A Fresh Start

by jeo492

A happy-ending story, with all our favorite characters plus one. Buffy is depressed, Dawn isn’t good at math, and a new resident has some odd abilities.

Title:  A Fresh Start

Author:  Jeo492

Rating:  PG-13 (I wouldn't want my nieces to read it)

Disclaimer:  The characters and setting do not belong to me, only the story.

Summary:  A happy-ending story, with all our favorite characters plus one.  Buffy is depressed, Dawn isn't good at math, and a new resident has some odd abilities.

Author's Notes:  This takes place after "The Gift."  Thank you to MAO and TLM for their technical and grammatical expertise that was essential for my first Buffy fan fiction.  Constructive criticism is not only welcomed, but also encouraged.

            Dawn sat alone, watching a rerun of "Friends".  Her sister, Buffy, was out killing off bad guys in the seemingly happy town of Sunnydale, California.  It had been two months since the battle with Glory, in which Buffy had been killed.  Fortunately, Willow and Tara were able to bring her back to life, using some spell Dawn could never hope to understand.

            She sighed.  Buffy was alive, technically, but she did not show the life and happiness once present.  She lived her life like she was some robot, methodically taking care of Dawn and the house during the day, and slaying vampires at night.  Rarely did she smile, and when she did, it would leave her face too quickly to be replaced by a look of guilt.  It was as if she was afraid her happiness would keep her from doing her job of taking care of her sister and protecting the world from evil.

            The door opened, and her tired looking sister came in.  "Hey, why are you still up?" she asked.

            "I couldn't sleep."

            "You know you don't have to wait up for me.  You should get more sleep, it will help you at school."

            Always concerned with Dawn, never herself.  "What about you?  Don't you need more sleep, Buffy?"

            Buffy walked over and hugged her younger sister.  "You know, for being a brat, you can be pretty nice sometimes."  Dawn noticed her sister sidestepping the question.  "Come on, let's go to bed."

            Dawn nodded, and followed Buffy up the stairs.  She lay down in her bed, and tried to not think about all the things that had gone wrong in the past year.  Things had to get better.  They were improving already.  All she really wanted now was for her sister to go back to normal.

            Dawn watched as Anya paced the room, stopping every few seconds to stare at the door.  The Magic Shop hadn't seen any customers since Dawn's arrival after school, and she could tell this was upsetting Anya.  "You know, a watched pot never boils."

            "Great.  What is that supposed to mean?"  Anya stopped walking, thinking about it.  "Of course it would boil, eventually."

            Dawn laughed at Anya's literalism.  "No, it means that nobody is going to come through those doors as long as you're staring at them."

            "You people and your sayings."  Anya turned away from the door and faced Dawn.  "They aren't ever true."

            Of course, just as soon as she'd stopped looking at the door, someone walked in.  It was a young woman, and she looked very lost.

            "Hi, welcome to the Magic Shop!  You should buy something."  Anya obviously did not catch the lost look.  Dawn made a mental note to remind her that not everyone entering the store would want to spend lots of cash.

            "What is this place?" the confused woman asked.

            "This is the Magic Shop," Anya repeated.  "We have all sorts of nifty things to rid yourself of demons and so forth.  That hammer over there," she pointed to the hammer Buffy had used to beat Glory, "was built by Gods and can be used against them!  Are you a witch?  We have lots of nice things for witches!"  Someone was going to have to cut Anya off the caffeine.

            "I'm not actually here to buy something.  My apartment isn't ready for me to move into yet, and I was just walking around town."

            "You should be careful just walking around town," Anya said.  "It gets dangerous here at night."

            "I'll keep that in mind."  The woman glanced around the store, not seeming to be very interested in the merchandise.  Her eyes did stop on Dawn, however.  Actually, it was the dry erase marker board Dawn was using to do her math problems that seemed to catch her attention.  "Algebra?" she asked.

            Dawn looked back at the board, and then the stranger, and nodded her head.  "It's not going so well."

