Destiny Lost
#1: In the Space of a Heartbeat
Authors: Sonya and Erin
E-mail: sonyajeb@swbell.net OR carynsilver@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Category: B/X, AU, action/adventure, romance
Summary: An accident seconds before being chosen causes the Slayer Essence to skip Buffy, leaving her a normal girl. Then, a year and a half later, her mom's new job and her parents' divorce brings Buffy and her mother to Sunnydale, where Buffy comes in contact with the world of the night and a young man dedicated to its destruction.
Disclaimer: We do not own Buffy or any of the original characters or ideas from the show. They all belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc. All we own is our own creative genius (unless that's too strong a word :) and any characters we make up.
Distribution: Sure, just let us know where it is!
Feedback: Love it! We want to know your likes AND dislikes. Flames are the only thing we do not accept.
Spoilers: Basic BtVS mythology and vampire/slayer lore
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 15
The Library
Sonya sat in the darkest corner of the library, alone with her thoughts. Was Buffy right about her? Was she really in love with Xander? But how could she have not realized it before now? All of these thoughts swirled around in her brain, each demanding attention. But she pushed them to the back of her mind for now. They would keep. She needed to figure out how she was going to deal with the other life-altering piece of information that she'd been given today. If things went according to plan, soon she might lose a huge chunk of who she was. She might lose the feeling of being the Slayer, something that she had always relied on to help her get through life in a wheelchair. Logically, Sonya knew that saving the world was more important than her feelings of insecurity, but it still hurt, nonetheless. If she wasn't the Slayer, then who was she? Just some crip with a chip on her shoulder the size of Australia, that was who. And someone nobody liked being around.
Sonya sighed, burrying her head in her hands. "What am I going to do?" she muttered to herself dejectedly.
Then she remembered something Buffy had said to her the other day...
"Almost two years ago, I was run over by a truck. I was in traction for months, a wheelchair and braces after that. It's taken me a long time to get back to the woman you see before you..."
Suddenly, as if a light bulb had gone on in her brain, Sonya finally got it. She realized that other people were strong, even without Slayer powers. Buffy had fought her way out of a wheelchair all on her own. And Xander risked his life to save the world every night without extra powers to help him. Even Giles was strong, in his own bookish way. After all, he had to deal with both her and Xander on a daily basis, didn't he?
Sonya smiled a little, wiping away the tears from her damp cheeks. If they could be strong, then so could she. She might not ever get out of this damn wheelchair. She might not ever get Xander to love her as much as she loved him. And she might not ever have her old, pre-accident life back again. But Sonya would be damned if she was going to throw away the rest of her NEW life by being a bitter recluse like she had been for the last year. "It's time for everyone to meet the new and improved Sonya Parker," she vowed to herself. As she wheeled herself out of the library, Sonya felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It was a good feeling.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After school, Buffy headed home. She had to dust off her old, stylishness and pick out a cute, yet able-to-fight-in outfit for the Bronze. She was stuck between two choices when the doorbell rang. Buffy glanced at the bedside clock -- 4 o'clock. She wasn't expecting anybody, but maybe Xander had found time to sneak away.
She ran down the steps and pulled open the door with a big smile on her face. The smile froze and then disappeared when she saw who was actually there. "What do you want?"
"I've been trying to figure out what to say the whole way here," Sonya said, looking uncomfortable, "but in all that time I couldn't come up with anything better than this. I'm sorry I've been such a bitch to you, you didn't deserve it, and is it too late to ask you for a favor?"
That left Buffy speechless for a moment. She had a mean, childish urge to slam the door in the girl's face, but she didn't. Instead she silently pulled the door open wider and stepped back so that Sonya could wheel herself inside and into the living room. Buffy followed her. "What kind of favor?"
