Hello, lovelies! I know it's been a while. I apologize.
The lights were still out and there were glow sticks galore moving around the dorm building in a feverish haze. It was like it was the end of the world in here. Normally, the lower classmen parties weren't Graham's scene, but the music blared loud enough so that he couldn't think. His eyes caught onto a bright red jacket and edgy, short hair. Willow was talking with a couple friends that he'd never seen before. She wandered off after a little while and he found himself hanging out in a corner.
Right as he was ready to leave for the night since this was doing nothing for him except create a headache, there was a scream. Graham's eyes scanned across the room. Willow was gone.
"Shit," he mumbled.
He ran in the direction of the scream while those at the party bared looks of confusion and panic.
Sunnydale, the town that never sleeps and you can always worry that you might turn up dead, Graham thought. He left the room to the hallways. Dorms lined both sides. Half of them were open. He paused right then because he didn't know which room the screaming came from. He didn't know until Willow came running out of one a couple doors down, tears streaking her cheeks.
Graham grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her steadfast.
"Willow, are you okay? What happened?" He asked, craning his head down to her level.
"There's a guy." She sniffled, pointing at the room she ran out of.
"Stay here," he said and went to have a look.
He froze in the doorway. A male student lay on one of the twin beds, his chest carved up and with a symbol he didn't recognize, but he knew somebody who might. Graham hurried out of the room and led Willow back to the TV room.
The police arrived shortly and broke up the remaining people that were still lingering, except for Willow. Graham stayed with her while the police questioned her. Here and there Willow tried to offer a smile of reassurance to prove that she was okay, but it was obvious that she wasn't.
Buffy showed up after a little while. She and Will talked about some guy named Percy. Both of them were pretty disgruntled.
Glancing down, Graham saw his beeper going off. How long had that been going, he wondered. He disappeared back to the house before they could talk to him.
Buffy and Willow retreated to Giles's. While Willow gave the low down, Buffy was still thinking about Graham. He'd been there for her.
"…the whatever took a bunch of the guy's blood with him," Willow said. "And I haven't been a nerd for a very long time. Hello! Dating a guitarist…or I was…"
Willow wrote down the symbol that had been carved into the guy's chest. She was still very spooked. Then all of them became spooked because it was apocalypse time again. End of the world. Dunnzo.
Buffy volunteered to go out and look into finding out what this sign was about. Mostly it was just her avoiding flashbacks of her complete-death experience. She'd had flashes back to the night the Master killed her. sucking in all of that water, stopping breathing. Every once in a while…a long while, she shot up at night, gasping for air. You never forget the first time you die.
Morbid much? She thought to herself.
The cemetery was quiet. Too quiet and that meant bad things. Her hand tightened around the grip handle of the crossbow and spun around.
Graham stumbled backwards, his hands shooting up in defense. Buffy paused, her eyebrows drawing in a flat line. His bright, alarmed eyes didn't leave the sharp tip of the bolt pointed at his face.
"Graham, what are you doing out here?" Buffy tongued her cheek, completely confused.
"Uh…" He took a moment to regain himself. His heart slowed down. "I was patrolling. Turns out there was a weirdness happening and the look on your face is only solidifying that."
Buffy lowered her crossbow and spun away.
"Sorry," she muttered.
Something was wrong and it wasn't just the way she responded that he knew that. Xander had been seriously freaked out too, earlier today. What was going on?
"Remember when I said I died?" Buffy said, turning back around.
Slowly, her head rose so that she met his stormy grey eyes. He nodded. Buffy fiddled with the point of the bolt, pressing her finger against it.
"It was a prophecy thing. The world was ending and I had to die, but then I didn't and the world didn't end," Buffy said. She frowned, her eyes falling away to the ground. She bit her bottom lip.
"Okay."
That's all he said.
That's all he said?
Buffy's head shot up and she looked at him incredulously.
"Okay? The world was ending. I died."
"But you're here now. That's good…right?" Graham shook his head, confused.
"Well, yeah…" she trailed off, "yeah."
"So what's wrong?"
Buffy shook her head. How did he not know? Oh, right. He hadn't been there the first time.
"It's happening again," she said.
"Wait." Graham stepped closer to her. "IT is happening?"
Buffy's lips pressed into a thin line and she nodded. A couple strands of hair fell from behind her ear.
"I…" Graham struggled for words, but this wasn't like other times that he'd had trouble finding words. This was because there were none. He didn't want her to die. He suddenly didn't want her around this at all, but how the hell would he stop her.
