Disclaimer: I don't own any series or characters or series mentioned.
Author's note: So yeah, I've set it up for Freddie, Jade, and Tori. I originally didn't plan for Tori to be in it. But considering the way things look like they could've ended between her and Jade, why not have them take on some semblance of true friendship. This brings me to another rant I'm about to do. In one of my previous stories, I've addressed the fact that there are fans who bash and mischaracterize Xander, because he lied about the soul spell when the world was in danger of ending and Buffy was risking the entire world. For some reason those same fans seem to think Buffy and Angel's relationship was a perfect romance, when it was nothing but fatalistic. I've said my piece before about fans who treat Xander's character in such a way and Joss Whedon is even worse as the creator. Now, I'm going to address fans who bash Buffy. I understand the need to uplift Xander's character and poiint out Buffy's flaws in her character that most fans don't see. However, I've read a few stories where Buffy's anger towards Xander turned more OOC and while the plots can be good, there's that fine line where the bashing is as bad as Xander bashing. Honestly, it doesn't make much sense to bash a character this heavily. Every character has their good points and their bad, with some characters having more bad than others. But it doesn't do anyone any favors when fans bash characters so heavily to a point of degrading their true characters. With that in mind, I'd like to say that it's also bothersome that fans do not see Freddie Benson as a real person, same with someone like Jade. Rather than take these shows at face-value, fans should delve deeper and understand who they really are.*Phew* I've made my public service announcement. Please enjoy this next installment.
Sleep was not as easy a thing to keep for Freddie as the night turned into morning. It was only three hours later that Freddie woke up and found that he couldn't get back to sleep again. The day had gone from normal, to dismal, to cheerful, to complete hell all the span of hours. What he and the girls saw, he was sure he wouldn't forget as long as he lived. He thought back to when he first had gotten word about the possibility of vampires, when he was nine years old. He had always had a fascination with technology. Something about the way it could produce power and be used as a way of making life more comfortable for people intrigued. It was when he found that article in 2003 about a small town in California that disappeared that he wondered. The story itself wasn't well known as he came across it searching for an expansion for an online game. It was over two years later when he felt something odd rush through him, leaving him feeling oddly strengthened. His mother thought perhaps he hadn't been eating as properly as she felt he should have. After being reacquainted with that feeling again, he knew for sure that something happened to him to change him, physically and beyond. Freddie looked to his right to see Jade stirring from her sleep, with Tori following right behind her.
"Mmmmm. Good morning Freddie," Jade said smiling at the tech producer.
"Good morning guys," Tori said, lifting her head up but still looking groggy.
"Good morning girls. How are you feeling?" Freddie asked.
"Good," both girls replied, looking to each other, then laughing.
"Well, I think I'll get started on breakfast," Jade said making her way downstairs to the kitchen.
The dark brunette stopped by the refrigerator, taking out eggs, bacon, and set out making a breakfast for the trio. As she prepared the meal, her mind wandered to the events of the previous night. Jade had been into subjects of a dark nature. However, last night for her was like staring into the abyss itself, and being floored at looked back. Of all the things to run into, it turned out to be vampires. Unknowingly like Freddie, she too had heard about the stories of the little town called Sunnydale and how it one day vanished without a trace. She felt that after she graduated, she'd take a small trip to where the former town was and discover whether or not it was true. As she continued thinking on the attack, she realized she may need to put more stock into those myths and urban legends. If vampires existed, then chances were that other dark creatures existed. For the first time in her life, things of the dark nature frightened her. She was brought of her train of thought as Tori and Freddie came into the kitchen, both with their clothes from the previous night. As breakfast was finally prepared, the three sat down and ate their meal in silence.
"So...any ideas for the new day?" Freddie spoke up. The girls looked at him strangely before smiling at his attempt to relieve any tension.
"Well, we could figure out those crazy powers we used," Tori playfully suggested.
"Really?" Freddie asked in surprise.
"Tori has a point. It all seems too...weird that we get attacked by vampires and then suddenly we're throwing stuff around with our freakin' minds," Jade threw in, pointing at her head.
"I'm still trying wrap my head around the fact that we saw vampires. And I'm pretty sure one was a fanboy," Freddie noted with his face scrunching in confusion.
"But why would vampires be here? And how do they even exist? This whole thing is just crazy," Tori said, massaging her temples.
"Maybe we can figure that out later. How about after breakfast, we try and figure out how our powers work?" Jade suggested, to which the other two young adults agreed. After they finished their meals, they discussed a possible location on which they could discreetly use their new-found abilities. Jade smiled as she thought of a perfect location.
"I know the perfect location."
