Hi all this is Taralover (on here), aka AlysonHannigan on neopets, aka Tara
to my friends. -waves- this is my poor attempt at chapter two of our guild
fanfic, and if you all hate it, don't kill me. It was rushed. Not by Erin,
so don't worry. Sorry it's a day late but I was really busy. Here ya go and
again I plead: DON'T KILL ME !!!
Chapter Two
Spike looked at Buffy.
"Yeah. 'S me. Don't go all wild or nothin'." he said sarcastically, noticing the same blank stares on all the Scoobies' faces.
"But....but we saw you...and, and you weren't on the bus and we didn't see you after and you didn't even tell us you lived!" Dawn accused him, obviously confused, worried, and a little hurt that he wouldn't let her of all people know he was alive.
"It's a long story," Angel answered her for Spike. "There's a reason why Giles called us here. Maybe we'll have time for stories if and when we defeat this thing." At the mention of the name Giles, Illyria remembered the conversation they'd had the day before.
"What is Giles and Buffy?" she asked again, this time hoping to get an answer.
"Oh...ah, I am Giles, and this is Buffy." he said brightly, gesturing to Buffy. The Slayer smiled and waved, having to idea who the freaky girl with blue hair and really bad dress sense was. But she knew better than to ask. Yet.
Illyria turned to Connor, who was to her left and slightly behind her.
"You did not tell me that Giles and Buffy is two humans." Turning to Angel, she continued to accuse them of, apparently, misinforming her. "You spoke highly of them and made it seem that they are important. Like higher beings. But they are just humans."
"Well that's because I've never met them," Connor told her honestly."Last time Da...Angel saw them was before I was here." Conner somehow knew that Angel didn't want to be outed as a father yet, though he hadn't said anything about it.
What the vampire wanted was to be able to keep thepossibilityy of a relationship with the blonde slayer. If he was going to have competition -Spike-, then he couldn't afford to upset Buffy. However, he promised himself that by the end of the little adventure, Buffy would know the truth.
"Right then. If we're quite done with the chattering," Giles interrupted politely, "we'll all have time tointrudee ourselves and explain what exactly happened to whom over the past year. But for the time being, I say that we begin patrolling and researching immediately.We're not exactly sure what it is we're facing, so if you see absolutely anything out of the ordinary, it's safest to report it."
The Scoobies couldn't help but roll their eyes, as Giles' expositions were more of a joke to them than they should have been.
"I of course shall be here to conduct the research, as will Wesley.," he stated, looking at the former watcher turned rogue demon hunter. Wes nodded., and Illyria informed Giles that she wished to stay with the strange man who drank too much whiskey and called her a smurf. She didn't care about the strange looks she got from the former Sunnydale group.
"She's strange. Even I think so, and I'm usually the strange one." Anya whispered to Xander, who shushed her.
"Remember Demonology 101? Don't make fun of strangers with badly dyed blue hair who look like they're either from a sci fi movie." he whispered back.
"Xander, do be quiet.This is quite serious and the more time we waste, the closer the enemy may be getting." The former watcher looked around the room, taking an inventory of who else he had to work with.
"Dawn. You and....the boy...." he looked at Connor and apologized for not knowing his name.
"Conner," he introduced himself, smiling politely.
"Dawn, you and Conner are to stay also, look through the more common texts, while Wesley and I look through the more rare volumes. This leaves Buffy, Angel, Spike, Xander, Willow, Anya, and Tara and..." he gestured to Gunn. And you to patrol." Giles frowned. Gunn quickly introduced himself.
He'd hoped to split the group into groups of two, so that more ground could be covered. However, two people may not be enough to take down such an evil, should they come across it. So he upped it to two groups of four. After a moment, he decided.
"Buffy...you go with Spike and Angel and Gunn," he said slowly, clearly still debating the groups. "...which leaves Xander, Anya, Willow, and Tara to patrol together. Two witches and an ex demon (for knowledge) should prove quite efficient." he stated proudly.
Willow, Xander, and Tara nodded, while Anya completely flipped out on Giles.
"If we end up dead or hurt or ANYTHING, this is all your fault for even thinking that we couldn't protect ourselves Willow and Tara are witches, and Xander's strong and manly; so if we fail and die in an ally somewhere it's all your fault!"
"I assure you, Anya, I will take personal responsibility for any physical harm caused to you." He knew it was safe to say that because Willow and Tara were powerful witches, and he knew they'd take care of her as much as themselves.
