Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, Saban, Joss Whedon, and JK Rowling are the masterminds. I just have ideas and a laptop.
A/N: Sorry it has taken so long to post these, editing and such has been tough with work piling up. Thanks for your patience, and a special thanks to Ghostwriter, who has continually encouraged and given feedback, in spite of how long everything takes to post! I hope you all continue to enjoy the story, and feel free to ask questions along the way... I'm kind of mixing four universes together (Yes, FOUR), culminating in a final act that I'm currently writing... muahahaha.
Chapter 8
*Sunnydale High School – Library*
It was the middle of March, and though Senior Year was beginning to wrap up, Buffy and the rest of the scoobies were continuing to meet, as the amount of 'peculiar things' seemed to mount by the day. Buffy finally decided she needed to bring up this Trickster fellow that Angel had told her about. Though she didn't want to reveal it was Angel who knew about him, considering the strained relationship he had with everyone else. What would Giles, Xander, or the others think if they found out he was still alive. "Good morning Buffy," Giles said as she walked through the doors of the library, but she walked up towards him with a very clear sense of purpose.
"Giles, I need to know who the Trickster is," she replied.
"The Trickster?" Giles asked. "Who or what on earth is it, and how did you hear about it?"
"I... um, got it off a vamp while patrolling last night," she half-lied. She still hadn't told her the gang about Angel being back. "Seemed like it could be a major big bad. Wanted to start doing some research."
"Research?" Willow asked as she, Oz, and Xander walked through the doors.
"Count us in!" Xander affirmed.
"What are we researching?" Oz asked.
"Guy who goes by the name 'Trickster,'" Buffy responded.
"Trickster?" Xander asked. "What kind of name is that?"
"As ridiculous as it might sound, this is important," Buffy replied.
"Any ideas of where to start looking?" Willow asked. Buffy waited, wondering if she should divulge all of what she knew, or if she should let them have a little more time before she dropped the Angel bomb on them.
"Believe it or not, I think we need to look at Acathla," she answered. "I was near there last night, and they seemed to be interested in it."
"Vampires interested in a deactivated demon?" Giles questioned.
"I'm just telling you what I heard and where I was," Buffy fibbed again.
"All right, Xander and Oz, you guys find the book on Acathla, I'll look pull up some files on the computer and see if we can figure anything out on this guy," Willow replied.
As they began to move, the doors opened again to reveal a man that none of them had ever met before, dressed in a black suit, his blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, and walked with a very distinct black cane.
"Can I help you?" Giles asked as the man approached.
"Yes, I'm looking for Faith Lehane," the man replied.
"She's not here, can I ask why you're looking for her?" Buffy asked with suspicion.
"You must be Buffy, I've heard much about you," the man replied. "My name is Lucius, I'm with the watcher's council and am now her official watcher."
"Come again?" Buffy asked.
"I wasn't informed of a new watcher coming to town," Giles replied.
"The watcher's council felt it was unnecessary to send you any notification," Malfoy replied coolly. "Now... where's Faith?" Just as he asked, Faith happened to walk into the library, though she didn't seem very lively.
"Sorry I'm late, had a long night patro..." Faith said as she walked through the doors of the library, stopping in her tracks when she saw the long-blonde haired man standing alongside Buffy and Giles, while the others were hard at work doing research. "Who are you?"
"I," Lucius began, planting his patented black cane down on the floor as he walked towards her. "am your new watcher."
"New watcher?" Faith asked.
"New watcher," the rest of the scoobies echoed.
"What's wrong, Giles isn't enough for the two of us?"
"My dear," Lucius grinned. "It has nothing to do with that. The council just feels that you need more specialized training, training that you couldn't get from an old-fashioned librarian," he sneered. Giles merely looked down.
"I'm sorry, but last time I checked, this was his domain, not yours," Buffy said, anger starting to flare.
"My apologies, I mean nothing other than I was tasked to suit Faith's abilities."
"And what are you going to do that Giles can't?" Faith questioned. "I'm stronger, faster, and more powerful than you could ever dream. All you've got is that stupid walking stick." Lucius merely grinned at her assertion.
"Actually, I can show you things that you wouldn't dare dream of," he replied. "Meet me after your classes, and I'll show you what I mean." Faith was puzzled, but chose not to argue, and merely left, Lucius following suit, receiving a glare from both Buffy and Giles. As he left, Buffy turned to Giles.
"What do we do?" Buffy asked.
