Disclaimer: I claim no right over the characters from BtVS portrayed in the piece of
fiction. All rights of the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer is reserved by Mutant Enemy,
Sandollar, Kuzui Enterprises and Fox. This piece of fiction is not to be reproduced
anywhere or edited without the express consent of the author as named above.
Warning: This piece of literature contains scenes with violence, strong language and
religious references that may be considered offensive. Parental disgression should be
applied.
Chapter 4: Homecoming.
It was early morning, when a bright red car drove up in front of an old brick apartment
building in a part of Los Angeles. Willow Rosenberg walked up to her new home. She
glanced across the building and whispered to herself: "So this is home. Hi, home".
She walked up to the frontdoor and knocked timidly at the door. Nearly a minute passed
until a deep voice of a man said: "Who is there?".
Willow smiled as she recognized the voice of Angel. "It`s me Willow. Oh, step away
from the door, the sun is up", she answered as she heard the lock slide open. Willow
stepped into the dark hallway and slammed the door behind her.
Angel stepped out of the deep shadows and smiled to the shy girl he had known for
three years now. "I am sorry I can`t help you get your things inside. I could go wake
Xander and Cordelia, but I think it`ll be quite a while before they would be in any mood
to talk". Angel gestured for her to follow him into the room besides the hall. It was the
kitchen.
"A kitchen. From the outside this place looked like an apartment building", Willow
commented as Angel showed her around the shared kitchen.
"It isn`t. I didn`t want any misunderstandings, so I bought the entire place and had it
redecorated. The top floor is a kind of huge living room and gym. Xander and Cordy`s
apartment is on the 1st floor, you get the entire 2nd floor, and I have built a place for me
in the basement. This floor is reserved for some kind of business or the like. I`ve been
thinking about opening a detective agency", Angel smiled.
"I get an entire floor!", Willow exclaimed in surprise, "how do you pay for all this?".
"I`ve been using some of the many resources my dark side had accumulated over the
years. I think of it as some kind of revenge", he sat at the shared kitchen table and
began drinking what looked and smelled like tea.
Willow sat down as well. "I am tired. My furniture has arrived right?", she suddenly
asked.
Angel nodded.
"Good then I think I`ll go to sleep. The only things in my car is books and some
spellcraft stuff I couldn`t let the movers see", she said.
Angel showed her, where the movers had placed her bed.
A few days later on the road to Sunnydale.
Buffy looked on as a river of steel, aluminium and plastic driven by a barely controlled
series of explosions passed by her. She was walking towards a gas station. Not long
after she had arrived in California, she had decided to go easy on the little amount of
money she had and had begun hitchhiking towards LA and when she had gotten closer
to home, she had begun looking for rides going towards Sunnydale. Now however she
was hungry and the gas station was large and looked modern enough to have hot food
and something to drink. And it was still open eventhough it looked to be way past ten in
the evening.
The doors soundlessly glided out of her way as she walked into the gas station. At the
counter sat a young familiar seeming guy and read a comic.
He looked at the girl after she had passed him. She looked like any other disheveled
roadside traveller. She was dressed in tight dusty jeans and a leather jacket over a
black t-shirt. Her hair hung free and cascaded down her back all the way to her hips. In
the hair the girl had woven two long thin braids, which kept the hair out of her face. She
walked with pride and the confidence of someone, who knew her way around the world.
Like any other young man would be, he was immediately smitten by her.
He was so occupied with her that he forgot the first rule, they had taught him here.
Always look out for any running cars being parked just outside the door.
Buffy hardly noticed the two young men clad in the same style as her, who had just
entered the store. She was occupied by the choice between buying a sandwich with
ham and cheese or a piece of freshly microwaved pizza.
Suddenly a voice screamed: "This is a robbery!". She wheeled about and faced a young
man, who was pointing a revolver at her, while his buddy had pressed a shotgun up
under the nose of the storeclerk.
Buffy sighed in exasperation. She didn`t need this or the attention this would attract.
Especially she didn`t need to get arrested and have her background checked.
The younger guy looked at her and said. "You look good and you seem to down on your
luck as well".
