Disclaimer in Chapter One - No Teachers, No Help, No Feelings, No Crying
Author's Notes 1: Ok, don't get use to seeing an update this quick, I only have about 19,000 words written so far and about a 1000 of that is notes and bullet points of where I want the story to go. I'm only upping this chapter because I want you guys to meet Xander's slayer and get some of the vibe I'm trying for with this story.
I'm not saying this chapter is dark, but Xander gets 'interrogated' by Giles, so fair warning, even though I don't think its that bad, hell, there's youtube video's demonstrating people being shot by heaps of these things.
#Hello# = Singing
As he slowly regained consciousness the lack of sound around him pierced his fog filled brain. His thoughts were jumbled as he woke in darkness, the sound of his own breathing, slow and steady, the only noise he could hear. Despite the cramped space he was in his breath was loud in his ears as he slowly opened his eye, cold darkness welcoming his gaze. A small note of panic escaped his lips as he took in his surroundings. His arms moved from his sides and immediately up to the invisible surface above his face. His hands moved over the frictionless barrier before him.
"Oh crap! I've died, they buried me!" he gasped. "No. No, no, no, no, no!"
He stood in the cramped space looking for the seam of his coffin.
"Oh I'm so gonna kill Dalili!" he shouted, his voice muffled in the small space. "Just drink the potion Xander, what harm could befall upon you..." he said in an imitation of a feminine South African accent. "I'm never listening to the daughter of a Witch Doctor ever again!"
His hands moved slowly across the surface before him as he shuffled from one foot to the other.
"'The potions name means 'Blessed Africa will never allow'.' Who the hell lets someone drink that without warning them first?" Xander complained.
He turned around, feeling each corner of the rectangle box, looking for the opening of the lid.
"All I did was help save a herd of cattle from a Solgaroth infestation... And the Witch Doctor's daughter," he continued to mutter. "Does that warrant a lifetime of Immortality? No. I was only looking for a couple Slayers..."
He turned again, back to where he'd started. With a small huff he leaned back on the surface behind him, tapping his foot impatiently as he thought of his predicament.
Something about that didn't seem right.
He pushed himself off the surface at his back and crossed his arms before him. Then he looked to his feet. Slowly he tapped his right foot on the ground below. It made a small, muffled *thud, thud, thud*.
"Ok? Not a coffin..." he said aloud before muttering a small chant.
Etched on both of his hands, in a script as old as time, were a series of tattoos. The ink spun around his wrists, across the back of his palms and looped his middle and ring fingers before moving back across the back of his palms and joined again along his wrists. The characters glowed softly on his left hand as he raised it to provide light, the script slowly revolving around his hand as if it were a coiled snake slithering between his fingers.
"Yep, not a coffin, one of Willow's holding cages." He said with a sigh. "First clue should have been you were standing you idiot!" he chastised himself. "Who would bury someone standing up?"
The cage was more spacious then it looked from the outside. Every time he had seen a demon caught in one he had always assumed it was cramped, suffocating, uncomfortable and a pain to wake up in. So, apart from thinking he was buried alive, it wasn't so bad. From the glow of his tattooed hand he could make out the transparent barrier of his prison and the world outside.
The Magical Cage appeared to be in a small room, "Must be the Kendra Wing," Xander mused to himself as he made out the single chair and small interview table in front of the cage and noticed the reflection of his glowing hand in a mirror on one of the far walls. "Yep, Interrogation room in the Kendra Wing... What the hell is going on?" He said as he looked up to the dark corner of the room and the camera he assumed was there. "I guess I'll have to play the waiting game..." he sighed again, muttering the small chant once more, the ink on his hand returning to its normal, tattooed state, the glow vanishing.
"Hope Kate's OK..."
She was tired, dirty and her body hurt, not to mention pissed that Xander had pulled rank and made her drop everything off so he could sneak into the House and avoid all the people gathered. She walked on auto pilot after dropping off their packs to the laundry and the rest of the field kits back to the armoury, her personal sword resting on her shoulder as she entered the Nikki Woods Slayer Dorm.
