Title: From Here to Serenity
Author: Bastard Snow
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Buffy's fall through Glory's portal took her somewhere nobody had ever imagined. Now, it's up to Willow and Xander to get her back.
Disclaimer: I don't own either of these.
Author's Notes: Much, much thanks to Drake, without whom this story would not exist. Also, obviously, thanks to Joss Whedon for coming up with two universes that have nothing to do with each other. Makes it a challenge to make them have everything to do with each other.
Feedback: Yes, please!
"Wow."
Giles turned and looked at Spike, who was sitting on top of a tombstone. "Wow?"
Spike took a drag from his cigarette. "That looked really painful."
Giles frowned and turned to see Tara helping Jonathan to his feet after having accidentally planted her foot solidly into his ribcage after he fell.
"Look out!" Jonathan yelled. He rolled Tara away from the vampire that had appeared directly behind her, and kicked out at it with his foot as he did so. The vampire caught his foot and twisted, sending Jonathan spinning to the ground. Tara raised one hand and placed an invisible barrier between the vampire and the two of them. The vampire pounded on the wall, and Tara winced with every hit.
The wall, however, gave Jonathan time to recover. He reached the stake he had dropped when he fell, and when he was in position, he tapped Tara's hand. She released the barrier, and Jonathan lunged for the vamp.
Giles and Spike both winced as Jonathan stabbed the vampire on the wrong side of the chest. The vamp howled in pain as Jonathan was forced to pull the stake out and slam it back into the vampire again, this time dusting it.
As he helped Tara to her feet, another vampire ran towards them with Faith hot on its tail. Tara held out her hand and muttered a few words. The vamp bounced off an invisible wall. Faith caught the vampire, but it was obvious since her hands were empty and her clothing left little enough to the imagination that she was without a stake. At an opportune moment, Jonathan stepped up and tossed Faith his stake. She snatched it from the air and slammed it home into the vamp's heart.
"Hm," said Giles, as the three youths decided to stick together to finish the patrol of the cemetery.
"That… wasn't bloody horrible," Spike said. It was as close to a compliment as he'd come the entire night.
"There's potential, I think," Giles said.
Spike nodded. "They weren't totally incompetent. 'Specially the Slayer Mark II."
"Spike, please don't call her that," Giles said. "She has enough to overcome as it is."
Spike shrugged. "Glinda and the nerd aren't used to this yet."
"No," Giles said. "What they lack in experience and – as yet – ability, they attempt to make up for in enthusiasm, though."
"Not enough, though."
"Not yet, no," Giles agreed. "But that can be fixed. Tell me, Spike –"
"Not on your life, Watcher," he said.
"I haven't even asked you anything!" Giles protested.
"Doesn't matter. I know what you're going to ask. You want me to train with the Scooby Lites. Not a chance."
"I'll give you a jar of burba weed and one hundred dollars a week."
"Done," Spike said.
They both nodded as if the other had given in far too easily.
"Not sure how much I can do with the tyke though," Spike said. "I don't think he's going to be much for the field action."
"You may be right," Giles said. "But he should nevertheless be trained as much as can be. The better they can work together, the better we can protect the town until the others return."
Spike was silent for a moment. "You really think they'll pull this off?"
"If anyone can, they can," Giles said.
Spike nodded and tossed his cigarette to the ground and smashed it dead with his heel. "Gonna go check on the 'bit," he said.
"Start the training tomorrow, at the Magic Box?" Giles asked.
"Not before four," Spike said. "I've got my stories to watch."
Giles rolled his eyes, but nodded. "I'll make sure they're there."
He watched Spike walk away for a moment before heading off to find the others. Tomorrow would be an interesting day.
Jonathan raised a hand. "Um, I have a question," he said.
"What's that?" Spike asked.
"Well, aren't you supposed to be, you know… evil?"
"And are you always doing what you're supposed to?" Spike asked. "I assume your mother approves of you doing bits o' magic and fighting demons? That reality-shifting spell last year, that was doing what you're 'supposed' to?"
