Chapter 3: "The Lie"

Now Pan was completely confused. There was a man, whom she never met before – at least as far as she remembered, which wasn't that far, considering that her only memory consisted of the past few hours - with whom she just killed vampires and who was telling her something about her being a Slayer, whatever that meant.

"The Slayer," Spike repeated for her.

"What the hell is a Slayer?"

Spike took a deep breath. "In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer."

"Did you learn that by heart?" Pan asked, grinning slightly.

"Actually… yes, I did," he admitted.

"Good, but I still don't know what you're talking about." Pan prepared to go, but Spike grabbed her arm.

"I'm talking about that you're probably the new Slayer. You're strong, you know how to fight and you killed three vampires almost directly after you woke up from a coma. Just a Slayer is able to perform a stunt like that," he informed her.

"O-okay… And how do we find out if you're right?" she wanted to know.

"We'll go to a friend."

~*~

"Dawn, please go to bed now!" Faith almost pleaded, as she stood in the doorframe to the living room and Dawn was lying on the couch. God, when did the rogue Slayer become such a pathetic excuse for a babysitter?

"Aw, come on Faith, just ten more minutes! Please!" Dawn begged, making her eyes looking big and innocent.

She really hated that, when Dawn made that face, but this time she wouldn't fall for this. "No way! I promised to Spike that you would get to bed in time. And in time meant half an hour ago. By the way, what are you watching?"

"Nothing special. The news just began…"

"Can you make that a bit louder?" Faith asked, when she sat down on the couch next to Dawn.

"Sure…"

"… is this girl missing for about one hour. She escaped from the hospital and it could be that she needs professional help, because she just woke up from a coma. If you saw her, please call …" the news reader continued to announce the telephone number on the TV, but Dawn didn't listen anymore - she just stared at the photo shown on the screen, which was taken from a doctor, so that they could look for the girl's parents or any other relatives or friends.

"I know her…" she said.

"What do you mean by that? Is she going to the same school as you or…?"

"No, I saw her in the hospital, when they let me go. She was in the room next to me. I overheard as some nurses talked about her. They said that she has fallen, or maybe even jumped, from a roof and was in coma since then."

"And she just woke up and escaped from the hospital. Where do I know that from?" Faith asked sarcastically.

~*~

"And where have you dragged me now?" Pan asked annoyed, when they were finally standing in front of a door after they walked through half Sunnydale.

"This is Giles' apartment. He's one of the Watchers for the Slayers," Spike explained, when he knocked at the door.

"A Watcher? What does he do? Watch the Slayer slay?"

Spike raised an eyebrow. "Not exactly… but yes… you can call it that way… but he also…" At that moment the door was opened and in the doorframe stood a yawning Giles.

"Spike… What are you doing here?" Suddenly he became more awake. "Did something happen to Dawn or to Faith?"

Spike shook his head. "No, they are okay… Tell me, were you sleeping, because you look, how should I say… sleepy?"

"I wasn't sleeping. Trunks and I were still doing some research to find a way how for him to get back." Giles yawned once again and first then he spotted the dark haired girl behind Spike. "Uhm, Spike… Who's this?"

"Who?" Spike looked over his shoulder, suddenly remembering the girl. "Oh, her. Her name is Pan and I think that she's the new Slayer."

"So, the new Slayer… interesting… THE NEW WHAT???" Giles almost shouted, trying to digest what Spike just told him.

"Spike thinks I'm the new Slayer. He says that I'm strong enough, I'm fighting like one and that my healing abilities are the ones of a Slayer. But can we now come inside please? I'm getting cold," Pan asked.

"O-okay, sure. Please come in…" the Watcher invited them.

At the moment they entered the living area, Trunks came out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee in his hands. "Oh, hey Spike! What are you doing here! Is everything okay with the girls?"

"Hey Boxer Boy," Spike greeted him with the nickname, he had given him after he found out his real name, "… yes, they're okay…"

"Oh, and who's that? Is that one of the Scoobies I haven't met yet?"

Giles shook his head. "No, she isn't. Her name is…" He threw her a questioning look.

"Pan, I'm Pan. I think." She reached her hand out and Trunks took it, shaking it a bit longer than necessary. "And your name is Boxer Boy?" she asked him, trying to suppress a grin.

"Hi Pan, nice to meet you. No, my name is not Boxer Boy. Just Spike calls me that." He threw a faked glare at the vampire, before he finally introduced himself. "I'm Trunks. But why do just think that your name is Pan?" he asked curiously.

"This is a long story…" Spike began, but was interrupted by Pan.

"Fell from a roof, bumped my head, was in coma for a week, got amnesia, the docs gave me a bracelet with "For Pan" written on it, assuming that this is my name, escaped from the hospital, met Spike, killed vampires, Spike told me I'm a new Slayer."

"Okay, maybe not that long," Spike mumbled smirking. Somehow he already liked the girl, just like he had liked Trunks from the first moment they met.

"W-well, why don't you sit down and tell me everything… Do you want something to drink? I've still blood there Spike, if you want. And Pan, what do you want?" Giles wanted to know.

"A water, please."

"Hey Rupert, you know how I like my blood!" Spike shouted, when the Watcher left for the kitchen.

"Wait a minute, you really drink blood? I just thought that just vampires drink blood," Pan suddenly noticed, instinctively tensing up.

"Well luv, I am a vampire," Spike told the now shocked girl.

"But don't worry," Trunks added. "He's harmless."