            Anya looked annoyed her customer had stopped paying attention to her.  "Excuse me, the board isn't for sale.  However, all this stuff over here is."  She pointed towards the shelves.  She started walking backwards, like a tour guide, explaining all the different items.  The woman followed, looking amused.  Dawn tried not to laugh.

            As Anya rounded the corner around one of the shelves, her foot got caught on an extension cord, and she went flailing backwards into a shelf.  Most of the contents of the shelf, including the God smashing hammer, started to fall out onto the now prone saleswoman.  Dawn gasped as she saw the hammer falling towards Anya's head.  It would surely kill her.

            Just a few centimeters above Anya's head, the hammer stopped.  The customer had caught the extraordinarily heavy hammer with just one hand.  She placed it back on the shelf, and helped Anya to her feet.

            "Wow," Anya said.

            Dawn asked, "Who are you?"

            "Uh, my name is Sandy."  Sandy now had a very concerned look on her face.  "I bet my apartment is done by now.  It was nice talking with you."  She all but ran out of the store.

            "That was odd," Anya said.

            Dawn agreed.  Out of their group of friends, only Buffy was strong enough to lift that hammer.  She stared at the door for a few minutes, wondering what kind of person would be able to do that.  Finding no answers, she returned to her math.

            "Hey, wake up, Dawn."  It was her sister.  She must have fell asleep while she was working.  She lifted her head enough to see Buffy, and then laid it back down.

            "I told you that you needed more sleep.  Let's get you home."

            Dawn stood up and packed her things, then followed Buffy out of the store and back to their house.  She thought about telling her sister about Sandy and the hammer, but decided her sister would probably make a big deal about it.  There was no need to give her anything else to stress about, so Dawn silently went to bed.

           

            Days passed, and Dawn continued to worry about Buffy.  Willow kept assuring her that time would make it better, but it had been two months already, and she was showing no sign of improvement on the happiness front.

            Dawn's attendance at school had improved, but she couldn't understand math, no matter how hard she tried.  After several failed attempts of meeting with her teacher and various tutors, Buffy announced to her she'd gone to the University and found a math major who was volunteering her time to help younger kids.

            "I think you'll really like her," Buffy said.

            Dawn frowned.  "Why would I like someone who understands math?  They must speak another language."

            "She speaks English, just like you.  You'll like her because she's always telling jokes and stories.  She seems really friendly."

            Dawn sighed.  She didn't want to meet her new tutor, but she needed to improve in math.  People kept saying that it was important, but she could find very few uses for it so far.

            The next day, Dawn walked to the library on the University campus and found the room where she was supposed to meet her tutor.  Buffy, in her excitement about helping her sister, had neglected to inform Dawn of her name.  She went in, and found that the tutor had not arrived.  "Great," she said, throwing her books on the table.  "I hope whoever this nerd is isn't late."

            "I'm not a nerd," said a voice behind her.  "I'm just socially challenged."

            Dawn turned around to see her tutor, Sandy.  Sandy obviously recognized her, and smiled.

            "So, whatcha learning, kid?"

            "Nothing.  I can't do any of this stuff."  She opened her book to the section her class was on, and let Sandy take a look.

            "Ooh.  Fundamental Theorem of Algebra.  That's always fun.  They've got one for Calculus as well, but we won't need to worry about that one for awhile."

            "I can't wait."  Dawn sat down at the desk, prepared to be very bored.

            Sandy went to the dry erase board and proceeded to spend the next two hours explaining the past few sections to Dawn.  Dawn hardly noticed the time going by though, as she was having a lot of fun.  Buffy was right about Sandy, she was full of jokes and funny stories, and related them to almost everything.

            Looking at her watch, Sandy said, "Well, it looks like the two hours are up.  Any other questions?"

            "Where do you get all your stories?"

            "Oh, just around.  It's amazing what you can read on the internet."  She grinned.

            "How'd you end up in Sunnydale?"

            "Well, I am from LA, and a friend told me about the math department down here."  She shifted uncomfortably.  "Anyway, you should get going."

