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 20
The Factory
Willow and Nathan watched the magic window onto the Bronze until the fire was down to its last embers. Willow did a little happy dance when she saw Spike get out in time, but when she noticed that none of the four remaining targets had perished, she slugged Nathan as hard as she could.
"It's not fair!" Willow moaned, glaring in Buffy's direction. "I wanted the joy of sucking her dry, but now we have to keep her alive." She walked over to the table, her high-heeled boots clicking on the floor. "You lucked out this time. You've been upgraded to hostage. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun with you..."
Nathan picked himself up, and dusted himself off, glaring at Willow. "You act like this is all my fault. Who was the vampire that ran screaming from the Bronze when faced with a midget with a squirt gun?"
"Yeah, well," Willow whined defensively, "you're the one that said your little group was the best around. Now they're dead and the whitehats are still alive. You suck."
The sorcerer rolled his eyes, and returned to his magic supplies.
"What are you doing?" Willow demanded suspiciously.
"Just a little insurance," Nathan replied. He released a pinch of red powder into the air, and it crackled and exploded. "...in case they come here looking for her. A coating of this stuff hurts like hell."
On the table, Buffy tested her restraints. She didn't really see the point. They never loosened. But what else was she going to do? Lay there and cry? She was shocked when the leather strap binding her right hand suddenly gave a little. She looked quickly towards Willow and the sorcerer. Was Nathan looking at her? Buffy stopped moving, but there was a tiny gleam of hope in her heart. If they ever left her alone, maybe she could get free and warn the others about whatever it was Nathan was cooking up.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Five sweaty, soot-covered people reeking of smoke fumes straggled into the library an hour later. Angel and Xander fanned out to check the perimeters, making sure there wasn't another trap, and the other three slumped down at the table. Assured that the missing member of the Order of Taraka wasn't lying in wait for them, Angel and Xander came back and gratefully took seats of their own.
Xander was the first to speak. Sooty streaks decorated his cheeks and forehead, and his shirt was bloody in front. Paramedics called to the scene of the fire had dressed the gouges made by the she-wolf, but the shirt would be considered a definite casualty. His eyes narrowed on Giles, Oz and Sonya. "Now will you answer my question? What happened to Buffy?" He'd been holding his peace a long time -- tending to the wounded and doing what they could to help had taken precedence. But he couldn't keep silent anymore. His heart sank when they exchanged nervous glances.
"Honestly, we don't know," Giles finally said.
"You don't know?" Xander accused. He was unsure how to feel -- grateful that there wasn't proof of her death or scared that there wasn't proof of her life. The latter won out. "What the HELL do you mean, you don't know!" He stood up violently, and his chair flew back, hitting the floor with a crash. Sonya flinched.
Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his head, smearing the black soot around even more. "She was last seen leaving the bathrooms, but she never made it back to Oz."
"Either she got kidnapped, or she's dead," Sonya said in a soft voice. She felt a twinge of guilt, as if she could have done something. "Unless... well... maybe she got scared and ran away."
"No way!" Xander exploded. "Not Buffy! Something must've happened to her." His mind whirled, trying to come up with a possible scenario and grasping at straws. "Maybe... maybe Willow took her! Yeah, that sounds like something she'd do just to piss me off!"
Oz stood. "I'll go call Buffy's house, just in case." Giles gave the boy an approving look as the teen went into the office to use the phone.
The Watcher looked at Xander. "You've got to calm down. I agree that the loss of Miss Summers is quite distressing, but..."
"You're such a liar!" Xander yelled, advancing on Giles. "Quite distressing, my ass! You never cared about her, and you're the one who forced me to quit seeing her!" He grabbed Giles by the collar. "We never would have had to sneak around, if you'd just been a grown up and accepted the fact that we love each other. And if we hadn't had to sneak around behind your back, I could have kept her close to me in the Bronze, and this would never have happened! If she's dead, it's all your fault." He let go of Giles' shirt and the older man fell back into his chair with a loud thump.