The ex demon seemed to be satisfied, and nodded, still frowning and serious. She was going on a dangerous mission, in her eyes. Had the final battle in Sunnydale not registered in her mind at the time? the world may never know. All of a sudden she perked up immensely.
"What are we waiting for?! Giles takes alresponsibility foror us getting hurt, AND we can chat while we look for whatever we're looking for. Not like we'll find it anyway." she stated happily and hopefully. She grabbed Tara by the arm, ignoring the evil death glare she received from Willow.
"We have SO much to catch up on!"she squealed to Tara. "I want to tell my story first, but then you have to tell me absolutely EVERYTHING you've been up to this year!" she began dragging Tara towards the door, so she could have some girl talk with her ex fiance's best friend's girlfriend. In simpler terms, one of her best friends. Tara smiled sweetly, and waved goodbye to the rest of the gang.
Xander and Willow both apologized for having to run out on everyone; there were two lovely young ladies wandering about outside who they needed to keep their eyes on, even if it was daytime. The redhead and her friend slipped out the door to join their friends.
Once they left, everyone looked at each other, silent. Angel broke the silence.
"Giles, are you sure it was a good idea to send them out alone? I mean....besides the fact that it's day so Spike and I can't follow them....you could've sent Buffy along," He made sure not to look at Buffy as he spoke.
"I did what I needed to. There's access to the sewers not far from here, however there may be a few sunny spots." He grabbed two large blankets and handed them to the vampires. "I'm terribly sorry, but this is the best I can do for the time being...will the four of you be all right?"
Giles knew it wasn't a good idea to put Spike (he still wasn't used to the platinum blonde vampire being alive....er...undead again) and Angel together, but he knew that if he had split Xander and Anya or Willow and Tara, there would have been arguments. And truthfully there wasn't time for arguments. They were wasting enough as it was.
"We'll be fine, Giles. Stop worrying, point us in the direction of the sewers, and get with the researching." Buffy responded, looking around for weapons. Noticing that she was weaponless, as were the rest of them (except for a well hidden stake of course), he handed out axes and crossbows as if they were Halloween treats.
After being given directions to the access to the sewer tunnel ("down the hill to the left is a cemetery. The firstmausoleumm to your right, in which a hole in the floor leads to the sewer. But be careful."), The vampires, the Slayer, and Gunn were on their way to look for evil. What they didn't have the heart to tell Giles (but realistically absolutely should have), was that it was hard to look for something that they didn't have a visual of. She left her cell phone with Dawn and demanded to be contacted the second they found something out.
Dawn sighed. The day she got her sister's cell phone was the day where they were too far to call her friends. It figured. But on the other hand, there WAS a teenage boy sitting very close to her. And it helped that he was really cute. So she'd prefer to be there researching to calling her friends anyway. She sighed as Giles handed her a stack of books and explained to both her and Conner.
"As of now, we aren't entirely positive what this demon looks like, or what it's called. Mr. Whyler has directed me towards ancient rituals. There are specific human sacrifices, and the ritual may or may not only be able to be held at a certain time. Anything you find that you think may be relevant, do not hesitate to ask Wesley or myself." He sighed. He was always researching, but this was beyond gloomy.
He walked into the next room, where Wesley was already beginning to look through some books. He had been able to bring a couple with him, but Giles' collection seemed better. Illyria was looking at Giles' house, wandering from room to room. She had never seen a home belonging to someone so...British.
"Your dwelling is strange. It smells strange also. But yet I find it comforting. Why?" she asked loudly. Giles looked up, not really positive why she was stranger than Anya, but decided to treat her a little more decently.
"I'm not sure actually. Perhaps it may be....ah...reminiscent of your home?"
"No. My home was different. I was respected by all...." she began to tell Giles about her dimension, and the ex watcher tried earnestly to pay attention so some of what she said as he looked through the books.
In the first room, Dawn and Conner were staring blankly at their books.
"I don't get why we have to do this. Buffy practically never lets me do any of the big research. And now all of a sudden, she's making me. Like jumping off a cliff; there aren't any steps."
Conner smiled. "Well I don't do a lot of demon research myself. My family...well, it's a long story but I have another family that I live with andthey'ree like completely normal. So the only researching I do on a regular basis is studying for school. I mean, I used to be in on the fighting and the research and everything, but...."
Dawn nodded and looked through her book. Then she looked back at Conner. "Might be easier if we share a book? If you miss something I'll catch it and if you miss something I'll catch it..." He pushed his chair closer to hers, the moved the stack of books, and pushed the open book between them.
"This looks fun," Conner mumbled as they began reading.
Tara giggled as Anya finished her story.