"Yeah, some wanna-be soldiers put a chip in my head, which gives me every time I hurt humans a splitting headache and now I got this drive to do good things and protect people," the vampire told her, as Giles came back with a glass of water and Spike's "Kiss the Librarian" mug filled with warm blood.

"So, Pan. Can you please tell me everything that has happened to you in the last days? And then I will call the Council, to see if you're really the Slayer," Giles said, once he sat down.

"Okay…" Pan said and started to tell her not-so-long tale.

After Pan told them everything she knew, what really wasn't that much, Giles nodded understanding. "I-I think that Spike was right. Everything of that speaks for you being the new Slayer. And the time is also right… Buffy died one week ago, and then everything with you began. I'll call the Council now, to ask them." He got up and left the room with the phone, so that no one would disturb him.

"Yes, hello? Is there the Watcher's Council? … Mr. Giles. … Can I speak to Quentin Travers, please? … Okay, I hold on…"

~*~

"I guess that must be really hard for you – I mean not knowing who you are, or where you're from…." Trunks assumed, nipping at his cup of coffee.

"Yes, I guess so. But I think that I must have had a reason for falling off this roof, and when I've understood the doctors right, then their assuming that I jumped on purpose. And I really don't want to know what has driven me to this act. So, now I can start a new life, even if it is slaying vampires, but it is a new life. And maybe my memory will come back, I don't know. But now I want to know everything about you. Mr. Giles said something about you searching a way to get back?"

"Yeah, as you've already noticed, I'm not from here. Actually I'm coming from another dimension," he explained, scratching the back of his head – a habit he had picked up from Gohan, when he had still been alive. "That's also the reason why my hair is lavender. In my dimension the people have all kind of hair-colors. But that's not all. I'm also half-alien."

"Wow, I'm sitting at a table with a vampire and a half-alien." 'But what a handsome half-alien he is.' "I think that I've experienced too much today to be shocked by this."

~*~

"Mr. Travers? There's Mr. Giles for you on line one," a female voice said through the speaker on Quentin Travers' telephone.

"Okay, please put the call through, thank you. … Hello Rupert. What's up? Do you have a problem with Faith? … No? … So, you think you found Buffy's successor? Are you sure? … Really… So, she fulfils all the standards of a Slayer. That's interesting. What is her name? … Pan? Oh, and she has lost her memory. That's really bad. Please hold on a minute, I just received a description of the new Slayer. …  Just in case we needed her … Ah, her it is. Yes, the name fits. But can you describe her please, so that I can compare the facts? … Yes, everything's right. But I won't tell you anything about her life. It is better when she remembers it on her own and it could happen that you let something slip. … Yes, I think that's the best. … Okay Rupert, you'll take care of her and train her. Bye." Quentin Travers hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, facing the young blond man in front of him.

"Mr. Travers, what was that about? I thought that you wouldn't call another Slayer," he wanted to know.

"Oh, Mr. Stevenson, she isn't a Slayer, even though she fulfils the standards of one. I don't know a thing about this girl he was talking about, but let them think that she is the Slayer - she could be a great help and so they won't stumble over our little secret," Travers explained the young Watcher smirking, while he gazed through the open door into the room next to his office, where you could see a small figure lying in the bed. "I think we should begin to train her tomorrow, or what do you think?"

"I don't know, isn't she a bit too young for this…?" Stevenson asked worried.

"Even if she's just seven years old today, tomorrow she will turn eight. And you can never begin early enough to train someone as special as her."

~*~

Giles came back into his living room and found his three guests talking and laughing. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I just talked to Quentin Travers of the Council."

"And? What does he say?" Pan asked curiously.

"He says that you're indeed the new Slayer. But he didn't tell me anything else about you. He thought it would be the best for you to find out on yourself who you are."

"Great, and what if my memory doesn't want to come back?" Pan was annoyed. She had hoped that, if she was the Slayer, the guys from this Council could at least tell her something about her past or her family.

"I guess we should wait a few weeks, and then we can call the Council again. Maybe they're willing to tell us something about you, when they see that otherwise you won't get your memory back."

"Okay, Mr. Giles…"

"Just Giles, everyone calls me simply Giles."

"Fine… Giles," she added as an afterthought, as to remember how to call her new Watcher in the future. "Do you mind if I stay here tonight? As you know I have nowhere else to go. I could sleep on the couch."

"Of course you can stay. But you will of course sleep in my guest room," Giles told her.

"Thank you," she said and hugged the surprised Watcher and the 'boys' chuckled. "I go to bed then. You don't know how worn out I am."

"I think we'll call it a night then," Giles assumed and looked at Trunks and Spike, who nodded and got up.

"See you then tomorrow, Giles!" Trunks waved and walked through the door.

"Bye Rupert and take care of the new girl!"

"Good night, guys!" Pan shouted, when they left.

~*~

When Trunks and Spike entered the Summers' house, Faith was lying on the couch, watching TV. It was again time for the news and they showed again the search report for the missing girl.

"… and I repeat, the girl just woke up from a coma a few hours ago. That means she's totally weak and helpless…"

"Weak and helpless my ass," Spike said and Faith jumped startled from the couch.

"Spike! You scared me! Be glad that I didn't stake you! But, what did you say? She isn't helpless or weak? Why?" the Slayer asked confused.

"Would you call someone that, who killed three vampires in front of your eyes?"

"Huh?" Faith was confused. What could he mean by that?

Spike and Trunks looked at each other and shrugged, sitting down and explained everything that had happened in the last few hours to Faith.

"Wow, I've never thought that we would just find her like that. But I can't wait to meet her tomorrow," she said surprised, when they had finished their story.