Jonathan frowned. "No, I suppose not," he said.
"Well then," Spike said.
"He's got a chip," Tara said. "I-in his head. He can't hurt, um, people."
"So he's what?" Faith asked. "Neutered?"
Spike snarled at her. She flicked him off.
"So, he can't hurt anybody?" Jonathan asked.
"I can, too. Just… not anybody human," Spike said, resignedly. "Can beat sodding demons from here 'til next Tuesday, but even so much as try to hurt a human and I get a headache the size of Rupert's dry streak."
Faith snorted. "Damn."
"Look, are we going to do this or what?" Spike said. "You kiddies ready for the minor leagues?"
"The what?" Jonathan asked. "Why… are we minor league?"
"Because we're not good enough," Faith said. "That's what they all think, anyway. Not good enough to step in for B and her merry band of misfits."
"No," Tara said, "I'm sure it's not –"
"Actually, that's right. To an extent." They all turned and saw Giles standing in the doorway. "Just came to see how things were going, didn't mean to intrude. But Spike's metaphor, if I understand American sports correctly, is actually quite apt."
"See?" Faith said to Tara. "Never thought I was good enough."
"Quite the contrary actually, Faith," Giles said. "I have never thought you were any less talented as a Slayer than Buffy. Less disciplined, less experienced, less prepared, yes. But not less talented. Which is why the 'minor leagues' is appropriate."
Giles stepped into the training room. "If I understand correctly, the minor leagues are made up of young players who have very much in the way of raw talent, but lack the experience, discipline and instruction required to compete at the highest level. This is very much the case here.
"Last night, Spike and I observed you. You were uncoordinated, getting in each other's way, and generally exhibited poor teamwork. But there were a couple of moments where you connected with each other. Where you overcame your lack of experience, and got the job done, which in the end is what matters. I believe, and Spike believes, though he likely won't admit it, that this group has excellent potential, and that if you train together, you can, in time, achieve the level of synergy that Buffy, Willow and Xander have."
The bell over the front door jingled.
"If you'll excuse me," he said, turning back to the store front, "I believe I have a customer."
"Giles?" Tara said.
"Yes, dear?" Giles said.
"What makes them… why do they work so well together?"
"Trust," Giles said.
"So we should trust each other?" Jonathan asked.
"This type of trust cannot be given. It must be earned."
"What about him?" Faith asked, pointing at Spike. "Should we trust him?"
Giles started to say something, then thought better of it. "I cannot trust him. I've dealt with him too much. But that's a decision you'll have to come to on your own, not one I can make for you. Excuse me."
Giles left the room, and they all looked at each other.
"Right then," Spike said. "Glenda, you and nerdling set up over there, Slayer you're with me."
"Won't this hurt you?" Faith asked.
Spike shook his head. "Not if I don't mean to hurt you. Come on, now, like I showed you. Ready?"
They trained together for almost a month. Spike would start working with Tara and Jonathan sometime in the late afternoon. Faith would join them after work, and they would train for a few more hours. After a break for dinner, they would meet back up at the Magic Box and go patrolling, occasionally joined by Giles, Anya, or both.
"It's kind of tacky," Anya told Giles one night as they strolled through the cemetery.
"What is?" he asked.
"Creating another Scooby gang," she said, ducking as a demon arm went flying over their heads. "I don't think it will do anything for Buffy's confidence to have another group of well trained demon-killers in her home town."
Giles smiled at her. "Not everything I do is about Buffy, Anya," he said. "Much of it, yes. But I am, at the moment, the only active Watcher. And there is only one Slayer here. Faith needs her own support group. People whom she can lean on when times are hard, and they will be hard."
"So you thought you'd copy the Scoobies?"
"Pardon?" Giles asked.
"Oh come on," she said. "It's so obvious. A slayer, a witch, a normal guy – well, relatively – and a Brit with an in depth knowledge of the occult, and a dark past? They're like a mirror image."
Giles considered for a moment. "Well, they don't have one of you," he said.
"That's because I'm unique," she said proudly.
