Chapter 10: Prophecy Buster

Challenge: for the livejournal 2020 August Fic-a-Day Challenge

Timeline: season 1 for BtVS and pre-series for SG1; storywise, it starts about 4 months or so after 'XX Origins of Buffy', Chapters 21-24

A/N: Taking a bit of a time skip because the episodes between The Pack and Prophecy Girl either don't happen or aren't worth their own chapters

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Stargate SG-1 character belongs to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Summers' home

May 1997

"Are you sure we shouldn't just train everyone together?" Buffy asked her brother over a rare private dinner at home. It was great that their popularity was winning practically the entire student body over, but it didn't give them a lot of alone time. Especially when Mark suggested breaking the group into semi-independent units.

"You saw how nervous Giles was getting when he saw the number of kids who were joining…and he only knew about the first twenty or so. Adults barely trust us to tie our own shoes without their supervision; can you imagine if they found out we were building a support system that might look like an army to them?" he pointed out reasonably. "Especially when it includes former bad kids like Tor's group."

She sighed, "I'm still not sure how to incorporate them. Their history of bullying makes it hard for the others to trust them. Despite the broken possession, they aren't magically inclined. None of them seem that interested in researching."

"Actually, they had an idea that they pitched to me today," Mark replied. It was generally accepted in the multi-coven that Mark was Buffy's right hand man. Unless it was something super critical, they would approach him first. Well, they'd approach their coven leader, who would approach him. In the Hyenas' case, they didn't have a leader yet, so their only option was Mark or Buffy. "Until they find something they're passionate about, they thought they'd be equipment support."

"What do you mean?" the Slayer inquired.

"Weapon maintenance, clothing repair…that sort of thing," Mark explained. "Even though we don't have many people skilled enough to patrol with you, it still is helpful for me if we have more people making stakes. I'm sure you'd appreciate not having to throw out clothes because of demon damage."

Buffy snorted, "You mean the Council would appreciate it." Ever since she and Mark talked to Giles about her wardrobe woes – and Mark demanded a stipend for Slayer supplies – the Council was getting pissy about every dime they had to give her.

"Even if they were willing to replace every piece of clothing – which you found out they aren't – it still bothers you when you lose something you like a lot. Especially when you've broken it in just right," he reminded her.

"True," she conceded. For such a wealthy organization – and they found that out by having some of their computer geeks hack the Council's system – they certainly didn't like spending any of it on the 'One girl in all the world'. They'd rather have their fancy cars and homes and whatever the hell else they spent their money on.

"What are we going to do about Marcie?" Mark asked, moving onto their next item of discussion.

"Well, she definitely needs some psychological help to deal with her issues," Buffy began. "Fortunately, we caught her before she did anything homicidal."

"Only because you managed to catch Harmony before she could fall down the stairs. Other people have problems but don't resort to violence," Mark countered, sensing that his sister was feeling bad for the semi-invisible girl.

"I know…it's just that this town seems to magnify things. I mean it's that how she can become invisible in the first place? She felt like almost nobody could see her and it became reality. So if that can happen, why can't simple frustration turn into rage?" Buffy suggested

Sunnydale High

A week later…

Buffy rushed to the library to tell Giles about the blood-gushing sinks, unaware of Mark seeing and following her. Before she could say anything, she overheard him talking on the phone and mentioning her name. He sounded pretty agitated, so she stopped and listened.

"You don't understand! The Codex that I got from the souled vampire has a prophecy about Buffy and the Master. She is going to die tomorrow!" he practically shouted into the phone.

Shocked, Buffy stumbled back and bumped into a table, making enough noise to get Giles' attention.

"I have to go. Find a way around this!" he pleaded before he hung up the phone. "Buffy…" he started, reaching out for her, only to have her pull away.

"Were you going to tell me?" she asked with tears in her eyes.

Giles down in shame, basically answering her. "I hoped it wouldn't be necessary."

Mark spoke up from behind her chastising the Watcher, "That wasn't your call to make! You aren't allowed to keep secrets like this from us, Giles." Calming down at the devastated look on the man's face, he sought clarification, "You found this out from Angelus?"

