Trying to avoid my mother's following steps I quickly put my shoes on "I'm just saying he's your father why not go with him and Buffy this weekend?" she question as I tried my best not to be snappy with her, she was trying to understand me.
Standing with a huff, I crossed my arms "I have plans for the-" I tilt my head as she gave me a look "-if you need me out of the house for some hubba hubba just put a sock on the door handle" I winked bumping hips with my now blushing mom.
"I don't need to put a sock on the door" I turned to her quickly with a surprised face as she backtracked "What I mean was that's not why I'm asking you to think about going, I just don't want you missing out on fatherly time. A girl needs a father figure in her life especially one like-"
"-like me?" I butted in as she once again scrambled for words, "I won't be missing out on anything mom because I don't miss him... at all," I quickly added after seeing her mouth begin to open.
Pressing a quick kiss to her cheek, I started towards the door, "I promise I'll be okay with a 'father figure' I'm going to meet Giles and re-kill some dead people, later!"
"At least think about it again," Mom called from the doorway as I waved over my shoulder, shouting back with a broad smile.
"No, thanks!".
Sitting with Buffy at the table while Giles dangles a pink crystal in front of us, I'm playing with a jade-colored stone between my fingers as we learn about the gems. The table is covered with an extensive collection of crystals of various colors, shapes, and sizes.
"This one?" Giles questions motioning to the pink stone dangling from a silver chain.
"Amethyst," my sister answers rapidly just as we had been doing for the last few weeks after Giles announced we'd be studying crystals.
"Used for?" Our watcher asks with the crystal in front of us expectantly.
"Breath mints?" Buffy offers as I let out a snort, my twin wasn't as into learning about these crystals as Giles wanted her to be.
Giles looks exasperated by my sister's answer before turning to me in hope, "Charm bags, money spells, and for cleansing an aura," I answer, holding my crystal up to the light and smiling at the pretty green hue.
"Okay, so how do you know if one's aura's dirty? Somebody come by with a finger and write 'wash me' on it?" Buffy waves her crystal around with a sassy tone, it wasn't hard to miss the edge in her voice.
Giles sets down crystals, takes off his glasses, and props his arms on the table. "Buffy, I'm aware of your distaste for studying vibratory stones, but since it is part of your training, I would appreciate your glib-free attention."
Buffy looks immediately apologetic "Sorry. It's just with Faith on one of her unannounced walkabouts, I feel like we should be out patrolling" she gestures between us with the long crystal in her hand.
Giles gazes over the crystals "Well, Faith is not interested in proper training, so I must rely on you two to keep up with yours" Buffy rolls her eyes as I just shrug I do like the crystals and Giles lets me a keep a few of the ones that get broken.
"I hate being the good one," my twin turns to me with a pout, "don't you?".
I just give her a broad smile. "I dunno what to tell you, B. I've always been bad" once again, my sister rolls her eyes but doesn't fight my statement.
"And as for patrolling, well, you'll be there soon enough," Giles suddenly frowns curiously. "Why so anxious?" taking my bottled water out, I unscrew the cap and taking a sip.
"I guess it..." Buffy glances down at her crystal before she quickly puts it down "I just have some... energy to burn".
Suddenly the water I had in my mouth was sprayed over the crystals as I caught on to what Buffy was trying to keep to herself.
"Dear Lord, are you okay?" Giles tapped me on the back as I choked the water back up from my lungs, I just gave a thumbs-up as he turned back to my sister.
"Well, in due time," Giles puts his glasses back on, "but, uh, for the present," he then selects the largest blue crystal "if it's not entirely beyond your capabilities" he sets it in front of us "try to concentrate."
After leaving the library Buffy and I started our patrol, I tried to send her home on the fact that she said she was feeling oogy, the last time she felt that ill was when she had the flu and ended up in the hospital.
She wouldn't go home due to the 'extra' pent up energy she needed to get rid of.
Finishing up my half of the patrol, I walked back towards the playground to meet Buffy. I frowned, seeing a vampire straddling her as he leans hard on a stake pointed towards my sister's chest.
I watch as he slowly pushing it closer to Buffy's chest, not intervening as I knew she could handle it. She struggles hard to keep him at bay, and I frown, seeing that she's losing the battle.
Running towards the two, I brought my foot up and kicked the vampire, making him rolls away from Buffy. "What the hell?" I questioned before feeling a grip on me as I'm pulled back by the vamp.
Buffy scrambles to get the stake, rolls back onto her back, and braces the stake against her chest, pointing upward.
Blocking the punch that the vampire plunged towards me I quickly kicked him in the midsection and gave him an uppercut before throwing him on top of my twin, the vamp landed on her stake and impaled himself.
He explodes into a cloud of ashes as my sister Buffy waits a moment before she raises herself into a sitting position. She brushes some of the dust from her jacket and takes a few breaths before standing up "Thanks."
I just stared at her for a few moments with a look of shock upon my face, "and I'll repeat for the folks at home... 'what?' " I threw my hands up and followed Buffy as she walked away, looking lost and upset.
"Try again," I tell my sister, handing her a few more knives as she stands by the table, concentrating on a target we set up against the railing of the stack level.
After questioning her for the hundredth time last night, my sister admitted she was feeling off, hence the knife show.
She raises a knife and throws it, but it bounces off of the target and clinks as it hits the floor "well 0 out of 20 ain't bad" I commented getting a glare in return until Giles comes into the library with his briefcase and heads toward his office.
"Bit early in the day" He questions as he sips his coffee, Buffy throws yet another knife and just makes the board "Giles, something's wrong" My sister whispers without turning back to look at our watcher who stops by us.
"Wrong?" He sees the target with a few knives stuck awkwardly into it. None of them are anywhere near the center "Ah. Perhaps you shouldn't..." Buffy throws a knife and misses "...do that anymore."
"On top of that, I got a bad case of the dizzies last night and almost let a vamp stake me. With my own stake! Luckily Nikki found me in time" Buffy pouted as Giles sips his coffee again as Buffy throws yet another knife.
It went wide and hit the books instead of the board "I'm way off my game. My game's left the country. It's in Cuernavaca. Giles, what's going on here?"
The librarian sits on the arm of the chair his brows furrowed "Well, perhaps you've got a bad flu bug or something."
Buffy immediately starts to panic, "No. No, not sick. I can't get sick. My dad's coming to take me to the ice show," she says with wide worried eyes as I do my best not to roll mine.
"We do it every year for my birthday. If I cancel, it's gonna break his heart. Especially after someone's already bailing on us," this time I did roll my eyes.
We are turning 18, and I really didn't want to spend it watching people skate across ice with a deadbeat father pretending to be the perfect little family.
"Well, just, um, take it easy for forty-eight hours. You know, forego patrolling until you feel yourself again" He gets up again and goes to get his briefcase as Buffy picks up a couple more knives from the table.