Giles chuckled. "You are at that." He raised his hands to his mouth to call out to Tara that a vampire was behind her, but the witch spun and called out a word Giles didn't quite catch, trapping the vampire in what appeared to be a magical force field until Faith or Spike was prepared to deal with him.
"They do handle things differently, though," Anya said. "Willow would just have flambéed him. And Jonathan's much more into research than Xander ever was, though not as handy with an axe. And Spike…"
"Doesn't get knocked on the head quite so much?"
"I was trying to think of a tactful way to say that," Anya said, frowning. "Xander asked me to try to be nice while he was away."
"The effort is appreciated," Giles said.
Jonathan huffed and puffed his way up to them. "We think… there's still… a demon hunting here. We'll do another sweep… before packing in."
"Very good," Giles said. He turned to Anya. "Shall I escort you to your car?"
"Please," she said.
The two of them walked together in a comfortable silence until they reached the parking lot. Giles held Anya's door open for her, and closed it for her when she was seated.
Anya rolled down her window. "Giles?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think they're okay?"
Giles frowned. "I'm sure they'll be fine. Faith won't let anything –"
"No," she said. "Not them."
"Oh," Giles said. "I imagine they are. They're very resourceful."
"I miss Xander," she said. "And Willow and Buffy, too."
Giles smiled. "Yes. So do I."
Anya nodded. "Well, good night."
Giles nodded at her, and watched as she drove off, then got in his own car and headed home.
The door swung open.
"Hello," Giles said.
"Hi," Tara said. "Um, is Faith here?"
Giles smiled. "Certainly." He stepped aside and allowed Tara entry into the apartment. "She's just back in her room."
Tara nodded, tucked her hair behind her ear and headed back to Faith's room, and knocked on the bedroom door.
"Yeah," Faith called. Tara swung the door open and saw Faith lying on the bed reading a book called Angels and Demons.
"Is that any good?" Tara asked. Faith looked up at Tara, the down at the book.
Faith shook her head. "Not really. What's up? I thought we had the day off from training."
Tara nodded. "We do. Jonathan and I thought – well, we were wondering if you wanted to go to a movie with us."
Faith looked surprised. "Oh. Um. What movie?"
"Well, I didn't really have an opinion, but Jonathan says we should see either… Tomb Raider or The Fast and The Furious."
"What are they about?" Faith asked.
Tara smiled. "I'm not too sure. I think one's based on a video game, and the other's… about cars?"
"Hm. Not too interested in video games."
"We can see the car movie," Tara said. "I think… Xander said video game movies don't have a great history. So do you want to come?"
Faith was silent for a moment. She seemed, from Tara's eye, to be weighing the pros and cons.
"I'll buy popcorn," Tara said.
Faith grinned. "Sold."
Faith, Tara and Jonathan stepped out of the movie theater. None of them had spoken a word since the movie had ended, and from Jonathan's point of view, they all seemed to be grappling with what they'd just witnessed.
"It is possible," Jonathan said, "that Paul Walker is the worst actor alive today."
"At least the cars were pretty?" Tara said, trying to see the silver lining. "Mostly."
"So, I think we can blame this one on me," Faith said. "I really don't see how the Tomb… thing could have been worse than that. I mean… that was really bad."
"It was," Jonathan said. "Really bad."
"Next time we'll do better?" Tara suggested.
Faith nodded. "Yeah. Well, we'd better. Cuz if this shit keeps up, it's gonna get tired real quick."
Jonathan and Tara looked at each other. "So," Tara said, "you're interested in doing this again?"
Faith shrugged. "When I'm not working, and it's day time, there's not a whole hell of a lot to do in this town."
"Well," Jonathan said, "it's not a ringing endorsement… but I think we'll take it."
Tara nodded and smiled.
"So what are you guys up to now?" Faith asked.
"I don't think we had plans," Tara said.
Jonathan glanced at his watch. "We could get dinner," he said. "It's a little early, but… if you're interested…"
Faith looked at them, thought about it for a minute, and shrugged. "Yeah," she said. "I could eat."
----------
End Chapter 18