Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville, Supernatural, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Based on Supernatural Season 2 "Simon Says"
Chloe remained true to her word not to collapse and just let the world pass her by. It helped that there was much going around her, and that made her feel horrible and guilty because Sam's loss and mourning shouldn't be just a way for her to keep her mind occupied and off of Angel. She did her best to redeem that ugly part of her that was grateful for someone else's drama being worse than hers by being supportive and as best a friend to the grieving man as possible. He was in shock, felt guilty, blamed himself for Jess' death. There was something in Sam's eyes that Chloe didn't like, it reminded her too much of a wounded animal who was dangerous in its pain, but other than keep an eye on him she did nothing. Dean and Cordelia were the ones who had the right to talk to Sam about things, and while Chloe wished she could have reunited with them under better conditions she was just glad to have them back. Buffy had gotten into contact with them, and after going to visit her mother she was planning on coming to see them again with Giles in tow.
They'd be the old gang once more...and yet they'd never be the old gang ever again.
These three years had changed everyone in ways that couldn't be explained, and Chloe knew without a doubt that the old Scooby Gang was dead.
That didn't mean that a new one couldn't be born though.
Sam, Dean and Cordelia still fought the few baddies they'd come across the last three years, though they admitted that there'd been a lot less action since Chloe had left. And that made Chloe wonder if it was wrong for her to stay around them. Already she could feel the Hellmouth energy beginning to take root, make itself at home, and it was only a matter of time before the creatures around them began to feel it as well and journeyed towards them. She'd put her friends at risk once more just because she was there, and she didn't think it was fair, not when they'd gotten on with their lives the way they had.
It was one of the reasons why she'd gone to Metropolis, although the long-overdue reunion with her father and Jenny was the primary reason for her trip. A part of her had truly believed she'd never see them again, so as she hugged them both she couldn't help but cry and hold tightly. While she still found it somewhat awkward with her friends, her father and Jenny made it impossible. Their home, which they repeatedly told her was hers as well, was warm and inviting and Chloe cried a little when she found that a room had been dedicated to her, having all of her things from her room in Sunnydale. They'd truly been waiting for her to come back home.
"We want you to stay in Metropolis." Jenny reached out and placed her ringed hand on Chloe's, squeezing it tightly. "You can get your GED and study at MetU here with us, safe, with your family."
Chloe smiled up at her. "And ruin the honeymoon?"
"What honeymoon? We've been together three years already! We need some kids in the nest to keep us together!" Jenny joked.
The blonde took in a deep breath, considering as her gaze went to her father, who was talking to Mr. Luthor on the phone about something job-related. "I'm still not sure what I want to do with my life, Jenny. I-," she took in a deep breath and returned her attention to the beautiful woman. "If I stayed here you two wouldn't be safe."
Jenny frowned. "This has to do with your connection to the Hellmouth, doesn't it?"
Chloe nodded. "I'm a conduit for it-Sam's a conduit for me-I don't know. It's all very confusing."
"Have you been able to figure anything out these last couple of years?" Jenny wanted to know, leaning forwards, concerned.
"Not much," the blonde was loathed to admit. "All I know is that when I settle in a place, it becomes Hellmouthy after a while. And, well, I've been having demon visitors lately. One was Azazel, a powerful yet mysterious demon who knows who I am but won't tell me...and Ruby, someone who says she knows who I am as well and offered herself in the future as a minion."
"A minion?" Jenny asked in shock.
"Exactly." Chloe ran a hand over her hair as she sighed. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it? If the Master isn't my..." her gaze went to her father, who was paying attention to something else and not paying attention to the 'bonding' women. "You haven't told him, right?"
"Of course not." Jenny shook her head. "He's your father, no matter what."
The younger woman nodded. "I agree."
The two women smiled at each other, squeezing the other's hand.
"I'm so happy he found you," Chloe admitted, sending the older woman a look.
"Yeah, well, I'm not too bad off." Jenny grinned, sending Gabe a loving glance before returning her attention to the blonde. "Do us a favor and at least consider staying? Look at MetU. We both want you to stay."
Chloe paused before nodding. "I'll check it out."
"She's resurfaced and made contact with Rupert Giles and the rogue Slayer." Gwendolyn Post leaned forwards over the table and peered at the others there with her. "We've lost the Hellmouth's conduit once already. Now that's she has come out of the woodwork I say that we put someone on her. Immediately. We can't lose something like her, not again."
"She has a point, for once," Rutherford Sirk declared with that insufferable smirk on his face. "Giles has already lost the girl once. On top of that he lost his Slayer. Why are we trusting him again?"
Quentin Travers, the senior Watcher amongst them in the Council, steepled his hands together. "We're not trusting them. We're watching." He raised an eyebrow. "When that girl's unique connection to the Hellmouth was discovered we should've put someone on her, as was our first thought, but we made the mistake of leaving things in Rupert's incompetent hands when he suggested we allow her to remain with the Slayer due to their apparent connection."
"Right," Gwendolyn agreed. "So we need to get in there and take control of the situation before it spirals out of control again."
"Patience," Quentin chided with a dark chuckle. "Patience."
There was a clock reading 12:21, and a busy street. A smiling, late-middle aged man walked down the sidewalk. His cell phone rang and he picked it up, face and voice a constant smile. He was obviously a cheery man who rarely frowned.
"Hello." He answered the phone. "Yeah."
There was a white-flash of a gun barrel raising.
"All right." The man nodded.
Another imagine flashed, this time of the same man cocking a shotgun.
The man's face was now blank as he lowered the phone slowly.
A city bus with a picture of a neighborhood and the words 'Pleasant Meadows' and 'LuthorCorp' written on it passed by.
The man smiled and turned, continued walking.
Across the street he spotted a sports equipment shop and approached a man leaning against a counter reading GUNS magazine.
"Afternoon Dennis." He smiled congenially.
"Hey, Doc." Dennis smiled back, obviously surprised yet pleased to see the other man.
"I'd like to look at a gun."
Dennis snorted. "Yeah, right, Doc."
The man just looked at him.
Dennis' eyebrows pulled together in a frown. "Seriously?" He crossed behind the counter in front of a display of guns.
The man just looked around, then pointed. "That one."
Dennis unlocked the display and pulled out the indicated gun. "Okay. That's a turkey hunter, twelve gauge, pump action. Doesn't leave enough turkey behind, if you ask me."
"What sort of shells does it use?"
Dennis pulled a box from under the counter. "Right here. I'm taking the boys up to the cabin this weekend if you're, uh...I mean if you think you might like to take up the sport."
The man took a shell and started to fit it into the gun. "Thanks, but no. You know guns make me nervous, always have." He smiled. "This one goes in here, right?"
Dennis' eyes widened. "Whoa, Doc! No, you can't load a weapon on the premises, it's illegal!"
"It's okay, Dennis." The man assured.
"No, no."
"It's okay, Dennis." The man repeated once more. "It's all gonna be okay."
And then he turned the gun on Dennis and fired.
"Doc!" Dennis was hurled against the wall as the blast hit him.
All around them the other customers started to panic.
"No, no, it's, it's okay. It's okay." The man declared. "It's all gonna be okay." He pressed the shotgun against his chin and fired.
...
