The Witch
~Keysuna
A/N: Personally, I feel that in the last two chapters (Welcome to the Hellmouth, The Harvest) I tried to cram more information then I was willing to write. Rereading these two over, there's a sense of them being rushed and jumbled. A lot of what makes Buffy such an amazing show, is the witty and clever dialogue, the balance between a normal life and the demonic undertones. I've been trying to carry over this same essence into the this fandom, but I'm not sure if it's working. The next few chapters will be shorter, mainly because I got the introductions out of the way. And just a note, I haven't seen season 1 in a long time, so I'm trying to write each chapter corresponding with when the episode is aired on FX. Due to my busy summer schedule (groan) I may miss a few. I apologize in advance if certain chapter don't read the same as others.
I am trying to focus on the character changes due to Buffy's attitude change and the different turn of events. This will be Giles centric.
Don't forget to review!
~ ~ ~
"It's an evil Freaky Friday." Buffy slammed the doors open to the library, and was surprised to find Giles helping a boy find a book.
"What?" The Watcher asked, both annoyed at her intrusion and confused at what she was saying.
Buffy cast an irritated glare at the student before sitting herself down at the table, waiting for him to leave.
"Brave New World is over here." Giles directed the boy toward the science fiction section. "Who's class did you say it was for?"
"Mr. Best." The boy answered before disappearing into the shadows of the bookshelves.
Giles nodded, and Buffy sighed. The lives of Cheerleaders were at stake here and he was helping a student find a book! What kind of Watcher did he think he was? Buffy realized that she was being childish, and rationalized that going back to high school was expected to have more consequences then merely having to start the battle over acne all over again.
The Slayer watched nonchalantly as the boy checked out the book, thanked the librarian and headed toward the door, sending a glance toward Buffy as he left. As the student left through the push doors, Buffy stared awkwardly after him. That had been Holden, the physiologist/karate master who she had battled, the one who had been sired by a souled Spike. Buffy shivered.
"Yes." The Watcher asked, jolting Buffy back to the real world. "What were you saying about Friday?"
Buffy decided to let Holden pass, a time might come when she would have to deal with him, but now she had Amy Madison to keep her thoughts on. "There's cheerleading tryouts coming up, and Amy Madison's mom is going to kill off the competition."
"And the tryouts… are on Friday?" Giles said a bit lost.
The Slayer shook her head. "No! In Freaky Friday the mom and daughter switch places to teach them a valuable lesson. . . but that's not what's going on."
"So nothings happening on Friday then?"
"Forget I said anything, lets start over." Buffy breathed out a sigh, she had forgotten that her witty media references had been lost on the Watcher. "Cheerleading tryouts are tomorrow. Amy Madison's mom has switched places with her daughter so that she can relive her glory days." She spelled it out for him.
Giles picked up a book from the counter and walked over to a shelf, placing it on top. "So what does this have to do with Friday?"
"Nothing!" Buffy cried, exasperated. She was about to give up and try to do it on her own, when Willow and Xander walked in.
"Buff!" Xander said, making his way over to her.
Willow stood in front of the table and shoved her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt. "Oh my god, Amber Grove caught on fire!"
The Slayer felt the smile she had worn when her friends walk in fall. "Cheerleading practice. . . I thought it was tomorrow."
Willow shook her head, a hint of fear in her eyes. "Well. . . the rest of it is."
Buffy cursed under her breath.
"Buff, everything ok?" Xander inquired. "It's not like it's vampires?"
"Yeah, vampires just bite people, they don't. . . burn them." Willow stated awkwardly.
"Well, if this is what seems to be the case. . ." Giles finished, obviously not having listened to what the Slayer had said earlier.
"It's a witch!" Buffy nearly yelled, catching everyone's attention.
Xander voiced their confusion. "What?"
"Amy Madison is a witch. . . no. Her moms a witch, but her mom is her."
The scooby gang watched her uneasily, Buffy shifted her weight on her feet as she met their gaze.
"I. . . Willow, you know where the Madison house is?"
The red head nodded.
"OK, were going over there after school."
Without waiting for an answer she shook her head in frustration and walked out the library.
~ ~ ~
"Amy. . . is her mother?" Willow asked non believing as they made their way to the Madison Manor.
Buffy nodded. "Uh huh."
"And, her mom's a witch." The red head repeated what the Slayer had previously told her. "And she's killing off the cheerleading competition so she can be a kid again?"
"Whatever happened to old school evil?" Xander slid up beside them. "You know the, I'm- going-to-kill-you-because-I-can bit?"
