"Buffy?" Xander yelled into the house as he held open the door. "Hey Buff, ya here?" He walked in seeing no sign of attack and no sign of Buffy. He ran up the stairs to Willow and Tara's room. "Will?" She wasn't there either. "Okay, was there a scheduled multiple kidnapping that I was late for?" He heard the bathroom door open and he dashed to the hallway. "Willow."
Willow jumped in surprise. "Xander. What're you doing here?"
"Looking for Buffy."
"That seems to be the consensus."
"Consensus? I'm gonna go out on a used too often limb here and say that's not of the good." Xander started panicking on the inside.
"She never came home from patrolling last night."
"Buffy's missing and you're in a bathroom?"
"I had to use it." Xander kept his stare on her. "Okay mister. You try drinking two coffees in an hour and a half and see how demanding your bladder is," Willow defended.
"Sorry Will. It's just… no Slayer equals bad. And this wouldn't be the first time she skipped out on us," Xander reminded her.
"Why would Buffy leave?" she asked, wondering if he knew something that she didn't.
"I don't know. Why did she leave the first time?" Xander asked, making it sound like there was no reason at all.
"Because she ran her first true love through with a sword to save the world and she needed some time to herself."
Xander sighed. "Will, I'm trying to make a bad point here to cope."
"Sorry. Just think positively. Buffy probably just fell asleep somewhere."
"Like in a hospital bed with an IV and heart monitor as accessories."
"Negative," Willow warned.
Xander spun in a couple worried circles before he asked, "Does Giles know?"
"Yeah. He went to Spike's to see if he knows where Buffy is. And Tara's looking around town." Willow was fiddling her fingers and watched them move in random spots. She drew her attention away from her nervousness and asked, "What about Anya? Shouldn't she be helping?"
"You be the one to tell her she can't make money today." Xander knew how much Anya loved the idea of money and getting her away from it was a hassle he didn't want to deal with.
"You're the boyfriend."
"You're… the friend."
"In what Medagork universe?" Xander looked at her with obvious confusion. "It's a demon universe," Willow explained.
Xander nodded. "Yes of coarse. Remember the days when we had no idea about demons and specific names of their dimensions?" Xander thought quickly and rephrased it, "Well, you knowing specific dimensions."
"Barely," Willow answered with a side smirk.
"Willow!" Giles called from downstairs.
"Giles?" Willow descended the stairs. Xander followed right behind her. "Did Spike know anything?"
"Spike was not there."
"Spike's missing too!"
"Oh no, now there won't be anyone to distract us with their complaining. Everyone grab a Kleenex," Xander sarcastically stated.
The door opened and Tara came in swiftly. "Tara," Willow greeted. She hustled to her girlfriend.
"I couldn't find her." Tara took Willow's hands and held them tightly. "I checked the coffee shop, the hospital, the library. Nothing."
"The library? You know we're looking for Buffy right?" Xander cleared.
"Where else can she be?" Willow asked with whimper.
"This is Hell," Buffy said, her head in her lap. She was sitting on the cold floor with her back against a pillar.
Spike was leaning against one across from her. "I haven't been there in a couple decades but I know it's not this bloody awful."
"How are we gonna get out of here?" she almost yelled.
"Well, maybe we should do as the fairy tale does. Ya said we dance, ya lose a shoe, I put it on ya and we get married."
"I am not marrying you."
"Ya got a better idea?"
"Gouging my eyes out with a fork or careening over a cliff in a burning car are a lot better."
"There aren't any forks," Spike said with a smirk.
Buffy looked at him, her anger clearly displayed. "Are you enjoying this?"
"Quite a lot actually."
Buffy pushed herself off the floor and walked towards Spike. "You're going to be stuck here too ya know."
"Yes, but I'm a prince in a fancy palace. You're some servant girl in your own household."
"I love your sensitivity Spike. It's very… non-existent. Thank you." She folded her arms and looked away. He seemed right though. Maybe the only way out of this was to take his idea of 'do as the fairy tale does.' She turned back to him and he quickly looked away so she wouldn't notice he was checking her out. "All right. Let's act out this little fairy tale. But no touching."
"Then how are we supposed to dance?" His voice was very seductive and persistent. It sent a chill up Buffy's spine. Buffy bit her bottom lip and consented to the dancing. They started to spin and sway across the dance floor behind the curtain.
A guy who looked like Andrew peered in on them and smiled a big smile. He ran back over to the king, who looked like Giles. "Your majesty. The prince is dancing with a young lady."
"He is!" Giles said in excitement. He quickly walked over to the curtain and snuck a peek. His son was smiling and the girl seemed fairly interested as well. He was holding her rather close so that had to be a good sign. Giles turned to Andrew. "This is perfect. I want you to keep an eye on them and don't allow anyone to disturb them. Do you understand?"
"Yes sire." Andrew bowed as Giles retired to his room.
Buffy stopped, making Spike stop. "What?"
"We need to find a clock."
"A clock?"
"Yes. Remember, I told you that at midnight I turn back into my normal self."
"What's the normal self? It involve a dominatrix outfit?" Spike smiled at her with dirty thoughts running through his mind.
"No! I just have raggedy clothing." Buffy kept walking, trying to find a clock. She walked over to a water fountain and revolved around, hopefully finding a clock. "Where is it? In the Disney movie it's right across the way from a fountain." She hustled over to the railing and followed it until she came to the sight of a big clock. "Finally."
"What time is it?"
"Almost midnight." She turned back to Spike and said, "All right. When it starts going off I'm going to run out of here, leave a shoe behind and go home. In the morning you go searching for the girl who left the glass slipper and you find me. Oh, but I'll be locked away."
