Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season 8, Episode 10
Tradition
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Buffyverse, I am just a fan.
Summary: It's that time of year when monsters and ghouls take the night off from their busy schedule of maim and murder to reflect and relax, or so they're supposed to. When Buffy is called into Dawn's school to discuss her younger sister's academic progress…or the lack there of, Buffy is tricked into chaperoning the High School Halloween dance. Dawn persuades Willow to take her costume shopping when they spot Amy in the local magic shop. Meanwhile Xander finds himself a job at the hardware store when Julie comes in with a minor plumbing fiasco.
Chapter 1 [-]
Since Chris, four more Slayers had joined Slayer central and settled in quite easily. Chris attended all the training but was yet to go out in the field with the other girls, she claimed she never had the time or that something had come up but Buffy knew her 'friends' didn't approve of Chris's activities outside their circle. She'd agreed to keep her identity a secret from them so Buffy could understand their frustration. With Andrew back on his feet meals had become less of an issue, he claimed to have missed the kitchen and that it was part of his redemption.
The last week had seen the many comings and goings of groups of construction workers moving through the manor with wooden beams, pipes, plaster board, flooring and many tins of pasty white paint. Nicholas had finally persuaded Wolfram & Hart to speed up the renovation process in the Mansion's Basement.
The builders had begun the renovation on Monday and by Friday it was up to Giles to provide the finishing touches like training equipment and safety mats galore. Buffy had begun training the girls Saturday morning's while Faith took over Sundays and Vi, Rona, Simone and Lucy took over Wednesday afternoons. Buffy had to admit that the manor was different without Kennedy, quieter maybe, but noticeably different. She was the potential who had been with the scoobies the longest and was the best possible teacher for the girls, she could relate to them a lot easier than Buffy or Faith could. However the girls weren't the only people suffering. Willow had been through different stages over the past week, the first being staying in bed with Dawn's many tray's of comfort food and the most recent being the peppy 'I'm fine' attitude. Xander was just glad she was eating the manor's supply of cookie dough and not destroying the world.
Buffy set her alarm early on Saturday morning. She'd gotten a call from Dawn's principal the night before to schedule a meeting about Dawn's plummeting grades and lack of progress. Willow had offered to take her but the principal requested Dawn's legal guardian.
Buffy lazily descended the entrance hall steps in her Hello Kitty pyjamas. She opened the long red curtains that hung over the windows to find that the sun was barely up. After patrol Buffy liked to sit at the window behind the dining table as it was the one that overlooked the cliff-side. It was a nice place to think while everybody else was counting sheep upstairs. Her private inner monologue was interrupted as Andrew burst out of the old closed door corridor with his hands flailing about in the air in anger. He was shouting, in what Buffy assumed, was sci-fi curse words at the top of his lungs. "Andrew!" Buffy called. "What the hell are you doing? Everybody's still asleep!" Buffy added in a hushed tone. Andrew's face went from red to pink to peach in the blink of an eye.
"I'm sorry, but she's doing it again!" Andrew replied angrily.
"Who's doing what?" Buffy asked.
"Magic mama in there!" he shouted.
"You mean Willow?" Buffy asked.
"No Glenda, the good witch of the east," Andrew said sarcastically but he quickly took it back after a stern look from Buffy.
"What's she doing?" Buffy asked.
"Everybody knows I pull my weight around here by making delicious yet healthy treats for our troops, and I wake up this morning ready to do my daily duty to find her wearing MY apron and stove mittens!" Andrew said angrily.
"Your stove mittens?" Buffy laughed.
Andrew began, "so not the issue! You don't see Lex Luther setting up shop in the Fortress of Solitude! Or The Joker in the Bat-Cave! Or-" Buffy interrupted him by grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl on the dinner table and shoving it into his mouth. She walked passed him toward the kitchen. "Hey!" he shouted back, biting angrily into the apple.
She pushed on the door and it creaked open. She skidded along a rug toward the kitchen and found Willow scurrying around the pots and pans.
"Will?" Buffy called.
"Hey Buffy," Willow greeted excitedly. When Willow turned around Buffy spotted Andrew's 'KISS THE COOK' apron.
"You're up early…again," Buffy stated.
"Yeah well y'know what they say, 'The early worm calls the worm'…or was it 'The timely bird gets the…' I don't know," Willow laughed as she took four waffles out of the toaster.
"I just ran into Andrew," Buffy hummed.
"Yeah what's up with that? If you ask me, sexual frustration," Willow uttered casually.
"Uh, yeah, I guess that's a…possibility," Buffy stammered awkwardly. "Will?-"
"So how come you're up so early?" Willow asked interrupting her.
"I've got a meeting with Dawn and her principal in an hour, Dawn's upstairs getting ready," Buffy informed. Willow turned and eyed Buffy's choice of attire. "And I should probably go and do the same," Buffy saved.
"I think its safe to say that Headmistress Fischer won't take you very seriously in your pink and fuzzy Hello Kity pj's," Willow smiled. Buffy smiled.
"Hey Will?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah?" she replied.
"How're you holdin' up? Y'know after-"
"Fine," Willow interrupted. "Lets just say I've been a lot worse…I'm just trying to keep busy," Willow added solemnly. Before Buffy could reply Dawn walked into the kitchen wearing a white vest top under a black un-buttoned shirt and jeans.
"Buffy we're gunna be late and you're not even dressed," Dawn warned.
"Well I wouldn't have anything to be late for if you paid more attention in class," Buffy jibed. Dawn looked her older sister up and down. "Fine, I'll go get dressed," Buffy said with her hands in surrender. Buffy dodged passed Dawn and left the kitchen.
"You want something to eat Dawny?" Willow asked.
"I'll just grab something from school, thanks though," Dawn replied.
"Kay," Willow smiled. "It's almost half seven, y'wanna help me get this food to the dinner table?" Willow asked.
"Sure," Dawn replied. Dawn pushed one metal trolley of pancakes and waffles while Willow carried a tray of milk, butter and toast. "Having school on a Saturday should be illegal," Dawn said as they made their way to the entrance hall. "I have this theory that my principal is evil…I would totally be okay with it if Buffy killed her," Dawn sounded causing Willow so smile for real and not just to fool her friends.
When Buffy got back downstairs, dressed to impress, her and Dawn left the manor and took Giles's car to Cleveland High. The campus was impressive, big and coloured bold, trash free hallways and none of that technical crap, still the good old fashioned chalkboard. Dawn directed her sister to the principal's office. Outside it however, was a long queue of parents and students all looking anxious. Buffy and Dawn took a seat at he end of the queue and had nothing to do except twiddle their fingers in their laps.
After several minutes a fairly tall boy in a red plaid shirt and pants slammed the door to the principal's office and stormed down the corridor crying in anger and clenching his fists. "I guess Headmistress Fischer makes Snyder look like a ball of sunshine," Buffy stated.
"Huh?" Dawn asked confused.
"Never mind," Buffy uttered as her eyes followed the angry boy turning the corner. Buffy furrowed her brow in concern.
The boy uttered angry words under his breath all the way out to the quad. He kicked over numerous potted plants and tore down flyers on the school bulletin board. He sat on a bench and held his head in his hands. "Luke!" another boy of the same age called from across the quad. Luke didn't hear him however until the second boy called to him too.
"Luke buddy!" he shouted. The two boys sat either side of Luke. "How'd it go?" the second boy asked.
"I got suspended," Luke informed.
"Man, that's harsh," the first boy told.
"That's why we're not gonna' let her get away with it," Luke said angrily.
