If There Was No Buffy

Chapter Four

Rupert Returns

It was late, almost noon, before anyone got up. Dawn was the first, and as soon as she went into the kitchen she knew it had been a bad night – bloody dish towels were still on the kitchen counter and in the sink. Empty packs of bandages hadn't been thrown away, and the well-used box of first aid supplies hadn't been put up. The bottle of antiseptic was still open, and the Buffy-bot was standing by the light switch, looking like she was ready for the scrap heap.

Dawn slowly went to the Buffy-bot and tried to put the flap of scalp back up on her head, but there was nothing to hold it in place. Then for the hundredth time Dawn put her arms around the robot, her tears squeezing out from closed eyelids.

"Buffy," she whispered into the Buffy-bot's ear, "Come back to me. Please?"

Dawn stood there with her arms around the robot until she heard the upstairs toilet flush, then she hurriedly began to act as if she'd just started cleaning up the mess.

"Let me do that," Tara said. "You don't need to."

"What happened last night? Who got hurt?"

"They all did. A telepathic demon scrambled their thoughts and was able to beat them up, all except the Buffy-bot. Willow said she was the one who drove it off."

"Maybe if you guys had brought Buffy back…." Dawn started to say, but stopped when Willow came into the room.

"What about Buffy?" she asked.

"I – I was just saying the Buffy-bot looks kind of beat up. Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know. I guess I can fix her, again. But it's getting harder and harder to find parts. Some of them are so specialized."

"What about that Warren guy?" Tara asked. "Maybe he knows where to get more parts."

"Maybe, if we knew where he was."

Suddenly from upstairs they could hear Anya angrily yelling. They couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, but it was obvious she had just seen Xander's wounds. It wasn't long before Xander came downstairs, Anya right behind him, her voice becoming louder and her words becoming understandable.

"How many times am I going to have to see you all beat up? Do you have some kind of death wish? Why can't you just go to work like normal people? You don't owe them anything! What about ME? Don't you think this affects me? Do you think I like seeing you bloody and…?"

At this point they were in the kitchen and Anya turned her anger on Willow.

"And YOU! How could you let this happen to him? I thought he was supposed to be your best friend! But look at him!"

At this point Willow had had enough and with an angry wave of her hand Anya was silenced – no sound came from her still moving mouth.

"Willow!" Xander exclaimed, and Willow waved her hand again. Anya had stopped her tirade, momentarily. But before she could start up again, the front door bell rang, insistently.

"Look what you've done!" Anya accused Willow. "Now the neighbors are here."

Willow gave Anya a confused look then headed for the front door, the others following as the bell continued to ring. But when she opened the door, her emotions took another turn.

"Giles!" she said with a grin.

Standing on the porch was Buffy's former Watcher. And with him were two young girls - identical twins, looking to be barely in their teens. Both were almost too thin, had very pale skin, light blue eyes, and platinum blond hair, as if they were albinos. They were wearing unadorned, off-white colored dresses that went past their knees. And they were tall for their ages, over five feet, six inches.

"Hello, Willow," he said. But before he could introduce the others, Dawn was through the door and threw her arms around his waist, holding him as tightly as she could.

"I missed you," she said into his tweed coat. "So much."

"I missed you, too," he replied softly. Then gently prying her arms from around him, he stepped back and said, "Everyone, I'd like to introduce Mary and Marie Munn."

"Th - they're the new Slayers?" Tara asked, beating everyone else to the punch.

"Yes, they are. May we come in?"

As they went into the living room, Giles couldn't help but notice all the injuries.

"I take it last night's patrol didn't go well? Were there any serious injuries?"

"We'll live," Willow told him. "But no, the night didn't go well at all."

"How could you do it?" Xander asked angrily. "How could you let the council know Buffy was dead, knowing they would kill Faith – for them!" He finished his sentence with an accusing finger pointed at the twins.

"Believe me, I had no idea they would have her killed. I must confess I failed to gauge the extent of their dissatisfaction with Faith. But from the looks of all of you, it's evident a Slayer is badly needed here."

"That's the damned truth!" Anya said vehemently. "And it's about time!"

"How come there are two of them?" Dawn asked. "I thought just one was chosen at a time."

"Well, I have to admit it is very much unprecedented. But it obviously has something to do with the fact they're identical twins. Perhaps it has happened sometime in the past. But if that is the case, there are no records of it in any of the Watchers' diaries."

"Why are you their Watcher?" Willow asked. "I thought new Slayers got new Watchers."

"Because of my familiarity with this Hellmouth. Something is coming, something – bad."

"So, what's the big deal?" Xander said. "Something bad's always coming, if it's not already here."

"This time it's worse..."

"…than you can imagine." Mary and Marie said in soft, high-pitched voices.

To Be Continued