Part
1
Overture
"Now, can anyone care to tell me what this place is?" Liam asked once they were off the streets and inside an abandoned warehouse. "Metal carcasses on wheels. Buildings in the sky. Those...lights, glowing red and green...people prisoners in boxes. Where the hell are we?"
"The question is not where, but when," Wesley said as he paced around the warehouse, deep in thought.
"Would you stop doing that? You're driving me nuts," Buffy told Wes and the watcher-in-training stopped his pacing and returned to the group gathered in a corner of the warehouse. Buffy was sitting on a crate, sustaining her head in one hand. Her other hand, the one that had been cut by Makhran had stopped bleeding by now and the wound was slowly, but surely beginning to heal. William still holding the girl in his arms seemed in shock after what he had just seen outside. The little girl, looking like she didn't have a care in the world, had fallen asleep in William's arms. Liam was leaning on a wall, while Willow shifted her weight from one leg to another, not really knowing what to do.
"At least we can be sure of one thing. This is New York," Wesley said as he stopped in front of them.
"Tell me something I don't know," Buffy closed her eyes for a moment, sighing.
"America?" Liam asked incredulous. "This is not the place where I should be."
"Where are you from?" Willow asked and her question sounded silly even to her. It was obvious he was Irish.
"Galway, Ireland," he answered her nonetheless.
"I'm...I'm from London," William said stuttering as he snapped out of his initial shock.
"I'm from England too. Southern Hampshire," Wesley said and looked expectantly over at Buffy and Willow.
"Oh, I'm from LA," Buffy said when she realized why he was staring.
"Sunnydale, California," Willow hurried to say.
"L-A. What sort of ridiculous name is that?" Liam asked grimacing.
"Short for Los Angeles. You know L.A.," Buffy said, but Liam still seemed to not be satisfied with the name.
"So you're Spaniards, are you?" Liam asked looking at the two girls. Buffy rolled her eyes. "I have nothing against you, I've met a few fine Spanish women in my life."
"I bet you have," Buffy said unconvinced and then turning towards Wesley: "We should just buy a paper to see what year we're in."
"Does it really matter what year we're in?" Willow asked and continued shyly when all eyes turned towards her: "It's not home and probably not the right time either. At least for the two of them," she gestured towards Liam and William. "Shouldn't we just try to find a way to get back or beat that...thing?"
"She makes a fine point," Liam agreed.
"Yeah, but how?" Buffy asked. "All we have is him," she pointed towards Wesley. "And I doubt he's a walking demon encyclopedia. Even my watcher has all these big dusty books with not so pretty pictures he searches for stuff in."
"There are places where we could document ourselves," Wesley said.
"Like a library?" Willow suggested. "Or the internet."
"Internet?" Wesley didn't seem to be familiar with the term.
"What year are you from?" Buffy asked surprised he didn't recognize the word internet.
"1991," Wesley answered.
"Back when the internet was young," Buffy understood now. "I'm from 1996."
"199--," William seemed to choke on the words. "This is how the world is going to be in a 100 years?"
"That's right," Buffy nodded. "So you're from like what 1890?"
"1877," William corrected her. "I wanted to right something down when..."
"You disappeared," Willow finished his phrase. "I was talking on the phone. I'm from 1994."
"How about you, pony tail?" Buffy looked at Liam.
"The name's Liam," he gave the slayer a cold look, before continuing: "And you best remember that, darling. Before I vanished into this nightmare, the year was 1744."
"Wow, you're like practically ancient," Buffy said surprised. "Oh and so everyone knows, my name's Buffy."
"What kind of name is that?" Liam asked amused. "Did your mother drink too much ale before naming you?"
"Hey!" Buffy frowned.
"I'm Willow," the redhead intervened before the argument continued any further.
"William," the boy with brown hair and reading spectacles on his nose said.
"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Head Boy at the Watcher's Academy," he introduced himself proudly.
"Head boy?" Buffy held back from laughing.
"It's a very respectable position," Wesley assured her.
"I'm sure it is," Buffy chuckled.
"So there's a library?" Willow returned to their initial conversation.
"Not a library, though we might find some books there as well. There are specialized stores. If we look hard enough I'm sure we'll find one," he seemed optimistic.
"Oh, yeah, we'll just walk around New York hoping a big shiny sign will point 'That way for magic books and demon indexes'," Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Well, I don't think we'll really find a sign, magic shops are usually well hidden," Wesley said not getting the joke.
