The One Who Sees
By Vinya

I'm gonna' do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly.
Xander to Larry

Chapter 1: My Friends Inner Enemy

Breakfast was a silent state; Mrs. Summers had tried to make conversation with her daughter several times- but it hadn't worked quite as she had hoped. Half-hearted attempts at full sentences, silent nods, and odd stares had been her only response.

Finally setting a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her child, Joyce sat down and gave her a long look. "Buffy, dear," she tried, "What's wrong?"

Buffy took a single bite of her eggs, and turned to her mom. "Do you like it here? I mean- now that we've been her for a month, do you like it?"

The older woman stood silently, and grabbed an apple from the counter. Leaning, she gave her daughter a carefully prepared response. Every teenager went through this, she knew (she had looked up), homesickness. She probably just wanted to go back to Los Angelus for a while.

"It's alright," she replied, "The people are nice- the weather is almost always perfect, as if you haven't noticed. Housing prices are way down, and there are always job openings. I can't image why anybody wouldn't like it."

Buffy swallowed her piece of egg, and frowned at her mother. "Do you… what about Xander and Willow? What do you think about them?"

This hadn't been quite so expected. Joyce smiled though, and said, "I think you're already closer to them then you were your other friends. They're nice kids; I can't imagine either of them drinking or doing drugs; any of that sort of thing. They do keep you out rather late, but kids today…"

"So… you think they're good people? You know, just in general?"

"Well, sure. I can't imagine I'll ever like Xander's parents- I met his father at the supermarket the other day, and it turned out he was headed towards the beer store on the other side-"

"I mean," Buffy interrupted, "You don't think either of them would ever, you know, turn against me or anything, do you?"

Her mother gave her a strange look, and finally asked, "Turn against you, how?"

Buffy simply shook her head, never mind, grabbed her coat and left for school.

Almost a full plate of eggs left behind her, forgotten.

It was still early, so the halls were dead silent when she arrived at Sunnydale High. Looking at her watch she could see that it was in fact only seven thirty in the morning- school wouldn't actually be starting for another forty five minutes or so.

At least she could be left alone until then, to consider just what to tell Giles.

So Buffy headed for the library, doing her best not to pace the room in expectancy for Giles to arrive. Yes, she knew he had to have a life outside the library, but it certainly wasn't easy to wait.

She was ready to admit that she was scared- she hadn't been doing this whole slayer thing for very long, after all, and she was perfectly justified in a little fear when she knew one of her only friends in Sunnydale was going to turn against her.

Try to hurt her.

It was just like the Hyena incident all over again- it had only been a week since the weird circumstance had happened, and she was still not yet totally over it. Not that she would ever tell anybody that of course. There was just something about her best friend, on top of her, laughing at her fear… ready to seriously, honestly, hurt her.

Happy to seriously, honestly, hurt her.

But Xander didn't remember… it couldn't be mentioned, ever again. No… it would just hurt him. Scare him that he had the will to do such a thing. This was Xander after all, and whatever happened in her dream… here he was still weak. Still… just a human.

Poor guy.

She remembered his face, from the dreams. So old for one so young. So ready for the inevitable, and yet not done. Like he had accepted that it had to happen eventually, and decided that when it did, it would be on his own terms. This was not the Xander she knew.

And even with the anger, the aged features, and the lack of both eyes, he seemed so much more familiar then she would like to admit. The feelings of being alone were simply so much more pronounced. That weird look she had seen on Xanders face when he realized he had to go home.

That time she had asked about a bruise on his cheek.

Those baggy clothing.

The look of pain when he sat down- though that had only happened once so far, to her knowledge.

Don't ask, don't tell.

But could his life truly be that bad, that he would turn against his friends? That he would consider it rightful justice to turn against those who really did love him? Who wanted to help him?

The doors swung open suddenly, and Buffy stopped her pacing to eye her watcher. Too many books piled under one arm, a coffee cup in the other hand, and a jacket slung over his shoulder in a bid to place it somewhere that wouldn't end up sending him and all his items flying. "Hey Giles." She said quietly, sitting down at one table finally.

"Buffy," he replied, surprised to see her here at the school so early.

He set his things down, the books more carefully then the rest, and smiled at her. "You haven't come to train, by chance? I'd love to think you were taking your training more seriously, now that you've seen how easy it is for even the more unthinkable things to happen."

"Um, no. Not so much," Buffy replied, not knowing quite how to say what needed to be said. "Giles, I had a dream last night."

"A dream," he replied simply, "Well, what with the natural laws of our minds, dreaming is quite-"

"A slayer dream, Giles," she droned, wishing she had the energy to laugh at his English sarcasm. "A really freaky one."

He blinked once, drained what was left of his coffee, and sat down at the table. Turning to her, he asked, "What was it about?"

"That's just it!" she nearly yelled, partly angry and partly scared, "I don't know! I mean… it wasn't vampires, or the future, or anything. Well, it was kind of the future. I think it was a warning."

"A warning of what?" Giles pushed, knowing better then to give her example or anything she could use to make sense of it. Dreams like these were more about instinct then anything else. Her first thoughts were likely the right ones.

"Him. I think… I don't wan't to think he's the next big bad, but I think he is. I think… I don't know. All I know is that he was warning me. Like, I won't be able to get away with anything because he'll always be there. Watching me. Getting ready for whatever it is we're going to be doing."

"Him?"

"The guy in my dreams… he was just watching me."

"Can you tell me anything about him?"

She hesitated for a moment, looked at him and looked away quickly. He knew then that it was something personal, and for a moment tried to categorize how many men she knew that could become a threat. How many other's it could have been.

She could have been wrong.

It was possible.

It could be true, she could be wrong.

But the list… it was very short, indeed.

"He was… older. Maybe five to seven years older then me. He was all scarred, and he only had one eye. I think it was the left one he still had- but I don't know. I don't remember. Just that he kept looking at me with his good one, and I kept looking at his bad one and knowing that it was one of the things he hated me for.

"Anything else?"

"He was wearing a suit. And shoes, all polished. His hair was really well combed. Like… he was a business man, but he had been doing a lot of fighting in his life. He was so angry, and I'm pretty sure he would have killed me right there if he could. He had power- more then me, and something I've never seen before. He was dark. Giles… I think I recognized him. I'm not sure, but I'm sure I've seen that face before."

He blinked, and looked at her with a steady eye. "Who was it?"

That was when the door once again opened, and in strode the other two members of the Scooby gang. Buffy's eyes immediately fell on Xander, who was laughing at something Willow had said- totally innocent. Totally powerless.

"Xander." She said simply, knowingly, wishing she was wrong and knowing she wasn't. "It was defiantly Xander."

To be Continued…