STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 09 of ?
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson ( )
DISTRIBUTION: , Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multiverse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multiverse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: 4,388
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHORS NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.
A QUICK NOTE ON ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: It doesn't do either of us any good if you ask me questions about the story, but don't sign in so I can reply. The guest who left an unsigned review for the first chapter asked some fairly interesting questions about the story that I would have enjoyed discussing with him or her, but as it is, there's no way that can happen. So please, if you have questions or concerns about the direction the story is going, please do us both a favor and sign in so I can respond to you. Thanks!
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.
Carpinteria Botanical Gardens
Carpinteria, California
Saturday, November 1st, 1997
3:15 pm
Rom Snyder sat on the bench, leaning back and breathing in the air, seeming to be just one of many who were taking advantage of the decent weather to get out and about. If you looked more closely, you would be able to see the lines of tension on his face as his eyes scanned the other visitors to the garden. He relaxed slightly as he saw the slightly rumpled man in the suit walking toward him. Rom stayed in place until the man continued along the path, stopping at the bread booth and buying a few slices of bread before heading further toward the duck pond.
Rom counted slowly to 100 before standing and stretching, looking around for the public men's room. Walking out and drying his hands a few minutes later, he walked the paths for another ten minutes before ending up at the duck pond, standing next to the rumpled man. Without looking away from the ducks scrambling for the torn up pieces of bread, he softly spoke.
"Thanks for meeting me, things are even more interesting than they were last night. I've already heard from Tony and Jess and they are getting back in the saddle and Chuck will be back in town on Thursday and will be setting up a secure location for a meeting. I don't have a lot of time but it looks like this Watcher isn't a total waste like the last one and actually asked for help from your nephew and me."
The man nodded and spoke just as quietly, "Jess called me earlier and she didn't say much but she did say that the two of them were going to be coming to meetings again. It's going to be good to have the two of them back, not just because she's my sister. I've got a feeling that things are going to start coming to a head soon, since next year is the Centennial of Sunnydale, and I wouldn't be surprised if the bastard didn't have plans to take advantage of the celebration."
Rom tried to keep his face impassive. "Do you think Tony will try to get his job back? He might still have some sympathetic contacts there and, if he can show that he's getting treatment, they might be willing to help. Having him inside would be a big help."
The man shrugged, "It's possible but not right away. He has to show that he's staying sober before anybody will be willing to take a chance. We do need to see if we can arrange a decent job for him, something to talk to Chuck about. But I do need to get back to town now. I'm sure there are attacks by gangs on PCP that need to be investigated." The sarcasm in his voice was obvious, and with a brief nod to Rom, Detective Paul Stein tossed the last of his bread to the ducks and turned and walked away.
TCOS & TCOS & TCOS
Boondock
Time Immaterial
Tony was struggling to get air into his lungs as he collapsed on the ground by the track, pleased that at least this time he'd managed to reach the finish line. Forcing himself to sit up, he gave Xander a grateful smile as his son knelt down beside him and handed him a bottle of water. He would have been more grateful if his son didn't look like he was just out for an afternoon stroll, not running a damned marathon. At least, he wasn't alone in his misery. Jess was crossing the line, flanked by his daughters in law, and wasn't that a shock, his 16 year old son was married, and to two women at that?
Of course, Xander being married was only the least of the shocks that he'd had to absorb in the weeks that he and Jess had been here. The first couple of weeks had been the worst, though, as the healers had insisted on talking to him and Jess and going through everything that had happened since they had lost their baby and how they had reacted. It wasn't pleasant dealing with the memories but at least he and Jess could look each other in the eye again and they were able to enjoy each other in the bedroom after so many years. They didn't say anything about that to Xander, though, as he'd made it clear he didn't want or need to hear anything about his parents sex lives.
At the end of the second week, Xander had started joining them for the sessions. He'd gone through his own intensive therapy, helping him to bring back his memories of his sister and deal with the childish feelings of guilt which insisted that it was his fault she was gone. Tony and Jess had cried more during those sessions than they had in all the years since they lost her but at least he could remember his daughter now without it hurting badly enough that he was reaching for a bottle.
The three of them were only meeting with the healers once a day now so they must be making progress but the work on their minds was replaced with working on their bodies. That was why he and Jess were sitting on the ground, covered with sweat and struggling to catch their breath as Xander and the girls were back on the track, adding another 3 miles to their run!