"Great," Buffy sighed. "I'm sure three teenagers, a kid, ponytail over there and mister no-crease-on-his- perfect-condition-19th century-suit will go totally unnoticed."
"We should just...make them look not so out of the past," Willow suggested.
"You are not touching my hair," Liam warned her.
"Hey, if this is the 90s you're in luck, grunge just became a way of life," Buffy said in an attempt to assure him no one was going to touch his hair.
"I don't even want to know what you just said," Liam looked back at Willow. "She's right though. We can't attract people's attention."
"There was a store," William suddenly remembered. "I saw it on the way here. It had clothes inside."
"It's suit up time, boys," Buffy said smiling.
The demon Makhran's atemporal cocoon
"I find myself in front of a dilemma. I, personally cannot return to Earth at this time. Bringing those children and yourselves here has drained me of my powers temporarily, I'm afraid. That is why you are here," Makhran looked up at the five figures aligned in front of him. "Your...mission is to, if possible, bring those naughty little children back here alive, if not, I will accept dead bodies as well. If you fail to do both, at least try to keep them busy until I regain my powers completely."
"And why should we listen to you?" doctor Ronald Miltser asked as one of his eyes floated behind him watching the other four figures.
"I showed you what will happen to you all," the demon said. "Some of you have already experienced what the adult versions of this children can do on your own skin. The reason is simple: revenge."
"I'd be more interested in taking out that lawyer bitch that's gonna kill me," Billy said pacing around the cocoon and eyeing the girl standing behind a vampire. "Who's she?"
"Don't worry about her. She's just going to rampage through New York a little bit. She has a lovely tendency for violence, isn't that right, Dana?" the demon smiled at the girl that glanced around herself with a wild look in her eyes. "She is also a slayer, so I suggest you stay out of her way."
"The poor thing," Halfrek said looking at the girl compassionately. "A man did this to you, isn't that right, honey?" she asked her but Dana only mumbled something in Chinese and returned to glaring around herself.
"How come she's so controlled then?" James, the only vampire in the group asked staring at the girl curiously.
"Oh, I assure you, it has nothing to do with her own free will. I've made sure she cannot move more than she's suppose to," the demon told him. "So do we all understand each other?" he looked at the whole group. No one protested. "Brilliant, then off you go," he opened a hole in the cocoon. Thinking back to how the kids had escaped in the first place he promised himself to force his powers to control all of the cocoon's random holes from then on. Halfrek, Ronald and James passed through the hole, but when Billy was about to follow them, Makhran stopped him. "I have a special request from you, Billy," he said and grinned looking back at Dana who could still not move from her place. Billy returned the smile.
New York City
"This is what you be wearing these days?" Liam asked holding up a T-shirt with an 'I'm with stupid' sign on it.
"How do these close?" William asked holding up a pair of jeans with a zipper. Seeing as it was night, thanks to Buffy's superstrength, they had broken into the little shop William had seen, through the backdoor.
"You just pull it up," Buffy answered as she and Willow chuckled at the sight of the half-naked William.
"Oh," William seemed amazed by the zipper as he pulled it up and down a couple of times before disappearing back behind the shelves.
"What are these silly things?" Liam asked holding up a pair of boxers. He didn't seem in a hurry to leave the store. He hadn't tried anything on yet. He was just looking around at everything.
"Underwear. For men. Tell me you've heard of it," Buffy said amused.
"I have," Liam said, but by the look on his face it was obvious he hadn't. All he was wearing was a white shirt and black tight pants. And only black tight pants, Buffy suspected.
"Is this all right?" William asked stepping from behind the shelves dressed in jeans, a blue long sleeved shirt buttoned all the way up to his neck and snickers on his feet.
"You might want to lose the glasses," Buffy said pointing towards the silly spectacles still on his nose.
"Lose them?" William asked confused.
"Never mind," the slayer neared him and took the glasses off his nose. "There. Better. And I don't know, your hair is just too neat," she fluffed his hair a bit and gave him a critic look. She stepped even closer to him and unbuttoned two of his shirt's buttons. William held his breath. He had never been this close to a woman, except for his mother. "Are you okay?" she asked him when she noticed he wasn't breathing anymore.
"Yes, I just...," he took in a deep breath as she took two steps back to look at him again.
"Perfect," Buffy said satisfied. "What do you think?" she asked Willow and the redhead nodded approvingly.
The little girl was sitting high up on a table where William had left her, balancing her feet and staring at her shoes.
