Their Stories

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Their Stories

"This is it," Buffy announced proudly as she, Faith, Andrew, Sam and Dean pulled up outside the Slayer Academy later that morning.

"Wow," Sam breathed.

Even Dean had to raise an eyebrow in silent approval.

The academy was a huge building. Endless floors and acres of land. It had been difficult finding a place big enough to house all the new slayers streaming in, let alone finding somewhere with rooms big enough for training lessons. And paying for it had been a whole other issue.

But with the Watchers' Council newly reinstated, things had slowly come together. Now they were hoping to expand. First to Europe, then to Asia, and other places across the world after that.

Andrew explained all of this to Sam and Dean as they five of them walked up the many steps towards the large front doors.

"I swear I won't be surprised if we get to the top of these steps and end up in front of the pearly white gates," Dean panted.

Buffy looked away, refusing to let out the smile that was tugging at the corners of her mouth. She didn't find him funny. She didn't find him funny.

"So, what about people who live nearby the area? What do they think this place is?" a curious Sam asked.

"A school for troubled girls," Faith said with a smirk. "At first we were gonna go with gifted, but then the locals kept on spotting the girls fighting or coming home after patrolling all bloody and bruised. So now they think that this is where troubled girls come to reform and that we just have real bad control over them."

Once at the top of the stairs, Buffy placed a hand on a small, flat black square that lay in place of a doorknob. After less than a second, it flashed and the Winchesters' heard the sound of the door unlocking.

"More magic?" Sam inquired.

"More magic," Buffy confirmed with a nod of her head. "It's just an identification thing that Willow worked up. We'll have to get her to add you and Dean on to it."

"But it's not even the start of the safety precautions we have on the place," Andrew added. "There are so many spells here that I can't even remember half of them."

"Really?"

"Yep. You must have passed at least half a dozen of them on the steps on the way up. There ain't no demon getting in this school."

They stepped through the large doors and entered a gigantic entrance room, several stories high. Balconies from other floors lines the walls, and it was a hive of activity.

Girls were everywhere.

Hanging off the balconies, calling to each other. Running across the entrance room, late to class. Lounging about on the sofas.

"I was right," Dean announced with a grin. "We ended up in heaven. Girl heaven!"

Sam rolled his eyes and ignored his brother, used to his attitude. Faith, however, turned and punched his arm. Hard.

"Holy crap!" he gasped, rubbing his sore arm. "What is it with you chicks and abusing me?"

"Watch your eyes," Faith warned. "Or you lose 'em. The only girl round here you should be appreciating is me."

"And most of these girls are under eighteen, anyway," Buffy added, not bothering to conceal her smirk. "There's a word for that, Deany Boy...jail bait."

"That's two words," was his lame retort.

"Miss Summers!" a young brunette, no more than fourteen, called from a balcony three of four floors up, saving Buffy from replying.

"Hey, Susan. You okay?"

"Sure. Kind of. Can I speak to you?"

"Sure you can. Now?"

"If that's okay," Susan replied, before placing both hands on the rail and flipping herself over the balcony gracefully.

Dean and Sam watched in amazement as she sailed towards the floor, landing smoothly on two feet.

"Jesus!" Dean murmured under his breath.

"Hey kid, what'd we say about jumping off the balconies?" Faith questioned lightly.

Susan looked bashful for a moment. "Sorry, Miss Lehane."

"No worries. Just don't do it again. Might hurt yourself."

Dean and Sam watched Faith in amazement. Gone was the rule breaking rebel they'd traveled with, and in her place was someone...almost responsible.

"Plus, I think you freaked these two out," Buffy added, motioning towards Sam and Dean.

"Who are they?" Susan asked, glancing at the guys through suspicious, narrowed eyes.

"Friends," Buffy replied, before glancing at Dean out of the corner of her eye. "Sort of."

"So can I talk to you, Miss Summers? It'll only be a minute."

Buffy looked over towards Faith, Andrew and the Winchesters. "Go ahead to the library. I won't be long.

And with that she she gestured for Susan to follow her into another room.

Somehow, Dean had expected a more impressive array of people. And...more of them.

Instead, sat around a large table was a man, possibly about the same age as his father, another man with an eye patch, a fidgety red head, a serious looking dark skinned woman, a short Chinese man and two women holding hands.

"Dude! Check it out!" Dean whispered excitedly to Sam. "Lesbians!"

Sam once again chose to ignore his brother.

"Ah, Faith!" the older man said as he looked up from the banana he had been busy peeling. "Welcome back."