"He signed the note Angel, but yes," Giles confirmed, going to get the note to show them. "He said something big was happening and he wanted to help."

"Doesn't that feel a little suspicious to you?" Mark wondered aloud, not in a criticizing way, more curious than anything. "I mean, he shows up and tries to 'help us' stop the Master a few months ago, only to run away when we didn't welcome him with open arms. Now he's back with a prophecy that just 'happens' to mention Buffy's death? Seems rather convenient to me. If we manage to stop the Master, he can claim it was due to his help and if we don't, it doesn't really matter."

"So you don't believe the prophecy?" Buffy begged her brother with her eyes to lie to her if necessary.

"I think it's worthless to worry about it. Most of the books claim that prophecies are only useful after the fact, and in some cases, knowing about them leads the people involved into making them come true…like Oedipus' father. What we can do is make sure you aren't left alone for the next few days," he answered.

"But if it's supposed to happen tomorrow-" Giles interjected.

"Like the Anointed One's timing was correct?" Mark said, reminding them of a prophecy they'd already dealt with earlier in the year. "Unless we dust the Master, Buffy gets bodyguards when she's not at home." He looked at her and added, "If nothing else, I want somebody there to raise the alarm." He knew that she wouldn't accept anyone putting their lives in danger for her, but she might accept help if it would put their friends at risk.

The next night…

They hadn't planned on the attack at Giles' apartment complex, however. Some of the Master's minions firebombed the complex to get people to leave in a panic, then started feeding on them before they could reach safety. It was just bad timing on the vampires' part. When they didn't see him at the school library, they assumed he was home, but he had gone out to the store for groceries and arrived the same time as the fire department and the twins.

A little boy came up to Buffy and said he was missing his mother, and could she help him find her?

With what just happened, Buffy smelled a trap and typed out her S.O.S. code to Mark, who saw her walking away with a small child. When the boy went under a streetlight, he felt a jolt of shock course through his body. The boy was one of the people who supposedly died in the bus accident surrounding the Anointed One's rising. If he was here, he was probably a vampire and the other guy was just a false lead to make them think they took care of the problem.

"Giles, do you have any weapons in your car?" Mark demanded softly.

"Of course, do you think the vampires are going to attack again?" he asked, looking around in the shadows for danger.

"Maybe, but my bigger concern is that Buffy's probably being led to the Master right now and she only has a few weapons on her – and none of them are long-range," Mark responded, explaining what he saw and his theory about it. "I'm calling the Coven for backup."

Fortunately, the child vampire didn't appear to be in a rush to lead Buffy to her death. They were just walking sedately through the town until they reached the entry for the Master's lair.

"You think your mother is down there?" Buffy asked, pretending to be clueless.

The boy didn't answer verbally; he just pointed to the tunnel as if he expected her to go in without any questions.

Feeling her phone vibrate, Buffy stopped and looked at the text message 'We're here'. She looked back at the boy and asked, "Is it just the Master waiting for me, or do I have to fight a bunch of you?"

Confident in the night's outcome, the Anointed One answered, "We are starting the slaughter while you free the Master. He will join us at the Hellmouth."

"Just in case he's held up, where's the Hellmouth at?" she kept interrogating the little bastard.

He just smiled and said, "Under your noses at the library." He turned to leave, only to catch an arrow in the chest fired by Devon. It was quite a shock that he was one of their best archers.

Buffy grabbed a crossbow from them and led the way down to the lair. She went in first to see who was there and when her first attempt at shooting the Master failed, they moved in. He was showered with holy water when he got close enough to grab Buffy and whisper that her blood was what would set him free. While he was writhing in agony, she borrowed Giles' sword and cut his head off.

Surprised when his skeleton remained behind, Mark suggested that they break it up and send it into an incinerator. Vampires that didn't dust were not a good thing in his mind.

Buffy explained what the Master told her and said to Mark, "Guess you were right about not trusting prophecies. Let's go take care of the rest of the bloodsuckers!" she commanded her people.

A/N: Okay, so Buffy didn't die here; not sure what that means for Kendra and/or Faith in the future. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the last day of the month tomorrow, but I wanted to be sure to get through season 1 of BtVS for this story.