            Dawn wondered about Sandy as she left the library.  Why would anyone come to Sunnydale for math?  The department isn't well known. 

            She went home and told Buffy all about her day, leaving anything odd about Sandy out of the picture.

            "I'm glad you like Sandy," Buffy said.  "She's meeting us at the Bronze tonight.  Turns out the poor girl didn't even know the town had any sort of hang out.  Willow had some serious issues convincing her to come, but we think she'll have a good time."

            Dawn wondered how many "issues" Willow had convincing Buffy to go, but decided not to ask.  She was just happy her sister was going to go out.

           

            For the next three weeks, Dawn met with Sandy every other day for a few hours to study math.  Her grades were already showing improvement, and she felt she now understood what she was doing.  Sandy, Buffy, and the gang, were regularly going out to parties and having a good time.  Dawn was enthralled to see her sister on an upswing.

            She was concerned about Sandy, though.  Buffy hadn't mentioned to the funny, yet shy, girl anything about her extracurricular hobby of killing bad guys.  So far, everyone Buffy had befriended either ended up fighting the baddies with her, or getting killed by one.  Dawn doubted Sandy could fight.  She was really strong, but was extremely uncoordinated, which put her in the category of "Buffy's soon to be dead friend."  Dawn tried not to think too much about it.

            While Dawn was using the restroom just before a tutoring session with Sandy, she saw that she was bleeding.  Initially panicked, she calmed herself and realized she had just started her period.  She remembered reading about it when she was younger, and was not happy to have started it now.

            Dawn rushed into the study room, and said, "Sandy, I think I started my period."  She was trying to act as calm as an adult would, even though she was terribly embarrassed.

            "Whoa.  Um, we should call your sister."

            "We can't tell Buffy!"  Dawn knew Buffy was out on patrol by now, and had better things to do than deal with Dawn's entrance to womanhood.

            "No, this is definitely a sister thing," Sandy said.  Dawn realized Sandy was now more panicked than she was.  "Definitely a sister thing."

            Dawn watched as Sandy started packing up both of their backpacks.  "What are you doing?"

            "We've got to go find your sister."  She finished zipping up the bags.  "Where is she?"

            This was going to be a mess.  Buffy was probably in some cemetery.  Dawn tried to think of a plan.  "Um, could you maybe run to the store and get whatever stuff I need to deal with this?  I'll call Buffy and have her meet us at the Magic Shop."  Good plan.  She could call Buffy on her cell phone, they could meet at the Magic Shop, and Dawn could explain to Buffy before Sandy got there.  If all worked out well, Buffy wouldn't look very Slayerish when Sandy arrived.

            "Sure, okay," Sandy responded.

            Dawn took both their bags, and headed outside to use a payphone.  Sandy left for the store.  Dawn dialed Buffy, but didn't get any answer.  She ran to the Magic Shop.

            Bursting through the door, she saw Giles.  "Where's Buffy?"  She stopped, and leaned over to catch her breath.

            "Dawn!  All you alright?"  He ran over to her.  "Oh my God, you're bleeding!"  She realized it must be showing on her jeans.  He continued, "Were you attacked?  Nevermind, don't answer, it'll be okay, I'll call Buffy!"

            Dawn tried to speak, to tell him she was alright, to tell him it was her period, but he kept telling her to lie down and try to be calm.  He ran to the phone and called Buffy.  Of course, she did answer when he called.  He told her that Dawn was bleeding, she must have been attacked.

            Dawn was trying to talk to him, but Anya had appeared out of the back room, and was now screaming.  Dawn tried talking to her, but Anya kept pointing to the blood, and screaming,  "Why would anyone attack such a little girl?"  This wasn't working out well, Dawn decided.

            Soon, Spike, Xander, Willow, Tara, and Buffy arrived.  Buffy, obviously thinking her sister was in danger, had called the gang together.  They walked into the shop, and saw Dawn on the floor, bleeding.  Dawn again tried to speak up, and tell them what was going on, but was cut off by Bufffy. 