Abandoned House
Los Angeles
Jade pulled her car up to the front of the abandoned house, thankfully without any security guards around. After a quick stop at Freddie's hotel room for him to change, the three headed to the house to work on improvement.
"So this is where 'The Scissoring' was filmed? Not bad," Freddie said scanning the building.
"Yup. Best horror movie anyone will have the pleasure of seeing," Jade said, smiling to herself.
"Yeeeah. It just screams horror," Tori said hesitantly. Despite knowing the movie was fiction, she was still freaked out. Being on the very property of the still scared her to being paranoid of a ghost jumping out at her.
"How did you manage to sneak here before?" Freddie asked the dark brunette
"I've snuck in here before just to check out the house. If possible, I'd like to buy it and keep it," Jade replied. Freddie simply chuckled at the response.
"Hey, maybe we can use the backyard so no one can see us. Come on," Jade said, leading the way. As they made their way to the clearing, they stood wondering what to do next.
"So what's the best way to do this?" Freddie asked.
"Maybe we can try and lift stuff first. That seemed to help us last night," Jade offered.
"But I'm not sure we can just do that on command. I was just scared out of my mind and then I thought 'I didn't want to be useless'. How can we just do that? Do we just think and it happens? I just think 'I want that rock by the house to float in the air' and then-" Tori didn't finish as the rock she thought about suddenly lifted off the ground and floated towards the three.
"What the hell?" Tori said more to herself. Freddie and Jade were impressed by the feat as they weren't expecting her to be the first to utilize her power.
"So how do we use ours?" Jade asked looking at Freddie.
"Maybe it works in a similar way. Tori's seemed to work just by thought or command. Maybe for us, we have to visualize. Pick up the rock and hold your hand out," Freddie requested. Jade did as he asked and watched as he concentrated on the rock. His face looked as if it strained trying to unleash the hidden force. Suddenly, the rock was lifted out of Jade's hand. However, unlike the previous night, the rock was surrounded by a bluish-gray aura with arcs of lightning crackling around it, causing Jade to back away as she felt the power as she looked into Freddie's eyes, which crackled with power.
"Wow. Okay Jade. It's your turn," Freddie said, as he powered down. Jade looked back into his eyes and saw the sincerity that she had since the day before. She was surprised seeing difference when his eyes had changed. When his eyes were brown, she saw the kind-hearted, gentlemanly, sincere young man that she met nearly two years earlier. Now, when she looked into his eyes, she could see another side to him; a side that held power, that had not yet been unleashed, but always seemed to be there.
"I-I don't know. I'm not sure I can-"
"You'll do fine," Freddie said, cupping Jade's right hand with both of his. Jade looked into his eyes and didn't feel fear. She looked to the same rock and concentrated. She was rewarded with the rock floating in the air. With Jade, the rock was surrounded with a crackling, blue-green aura. She powered down and smiled at Freddie. Neither noticed that Tori had a look of jealousy on her face at their interaction.
Tori, for her part, was jealous as she had been friendly to him more than the others. However, it seemed that Jade seemed to be snagging his attention. In all the time she has dated, she had never found anyone who was quite like the young man she met at Kenan's party and let stay with her family when she directed her play. She thought back to all of her romantic possibilities and didn't like her prospects. Daniel, Steven, and Ryder had each let her down as they had either proven unfaithful or to be jerks. Then there was Beck.
Her...tentative relationship with the Canadian actor was always tough ground, especially now that she and Jade were going to be friends. She thought back to months ago when he had tried to kiss her after she was fired from her spot on the Platinum Music Awards. Even though a part of her wanted to kiss him, at the time she felt vulnerable for letting herself be controlled. She had told herself and Beck that she didn't want to hurt Jade, as she considered her a friend despite their rivalry. However, another part of her had become uncomfortable with him for catching her in a tight spot. She wasn't initially sure whether or not she wanted to tell Jade, but figured she may as well one day.
"Alright. So we can lift stuff. Think maybe we can do what we did to those vamps?" Jade asked the two.
"Maybe. But we'll have to be careful. We still don't know what we can do if we were put in another situation like last night," Freddie offered.
"Well, what do you think we should do?" Tori asked the male brunette.
"Well, I'm considered a nerd for all intents and purposes. It looks like we have psychic powers. We can lift, so we can probably blast too. I mean we've seen comic book superheroes do it with fire and lightning. So why can't we, right?" Freddie asked.
"Freddie come on, those are things superheroes can do. It's not like we have..." Tori stopped as she thought about what she was going to say.
"Superpowers, Tori?" Jade answered, smirking.
