A/N: Well, the updating bug has bitten and I've been trying update even though some of the chapters for other stories are short. this is still probably the top story with a story on Fanfic being 2 and toysoldiers being 3. As you'll start to notice since we have so many characters, you'll start seeing chapters broken down into different people associating with each other. Enjoy
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Buffy was minding her own business heading up to her suite in the hotel when one of the little creatures Snape and Hermione had called House Elves blinked into existence right next to her in the elevator. She shrieked a little and bumped her head when she jerked back and pulled Mr. Pointy.
"Me's is sorrys Miss Buffys," the little creature said pulling its ears. Buffy looked at it a bit more closely. It was sort of cute.
"No need to be sorry. Just be careful, I don't want you getting hurt because everyone's so touchy these days."
"Mopsy will remember," her big eyes widened even further and she nodded her head in an exaggerated fashion. "Mopsy wondering if Miss Buffys wanted Mopsy, Tinky, Dobby, Winky, Poppy, Ryno, Philo and Jakers to expands the big-big metal gate alls arounds the property? Makes it bigger so we can make a garden and stinkies peoples won't tramps through gardens ruining them, Tinky loves gardens, and we can brings in more animals, big moomoo animals and baabaa animals and oinkoink animals… Oh, is Mopsys thinking too much? Bad Mopsy! Mopsy can stick her feets in the waffle iron!"
Buffy's eyes bugged out. "No! Mopsy, here is a rule for all you House Elves. Not one of you is allowed to hurt yourselves. If anyone tells you to hurt yourself, then I want you to come to me, tell me who told you to do so, and we will determine the best punishment. All right? None of you are to injure yourselves in any way.
The House Elf looked hesitant, but finally agreed.
"Now, about the gate. Can you all really do that? And I love the idea of making everything bigger and gated to keep the zombies out. "
"Oh, Yes Miss Buffys. We can do lots of things."
"Cool then yes, we would love for you to build a gate to make sure to keep all the zombies out of this here sanctuary."
"Anythings for yous Miss Buffys, yous our hero… yous didn't have to take us with you when you left that world, but yous did."
"Mopsy, you don't really know me, or you'd know I didn't have a choice. So, someone told me you guys freak out about clothes?"
"If the master gives us clothing it means they no longer wants us."
"Well, I'm going to get a lot of clothing, which will just happen to be in all your sizes, and we're not giving them to you, but you all will certainly be welcome to them if you'd like them." Seeing the little elf look nervous, Buffy crouched down. "Mopsy, I swear to you, with or without clothing I will always take care of you and the other house elves, all of you. Always. We like clothes. Us girls we like to shop. That's why it's strange for us that you don't like them. Shopping is like an art. So, like I said, they'll be there. Wear them or don't wear them. We'll still love you and you can stay with the Scoobies forever."
Mopsy looked at Buffy, the little elf's mouth trembling, and suddenly her little arms were wrapped around the blonde's neck and they were hugging. "Thank yous Miss Buffys. I goes to gets the others to start on the gate."
**
Kasumi sat on the roof or the hotel watching as the unicorns and centaurs moved about within the tree-line while the house-elves were in a group talking about something. Some of the zombies were actually moving into the water of the moat. That was not a good sign. They had hoped that the water would deter the creatures. It had, in fact, done so for a time. She began to take aim with the rifle in her hands when one of the house-elves turned from the group, pointed a finger and the creature imploded and burned into nothing. "Well, that certainly cuts down on ammunition use," she murmured.
"You know, they say you're crazy when you start talking to yourself," Sam Winchester said as he took a seat next to her.
Kasumi smiled slightly. "Then you have been crazy for a long time."
"True, very, very true," he laughed. "But you've seen my brother, I have a legitimate excuse. What are you doing up here? I thought it was Riley and Graham's watch."
"Graham is on the other side, watching the front gates, and I relieved Riley to spend some time with his lovely wife."
"That was very sweet of you."
"I was not trying to be sweet. I was in that vehicle for so long, and then we were under the mountain for two days. I need the open air."
"I heard there were horrible things going on beneath the mountain," Sam didn't make it a question.
