Title: Created not Chosen
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: None.
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Dark Angel.
Summary: Buffy has the abilities of a Slayer, but she is no Slayer. Xander knows this because they were children together, till they both escaped from Manticore. Vampires meet Transgenics. Dark Angel Crossover.
Buffy and Xander both revelled in snuggling close together in Buffy's bed. The closeness, feel and smell of another X5, was a massive source of comfort to the pair and something that they had not really realised that they had missed over the last almost twelve years.
Both of them had clear memories back to around eight months old, back when their original squad had been a full fifteen. They hade been grouped by designation and their squad was X5-001 through X5-017, with X5-004 and X5-015 not having survived gestation. Early on, well before they gave each other names, Buffy and Xander had not been particularly close in their squad, but naturally that had changed as attrition had set in and their numbers shrank. Everyone in the squad became closer and then later when the three squads were consolidated all the survivors became close. It was only near the end, when there were only a few left, that the names had been chosen.
"Buffy, Xander. Breakfast." Joyce called from downstairs.
Xander removed his arms from around Buffy and they both got up from the bed. Xander reached for his clothes from the previous evening while Buffy went her wardrobe to find an outfit, both completely unmindful of their near nudity. No X5 was body conscious as they all grew up getting changed and showering in a group with their squad.
Down in the kitchen Joyce had laid out a breakfast that most would consider sufficient for eight not three, because Joyce knew how much an X5 could eat.
"So, what are you up to today?" Joyce asked.
"Well, the Librarian, Giles, is a Watcher like Merrick was and thought I was The Slayer." Buffy said. "And that led to two of Xander's friends, along with Giles, finding out we are X5."
"How did they take it?" Joyce asked.
Joyce had tried, as much as she could, to protect Buffy from the hatred and fear people could heap on those they saw as different, while still allowing Buffy freedom and social interactions.
"They kind of went into a bit of shock and needed time to process it." Xander said. "We will be talking with them about it again today, probably after school."
"Would you like me there?" Joyce asked.
Xander looked over at Buffy to see what she thought.
"I think it would be a good thing." Buffy said slowly. "Mom has been nothing but supportive and patient with me, even when things they taught put us at odds."
"Ok." Xander said, accepting Buffy's assessment.
Xander and Buffy were waiting outside the library for Joyce to arrive for the afternoon meeting. They had not spoken to Willow or Jessie all day. Willow had not even looked at either of them while Jessie had kept glancing at them.
"Sorry." Joyce said as she approached. "Had a late customer who would not leave."
They all entered to find Giles standing leaning against the counter while Willow and Jessie were sitting at the table, on opposite sides of the table.
"Who is this?" Giles asked. "It's bad enough for these two…."
"Joyce Summers." Joyce said. "The woman who raised the girl you want to fight Vampires with a fucking piece of wood."
"There are no such…." Willow began.
"You know that there is bad stuff going on around here, Wills." Xander said. "Just remember Rose."
"Rose was just my immag…." Willow began.
"Don't you dare. Don't you dare deny she existed. Rose was your older sister and she raised you." Xander snapped at Willow before turning to Joyce and Giles. "Sunnydale is hard on children. Parents tend to forget but the children remember… even if they try to rationalise it away. If you ask the students in our year, sixty percent will say they are an only child. Truth is they are the surviving child. Willow lost her older sister; Jessie lost his twin Brother; and no one ever talks about it. Everyone either just carries on or tries to replace the lost."
Giles sighed and began to polish his glasses. Joyce put her arm around Buffy.
"No one could ever replace my little girl." Joyce said.
"Give it time." Jessie said sadly.
"I would not be here if it wasn't for her." Joyce almost growled.
"Mom." Buffy said trying to calm Joyce down.
Joyce sat down but her mind went back to that day.
Joyce sighed as she pulled a duffle bag off the back seat and made her way into the shitty motel room. The motel was in a little slice of nowhere and the only thing that recommended it was it was the only accommodation within several hours drive in any direction. It was late evening and half the exterior lights around the motel were out with burnt out globes, casting large sections into deep shadow.