            "I'll kill them!  Who did this to you?"  She grabbed a massive ax that was on the wall.  "Where are they?"

            "I was in the library, getting ready to study with Sandy, and…"

            "Where's Sandy?  Did they do anything to her?  Did she do this to you?"  Buffy was enraged, and Dawn knew this wasn't going to work out well.

            In the middle of Buffy's tirade, Sandy walked in with four paper bags.  She was holding them up in front of her face, and it was unlikely she could see what was going on.  Cheerfully, she announced, "Hey, Dawn, I got the goods."  She peered over the sacks to see the faces of the gang and one very upset Buffy with an ax.

            "What the hell happened to my sister?"  Buffy demanded.

            Dawn watched, with horror, as the terrified Sandy dropped all four sacks to the floor.  All four sacks were filled with various sizes and types of pads and tampons, which quickly fell out onto the ground, for everyone to see.  Apparently, Sandy wanted to ensure Dawn had everything she might possibly need to deal with this new event.

            The room fell silent as the group took in the scene.  Sandy looked exceptionally relieved when Buffy sat the ax on the floor.  The rest of the gang didn't say anything, but it was apparent to Dawn they had figured out why she was bleeding.

            She was grateful when Sandy tried to cover for her.  "I, uh, it's that time of the month, and I, uh…"

            "Am a really heavy bleeder?"  Spike said.

            "Spike!"  Buffy was trying to defend her sister, Dawn could tell.  Unfortunately, after Buffy had determined her sister was no longer in danger, she had determined the situation was funny.  Immediately after berating Spike, Buffy erupted into laughter.  Soon, all the others, minus Sandy, in the room were laughing, and Dawn just wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

            She looked over at Sandy, who was not laughing.  "Uh, guys, I hate to interrupt, but Buffy, do you attack all customers with that thing?"  She pointed to the ax.

            The embarrassment Dawn was feeling almost faded when she saw the others stop laughing.  Now, Dawn tried not to smile as she watched her sister's anxiety grow.  How would she deal with this one?

            Fortunately for Buffy, she didn't have to answer.  Before she could get anything out, Spike said, "She's very protective of the little nibblet."  He smiled.  "It's getting late, why don't I walk you home."

            Oh good, Dawn thought.  Spike has another cute little crush.  At least this one didn't know he was a vampire.  He might stand a better chance than with Buffy, at least until Sandy wanted to go out with him during the day.

            "Um, okay," Sandy said.  She glanced around the room one more time, never making eye contact with Buffy, and then followed Spike out.

            Dawn, realizing she was going to be the center of their attention again, grabbed one of the half-emptied bags of supplies, and walked out the door.  Buffy followed her, and the two walked home without talking.   Dawn was sure she heard Buffy stifle a laugh.

            Dawn recovered from the embarrassment she had felt within a few weeks.  She was watching TV one night when Buffy came in.

            "Hey, do you want to spend the night at Sandy's?"  Sandy did finally start speaking to Buffy a few days after the incident, after Buffy said she was sorry several times and thanked Sandy for helping Dawn.

            "Why, do you have a guy coming over or something?"

            "No, I do not have a guy coming over."

            "A girl?"  Dawn snickered.
            "No!  Dawn, nobody is coming over.  Listen, we found a building with a lot of vampires in it, and I'll be out late taking them out.  You two seem to get along."

            "Okay, okay.  I'll go over there.  Let me get some stuff together."  Dawn went upstairs, packed some stuff, and then went with Buffy over to Sandy's.

            Sandy had a two-bedroom apartment in the middle of town.  Dawn immediately noticed it was sparsely decorated, very clean, and it looked like the queen of organization had been through.

            "Hey, kiddo," she said to Dawn.  "So, Buffy, who's the hot guy, and when do I get to meet him?"

            Buffy smiled.  "Thanks for keeping Dawn."

            "Oh, I know.  She's such a trouble maker."  Buffy walked towards the door.  Sandy said, "See if he has a brother, okay?  Or even a cute friend."

