Author's Note: I can't speak for any other Californians out there, but I was shocked, when I went to college, that February is really, REALLY cold! I mean, I'd just assumed December was the coldest month, but February was freezing!

I returned to California and thought, "Well, at least February won't be cold anymore. No more snow and ice and stuff!"

And wound up in South Lake Tahoe.

Sigh.

Funny how life turns out.

Anyways, enjoy! Happy Halloween!

Sergeant Duckie, as it turned out, was a Beanie Baby.

In fact, Alison was pretty sure she'd had that exact Beanie Baby when she was small. A little duckling, yellow and adorable-looking, his tag labeling him as Quackers. Except that Sergeant Duckie had an army-helmet on his head, and paper vampire fangs glued onto his beak.

And he looked a lot paler, at the moment, than he really should.

"Slayer," said Sergeant Duckie. Raising a wing at her. "You have caught me during the Eve of Wooshine Flooshine, when I'm too weak to defend myself."

Seo buried her face in her hands. "Eve of Wooshine Flooshine," she muttered. "Brilliant." She looked back up at him. "That's supposed to be in February, you know. Middle of winter?"

"It is February!" snapped Sergeant Duckie. "This is California, remember? February isn't cold in California."

"Or you just pulled the Wooshine Flooshine bit out of my mind because you were a bit too eager to end the game," Seo suggested. "And then pretended it had always been February." She quirked an eyebrow. "After all. Little-kid-me wouldn't know about California seasons."

Sergeant Duckie shot them an angry glare. "Look, stop being a smart aleck. Just kill me and end the game, already. The Toymaker's angry enough at you two as it is."

Angel grabbed up a sword and charged towards Sergeant Duckie, ready to deliver the killing blow, but Seo threw him back against the far wall.

Very hard.

"That wasn't nice!" said Alison.

"His son was a sentient dimension who wound up inside my head, trying to convince me to kill myself for 98 years," said Seo. "I think I've got the right to rough him up, a little." She marched up to Sergeant Duckie, Angel's sword in her hand. Stood beside him, looking down at him. "So. You're defenseless. Vulnerable. Unable to fight back."

"Yes," said Sergeant Duckie. "And perfectly set up for you to kill me."

Seo laughed. Thrust her sword into the ground. "Nice try. But I don't think so."

Sergeant Duckie seethed. "What?!"

"Oh, you didn't think I'd fall for that, did you?" Seo asked. She gestured around herself. "This is my childhood game. The one Dad played with me to teach me moral values."

"Moral values like… not killing someone who's defenseless?" Alison guessed.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Seo agreed. She grinned at Sergeant Duckie. "Kill you, and I lose the game."

"Let me live, and I'll hunt down your friends and murder them all, one by one," Sergeant Duckie quacked at her.

Seo paced around Sergeant Duckie, slowly. Giving a small sigh. "Oh, Sergeant Duckie," she said. "I used to talk to you while I created bombs and things to try to break out of the Axis. Used to bring you along as my sidekick every time I did something that went against Dad's rules." She looked on at him, a little nostalgically. "You were my villain. And I loved you."

Sergeant Duckie quacked in annoyance.

"But I'm a hundred years old, now," Seo said, very quietly. "Lived through things you couldn't believe. Met people — real people — a thousand times more wonderful than my imagination. And villains a thousand times scarier." Shoved her hands into her pockets. "And Mom didn't hug me the moment she met me. She locked me in a room, told me I was evil, and held a knife to my throat."

"Just finish the game already!" Sergeant Duckie shouted at her.

"My point is… I don't think I'm ever going to be the hero I wanted to be, when I was a kid," said Seo. "But then, I suppose a lot of things aren't exactly the way I thought they'd be, as a kid. Like Angel." She paused by the wall where she'd flung him, and raised him up. Turning back to Sergeant Duckie. "See, thing is, I knew there was something odd about Angel, temporally speaking. But I never actually knew what. So… I made it up."

Seo grinned.

Then she shook Angel, gently. He groaned, and came to. Staring at her. "Buffy?"

"Angel," said Seo. She nodded back at Sergeant Duckie. "Think you can seal him in a temporal dead-end timeline for me?"

"Of course," said Angel, getting to his feet. "That's one of my obviously defined abilities, as a temporally odd vampire. Who has a soul. And is healed by the power of Buffy."

And with a blast of power from Angel's hands, Sergeant Duckie screamed, and was sent away into a temporally sealed location.

As the entire landscape faded, around them. Sunnydale disappeared back into the nothingness it had come from.

And the game ended.

Seo watched it go. A sad, pensive expression on her face. "Goodbye, childhood dreams and idealisms," she whispered. As she watched them all vanish into the stark reality that lay behind. "I'll miss you."

A throat cleared, behind her.

Seo closed her eyes, sucking in a sharp breath. Then turned. Willing herself to be brave, as she faced down the Celestial Toymaker. Reminding herself…

That here was a real father, a real aunt, and a real best friend — all of whom were in mortal peril.

"Play-time's over," Seo whispered. Gathering up her courage. "Time to defend the people I love."