Title: Story of a Girl
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. At all. If I did, I'd have more money then God and would never have canceled BtVS and Angel.
Summary: A teenage girl is given an impossible destiny. She's taken away from everything she knows and everyone thinks she's dead. Eight years later, she's back, and in for one hell of a fight.
Distribution: Just ask if you want to use this.
Spoilers: All of Buffy and Angel. Through GoF, and some minor ones from OotP.
a/n: Oh my gosh! I can't believe the response I got to the last three chapters! It's amazing! Well, I better get to replying then, huh?
Jenna Summers- Thanks so much! I was on a roll Sunday (Saturday I power shopped, and Sunday I was hyped up on chocolate covered strawberries) and the sugar must have affected my brain because I just can't stop writing! Which is pretty shocking because I normally suck with updates! It might have something to do with the fact that no one was having any parties because we just had our last night of the play on Saturday. Anyway, I love the cookie idea! I'd forgotten all about the "will be done" episode. Poor Giles. Do you mind if I use it in one of the later steps? I've got something really funny planned out for the last chapter of this fic, which is a long, long, long way off.
Lightdemondarkangel- Thank you! Don't worry, the 12 Step program is going to be around for a while. I'm planning to let it go through all (or most) of this story. For that reason, it won't be a step a chapter, there has to be some work involved, you know, before another one is completed. I'm glad you liked it.
Charmed-angel4- thanks for your review. I tried to make Buffy's explanation as authentic as possible.
goddessa39- I'm glad you like it. Draco and Spike are not related, sorry, they just look like it. Giles didn't know about the Wizarding World, the former Council Heads (Quentin Travers and his toadies) were about the only people who did. I'm not revealing the pairing yet. You're all just going to have to wait, because I'm a mean, evil author, and telling everyone what the pairings are would be nice. God, that sounded more pathetic then Andrew, didn't it?
E- I'm glad you liked the little details. They were just bits and pieces that I threw in to make the story seem like it could have happened on the TV show had Joss Whedon been a fan of crossovers. That means relating Buffy to Hermione and not skimping on the Scooby-ness, but keeping characters like Andrew and Faith away from most of the "spotlight" no matter how much it pains me.
Enchantress10- I'm not revealing the pairing, sorry. I'm will tell you that I love just about every pairing out there as long as it's well written and could actually happen- hence my hatred of Spike/Angel, which just creeps me out.
Vld- You are right, compared to the things the Scoobies have faced, old Voldy is nothing. Trust me when I say the "murderer" comment will come back to bite Harry in the ass, but it won't be soon. That is part of why there is so much tension between our two favorite groups. You can bet that if Buffy hadn't been so pissed off about what Harry had said to her they would all be on Step Two of the program.
Alen Pitt- I've got to say, you hit a lot of what I'm trying to get across. And it is sad that Buffy will relate to Draco more then she will Harry and Ron, but that's that. Harry and Ron got off easy, compared to Buffy. The only reason they're fighting is for their own good, not because other people depend on them. The whole Wizarding World- both sides, good and bad- are in it for that reason, whereas Buffy and the Scooby Gang have had to fight evil to help preserve good in the world, for other people, not themselves, because they could all easily die trying to fight the good fight. The Scooby Gang can't hope for peace to raise their children and go back to menial things, they literally live to die, and that's pretty damned selfless compared to the wizards whose asses they're going to have to save.
Anonymous- Anya "belongs" to the Scooby Gang in general, they've all done way too much together for her not to.
Just Me- Thank you, thank you, thank you! Reviews make my day! Yay!
Etoile Star- Thanks. A lot of people seem to like the little things like that! I'm so proud! And I'm trying to break my very bad updating record, so I need encouragement (hint hint). Yay, I've got reviews!
Taryn- Thank you for your review! I'm glad you liked it, happy, amused people are always good for the world. Wow, that almost sounded philosophical, didn't it? Hmm, strange. The sugar must really be screwing up my brain, huh?
Keep reviewing people!
"Huh?" Buffy asked.
They were all standing in a dressing room when Anya had pronounced that the Slayer's old/new friends needed help. Kennedy didn't get it, though. She knew that things had been on edge, but why wouldn't they tell Buffy if there was some big bad threatening them? After all, she was the Slayer. The Head Slayer, the longest lived, coolest, smartest, most amazing Slayer in history. Okay, so some of that was just the young Slayer's opinion, but still. If you had a problem you called Buffy, it was just the way the world worked. Then Buffy told everyone else, and the problem got fixed. However, the two English witches- and no matter how much Kennedy tried, she couldn't think of Buffy as English, it just seemed so weird- were looking guilty, like children who had just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Buffy's eyes narrowed.