"Don't, Xander!" Sonya cried, tears making tracks in the soot on her cheeks. "It's all my fault, not Giles. I was the one who told him Buffy was distracting you..."
Xander turned to Sonya, his supposed best friend, with new rage and a healthy dose of betrayal in his brown eyes. But he didn't grab her. She reached her hand out to him, but he ignored it. "Why?"
Her face drained of color behind the dirt, and the tears started coming faster. She started to say something, but choked on the words, and just turned away.
Then Oz came out from the office, his face drawn. "Mrs. Summers hasn't seen her. I told her that we got separated and for Buffy to call us if she comes home." He walked over to Sonya, and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. She accepted it from his hand and used it to cover her face.
(Buffy is dead) Xander thought simply. Part of him had hoped she'd run, even though he knew she wasn't that cowardly, and now his mind turned to the worst possible outcome. Pain started in his heart and threatened to overwhelm him.
A hand touched his shoulder. He looked up. It was Angel. "If they took her anywhere, it would be the Factory."
Taking strength from his friend, Xander straightened up and latched on to this idea, this last chance. "I'm going, now." He walked to the cage and began stuffing weapons into his pockets -- a new boot knife, plenty of stakes and crosses, cross bow bolts, and he slung the crossbow over his shoulders by its strap. Once armed, he turned back to the others. His gaze was cold when it landed on Giles and Sonya, but he didn't say anything to them. He didn't trust himself to say anything civil, so he bowed to the wisdom of saying nothing at all. Instead, he looked at Oz. "Do you have any more of those squirt guns?"
The boy reached into his jacket and pulled out one that was florescent green. Oz tossed it to Xander who caught it deftly in one hand and tucked it into the waistband of his pants.
Then Xander looked at Angel. "Coming to back me up?"
"Don't go, Xander!" Giles finally said. "We don't even know if she's there. We need to find out for sure, and if she is there then we can formulate a concrete plan."
"I'm going," Xander insisted. He pointed to the beeper clipped to his belt. "If you find out any new information, beep me."
"Wait," Oz said. "I'll come with you."
"Too dangerous," Xander said.
"I want to help."
Angel stepped in. "He can drive the getaway car. Oz can stay outside with the van running, and if... when we find Buffy and get out of there, we'll have an escape route ready."
"Fine." Xander shrugged. "But if he becomes vampire chow, it's no skin off my nose. No offense, man."
"None taken," Oz replied, stopping in the cage for a few weapons of his own. Angel did the same.
The two teenagers had already started for the van, when Giles grabbed Angel's sleeve. The vampire turned.
"I'm going to perform the spell." He gestured to Buffy's purse laying on the table. Oz had kept it all this time. "There's a brush in there with a hair sample, and all we need is something with her genetic code. If the spell works, and she's there, she'll be able to help you. If it doesn't work, we know she's dead."
"What if she's undead?" Angel said quietly.
Giles looked worried but resolute. "That's a risk we just have to take."
Angel nodded, and followed the others out to the van.
Giles looked at Sonya. Her shoulders shook with a suppressed sob from time to time, but she had herself much more under control now. When she looked at him, he said, "I need your help. There's something about Buffy Summers that you should know."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Spike walked into the factory and surveyed the scene. Willow was arguing with Nathan -- Spike really didn't like that sorcerer, he seemed to have his own agenda, and Spike felt that he was the only one allowed to have one of those -- and Buffy was strapped to their dining room table.
"Willow, my pet," Spike said, removing his torn, dirty trench coat, "did you get a new centerpiece and not tell me about it?"
"Lover! You're back!" She ran over to him and threw herself into his arms for a spin. Spike held her for a minute, and then put her down.
"You still haven't told me what the girl is doing here."
"Nathan did it," Willow muttered with a dark glance in the sorcerer's direction. "But now we need her, as leverage against the whitehats."