"Nice shoes you have there," Willow said smiling as she leaned on the table next to her. "What's your name?"
"Key," the little girl whispered.
"I don't think she was given one," William said nearing them.
"That's terrible," Willow said with pity in her voice. "Oh, I know, we should give her a name. How about Annie? Or Maddie?"
"Or Cecily," William added to the list excitedly.
"Dawn. Her name should be Dawn," Buffy suddenly said.
"This from a girl calling herself Buffy," Liam noted mockingly.
"It's a pretty name, but...," Willow started, but the slayer interrupted her:
"I just got a really weird vibe. Her name's Dawn."
"Like a telepathic flash?" Wesley suggested coming from behind the shelves where he had been browsing through the clothes.
"No. Just a feeling of deja- vu. Like I already know her," Buffy answered looking at the girl.
"Dawn," the little girl seemed to have learnt a new word.
They suddenly heard the sound of a police car approaching.
"Oh, crap," Buffy let out. Liam and William looked questioningly at the others.
"Police. The people that put you in prison," Wesley explained quickly.
"And we sorta broke an entry," Buffy said biting her lower lip. "I suggest we get a move on."
"But I haven't changed clothes yet," Liam pointed out.
"Well, I suggest you do it real quick then," Buffy said as she looked out the window of the store alarmed. The police car was getting closer. She knew someone would hear them bickering in the alley behind the store. They had been way too noisy.
William wanted to take Dawn in his arms again, but the girl protested accepting only to take his hand. Outside, the police car came to a stop a few feet away from the store. Willow, Wesley, William and Dawn rushed out of the store. Buffy remained behind, waiting for Liam.
"Are you done, already?" Buffy said looking behind the shelves where Liam was. She turned on her heals immediately when she saw Liam was naked. Her face suddenly became very red. "I didn't mean to..." she mumbled, but luckily for her, Liam had been way too busy trying to figure out how to get dressed to notice her short appearance at the end of the aisle. After a few moments, he stepped out from behind the shelves wearing jeans, the 'I'm with stupid' T-shirt half tucked in his pants and snickers only one of which was tied in a very awkward manner. "Let's go," she said and they ran out the door. The policemen had just entered the alley. The two teenagers ran the other way as they heard the two men yelling after them:
"Police! Stop!"
They ran until they caught up with the rest and then they hid in another alley to catch their breath.
"Did we lose them?" Willow asked looking hesitantly out of the alley.
"I don't know. I think so," Buffy said not very certain though.
"Should we just casually walk out?" Willow asked.
"It would draw less attention," Wesley nodded approvingly.
"We should split in two groups. You know where the warehouse is, right?" the slayer looked at Wesley and Willow. The two nodded. "Okay, you two and Liam go first."
Liam looked at Buffy a bit hesitant before following the two out of the alley.
"We'll be fine," the slayer assured William, taking Dawn by the hand. The sound of running was heard out on the almost empty streets and Buffy peaked out to see who it was. "Shit," it was the two policemen. "We have to find another way to the warehouse," she told William. Taking Dawn in her arms now, she headed out of the alley through the other end. They winded up on a narrow street between buildings. They began running again.
At one point, William accidentally bumped into a man, knocking him off his feet. Buffy didn't stop running, not noticing William's absence behind her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," William told the man extending a hand to help him up.
"It's all right," the man took his hand and rose to his feet. A bright imprint shone briefly on William's hand before it disappeared. "Be more careful where you're running to next time," he yelled after the boy when William left him behind, trying to catch up with Buffy.
It was useless. He was no match for her slayer-enhanced speed. He stopped, breathing hard, in an alley. As he leaned on a wall he noticed a girl crouched down next to a thrash can.
"Piece by piece...chosen...yellow, brown," the girl mumbled as she stared at the ground.
"Are you all right?" William asked nearing her. He crouched down in front of her. "You shouldn't be out here by yourself," he expended his arm towards her. The girl suddenly lunged out at him, biting his hand. William winced in pain as he quickly retrieved his hand away from her. The girl huddled back down next to the trashcan. He stood up and took a few steps away from her, incredulous of what had just happened.
Looking down at his bleeding hand he suddenly felt a wave of anger passing through him:
"You piece of filth!" he muttered looking over at the girl who was none other than Dana, the mentally disturbed slayer from a future William would one day live to see. Behind the corner of the alley, a satisfied Billy watched the scene unfold with a grin on his face.