"The Egyptian Magic Box? You really called it that?" Anya nodded happily.
"Since the one in Sunnydale was destroyed I wanted to make a memorial to it. So I named the new store after it." Willow rolled her eyes and Xander shrugged. The redhead hadn't missed Anya so much as missed her best friend. But her lover was paying full attention to the demon turned human turned retailer, so she'd have to deal.
"So what have you two been doing?" Anya asked Tara, completely ignoring Willow. Willow didn't like her, and she didn't like Willow. Both of them understood that, so neither of them complained. Anymore.
"Willow trains potentials." the blonde witch stated proudly. It was obvious that She both loved and highly respected her red haired lover. "We were supposed to be in Sao Paulo? But we...um...ended up in Rio de Janeiro for a little while. It was really fun...I mean, all these teenagers from around the world? It's so cool. I think so anyway." she blushed. People never understood her.
Anya nodded. "When I became a vengeance demon it was like that. I'd be in Oslo one minute and then poof! I'm in Beijing. With a ton of Chinese people. It's a whole new perspective on cultural experience." Xander looked at Willow with a 'what the heck is she saying' look, and Willow just shrugged. She was fixated on getting Tara detached from Anya.
Moving up on Tara's other side, the redhead began a more serious conversation.
"What are we going to do if we find this...thing? I mean we're not that powerful. Not like Buffy or Spike, or Angel...." She frowned. She really didn't want to find it. Tara put her arm around her lvoer and Anya let go of her, so Willow had Tara to herself finally. Xander walked alongside Anya. Not too close, but he really missed their relationship. He'd wait an eternity if it meant they could get back together.
"Well, we could just walk around for hours and go back and tell him we didn't find anything..." Anya trailed off, hoping someone would go along with her.
"I like that idea...I know England is supposed to be rainy...but...I'm kind of scared.." Tara trailed off. "But, but not that I think we should just walk around. Maybe if we walk and look a little where we think we know we won't find anything."
"I concur. Not so much on the feeling creepy, but when Tara gets scared..." Willow turned and gave her sweetie a kiss. The blonde whimpered and rested her head on Red's shoulder. The two looked adorable, if not scared out of their minds.
Anya, not liking watching them and being alone, slipped her hand into Xander's in an un - Anya like fashion. The foursome trudged on, hoping not to find anything scary and evil.
---------------------------------------------- Okay. I'm stopping there cause I could probably go for another 5 pages. Whoever's up next, good luck!!!!
Chapter Two
Spike looked at Buffy.
"Yeah. 'S me. Don't go all wild or nothin'." he said sarcastically, noticing the same blank stares on all the Scoobies' faces.
"But....but we saw you...and, and you weren't on the bus and we didn't see you after and you didn't even tell us you lived!" Dawn accused him, obviously confused, worried, and a little hurt that he wouldn't let her of all people know he was alive.
"It's a long story," Angel answered her for Spike. "There's a reason why Giles called us here. Maybe we'll have time for stories if and when we defeat this thing." At the mention of the name Giles, Illyria remembered the conversation they'd had the day before.
"What is Giles and Buffy?" she asked again, this time hoping to get an answer.
"Oh...ah, I am Giles, and this is Buffy." he said brightly, gesturing to Buffy. The Slayer smiled and waved, having to idea who the freaky girl with blue hair and really bad dress sense was. But she knew better than to ask. Yet.
Illyria turned to Connor, who was to her left and slightly behind her.
"You did not tell me that Giles and Buffy is two humans." Turning to Angel, she continued to accuse them of, apparently, misinforming her. "You spoke highly of them and made it seem that they are important. Like higher beings. But they are just humans."
"Well that's because I've never met them," Connor told her honestly."Last time Da...Angel saw them was before I was here." Conner somehow knew that Angel didn't want to be outed as a father yet, though he hadn't said anything about it.
What the vampire wanted was to be able to keep thepossibilityy of a relationship with the blonde slayer. If he was going to have competition -Spike-, then he couldn't afford to upset Buffy. However, he promised himself that by the end of the little adventure, Buffy would know the truth.
"Right then. If we're quite done with the chattering," Giles interrupted politely, "we'll all have time tointrudee ourselves and explain what exactly happened to whom over the past year. But for the time being, I say that we begin patrolling and researching immediately.We're not exactly sure what it is we're facing, so if you see absolutely anything out of the ordinary, it's safest to report it."
The Scoobies couldn't help but roll their eyes, as Giles' expositions were more of a joke to them than they should have been.
