Title: A Simple Twist Of Fate
Author: Jane McCartney
Disclaimer: Despite numerous attempts to make it otherwise, none of them are mine. Joss and UPN and ME own 'em all.
Feedback: Don't make me beg for it. Oh hell, whatever: pleeeease? Pretty please? It'll just take a sec from ya!
Acknowledgments: Everyone who reviews and helps me. And my beta reader Starway Man. You rules, T!
Author's Note: AU. This chapter is practically a rewrite of "Welcome To the Hellmouth" with some changes and characters mixed around along the way. This story will deviate more in the following chapters.
Summary: For Buffy Summers, it took only a single glance to fall in love with the new student at Sunnydale High, Xander Harris. And with that look, she'd forever seal her fate as the Slayer.
***
Giles ran, and caught up with Xander in the halls. "It's getting worse!" his voice, grave and somehow desperate, broke the thin silence and made the dark-haired teen turn back.
"What's getting worse?" the question, as neutrally as it was intended to be spoken, carried a hint of disturbance in the boy's voice.
The British man guided him over to the wall, and spoke with him in a low tone. "The influx of the undead, the... supernatural occurrences, it's been building for years. There's a reason why you're here, and a reason why it's now!"
"Okay, so I've got sense of timing that sucks. Still doesn't make me see how it is, that *that* makes me a Watcher's pet of yours. Great googly- moogly, aren't you Tweed Men supposed to be all bright and stuff? I said I'm retired, already! As in not gonna happen anymore, the end, not a chance, hasta la vista, baby, d-o-n-e?" the rebuttal, full of sarcasm yet nonchalant, held underneath it a sense of inner conflict and struggle
Giles flinched at this. And while the brunette Slayer tried to evade him afterwards, he succeeded only to be stopped by the Watcher's arm. Xander tried to shake him off, but Giles' grip was surprisingly strong; so giving up, the young man followed the English guy back to the library.
"Something's coming, something, something... something is, is gonna happen here. Soon!" the Watcher eventually insisted, nervousness clear on his middle-aged face.
The reply dripped sarcasm. "Wow, vague that up for me, would ya?"
"The signs, so far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less," Giles elucidated.
"Oh, come on. This is Sunnydale! Driving through a red light is probably as evil as Evil can get, around here."
The tense Watcher turned and, unexpectedly, exploded, sending Xander a fidgety and grave glare. "Look, young man, this is a very serious matter! Hundreds of innocent lives may be at stake!"
At Xander's semi-shocked face at this sudden blast, Giles recomposed himself and rapidly added, looking himself a little taken aback at his own previous behavior, "The books, they d-don't hold enough answers - but, but the dawning is near. I was able to draw that much out. There's always a reason why things happen, and your arrival in Sunnydale is not to be considered in the scheme of things a, a mere coincidence."
After a fleeting silence, Xander exploded back, "Yeah, well, I never asked to have to hunt for people who used to sit next to me in Mr. Zigman's math class! And now you're telling me that in the freakin' scheme of things, they all had to die so I would end up here, and that I'm supposed to respect that? Persuasive Guy much, only you're not!"
"But you're still here now," Giles hinted meaningfully, in a solemn manner.
Xander flinched at this, but forced himself to hide his own amazement at that fact. "I guess I'm just not that smart," he spat back, subsequently looking down and shaking his head.
Raising his eyes again to lock with the Watcher's ones, the teenager's words were accented with traces of resolve and passion, and, underneath, faltering fear. "I'm not doing this anymore. None of you tweed-coated, fancy tea-drinking Brits cared that I had to dust the girl who gave me my first kiss, or if I almost got killed a zillion times, or if all I really wanted was to live a normal life. Isn't that how it works? You watch, while we do the dirty work? While we get ourselves and everybody we care about killed?"
At Giles' surprised silence, the Slayer said, "Don't talk to me again. Ever."
Xander wondered if he'd convinced the Englishman of his words, because, deep inside, the Slayer knew damn well he hadn't been able to convince himself at all. But, before the boy could either make up his mind to either leave or stay, a noise - an almost imperceptible one - called his attention to the rear of the room.
Understanding that Giles, his stare directed from the floor to him and then to the floor again, and his silence indicating a lot was going through the Watcher's mind, hadn't noticed the sound, Xander then saw something on the library's floorboards.