Kasumi nodded slowly. "Yes, government men. They'd captured slayers, and even a few that they thought were slayers but were not. Some were hooked to the wall with these strange metal latches. Clear medical tubing inserted into their arms or necks. Empty bags attached to those tubes. None of those rooms were empty. Not one. And the only room that held anyone living was the room with the child slayer and the woman, Janet who'd been brought to our reality against her will."
"There was a time when we could trust the military… now they've just been absorbed under the role of government."
They were both silent for a moment, and then the elves broke out of the group and began moving into the woods. One of the unicorns moved forward to drink from a clean trough of water some of the slayers had set out for them.
"Never in my life did I think to see so magnificent a creature," Kasumi whispered out. "They make my heart ache with their beauty."
"I can only imagine what other sorts of creatures they had in the Wizards' reality," Sam murmured.
"When I was young, I've never been much for anime but there was a movie called The Last Unicorn. She, this unicorn, lived in the forest, all by herself, thinking all the others were dead and gone. A butterfly came to her and sang of the unicorns being herded away by a horrible red bull ordered by his master, a crazy king. The unicorn went to find the others. She went through so many trials and tests. She even had to face the Red Bull. Such a brave unicorn. But in the end because of everything she'd gone through, she was different than the others."
"It sounds like your story," he told her.
"What do you mean?" She looked at him with puzzled eyes.
"You were princess to your people, but you were different and you knew you were. You had Ayane, but still… so you left your protected city, your forest to find more with gifts like yours, because your dreams, your butterfly, told you they were out there. And you went through trials and you tested yourself, and you faced a horrible demon, your red bull. And when you and Ayane killed it you were led to Buffy and Faith, and in turn all of us."
Kasumi looked at Sam, a tear falling from one eye. "How is it you see me so clearly Samuel Winchester?"
Sam didn't respond. Instead he slowly leaned in, and even as he watched, her eyes shuttered closed and she leaned closer, and finally their lips met in their first kiss.
**
The Glee kids were in the auditorium working on a song to perform for everyone when Mr. Schuester interrupted them. "Guys, I have some great news!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth Rachel began dreading what was coming next. "When the slayers, our very own Rachel and Brittany included, went to the hospital in New Jersey, there were some students from the New York High School for Performing Arts." There were five teenagers with Mr. Schue, and two women who appeared to either be teachers or chaperones. "This is Marco, Malik, Victor, Alice and Denise, and then their vocal teacher Ms. Rowan and their dance teacher Ms. Kraft."
Noticing that Rachel wasn't going to be saying a word any time soon, Finn stepped forward. "It's really great meeting you guys. What grades are you all in?"
"We're all juniors," Victor shared. "We all kinda got our own thing ya know?"
"Oh sure," Finn nodded. "Um, we're basically a show choir so we sing and we dance to the songs, but I'd say our dancing sort of lacks stuff. At least my dancing lacks some skill."
"Some of us can drop it hot," Santana said her nose in the air as she eyed down the snotty blonde across from her. "Myself, Brittany, Rachel, Quinn pre-pregnancy, Matt and Mike. And Artie can groove in that chair of his."
The Glee kids all let out a whoop to show kudos for Artie.
"I'm sure you do as well as you can," Alice sneered, but made sure her words were on the correct side of polite. "I was the best dancer at school since freshman year. I was invited to dance in Complexions."
"That gotcha real far," Mercedes said under her breath, causing a few snickers from her friends.
"Guys!" Will frowned. "What Ms. Kraft and Ms. Rowan and I were thinking was that until we get schedules figured out for training and school and other daily activities, we'd also put all of you together to create shows for everyone here."
"Your Director actually brought it up," Fran Rowan said. "He thought that perhaps entertainment might help lighten the atmosphere around here."
Finn looked over at his friends and even though Rachel looked like she might hit him with something sharp, and he realized that now it would seriously hurt him, he smiled at the teachers and responded, "I'm sure working together won't be difficult at all!" He chose to ignore Puck and Quinn's snorts.