"What didn't you tell us?" she asked, her voice low and threatening.
Kennedy couldn't blame her, after all, these people had said they missed her so much, and all of that other bullshit. Frankly, the brunette just couldn't see it. If they had loved her so much, why were they acting so strange? And why had that Harry guy started yelling at her last night? It didn't make sense at all. If they were so happy to see her, wouldn't those English people have started gabbing away and catching Buffy up with what she had missed? It was what Kennedy would have done if someone she loved went missing. What kind of friends were they? Personally, Kennedy thought Buffy was much better suited to the Scooby Gang, and not just because she and her Willow were a part of it.
Dawn could see her sister was barely stopping herself from flipping out on the other two witches. She mentally shook her head at said witches. The Key sincerely hoped she had never done anything that stupid. How could you go find the Slayer and not tell her when something was trying to kill people? She understood that they wanted to be friends again, first, and the trust was so not there, but sometimes you had to put your friends aside in order to help the greater good. Dawn had witnessed her sister and the other Scoobies do just that, time and again. If people were dying, you did whatever it took to make them safe, first. Usually, what it took was a super-sized dose of the Scooby Special, with extra Slayer on the side.
She followed the others through the Council building, unsure of where they were going. Where had Giles' secretary said they were? Was it room 107? No, room 108. What was that, anyway? The teenager knew she had been in the room at one time or the other, because the number seemed vaguely familiar, but Dawn couldn't place a well, place to the "address". Then they turned a corner and the recognition set in. Room 108 was the library!
The girl began to snicker. It was just like Giles to take the five- six, if you counted Andrew, who Dawn had her doubts about- young men to the library. She watched as her older sister blazed into the room and looked around. She spotted the closed door that led to what had been dubbed the "war room" because it was where Giles went to escape the "endless chatter" that was constantly going on in his poor, messy, young American-filled office. He constantly forbade anyone from disturbing him in there, saying his "very sanity", with extra oomph on the British-ness, was at stake. Buffy strode toward the forbidden door purposefully and yanked it open.
When she saw what was inside, Dawn had to bite down a giggle. All six men were playing video games and eating pizza. Apparently the Scoobies really were a bad influence on the long-suffering Watcher. He and Xander appeared to be trying to teach them the benefits of Muggle living, while Andrew peppered the wizards with questions, all of which everyone else ignored. Too bad Spike isn't here, Dawn thought with a pang, he would tell them everything about America, including hot wings and Passions. And I bet he would love Draco. Only in a not-icky sense, because two guys who look alike getting it on would be kinda creepy.
She still missed the hilariously insulting blonde vampire who had been like her older brother. No one else seemed to, but Dawn was used to that. She had always been the one to like him the most… except for Buffy, but even that was a maybe. The big sis in question was currently telling Giles that Scooby Time was needed, like now, and not so subtly telling her former friends, now acquaintances, and potential friends that they needed to leave before their faces met with the pavement two stories below- and there wouldn't be any little technicalities like doors, for instance, to get in the way.
Giles' face went from mildly annoyed and really embarrassed to worried in about three seconds. A pretty impressive feat. The Hogwarts Crew, most of whom were clueless about the reason for the Slayer's wrath, left hurriedly.
"What happened?" Giles asked anxiously.
"Anya had a vision, and my friends who were supposed to trust me, trust us, enough to tell us about their resident evil guy, decided not to," Buffy huffed angrily.
"What did you see?" the Watcher asked Anya.
"An ugly guy with red eyes- he looked like Michael Jackson after his next ten surgeries- an old guy, that Harry kid, and a whole bunch of demons attacking some ugly old house, um, what was the address? Oh, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place," for once, the blunt ex-demon wasn't talking about sex, Xander, or her days as a Vengeance Demon, "it's going to be a massacre." She added softly, "and I'm not a demon anymore, so those aren't good."
"Do you know how much time we have?" Willow asked.
The liaison shook her head.
"It's going to happen soon, we have to hurry, and I just don't have an exact minute. I'm not one of those little clocks with the strange little birds coming out of them," Anya said.
"Let's get going," Giles said grimly.