"Great what come on is this. The chick looks scruffy, let`s try to get her to help us in
crime. Come on!", Buffy thought.
"What would you say to giving me a kiss and then I give the ride of your life", he said
and swaggered towards her, waving the gun around with each word.
Buffy`s nose easily caught the smell of alcohol on his breath. She smiled and tried to
look interested, while she thought: "Time to take my new body out to the test".
He came within easy reach. And Buffy reacted.
In the blink of an eye she had stepped forward almost passing him. Then she grapped
his jacket and in one movement flipped herself down and back, while pressing him up
and over with her leg, which she had placed on his stomach. He was meant to fly
backwards in a neat curve and most likely knock himself out.
But Buffy was still unaccustomed to her new body, and so she deeply underestimated
her own strength and speed having never before applied it. So he was cleanly lifted
from the floor, but when she straightened her leg he didn`t fly backwards, instead he
flew straight up into the ceiling and smacked against it. Hard.
Buffy however didn`t have the time to await the results of her actions. Instead she
vaulted to her feet and ran forwards with lightning speed. The guy hadn`t even landed
yet.
Jerry Reynolds was in his own mind a very good robber. He had done this before, he
hadn`t been caught, and he had only once been forced to shoot a guy, and then he had
done it in the guy`s foot instead of killing him and making him a murderer. It had only
crippled the other guy and that was good in Jerry`s book. This time he had taken his
brother Terry with him to teach him the new family trade. But Jerry hadn`t counted on
there being a beautiful girl in the station nor could he have known that this girl was a
walking talking war machine made to destroy true demons and other assorted forces of
evil.
Jerry only heard the surprised scream and oophmf of his brother. He managed to turn,
but that only made his chin even more of a target for an oncoming foot.
Buffy saw the other guy move. She knew that she had to take him out before he blew of
the head of the clerk or something like that. She had no experience in managing
hostage situations, so she couldn`t allow herself to get into one.
So when she reached a good distance, she launched herself into a full flying kick
towards the guy`s head.
The only thing that kept Jerry`s neck unbroken and his skull from flying apart was blind
luck and the same fact, which had driven him to crime in first place. He had a thick skull
full of air.
Buffy used the bounce from the impact to roll backwards in the air, making a clean salto
and land on her feet.
Johnathan looked up in surprise. One minute he had been standing with a gun to his
head, the next the culprit had flown past him and hammered headfirst into the back wall.
Unfortunately Johnathan`s position behind the robber had left him in the way of his flight
and so he found himself again on the floor.
A sweet voice asked: "Uh… Sorry about that. Are you alright back there?".
Johnathan rose from the floor and saw the beautiful girl standing in the aisles. "Aside
from being a little surprised and bruised I am in every way okay", he replied trying to
sound glib.
She smiled and set something on the counter. "I`d also like a sandwich", she said and
smiled at his surprised expression.
"What about those two?", he asked and looked at the girl. He was sure, he had seen her
before, but why couldn`t he put his finger on it.
"They should be put in jail or maybe in the hospital first", she said and looked not the
least bit sorry.
"I have pressed the panic button, so it`s won`t be long before the police is here. They`ll
sort them out", he explained as he handed her the sandwich.
"Then I`ll get gone", she said, paid and walked towards the door.
"Wait, you can`t leave. They`ll need your statement and I haven`t thanked you yet", he
called out to her.
Buffy stopped suddenly remembering, where she had seen the boy before. "Is
Sunnydale far from here?", she asked.
"No, only couple of miles. The police will be coming from there", he said and moved out
behind her. He felt like, he should remember her, like he had known her.
"The police in Sunnydale doesn`t care. Believe me... I`ll leave now", the last words were
spoken like a challenge to him. He didn`t dare contradict the tone in her voice. And so
she walked out the door, leaving Johnathan, an unconcious guy behind the counter and
another guy lying in the freezer.
Only minutes later the police arrived, finding the two robbers and a now very pale
Johnathan, who explained that a strange blond girl had kicked those two around after
they had tried to rob the store and threathened her with a gun. And as the police and
paramedics left the shaken Johnathan whispered: "I remember you Buffy. I remember
you protecting us. I remember your death".
