AN: Okay, it's been brought to my attention that there are some X-Men: Evo. fans who are not familiar with the Buffy-verse. This fic contains tons of spoilers up to the season six episode "Older and Far Away." At the end of this chapter, there'll be a character guide for the Buffy-verse for anyone who needs it- bear in mind that this is the Buffy-verse as it exists in this story, so characters may differ from the normal Buffy timeline, yadda yadda yadda. Oh, and this fic will make a lot more sense if you read, or at least skim How I Spent My Summer Vacation and Tag. Tag is a non-crossover which is my very own version of how Rogue and Pietro got together, and How I Spent My Summer Vacation is the prequel to this story. Anyway, Marvel and Fox own everything.
The four travelers arrived to a bloody sunrise, the dusty ruins of Sunnydale turned red in the rusty light.
"If they're here, they're unconscious," Jean said. "I can't feel them."
Rogue eyed the few frightened people who'd begun to emerge from their homes who glanced at their party in fear, then kept walking as fast as they could.
"I'm surprised people still live here," Jean said.
"They don't have a choice," Lance said. "Property values drop, sometimes you can't afford to leave."
"I don't wanna waste time," Rogue muttered. "Jean can't find 'em till they're conscious, we're not gonna find any vampires while the sun's still up."
"So what do you wanna do?"
"I've spent a lotta time unconscious in the past 24 hours, but Jean's probably pretty damned exhausted. We'll find a hotel room to hole up in, then I gotta find some more clothes so I don't start throwin' up in the middle of a fight. Then we should see if we can find a local map or something, pick up some food. It's gonna be a real long night."
At first, Tara was surprised that the hotel manager only wanted twenty dollars for the day, then she realized that this Sunnydale probably didn't see a whole lot of visitors. Lance went with Rogue to find more clothes and look for food and a map. Tara remained with the redhead, Jean, who fell apologetically but immediately asleep as soon as she hit the bed. The blonde witch gazed from the fourth story window over a Sunnydale so different from the one she knew, the one where she'd been so close to happy, and thought about Willow, sitting in the chair in the circle back in Buffy Summers' living room, a bright and burning Polaris that Tara could find and reach out to, knowing that Willow's strong and familiar power would reach out and guide her home. It would be everything that Willow was, a blinding light which cast a dark and deadly shadow. Willow had both within her, she had once dwelled exclusively in the light, and later, when crisis after crisis demanded magick more terrible, Willow had walked in that shadow. Willow was right; there was no way she could hide from magick, there was no road fate would let her walk that wasn't washed with it.
Neither the light nor the shadow was all that Willow was, not any longer. Tara was beginning to realize that the path to Willow's survival was not on one side or the other, but on the fine line where the two halves met.
Before long, Rogue and Lance returned. The three of them poured over the local map, Rogue and Lance having had the shop owner highlight the 'bad parts of town' for them, key hotspots appearing to be the Bronze and the industrial district, though the whole town was considered dangerous territory after the sun went down. Lance had likewise had a long trip and sprawled out on the other bed in the room for a nap. Tara likewise felt her eyelids getting heavy.
"Would you be all right if I got some sleep too?" Tara asked Rogue cautiously, fearing a hostile reply.
"Go for it," was all that Rogue said, her voice weary and free from any anger as she looked over the map. "I'll wake y'all if I need you, you can bet on that."
Tara thought briefly about apologizing for the spell that had brought them all there, for being part of the world that had brought so much trouble to these young visitors, but there was little point. Apologies wouldn't change anything now. She surprised Rogue by crawling onto the other side of the bed that Lance occupied, but for Tara, it was an obvious choice. There was only one red-haired girl that she felt inclined to share a bed with, after all.
Rogue stood, relatively alone now, and stared at herself in the mirror. That jerk vampire, Hector, had hit her really hard. She was surprised her jaw hadn't cracked. Of course, she had Pietro's powers to thank for that, his bones had to be strong to take the impact of running so fast.
Pietro, she thought, a dull ache hitting her stomach as the thought hit her that he might be gone for good. She missed his rakish smile, his funny forelocks, his spontaneity and charm. She missed the thousands of featherlike kisses he could place on the back of her neck too quickly for anyone else to see, his fingers in her hair, she missed holding him close, gazing into eyes which were the purest, brightest blue, feeling their hummingbird-fast hearts trilling against each other's chest, and the kiss which always followed.
Rogue faced herself in the mirror, the bruise on her chin almost complimenting her makeup, the white locks of her hair falling across her face. It was up to her to get him back and bring him home.
She laid the clothes she'd purchased on the dresser. Everything was black. She had to cover up more than she'd ever had to before, because when vampires punched, they didn't wear gloves and they frequently aimed for the face. If they touched her skin, she'd be useless, retching on the ground with a clammy feeling of death inside her. She'd need all her speed to rescue Pietro, and she couldn't afford to be slowed by anything. Her solution was laid out in front of her. Formalwear black gloves which came up to her elbow. A long-sleeved turtleneck. Leggings over pantyhose. A slightly elastic scarf to wrap around her face. She would have preferred a ski-mask, but southern California wasn't really the place to buy one. It was as covered as she could get, and it would have to do. She turned back to the beds, surveying who she had with her. Jean could find Pietro as soon as he regained consciousness. The fact that they were close to fault lines would amplify Lance's power, making him a heavy hitter, particularly if they had to face a large group. As for Tara, Rogue was not sure what to do with the blonde girl. She was their ticket home, and she'd been dealing with vampires a lot longer than the rest of them, but Rogue was still unsure how strong she was. If Tara got hurt or killed, they'd all be trapped, unless Willow figured out some way to get them home.
