Chapter 2. You're My Hero.
"How do you know about vampires?"
"How do I not? My friend got taken by one and turned. I had to kill him myself. It wasn't pretty."
"Must have been bad. Sorry."
"Not your fault. How did you find out about them?"
"Umm. I actually didn't know, but the probability of some creepy looking guy stalking a cemetery and then disintegrating into dust once impaled by a stake, it's a pretty dead giveaway."
"Guess you're right. How long have you been here?"
"Um, this summer. Just moved in. Do you go to UC Sunnydale?"
"Nah, but my friends do. You a student?"
"Yeah, transferred in."
"Big mistake." Xander starts to walk away from Riley and exits the cemetery.
Buffy goes on patrol and she spots a student she remembers seeing in Psych. When she gets closer, she sees that he's a vampire now. Buffy quickly dusts him, still saddened that he had gotten taken by evil. She then looks up and sees a gothic chick, with blonde hair and some of her other vampy friends around. They know who she is with her kill.
"I'm... I'm Sunday, I'll be killing you here in a minute or so," says the vampire.
"I'm scared," says Buffy sarcastically. "What kind of lame name is Sunday? It really strikes fear."
Sunday gets angry and starts to fight. Their fight takes off from car hoods, to roof tops, and back to the ground. Sunday is strong and Buffy gets a hell of a beat down. She twisted her left arm and when Buffy had the chance, she runs away from the vamp crew.
"Freshmen!"
The following day, Buffy is entering a building and she sees Willow and Oz, but decides to avoid them. She heads to her house and finds out that her mom is using her room as storage space. She hoping for some resting time in her old bed but no such luck.Then she hears the phone ring and answers it. No one speaks, so she hangs up.
She heads to her dorm and finds that all of her stuff is missing from her room. There is a note saying that 'Buffy' couldn't handle the pressures of college life. She sits on her plain bed and sighs.
Later that night at the Bronze, Buffy enters and sees no one she recognizes. She looks over to the couch finding it comforting, then she hears a familiar voice from behind her.
"The whole world in front of her, and she comes back to this crazy place," says Xander. Buffy turns around and sees him.
"Xander!" Buffy says as she gives him a one-armed hug. She is so happy to see him.
"Hey, Buff. Are you okay? You're hurt." Xander touches her face slightly and sees that her left arm is wounded as well.
"It's nothing."
"It's something, well, on me it would be something really bad. You know me; I'd be in the hospital."
"That's not true, Xander. You can put up a fight."
"Not with you."
"Well, maybe you could now."
"Buff."
"When did you get back?" Buffy changes the subject.
"Yesterday."
"You freak of nature. Why didn't you call me?"
"Well, I knew you guys were starting the whole college adventure and I didn't want to, um, you know... help you move."
"I missed you. How was your trip? Is America nice? I hear it's nice."
"There's some purple mountains majesty, I'm gonna have to say."
"What'd you do? What'd you see?"
"Well…"
"Tell me!"
"'Grand Canyon!'"
"You saw the Grand Canyon!"
"Well, I saw the movie 'Grand Canyon,' on cable. Really lame."
"Huh?"
"Basically, I got as far as Oxnard and the engine fell out of my car, and that was literally. So, I ended up washing dishes at 'The Fabulous Ladies Night Club' for about a month and a half, while I tried to pay for the repairs. No one really bothered me or even spoke to me, until one night when one of the male strippers called in sick and no power on this earth will make me tell you the rest of that story. Suffice to say, I traded my car in for one that wasn't entirely made of rust, came trundling back home to the arms of my loving parents, where everything was exactly as it was, except I sleep in the basement and I have to pay rent. How's college?"
"Male strippers?" Buffy smiles at him.
"No power on this earth!"
"Ok. College is good."
"Ok, uh, once more with even less feeling."
"No, really! I-I mean, Willow's in heaven and Oz has this really cool house off campus with the band." They both sit on a couch nearby.
"And you're sitting here alone at the Bronze looking like you just got diagnosed with cancer of the puppy."
"It's just... there was this vampire, and she took me down, and I just... I don't know how to stop her."
"Then where's the gang? Avengers assemble! Let's get it going!"
"No, I don't want to bug them. I mean, they're just starting school. They don't need this."
"Ok, Buff, what's the 'what' here?"
"It's just, what if I can't cut it?"
"Can't cut what? Slaying?"
"Slaying, everything."
"Buffy, this is all about fear. It's understandable, but you can't let it control you. 'Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to anger.' No wait, hold on. 'Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to the dark side.' Hold on, no, umm, 'First you get the women, then you get the money, then you...' okay, can we forget that?"
"Thanks for the Dadaist pep talk; I feel much more abstract now."
"The point is, you're Buffy." Buffy blushes a little with the way Xander says that to her.
"Yeah, maybe in high school I was Buffy."
"And now in college you're Betty Louise?"
"Yeah, I'm Betty Louise Plotnick of East Cupcake, Illinois. Or I might as well be."
Xander gets up and crouches down in front of her.
"Buffy, I've gone through some fairly dark times in my life, faced some scary things, among them the kitchen at 'The Fabulous Ladies Night Club.' Let me tell you something, when it's dark and I'm all alone and I'm scared or freaked out or whatever, I always think, 'What would Buffy do?' You're my hero. Ok, sometimes when it's dark and I'm all alone I think, 'What is Buffy wearing?'
"Can that be one of those things you never, ever, tell me about?"
"It's a deal." He stands up. "Let's put this bitch in the ground! What do you say?"
She holds out her right hand and he helps her up.
"I think I say, thank you." Buffy leans over and kisses Xander on the cheek.
"And nothing says thank you like dollars in the waistband. Ok, what do we do first?"