"NO!" Buffy screamed as she awoke, breathing in viciously, flashes of the nightmare cutting into her vision as she held her head. It'd been three years since she'd had a Slayer Dream, three years since...the shock of it wracked through her body, giving her the cold sweats and all sorts of wigginess. She looked around her old room, wondering if being back in the Hellmouth had anything to do with it or if it was the fact that she'd stopped running from what she was. Then again, it wasn't as if she was back home to take over her position as Slayer of Sunnydale, Faith and her Watcher had everything covered, and to be truthful Buffy didn't want to be the Slayer of Sunnydale anymore. She was happy letting the Slayer she'd never met and didn't plan on meeting take over everything and run the show.
But still...this was the first sign from the Powers That Be that...that she still had a purpose.
That hadn't been just a dream.
It'd been a warning.
Buffy wasn't Dream Girl, that used to be Chloe's department, but she knew a message when she got one.
The dyed redhead sighed, wishing she could have spent more time with her mother, before picking up the phone and dialing Giles.
"It's not your fault, Sammy," Dean sighed as he sat with his brother in the darkened living room. Cordelia was in the third bedroom which she'd converted into an art studio, doing work, or in other words ignoring him as they'd gotten into another fight. He was happily ignoring her in return while trying to deal with his brother's depression, Sam having temporarily moved in with them since his apartment had gone up in flames...along with his girlfriend.
"I should have been there to protect her, Dean." Sam held his bottle of beer tightly and shook his head in disgust. "I shouldn't have been with her to begin with! Being with me is what got her killed! If she hadn't been my girlfriend this wouldn't have happened."
"You don't know that." Dean frowned.
"My mother died in a fire, Dean." Sam glared, looking up at his older brother. "I'm beginning to wonder if this wasn't a coincidence."
Dean frowned. "What, you think whatever killed your mother killed Jess?"
"Dad only ever told us that everyone around him died because of supernatural evil." Sam frowned. "There has to be a reason why he never told us the details about how our mothers died."
"Well, he told us enough." Dean frowned. "Mine got shot by some whack-job and yours died in a fire..."
"Just like my girlfriend. Whom I left alone despite knowing all that goes bump in the night." Sam took a long gulp of his beer. "I got her killed."
"Stop saying that." Dean growled. "It wasn't your fault!"
"I shouldn't have been with her! I should have left her alone!" Sam stood, self-loathing obvious in his every expression. "She didn't deserve all that I put her through! She didn't deserve to die the way she did! She didn't-she didn't-."
"Deserve to be a substitute for someone else?" Dean sighed.
Sam sat down.
"Come on Sammy, she was blonde, green eyed, and snarky. It was kind of obvious." Dean took a long gulp of his own beer, needing the alcohol to deal with this. "You're not only feeling guilty because she was killed and you weren't there to save her, you're guilty because even when you were with her you were never fully over Chloe. You're guilty because you didn't love her like you knew she deserved to be loved."
Sam was silent.
"We're going to find out what did that to Jess, and we're going to kick its ass." Dean promised.
Sam nodded, taking another gulp of his beer.
Walking through Smallville was like taking a step back in time. Chloe couldn't believe the nostalgia she felt as she walked down those streets, those shops, that she'd frequent as a high schooler. So little had changed in that town, everything the same, even the buildings hadn't changed their color paint. It was as if she'd stepped into a living memory and she was the only thing completely different. It was a shock. It was a jolt. She could remember hating it when her father brought her to live here. She could remember the Freak of the Week. She could remember thinking that living life anywhere but here would be utterly boring.
And then she'd gone to Sunnydale.
Gulping, Chloe brought her hand to her heart.
The thoughts of Sunnydale were painful as they forced her to remember all she'd left behind, all she'd lost, and right now she didn't need to remember it.
She wasn't ready.
"Chloe?" A familiar voice asked in shock. "Oh my god! It's really you!"
The blonde turned in time to be engulfed by a beautiful girl with raven hair. "Lana?"
Lana Lang pulled away, smiling brightly. "I can't believe it's you! Just look at you!" She grinned brightly, giving the blonde a once over. "You look so different! Edgy. I like it."
Chloe smiled, gazing down at the ever wholesome girl. "How are you doing?"
"I'm great." Lana grinned. "Remember the old theatre my parents used to own? I took it over and converted it into a coffee shop, I call it the Talon. Pete and I run it."
"Pete?" Chloe asked, surprised that her childhood friend was still in Smallville.
"Yes." Lana smiled, raising her hand to display the glistening diamond. "We got married last spring. It was so beautiful and intimate."
"Congratulations." Chloe was genuine in her happiness at Lana and Pete having found each other, it was something she had never imagined happening.
"What about you?" Lana asked.
The blonde cleared her throat, smile slipping somewhat. "I'm just out of a long-term relationship actually."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Lana made a face. "He obviously wasn't the right one for you."
Chloe wanted to both argue and agree with that comment, so she just gave an awkward little smile and looked away. "I really should get going. I promised dad I'd do some things for him today but I got distracted and came back here to see how everything was doing."
"Well, it was nice seeing you again." Lana hugged her once more. "Next time you come to Smallville we'll have to have dinner and catch up!"
"Of course." Chloe promised although she had no intention of doing so.
Lana gave a little wave and walked off, humming happily to herself.
Chloe watched her, feeling that old familiar sense of resentment, of wanting to be like Lana Lang.
So...so happy and content.
Then again, Lana Lang didn't have some mystical connection to a Hellmouth, did she?
Shaking her head, Chloe turned to begin walking away when he phone rang.
For a second her heart skipped a beat, hoping against hope that it was Angel, but the Caller I.D. betrayed it to be Lucy instead. Her cousin had been calling up on her regularly to check up on her and make sure she was fine...and didn't want to come back to Europe right away to be with her and Kal, or as she put it, her 'cool' family. The blonde pushed back the bone-crushing disappointment and managed a little smile as she answered. "Hey you. Is the Mona Lisa safe?"
"Why would I want that? It's ugly!" International thief, Lucy Lane, scoffed before clearing her throat. "How are you doing Chlo?"
"I'm fine." Chloe looked around her. "I decided to check Smallville. Nothing's changed."
Lucy made a sound of disgust. "How depressing. It's so...so...ewww."
Chloe blinked. "When did you ever come to Smallville?"
"More times than I am happy with." Lucy sounded like she was shrugging. "Kal's adopted father did this whole thing where he tried to make Kal turn back into Clark. He infused himself with Kryptonian DNA somehow to try and force him to listen to him, but Kal was happy with me and the Clark part of him made him promise to come and visit regularly. And he brings me along because if he has to endure Smallville and his parents trying to bring him back to the superhero they see him as, I have to endure it as well."
Chloe was shocked speechless, unable to believe this twist of events. "Kal always talks as if Clark is a part of his past he's forgotten, deleted, and that everything about the humanity in Clark he left behind."
"Kal's full of shit." Lucy snorted. "Plus, he has a reputation to uphold."
Chloe smiled at the glimpses of Clark she was now finding thanks to Lucy. Apparently he wasn't dead and gone at all, and she was monumentally thankful for that. Though she had to admit, she was glad there was Kal as well. Kal had the hard edge that was needed to not only survive, but thrive, in this world of theirs.
"Any word from the soul?" Lucy asked.
"Angel." Chloe frowned. "His name is Angel."
Lucy cleared her throat. "Yes, well, any news from him?"