"I of course shall be here to conduct the research, as will Wesley.," he stated, looking at the former watcher turned rogue demon hunter. Wes nodded., and Illyria informed Giles that she wished to stay with the strange man who drank too much whiskey and called her a smurf. She didn't care about the strange looks she got from the former Sunnydale group.
"She's strange. Even I think so, and I'm usually the strange one." Anya whispered to Xander, who shushed her.
"Remember Demonology 101? Don't make fun of strangers with badly dyed blue hair who look like they're either from a sci fi movie." he whispered back.
"Xander, do be quiet.This is quite serious and the more time we waste, the closer the enemy may be getting." The former watcher looked around the room, taking an inventory of who else he had to work with.
"Dawn. You and....the boy...." he looked at Connor and apologized for not knowing his name.
"Conner," he introduced himself, smiling politely.
"Dawn, you and Conner are to stay also, look through the more common texts, while Wesley and I look through the more rare volumes. This leaves Buffy, Angel, Spike, Xander, Willow, Anya, and Tara and..." he gestured to Gunn. And you to patrol." Giles frowned. Gunn quickly introduced himself.
He'd hoped to split the group into groups of two, so that more ground could be covered. However, two people may not be enough to take down such an evil, should they come across it. So he upped it to two groups of four. After a moment, he decided.
"Buffy...you go with Spike and Angel and Gunn," he said slowly, clearly still debating the groups. "...which leaves Xander, Anya, Willow, and Tara to patrol together. Two witches and an ex demon (for knowledge) should prove quite efficient." he stated proudly.
Willow, Xander, and Tara nodded, while Anya completely flipped out on Giles.
"If we end up dead or hurt or ANYTHING, this is all your fault for even thinking that we couldn't protect ourselves Willow and Tara are witches, and Xander's strong and manly; so if we fail and die in an ally somewhere it's all your fault!"
"I assure you, Anya, I will take personal responsibility for any physical harm caused to you." He knew it was safe to say that because Willow and Tara were powerful witches, and he knew they'd take care of her as much as themselves.
The ex demon seemed to be satisfied, and nodded, still frowning and serious. She was going on a dangerous mission, in her eyes. Had the final battle in Sunnydale not registered in her mind at the time? the world may never know. All of a sudden she perked up immensely.
"What are we waiting for?! Giles takes alresponsibility foror us getting hurt, AND we can chat while we look for whatever we're looking for. Not like we'll find it anyway." she stated happily and hopefully. She grabbed Tara by the arm, ignoring the evil death glare she received from Willow.
"We have SO much to catch up on!"she squealed to Tara. "I want to tell my story first, but then you have to tell me absolutely EVERYTHING you've been up to this year!" she began dragging Tara towards the door, so she could have some girl talk with her ex fiance's best friend's girlfriend. In simpler terms, one of her best friends. Tara smiled sweetly, and waved goodbye to the rest of the gang.
Xander and Willow both apologized for having to run out on everyone; there were two lovely young ladies wandering about outside who they needed to keep their eyes on, even if it was daytime. The redhead and her friend slipped out the door to join their friends.
Once they left, everyone looked at each other, silent. Angel broke the silence.
"Giles, are you sure it was a good idea to send them out alone? I mean....besides the fact that it's day so Spike and I can't follow them....you could've sent Buffy along," He made sure not to look at Buffy as he spoke.
"I did what I needed to. There's access to the sewers not far from here, however there may be a few sunny spots." He grabbed two large blankets and handed them to the vampires. "I'm terribly sorry, but this is the best I can do for the time being...will the four of you be all right?"
Giles knew it wasn't a good idea to put Spike (he still wasn't used to the platinum blonde vampire being alive....er...undead again) and Angel together, but he knew that if he had split Xander and Anya or Willow and Tara, there would have been arguments. And truthfully there wasn't time for arguments. They were wasting enough as it was.
"We'll be fine, Giles. Stop worrying, point us in the direction of the sewers, and get with the researching." Buffy responded, looking around for weapons. Noticing that she was weaponless, as were the rest of them (except for a well hidden stake of course), he handed out axes and crossbows as if they were Halloween treats.
After being given directions to the access to the sewer tunnel ("down the hill to the left is a cemetery. The firstmausoleumm to your right, in which a hole in the floor leads to the sewer. But be careful."), The vampires, the Slayer, and Gunn were on their way to look for evil. What they didn't have the heart to tell Giles (but realistically absolutely should have), was that it was hard to look for something that they didn't have a visual of. She left her cell phone with Dawn and demanded to be contacted the second they found something out.
