Part 2
**Memories are in **, disclaimers are in Part One**
The next day I spent in a daze, wandering around school without purpose. I never had a particularly good memory, but I can remember every detail of that dream. Everything, including the smell of burning asphault as Sunnydale was consumed by fire.
This Sucks.
I find myself looking at the watch a lot, like it will give me some insight into this. It's really not all that special, an antique watch. There is no engraving or anything, nothing. I curse this weird crap and continue to wander throughout the day. I drive by the high school after lunch and stop for a moment.
She's in there, totally innocent, and completely clueless about what she is going to do. She's dreaming of Xander, and all the hopes and dreams that one would expect from a sixteen year old girl. What could possibly happen to her in five years? How does this happen?
I'm thinking about all of the changes I can make, that a little forsight could make the world move in an entirely direction. It's like that chaos theory section in my math class. That any variation or change can dramatically alter the outcome of an event. So my knowing about this could be all the world needs to correct the path that is coming.
I spend the rest of the day thinking about this, and take a evening stroll that night to try to clear my head. I'm glad that classes haven't started yet, as there wasn't a whole lot of concentration coming from my brain today. I am lost in my thoughts until I hear a familiar voice.
"Xander!!"
"You're Amish! You can't fight back... 'cause you're Amish! I
mock you with my ice cream cone, Amish guy!"
That's Xander and Willow, what the hell are they doing out here? I walk over behind some bushes and watch them for a moment. Xander just popped Willow in the nose with his ice cream cone. She looks like she wants to read him the riot act, but doesn't because it's Xander.
"Witness. My nose is cold."
What's that growling I hear?
"Let me get that for ya."
It came from over there.. As I turn I come face to face with one ugly sucker, he's got yellow eyes, some kind of ridges on his face, and fangs. I stood there stunned for a moment. My mind forms a word, "vampire."
Great, first apocalyptic red haired computer nerds, now vampires. This just gets better and better.
Without a word it grabs me and tries to hold me still. Figuring it is going to try to bite me, I strike it in the throat, startling it enough to let me go. I hear Willow and Xander still talking as the vampire tries to punch me.
"Xander!" Willow sounds more embarassed than irritated.
I give it my best Sunday punch, right across the face. It looks back at me unfazed and punches me back. I fall into the bushes. I try to call for help, but thanks to my fanged-friend, trying to pin me down, I can't get my mouth uncovered enough to shout.
"I'm sorry, I can't help myself. Your nose looks so tasty." God Xander, you guys are really clueless. You sure you haven't dated before?
I can see out of the corner of my eye that Xander is leaning down to kiss her. Good for him.
I'm going to die. This thing is beating the crap out of me. I can't believe they haven't heard this yet. I don't want to wreck the tender moment going on above me, but like I mentioned earlier, I'm going to die.
"Umm..did you hear something?" Xander looks very embarrassed,
Thank God.
"Xander look!"
As the vamp tries again for the bite, I manage to get my legs up and kick him off, he slides back into the wall behind us. Willow and Xander jump off the wall and run forward, out to the street. I vault over the wall and get ready for this things attack again. Xander jumps down and slugs the vampire in the face, it shoves him back trying to pin him against the wall for a bite.
"Willow go!" I shout, I grab the vamp in the back and try to pull it off Xander. It kicks me and I fall down the hill. When I get up, I hear the sounds of fighting above me. When I make it back up the hill, I see a little blond girl duking it out with the vampire.
"Hi Guys" she says evenly. Like she did this sort of thing every night. After trading a couple of punches and kicks, she tosses the vampire into a tree where it explodes in a ball of dust.
"Buffy!" Willow shouts, and runs over to her.
"Hey. Hey, Will!" she replies earnestly, enveloping her in hug.
"Man, your timing really doesn't suck. " Well, no Xander it sure doesn't.
"When'd you get back?"
"Uh, just now. Dad drove me down. And I figured you two losers
would be getting into some kind of trouble."
"I think we had the upper hand. I-in a subtle way." Willow replies, her gaze pretty much locked on Xander who seems oblivious to it.
"Um, I could use a little help here." I start stumbling out of the bushes. The blonde girl looks like I startled her, she has her stake poised to strike again. Willow quickly runs over to me. "Buffy, it's okay this is a friend of ours." With Xander's help, she heaves me over the wall. I land on my butt on the concete, and look up at this Buffy person.
"Slayer" a voice tells me.
This is really too weird for words.
Xander speaks up after helping me to my feel despite my lack of balance and mobility at the moment. Those vampires can really hit. "Buffy, meet Seraph, Seraph this is Buffy, our resident expatriate from LA. Seraph goes to UC Sunnydale, He graduate from good old SHS a year ago, we met when I was a freshman."
"Hi, Xander has told me a lot about you."