Something that hadn't been there, before the noise had occurred.
And then a hand - a delicate, definitely female hand - came from behind the tall wooden stacks and bent down to get the fallen object from the floor, in a hurried and nervous movement.
Before Buffy Summers, hidden behind one of the various shelves, heartbeat involuntary speeded up, was able to recover the accidentally collapsed red cap, she felt a pair of chocolate-brown eyes staring at her, wide and surprised.
***
Harmony Kendall broke into the bathroom in a mad dash, looking mortified.
"Harmony!" Cordelia yelped at the suddenness of it.
The blonde girl rushed to her friend's side. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God - I heard it all. Sweetie, are you okay?"
The brunette girl looked lost for a moment, but quickly realized. "Oh! Yeah, it was totally gross to see it falling at Aura's feet, but I'm fine, really. At least there wasn't any blood, because I was wearing my new CK pants... I mean, could you imagine the disaster?"
"Don't say another word," Harmony agreed, but subsequently whimpered, glanced at Cordelia with a merciful look. "But actually no, I wasn't talking about that - I heard what that new boy did this morning! He's gotta be nuts, to think he can just leave you standing there in the hall that way like you were last year's shoes or something - just 'cause he was cool in his old school and, well, the herpes rumor of last year?"
The blond-haired teenager stopped in front of the mirror, continuing to talk while adjusting her appearance properly. "Okay, I mean everyone knows it was all just a big fat lie by that jealous blockhead Jenny - but let's face it, it didn't help your image like at all, and you know how these things can just pile up on top of one another..."
Diverting her glance from her reflection, Harmony glanced back at Cordelia. "But, what that Alex guy did with you today? Nuh-uh mister, we've got rules in Sunnydale and so I say to him, you'll do that to my friend over my dead body!"
"Uh, thanks," Cordelia forced a grin at that, and added more to herself, "I guess."
But then, a realization came to the brunette girl's mind.
The 16-year-old cheerleader knew all too well the unspoken meaning of carrying the scepter of her status, and even when she was nowadays pretty much considered the next generation of high school's leadership, the slightest of mistakes could indicate an opening for a new leader to rise.
It wasn't that she was insecure about maintaining her crown. But the beginning of the school year, an unknown territory, could mean unstable times, even if for a short period of solidification of power. And the thought of Harmony risking her own reputation to stand up for her was, in some way, touching to Cordelia Chase.
Harmony, however, quickly interrupted her thoughts. "You're totally lucky though, he's already showing himself to be like a loser - I mean, hanging out with those geeks? And did Aphrodesia tell you about the gym he *burned down* at Hemery High? It kinda reminds me of that Buffy Summers freak..."
The blonde girl eyed her friend and, with a pout, whispered in a sugar- coated voice, "But I'd *so* hate to have to stop hanging out with you if it was otherwise, you know?"
Harmony gushed, "I mean, whatever else he's done, he *is* from L.A. and he is so cute. And I'd have no choice but to stick with him - for my reputation and stuff, you know how these things are, right Cordelia?" Harmony asked, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world.
Cordelia's smile never faltered - but on the inside, she felt like she'd been slapped in the face at the foolishness of her previous thoughts. "Of course, you dunderhead. After all, I'm Cordelia Chase," she said absently.
"The one and only," Harmony rejoined.
Cordelia, catching a glimpse of her supposed friend's air-headed grin in the mirror's surface, then felt an abrupt pang of emptiness invade her heart and soul, but quickly shrugged it off like so many times she did before.
***
Brown eyes bored into hazel ones, both equally wide and equally puzzled. The instant had been almost ephemeral; but for Buffy and Xander, it seemed to have lasted a lot longer that its true duration.
"So, you aren't going?" a confused Giles inquired, noticing the odd expression on the boy's face as Xander rapidly averted his gaze from the blond-haired girl's.
The male Slayer chuckled lamely. "Ya know what? The thing is, uh, I still can hang out at the library if I want. And by the way, that was a very good rehearsal of the, um, play we're gonna have soon. Have you been practicing, or what?"
Despite herself, Buffy rolled her eyes at the pitiful attempt of covering up the nonsense that she'd accidentally eavesdropped upon, less than a minute ago.
"What? I, I'm not quite sure I understand you, Mr. Harris," Giles jabbered, advancing a few steps in the boy's direction with a suspicious look on his face.