She didn't notice the sad faces about her as she made her way through the lobby and towards the staircase. If she had she would have been concerned, either consoling those that were crying, or crying herself. After four flights of stairs and walking around the bereaved she made her way down the hallway and to her door. With a small sigh she took her key out and opened the lock to fall into the bed that lay behind it.
At least that was what she had assumed as she put the key into the lock, turned it and proceeded to walk into the door with a thud.
"What the heck...?" Kate began trying the key again.
She rattled the handle, trying to force the lock to turn.
"Come on" she sighed, banging on the door in an effort to unstick it.
To her surprise, the door swung open quickly, a small Redheaded girl rubbing her eyes with an annoyed look on her face and quite severe bed head greeted her.
"What!?" the Redhead, dressed in a long pink nightie, asked with a dangerous tone in her voice.
"W-Who are you?" Kate asked.
"You knocked on my door." the Redhead countered with a sigh. "You don't know?"
Kate just stared, mouth agape. "Y-Your door?"
"Yeah, my door." the girl said. "As in My door to My room."
"Your room?" Kate asked again. "No, this is m-"
"Yeah, my room." the girl interrupted. "What do you want? I have my first patrol tonight, I need sleep, I'm nervous already, I don't wanna be falling over trying to stay awake."
"Your first patrol? As in you're a Firstie?" Kate asked, raising her sword back onto her shoulder. "They gave my room away, to a Probie?"
The Redhead looked puzzled. "Your room?"
"Yeah," Kate looked around. "Look, who's your Watcher?"
"I haven't been assigned one," The Redhead's face saddened. "I was gonna get one a couple days ago, but after what happened and how it affected everyone... Well, it's been a little weird around here lately."
"You're telling me. You're not the one who left for a mission, only to come home and find someone sleeping in their bed."
The Redhead straightened at that comment and gave her a puzzled look. "Ooooookay... Should I call someone for you? Is that what I'm supposed to do?" she said taking a couple steps back into the room and picking up her phone.
"Ring the front desk," Kate told the girl, who just gave her a confused look. "Extension 126," Kate smiled putting her sword against the wall and leaning in the open doorway. "Geez." she whispered under her breath.
The Redhead nodded, putting her ear to the handset as she dialled the extension. "Yeah, hi, ahem, I need some help, there's this girl here who says this is her room, not mine..." she paused as the person on the other end spoke. The Redhead smiled politely at Kate, a smile the older Slayer tiredly returned. "Yeah, room 297... Yep, that's me... Ah... JD-2813... Oh, my 'ID Phrase', sorry,"
Kate hid a grin as the newbie screwed up a basic Slayer ID call and response.
"Ah, I think it's 'Reverse Porky's'?" the last part was said as if it was an embarrassing question rather than a statement. The Redhead quickly turned her back on Kate and spoke in a hushed tone into the handset. "It was something the Watcher who contacted me came up with... It was the way he found me, in what he called a 'Reverse Porky's' situation... I don't know what it means..." she paused once more before raising her voice again. "Look, this girl is... Yeah, sure... Fine, bye."
The Redhead hung up and turned back to Kate in the doorway.
"Grace down on the front desk says to go down and she'll sort you out. It could just be a mix up."
"Sure hope so." Kate said lifting her sword back over her shoulder and turning to go back down stairs.
As the Redhead closed the door both girls said as one "Weirdo..."
#This is 'the song that doesn't end',# he sung softly. #Yes it goes on and on my friend, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was,# he was bored. #And they'll continue singing it forever just because, this is 'the song that doesn't end', Yes it goes...#
Hours had passed. And nothing happened. He just sat in the dark, waiting. Or at least he believed it to be hours, but he wasn't sure. After a few hundred choruses of 'The Song That Doesn't End' you can forgive a person for not keeping perfect time. As he finished the round again he give an exaggerated sigh before turning to the darkness where the mirror was.
"Can we get this show on the road? I want to get in a couple hours of sleep before I have to file my report."