"No." Chloe whispered, turning to look at the large water container high above them. "Not a peep."
"Bastard." Lucy hissed. "I can't believe he'd just abandon you like that! Angelus would never have done something like that!"
It was no secret that Lucy preferred Angelus to Angel.
Though she was probably the only human who did.
"Luce..." Chloe sighed, running her fingers through her hair.
"Right, right, let's change the subject." Lucy agreed. "So I spoke to Lois the other day. She 'broke the news' of your return and your not being dead. I had to feign shock and surprise of course. I wanted to give you the heads up that she wants to come and see you during the holidays."
Chloe nodded although her cousin couldn't see her. "I should call her, shouldn't I?"
"Probably should." Lucy agreed. "Beware, she'll be pissed you disappeared yet extremely happy you're back safe and sound."
"I figured." Chloe srighed.
"Just consider it?" Lucy whispered, not having to say what she was asking Chloe to consider.
"Maybe, in a year or two." Chloe responded. "Dad just got me back...and there are things I need to do here."
"I understand." Lucy cleared her throat. "I guess I just got used to having you nearby. You and I were never as close as you used to be with Lois, but during our time in Europe..."
"I know." Chloe closed her eyes. "I miss you too."
"Have you spoken to Spike?" Lucy surprised her by changing the subject.
"Yes actually." Chloe couldn't help but laugh softly, continuing walking. "It's funny that despite the fact that we're so far apart we're still each other's counselor and confidant."
"So he knows the Soul left?" Lucy asked. "I'm surprised he hasn't tried to convince you to come back!"
"He knows I need this." Chloe responded, a lump growing in her throat. "He's thinking about what's best for me right now."
There was a moment's silence before Lucy sighed. "I have to go, we're planning our next job and Kal's getting annoyed over something. Never good. Talk to you later?"
"Sure. Go and calm him before he bends steel." Chloe smiled.
"I find it hot when he does that!" Lucy laughed as she hung up.
Chloe sighed as she gazed at her phone, going through the directory, pausing on Angel's number.
Her finger hovered over the 'call' button before she sighed and exited her phonebook, putting the phone back into her pocket.
Taking in a deep breath, Chloe turned around and started back to where she'd left the car.
Her walk down memory lane had done what it was supposed to do.
She'd moved on...Smallville was no longer a part of her life or regrets.
It was now time to say goodbye to this part of her life and move on.
"You can't be serious!" Dean snarled.
"Look, I don't like the idea either." Sam glared at him. "But if there's anything anyone can tell me about this, it's dad."
"We both disowned him for a reason!" Dean threw his hands in the air. "Now you want to contact him? Bring him back into the family?"
"No." Sam shook his head. "I want to call him up and ask him if there was anything paranormal to the fire in which my mother died. And if there was, then I know that there is a connection between her death and Jess'."
"And then what? Huh?" Dean made a face.
"Then I deal with whatever it was." Sam responded gravely.
Dean sat down.
"Dean, what if this is something about our family? Your mom and mine both died under extreme circumstances. What if the women the Winchester men are with are in danger? Think about Cordelia! She could be next!"
"Do not say that!" Dean snapped, standing once more, but it was obvious on his face that that had gotten to him.
"I need to talk to dad to be sure." Sam responded.
"Whatever." Dean growled, but he sat down once more. "Go ahead and call the asshole."
Nodding, Sam pulled out his cellular and began dialing the number he hadn't ever thought he would.
"So I typed in 'Pleasant Meadows' and 'LuthorCorp' and I got a match." Buffy told Giles in excitement and pride as they sat in his living room, looking at her laptop. "It's in Smallville."
Giles frowned, pushing his glasses up his noses bridge. "Smallville? As in Kansas?"
"As in Chloe's funky meteor-rock town." Buffy pulled a strand of her newly dyed strawberry blonde hair out of her face. It wasn't her original color, but it was much closer than the vibrant red she'd been sporting for three years.
"This doesn't sound good." Giles sighed. "Chloe's with her father and Jenny in Metropolis, that's barely an hour's drive away from Smallville."
"Exactly." Buffy nodded. "What are the chances that I finally have a Slayer Premonition and its connected somehow to Chloe? Remember, we were having those dreams around the same time when we just moved to Sunnydale."
"Yes." Giles stood, frown on his face. "There always has been some sort of connection between you two."
"I think we need to hop on the first plane to Kansas," Buffy declared. "Something's going down in Smallville, and I have a feelings Chloe will find herself in the middle of it."
"Right." Giles nodded, before hesitating. "B-Buffy, are you sure we should just run headlong into this? You have spent the last three years in relative peace and I doubt your training has continued and well-."
"Giles." Buffy stood. "Where I lived wasn't untouched by demons. Although there were far less than in Sunnydale, I'm not terribly out of practice."
Giles didn't seem too convinced, but he nodded, and trusted her.
And that was all she could really ask from him, wasn't it?
Chloe could remember the days when the thought of going to MetU and working at the Daily Planet were her ultimate goals. She remembered her father taking her to the Daily Planet and telling her all about it, how there they published the truth and sought for justice, remembered how it'd motivated her. But, hours before, as she gazed up at the large revolving planet above the building, she couldn't feel the excitement and longing she once had. She tried, very hard, to find those feelings, to find that Chloe, but no matter how much she searched Chloe couldn't find her, find it. There was only a sense of nostalgia as she gazed at the building before turning her back on it, finding yet another thing of the past that she had to leave right there in the past. The Chloe pre-Sunnydale would feel as if she was on sacred ground by just being this close to The Daily Planet. The post-Sunnydale Chloe though, she just felt tired and slightly hungry.
Entering a coffee shop in Smallville, Chloe gazed at the menu.
Behind the counter, two workers talked.
"I can't believe it, how does he do it?" A girl shook her head. "They never get anything out of him. Never. And debt collectors are supposed to be so hardcore." She ran a hand over her hair. "I mean, they come by every once in a while...I don't know what Andy says to them...but they never come back."
"Andy's kick ass, Tracy. That's the only answer to your question." A guy wiping the counter declared. "He can get you into anything. I mean, he even got me backstage at Aerosmith once. It was so awesome!"
"How about bussing a table or two, Weber?" Tracy raised an eyebrow, obviously annoyed.
He nodded. "You bet, boss."
"Why does he hero worship a man who lives in a van which has a barbarian queen riding a polar bear painted on its side?" Tracy mumbled to herself before noticing Chloe, smiling like any good customer care agent. "How can I help you?"
"Almond mocha with extra whip please." Chloe smiled. "And one of the cheesecakes."
"Coming right up!" Tracy smiled and went to prepare her order.
Chloe gazed around the coffee shop until her order was done, and paid for it, taking a sip of her steaming coffee as she exited the store, the bells above the door jingling. She wondered how Smallville was fairing Meteor-Freak-wise considering that both she and Clark had been gone for years. The place looked fairly tranquil so obviously it and its residents had found a way to deal with the issue on their own.
The blonde made her way to the car, her desire for a revisit to Smallville completely sated.
Up ahead of her a young man exited a building, wearing pajamas and a long satin robe embroidered with dragons.
Chloe blinked, impressed by the confidence one had to had to wear something like that in public.
A woman in a second-story window waved to the man, who blew her a kiss before greeting a man on the street who smiled at him and handed the guy his own coffee quite happily before continuing on his way.