Buffy tucked her hair back to its usual spot behind her ear.
"Can I do…anything?" His voice was a low rumble of thunder.
"Want to help me look for a stupid symbol?"
The world was ending and she wanted help looking for that? It was stupid and she knew it. Graham didn't make it stupid at all though. He offered a supportive smile and nodded.
They stopped at a mausoleum. Buffy pointed her flashlight up at the same symbol that had been carved into that guy. And out the front of the stone tomb came a green demon that actually looked more alien than anything. He carried a dark tan sack and she guessed there weren't potatoes in there.
"Stay close and don't get hurt," Buffy said quickly before diving in. "Leaving so soon?"
The demon spun around and the fight ensued the way it always did. She pulled the trigger of the crossbow and the bolt soared, landing in the demon's shoulder. She tossed the weapon aside and threw a couple of punches and then the green creature from the black lagoon slammed her back down on a gravestone. Buffy groaned. The demon raised its hands up high, but Graham slammed into him from the side and the two rolled to the ground. Buffy groaned some more. Throbbing sparks of pain shot up her back. Great, she thought, now I'll have to add going to the chiropractor to my never ending list.
Her slayer sense tingled and she flipped to her feet, spinning around with her fists tight. She swung first, not seeing who stood there. Each punch was almost perfectly blocked.
Buffy gulped, staring wide eyed at Riley.
Wait. Riley?
Buffy's eyes darted past him. Both the demon and Graham were gone.
Graham chased after the demon but lost him off the west side into the woods. He wheezed in and out, gripping his knees for support. Damn, that thing was fast. Static came across his walkie.
"Base one. This is Lilac one?"
Graham paused, debating if he should answer. It was Riley. Riley was with Buffy. He'd seen Riley coming up as he chased after Mr. Black Lagoon. Better him than Forrest answer, probably. He pressed the talk button on the side of the walkie.
"Go," he said into the speaker.
"Confirmed sighting of an unidentified Sub-T. Mobilize patrol team for debriefing as 0100 hours."
Graham sighed heavily through his nose.
"Copy that," he replied.
A sudden thought occurred to him as he made his way back to campus. What if Buffy told him that the two of them had been hanging out? What the hell would they be talking about?
Once back on campus, he didn't go to the house. He decided that it could wait. Instead, hhe made his way toward Giles's. Buffy arrived an hour later. Neither of them said a word, but he was pretty sure she had a lot to say. It was all in her eyes and the way her lips pursed angrily. But they said nothing to each and went straight into research mode. Giles looked between the two of them, his eyebrow arching curiously. Graham settled in the chair by the couch.
It was in the early hours when some headway was made. Giles mentioned the name of the sea-squid demon, but it was a mouth-full. Willow ewed and Xander seconded it with a shudder. Buffy was transfixed by the picture, getting it stuck in her memory so that the next they met she could kill it.
"Limbs with talons, eyes like knives, bane of the blameless…thieves of lives."
Graham got up and stopped beside her, getting a look for himself. Buffy didn't stiffen at all from the slight brush of his arm against her arm when he leaned in closer to see the entry in the book that Giles held. He scratched the back of his neck. Riley was probably losing his head at him not being at the debriefing…if he noticed.
They went over what the demon might've been looking for. All of this was still mind-blowing for Graham. It wasn't mechanical. They weren't going to tote this monster in and do experiments on it. They were going to destroy it and save a lot of people in the process. This was their life. It was one hell of a life.
"The thing isn't digging up the bones of a child for fun," Buffy said, sighing stressfully.
"Well, the demon has some pretty hilarious ideas about fun," Xander smarted off.
"Bones of a child though," Willow said thoughtfully.
"I saw that…" Graham suddenly broke in.
All eyes fell on him, but he wasn't worried about that right now. He snatched the book from Giles and started flipping through the yellowed pages. His grey eyes brightened. He'd read it earlier. He knew he did. He stopped on a page about sacrifices.
"An ancient ritual…uses the blood of a man, the bones of a child," Graham shook his head at this last one, "and something called The Word of Valios?"
He looked up at the others. Xander looked him with complete surprise. Graham handed the book to Willow.
"It's a sacrifice of three?" he said, his brows furrowing unsure.
Giles's lips pursed. He knew quickly that that meant he was thinking about something. Something important.
"Let me guess? It ends the world?" Buffy said flatly.
"Yeah, it's not big with the details though," Willow said.
