Chapter 2: "The New Slayer?"

It had already been one week since Buffy died and Faith and Trunks appeared in Sunnydale. Buffy's funeral was four days ago. It had rained the whole time as the small funeral had been held. Not many guests had been there. Mostly the Scooby gang, Dawn, Spike, Faith and Trunks. Angel, Cordelia and Wesley came from LA, after Willow had gone there to tell them about Buffy's death.

Dawn could leave the hospital the day after they brought her there and the same day she and Giles tried everything to reach Hank Summers, but his secretary told them, that he was in holidays and no one knew where. Because of that, he wasn't at the funeral and didn't know that his oldest daughter was dead.

During the speech of the minister Willow broke down crying and Tara tried to comfort her. Dawn was standing between Spike and Giles and when she saw Willow, she also broke down. Spike put his arms around her and hugged her gently, trying to remain strong. He had to be strong. He was now the one to protect her. He had promised this to Buffy.

"Hey. Always knew I'd go down fightin'."
"I'm counting on you ... to protect her."
"Till the end of the world. Even if that happens to be tonight."

Angel looked over to where Spike comforted Dawn and frowned. He didn't like the fact that Spike was the one who she seemed to trust more than anyone else at all. He then looked over to Giles. He was always like a father for Buffy. A person she could always trust, with everything. The man, who had helped her after the death of her mother. She always kept him on the trot, but now he had lost her. But Angel was glad that the Council decided to give Faith a second chance and made Giles her new Watcher – Faith could now finally start a new life and Giles had a new duty. Next to Faith stood this new guy - Trunks. Angel didn't have much time to talk to him, but he got to know that this young man came through one of the portals Glory had opened from another dimension and that the Scoobies were now trying to help him to find a way back home. In return for that he helped them with slaying and finding a way to resurrect Buffy, and from what Giles had told Angel, Trunks was pretty strong. Way stronger than a Slayer and he guessed that this guy didn't even show his true strength.

Angel, Cordy and Wesley left almost directly after the funeral, because Gunn called them, due to an emergency in LA.

After the funeral Dawn insisted that Spike, Faith and Trunks should live with her. She told Spike to sleep in her mother's old bedroom and Trunks and Faith should use the two guestrooms in the house. They all complained at first, but after Dawn said that she would feel safer with three strong people in the house, they agreed. For the following nights, Faith, Spike and Trunks were taking turns in patrolling, so that at least there was always one person with Dawn.

~*~

Trunks and Vegeta had just finished sparring, as Trunks left the gravity room. He walked to the backyard of their house and sat down, taking a sip from his water bottle. He put the bottle down and laid back, watching the night sky. 'Pan's already missing for seven days. And it's my fault. Why didn't I see earlier what she feels for me? It wouldn't have changed anything between me and Marron, but I could have at least talked to Pan.'

"Watcha thinking of?" Bra asked as she sat down next to him.

"Huh? Nothing."

"Trunks, do you really think I can't see that you're worried about Pan? We all are worried. But we know also that she's a big girl and a strong fighter. God, she can even go to ascended Super Saiyajin. So, she can take care of herself until we find a way to bring her back, trust me."

Trunk sighed. "I so hope that you're right…"

~*~

"Her heartbeat is steady and her wounds are healing well. But she has been in the coma for one week and I doubt that she will ever wake up again," Pan heard a male voice saying over a steady beeping next to her.

"Are you sure doctor?" a female voice asked.

"Yes, the injury at her head was really bad and she has lost a lot of blood. She could have a brain damage. But I still wonder how she could still be alive, when the woman called the ambulance."

She then heard how the two people left the room and she could only hear the beeping.

'What were they talking about? Ouch, my head. Let's see… is everything still there? Toes… check, legs… check, arms… check, hands… check. Everything's seems to be still there.' She slowly opened her eyes, and the glaring light first blinded her, but her eyes quickly adjusted to it. She tried to get up, but noticed that she couldn't lift her arms and legs. 'What the…' She slowly raised her head and saw that her arms and legs were tied at the bed. Moaning she laid her head back on the pillow.