"Whoa man," the second boy began, "I'm done with that voodoo crap, I mean I'm still getting nose bleeds and don't get me started on my bathroom patterns-"
"Johnny shut-up!" Luke called.
Back in the hallway Buffy and Dawn had reached the front of the line. Buffy had adjusted her hair countless times in frustration. "Miss Summers?" the principal's assistant said with her head hanging outside the doorway. "Headmistress Fischer will see you now," the assistant smiled nervously. Dawn and Buffy exchanged a look before getting up and anxiously walking into the office. The walls in the office were painted a dark green and on them hung four or five University degrees and one large picture of a Labrador in a park. On the back wall was a book shelf littered in novels and text books that seemed to be organised alphabetically. In front of the bookcase was a large mahogany desk with numerous photo's of the same Labrador, a coffee mug and a laptop computer.
An eerily thin woman with messy short black hair and glasses that teetered on the edge of her hooked nose sat behind the desk and didn't take her gaze off of the laptop screen during the time Buffy and Dawn entered the room and took a seat in front of the desk. She wore a grey suit over a brown blouse that didn't do anything for her un-naturally thin figure.
Buffy couldn't bare the tension in the room and so opened her mouth to speak and maybe get the Vulture Woman to look her in the eye. "Mrs. Fischer-"
"Miss Fischer," the principal snapped quickly with her eyes still on the screen.
'What a surprise' Buffy thought to herself. The principal finally took her gaze from the laptop and put it into Buffy's eyes. Her eyes were sharp and icy; they seemed to take all the warmth out of Buffy's body, she shot her gaze to the ground instead.
"Miss Summers, I trust you understand why I have asked you here this morning," the principal opened.
"Yes," Buffy replied.
Headmistress Fischer began, "At Cleveland High we aim to introduce a safe and nurturing environment for all our students. Dawn is a…was…a quiet student who kept to herself, handed in all her homework and never caused anybody a bother. But as of late her grades have seen a decline, she's not handing in her assignments and she's talking back in class. Tell me about her home life."
"Well Dawn d-does all of her chores, she uh keeps a-a steady curfew, is l-looked after, it's w-warm and n-nurturing and did I mention she does all her chores?" Buffy smiled.
"I see," the principal hummed as she typed something into her computer. "My personal view on the issue is that Dawn's rebellion is the result of her relations with a senior boy, Chase Abrams?" Buffy's eyes widened as she turned to Dawn.
"You told me that was a one time thing," Buffy said. Dawn refused to reply or make eye contact.
"Mr Abrams does not have the best reputation and I think it would be in Dawn's best interest if you were to keep her away from the boy, even if it is for the time being," Fischer suggested sternly.
"I'll get right on it," Buffy replied, "trust me," she said with a glare at her sibling.
"What?" Dawn sounded. "Y-you can't do that," she added.
"You lied to me, you are in no position to be making orders young lady," Buffy scolded.
"Young Lady?" Dawn mocked. "Buffy you, you just don't know him like I do," Dawn informed. Buffy decided to ignore this.
"However Miss Summers my watchful eye only stretches so far, I can't look out for her every minute of every day during school hours," Fischer added.
"Of course," Buffy replied.
"There are other children in my care."
"I completely understand."
"And I know you will do everything you can to ensure you sisters educational progress."
"Absolutely."
"Great! Then it's settled, you will chaperone Monday nights Halloween dance, the doors open at seven," Fischer beamed with a smile that seemed to reach her ears.
"Wait, chaperone?" Buffy objected.
"Did I stutter?" Fischer grinned.
"No way!" Dawn disagreed.
"I will see the both of you Monday," Fischer concluded. Before Buffy could object, Fischer's' assistant was ushering them out of the office and into the hallway.
Meanwhile in the quad, "Kevin, you in?" Luke asked.
"I don't know dude, Jonny's right, it could get heavy," Kevin, the first boy, uttered.
"C'mon it'll be cool and its not like she doesn't deserve it, I'll do all the work but I can't do it alone," Luke persuaded. Kevin and Johnny exchanged a look.
"Whatever man but if this gets hairy-"
"It won't, I promise," Luke beamed.
Buffy and Dawn arrived back at the manor just in time. Saturday's were Buffy's training day and all the girls had been waiting to begin. Even Chris who sat on the dining room table with Alicia and Kate had been waiting to start. "This doesn't get you off the hook, I shouldn't even be letting you go to the dance but now that I have to I don't see why I should be getting punished, we'll talk later," Buffy informed. Dawn stormed up the stairs toward her room.
When Dawn reached the fifth floor she looked down the corridor and found Willow with a mop and bucket cleaning the balcony. A light bulb switched on in Dawn's mind.
"Hey Dawny," Willow greeted as she mopped around a potted plant.
"Hey, what're you doing right now?" Dawn asked.
"Nothing really, can you believe we've been living her for months and nobodies thought to mop the floor of the balcony?" Willow sounded.
"Yeah, sure, crazy. Listen, what would you say to taking me costume shopping for the dance?" Dawn asked. Willow's mop stopped stroking the ground for a brief second.
"Oh I don't know Dawn, I mean I'm crazy busy here," Willow lied.
"C'mon you just said you weren't doing anything," Dawn persuaded.
"What about Buffy? Aren't you grounded or something because of your meeting?" Willow hoped.
"Big misunderstanding, in fact it was Buffy who sent me to ask you," Dawn lied. Willow was out of excuses.
"I'll get my coat," Willow smiled falsely.
Willow and Dawn descended the main stairs into the entrance hall and found Xander alone watching T.V in the living room to the right. "You guys heading out?" he asked.
"Willow's taking me costume shopping for the Dance," Dawn smiled.
"In the city?" Xander asked. Willow nodded. "Mind if I tag along? It'll give me a reason to turn off ESPN and get a job," Xander added.
The three of them took Giles car into the city. Willow seemed to loosen up, she was worried that not being constantly doing something, like vacuuming or dish washing, her mind would wander over to Kennedy but Dawn and Xander kept her distracted. They parked in the parking lot of the city centre and went their separate ways. Dawn and Willow ventured into a boutique and Dawn headed straight for the Halloween costumes. She picked costumes like, Dead School Girl, Cat, Superwoman and like her older sister, a 17th century noblewoman dress. "I thought you were too old for Halloween?" Willow winked.
"I am, I just-," Dawn stuttered defensively.
"Or did a certain boy change your mind?" Willow smiled.
"You could say that," Dawn laughed. Dawn tried on some real, for lack of a better term, slutty outfits that made even Willow's eyebrows rise.
"Y'know Dawn, for my sophomore Halloween dance I went as a bed sheet with two holes poked through for eyes," Willow informed.
"And I seem to recall the number you wore under that bed sheet," Dawn retaliated.
"Good point," Willow admitted.
"What d'you think of this one?" Dawn asked. She pulled back the changing room curtain and revealed a knee length purple and black dress with a stereotypical witches hat and elbow length gloves. "Well?" Dawn asked.
"Do you want a broomstick, cauldron and pointy wart infected fingers to go with it?" Willow asked.
"I'll keep looking," Dawn replied. Eventually Willow and Dawn decided the Witches outfit was the best choice and so they paid the lady behind the counter and left the store. They walked down the street, arms linked, towards the coffee house near the magic shop. Dawn's eyes found those of Luke, the boy who was suspended from school, whom she had seen earlier. He pushed the door of the magic shop open and went in. "He goes to my school, he was suspended this morning," Dawn told.
