Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except for Mia, Bryan, Daniel, and Cassandra. Joss Whedon owns all of the others.
Rating: PG 13. I promise. At least I'm not planning anything above it. There might be some harsh language, a bit of violence, and a few 'references', but nothing above kissing is going to be described without warning.
(Oh my God! Two reviews again! Thankyou so much, everyone! Yep, I'm updating for you, Red Wulf and Dieu Anonyme. : ). Also, I'm going to be away until Saturday 17th… but I'll update as soon as I get back! Still, that's no excuse not to review! Thanks, everyone! Now, I hope you enjoy…)
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The Summers' house was dead to the world as the sun crept slowly over the edge of the horizon. Even as people began to stir, there was an odd silence about the house. The neighbours didn't worry. In Sunnydale, people lived in such a constant state of denial that they didn't even wonder if anything was wrong.
Nothing was, of course. Those inside were just sleeping off a night of popcorn, Apocalypse Now, bad jokes, and the spirit of the First Slayer killing them in their dreams.
Understandably, they were still asleep. The clock neared eight o'clock, and then nine. Joyce crept out as silent as a mouse, unwilling to wake the lot sprawled across coaches and blankets, readying herself for another day's work at the gallery. The entire house was enveloped in silence once again, save for the gentle snores from Giles' and Xander's respective directions.
There was a tentative knock on the door.
No-one stirred.
There was another knock on the door, louder this time.
Giles rolled over on the couch.
This time, there was a series of knocks as the person at the front door grew more impatient.
Buffy finally ran down the stairs and yanked the door open crossly.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
It was a fairly bright Sunnydale morning, and Buffy was inordinately tired. The tussle with Adam and the many demons and the dream that had followed after had really drained her strength. As such, she wasn't in the best of moods from being woken up. She winced inwardly as she remembered Giles asleep on the couch, Xander in front of the T.V, and Willow somewhere upstairs in the spare room.
While Buffy was musing, Daniel and Cassandra hung back on the porch, suddenly self conscious.
Oh god, Cassandra thought. After all these years of watching Buffy. All those years watching every episode, and the commentaries, and the special add-ons, and buying the DVDs… she'd finally met the real person.
Not the actor in another dimension. The Buffy.
Buffy.
The Vampire Slayer.
Buffy looked them over. The boy was on the taller side of average, with a medium build. Blue eyes glimmered from under a shock of unruly hazel hair. The girl however looked almost ethereal, her emerald eyes framed by her auburn tresses. Buffy sensed something about her instantly, and she frowned. She'd only ever felt that when…
"Uh, you look different without the casts," she said lamely, recognizing them. She had to admit she hadn't remembered much. Just the blurs of fighting demons and Adam, but mostly the tingling feeling that had enveloped her after the joining spell, that whispered to her that all it had to take was one touch, one will, one mind, and they would be together again. She'd barely noticed the two, who had been half-carried half-dragged along with the Initiative soldiers. They hadn't had time to question their rather curious arrival.
"I don't know why we healed," the boy said quietly. "I assume it was for a reason."
"Oh, I see. Right"
What do you do when you have two people standing on your doorstep that you met briefly for two minutes before andwho helped to save your friends' lives?
"Um…"
Buffy noted with curiosity that the girl appeared to be extremely worried, and on the verge of blurting something out. Her observation turned out to be correct. "Did the First Slayer hurt you?" the girl asked anxiously.
Okay, that did it.
Buffy couldn't even be bothered with the exclamations, couldn't be bothered with wondering how the girl knew. "Come in," she said wearily. "I'm sure there is a reason, as you said."
Before Buffy could close the door after them, a smoking blanket rushed in, and they heard muffled curses as it instinctively veered left and quickly pulled the curtains closed, landing with an abrupt "OW!" on the couch that Giles happened to still occupy.
Giles leapt up with a curse, and Spike fell back onto Xander, napping by the television, who in turn yelped. The various exclamations then summoned a sleepy Willow from upstairs. The entire household then began talking, and Buffy's head felt like it was going to split at the astonishing speed of strange events.
"Good Lord, what are you doing here!"
"Who are you?"
"What's happening?"
"Ouch!"
"Would you get off me, Evil Undead?"
"Owww…"
"What's the fuss?"
"Who are you?"
"What's happening?"
"Sunlight! Arrgh… sunlight!"
"Don't be stupid you… stupid evil undead! You're safe now, what with the curtain-pulling."
"Watch who you're calling stupid, Whelp. In case you hadn't noticed, I am burnt over here!"
"And I should care… why?"
"By the Powers, you lot really are just a bunch of kids, aren't you?"
Huh? Buffy thought, her headache growing. That didn't sound like anything anyone here would say. At least, not in that specific tone.
"Even you," it continued, and she saw the owner of the voice pointing at Spike. "And please! You're over a hundred and twenty years old!"
That was when it hit her.
"Whistler!" she yelped.
In a flash, the little demon was pinned to the wall, and there was complete silence as Buffy slowly but surely throttled him.
"Hey… kid…" he gasped, wheezing. "Lay off a bit, would you?"
She let him go, and he fell, drinking in huge breaths of life-giving oxygen. When he was done recovering, he glared at her. "What was that for?"
"The last time you came here, you came to tell me to kill my boyfriend," Buffy reminded him coldly. "We've just been through another almost-apocalypse here, or at least a World War, so what the hell do you want?"
"Well I'd would have told you if you hadn't tried to kill me, Slayer," Whistler whinged, rubbing his neck.
" 'Lo Whistler," Spike grumbled. "Why couldn't you have just beamed me up along with Slayer gal instead of making me run through the bloody sewers and almost get fried?"
"Well you made it, didn't you?" Whistler asked.
"S'not the point," Spike groused.