End Part 1
Overture
"Now, can anyone care to tell me what this place is?" Liam asked once they were off the streets and inside an abandoned warehouse. "Metal carcasses on wheels. Buildings in the sky. Those...lights, glowing red and green...people prisoners in boxes. Where the hell are we?"
"The question is not where, but when," Wesley said as he paced around the warehouse, deep in thought.
"Would you stop doing that? You're driving me nuts," Buffy told Wes and the watcher-in-training stopped his pacing and returned to the group gathered in a corner of the warehouse. Buffy was sitting on a crate, sustaining her head in one hand. Her other hand, the one that had been cut by Makhran had stopped bleeding by now and the wound was slowly, but surely beginning to heal. William still holding the girl in his arms seemed in shock after what he had just seen outside. The little girl, looking like she didn't have a care in the world, had fallen asleep in William's arms. Liam was leaning on a wall, while Willow shifted her weight from one leg to another, not really knowing what to do.
"At least we can be sure of one thing. This is New York," Wesley said as he stopped in front of them.
"Tell me something I don't know," Buffy closed her eyes for a moment, sighing.
"America?" Liam asked incredulous. "This is not the place where I should be."
"Where are you from?" Willow asked and her question sounded silly even to her. It was obvious he was Irish.
"Galway, Ireland," he answered her nonetheless.
"I'm...I'm from London," William said stuttering as he snapped out of his initial shock.
"I'm from England too. Southern Hampshire," Wesley said and looked expectantly over at Buffy and Willow.
"Oh, I'm from LA," Buffy said when she realized why he was staring.
"Sunnydale, California," Willow hurried to say.
"L-A. What sort of ridiculous name is that?" Liam asked grimacing.
"Short for Los Angeles. You know L.A.," Buffy said, but Liam still seemed to not be satisfied with the name.
"So you're Spaniards, are you?" Liam asked looking at the two girls. Buffy rolled her eyes. "I have nothing against you, I've met a few fine Spanish women in my life."
"I bet you have," Buffy said unconvinced and then turning towards Wesley: "We should just buy a paper to see what year we're in."
"Does it really matter what year we're in?" Willow asked and continued shyly when all eyes turned towards her: "It's not home and probably not the right time either. At least for the two of them," she gestured towards Liam and William. "Shouldn't we just try to find a way to get back or beat that...thing?"
"She makes a fine point," Liam agreed.
"Yeah, but how?" Buffy asked. "All we have is him," she pointed towards Wesley. "And I doubt he's a walking demon encyclopedia. Even my watcher has all these big dusty books with not so pretty pictures he searches for stuff in."
"There are places where we could document ourselves," Wesley said.
"Like a library?" Willow suggested. "Or the internet."
"Internet?" Wesley didn't seem to be familiar with the term.
"What year are you from?" Buffy asked surprised he didn't recognize the word internet.
"1991," Wesley answered.
"Back when the internet was young," Buffy understood now. "I'm from 1996."
"199--," William seemed to choke on the words. "This is how the world is going to be in a 100 years?"
"That's right," Buffy nodded. "So you're from like what 1890?"
"1877," William corrected her. "I wanted to right something down when..."
"You disappeared," Willow finished his phrase. "I was talking on the phone. I'm from 1994."
"How about you, pony tail?" Buffy looked at Liam.
"The name's Liam," he gave the slayer a cold look, before continuing: "And you best remember that, darling. Before I vanished into this nightmare, the year was 1744."
"Wow, you're like practically ancient," Buffy said surprised. "Oh and so everyone knows, my name's Buffy."
"What kind of name is that?" Liam asked amused. "Did your mother drink too much ale before naming you?"
"Hey!" Buffy frowned.
"I'm Willow," the redhead intervened before the argument continued any further.
"William," the boy with brown hair and reading spectacles on his nose said.
"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Head Boy at the Watcher's Academy," he introduced himself proudly.
"Head boy?" Buffy held back from laughing.
"It's a very respectable position," Wesley assured her.
"I'm sure it is," Buffy chuckled.
"So there's a library?" Willow returned to their initial conversation.
"Not a library, though we might find some books there as well. There are specialized stores. If we look hard enough I'm sure we'll find one," he seemed optimistic.
"Oh, yeah, we'll just walk around New York hoping a big shiny sign will point 'That way for magic books and demon indexes'," Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Well, I don't think we'll really find a sign, magic shops are usually well hidden," Wesley said not getting the joke.