She responses with a smirk, "Oh really? What did he say?" Xander looks like he's sweating. I look away for a second, acting like I'm pondering my answer, this is just too fun.
"Only good things, I can assure you."
"Good, I was afraid I'd have to hurt him." She almost glared at Xander, but not quite.
"Thanks for the rescue, though I am glad to see you guys again," A smile comes from Willow. Xander is still transfixed on Buffy. "Could someone help me get back to my dorm room?"
"Are you okay" Willow's big innocent eyes look at me. Those eyes I see killing...
I snap out of it, 5 years, I still have 5 years... "Yeah, I'm just kind of beaten up, nothing an ice pack and a lot of painkillers won't fix."
"You seem pretty calm about the whole vampire thing." Buffy said, her tone is not happy, sort of a mix between "I'm concerned about my friends" and "if I don't like what I hear I'll take your head off."
Oh Goody, I'm ticking off the Slayer. This is just wonderful. "I've lived in Sunnydale for most of my life, It really makes a lot of sense."
"Oh, okay" Buffy doesn't seem like she wants to drop it, but Xander changes the subject.
"Cibo Matto is gonna be at the Bronze this weekend, think we should go?"
**The Cibo Matto concert at the Bronze? When she just about mated with you on the dance floor knowing full well how I felt about you? That was just the first time, I can count a hundred times where she interfered, her coming into our lives destroyed them**
It starts here.
"Well, I might stop by too, if you don't mind hanging with an old man." I reply casually, trying not to shake. I can't screw this up.
"You're not old, you're in College! That's like major high school coolness for us." Willow says, trying to smile, but isn't really doing a great job. I wonder if Xander actually kissed her...
"Yeah, Ser, we could hang, you get the opportunity to hear about all the fun you're missing in college, and we get status. A win-win if I've ever heard one." Xander said.
"Okay, well if it would help your standings in the scheme of High School Hierarchies, I'll pick you guys up and we'll all go." I say.
"In a car?" Willow asked.
"That is the preferred method of travel." I replied.
"Cool"
"You in Buff?" Xander asked, he couldn't be more obvious.
"Sure, I'm in"
"Great, how about I meet you guys after school? I'll give you a ride home and meet up with you later."
"Sounds good."
Okay, so I have one suspicious super powered Slayer girl, a clueless kid, and a girl who will one day destroy the world, coming with me to a concert which starts the whole world ending thing in motion.
I am not comfortable with this.
End Part Two
**Memories are in **, disclaimers are in Part One**
The next day I spent in a daze, wandering around school without purpose. I never had a particularly good memory, but I can remember every detail of that dream. Everything, including the smell of burning asphault as Sunnydale was consumed by fire.
This Sucks.
I find myself looking at the watch a lot, like it will give me some insight into this. It's really not all that special, an antique watch. There is no engraving or anything, nothing. I curse this weird crap and continue to wander throughout the day. I drive by the high school after lunch and stop for a moment.
She's in there, totally innocent, and completely clueless about what she is going to do. She's dreaming of Xander, and all the hopes and dreams that one would expect from a sixteen year old girl. What could possibly happen to her in five years? How does this happen?
I'm thinking about all of the changes I can make, that a little forsight could make the world move in an entirely direction. It's like that chaos theory section in my math class. That any variation or change can dramatically alter the outcome of an event. So my knowing about this could be all the world needs to correct the path that is coming.
I spend the rest of the day thinking about this, and take a evening stroll that night to try to clear my head. I'm glad that classes haven't started yet, as there wasn't a whole lot of concentration coming from my brain today. I am lost in my thoughts until I hear a familiar voice.
"Xander!!"
"You're Amish! You can't fight back... 'cause you're Amish! I
mock you with my ice cream cone, Amish guy!"
That's Xander and Willow, what the hell are they doing out here? I walk over behind some bushes and watch them for a moment. Xander just popped Willow in the nose with his ice cream cone. She looks like she wants to read him the riot act, but doesn't because it's Xander.
"Witness. My nose is cold."
What's that growling I hear?
"Let me get that for ya."
It came from over there.. As I turn I come face to face with one ugly sucker, he's got yellow eyes, some kind of ridges on his face, and fangs. I stood there stunned for a moment. My mind forms a word, "vampire."
Great, first apocalyptic red haired computer nerds, now vampires. This just gets better and better.
Without a word it grabs me and tries to hold me still. Figuring it is going to try to bite me, I strike it in the throat, startling it enough to let me go. I hear Willow and Xander still talking as the vampire tries to punch me.
"Xander!" Willow sounds more embarassed than irritated.
I give it my best Sunday punch, right across the face. It looks back at me unfazed and punches me back. I fall into the bushes. I try to call for help, but thanks to my fanged-friend, trying to pin me down, I can't get my mouth uncovered enough to shout.