Giles turns his gaze to me as he looks me over, "You seem to be doing okay, no dizzy spells?"
"Nope, right as rain." I just shook my head and shrugged as Buffy missed her mark once again, "I can take on your patrols too B," I offered as she shook her head
"No. No, I just need to spend a little more time training" Buffy throws one of the knives. This time it goes very wide and breaks one of the reading lamps.
Giles didn't see it, but he sure heard it as his body froze "I'm gone!" she turns and leaves quickly.
"Thank you!" Giles tuts as he goes into his office without looking at the damage as I follow behind my sister with a laugh.
Smirking at my sister as she pouted I pushed open the front door "Don't hate me because my team won at dodgeball" I grinned as Buffy pulled a face at me "Come on, B, admit it, I'm just better than you."
"I plead the fifth," Buffy joked, pushing past me as we hear mom calling out our names from the kitchen "Plus, you know I'm not at full Slayer speed right now."
"Oh saved by the bell loser" I taunted as we started to roughhouse in the hallway, we had come a long way since the situation with Angel, and it was still a bit rough whenever B went to go spend time with him but as long as he stays away from me I didn't complain.
I wasn't over it, but I had to grow and move on for the sake of my sanity.
Walking into the kitchen, I noticed two large birthday floral arrangement is on the island, complete with helium balloons and cards each adorned with our names. Looking closely, I saw the tickets to the ice show are attached to Buffy's card.
Mom is at the stove making dinner "Girls?" she calls over her shoulder with a smile as I finally make Buffy tap and give in to the headlock I had her in, just because I was the younger sister and Slayer didn't mean she was better.
"Present" Buffy calls as she pulls herself out of my arms and sees the flowers "Ooo, present!" she smiles as I bit my lip already having a clue who the flowers were from, somehow even after all these years and his lies my sister couldn't see through our father.
"Uh, they're not. They're from your father," Mom gently explains to Buffy as she takes the card and tickets from the arrangement and looks at them. Her expression clearly shows her disappointment "His, uh, quarterly projections are unraveling and he can't afford to take off right now. He promises to make it up to you. It's all right there in the letter.
Buffy sadly folds up the tickets and the card without even opening it. "I-if you want, I could ask somebody to cover for me at the gallery. I-I mean if you want me to take you," Mom quickly offers seeing my sister's distress.
"No. No, that's not necessary. I-I was just thinking it might be nice to have a quiet birthday" My heart hurt for my twin, I had long since given up on being disappointed by our dad, but she still held out hope for him.
After watching her walk out of the room, dragging her feet sadly, I picked up my flowers and dropped them into the trash as my mom just watched sadly. "They would have that end up dead and in the trash anyway," I muttered, taking the card and turning away.
Walking to my room, I sighed heavily, hearing sad sniffs coming from Buffy's room, but I didn't have it in me to go in there an comfort her so instead I walked into my room closing the door behind me hoping to drown out the sound of my sister hurt.
Opening up the envelope I let out a huff as money dropped from the card before looking at the words written, it was excuse after excuse, how he missed having me around the house and we could have a weekend just us.
Shaking my head, I stood and opened my window before sitting down. Pulling out my lighter and silently held the flame against the card where it quickly caught on fire, watching the flame dance, I felt calm until a burn hit my fingers.
I hissed in pain, throwing the card out of the window, wondering if doing that made me feel any better.
It didn't.
Giles gets out the crystals again and carefully lays them out on the table, Buffy and Nikki sit watching him. "You know, it's not just cartoon characters. They do pieces from operas and ballets. Brian Boitano, doing Carmen, is a life-changer. Oh, he doesn't actually play Carmen, but a lot of sophisticated people go".
Giles nods absently. "Yes, I think we should start with the grounding crystal again. He sets the largest blue crystal on the table in front of the girls, one of who hadn't stopped talking while the other looked blank.
"You know, it's usually something that families do together," Buffy commented as he absently sets the box aside.
"Now, look very carefully for the tiny flaw at its core" Nikki instantly did what he said but the eldest Slayer was having trouble concentrating, Giles had already guessed that something had happened yesterday by the girls' reactions.
Buffy mostly coped by talking and underhandedly trying to get her own way, whereas Nikki shuts off and will just sit in thought, silently dissociating until she figures out her feelings.
"I-if someone were free, they'd take their daughters or their student... or their Slayer, the one interested in ice skating of course" Buffy looks up at Giles hopefully, but he had other things on his mind too.
"Hmm? Yes, but Buffy, I think we should concentrate now. Now, look for the flaw at its center" He leans against the table as Buffy gives in and starts to concentrate on the crystal just as her sister was.
At the crystals center is a small stake-shaped flaw in an otherwise nearly clear blue crystal. The room was eerily quiet as the twin Slayers slowly go into a trance. Giles leans over further and looks each girl in the face.
"Buffy?" He says out loud but nothing "Nikki?" he calls, but she doesn't answer either, satisfied that they are caught in the crystal's thrall, he pulls a small case from his briefcase, sets it on the table and opens it.
Inside is a hypodermic needle, a test tube full of a clear yellow liquid, and an alcohol-soaked gauze pad. Keeping a careful eye on the girls, he takes the pad and leans toward Nikki.
He takes her arm, pushes up her sleeve, and wipes the pad on a spot near the inside of her elbow. He fills the syringe, taps it to get any air bubbles to the tip, and pushes on the plunger until the fluid begins to squirt out.
Again he checks to be sure they are under, then he takes her arm in one hand and with the other sticks in the needle. Slowly he depresses the plunger, all the while keeping an eye on his younger charge. She doesn't stir in the least.
He pulls the needle back out before turning to Buffy and doing the same. He quickly puts everything away as Buffy and Nikki remain in the crystal's thrall. Giles sits on the table, trying to be casual, and waves his hand between the girls and the crystal.
They both come out of their trance. "Oh, I'm sorry," Buffy rubs her temples "Did I zone out on you? It's just... I'm nursing that flu bug" Giles quickly looks between each girl and once again notices Nikki isn't affected in the least.
"It's best to take care of that. Perhaps we should, um..." Giles motions for them to wrap up the session as Buffy visibly sways.
"...call it a night. Yeah, that's a good idea. Thanks" as Buffy gets up weakly and groans, Nikki places a hand up and telekinetically steady's her sister. Her power also doesn't seem affected either. Odd.
"Nikki, why don't you stay behind we can work on this while Buffy is resting. It makes sense to uh have at least one of you here" The younger Slayer eyes her sister who slowly walks out of the library before nodding at him as Giles smiles to himself.
"Okay sit back down and find the flaw at the center of the crystal again" Giles instructed as the blonde does precisely that with no arguments, Giles felt a pang of guilt, Nikki was probably one of the least trusting people he had ever met.
Still, she fully trusted him with no qualms.
"Nikki?" He calls out, making sure that she was back under that thrall as she had been only moments ago, feeling confident that she was Giles pulled a small metal case from his briefcase like before only this time the needle was full with purple liquid.