**
Gibbs scowled as he sat in the infirmary portion of the hotel. The 'Scoobies' or whatever the hell they called themselves had really done a great job on getting this place set up. They kept calling it make-shift, but it damned near had anything and everything.
"I can assure you Special Agent Gibbs scowling at the laceration will not make it go away," the amused feminine voice caused his head to jerk up. She moved quietly.
"Makes everything else go away," he told the pretty woman with a chagrined look.
She switched on the lamp attached to the bed, pulling it closer and then put on latex gloves. "I'm Nancy Puckerman, you can call me Nancy or Nurse Puckerman. I'm afraid if you just shot out Puckerman you'll either get me, my son or my little girl," she told him and she pulled his arm closer for a look. She was average height, perhaps an inch shorter, with a great build, good curves, and thick dark hair that fell straight and down to her shoulder-blades.
"Your boy is dating Rachel Berry?"
A soft smile came to her face. She began to cleanse his wound but did it quickly, softly and efficiently. "Yes, he sure is. I never thought he'd settle down with a nice Jewish girl… heck I would have even just accepted nice girl without the Jewish… My Noah doesn't have the best reputation."
"What do you mean? If you don't mind my asking…"
"Noah's made some rather large mistakes. Some dealing with the girls he's dated, some dealing with the adult women he cleans pools for that just hired him for … other services," Nancy grimaced in her telling, but Gibbs was so intent on the story that he didn't even notice her deadening the area and beginning to stitch the wound. "Then he and his best friend's girl made a mistake, one that could have cost them so, so much. He and Quinn, Finn's girl, got drunk and slept together, and Quinn got pregnant. It was a whole nasty mess. Which is now straightened out. Those kids… God, somehow those kids had the strength to work it out on their own. Finn and Quinn are together and Noah and Rachel are together. And never have I seen him look at a girl the way he looks at her."
"I'm going to ask, and again, you can tell me to take a walk, but where's your husband, Noah and your daughter's father?"
"Sarah, my daughter's name is Sarah," she said giving him a soft smile. Here was a woman who loved her children. "Their father left when Sarah was an infant. He was abusive. Mainly to me, but the first time he laid a hand on my son I hit him with my best skillet and told him to get out and never come back. Noah was six, he thought he made his daddy leave and it took me a long time to get him to understand it was me who made his daddy leave." She took a step away from him. "There you are. All fixed up. Don't submerge that in water, and come see someone in about three weeks and we'll cut out the stitches for you."
**
The boy's crying was coming from the foyer. It was attracting a lot of attention. People were moving towards the sound
"I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean ta," the boy tried to apologize again.
"Shut up!" The man roared. "You're useless! Can't do nothin' right!" He moved forward and kicked the boy again.
That was the sight that everyone coming into view of the foyer caught. Fred Karofsky kicking Tommy Karofsky so hard the boy slid across the floor.
"Leave him alone!" Dave Karofsky, the only one big enough to pose a threat, ran forward putting himself between his father and his brother. "Don't you dare touch him!"
Fred lashed out, catching Dave right across the jaw and mouth, causing blood to fly. "Don't you tell me what I can and can't do you little pussy!" And then he hit his eldest son a second time, again closed fist doing as much damage to the teen as possible.
A figure dropped down from the top of the stairs landing in between Fred and Dave. Faith stood up to her full height, which was almost a full foot shorter than both men, but she didn't care, she was furious. "You think you're a big man, huh? Well, big man, why don't you try punchin' someone that can take a hit? Go on, hit me!"
People were now lining the stairway and entries. Sam Axe had moved forward picking the little boy up and moving him towards the infirmary. Dave still stood behind Faith, not exactly knowing what was happening. Finally, Fred lashed out, punching Faith in the face, her head moving to the side with the force, but her body remaining motionless.
"That it? That all you got? I'll give ya another try, come on, put some force into it," she jabbed at him, and he slammed his fist into the other side of her face. "Wow, and see, here I was worried I'd have to rely on my slayer healing to get over this… geez, and you called the kid a pussy?" While Faith spoke the Glee club with Rachel, Brittany, Puck and Finn in the middle, moved to stand in front of Dave.