Dawn sighed. The day she got her sister's cell phone was the day where they were too far to call her friends. It figured. But on the other hand, there WAS a teenage boy sitting very close to her. And it helped that he was really cute. So she'd prefer to be there researching to calling her friends anyway. She sighed as Giles handed her a stack of books and explained to both her and Conner.
"As of now, we aren't entirely positive what this demon looks like, or what it's called. Mr. Whyler has directed me towards ancient rituals. There are specific human sacrifices, and the ritual may or may not only be able to be held at a certain time. Anything you find that you think may be relevant, do not hesitate to ask Wesley or myself." He sighed. He was always researching, but this was beyond gloomy.
He walked into the next room, where Wesley was already beginning to look through some books. He had been able to bring a couple with him, but Giles' collection seemed better. Illyria was looking at Giles' house, wandering from room to room. She had never seen a home belonging to someone so...British.
"Your dwelling is strange. It smells strange also. But yet I find it comforting. Why?" she asked loudly. Giles looked up, not really positive why she was stranger than Anya, but decided to treat her a little more decently.
"I'm not sure actually. Perhaps it may be....ah...reminiscent of your home?"
"No. My home was different. I was respected by all...." she began to tell Giles about her dimension, and the ex watcher tried earnestly to pay attention so some of what she said as he looked through the books.
In the first room, Dawn and Conner were staring blankly at their books.
"I don't get why we have to do this. Buffy practically never lets me do any of the big research. And now all of a sudden, she's making me. Like jumping off a cliff; there aren't any steps."
Conner smiled. "Well I don't do a lot of demon research myself. My family...well, it's a long story but I have another family that I live with andthey'ree like completely normal. So the only researching I do on a regular basis is studying for school. I mean, I used to be in on the fighting and the research and everything, but...."
Dawn nodded and looked through her book. Then she looked back at Conner. "Might be easier if we share a book? If you miss something I'll catch it and if you miss something I'll catch it..." He pushed his chair closer to hers, the moved the stack of books, and pushed the open book between them.
"This looks fun," Conner mumbled as they began reading.
Tara giggled as Anya finished her story.
"The Egyptian Magic Box? You really called it that?" Anya nodded happily.
"Since the one in Sunnydale was destroyed I wanted to make a memorial to it. So I named the new store after it." Willow rolled her eyes and Xander shrugged. The redhead hadn't missed Anya so much as missed her best friend. But her lover was paying full attention to the demon turned human turned retailer, so she'd have to deal.
"So what have you two been doing?" Anya asked Tara, completely ignoring Willow. Willow didn't like her, and she didn't like Willow. Both of them understood that, so neither of them complained. Anymore.
"Willow trains potentials." the blonde witch stated proudly. It was obvious that She both loved and highly respected her red haired lover. "We were supposed to be in Sao Paulo? But we...um...ended up in Rio de Janeiro for a little while. It was really fun...I mean, all these teenagers from around the world? It's so cool. I think so anyway." she blushed. People never understood her.
Anya nodded. "When I became a vengeance demon it was like that. I'd be in Oslo one minute and then poof! I'm in Beijing. With a ton of Chinese people. It's a whole new perspective on cultural experience." Xander looked at Willow with a 'what the heck is she saying' look, and Willow just shrugged. She was fixated on getting Tara detached from Anya.
Moving up on Tara's other side, the redhead began a more serious conversation.
"What are we going to do if we find this...thing? I mean we're not that powerful. Not like Buffy or Spike, or Angel...." She frowned. She really didn't want to find it. Tara put her arm around her lvoer and Anya let go of her, so Willow had Tara to herself finally. Xander walked alongside Anya. Not too close, but he really missed their relationship. He'd wait an eternity if it meant they could get back together.
"Well, we could just walk around for hours and go back and tell him we didn't find anything..." Anya trailed off, hoping someone would go along with her.
"I like that idea...I know England is supposed to be rainy...but...I'm kind of scared.." Tara trailed off. "But, but not that I think we should just walk around. Maybe if we walk and look a little where we think we know we won't find anything."
"I concur. Not so much on the feeling creepy, but when Tara gets scared..." Willow turned and gave her sweetie a kiss. The blonde whimpered and rested her head on Red's shoulder. The two looked adorable, if not scared out of their minds.
Anya, not liking watching them and being alone, slipped her hand into Xander's in an un - Anya like fashion. The foursome trudged on, hoping not to find anything scary and evil.
---------------------------------------------- Okay. I'm stopping there cause I could probably go for another 5 pages. Whoever's up next, good luck!!!!