"Bloody hell!" Spike swore. "They *all* got out alive? Remind me to call the Order and file an official complaint. We asked for five dead people, and we got four pissed off whitehats and a new centerpiece."
Willow pouted. "I think we should get our money back. Nathan sucks." Then she smiled. "And, speaking of sucking, I was thinking that it might be fun to add Xander's little blonde slut to our happy family. What do you think?"
Spike looked at the girl consideringly. "The idea has merit, my dear, why don't we..."
"Stop!"
Spike looked at Nathan angrily. "Who do you think you are, ordering me around in my own bloody house?"
"You can't kill her. She's mine." The sorcerer's words were calm and to the point.
Spike began to advance on Nathan who stood between him and his intended victim. "We paid you to kill her, and you didn't, so I'm just going to do it myself, you wanker."
Nathan's black eyes focused on Spike. "Before you do that, there's something you should know."
"What could you possibly say that would interest me?" Spike laughed. "I'm breathless with antici... wait, silly me, I don't really care. I'd rather eat!"
"Do you care that your lover Willow is the one who had Drusilla killed?"
That stopped Spike in his tracks. He looked at Willow. She was gazing at Nathan in horror.
"Yes," the sorcerer continued, "I dipped into her mind with my telepathy..."
"Now I know you're lying," Spike exclaimed with relief. "Telepathy doesn't work on vampires. It's like the mirror thing -- no reflections."
Nathan was already shaking his head. "That may be true of ESP and other paltry forms of telepathy, but Druidic telepathy is much stronger. If a being has a mind, I can see into it." His eyes closed for a second, and then reopened with confidence. "Right now, you're remembering being one second too late and seeing Drusilla's body crumble to dust before your very eyes."
Spike gasped. The sorcerer was telling the truth. He could see into vampire's minds.
Willow shrieked and ran in between the two men. "He's lying, Spikey. I would never have done that. And how generic is what he said? Of course you were thinking about Dru's death. He brought it up himself."
"Yes," Nathan said, "but could I guess that you arranged for Drusilla to find the little boy? In fact, you lead her there yourself, to a place where you know Angel would be patrolling. And then you led Spike there just in time to see her die. You're quite devious when you want to be."
Spike turned on Willow. His eyes glowed and his fangs descended. "Is this true? Is it?"
Willow stepped back. "No, of course not. Who are you going to believe, some incompetent sorcerer, or the woman who's been your partner for over a year?"
"She hated Dru," Nathan said. "She only pretended to like her to keep you fooled. She wanted Dru out of the way so she could rule Sunnydale with you. In fact, Willow doesn't even really like you. She wants Xander to rule with her. You're just a substitute."
Spike lunged for Willow and slapped her. His fingernails made bloody gashes across her cheek. Willow vamped out, getting angry in turn.
"You idiot!" she spat at Spike. "What does the past matter? Nathan is trying to divide us so that he can have Buffy so he can make himself stronger. He's playing you for a fool!"
"The past matters," Spike growled, "or at least it does to me."
While the vampires argued, Nathan turned toward Buffy, pulling the ornate dagger out of the folds of his robes. "That should keep them occupied for a while," he told her with a smile. "At least long enough for me to complete the ritual."
He lifted the knife up, and Buffy closed her eyes and tensed for the blow. Then she heard a thwack. She peeked out from beneath her lashes and saw a crossbow bolt protruding from Nathan's shoulder. The dagger clattered to the floor.
All eyes in the room turned toward the doorway where Xander was standing with the crossbow. From the shadows behind him, Angel was scarcely visible.
Spike yelled, and the ten vampires that had not gone to the Bronze came running in. "Kill him!" Spike ordered. "In fact, why stop there?" His smile bordered on the insane. "Why not kill everyone else, too?"
"Even her?" One of the vamps pointed at Willow.
Spike glared at his former lover. "Especially her."