The others all repeated his greeting, though in a somewhat subdued manner. Only the fidgety red head, the serious looking dark skinned woman and the short Chinese man showed any real enthusiasm. There was clearly no love lost in this room, Dean concluded.

"Thanks, G Man. Good to see you," Faith replied, walking further into the room and flopping down on a seat next to the eye patch guy.

Sam and Dean glanced towards each other, taking a small step towards the table before stopping awkwardly. All the occupants of the tables were now focusing on them, watching them and clearly wondering who they are.

"Oh," Faith said, waving a hand dismissively. "Everyone, this is Sam and Dean Winchester. Sam, Dean, this is everyone."

"Friend or foe?" the man she had called G Man asked with narrowed eyes.

Faith leaned back on the behind two legs of her chair and lifted up her chunky boot clad foot to rest on the table, folding her arms as she did so. "What, you think I'm gonna bring the bad guys here or something? Long time since I've swung that way."

Dean and Sam snuck a look at each other, confusion marring each of their faces.

"It was just a question, Faith," G Man replied, his voice even.

Faith sighed dramatically and swung her other boot up onto the table, crossing her legs over at her ankles. "If they were evil then they wouldn't be able to get in here, right? They're friends, okay? Here to help. Buffy's already met them and she's five by five. So just take a chill pill or...drink some tea or something."

Perhaps luckily for all involved, it was at that moment that Buffy rejoined the group, entering the room through the swinging library doors.

"Hey, guys!" she chirped, a smile lighting up her face. Her smile, however, began to drop as she sensed the tension in the air the further she strolled into the room. "What's with all the grumpy faces? Did Dean open his mouth already?"

"Mr Giles said that Sam and Dean were evil and then he accused Faith of going back to her bad girl ways," Andrew stated cheerfully. "Ooh Willow, your hair looks so shiny today! Have you changed conditioners?"

Giles spluttered in outrage, his head zipping from side to side as if looking for some conformation that Andrew wasn't speaking the truth. "I did not...I would never...you are...he is...Andrew, you're a bloody nincompoop!"

Buffy caught the way that Dean and Sam both knitted their eyebrows together in confusion and shrugged her shoulders apologetically. "He's English," she said. "It's a whole other language. I think he just insulted Andrew."

"Damned right, I did!" Giles confirmed with a huff. "Accusing Faith of returning to her darker days indeed. I merely asked whether her new friends were on our side!"

"Oh. Well, they are. So everyone just chillax, okay?" Buffy said, taking a seat next to Giles and gesturing for Sam and Dean to do the same. "You guys been introduced?"

"Uh...kind of," Sam supplied, while Dean just grunted out a, "No."

Buffy looked at Faith, who shrugged and leaned back a little further. "I was getting there."

"It's okay. Sam, Dean, this is Mr Giles, head of the watcher's council," she introduced, waving a hand towards the oldest man in the room. "He was also my watcher, and Faith's for a period of time. Taught me everything I need to know. And this is David Chan, one of our largest investors. He was the first to help us out when we needed money for the school." She smiled warmly at the short Chinese man, who nodded his head in greeting at the brothers. Next Buffy nodded towards the two women holding hands. "That's Willow, our big gun."

"I'm hardly a big gun," the woman answered with a pleased blush. "More like a little gun. Or a toy gun that shoots plastic bullets."

"Willow's a totally bad-ass Wicca," Andrew said proudly. "One time during my evil genius days I got sent to prison with the big guys. It toughens a man," he stated with a knowing look and a nod. "Willow totally ripped off the walls with her mind and...never mind," he finished lamely, catching on to the glares he was receiving from the members of the table in the know.

"You're a witch?" Sam asked interestedly.

"Uh huh. A good witch. Uh...most of the time."

"And you can do stuff with your mind?"

"Sometimes, I guess. Sometimes with words. It's a whole thing."

Dean glanced at Sam out of the corner of his eye, wondering why it was that his brother seemed so eager. But before he could ponder the subject Buffy had moved on to the brunette holding Willow's hand.

"That's Kennedy. Slayer," was all Buffy said. Dean raised his eyebrows, wondering at the short introduction after she had introduced the others so warmly. Not BFF's then.

"I'm more than that," Kennedy said smugly. "I'm one of the originals."

"I thought Buffy and Faith were the only two original slayers?" Sam asked.

A little of Kennedy's smug expression faded. "Yeah, well, I was there when Sunnydale collapsed. I was one of the first potential slayers to be involved in any real action."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "And swiftly moving on, this is Vi."

"Hi!" the fidgety red head greeted, waving her hand a little nervously.