Giles followed through the same motions as before and inserted the needle into his Slayers arm trying to push away the self-hatred he had knowing how weak this would make the young blonde feel, but it had to be done.
He just hoped she could forgive him after all is said and done.
Looking at her eyes, Giles made sure Nikki was still in a trance, not wanting to startle her and have her find him sticking her with a needle. Quickly putting the needle and case away, he moved to sit by his charge.
"Nikki?" He whispered gently, breaking her gaze as she blinked a few times, and he could already see the effect of the serum flowing through her veins "are you okay?" the girl rubbed her forehead in pain.
"I'm fine, I just have a really bad headache" Nikki groaned as she shakily stood from her chair, Giles instantly put his hands out to steady the girl as she let out a small whimper.
"Come on, let's get you home," Giles whispered as Nikki just nodded, letting him help her towards his car listening to the small pained moans she gave out "Everything will be okay, I promise."
Fiddling with the strap of my bag I walked along the quad with Buffy and Willow, I wasn't feeling as bad as yesterday when Giles drove me home "So, how's it going with Amy, the rat?" My sister asks the redhead, who smiles widely.
"Good! She loves her new exercise wheel. She runs around, her nose wiggles..." I snort at her excitement of Amy, acting like a typical household rat instead of a witch.
"I-I meant, how's it going changing her back into a human being?" Buffy interrupted awkwardly as Willow's face drops as if remembering that she was supposed to be finding a way to turn Amy back, not teaching her the newest pet tricks.
"Oh. Still working on it. But I just got her the cutest little bell..." I frown, hearing upset, shouts, and turn to see Guy Matthews, another student, raising his voice, then I realize he's talking to Cordelia.
"You don't do that to me! I waited for you at the Bronze all night!" He shouts at my friend, who just rolls her eyes at him, which only incensed him more.
"And the big deal is?" Cordelia retorts uncaring as she looked around, I quickly glanced at Buffy, who just raised her eyebrow at me, but neither of us made a move.
"You made me look like some kind of dork in front of my posse!" I growl to myself as he grabs her arm and I inch forward ready to protect my friend. Cordelia is offended and slaps his arm away, scoffing in disgust.
"First of all, 'posse'? Passe'! Second of all, anyone with a teaspoon of brains knows not to take my flirting seriously. Especially with my extenuating circumstances," Cordelia explains to Guy as if he were stupid.
"What circumstances?" Guy asks, looking confused, and I snorted softly knowing the reason Cordelia was about to tell him, it was the same thing she said every time she dragged me to the Bronze with her.
"Rebound! Look it up!" Cordy notices me over Guy 's shoulder and tries to leave, but he grabs her by both shoulders and pushes her against a tree.
"Hey! I'm not through here," He hisses, but I'm already on the warpath, which is probably why Cordy didn't even bother to look worried. I grab Guy 's arm in mine as he sends me an angry glare.
"Oh, I beg to differ" I try to yank at it to get him away from my friend but gasp when I have absolutely no strength. He scoffs and nudges me away hard, making me fall backward, stumbling onto a bench and rolls off onto the ground.
Cordelia is incensed, and shoves him away from her "What is wrong with you? You don't push her like that!"
"Ow," Guy groans as Cordy starts pounding him in the chest with small punches. He quickly backs away, but Cordelia keeps up with him and won't let up "God, the chick started it!".
I let out a pained moan as Willow and Buffy get down to their knees to help me up. "Are you okay?" Willow questions concerned as I slowly sit up, confused, and embarrassed.
I glance to my sister, avoiding Willow's question noticing her expression was as shocked as mine. "What's happening B" I whisper, feeling troubled; not only was Buffy having Slayer trouble now, I was too.
"I couldn't even move him," I say as the two help me up and brush me down, "I felt like I had no power behind..." I stop suddenly making Buffy and Willow eye me confused "power" I gasped, pulling them behind the stairs.
Seeing a crushed up can on the floor, I focused on it and moved my hand quickly, but nothing happened, the can didn't even wobble "Is your power gone?" Willow asked, looking just as shocked as I felt.
"We need to find Giles," Buffy demanded, grabbing my arm as we ran off to find our Watcher. I asked Willow to check on Cordy and make sure she was okay after her spat with Guy.
"There!" I tell my sister seeing Giles heading toward the library with a stack of magazines, we both catch up with him "Okay, so Nikki just got swatted down by some no-neck and rescued by Cordelia. What the hell is happening?" Buffy told Giles as we walked alongside him.
"I'm sure it'll sort itself out" was all our Watcher could say as we continued to follow him through the halls.
"You're not getting the big picture here," I started sounding annoyed. "I got knocked down like it was nothing but not only that-" I glanced around before whispering to the librarian, "-my power is gone."
Giles stopped in his track and gazed at me suddenly interested, "completely gone?" He asked as I nodded confused at his calm attitude, we had worked hard on my control, and now my power was missing he didn't seem worried.
"Giles, I-I have no strength. I have no coordination. I throw knives like..." Buffy stuttered out her words as she lost her cool.
"A girl?" Giles offered as my sister seemed as confused by his reaction as I had been; he was talking to us like it was about the weather, not his two Slayers losing their strength.
"Like we're not Slayers," Buffy retorted, sounding defeated as Giles just crossed his arms over the magazines.
"Look, girls, I, I, I assure you, um... given time... w-w-we'll get to the bottom of, of whatever's causing this, um... anomaly," The British man told us, but I crossed my arms when his tone lacked conviction.
"Giles I can't not have my powers, I know I hated them at first, but now I need them" My eyes watered as I thought of my life without being the Slayer, I wouldn't be able to protect myself as much as I could now.
I had seen too much of the supernatural world to become just another human, especially in Sunnydale.
"You're having doubts," Quentin Travers the head Watcher, said as he and Giles sat sharing a cup of tea inside The Sunnydale Arms, an abandoned boarding house."Cruciamentum is not easy... for Slayer or Watcher. But it's been done this way for a dozen centuries. Whenever a Slayer turns eighteen. It's a time-honored rite of passage."
"It's an archaic exercise in cruelty. To lock them in this... tomb... weakened, defenseless" Giles spares a look at the crate behind him "And to unleash that on them"
He stares at the crate in the other room for a long moment before turning back to Quentin "If any one of the Council still had actual contact with a Slayer, they would see, but I'm the one in the thick of it."
"Which is why you're not qualified to make this decision. You're too close," Quentin said calmly as Giles immediately became defensive.
"That's not true," but it was.
"We're already breaking some rules by letting your Slayers stay together in the same town and letting them do the test together Rupert," the older man said as if not separating twins was something he should get praise for.
"A Slayer is not just physical prowess. She must have cunning, imagination, a confidence derived from self-reliance. And believe me, once this is all over, your Slayers will be stronger for it" Quentin smiles, but it is anything but kind.