#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 20
The Factory
Willow and Nathan watched the magic window onto the Bronze until the fire was down to its last embers. Willow did a little happy dance when she saw Spike get out in time, but when she noticed that none of the four remaining targets had perished, she slugged Nathan as hard as she could.
"It's not fair!" Willow moaned, glaring in Buffy's direction. "I wanted the joy of sucking her dry, but now we have to keep her alive." She walked over to the table, her high-heeled boots clicking on the floor. "You lucked out this time. You've been upgraded to hostage. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun with you..."
Nathan picked himself up, and dusted himself off, glaring at Willow. "You act like this is all my fault. Who was the vampire that ran screaming from the Bronze when faced with a midget with a squirt gun?"
"Yeah, well," Willow whined defensively, "you're the one that said your little group was the best around. Now they're dead and the whitehats are still alive. You suck."
The sorcerer rolled his eyes, and returned to his magic supplies.
"What are you doing?" Willow demanded suspiciously.
"Just a little insurance," Nathan replied. He released a pinch of red powder into the air, and it crackled and exploded. "...in case they come here looking for her. A coating of this stuff hurts like hell."
On the table, Buffy tested her restraints. She didn't really see the point. They never loosened. But what else was she going to do? Lay there and cry? She was shocked when the leather strap binding her right hand suddenly gave a little. She looked quickly towards Willow and the sorcerer. Was Nathan looking at her? Buffy stopped moving, but there was a tiny gleam of hope in her heart. If they ever left her alone, maybe she could get free and warn the others about whatever it was Nathan was cooking up.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Five sweaty, soot-covered people reeking of smoke fumes straggled into the library an hour later. Angel and Xander fanned out to check the perimeters, making sure there wasn't another trap, and the other three slumped down at the table. Assured that the missing member of the Order of Taraka wasn't lying in wait for them, Angel and Xander came back and gratefully took seats of their own.
Xander was the first to speak. Sooty streaks decorated his cheeks and forehead, and his shirt was bloody in front. Paramedics called to the scene of the fire had dressed the gouges made by the she-wolf, but the shirt would be considered a definite casualty. His eyes narrowed on Giles, Oz and Sonya. "Now will you answer my question? What happened to Buffy?" He'd been holding his peace a long time -- tending to the wounded and doing what they could to help had taken precedence. But he couldn't keep silent anymore. His heart sank when they exchanged nervous glances.
"Honestly, we don't know," Giles finally said.
"You don't know?" Xander accused. He was unsure how to feel -- grateful that there wasn't proof of her death or scared that there wasn't proof of her life. The latter won out. "What the HELL do you mean, you don't know!" He stood up violently, and his chair flew back, hitting the floor with a crash. Sonya flinched.
Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his head, smearing the black soot around even more. "She was last seen leaving the bathrooms, but she never made it back to Oz."
"Either she got kidnapped, or she's dead," Sonya said in a soft voice. She felt a twinge of guilt, as if she could have done something. "Unless... well... maybe she got scared and ran away."
"No way!" Xander exploded. "Not Buffy! Something must've happened to her." His mind whirled, trying to come up with a possible scenario and grasping at straws. "Maybe... maybe Willow took her! Yeah, that sounds like something she'd do just to piss me off!"
Oz stood. "I'll go call Buffy's house, just in case." Giles gave the boy an approving look as the teen went into the office to use the phone.
The Watcher looked at Xander. "You've got to calm down. I agree that the loss of Miss Summers is quite distressing, but..."
"You're such a liar!" Xander yelled, advancing on Giles. "Quite distressing, my ass! You never cared about her, and you're the one who forced me to quit seeing her!" He grabbed Giles by the collar. "We never would have had to sneak around, if you'd just been a grown up and accepted the fact that we love each other. And if we hadn't had to sneak around behind your back, I could have kept her close to me in the Bronze, and this would never have happened! If she's dead, it's all your fault." He let go of Giles' shirt and the older man fell back into his chair with a loud thump.
