"Oh, Xander, you're alive. Not dead. Oh." The ex-demon sounded strangely disappointed at this discovery.
Xander ran over and grabbed her into a huge cuddle, sweeping her feet off the ground. She pummelled him in the chest until he put her down.
"No, not dead, see?" He waved his arms around, "Still alive. You seem unhappy at this prospect, sorry that my undead-ness doesn't meet your demony expectations!" He glared at her with one eye.
Anya huffed through her nose.
"Well at least if you were dead you would have an excuse for abandoning me in that hell hole!" she turned her bunny-stopping glare to Andrew who visibly shrank from her stare and wished he was in a galaxy far far away. "And as for you..." She marched towards him, "I was protecting you, and you, you ran away! Like a girl! A runtish, slightly odd, GIRL!" The pitch of her voice increased and she surveyed the slack jaws of the other Scoobies.
"I-I-I didn't run away. You-you were dead! Dead I tell you!" He pointed an accusing finger at Anya and whispered loudly to Willow, "She's the First!"
Anya pinched his arm, hard. "Um, okay, not the First" said Andrew, sulkily.
"Ummm, Anya? I don't mean to be rude or anything, but Andrew told me that you were slashed through the chest. With a knife. Umm, through the chest. Errr, Giles?" Buffy glared at him as if this was somehow his fault.
"Yes, well, I – ah – Anya? When you ceased to be a vengeance demon, did you perhaps retain some aspects of your former self? Perhaps a metaphysical –" before he could continue Buffy interrupted him with "OOOH I know this one, aspect of the demon or whatever, Anya don't worry it's not a tail, but you do start to hear thoughts and it drives you, like, totally insane, then you have to drink this blue sh-" Buffy trailed off as she realised Giles was looking at her with his hands on his hips. "Okay so this isn't one of those times where Buffy is knowledge girl, I'll shut up now."
Giles took is glasses off and polished them with his shirt, absently smearing dust and blood onto the lenses. He put them back on, blinked, frowned and took them off again, only to resume polishing furiously.
"Anyway, as I was saying, I should consult my books, but, well, you know..." He frowned as Willow giggled nervously at the first normal thing anyone had said all day.
Anya spoke up, "Well ok, so I'm not dead, but yes, there was a moment of sharp pain, and some slicing. I was picturing the bunnies like runt-boy said, and then the aforementioned slicing. I fell down, got up, and then the world was collapsing and all my FRIENDS were gone. I experienced a feeling of abandonment that I wasn't all that used to. Then I felt hungry and left. In your car that I had parked outside Sunnydale. I had planned to leave you all here to die. I was going to do the sensible thing and run away, but then RUNT-BOY had me say all this mushy stuff about humans and I stayed. Stupid really since I don't like any of you all that much." She stopped and walked over to the bed, wrinkled her nose at the burger remains, cleared the wrappers and sat down. Still glaring at everyone.
Giles cleared his throat, vaguely thinking that he might get a sore throat if he didn't stop getting so flummoxed by everyone, all this throat clearing couldn't be good for him.
"Alright Anya, thank you for that, and for bringing me the car. The one I thought I had sold when I left for England." He raised his eyebrows at her, and she looked back at him defiantly.
"Well I wasn't going to let that man have your car, you sold it to him for peanuts! I could have sold it for three times that much! So I kept it. Long story. Boring story. Anyway..." She looked at him expectantly, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and his knees gave way as he sank onto the opposite bed.
"Ok so how are you not dead?"
"Well I'm not evil if that's what you're all thinking. Evil Anya blah blah blah."She made blah blah motions with her hand as she continued "See just because I am not a vengeance demon anymore, doesn't mean being a demon for a thousand years didn't leave it's mark. It still takes more than a knife through the chest to kill me. Right Buffy?" Buffy grimaced and looked away, not wanting to remember the night she had ran Anya through with a sword.
"There's only a couple of ways to kill a vengeance demon, ex or otherwise. Vampires can, 'cuz obviously, you know, can't function without blood, yada yada. Snapped neck will do it too, those pesky spinal cords are a bit of a problem. Oh and obviously D'Hoffryn. Clappy clappy with those hands of his and poof, dead demon. I'm bored of talking about this now. I'm actually curious about what happened today with the rest of you. Huh. Weird." She looked around the room and her eyes fell on Willow.