Jesse laughed and hitched the weapons bag he had so graciously volunteered to hold. The jealously Xander harbored for his friend when Buffy handed the bag over wasn't lost on her, and she prayed that they both got over their obsession with her-fast.
"I think Mrs. Turner is enough of old school evil for my tastes." The older boy said.
Willow turned to him. "She isn't that bad."
"One, she gave us detention for being a little bit late. Two, she gave us homework over the weekend. And three, she smells really, *really* bad." Xander ticked the points off on his fingers and Jesse gave him a high five for the last one.
"Try being in a teachers conference with her. . ." Giles grumbled from the back of their messy party. He had been irritated with Buffy's irrational impulse to run off and confront the Madison's and had no reason to approve of this action, but had no power to stop her either.
"Here we are." Willow announced as they came to a fenced off house, seemingly dark against the afternoon sun. They came to stand in front of the gate, and Buffy took the weapons bag from Jesse.
She gave a glance toward the red head. "Let's go." Her words came out decidedly.
"Buffy." Her Watcher called out as the blonde pushed open the gate.
She turned to him, "Yeah?"
Giles was at a loss of words, and Willow was undecided as to who to follow. Her friend was telling her to go in, where as her mentor was nervous about the scenario. "Be. . . be careful." He finally said.
Buffy nodded to him without a smile, and the two stepped foot onto the property.
~ ~ ~
Jesse and Xander were playing rock-papers-scissors for what seemed to Giles like enough times to drive anyone to insanity, himself included. The sun had dipped further into the sky, and he was growing slightly uncomfortable. Neither girls were back, and there was no sign from the house of anything happening. The Watcher returned to his pacing, eyes intent on the door to the Madison house. His doubts were nagging him and he had nothing else to do but dwell on them. The Slayer, the Chosen One, had no need of a Watcher. She had handled each and every danger on her own, more with the help of the two goof offs, Xander and Jesse , the intelligent Willow, and, the mysterious Angel.
She claimed she was from the future, and had no intention asking for his guidance on reliving her life. It made him wonder that in the her past reality, had he been any help to her?
"Buffy, Will!" Xander's voice brought the Watcher back, and he saw the Slayer and red head dragging an knocked out Amy toward them. An older women walked behind them, clutching a book to her chest.
"Hey." Buffy said for them as they came toward the waiting group. "Sorry, we took so long.. ." She dropped the girl. "We need to get to the school to reverse the spell." She met their gaze and turned toward the shaken women. "Everyone, *this* is Amy." Buffy toed the sleeping girl with her foot, her body sprawled on the cement. "And this. . . is a witch."
~ ~ ~
Giles read the ingredients carefully, sending Jesse and Xander to fetch the supplies that were needed. The school was empty when they had arrived, barren of life save for the seven of them. They had set up in the science room, Buffy's idea, just like everything else that had been done today. Amy, or, Mrs. Madison in her daughters body, was slumped in a chair. A careful eyes was kept on her by the Slayer.
The real Amy, was watching Giles as he gathered the ingredients. Buffy had already destroyed the witch craft that was in the Madison home, so all they had to do was reverse the spell that kept the two from their true bodies.
"We're ready to begin." The Watcher said, almost tiredly.
Buffy looked up at him. "Let Willow do the spell."
The red head, who had been intently reading a book of sorcery, looked up. "What? No, Buffy, I can't, I couldn't. . ."
"Oh, ok." Buffy said in high pitched, fake defeat. "If you want Giles to do it then. . . I'm sure he'll somehow do it. . ."
"I assure you I am quite capable of. . ." Giles faltered as Willow's eyes caught a glimpse of excitement.
"I could try. . . I guess. . ."
Buffy grinned wickedly to herself as the red head received careful instructions from the Watcher. Giles tentatively backed away as Willow begun to recite the spell, and he cursed his obedience to his Slayer.
~ ~ ~
Giles sat alone in his living room, sipping a cup of tea. It had been a battle after Mrs. Madison had been returned to her body. Buffy had cleared the room to fight the witch, and as a spell was directed at her, she had placed a mirror in front of her and Amy's mom. The spell had been reflected back to the caster, and the Watcher had seen her disappear.
The fight hadn't been the worst he had ever seen, and he knew there would be far greater battles ahead. Yet. . . He took a small sip of the drink and sighed. When he had been given the task of looking over the Slayer, the *actual* Slayer, he had been ecstatic. To be the one Watching over the Chosen One was an extremely high honor. All he wanted was to walk her through the dark, show her the meaning of being what she was.
But she needed none of his help.
