AN: Hi guys! Ok, so with three stories going, I've decided that the way I'm gonna work these updates is: When I get a chance to sit down and type, the story that has had the longest time without an update, gets an update.
Now, for the benefit of anyone who is a fan of Skins, and a fan of my stories, but not a fan of Buffy, the next few chapters of this fic are gonna be mostly back story, so that you can get to know the Buffy characters as well as the Skins characters because, well, they're going to play a big part in this story.
For those of you already well familiar with the Buffy-verse, don't worry, it's just a couple of chapters, and its not ALL back story.
Anyways, hope you enjoy. See you next time.
Naomi
Ok, so I knew she wasn't kidding, but as I suddenly heard loud screams coming from down the corridor, I had to marvel at her timing.
"Shit" Emily mutters under her breath before taking off in the direction of the screams. I'm hot on her heels. We stop in a doorway to see girls shooting crossbows over a balcony.
"Undead" one on them calls over her shoulder after noticing Emily and I standing dumbly in the doorway. Emily takes a few steps to a large trunk, throws open the lid, and pulls out a broad sword and a pair of daggers. She tosses me the sword and I catch it in one hand.
"Ever fought a zombie before?" she asks me with a hint of a smirk on her face.
"Can't say I have." I reply, breathily. She flashes me a smile.
"Stay behind me." She says, and with that she leaps into action, literally. Before I know it, she's out the window and throwing lunges left and right, leaving piles of doubly dead bodies in her wake. I follow her, distractedly, because, well… it's hot!
"First mistake," an oriental girl says as she appears at my side, wielding a short sword and a pair of brass knuckles. "watch your girl's back, not her ass." She grins at me. "Satsu." She says. I assume this is her name. "Now duck." I do so and she lunges over my body. When I stand back up and turn around she's gone and there's another doubly dead body at my feet. A second later there are five of them advancing on me. I hold up my sword to strike but I'm panicking.
Five of them and one of me; my odds don't look good. Suddenly two of them drop to the ground, arrows having struck them down. I follow the line of fire and a thin girl with long black hair winks at me. I smile and turn to my victims. These odds I can handle. I take the remaining three out in one fatal swoop. My adrenaline peaks immediately and soon the sword is swinging wild, bodies falling like flies. I could get used to this.
*FIVE MINUTES LATER*
Ok, so maybe after you've got some wounds and you're out of energy, it's not so fun. I can tell I'm not the only one feeling the heat. They just keep coming! We're gonna need a fucking…
"Fucking fum!" I hear in a booming voice, followed by a minor earthquake. I look up to see Dawn, the BFG, standing high above us all and stomping on our enemies. I spite of the dire situation, I laugh.
"Language, sweetie." I hear in a smaller voice, just a few feet over. There I see a red headed woman in a green dress, floating in mid-air.
"What the fuck?" I say out loud. Next thing I know, Emily is at my side again.
"That's Willow. She's got this. Time to get out of here." She says before grabbing my hand and dragging me back towards the castle.
"She was flying." I point out when we make it through the doors and around a corner.
"Yep." Emily says nonchalantly and all I can do is stare at her, dumbfounded.
"Does she do that often?" I manage to say after several minutes.
"Sometimes." She says, again, nonchalantly and I simply nod.
"Right," I say, "Is it turn in time yet? Not ready for sleep but I would like you to explain all this crazy shit to me." I tell her.
She smiles and starts to walk away, she jerks her head, signalling for me to follow her. Soon we're in Emily's room. There is one large bed upon which my bag has been thrown. I stare at it, puzzled, then a thought hits me.
"This is a castle." I tell her. "There are like a million rooms. Not that I mind, but, with all that space… why am I sharing yours?" She grins at me.
"Personal request," is her only explanation. I frown at her.
"You've got to give me better than that." I say and she sighs.
"I get lonely." She says with a shrug, "I heard we were getting a new recruit and decided to be your personal mentor. I get the company; you get the training, the 411, the star treatment. We both win." I nod.
"I guess I could see how the gig would get lonely." I agree. She nods as well.
"We're lucky compared to Buff, though." She tells me and my brow furrows. Emily smiles softly.
"Get comfortable. Its story time." She tells me and so I hold up a finger, telling her to wait a minute, I unzip my bag, digging for my boy-shorts and my oversized tee with a pig on it. When I find them, I look around, dumbly, for a place to change. Emily giggles at me and puts her hands over her eyes. I hesitate a moment, but figure it's better than trekking back through the cold castle in shorts.
"Don't look, ok?" I tell her.
"Fine." She replies, without moving her hands. I turn my back to her and kick off my trainers. Soon I'm fully changed and I turn back around.
"Ok." I say, letting Emily know its ok to look now and she drops her hands. I think her cheeks look pinker than before, but I push the thought away, putting it down to my own self-conscious. I stare awkwardly at her for a moment before moving my bag and climbing on the bed and under the covers to block out the cold. Emily smiles at me, which only serves to make me feel even more self-conscious, and then she scoots off the bed where she had been sitting.
