Chapter 5: The Witch Part 1
"So do you know what, Buffy or Dawn's powers are yet?" Phoebe asked her baby sister who was getting ready to orb to Sunnydale.
"Not yet," Paige said. "They just had their powers unbound a few days ago, Pheobe. They've yet to find out what the trigger is for them or even what they are. Even Joyce didn't know. Unlike us their family didn't hand down the powers through the generations. Each generation may or may not have had a power from a previous generation. We already tried testing to see if they had Joyce's power."
"What is her power again?" Phoebe wondered.
"Invisibility," Paige said. "And neither Dawn nor Buffy have it as Joyce's trigger didn't work for either of them."
"What about Buffy's Whitelighter powers?"
"I've started telekinetic orbing since that was my first power," Paige said as she thought back on how she had learned about the power. "So that one should be easy for her to master because I can guide her through it. Then I'll move on to orbing itself. The rest are going to be hard for her to learn, but thankfully I have Leo for that. He's going to be teaching Buffy about the Whitelighter powers I have yet to learn how to control."
"How does she feel about Leo being her dad and the fact she has two half-brothers?" Piper asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"Believe it or not she's happy," Paige said. "I take it from her, Joyce and Dawn that while Buffy and Dawn loved Hank and he them, their relationship was strained by the divorce alone. I don't know if Joyce has even gotten ahold of him to tell him that he isn't Buffy's father."
"It may be better not to," Piper said. "If he knew he could take Joyce to court over the child support he likely is paying and while Leo is now mortal, he officially doesn't have a social security number, bank account, he can't even hold a job since he well died over fifty years ago. It would be in Joyce's best interest till Buffy graduates from High School not to say anything."
"Yeah, I know. I was thinking the same thing," Paige said. "Well I got to get to Sunnydale."
"Have a good day," Piper and Phoebe said as Paige orbed out.
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Paige smiled as she looked at Buffy standing in front of her and Giles in her old Hemery High cheerleading outfit
"This is madness," Giles said as he too looked at Buffy.
"You don't like the color," Buffy said. She looked to Paige and wondered what Paige thought of her in the uniform as she began to picture Paige taking it off her. She mentally shook her head to dislodge the thought.
"I what? I don't—Buffy, do you ignore everything I say? As a rule?" Giles wondered.
Buffy smiled. "No, I believe that's your trick. I told you I'm going out for the cheerleading squad."
"You have a sacred birthright, Buffy. You have been chosen to destroy vampires, demons and the forces of darkness, not wave pom-poms at people. As the Watcher, I forbid it."
"And you will stop her how?" Paige asked as she glanced at Giles.
Giles glared at Paige and shook his head. "I take it this was your idea, Paige?"
"One thing my being a witch has taught me," Paige said. "Is that it helps to have normal things outside of your calling, your destiny. If you can't live a normal life, or at least a semblance of a normal life, than what are you fighting for? I want Buffy to live to be eighty, ninety, even a hundred years old. But she won't escape her teens if she doesn't start living now."
Giles let out a sigh.
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CHEERLEADING TRYOUTS the sign read as Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Cordelia and Xander walked through the doors of the gym.
"Giles didn't approve, huh?" Willow asked.
Buffy shook his head. "He totally lost his water. We haven't even seen a vampire or a demon in a week. I'd say he should get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old. Now Paige, she's one hundred percent behind me. Gave Giles this speech about how I needed normal stuff to remind me what I had to live for. What I was saving the world for nightly."
"People scoff at things like school spirit," Xander said, "but when you see these young women giving their all like this ..." he noticed Amber spread eagle with her feet on two chairs. "... Oooh, stretchy. Where was I?"
Cordelia frowned as she lifted a hand to Xander's chin and gently turned his face toward her. "Remember you're with me now."
Xander smiled at Cordelia. He still couldn't believe that by just rescuing Cordelia from Jesse how she wound up seeing him in a whole new light. He just hoped it lasted. "That reminds me," he said as he pulled out an I.D. bracelet and handed it to Cordelia. "Here's a little good luck thing for the tryouts ..."
"What is this?" Cordelia asked as a smile graced her lips.
"What is that?" Willow wondered.