Silence greeted him again and he shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh well, if 'The Song That Doesn't End' doesn't do anything for you," he paused for dramatic effect. "Then I have a really good one about a 'Hole in a Bucket'," he smiled into the darkness before clearing his throat. #Ahem, there's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hol-#
The lights flickered on with a large hum as they began to heat up, their dull fluorescent glow bright to Xander's light deprived eye. His hands shielded his eye from the sensory overload as the door to the small room opened in front of him. Giles stepped in and closed the door quickly, his gaze indifferent as he looked into the cage.
"If," Giles cleared his throat as he sat down in front of the cage. "You're quite finished?"
"Giles?" Xander questioned. "What the hell is-"
"I'll ask the questions." Giles began as he sat down on the chair, his hands clasped on the table in front of him. "You picked the wrong day to show up here, your plan has failed."
Xander stared at the Watcher before shaking his head. "W-what?"
"Who are you?" Giles asked calmly, locking his eyes with Xander's.
"Wha...? Xander." He said with a hint of surprise.
"Who are you?" Giles asked again.
"It's me Giles, Xan-der." He said slowly.
Giles looked away from the man before him and let out a sigh.
"Tell us who you are or we will make you tell us." Giles warned him again.
"Giles, what the hell is going on?" Xander questioned. "What was that back at the house? Why have I been locked in here going through my best hostage material?"
The Watcher gave another sigh before standing and turning to the mirrored wall. "Very well, send him in."
"Send who in?" Xander looked to the mirror; he stiffened at the look Giles gave him as answer. "Why did Faith hit me? I just came home and she hit me... Hell, she threw me into the front hallway."
"Count yourself lucky that's all Faith did to you" Giles sneered putting his hands in his pockets. "She would have done a lot worse if she had not thrown you as far" he turned again, this time to the door to the room. "And I would have helped."
The door opened and a small man entered; he held an old parchment in front of himself and a large white crystal. Xander recognised the man and relaxed, a smile crossing his face as he greeted his friend...
"Hi Andrew."
Well... Kind of friend.
"H-hi... Ah, 'Xander-face-stealing-Demon', who I think is either a Halibreck or a Bipipski Demon." Andrew waved the parchment in greeting.
"Oookay... Not exactly a warm welcome," Xander half waved back. "But compared to Giles here, I'll take it."
"Quiet!" Giles snapped. "Just get on with it Andrew."
"Yes, Watcher-Master Giles." Andrew bowed slightly to the older Watcher.
Giles let out a quick groan that sounded more like 'why me?' before taking off his glasses and beginning to clean them.
"How many times must I tell you Andrew, just because I sit on the Council and you are my Apprentice Watcher, there is-"
"-There is no need to call me Watcher-Master." Xander began in a bad imitation of Giles. "We are not part of 'The Jedi Order', you will not become a Watcher Knight, and I am not Yoda." He smiled at the two men. "Now, how could I know that's what you were going to say if I'm not Xander?" he finished in his own voice.
Giles quickly put his glasses back on his face and crossed his arms across his chest. "Andrew, if you could please..."
Andrew stared at Xander, his mouth open.
"Andrew!"
"Yes, sorry Master."
Andrew bowed his head, placed the white crystal on the small table and un-scrolled the parchment, clearing his throat as he prepared to read.
"Sometime this year please Andrew..." Giles sighed.
"Yes Giles," Andrew nodded quickly. "Hellki jumpel, Konosuta t'reelpa, False visage of a loved one, Delltel opelo, Sinta globi, Demon arise, Show your form," he spoke in a deep voice as he struck a pose, the parchment held in front of himself in one hand, the other hovering over the crystal, which now began to glow white. "Vell yoolt, Gabont sheta, Drop your Veil!"
The crystal shone bright, blinding them all for a couple seconds before it extinguished, the white crystal now replaced with a slightly burnt looking rock that was the same shape and size of the original.
"It didn't work." Giles said, looking at Xander, then the black rock/former crystal, then the Watcher in training and back to Xander.
"N-no, it did," Andrew rolled the parchment back up and picked up the burnt crystal. "He's not a Bipipski or a Halibreck Demon," he held the dark crystal up. "If he was, the demon would be standing in front of us and the crystal would have shone Red."