"Great," Buffy sighed. "I'm sure three teenagers, a kid, ponytail over there and mister no-crease-on-his- perfect-condition-19th century-suit will go totally unnoticed."
"We should just...make them look not so out of the past," Willow suggested.
"You are not touching my hair," Liam warned her.
"Hey, if this is the 90s you're in luck, grunge just became a way of life," Buffy said in an attempt to assure him no one was going to touch his hair.
"I don't even want to know what you just said," Liam looked back at Willow. "She's right though. We can't attract people's attention."
"There was a store," William suddenly remembered. "I saw it on the way here. It had clothes inside."
"It's suit up time, boys," Buffy said smiling.
The demon Makhran's atemporal cocoon
"I find myself in front of a dilemma. I, personally cannot return to Earth at this time. Bringing those children and yourselves here has drained me of my powers temporarily, I'm afraid. That is why you are here," Makhran looked up at the five figures aligned in front of him. "Your...mission is to, if possible, bring those naughty little children back here alive, if not, I will accept dead bodies as well. If you fail to do both, at least try to keep them busy until I regain my powers completely."
"And why should we listen to you?" doctor Ronald Miltser asked as one of his eyes floated behind him watching the other four figures.
"I showed you what will happen to you all," the demon said. "Some of you have already experienced what the adult versions of this children can do on your own skin. The reason is simple: revenge."
"I'd be more interested in taking out that lawyer bitch that's gonna kill me," Billy said pacing around the cocoon and eyeing the girl standing behind a vampire. "Who's she?"
"Don't worry about her. She's just going to rampage through New York a little bit. She has a lovely tendency for violence, isn't that right, Dana?" the demon smiled at the girl that glanced around herself with a wild look in her eyes. "She is also a slayer, so I suggest you stay out of her way."
"The poor thing," Halfrek said looking at the girl compassionately. "A man did this to you, isn't that right, honey?" she asked her but Dana only mumbled something in Chinese and returned to glaring around herself.
"How come she's so controlled then?" James, the only vampire in the group asked staring at the girl curiously.
"Oh, I assure you, it has nothing to do with her own free will. I've made sure she cannot move more than she's suppose to," the demon told him. "So do we all understand each other?" he looked at the whole group. No one protested. "Brilliant, then off you go," he opened a hole in the cocoon. Thinking back to how the kids had escaped in the first place he promised himself to force his powers to control all of the cocoon's random holes from then on. Halfrek, Ronald and James passed through the hole, but when Billy was about to follow them, Makhran stopped him. "I have a special request from you, Billy," he said and grinned looking back at Dana who could still not move from her place. Billy returned the smile.
New York City
"This is what you be wearing these days?" Liam asked holding up a T-shirt with an 'I'm with stupid' sign on it.
"How do these close?" William asked holding up a pair of jeans with a zipper. Seeing as it was night, thanks to Buffy's superstrength, they had broken into the little shop William had seen, through the backdoor.
"You just pull it up," Buffy answered as she and Willow chuckled at the sight of the half-naked William.
"Oh," William seemed amazed by the zipper as he pulled it up and down a couple of times before disappearing back behind the shelves.
"What are these silly things?" Liam asked holding up a pair of boxers. He didn't seem in a hurry to leave the store. He hadn't tried anything on yet. He was just looking around at everything.
"Underwear. For men. Tell me you've heard of it," Buffy said amused.
"I have," Liam said, but by the look on his face it was obvious he hadn't. All he was wearing was a white shirt and black tight pants. And only black tight pants, Buffy suspected.
"Is this all right?" William asked stepping from behind the shelves dressed in jeans, a blue long sleeved shirt buttoned all the way up to his neck and snickers on his feet.
"You might want to lose the glasses," Buffy said pointing towards the silly spectacles still on his nose.
"Lose them?" William asked confused.
"Never mind," the slayer neared him and took the glasses off his nose. "There. Better. And I don't know, your hair is just too neat," she fluffed his hair a bit and gave him a critic look. She stepped even closer to him and unbuttoned two of his shirt's buttons. William held his breath. He had never been this close to a woman, except for his mother. "Are you okay?" she asked him when she noticed he wasn't breathing anymore.
"Yes, I just...," he took in a deep breath as she took two steps back to look at him again.
"Perfect," Buffy said satisfied. "What do you think?" she asked Willow and the redhead nodded approvingly.
The little girl was sitting high up on a table where William had left her, balancing her feet and staring at her shoes.