"No, wait!" Xander suddenly shouted, making the Englishman almost jump at the sudden fright. "I, um, maybe we should talk somewhere quieter?"
At hearing that Giles, not for the first time bearing puzzlement on his features, cocked an eyebrow.
"Or louder," Xander swiftly amended. "This place? Is a major wiggins- giver," he added, cursing himself mentally.
"I thought you didn't want talk to me again. Ever," Giles replied doubtfully and in an absent manner, not for any instant looking at him but instead in the direction of the stacks, diverting himself from the barrier the teenager had made with his own body.
"Oh, right, that. I, well, pfft, I had an epiphany - a real eye-opener, really. What's it hurt with the talking, ya know?" Xander offered lamely.
Giles stopped in his place, glancing at the younger man with something that could only be classified as triumph. "I thought you didn't want to talk to tweed-coated, fancy, tea-drinking Brits anymore?"
Even when his face was dead serious, Xander could easily see the inward smirk the Watcher was wearing. Giles started walking once again, and this time the dark-haired teen could not prevent him from doing so without generating definite suspicion.
Predicting the close future ahead, the dark-haired youth closed his eyes tight. And when he opened them again, the shock of finding nothing behind the bookshelf but the floor made him stare dumbfounded at it, for a long instant.
The middle-aged Watcher looked equally disconcerted at the discovery. And then it was Xander's turn to, with an externally serious expression, generate an internal smirk. "What? Lookin' for a book?"
"N-no, I-I just..." the baffled Englishman stammered, and, giving Xander a curious look, turned and walked a little further, glancing to the side searchingly but finding nothing once again.
Recomposing himself and clearing his throat, Giles turned back to Xander, only to find out the boy wasn't there anymore either. Fleeting instants later, the Watcher heard the library's doors bang shut.
Giles adjusted his spectacles, taken aback at the turn of events this day had been proving to be with regards to the Council's assignment to his new Slayer. He just cursed quietly, "Bloody hell..."
***
In the next chapter... who's Xander gonna find in the dark alley? It's wicked, it's daring, it's... OK, I got a little carried over, but it's definitively not who you're thinking it's... Stay tuned, folks, and let me know what you think of it so far!
Author: Jane McCartney
Disclaimer: Despite numerous attempts to make it otherwise, none of them are mine. Joss and UPN and ME own 'em all.
Feedback: Don't make me beg for it. Oh hell, whatever: pleeeease? Pretty please? It'll just take a sec from ya!
Acknowledgments: Everyone who reviews and helps me. And my beta reader Starway Man. You rules, T!
Author's Note: AU. This chapter is practically a rewrite of "Welcome To the Hellmouth" with some changes and characters mixed around along the way. This story will deviate more in the following chapters.
Summary: For Buffy Summers, it took only a single glance to fall in love with the new student at Sunnydale High, Xander Harris. And with that look, she'd forever seal her fate as the Slayer.
***
Giles ran, and caught up with Xander in the halls. "It's getting worse!" his voice, grave and somehow desperate, broke the thin silence and made the dark-haired teen turn back.
"What's getting worse?" the question, as neutrally as it was intended to be spoken, carried a hint of disturbance in the boy's voice.
The British man guided him over to the wall, and spoke with him in a low tone. "The influx of the undead, the... supernatural occurrences, it's been building for years. There's a reason why you're here, and a reason why it's now!"
"Okay, so I've got sense of timing that sucks. Still doesn't make me see how it is, that *that* makes me a Watcher's pet of yours. Great googly- moogly, aren't you Tweed Men supposed to be all bright and stuff? I said I'm retired, already! As in not gonna happen anymore, the end, not a chance, hasta la vista, baby, d-o-n-e?" the rebuttal, full of sarcasm yet nonchalant, held underneath it a sense of inner conflict and struggle
Giles flinched at this. And while the brunette Slayer tried to evade him afterwards, he succeeded only to be stopped by the Watcher's arm. Xander tried to shake him off, but Giles' grip was surprisingly strong; so giving up, the young man followed the English guy back to the library.
"Something's coming, something, something... something is, is gonna happen here. Soon!" the Watcher eventually insisted, nervousness clear on his middle-aged face.
The reply dripped sarcasm. "Wow, vague that up for me, would ya?"
"The signs, so far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less," Giles elucidated.