~Keysuna
A/N: Personally, I feel that in the last two chapters (Welcome to the Hellmouth, The Harvest) I tried to cram more information then I was willing to write. Rereading these two over, there's a sense of them being rushed and jumbled. A lot of what makes Buffy such an amazing show, is the witty and clever dialogue, the balance between a normal life and the demonic undertones. I've been trying to carry over this same essence into the this fandom, but I'm not sure if it's working. The next few chapters will be shorter, mainly because I got the introductions out of the way. And just a note, I haven't seen season 1 in a long time, so I'm trying to write each chapter corresponding with when the episode is aired on FX. Due to my busy summer schedule (groan) I may miss a few. I apologize in advance if certain chapter don't read the same as others.
I am trying to focus on the character changes due to Buffy's attitude change and the different turn of events. This will be Giles centric.
Don't forget to review!
~ ~ ~
"It's an evil Freaky Friday." Buffy slammed the doors open to the library, and was surprised to find Giles helping a boy find a book.
"What?" The Watcher asked, both annoyed at her intrusion and confused at what she was saying.
Buffy cast an irritated glare at the student before sitting herself down at the table, waiting for him to leave.
"Brave New World is over here." Giles directed the boy toward the science fiction section. "Who's class did you say it was for?"
"Mr. Best." The boy answered before disappearing into the shadows of the bookshelves.
Giles nodded, and Buffy sighed. The lives of Cheerleaders were at stake here and he was helping a student find a book! What kind of Watcher did he think he was? Buffy realized that she was being childish, and rationalized that going back to high school was expected to have more consequences then merely having to start the battle over acne all over again.
The Slayer watched nonchalantly as the boy checked out the book, thanked the librarian and headed toward the door, sending a glance toward Buffy as he left. As the student left through the push doors, Buffy stared awkwardly after him. That had been Holden, the physiologist/karate master who she had battled, the one who had been sired by a souled Spike. Buffy shivered.
"Yes." The Watcher asked, jolting Buffy back to the real world. "What were you saying about Friday?"
Buffy decided to let Holden pass, a time might come when she would have to deal with him, but now she had Amy Madison to keep her thoughts on. "There's cheerleading tryouts coming up, and Amy Madison's mom is going to kill off the competition."
"And the tryouts… are on Friday?" Giles said a bit lost.
The Slayer shook her head. "No! In Freaky Friday the mom and daughter switch places to teach them a valuable lesson. . . but that's not what's going on."
"So nothings happening on Friday then?"
"Forget I said anything, lets start over." Buffy breathed out a sigh, she had forgotten that her witty media references had been lost on the Watcher. "Cheerleading tryouts are tomorrow. Amy Madison's mom has switched places with her daughter so that she can relive her glory days." She spelled it out for him.
Giles picked up a book from the counter and walked over to a shelf, placing it on top. "So what does this have to do with Friday?"
"Nothing!" Buffy cried, exasperated. She was about to give up and try to do it on her own, when Willow and Xander walked in.
"Buff!" Xander said, making his way over to her.
Willow stood in front of the table and shoved her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt. "Oh my god, Amber Grove caught on fire!"
The Slayer felt the smile she had worn when her friends walk in fall. "Cheerleading practice. . . I thought it was tomorrow."
Willow shook her head, a hint of fear in her eyes. "Well. . . the rest of it is."
Buffy cursed under her breath.
"Buff, everything ok?" Xander inquired. "It's not like it's vampires?"
"Yeah, vampires just bite people, they don't. . . burn them." Willow stated awkwardly.
"Well, if this is what seems to be the case. . ." Giles finished, obviously not having listened to what the Slayer had said earlier.
"It's a witch!" Buffy nearly yelled, catching everyone's attention.
Xander voiced their confusion. "What?"
"Amy Madison is a witch. . . no. Her moms a witch, but her mom is her."
The scooby gang watched her uneasily, Buffy shifted her weight on her feet as she met their gaze.
"I. . . Willow, you know where the Madison house is?"
The red head nodded.
"OK, were going over there after school."
Without waiting for an answer she shook her head in frustration and walked out the library.
~ ~ ~
"Amy. . . is her mother?" Willow asked non believing as they made their way to the Madison Manor.
Buffy nodded. "Uh huh."
"And, her mom's a witch." The red head repeated what the Slayer had previously told her. "And she's killing off the cheerleading competition so she can be a kid again?"
"Whatever happened to old school evil?" Xander slid up beside them. "You know the, I'm- going-to-kill-you-because-I-can bit?"