            Apparently, Buffy still hadn't explained the whole slayer thing and was using the date as an excuse.  Dawn put her stuff down, received the "official tour," and sat down to spend the evening watching TV with Sandy.

            Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Buffy was leading the charge against several vampires.  Spike, now a regular part of the gang, was taking out almost as many as the Slayer was.  Xander and Anya were making slow progress, and stayed on the outside of the fight.  Willow and Tara were using this time to leisurely practice the art of throwing fireballs.  Within moments, the vampire party was reduced to its two leaders, who stood in the middle of the room.

            Buffy approached them, stake in hand.  The taller one said, "Its surprising to see you here slayer, when you have a Galtan soldier to worry about."

            "What are you talking about?" she asked.

            "We just figured you'd have better things to do, with such a powerful demon to contend with," He paused.  "Or did you not know?"

            "You'll never find out, will you?"  She slammed the stake into his heart, while at the same time kicking the other square in the chest.  The other fell backwards, right into a stake Xander was protectively holding in front of him.  "Good job, Xander," she said.  "Back to the Magic Shop; lets find this demon they were taking about.

            At the Magic Shop, Xander and Anya set themselves to the task of researching the "Galtan Soldiers," while Tara and Willow were looking up spells they might use to find the demon, and to fight it.

            An hour later, Xander and Anya appeared.  After responding to a few guesses from Spike as to what took them so long, the two started their report on the Galtan Society.

            "The Galtan Society is a group of demons, whose goals include helping other bad guys out, and fighting with the Turlars, which we'll get to later.  They have a big thing with keeping themselves hidden from humanity.  That," Anya put special emphasis on this statement, "is why we were so long.  We had to email Angel up in LA for information, since its so hard to find." 

Xander continued, "The demons are separated into classes by their abilities.  A select few are chosen to serve as their leaders.  Others, including any of the females they don't kill at birth, work in various offices and organizational units.  The strongest and brightest demons are trained as soldiers.  These soldiers travel the world in search of any Turlars that they may encounter."

"Okay," Buffy said, "Who are the Turlars?"

Anya said, "I told you, we'll get there.  Anyway, these soldiers are really lethal, and really bad news.  Angel couldn't figure out why anyone like those vampires would still be alive if they knew who this demon was."

"To answer your question, the Turlars are the humans who follow the belief they were sent here by God to destroy the Galtans," Xander said.

"Why do they think that?" asked Spike.

"Well," Anya said, "they are the only humans known to have been born at birth with the ability to destroy things with their minds.  Kinda like the Jedi in Star Wars, only not following the no emotion clause."

"Great," Buffy said.  "Any idea why this Galtan might be here in Sunnydale, if there is one?"

"Probably to kill things," Anya said.

"Glad you're here to clear these things up," Spike said.  "I don't know what we'd do without you."

"Shut up, Spike," Xander said.

Buffy rolled her eyes.  "Okay, so anyway, Willow and Tara?  Ideas?"

Tara said, "Um, we could maybe do some spell to find out where this demon is, now that we know what it is."  Willow nodded, and they started reading their spell books again.  Just a few minutes later, the two were chanting away at a spell.

When they were done, Willow said, "Buffy, we've got good news and bad news.  Good news is we found it.  Bad news is its really close to Sandy's apartment."

"Dawn."  Buffy ran out of the store, grabbing the ax as she went.  The others followed her, and they all ran towards Sandy's apartment.

"So, what do you want to watch now?" Sandy asked Dawn. 

They had just finished watching "Dawson's Creek."  Dawn could tell Sandy didn't really care for it, and decided to not point out that another "Dawson's" was on the next hour on a different station.  "I don't know.  Let's flip through the channels."

Then the door was kicked in.  Buffy practically ran in, ax in hand.  "There's a demon around here.  We need to find him."

"What is it with you and axes?" asked Sandy.

The rest of the gang now flooded into Sandy's apartment.  "Hi, Sandy," Willow said.

