Disclaimer:

Author: It's mine.

Mr. Whedon: No it's not.

Author: Pleeeaaaassseee! With a cherry on top?!

Mr. Whedon: ...No.

Author: -huff- fine, be that way!

...

Chapter 15

Buffy strolled down the halls of the school the next day, ignoring the occasional odd looks from students and teachers. Classroom, classroom, classroom, she thought, it's like some weird dimension of Hell. There were classes on demons, classes on magick, classes on demons with magick. There were even classes on how to recognize the signs for a coming Apocalypse. She really wished she'd have had one of those in high school. It probably would have been the only class she'd have aced. There were also classes on regular subjects, like math and english. The place was a high school after all. She tried to steer clear of those.

Willow had been caught up in some type of bureaucratic emergency involving lots of paperwork and red tape that Buffy wanted nothing to do with and so she had had to leave Buffy to her own devices. She had offered to arrange for a guide, but Buffy had declined. She didn't want some stuffy Watcher dragging her around to all the boring places. She wanted to see all the interesting things. Like what she'd just found.

She had meandered her way down to the end of the west wing and found what she thought was heaven all over again. She'd opened the doors to find the biggest gym she'd ever seen. It was huge. An Olympic sized mat and bars and a balance beam and rings and all kinds of neat toys. Then there was a sparring arena and a whole area set up for various martial arts, with dummies and everything. There was a whole wall with all kinds of practice weapons, it was amazing.

"So this is what happens when the Watcher's Council coughs up money," she muttered to herself darkly. She was still kinda ticked off to find out about all the money they'd been hiding. If they'd still been alive she'd have hunted them down and kicked their asses. Buffy could still smell the grease from all those stupid burgers. She had never been able to look at one the same since.

Shaking her head she headed back through the halls toward the classrooms. It was almost time for lunch and Willow had promised to meet with Buffy to discuss her upcoming schedule. It was going to be an interesting day, she could just feel it.

…

Buffy watched Willow as she leaned over one of her students, helping the girl steady the pencil she was floating. Willow had matured a lot in the four years they had been apart. This Willow was completely confident in herself and her magick. Buffy could sense her rock solid connection with the Earth and the power that flowed about her. The dark was still there, it always would be, but now it was carefully balanced by the light and superbly controlled.

Physically, she looked very much the same. Her deep red hair was shoulder length and feathered in different lengths. Her wardrobe was as eclectic as ever and still tended to go toward the flowy skirts and tops in earth and fall tones. Her skirt today was a patchwork of rusts, golds, and greens. A white peasant top and various bits of gold jewelry completed the outfit. The only real signs of age were a few laugh lines at the corners of her eyes. It was the way she carried herself that had changed.

"You've grown into a very beautiful woman, Willow Rosenburg," Buffy said quietly as Willow came forward to greet her as the class was dismissed and had the supreme pleasure of watching the witch go completely red.

"W…What? Well, you know, thank you. I think it must be the bone structure…my parent's that is…with the genes…I'll shut up now." Willow kept blushing. Jeesh, she thought to herself, I can face down a charging P'toth demon with absolute calm, but put Buffy Summers in a room and I go all googly.

Buffy grinned, "I missed Willow babble," she said and slipped her arm through the blushing witch's arm. "Now, where does a girl go to get fed around here? I'm starving." The two of them had stayed up almost all night last night, exchanging stories about their travels and eating junk food. It was probably the happiest the Slayer had felt in a very long time.

"Oh right," Willow snapped back into reality, "I'll take you to the cafeteria. They probably have enough food there to feed even you."

"Hey," Buffy whined, "I don't eat that much."

"I once saw you down five hamburgers in one meal, fries included."

"Well I had just come back from the dead for the first time and then taken out the Master, I was a little peckish." The blond woman groused at her friend as they walked down the stairs. "Besides, one good thing about Slayer metabolism, none of that goes to my hips."