Giles sighs, knowing there was little he could do to help the girls, they were already halfway to the test, "Or they'll be dead for it."
The gang is at the table doing research into mine and Buffy's condition, but so far, it was coming up empty "Aha! A curse on Slayers," Buffy looks up as I stop trying to throw things with my mind.
Willow reads again, "Oh, no. Wait. I-it's lawyers," she tells us sheepishly slinking down into the chair, embarrassed.
"You know, maybe we're on the wrong track with the whole spell, curse, and whammy thing. Maybe what we should be looking for is something like, um, Slayer kryptonite" Buffy and I glance at each other quickly as the guys start arguing over Kryptonite.
"Guys? Reality?" my sister snaps as she drops her book onto the table, gets up, and walks toward the stairs.
Willow gets up and follows, "Buffy. I know you two are definitely, without a doubt, gonna get your powers back" I smile at the redhead's confidence before she stops Buffy again "But what if you don't?".
"Okay..."My sister sighs and turns back to Willow "if we don't get my powers back, then we don't" She motions between thee two of us, "we'll deal."
Tuning out her conversation with Willow, I hand a dodgeball that I stole from the gym to Oz "Throw this at me" I nod at him when he hesitates to put his book down, probably thinking I was joking.
He just took the ball with a raised eyebrow. "Can I ask why?" pushing his chair back, he tossed the ball between his hands.
"My powers sometimes work with fear, and maybe a ball flying towards my face will kick start my power again" I explain tugging up my sleeves getting ready "and if that fails you hitting me in the face with a ball is sure to piss me off" I grin as Oz's face pales just a fraction.
Xander lets out a scoff as he turns to me, "why didn't you ask me to throw the ball?" I give him a knowing look and put my hand on hips.
"I've seen you play dodgeball Xander, you'll hit yourself in the face before you throw it anywhere near me" I taunted before turning back to Oz who looks as if he's going to regret throwing a ball at me.
Giles comes into the library, and Buffy runs up to him, looking desperate "Giles! Did you find anything?" she questions as we all look towards the Watcher, who shakes his head apologetically.
"Uh, no. Not yet," Buffy bits her lips, giving me a heartbroken look before I feel a smack on the side of my face; I catch the dodgeball as it rebounds off my head.
Oz quickly begins to apologize as I stare down at the ball. "I'm sorry, Nikki, I thought-" my gaze breaks from the red ball as I glance up at my friends, somehow feeling both shocked and numb.
"That hurt me," I say as Oz gives me another apologetic expression, but I cut off his apologies as I hold up the ball "That's not what I mean. We're designed to know when danger is coming our way," I say aloud, motioning to Buffy "I didn't feel this coming. at all."
The stinging on the side of my face wasn't what fueled my rage, but it pushed me over the edge. Letting out a loud swear, I throw the ball and listen as it knocks a few things "Nikki!" Willow shouts in shock as I blindly let out my rage on a stack of books as Giles emerges from his office and just watches.
"I'm going for a walk," I tell my friends, picking a coat from the back of one of the chairs and pull it on only realizing halfway that I was putting on my sister's red cloak-like coat.
"Uh, that's my-" Buffy stops seeing my expression and waves me off "-nevermind, I'll just wear yours" I quickly left the library, not wanting to show them my anger slowly dissolving into something sadder, weaker.
An hour after the kids had all left the library, Giles drove to the board-house to discuss the Cruciamentum with his superior. He opens the door and takes a tentative look inside, everything seems quiet.
Unlike the screams, he had encountered only a few hours earlier.
"Quentin?" He steps in and closes the door, still wary of the place, and goes into the sitting room. Nothing seems awry.
Giles walks back out and down the hall, looking up the stairs. Still, everything seems well, but it's just too quiet. He didn't need supernatural powers to figure out something was very wrong.
He takes a few steps up to the landing "Hello? Quentin? Hob... He notices that the stair railing feels clammy and looks at his hand. It's covered with fresh blood. From the landing, he looks into the other room and sees the closed crate standing there.
He rushes down the stairs and looks for a weapon, but seeing none, he grabs one of the stair rail supports and breaks it out with the heel of his other hand. He heads straight for the crate, intending to dust whatever's inside, but finds it empty.
Alarmed, he looks around and then down at the floor where he sees tracks of blood leading into the kitchen. He follows them, ready for anything to jump out at him.
Holding his makeshift stake up and ready, he grabs the doorknob and swings it open, expecting to see something waiting for him, but nothing is there.
He searches for the light switch and flips it on when he finds it. Glancing in front of him, he sees what's left of Hobson lying on the table, he had been horrifically mauled. Giles immediately drops the stake, backs out of the kitchen, puts his hand to his mouth, and does his best not to vomit.
Quickly he regains his composure and makes tracks out of the house.
Pulling Buffy's coat closer to myself, I let out a breath, my walk had actually cooled me down, and not having my powers run out of control with my anger burst was kind of nice but the thought of never having it back was still upsetting.
Walking home brought back memories of my first vampire and how weak I felt as he overpowered me so easily, being back in this state I didn't realize how unsafe it was for me to be walking around so leisurely at night.
Letting out a sigh, I try to bury myself deep into the red coat as I continue to walk only looking up when I notice a familiar face trying to look at inconspicuous as I was "Buffy?" I call out as she jumps before looking relieved.
She picks up her pace a little face to get to me and give me a thankful look. "Hey, I just came from-" I raised my eyebrow, not really needing to know where she was. She had come from the direction of Angel's place "-nevermind."
I watched her bite her lip before handing me a square package wrapped delicately in cloth as we continued our walk home "You're wrapping had changed distinctively this year" I joke, but her face doesn't change.
Pulling the cloth away, I noticed it was a worn version of Jane Eyre. "Angel asked me to give it to you," Buffy whispered as I open the cover and read what had been written by the guilt-ridden vampire.
'π΄ππ πΆππ π₯πΆππ,
- πππππ'
Those three words would probably mean nothing to Buffy if she had read them, but having read this book myself, I think I knew was Angel was trying to say. Jane Eyre was passionate and strongly principled and valued freedom and independence.
Was he trying to say that he thinks I'm a strong person?
However, Jane Eyre is a romance novel, but most of the romantic situations are engineered by Mr. Rochester, Jane's employer, who spends most of the book pursuing her. As his servant, she has little choice but to obey him.
That gave me a chill as I held the book in my hand.
"Why did you think it was okay to give me this?" I asked as Buffy eyed me "after everything?" I had no idea what Angel thought about when he gave me this gift, but it wasn't something I wanted to receive.
Although it's a lot better than a cold bloody heart.
"I just..." Buffy sighed as she turned to me, "he asks about you all the time, like a lot, and I know your on his mind a lot too-"
I shook my head in shock before interrupting her "-and that doesn't weird you out or make you think 'hey I know what he did to my sister maybe I should nip that in the bud'" I say raising my voice.
