Chapter 18

Halloween

Something is bugging you. Sitting at the back of your brain, even as you lay in Buffy's arms, listening to her rather adorable soft snores. Something like a memory from a dream that wasn't quite swept clean by the morning. Hard to grasp by there.

Buffy shifts and nuzzles into you, but she is long from waking. You try to close your eyes. Rest. Enjoy the warmth.

Orb.

Kennedy was reading about an orb. A history of magical artifacts. She wrote pages of notes. You never did find out what that was all about.

"When things are hiding, you need to pay close attention to the details." Merrick had told you. "Even an invisible demon leaves footprints."

You bite your lip harshly. You stopped caring after you died. It wasn't your responsibility, was it? Kennedy was The Slayer. Giles The Watcher. Those pieces, those footprints belonged to them. Allowed you to go numb, stop looking. Just kill the things. Rinse. Repeat.

So what else? Orbs. Blood Wells. Robots. Roses. Darla. The Scourge. So many things you had let slide.

"You have let yourself be blind" Merrick said. "You may as well be blind."

The morning comes, and Buffy walks you home to Giles'. Tomorrow is Halloween, a fact everyone except Giles seem to be thrilled about. Buffy has her reservations too, she has left costume shopping to last moment. You were not going to dress up, but she convinces you that she will make it worth your time. You both agree to head into town later and find that new costume shop Amy mentioned.

Your laptop clicks and whirs as it crunches through the tasks you have set it.

The Queen has been notable by her absence. And that scares you. Whatever she is up to for "the New Age of Aurelius" it is extremely under the radar.

You are looking for a trail. A hacker at work in Sunnydale. A slip up. A trace. Something that would give you an idea of her movements.

You weave your web better. Cover your tracks as you go. Walk softly. Be thorough. Hard when your head is fuzzy from the painkillers. You try to cut through that with coffee.

Your bots show vamp killings are down, unexplained events down. You track for disturbed graves. Robberys. Anything.

The thing that grates on your nerves is that it would be so easy for her to take you out. Take all of you out, and yet she doesn't. Why?

Perhaps a smashed up invalid and a green-gilled Slayer pose less threat than whoever would step in to replace you both. It makes sense. But how could she know?

Why was Warren so important to her? Was he making her something? Did he make her suit?

And another thing. She knew your name on sight.

You had the feeling that something was coming for you. Something big. Something really bad.

Physio twice a day. You growl and wince through the pain, stretch, swim and at the end of it all, take the painkillers like a good littld Slayer.

This search was getting you nowhere. You leave it running and hunt for the book Kennedy was taking notes from.

Orb of Thesula. It is in the index, but the page is missing. Torn out.

You return to your laptop and open a search. Orb of Thesula. You get a hit, and note down an address.

Time to go shopping.

Buffy is taking her sweet time deciding in the costume shop, so you tell her you are running an errand.

The last thing you expected was to be greeted by A Cordette at The Magic Box. But there she was, Anya Jenkins, large as life.

"Welcome customer, we have- oh, it's you." She says, her face falling, then she remembers something. "Just so you know," she makes little air quotes "'we all support you and Buffy' rah-dee-rah." She nods, mentally checking something off her list.

"Uh, thanks Anya." you say, somewhat bewildered.

"But just so you know, I am firmly heterosexual. I love men. Well, actually I hate them. They are lowly dogs, not to be trusted, of course. You should buy something."

You chuckle. There is something so endearing about Anya. Perhaps she reminds you of April, if April ever became bitter and verbose. You pull out your scrap of paper.

"What can you tell me about a… an Orb of Thesula?"

"That it retails for $49.95. Which is a bargain. You should buy it."

"Do you know what it does?"

"Well, it makes an excellent paperweight. Oh and it goes all glowy and stuff when a human-" She looks sharply at you. "Like what I am, of course… when us humans hold it."

She pulls a cloudy glass sphere about the size of an egg out of an ornate box. Sure enough it glows in her hand. She seems somewhat satisfied and yet disappointed by this.

"So that's all it does?" You say.

"Well possibly not, but all that Kalderash magic is half mumbo jubbily joo joo and frankly embarrassing." She has a thought and scowls "Don't get me wrong, they did pull off some great stuff back in 17th century Hungary, but boy they harp on about the glory days. That is the problem with oral magics. Worst game of chinese whispers ever. You have really ugly facial scars now. You are lucky Buffy doesn't find you abhorrent."

"Yeah." You say. April says stuff like that too. You have gotten good at shrugging it off.

"We have a potion for scars. It isn't very effective but it is cheap, and I am told it is a very good placebo."

"I'll just take the orb, thanks."

The bell rings, and Buffy enters. She looks around the shop with a sneer before she notices you. She smiles.

"What's that?"

"It's a gift… for Amy."

"Hello recently gay Buffy." Anya smiles. "It's an Orb of Thesula."

Buffy looks uneasily at the weird giant marble in the box. "You never told me you were into all this kind of stuff." She says, her brow raised. She looks rather ill at the idea.