Cordelia looked down at the bracelet and read what it said. "This is so sweet! Yours always..."
"That was on there when I got it. Really. They all said that," Xander said.
Cordelia shook her head. "Yeah, if that makes you feel better, sure." She turned and watched Amber stand on one leg and hold the other straight up in the air and shook her head. "Just look at Amber. Who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?"
"I heard she turned them down," Dawn said.
Three cheerleaders walked up to the table and sat down as everyone waited. "Let's begin with ..." one of them said, "Amber Grove. If you're not auditioning move off the floor."
Dawn, Xander, Willow, Buffy and Cordelia all moved back off the floor.
"Hi Amy," Willow said spotting one of her old childhood friends.
"Hi," Amy replied.
"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader. You lost a lot of weight," Willow said.
Amy nodded. "Had to."
"Do you know Buffy and Dawn?" Willow asked as she motioned toward the sisters.
"Hi," Amy said as she looked toward the sisters. "Oh how I hate this, let me count the ways."
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Paige sighed as Giles shook his head looking at her. "Paige," he said. "I understand needing to have a normal life. But Buffy will never have it. You should understand that better than anyone. Being a Charmed One and half-witch, half-Whitelighter. Buffy herself will likely never live past her eighteenth birthday."
"What I understand is this, giving and giving till there is nothing left. Such as losing family to a demon. My eldest sister, Prue, died days before I was reunited with my birth family. You should have seen Piper afterwards, she was so angry. She nearly became a Fury. Buffy yes needs to keep things in perspective when it comes to her calling, her destiny. But she also needs as I already said, something outside of slaying. A reminder of what she is saving the world for. For me, my reminder has been my sisters, my brother-in-law, my nephews. I look back at what happened to Joyce. She was best friends with my birth mother and when my birth mother died. Joyce bound Buffy, Dawn and her own powers, because she couldn't handle it anymore. She didn't want her daughters to have to go through what she had. That was wrong; she should have trained them in the use of their powers. What I'm trying to say is that yes there will always be things that need her attention as either a Slayer or as a witch or even as a Whitelighter. But if she is to live past her eighteenth birthday, she needs things to ground her also, things to live for."
Giles let out a sigh. "I do understand where you are going. But this is a crucial time for Buffy."
"I'm not saying," Paige said, "we stop training her or she stops patrolling. Vampires and demons will always exist. For everyone Buffy vanquishes another vampire will rise somewhere in the world. We will train her to be prepared for her destiny. But what does she do once her destiny has been realized?"
"Again I do see your point," Giles said. "But I don't have an answer for that. Right now I say let's take it one day at a time. If she makes it onto the cheerleading squad let's use that as a test. See if she can balance having normal activities, a normal life, with her duties as the Slayer, as a witch."
"Fair enough," Paige said, "but if she can balance it."
"Then I would be more than willing to let her have some freedoms outside of her calling."
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As everyone watched they saw smoke beginning to emanate from Amber's pom-poms.
"What the ...?" Buffy asked.
"That girl's on fire," Willow said.
"Enough with the hyperbole," Cordelia said, she had her back turned to Amber and didn't see the smoke.
Amber dropped the pom-poms as everyone noticed the smoke was coming from her. And then suddenly her hands and forearms burst into flames! And then she screamed.
Buffy vaulted to a large Razorbacks banner hung on the wall of the gym and tore it down before turning and tackling Amber. As she wrapped Amber in the banner and began to smother the flames she gasped out as images flooded her mind.
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"I've been slaying Vampires for more than a year now," Buffy said when they had rejoined Paige and Giles in the library. "I've seen some pretty cringeworthy stuff, but nobody's hands ever got toasted."
"I imagine not," Giles said.
"So this is not a vampire problem," Buffy said.
Paige shook her head. "Sounds like one of two possible explanations," she said. "One spontaneous combustion and two a witch, a dark witch at that."
"Spontaneous human combustion is rare, and scientifically unexplainable," Giles explained. "But there've been cases reported for hundreds of years. Usually all that's left is a pile of ashes."
"Which is why I mentioned witch," Paige said. "Buffy would never had the chance to save Amber as she would have gone up too fast."
