Summary: Buffy's senior year at Sunnydale High will prove to be her toughest yet; and considering she lives on a Hellmouth, that's saying something. Human sacrifices, a shady organization, and unlikely alliances are the least of her problems in this alternate version of Season 3. Sorry about the lame/vague summary, I'm trying not to spoil important plot points. Ships will be revealed as the story goes on.
This fic starts directly after The Zeppo; however, Angel hasn't come back from hell.
A/N: This story has appeared in a couple different incarnations, but I deleted both of them because they sucked in various ways. This is a completely reworked version, and hopefully it won't die the same unfinished death the other two did. Since the problems with the other two were mostly plot-related, I did an obsessive amount of planning on this one. I'm talking color-coded character charts and detailed chapter outlines through chapter five.
Buffy's eyes flickered open. She had been dreaming about him again. She rolled over and tried to capture the last fragments of her dream as they slipped away from her. "Oof," she muttered.
"Hey," a soft voice came from beside her bed. Buffy knew that voice. Could it be--? She rolled back to the other side and looked, hardly believing her eyes. Angel was leaning forward in her desk chair, fingertips together, smiling at her. Buffy didn't want to say anything, didn't want to break the spell, but she had to.
"Angel?" she breathed.
"I'm here," he whispered. She had to touch him, had to know that he was real. She reached out her hand.
Buffy was awoken by the loud cawing of a crow outside her window. Her heart sank. Of course it was a dream.
"Buffy?" Joyce called from downstairs. "Are you up?"
"Yeah." Buffy's voice cracked as she said it. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Be right down."
"Heeeey, Buffy! The Buffster! Buff stuff! What's shaking?" Buffy couldn't help smiling at Xander's enthusiastic greeting.
"Nothing much," she grinned, as they made their way to the front doors of the school. "Anything new and exciting on your end?"
"Are you kidding? This is Sunnydale! Nothing ever happens here. I mean, sure, you've got your occasional apocalypse, but we got that all under control."
"How was patrolling last night?" Willow interjected, slipping her hand into Oz's.
"I didn't go. Faith took over. I, um, wasn't feeling well."
"Are you okay?" Willow asked.
"Yeah, yeah, fine," Buffy assured her quickly. "I just needed some sleep." The image of Angel sitting beside her bed tried to materialize in her brain, but she fought it off. Willow's brow creased.
"Are you sure?"
"Wil, I'm fine. I just had kind of a rough night."
"S'funny, you'd think that a night spent staying at home would be considered less rough than one spent fighting vampires. But that's our Buffy, always trying to shake things up," said Xander. Buffy laughed a little too loudly, and the others looked at her strangely. She cleared her throat.
"So. Um. Where's Faith?"
"Probably in the library with Giles," responded Willow.
"Oh. Shall we?" Buffy gestured in the direction of the library.
"Can't; class," Willow said apologetically.
"Oh. Right. That." said Buffy. "Xander--?"
"Wish I could, Buff."
"Oh. Well. Okay. I guess I'll go there, then. Alone." Buffy split off from the group and headed toward the library.
Moments later, she pushed open the door. Giles was perched on the edge of the table, reading the newspaper. "Hey," Buffy said. Giles acknowledged her, then went back to his reading. "Faith not here?"
"Erm, no," Giles replied, looking up. "I expect she'll show up later."
"I guess." Buffy dropped her books on the table and pulled up a chair. "Anything interesting going on?"
"Not particularly," murmured Giles, turning the page. "Things have been relatively—" He stopped short.
"What? Relatively what?"
Giles was silent, his eyes moving over the page, mouth slightly open. Buffy leaned over his shoulder to look at the paper. Giles shut it abruptly.
"Giles, what is it?"
"I—er. Are you sure you want to see this?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Are you my watcher or my mother? I'm the Slayer. I think I can handle—"
She stopped short as Giles opened the newspaper again. She saw the item he had been transfixed by, and her stomach dropped. She didn't say anything, just turned away and sat back down. Giles closed the paper and placed it behind him. He took off his glasses and massaged his temples.
"Giles, what did that?" Buffy asked quietly.
Giles was still for a moment before replacing his glasses and answering. "It appears to be a human sacrifice."
"Yeah, but what—sacrificed it?"
"The—the, er, markings on the corpses seem consistent with those commonly found in summoning rituals for some of the more—unpleasant demons. And, ehm, while it's possible that a supernatural creature summoned it, it seems far more likely that these people were sacrificed by—by a human."
Buffy was silent. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "But what if it's like that fairy tale demon? The one that pretended to be those dead kids so everyone would turn against magic?"
Giles sighed. "I'm afraid this is much more dire."
"How much more? Because almost getting burnt at the stake already falls under my definition of 'dire'."
"Well, I—I don't quite know. I've seen sacrifices that involved similar markings, but none quite this—"
"You've seen?" Buffy interrupted. Giles looked mildly exasperated.
"In my books," he said.
"Oh. So, that mean we're going into research mode?"
"Not quite yet." Giles stood up. "I know a few volumes that may be useful, but I have only a vague idea of where they might be. If you and the others could meet back here after school--?"
Buffy stood too. "Sure, I'll tell them." She sighed. "Does this mean I have to go to class now?"
Giles chuckled. "Yes, I'm afraid so."
"Darn." Buffy gathered up her books as Giles headed into his office. As she was leaving, she remembered something and turned back.
"Giles?" she called.
"Yemph?" came his muffled reply.
"What about Faith?"
Giles leaned out of the doorway of his office. "What about her?"
"I mean, if I run into her, what should I tell her?"
"Well, you could invite her to help with the research, but…"
"…that isn't really her scene," finished Buffy.
"Yes. Exactly." Giles paused as he was about to re-enter his office. "Why the sudden interest in Faith's whereabouts?"
"I dunno, it's just—I didn't patrol with her last night, and I keep getting this feeling like it was a mistake."
Giles looked concerned. "You think she's in danger?"
Buffy shook her head. "I don't think so. I mean, the rational part of my brain doesn't, but the other part is throwing a paranoia party."
Giles gave a small smile. "I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. Faith is very competent, if a little—er—impetuous. She'll turn up, just be patient."
"I guess." Buffy turned and walked out of the library, trying to ignore the anxious twisting in her stomach.
Faith came into consciousness with a jolt. She opened her eyes, groaned, and quickly closed them again. The glare of the white walls nearly blinded her. She tried to move, and was infuriated to discover that her arms were trapped in an elaborate straitjacket, and her legs chained to the wall.