Buffy's face drops as if my words hurt her "He's not Angelus anymore."
"He is to me," I say, finally letting her think as I did "Same face, same voice, same person but now he just comes with a soul" I finish with a huff shoving the book into my bag, out of sight out of mind.
The two of us walked in silence as I internally seethe at the situation, how could Angel think that asking about me was okay?
What was Buffy telling him about me?
Asking your girlfriend about her twin sister, who your evil counterpart tried to assault and turn into a vampire, wasn't normal.
Nearing the road, we were about to cross when I noticed a couple of guys just hanging out by a car. They see us pass by and visibly check us out, two teenage girls, I could hear them whispering the closer we got to the other side of the road.
I frown when Buffy tucks her arm into mine as we pass the men, "Hey, sweet girls!" I stop cold, hearing the leer in his voice, "How much for a lap dance for me and my buddy?" They laugh to themselves.
I begin to turn around, but I stop when Buffy tugs on my arm. "Don't," she whispered, pulling me along with her towards the alley we had to walk through to get home, remembering our weakened state I complied.
We continue along the street until Buffy stops dead hearing another comment from the men, but they made no move to follow us, so I round the corner calling back to Buffy. "Come on, B, let it go."
Hearing a humming noise, I look around but don't see anyone around Buffy also stops and looks behind her, but sees no one there either "Hummers. Big turnoff," My sister says with her back to me as she looks back around the corner.
"Oh yeah, I like guys that can remember the lyrics," I joke as I start to walk again and run right into a huge vampire, "Buffy!" I gasp as the vamp holds onto me by the arms while I try to pull away.
"You know, I wish I could, but my mind just isn't what it used to be," He says, leaning down towards me as I try to fight his grip only I felt like my arms were being kept together by a clamp.
I wasn't going anywhere.
"Let her go," My sister cries as she tries to pull me out of his grip, but the vampire just yanks me back with a grin showing us his sharp teeth.
"You didn't say please!" He laughs playfully, but his hands were still curled around my arm no matter how much Buffy and I played tug of war with him.
"If I don't say please to my own mother, what makes you think I'll say it to you" I hiss to the much taller vampire as he gazes down at me with a crazed look in his eye "I don't know what your problem is, but I'm guessing it's hard to pronounce."
Suddenly I heard a roar behind Buffy and me let out a shriek "HELP US! SOMEBODY, PLEASE!" Turning my head, I noticed another vamp teasing my sister as she tries to fend him off.
Hearing my twin beg for help, I started pulling my arms again and gets my left arm loose. I quickly pull my right arm out of Buffy's jacket and lets my left arm slip out of the other sleeve.
Grabbing my sister, the smaller vamp and roars at us, making Buffy scream as we run back the other way, dodging the big vampire, who makes no move to give chase. The smaller one, however, continues to run after us.
"HELP US, PLEASE! SOMEBODY!" My sister screams as we run along the empty alleyway "SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP!" At the far end of the alley, we stop in front of a fence, "Quick move, Nikki."
We both try to climb it, but we have no strength. Dropping back down, I check behind us to see the vampire coming our way and snarling at us, "Nikki!" I look down and see that the fence has been cut at the base, and Buffy is holding it open for me.
I quickly crawling through it and help Buffy through, but the vamp catches up and grabs her by the leg "Let her go!" I shout at him as Buffy keeps crawling, making him lose his balance and grip, but he scrambles to grab her foot.
Buffy manages to slip through and grabs onto me as she pulls me into a run. By now, we both are bruised, cut up, and crying.
We run into the street and try to flag down a car "STOP! PLEASE, WE NEED HELP!" The driver honks his horn and swerves sharply to get around us, but he just keeps going, "PLEASE, STOP!"
Another car honks at her and screeches around us as we continue to plead with the drivers, there was no way we could outrun a vamp. A third car comes in the other direction and stops in front of us.
I recognize it immediately. Giles pushes open the passenger side door, "Hurry!" The older man shouts as I jump in the car and climb into the back of it as Buffy gets in after me. Giles guns it just as the vampire gets there.
He grabs the door and gets his feet up just inside the car, where Buffy hits him repeatedly as they speed along, and eventually, he can't hold on any longer and drops out of the vehicle. "Close the door!" I scream as Buffy slams the door shut.
Giles drives us to the library, no questions asked, but I did notice that he was oddly silent; maybe he felt upset that we had been attacked in our weakness by the very things we were born to take out.
Or at least that was my inner thoughts projecting.
Buffy and I sit at the table, wrapped in blankets still reeling from our attack. My sister was viably shaking but I sort of shut down, I couldn't tell my own feelings everything sort of just felt unreal.
Like I was in a separate world and watching from the outside.
"When I hit him, it felt like my arm was broken, it hurt so much. I can't be just a person. I can't be helpless like that" Buffy began as I silently listen to her words, and a small part of me felt glad that she knew how I felt before, but I couldn't tell her that.
"I couldn't get him away from me, I felt like my arms were in a vice," I told them sniffing but didn't let any tears fall.
How had I managed to feel this vulnerable all over again?
My twin gave me a knowing look before turning to our Watcher "Giles, please, we have to figure out what's happening to us" Giles says nothing as opens his briefcase and pulls out a case, he opens it with a deep sigh and sets it in front of us.
"It's an organic compound... of muscle relaxants, and adrenal suppresses. The effect is temporary. You'll be yourself again in a few days," He explains with a shaky voice before turning to me. "I had to use another type of compound along with this one to counteract your telekinesis."
My stomach drops at Giles' confession, he did this to us, not some big bad without a soul or any kind of supernatural occurrence. Buffy reaches out to the tube of liquid and touches it. "You?" she questions, sounding sorrowful.
"It's a test, girls. It's given to a Slayer once she... uh, well, if she reaches her eighteenth birthday. The Slayer is disabled and then entrapped with a vampire foe whom she must defeat in order to pass the test".
Giles paces toward his office. "The vampire you were to face... has escaped" he stops at the door facing away from us. "His name is Zachary Kralik. As a mortal, he murdered and tortured more than a dozen women before he was committed to an asylum for the criminally insane. When a vamp..."
Feeling rage fill the void of my nothingness, I stand and throw the syringe case at him, but it misses, hitting the wall beside him "You bastard. All this time, you saw what it was doing to us. All this time and you didn't say a word! After everything," I sob angrily, ripping my hand away when Buffy tries to hold it.
Giles faces me looking heartbroken, we had a bond over what happened to us with Angelus, and he had broken it. "I wanted to," He whispered, his lip trembling slightly under my furious gaze.
I shook my head in disbelief "Liar," I whisper viciously as his face fell even more. "You knew I hated feeling weak, my worst fear, and it was done by you. I trusted you!" I shouted, letting my tears fall.