"First things first, I'm calling the council to make sure he's actually a watcher," Giles said. As Giles went to the phone, Buffy sat down at the table with Oz, Xander, and Willow, who were clearly frustrated by their lack of progress. Granted, it hadn't been too long since they started looking, but then again, Willow was normally a whiz at this stuff.
"Nothing?" Buffy asked.
"Not really... I've got something on vengeance demons though, apparently they like to play tricks on people," Xander answered. "Certainly wouldn't want to cross their paths."
"I can't get through," Giles said from the other room. He re-entered the main part of the library, clearly frustrated. "I don't understand, normally it's fairly easy to get in contact with the council, but for some reason their lines are completely down."
"I don't like this," Oz said.
"Me neither," Xander confirmed.
"Well then, maybe it's time for spyage," Buffy said. "I'll follow him at a distance, see if I can figure out who this guy is."
"Just be careful," Giles said.
"I will." She wandered out the library and looked to find the mysterious Lucius, but as she continued to search, she was more and more confident that she was not going to find him. Classes ended, and madness ensued with students getting out and running toward the exits to leave for the day. As she looked and looked, neither Lucius nor Faith were anywhere to be found. She went outside of the school grounds, scouring the perimeter, but still saw nothing.
Meanwhile, Faith had seen the mysterious new watcher, who motioned her to follow him. Not much was said between them, other than that a brief question between them, to which Lucius merely told her to wait, and that he would explain everything. They approached the edge of the wood, and then Lucius stopped, Faith also halting, but confused by this. "Why are we stopping?" She asked.
"To show you what I want to show, I must wait for the sun to go down," Lucius stated firmly.
"Why should I trust you?" Faith asked, suddenly very wary of her companion. However, Lucius merely shot her a sly grin.
"You must have 'Faith,'" he quipped. "Things aren't as they seem, my dear."
"What do you mean?"
"There are multiple reasons why the council sent me, one of which was to make sure you were trained. However, they also wanted me to make sure that Rupert and Buffy were actually on our side. I stumbled onto something a few nights ago, and I think you'd want to see it as well."
"You mean, you think B and Giles are actually on the take with some demon?"
"I don't know about on the 'take,' but I think it's clear that Miss Summers is hiding something from you... from us that is." They waited for a few hours, mostly in silence, until the sun began to set. "Let's go."
Back at the school, Buffy burst through the doors while the scoobies continued to find nothing on this 'Trickster.' She looked to her friends, only to see their blank stares, knowing that they still hadn't found anything.
"Did you find Faith or the new watcher?" Willow asked.
"Nowhere to be found," Buffy replied.
"We might want to find them, and fast," Giles said, finally emerging from his small office behind the check-out counter. "I just got off the phone with the Watcher's Council. They sent no one here, certainly no one by the name of Lucius."
"What do you think Lucius wants with her?" Xander asked.
"I don't know," Buffy replied.
"Wait... Buffy, you mentioned something about Acathla earlier," Giles started. "Maybe he's after it?"
"Maybe... or maybe he's after Ang..." Buffy realized she had just been caught... her secret was no longer safe from a group of people who were deeply hurt and angry at her former lover.
"Angel?" Xander asked, suddenly getting up from his chair and walking over towards the slayer. "What about Angel?"
"He's alive... well, as alive as a vampire can be," Buffy confessed. "That's why I asked about Acathla... it spit him out. He was supposed to be sent to a hell dimension, and instead he was confronted by someone named the 'Trickster.'"
"Were you going to tell us?" Giles asked, his tone indicating his waffling between anger, hurt, and mistrust.
"Eventually..." Buffy said, ashamed that she had been lying to them.
"Look, I don't like the fact that Buffy lied to us, but we need to get over it, otherwise Faith AND Angel could be in a lot of trouble," Willow said as she and Oz got up out of their chairs. "We need to go and make sure they end up ok."
"Yeah... what if Lucius is trying to get Angel to have is happy moment again, this time with Faith," Xander said.
"That's not going to happen," Buffy argued.
"How do you know?" Xander argued back.
"Because Faith isn't me!" She said defiantly. "Look, Xander. We need to go to them for Faith's sake and for Angel's sake."
"Fine," he agreed reluctantly. "But for the record, if he so much as looks at me funny, I'm staking him."