Sonya hesitated. This was harder than she'd thought it would be -- and considering the fact that she'd known this would be extremely hard, that was saying a lot. "Well ... let's just say you were right the other night. I'm turning into a bitter, mean-spirited person that nobody wants to be around, and I've got to change that. I figured the best way to start would be with the outside. This says a lot for how closed off I've been, but you're the only girl I really know, so I thought maybe you could help me."
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "You want me to give you a makeover?"
"Well, I wouldn't word it exactly like that," Sonya muttered defensively, "but if that's what they're calling it nowadays, then so be it."
For a minute, Buffy just stood there, a million thoughts crowding for space into her brain. Part of her wanted to help Sonya. The girl needed a friend -- and Buffy knew that more than anyone. But another part of Buffy was still ticked off at the way the girl had treated her, and for the way Sonya had helped Giles keep Buffy away from Xander. And then there was the part that she didn't even want to admit to herself -- what if she made Sonya into someone Xander could fall in love with? But Buffy knew that if what she and Xander had was real, she had to trust him. And Sonya was a person sitting before her asking for help. What if Buffy's mother had turned Buffy away when she took that step?
"I'll help you," Buffy finally agreed. Buffy stepped forward and examined the girl. Sonya wore no makeup and serviceable clothes. Her long, brown hair was bound up in a bun and held by boring, black bobbypins. "If you trust me..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Joyce got home from work, she came in the house to hear the sounds of two excited girls laughing and talking in the living room. Joyce walked into the living room to see it turned into a makeshift beauty parlor. Clothes, makeup and assorted paraphenalia were scattered all over the place, presumably for the benefit of the brunette in the wheelchair.
"Hi, honey," Joyce said with a smile.
"Hey, Mom!" Buffy said, grinning. "This is Sonya."
Joyce walked fully into the room, putting on her best hostess smile. "Hello, Sonya. It's nice to meet you." Joyce tried her best to sound normal, but it was hard looking at the girl in the chair. That could so easily be Buffy. Then a little maternal pride crept into her heart. Trust Buffy to be caring and kind enough to pick this girl as a friend.
"Hi," Sonya said quietly.
"What are you girls up to?" Joyce asked. "Hot dates tonight?"
"Well, sort of," Buffy said. "I'm going to the Bronze with this guy I just met, Oz. He's really nice and he plays in a band." She glanced at Sonya. "Wanna ride with us?"
"Yeah," Sonya agreed, "that would be good."
Joyce's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Oz? But what happened to the boy from the other night? Xander? I thought you really liked him, and he was sure sweet on you."
Buffy blushed and stammered. "Um... things didn't quite go as we planned. I don't think it's going to work out."
Walking over, Joyce gave her daughter a hug. "I'm sorry, sweetie. He was kind of special."
Buffy shrugged. "Yeah, I thought so, too, but what can you do?" Then she noticed the guilty look on Sonya's face and decided that rubbing it in any more would be unkind. She changed the subject. "So, Mom, what do you think of our outfits? I gave Sonya a complete makeover."
"You two sure have been busy," Joyce said, her eyes going over the room. It was a shambles, but the girls looked good. Buffy had her hair pinned up away from her face and tied with a white ribbon. She wore black leggings, a longish, purple, silk shirt, a big, silver cross on a chain around her neck and a pair of clogs. Sonya looked good as well. Her hair hung about her shoulders in loose curls that framed her face -- obviously newly cut judging from the pile of brown hair laying on some newspaper in the corner. Her face was delicately made up to show off her delicate cheekbones and clear, blue eyes. She wore an ankle-length, black skirt with red flowers on it a cute, tight red sweater with big buttons, and chunky, red sandals. The skirt wasn't very flowy, but that was OK because that way it wouldn't get caught in the wheels of her chair. Sonya also had a cross hanging around her neck.
"Very nice," Joyce said with an approving smile. "You do good work, Buffy, but I'm sure you had a good base to work with." She glanced again at the necklaces and then asked, "Are those the new fad?"
"Um... yeah, Mom. Very in this season," Buffy said. Luckily, she was saved from further comment by the doorbell. "That's got to be Oz!"