"Oh, come on. This is Sunnydale! Driving through a red light is probably as evil as Evil can get, around here."
The tense Watcher turned and, unexpectedly, exploded, sending Xander a fidgety and grave glare. "Look, young man, this is a very serious matter! Hundreds of innocent lives may be at stake!"
At Xander's semi-shocked face at this sudden blast, Giles recomposed himself and rapidly added, looking himself a little taken aback at his own previous behavior, "The books, they d-don't hold enough answers - but, but the dawning is near. I was able to draw that much out. There's always a reason why things happen, and your arrival in Sunnydale is not to be considered in the scheme of things a, a mere coincidence."
After a fleeting silence, Xander exploded back, "Yeah, well, I never asked to have to hunt for people who used to sit next to me in Mr. Zigman's math class! And now you're telling me that in the freakin' scheme of things, they all had to die so I would end up here, and that I'm supposed to respect that? Persuasive Guy much, only you're not!"
"But you're still here now," Giles hinted meaningfully, in a solemn manner.
Xander flinched at this, but forced himself to hide his own amazement at that fact. "I guess I'm just not that smart," he spat back, subsequently looking down and shaking his head.
Raising his eyes again to lock with the Watcher's ones, the teenager's words were accented with traces of resolve and passion, and, underneath, faltering fear. "I'm not doing this anymore. None of you tweed-coated, fancy tea-drinking Brits cared that I had to dust the girl who gave me my first kiss, or if I almost got killed a zillion times, or if all I really wanted was to live a normal life. Isn't that how it works? You watch, while we do the dirty work? While we get ourselves and everybody we care about killed?"
At Giles' surprised silence, the Slayer said, "Don't talk to me again. Ever."
Xander wondered if he'd convinced the Englishman of his words, because, deep inside, the Slayer knew damn well he hadn't been able to convince himself at all. But, before the boy could either make up his mind to either leave or stay, a noise - an almost imperceptible one - called his attention to the rear of the room.
Understanding that Giles, his stare directed from the floor to him and then to the floor again, and his silence indicating a lot was going through the Watcher's mind, hadn't noticed the sound, Xander then saw something on the library's floorboards.
Something that hadn't been there, before the noise had occurred.
And then a hand - a delicate, definitely female hand - came from behind the tall wooden stacks and bent down to get the fallen object from the floor, in a hurried and nervous movement.
Before Buffy Summers, hidden behind one of the various shelves, heartbeat involuntary speeded up, was able to recover the accidentally collapsed red cap, she felt a pair of chocolate-brown eyes staring at her, wide and surprised.
***
Harmony Kendall broke into the bathroom in a mad dash, looking mortified.
"Harmony!" Cordelia yelped at the suddenness of it.
The blonde girl rushed to her friend's side. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God - I heard it all. Sweetie, are you okay?"
The brunette girl looked lost for a moment, but quickly realized. "Oh! Yeah, it was totally gross to see it falling at Aura's feet, but I'm fine, really. At least there wasn't any blood, because I was wearing my new CK pants... I mean, could you imagine the disaster?"
"Don't say another word," Harmony agreed, but subsequently whimpered, glanced at Cordelia with a merciful look. "But actually no, I wasn't talking about that - I heard what that new boy did this morning! He's gotta be nuts, to think he can just leave you standing there in the hall that way like you were last year's shoes or something - just 'cause he was cool in his old school and, well, the herpes rumor of last year?"
The blond-haired teenager stopped in front of the mirror, continuing to talk while adjusting her appearance properly. "Okay, I mean everyone knows it was all just a big fat lie by that jealous blockhead Jenny - but let's face it, it didn't help your image like at all, and you know how these things can just pile up on top of one another..."
Diverting her glance from her reflection, Harmony glanced back at Cordelia. "But, what that Alex guy did with you today? Nuh-uh mister, we've got rules in Sunnydale and so I say to him, you'll do that to my friend over my dead body!"
"Uh, thanks," Cordelia forced a grin at that, and added more to herself, "I guess."
But then, a realization came to the brunette girl's mind.
The 16-year-old cheerleader knew all too well the unspoken meaning of carrying the scepter of her status, and even when she was nowadays pretty much considered the next generation of high school's leadership, the slightest of mistakes could indicate an opening for a new leader to rise.
