Disclaimer:
A/N: Special thanks as always to my beta/Editor Fallenstar2.
The New Jedi Order
Chapter 7
The Nightmare Before Christmas, Part I
The next day Anakin made his way down to the gym with the aid of Mara. The gym was a large, open area that had various pieces of odd equipment lining two of the walls and rows of punching bags lining the third. The fourth wall was covered in mirrors and several padded benches were set up in front of them. He saw several Slayers using the benches for sit ups, curls, or just a place to sit as they hefted dumbbells. The central area was clear, with only a thin pad on the floor and right now Dawn was leading Vi and several slayers in - dance?
Mara looked on, studying the girls. She saw the look in his eyes and smiled. "Don't dismiss it out of hand," she warned. "Look at how she moves, how fluid she is. It's how she fights now."
"It's a little flashy," Anakin complained. Mara looked down at him.
"She fought like a Jedi and I nearly killed her. She fought like that," she pointed to Dawn, "and she killed a very powerful Sith Lord. You do the math." Anakin's eyebrows shot up and he found himself paying closer attention.
They wound up their routine and then Dawn called for a stop. "All right, that's enough girls. Good work."
"Thanks, old lady," Rona teased. Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Watch it sister, I could still take you," she shot back. Then she turned to Anakin. "When you get stronger we can start on your dance technique…" she started, eyes dancing.
"I don't think that form will mesh with what I want to teach him," Mara put in and Anakin sighed. But then Mara added, "Of course, it would definitely help his stamina…" She smirked at his look.
"You'd be surprised how many different forms you can go through in a single fight," Dawn noted, turning to look back at Vi and a slayer named Belle as they started the music again. The two moved gracefully together and it was obvious that hey had practiced together many times before. "Vi's been training more and more with my old team since we moved back here," she said to Mara. "She wants to go out patrolling with them."
"Not a chance in Kessel," Mara said, shaking her head. Dawn grinned.
"My thoughts exactly, but she's definitely developing some serious skills." The pride was evident in her voice. "She'll probably try sneaking out soon."
"They wouldn't let her," Mara argued. "They don't want to piss off the Jedi." Mara turned to Anakin. "Well, you're still recovering, so we'll wait on lightsaber training. For right now let's work on rebuilding your muscles." They spent the next hour an a half going through very basic exercises, with some light weight training thrown in for good measure. By the time they were wrapping it up, Anakin's whole body was sore and he was cursing his weakness. Mara saw the look in his eyes and fixed him with a glare.
"Hey, a little over a month ago, you jumped in here clinically dead. Now you're up and about and starting to train again. It's going to be hard at first, but once you get into a rhythm, you'll be fine."
"Maybe, but in the meantime I'm no closer to going back and helping my family," he complained. His thoughts strayed to Tahiri and he wondered how she was doing, if she was alright…if she was still alive.
Mara smiled, sensing where his mind had wandered to. "Hold on to those feelings, Anakin," she advised. "They'll get you through the hard times. For now, though, go hit the showers."
Anakin showered, dried and put on some of the clothes that the Council had provided or him. As he left the locker room, he saw Vi sitting on a bench, swinging her feet.
"How'd you feel?" she asked. Anakin tried to grin, but it came out as a grimace.
"I'm hurting in places that I didn't even know I had." Vi laughed.
"You could ask Belle for a massage. I'm sure she wouldn't mind," she snickered at his look. "Or, you can come with me. It's family night. You can relax with the rest of us bums."
"You know, technically I'm not family," Anakin pointed out. Vi gave him another look.
"Sure you are," she said, taking his had and pulling him towards the exit. For some reason, her answer had warmed his troubled heart.
The two made their way down to the large lounge where, much to Anakin's amazement, the combined Summers, Skywalker, Solo and Antilles families were gathered. Dozens of comfortable looking chairs - and one long couch - sat facing a large screen and most everybody was already seated. Vi dragged him to the couch and pushed him into it; Anakin actually sank slightly into the comfortable fabric. Vi jumped on besides him and leaned over the back, looking at her mother.
