place." Smith muttered as he guided her up the stairs into a long corridor.
"Seems like a nice enough place." Buffy nodded. "So no girls? Where's uh the woman who controls metal… Ms. Han?" She asked.
"Ms. Tan." Smith corrected as they arrived a tall mahogany door. "Let's just leave it at, we had our differences." He suggested. "Here's your room, make yourself at home, six 'o'clock is training." He called over his shoulder as he hovered away in his yellow chair.
Buffy yanked open the heavy double doors to find a rich looking room mainly carved from wood. A massive window was to her right with thick red curtains framing it and a plush bed sheeted in the same deep red as the curtains was in the centre. But something else caught her attention altogether. She closed the door behind her and set down her suitcase next to the bed before lifting a green dress, which was carefully arranged on the bed. It was full sleeve and had a swooping v-neck, which looked as if it's be pointing just above her cleavage; the dress itself looked about mid-thigh. She spotted what looked like yellow elbow length gloves next to a matching yellow mask and gold belt with a black x emblazoned over the round, red buckle.
She lifted up the strange outfit and carried it to the empty closet. She stared at its emptiness for a while slightly surprised that a closet that was meant to be hers could be so bare. She spotted yellow, knee-high boots before raising an eyebrow; snapping from it she hung the costume on one of the hangers adorning the bar. She sighed looking around the large empty room, it was beautiful and hers but at the same time it was a huge empty space which held no semblance of being hers and it made her feel alone.
She opened her suitcase pulling out Mr. Gordo and looked into his familiar pink, furred face. She stroked his head pulling him to her chest before curling up on the big lush bed. Even the bed made her feel small and alone so she closed her eyes taking in a deep breath squeezing the plushie in her arms in comfort.