Graham rubbed his chin as he turned away and looked down at the small TV. Did Giles even use that thing? Graham shook his head. Thinking about whether the watcher used the TV or not wasn't important. The end of the world? Important. Important enough that "It's The End of The World as We Know It" could be played appropriately. How did one handle their first apocalypse?
"It doesn't say how the world ends o-or what the ritual entails exactly," Willow continued.
"The sacrifice of three…" Xander started trancing out now, rubbing his fingers together. His head snapped out of it. "Three people are going to die?"
"No," Buffy said. Her voice was filled with that confidence. It was the same confidence Graham was drawn to. "They won't because claw-boy isn't getting his hands on all of these ingredients. We have to find that third one, The Word of Valios, and keep him from getting it."
"If he doesn't have it already," Willow said sullenly. "I mean, who knows where he's been."
"I may actually be able to help…" Graham said. He didn't know why he didn't think of it before. He looked over Willow's shoulder, down at the book again. She'd flipped back to the page of the demon. Just as he thought. This thing had a signature.
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"I have a reader." He bit his bottom lip. "It's able to track heat signature as well as hormone signatures. By the looks of it, this thing has a pretty wide pheromone give-off. We'll find it."
Buffy began to smile, impressed. Even Giles was intrigued. The small smile on the small woman dropped quickly though.
"Riley was there tonight. He's going after the demon," she said. She looked at Graham, her face hard and cold and especially helpless against the Iowa boy.
"He's going to have a patrol team. Since it's daylight, they'll probably go out in civilian clothes. That gives us until sundown. If they get to the demon first, they'll capture it," he told her.
"Okay, good. That's good." Buffy nodded. "That gives us a little time."
She turned to the rest of the group.
"Graham and I will check the magic shop. See if they'd heard of a book called The Word of Valios. Will, Xander, how about the book archive?" Graham watched as she dished out the roles.
"We'll stop by my house, get some weapons and I'll change out of something that isn't anchovy scented." Xander looked down at his appearance pathetically. Graham didn't say anything, but Xander did smell funky. To each their own. Gotta make a living somehow.
"You guys," she looked at each of them intensely and that's when Graham saw it. She was terrified for them. "This thing takes wicked seriously. Be careful. I couldn't stand anybody getting hurt."
She glanced at him when she said the last bit. Why did she look at him?
Downtown Sunnydale was bustling with the night crowd. It was like the end of the world wasn't nigh. Nobody had a clue.
"I didn't tell him," Buffy said. Graham looked over at her, but she avoided his heavy gaze. "About you helping us and everything."
He smiled softly. That did make him feel better. She cared about him and he knew it. She could've turned him over and he would've been done for at the Initiative, but she didn't.
Graham stumbled a step suddenly. Riley was coming toward them. Shit, he thought. Her not saying anything only prevented the inevitable. Graham's heart pounded against his broad chest. The proverbial…crap was about to hit the fan.
The three of them stopped. Riley looked at Graham, his brows furrowed with confusion and anger. Graham stiffened. The protocol to stand upright in the presence of his commanding officer kicked in and was a struggle to quit. Riley looked down at Buffy, but only after giving him a look that said they were going to have a serious talk later.
"Buffy," Riley muttered.
It was tense between them too. She was quiet for a long second and Graham didn't dare speak. It was awkward enough.
"Is this really the time for Donkey Kong?" She tried to smile.
Graham choked back a chuckle at the joke. It did look like a toy.
"What?" Riley said confused.
She looked down at the tracking device in his hand. An exact replica was in Graham's pocket for after the magic shop visit.
"Oh…" Riley said. He played with it. "It takes pheromone readings of creatures."
He glanced at Graham.
"But, I'm guessing you know that."
Buffy half nodded.
"I guess I figured it out."
"You know, Buffy-" Riley started.
"Actually, we have to go." She threw a glance at Graham. It was a plea for them to go because she couldn't do this conversation and frankly, neither could he. "Big bad needs to be squished."
"Right, I'm…"he looked at Graham, "on it too."
Everybody was paying attention to him now. He rolled his eyes. He knew Riley would've rather have said we instead of I'm. Graham inhaled through his nose deeply, but stood his ground. Riley wasn't going to make him back down from this. Sure, they'd talk about it later or maybe they'd throw a couple of punches. Whatever, he thought.
Buffy started to move around Riley, but he stepped in her path.
"It's just…this you and me thing. It's stupid."
Buffy's cheeks flushed a soft pink and she looked down at her feet.
"I know, which is why we can't do it—the you and me thing."
Graham hated that there was a him and her thing. More so, he was pissed at himself for letting it happening. He became that guy who let her get away.