"Well this is the Hellmouth, maybe he's a warlock?" Willow suggested.
"Maybe, but he seemed pretty pissed this morning, maybe we should go over and check on him?" Dawn suggested when she saw him pick up a jar of chickens feet through the store window.
"Sure," Willow agreed. They crossed the street and stood at the window. Ernie, the man whom Willow had partially blinded a month or so previous, was behind the counter serving an average height brunette woman.
"Willow," Dawn said loudly and terrified.
"Dawn what is it? What's wrong?" Willow asked frantically. She followed Dawn's shaky stare through the window. The brunette woman had turned to leave the store and made eye-contact with Willow. "Amy?" Willow chimed.
Chapter 2 [-]
Xander reached a street corner. He'd been here before, months ago, but the reality of the memory was still fluctuating in his brain. They hadn't lived in the manor long and he was still reeling from the death of his beloved Anya. Actually he still was, a moment never went by when Xander wasn't thinking about the nights he'd spent with her, the mornings waking up with her, teaching her to play black-jack and losing to her at scrabble. He was over his blaming of his two best friends. He used to have dreams, he'd be standing outside Sunnydale High with debris falling all around him, Turok-Han's galore escaping into the big wide world and his friends standing by, just watching. He'd spot Anya through a broken window fighting for her life, taking blows from Bringers in all directions, he'd try to run to her side, to aid her, save her, protect her, until Buffy and Willow would pin him to the ground, he'd wriggle like a mouse in a cat's grasp but he could never escape. He'd wake up in a blistering sweat amongst empty bottles at the moment the bringers' knife took the life of his bunny phobic soul mate. But I'm getting off topic, he'd gone through a bad time with his drinking and the off-license down the road supported his bad habit. He'd fell asleep on the bench outside the hardware store, were he was now standing, only to be awoken by troublesome kids, calling him a drunk and shouting a multitude of abuse that he defiantly deserved for how he'd spoken to Willow moments later.
He'd thought about asking for a job at the hardware store as a last resort if he couldn't find a construction company to take him on. Unfortunately worse had come to worse and there he was, on the step of Lou's Hardware. He took a deep breath in, he wasn't hoping for miracles, (what self-respecting customer would go to a guy with an eye-patch for D.I.Y advice?), but the HELP WANTED sign had been in the store window long enough to figure out that the owner was most possibly desperate. He released his breath and pushed the door open. The roof of the door collided with a small bell that rung throughout the shop.
Upon entrance in the shop he was attacked by the musty smell of a construction site, only magnified. The shelves were so high they would have intimidated Godzilla, the floor hadn't been cleaned since opening, the ceiling was home to a colony of flies that buzzed around in strange patterns, the walls were probably once a bold brown colour but had decayed into pale beige and then there was the man behind the counter at the back. "Hey Fella, if you can't find what you're looking for I'll be right with ya!" he called. He had a full head of white hair cut short, his face had wrinkled with age and his eyes were brown and warm. He wore a brown shirt and bright, light blue jeans. In front of the counter was a long queue of customers tapping there feet, twiddling their fingers and one guy was humming the theme tune to Will & Grace.
"Actually I-uh-I'm here about the HELP WANTED sign in the window?" Xander called. Xander walked up to the register so as to speak with the owner while he dealt with his many customers. He guessed a Hardware store on a Hellmouth brought in some serious cash.
"You wanna work here?" the owner asked.
"Well," he began, "yeah," he lied. The owner looked Xander up and down and stared for an extra few seconds at his eye-patch. "Look, you're my last hope, I got a lot'a experience with construction and I would really be able good at this job. Look passed the eye-patch, someone has to," Xander persuaded.
"You been practicin' that long?" the owner smiled.
"I may have spent a few embarrassing moments in the bathroom mirror," Xander admitted.
"Alright kid I'll give you a shot, you last the day and you've got the job," the owner offered.
"Wait, you want me to start now?" asked Xander puzzled.
"Is that a problem?" the owner replied.
"No! Of course not," Xander lied thinking about Willow and Dawn who would be waiting for him.
"Good, names Lou," the owner took Xander's hand and shook it while he handed an angry women her purchase.
"Xander," he introduced. Lou ducked under the counter and threw a pair of keys at Xander as he passed him.
"Where're you going?" Xander asked as confused as the stores many customers.
"I got my granddaughters piano recital in half an hour, store closes at four on weekends, lock up when you're done," Lou said as he opened the door to leave.
"Wait!" Xander called but his shout was drowned out by the ringing bell above the door. Xander turned to the long angry queue of customers and smiled weakly.
Meanwhile back at the magic shop Willow had just set eyes on the one person that still made her skin crawl in fear, Amy Madison. She'd seen Amy last year which turned out to be a disaster, Willow had made the mistake of trusting her then, trusted that she was now practicing with the UC Sunnydale Wicca Group and was back on the right path, until Willow grew a penis and almost shot Kennedy in Buffy's backyard.
Amy stood just as star struck as Willow as they held eye contact through the window. Willow thought Amy suddenly reappearing had to have something with Kennedy leaving her and began to think up a million conspiracy theories. However none of the ones her brain could think of seemed to make sense. Willow dropped her bags on the sidewalk and headed for the entrance to the magic shop. Dawn dropped her bags too and grabbed Willow by the wrist. "Willow, no," Dawn warned.
"I just want to talk to her," Willow argued trying to pull away.
"Yeah you say that now but as soon as you exchange a few words you two'll end up casting each other into walls. It's not safe," Dawn persuaded.
"It won't come to that," Willow replied.
"Willow, forgive me if I want to avoid another demon chase and car crash because that's what happened last time!" Dawn cried.
"But I'm not just some witch like I was then Dawn-"
"Willow you never have been just some witch! Trust me when I say going in there is going to end badly," Dawn persuaded. Willow completely ignored this and shrugged off Dawn's grasp.
Willow magically opened the door to the magic shop; it slammed the wall behind it and sent a loud bang throughout the store. Amy backed up a little and dropped her purchase on the ground. The magic shop itself was decorated in cheesy cliché Halloween decorations that littered and obscured the walls.
Amy folded her arms comfortably across her chest. Luke, the boy from Dawn's school, was speaking to Ernie, the shopkeeper, at the back of the store. He held in his hand a jar of purple liquid and a dusty old book. He looked at Willow with fear as he tucked the book under his jacket. Willow walked to Amy without showing any fear.
Dawn scurried about outside to pick up all their bags when she burst into the magic shop causing Luke to conceal the purple liquid in his backpack.
"My God Willow It's so good to see you," Amy said as she took a hand away from her chest and used it to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
"What're you doing here Amy?" Willow asked point blank.
"Still on the magics too I see," Amy smiled approvingly.
"What are you doing here Amy?" Willow repeated.
"This is a magic shop, I'm a witch, I'm sure you can figure it out. Hey Dawn," Amy smiled. Dawn took a strong stance.
"I'm giving you one chance to get out of the city, you're not welcome here," Willow ordered each word laced with venom.
"Uh I was here first? I work here I-I live here, if you don't like it you can go," Amy said as she handed Willow a business card. Willow snatched it from her hand.
Amy Madison
Assistant to the C.E.O
Wolfram & Hart
Attorney's at Law.
Dawn took the business card from Willow and gave it a glance over. "You work at Wolfram & Hart?" Dawn asked.
"It's right there in black and white," Amy sniggered.
"Why here? It can't be some coincidence you working in this Wolfram & Hart, there must be hundreds," Willow stated suspiciously.
"I guess its fate," Amy smiled.