Rogue sat on the floor, pulling out one of the sandwiches they'd bought and half heartedly eating. Why the hell can't I be powerful? she thought. If I were like Magneto or Wolverine or Storm, none of this would've ever happened. It's not like my power will do me any good here anyway, it's a liability. God, I'm an idiot for even coming here. Evan shoulda gone, or Scott.
But then she thought about Pietro's face as he stood about to kill the blonde vampire, when he saw her come out of the locked room with Kitty, and thought about waiting in that stupid town, biting on her nails while someone else rescued her sweetheart. She shook her head and carried on nibbling at her sandwich.
The time passed quicker than she'd expected, and before Rogue knew it, it was pushing one thirty in the afternoon. She thought briefly of taking a nap herself, but just as she sat down on the bed next to Jean, the redhead sat bolt upright with a shriek.
"Christ, Jean!" Rogue replied, leaping off the bed. "You tryin' to kill me?"
Lance opened groggy eyes, arching an eyebrow briefly at Tara's presence a few feet away.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Pietro's awake," Jean said.
Pietro groaned and lifted his head, looking around.
"Fuck," he muttered to himself. First a crypt, now a damned dungeon. If he got out of this alive, he swore to himself he'd never set foot in another basement as long as he lived. He was in a classic medieval cell- damp, dank stone and iron bars.
"Just so you know," a voice came from across the way. "I blame you completely for this."
Pietro squinted and saw the blonde vampire locked in the cell across from him.
"Oh good," Pietro replied. "Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse, it's the poster boy for peroxide."
"Oh like your hair's natural!" the vampire spat. Pietro's jaw dropped with absolute indignation.
"I would never bleach my hair," he replied frostily, only to be cut off as what appeared to be a pile of rags in the corner of the vampire's cell leapt up and attacked him.
"What are you doing here, Spike?" a new voice hissed.
"Great," Spike choked past the hands wrapped around his throat. "Just what I always wanted. A roommate."
A pair of wild, dark eyes darted from Spike to Pietro.
"Who's the child?" he snarled at Spike. "What the hell have you done?"
Spike grew sick of the interrogation and slammed his fist into the other man's face, breaking his hold. Pietro watched as both leapt to their feet.
"Goody bloody gumdrops," Spike muttered. "Angelus."
"Actually," the other man replied coldly. "It's just Angel."
Okay, glossary goodness:
Sunnydale characters:
Buffy Summers- Buffy is, as you may know from the title of the show, the vampire slayer. She's been through a lot of hard times in the past while, but mostly what you need to know is that she's basically in charge of the Sunnydale crew, and that she has a weird little affair going on with Spike. The only person who knows about this affair is Tara.
Willow Rosenberg- Willow is an incredibly powerful witch who got into black magick and lost control. She quit magick all together, but in this fic, she's decided to give magick a second try, opting to try and find balance and regain her control rather than try to keep magick out of her life. She was once romantically involved with Tara, who broke up with her after Willow used magick to change Tara's memory on two occasions. There's still a lot of emotion there, though, and Willow still loves Tara with all her heart.
Xander Harris- One of the few ordinary humans we'll encounter, Xander is a longtime friend of Willow and Buffy, and is engaged to Anya.
Anya- A former vengeance demon turned human, Anya owns the store "The Magick Box" and is engaged to Xander. She loves money and commerce and is a firm believer in capitalism.
Dawn Summers- While she doesn't appear in the fic per se, Dawn is Buffy's younger sister, to whom Buffy feels the greatest responsibility, as Buffy and Dawn's parents are divorced, and the mother they lived with dead. Buffy is Dawn's legal guardian.
Spike- English-accented and bleached-blonde, Spike is a vampire, and is evil- no, really! However, he has a microchip in his head which causes him excruciating pain whenever he attacks a human. (For the purposes of this fic, he is still capable of attacking mutants.) He believes he is in love with Buffy, with whom he's had a torrid sexual relationship for a while. He is still very mercenary, and has been known to engage in some extremely shady deals.
Bizarro Sunnydale Characters- First, a note on Bizarro Sunnydale. Several years ago, while she was still a vengeance demon, Anya granted a wish that Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale. The result was a dark, macabre world in which vampires essentially ruled the town. This wish was broken, and Sunnydale returned to normal, but this other Sunnydale, which we refer to as Bizarro Sunnydale, still exists.Vamp Willow- In Bizarro Sunnydale, Willow has been turned into a vampire. She's slinky, sexy, and violent. She and Vamp Xander are a couple. She and Xander were both turned by The Master, a very old and very powerful vampire. She was once pulled into normal Sunnydale by accident, which is the only reason the normal Sunnydale characters (except Anya) know about the Bizarro Sunnydale at all.
Vamp Xander- Basically the same story as Vamp Willow, except he was never pulled into the normal Sunnydale. He seems to know who Spike is and have a score to settle with him, though presumably there is a Bizarro Sunnydale version of Spike wandering around somewhere in the world. (Bizarro Spike will not be appearing in this story).
Bizarro Angel- The vampire with a soul. In the normal Sunnydale, Angel and Buffy used to be a couple, until Angel lost his soul when he experienced a moment of true happiness and became the evil vampire Angelus. The complicated story of the normal Angel isn't really necessary. Bizarro Angel has his soul, and is kept prisoner by Vamp Willow and Vamp Xander, who refer to him as 'Puppy' and torture him for fun.
Okay, I hope that helps. More on the way.