"Look what I found, moping in the gym," she said cheekily. "Probably was going to spend the rest of the night brooding down there…"
"I just got out of the shower," Anakin complained, then grinned. "I didn't have time to brood."
Dawn shook her head and made a soft clucking sound with her tongue. "Junior, you should know - there's only one person here allowed to brood and that's Angel."
Vi snorted, while Anakin just looked confused. He shook his head and turned to look as three more people joined him on the couch - and his heart caught in his throat. For sitting next to him were Jaina, Jacen, and the younger Anakin - who was as far away as the couch allowed.
"Hi," Jaina said. "We wanted to say sorry about the other night…"
Anakin managed to regain some of his composure and shook his head. "It's okay. You couldn't have known. I sure didn't." he looked to his younger counterpart. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he replied. "Just…don't touch me anymore, okay?"
"Only if you don't touch me. Deal?" he grinned slightly as he held out his hand to shake.
"Deal," Ani Jr. replied, looking at his hand. "Do you really think we're that dumb?"
"Naw, just wanted to make sure you were at least as sharp as me," Anakin replied. The twins both groaned.
"Great, now there's two of them," Jacen muttered. Anakin snickered.
"Well, it's only fair, seeing as there are always two of you," he replied.
"We have doubles, too? What are they like?" Jaina asked excitedly. Even Ani Jr. looked interested. Anakin smiled.
"You'd be surprised at how similar the four of you are."
"Attention, everyone?" Buffy called as she made her way to the front. "I'm glad everybody made it tonight for our monthly family movie night. Tonight, by popular demand, we'll be seeing 'Raiders'…" she trailed off as Han let out a groan and Buffy smiled. "It's for the kids, Han, so be quiet. Now I know we try to do this once a month, but as things are getting increasingly busy for all of us - between politics and ramping up to repel the coming invasion…" she trailed off and looked to Anakin. "Well, I think all of us here know that, when that time comes, some of us may never come to one of these again, though I pray to god and the Force that that isn't so." She took a breath. "Well, enough of that. Lights, camera, action!" the lights dimmed and a hidden projector flickered to life, shaking Anakin out of his reverie. He looked on in confusion, then leaned over to Vi.
"What are we watching, a holo-vid?" he asked. Vi shook here head.
"Nope. Nothing but old-fashioned Earth style movies here. Just sit back and watch; I think you'll like it." She finished with a small smile as the Paramount logo on the screen faded to reveal a mountain top. And then a man in a wide-brimmed hat came onto the screen…
Two hours later, Anakin was sitting on the couch leaning forward, his jaw agape. He heard giggles and saw the other four kids pointing at him. He raised and eyebrow, the giggles became snickers. He turned around to look at Han, who sighed and shrugged.
"Kid, I've given up trying to figure this place out," he said. "Though it's got points, having an actor that good looking in the lead…"
"Hush, dear," Leia said, trying to hide her own grin.
Anakin sat back and closed his eyes. "Why does this weird stuff always happen to me?"
Days turned into weeks and soon it was the end of December. Anakin's recovery had proceeded faster than he had expected as his body grew used to his new exercise routine. Before a month had passed he had proceeded to lightsaber training with Mara, as well as taking dance lessons with Dawn. Vi and Belle also assisted in these lessons and Belle always seemed to be around when he needed a sparing partner. Anakin was beginning to think she had a crush on him and observation he put forth to Vi on day. The young girl just rolled her eyes.
"You're just now figuring that out? My, you are a thick one, aren't you?" she had replied. That had made the continuing lessons a bit awkward for the young Jedi. One day after their workout, Belle stopped him as he went to hit the showers.
"An'kin," she began in her Cockney accent, "Can I have a mo'?" Anakin nodded and the two moved over to a quieter corner of the gym. "I was wonderin' if you'd like to go out this weekend? Maybe have some fun?" she added, looking at him expectantly. Anakin noticed the look and his mind instantly flashed to a conversation he'd had with Faith about Slayers and the two H's. Still, he considered his response before replying.