Intrigued by this, Chloe watched the dragon-clad guy closely as he met another man further along the way.
"Hey Doc." He grinned, shaking his hand.
"Andy." The 'doc' smiled back.
Chloe wondered if this was the same Andy Tracy and Weber had been talking about at the coffee shop, but her mind quickly went from Andy to her car when she noticed a deputy by it writing up a ticket. "Wait! Wait! Wait! No!" She hurried to the car as fast as her cup of coffee would allow her. "What's the problem officer? I am not parking on a yellow line or double parked or in a handicap zone or-!"
"Ma'am, you are clearly parked in a No Parking area."
"What?" Chloe gasped. "Where does it say No Parking?"
"It clearly states-."
"Hey! What's going on here?" Andy appeared by their side, a friendly hand on the deputy's shoulder.
"Sir, remove your hand-."
"Calm down man." Andy turned towards the cop with a friendly smile, but the way he spoke, it seemed to echo slightly, and Chloe could feel a tug on her Hellmouth energy as magic tried to draw from her to strengthen its power.
The deputy calmed down.
"You don't really want to give this nice young woman a ticket," Andy continued to speak, his voice slightly echoing, that thing tugging on Chloe yet not able to access her source. "It's not properly marked as a No Parking Space anyway. People who aren't residents wouldn't know."
"You're right." The deputy announced before tearing up the ticket and throwing the pieces into the air. "Good day." He turned and left.
They watched him go before turning to look at each other.
"Chloe Sullivan," he smiled, shaking his head. "I never thought I'd see you around here again."
Chloe blinked, surprised that he knew her.
"You wouldn't know me, I moved in a little after you transferred. Made friends with Pete. Heard all about you from him and Clark before he...left." He smiled, holding his hand out. "The name's Andrew Gallagher. I've heard a lot about you."
"Nice to meet you." Chloe shook his hand, intrigued.
He'd used magic on the deputy.
It'd seemed a lot like mind-control.
Down the street the sounds of gunshots and screams filled the air.
Sam and Dean sat in silence, neither looking at the other, trying to digest what the conversation with their father had uncovered. They knew for certain that he was still hiding a lot from them but what he'd finally admitted to under pressure had left them both silenced, not knowing how to deal with the situation. How could he have let them live their whole lives without knowing something like this? Sure, he might have been trying to protect them while they were younger, but when he'd found out that they were doing demon slaying of their own he should have come clean and told them this! This not only affected him, it affected them! If they'd known what they did now-and they knew that there was still much John Winchester refused to tell them 'for their own good', the asshole! This wasn't for their good! He was just too fucking scared of letting them know the full-extent of how screwed up everything was!
"Cordy can't know." Dean whispered, hazel gaze going to Sam's blue/green ones. "She can never know."
"Dean, she needs to know. This concerns her whether you want it to or not." Sam replied, meeting his brother's gaze straight on. "What happened to Jess could happen to her."
"No! I won't let it!" Dean snarled, standing. "I won't!"
"If she's going to be as safe as possible, she needs to know." Sam whispered, the image of Jess crying as she burned alive in front of him on the ceiling...it haunted him. "We're not going to let anything touch Cor, but she deserves to know."
Dean closed his eyes.
"What do I deserve to know?"
They both turned to see Cordelia in the doorway, frowning, a bit of drying clay sticking to her cheek.
Her eyes narrowed on them both. "Talk. Now."
Sam and Dean shared a look before Dean sighed and went towards his girlfriend.
"Babe, you're gonna need to sit down."
"I can't believe he's dead." Andy was obviously in shock as the police took away the man's body in a body bag. "Why would he do something like this? Doctor Jennings was scared of guns! He couldn't stand to be around them! Why would he go to a gun store in the first place? Why would he do this?"
Chloe stood by his side, sensing his genuine shock and horror. "He was a friend of yours."
"Family doctor." Andy took in deep breaths, looking like he was trying to keep from hyperventilating.
"I'm sorry." Chloe placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I don't understand," Andy whispered, running his hand over his hair, pacing the sidewalk, his dragon house-coat billowing behind him in the wind. "This doesn't make any sense. Doctor Jennings wouldn't do something like this on his own. Someone must have made him. He must have been blackmailed."
"Is there a reason for why someone would blackmail him?" Chloe asked, eyes narrowed.
"I wouldn't know-whatever it would be would be a secret. Which is why it's blackmail material." Andy was beginning to freak, emotions intense as he paced. "I-I need to see Tracy. I'm sorry, I have to go."
Chloe watched him go, obviously barely holding on.
Her green gaze went to the gun store and the police.
She took a sip of her coffee.
Maybe it wasn't time to leave Smallville just yet.
Cordelia Chase sat on the sofa, looking ahead of her, face shocked.
Dean eyed her worriedly.
Sam watched her as well. "Cor?"
She took in a deep breath and leaned back, hard, unable to look at either of them. "How sure are we that your scumbag of a father isn't lying?"
"He's not." Sam assured. "There's still stuff he's hiding, but that much is true."
Cordelia finally looked up at them. "So what does this mean?"
That was the thing.
They didn't know.
Her first visit was to the large blue van with a painted queen riding the polar bear she'd found on Orchard Street. It'd been unlocked and thus easy to access. Porn music played as she opened the back door, and the first thing she noticed was the disco ball hanging from the ceiling of the van. A chuckle escaped her lips as she looked around her to make sure no one was watching before climbing inside the van and closing the door behind her before taking in a good look at the surroundings. There were fur rugs, a tiger painted on the wall, several thick books, and a ridiculously enormous bong.
"Whoa." She picked up the bong and sniffed it before making a face and putting it back.
Her gaze then went to the books. Hegel, Kant, Wittgenstein...they were some pretty heavy reading. They weren't exactly the reading material she'd expect from someone who had Moby Dick's bong.
She looked around and frowned.
The blonde didn't know why, but while she felt Andy was connected to this there was something off.
Maybe it was the fact that he could control minds and had talked to Doctor Jennings right before his death-or because his magic had subconscious tugged on her connection to the hellmouth to strengthen it-whatever it was something was wigging her out terribly. When she was still trying to get control of herself this was a fairly common experience-for others magic to affect the power source in her, the connection, but ever since she'd managed to learn how to shield it-to keep it locked up and inaccessible to others-she hadn't had anyone really able to tug on it even for a second. The only person who had was Sam, and she'd thought that that was only because he was supposedly her conduit.
So how was it that Andy could as well?
It left her uneasy.
And she didn't do uneasy.
Since there was nothing that Andy's van could tell her about him other than the fact that if he practiced witchcraft he didn't keep his grimoires or magical ingredients in the van with him, Chloe wondered if maybe she mightn't have to brush up on her hacking skills and see what she could find out about him.
Then again, Doctor Jennings, the recently deceased, had been Andy's doctor, hadn't he?
Maybe there was something there, and that was why Chloe used the commotion to steal into the doctor's office, looking through his files. She kept her mind open, remembering Andy's comment about a potential blackmailing, but there was nothing that she could find either in his desk, files, or computer that might suggest that the good doctor was the victim of blackmailing or any other evil-doing. There was however evidence that his computer's firewall had been breached quite recently, and that left the woman intrigued, wondering who it was and what they could have been searching for in the man's computer.