"Heh. Okay. So how do we do it?" Tori asked.
"Maybe it works in the same that lifting something does but with different concentration," Freddie responded. The young man lifted his right hand to the sky and concentrated energy into his arm and hand. The energy crackled again as I did before. The energy burst forth into a concentrated beam into the sky, causing the skies above to thunder as the power was released. The girls looked on in astonishment as they watched what Freddie had managed to accomplish.
"Wow," they both said at the same time. Jade did the same and watched as she matched Freddie's ability with almost as much ease as the former tech producer, as the blue-green energy soared off into the sky. Tori proceeded to follow until she saw a plane pass over and let her arm fall down. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of turning to Freddie with energy still charged in her hand. The blast was let go, hitting Freddie square in the chest, making him fly back about ten yards. The young man convulsed as the energy flowed through him and seemed to remain in his body for about ten seconds before he stopped.
"OH MY GOD, FREDDIE! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" Tori rambled on until Freddie stopped her.
"Tori! I'm fine! I'm fine. But that was weird. Whatever energy you used was pretty effective. I thought I'd lose my power for a second," Freddie said, as the two girls helped him up.
"So what do you think that was?" Jade asked, still curious about what she saw.
"I don't know. It looks like you and I both can use raw energy. But Tori's was different. It was...I don't know what it was," Freddie couldn't reason.
"Well, it's good to see that you're beginning to figure this out," came a random, yet lovely sounding voice. The three turned to see a beautiful, caramel skinned woman with long dark hair and green eyes smiling at them. She seemed normal enough and was dressed like a casual young woman. However, something about her was setting the three young adults off.
"Look, we were just hanging out, we'll be out of here soon," Jade said, hoping to not cause trouble.
"Oh don't worry. Security left this place alone after months. I think even they got scared just being here like you did," the woman said smiling at Tori.
"Who exactly are you?" Freddie asked as she stepped forward.
"I'm a...friend of sorts. The kind of friend who can and will watch out for you all," the woman answered cryptically. She then lifted her right hand and immediately surrounded everyone with flying debris on a scale unimaginable to the young man and women present. The three looked to the mysterious woman and felt her incredible power suddenly decrease as if she had done nothing at all.
"What was that?" Tori said, coming out of her stupor.
"That was psionic power. Which every one of you possess. You, Jadelyn and Fredward, both can generate and manipulate pure energy. You, Victoria, use what is known is eldritch energy," the woman began to explain.
"Eldritch energy?" Tori asked in confusion.
"Yes. It is a form of energy that is capable of disrupting reality, depending on how the user utilizes it. The energy unleashed creates a chaotic effect to the point of changing reality in whatever way the user sees fit," the mystery woman added on.
"So what does that mean in layman's terms?" Jade asked.
"Your friend is capable of using magic. Haven't you ever wondered why things tended to work in her favor more often than not?" the woman smugly asked. Jade thought about the mysterious visitor's response. The dark brunette had always thought that Tori had been too fortnate with every opportunity that had come her way. Jade had been one of the hardest working students in the school, yet since Tori's arrival, it was like she suddenly became invisible to everyone including her former boyfriend.
"Are you saying I cheated my way into everything I did?" Tori snapped back.
"Not really. Part of manipulating eldritch energy is that you also manipulate probability," the woman added.
"Oh! Like the Scarlet Witch," Freddie added absent-mindedly. The girls looked at him in confusion as they didn't understand the reference. Freddie looked back in embarrassment.
"She's the daughter of Magneto? From X-Men?" Freddie responded. Tori and Jade nodded their heads as they had seen the movies but were still lost on the comics.
"Indeed. At any rate, Tori's manipulation was unintentional as well as further helped along by the reactions to many of those around her except for other psions she encounters. For natural born psions, there are usually side-effects to having these abilities, which is usually having a mental affect on others. Sometimes, the reaction is positive, other times it's negative. Have you ever thought about why others reacted the way they have? There's always been a reason," the woman explain furthered. The three youths contemplated the answers they received as this was not what they expected to hear. However, there was one thing that was eating away at Freddie.
"You seem to know a lot about what's going on with us. Maybe you can explain something to me," Freddie requested of their visitor.
"I'm listening," the woman responded, somewhat suggestively much to the young ladies' ire, which neither could understand at the moment.
"A few years ago, I was-" Freddie was cut off.