"Like Kennedy, Vi was there with us when we took out the first evil. And, along with Kennedy, she's also one of our more advanced slayers. A real asset to the team."

Dean couldn't help but admire the easy way Buffy boosted everyone's morale, made them feel valued. He suspected that even without her super abilities, she would have made a hell of a leader.

"And smiley over there is Rana," she said, grinning at the serious looking dark skinned woman. "Rana sort of manages the school. Kinda like a headmistress or something."

Sam raised his eyebrows in surprise. "A headmistress? But you're so young!"

"Is that a subtle way of asking my age?" Rana requested. Her voice was low and smooth, silky and hypnotizing.

Sam blushed. "Uh, no...I mean, I was just...uh...what?"

"I am four hundred and seventeen years old. Four hundred and eighteen in March."

"And don't be expecting a big party, missy. You don't reach party getting status until you hit the big five oh oh," the man with the eye patch joked. Badly.

Rana watched Sam and Dean's shocked and wary faces with amusement. "I have seen many things in my lifetime. Been many people. Changed my appearance, my name. Time and time again. But never until I came to this school have I ever felt my actions were worthwhile."

"You...you're four hundred and..." Sam spluttered.

"You a demon?" Dean asked, his voice harsh and straight to the point.

"If I was evil, I couldn't be here. Just like you," she responded.

"Didn't answer my question."

Rana sighed, and leaned back in her chair. The others around the table knew better than to involve themselves in the conversation. Rana was more than capable of fighting her own battles. Whether they be mental or physical. "No. I am not a demon. However I was cursed by one."

"Why?"

"It is not a story I like to share."

Dean shifted, his hand unconsciously moving to rest on his gun. It was an action he didn't even notice, but Rana did.

"You don't trust me." It wasn't a question.

Dean shrugged apologetically. "The only beings we tend to meet with no expiration dates usually end up tryna kill us."

She heaved a sigh of frustration and turned away from him, her gaze steadily remaining on a smudge of dirt that the cleaner had missed on the wall to her right. "Three hundred and ninety one years ago I fell in love. I was nineteen years old."

Buffy looked down at her hands as Rana began her story. It was one she'd heard only once before, but it was one that would never leave her.

"Damien returned my love, and within months had asked for my hand in marriage. I accepted joyously and he returned home to tell his family of our news." She blinked and was silent for a moment, reliving memories that she had never been able to bury. "Yet instead of celebrating, his family were furious."

"Why?" Dean asked.

Rana turned her head to look at him, one perfectly shaped eyebrow raised. "The world is a different place than it once was, Mr Winchester. Back then, the color of our skin decided our worth, our place in society. Damien was from an all white family. My mother was black, my father was white and had abandoned us before I was even born. I was beneath Damien and his family."

"That's crazy," Sam blurted out. Dean nodded his head in agreement.

"Thank you. But as I said, the world is a different place today than it was back then. His father beat Damien, and locked him away, and he spread word to the townsfolk that I had corrupted Damien's mind. They came after me. Called me a witch." She closed her eyes as the horrors of that night replayed themselves in her mind. Horrors she would never describe to anyone. "But Damien escaped. He found me and we planned to run away together. Which is when his mother made a deal with a demon, posing back then as a witch. I'm not sure what was exchanged, what was worded. But I understand that she wanted rid of me. However, the demon was merciful. Instead of murder, or any other painful thing she could have inflicted upon me, she gave me eternal life. I'm not sure it wasn't worse."

"How so?"

"To live forever, watching everyone you love and care about die? It is the worst kind of pain imaginable. I realized that Damien and I could never lead a normal life together. I would remain young as he grew old by my side, so I left. And to thank the demon for showing me mercy, I sent it back to Hell." She bowed her head in regret. "I have been alone ever since. Until I came here."

"Wow," Dean breathed, as Rana's story came to an end. All thoughts of killing her vanished from his mind.

There was a heavy silence around the table for a full minute until the man with the eye patch held his hand up awkwardly. "Um...I'm Xander, by the way. In case anyone was wondering."

"What's your special power?" Dean asked.

"I'm a carpenter," he announced proudly.

"A magical carpenter?" Sam inquired.

Xander's smile dropped, and his hand fell limp. "Uh...no. Just a carpenter."

"So you both shared a dream, you say?" Giles questioned Buffy and Faith once again.

"Yup," Buffy replied, barely managing to refrain from rolling her eyes.

"And you're sure it was a slayer dream?"

Buffy huffed. "Are you seriously asking me that question? I've been doing this whole slayer thing for what? Eight? Nine years? And you think I don't know the difference between a slayer dream and a good ol' regular dream?"