"In matters of tradition and protocol, I must answer to the Council" was all Giles said as my sister and I let out broken cries "My role in this... was very specific. I was to administer the injections and to direct you both to the old boardinghouse on Prescott Lane".
Buffy cried, shaking her head "I can't... I can't hear this," my sister sounded distraught as she held her head in her hands.
"Buffy, please," Giles begs, but the damage was already done; I was used to getting let down by a man who was supposed to care for me, but coming from Giles, it stung so much more.
Buffy looks him in the face as I paced angrily. "Who are you?" My twin asks as lowers her hands, giving Giles a seething expression, "How could you do this to us?" Our Watcher eyes us both as we stood side by side with a frown.
"I am deeply sorry, girls," Giles sighs as he reaches out to Buffy, "and you have to understand..."
I grab his hand midway as I shook with hatred "If you touch her, I will kill you" I hiss sounding deadly as Giles lowers his hand, he had never been the brunt of my anger, and his face showed his shock.
"You have to listen to me. Because I've told you this, the test is invalidated. You will be safe now, I promise you. Now, whatever I have to do to deal with Kralik... and to win back your trust..." Giles implores until Buffy interrupts him sobbing.
"You stuck a needle in me. You poisoned us!" My sister screamed at our Watcher as I feel a cold chill from her words, Giles violated our trust, and although it was different from Angelus' attack on me, the emotional trauma felt the same.
"What's going on?" I turn my head to see Cordelia walking into the room with a frown until she notices mine and Buffy's tear-streaked faces. "Oh, God. Is the world ending? I have to research a paper on Bosnia for tomorrow, but if the world's ending, I'm not gonna bother".
Buffy starts to walk out of the library "You can't walk home alone. It isn't safe," Giles calls to her desperately as Buffy stops. Cordelia still doesn't understand and walks over to me, quickly rubbing my arm in comfort.
Buffy, still facing away from us, just shakes her head sadly, "I don't know you."
Cordelia turns to Giles, wide-eyed, "Did something take her memory?" she faces Buffy. "He's Giles. Giiillles," Cordy gives my sister a grin as she motions to the quiet library. "He hangs out here a lot."
I give one final sniff and turn to my best friend, "Cordelia, could you please drive us home?" I ask, ignoring the sad expression on Giles' face as Cordy's eyebrows raise in surprise, but she nods softly, trying to give me a small smile.
"Of course," The brunette turns to Giles. "But if the world doesn't end, I'm gonna need a note" Cordelia lays a gentle hand on my back, giving it a small rub as she starts to lead me away.
"Your powers will come back, Nikki," Giles calls out, desperately making me stop in my path before I slowly turn to him as Cordy tries to softly convince me to continue walking.
Looking Giles up and down in disgust, I narrow my eyes at him. "My powers may come back, but I won't" Cordelia lets out a small gasp as I push past her and Buffy to walk away from the distraught Watcher.
I gave Cordy a small smile as she pulls me into a tight hug when we stop outside my house "Call me if you want me to come back, okay?" I nodded and followed my sister out of the car.
Buffy opens the door, and I follow her into the kitchen, her bouquet from our dad was still on the island. Wordlessly my sister, pushes it to the end and lets it drop into the wastebasket to accompany mine.
Walking through the dining room I see the front door standing open "B" I whisper seeing a Polaroid picture taped t the door frame, I stride over to it and pull it down to look at it. I gasp, seeing it's of our mother with Kralik behind her holding her by the neck.
I turn the picture over, and on the back is written: 'come.'
My head turns to Buffy, who was looking over my shoulder "the test is back on" I growl handing her the picture as we both run up to our rooms.
Quickly pulling on some clothes, I get ready to battle as a human, any and all weapons were necessary.
Grabbing a bag, I pull a knife and several stakes from my closet and drop them into the bag, opening my bottom desk drawer I pull out a cross and holy water, which I place in my bag before sliding my Zippo lighter in my jeans pocket.
Closing the now heavy bag, I heave it up by the strap and onto my shoulder. Opening my bedroom door, I see my sister too carrying a bag, which is so heavy she has to lean to the side to counterbalance it as she walks out of her room.
"Let's do this".
In the basement of the boarding house, Joyce is tied to a chair and gagged "Mother" Kralik called, and the woman looks toward his voice, as he snaps another Polaroid of her.
"May I call you Mother?" he walks in front of her "My own mother was a person with no self-respect of her own, so she tried to take mine."
Joyce turns her head away from him, and he takes another picture. She strains against the ropes around her arm, but they are too tight. "Ten years old, she had the scissors. You wouldn't believe what she took with those," he grunted as he takes another picture.
"But she's dead to me now" he takes two more pictures before chuckling. "Mostly because I killed and ate her, but also because I know I won't be alone much longer" He slowly kneels by Joyce with a crazed smile "I'll have your daughter."
Joyce starts to struggle "I'm hoping for the taller one, she was feisty" Kralik laughed before shrugging "I won't kill her; I'll just make her like me. Different. She'll go to sleep, and when she wakes up," he gets into her face to intimidate the woman, "your face will be the first thing she eats."
Joyce's eyes are wide with terror as Kralik stops to consider, "I have a problem with mothers," he chuckles to himself, "I'm aware of that, but maybe I'm not the only one" the vampire grinned to himself excitedly.
Giles is stood in his office; he's on the phone trying to reach Quentin, but the other end of the line keeps ringing. Just then Quentin appears at the door and walks in, Giles sees him and sets the phone back down in its cradle "I was just trying to reach you."
"I was on watch over by the boarding house," Quentin explains as he paces away from the other British man.
"Then you know what's happened," Giles questions looking at the head watchers calm exterior incredulously as the man only nods.
"Yes."
"He's killed Hobson and made Blair one of his own. Your perfectly controlled test seems to have spun rather impressively out of control, don't you think?" Giles admonishes, shaking his head.
Quentin turns and gives him a long look, then paces back the other way to the teapot "It changes nothing!" he lifts the lid from the teapot.
"Well, then, allow me" Giles leans on his desk "I've told Buffy and Nicola everything" he finishes sounding proud of himself, but he knew he still had to win the girls trust back, he saw the look Nikki gave him, and he never wanted to see it again.
Quentin looks up from the teapot. "That is in direct opposition to the Council's orders," he informs the younger Watcher as he sets the lid back down.
"Yes," Giles crosses his arms defiantly "Interestingly, I don't give a rat's ass about the Council's orders. There will be no test."
Quentin calmly pours himself a cup of tea "The test has already begun. Your Slayers entered the field of play about ten minutes ago" He explains matter of fact before taking a sip of his tea.
Giles stands up very surprised he knew Buffy and Nikki; they wouldn't normally put themselves in danger unless there was something really wrong "Why?"
Quentin just shrugs without consideration, "I don't know. I returned there just as they entered" Giles grabs his keys from his desk and starts out of the office, but Quentin tries to stop him "Now Giles, we've no business..."