She ran to the door, and, sure enough, it was Oz. He stood there in slacks, a shirt and a jacket, but no tie. Buffy looked at him with a smile. "Wow -- I've never seen you so dressed up."
"Needed the pockets."
Letting him in, Buffy said, "Do you mind if Sonya rides with us to the Bronze? Your van is big enough for her chair, right?"
Unflappable as always, Oz just said, "Sure." They went into the living room and did the introduction thing. Joyce was gracious, and Sonya actually smiled. Oz did a double take when he saw her. "Nice threads," he said. She blushed.
Then they were off. Buffy let Sonya sit in the front seat so that she could be buckled in securly, and Buffy held their purses -- bulging at the seams with crosses and stakes -- in her lap during the drive. In what seemed like only a few seconds, they were there.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Giles sat in the passenger seat of Xander's jeep, holding on for dear life.
"Tell me why your seatbelts don't work, again?" he yelled over the wind.
"That's what you get when you buy used, I guess," Xander called back.
Giles thanked his lucky stars that Sonya had given up on her insane wish to come along as Xander careened around a corner with barely a pause at the stop sign. She probably would have ended up another car crash fatality.
"So," Xander yelled, "the plan is that you hide in the back, and then when Willow, Spike and the gang show you'll guide people out the back door while Angel and I put the fear of God into the vamps, right?"
"Yes, I believe that's the best plan," Giles managed. "I wonder if my heart has stopped," he muttered when Xander sped through a yellow light. "Oh, wait, there it goes."
An eternity later, Xander pulled into a parking space at the Bronze with a squeeling of the brakes. Giles had to forcibly let go of his death grip on the dash board, and the Watcher wobbled a little as they crossed the parking lot.
"Oh, look," Xander said, seeing Oz's zebra-striped van. "Looks like the Dingoes are playing tonight."
"Oh joy," Giles muttered. Then the two men went inside the club, hoping that they were prepared for whatever would come.
#1: In the Space of a Heartbeat
Authors: Sonya and Erin
E-mail: sonyajeb@swbell.net OR carynsilver@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Category: B/X, AU, action/adventure, romance
Summary: An accident seconds before being chosen causes the Slayer Essence to skip Buffy, leaving her a normal girl. Then, a year and a half later, her mom's new job and her parents' divorce brings Buffy and her mother to Sunnydale, where Buffy comes in contact with the world of the night and a young man dedicated to its destruction.
Disclaimer: We do not own Buffy or any of the original characters or ideas from the show. They all belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc. All we own is our own creative genius (unless that's too strong a word :) and any characters we make up.
Distribution: Sure, just let us know where it is!
Feedback: Love it! We want to know your likes AND dislikes. Flames are the only thing we do not accept.
Spoilers: Basic BtVS mythology and vampire/slayer lore
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 15
The Library
Sonya sat in the darkest corner of the library, alone with her thoughts. Was Buffy right about her? Was she really in love with Xander? But how could she have not realized it before now? All of these thoughts swirled around in her brain, each demanding attention. But she pushed them to the back of her mind for now. They would keep. She needed to figure out how she was going to deal with the other life-altering piece of information that she'd been given today. If things went according to plan, soon she might lose a huge chunk of who she was. She might lose the feeling of being the Slayer, something that she had always relied on to help her get through life in a wheelchair. Logically, Sonya knew that saving the world was more important than her feelings of insecurity, but it still hurt, nonetheless. If she wasn't the Slayer, then who was she? Just some crip with a chip on her shoulder the size of Australia, that was who. And someone nobody liked being around.
Sonya sighed, burrying her head in her hands. "What am I going to do?" she muttered to herself dejectedly.
Then she remembered something Buffy had said to her the other day...
"Almost two years ago, I was run over by a truck. I was in traction for months, a wheelchair and braces after that. It's taken me a long time to get back to the woman you see before you..."