Once they were breathing normally, he reached out and put his arm around Jess, pulling her close and smiling as she snuggled against him. "I thought that some of the stuff we dealt with helping Heather was strange, with things like that crazy druid trying to turn us into trees or the Chumash warrior trying to get back to the burial grounds, but this is so far beyond me I half wonder if I'm dreaming at times, you know?"
Jess nodded, "No arguments from me, but I think it's worse for me, because I know these people, I've known most of them since high school, when I found a copy of 'Time Enough for Love' in the library, so imagine how I'm feeling, sitting around the dinner table with people I know are fictional characters!"
There wasn't much he could say to that, he was more of a western fan, and he seriously doubted he was likely to run into Woodrow Call or Augustus McCrae any time soon.
The two of them sat quietly, enjoying each other's company, until Xander and his wives finished their run and they all headed to the refresher to clean up and sooth their muscles after the exercise. It had been weird at first, seeing everybody walking around in their skin, but after he and Jess started getting back into shape and toning up, the two of them started leaving their clothes behind most of the time.
They would be getting dressed again when they cleaned up though, it was time for a council of war with Lazarus and Zeb and a few others to prepare for taking down Wilkins, hopefully long before his attempt to Ascend this time.
TCOS & TCOS & TCOS
1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale, California
Saturday, November 1st, 1997
Willow didn't know what to do! Buffy was falling apart in her arms and all she could do was hold her. Not that she minded holding her best friend but how do you comfort somebody who was told that somebody she trusted was going to help kill her when she turned 18? She did what she could, just holding Buffy tight and rubbing her back, whispering anything she could think of in the crying girl's ears.
Eventually, the tears dried and Buffy reached out for the tissues but still kept Willow's arms around her. When Buffy wiped her eyes and nose, Buffy leaned closer and the two of them sat back on the couch, sitting quietly.
After a while, Buffy started talking, talking about growing up in Los Angeles, and how she was at Hemery, until Merrick approached her. And she kept talking, about Merrick's death, about how she confronted Lothos in the High School gymnasium, and finally about Pike and the fire. She skipped over what happened after that, but went on to say how happy she was to make actual friends on her first day here in Sunnydale and her regret about not being able to save Jesse.
When Buffy went quiet, Willow talked about growing up with Xander and Jesse, and how Cordelia was their friend in the beginning, until she suddenly wasn't anymore. And how her parents had started leaving her home alone by the time she was eight years old, so she clung to Xander even harder, and how she thought that one day they would get married and have the house with the white picket fence and the kids, but that wouldn't happen, because she was too scared to let him know and now she was going to be alone, and she was already alone so much and didn't know what to do and...
She wasn't sure what happened next because suddenly Buffy wasn't leaning against her, she had turned so she was straddling Willow's lap, and they were staring into each other's eyes. Willow wasn't sure who made the first move but then they were kissing and it was even better than she'd ever imagined. But then it ended, and Buffy pulled back, looking worried but Willow smiled, "That was even nicer than I'd imagined it could be!"
Buffy looked confused at her reaction. "You aren't upset that I kissed you? Not freaking out or anything?"
Willow shook her head, "Buffy, I figured out a while ago that I liked girls and boys, both. How could I not when my mother would leave her books about adolescent sexuality in my room where I would read them? I guess it was easier to leave the books than actually spend time with me and explain things. But no, I'm not upset, surprised but not upset. But are you okay that I liked kissing you?"
"Very okay, very, very okay!" Buffy smiled, "I didn't have a bunch of books sitting in my room but I did have a very embarrassing question when my mom came home and found me using the massaging shower head and moaning another girl's name. So, no, knowing that you like kissing me is the first good thing that's happened today. And having you and Xander with me, we're going to get through this."
Buffy looked a little uncertain for a second, before she said, "I am going to have to talk to Mom, though, not only that you and I are interested in each other, she won't have any problems with that. She actually had more than a few girlfriends in college, and still keeps in touch with a woman in Los Angeles, but I'm going to have to tell her about my being the Slayer, and what that means. I've lied to her long enough and I don't want to keep lying. Giles won't like it but, right now, I care more about what Harmony thinks than I do about Giles' opinion!"
Willow giggled, "Harmony thinks? Since when?"
Buffy stared at her for a second before she started giggling as well and soon after that, the two of them were laughing hysterically.
When they stopped laughing, Buffy said, "Damn, I needed that laugh today. But can I ask you to stay with me tonight? We don't have to do anything but, if it hits me again, having you there will help. Okay?" The vulnerability in her voice hit Willow like a truck.