"So he's human?" Giles asked the man.
"Yes..." Andrew answered.
"Thank you!" Xander let out an exasperated breath.
"...And no," Andrew finished, looking to Xander and then the burnt crystal. "He still might be a Demon, one I don't know about, or he just might have access to better magicks then the Red Witch."
"Which is nearly impossible." Giles and Xander said in unison.
"I think we just might have to wait for the blood work to come back Master," Andrew sighed. "If the Red Witch can't crack the magicks behind this, the DNA will clear him of being an imposter of the White Knight or not. Mistress Willow said no matter what glamor or spell was used, DNA was impossible to hide totally..."
"Thank you Andrew," Giles snapped, cutting the young man off. "Dismissed."
Andrew looked like he was about to argue when Giles shot him a stern look and the young Apprentice Watcher snapped to attention, bowed his head at the older man and moved to leave. The door closed quietly, both men staring at the exit to the small room as they pondered what would happen next.
Giles let out a sigh as Xander just turned to the Watcher. "Proceeding to next phase," Giles glanced at the mirrored glass. "Any objections, now is the time to raise them. No turning back." Xander gave him a confused look, the Watcher this time turning fully to the dark mirrored glass. "I know we hoped it would not come to this, but given what we have been through the last few days, and we have no other leads until the blood work comes back, I do not see we have a choice. This could be the very tip of a larger attack aimed at eliminating us or worse, usurping our control over our forces. Time could be of the essence. I do not take pleasure in being forced to..."
Whatever Giles was hoping to receive as an answer, it was a silent one Xander couldn't hear, as the Watcher visibly stiffened, stifling his speech as he took in whatever he was told.
"Very well..." He sighed. Without hesitation Giles turned on his heel and faced Xander, his face a blank mask, his arms moving behind him. "I will ask one more time, who are you? Why are you here?"
Xander just blinked at the man, his mouth opening and closing a couple times at the absurdity of it all. "It's me! Xander! I work and live here! What is going-*Phft, Click, Click, Click* Augh!"
He didn't see Giles move his hand. Just one second he was standing in front of him, arms at his back, the next his right hand was extended in front of him, holding a weapon that looked familiar. Then it fired with a *Phft!*, followed with two quick jabs in his chest, and several *Click, Click, Click* noises as pain shot through his chest and his muscles tensed up, his body falling rigidly against the side of his Magical Cage.
The clicking stopped as Giles released the trigger and Xander's body went limp. His mind now filling in the gaps, the weapon was familiar, it should have been, he was the advocate that had insisted it should be a standard side arm with all patrols. The X26 taser, non lethal to almost any demon and human, it couldn't dust a vamp or behead a demon, but it could incapacitate either of them for a Slayer or Support personnel to get into position to subdue the offending party... As long as the thing had muscles, it could buy the person time.
When his mind cleared he realised Giles was talking, calmly, which was never a good sign.
"What is your plan?" Giles repeated. "You must have had one..."
"Huh..." Xander looked up at the Watcher. "My plan? The plan was to get a couple hours sleep-"
He was cut off again as Giles squeezed the trigger a second time, the *Click, Click, Click* sound filled the room again, followed but a low grunt by Xander as he shook softy. He saw lights dance before his eye for a second as he thought he heard a door open and close. When the pain stopped he tried to sit up straight and look Giles in the eye. Instead he managed to flop his arm in front of himself and move his hand towards the barbs in his chest as he sunk lower in the cage.
"How many more are you?" Giles asked looking down at him.
"J-just the one..." He tried to sit up straight again and this time he succeeded. "Me, Giles, just me..." He looked up at the Watcher as the man seemed to look past him and over his shoulder.
"Who are you?" Giles asked again.
"Xander Harr-Augh!"
Giles pulled the trigger once more, his gaze shifting periodically from the Xander writhing in pain in the Magical Cage and to the corner of the room just over his shoulder. When he released the trigger he did not want to continue, but he had been given an order, a silent look that wanted answers. He was used to giving orders nowadays, not following them, but he had seen the look in her eyes and knew that this hurt her as much as it hurt him too. But he couldn't let her do this, not again. He had promised Xander long ago he would protect her from the darkness that she once fell to. Besides, what did it matter to the old man Ripper had become?