Giles grabs him by the coat and shoves him up against the door frame feeling fury exploding inside of him "This is not business!" he lets the other man go and strides out of the library to help save the two girls he'd become close to.
Buffy slowly moves out of the sitting room and into the foyer momentarily kicking herself for suggesting that she and Nikki split up to cover more ground, a part of her was hoping that they could find their mom without having to face Kralik.
She looks around cautious before entering the room, then goes back over to the door to check it. It's locked shut. She yanks at it several times, but she can't budge it.
Suddenly Blair comes up behind her and growls, Buffy spins around and aims the crossbow at him. She pulls the trigger, but the bolt flies right past his face.
Blair grabs the bow, jerks it out of her hands, and throws it down. He grabs her by the throat and begins to choke her. Buffy grabs onto his arm and stomps on his foot, causing Blair to let her go.
Buffy shoves him aside and runs into the sitting room. She opens her bag and tries to reach in, but Blair reaches for her over the back of the couch. Buffy jumps away and runs to the far wall by the bookcase.
Blair moves to follow, but Buffy pushes the bookcase over on top of him. He struggles underneath it, but can't lift it off. Buffy climbs over it and goes to her bag, opens it, and reaches in.
Reaching out from under the bookcase, Blair grabs her ankle, making Buffy scream as she looks around for a weapon. She spies the andirons grabs the tongs and starts to beat on Blair's arm, hoping to get him to lose his grip on her.
Carrying the heavy bag filled with weapons, I felt nerves sparking in my stomach as I stop in the hallway and look around. I know somewhere Kralik is watching me "Hide and seeeek..." I gasp, hearing his voice taunting me.
I glance all around but see nothing "Hide and seek!" his voice whispers again as I continue to scan the area until I see a tall crate. The crate door is closed and looks locked, so approach it slowly when it suddenly swings opens.
Kralik jumps out and grabs me by the throat, I gasp in fright, but don't struggle as I had earlier, "Why did you come to the dark of the woods?" He yanks the bag out of my hands and looks into it "To bring all these sweets to grandmother's house?".
He drops the bag and pulls me closer until I pull out a cross that I was keeping in my back pocket, holding it up in front of him I watch as he leaps back from me in fear. Letting out a silent sigh of relief, I hold it out at arm's length, shaking nervously.
Kralik stares at me for a while in contemplation before smiling evilly, he suddenly grabs my arm and pulls it and the cross into his chest where rubs it around and laughs as it burns against his skin.
"Oh-oh, no, no. Just a little lower," Kralik still holding my hand slides it further down "Right..." he inhales in ecstasy "Oh, yes. Yes. Oh," he lets out gasps and moans as both of our hands are inside his jumpsuit. "Oooh! Thank you very much" I let go of the cross and runs in terror.
Running into the kitchen, I immediately lock the door behind me. Turning around, I notice a body sitting at the table but don't have time to really look at it before I'm alerted by Kralik's pounding on the door.
Making for the counter I rifles through the drawers looking for anything she can use "where the fuck is Buffy," I hiss to myself as I find nothing useful, I then look up realizing the pounding has stopped.
Trying not to think about what the vampire could be doing I look around again, but still can't find anything of use. Glancing to the door, I groan, knowing I'd have to give it a shot, maybe he heard Buffy and took off.
Slowly I step back to the door and quietly opens it. It looks clear, no sign of any crazed vampires, so I cautiously walk back into the hall. I constantly glance around paranoid as I make my way toward the stairs.
When I'm almost there, I make a dash for them and start to run up them before Kralik punches his arm through the railing and trips me, making me fall and cut my forehead against the steps.
He grabs my leg and pulls me down a little as I struggle to get away from him. Grabbing a broken piece of the railing, I stab at his arm with it, but it's not hitting where I want it to.
Kralik quickly let's go and runs up the stairs after me, scrambling to her feet I run to the top and starts down the hall "This is like bad slasher movie" I cry to myself as I try not to remember the blonde teens are usually the first to get killed.
Escaping into the hallway, I let out a scream when I run into another body, "Nikki?!" I hear my sister gasp as I grab onto her and try the doorknobs to a few doors before finding one that is unlocked.
Pushing my twin into the pitch-black room, "He's behind me," I whisper to her as I tried to calm my breathing as Buffy searches around until she finds a string hanging from the ceiling.
She pulls it, and the light goes on, we both stare in shock at the walls around us. They are covered with Polaroids of our mother, "is that..." Buffy grabs one off the wall to make sure "it's mom."
Just then Kralik starts pounding at the door again, I let out a fearful gasp as he punches through and reaches in, searching for the knob to unlock it. Buffy pushes me in front of her as we run to another door.
I unlock it and run out into the hall, just as she reaches the end, Kralik steps out in front of me "If you stray from the path, you will lose your way" He reaches out and puts his hand on my cheek admiringly.
I try to push him away, but he's too strong "Buffy," I plead as my sister tries to help me, but like earlier, neither of us were strong enough "Let me go!" I cried as he bends down toward my neck.
"I won't take it all. I won't take it all" I heard Kralik reassure me as I try to bend away from him "just a little bit, then I'll never be alone again" Buffy and I gasp at his words as he continues to mutter "together forever."
I strain hard to keep him at bay, and just as his teeth graze my neck, he lets go of me to grab his head, and he begins to scream. Buffy tries to get us past him, but he shoves her into me, stunning us both.
He pulls out his pill bottle and struggles to get it open. I grimace at his pained groans as Buffy cleverly grabs the bottle out of his hands. "run!" she calls to me, but I'm caught not long after we start to run down the hall away from Kralik.
"No! No! No!" He shouts with one hand on his head the other around my waist, Buffy stops for a moment, but I motion for her to continue, one of us needs to find our mom.
The distressed Kralik has a hard time going after Buffy and keeping me by him with the pain in his head "my pills," he groaned as Buffy reaches the far end of the hall and leaps into the laundry chute.
Kralik looks down the chute and hears her sliding but doesn't follow instead, he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder, still making pained noises as he makes his way through the building "Put me down!" I scream banging my fists against his back.
It was like fighting against a wall.
Kralik smashes through a door and takes us down a set of stairs leading into the basement, demanding his pills from my sister. "Where are they? Where are they?!" .
Buffy tries to get past him again and up the stairs. He just grabs her and shoves her against a wall before placing me back on my feet, He sees the pill bottle in her hands and snatches it from her just as Buffy pulls me into her arms.
The vampire struggles with the lid as he stumbles over to where a glass of water sits near the wine racks. He gets the cap off, pops a couple of pills, and gulps down the water. He gasps for air and takes several deep breaths as he begins to calm down.
He smiles evilly over at us and takes some forced steps in our direction, but neither of us makes any attempt to move. I feel Buffy's fists tighten on me a little, but she shows no other sign of movement.