"I doubt it," Willow spat. "I mean it Amy, you need to go," Willow warned.
"I'm not going anywhere," Amy replied with her eyes blackening. Willow advanced into Amy's space; she refused to be afraid of her anymore. "What? You think you can take me?"
"Let's see," Willow replied. Dawn jumped in the middle of the two powerful wicca's. Even a non-witch like herself, Dawn could feel the rivalling magics preparing for what would defiantly be a devastating fight.
"Okay, stepping in, playing junior watcher here, Willow we should go," Dawn pleaded.
"But it's not a question of can you take me, is it Willow? It's will you even try to?" Amy snarled.
"That's not me anymore," Willow replied.
"I mean even a doofus floating a pencil could feel the power you got a mile away, your whole rise to a higher power, goddess for a day. But big bad Willow is still in there, deep down, and she's crying to get out," Amy's words must have wiped Willow's mask of fearlessness straight from her face, "there, I know you can feel it, so I'll even let you make the first move, take your shot red," Amy sniggered.
Willow felt violated, to be emotionally ripped apart like that by somebody she despised made her guts wretch. She thought of making the first move, she had the incantation ready in her head, but if Amy was right, then that means the visions Hecate and Osiris showed to her weeks ago could be right too…she couldn't risk it. She couldn't put her friends in the place again.
Willow backed off stepping towards Dawn.
"That's what I thought," Amy muttered.
"C'mon Dawn, we're leaving," Willow stated allowing Dawn to breathe a sigh of relief.
Willow and Dawn collected their bags and headed for the shop exit, slamming the door tight behind them. Amy looked around and caught eye-contact with Ernie the Shopkeeper. "Oh relax nothing got broken." She watched as Luke tried to casually leave the shop but made the mistake of rushing past the super wicca too fast. She caught a glimpse of the book hanging out the zipper of his backpack and the purple liquid in the jar under his jacket. She made a gesture with her hand and the book and jar came shooting towards her. She caught the book in her hands along with jar and thumbed through the text for the page Luke was looking at.
"Hey!" Luke complained but then he shut the hell up in memory of the confrontation he had just witnessed.
"This is pretty advanced stuff for a kid. You'll probably get yourself killed. Besides you stole the wrong creatures saliva, Gargoyle saliva is good for hexing but what you need is Harpy venom for this particular ritual," Amy advised.
"W-why're you helping me?" Luke asked confused.
"It's the school dance tomorrow right?" Amy asked. Luke nodded enthusiastically. "Well let's just say payback's a bitch," Amy smiled.
Xander had eventually dealt with the drama of the shop. For a while the queue seemed to just get longer but by about noon it had quietened down. He was wondering were Willow and Dawn had gotten to and why they weren't answering his calls. Then he remembered they were girls and shopping was their version of major league baseball. He took the precious time were the store was empty to wander around; it was a lot bigger on the inside than you would have thought from first glance outside. The back was full of crates of rope, spare pipes, spanners, nails you name it, the toilets where squeaky clean which was a surprise because of the fly ridden ceiling out in front.
It felt, normal.
He was back at the register by a quarter past noon and was in a world of his own. He was sitting with his back to the front door and stared enthusiastically at the ball game on the small T.V on a counter behind the front desk. "Excuse me," said a woman's voice from behind him. It wasn't that she'd been sneaking up on him or that she'd shouted it at him that made him jump as high as he did; he was just quite literally keeping his head in the game. He spun around to find an average height woman with long black hair wearing a white knee-length blouse, jeans and a black jacket.
"Julie?" Xander gasped.
"Coffee guy!" Julie smiled.
"Actually I go by Xander these days," he added smoothly.
"Right, I remember," she beamed. "You work here?"
"Just started actually, somebody has to put the bread on the table," he added.
"Your wife's a lucky woman," Julie said.
"No! No wife, that whole bread thing-just a bad joke-single-newly-bad ending-and I'm rambling," he laughed awkwardly, "so what do you do?" he asked in an attempt to save his current awkward situation.
"I teach, at the High School," she smiled.
"Oh yeah? What d'ya teach?"
"Uh English," she told. "Actually just got back from a trip to Tibet with a friend and thought I'd get back into teaching."
"Ahh, so, what can I do for you?" Xander asked.
"Well I have a major plumbing apocalypse at my place and I was looking for Lou but I guess he's not here," Julie informed.
"Well I can probably take care of it for ya, got a lot of experience fixing stuff, trust me, shoot," Xander said.
"Well the pipe under my sink has been leaking and last night I wake up two sewage and god knows what else all over my kitchen floor, but the pipes I buy only hold for a few weeks."
"Well if you want I could come over and take a mould of the broken pipe and see what I could do about it?" Xander offered.
"You sure? Because that would make things a whole lot easier," she said. She whipped a piece of paper and a pen from her bag and wrote down her address. She slid it across the counter and Xander tucked it into his pocket.
"No problem, how about tomorrow night?" Xander asked.
"So you're not going Trick or Treating?" Julie joked.
"Naa I beat up this guy for putting an apple in my basket and now my face is on all the screens before Halloween," Xander joked too. Julie laughed.
"You're funny," she added.
"Well it's one of few but decent qualities," Xander smiled.
"So I'll see you tomorrow night?" Julie asked. "Come by around six?"
"See ya then," Xander beamed. Julie smiled over her shoulder as she left the store quietly closing the door behind her. Xander breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't been able to not think about Julie since he ran into her with Cordy last week and now he was going to her apartment.
He sat back down and turned to watch the game until he felt and heard the light vibrating of his cell phone in his pocket. He had four missed calls and one text from Willow.
'911' it read.
Chapter 3 [-]
While Willow and Dawn were playing Russian Roulette with an old enemy and Xander was indulging in the opposite sex, Buffy was in her room getting ready for training. She grabbed an old pair of gym sneakers from the bottom of her wardrobe, a pair of grey sweat pants and a jacket to match. She dressed quickly and before she knew it she was heading down to the basement, she assumed Dawn was off sulking in her room but she was already late to begin training. She was eager to get started; she had the urge to hit hanging bags of cushion very hard after her meeting with Headmistress Fischer who managed to make her feel as small as a Rice Krispie. She pushed the old closed door open and headed down the hallway to the basement staircase passing girls in their gym attire who were waiting to get started. She descended the stairs and stepped into the enormous training room that made the stock room at the back of the magic shop look like a mere ball pit. It was filled with beams and pads and mats and weapons and even some instruction manuals on a small bookcase at the back.
The girls who weren't on patrol were gathered down in the basement. They sat in their own circle of friends, Buffy furrowed her brow. The loud chatter of the girls echoed throughout the room.
Chris had come down the basement stairs just after Buffy. "Sorry I'm late boss," she said, her long messy blonde hair trailing down her leather jacket. Kate had signalled her to come and sit with her, Alicia, Madison and Aly. The other girls paused their chatter to watch as Chris took her place amongst the IT girls, the Cordelia's of Slayer central. The sound of the girls conversing erupted again.
Buffy looked to the back wall and found a target board. She then looked to another wall and found a large and polished battleaxe. She gripped the hilt of the axe in her hand and took position in front of the board. She threw it with so much force that as it hit the board the collision sent vibrations through the surrounding walls. The crack of the axe passing through the wood and onto the brick behind it caught the attention of the girls as they jumped out of their skins like an antelope who had just heard a twig snap in the distance. The turned to their teacher, Buffy.