"Don't, Xander!" Sonya cried, tears making tracks in the soot on her cheeks. "It's all my fault, not Giles. I was the one who told him Buffy was distracting you..."
Xander turned to Sonya, his supposed best friend, with new rage and a healthy dose of betrayal in his brown eyes. But he didn't grab her. She reached her hand out to him, but he ignored it. "Why?"
Her face drained of color behind the dirt, and the tears started coming faster. She started to say something, but choked on the words, and just turned away.
Then Oz came out from the office, his face drawn. "Mrs. Summers hasn't seen her. I told her that we got separated and for Buffy to call us if she comes home." He walked over to Sonya, and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. She accepted it from his hand and used it to cover her face.
(Buffy is dead) Xander thought simply. Part of him had hoped she'd run, even though he knew she wasn't that cowardly, and now his mind turned to the worst possible outcome. Pain started in his heart and threatened to overwhelm him.
A hand touched his shoulder. He looked up. It was Angel. "If they took her anywhere, it would be the Factory."
Taking strength from his friend, Xander straightened up and latched on to this idea, this last chance. "I'm going, now." He walked to the cage and began stuffing weapons into his pockets -- a new boot knife, plenty of stakes and crosses, cross bow bolts, and he slung the crossbow over his shoulders by its strap. Once armed, he turned back to the others. His gaze was cold when it landed on Giles and Sonya, but he didn't say anything to them. He didn't trust himself to say anything civil, so he bowed to the wisdom of saying nothing at all. Instead, he looked at Oz. "Do you have any more of those squirt guns?"
The boy reached into his jacket and pulled out one that was florescent green. Oz tossed it to Xander who caught it deftly in one hand and tucked it into the waistband of his pants.
Then Xander looked at Angel. "Coming to back me up?"
"Don't go, Xander!" Giles finally said. "We don't even know if she's there. We need to find out for sure, and if she is there then we can formulate a concrete plan."
"I'm going," Xander insisted. He pointed to the beeper clipped to his belt. "If you find out any new information, beep me."
"Wait," Oz said. "I'll come with you."
"Too dangerous," Xander said.
"I want to help."
Angel stepped in. "He can drive the getaway car. Oz can stay outside with the van running, and if... when we find Buffy and get out of there, we'll have an escape route ready."
"Fine." Xander shrugged. "But if he becomes vampire chow, it's no skin off my nose. No offense, man."
"None taken," Oz replied, stopping in the cage for a few weapons of his own. Angel did the same.
The two teenagers had already started for the van, when Giles grabbed Angel's sleeve. The vampire turned.
"I'm going to perform the spell." He gestured to Buffy's purse laying on the table. Oz had kept it all this time. "There's a brush in there with a hair sample, and all we need is something with her genetic code. If the spell works, and she's there, she'll be able to help you. If it doesn't work, we know she's dead."
"What if she's undead?" Angel said quietly.
Giles looked worried but resolute. "That's a risk we just have to take."
Angel nodded, and followed the others out to the van.
Giles looked at Sonya. Her shoulders shook with a suppressed sob from time to time, but she had herself much more under control now. When she looked at him, he said, "I need your help. There's something about Buffy Summers that you should know."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Spike walked into the factory and surveyed the scene. Willow was arguing with Nathan -- Spike really didn't like that sorcerer, he seemed to have his own agenda, and Spike felt that he was the only one allowed to have one of those -- and Buffy was strapped to their dining room table.
"Willow, my pet," Spike said, removing his torn, dirty trench coat, "did you get a new centerpiece and not tell me about it?"
"Lover! You're back!" She ran over to him and threw herself into his arms for a spin. Spike held her for a minute, and then put her down.
"You still haven't told me what the girl is doing here."
"Nathan did it," Willow muttered with a dark glance in the sorcerer's direction. "But now we need her, as leverage against the whitehats."