"Who ARE YOU?" Giles raised his voice, his hands shaking.
"XANDER HARRIS!" Xander yelled, now gripping the wired barbs that had stuck in his chest.
Giles head fell and he raised the taser in is hand, moving to pull the trigger for the Fourth time.
"NO, wait!" Xander yelled, hands outstretched in front of him. Giles paused as the Man began to speak. "I was the one who went with Angel into The Master's lair, I was the one who performed CPR on Buffy and brought her back the first time." he pleaded.
Giles almost scoffed. "It's no secret Xander saved Buffy's life that night."
Xander continued, "But not many people know that I forced Angel to take me down at cross point. He didn't even want to go down there, he had resigned Buffy to her fate."
"Still not a big secret," Giles moved to pull the trigger again.
"Wait!" Again Xander raised his hands in surrender. "Then, a year later I stupidly told Buffy that Willow said for her to kick Angelus' ass, I helped you out of the Mansion, and you thought I was an illusion, a trick by Dru..." Xander smiled sadly to Giles. "I helped lead the Students against the Mayor on Graduation day, got to see him eat Snyder, so Bonus!" Xander's strength was returning slowly as he spoke to the Watcher. "Near the end of Buffy and Will's first year of college we went down into the Initiative, I was the heart, Animus, in the enjoining spell we performed to defeat Adam, and because we invoked the Spirit of the First Slayer, she tried to kill us one by one in our dreams...
"Once again, a year later I helped you fight off Glory's minions, just to watch Buffy jump off the tower to close the portal and save Dawn's life. I willingly participated in a raising spell to bring Buffy back, but what we really did was rip her out of Heaven and then forced her to dig herself out of her own grave. I stood up to my best friend as she tried to end the world. I told her... I told..." His voice cracked. "I told her she could destroy the world, but she had to kill me first." He looked away.
Giles watched the man in front of him, his gaze softening as he took in his words.
"I was there on S-Day in the High School, I fought the Bringers and the Über Vamps... When I should have... I should have..." he paused looking to the floor. "I should have been with her... With Anya." He whispered.
Giles glanced to the one way mirror, then the corner behind Xander, confusion on his face.
"She never should have been there. It was my fault." he continued, oblivious to Giles' confusion. "She would never have been there if it wasn't for me Giles. I taught her not to run from danger; I showed her you don't abandon your friends in the middle of a fight. Me!" he hissed. "She stayed because of me. She protected Andrew and she was killed all because of me!" he wiped his eye. "Sometimes I see her, glimpses, here and there. Or I think I hear her voice on the wind. Faith says it's normal..."
Giles stared over Xander's shoulder as he mentioned the dark Slayer's name, the movement ignored by Xander who continued.
"She says she still hears and sees her Watcher sometimes in crowds or when she's fighting. Says it's her way of knowing she's always with her..." he sniffed, standing up now, leaning heavily on the magical barrier of his cell. "After S-Day I left. I sank into a bottle and wound up on the doorstep of my Mmmm..." Xander's face screwed up as he became tongue tied.
Before Giles could stop him, Xander reached up and pulled the wired barbs from his chest, dropping the offending objects to the bottom of his cage, his hand glowing softly as he did so. Giles made to berate the Man when Xander continued.
"I wound up on the doorstep of My Mas-ssssss... Mmmm, Dammit!" he repeated and berated himself. "My Mast... Mmmm-Drac-ster! Augh!" he yelled in frustration. "Drrrrrrac! Dracula! He's not my Mas-sssssso..." he rolled his eye with a sigh. "I stayed with Vv-vv-vlad. He put things into perspective, he helped me." He said rubbing his tattooed hands, the glow fading. "A few months went by and I came back to train with you. When you thought my training was complete and I was ready, you sent me off to Africa in search of Slayers. Still got the scars to prove it. Some voluntary, some, not so much. Battled some Demons, lost... Slayers... Saved others. Came back and began training the girls. Even got a Slayer assigned to me here and there. Fell in love again, didn't think that would ever happen after Anya, let alone think 'she' would ever love me back..."