"This isn't good enough," Buffy paused letting her words sink in. "I walk in here and see the girls, some were at the battle in the Hellmouth, others recruited since, sitting under the same roof and looking down on each other.
It Will Not Do.
Not one of you is stronger than the other, not one of you is faster than the other, not one of you heals quicker and not one of you is BETTER than the other. You're all in the same boat, risking your lives daily to keep those you love safe, so can somebody tell me why this room is full of factions?" Buffy's words were sent into the heads of the newbies like a bullet to the brain, their heads dropped in shame. Kate's head however remained proud and raised. Buffy sent her gaze to the back of the room were her eyes met that of thirteen year old Amalia. She sat alone beside the bookcase. Amalia was the youngest Slayer in training; Buffy didn't know much about her background other than she was found by Robin in one of California's many counties. She probably felt like an outcast amongst the Slayers. "Friends are good to have, my friends are the reason I lived past my 20th birthday, but I've never had anybody else to relate to because I was always alone, in one way or another. Not to sound all high and mighty but before me it was extremely uncommon for a Slayer to reach her 20's because she had no ties to a world without demons and violence and blood and death.
I did and still do.
So make friends, with everybody, next Saturday I do NOT want to see 10 different circles of friends, I want to see one huge circle of girls who have faith and trust in each other and the work we do!" Buffy told. Now Kate fell off her high horse, even she felt guilty for looking down on other people, the newbies that got hurt the worst out on patrols were looked at like they weren't good enough. Even though Kate felt guilt, she would never show it.
"Death," she began, "it's what we are, what a Slayer was chosen to do, we deal in death every night and now thanks to yours truly, everyday. You've all had dreams, anybody who denied it would be lying, chances are you've had some of the same ones, raise your hand if you've had the dream were a bleach blonde vampire kills a Chinese Slayer?" Buffy asked. A lot of the girls raised their hands and they looked around shocked at the number of people who had shared the dream. "And we've all woken up the next morning and wondered why that fight was different, y'know what made that fight different? Why did they win, why did she lose? I have, I asked my watcher those questions three years ago and the only person with the answer believe it or not, was a vampire," the girls' eyes widened and chatter erupted, "this vampire told me that Every Slayer has a Death Wish, and y'know what? He was right. We can kill 100 vampires, 200 demons and even a God here and there, but we'll never win, they will just keep coming and coming and coming. It's when a Slayer realises this that she becomes weak, exhausted, she wants to lose the fight on some level so that it can be over, she pleads for death because the only true peace a Slayer can have is when she doesn't have to fight, and for that to happen, she has to die. Realise now that there will never be a day that the world we live in will become vamp free, or all a vampire needs is 'One Good Night' and it'll be over for you, decide now that you're ready for this life, ready to be chosen." Even Faith, who was listening intently from up the basement stairs received Goosebumps from Buffy's speech.
"Pick a sparing partner, grab a mat and get practicing," Buffy ordered. "Amalia, you're with Kate," Buffy ordered. Amalia was just happy to have a partner while the other girls took Buffy's advice and chose a partner whose name they didn't even know. Before long the girls were panting and kicking like pros.
Kevin and Johnny stood around the corner of the magic shop waiting for Luke. They had gotten tired of waiting and decided to peer around the corner. They spotted their friend talking to a young brunette woman.
Amy and Luke stood outside the magic shop. Luke gave Amy $100 dollars for the Harpy's venom which she conjured from thin air and gave to him. "It was a pleasure," Amy smiled as she took the money and turned to walk away.
"Wait!" Luke called, "what if something goes wrong?" he asked.
"Run like hell," Amy called over her shoulder before turning a corner and vanishing. Luke wiped his forehead nervously and headed back to his friends. He spotted their heads behind one of the buildings and quickened his pace.
"Who was that?" Kevin asked.
"Nobody, j-just a girl," Luke stammered.
"A hot girl," Johnny added.
"Dude, shut up!" Luke scolded with a smack to the back of Johnny's head.
"Did you get the book and stuff?" Kevin asked.
"Better," Luke smirked as he showed his friends the musty old book and the Harpy venom. "So we meet up tonight," Luke said.
"Where?" Kevin asked.
"The memorial," Luke replied.
"Are we really gunna do this?" Johnny asked.
"Dude do not get cold feet now!" Luke exclaimed. "I'll call you guys later," Luke said as he turned from his comrades and headed home.
Once the girls had left the basement Buffy cleared up the mats, put the weapons back on the shelves and put the practice dummies back in their closets. She took a hefty swig of cold water from a bottle when her phone bleeped. She wiped her lips and headed for her phone.
SMS received
Willow:
911.
Willow and Xander burst into the manor with Dawn and spotted a worried Buffy pacing up and down the entrance hall waiting for them. After receiving Willow's message she had been worried sick waiting for her to get back. "Will, I got your message, what is it, what's wrong?" Buffy asked.
"It's Amy, she's in town," Willow replied.
"Dawn!" Buffy exclaimed as she spotted her sister. "I thought you were in your room!"
"So not the issue, punish later, supernatural happenings now," Dawn replied rolling her eyes.
"Okay back to Amy, did you talk to her? What did she say?" Buffy said, angry at the fact her destiny was getting in the way again.
"She was in the magic shop, Buffy…she works for Wolfram & Hart," Willow informed nervously. Buffy's expression dropped.
"Not good," Buffy hummed.
"But I think we have bigger problems," Dawn added.
"Wait, what?" Xander asked.
"You remember that guy? The one from this morning? The angry kid?" Dawn asked her sister.
"Yeah, so?" Buffy asked.
"He was in the magic shop too, I think he's planning to attack the dance tomorrow night," Dawn informed.
"Dawny I think we have bigger problems than the dance right now," Buffy dismissed.
"But you saw how angry he was, what if he casts some kind of spell to turn the entire student body into a bowl of shrimp or something," Dawn suggested.
"Dawn he's just a kid, besides shrimp?" Buffy said.
Dawn began, "But-"
"So what else did Amy say?" Xander asked Willow cutting Dawn off completely. The three original scoobies headed for the living room leaving an angry Dawn in the entrance hall. Dawn was convinced she was right about Luke and the dance even if her friends and sister didn't think it was a big enough problem. Unlike them, Dawn actually believed Amy's story, that she was just in Cleveland by chance and even though she was a bad person, she didn't have some huge evil plan. So she decided to turn to the person who she thought could help her.
"Knock, Knock," Dawn said mimicking the sound she was making on the door of Giles's office.
"Come in," Giles called. Dawn entered Giles's office and stood in front of his desk.
"Giles, I need your help," Dawn began.
"Blast!" Giles said Britishly.
"What is it!" Dawn asked frantically trying to see the screen of Giles's laptop.
"Some piluk just out-bid me for the teapot!" Giles informed angrily.
"The teapot?" Dawn laughed.
"M-magic teapot," Giles said in an attempt to save his masculinity.
"Yeah, right," Dawn smiled.
"Anyway," Giles dismissed, "what can I do for you?"
"You're the only one left to help me," Dawn added as she sat down on a chair in front of his desk. Giles's face became serious.
"What is it?" Giles asked concerned. Dawn spent the next half hour walking Giles through everything that had happened to her that day. He seemed to agree with her that Luke may have something planned for the school dance.
"And I don't know about you but a good portion of gargoyle saliva with almost anything can do-" Dawn stopped herself when she saw Giles's face change, "something I don't know anything about," she saved.
"And your sister doesn't think this problem takes precedence?" Giles asked.
"No," Dawn said sadly, "She's way too caught up in all the Amy drama," Dawn concluded.