Next afternoon a blond girl walked in the ruins of her old school. Slowly she bent down
and picked up a blackened brick. "This time it wasn`t me, who did it", she said with a
smile and walked towards the library, where she in reality had spent her life as a teen.
It was Sunday, and the place should have been deserted, but when she reached the
outer walls, she heard the sound of someone fighting.
Buffy snuck closer and looked through the hole, where before a window would have
been.
In the exact spot, where the library table had stood, there lay a blanket and a very
conservatively dressed man sat there looking at two girls fighting. One was
blackskinned and very young. Buffy placed her age at about 14. She was fighting and
losing against a blackhaired girl, who seemed to enjoy the fight more than the black girl.
Finally the blackhaired girl, after a long series of deftly blocked punches, swept the legs
away under the black girl.
"I give up Faith", the black girl said from the ground.
Buffy noted the other girl`s name. That had been the name of Kendra`s succesor, then
that would make the black girl Wendy`s succesor. Buffy tried to remain as silent as
possible to avoid detection.
"Here", the girl called Faith said and helped the other girl up.
"So Mr. Pryce how did I do?", the black girl asked.
"Very well Lara. You must remember that not only is Faith older, she`s also very
experienced at fighting demons", the man explained and rose from his blanket.
"Faith, could you do me a favor… Go out and slay tonight. I have to be at a family event,
the vampires have increased in number after this town was without a Slayer for a few
weeks", Lara asked and looked pleadingly to the older girl.
"Sure, L", Faith replied. "Are we done here?", she asked, what Buffy had guessed was
the local Watcher.
"Yes, but…", the man was about begin another of Watcher speech, but Faith just turned
and walked away.
Buffy judged Kendra`s successor to be a little rebellious. She needed information, but
Willy`s wouldn`t open for another few hours. Finally she needed to go somewhere else,
somewhere more terrifying that going up to face the biggest demon. She would soon be
forced by her conscience to go visit her mother.
fiction. All rights of the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer is reserved by Mutant Enemy,
Sandollar, Kuzui Enterprises and Fox. This piece of fiction is not to be reproduced
anywhere or edited without the express consent of the author as named above.
Warning: This piece of literature contains scenes with violence, strong language and
religious references that may be considered offensive. Parental disgression should be
applied.
Chapter 4: Homecoming.
It was early morning, when a bright red car drove up in front of an old brick apartment
building in a part of Los Angeles. Willow Rosenberg walked up to her new home. She
glanced across the building and whispered to herself: "So this is home. Hi, home".
She walked up to the frontdoor and knocked timidly at the door. Nearly a minute passed
until a deep voice of a man said: "Who is there?".
Willow smiled as she recognized the voice of Angel. "It`s me Willow. Oh, step away
from the door, the sun is up", she answered as she heard the lock slide open. Willow
stepped into the dark hallway and slammed the door behind her.
Angel stepped out of the deep shadows and smiled to the shy girl he had known for
three years now. "I am sorry I can`t help you get your things inside. I could go wake
Xander and Cordelia, but I think it`ll be quite a while before they would be in any mood
to talk". Angel gestured for her to follow him into the room besides the hall. It was the
kitchen.
"A kitchen. From the outside this place looked like an apartment building", Willow
commented as Angel showed her around the shared kitchen.
"It isn`t. I didn`t want any misunderstandings, so I bought the entire place and had it
redecorated. The top floor is a kind of huge living room and gym. Xander and Cordy`s
apartment is on the 1st floor, you get the entire 2nd floor, and I have built a place for me
in the basement. This floor is reserved for some kind of business or the like. I`ve been
thinking about opening a detective agency", Angel smiled.
"I get an entire floor!", Willow exclaimed in surprise, "how do you pay for all this?".
"I`ve been using some of the many resources my dark side had accumulated over the
years. I think of it as some kind of revenge", he sat at the shared kitchen table and
began drinking what looked and smelled like tea.
