So she was in the Hellmouth. Talk about coincidences. It could be a sign, a sign that killing monsters was what she was supposed to do. After all, she had never really wanted to leave, to stop slaying. She had trained so hard... She was never going to have a normal life, she knew that. Still, she had left to give it a try, because she didn't want to disappoint him.
Not slaying disappointed her. It felt like throwing away all the time she had spent preparing for this. She was meant to be doing this!
Maybe, she could stay in Sunnydale for some time, do what she did best, and in a few months... She might go back, see how things were.
He was going to be disappointed if he knew she had just been slaying. He had told her to travel, meet new people, try living away from the constant battles. He didn't understand that that was not what she wanted.
She had to help people. She had to fight evil. She couldn't just sit around and do nothing.
Well, the Hellmouth was the perfect place for her then.
Loud chatter took her out of her reverie. She was near a plot filled with trailers, teens coming out of them, walking around with big bags hanging from their backs. What was that place?
She spotted a young girl, around fourteen, sitting near a thin tree, a notebook open on her lap.
"Uh, sorry to interrupt." Ally approached the girl, whose eyes shot up at hearing her voice. "Uh, sorry. What is this place?" She pointed towards the trailers, making the girl turn her head, looking bored.
"High school." She shrugged, focusing on her schoolwork again.
High school? What kind of town had a high school like that?
"It's just temporary." Ally turned around when she heard another girl talk next to her. She was pale for a California town, big blue eyes looking at Ally, long brown hair similar to hers falling down her back. "The actual high school was blown up, so we have to be here while it's rebuilt." She explained, her baby blues fleeting towards the white blocks that served as classrooms in annoyance.
"Well, that sucks." Ally agreed, getting a tiny smile out of the teen.
"Yeah. So, are you a new student?"
"No, no. I'm just new in town. I don't go to high school anymore. I'm Ally." She held her hand out to the teen, thinking about the fact that once again people thought she looked younger that she really was. Yeah, not by much, she was only eighteen, but still...
"I'm Dawn." The girl smiled up at her, shaking her hand vigorously. "Sorry, I have to go to class. It was nice to meet you, though." She waved her hand happily at Ally, making the eldest girl shoot a smile back and wave.
She liked that kid.
A vampire was thrown over a gravestone, his back crushing against the hard edges before flipping over it. Ally jumped on top of the gravestone, stake in hand, to see the vamp starting to get up. Her chance. She lunged at him, burying the pointy wood in his back, beneath his left shoulder, before he had stood up. The vampire turned to dust underneath her hand, knuckles white from gripping the stake tightly.
"Good fight, pet." She heard, making her lift her eyes to find the bleach blond vampire watching the scene.
"There's still a lot of room for improvement." She shrugged, humbly, noticing he had another paper bag with yet another bottle sticking out of it. It had been almost a week since they last met, at the Bronze, and she had been busy to really go out. She had rented an apartment, moved -which wasn't really that hard since everything she owned was still in her bag or suitcase-, and hadn't gone out to find the evil things lurking around until that night. "What are you doing here with the shopping?" He wouldn't take his groceries when he went patrolling, would he?
"I live here. Well, there." He pointed towards a crypt not far from them, made of grey stone and quite creepy looking.
"Really?" She raised her eyebrows, surprised. Did he really live in the cemetery? In a crypt?
"I'm a vamp, love. What did you expect? I even got a telly, you'll see." His chest puffed and he nodded in the direction of the little 'house', proud of his home.
"Sorry, it's just... I kinda forget you're a vampire sometimes." She tried to hold back a smile, feeling the tug in her lips, but not wanting to offend him.
He glared at her, more like pouted, yet he couldn't really get angry. "Well, don't. I used to be the Big Bad, you know." He stalked towards the entrance and pushed the door open, holding it for her to go in.
"It's hard to really see that when you are such a gentleman." She teased, walking past him and looking around the room. It was a mixture of homely and creepy, what with the tomb and the... well, it was a crypt. Still, the telly, the armchair in front of it and the little fridge on the corner felt welcoming. There was even a blanket on top of the... tomb. Yeah, welcoming. "And they say chivalry is dead."
