Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. Please don't sue. I have enough financial problems as it is. I promise I'll play nice… maybe. For other details see part one.
"The Consequences of Prevailing".
Chapter 5: The Journey Part 1.
On Friday the 6th of June the Scoobies finally managed to start their journeys to Cleveland. All the new Slayers, with the exceptions of Kennedy and Shannon, had been returned to, or started on their journey towards, their homes and families, and Giles was amazed at just how quickly it had all occurred. The rest of the Scoobies who, after the first initial days, had had very little to do, except wander and worry and plan and grieve and kill off the few demons and vamps they met on their nightly patrols, were relieved and almost impatient. For them the past few weeks had felt as if they had dragged on for years.
After much discussion and shuffling it had been decided to split the party in to three groups, each group containing at least one Slayer and one adult Scooby. Robin had been able to raise enough funds for a car for himself. It was not as nice or flashy as his old car but it would do. Faith was, unsurprisingly, the Slayer of this party and Xander was his Scooby. To his dismay Andrew would also be accompanying them, quite simply because Xander was the only person who seemed to not mind Andrew's geeky babble- in fact quite a lot of the time Xander babbled quite happily back.
Kennedy and Willow were the group in car two- a jeep Kennedy had persuaded her father to buy her. Apparently it was a "congratulations on becoming a Slayer" gift. Willow thought this was "cool", Buffy was more than slightly miffed/jealous and her dislike for Kennedy had increased accordingly, while the rest of the group found the whole thing amusing- when they weren't rolling their eyes. Giles wasn't quite sure Kennedy was treating her newly acquired Slayer status with the solemnity it deserved but was thankful to not have to find the additional funds for another car.
The beat up piece of crap was gone, and almost forgotten, replaced by a shiny, conservative, family car, as had been the original plan. Giles was the driver, Buffy both Slayer and Scooby of the group, Dawn was the annoying little sister and Shannon Dawn's friend. Their cover story (should anyone ask why a man in his late forties was driving around the country with three young women) was that Giles was taking his two daughters and his poor orphaned niece on holiday. For some reason these assumed roles caused none of the group any problems or any stretch of their acting talents. Dawn and Shannon were excited about the trip and chattered non stop about seeing this or visiting that or how to kill such and such demons. The last few weeks, especially once it had been realised that Shannon had nowhere to go and the Council had taken custody of her, had caused them to become quite close and to share many confidences.
The cars set off in different directions, planning to cover as much ground as they could in the time that they had. Willow and Xander had both been given times for calling G, which they did daily, to report new Slayers, hotspots, and just to assure everyone that they were ok. When the journey was underway Buffy sat in the front passenger seat and moped, practically ignoring everyone else in the car except for the few times she had yelled at the girls to "just shut up for five minutes would you!?" which they usually heeded, and timed, but as soon as the five minutes was up they promptly returned to chattering.
Giles, Buffy and the girls quickly fell into a routine that seemed to work. They spent most of the day driving, then the evening and night looking for Slayers, training and patrolling. If Slayers were found the next day would be spent explaining what was going on, contact details being exchanged, and, where possibly, a brief training session conducted with the new Slayer. On the whole these meetings went well and even when the new Slayers declared Buffy and Giles to be "fucking nuts" they still took Giles' contact number- just in case.
Only one girl refused the contact number as well as rejecting their explanation. They had found her, well more like ran into her as she came pelting round the corner of your standard alley and ran smack into Shannon sending both of them sprawling, thirteen days into their journey.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Buffy snarled at the girl, looking at her as if she was idiot for running around the streets in the middle of the night. She was about to launch into a tirade when the cause of the girls flight became apparent- two vampires, both male, came snarling after her. Buffy immediately turned to them and kicked the larger of the two of them before sweeping the other off his feet without even issuing her once usual witticism. She no longer bothered with such things, just killed the vamps as quickly as possible. Giles had mixed feelings on this development for, while her fighting was much more focused and technically brilliant than it had used to be, the lack of her usual spark indicated at what her true mental and emotional state was. Shannon jumped to her feet and took on the smaller vamp as he quickly leapt back to his feet. Buffy disposed of her opponent almost moments after engaging him, Shannon took slightly longer but was efficient, even if her technique required some sharpening.
As the dust settled, Buffy and Shannon turned to look at the girl, who was still on the ground where she had fallen. Shannon stepped forward and offered a hand to help the girl up but she batted it away and jumped to her feet, her posture tense and defensive.
"What was that?" she asked, her tone accusing. "What did you do to those muggers?"
"Those weren't muggers. They were vampires," Buffy told her. The girl snorted. Ignoring her Buffy continued, "And we slayed them. That's kinda our job."
"You "slayed" them? Who uses language like that? And vampires aren't real," the girl argued back, her tone petulant.
"I assure you they are real," Giles assured the girl. She just looked at them. "And the reason Buffy uses the word "slayed" is because she and Shannon are Vampire Slayers."
"Buffy? Your name's Buffy? Man your folks sure didn't like you," the girl was incredulous.
"There's nothing wrong with the name Buffy," now it was Buffy's turn to be petulant.
"You just keep telling yourself that. I'm outta here, you people are nuts," the girl dismissed them and turned to walk down the alley.