Willow sat down as well. "I am tired. My furniture has arrived right?", she suddenly
asked.
Angel nodded.
"Good then I think I`ll go to sleep. The only things in my car is books and some
spellcraft stuff I couldn`t let the movers see", she said.
Angel showed her, where the movers had placed her bed.
A few days later on the road to Sunnydale.
Buffy looked on as a river of steel, aluminium and plastic driven by a barely controlled
series of explosions passed by her. She was walking towards a gas station. Not long
after she had arrived in California, she had decided to go easy on the little amount of
money she had and had begun hitchhiking towards LA and when she had gotten closer
to home, she had begun looking for rides going towards Sunnydale. Now however she
was hungry and the gas station was large and looked modern enough to have hot food
and something to drink. And it was still open eventhough it looked to be way past ten in
the evening.
The doors soundlessly glided out of her way as she walked into the gas station. At the
counter sat a young familiar seeming guy and read a comic.
He looked at the girl after she had passed him. She looked like any other disheveled
roadside traveller. She was dressed in tight dusty jeans and a leather jacket over a
black t-shirt. Her hair hung free and cascaded down her back all the way to her hips. In
the hair the girl had woven two long thin braids, which kept the hair out of her face. She
walked with pride and the confidence of someone, who knew her way around the world.
Like any other young man would be, he was immediately smitten by her.
He was so occupied with her that he forgot the first rule, they had taught him here.
Always look out for any running cars being parked just outside the door.
Buffy hardly noticed the two young men clad in the same style as her, who had just
entered the store. She was occupied by the choice between buying a sandwich with
ham and cheese or a piece of freshly microwaved pizza.
Suddenly a voice screamed: "This is a robbery!". She wheeled about and faced a young
man, who was pointing a revolver at her, while his buddy had pressed a shotgun up
under the nose of the storeclerk.
Buffy sighed in exasperation. She didn`t need this or the attention this would attract.
Especially she didn`t need to get arrested and have her background checked.
The younger guy looked at her and said. "You look good and you seem to down on your
luck as well".
"Great what come on is this. The chick looks scruffy, let`s try to get her to help us in
crime. Come on!", Buffy thought.
"What would you say to giving me a kiss and then I give the ride of your life", he said
and swaggered towards her, waving the gun around with each word.
Buffy`s nose easily caught the smell of alcohol on his breath. She smiled and tried to
look interested, while she thought: "Time to take my new body out to the test".
He came within easy reach. And Buffy reacted.
In the blink of an eye she had stepped forward almost passing him. Then she grapped
his jacket and in one movement flipped herself down and back, while pressing him up
and over with her leg, which she had placed on his stomach. He was meant to fly
backwards in a neat curve and most likely knock himself out.
But Buffy was still unaccustomed to her new body, and so she deeply underestimated
her own strength and speed having never before applied it. So he was cleanly lifted
from the floor, but when she straightened her leg he didn`t fly backwards, instead he
flew straight up into the ceiling and smacked against it. Hard.
Buffy however didn`t have the time to await the results of her actions. Instead she
vaulted to her feet and ran forwards with lightning speed. The guy hadn`t even landed
yet.
Jerry Reynolds was in his own mind a very good robber. He had done this before, he
hadn`t been caught, and he had only once been forced to shoot a guy, and then he had
done it in the guy`s foot instead of killing him and making him a murderer. It had only
crippled the other guy and that was good in Jerry`s book. This time he had taken his
brother Terry with him to teach him the new family trade. But Jerry hadn`t counted on
there being a beautiful girl in the station nor could he have known that this girl was a
walking talking war machine made to destroy true demons and other assorted forces of
evil.
Jerry only heard the surprised scream and oophmf of his brother. He managed to turn,
but that only made his chin even more of a target for an oncoming foot.
Buffy saw the other guy move. She knew that she had to take him out before he blew of
the head of the clerk or something like that. She had no experience in managing
hostage situations, so she couldn`t allow herself to get into one.
So when she reached a good distance, she launched herself into a full flying kick
towards the guy`s head.