"So Willow, you did the spell I presume. No one is flayed alive. Your eyes are normal and you aren't a walking corpse so I guess it went well? Also why is there that funny bit on your hair. You look stupid, like you have prematurely aged."
"What? Uh yeah I did the spell, it went well, th-thanks for asking, ummm" Willow gave Buffy a pained look "What's wrong with my hair?"
Buffy, glad that Willow had finally found her voice, told her that she had a lock of bright white hair running down one side of her head. Willow looked first dismayed, then proud of her weird hair-ness.
Anya looked from Buffy to Willow, then back to Buffy. Her eyes suddenly took on a softer edge and she walked towards the Slayer so she was facing her. With a rare show of tenderness she pushed a strand of Buffy's hair behind her ear and grasped her by the shoulders. A look of understanding passed between them and Anya swallowed hard. Nodding she turned from Buffy and proclaimed her tiredness to the group.
"I'm tired, where's my bed?" Dawn giggled at Anya's question, and Buffy shushed her with a look. Taking Anya's elbow she explained that it had been a group decision to all stay together that night, for reasons that they weren't entirely sure of the Scoobies hadn't wanted to be apart for the night.
Anya glanced around the room. Her brown eyes took in the peeling wallpaper. The bathroom without a lock, the two twin beds and the sagging couch. As she started to turn her nose up in disdain she regarded the others and saw the raw emotion filling their faces. Predominantly fear, along with sadness, loss and shock. Her mind flashed back to the conversation she'd had with Andrew about humans.
2. Anya
Anya
"Oh, Xander, you're alive. Not dead. Oh." The ex-demon sounded strangely disappointed at this discovery.
Xander ran over and grabbed her into a huge cuddle, sweeping her feet off the ground. She pummelled him in the chest until he put her down.
"No, not dead, see?" He waved his arms around, "Still alive. You seem unhappy at this turn of events, sorry that my undead-ness doesn't meet your demony expectations!" He glared at her with his one eye.
Anya huffed through her nose.
"Well at least if you were dead you would have an excuse for abandoning me in that hell hole!" she turned her bunny-stopping glare to Andrew who visibly shrank from her stare and wished he was in a galaxy far far away. "And as for you..." She marched towards him, "I was protecting you, and you, you ran away! Like a girl! A runtish, floppy haired, GIRL!" The pitch of her voice increased and she surveyed the slack jaws of the other Scoobies.
"I-I-I didn't run away. You-you were dead! Dead I tell you!" He pointed an accusing finger at Anya and whispered loudly to Willow, "She's the First!"
Anya pinched his arm, hard. "Jeez, okay, not the First" said Andrew, sulkily.
"Ummm, Anya? I don't mean to be rude or anything, but Andrew told me that you were slashed through the chest. With a knife. Umm, through the chest. Errr, Giles?" Buffy glared at him as if this was somehow his fault.
"Yes, well, I – ah – Anya? When you ceased to be a vengeance demon, did you perhaps retain some aspects of your former self? Perhaps a metaphysical –" before he could continue Buffy interrupted him with "OOOH I know this one, aspect of the demon or whatever, Anya don't worry it's not a tail, but you do start to hear thoughts and it drives you, like, totally insane, then you have to drink this blue sh-" Buffy trailed off as she realised Giles was looking at her with his hands on his hips. "Okay so this isn't one of those times where Buffy is knowledge girl, I'll shut up now."
Giles took is glasses off and polished them with his shirt, absently smearing dust and blood onto the lenses. He put them back on, blinked, frowned and took them off again, only to resume polishing furiously.
"Anyway, um, as I was saying, I should consult my books, but, well, rather..." He frowned as Willow giggled nervously at the first normal thing anyone had said all day.