This time he yelled, infuriated by her insults and slammed his fist outward heading towards her stomach. "Uh, uh, uh," she taunted, stopping his large fist with her small hand. She began squeezing and the snap of bone was audible. He began to keen in pain. Faith let go of his hand and grabbed him by his collar. She brought his face close to hers, her lips curled in fury and disgust, "You listen real careful. You touch anyone in this place EVER again with the intent to harm, you'll get more than what you're about to get. Nobody touches kids." She dropped him and then bitch-slapped him, which sent him three feet back into the wall.
Faith stood quietly for a moment, trying to control the rage. It brought back far too many memories of her own childhood. "I'll be in the bar."
Everyone watched as she moved quickly and silently out of the foyer.
Fred managed to stand up and face the teens in front of him. His son behind the row of kids. "Pathetic," he spit out blood.
Rachel and Brittany stepped forward. "We're slayers," Rachel said calmly. "Would you like us to show you pathetic?" He paled at her words. "Dave and Tommy, they're not only under Faith's protection, I just wanted to make that crystal clear to you."
Brittany nodded. "I don't like you," she said easily. "You have really weird eyebrows and you're like rude to everybody."
**
Draco saw Hermione sitting alone in what the Earth Witch, Willow, had called the sun-room. His mother would have probably called it the solarium, he supposed when it came straight to it, they were both the same thing. She was sitting on a cushioned lounge, her hands on her extended belly and seemed to be resting with the warm sun shining down on her. That was another change from home. In Scotland, at school it seemed to always rain or always be overcast. Seeing how peaceful she was he decided to leave her alone, and began to leave.
"What did you need, Draco?" her soft voice stopped him.
"I was just checking on you, making sure you were all right," he told her as he moved back into the room and over to where she didn't have to strain her neck to see him.
"I'm fine. Just enjoying the sun. It's so warm here. I get so tired you know…" she blinked and seemed lost in thought for a few moments. Then she smiled. "There are three other pregnant girls here. Samantha is in her mid twenties and she and her husband are only about six or seven weeks pregnant, and Anita is probably six months or so, I can't quite remember, and Quinn, she's our age, she's five months. And they have an Obstetrician and a Pediatrician."
"That's… good, right?" Draco was confused.
"It's very good." She smiled, but then her smile went to one of soft understanding. "Draco, you do not need to always check up on me. None of what happened is your fault."
Draco walked directly to the windows and stared down at the centaurs romping. "But it is my fault, isn't it."
"No."
"Crabbe and Goyle, my friends, took you and the Wea… Weasley to the Dark Lord. I couldn't stop it. I just sat there and watched as The Dark Lord crucioed him and then you. I just watched as Grayback ripped Ron's throat out," Draco's throat was clogged with emotion he wasn't used to. "I tried to get you out of there before anything more happened to you, but…"
Hermione had stood and moved to the boy who had risked his life to save her own. She had spent several years hating Draco and Lucius Malfoy for their hateful words and hateful actions, only to find out later that they, along with Professor Snape were spies for the Order of the Phoenix. She hadn't been blind to his pain on seeing them tortured. She hadn't been blind, even through her own grief, to his pain when Fenrir Grayback viciously killed Ron. And he had tried to get her out before anything more happened to her.
He had succeeded in getting her out before death. He hadn't succeeded in getting her out before The Dark Lord had ordered Crabbe and Goyle to rape her. Draco had arrived directly after the deed. His fury had been something Hermione had never seen before; not even directed at Harry. He'd killed the two boys she'd always thought of as his shadows; killed them without thought, and he'd wrapped a sheet around her and carried her out.
"Draco, you tried your best. That's all a person could ask. I don't blame you for what happened. No one blames you for what happened. And… you avenged my honor. You killed the two who hurt me, and Buffy killed the one who ordered it. Now it's just time to move forward."
"How can you?" he asked, his eyes trailing to her belly.
"Because this is MY baby, and this baby will learn about love and kindness, and this baby will have a million good people to learn from. Including his Uncle Draco." She felt good when she saw the hint of a smile on Draco's face. "Now, go be snarky and rude to someone, you'll feel much better."
**