"Nice shoes you have there," Willow said smiling as she leaned on the table next to her. "What's your name?"
"Key," the little girl whispered.
"I don't think she was given one," William said nearing them.
"That's terrible," Willow said with pity in her voice. "Oh, I know, we should give her a name. How about Annie? Or Maddie?"
"Or Cecily," William added to the list excitedly.
"Dawn. Her name should be Dawn," Buffy suddenly said.
"This from a girl calling herself Buffy," Liam noted mockingly.
"It's a pretty name, but...," Willow started, but the slayer interrupted her:
"I just got a really weird vibe. Her name's Dawn."
"Like a telepathic flash?" Wesley suggested coming from behind the shelves where he had been browsing through the clothes.
"No. Just a feeling of deja- vu. Like I already know her," Buffy answered looking at the girl.
"Dawn," the little girl seemed to have learnt a new word.
They suddenly heard the sound of a police car approaching.
"Oh, crap," Buffy let out. Liam and William looked questioningly at the others.
"Police. The people that put you in prison," Wesley explained quickly.
"And we sorta broke an entry," Buffy said biting her lower lip. "I suggest we get a move on."
"But I haven't changed clothes yet," Liam pointed out.
"Well, I suggest you do it real quick then," Buffy said as she looked out the window of the store alarmed. The police car was getting closer. She knew someone would hear them bickering in the alley behind the store. They had been way too noisy.
William wanted to take Dawn in his arms again, but the girl protested accepting only to take his hand. Outside, the police car came to a stop a few feet away from the store. Willow, Wesley, William and Dawn rushed out of the store. Buffy remained behind, waiting for Liam.
"Are you done, already?" Buffy said looking behind the shelves where Liam was. She turned on her heals immediately when she saw Liam was naked. Her face suddenly became very red. "I didn't mean to..." she mumbled, but luckily for her, Liam had been way too busy trying to figure out how to get dressed to notice her short appearance at the end of the aisle. After a few moments, he stepped out from behind the shelves wearing jeans, the 'I'm with stupid' T-shirt half tucked in his pants and snickers only one of which was tied in a very awkward manner. "Let's go," she said and they ran out the door. The policemen had just entered the alley. The two teenagers ran the other way as they heard the two men yelling after them:
"Police! Stop!"
They ran until they caught up with the rest and then they hid in another alley to catch their breath.
"Did we lose them?" Willow asked looking hesitantly out of the alley.
"I don't know. I think so," Buffy said not very certain though.
"Should we just casually walk out?" Willow asked.
"It would draw less attention," Wesley nodded approvingly.
"We should split in two groups. You know where the warehouse is, right?" the slayer looked at Wesley and Willow. The two nodded. "Okay, you two and Liam go first."
Liam looked at Buffy a bit hesitant before following the two out of the alley.
"We'll be fine," the slayer assured William, taking Dawn by the hand. The sound of running was heard out on the almost empty streets and Buffy peaked out to see who it was. "Shit," it was the two policemen. "We have to find another way to the warehouse," she told William. Taking Dawn in her arms now, she headed out of the alley through the other end. They winded up on a narrow street between buildings. They began running again.
At one point, William accidentally bumped into a man, knocking him off his feet. Buffy didn't stop running, not noticing William's absence behind her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," William told the man extending a hand to help him up.
"It's all right," the man took his hand and rose to his feet. A bright imprint shone briefly on William's hand before it disappeared. "Be more careful where you're running to next time," he yelled after the boy when William left him behind, trying to catch up with Buffy.
It was useless. He was no match for her slayer-enhanced speed. He stopped, breathing hard, in an alley. As he leaned on a wall he noticed a girl crouched down next to a thrash can.
"Piece by piece...chosen...yellow, brown," the girl mumbled as she stared at the ground.
"Are you all right?" William asked nearing her. He crouched down in front of her. "You shouldn't be out here by yourself," he expended his arm towards her. The girl suddenly lunged out at him, biting his hand. William winced in pain as he quickly retrieved his hand away from her. The girl huddled back down next to the trashcan. He stood up and took a few steps away from her, incredulous of what had just happened.
Looking down at his bleeding hand he suddenly felt a wave of anger passing through him:
"You piece of filth!" he muttered looking over at the girl who was none other than Dana, the mentally disturbed slayer from a future William would one day live to see. Behind the corner of the alley, a satisfied Billy watched the scene unfold with a grin on his face.
End Part 1