"No, I mean you're stupid," Riley blurted in a huff.
Both Graham and Buffy's head reared up at him, their faces screwy. Riley sighed.
"I mean, I don't mean that." He shook his head. "No, I think maybe I do."
"Wow," Buffy scowled. "More sweet talk like that and you'll melt my reservations."
"I'm serious! You have this twisted way of looking at things."
Graham's jaw tightened. He had no idea what she'd been through. Neither of them really did, but Riley wasn't even trying to understand it. It was infuriating.
"This doom and gloom mentality. You keep thinking like that and things are probably going to come out as you expect."
Graham's eyebrows were drawn across his eyes and he bit the inside of his cheek to not say anything. He couldn't. This wasn't the time.
Buffy didn't say anything at first.
"You know," she said after a breath, "there's nothing more dangerous than a pysch grad student."
They started walking again. Thank god. Riley stopped them again and this time he wasn't even looking at Graham.
"Buffy, where is the bad here?" Riley asked, insistently.
"Ri," Graham said. The undertone of a warning was not lost on his friend.
Buffy scratched the back of her neck, badly wanting out of this situation. He was pressing this too hard. Graham nudged her in the shoulder.
"How about we approach," she looked around, "our jobs as fry cooks later."
Riley sighed heavily, shaking his head. He didn't want to give up.
"You know, if you weren't so self-involved you wouldn't think like this."
Graham opened his mouth, but Buffy spoke first.
"You don't even know me." Her gaze was hard and her voice low and cold.
With that they took off.
"Thanks," Buffy mumbled as they continued.
"For what?" Graham said. "I didn't do anything."
Buffy nudged him with her elbow. "You didn't pummel him."
"I thought about it."
"He's your best friend."
"And he had no idea what he was trying to talk about. Even I don't completely understand you yet, but I'm not dumb enough to open my mouth and get myself murdered by you for it."
Buffy smirked and looked up at him through long, lush eyelashes. He stared across the street. At what, she didn't know. How was he so collected, especially now? You couldn't train patience like that into a person. It was extraordinary.
They returned to Giles's with no luck. Walking through the front door, Buffy froze, her hand tight on the doorknob. Graham, placing a hand on her shoulder, peered past her. Giles was collapsed in a chair, his face a bloody mess. That wasn't what caught his eye. Spike sat in the chair in the corner. He was wearing a seriously tacky Hawaiian shirt.
Buffy moved to Giles's side. Turns out he had The Word of Valios the entire time. Giles was lucky to be alive. He'd gotten trampled by three of those demons. He looked like a bruised piece of fruit. Take your pick: apple, peach, banana.
Graham looked at Buffy. Her mind was whirring. Willow hurried to the tiny kitchen and opened his freezer.
"I thought it was a knock-off," Giles went on.
Willow returned with a hand towel of ice. Giles mumbled a thank you, taking the chucky pouch and pressing it to his forehead, grimacing.
"Well, they have it," Buffy said. She didn't outright say anything, but Graham could see the disappointment in her eyes. "They probably have their three sacrifices too."
"They're on their way to perform the sacrifice now," Giles said, grunting. No matter how he turned in his seat he wasn't finding a comfortable position. Graham moved around the couch. He glanced at Spike again. The vampire was just lounging back like this was his hideaway. The fact that he was so comfortable was odd. Buffy was right there. Then again, it made sense. He was basically a neutered puppy. Pathetic.
"You found out what the ritual is for?" Buffy asked.
"Hellmouth," Giles breathed dreadfully. "It can reopen the Hellmouth."
Graham stiffened. They all did. The rest of what Giles said was lost. Buffy's eyes widened with utter terror. She stared off at nothing. Graham put his hand on her shoulder. Her hand moved to his instantly and she held it tightly, but didn't look up at him. Her nails were pinching his skin, but that was okay. Right now, he was just here for her.
And then she stood, letting go and looked over at Willow and Xander.
"Looks like we're going back to high school." The trembling fear that had been in her eyes was replaced with determination.
She glanced back at Graham.
"You transferring in?" Her eyebrows rose.
Though there was a pun in that. Graham understood what she was really asking. Was he in this? Was he really ready to join this fight? Graham didn't need to think twice. This felt real. He felt actually alive, as ridiculous as it sounded. This wasn't a follow orders kind of mission. This was save the world with your friends kind of mission. He could get behind that.
"Most definitely," Graham responded.
He noticed the smile that Willow was trying to hide. Her eyes glowed with glee. Xander was a mixture of beffudlement.
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