Anya spoke up, "Well ok, so I'm not dead, but yes, there was a moment of sharp pain, and some slicing. I was picturing the bunnies like runt-boy said, and then the aforementioned slicing. I fell down, got up, and then the world was collapsing and all my FRIENDS were gone. I experienced a feeling of abandonment that I wasn't all that used to. Then I felt hungry and left. In your car that I had parked outside Sunnydale. I had planned to leave you all here to die. I was going to do the sensible thing and run away, but then RUNT-BOY had me say all this mushy stuff about humans and I stayed. Stupid really since I don't like any of you all that much." She stopped and walked over to the bed, wrinkled her nose at the burger remains, cleared the wrappers and sat down. Still glaring at everyone.
Giles cleared his throat, vaguely thinking that he might get a sore throat if he didn't stop getting so flummoxed by everyone, all this throat clearing couldn't be good for him.
"Alright Anya, thank you for that, and for bringing me the car. The one I thought I had sold when I left for England." He raised his eyebrows at her, and she looked back at him defiantly.
"Well I wasn't going to let that man have your car, you sold it to him for peanuts! I could have sold it for three times that much! So I kept it. Long story. Boring story. Anyway..." She looked at him expectantly, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and his knees gave way as he sank onto the opposite bed.
"Ok so how are you not dead?"
"Well I'm not evil if that's what you're all thinking. Evil Anya blah blah blah."She made blah blah motions with her hand as she continued "See just because I am not a vengeance demon anymore, doesn't mean being a demon for a thousand years didn't leave it's mark. It still takes more than a knife through the chest to kill me. Right Buffy?" Buffy grimaced and looked away, not wanting to remember the night she had ran Anya through with a sword.
"There's only a couple of ways to kill a vengeance demon, ex or otherwise. Vampires can, 'cuz obviously, you know, can't function without blood, yada yada. Snapped neck will do it too, those pesky spinal cords are a bit of a problem. Oh and obviously D'Hoffryn. Clappy clappy with those hands of his and poof, dead demon. I'm bored of talking about this now. I'm actually curious about what happened today with the rest of you. Huh. Weird." She looked around the room and her eyes fell on Willow.
"So Willow, you did the spell I presume. No one is flayed alive. Your eyes are normal and you aren't a walking corpse so I guess it went well? Also why is there that funny bit on your hair. You look stupid, like you have prematurely aged."
"What? Uh yeah I did the spell, it went well, th-thanks for asking, ummm" Willow gave Buffy a pained look "What's wrong with my hair?"
Buffy, glad that Willow had finally found her voice, told her that she had a lock of bright white hair running down one side of her head. Willow looked first dismayed, then proud of her weird hair-ness.
Anya looked from Buffy to Willow, then back to Buffy. Her eyes suddenly took on a softer edge and she walked towards the Slayer so she was facing her. With a rare show of tenderness she pushed a strand of Buffy's hair behind her ear and grasped her by the shoulders. A look of understanding passed between them and Anya swallowed hard. Nodding she turned from Buffy and proclaimed her tiredness to the group.
"I'm tired, where's my bed?" Dawn giggled at Anya's question, and Buffy shushed her with a look. Taking Anya's elbow she explained that it had been a group decision to all stay together that night, for reasons that they weren't entirely sure of the Scoobies hadn't wanted to be apart for the night.
Anya glanced around the room. Her brown eyes took in the peeling wallpaper. The bathroom without a lock, the two twin beds and the sagging couch. As she started to turn her nose up in disdain she regarded the others and saw the raw emotion filling their faces. Predominantly fear, along with sadness, loss and shock. Her mind flashed back to the conversation she'd had with Andrew about humans.
When it's something that really matters, they fight. I mean, they're lame morons for fighting. But they do. They never... They never quit.
"Ok" she sighed "I'll take the couch. Xander, you're sleeping on the couch with me. But not for orgasms. Just solace." The two shared a private moment that none of the others understood.
Buffy pulled Willow up by the hand and gestured her into the hall.
"Will, I'm a 'lil bit worried about this whole Anya thing. But I'll let it go, I just need you to keep an eye on her. Make sure she's, y'know, Anya. K?"
"Sure Buff, but it sounds right, I mean I think she's telling the truth. I wouldn't worry about it." The redheads' gaze drifted down the balcony. Buffy followed her gaze.