"Amy? Amy Madison? She's back?" Giles asked concerned.
"Giles please, one problem at a time," Dawn snapped.
"Right well I um, I will begin research on rituals that require the gargoyle saliva but I'm afraid I might find pretty vague possibilities," Giles winced.
"Just do what you can," Dawn replied.
"What about Buffy?" Giles asked.
"Let's keep her out of it," Dawn decided. "I need to show her I'm not a kid anymore," Dawn told as she got up from her chair and turned to leave.
"Dawn, if Buffy asks what's going on I'm not going to lie," he called after her.
"I know," Dawn replied over her shoulder as she left the office and headed for her room.
From then on the day went pretty quickly. Buffy, Willow and Xander left the living room pretty late, Buffy headed down to the basement and sparred with Cody, one of the survivors of the Hellmouth and crashed at about a half past midnight. Xander decided he would join the late night patrol with Rona and three other girls and Willow was up all night doing constant locater spells on Amy just to find out that she was at Wolfram & Hart all night. When every light in the manor was out Dawn decided to head down to the library to read over Giles's notes and see what she could make for herself. Junior Watcher and Undercover detective, who said imagination was dead?
Kevin and Johnny were told to meet Luke outside the High School at half one in the morning. Luke arrived first with his back pack filled with supplies. Kevin came second until all who was left to arrive was Johnny. "You don't think he's bailed out do ya?" Kevin asked.
"For his sake, I hope not," Luke scowled. Johnny then turned the corner and spotted his friends waiting for him. "You're late," Luke scolded.
"Sorry, just had to get my head around this," Johnny admitted.
"Yeah well twist your head around a pole if you have to but I need you committed," Luke said angrily. Johnny nodded. "Let's do this boys," Luke said eagerly.
Luke, Kevin and Johnny made their way to the science building just off the assembly hall. Luke grabbed a sheet from his backpack and wrapped it around his fist before punching a window, un-doing the lock and climbing in, the others followed close behind. They walked cautiously through the school until they set foot in the assembly hall. Kevin went to switch on the light but was warned not to by Luke. They walked up to a huge remembrance plaque. The black was wooden and had over twenty names written in gold. In bold letters above the plaque read:
IN REMEMBANCE OF THOSE LOST.
The plaque was a memorial to the deaths of 20 students who died in a freak accident in the expressive arts building near the football field. But there are no such things as accidents on a Hellmouth. "Are we sure, y'know assuming we do this right, that this'll even work?" Johnny asked.
"Johnny's right man," Kevin added to Luke, "the spell asks for supernatural deaths, the E.A building burned down three years ago because of faulty wiring," Kevin informed.
"That's what we were told, but I heard from Greg who heard it from Annie who heard it from Lara who heard it from Danny who heard it from that crazy Goth kid that the E.A kids were witches into full on dark mojo, they conjured something that went nuts, killed 'em and burned the building to boot," Luke told.
"And how're we so sure that doing this ritual or whatever won't end up in us being fried extra crispy," Johnny gasped.
"We're not, but we won't, trust me," Luke persuaded. Luke began taking supplies out of his back pack while Johnny and Kevin set candles around the room and lit them. He pulled out an egg from a Rage Demon, smashed it and mixed the gunk inside with the Harpy Venom. He added wolfs bane, rose thorn and blood he bought from the butchers. He set the mixture in a jug on the floor and took a lit candle for himself; the other boys did the same.
They chanted the spell from the book and the flames changed from calm yellow to devil red. They each dipped wax from the candle into the jug and it began to smoke.
"Cooooooooooool," Johnny said in amazement.
"I know right," Luke beamed incredibly proud of himself. He watched as the mixture began to boil and flashed back a few hours earlier. He had returned home from his meeting with his principal and head straight up his stairs.
"Did you find out what the principal wanted son?" his Father called from the kitchen. Luke inhaled swiftly before heading toward the kitchen; shaking like a leaf.
"N-nothing just-"
"What's that?" his dad asked interrupting him as he folded a piece of laundry and placed it into basket.
"It's nothing Dad really-"
"Lucas, give it to me," his father commanded sternly. Luke gave his father his notice of suspension from the principal. His father scanned the letter and his face turned as fire like red as the candle flame from the spell. His father lunged for him, shoving him into the dining table then into the dish washer before slamming him to the ground with one punch and shouting abuse that Luke had heard all to many times before.
He entered back into reality just in time to watch the mixture change colour. He shook off his distressing memory and picked up the jug. He threw the jug at the plaque and it oozed over the names of the deceased expressive arts students. The mixture flashed different colours and burned until the plaque was ashed completely. "Did it work?" Johnny asked still in awe of what he'd just seen.
"It worked," Luke sniggered.
Back at the manor Dawn had sat down in Giles's chair in the library and was thumbing through his notes. He wasn't kidding when he said the results would be vague as the stack of papers was as big as Dawn's head. She stopped as she found an interesting reference to a book. Giles's illustration of the book looked like the book Dawn had seen Luke with that day. She scowered the library for it and she flicked through the page for a reference to Harpy's venom, which was mentioned in his notes too. She read the page. It told of a spell only possible on the night of All Hallow's Eve when the veil between worlds is weakest and when souls can cross over to the other side.
"Zombies? At the Dance? Perfect," she whispered.
Chapter 4
Dawn continued through Giles's notes looking for anything that would tell her how to reverse the spell Luke had cast. She absentmindedly wondered how tomorrow night was going to go, Chase was going to pick her up from the manor and they'd drive to the dance in his car. Then Buffy would arrive with the other chaperones and then everyone would be zombie food. Great, just how I planned she thought sarcastically.
Because the Manor was so quiet the silent creek of the old closed door sounded like the roar of an excited crowd as their team scored a point. She looked up from the stack of books and papers and heard lightly treading footsteps coming in her direction. Being Dawn, she immediately assumed, Buffy.
The library doors opened and released a cold wind into the library. Dawn darted under the table grabbing as many books and pieces of paper as she could. She crouched under the table and was able to make out, through the darkness, black jeans and heavy boots. The mystery person jumped over one of the book counters and opened Giles' supply cupboard. Dawn decided she could probably sneak past the intruder and get safely back to her room. She treaded lightly across the floor and was almost past the door when her fingers slipped and the book she was holding dropped heavily to the floor.
Faith's head shot up from Giles' supply cupboard, her brown hair trailing down her face, she was just as shocked as Dawn to see the other person. "Faith?" Dawn asked just to make sure.
"Jeez kid, don't sneak up on a girl like that," Faith said putting her hand over her heart to calm herself.
"Sorry I was just-"
"Going through Giles's stuff?" Faith said as she nodded at the mess of paper under Dawn's arm.
"Speak for yourself," Dawn retaliated with a nod to the large bottle of Vodka in Faith's grip.
"Touché," Faith nodded as she took a large swig of the clear poison.
"Are you drunk?" Dawn scrutinised.
"Little bit," Faith smiled.
"Starting a little early don't ya think?" Dawn nodded towards the clock that read 01:52 am.
"Keep's the nightmares at bay," Faith exhaled. Dawn gave Faith a sympathetic look.
"Goodnight Faith," Dawn smiled.
"Night kid," Faith breathed. Dawn made her way to the double doors leading to the old closed door corridor.
"Faith, if Buffy asks-"
"I didn't see a thing, got it," Faith replied cutting in. Dawn headed upstairs to get what minutes of sleep she could manage.