There was only one answer Willow could give to that and soon they were walking back to her house to get pajamas and other stuff to stay overnight and, if Willow happened to grab a couple of her 'naughty' books for them to read to each other, well, nobody else had to know, did they?
TCOS & TCOS & TCOS
Boondock
The council of war
Cordy sat quietly in her chair next to Xander, with Tara on her other side as Xander started things off. Lazarus and Zebbie were sitting at the back of the room, listening but not saying anything for now. If they needed more information to prepare for the Mayor, they would ask their questions then.
But Xander sat back in his chair, looking across the table at Tony and Jessica and he said, "Okay, it looks like we are about as healthy mentally as we are going to get so we need to know what's going on with you and Snyder, and Uncle Paul, and Cordy's dad. Can you start with how you got involved with Heather?'
Tony grinned, the lopsided grin from the father that always melted Cordelia when Xander used it on her, and he said, "It wasn't a matter of getting involved, Heather just was, and she pulled all of us into her orbit and held us all together, even when we didn't like each other. Heather was an orphan, found on the steps of Saint Michael's church. She was found, wrapped in a baby blanket with a note giving her name pinned to the blanket. She grew up in the orphanage until she was about six, when she started school with Jess and me and the others.
"The first day of school, we were put into groups, and they pulled names out of a bucket, and the names that were pulled, they were your group. I don't know why our names were pulled but the six of us were friends from the start. Heather was the leader, there was never any doubt. She said jump, we jumped and asked if it was high enough later.
"When we realized that she lived at the orphanage, Rom managed to talk his parents into fostering her, so she stayed with Rom and his family from the time she was seven or so, until those bastards killed her. It tore all of us apart, Rom and his family worst of all. But at least Rom knew that she was avenged. We couldn't tell his parents anything, and they ended up leaving Sunnydale within a year, and the last I heard, they only contacted Rom once or twice a year.
Tony laughed lightly, putting his arm around Jessica, who smiled at him. "It was Heather who made the two of us realize we'd fallen in love with each other, everybody else could see it and were tired of us dancing around each other. But that's not really an important part of the story. One day during the summer that Heather turned 16, we were playing Basketball at Chuck's house. Yes, Cordy, we called your father, the rich and important Charles Chase, Chuck, and he let us. He told us after a while that he liked being able to relax and be a normal guy, instead of one of the 'Chase Family'. From your expression, you feel the same way?"
Cordy nodded, "Hell, yes! That's why I enjoyed the hell out of being friends with Xander, Willow, Jesse and Amy, because I could have fun being Raksha the she wolf, with my mate Akela and our man cub Mowgli. But after my mother died, and daddy married his first future ex-wife, she was more interested in the status of being a Chase and forced me to stop being friends with 'the wrong sort', and had to start playing with Harmony and a few other girls, and I hated every minute of it!"
"Well, Raksha, we have you back now, and we aren't going to let you go, not now, not ever!"
Xander was looking at her with his grin but his eyes were serious and Cordy felt Tara squeezing her hand and she smiled. "Damn right! The jungles of Seonee are ours, and we still need to take Tara exploring when we get back!" Looking at Tony, she said, "Sorry about that but, yes, I felt the same way."
Tony nodded, "Well, to get back to the story, during the basketball game, Heather was taking a shot when she suddenly collapsed. All of us ran over and Jess started trying to pick her up and get her into the shade when Heather woke up again and said she felt fine, better than fine, really. And she proved it, she could suddenly move a lot faster than before and, when she went for a jump shot, she actually jumped up over the backboard before dropping back down. We all realized that this wasn't normal but also that we needed to keep it very quiet, because we already knew the Mayor wasn't what he seemed to be, so we all swore an oath never to say anything to anyone who wasn't one of us."
He scowled, "Of course, that all went to shit when that bastard Remington-Travers showed up and tried throwing his weight around. Heather wasn't putting up with his crap, and we backed her up, causing him enough irritation until he backed down. Once we became aware of vampires and the Hellmouth, we all started helping her. Rom and Jess were the best at first aid and emergency medicine and Chuck, Paul and I all started exercising and having Heather train us on the different weapons the bastard taught her. We all helped with the research and I think that Chuck still has the Watcher's library stored somewhere in his basement.