Suddenly the door opened, and Andy stood there.
Chloe stood up immediately. "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" He hissed at her. "What are you doing here?" He then snorted. "Right. I forgot. Pete told me you were a first class snoop...which will serve us very well right now." He closed the door behind him and stalked towards the desk. "So? Have you found any evidence? Was Doc being blackmailed? Who did this to him?"
"How can you be so sure he didn't kill that man and himself out of his own free will?" Chloe frowned.
Andy looked her dead in the eyes. "Because Doc was a good person. And good people don't just kill others."
Chloe looked deep in his eyes, seeing the sincerity there, before sighing and sitting down, attention returning to the computer. "I can't find any evidence of him being blackmailed but there's evidence that someone managed to hack his computer."
"Can you somehow trace it back to the computer who hacked?" He asked. "I see them do it on tv all the time."
Chloe sent him a look before returning her gaze to the computer. "I'm a little rusty...but let me see what I can do."
At a gas station a middle-aged blonde woman with leather gloves and a long black coat pumped gas into an SUV. Her cell phone rang and she answered.
"Hello?" Her eyes went blank. "Sure. I can do that."
She hung up the phone and leaned into the car, pressing down the cigarette lighter. The woman pulled out the gas pump and started drenching herself in gasoline, a gas station employee across the way finally seeing her.
"Hey!" He called out in horror. "Lady! What are you doing?!"
She pulled the cigarette lighter out and stepped into the open, holding her arms out. "It's gonna be okay."
She lowered the cigarette lighter to her drenched arm.
"Lady no!" The man yelled. "No!"
Suddenly she burst into flames as the man couldn't do anything but watch in horror.
...
Buffy gasped as she came awake, her heart racing in terror, still able to smell the scent of the woman's burning flesh. She looked around her, disoriented, forgetting for a moment where she was, but then the sound of a stewardess telling a fellow passenger that they'd be landing in the Metropolis airport in half an hour brought her back to the present.
"Buffy?" Giles pulled the earphones away as he eyed her in worry. "Was it another nightmare?"
She nodded, sitting straighter, trying to fix her hair. "It was a woman this time. She set herself on fire. Once again she got a phone call before she went all suicidal."
Giles' eyes narrowed. "I think its safe to say that some sort of mind control is involved."
"Or meteor power." Buffy reminded. "Smallville is filled with meteor infected."
"Right." Giles sighed. "I am unfortunately not well versed when it comes to these...meteor infected."
"We'll figure it out as we go." Buffy smiled.
He eyed her. "Don't you think you're a tad confident and...happy...considering the situation?"
She ducked her gaze, looking away. "I just missed this, who would have thought it?"
Giles eyed her before reaching over to place a hand on her shoulder. "I missed this too."
Smiling, Buffy leaned closer to him and rested her head against his beating heart.
"From what I hear her name was Holly Becket, she was forty one, and apparently single." Chloe returned from having walked amongst the horrified observers at the gas station. "Do you know who she was?"
Andy shook his head. "No idea." He frowned. "What is it with today and everyone offing themselves? Is it Mass Suicide Monday?"
Chloe opened her mouth to quip when something caught her eye, and she noticed someone slipping into the darkness of the adjoining alley. "Stay here."
Pushing passed Andy, Chloe maneuvered through the crowd quickly, never taking her gaze off of the alleyway, finally freeing herself of the spectators and entering the darkness, eyes narrowing. She gazed around her at the seemingly emptiness, knowing she wasn't alone.
"Oh come on already. I know you're there."
There was a pause, and then someone emerged from behind the dumpster, hoodie covering his face.
Chloe's eyes narrowed. "Who are you and what do you want?"
There was a pause, and then the hoodie was removed to betray green skin, red irises, and blue spines covering his face.
Chloe's eyes widened. "You're a Brachen Demon."
She didn't understand, Branchen Demons were a peaceful sort. What was he doing here? In Smallville? In the middle of a situation that was getting wiggier every couple of minutes?
And since when had Smallville started having such magical issues like witches and demons?
What'd happened to all the meteor infected and their problem-making?
"Smelt you." The Brachen demon tapped his nose. "I didn't know what exactly I was smelling, but the scent was so strong I had to come and see." He frowned. "What exactly are you?"
Chloe frowned, having heard about the Brachen's ability to scent objects with mystical abilities. "What do you mean what?"
"You're not human." He replied, not telling her something she didn't already know. "The power-it seeps from your pores-it draws-."
She gulped, the hellmouth energy apparently at work as always.
"What are you?" He whispered again, taking a step towards her.
Seeing movement behind him, Chloe's eyes widened. "Look out!"
The Brachen demon turned around and barely managed to dodge the attack of the larger demon behind him. He hurried back a couple of steps. "What is a Fyarl demon doing in a place like Smallville?"
The demon stood tall, muscular and humanoid with orange skin and protruding shoulders, curved horns sticking out at the sides of his head.
"I could ask the same about a Brachan demon." Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Get out of here."
"But-." The Brachen paused.
"I've got this."
He narrowed his eyes before raising his hoodie and racing out through the back of the alleyway.
The Fyarl didn't pay him any attention, proving that he'd come here for her.
Chloe eyed it, trying to remember everything she knew about this species. The good thing was that they weren't extremely smart. The bad part was that no only were they extremely strong, but Fyarls had the ability of shooting paralyzing mucus from their noses that after drying would become extremely hard and durable...and how horrifying was that? The thought of this thing's boogers all over her was horrifying.
She pushed that thought out of her head and tried to remember if they had any vulnerabilities.
Spike had at some point before she'd met him been served by a pair of Fyarls because even though demons and vampires typically rejected each other, Fyarls were too dimwitted to graph the concept of racism. Due to this Spike knew their language, which to anyone else would only seem like growls and roars. So she doubted trying to question or reason with this demon would do her any good. She'd never really thought learning Fyarl would come useful in the future so she hadn't asked Spike for any pointers. Now she wished she had.
"Okay, I don't want trouble." Chloe held up her hands in a peaceful way. "But you need to get out of Smallville."
The creature, who served as foot soldiers for other demons due to their dim-wittedness yet violence, growled at her three times.
She figured he was talking.
Great.
No Fyarl demon translator in sight.
Seriously though.
First a Brachen demon and then a Fyarl demon?
What the hell was happening?
She knew that she tended to influence the influx of demons wherever she was-but it'd never been this quick before.
What was going on?
Suddenly the Fyarl roared before attacking, charging at her.
Chloe only managed to dodged the attack as she swung around and kicked him away from her, sending him face first into the wall.
The demon snarled and turned towards her, charging once more.
Looking around her, Chloe turned and hurriedly jumped onto the garbage dumpster before flipping over the demon and landing behind him before kicking his legs out from under him and slamming her foot into the back of his head.
The demon roared in agony and grabbed her leg, yanking her down and dragging her closer to him as he brought her calf to his mouth, biting.
Screaming in agony as his teeth pierced her flesh, Chloe used her free foot to kick him in the face, the blow causing him to loosen his grip on her and she was able to crawl away from him, her foot bleeding and throbbing in agony.
The demon rose to its feet.
Chloe did the same, trying to ignore the agony in her bleeding leg.