At twenty-eight, Joyce Summers had graduated Collage with a Masters in Art-History back in New York and recently had a blazing row with her parents about her 'life choices', which included refusing to get married to a man her mother had selected, that had ended with her being kicked out of the house and told never to return. Now she was driving across the country with all her worldly possessions in her car headed for LA for a new start.
Dumping the duffle on the bed, Joyce walked back out to get the rest of her stuff. She never saw them coming, the three men who grabbed her and dragged her towards the back of the Motel. Even as she screamed, Joyce guessed that the Motel owner, a greasy little man, was not going to come to her aid. What she was really not expecting was that her saviour would come from the woods behind the Motel.
Her saviour was small, fast and bald. Those were her first impressions. Then she looked at the broken bones and bruises of the now unconscious forms of the three men. Deadly, she added that descriptor, given that it had only been three seconds between the figure emerging from the trees fifteen feet away to all three men being incapacitated.
Looking down, Joyce finally took in the details of her saviour. Not just small, but a child of no more than five or six; fine featured face that suggested a girl; green eyes; bald head and dressed in what looked like grey pyjamas. The girl looked both alert and, for some reason scared. Given how quickly she had dealt with the three… assholes, Joyce did not think the fear was of a physical confrontation. On instinct Joyce wrapped her arms around the girl, who stiffened for a moment as if expecting pain, and then relaxed into the hug.
Joyce led the girl back to her room, closing and locking the door. As a way to break the ice, Joyce began talking. About her high school; parents; collage; living in New York; her plans in LA. Any topic she could think of, Joyce spoke about it. After… Joyce did not know how long, the girl finally spoke.
"I should leave. They will be coming."
"Who's coming?" Joyce asked. "Why would anyone be after you?"
"The keepers. We are the only ones left. Me and him." The girl replied. "They have the newer ones, but they won't let us go."
"You're just a little girl." Joyce almost whispered.
The girl turned and walked over to where the TV was chained to the wall with three heavy chains, just as the chairs and the bed were bolted to the floor. As she walked, Joyce noticed with horror someone had tattooed a barcode on the back of the girl's neck. The girl grabbed two of the chains in one had and, effortlessly, yanked on the chains and the nine-inch spikes that secured the chains into the concrete wall were ripped out.
The girl called herself Elisabeth and began to tell her tale of her life. The training, the tests, the keepers, everything. The story culminated with the escape of Elisabeth and her friend Alexander, followed by their separation, hours of running through the woods and finally seeing Joyce in trouble and just reacting.
"I won't let anyone harm you. They will only get you over my dead body." Joyce declared.
"They would have no issue with that scenario." Elisabeth replied.
"Maybe, but they expect you to be alone, probably scared and confused, and on foot." Joyce replied. "We will get a few hours sleep and then leave before dawn. I have some hats we can use to hide your lack of hair, and some makeup to temporarily cover your… tattoo. I think I have one or two things we can quickly fix up for you to wear until I can buy you some new clothes."
The next morning before dawn, Joyce packed her belongings into the car and Elisabeth, now dressed in an old shirt and skirt and a cap of Joyce's, had settled in the front passenger's seat and the car was pulling out of the carpark headed for LA.
Two hours after their departure a military jeep pulled into the Motel and a pair of Uniformed Soldiers questioned the Motel Owner if anything odd had happened. Apart from a drunken fight between three locals who were always causing trouble and a cute young woman in her late twenties staying the night, nothing had according to the Owner, so the Soldiers moved on in their search. The Motel Owner would not discover the two chains pulled from the wall by the TV for anther three days when he was preparing the room for another sucker… err… guest.
Joyce pulled herself out of her memories and looked around. Xander was speaking sternly to Jessie and Willow while Buffy was glaring at Giles.
"Of course, guns are effective against Vampires." Buffy was arguing. "You just need the right calibre and target the right location. A pistol would most likely just piss them off, apart from some of the larger bore pistols, but shotguns with double-aught Buckshot is very effective, especially if you get the spinal column or brain. Or you can use a rifle or SMG to overwhelm them with trauma. Once they are down you can use a stake or whatever to finish them of."
"It is not traditional…." Giles began to be cut off by Joyce.
"Tradition can take a hike." The irate mother said. "My little girl goes properly armed or I'll shove a stake up your ass."
Xander and Buffy smiled slightly at that. Giles began cleaning his glasses.
TBC….