"Then how do I know if I got the right house?"
"It's on old castle kind of thing. There'll be an evil looking women and her two ugly daughters." The clock started to ring. "That's my que. Now follow me out and grab my slipper."
"Got it." Buffy grabbed the bottom of her dress and ran as fast as she could. Spike ran after her.
"Oh no," Andrew said. He paced in panic, his thoughts changing rapidly from alarming the guards to running to the king. "Uh, guards! Guards!" A group of people in armor stampeded into the ballroom. "Follow that girl!" They looked up the stairs and did as they were told.
Buffy ran down the front steps and both shoes remained on. "What the heck!" She tried holding her dress and taking off the shoe.
"What in bleedin' Hell ya doin'?" Spike asked, making down to her.
"The stupid shoe didn't come off! I can't reach it, this dress is too poofy!"
"Well let me just-" Spike got on one knee and tried to get it.
Buffy stepped away. "No, I can-"
"Would ya just let me-"
"I can get-"
"I can reach it if you just-" Spike tried getting the shoe and Buffy kept pulling away.
"Stop looking up my dress!" Buffy yelled.
"I am not looking up your dress!"
"Yes you did I just saw you!" Buffy's eye was caught by the shining armor that was at the top of the many steps. "Crap! Take the shoe!"
"I thought I couldn't touch the shoe!"
"Take the stupid shoe!"
Spike removed the shoe and Buffy ran. "Wait!" Spike called after her, pretending he didn't do it on purpose.
Buffy looked around and didn't see a coach. "Wha- where?" She looked back and the knights continued the pursuit. Buffy darted into a wooded area and hid behind a bush. She watched as they ran right passed her. Her dress turned into rags but the glass slipper remained on her foot. "Okay, now where's my house?"
"Iniquity, I gotta say that this spell is mediocre. She's in a fairy tale world. So what?" Pernicus stated. He was tossing picked pieces of grass one by one in the air. "I expected better."
"Pernicus, you have yet to see the best part. We'll just help the Slayer find her home and then the real fun begins." Iniquity watched her crystal ball with a smile.
Buffy staggered out of the woods and continued down the path. She looked at the houses as she past by. It was extremely weird to be in such a simple place that's so different from your own. "Civilization has definitely taken a couple staircases up from this."
Suddenly, a boy came running up to her. He was dressed in tattered pants and a torn up shirt. "Cinderella, we must get you home. Your stepmother and stepsisters will be there any minute."
"You know where I live?"
"Yes, of coarse. Come with me." He took Buffy's hand and ran in the direction of her house.
After miles of running and many twits and turns she made it to her house. "Hurry inside."
Buffy headed in but quickly rotated around. "Thank-" The boy was gone. "you." She turned and ran into the house. She was in the kitchen, she assumed, with a fireplace to the right, an empty wooden table in the middle and a basket of clothes in the corner. "Let's do the time warp."
"Cinderella!" a woman yelled.
"And now I get to meet the evil step bitches." Buffy sighed and went down the hall hopefully turning down the right openings.
"Cinderella!" the woman yelled again.
"Where are you?" Buffy shouted.
"By the front door you stupid girl!"
"Where is the front door?" she asked herself. She walked through more hallways and saw the three women standing by the door. "Yes?"
"Take our coats off you insolent girl!"
Buffy gritted her teeth and removed the black coats from the three of them. Her stepsisters had brown and blonde hair. They were actually very pretty compared to the ones in the Disney movie. They had nice eyes, shapely brows, and small figures. And they all had very white complexions. They noticed Buffy staring at them and gave her puzzling looks.
"Cinderella, what're you doing?" the stepmother questioned.
"Sorry," Buffy said, snapping out of her daze. "Uh, how was the ball?"
"The prince dance with me all night," one of the sisters said.
"No he didn't," the other objected. "He danced with me, and he said I was the prettiest girl there."
"That's a lie and you know it Gabrielle."
"You weren't with us Dana."
"Girls," their mother interrupted. "Stop arguing. I know it's easy to become frustrated on an empty stomach. We haven't eaten anything since before the ball. Cinderella, bring us some food. Now."
"Yes stepmother." Buffy took the coats with her to the kitchen, which she thankfully found without a problem. "Okay." Buffy looked around and noticed there was no refrigerator. "What do they eat?" She looked outside and noticed the barn. "I guess they're having eggs tonight." She went by the chickens and grabbed three eggs. She boiled some water in a cast iron pot and cooked the eggs as best she could. She dried off the eggs and took them to the front door. "Crap, where'd they go?"
"Cinderella! We don't have all night!" She went upstairs in the direction of the scream. "Sorry. I'm having a little trouble keeping the rooms straight today. She put an egg in front of each of them.
Dana laughed. "Are you kidding?"
"Yeah Cinderrags don't you know what food is? I mean, I know you're dumb and all but you've never done something this stupid."
"Is this a joke?" her stepmother asked.
"Well there was nothing else to eat?"
"What do you mean there was nothing else to eat? I bought five slaves just the other day!"
"Slaves?" Buffy repeated.
"Yes! What is the matter with you, you stupid, stupid girl! Now bring me my food!" Her stepmother's face became bumpy, her eyes were a sharp yellow, and fangs stood out among her gritted teeth. "Or we'll eat you instead!"
Buffy's eyes widened in shock.
Author's Note: I hope you liked the very long chapter. Oh, and the review elves say thank you, as do I, and hope you keep up the good work of sending in reviews. They'd rather have something to do than sit around the office all day.