When the demon charged Chloe did as well, jumping at him and grabbing onto his horns, putting all her weight on her jump, letting gravity work in her favor as he lost balance and fell onto the ground, the blow hurting her knees yet she ignored it as she grabbed the Fyarl's jaws and yelled as she yanked them apart as hard as she could. The creature's eyes widened and he started a scream as his jaw broke. It backhanded her, the blow sending her flying off of him and into the wall, as he grabbed his jaw, almost as if trying to put it back and yet it swung loose.
A little disoriented from the blows she'd suffered and blood loss, Chloe somehow managed to stand up.
"Oh my god."
Chloe's gaze went to the entrance of the alleyway, where Andy Gallagher looked at the demon in utter horror. "Get out of here!"
The demon turned towards Andy and roared, charging him.
Chloe hurriedly climbed up onto the garbage container once more and jumped off, landing on the creature's back, holding him in a choke hold.
The Fyarl turned and slammed them back into the wall.
The oxygen was pushed out of her lungs by the blow.
Andy backed away, knocking over a smaller garbage can, its contents covering the ground.
The Fyarl finally managed to grab the back of her shirt and yank her off, throwing her into the other smaller garbage cans.
It turned its attention to Andy, who was visibly shaking and close to tears, obviously quite in shock.
"Tell it to go away!" Chloe cried.
Andy looked at her in surprise before looking at the demon. "G-Go away!"
Nothing, the creature continued coming at him.
"GO AWAY!" Andy yelled, but the Fyarl grabbed him and threw him violently into the wall.
It didn't work on the demon.
Trying to fight her way to her feet, Chloe's hand found something in the upturned garbage, pulling a broken letter opener.
A silver letter opener.
Clasping her fingers around it, Chloe struggled to her feet.
The Fyarl tried to bite into Andy's neck but his broken and loose jaw was making it impossible, causing the creature to slam Andy back into the wall over and over again.
"Hey ugly!" Chloe yelled.
The creature turned to look at her.
"At least break up with me before fixating on someone else."
The creature threw Andy away before charging her.
Chloe, knowing that with her body the way it was, wouldn't be able to give much more of a fight, so she timed it as best she could, dodging his blow and slamming the broken letter opener into the creature's side.
Spike's voice telling her all about the Fyarl's inability to stand silver tickled her memory as the creature collapsed to the ground before melting in a puddle of goo.
The broken letter opener clattered on the ground.
Chloe leaned hard against the wall, sliding down, tired and in pain.
Andy groaned as he slowly picked himself up before coming towards her, eyes on the goo. "What just happened?"
Chloe didn't answer, instead looking at her leg with a wince. "I need a first aid kit."
He leaned against the wall and slid down next to her. "What the hell was that?"
Chloe looked at the goo before turning to Andy. "Tell me to kiss you."
His eyes widened and he blushed. "W-what?"
"Tell me to kiss you." She ordered.
He gulped, running his hand over his hair before looking at her. "Kiss me."
His voice echoed, she felt the tug on her.
And yet nothing.
"It only works on humans." She whispered, closing her eyes.
"Wait, how do you know about my-and what do you mean only on humans? If it's not working on you then-?" Andy looked at her, eyes wide. "Oh man! You serious?"
"First aid kit." She reminded.
"Right. Right." Andy nodded, cringing as he stood and reached for her, helping her up. "I have one in my Pimpmobile."
She refrained from commenting on the name of his van, and was only too happy for his help as they used the back alley and stayed away from the prying human eyes on the other opening of the alleyway, the gas station still smoking and smelling of burnt human flesh.
"She's not answering." Spike frowned, gaze going to the room his Dark Princess still refused to leave. "It isn't like her not to answer. She knows Dru needs to hear from her or she goes loopier than normal."
From where he was sitting by the fire, Kal raised an eyebrow. "Really Spike, loopier? Never heard you talk about her like that before."
Spike glared at Kal, his face rippling warningly.
"I talked to her earlier." Lucy announced as she stood, trying to diffuse the situation. "Said she was in Smallville. She used to live there before she went to Sunnydale. She probably left her phone in the car after meeting up with someone she knew before and that's why she isn't picking up."
"I can't believe you haven't gotten her back. The soul left her," Kal mumbled.
Spike's face turned fully demonic. "Mind your own fucking business!"
Kal stood, defiant. "Kinda touchy, aren't you, Spike?"
"Enough!" Lucy threw her hands in the air. "We shouldn't be fighting with each other."
"Why? You're not my bloody friends." Spike snapped at them. "You two can get the fuck off of my property before I have my minions have you for dinner!"
"You just try it Spike." Kal snarled. "I'll-."
"Will you two stop it!? I miss her too and you don't see me acting like a stupid jerk!" Lucy got in between them. "This isn't important right now. What is important in the business venture we're going on together. Its mutually beneficial for both parties, remember that the next time you both want to kill the other."
Kal and Spike shared looks before sighing, both backing down.
Lucy sighed, rubbing her forehead as Dru began to destroy things in her room.
How did Chloe do this for three whole years without going insane herself?
"You're really good at this," Chloe mumbled, eyeing her bandaged leg, the painkillers she'd popped already starting to work thankfully as she did some investigating on Andy's laptop. They both laid down on the fur rugs, which were actually quite comfortable.
"Before my gift kicked in I was used to having to go to use a first aid kit." Andy shrugged. "How exactly did you know, anyway? About what I could do? And what did you mean when you said you weren't human?"
Chloe wondered how much to reveal. She still wasn't too sure what part Andy played in all of this.
"I'm not human, I'm half demon." Or she thought she might be. Her father definitely wasn't of the human variety, whomever he might be. "And thanks to that I could feel it when you were using your mind control over the others."
"Was that thing a d-demon?" Andy gulped.
Chloe nodded. "He's one of many different species."
"I only thought demons were something from movies, you know?" Andy shook his leg nervously. "But that thing, it was as real as you and me are. And my back is going to hurt me for weeks as a reminder!" He frowned. "Why was it trying to kill you?"
"I don't know." She admitted. "I try not to take things like that personally though."
Andy looked at her as if she was insane.
She probably was close to it.
The blonde took in a deep breath. "So, you said that your ability 'kicked in'? How long ago did this happen?"
"I don't know, six months maybe?" Andy shrugged. "One day I realized that things happened whenever I spoke to people. It was like a gift, you know? It was like I won the Lotto."
"But you still live in a van." Chloe made a face. "I don't get it, I mean, you could have anything you ever wanted."
Andy eyed her in thought. "I have everything I need. Why would I want more?"
The laptop beeped, and Chloe looked away from him to the screen, raising an eyebrow.
"That's never a good thing." Andy mumbled.
"According to this Holly Becket gave birth when she was eighteen years old, back in 1983. It was the same day you were born." She paused. "I know this will sound ridiculous, but humor me: you wouldn't be adopted, would you?"
Andy scratched his temple. "Well, yeah, I actually am."
"And you never mentioned this before because...?" She made a face.
"When was it relevant before now?" He challenged. "It's not like you meet someone new and go: hi, I'm Andy Gallagher, I'm adopted, never knew my birthparents, wet my bed up till I was eleven, and as of recently can get people to do what I tell them to do'."
Chloe had to admit that he had a point there.
"Forget the whole wetting bed part." Andy smacked his face, cheeks and the tips of his ears reddening.
Chloe smiled at him, amused.