"Yes, yes. You're quite right. Silly of me to presume. Have you and Faith ever shared a dream like this before?"

Faith and Buffy glanced over towards each other. Had they? They had never talked about it before. And both would have been sure that it would have been mentioned.

Buffy thought back to when they had been just a couple of teenagers. A couple of teenagers with the world on their shoulders. She had stabbed Faith to save Angel. And afterwards, while she had been recovering after Angel had nearly drained her, she had dreamed of Faith. Faith in her apartment, giving her the secret to bringing about the Mayor's downfall. Had Faith been aware of that dream?

Faith crossed her foot over her knee, an equally uncomfortable look on her face as the one Buffy had unconsciously taken on. She could remember with perfect clarity the dreams that had haunted her mind while she was in her coma. Dreams of Buffy. Terrifying. Menacing. Deadly. Murderous. But she was sure that Buffy was completely unaware. After all, it had just been her mind. Confused and playing tricks on her.

"Nope," both girls answered in sync.

A silence passed along the table while the other occupants tried to figure out if the girls were telling the truth or not. They seemed to be, but there was something about their tone of voice...

"Okay," Giles said, seemingly coming to a conclusion about their innocence. "Tell me about this dream..."

It took them almost an hour. It might not have taken so long had Giles not insisted on interrupting at every turn.

Their dreams were almost identical, except that it appeared that Buffy had been the only one to have dreamed of her mother and Amanda. Giles seemed particularly fascinated by this.

"It took place in the old Sunnydale High School?"

Buffy sighed, wondering how many times he was going to ask her this. "Yuh huh. In the high school, in my guidance councilor's office-" she was cut off by the sound of Dean snorting in amusement.

"What?" he asked, when everyone turned to look at him questioningly. "I just...can't believe they let you be a councilor."

Sam groaned quietly and buried his face in his hands, making a mental note bitch slap his brother later on for being such an embarrassing jerk.

"Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and ignore Mr Short, Blonde and Annoying over there on the grounds that he's an ass," Buffy countered with a roll of her eyes. "As I was saying, I was sat across from Amanda, in the high school, in my guidance councilor's office," She snuck a quick glare at Dean. "and then she showed me some mirror where my eyes went all black and freaky. You said this is what happens when a demon possesses someone, right?" she asked, looking at Sam.

"Yeah. Sounds like."

Buffy turned to Giles nervously. "Do you think this is like, prophetic or something? I mean, is there anything we can do? I don't wanna get all possessy!"

"Buffy, don't worry. It was more than likely a symbol for something else," Giles said, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. "As the slayer, you are immune from certain things. Demonic possession being one of them. With the way you were created...what's inside of you already is far more powerful. No demon would be able to possess you."

Buffy heaved a sigh of relief and leaned back in her chair. "Good, 'cause I don't want no demon inside of me."

"Unless it's a vampire," Kennedy muttered under her breath.

There was an uncomfortable silence around the table, and Buffy watched as Willow discreetly dropped Kennedy's hand and mumbled, "That's enough."

Dean opened his mouth to ask what she had meant, but mercifully, David Chan stepped in and interrupted him. "You said this girl told you that you were in the wrong place. What does that mean?"

"Who knows?" Buffy replied, shrugging. "I've never really thought about where my slayer dreams come from before, but...maybe some kind of higher power? I don't know. I guess this one was interrupted and that's why I got sent to Amanda."

In the silence that followed, Giles lifted up the pendant that Buffy had handed over earlier and studied it. "I don't believe I have seen a gem quite like this before," he mused. "I wonder why it's so important. It must be, for it to have featured in you dream and to warrant being dug up by a vampire."

"I can check the internet, see if it matches anything on there. I'm still tracing Louisa Brown. No luck so far," Willow informed them with an apologetic smile. "Whoever she was...someone wanted her hidden."

"Yes, and the rest of us should get to work on researching the white faced demons from Buffy and Faith's dream," Giles said, sitting up straighter and instantly becoming more businesslike. "They may give us some kind of clue as to what is approaching."

"What about Maggie?" Xander asked.

Buffy glanced over at Willow. "Think you can do a tracking spell for us, Will? See if she's still in the mountains."

"Sure thing, I'll do it right away."

"Thanks."

With their assignments, the group split off into different sections of the library, leaving Giles at the main table with Buffy, Faith, Dean and Sam.

"So, what was up with little Suzy?" Faith asked Buffy.

"Just girl troubles. Time of the month, that sort of thing."