"I might as well get comfortable, too." She says. I follow her example and close my eyes. The temptation to peek is a great one, but I push it down, back into my repressed teenage boy where it belongs.
Emily gives me the ok to look and I open my eyes just in time to see her crawl onto the end of the bed, a second, puffy blanket on her shoulders. After a few seconds of settling in, Emily takes a deep breath and the story begins.
"Becoming a slayer used to be a lot more organized. I'm sure you've heard the part about 'To every generation there is a chosen one… blah blah blah… power to defeat the vampires… blah blah blah… the slayer.'" I snort a short laugh and nod. That much I have heard. Becoming a slayer is exactly like becoming a superhero in the movies. One day, my mate, Cook, and I were sitting on the roof of my house, smoking a spliff when all of a sudden I was hit with all these visions (and might I add, some of them were terrifying). After about ten minutes of it I came back to reality, my head swirling with images of hundreds of girls from different times, all sharing one title and one fate: Slayer. The next day, I woke up grumpy and when I slammed my fist on my alarm clock, it shattered into a million tiny little pieces.
Emily sits quietly through my flashback. She's clearly had this reaction before. I smile at her, letting her know I'm back and she smiles as well.
"So it used to be simple," she continues, "The previous slayer would die and a new slayer would take her place. The council would find her and send her a watcher to train her and teach her to kick some vampire ass." I giggle and Emily flashes me a smile.
"Buffy was the last one and only. She experienced too may apocalypses to keep track of, but on her first one, she died. And in doing so, a new slayer was… I guess, activated?" I nod to show I understand. "But Buffy didn't stay dead. After the Master, a very old vampire who was trying to purge the world of humanity, left her for dead, Xander managed to resuscitate her. So Buffy, destined to shake things up, was responsible for the first major change in the slayer world: Two slayers." Emily gives me a moment to take it all in, but I nod, urging her to continue. She smiles and nods curtly as well.
"Leave some space for the usual slayer stuff: training, slaying, a couple of big bads, emotional turmoil; then enter Kendra, slayer number two. Kendra gets word from her watcher about a surge of mystical energy in Sunnydale, a city in California, built on a Hellmouth, and of course, where Buffy lives. So Kendra comes to Sunnydale to lend a hand. Two slayers; they totally kick ass. The world is saved, Kendra goes back home, leaving the both of them with a feeling of sisterhood, and both a bit better people. Now, before I go on with the story, its important that I tell you about a few people." She tells me and I nod, mentally noting to remember where the story left off. She smiles at me again and I return it.
She smiles so genuinely, like she really means it; like she's really happy I'm here and I'm listening. She takes a deep breath and her narration continues.
"Flash back a couple of centuries and here we meet a vampire by the name of Angelus. Legend has it that Angelus was particularly barbaric. He and his sire, Darla, travelled all over Europe and wreaked havoc everywhere they went. Along the way, Angelus met a girl, Druscilla. She was a seer, she had prophetic visions and was thought by her family, and everyone else in her village, to be a complete nutter. But she wasn't… not yet. Angelus made her watch as he killed her entire family. He drove her completely mental and then he sired her." My mouth went dry. Vampires are dangerous enough to begin with, but what Angelus had created, it gave me chills just to think of it.
"You're right to be frightened." Emily tells me, "The body count left behind by Darla and Angelus increased tenfold. But people started to get angry. And their life of endless luxuries and endless bloodflow was replaced with a life of hiding in barns from angry villagers and having to cover up their kills. After a while, Druscilla longs for companionship like that between Darla and Angelus. And she meets William. As a human, William was small, weak, and pathetic; but as a vampire, he soon became almost as brutal and twisted as Angelus. He was known for torturing his victims by running a railroad spike through their skulls. He came to be called 'Spike' because of this. That name still follows him around, today. Buffy has met them all. But more spectacular than how horrible they all were, is how good Spike and Angelus became." I look at Emily like she's insane. A good vampire? I mean, sure, I've read Twilight, but those tossers are about as much real vampires as I am a celebrity chef. And me? Not famous. And I can't cook to save my life. Seriously, never eat my cooking. Sometimes it looks good, but don't be fooled. If you can get past the taste to swallow it you'll find it's not digestable. Just… Ok, focus, Naomi. Emily smiles at me.
"Where did you go?" she asks when my eyes meet hers again.
"Well, I ended up in the land where I can't cook. And seriously, Em, do not ever eat my cooking." She chuckles and I continue, "But I was led down that road by the concept of good vampires and the unlikelihood that they sparkle in the sunlight." Emily scoffs.
"Please tell me you do not like those books." She says. I shake my head.
"I was able to get past the ludicrous idea of the vampires long enough to enjoy the love story, before I was hit with the slayer gig. But no, after meeting a few vampires for myself, those books are bollocks." Emily smiles and nods her agreement.
"Immunity to crazed fangirling; we few, we happy few." She muses and I giggle.
"So these vamps, they're still alive, then?" I ask her and she perks up into attention.