"Don't remind me," Willow chucked, "I used to be so jealous of you."

"I didn't see you turning away ice cream last night, missy."

"Mmmm, I never could resist tasty milk byproducts," Willow said, then smirked, "Of course, I have found in my travels that working magick burns almost as many calories as slaying."

"Ahhh, so that's why you became a witch. It was one of those new fad diets."

"That's right, I'm going to be the next Jane Fonda." The girls entered the cafeteria giggling hysterically and bantering back and forth about how they were going to get the world in shape by making them all float pencils.

"We'll be rich," Buffy declared triumphantly, "We can finally retire to Hawaii and spend the rest on of our days on the beach."

"We can't retire there, Anne," Willow slipped into cover as they were surrounded by curious Slayer ears, "Hawaii is the center of a mystical convergence, didn't you know?"

"I'm fantasizing here, Ms. Rosenburg. Don't shoot me down with a little thing like reality." Buffy grumbled and stepped into the lunch line.

"My apologies," Willow picked up a salad while Buffy went after a turkey sub. "I'll keep my silly ideas to myself."

"See that you do. Oooh, jello!" The perky blond grabbed double portions and accompanied her friend to a table off in a corner. Both of them were blatantly ignoring the curious looks they were getting as they settled in.

Willow sighed, "We're gonna have to do something about this, you know that don't you? The girls are way curious about you. I know you said you were going to start teaching right away, but you haven't even told me what subject you want to teach!"

"Don't worry," Buffy smiled confidently at her friend. Willow sat up, staring at her friend. In Buffy's eyes Willow saw something she'd never seen before, absolute and utter confidence herself and her place in the world. Even at the best of times, Willow knew her friend had been a little bit scared. But this Buffy had no fear at all.

"What did you learn out there, Anne?" Willow asked wonderingly.

"A little of this, a little of that," Buffy opened herself up a little, letting Willow get a little glimpse of what was beneath. She would normally never do this with anyone else, but this was Willow. She, more than anyone else, deserved to know. She, more than anyone else, would understand.

Willow's eyes widened as Buffy let down her shields just for her. Her friend suddenly became so much more than just the blond woman sitting across from her. Power, old and pure, shown from her and her eyes flashed gold for a moment. Willow got a sudden image of thousands of girls, thousands of lives, flowing back into history and forward into the future. Something within her rang out in complete accordance with it and for a moment she and Buffy sat alone in absolute synchronicity.

"Goddess," she gasped out as Buffy shut herself off again, leaving Willow to flounder around a bit. It was liked something had torn away a vital piece of her. "What was that?"

"Hmmmm, that was interesting" Buffy looked a bit flushed herself. "Didn't expect it to feel like that, makes sense though."

"What makes sense?!" Willow was very confused.

"Don't worry, Willow," she said again. "But it looks like this is going to be much easier than I thought it would and a whole lot more fun!" Buffy sent her a look that caused Willow to slowly flush, this time for an entirely different reason.

Don't be silly, Willow thought to herself as she coughed slightly and turned her attention to her food, Buffy doesn't feel that way about you. Still, she couldn't seem to get that look out of her mind as she attacked her salad with gusto.

"Besides," Buffy stated right before she sunk her teeth into her sandwich, "I have a plan."

…

Maria Evans, Karen Rice, Vashka Radminoff, and Jennie Benson were sitting around chatting in one of the smaller training rooms of the Cleveland Academy. Today's lesson was supposed to be taught by the new instructor, Anne Montgomery, but she was late. All the girls were seniors. At the end of the year they would go out to their posts in the real world. Most would enter squads in specific regions or cities and some might be assigned to a special division like Intelligence or Teaching. But today they were getting a little bored.

They had all heard about the new teacher from China and knew they were her first class. They had been eager to meet her and so had showed up a little early even. But now she was 15 minutes late and they were starting to get irritated. The girls weren't even sure what she was going to be teaching. They had just been told to show up with their training gear on in one of sparring rooms, so they assumed it was combat.