"Belle…" he began awkwardly, cursing the fact that he didn't have his father's smoothness, "part of me would really like to…"
"Only part?" she teased. Anakin gave a weak grin.
"It's just… there's this girl, back home…"
"…and you want to wait for her," Belle finished. Much to his relief, she gave him a broad grin. "I think tha's sweet."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. Mos' guys I know, they were in your shoes, they'd jump at the chance." She looked at him for a moment. "She must be a heck of a girl."
Anakin thought of Tahiri and smiled. "Yeah, she is."
The days leading up to Christmas were a confusing time for Anakin. It wasn't as if he had never seen celebrations like it back home, it was that he just didn't grasp the concept of the holiday, a point he brought up with Dawn during one of his checkups.
"So what, exactly, does a jolly fat man in a red suit riding around in a flying sleigh pulled by animals have to do with the birth of one of your gods?"
Dawns topped and considered this for a moment. "You know, I have no idea. Christmas to me was always a time where I got off school for a few weeks and got presents."
"So much for faith," Anakin grinned. Dawn shot him an ironic look.
"Junior, I travel to other dimensions, move things with my mind and fight using a long, glowing staff. I have faith, it's just been…reassigned."
The door opened and Belle poked her head in. "Hey, An'kin! Hey, Dawn!" she said smiling at the two. "Either of you wan 'ta come patrol? How 'bout it, Dawn, for old times sake?"
Dawn smiled and shook her head. "Not tonight, I got the late shift in the infirmary."
Anakin shook his head as well. "I'm not that mobile yet. Maybe in a few weeks, or sometime before I head back."
Belle just shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, well, Jus' thought I'd ask. Later!"
"See you later, Belle," Anakin replied, watching her leave. He said his goodbyes to Dawn and left the room, heading towards the coven room and thinking he could spend most of the night meditating. Little did he know that this was about to become one of the worst of his life.
It was after midnight when Anakin finally started making his way back to the infirmary. He was leaning heavily on his cane - he had sat in one position for to long, and his leg had cramped in response. He was almost there when he heard the panicked voices coming from inside the infirmary, so he picked up his pace and entered. As soon as he cleared the door though, he froze.
Rona's team was gathered around a single bed, all of them showing battle scars and still-bleeding wounds. And lying on the bed was Belle. She was deathly pale, had several long gashes on her torso and Anakin fleetingly noticed blood around her mouth. Dawn and Vi were leaning over her, trying their best to heal her.
"What happened?" Dawn snapped, concentrating as hard as she could. But something was wrong…
"We got ambushed. Twenty vamps. She got separated in the chaos. As soon as we found her, we retreated."
"She's lost a lot of blood, but something's still there," Dawn muttered. Her expert hands moved over Belle's body, stopping at a spot on her side, just under her arm pit.
Two small puncture holes, less than two inches apart.
Dawn's eyes flew open. "Oh my god, she's been bitten," she said, looking at the blood around the Slayer's mouth. She quickly fixed Rona with a glare. "Did they make her drink? Did they?"
"I don't know," Roan answered hysterically, "maybe… just heal her!"
"If she's been turned, I can't 'just heal her'!" Dawn snapped back. "Our powers don't work that way! If the demon's taken hold-" she was cut off as suddenly Belle's hand shot out, grasping the steel equipment tray next to her bed and whipping it around and smashing it into Dawn's head while simultaneously kicking out, catching Rona and Molly and sending them sprawling. Dawn collapsed to the ground, stunned as Belle's other hand shot out and grabbed Vi by her neck. She sat up and Anakin finally caught site of her face, which now wore a demonic visage.
She was no longer Belle, the Vampire Slayer, she was Belle, the VAMPIRE-SLAYER.
"I'd say that's a pretty good bet," she snarled, stopping to punch Michelle, another of Rona's group, hard, sending her sprawling into Anakin. They both crashed to the ground as Belle rose, her hand still locked onto Vi's neck. The young girl whimpered, tears streaming down her face as the vampire punched her back into a wall. Bell leaned down, her fangs grazing Vi's young neck. "I always like veal…" she snarled as she prepared to sink her teeth into her neck.