"Right, I was telling a story." She jokes and jumps back into her groove, "So one day, Angelus goes on a hunt, and attacks a gypsy girl. But not just any gypsy girl; she just so happened to be the most beloved of her tribe. And so Angelus was punished. The tribe's priestess put a curse on him. She restored his soul. For Angelus this was the worst punishment imaginable. All the horrible things he'd done, he now felt all of them. He was faced with unimaginable guilt. He couldn't feed anymore. He couldn't stand to hurt anyone. He was shunned by his companions. He tried to live a normal life, alone, but it didn't work. He would hurt someone by accident. It happened more and more. So he became reclusive. He ended up hiding in the shadows in alleyways, surviving on the blood of rats that came close enough. Supposedly, one day he met someone who helped him. And so then he met Buffy and where his life had been about running from the guilt, it became about redemption. And he joined our side, changed his name to Angel, helped Buffy, and they fell in love." My eyebrows shot up for that one. A slayer and a vampire, in love, it's odd, to say the least. Emily smiles at me.
"I told you." She said, "Buffy was destined to shake things up." I nod in agreement.
"Well what about the other ones?" I ask and she points a finger at me, as if to say: 'quick one, aren't you?'
"Without Angel, Darla went back to be with her sire, who ironically, is The Master." Emily tells me.
"Small world." I comment and she nods.
"Druscilla and Spike had each other and one day they decided to come back to Sunnydale, which brings me back to the story." I had been listening intently the whole time, yet my ears perked up that little bit more.
"I don't know all the details for certain, but it's my understanding that Druscilla was ill. Ill how, I don't know, but Spike and Druscilla were in Sunnydale in search for a way to cure her. Kendra come into town in response to another mystical energy surge and she and Buffy end up fighting Spike and Druscilla together. In the end, Druscilla is recovered, Spike is mortally wounded, and Kendra is dead. Thus activating the third slayer from the same generation, Faith." I sigh and blink a few times, giving myself a moment to take in all of the information. Buffy really does have quite a story.
Emily seems to realize that I'm struggling to consume so much and gives me a sheepish smile.
"Hey, you know what." She says, "I'm starting your training tomorrow. What do you say we save the rest of it. It's a lot to take in and it's getting pretty late. We can finish up the story while we warm up." I frown a bit.
"Well how much story is left?" I ask.
"It's hard to say." She tells me, "but I'd say we're about halfway through." My eyes widen. We've been sitting her for at least three hours.
"Well what does our warm-up entail?" I ask her and she chuckles.
"A four mile run, scaling the side of the cast, dodging arrows shot at us by Satsu, sparring, weapons sparring, and lastly, meditation to prepare for the actual training." She tells me. Jesus Christ. If that's just the warm up, what the hell is the training going to be like? I'm about to open my mouth to ask just that and as soon as my lips part, Emily grins wickedly at me. I sigh.
"Right, lights out it is, then." I say and she chuckles.
"Don't worry, Naoms." She says as she walks toward the light switch and flips it off, "You're a slayer, now. All of that will feel no worse than a long hike and a game of football."
I shrug, forgetting that its dark now and she can't see me.
"I suppose you could be right." I tell her and then chuckle at the memory that falls into place. "You know I actually played football with Cook a few days ago. I elbowed him and cracked his rib. It wouldn't be funny except I hurt his pride more than his body. I tried to see if he was ok but he just kept shoving me away saying 'I'm a man, yeah?'
Emily bursts into giggles.
"Oh, isn't that just like a guy?" she says, "I will never understand them. Living with a bunch of women is in no way a drawback, in my book. Guys and me just don't click, except for a select few. Like Xander; my brother, James; and Andrew, but he doesn't really count. He's gay as a window."
"Emily, are you?" I always hate this question. You never really get a good reaction. People are always offended; either that you would suggest such a thing, or that you even have to ask.
"What? Gay?" Emily asks. I can hear the smirk in her voice. I nod and then remember, again, that its too dark for her to see me.
"Yeah." I say and she snorts.
"I'm ecstatic." She says and I burst into a fit of giggles to which Emily joins in.
"And you?" she asks after catching her breath, "Who is lucky enough to be awarded the love of the effortless beauty that is Naomi Campbell?"
My breath catches at her words and suddenly my cheeks feel hot. Was that flirting? If that was flirting, that is by far the most effective flirting I've ever experienced.
"I err…" I try to reply with shaky breath, "I don't know." I tell her, honestly. I mean, sure I've shagged before, guys and girls, actually. But I've never really have feelings for someone. Not real feelings. And truthfully, the sex I've had hasn't been very satisfying.
I feel Emily shift from where she has been sitting at the end of the bed and soon she has crawled under the covers and is sitting next to me. I feel her lean in, close.
"Well, I would consider myself lucky." She whispers into my ear before softly kissing my cheek and scooting down to lay her head on her pillow. "Goodnight, Naomi." She says.
My head is spinning and my skin is burning where her lips touched my cheek. I take a few deep breaths in an attempt to compose myself.
"G-goodnight." I stutter out and scoot down as well. I turn away from Emily and curl into a tight ball, breathing deeply to try and calm my sporadically beating heart. After a while, sleep comes, and tonight, I would dream in red.