It wasn't that she was insecure about maintaining her crown. But the beginning of the school year, an unknown territory, could mean unstable times, even if for a short period of solidification of power. And the thought of Harmony risking her own reputation to stand up for her was, in some way, touching to Cordelia Chase.
Harmony, however, quickly interrupted her thoughts. "You're totally lucky though, he's already showing himself to be like a loser - I mean, hanging out with those geeks? And did Aphrodesia tell you about the gym he *burned down* at Hemery High? It kinda reminds me of that Buffy Summers freak..."
The blonde girl eyed her friend and, with a pout, whispered in a sugar- coated voice, "But I'd *so* hate to have to stop hanging out with you if it was otherwise, you know?"
Harmony gushed, "I mean, whatever else he's done, he *is* from L.A. and he is so cute. And I'd have no choice but to stick with him - for my reputation and stuff, you know how these things are, right Cordelia?" Harmony asked, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world.
Cordelia's smile never faltered - but on the inside, she felt like she'd been slapped in the face at the foolishness of her previous thoughts. "Of course, you dunderhead. After all, I'm Cordelia Chase," she said absently.
"The one and only," Harmony rejoined.
Cordelia, catching a glimpse of her supposed friend's air-headed grin in the mirror's surface, then felt an abrupt pang of emptiness invade her heart and soul, but quickly shrugged it off like so many times she did before.
***
Brown eyes bored into hazel ones, both equally wide and equally puzzled. The instant had been almost ephemeral; but for Buffy and Xander, it seemed to have lasted a lot longer that its true duration.
"So, you aren't going?" a confused Giles inquired, noticing the odd expression on the boy's face as Xander rapidly averted his gaze from the blond-haired girl's.
The male Slayer chuckled lamely. "Ya know what? The thing is, uh, I still can hang out at the library if I want. And by the way, that was a very good rehearsal of the, um, play we're gonna have soon. Have you been practicing, or what?"
Despite herself, Buffy rolled her eyes at the pitiful attempt of covering up the nonsense that she'd accidentally eavesdropped upon, less than a minute ago.
"What? I, I'm not quite sure I understand you, Mr. Harris," Giles jabbered, advancing a few steps in the boy's direction with a suspicious look on his face.
"No, wait!" Xander suddenly shouted, making the Englishman almost jump at the sudden fright. "I, um, maybe we should talk somewhere quieter?"
At hearing that Giles, not for the first time bearing puzzlement on his features, cocked an eyebrow.
"Or louder," Xander swiftly amended. "This place? Is a major wiggins- giver," he added, cursing himself mentally.
"I thought you didn't want talk to me again. Ever," Giles replied doubtfully and in an absent manner, not for any instant looking at him but instead in the direction of the stacks, diverting himself from the barrier the teenager had made with his own body.
"Oh, right, that. I, well, pfft, I had an epiphany - a real eye-opener, really. What's it hurt with the talking, ya know?" Xander offered lamely.
Giles stopped in his place, glancing at the younger man with something that could only be classified as triumph. "I thought you didn't want to talk to tweed-coated, fancy, tea-drinking Brits anymore?"
Even when his face was dead serious, Xander could easily see the inward smirk the Watcher was wearing. Giles started walking once again, and this time the dark-haired teen could not prevent him from doing so without generating definite suspicion.
Predicting the close future ahead, the dark-haired youth closed his eyes tight. And when he opened them again, the shock of finding nothing behind the bookshelf but the floor made him stare dumbfounded at it, for a long instant.
The middle-aged Watcher looked equally disconcerted at the discovery. And then it was Xander's turn to, with an externally serious expression, generate an internal smirk. "What? Lookin' for a book?"
"N-no, I-I just..." the baffled Englishman stammered, and, giving Xander a curious look, turned and walked a little further, glancing to the side searchingly but finding nothing once again.
Recomposing himself and clearing his throat, Giles turned back to Xander, only to find out the boy wasn't there anymore either. Fleeting instants later, the Watcher heard the library's doors bang shut.
Giles adjusted his spectacles, taken aback at the turn of events this day had been proving to be with regards to the Council's assignment to his new Slayer. He just cursed quietly, "Bloody hell..."
***
In the next chapter... who's Xander gonna find in the dark alley? It's wicked, it's daring, it's... OK, I got a little carried over, but it's definitively not who you're thinking it's... Stay tuned, folks, and let me know what you think of it so far!
