Summary: Giles gets a clue at the start, and trains Xander and Willow somewhat.
Crossover: At the moment, none.
Disclaimer: I own naught but debt.
Feedback: Why not?
Pre-fic Comments:
This weekend, I've had the whole house to myself (the rest of the family is away.) I guess that this solitude is very conducive to writing.
It's a shame that Spike wasn't in the Nightmares ep. We could have seen him act all angsty, broody, and just like his ole grandpoof. Then there would be teasing immense.
This is the last part of the Fear arc.
* * *
"I can't be a vampire!"
"Er, it'll be okay Buff, at least you've still got a soul!"
"But now I'm all grr and gross!"
Pause. "You'll be a matched set for Deadboy!"
Runrunrun. Keep ahead of homicidal Slayer. She's got her mind off depression, that's the main thing, deal with the cause later.
The four ran down the Hospital hallways. Xander and Buffy led the way, with Giles close behind in third place, and Willow a panting, gasping fourth. The teenage fighters stopped outside Billy Fordham's room. Giles grabbed the doctor that they had asked earlier.
"Doctor! Is the boy Billy still here?," the British man asked.
The physician didn't hear Giles' query, raising his hands to the Watcher. They were twisted and misshapen, clearly incapable of so much as holding a pen. With a cry of 'My hands!', the doctor ran down the hallway. Xander and Buffy ignored him as they moved into the small room with the smaller boy.
"What now?," Xander asked. "Wake him up?"
"Um...," Giles trailed off, bending down to the boy. "Billy! Billy!"
A voice came from a corner of the room. A spectral image of the boy on the bed was standing there.
"That won't work," the image said.
"Billy!," Giles exclaimed. "Uh, Billy, you have to wake up."
"No!," the child protested. "I told her. I have to hide."
"Who from?," Xander asked, a frown starting to emerge on his face.
"From him!," Buffy yelled, pointing at a man with a badly scarred face and a grossly deformed club arm.
"He's the one who's been beating people up?," Xander asked, moving out the door to face the thing. Buffy was right behind him.
"Xander, get back!"
"No. No one is gonna get away with beating little kids up. No one," Xander said grimly.
Willow looked out the window at a black horde of approaching wasps. "You'd better hurry!"
"Lucky Nineteen!," the Ugly Man yelled
Xander punched the Ugly Man in the head, dazing the thing, before grabbing it's neck and holding it stationary with one arm while punching it further in the gut, unable to collapse or retreat. Smoke began to rise from where Xander was hitting it repeatedly, and Xander's fist had the same reddish tinge.
Eventually, the Ugly Man roared "Lucky Nineteen!" again, throwing off Xander and clubbing him in the head. Both paused to catch their breath before continueing. Blood flowed from Xander's cheek, where the fingernails on the club arm had scratched him deeply.
Buffy wasn't willing to let the thing recover. She side kicked it in the back, able to do what the longer limbed Xander could not in the narrow hallway. The thing didn't really feel it, and slammed her through the door into Billy's room. She collapsed against the bed, and started to get up as the Ugly Man advanced on her.
Xander strode into the room from the hallway, grabbing the thing's blackened head by the forehead. It roared in pain, as he pulled backwards abruptly, forcing it to fall backwards, away from Giles, Willow, and Billy. The fall, and the resultant sharp knock to the head knocked the thing out.
"Is... is he dead?," Billy's spectre asked uncertainly.
"Come here, Billy," Buffy said, getting up from the floor by his bed.
"I-I don't..."
"You have to do the rest," the Slayer said. Billy came around the bed to beside Buffy, and the thing.
Xander reached into his gym shirt for something he had grabbed from Giles' office, just in case.
"What are they doing?," Willow asked. Giles motioned for her to be silent.
"I get it," Xander said, having an epiphany.
"No more hiding," Buffy said.
Billy's figure let go of Buffy's hand. He reached down to the Ugly Man's neck, and peeled the scarred face back like a rubber mask. Light poured out of the resulting surface, and the Ugly Man vanished. Xander's cuts on his cheek had vanished, along with the blood that had flowed from them. He and Willow were now dressed in the clothes they had come to school in, and Buffy was now human.
"Hey, he's waking up!," Xander said, pointing at Billy's body lying in the bed.
"I had the strangest dream," Billy said. "And you were in it... and you. Who are you people?"
They all smiled. Giles moved to the door.
"Let's go get a doctor," the Brit said.
As he and Xander were about to leave, a man in a sports jacket and a cap entered.
"Oh! Huh, Billy's got company," the man said, taking off his cap. "I-I-I'm his kiddy league coach. I come by here every day, just hoping against hope he's gonna wake up soon. He's my lucky nineteen."
Everyone's eyebrows rose at the familiar phrase of "Lucky Nineteen!"
"So, how is he?," the man continued.
"He's awake," the Slayer said flatly.
"What?"
"You blamed him for losing the game. So you caught up with him afterwards, didn't you?"
The same grim expression as when he had faced the Ugly Man appeared on Xander's face.
"What are you talking about?," the coach asked, trying to worm his way out of trouble.
"You said it was my fault we lost!," Billy cryed, sitting up on the bed.
The coach realised that he'd been found out, and tried to make a break for the door. Xander grabbed him by the jacket as the man passed him, and held his arms behind his back in a painful hold.
"It wasn't my fault!," Billy continued. "There's eight other players on the team. You know that."
"Nice going!," Buffy said to Billy. The little boy grinned at her.
* * *
Later, leaving school, the three teenagers discussed the happenings.
"I just can't believe a kiddy league coach would do something like that," Buffy commented.
"Well, you obviously haven't played kiddy league," Xander said. "I'm surprised it wasn't one of the parents."
A dark look crossed his face, then left just as quickly.
"I'm just glad he's behind bars where he belongs," Willow decided.
"But that was kinda heroic, Xander, helping beat up the Ugly Man and holding the coach back and all," Buffy said, praising Xander. "Your training with Giles is paying off!"
"Well, if you wanna call it heroic...," Xander trailed off modestly.
Buffy's father, Hank, walked up to the trio, then hugged his daughter.
"Hi, sweetheart! Oh, it's so good to see you!," the man said, releasing the hug. "How are you?"
"Fine, you know. The usual," Buffy said as she left with him.
"Personal question?," Willow asked Xander as Buffy left them.
"Yeah, shoot!"
"When Buffy was a vampire," Willow began, "you weren't still, like, attracted to her, were you?"
"Willow, how can you...," Xander protested. "I mean, that's really bent! She was... grotesque!"
"Still dug her, huh?," Willow asked, seeing through him in an instant.
"I'm sick, I need help."
"Don't I know it," Willow said, giving him a hug. "I could help."
* * *
Post-fic Comments:
Couldn't write the fight at first try. I had to play King of Fighters a bit, first. Heidern is fun to play, just slow compared to some younger fighters. Clark is a nightmare, if you let him grab you.