Suddenly, as if a light bulb had gone on in her brain, Sonya finally got it. She realized that other people were strong, even without Slayer powers. Buffy had fought her way out of a wheelchair all on her own. And Xander risked his life to save the world every night without extra powers to help him. Even Giles was strong, in his own bookish way. After all, he had to deal with both her and Xander on a daily basis, didn't he?
Sonya smiled a little, wiping away the tears from her damp cheeks. If they could be strong, then so could she. She might not ever get out of this damn wheelchair. She might not ever get Xander to love her as much as she loved him. And she might not ever have her old, pre-accident life back again. But Sonya would be damned if she was going to throw away the rest of her NEW life by being a bitter recluse like she had been for the last year. "It's time for everyone to meet the new and improved Sonya Parker," she vowed to herself. As she wheeled herself out of the library, Sonya felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It was a good feeling.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After school, Buffy headed home. She had to dust off her old, stylishness and pick out a cute, yet able-to-fight-in outfit for the Bronze. She was stuck between two choices when the doorbell rang. Buffy glanced at the bedside clock -- 4 o'clock. She wasn't expecting anybody, but maybe Xander had found time to sneak away.
She ran down the steps and pulled open the door with a big smile on her face. The smile froze and then disappeared when she saw who was actually there. "What do you want?"
"I've been trying to figure out what to say the whole way here," Sonya said, looking uncomfortable, "but in all that time I couldn't come up with anything better than this. I'm sorry I've been such a bitch to you, you didn't deserve it, and is it too late to ask you for a favor?"
That left Buffy speechless for a moment. She had a mean, childish urge to slam the door in the girl's face, but she didn't. Instead she silently pulled the door open wider and stepped back so that Sonya could wheel herself inside and into the living room. Buffy followed her. "What kind of favor?"
Sonya hesitated. This was harder than she'd thought it would be -- and considering the fact that she'd known this would be extremely hard, that was saying a lot. "Well ... let's just say you were right the other night. I'm turning into a bitter, mean-spirited person that nobody wants to be around, and I've got to change that. I figured the best way to start would be with the outside. This says a lot for how closed off I've been, but you're the only girl I really know, so I thought maybe you could help me."
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "You want me to give you a makeover?"
"Well, I wouldn't word it exactly like that," Sonya muttered defensively, "but if that's what they're calling it nowadays, then so be it."
For a minute, Buffy just stood there, a million thoughts crowding for space into her brain. Part of her wanted to help Sonya. The girl needed a friend -- and Buffy knew that more than anyone. But another part of Buffy was still ticked off at the way the girl had treated her, and for the way Sonya had helped Giles keep Buffy away from Xander. And then there was the part that she didn't even want to admit to herself -- what if she made Sonya into someone Xander could fall in love with? But Buffy knew that if what she and Xander had was real, she had to trust him. And Sonya was a person sitting before her asking for help. What if Buffy's mother had turned Buffy away when she took that step?
"I'll help you," Buffy finally agreed. Buffy stepped forward and examined the girl. Sonya wore no makeup and serviceable clothes. Her long, brown hair was bound up in a bun and held by boring, black bobbypins. "If you trust me..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Joyce got home from work, she came in the house to hear the sounds of two excited girls laughing and talking in the living room. Joyce walked into the living room to see it turned into a makeshift beauty parlor. Clothes, makeup and assorted paraphenalia were scattered all over the place, presumably for the benefit of the brunette in the wheelchair.
"Hi, honey," Joyce said with a smile.
"Hey, Mom!" Buffy said, grinning. "This is Sonya."
Joyce walked fully into the room, putting on her best hostess smile. "Hello, Sonya. It's nice to meet you." Joyce tried her best to sound normal, but it was hard looking at the girl in the chair. That could so easily be Buffy. Then a little maternal pride crept into her heart. Trust Buffy to be caring and kind enough to pick this girl as a friend.
"Hi," Sonya said quietly.