"Wait." Andy yanked his hand from his face. "You don't think this Holly woman could actually be my birth mother, do you?"
"I don't know." Chloe admitted. "I tried getting a copy of the birth records, but they're hard copy only, sealed in the county office."
Andy thought for a moment before looking at her. "How's your leg?"
"Much better now." She replied.
"Up for a tour of the county office tonight?" He asked.
She smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."
With Andy's ability they were able to gain entrance to the records office, the guard unlocking everything for them before going to get a coffee for himself on Andy's suggestion. It was thanks to that that Chloe was able to find the records she was looking for and was able to confirm that Holly Becket not only had been Andy's mother, but that Doctor Jennings had been the doctor who'd overseen the adoption...of her twin sons.
Chloe stood by a printer, waiting for something and watching Andy.
Andy sat with both his hands on his head, staring straight ahead in shock. "I have an evil twin."
"Holly put you and your brother up for adoption." Chloe sighed, reading the papers in her hands. "You went to the Gallagher family, obviously, and your brother went to the Weems family from upstate."
"What was his name?"
Chloe flipped over another page, searching for the answer. "Ansen Weems. He's got a local address."
"He lives here?" Andy asked in shock.
She nodded, patting the printer. "I'm getting his picture coming off from the DMV right now."
"Pete was right." Andy shook his head, looking down at his shoes. "You're incredible at this sort of stuff."
"Just how much has Pete been talking about me?" Chloe mumbled, picking up the papers from the printed, her eyes widening in surprise at what she saw. "Andy?"
"Yeah?" He looked up at her.
"You need to see this." She looked up at him.
Frowning, Andy stood and went to her side, looking down at the page she was eyeing, gaze landing on the picture.
His eyes widened and he looked up in shock. "You've gotta be kidding me. Weber? We look nothing alike!"
"What do you know about him?" Chloe asked.
"I don't know. Not much." Andy went to sit down once more, this being obviously too much for him. "He showed up one day, eight months ago? Acting like he's my best friend in the world. Kinda weird, like, trying too hard, you know?"
"He must have known you guys were fraternal twins." Chloe made a face. "Why did he change his name though? Why not just tell you the truth?"
"Don't ask me." Andy scoffed.
"Thirty minutes and we'll be in Smallville." Giles announced as he drove their rental car down the lonely stretch of road that was the way to the small town. "I think we must now pause and ponder what to do once we get there. Your Prophetic Dreams haven't been very specific on whom we're dealing with, or what, and where they are."
"Really Giles?" Buffy pouted. "I start being Sight Girl and you complain about my Sightyness?"
"It's not that." He tried to amend.
Buffy opened her mouth to differ when white heat seared through her mind, flashes of a vision coming together into:
...
A girl, wearing only satin lingerie, walked slowly to the side of a ravine. Behind her a sign said: Smallville Dam. Crying, she climbed onto the ledge and looked around. She paused, her eyes begging for help, before looking back and leaping off.
On the ground, body jerking violently, Chloe screamed.
...
Buffy yelled in panic, struggling with her seatbelt and the door.
"Buffy?" Giles frowned. "Buffy! Buffy!"
He stopped the car as Buffy undid her belt and shoved the door open, stumbling out.
Giles hurriedly emerged from his side and ran around to the other side, kneeling down besides her, grabbing her shoulders. "Buffy? What is it?"
She looked up at him, head in agony. "We need to make it to the Smallville Dam, Giles." She grabbed her still throbbing head. "A girl is going to jump off of it...and Chloe's in danger too."
They'd gone to the coffee shop to find Weber, or Ansen Weems, whoever he was, only to find that he wasn't on duty that night. They'd asked around, hoping that someone knew where he had been heading, and while most of the patrons there and the servers had no idea one of them, a young new girl who blushed repeatedly at Weber's name, mumbled something about hearing Weber talking to Tracy, saying they were going to go visit the Smallville Dam. She obviously thought they were going to hook up, and was telling them this as a way to no doubt interrupt the two of them from getting it on.
"He's got Tracy." Andy was freaking out as they took Chloe's car towards the dam. "If he touches her I'll kill him!"
"I don't understand this." Chloe frowned as she took the turn off. "So far he's only killed people involved in your separation, your mother, your doctor-why go after Tracy?"
"Because I'm in love with her." Andy whispered.
Chloe sent him a look as she started driving up the smaller road towards the Dam. "So he'd see her as a threat as well."
"What sort of sick bastard is he?" Andy was nearly pulling out his hair. "He's not Sharon Stone and I'm not the dude she was with in that movie!"
"He obviously wants a close relationship with you, but considering that I can't understand why he wouldn't come out and just tell you that he's your twin." Chloe's eyes widened as up ahead they could see the car parked, two people backlit inside. She stopped the car and unbuckled. "I need you to stay here."
"I'm coming." Andy frowned. "You're injured and that's Tracy."
Chloe looked at him before sighing and reaching under her seat for her crowbar passing it to him. "Get her out and far away from him."
Andy gulped as he looked at it, before taking the crowbar with a nod.
Sighing, Chloe got out of the car, walking towards the one on front. She moved with purposeful strides, trying to ignore the pain in her leg that made her limp slightly. The blonde tried to calculate how to get out of this without getting hurt more, and she could only pray that Weber was as shitty a fighter as Andy. But then again Andy wasn't a killer, and Chloe's luck was never that good, so as she reached Weber's door and felt an immediate tug at her core she grumbled to herself before tapping his window with a smile on her face.
Weber, and Tracy, who was in satin lingerie and crying, both turned towards her.
Weber said something to Tracy, the tears stopped and she smiled, the power tugging at Chloe once more as he turned to face her and rolled down the window. "Can I help you?"
She plastered a saucy smile as she leaned down in a way that made her cleavage more prominent, effectively distracting him as Andy approached the car on the other side. "Hey, sorry to bother, but my car needs a jump start and I was wondering if you could do me?"
Weber smirked at her. "I remember you. You were in the coffee shop."
"Yeah." Chloe continued with the flirty tone despite Tracy being in the car. "Used to live here."
"Thinking about spending time here?" He asked.
"No." She laughed. "Can't wait to leave."
He looked at her, his voice echoing as he spoke, using his ability on her. "You should reconsider it and stay longer."
She'd figured this might happen, and paused, blanking her features slightly before smiling. "You know, you're right, I really should stay a little longer."
Weber smirked.
Suddenly Tracy's door was opened and Andy yanked her out.
Weber turned toward them.
Chloe used the opportunity to open his car door and yank him out, throwing him to the ground and straddling him, pinning his hands to the ground over his head.
"But-but-!" His eyes widened in shock.
She slipped him an evil grin. "Then again, I'm remembering why I left Smallville in the first place."
"Let me go!" He ordered, voice echoing, tugging harder on her source.
"Don't want to." She replied with a childish expression. "And you can't make me."
He looked up at her in shock. "How?"
She just winked at him.
Andy held Tracy to him. "How could you?" He growled at Weber. "I'm going to kill you!"
"Andy, get her out of here." Chloe ordered.
Weber stared at Tracy, who elbowed Andy in the mouth of his stomach hard, the unexpected blow causing him to let go of her.
"Trace?" Andy coughed.
She backed away, terrified. "I-it isn't me!"
"How are you doing that?" Chloe glared down at Weber.