"Hey, cut it with the banter!" Buffy said sharply. "Whistler! Why are you here?"
"Look behind you, pet," Spike advised.
And that was when Buffy realized why everyone was so silent. Why nobody had questioned her about Whistler, and how she knew him. Why no one had been upforth with the smart comments.
She hadn't changed much. Still had the regal imperiousness in her aura. Still was beautiful, in her don't-mess-with-me way. Still a sister.
Kendra.
Buffy felt the strange tingle that had accompanied her every time she'd met a sister in arms, and then without realizing it, she fell into the Slayer's arms.
Kendra was there immediately, holding her close, and she hugged back just as fiercely. Bringing back memories. The Slayer had changed since she'd died, Buffy decided midst her tears. Her mere touch brought back Angel. But most of all, it brought back Angelus with such a force that it near terrified her.
Strangely, she also brought back memories of Spike.
Smirking, never sneering. Sneering was Angelus' domain.
Bright platinum hair in the darkness of the lair of vampire worshippers.
Confident swagger.
Applause in the alley.
Taking away Drusilla.
Binding Drusilla and Angelus… Angel, together.
Finally, allying himself with her.
"But… you were dead," Buffy whispered half-disbelievingly. "I… I killed you."
Spike coughed in the background. "Well…"
"Shut up!" she snapped.
"I agree," Kendra added her throaty voice in. It was still warm and rich, with the heavy Caribbean accent, yet still, her voice seemed to have subtly changed. "Dis is a time for good liddle vampires to keep their mouths shut!"
Spike, looking outraged and indignant, immediately quieted when Whistler whispered something in his ear. Sulking, he turned away, and Buffy couldn't help stifle a smile through her pooling tears.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I shouldn't have fallen for his trick. I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
"Do not be, Buffy," Kendra said gently. "It was my time. And I have achieved greater things."
"She's right, you know," Whistler commented.
"You shut up as well," Buffy flared.
"Actually, no, I won't," Whistler dusted himself off absentmindedly. "We didn't come here for a social visit. The Powers sent us with a message."
"Really?" Xander found his voice again. "So you're like the Powers' Postman? Who are the Powers, anyway?"
Whistler glared at him, and Spike even stopped sulking long enough to chuckle. The Powers' Postman indeed. Whistler would never live that down. Sometimes, he had to admit, the Whelp did say the most amusing things…
"They are the Powers that Be," he replied simply. "And that other question doesn't even merit a reply."
"Well, what about the 'why are you here?' part?" Buffy asked. "Because… as much as I liked to see Kendra, I can't imagine why the Powers would have sent you both down. Especially you."
"Zere was a mistake," Kendra answered.
"A mistake? In that you were the only one supposed to come?" Giles queried.
"No. Zere was mistake. Surely you have been wondering why zese two children are here?" she waved at Daniel and Cassandra.
They shrunk back again as everyone's gaze fell on them. Whistler merely walked up to them and smiled.
"Glad to see you got here in one piece," he said cheerfully.
"Are you the one responsible for us healing?" Daniel asked, awe and scepticism colouring his tone at the same time.
"Me? Nah… someone else took care of that. You would've been useless for the next couple of months trudging around in those casts. I've got to admit, that gang did a fair job on you."
"Yeah, they did."
"So why are they here?" Spike cut across the conversation. "Why would the Powers bother with sending us a half-grown weakling," he gestured at Daniel, "and a little girl fresh from the nursery?"
Buffy took note of how easily the word 'us' had slipped from his lips, and frowned, wondering about a million questions that had just poured into her head. "The question I'm thinking about is why are you guys bothering to help me now? You never have before." Her voice took on a bitter edge. "Just prophecies telling me I'm going to die and that messengers saying I have to kill my boyfriend."
"Ah, well," Whistler coughed. "You'll have to thank Miss. Kendra for that."
Giles looked at Kendra. "How on earth did you manage to change the rules?"
"Just before the she-vampiress… Drusilla…" the Carribean Slayer's tone softened slightly, "killed me… she showed me zome things. Things zat everyone had always told me I could not have. Friends, my mother and father. An equal to love. Even children. A long life stretching ahead of me. Difficult, but still a life. Fighting demons night and day, and yet surrounded by others. I saw what you might eventually have," she nodded towards Buffy.
"But zehn, ze time passed, and I saw what happened to you. There was a big mistake. Nozzing happened the way it should have. And so, I demanded the Powers that Be themselves zat helping us out once in a while would not go amiss," her beautiful eyes hardened. "Zey wouldn't listen."
"But then," Whistler added, looking at the tanned Slayer admiringly, "She bugged them so much they gave in. Some deal they made with the higher-ups and the opposition. They're not allowed direct intervention, but something pretty close."
"So what are these two for then?" Spike gestured towards them again.
"That, you'll have to find out for yourself," Whistler grinned. "But know this, all of you. The most vital thing instruction that I give you now is to stay together. We didn't fiddle with the enjoining spell just for everything to go back to the way it was. We only get one shot at this, so we'd best make it good!"
With that, the little balance demon vanished. Kendra lingered for a moment longer, rewarding Buffy with a smile, and then moved to kneel in front of Daniel and Cassandra.
"Do you know why you're here yet?" Kendra asked, addressing Daniel.
He looked at her closely, scrutinizing her with sapphire eyes. "No, I really don't."
"You will," she answered cryptically, and then turned to Cassandra. Her stern face softened.
"You have much to go through. Stay strong."
"I… I will," Cassandra stuttered.
Kendra smiled at her, and then turned to Spike."And you. I'm going to be watching you, no matter whatzeWhistler says."
Spike gulped.
With a last smile towards all of them, Kendra vanished, leaving complete silence behind her.
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