"Uh, hi.  So what's with you all, anyway?"

Buffy sighed.  "No point in hiding it from you.  I'm a vampire slayer, Spike is a vampire who is helping us, and Tara and Willow are witches.  There's a demon, probably here, and I need to kill it."

"Vampire Slayer?" Sandy repeated.  Her face was white.

"Yeah.  I kill bad guys.  It's alright," Buffy said.  "So, the demon, you seen one?"

Sandy suddenly ran at the window.  She jumped right threw it, and fell to the ground a few feet below.  Dawn watched as Sandy ran down the street, never looking back.

"I don't think she likes us," Spike said.

"Yeah," Willow agreed.  "Must be too much for her."

"Okay, find the demon, guys," Buffy said.

Spike started looking around the apartment, and Willow and Tara started up their spell again.  Dawn watched as Spike started digging through Sandy's desk.

"Spike!"

"Sorry."

"The demon is gone," Willow said.  "Its over in the direction Sandy went."

"It must be after her.  Spike, stay here with Dawn," Buffy said.  She led the rest out the door.

"So, nibblet, what did you two girls do tonight?" Spike asked, and threw himself down on the sofa and started flipping through the channels.

Dawn started to walk around the room, nervous about her friend and her sister.  She started looking at the few posters and decorations Sandy did have out.  She had a poster from someplace in England and another from a concert in LA.  She had some cute little dragon ornaments out on her desk.  Dawn reached for one, and accidentally knocked off a folded letter sitting on the edge.  She picked it up, and didn't pay much attention to it as she put it back on the desk, but the signature caught her eye.  It was signed by someone named Angel!

            "Dawn, weren't you telling me not to go through her desk?"  Spike said, as he grabbed the letter, and unfolded it.  "Araia, I think they've found you were here.   Its time to leave.  There's another school in the California system that you can go to in Sunnydale.  They'll accept your credit there, and I think you'll blend in more down there."  Dawn saw him scanning to the bottom of the page.  He noticed the signature, and looked up at her.

            "Yeah.  That's strange," Dawn said.

            Spike nodded, then continued.  "I wanted to let you know before you left what we found out.  You are the child of a Turlar noblewoman and a Galtan soldier, one of their best.  That explains your strength and your intelligence.  The Turlars raised you.  Fearing you would become a demon, like your father, they did not teach you their ways, which is why you never learned how to fight or use the mental abilities we are sure you have.  At the age of twelve, they sent you from their palace after erasing most of your memories.  Galtan soldiers have been on the lookout ever since.  They killed your parents, and will kill you if they find you, and I think they have."  Spike paused, and looked at Dawn.  Dawn now understood why Sandy was able to catch that hammer.

            Spike went on.  "Sunnydale is filled with many odd types.  Just stay low, and try not to go out at night.  Thank you for trusting me enough to let me help you.  I know its been hard.  I'm sure you'll find friends there you can count on.  Angel." 

            Spike put the letter back down, and Dawn thought about Sandy.  Or Araia, now.  A thought came to her.  "Spike, if Buffy finds out that Sandy is a demon, she'll probably kill her without letting her explain."

            "Bloody hell.  Let's go, nibblet."  Spike stood.  "'Bout time the other Summers saved somebody's life."  Spike and Dawn now raced out the door and down the street where their demon friend had run, hoping they'd find her before Buffy did.

            After a few blocks of running, without any sight of their friend, Buffy stopped the group.  "Let's split up.  Xander and Anya, you go that way," she said, pointing one direction.  "Willow and Tara, you go that way," she pointed in the other direction.  "I'll keep going this way, and hopefully one of us will find her.  Bring her back to this spot when you find her, since its pretty populated.  Hopefully whatever is chasing her won't want to be seen here."

            The group took off in their directions.  It didn't take long for Buffy to find the dark alley where Sandy was hiding.  She looked down, and saw two vampires starting to feed on her friend.  She ran down the alley towards them, but knew it was too late.