Alarmed by the moaning, a nurse entered the room and was shocked, when she saw that the dark-haired girl in the bed was awake. "Doctor! Doctor!"

"Yes, what's up?" a doctor appeared in the doorframe.

"She's awake."

"What?" the doctor looked at the bed and saw what the nurse had seen. He then walked up to the bed and took a seat next to it. "Hello? How are you feeling?" he asked while he examined her.

"My head hurts a bit, but otherwise I think that I'm okay," she answered weakly.

"Do you remember what has happened?" the doctor wanted to know, but the girl shook her head. "What is your name?"

"I'm…" Pan looked thoughtful and then she got a look of shock on her face. "I don't know."

~*~

"Nibblet, Faith, I'm going now!" Spike shouted through the house.

"Okay Spike! But be careful!" Dawn said as she and Faith came out of the living room. Trunks was at Giles' apartment to do some research about portals.

"I'm always careful! Oh, and Faith, please take care that Dawn gets to bed in time. I know when Trunks is here that she will go to bed, but I'm not sure what you're planning."

"Spike, you're no fun," Faith said pouting. "And I just wanted to call a few cute boys over so that our little Dawnie here and I could make a party when both men of the house aren't there."

That caused Dawn to chuckle a bit and Faith and Spike smiled at each other. This was the first time in the last week that Dawn seemed to lighten up a bit.

"Okay then, goodnight! I see you two tomorrow!" Spike waved and left the house.

~*~

Pan was now awake for a few hours already and she was feeling better and stronger minute by minute. In that time she had repeated the conversation between her and the doctor over and over again.

'You really don't remember your name?' the doctor asked again.

'No… I don't remember anything of my past. I don't even know how I got here.' Pan felt tears in her eyes, but something told her not to show them.

'A woman saw you falling from a roof and you hit your head hard. That hit must have caused the amnesia. But you're lucky…'

'Lucky? I'm in a hospital and don't remember anything about me! So how can you call me lucky?'

'First of all, you've survived, and secondly you had this friendship-bracelet at your wrist.' He picked it from the table and showed her what was written on it.

'For Pan,' she read out loud. 'Pan? Is that me?'

'Well, we guess that's your name. During the last week we made a call over the TV and over the newspapers about you, but I'm sorry to tell you that no one has called us.'

'Oh… uhm, one question. Why did you tie me at the bed? It's really annoying, you know?'

'Trust me. It's for your own safety, that you won't hurt yourself,' he said as he patted her hand and left the room, letting Pan lying there alone.

'Great, they probably think that I'm suicide or something like that,' Pan thought sarcastically and looked at the watch at the wall. '10pm and I'm not even tired. My head doesn't hurt anymore, my back is itching and I'm hungry,' she whined inwardly. "I don't know why they'll keep me here. I just wished I could get out of here.' She laid back in complete silence and tried to listen if anyone was near. When she made sure that there wasn't anyone, she collected all of her strength in her arms and tore the belts, which held her arms down, apart. 'Wow, that was easier than I thought,' Pan carefully sat up and was glad that the world around her didn't begin to spin. She then untied her legs and ripped of the cables from the monitors and the tube in her hand and got out of the bed.

She looked around the room, searching for some clothes and soon she spotted some neatly folded on a chair. She lifted them up and found an orange bandana, a red tight shirt, gray baggy pants and red sneakers. She disposed the hospital gown, tried them on and they fit. 'Must be really mine.' She then looked at the bandana in her hand. 'Why do I have this feeling that this is sommehow important to me?' She thought and walked to a nearby mirror in the room to remove the bandage around her head to replace it by the bandana. 'So, that's how I look like. Not bad.' She smiled. Before she left the room, she picked up the bracelet and put it around her wrist. 'Time to go.'