She set her alarm an hour earlier that morning; she thought it best to be ready for school early. Since Giles hadn't found a reversal spell she figured the best thing to do was to ambush Luke and his friends and get them to tell her how to reverse the spell. So she made her way to the entrance hall, dodging Giles who had just wondered towards the kitchen for his morning coffee and Willow, Buffy and Xander who followed behind him who sounded like they were plotting an assault on the Cleveland branch of Wolfram & Hart. Some of the Slayers were up early too; they were sitting in their pyjamas in the lounge to the right talking but then gave Dawn an odd look as she was fully dressed 2 hours before school even starts. She gave them an unconvincing smile and headed for the door.
She arrived at school about the same time the teachers did and made her way toward the entrance. She passed Katie Higgins, the Queen B and her entourage of loyal followers who were setting up the gym for the dance. While Katie carried a mere pen and paper her minions struggled with piles of huge cardboard boxes and decorations. Katie gave Dawn the brush off when Dawn made the nice gesture of a smile.
Bitch Dawn thought.
She watched as Katie turned the corner towards the gym and rolled her eyes. A hand grabbed Dawns' shoulder and she spun around quickly to meet a shaggy dark haired tall boy, cleanly shaven wearing a short sleeve t-shirt and jeans. "Chase," Dawn cried happily.
"Hey," he replied taking her head in his hands and pecking her on the lips.
"You're at school early," Dawn muttered dazed.
"Yeah I promised Katie I'd help set up for the dance," Chase informed.
"Katie? Katie Higgins? She totally hates me," Dawn told.
"Yeah she hates everyone, but if I don't do my part tonight Fischer's gonna ban me from the dance," Chase said.
"Why?" Dawn asked.
"Me and some of the football guys put some freshman's back-pack up a tree last semester," Chase said casually but then responded because of the look on Dawn's face, "but I'm turning over a new leaf, haven't been to the principals office once this semester so I guess you could call me helping out with the dance my community service," Chase beamed.
"Are we still on for tonight?" Dawn asked.
"Defiantly," Chase smiled. "I'll swing by your place around 7:30, sound good?" Chase asked.
"Sounds perfect," Dawn smiled.
"CHASE!" Katie Higgins called from down the corridor. "Annabelle called in sick and she was supposed to hang streamers and I am so not taking that bullet, move your ass!" she scolded.
"Duty calls, later babe," Chase said as he kissed Dawn's cheek and jogged off down the hall.
"Bye," Dawn hummed with her heart in flutters. She turned to the school entrance and saw Luke's friend, Johnny. He was looking exceptionally nervous. Dawn waited for him to enter the main building. She followed closely behind him and watched as he took an empty seat in the school lounge. She casually sat next to him. "Hey, Johnny," she smiled.
"Uh, Hi Dawn," Johnny replied sceptically.
"Okay so here's the thing, I know what you and your little buddies did last night and what you have planned for the dance," he opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off leaving his mouth hinged open, "yeah, I know, shocker, anyway, if you don't tell me how to reverse your little Hocus Pocus I'm gunna feed your manhood to the school mascot, and that beaver is hungry Johnny, hungry," Dawn eyed him.
"I-I, I don't know what you're talking about," Johnny stammered as he attempted to get up from the sofa and leave. Dawn gripped him by the shoulder and pulled him back down.
"Oh I think you do," Dawn replied.
"I gotta go," Johnny wailed.
"Where? To Luke? To tell him somebody knows what's happening? Listen to me Johnny, if you don't tell me how to stop the spell a lot of innocent people are going to get hurt," Dawn persuaded.
"You're wrong, Luke said they'd just crash the dance a-a-and give everybody a good s-scare, then they disappear," Johnny added.
"He's lying to you Johnny, these corpses or whatever, they aren't looking to give you Goosebumps," Dawn replied. Johnny began to sweat and fumble with the buttons on his jacket. "You don't want this on your conscience…just tell me how to stop the spell," Dawn said cautiously.
"T-there's a, a talisman, around Luke's neck. Y-you have to smash it," Luke stammered.
"Okay, so I smash the talisman and Zombie prom doesn't happen?" Dawn asked. Johnny nodded. "But Lucas was suspended-"
"He's crashing the dance; he'll be in the Burglar outfit," Johnny added.
"You did the right thing Johnny, and for future reference, make better friends," Dawn said before setting off to first period.
During lunch Dawn sat on the football field bleachers watching Chase at football practice. She called Giles and told him of the talisman, he found an illustration of it so when Dawn was at the dance she knew what to look for. Giles insisted on including Buffy into what was happening but Dawn refused, she thought her sister would soon realise her little sister, wasn't so little anymore.
At the end of the school day Dawn and some of the newbies who attended Cleveland High took the bus home and walked up the private estate towards the manor. For once the topic of monsters and ghouls and goblins was a positive thing.
Dawn spent an hour on her homework and started getting ready at around five thirty.
She was placing the finishing touches onto her witch outfit when Buffy knocked on her door. "Dawn we better go now or we're gonna be late," Buffy informed.
"W-what are you talking about?" Dawn asked confused.
"The dance, y'know Halloween, kids beg for candy, you give it to them-"
"No, I know what you mean but I'm going with Chase, he's coming to pick me up at seven thirty," Dawn told.
"Chase Abrams? The one your principal insisted I keep you away from?" Buffy asked.
"No, Chase Abrams, my boyfriend and also a boy you've never met and yet you have such a low opinion of," Dawn retaliated.
"Dawn I just want what's best for you-"
"Buffy, please, he's a good person and he treats me, he treats me like…like I'm the only girl in the room," Dawn said.
"Just keep out of the way of your principal or it'll be my neck on the chopping board too," Buffy smiled. She could relate to Dawn so easily, when Buffy was Dawn's age, Angel was her world and nothing could have kept them apart.
"Thank you," Dawn smiled. The doorbell echoed throughout the manor for the very first time since they had lived there, they had always wondered what the speaker was for in the hallways of the fortress. "I better go," Dawn said.
"What? I don't get to meet him?" Buffy asked.
"Fine, just don't embarrass me, I really like this guy," Dawn replied. Dawn and Buffy headed down to the entrance hall, Dawn in her witches outfit and Buffy in her famous little red riding hood costume (which she was proud to say still fitted her).
Dawn took a deep breath in and opened the door. Chase wore a tuxedo with his hair jelled back tight, his shoes shined in the porch light. His eyes lingered on the witch who answered the door. "Wow, you look…" Chase struggled.
"You look…too," Dawn smiled. Chase leaned in to kiss his pagan beauty but stopped at the sight of Dawn's sister.
"Miss Summers, it's a, it's nice to meet you," Chase stammered.
"You too," Buffy replied suspiciously. The next few moments seemed to drag by as the three of them stood in awkward quietness.
"So," Dawn said breaking the silence, "I guess I'll see you later," Dawn said.
"Be careful," Buffy said as she subtly passed Dawn a small wooden cross. "Just in case," Buffy winked.
"Pleasure to meet you Miss Summers," Chase added.
"Again, you too," Buffy replied. Dawn and Chase, hand in hand, closed the manor door and headed towards Chases' car.
"So who're you supposed to be anyway?" Dawn asked him.
"What? I'm James Bond!" Chase said proudly. Dawn laughed as she climbed into the passenger seat of his second hand blue car.
They arrived at the dance when it was just about to get lively. Cheesy 80's horror movie soundtracks echoed out of the gym as people moved towards the main doors. But Dawn knew she couldn't begin enjoying it until she had successfully smashed Luke's talisman.
