Disclaimer:
Still don't own any of it.
Author's Notes: Okay,
there are a few differences in this story than the standard
Buffyverse. The main one, is that Buffy was called at fourteen,
instead of fifteen. She still arrived in Sunnydale at the same time,
but she spent more time in the mental institute... well, sort of...
Interlude:
--
Nine years earlier...
"Hey, Kid. Wake up."
Buffy sat up groggily and blinked a few times to clear the sleep from her eyes. "Who are you?"
"Name's Whistler. I'm a messenger from the Powers That Be."
"What do they want with me?"
"They want you to train one of their Warriors."
"Why me?"
"'Cause you're The Slayer, Kid."
Buffy chuckled mirthlessly. "Not the Slayer. Just a girl in a mental institution who has paranoid delusions of being a Vampire Slayer."
Whistler sat down on the bed beside her. "He's a lot like you. A kid with a destiny that he doesn't want but can't escape. That destiny won't wait for him to be old enough, but everyone that should be teaching him how to survive and win is too busy trying to protect him from it."
Buffy sighed. "How exactly am I supposed to help him? I can't exactly just walk out of here, you know. Besides, if I did, everyone would be searching for me."
Whistler smiled. "That's the easy part, Kid. As far as everyone will know, you'll still be right here."
"All right. I'll do it. Give me the rundown."
"The what?"
"The rundown. You know, what insane thing I'm getting myself into this time. Does he know about the supernatural? Slayers? Or am I going to be institutionalized again when I tell him anything?" Buffy questioned sarcastically.
"You won't have to worry about that. He's a wizard."
"You're one of those freaks," a horse-faced woman shrieked. "I won't have any more of your kind defiling my house."
Buffy rolled her eyes and looked up. "You won't have to worry about that," she quoted, mockingly. "Thanks, Whistler."