"We still need to rule it out though," Buffy said, she hesitated to even mention the images she had seen when she had touched Amber. What did they mean? "Any common denominator in cases of spontaneous combustion?"
"Rage. In most cases the person who combusted was terribly angry or upset," Giles stated.
"So Paige could be correct," Cordelia said. "What if Amber is a witch like Buffy with the power to set herself be on fire."
"It's possible," Paige said.
"So I should get the skinny on Amber. See if she's had any colorful episodes before," Buffy said.
Willow smiled. "That means hacking illegally into the school's computer system – at last something I can do," she said as she moved to a computer.
"I'll ask around about her," Xander said.
"Guys, you don't have to get involved," Dawn told them.
"What do you mean? We're a team!" Xander told her. "Aren't we a team?"
Willow nodded. "Yeah, Buffy's the Slayer and we're like the slayerettes."
"I don't want you putting yourselves in danger," Buffy said.
Xander thought about a witty comeback, but then he glanced at Cordelia. She thought of him as her knight in shining armor. The witty comeback would just make her have doubts. And she was the first girl that had even shown an interest in him, besides Willow. But Willow he considered to be a sister.
"Buffy," Paige said. "You remember what I said to you a couple days ago about the Cleaners erasing memories?"
"And how they hadn't erased Willow and Xander's? That they may have a part in mine and Dawn's destinies?" Buffy asked as she sighed. She looked at her friends. "I'm glad you guys want to help. We can use all the help we can get." She looked to Giles and Paige. "What if we find out Amber didn't cause this herself?"
"Then we determine who the witch is that did," Paige said. "And deal with her accordingly."
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That evening Paige sat with her sisters in the living room. "You believe she wasn't telling you something?" Piper asked.
Paige nodded. "It was like she was holding something back. Something happened I think during the cheerleading tryouts other than the girl catching on fire. Something that shocked her."
"Could it be possible," Phoebe said, "that Buffy is the witch you and she are after?"
"That she set Amber ablaze," Paige said. "I can't believe she would do that intentionally."
"What if she didn't," Piper said. "If she is a firestarter ... Remember Tyler? He couldn't control his power at first either. Set fire to our own couch."
Paige sighed. "It's possible. I'll go talk to her." She orbed out.
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Crates were strewn about the kitchen of the Summers home as Joyce opened them with a crowbar. She checked her inventory to make sure each artifact that the crate contained was there.
"Hey, Mom," Buffy and Dawn said as they dropped their schoolbooks on the table.
"Hi. How was school?" Joyce asked.
"A reverent joy. What's all this?" Buffy asked as she looked at their cluttered kitchen.
"It's for the tribal art display," Joyce said as Dawn picked up a statue and looked at it.
"Cool," the sisters said.
Buffy and Dawn sat at the table and watched their mother, who had yet to look up at them.
"We had tryouts today," Buffy said.
"Great! How'd it go?" Joyce asked.
"Buffy didn't actually get to try out," Dawn said. "There was an accident."
"Pretty fierce competition, though," Buffy added.
"I know you'll do fine. Keep on plugging. Just have to get back on the horse," Joyce said as tried to pry open a crate.
"Mom?" Buffy said.
Joyce finally looked up. "Yeah?"
"What was I trying out for?" Buffy asked.
"Um ... some activity?" Joyce said clearly stumped. "I have no idea, I'm sorry."
Buffy smiled. "That's okay. Your platitudes are good for all occasions."
"I'm distracted," Joyce said. "I've got a lot of inventory to go through here. This is the gallery's first major show." She looked to her daughters. "Buffy, would you mind?"
"Would it be considered personal gain?" Buffy asked.
"Maybe a little," Joyce said. "But how else are you going to learn to control your Whitelighter powers if you don't practice them?"
Buffy nodded and held out her hand. "Lid," she called out and the lid of the crate orbed off the crate and into her hand. She gently set it onto the table next to the crate.
"That's very good, Buffy," Dawn said. "I wish I could do that."
"It was cheerleading tryouts," Buffy said.
"Oh! Good. I'm glad you're taking that up again," Joyce said just as Paige orbed in. "Paige?"
"I have to ask Buffy something," Paige said. "When Amber caught on fire. Were you doing anything in particular?"
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked. "Buffy was standing beside me."