"How long will it take to get the London Slayers together?" Buffy asked her Watcher.
"About an hour," Giles responded, already reaching for the phone.
Everyone looked towards the Seer/connection to the Powers That Be/ex-demon/former human.
"Do we have that much time?" Xander voiced the question that was on everyone's minds.
"I'm pretty sure. It looked like the sun was just about to go down when I saw it." Anya said uncertainly.
"We'll have to take that," Kennedy pointed out, "If there are a lot of demons, we need reinforcements."
Giles had already dialed his secretary.
"We need every Slayer and Watcher within forty miles of here to be armed and ready for battle at Grimmauld Place within an hour," he commanded, suddenly both looking and sounding very imposing, "make sure that they aren't late, this is an emergency."
Then he hung up and faced the group, his Slayer looking every bit as impressive as her Watcher.
"Everyone put your books away and your toys in a bag- we're going on a field trip, class," Buffy said, surveying the group.
Xander shifted the axe on his shoulder and peered out into the darkness. He vaguely thought he could see shapes moving, but he wasn't sure. This hallway was creepy enough as it was without imagining anything freaky in it, anyway.
"Hey Buff, why don't you stick the stuff you kill to the walls?" he whispered.
"Not enough wall, too much goth," she responded quietly, moving a bit to get more comfortable.
"Besides, the ick factor would too high to count," Willow added.
Xander could see the silhouette of Kennedy nod in the darkness.
Buffy had organized the London contingent of Council- really Scooby- forces into groups. Seeing the blonde, who could easily seem ditsy and air-headed, in pre-battle mode was always startling to anyone who didn't know her very well. Even now, the change still surprised Xander a little bit. She was all business, and between Buffy and Giles, their strategy had worked out pretty well.
Slayers and Watchers were hidden both in the darkness outside of the house and the eerie confines of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. They were spread out all over its four floors. No one was in the basement because Buffy figured it was pretty pointless. There didn't seem to be anyway down there. She had tried to open the door that led down there, and Willow had even used her magic, but the thing wouldn't budge. It was pretty safe to say that nothing would be able to come out of it. Besides, they had their hands full with the creepy house as it was.
If Xander had had any doubts as to why anything would want to attack Number Twelve's occupants, they had quickly gone away when he entered the house. Some evil people clearly lived here. He would bet his entire set of secret Justice League action figures that whoever lived here had pissed off whoever had sent the demonic murder squad during some evil deal thingy or the other. The young man could just hear them arguing over who got to try and start the apocalypse first. Or maybe it had been over poker. And kittens.
Just then, he heard something loud going on outside. The others clearly heard it, too, since they stiffened up. Some of the other Slayers began to stand up to go and help the fight, but Buffy whispered,
"Wait, they can take care of themselves, stuff's going to start coming in here, too."
As if on cue, a large, scaly, red demon crashed through the window… on the third floor. More of its kind quickly followed, and so the fight began.
Willow erected a shield between herself and the greenish-brown thingamabob that had tried to attack her. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. The shield wasn't protecting her from its evil, evil smells. Ick.
The Wicca lifted her hand to her mouth, palm up, and blew on it.
"Fire ball," she said.
The small ball of lethal flames flew off of her hand, riding along the small current of wind her breath had caused. It passed through her shield, gaining power as it did, and hit the demon square in the chest. The thing immediately caught fire. The redhead smiled. This wasn't so hard.
Buffy successfully dispatched her thirty second adversary. So far so good. Wow, evil was really loosing it touch, wasn't it? What happened to the good old days when all a girl had to do was wear necklace to summon a nice, evil-minded, homicidal demon with a good voice? Back then, the bad guys had been a lot classier, you know? Quite a few almost-scary death threats, a kidnapping or two, pointless warnings, and some very elegant puns. These things couldn't even talk! What was Buffy going to do with her extensive repertoire of witty one-liners? It was no fun when whatever you were killing was too stupid to understand you.
She beheaded number thirty three when she heard something behind her. Slayer fast, the blonde whipped around before her assailant could blink, scythe raised high. A brightly dressed, silver haired, long bearded, bespectacled, robe covered old man stared at her.
"Professor Dumbledore?" she gasped.
Anya walked up from behind her, having killed the last demon on the first floor. She looked at the Headmaster curiously.
"Your name is Professor HumbleWhore? Do you teach that class where midgets learn about sex?"