The only thing that kept Jerry`s neck unbroken and his skull from flying apart was blind
luck and the same fact, which had driven him to crime in first place. He had a thick skull
full of air.
Buffy used the bounce from the impact to roll backwards in the air, making a clean salto
and land on her feet.
Johnathan looked up in surprise. One minute he had been standing with a gun to his
head, the next the culprit had flown past him and hammered headfirst into the back wall.
Unfortunately Johnathan`s position behind the robber had left him in the way of his flight
and so he found himself again on the floor.
A sweet voice asked: "Uh… Sorry about that. Are you alright back there?".
Johnathan rose from the floor and saw the beautiful girl standing in the aisles. "Aside
from being a little surprised and bruised I am in every way okay", he replied trying to
sound glib.
She smiled and set something on the counter. "I`d also like a sandwich", she said and
smiled at his surprised expression.
"What about those two?", he asked and looked at the girl. He was sure, he had seen her
before, but why couldn`t he put his finger on it.
"They should be put in jail or maybe in the hospital first", she said and looked not the
least bit sorry.
"I have pressed the panic button, so it`s won`t be long before the police is here. They`ll
sort them out", he explained as he handed her the sandwich.
"Then I`ll get gone", she said, paid and walked towards the door.
"Wait, you can`t leave. They`ll need your statement and I haven`t thanked you yet", he
called out to her.
Buffy stopped suddenly remembering, where she had seen the boy before. "Is
Sunnydale far from here?", she asked.
"No, only couple of miles. The police will be coming from there", he said and moved out
behind her. He felt like, he should remember her, like he had known her.
"The police in Sunnydale doesn`t care. Believe me... I`ll leave now", the last words were
spoken like a challenge to him. He didn`t dare contradict the tone in her voice. And so
she walked out the door, leaving Johnathan, an unconcious guy behind the counter and
another guy lying in the freezer.
Only minutes later the police arrived, finding the two robbers and a now very pale
Johnathan, who explained that a strange blond girl had kicked those two around after
they had tried to rob the store and threathened her with a gun. And as the police and
paramedics left the shaken Johnathan whispered: "I remember you Buffy. I remember
you protecting us. I remember your death".
Next afternoon a blond girl walked in the ruins of her old school. Slowly she bent down
and picked up a blackened brick. "This time it wasn`t me, who did it", she said with a
smile and walked towards the library, where she in reality had spent her life as a teen.
It was Sunday, and the place should have been deserted, but when she reached the
outer walls, she heard the sound of someone fighting.
Buffy snuck closer and looked through the hole, where before a window would have
been.
In the exact spot, where the library table had stood, there lay a blanket and a very
conservatively dressed man sat there looking at two girls fighting. One was
blackskinned and very young. Buffy placed her age at about 14. She was fighting and
losing against a blackhaired girl, who seemed to enjoy the fight more than the black girl.
Finally the blackhaired girl, after a long series of deftly blocked punches, swept the legs
away under the black girl.
"I give up Faith", the black girl said from the ground.
Buffy noted the other girl`s name. That had been the name of Kendra`s succesor, then
that would make the black girl Wendy`s succesor. Buffy tried to remain as silent as
possible to avoid detection.
"Here", the girl called Faith said and helped the other girl up.
"So Mr. Pryce how did I do?", the black girl asked.
"Very well Lara. You must remember that not only is Faith older, she`s also very
experienced at fighting demons", the man explained and rose from his blanket.
"Faith, could you do me a favor… Go out and slay tonight. I have to be at a family event,
the vampires have increased in number after this town was without a Slayer for a few
weeks", Lara asked and looked pleadingly to the older girl.
"Sure, L", Faith replied. "Are we done here?", she asked, what Buffy had guessed was
the local Watcher.
"Yes, but…", the man was about begin another of Watcher speech, but Faith just turned
and walked away.
Buffy judged Kendra`s successor to be a little rebellious. She needed information, but
Willy`s wouldn`t open for another few hours. Finally she needed to go somewhere else,
somewhere more terrifying that going up to face the biggest demon. She would soon be
forced by her conscience to go visit her mother.