"I'm sorry, I can't help myself. Your nose looks so tasty." God Xander, you guys are really clueless. You sure you haven't dated before?
I can see out of the corner of my eye that Xander is leaning down to kiss her. Good for him.
I'm going to die. This thing is beating the crap out of me. I can't believe they haven't heard this yet. I don't want to wreck the tender moment going on above me, but like I mentioned earlier, I'm going to die.
"Umm..did you hear something?" Xander looks very embarrassed,
Thank God.
"Xander look!"
As the vamp tries again for the bite, I manage to get my legs up and kick him off, he slides back into the wall behind us. Willow and Xander jump off the wall and run forward, out to the street. I vault over the wall and get ready for this things attack again. Xander jumps down and slugs the vampire in the face, it shoves him back trying to pin him against the wall for a bite.
"Willow go!" I shout, I grab the vamp in the back and try to pull it off Xander. It kicks me and I fall down the hill. When I get up, I hear the sounds of fighting above me. When I make it back up the hill, I see a little blond girl duking it out with the vampire.
"Hi Guys" she says evenly. Like she did this sort of thing every night. After trading a couple of punches and kicks, she tosses the vampire into a tree where it explodes in a ball of dust.
"Buffy!" Willow shouts, and runs over to her.
"Hey. Hey, Will!" she replies earnestly, enveloping her in hug.
"Man, your timing really doesn't suck. " Well, no Xander it sure doesn't.
"When'd you get back?"
"Uh, just now. Dad drove me down. And I figured you two losers
would be getting into some kind of trouble."
"I think we had the upper hand. I-in a subtle way." Willow replies, her gaze pretty much locked on Xander who seems oblivious to it.
"Um, I could use a little help here." I start stumbling out of the bushes. The blonde girl looks like I startled her, she has her stake poised to strike again. Willow quickly runs over to me. "Buffy, it's okay this is a friend of ours." With Xander's help, she heaves me over the wall. I land on my butt on the concete, and look up at this Buffy person.
"Slayer" a voice tells me.
This is really too weird for words.
Xander speaks up after helping me to my feel despite my lack of balance and mobility at the moment. Those vampires can really hit. "Buffy, meet Seraph, Seraph this is Buffy, our resident expatriate from LA. Seraph goes to UC Sunnydale, He graduate from good old SHS a year ago, we met when I was a freshman."
"Hi, Xander has told me a lot about you."
She responses with a smirk, "Oh really? What did he say?" Xander looks like he's sweating. I look away for a second, acting like I'm pondering my answer, this is just too fun.
"Only good things, I can assure you."
"Good, I was afraid I'd have to hurt him." She almost glared at Xander, but not quite.
"Thanks for the rescue, though I am glad to see you guys again," A smile comes from Willow. Xander is still transfixed on Buffy. "Could someone help me get back to my dorm room?"
"Are you okay" Willow's big innocent eyes look at me. Those eyes I see killing...
I snap out of it, 5 years, I still have 5 years... "Yeah, I'm just kind of beaten up, nothing an ice pack and a lot of painkillers won't fix."
"You seem pretty calm about the whole vampire thing." Buffy said, her tone is not happy, sort of a mix between "I'm concerned about my friends" and "if I don't like what I hear I'll take your head off."
Oh Goody, I'm ticking off the Slayer. This is just wonderful. "I've lived in Sunnydale for most of my life, It really makes a lot of sense."
"Oh, okay" Buffy doesn't seem like she wants to drop it, but Xander changes the subject.
"Cibo Matto is gonna be at the Bronze this weekend, think we should go?"
**The Cibo Matto concert at the Bronze? When she just about mated with you on the dance floor knowing full well how I felt about you? That was just the first time, I can count a hundred times where she interfered, her coming into our lives destroyed them**
It starts here.
"Well, I might stop by too, if you don't mind hanging with an old man." I reply casually, trying not to shake. I can't screw this up.
"You're not old, you're in College! That's like major high school coolness for us." Willow says, trying to smile, but isn't really doing a great job. I wonder if Xander actually kissed her...
"Yeah, Ser, we could hang, you get the opportunity to hear about all the fun you're missing in college, and we get status. A win-win if I've ever heard one." Xander said.
"Okay, well if it would help your standings in the scheme of High School Hierarchies, I'll pick you guys up and we'll all go." I say.
"In a car?" Willow asked.
"That is the preferred method of travel." I replied.
"Cool"
"You in Buff?" Xander asked, he couldn't be more obvious.
"Sure, I'm in"
"Great, how about I meet you guys after school? I'll give you a ride home and meet up with you later."
"Sounds good."
Okay, so I have one suspicious super powered Slayer girl, a clueless kid, and a girl who will one day destroy the world, coming with me to a concert which starts the whole world ending thing in motion.
I am not comfortable with this.
End Part Two