"One moment please," Giles asked in his most firm and yet diplomatic tone. She swung round to face him, her pleat whipping round after her. She raised an eyebrow in question. "I have reason to believe that you may be a Vampire Slayer."
"Right. And you were released from the asylum when?"
"He's being serious," Buffy scolded. The girls face darkened with annoyance.
"The speed with which you were running does indicate that you may be a Slayer," Giles continued. "It would take only moments to determine that you are. If you could just give us a chance to prove it to you."
"Um, how about "no"? And then a "bye, hope to never meet you again"?" the girl swung back round to walk out away. Dawn stepped in front of her.
"There's no harm in just speaking to us for a little bit. We can help-" the girl shoved Dawn out of her way and walked out of the alley and turned into the street. Dawn flew backwards and the three other members of the group winced as they heard her head crack against the alley wall. She slid down the wall and blinked rapidly, dazed and on the verge of unconsciousness. Shannon rushed over to her.
Buffy looked torn between checking on Dawn and going after the girl, but decided after a moments hesitation on the former. She crouched down next to Dawnie and reached up to check the back of Dawn's head. Dawn winced as Buffy prodded it gently and when Buffy pulled her hand away it was stained in blood.
"We better get Dawn to the hospital. I think she might need a couple of stitches," Buffy said, looking at Giles.
"Dawn, can you walk?" Giles asked.
"I, I think so. If I can stand up," Dawn replied with some effort. Both Shannon and Buffy reached out a hand to her and taking an arm each helped her to her feet. She tottered for a moment before getting her balance. Keeping a hold on her sister and Shannon she started to slowly walk towards the mouth of the alleyway.
"So was that girl a Slayer?" Shannon asked Giles quietly as they walked.
"Judged on the force behind that shove I would say so," Giles answered at the same time as Buffy said, "Yes."
"I thought so," Shannon commented.
The next day found Buffy and Shannon waiting outside the local High School for their errant Slayer to finish for the day. They had stood, leaning against the car, and scanned the crowd of teenagers before Buffy had spotted the girl standing on the steps speaking to another girl.
"Shannon," was all Buffy needed to say to get her sister Slayer to follow her. Shannon followed, walking a little behind Buffy, as they made their way towards the school and the Slayer. They stood a little away from the girl and waited as she finished her conversation with her friend. She saw them and rolled her eyes, her friend turning to her with questions in her eyes. The girl leaned over and whispered in her friend's ear. "Ok Lana" her friend said before walking away.
As she walked down the steps Shannon and Buffy walked up to meet her.
"Hello Lana," Buffy said sweetly.
The girl just looked at them and then shoved her way past them.
"Lana, we just want to talk to you for a few minutes," Buffy told her.
"I don't want to talk to you."
"Where's the harm?" Shannon asked.
"Well, I don't know, maybe you'll decide to stalk me more if I talk to you," Lana said sarcastically, turning to face them.
"We're not stalking you," Buffy scoffed.
"And yet here you are."
"It was a guess that you went to this school," Shannon conceded.
"Well, well done you!"
"I'm Shannon," Shannon told her. "We're not going to be in town long and even if you don't want to talk to us we would like it if you would just take a phone number. Just a phone number."
"And I would want your phone number why?" Lana asked.
"In case anything happens. In case you need help in the future," Shannon told her reasonably.
"And just what will I need help with?"
"Demons. Demonic threats to the town. Vampire attacks. The things Slayers usually have to deal with," Buffy snapped, her patience wearing thin.
"Ok. So still nuts," Lana told them dismissively before turning away. Buffy grabbed her arm. "Hey, let go!"
"Just listen to us," Buffy told her, her tone harsh and unflinching.
"No. Not interested. And if I see you again I'll call the fucking cops," Lana snapped, pulling her arm away and turning to walk away.
"But-" Shannon tried again.
"Fuck off!" Lana cried, whirling to glare at them before darting across the street and into a waiting car. From the front seat her friend glared at them. Buffy and Shannon could only watch as the car screeched off down the road.
"Well that went well," Shannon said to no one in particular.
"Whatever Shannon. Get in the car," Buffy snapped, storming away.
"Yey. She's in another snit," Shannon muttered before dutifully following.
Giles was waiting for them when they got back, standing outside their rooms. Shannon smiled weakly at him before disappearing into the room she was sharing with Dawn. Buffy just glared.
"Coffee?" Giles asked placatingly. Buffy nodded and they made their way to the diner across the road. Once they had their coffees and were sitting down, Buffy glaring out of the window while Giles watched her, worry clouding his eyes, he asked, " So I take it the meeting did not go well?"
"Well we have a name, Lana- and she made fun off my name!- and a threat of the cops being called, so if you call that going well then, yeah it went fine!" Buffy told him, sarcasm tainting her tone, turning to face him.
"Oh dear. Well we'll just have to make a note that she's here and try to contact her again later. We must move on and police involvement would make our task harder," Giles told his Slayer.
"Fine. So we're moving on?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"Good. I'm sick of this place," Buffy agreed before looking back out the window. Giles sighed and turned back to his coffee.
A/N: Not so sure about this chapter but since I wrote it that is not entirely surprising. I'm never happy with what I write. What did you think of it? R/R please.
New chapter will be along shortly. Its already more than half written so I just need to finish it. So far I think it is much better than this chapter- so that's of the good.
Also, I actually have no problem with the name Lana, Buffy was just being childish.