"What are you girls up to?" Joyce asked. "Hot dates tonight?"
"Well, sort of," Buffy said. "I'm going to the Bronze with this guy I just met, Oz. He's really nice and he plays in a band." She glanced at Sonya. "Wanna ride with us?"
"Yeah," Sonya agreed, "that would be good."
Joyce's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Oz? But what happened to the boy from the other night? Xander? I thought you really liked him, and he was sure sweet on you."
Buffy blushed and stammered. "Um... things didn't quite go as we planned. I don't think it's going to work out."
Walking over, Joyce gave her daughter a hug. "I'm sorry, sweetie. He was kind of special."
Buffy shrugged. "Yeah, I thought so, too, but what can you do?" Then she noticed the guilty look on Sonya's face and decided that rubbing it in any more would be unkind. She changed the subject. "So, Mom, what do you think of our outfits? I gave Sonya a complete makeover."
"You two sure have been busy," Joyce said, her eyes going over the room. It was a shambles, but the girls looked good. Buffy had her hair pinned up away from her face and tied with a white ribbon. She wore black leggings, a longish, purple, silk shirt, a big, silver cross on a chain around her neck and a pair of clogs. Sonya looked good as well. Her hair hung about her shoulders in loose curls that framed her face -- obviously newly cut judging from the pile of brown hair laying on some newspaper in the corner. Her face was delicately made up to show off her delicate cheekbones and clear, blue eyes. She wore an ankle-length, black skirt with red flowers on it a cute, tight red sweater with big buttons, and chunky, red sandals. The skirt wasn't very flowy, but that was OK because that way it wouldn't get caught in the wheels of her chair. Sonya also had a cross hanging around her neck.
"Very nice," Joyce said with an approving smile. "You do good work, Buffy, but I'm sure you had a good base to work with." She glanced again at the necklaces and then asked, "Are those the new fad?"
"Um... yeah, Mom. Very in this season," Buffy said. Luckily, she was saved from further comment by the doorbell. "That's got to be Oz!"
She ran to the door, and, sure enough, it was Oz. He stood there in slacks, a shirt and a jacket, but no tie. Buffy looked at him with a smile. "Wow -- I've never seen you so dressed up."
"Needed the pockets."
Letting him in, Buffy said, "Do you mind if Sonya rides with us to the Bronze? Your van is big enough for her chair, right?"
Unflappable as always, Oz just said, "Sure." They went into the living room and did the introduction thing. Joyce was gracious, and Sonya actually smiled. Oz did a double take when he saw her. "Nice threads," he said. She blushed.
Then they were off. Buffy let Sonya sit in the front seat so that she could be buckled in securly, and Buffy held their purses -- bulging at the seams with crosses and stakes -- in her lap during the drive. In what seemed like only a few seconds, they were there.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Giles sat in the passenger seat of Xander's jeep, holding on for dear life.
"Tell me why your seatbelts don't work, again?" he yelled over the wind.
"That's what you get when you buy used, I guess," Xander called back.
Giles thanked his lucky stars that Sonya had given up on her insane wish to come along as Xander careened around a corner with barely a pause at the stop sign. She probably would have ended up another car crash fatality.
"So," Xander yelled, "the plan is that you hide in the back, and then when Willow, Spike and the gang show you'll guide people out the back door while Angel and I put the fear of God into the vamps, right?"
"Yes, I believe that's the best plan," Giles managed. "I wonder if my heart has stopped," he muttered when Xander sped through a yellow light. "Oh, wait, there it goes."
An eternity later, Xander pulled into a parking space at the Bronze with a squeeling of the brakes. Giles had to forcibly let go of his death grip on the dash board, and the Watcher wobbled a little as they crossed the parking lot.
"Oh, look," Xander said, seeing Oz's zebra-striped van. "Looks like the Dingoes are playing tonight."
"Oh joy," Giles muttered. Then the two men went inside the club, hoping that they were prepared for whatever would come.