"Nah." You say. "Don't worry babe. I ain't about to join a cult or go around sacrificing roosters or anything. Amy loves this shit. Part of her whole rock witch vibe." But Buffy seems unconvinced.

"S'okay Buff, It's just a cool paperweight, s'all."

"Oh yes, it is quite useless." Anya says, counting the money out into the till. She hums happily to herself.

Still, Buffy's heebies are contagious, and you catch yourself holding the box very carefully all the way home.

Violet is dressed as an elf, complete with green leather armour and quite convincing ears. She says it's from a computer game you have never heard of, but Oz knows it and comments on how authentic and detailed her costume is. You know the two swords on her back are very real, very sharp and blessed against evil. Because though Giles is confident the undead find Halloween all too gauche and stay inside, your distrust is rubbing off on Violet. Last night she took that boy back to her hotel, and kicked his ass to the curb this morning. She looks refreshed and empowered. A spring in her elven stride.

Amy has gone for the whole sexy black cat thing, and boy, she is pulling it off.

Oz has gone all out with his costume too. He is wearing a label that says "Hello my name is: God". You wish you had thought of that.

Whilst everyone is in the living room helping a reluctant Giles decorate, Buffy is in your room helping April get ready. She sits admiring herself in the mirror, squealing with joy. A real princess in a pink ballroom gown. Buffy says she enjoying her new life sized doll. Blissfully unaware of how close to the truth she came.

You are a Princess too, though your white dress is from a galaxy, far, far away. Earlier that day, Buffy braided your hair and carefully pinned two buns on either side of your face. It took three attempts because, you know, of all the necessary sex and stuff.

"So what are you going as?" April asks Buffy. "You are coming to the dance, right?"

"Actually, I am not feeling so good. I may have to give it a miss tonight." Buffy says. You feel your heart sink. She was awfully quiet after running into Anya.

"There." Buffy says, finishing with April's Tiara and leaning back to admire her work. You see April beaming at her reflection. "How do you feel?"

"Like a Princess." April grins. Buffy tugs a strand of coiled hair across her face so it sits just so.

"Perfect. Every girl should get to feel like a princess. Even just for a short while."

Her eyes meet yours in the mirror, and they are filled with sadness.

April Shonda Spears, as far as everyone is told, is your cousin. And yes, she picked that surname herself after you talked down her first suggestion "sun". She was happy when you hacked her into official existence. Her "replacement ID" appeared yesterday, much to her joy.

Violet has latched onto April like a shield. Plus, April came preinstalled with "listen sympathetically". Something Violet needed. They walked on ahead, April's head nodding as Violet spoke.

Jenny has Giles and Oz has Amy. You feel the absence of Buffy.

Instead, you focus on all the adorable little monsters racing around the street filling up on candy. Parents following on, watching their little darlings trick or treat obvious to the real horrors out there. You tick off the monsters you know to be real. Vampire, check. Witch, check (Amy scoffs at the green skinned little girl), Werewolf, check. Leprechaun, myth. Demon, check. Gill monster… well, Violet had a story about the swim team whilst you were all sleeping beauty, so check that one off too. April gave an awful lot of her candy to a little girl dressed as a robot.

Sunnydale High is decorated spectacularly tonight. The Halloween Dance committee have outdone themselves.

And yes, someone had already spiked the punch bowl, bless them. So at least something will keep you warm tonight as you watch all the monsters dance.

The music lulls to a slow song, and you swallow back another cupfull. The party winding down. You sway as best as you can on your crutches.

But then...

Buffy is leaning against the fire escape. She smiles as you notice her, and hooks her finger into her gunslinger belt. Waggles her brow. She looks amazing as she sauntered over to you.

"I'm here to rescue you, Princess." She says with a terrible drawl. You put your crutches against the wall and reach for her.

"That was Luke, not Han. Dork." You smile as she takes you hand and spins you into an embrace. she dips you, not enough to hurt you but enough to make you squeal. Buffy knows just how to handle you. "I mean, either way I get a kiss… so…"

She obliges.

"So feeling magically better?" You say as you dance.

"Yeah" she blushes. "I'm really sorry. I was a dick. I realized I was panicking. Just being stupid. Anya calling me gay so flatly… it... just kinda spooked me." she sighs. "Besides, I guess if she knows, everyone knows."

"I think Cordy had stern words with them. To accept us. Strangely enough."

"Wow." She says, genuinely surprised. "She has layers."

You both chuckle. You feel her fingers loosening in yours. See her shoulders lose a little bit of that tension. You catch Amy looking rather shocked at you, but Oz notices and whispers something to her. She mouths "no way!". She makes a "metal" gesture to you.

"Well, Fai… since no pitchforks and angry mobs await us, what say we run with it?" She says.

"How so?" You say. As she turns you, you spot Giles and Jenny. To your surprise, Jenny stares in horror at you both. Her fists are curled. Man, she would have been the last person you expected. You steer Buffy away from her glare.

"How about we start with... will you, Faith -no-middle-name- Lehane, take me, Buffy Anne Summers, to be your official date to the prom?"

"You are such a dork" you say, but kiss her deeply. You ignore the wolf whistles.

"I shall accept that answer as a 'hellyes."