"Bloody hell!" Spike swore. "They *all* got out alive? Remind me to call the Order and file an official complaint. We asked for five dead people, and we got four pissed off whitehats and a new centerpiece."
Willow pouted. "I think we should get our money back. Nathan sucks." Then she smiled. "And, speaking of sucking, I was thinking that it might be fun to add Xander's little blonde slut to our happy family. What do you think?"
Spike looked at the girl consideringly. "The idea has merit, my dear, why don't we..."
"Stop!"
Spike looked at Nathan angrily. "Who do you think you are, ordering me around in my own bloody house?"
"You can't kill her. She's mine." The sorcerer's words were calm and to the point.
Spike began to advance on Nathan who stood between him and his intended victim. "We paid you to kill her, and you didn't, so I'm just going to do it myself, you wanker."
Nathan's black eyes focused on Spike. "Before you do that, there's something you should know."
"What could you possibly say that would interest me?" Spike laughed. "I'm breathless with antici... wait, silly me, I don't really care. I'd rather eat!"
"Do you care that your lover Willow is the one who had Drusilla killed?"
That stopped Spike in his tracks. He looked at Willow. She was gazing at Nathan in horror.
"Yes," the sorcerer continued, "I dipped into her mind with my telepathy..."
"Now I know you're lying," Spike exclaimed with relief. "Telepathy doesn't work on vampires. It's like the mirror thing -- no reflections."
Nathan was already shaking his head. "That may be true of ESP and other paltry forms of telepathy, but Druidic telepathy is much stronger. If a being has a mind, I can see into it." His eyes closed for a second, and then reopened with confidence. "Right now, you're remembering being one second too late and seeing Drusilla's body crumble to dust before your very eyes."
Spike gasped. The sorcerer was telling the truth. He could see into vampire's minds.
Willow shrieked and ran in between the two men. "He's lying, Spikey. I would never have done that. And how generic is what he said? Of course you were thinking about Dru's death. He brought it up himself."
"Yes," Nathan said, "but could I guess that you arranged for Drusilla to find the little boy? In fact, you lead her there yourself, to a place where you know Angel would be patrolling. And then you led Spike there just in time to see her die. You're quite devious when you want to be."
Spike turned on Willow. His eyes glowed and his fangs descended. "Is this true? Is it?"
Willow stepped back. "No, of course not. Who are you going to believe, some incompetent sorcerer, or the woman who's been your partner for over a year?"
"She hated Dru," Nathan said. "She only pretended to like her to keep you fooled. She wanted Dru out of the way so she could rule Sunnydale with you. In fact, Willow doesn't even really like you. She wants Xander to rule with her. You're just a substitute."
Spike lunged for Willow and slapped her. His fingernails made bloody gashes across her cheek. Willow vamped out, getting angry in turn.
"You idiot!" she spat at Spike. "What does the past matter? Nathan is trying to divide us so that he can have Buffy so he can make himself stronger. He's playing you for a fool!"
"The past matters," Spike growled, "or at least it does to me."
While the vampires argued, Nathan turned toward Buffy, pulling the ornate dagger out of the folds of his robes. "That should keep them occupied for a while," he told her with a smile. "At least long enough for me to complete the ritual."
He lifted the knife up, and Buffy closed her eyes and tensed for the blow. Then she heard a thwack. She peeked out from beneath her lashes and saw a crossbow bolt protruding from Nathan's shoulder. The dagger clattered to the floor.
All eyes in the room turned toward the doorway where Xander was standing with the crossbow. From the shadows behind him, Angel was scarcely visible.
Spike yelled, and the ten vampires that had not gone to the Bronze came running in. "Kill him!" Spike ordered. "In fact, why stop there?" His smile bordered on the insane. "Why not kill everyone else, too?"
"Even her?" One of the vamps pointed at Willow.
Spike glared at his former lover. "Especially her."