Pan carefully opened the door and sneaked outside. She looked around and spotted an exit-sign at the wall. She looked around one more time, before she then walked down the hallway. Pan was almost outside, when she heard the familiar voice of the doctor and she quickly hid behind a wall, waiting for him to pass by. She sighed with relief, when she could hear the voice fading and then walked to the exit. As soon as she was on the outside, she walked away from the hospital at a normal pace, but with the distance growing, she became faster and faster, finally she just ran without looking back for she didn't know how long and where until she stopped, panting and leaned against a gate.

'Great? Where am I now?' Pan looked around and shrugged. 'Looks like a cemetery.' She tossed herself from the wall and walked slowly through the cemetery, not really paying attention to her environment. She just kept walking, until, she didn't know why, a gravestone gained her attention.

BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS
1981 - 2001
BELOVED SISTER
DEVOTED FRIEND
SHE SAVED THE WORLD
A LOT.

'What does that mean? She saved the world, a lot?'

~*~

A nurse was running through the corridors of the hospital, looking for the doctor. She had just been in Pan's room, to check her vital functions, as she discovered that the girl and her clothes were gone. "Doctor! Doctor! She's gone!"

"What? Who?"

"The girl, with the amnesia! She isn't in her room anymore!"

~*~

"I would go home if I were you. It's not safe here." Pan, startled by the voice, spun around and got instinctively into a fighting stance. "Hey, calm down! I don't want to hurt you, luv," the blond man said.

Pan got out of the fighting stance but still didn't take her gaze from this man. "Who are you?"

"I'm Spike," he told her, when he walked past her and laid a bunch of flowers on the grave.

"Did you know her?"

"Yes I di,." Spike answered sadly. "And who are you?"

"My name is Pan, I think," she said thoughtfully.

Spike raised an eyebrow at her. "You think?"

"Yeah, you must know I bumped my head last week, was in coma for 7 days, didn't remember anything as I woke up and just escaped from the hospital," Pan told him matter-of-factly.

"You wh… Look out!" he shouted and tossed her aside as a vampire attacked her. Spike managed to stake him without any problems, but when he turned around, they were surrounded by about six vampires. "Bloody Hell!"

Pan got up again and was now standing next to Spike. "What are these guys?"

"Those are vampires. Stay back, I'll take care of them."

"Okay."

The vampires didn't wait any longer and attacked. Spike lunged forward and tried to get the attention of all of them, but he didn't succeed. While he was fighting three of them, the other three attacked Pan. "Hey! Stay away from her! I'm hard enough to handle for you six! Ouch!" he winced in pain, when the boot of one vampire connected with his jaw. He fell to the ground and as he got up, he was about to run over to Pan, but much to his surprise, she was able to handle those three vamps. "What the…?" one vamp kicked him in his gut, but he managed to grab his leg and twisted it. The vampire fell to the ground and Spike staked him. "One down, five to go."

At that moment, Pan picked up a branch and tossed it into the heart of one vampire who attacked her. Before he could notice, he was dust. "Wow! This works!" She noticed Spike staring at her in shock, but both were soon distracted by the rest of the vampires. Shortly after Spike finished off the last two vamps on his side, Pan dusted the last one on her side.

"Hey, that felt… good," she said as she was walking back to him and she noticed that he was still staring at her.

"Where did you learn that?" he asked.

"What? The fighting? I don't know. Remember? Amnesia." She pointed at her head. "I guess I just can do it." There was another pause of silence and Spike was still staring at her. "Hey, can you please stop the staring. It makes me nervous."

"Oh, sorry…" He stopped the staring, but was still eyeing her. "You must be her…"

"Her? Who's her? Spike, stop talking in riddles, please."

"I recognize you. You're the girl I saw at the hospital one week ago. You were struggling and the doctors had to give you a sedative, so that you wouldn't hurt yourself. But you were too strong for them alone, even though you were unconscious, so I helped them to hold you down. And when did you say you woke up from the coma?"

"Just a few hours ago, why do you ask?"

Spike began to mumble and pacing. "Just a few hours ago and she's already that strong that she can kill three vampires. She must be the one."

"Spike!"

He stopped pacing and walked now up to her. "You must be the new Slayer."

"The what?!"