Chase guided Dawn into the gym were her eyes met dancing bodies in the centre of the room, a band called The Old Guy Stole My Lolly-Pop played on a manufactured stage near the back of the room. Streamers of green, black and orange hung from the ceiling and balloons trailed up the walls and along the floor. Chase was signalled by his teammates to go and sit at their table. "Hey I gotta go see Matt for a bit, you gonna be alright?" Chase asked.
"Sure, I'll mingle and you can come find me for the first dance," Dawn smiled, glad for the excuse to get away from him for a bit. Chase kissed her on the cheek and headed towards the Jock table. Dawn headed towards the stage where she found a worried Johnny. He sat dressed in a cowboy costume alone drinking straight Vodka from a flask.
"Dawn!" he exclaimed as he saw her.
"Any sign of Luke? I don't see a burglar costume in here," Dawn told.
"Dawn those things, the-the Zombies, they're on their way," Johnny whispered.
"What?" Dawn asked worried.
"Kevin overheard us talking this morning and told Luke everything, they've pushed the spell forward, and those things are coming…fast. I tried to get everybody out but they won't listen to me," Johnny cried over the music.
"Johnny, where is Luke now, is he here?" Dawn exclaimed. Luke pointed a finger toward a masked burglar across the room spiking the punch. Dawn was about to set off toward him when the vigorous vibrating of her phone in her pocket caught her attention.
Giles Calling.
"Hello?" Dawn shouted down the phone.
"Dawn?" Giles roared back at the manor.
"Giles? Kind of a bad time, about to tackle a bad guy and completely demolish my social life," Dawn exclaimed.
"Do Not Smash The Talisman!" Giles cried.
"What?" Dawn replied.
"The Talisman! Do not smash it! The boy you spoke to was wrong, smashing the Talisman does not destroy the zombies, it animates them permanently, the talisman has to be frozen! Only then will the Zombies be stopped," Giles warned. Dawn turned to the window of the gym which overlooked the football field. A hoard of decaying corpses stumbled towards the gymnasium; eyes glowing red. "What's more is the talisman acts as a beacon drawing the dead to the desired place!" Giles added.
"Getting that, Giles I think I'm in way over my head here!" Dawn panicked.
"Dawn I believe in you, you can do this!" Giles encouraged. At that moment Buffy entered the gym with a bored look on her face. Her face screamed that she didn't want to be there to everyone who looked.
"I can do this, thanks for the heads up Giles," Dawn said as she hung up the phone and made her way toward the punch table where Luke was now finished contaminating the liquid with alcohol. The brunette Witch cutting through the crowd of dancing maniacs caught the boys attention. Luke made a break for the exit when he realised it was Dawn. Dawn shot off after him as he headed toward the football field. Buffy watched gazed as her younger sister bolted from the dance.
Luke stupidly headed toward the walking dead because he had no other options. The Zombies were but meters away when Dawn caught him by the fabric of his black and white striped shirt. She aggressively tackled him to the ground. She snapped the band from around his neck and struggled to get back to her feet. He'd ripped her dress all down the side as he struggled to release himself.
"Doesn't matter! This School's gonna pay for what it did to me!" Luke exclaimed angrily. Dawn turned around to reply to him but was shocked to see that he was lying on the grass waiting to be caught up in the zombie stampede. She was about to run back to him to help him up, but a half bald rotting woman wearing next to nothing had already began feasting on the all to willing boy.
Dawn set off as fast as her grass stained legs would carry her toward the science building with the talisman grasped tightly in her hand. The Zombies, when they had finished off Luke, followed her. The ones that had eaten parts of Luke's body must've received energy from it as they were able to run after Dawn instead of dramatically drag themselves slowly across the tarmac.
She figured that if she had to freeze the Talisman to make the Zombies go away then she would find something in the science labs.
"Miss Summers?" Chase asked Buffy back at the dance. "Have you seen Dawn? I can't find her anywhere," Chase asked sounding worried.
"I have, she bolted out of here ten minutes ago," Buffy said angrily.
"She did, do you know why?" Chase asked.
"No, but I bet you do. What did you say to her? Did you and your football buddies make fun of her? Was she just some game? Embarrass the new kid, that sorta thing?" Buffy asked with venom dripping from her lips.
"No! Miss Summers I care about your sister more than I have about anybody," Chase argued.
"Yeah that's what they all say," Buffy replied turning her back on him.
Dawn crashed into the science lab and barricaded the door behind her with a desk, a stool and a filing cabinet. Dawn looked around at the all too familiar surroundings. She'd been in this position last year except the school was under attack by a vampire, not Zombies. She turned to the door and in her memory saw Amanda cowering on the floor in fear. Amanda then stopped and smiled at Dawn; Dawn smiled back but then was snapped back into reality when five rotting corpses started attacking the door. They broke the glass and started pushing away the objects blocking their entry.
"Okay Dawn think," she said out loud, "freezing things, what do you use…" she spotted a bottle in the supply cabinet at the back labelled Liquid Nitrogen. She used a stool to smash the glass because the cabinet was locked. She took the bottle from the freezing cabinet and laid the Talisman on a desk.
The Zombies burst into the classroom causing Dawn to scream. She poured the entire contents of the bottle onto the Talisman and the Zombies began to slow down. They started shaking and quivering, vomit and blood spurted from their mouths before they crumbled into ash upon the floor.
"Will, are you sure this is going to work? I mean you've done so many locator spells that a witch as strong as Amy must know what's goin' on. And now you're trying to bind her powers?" Xander asked Willow puzzled back at the manor.
"It should work, a-assuming Amy isn't as smart as she appears," Willow said before starting the incantation.
Dawn made her way back down to the dance, completely exhausted from all that running that when she ran into her older sister who was looking for her she all but fell into her arms. "Dawn, are you okay? What happened to your dress?" Buffy asked worried.
"Oh y'know, just saved the entire student body from a horrible gruesome death," Dawn exhaled on her sister. Dawn cast her gaze to the football field where amongst a lot of ash laid Luke's barely noticeable remains. "Almost," Dawn added solemnly.
"Huh?" Buffy asked.
"Y'know what? Never mind," Dawn whispered.
"So it wasn't Chase that made you leave the dance?" Buffy winced.
"What?" Dawn piped up, "No, what did you do?" Dawn asked.
"Oh dear," Buffy hummed innocently.
"I am so going to kill you," Dawn smiled. Buffy smiled too. Buffy wrapped Dawn in the cape from her Little Red Riding Hood costume and they headed back to the dance. "Do you think we'll ever have a quiet Halloween?" Dawn asked.
"I dunno, this one was pretty mild," Buffy replied.
"Speak for yourself," Dawn said rolling her eyes.
Across town, Julie sat in her apartment at her dining table. She flipped her phone open and dialled Xander's number. 'Hey you've reached Xander, I can't come to the phone right now but leave me a message and I'll get back to you.'
Julie exhaled heavily and shut the door on her still leaking kitchen.
Giles sat in his office holding his cell phone nervously in his hands waiting for news from Dawn, the manor was so quiet with most of the girls at the dance. Giles was startled to hear the official phone land line that the manor used to cover up what actually went on there. He didn't know whether to answer or not in case he said the wrong thing but he feared it might be the High School sending bad news about Dawn. He gripped the phone in his hand and held it to his ear. "Hello?" Giles sounded.
"Giles?" Asked a familiar voice.
"Angel?" Giles asked shocked and confused.
"Giles, we need your help, how soon can Buffy be in L.A?" Angel asked.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading, reviewing and adding myself or my story to your alerts.