He smirked. "Practice." His gaze went to where Andy was still trying to catch his breath. "If you'd just practice you would be able to do that to. Sometimes you don't need to use your words. If you have to all you need are your thoughts." He chuckled. "Sometimes the headache's worth it."
"You're a twisted son of a bitch!" Andy struggled to his feet.
"Back off, Andy." Weber warned. "Or Tracy's gonna do a little flying."
Chloe and Andy turned at that in horror to see Tracy standing on the ledge of the Dam.
"Aren't you, Trace?" Weber smiled before turning his attention to Chloe. "Get off of me."
"No." She glared at him. "Remove your thrall from her."
"I said..." Weber stared deep into her eyes. "Get. Off."
The echoing of his voice pierced through her, and Chloe felt the control she kept on her Hellmouth power source, the core in her, rip as he accessed it.
She screamed, letting go of him as she grabbed her head and crumpled to the ground, the pain overwhelming as he started accessing her energy.
"What-is this?" He pushed her off of him. "I feel, powerful. I-I feel like a god!"
"Stop it! Let them both go!" Andy yelled.
"Don't be mad at me, Andy." Weber turned to him, dark Hellmouth energy surrounding him. "I know, it's not what I initially wanted. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. It's just...Tracy? She's trying to come between us."
"You're insane." Andy hissed.
Electricity seemed to wrack though Chloe's body as she fought the open connection, tried desperately to close it.
"She's garbage!" Weber snarled, pointing to Tracy. "Man! They all are! We can push them, we can make them do whatever we want!"
"Are you really...are you really this stupid?" Andy shook his head.
"What?" Weber squeaked, voice hurt.
"I mean, you, you learn you've got a twin...you call him up!" Andy snapped. "You got out for a drink! You don't start killing people!"
"I've wanted to tell you for so long, bro. But he didn't let me." Weber told him. "He said I had to wait until the time was..."
"Who?" Andy frowned.
"The man with the yellow eyes." His twin responded.
Chloe looked up at that, recognizing the description.
Azazel.
Azazel was behind all of this somehow.
"What are you talking about?" Andy frowned in confusion.
"He came to me. In my dream." Weber smiled a nostalgic look, darkness crackling around him. "He said I was special. He told me he's got big plans for me. Wait 'till you see what's in store, Andy, for the both of us! See, he's the one who told me I had a brother. A twin."
"Why did you kill our mother?" Andy asked. "Why, and why Dr. Jennings?"
"Because they split us up!" Weber exclaimed, confirming her suspicions. "They ruined our lives, Andy! We could have been together this whole time! Instead of alone! I couldn't, I couldn't let them do that, I couldn't let them get away with that! No!" He turned to Tracy. "I'm going to get rid of each and every one who tries to keep us apart!"
"What is it?" Dean frowned from where he sat next to Cordelia.
"Something's not right." Sam stood, beginning to pace, unease growing in his chest. "There's Hellmouth energy-." His eyes widened as flashes of Chloe screaming on the ground flashed before his eyes. "Chloe."
He erupted into shadows and was gone in the blink of an eye.
Weber turned to Tracy. "Trace, I think we both know it's time for you to-."
"Tracy don't!" Andy yelled in panic as he took a step towards her, terror filling him. He couldn't lose Tracy! He couldn't!
"Hey! You!" A new voice caused the men to turn to a strawberry blonde and an older gentleman as they arrived on foot. "I give you two seconds to take whatever whammy you have off of that girl and my friend!"
Weber sneered as he turned to her. "Bite off your own tongue."
She raised an eyebrow. "I take that as you wanting to do this the hard way then." And with that she charged, roundhouse kicking Weber back.
Andy didn't understand what going on or how there could be two girls immune to The Voice, but he didn't stop to question his good fortune, instead hurrying to Tracy and yanking her off of the ledge and back to safety.
Tracy was crying, terrified.
Andy held her tightly, unable to believe that he'd almost just lost her.
"Giles!" The strawberry blonde yelled as Weber punched her, seeming to have become incredibly strong and resistant since all those dark shadows had emerged from Chloe and connected with him. "Hellmouth energy!"
"Buffy don't touch him!" Giles yelled back, kneeling as close to the convulsing Chloe as he dared. "He's poisonous!"
Chloe was beginning to be blanketed in a black blanket of shadows.
"He's managed to tap into her energy, but he has no control." Giles continued to yell. "They'll both overload if we can't sever their connection!"
Buffy, in lieu of being able to touch Weber because of this hellmouth energy, be whatever it was, grabbed a sign that read DANGER and...PULLED IT OUT OF THE GROUND.
Andy's eyes widened in shock.
Wow.
Buffy used the sign to smack Weber around, thus avoiding any physical contact.
Suddenly shadows seemed to race in from every direction and united in an explosion of darkness, revealing a tall, buff dude.
Andy's eyes widened. "That's so cool."
The man staggered slightly, shaking his head, before taking in the situation with his eyes narrowed. "Buffy, get him pinned to the ground. I need to transfer the energy back to Chloe and close the bridge between them."
"Sam!" Buffy dodged the punch Weber sent her and slammed the DANGER signed into his face, sending him to the ground. She then threw the sign down on him and pressed down on it with her foot, keeping the struggling man from getting up.
Sam went to where Chloe was and picked her up, the shadow blanket covering her beginning to attach itself to him as he moved to where Weber was. He bent down and grabbed hold of Weber's throat before turning to Chloe and pressing his lips to hers.
Andy held onto Tracy tighter, feeling this was quite the romantic moment and hoping some of the mood would rub off on her.
The darkness and shadows surrounding Weber began to visibly leave him and travel through Sam back into Chloe. The blanket of shadows that'd begun covering Chloe continued its way over Sam, covering his skin as he continued to apparently use himself as a channel to return her 'hellmouth energy' (whatever the hell that was) back to her.
Buffy collapsed to her knees, having had to touch Weber before Giles' warning and apparently suffering somewhat for it.
"Buffy!" Giles hurried to her and frowned. "You've got a slight case of Hellmouth poisoning."
Finally the last of the darkness left Weber and Sam yanked his hand from the struggling, sputtering man, wrapping that arm around Chloe as well.
Suddenly the blanket of darkness began to subside and seemed to be sucked inside of her rapidly as if by a vacuum.
Sam staggered to his feet, pulling Chloe into his arms, the girl asleep. "We need to find a place to sleep off the Hellmouth poisoning."
Andy cleared his throat. "I know some cabanas I could get you guys."
They turned to him, seeming to see him and Tracy for the first time.
"T-thank you." Giles announced, helping a queasy looking Buffy to her feet. "That will be most useful."
"What about Weber?" Tracy asked.
Andy's eyes widened, remembering his twin.
He turned to look at him in time for Weber's body to disintegrate. "What the-?"
"His body wasn't strong enough to contain the Hellmouth energy." Sam announced, shifting Chloe's weight in his arms. "Did you two know him? How was he able to access Chloe's power like that?"
"We thought we knew him." Tracy whispered. "But we really didn't."
Andy pulled off his jacket and covered her with it. "Come on, Chloe's car right over there. I'll take you all to the cabanas and we'll talk more there. I have...lots of questions."
"Our car is down the corner." Giles replied. "We'll follow you."
Andy nodded, gulped, and led the way.
TBC