Author's Note: Read this, then look back at the very beginning of Happy Endings. You can really see Seo's expectations playing out there, and the sad reality in harsh juxtaposition.

Enjoy!

"So we can actually win?" said Alison, chasing after Seo, as they raced through the halls of Sunnydale High. "Get your aunt back?"

"He said he'd leave her to her fate," said Seo. "Never clarified if that fate was as a doll or a real person."

"And how do we win the game?" Alison asked. "What do we do?"

"Easy!" said Seo, bursting through the library. "We find and get rid of Sergeant Duckie."

Giles looked up from his research book. Cleaned his glasses, blinking at Seo in alarm. "You… wish to seek out Sergeant Duckie? Only the two of you, while he's still this well-defended, and has an army at his side?"

"Yep!" said Seo, beaming.

Giles' jaw dropped open. "But… you'll be killed," he insisted. "Torn apart!"

"Nah," said Seo, clasping her hands behind her back and bouncing on her toes. She glanced up at the ceiling. "Pretty sure someone up there isn't about to let that happen." She winked at Alison. "Might have a vested interest in keeping me alive to play the next game."

"And the moment you play that game, he's going to kill you!" Alison hissed.

"I'm working on that bit!" Seo hissed back. "It's a whole game away. I've got time."

Giles got up from his chair. Turning to face Seo and Alison. "And just how do you propose to find Sergeant Duckie?" he asked. "The most cunning, most dangerous vampire alive? With not one — but two hearts through which you must stake him?"

"Two hearts?" Alison whispered to Seo.

"I was a very lonely kid," Seo explained.

"None of the books in this library even has a picture of Sergeant Duckie!" said Giles, picking up a book and waggling it in Seo's face. "No one who's seen him remains alive long enough to tell of it. How would you even recognize him?"

Seo sighed. "He's a giant stuffed duck with vampire fangs," she said. "I think I'll work it out."

The missing bits of information as to Sergeant Duckie's whereabouts came, quite conveniently, from Angel. Who'd just sprung up into their lives, suddenly loaded down with details.

"And we have to go tonight," Angel said. "He'll be weakest tonight. Our best time to take him out."

"Sounds like the Toymaker's feeling a bit impatient," muttered Alison.

Seo grabbed up Angel by the arm. "In that case, you're coming with us!"

"What?" said Alison. "Why? He's not even real!"

"I told you, my childhood imagination couldn't work Angel out!" Seo called back, tugging Angel out the door. "He's got all sorts of superpowers he shouldn't have, as a result."

The next jump-cut flashed them into the evening, in the middle of exploring a cave in the hills outside Sunnydale. Angel in front, his skin glowing, and illuminating the walls.

Glowing?!

"Radioactive?" Alison guessed.

Seo gave a small laugh. "That's 'soul-light' he's emitting," she said. Shrugged. "Child's imagination. It doesn't have to make sense."

They arrived, in a huge opening of the cave, to discover a cavern filled with Sergeant Duckie's vampire army. All lying on the ground, groaning, their skin broken out in gigantic boils.

"Vampire plague," Angel whispered. "Struck them all down." He glanced back at Seo and Alison. "Someone up there must really like you, Buffy."

Alison scoffed. "Wouldn't use the word 'like'."

"Why aren't you affected?" Seo asked Angel.

Angel stared at her, surprised she'd even have to ask. "Your Slayer powers are protecting me, of course," he said. "Didn't you know that?"

Seo looked down at the ground. "Right. Forgot about that one."

"Slayer powers include immunizing people from diseases?" Alison asked.

"Of course," Angel said. "Why wouldn't they?"

Alison raised her eyebrows.

"I was shot with a poisoned arrow, once," Angel explained. "But Buffy cured me, using the power of her mind. Because I am Buffy's dearest friend who's a boy, and I love her. And she loves me."

Alison looked back at Seo, who was staring at the ground, her cheeks going red.

Clearly, little-kid Seo hadn't quite worked out what Angel being Buffy's 'boyfriend' actually meant.

"Buffy does anything for her friends and family," Angel continued. "She does everything for them. Because that's the kind of person she is. Someone who loves the people around her so much, she'll do anything to make them happy and safe."

"Because that's what you have to do, when you have superpowers that can wipe out entire worlds," said Seo, very quietly. "You have to love everyone around you. Save them from the monsters. Or they'll all go away, and you'll wind up with nothing. Alone."

Angel nodded. "And Buffy never did that," he said. "Because she was brave. She was heroic. She was clever and confident and never afraid to do what was right. She had a lot of strength, just like you, and I'm sure she was tempted to bite and hurt and kick when she didn't get what she wanted, but she knew it'd hurt the people and the world she loved, so she never did. And because of that, people remember her and love her a long time into the future. Across all of time and space." Angel leaned down, staring right into Seo's eyes. "And maybe, someday, Buffy will walk down the street, and see a little girl…"

"…named Seo…" Seo whispered.

"…and she'll pick that little girl up, and hug her, and tell her she's brilliant," Angel said, "and love that little girl more than anything. Because that little Seo is going to be a hero, someday…"

"…just like Buffy," Seo concluded.

Alison looked between the two of them. Noted the hints of tears in Seo's eyes.

"Your dad?" Alison asked, very softly.

Seo nodded. "Said things like that a lot." She hugged her arms. "Said… someday… I'd get out. Into the real world. And be a hero."

And here she was. All grown up.

Setting out into the universe, to become the hero she'd dreamed of being as a little girl.

"I always wanted to be like Buffy," said Seo. Her voice shaking, a little. "Even before I knew she was my mom. She… was just… perfect. Couldn't make a mistake. Couldn't do any wrong. So full of love and brilliance." She shrugged. "Maybe inside… I'm still just that same lonely little girl who'd do anything to make Mom proud of me."

"But she is," Alison assured her.

"Is she?" asked Seo. She shook her head, a little. "Look what I just did, here. Being stubborn and refusing to do my homework — and getting my aunt turned into a wooden doll, because of it. Facing down the Celestial Toymaker and being terrified because I'm frantically trying to think up a plan to trick him before he turns me into a doll, and I don't have one. Being faced with the chance to save my father, and wanting to run away because I'm scared."

"And still staying anyways," Alison pointed out. "Despite that."

"But I can't think like that!" Seo cried. "Does my father freak out when the universe is about to end and he doesn't know what to do? Did Mom ever have her whole brain go blank, while hunting down all those Big Bads in Sunnydale, just because she thought she could lose everyone she cared about forever, and couldn't deal with the pressure?"

Alison laughed. "Seo, I've seen both of them do those things more times than I can count," she said. "And you don't need to threaten the universe to make the Doctor flip out. Just tell him he has a message from the Time Lord High Council."

Seo's brow creased.

"He thought I was sent to the 70's by the Time Lords," Alison explained. "Massive break-down on his part. Kept going on at me about how I was an ignorant little child who couldn't do anything." Crossed her arms. "So I told him exactly where he could shove his hysteria, and we became fast friends."

Laughter leaked through Seo's lips. Then she turned, and threw her arms around Alison, hugging her tightly. "I missed you."

"Same," Alison muttered back.

Seo pulled out of the hug. Then turned, and raced off. "Come on! We have to defeat Sergeant Duckie."