"Piper and Phoebe had a thought that it might possible that you are a firestarter," Paige said as Joyce held a hand to her face in shock.
"Mom?" Buffy and Dawn said.
"Firestarters are very rare witches," Joyce said. "Traditionally they were used to guard the Source."
"Which is no longer the case since Piper, Phoebe and I vanquished the Source," Paige told them. "Buffy were you angry at Amber?"
"No," Buffy said. "Why would I be?"
"I don't know," Paige said with a sigh. "But a new power …"
"But we haven't discovered what my witch power is yet," Buffy said.
"Well was there anything unusual that happened during that time?" Paige asked.
"Well, I had a Slayer dream while awake," Buffy said.
"A Slayer dream?" Paige asked.
"Merrick told Buffy when she told him she had dreams, mostly of past vampires that had gone up against Lothos," Dawn said, "that they were Slayer dreams that every Slayer gets them."
"I wonder," Paige said. "I'll be right back." She then orbed out and into Giles apartment. "Rupert."
Giles startled looked up from the book he was reading. "Paige, what brings you by?"
"Do Slayers get prophetic dreams of either the past or the future?"
"Not that I'm aware of, why?" Giles replied.
"Dawn said that Buffy got what was called Slayer dreams," Paige explained. "That Merrick had told them that every Slayer got them."
"And these dreams are prophetic in nature?" Giles asked.
Paige nodded as she sat down. "That's right."
"I would hazard to guess we may have discovered what Buffy's power is."
"You think she has the power of premonition?" Paige asked. "But how did she have these so called prophetic dreams before her powers were unbound."
"When Buffy became the Slayer, whatever makes her a Slayer may have found a way around the spell that had bound her powers," Giles theorized.
"If that is true you may be right," Paige said. "And Buffy had a premonition when she touched Amber today."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because she said she had a slayer dream while awake during the tryouts."
"Did she seem a little hesitant to you when we were talking about this girl, Amber?" Giles asked.
"That's what got me coming back to Sunnydale tonight," Paige said. "I was talking to my sisters, they thought Buffy might have been a firestarter, that she had accidentally used her power on Amber. Then when I talked to Buffy and Dawn she revealed the information that she had one of these so called Slayer dreams."
"You should go back and ask Buffy about this premonition," Giles suggested. "It may lead us to the culprit of the attack."
"Agreed," Paige said as she orbed out. She orbed back into the kitchen to find her charges were not there. She found them in the living room. "I think we know what Buffy's power is. And she has had it since she was called as a Slayer."
"What are you talking about?" Joyce wondered. "Buffy's powers as well as mine and Dawn's were bound remember?"
"Rupert theorized that whatever made Buffy a Slayer found a loophole in your binding spell. It gave her in the form of a dream her power of Premonition," Paige said as she looked at the sisters. "Rupert told me there is no such thing as Slayer dreams, that Merrick may have, well not lied because he didn't know the truth, but told you the only plausible explanation he could come with. That the Slayer had given you these dreams."
"So that's what my power is, premonition?" Buffy asked.
"Yes," Paige said. "You can see the future and on rare occasions the past. Just like when you faced Lothos. Buffy, I have to ask, what it is you saw?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Buffy said. "I saw a person, maybe a girl, but I couldn't tell for sure. The girl wore a black cloak with the hood up, and she was casting a spell of some sort. I didn't hear the actual words."
"It sounds like it might be a witch," Joyce said. "Someone who wanted protect herself from Buffy's power or another witch who had the power of premonition. So she hid what she looked like to be on the safe side."
Author's Note: I had debated giving Buffy another power, an active power instead of a passive power. But when it came to the episode The Witch I knew with Buffy and Dawn being witches that alone would change things. For one Giles' test to detect a witch. There was never a mention in Charmed of a way to test to see if someone was a witch, doesn't mean there wasn't one either of course. So how would I work around that issue, then I thought about the Slayer dreams, which Buffy had in the early seasons (in later seasons they pretty much disappear) and I thought I'd use my explanation that I used in Another Halliwell where the Slayer Dreams are actually her Premonition power acting while she was asleep. This gets Buffy the information she needs to find out Amy is the witch later in this arc.