Dean cringed and stopped eavesdropping on their conversation.

"The four of you don't really need to be here for the research," Giles offered kindly. "I know how much Buffy despises it, and seeing as how you'll more than likely be the one's dealing with the demon, it may be best if you catch up on some rest."

"Oh no, it's cool, really," Sam assured him. "We do plenty of research. We don't mind helping out. Do we, Dean?"

Dean looked at his brother in disgust. "Dude, really?"

"Whatever. You guys stay here with your books and crap, I'm getting out of here. Buffy?" Faith said, standing up and stretching out her arms.

"Right there with ya. I mean, grave-digging? I'm your girl. Research? Nuh uh."

The two girls called goodbye to the group and headed towards the door. "Ooh! You know what we should do? Shoe shopping! I totally need a new pair of boots. Got demon goo all over my other ones. Have you ever noticed how demon goo is always glow in the dark..." Buffy's voice trailed off as the library doors closed behind the pair of them.

Dean folded his arms and slid down further in his chair. "How come they get to leave and I have to look at old books and stuff?"

Sam didn't reply, but brought a finger up to his lips and nodded discreetly towards one of the computers where Willow was working. Xander was sat next to her with a large unopened book resting on his lap.

"You know, once upon a time it would have been me Buffy asked to go shopping with," they heard Willow grumble to Xander.

"Yeah, well, I guess she thinks she's better than the rest of us, what with her head slayerness and all," he replied.

Dean and Sam shared a confused look. That was kinda spiteful, and weren't they supposed to be her friends?

The pair shared a couple more mean spirited comments about Buffy before they were interrupted by the sound of Andrew's loud footsteps as he stomped towards the library exit.

"Hey, where are you going?" Xander called.

Andrew stopped and span around to face him, his hands on his hips and his face an angry red. "You two! All I hear is Buffy this and Buffy that and it's never anything nice even though she does a gazillion nice things for you like making you those special cupcakes that you like and buying you an eye-patch with a little picture of Spiderman on it and saving your life and all and you're horrible friends so I'm leaving and...and...and you're way more evil than I ever was! So there!" And ignoring Willow and Xander's stunned faces, he turned back around and left the library. Seconds later, he returned, walking speedily towards Xander and snatching the book away from him and holding it to his chest like it was something precious. "And I'm taking '101 Mystical Monsters and Demons' with me!" And then he was gone.

A strained silence stretched out through the library, everyone alternating their glances between the still swinging library doors and a blushing and sheepish Xander and Willow.

After a long couple of moments, Dean climbed awkwardly to his feet, pulling Sam up alongside him and pointing his thumb towards the doors. "We're uh...we're gonna follow the little guy."

"Yeah, I just remembered that I have a laptop back at Faith and Buffy's place," Sam added as Dean dragged him away. "So I can probably just do this research stuff back there."

Giles, who seemed to have missed the whole thing, being so thoroughly consumed by the book he was reading as he was, waved them an absent minded goodbye before they scurried out of the room.

Hurrying down the corridors to the schools front door, Dean nudged Sam and muttered, "You see, this is why you shouldn't let people get to close. They'll stab you right in the back."

"I don't know, Dean. Maybe we just caught them on a bad day."

"Whatever, don't get all emotional and girly on me now, man."

Once outside, they caught up to Andrew, who had just reached the bottom of the long steps.

"Hey, Andy!" Dean called. "You need a ride."

Andrew looked relieved and let out a little giggle, looking up at Dean in admiration. "My hero," he said with a sigh. "And here I thought I was gonna have to walk."

Dean widened his eyes and backed towards the car. "Uh...yeah...hop in."

"So, what was all that about back there?" Sam, leaning over the chair to glance at Andrew, inquired some minutes later as they made the drive back to the apartment.

"What was what about?" Andrew asked dreamily, not taking his eyes away from a very uncomfortable Dean.

"With Buffy's friends? I mean, Faith said that Buffy's been friends with them for years but...they seemed kinda mean."

"Oh, that. I guess they kinda have drifted apart recently."

"Harsh."

"Yeah, a couple of years ago they had a big fight and kicked Buffy out of her own house. I wasn't there at the time. I was on a very dangerous and important mission."

"They kicked her out of her own house?"

"I think it was her sister who gave her the final push, but Dawn apologized after. So did Giles. But I guess once Buffy learned how it was to feel like an outsider she was able to relate to Faith more and they kinda bonded."

"So what? The other guys are jealous?"

"Suppose so," he replied, seemingly bored of the conversation already. "Hey, Dean? Do you work out?"