He paused, his shoulders slumped, he leaned back against the mystical barrier and slid down to the ground of the cramped cell. "Not that she's ever said it to me, not in words." he then quickly looked up at Giles, panic on his face. "Not that she has to! I would never force her to do that! Never!"
"X-Xander, your talking about..." Giles said calmly, looking into the corner again.
"Faith..." Xander looked down again with a sigh.
"You claim you are Xander, who is in love..."
"With Faith," Xander interrupted. "And that fact finally sinking in is it?"
Giles looked to the corner of the room again then dropped the taser onto the table as he bit his tongue from the retort he wanted to say.
"Come on G-Man, it's me!" Xander opened his arms out, his palms up.
"You claim to be Xander, but there are two mistakes you have made." the Watcher said looking the man in the eye. "First, you said that Anya died."
"Yes," Xander agreed. "Andrew saw her cut down by a Bringer, her body never made it out of the school..." he said with sadness.
"Yes," Giles crossed his arms. "Well, with that fact, you can't be Xander."
"What? Why?"
"Anya is alive," Giles said matter-of-factly, Xander faltering on his feet. "She fought against the Bringers in the School on S-Day, she saved Andrew, helped the new Slayers onto the bus that took us out of Sunnydale and helped the wounded. My apprentice says if it wasn't for her and her powers he would have been overrun by Bringers. Anya survived and now works with us as our Human/Demon Ambassador."
"No..." Xander murmured. "No... A-Andrew said... He saw her die! D'Hoffryn couldn't help me, he told me it was a Non Magical Death! No matter what I threatened him with, D'Hoffryn said there was nothing he could do!"
Xander closed his eye, his emotions a jumbled mess as he thought about this news. She was alive. She was somewhere here, not in a huge hole in the ground that was slowly turning into a giant lake in the middle of the California dessert. She was walking. Talking. Laughing. Living. Breathing somewhere. Her body wasn't destroyed by debris, broken by falling wreckage, crushed by the broken ruins of the school, covered by rubble as the earth reclaimed the town and the ground it once stood on. He didn't feel the tears falling down his face as he recalled seeing her before he had passed out from Faith throwing him down the stairs. He didn't question it when he had woken, thinking it a hallucination from the fall.
"She's alive? Anya is alive?" he asked again with a sniff.
"Yes," Giles looked down at the man before him. "You are not Xander."
"I am..." Xander gasped defeated. "She's really alive?"
"Yes." Giles confirmed again. "Your second mistake was the girl."
The Carpenter looked up then, more confusion on his face.
"Yes," Giles continued, misinterpreting Xander's confusion for understanding. "We found the girl, she claims she is a Slayer and that you are her Watcher, only..." Giles paused. "Xander is not assigned to a Slayer, he has not been for sometime."
"I do have a Slay-" Xander began.
"No, Xander doesn't." Giles interrupted.
"I do!" Xander said sternly. "Her name is Kate, Katie. She's only sixteen, she use to be frightened of the world..." he looked to his hands. "I'm helping her try to open up, see the world for the better..." he mumbled to himself.
"And by all accounts you seem to have done just that," Giles smiled.
"Huh?" Xander stood slowly.
"Yes, she was quite vocal." Giles frowned. "A few punches were thrown when we chained her..."
"What?!" Xander yelled.
Grace turned out to be an older Slayer, maybe in her early to mid-twenties, as opposed to Kate who was only sixteen, and the Redhead, who Kate guessed was only about fourteen. The older Slayer watched her with a hawk-like gaze as she came down the few remaining stairs, as her first foot touched the ground floor Grace gave a quick glance to the two Slayers standing by the entrance, both women on guard duty.
'Please don't let me be in trouble, please don't let me be in trouble...' Kate thought as she approached the tall desk the older Slayer was standing behind.
"Grace?" Kate asked.
The older Slayer nodded. "Sword please."