Anakin saw Belle push Vi back into a wall and frantically thought about what he should do. He remembered talking with Buffy about vampires one day. If you're going to be here, she had said, you need to be prepared for the eventuality that a vampire or demon will breach this compound. If it's a vampire, remember this - decapitation, fire, holy water, or a wooden stake through the heart will get the job done… He looked down at his hand and saw his cane and made a decision. He staggered to his feet and snapped it in half, then lunged at Belle, stabbing into her back and piercing her heart. Belle gasped and the demonic visage faded. For a moment she looked at Vi, mouthed the words I'm sorry, then exploded into a cloud of dust.
When Dawn finally managed to drag herself up, she saw Rona, Michelle and Molly gathered around Anakin, who was holding her sobbing daughter and a small pile of dust. Her heart absolutely plummeted at the site.
It was several hours later when things finally calmed down. Not wanting to stay in the infirmary any longer, Anakin decided to sleep on the couch in the lounge. Faith and Buffy were leaving in the morning to notify Belle's family, as well as bring her an urn containing the young girl's ashes. Dawn was once again thankful that the Slayers had all agreed to cremation upon death; Belle's parents never need know what their daughter was turned into. Dawn had given Vi something to help her sleep and put her down, but she herself was restless. So she sat in her living room, holding a familiar picture in her hands and spent the next few hours before daylight staring at it. The picture showed her younger self with Zett, Molly, Rona, Belle and Vi, standing before the council building, their arms draped over each other's shoulders. She smiled sadly at the picture as her tears splashed onto the glass; she remembered how uptight Zett had been back then, and how hard it had been to get him to loosen up even for that brief moment.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to her husband's worried face. He had been at the academy, she realized. He had no idea what had happened.
"Dawn?" he asked quietly. "What's wrong?"
She glanced down at the picture once more. "Another soldier down," she said simply, before breaking down completely. Dawn spent the next few hours crying in the arms of her husband, mourning her fallen friends.
The following night, Buffy and Faith stood on Buffy's balcony, looking over the lake. Both led short glasses with Corellian brandy - Faith's was almost gone, while Buffy still had a while to go. They stood in companionable silence for a few minutes, just looking at the scenery before Buffy finally sighed.
"It never gets easier, does it?" she asked. Faith shook her head.
"I hate that part of the job," she said. "Sometimes I think the dying have it easier."
"Tell that to Vi. Or Anakin," Buffy reasoned, thinking of how they had to deal with the vamped Slayer. Faith looked down to the memorial wall, where Tara was magically inscribing Belle's name into the marble.
"Someday we'll be on that thing," she said, nodding towards the wall. She finished her drink. "When I kick, I want it to read Faith Lehane: Took 'em Long Enough'." She grinned, looking at Buffy. "What about you, B? What do you want on your tombstone?"
Buffy chuckled. "Are you kidding? My name will take up all the space." She paused and took a sip of her drink. "Party's tomorrow?"
"That's when they wanted it," Faith confirmed. "All Slayers will be present."
It had been decided by all of the Slayers upon the reformation of the Council that when one of their numbers died, there would be no funeral. Instead, there would be a party; a celebration of life - the survivors, the deceased, everyone's. There would be words spoken and drinks raised, but there would be few tears. That was how they wanted it and any new Slayers that came in agreed with the reasoning.
They were silent for a few minutes before Faith spoke again. "Do you ever think about it?"
"About what?"
"Death," Faith replied. "What comes after. Where our souls go when we die."
Buffy shrugged. "Back into the Force, I suppose."
"And for us mere mortals?"
Buffy smiled. "We're all part of it, Faith. Even if you can't sense it."
Faith nodded. "Just promise me something."
"Okay," Buffy said uncertainly.
"If I come back like Belle did, don't even bother checking for bite marks. Just stake me." She shuddered. "I don't want to come back when I die, like Belle. I want it to end."
"I promise," Buffy said, looking at her sister Slayer. "But only if you promise the same."
Faith gave her a lopsided grin. "Are you kidding? I'd kill you for a Klondike Bar."
"Nice."
TBC…