"Can be evil and a gentleman." He argued, setting his bag down next to the fridge and crouching. She could see bags of blood inside, most probably from some animal, and some cereal on top of the appliance. "Sit down if you want. Turn the telly on. Passions is about to start."
She snorted, making him glare playfully while she did just like he said. Once she sat on the armrest of the chair, he came back with a bottle of whiskey in his hand, offering it to her first.
"No, thanks, I don't really drink alcohol." He sat next to her, legs spread wide.
"Your loss." He shrugged and started drinking straight from the bottle, eyes set on the screen. "So you're done for the night?"
"Guess so. I've been walking around trying to find evil crawlies for a couple hours now." She leaned back, getting more comfortable as the opening music from that cheesy TV show played. "Can I ask you a question?"
"You just did."
She rolled her eyes, catching him glancing at her for a second before taking a gulp of the whisky. "You know what I mean. And you only have to answer if you want to, I won't get offended at anything."
"Like you could make me say anything I didn't want to." He smirked, looking at her with a sense of superiority that made her want to smack him.
"Don't be so sure." She smirked back, then both stared back at the TV. "Can I come here every now and then? I don't really know anyone in this town, and even if I did, with the whole slaying thing... It's a bit difficult to find..."
"Yeah, don't worry. Just knock and don't come too early during the day, my sleeping schedule might be a bit different from yours." He joked although he felt a strange satisfaction at knowing she wanted to spend time with him. "Are you staying then? Taking permanent residence in the Hellmouth?" Tearing his eyes from his favourite show, he looked up at her.
She nodded, hugging her middle area with a relaxed expression. They both had a friend then. Weird mix, a vampire and a wannabe slayer, watching a cheesy TV show in a crypt.
She finally took the time to go for a run during the day, in need of some vigorous exercise to get her mind off negative thoughts. Her life was good right then, she shouldn't dampen her mood by remembering the last few months. Everything turned out right, more or less, and she was in a new town, with a new apartment, a new friend and, overall, a new life. Sure, she missed her old friends, but...
Everything is going to be OK.
Everything is going to be OK.
Everything is going to be OK.
That was her mantra. She kept repeating it, muttering while she ran, trying to replace her old memories with new ones. Like the night with Spike a few days back. They sat, talked a bit, watched TV. It almost felt like they had been friends for a long time.
Her thoughts were brought to a halt, just like her, when she noticed the teen girl walking a few steps ahead of her, backpack on, most likely going back home from high school.
"Dawn?" She called, taking her earbuds out and smiling at the familiar face. The kid immediately smiled back and waited for her to catch up. "I didn't expect to see you. Going home?"
"Yeah, I just got out of school. I thought it was never going to end." Dawn sighed, starting to walk again. "And I have a ton of homework to do."
"It can't be that bad." Ally laughed at the teen, taking slower breaths. "I'm sure there's something you do like about high school." She winked and the girl instantly took the hint.
"Boys." She giggled and blushed lightly,
"See, there's something good." Ally felt very comfortable with the teen. Maybe because she hadn't had teen friends in a while. Hell, years, and it felt good to talk to someone naive. It was refreshing. All her friends had been older than her since she was thirteen.
"You said you don't go to school. Did you drop off or graduate?" The teen crossed the street, the other girl following her, nearing her home.
"Graduate. I actually liked studying. Don't look at me like that." She warned at the look the youngest shot her.
"How old are you?" Dawn frowned, unable to understand how someone can like school, classes, etc. Sure, Willow, but...
"Eighteen. You?"
"Fourteen." The teen suddenly felt intimidated, glancing at her companion from the corner of her eye. "I guess you think I'm just a kid, and all that..." She'd heard that so many times from her sister.
"No, I think you're nice." The other corrected, smiling warmly at the kid. "I don't really know many people here, but you're among my favourites so far."
"Really?" Dawn stopped, holding back a smile, already in front of her house.
"Yeah. See you soon." She waved and started running again, happy to have someone else to build new memories with.