"Sorry Ma'am?" Kate questioned.
"Hand over the weapon," Grace said, hands out. "Just for security, you'll get it back." she smiled.
Kate reluctantly handed the older Slayer her sword, the younger Slayer seeming to shrink in height, and demeanour.
"Thank you," Grace put the weapon under the desk. "Now, name?"
"Kate Adams, Ma'am." Kate said, her arms hugging herself, an action she did whenever she was nervous.
The older Slayer frowned as she typed away at the terminal. "Middle initial?"
"N."
"Which stands for?"
"N-Nancy..." Kate said embarrassed, moving a strand of hair behind her ear.
Grace smirked as she typed the name into the computer. The smirk disappeared as the computer beeped, its search finished. She tried it a second time, then a third.
"Badge number?"
"XH-5309" Kate said crossing her arms.
The older Slayer typed the number into the database again, smiling politely as the computer performed it's search. As with the smirk, the smile disappeared as the computer gave a beep. Again she tried a second time, followed by a third.
Kate watched, yawning slightly as she waited. "Is there a problem Ma'am? Did I do something wrong? Was I suppose to file my report now? Because I thought I didn't have to till the morning..."
"No, reports are cancelled at the moment due to the service today..." Grace said absentmindedly reading through the system in front of her.
"Oh, good..." Kate relaxed a little. "Because I'm dirty and I'm pretty sure I've got demon slime somewhere on me or in my hair... Or both. I just wanna have a shower, then get some sleep."
"I don't see you registered in this dorm..."
"Sorry Ma'am?"
"You're not registered to this Dorm, Slayer." Grace said, her fingers moving over the keyboard.
"So I go out on a three day mission and my room is given away to some junior Slayerette?" Kate sighed, the older Slayer cocked her eyebrow in response. "What? She's younger than me, she said she'd never been on patrol before, she's a newbie, Ma'am."
"And you believe your dorm is in this barracks?" Grace asked deciding to run a system diagnostic.
"Yes, Ma'am." Kate answered, her arms holding herself tighter. "It was my Watchers idea, he said I should... I needed to learn to sleep somewhere where he wasn't one door away. It was an experiment. To see if I could handle any nightmares on my own in the dorms instead of in the 'House' with him."
"Who is your Watcher?" the Older Slayer asked, turning back to the keyboard. If her old accommodations had been in the 'House' then that meant her Watcher was one of the Core Eight.
"Xander, Xander Harris,"
Grace went quiet and still as soon as Kate had mentioned Xander's name. Her eyes went wide before compassion showed on her face.
"What?" Kate asked again.
"Mr Harris was your Watcher?"
"No," Kate corrected the older slayer. "Mr Harris IS my Watcher."
"Oh my Goddess, you don't know."
"Know what?" Kate stiffened, her grip on herself tighter.
"Mr Harris' Memorial was today," Grace said softly, her hand reaching for the phone on the desk. "He was buried in the Joyce Summers Rose Garden this afternoon." she picked up the handset and punched in a number.
"W-What...?" Kate stared at the older Slayer. "Wha... No, no, that's... No!" she gasped as she failed to draw in a steady breath. She had just left him. He was smiling and joking and teasing her about her sloppy sword techniques. He couldn't be dead, let alone buried. Not that fast. Not Xander... Not her Watcher... Not again. Maybe he had found them... Found Xander. And he had fallen trying to protect her.
But if the Pastor had found them, why wasn't she told? Xander had always said that if the Pastor ever found them that she would be kept safe, no matter what happened to him. She was a Slayer now, a Scooby, and if you messed with one Slayer, one Scooby, you messed with all of them, and suffered the consequences. She watched the older Slayer give her a sad smile before she began to speak with whoever picked up on the other line.