Jesse laughed and hitched the weapons bag he had so graciously volunteered to hold. The jealously Xander harbored for his friend when Buffy handed the bag over wasn't lost on her, and she prayed that they both got over their obsession with her-fast.
"I think Mrs. Turner is enough of old school evil for my tastes." The older boy said.
Willow turned to him. "She isn't that bad."
"One, she gave us detention for being a little bit late. Two, she gave us homework over the weekend. And three, she smells really, *really* bad." Xander ticked the points off on his fingers and Jesse gave him a high five for the last one.
"Try being in a teachers conference with her. . ." Giles grumbled from the back of their messy party. He had been irritated with Buffy's irrational impulse to run off and confront the Madison's and had no reason to approve of this action, but had no power to stop her either.
"Here we are." Willow announced as they came to a fenced off house, seemingly dark against the afternoon sun. They came to stand in front of the gate, and Buffy took the weapons bag from Jesse.
She gave a glance toward the red head. "Let's go." Her words came out decidedly.
"Buffy." Her Watcher called out as the blonde pushed open the gate.
She turned to him, "Yeah?"
Giles was at a loss of words, and Willow was undecided as to who to follow. Her friend was telling her to go in, where as her mentor was nervous about the scenario. "Be. . . be careful." He finally said.
Buffy nodded to him without a smile, and the two stepped foot onto the property.
~ ~ ~
Jesse and Xander were playing rock-papers-scissors for what seemed to Giles like enough times to drive anyone to insanity, himself included. The sun had dipped further into the sky, and he was growing slightly uncomfortable. Neither girls were back, and there was no sign from the house of anything happening. The Watcher returned to his pacing, eyes intent on the door to the Madison house. His doubts were nagging him and he had nothing else to do but dwell on them. The Slayer, the Chosen One, had no need of a Watcher. She had handled each and every danger on her own, more with the help of the two goof offs, Xander and Jesse , the intelligent Willow, and, the mysterious Angel.
She claimed she was from the future, and had no intention asking for his guidance on reliving her life. It made him wonder that in the her past reality, had he been any help to her?
"Buffy, Will!" Xander's voice brought the Watcher back, and he saw the Slayer and red head dragging an knocked out Amy toward them. An older women walked behind them, clutching a book to her chest.
"Hey." Buffy said for them as they came toward the waiting group. "Sorry, we took so long.. ." She dropped the girl. "We need to get to the school to reverse the spell." She met their gaze and turned toward the shaken women. "Everyone, *this* is Amy." Buffy toed the sleeping girl with her foot, her body sprawled on the cement. "And this. . . is a witch."
~ ~ ~
Giles read the ingredients carefully, sending Jesse and Xander to fetch the supplies that were needed. The school was empty when they had arrived, barren of life save for the seven of them. They had set up in the science room, Buffy's idea, just like everything else that had been done today. Amy, or, Mrs. Madison in her daughters body, was slumped in a chair. A careful eyes was kept on her by the Slayer.
The real Amy, was watching Giles as he gathered the ingredients. Buffy had already destroyed the witch craft that was in the Madison home, so all they had to do was reverse the spell that kept the two from their true bodies.
"We're ready to begin." The Watcher said, almost tiredly.
Buffy looked up at him. "Let Willow do the spell."
The red head, who had been intently reading a book of sorcery, looked up. "What? No, Buffy, I can't, I couldn't. . ."
"Oh, ok." Buffy said in high pitched, fake defeat. "If you want Giles to do it then. . . I'm sure he'll somehow do it. . ."
"I assure you I am quite capable of. . ." Giles faltered as Willow's eyes caught a glimpse of excitement.
"I could try. . . I guess. . ."
Buffy grinned wickedly to herself as the red head received careful instructions from the Watcher. Giles tentatively backed away as Willow begun to recite the spell, and he cursed his obedience to his Slayer.
~ ~ ~
Giles sat alone in his living room, sipping a cup of tea. It had been a battle after Mrs. Madison had been returned to her body. Buffy had cleared the room to fight the witch, and as a spell was directed at her, she had placed a mirror in front of her and Amy's mom. The spell had been reflected back to the caster, and the Watcher had seen her disappear.
The fight hadn't been the worst he had ever seen, and he knew there would be far greater battles ahead. Yet. . . He took a small sip of the drink and sighed. When he had been given the task of looking over the Slayer, the *actual* Slayer, he had been ecstatic. To be the one Watching over the Chosen One was an extremely high honor. All he wanted was to walk her through the dark, show her the meaning of being what she was.
But she needed none of his help.