Kralik's eyes meet mine, and he gives me a smirk "You don't seem to understand your place in all of this. Do you have any idea..." Suddenly he stops in his tracks. "Oh, my!" he looks down at the glass in his hand "What have you..."
He begins to shake, and I look up at Buffy, "My pills!" Kralik shouts at us as Buffy pulls an empty bottle of Holy Water from her pocket and holds it up for him to see. He drops the glass and begins to shake violently, grunting, and groaning in pain.
"No. No..." A slither of relief pools in my stomach as smoke begins to puff out of his clothes, I'd never seen a vampire drink Holy Water before, but I knew it would be lethal to Kralik at this point.
"If I was at full Slayer power, I'd be punning right about now. Got anything, Nikki?" I just shake my head numbly as I stay in my older sister's grip, I couldn't think straight let alone think of a quip.
"No! No!" He screams loudly one final time, reaching his hand out in our direction and then crumbles to ashes from the inside out. Closing my eyes, I hear Buffy let out a sigh of relief "what is it with vampires wanting to turn you?" she half-jokes as she pockets the bottle.
Her eyes widen as her face drops in recognition.
"Mom!" She gasps rushing over to our mother and pulls the gag from her mouth as I stay staring at the ashes that now littered the ground, wondering if I would have been able to defeat Kralik on my own.
I didn't think so.
Any other vampire I could have, but this was different, this wasn't a vampire who wanted to kill me because I'm a Slayer or the need to feed. This was a crazed serial killer vampire who had a penchant for teenage girls.
That and he wanted to make me like him, how did I always attract the crazy vampires?
Buffy begins to work on the ropes again as our Mom looked relieved to see the two of us there and alive "Thank God you're both okay. Oh, that man..." Mom started glancing between my sister and me.
Buffy strains as she tries to undo the ropes "I can't get these. They're too tight" I finally walk over and start tugging on the binds around my mother's limbs.
"Me either," I sighed, giving up.
"Can't you just..." She jerks in her chair, suggesting that we just tear the ropes, we both avoid the expression on our mom's face.
"Not right now" My twin begins to look around "Maybe there's some clippers around" She stands up to look around when suddenly the smaller vampire from earlier lunges at her from behind.
"Oh, Buffy!" Mom calls, but Giles is right behind the vampire who grabs our Watcher and throws him against a shelf rack. The vampire punches him in the face and in the gut making Giles double over, but he quickly thrusts his arm up, plunging a stake into the vampire's chest.
As he bursts into ashes, Giles slowly straightens up, staring at Buffy and me, but no words were exchanged as he helped us get our Mom to safety.
"Congratulations, you passed"
We were back in the library after making sure our Mom was home safe and sound, Buffy and I are sitting at the table as the head Watcher Quentin stands calmly at the head of the table as he speaks.
Giles leans in the doorway to his office, watching our interaction silently. "You exhibited extraordinary courage and clearheadedness in battle. The Council is very pleased with the both of you. Twin Slayers are unheard of, but you two obviously work better together."
"Do we get a gold star?" My sister deadpans as Quentin sighs at her attitude, which if I were in a better headspace would make me laugh because I would have said something so much worse.
"I understand that you're upset..." Quentin begins holding his hands up like no wrongdoing had been done.
"You understand nothing. You set that monster loose, and he came after our mother" My sister hissed as the senior Watcher glanced over his shoulder at Giles before facing the two of us again.
"You think the test was unfair?"
"I think you better leave town before we get our strength back," My sister says as her thinly veiled threat was noticed by the older man and obviously not appreciated.
"We're not in the business of fair, Miss Summers, we're fighting a war," was all the man said, and Giles steps forward.
"You're waging a war. They're fighting it. There is a difference" Our watcher argues as Quentin turns to him with a sigh, his expression chastising Giles as if he was insignificant.
"Mr. Giles, if you don't mind..."
Giles stands strong as he motions to the door "the test is done. We're finished" Quentin hardly moves at Giles' words.
"Not quite. They passed. You didn't" Quentin faces Giles slowly "The Slayers are not the only ones who must perform in this situation. I've recommended to the Council, and they've agreed that you be relieved of your duties as Watcher immediately. You're fired".
Giles seems taken aback as Buffy, and I watch on "On what grounds?" Our now ex-Watcher demands his face impassive.
"Your affection for your charges has rendered you incapable of clear and impartial judgment" I gaze at Giles who doesn't look back "You have a father's love for the twins, and that is useless to the cause" Giles lowers his head "It would be best if you had no further contact with the Slayers."
I break my stare as considers Quentin's words, a part of me felt a pang of sadness at Giles not being our Watcher anymore, but the other part still felt broken by the betrayal and disregard of my trust.
"I'm not going anywhere" Giles' eyes flashed at the man's words as he argued back.
Quentin sighs exasperated, "No, well, I didn't expect you would adhere to that. However, if you interfere with the new Watcher, or countermand his authority in any way, you will be dealt with. Are we clear?"
"Oh, we're very clear."
Quentin bows slightly to us, and I glare back at him. "Congratulations again" My sister also peers up at him with a stare of hatred that for once matched mine perfectly.
"Bite me."
Quentin chuckles ruefully. "Yes, well, colorful girl" He turns and leaves the library as Giles looks up again and puts on his glasses. He looks over at us sadly.
Buffy sniffs, reaching out for the cloth that's lying on the table next to a bowl of water, and picks it up. Giles walks over to her and puts his hand on the cloth, she lets him take it from her hand.
He dips it in the water and kneels down in front of her, reaches out and gently pats it over the gash in her forehead. She winces in pain but doesn't pull away. Giles turns the now-bloody cloth over and continues to lightly dab it on her wound.
Giles moves over to me with a clean cloth and tries to clean my wound, but I move from his hand "Don't. just... don't" I look down at Giles, who glances at me "you broke my heart" I whispered before shrugging off the blanket he had given me.
Getting up, I made my way to the door until Giles called my name "please don't go" I heard the plea in his voice, but I just sniffed and continued walking away "You're hurt, Nikki."
Slowly looking back to where Giles stood, and my sister sat watching me sadly, "when am I not?" I answered before pushing the door open and leaving the two of them behind.
I had no idea where I was going, but I kept walking to where my feet and head were taking me until I finally reached the place I had no idea I wanted to be until I was there.
Banging on the door repeatedly and brashly, I tried to breathe as I was taught, but the past week was all coming to fruition, and the one person I needed was nowhere to be seen.
Finally, feeling the door open under my hand, I let out a sob, "Where were you?!" I shouted, giving Faith a glare as her eyes widened and roamed over my beaten form, she quickly pulled me into her arms "I needed you" I sobbed as we sunk to the floor together.
"I'm right here Puddin'" The brunette whispered against the top of my head as she rocked me back and forth letting me cry into her chest like a child, sobs racked my body as I felt her lay small kisses on the crown of my head "I'm right here."