"Yeah, hey, it's Grace down on the front desk of the Woods Dorms," The Slayer said into the phone. "I have a Slayer down here who says her Watcher was Mr Harris..." the handset made a few noises like it was being handed to someone else before a new voice spoke to the older Slayer. Grace stiffened slightly as she recognised the speaker. "Ma'am... Yes, ah, she didn't know he had pass... What? Ah, yes Ma'am... Well Ma'am, she says her name is Kate Adams, and that Mr Harris was her Watch... Huh? But Ma'am, she says... Yes Ma'am I understand that, but... No Ma'am, I know what you just said, I'm just..." she didn't finish as yelling was soon heard from the speaker on the other end. "Yes Ma'am... I'll see you soon... No... Ok, by the time you get here she will. Yes Ma'am."
Grace slowly put the handset down, watching Kate with a steel glare. "Someone will be down to help you shortly." her eyes flicked to the two Slayers guarding the entrance then back to Kate.
"W-What did you mean he's buried in the Rose Garden?" Kate said finally finding her voice. She glanced to her sides as the two guards moved forward slowly, one on each side of her. "Did he find us?" She asked, her voice was low, slightly strained, panic threatening to fill it as she tried not to tremble in fear. "Is Pastor Adams here?"
"Please, someone will be down to help you shortly."
"He can't be buried?" Kate said to no one. "Not Xander..." She sniffed.
"It's ok Grace, I'll take it from here." A sad voice said from behind Kate.
"Ma'am," Grace nodded to the speaker.
Kate turned around, the voice familiar. And so was the woman talking. "Dawn?"
Dawn stood before the young Slayer, her eyes red, visible signs that she had been crying only hours before. Flanked behind her stood four older Slayers, all armed with various weapons.
"Dawn, what's going on? She said Xand was dead!" she approached the older woman. She made to touch Dawn but the slayers behind her took a step forward threateningly.
"Ms Summers." Grace corrected Kate.
"Her name is Dawn." Kate turned to the Slayer behind the desk.
"Ma'am?" one of the armed Slayers spoke.
"It's ok," Dawn raised a hand, her voice ruff. "Both of you, it's ok." she turned to Kate. "If you'll come with me please, quietly."
Kate looked from Dawn to the four armed, large and older Slayers. "Where are we going?" Panic now filled her voice before repeating with a squeak. "She said Xand was dead..."
"Y-yes..." Dawn looked down before looking up again with slight anger in her voice. "He is dead."
Kate staggered for a second, her chest feeling like it was going to explode. "No... No... T-that, that can't be..." she shook her head trying to clear the cobwebs, her dark blonde ponytail whipping back and forth, the smell of the demon goo wafting slightly in the air. "I just left him... He's alive."
The world froze. Or did it just slow down? Kate stared at Dawn, her eyes pleading with the woman who was once the Key. Dawn's shoulders slumped, her head dropped as she turned away from the young Slayer before her face steeled, her shoulders squared and she began to walk away from her. Kate looked stunned as Dawn said only two words as she left.
"Take her."
The world sped up again.
Kate panicked.
Cuffs and chains appeared as the armed Slayers moved to grab her.
Kate screamed, her fists moving to connect with the nearest Slayers jaw as the same thing played over and over in her head.
'He found me! I'm going back to the Basement! He found me! I'm going back to the Basement!'
Strong hands grasped her arms as the first Slayer she hit staggered back. She screamed again, this time kicking against her attackers as the first Slayer raised the chains to her left wrist. Kate struggled in the older Slayers grasp as the cuff was shut with a small click.
The cuffs snapped shut around her wrists, the armed Slayers grabbing her as she screamed louder, kicking and fighting against their hold on her arms and legs. They picked her up as tears streamed down her face, her hair whipping around as she fought against her jailers.
'Not the Basement, Not the Basement' she screamed in her head.
As they moved her through the doors and out into the courtyard her screams changed from a long loud wail to more fevered pleas.
"No! No! Please, No! I'll be a good girl!" her voice began to strain. "I'm not dirty! Don't send me to the Pastor! Please! I'm not dirty!" she repeated as they carried her away.
A/N 2: Funky hand tattoos (Why do I focus on hands so much?), loved ones alive, mysterious Pastors and another mention of a possible reason for Xander popping up when he did! Hope you like where I'm going with this! If you do, or you don't, why not leave a review? Its the only way I'll learn!