"Look," Vashka said finally, "I say we just leave. We can go to the main class instead and if anyone asks we'll just tell them the teacher didn't show."

The other girls looked at each other and shrugged. It sounded good to them. Grumbling, they began to stand up from their sprawled positions on the mats. Then all the lights went out.

"What the hell?!" Karen exclaimed as all of them jumped to their feet and formed a circle, backs to each other.

They had been well trained. They didn't take anything for granted. Even a seemingly innocent blackout could be cause for worry. They all peered into the dark, trying to make out anything. Slayers could see in almost pitch black, but even they had to have some ambient light to pick up on. But the small room had no windows. Even the strip of light that would normally be present under the door was gone. It was as if something was deliberately suppressing it.

"I don't think we're alone in here," Jennie whispered.

As if to emphasize her point a low growl pierced the darkness. Instantly the girls orientated on it, swinging around, but then another came from the other side of the room.

"There's a goddamned pack of 'em," Karen stated, actually starting to get a little spooked. Things like this weren't supposed to be able to get into the Academies. They were supposed to be safe here!

"Keep your cool, girls," Maria tried to keep her voice calm and reassuring. "Just keep in formation and we'll be able to deal."

Low laughter came out of the dark at the statement, seeming to mock it. Yellow glowing eyes appeared and disappeared, winking in and out in a taunting manner. All the girls were suddenly nervous. They shouldn't be feeling this way. Every one of them was a seasoned trainee who had experienced worse things then this. But it was as if the fear was permeating the whole room, like a thick haze. It began to mess with their minds.

"Come and get some, you stupid fuck!" Vashka yelled and stepped out threateningly.

"Vashka no…!" Maria's warning was too late. With a shortened scream of rage and a roar of victory she was dragged into the pitch black and away from her friends.

"Vashka!" Jennie made to move forward but the others to grabbed her.

"Don't Jennie," Maria reasoned, "You'll just be playing into its hands. Stay together."

"Do you really think so?" Came a soft hissing voice next to Karen's ear.

Whipping her head around she didn't even manage a scream before she was pulled away, kicking futilely.

"Jesus," Jennie yelped, spinning around in an effort to see what was stalking them, "What the hell is out there?! We've got to get out of here! We've got to get he…Ahhhh!"

The thing in the dark had moved in once more and taken another victim. With one lingering scream Maria was left alone, panting in the dark.

"What are you?" She circled slowly, keeping her senses honed. She was seriously wigged out but she was doing her best to remember all the lessons they'd been taught. Maybe if she got it talking she could figure out where it was

"I am many things," a soft voice whispered from her right, then came from her left, "What are you?"

"I'm a Slayer," she responded confidently.

"Are you?" The voice mocked, "All I see are scared little girls. What makes you a Slayer?"

"….," Maria found herself faltering slightly. She couldn't quite think of the answer to that. Before today she would have been able to answer confidently, but now she was just scared.

"Silly girl," the voiced seemed almost to sigh, "Death makes you a Slayer!"

With those words came a mighty roar, but not where Maria thought it would come from. Instead of coming from the right, where the voice was, it came from directly over her head. Shocked, she looked up and got only the impression of a dark shape descending and yellow eyes. Then it was on her and everything went blurry.

...

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay. Had a show to go to this weekend. Much fun involved, but you guys don't care about that so on with the good stuff. It's another cliffhanger and if you're past comments are an indication I should be afraid for my life. I live for danger!

Not much to comment on, the chapter speaks for itself. See you next time. Will try and get it out a little sooner. Thanks for the reviews and keep 'em up!

p.s. you might have noticed that these last couple of chapters aren't as well edited. sorry, i've been exhausted lately and i figured you'd rather have the chapter now and i'd go back and fix it all later when i get a break. hopefully...