            Suddenly, the vampires sat up, and spit the blood out.  Buffy watched in disbelief as Sandy's neck healed itself.

            "What the hell?" one of the vamps said.

            The other said, "Must be that demon chick the others talked about.  I think we should…"

            He was cut off when his head was chopped off.  The other quickly suffered the same fate, and now Buffy stood over the demon she was hunting, ax in hand.

            "So you're the Galtan soldier.  What are you doing here?" Buffy asked.

            Sandy, too scared to talk, just started shaking her head.

            "What were you doing with my sister?  Were you going to do something to her?"  Buffy lifted the ax, ideas of this demon threatening her sister the same way Glory did in her mind.

            Finally getting the nerve to speak, Sandy said, "I didn't know you were the Slayer.  I'm not a soldier.  I'm an accident.  I'm sorry.  I wouldn't hurt Dawn."

            Buffy stared down at her.  "Why should I believe you?"

            "She's telling the truth, Slayer," Spike said from behind her.

            "Spike!  What are you doing here?  I told you to take care of Dawn…" Buffy's eyes hit Dawn, and she was now even more furious.  "Why did you bring her here?  Sandy is a demon, and she could kill…"

            "She's not a bad demon, Buffy," Dawn said.  "We found a letter from Angel to her, explaining it all."  She held the note up for Buffy to see.

            "Probably something she just wrote up to fool us.  She tried to trick me.  She didn't even fight the vampires."

            Spike said, "She can't fight, Buffy.  She doesn't know how.  Put the ax down, and read the letter." 

            Buffy looked at the still cowering Sandy, and put the ax on the ground.  "Don't move, or I'll kill you," she warned.  Sandy nodded her head.

            Dawn watched as Buffy read the letter.  It was undoubtedly from Angel, his handwriting was very unique.  Buffy returned the letter to Dawn.

            "Why didn't you tell us?" Buffy asked of Sandy.  "And are you Sandy, or Araia?"

            "My name is Araia.  I go by different names in different towns so I won't be found by anyone who might be following me.  I didn't tell you because I didn't know you were the Slayer.  You can't just tell most people, 'Hey, I'm a demon, its okay,' because they wouldn't understand."

            Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya ran down the alley.   "What's up?" Xander asked.

            Dawn answered.  "Basically, Sandy is a demon named Araia, but we don't need to kill her because she's a good guy.  Long story."

            "Right."

            Buffy helped Araia up.  "Are they still looking for you?"

            Araia said, "Probably.  Hopefully they won't look too hard.  I usually run into one every year or so, so I have a little while longer here before I have to leave."

            "Why can't you stay, even if they do find you?" Dawn asked.  "I bet my sister would help kill any bad demons that came into town."

            Araia smiled.  "Nothing against Buffy, Dawn, but I don't think I want to put her or any of you in that kind of risk if one of these guys shows up."

            Everyone was silent as they walked back to the Magic Shop.  Araia explained everything to the gorup.  "I'm sorry I misled you all," she said, when she was finished.

            "It's okay," Buffy said.  "I think we can understand."

            Willow asked, "So, you're super strong, but just don't know how to fight.  And you've probably got some hidden, powerful mental abilities you can't find by yourself?"  She winked at Buffy, who instantly caught on.

            "Yeah, basically."

            Buffy said, "How about the next time one of these guys shows up, you just kick his butt instead of running away?"

            "What do you mean?"

            "Well, if you've got the demon skills, you'd already be on the same level as him.  Add the Turlar skills, and you'd mop him up," Buffy said.

            "I know somebody who can teach you to beat things," Willow said, pointing at Buffy.

            "And between Willow and Giles, I bet you could find your mental powers too," Buffy said.

            "You all would do that?" asked Araia.

            Buffy smiled.  "Sure.  Any bad guy you kill is one less that I have to."

            Dawn was happy.  Now her friend, Araia, was going to learn how to defend herself.  Buffy was happy again, and would probably be even more happy now that she had someone to train.  Life was going to get back to normal.