"Hit by the taco truck. Yes, I remember that event very well. You were very brave to save the life of a woman who couldn't love you back. I'm sorry that things couldn't have worked between you two. But I'm getting off subject. You're curious about why you survived getting hit, when the truck should have killed you, the way it would have killed Carly. The answer to that is simple. Have you heard of the story of Samson?" the woman asked. The youths each nodded. For Tori and Freddie, they had heard the story from their parents, due to their faith. For Jade, she had often run across several religious references whenever she researched anything that piqued her interest. She had read about the story and immediately dismissed it as ludicrous. However, thinking of Freddie's encounter with the taco trunk, she could safely assume that Samson's story may not be as far-fetched as one would think.
"Well, there you go. Besides, Freddie, you need super-strength to survive your beating from that she-demon, Puckett," the woman said, with Sam's name rolling scathingly off her tongue.
"What do you mean about Sam? You're saying her super-strength comes from the same source?" Jade asked, despite herself.
"Oh please. You really think a girl like her would be able to do what she could without something being in her genetics? Not to mention her ridiculous behavior? You think her taking it out on you was just a result of an absent father or an incorrigible mother? Having you and Carly in her life would've deterred that behavior in any NORMAL teenage girl," the woman said, putting emphasis on the word 'normal'.
"Okay, just stop! We still don't know who you are!" Tori shouted, having had enough. The woman smiled.
"Fair enough. My name is Gadreel. And to answer your next question, I've had my powers for as long as I've been around," Gadreel replied, answering Tori's question, but not telling the whole truth. Tori and Freddie were thrown by the name. However, Jade knew the name sounded familiar but couldn't quite place it.
"Anyway, are you telling us there's a lot more going on here than anyone really knows?" Freddie inquired.
"Of course. The supernatural has always been around and will always be. And it will continue to affect humanity in some form. The only question is whether or not you believe in the positive side of things. If not, then He won't be able to help, as help can only come to those who ask for it. At any rate, you seem to understand your powers well enough. I'll leave you to your devices now. Good day to you all," Gadreel said as she turned to leave. Suddenly, a blue-green energy blast hit close to her feet. Gadreel turned back to face and irate Jade.
"Hold on. We're not finished yet. We still have questions to you need to answer!" Jade shouted as she didn't like anyone being cryptic.
"Don't worry. Your answers will come soon enough. However, it will take time before you begin to truly understand. And before I go, remember this: protect loyal friends as you would your old family. And watch out for old enemies and ex lovers. They have a tendency of trying to tear you down one way or another," Gadreel said before she went through the house. The three youths could've sworn they saw a flash of light where Gadreel had walked but figured their minds were playing tricks on them.
"So what do we do now?" Tori asked, coming out of her train of thought.
"Maybe we can call it a day. I'm feeling hungry. You ladies want to eat out again? My treat," Freddie offered.
"Eh, why not? We are getting the hang of this...psychic deal. And maybe we can do something with this," Jade replied smiling to her companions.
"I don't see why not. But I think I'll have to go home this time. So where to?" Tori asked, as she approached Freddie and linked her right arm with his left, and Jade linked her other arm with his. The three left the property of the house and all climbed into Jade's car. Unknown to them, someone had watched their interaction and began seething with jealousy. Beck had come out from behind the tree with an angry look on his face. With him was a tall, pale man with long black hair and yellow glowing eyes, along with black sclera. The man was wearing all black, from head-to-toe and looked to Beck.
"Can you believe those three? Jadelyn thinks that she can just dump you for not having her way in your relationship. And then she goes and makes friends with the Vega girl and trash you even further. And to top it all off, the tech nerd swoops in and manages to scoop them both?! You and I both know he's not the kind of guy who has girls like that hanging off his arms. Hell, he's not even the kind to get the girl he wants. Those two should be your's. Yet here he is taking them from you. Would you really let him get away with that?" the man asked as his voice became strangely deeper.
"What could I even do? She's not my girlfriend. You know how difficult she can be," Beck replied. Despite his anger, a part of him felt that there was something that felt off.
"Let her know that you never stopped loving her. She can come crawling back to you. As for Tori, remind her how important she is to you, just as you did during the music awards. After all, she didn't want to deny you at first. But fear kept her at bay. Do you want the same thing to keep you from getting what you deserve?" the man asked.
"No. No, Anan, I don't," Beck replied.
"Good. Now come on. We need to prepare. And please, refer to me as Ananiel," the man replied as he took Beck by the shoulder and both vanished in a puff of smoke.
Just as they were watching Freddie and the girls, someone was watching them. The woman spying on Beck had her suspicions that he had made contact with an otherworldly power. She had decided to tail him and found her suspicions to be right. She could only imagine her brother-in-law's reaction when she told him the news. The woman took out her cellphone and dialed a number and wait until his voice came through loud and clear.
"Xander. It's Luna. We've got a problem."