"Will? If you wanna go share with Kennedy then I'll understand." She was trying to be sympathetic to her friends' needs, even if she did wish Kennedy would get eaten by a big mayor-snake. Ok maybe that's not fair, but at least some evil poison ivy or something.
"No, that's just it Buff. I don't." Willow's shoulders sagged. And Buffy suddenly realised that just because Sunnydale had been swallowed by the Hellmouth, that didn't mean their problems had been too. She sighed and took Willow's hand.
"Anything you wanna talk about Will?"
"No. Yes. Maybe. I dunno Buffy. I thought that with Tara y'know I had found my niche, then after her there was no-one, and then Kennedy, and now, n-now I'm just not sure, I feel all squicky like something's not right. I said to Kennedy once that it wasn't women it was woman. And I'm wondering if that was it, it wasn't women it was Tara. And now mostly I'm just confused. I'm sorry Buff I'm just tired. Talk tomorrow K?"
Buffy pulled her friend into a hug and then the two of them made their way back inside to fight for some sleeping space. But when they got there they found Anya and Xander on the sofa. Dawn in one bed and Giles in the other; with Andrew in the bath rolled up in some towels. All fast asleep.
Willow and Buffy exchanged a look. Willow's was pleading and Buffy's was one of eyes rolled heavenward.
"Buffy, I'm so tired and so confused, I can't deal with any more stress right now, I'm sorry." Buffy grit her teeth and nodded at Willow. Willow sagged with relief and jumped into her long t-shirt.
"Are you sure? I know this is of the bad, but a-are you sure?" Willow asked. Buffy nodded again and put her own nightclothes on, once again missing her comfy flannel PJ's.
Giles awoke feeling achy and sleepy. The sun was beginning to shine through the cheap net curtains at the dirty window. He groaned and pulled the duvet up over his face, as he rolled over to find the cool spot on the pillow, his elbow connected with something warm and firm. He froze in horror, briefly wondered where he was, if he had dreamed the Sunnydale events and whether he had been drinking, then mentally shook himself and slowly turned his head to find out who was in his bed. In doing so he remembered that he was in a cheap motel. He could make out Xander and Anya on the couch in front of him. His face finally finished turning on the pillow and his nose caught a whiff of apples from the blonde hair mussed up on the pillow next to him. Looking like an angel in repose was Buffy. Sleeping. In his bed. Feeling decidedly uncomfortable, he cleared his throat. I wonder where I can buy lozenges he idly wondered. Still looking at the sleeping Buffy, he was startled out of his lozenge thoughts by a grunt. Then an unladylike snort. Both came from the girl next to him. He eyed her in amusement, then her arms began to twitch and her body became rigid, her eyelids started to flicker and he realised that she was dreaming. It wasn't until she moaned a guttural moan of fear that he reacted to her nightmare. He considered shaking her awake but thought better of it - choosing to keep his limbs intact he instead pushed the hair out of her face and whispered to her very quietly.
"It's ok Buffy. You're safe. We're all here. I'm here. Nothing can hurt you." She grunted again and he snorted with mirth. He looked back down at her only to have the shock of seeing her eyes piercing his.
She smiled at him sleepily. Then before he knew it her smile turned to terror and she was out of the bed faster than he could clear his throat. Looking rather disgruntled, she hopped about from one foot to another before the realisation that had taken Giles a couple of minutes to reach hit her and she relaxed, sitting back down on the bed.
"Sorry Giles, I didn't know where I was for a minute there." She said softly.
"It's ok, I had the same panic when I woke up too. I, ah, I take it Willow went in with Dawn then?" He rubbed his eyes and felt for his glasses.
"Yeah, I was too tired to argue with her. We gonna go feed us some hungry Slayers then?" She asked as her stomach growled loudly.
"Yes right. Of course. Lets wake everyone then, we probably have a long day ahead of us."
Suddenly a loud scream was heard from one of the other motel rooms, followed by footsteps running and their door being kicked open.
"OHMYGODOHMYGOD Buffy it's Kennedy, she, she, I don't know. Come quick. Ohmygod. I might be sick. Jesus save us." Rhona, the normally taciturn sensible girl, fell to her knees and starting sobbing and praying.