Disclaimer: I don't own BtVS, I don't make any money off these stories, I'm just taking the characters out for a spin.
Spoilers: Begins at the end of Episode 7-10, Bring on the Night, and then goes completely AU from there. Andrew isn't in here, mainly because I find him incredibly annoying. And useless. And…well, you get the point.
Pairing: That would be telling! I'll just say that it's NOT my usual BX.
Age Before Beauty
Chapter 1
Buffy Summers hurt all over.
She had survived her battle with the Turok-Han, barely, but it had beaten the crap out of her. Even her Slayer healing couldn't control the sharp pain from her broken ribs.
She shifted uncomfortably in bed. At least she still had her room to herself. Many more potentials showed up, she'd be sharing. She'd managed to rally the troops with her little speech about the mouth of Hell opening up and choking on her, but who was going to rally her? she wondered.
Spike was missing, presumably still in the clutches of the First. Willow was too freaked to use magic. Xander was great for boarding up windows and cracking jokes, but not much for the rallying right now. Giles was…what the Hell was up with Giles? she pondered. She'd been so glad to see him, even had that little happy jump in her stomach when she saw him at the door. She'd missed him. That glow lasted for about two minutes, until he went all grumpy and defeated on her. Weird.
She thought for a moment about Giles holding the hand of another Watcher while he died. He had known all of the Watchers who had been killed by Bringers or in the explosion at the Council chambers. Maybe even some of their charges. Young girls murdered for nothing but their potential to become Slayers. No wonder he was acting cranky. And wearing that depressing gray sweater like armor.
Staring at her ceiling, picturing a happier Giles in happier days, she groaned when she tried to roll to her side. Crap. What a mess.
Willow paused in the hallway outside of Buffy's room, hearing the moan. She looked at Buffy's door and bit her lip. Her last attempt to do magic, to try and locate Spike, had resulted in the First climbing into her skin. But Buffy needed her help. She hastened to her room, closing and locking the door before digging under her bed for the box of supplies she kept there.
First came the gold goblet the coven had given her. She crushed into it dried mint, aloe and sage. Creating a magic circle out of purified salt took some time, especially when she decided to add iron shavings to protect herself against magical attack. She positioned candles north, south, east and west around the perimeter of the circle and one in the center. She lit each candle in from north to west, then the center, blessing each one.
She hesitated over her selection of crystals and minerals. Normally, for healing, she would use coral, but she didn't have any. She ran her hands over her choices, finally settling on clear quartz. She carefully nestled the crystal into the herbs in the goblet, then stepped carefully into the circle and sat cross-legged in the center, next to the lit candle.
"Goddess, grant thy boon of healing to thy Slayer,
Step her forward in time to heal her completely.
She has battles to fight, she must be whole,
Blessed Goddess, I ask this for your favored child."
Willow touched the lit candle to the blend of herbs in the goblet, and watched open mouthed as a sparkling cloud of white and green light rose above her circle and whooshed under her door. She heard Buffy cry out, and then silence.
Hands shaking, she extinguished each candle as quickly as she could, brushed aside the salt and iron to create an opening in the circle, and ran to Buffy's room.
Giles was standing outside Buffy's door. "Buffy, are you all right?" he called, knocking. There was no answer.
"Giles?" Willow managed, still shaking.
"Willow," Giles began, turning to her. His eyes narrowed. "You've been using magic?" he asked her.
"Yes. A healing spell, for Buffy. How did you…?"
Gently, he took her shoulders and turned her toward the mirror on the wall. Willow gasped. Two streaks of white ran through her hair, one down each side of her face.
"What happened?" she gasped.
"You obviously took control of some very powerful white magic," Giles said. "Tell me exactly what you did."
"Shouldn't we check on Buffy first?"
Giles blinked at her, took off his glasses and cleaned them absently on the edge of his heavy sweater. "Of course we should, you're right." He reached for the doorknob, then paused. "Perhaps you should go in. I….I….she might not be….dressed."
Willow reached past him and flung open the door. Buffy lay on the bed in her pajamas, the white and green light swirling around her. Willow approached carefully, Giles behind her.
"Her bruises are gone!" Willow hissed to him excitedly, peering through the light. Abruptly, the light disappeared, leaving them almost blind. Giles fumbled behind himself for the light switch, turning on the overhead light and allowing them a good look at the Slayer on the bed.
"Oh, no," Willow whispered.
"Oh dear Lord," said Giles, jamming his glasses back on his face and staring at his Slayer. The Buffy on the bed wasn't the Buffy who had gone into her room less than an hour before.
This Buffy was older. At least 20 years older.
Willow ran from the room sobbing while Giles swore quietly.