"You guys stay here," Buffy said to Giles, Willow, and Oz, ignoring Xander's comment. "We'll go find them." Indicating that she would bring Xander with her. They abruptly left, leaving the library silent as they left it. They rushed towards the edge of the woods outside of the school, hoping that they hadn't made it yet to Angel's new home. However, though they had not yet arrived, Faith and Lucius had all ready made their way to the ensouled vampire's domain.
"I don't get it... Buffy said he was dead," Faith said.
"Of course she did... that's why the council sent me," Lucius lied. "We expected that they were hiding something from us. And from you."
"Should've figured... someone that wound up, afraid to be caught. All for some undead boy toy. Guess I should slay him, and then confront her." Lucius grinned at her assertion, but turned his head so she wouldn't see it.
"I think that would be most beneficial," Lucius agreed. They entered together seeing the chains left on a part of the wall, but no sign of the vampire himself. "He was chained here before... I wonder where he could be?"
"You know, if you were really a watcher," a voice said behind them. They turned to see Angel, clad in a black button down shirt and black pants. "You would know that vampires have pretty decent hearing."
"Faith, kill him," Lucius ordered.
"So... you're the big bad Angel, the one that tore Buffy apart," Faith taunted, walking closer to him.
"I'm different, and I don't want to hurt you," Angel replied.
"Oh... you won't hurt me, but I'll hurt you," she said, and then struck Angel in the temple with her elbow. Immediately, his face shifted into his demonic face, and then blocked her next strike, and countered with a kick to the mid-section, sending the young slayer to the ground. However, she cackled as she picked herself up from the ground. "You've got some spunk, I like that." She charged at him, but he side-stepped her. However, she used her momentum to kick-off the wall and spun into a roundhouse kick, which caught Angel on his cheekbone. He staggered backwards, giving Faith the opportunity to land some hard punches and elbows, ultimately knocking him to the floor. "Man... what did B ever see in you?" Faith asked. "You're much weaker than I expected. Oh well, guess I'll have to just end your misery." She grabbed a stake, but before she could plunge it into his chest, a kick to her face sent her backwards, landing with a thud on the floor.
"Get away from him," Buffy said sternly. She turned to see Lucius bolting, and motioned Xander to follow him, who obliged.
"Here to save the day, B?" Faith taunted. "Here to save your precious boy toy?"
"It's not like that, Faith."
"Oh yeah? Why'd you keep him a secret then? Why did you, and Xander, and Giles keep me in the dark?"
"I kept everyone in the dark!" Buffy shouted. "No one knew but me."
"Sure," Faith said skeptically. "It burns you that there's another slayer, doesn't it? I'm taking everything from you, and you can't stand it, can you B?"
"The only thing that burns me, F, is that you were the one who is the slayer, and not someone who's actually worthy of that title." The girls began to battle, Angel still lying on the ground, woozy from the shots he took from Faith. Outside, Xander ran after Lucius, but what was odd was that when Xander saw him, he had stopped.
"Look, I don't know who you really are, or what you're up to, but you're going to lose pal," Xander said.
"You have no idea what you're up against," Lucius said, choosing at this point to turn and face his pursuer. "You think a couple of teenaged slayers are going to stop what's coming to you?" Lucius paused, and smirked at the young man. "You see, I'm merely here to have my revenge, but the one who I've joined forces with for a time... well, you don't stand a chance."
"And who is that?" Xander questioned.
"Why... your own Mayor. But you don't have to worry about that, because you're not going to be around when he ascends."
"What do you mean, ascends? And why won't I be around?" He asked defensively, getting into a fighting stance.
"Because... you're going to be working for me," Lucius said, slowly drawing his wand.
"Fat chance."
"Oh... I think you'll see things from my perspective rather shortly. It's funny... your watcher and your best friend dabble in magic... they have no idea what it's like to have it coarse through their veins... you see, if I wanted, you wall would be dead within the next minute. Instead, I merely wish to use you."
"Like I said, fat chan..."
"IMPERIO!" Lucius flicked his wand, and the beam struck Xander. "My... dear boy. You shall go to the town of Angel Grove... and you shall capture one Kimberly Hart and bring her to me."
"Consider it done," Xander responded, his eyes glazed over.
To Be continued...
Xander is under the control of Lucius, Faith is losing control, the scoobies are against each other, and the plans of the menacing Mayor are still yet to unfold! And what of this Trickster? Who is he? And what of our former rangers? Stay tuned, as all will be revealed as Whispers in the Dark continues!
Thanks for reading, please remember to review! :-) (Constructive feedback is also very welcomed)
- Googz333