"All five of us started patrolling with Heather, and we did pretty good for almost two years, until Heather's 18th Birthday..." Tony sighed, shaking his head, and Xander reached over the table to put his hand on the man's shoulder.
"We understand, Cordy and I saw it happen to Buffy, you don't have to keep going if you need to stop."
Tony shook his head but surprisingly Jess was the one to speak.
"We could all tell that something was wrong, because Heather wasn't as fast or as strong as she normally was, so we did our best to keep an eye on her. It was the night of her 18th Birthday Party and she disappeared from the party. Tony and Paul went to the Watcher to find out if he knew what happened and the rest of us went out searching."
Tony picked up the story. "When Paul and I got to the Watcher's house, he laughed at us, saying that Heather was probably dead by then and the Council could take care of the rest of us 'interfering children'. Neither of us took that very well and managed to beat the information we needed out of him, before knocking him unconscious, tying him up and gagging him, locking him in the trunk of Paul's car.
"We found the others and rushed to the abandoned house where they were holding their damned test and if I wasn't already ready to kill, what I saw would have made me ready! Heather was laying on a dirty floor, a gash in her neck and blood pouring out, and three of the damned Watchers were just standing there, looking at her, none of them lifting a finger to help, and there was a vampire in a cage trying to get out. None of us said a word, Rom and Jess hurried to try and help Heather while Chuck, Paul and I tackled the bastards and knocked them unconscious.
"Heather died before they could stop the bleeding. And Paul and I told the rest what Remington-Travers had to say, and how they would try to kill us as well. I had already decided that he was one bastard that would never be seen again, and didn't have a problem with adding these three useless bastards to the total. All of us just looked at each other, and I said 'Death', every one of us said the same thing. I know that the Slayers aren't supposed to kill humans but that was what Heather had us for. There was plenty of human evil mixed up with the demons and vampires and none of us had any problem removing them from the gene pool.
"We stripped the Watchers of all their wallets and valuables, and anything that could be used to identify them, and woke them up. We forced them into the cage with the vampire, and told the vamp that if he turns all three of them and swears an oath on his demon not to attack us or to feed before the sun goes down the next day they will let him go. The vampire agreed and swore the oath before he turned all three of the Watchers. When they were on the ground, we took our stakes and dusted them, destroying the bodies. The funny part was, the vampire was actually rational, since he wasn't starving, and he laughed at how we got rid of the bodies. He said something about keeping that idea in mind if he wanted to get rid of the evidence. After we let him out of the cage, keeping our crosses ready, he walked out of the house and out of Sunnydale."
Lifting his water bottle, he took a long drink and said, "There's not much more to tell about Heather. Chuck and Jess wrapped her up as much as they could and took her to the hospital, so the records were kept up to date. The orphanage actually stepped up and took care of getting her buried, saving us from having to keep it together long enough to handle it. We were all at her service a couple of days later and that was the last time we were all seen together in public. But that's another part of the story.
"Later that night, we went to Paul's house, and into the basement, where, where a naked Remington-Travers was chained up, nearly delirious from hunger and thirst. I knocked his ass out and we rolled him up in a carpet before loading him in the bed of my truck. We took him to the Shady Rest cemetery, where the latest victim of a BBQ fork accident had been buried that afternoon. We pulled the Watcher out of the carpet, still chained up, and set him down next to the grave. We kept watch and, when the dirt started moving, Rom fed the Watcher enough water to make him rational enough to understand what was going on. As soon as the fledgling crawled out of the grave, Rom said, 'this is for Heather you asshole!' and shoved him at the vampire. As soon as he was completely drained, Jess dusted the vamp and we tossed the Watcher into the grave and replaced the dirt and turf. We climbed back into my truck and drove to Chuck's house, breaking into his father's good booze and all of us got passed out drunk that night. But none of us had any nightmares about what we did, then or later."
Tony went quiet and looked at them but, if he was expecting her or Xander or Tara to be disgusted, he would be disappointed. All of them had to kill things that were technically human before, it was sometimes necessary, and they didn't worry about it.
Instead, Xander just said, "So was it those of you who were least hungover that went to steal the Watcher's library? Because he wouldn't have any use for it, would he?"
Lazarus spoke up then, "Okay, it's almost time for dinner, we can meet again tomorrow to finish the story and start making plans."
End Chapter Nine
Sorry it took so long for an update, but the depression was causing problems again. Hope you enjoy the background of the Misfits and the latest development with Willow and Buffy.
Beta's Note: Welcome back!