Ain't destiny's grand?: Chapter 39
by i_hate_mornings
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, therefore, the story line, but not the characters or locations.
Just a quick note, this is where thing start to turn around. This is where we begin to see what is happening. It's only the start.
Chapter 39
Buffy examined her new bedroom shrewdly. She, for some reason unbeknownst to her, had chosen not the biggest room of the house, as she’d thought she would. Instead, she had chosen a smaller room at the front of the house, across the hall from a bathroom. A tree outside her window made her think of sneaking out at night before she remembered that she didn’t need to. Giles was her Watcher; he already knew everything about her.
Almost everything was unpacked now and they were waiting for Xander and Willow to return. The two had gone for pizza and Buffy expected them to be back momentarily. She could ear Giles shuffling around in his new room, the master bedroom Buffy had decided against taking. He seemed happy with the room and Buffy felt she had done the right thing by forgoing the room. If she was truthful with herself, though, she knew that she hadn’t really chosen this space… something had drawn her in, drawn her toward the room and told her to take it. She was supposed to have this room, just as she was supposed to have this house, supposed to move to this town. Everything had happened for a reason, she was sure.
Where was it all leading? What force had brought her here, had manipulated the Scooby gang together? Something had been drawing them all lately, moving them into position like pawns in a game of chess and Buffy hoped it was leading to something good. Something evil using them like pawns was not something she wanted to think about. Besides, if it was evil manipulating them, wouldn’t she be able to feel it?
‘Buff, pizza’s here,’ Xander appeared in her doorway. Buffy frowned. She hadn’t even heard them return. ‘You okay? You’re looking a little blue.’
Buffy sighed and flopped down on her bed. Xander moved to stand near her vanity. ‘Yeah, I’m okay I guess. I just have this feeling…’
‘Really?’ Xander leered jokingly at her.
Buffy glanced witheringly at him. ‘Not funny, Xander.’
‘Yeah, I know. Sorry,’ he hung his head in mock shame. Buffy looked at him closely. Something was off.
‘What’s up?’ she asked him slowly. Maybe it was just something wrong.
‘Nothing,’ Xander said, looking as though he had no idea what she was talking about. Buffy felt something was suss. She couldn’t read the boy like she normally could. Either he was hiding something, or something else was up. “Seriously, Buff,’ he said while watching her closely. ‘You’re as paranoid as the G-man.’
Buffy nodded slowly, thoughts churning in her brain. ‘Maybe you’re right.’ Xander nodded in agreement. ‘What time were you and Willow coming back over to stay the night?’ Buffy knew for a fact that Willow had plans with Oz for the night and would be coming nowhere near Revello drive once she left. Unless, of course, something happened.
Xander sighed. ‘You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you, Buff?’ The boy looked at her and Buffy stifled a gasp. Pure hatred shone in his eyes, and a feral grin twisted his features. This wasn’t Xander. They eyes glaring back at her were not Xander’s eyes. The smirk gracing his mouth was not his smirk. The man standing in front of her was not the Xander she thought he was.
‘What?’ she said confused as to what was going on. Was this a doppelganger? Had someone taken over her friend’s body? Who was it in front of her, and where was the real Xander? She hoped he and Willow were okay. Last she’d heard was that they had gone for pizza. Xander’s laugh came from the kitchen and Buffy felt herself sag in relief. He was okay.
‘Here I was, just wanting to have a nice little talk with you and you have to go ruin it, don’t you, Buffy,’ *Xander* lazily advanced on her. ‘But that matters not, for nothing can ruin my plans. Not even you and your bunch of misfits. I will have my day of triumph and hell will encompass earth once more.’
Buffy bit back a smartass remark, instinctively knowing that this was no idle threat. The creature before her meant every word it was saying and felt safe enough to brag about it. It was dangerous, too dangerous for Buffy to face without knowing more about it.
‘What are you?’ she scowled at *Xander*. She found it hard to see past her best friends face. As she watched though, the face shimmered. ‘Wha-’
Xander turned into herself. Buffy found it extremely unnerving to stare back into her own green eyes. Never had she faced something like this. Not even before Angel and his gang had rescued her from the other dimension, a time that seemed so long ago.
She stared at her… reflection… and words escaped her. She didn’t know what to say. She heard Willow speaking and rationality came back top her. She forced her tongue to come unstuck from the roof of her mouth and licked her lips. ‘Who or what are you?’
‘Silly girl,’ her other self sneered. ‘I’ve had so many opportunities to kill you over the past few years and suddenly I find myself wondering why I never bothered. You are a pest. You and your kind need to be eradicated.’ With that, she disappeared. Buffy stood struck dumb for a few moments before she hurried downstairs to tell the others what had just happened.
*****************************
The four of them sat around the table, each with a coffee, or in Giles’ case, tea, thinking over the incident in Buffy’s room. ‘I only just moved in here, Giles,’ Buffy complained. ‘Why are evil thing threatening me already?’
‘I must say,’ Giles said thoughtfully. ‘I never would have thought that you would have been assailed at this juncture. It is most upsetting.’ Giles took a sip of his tea while Buffy glared at him.
‘Thanks, Giles. Now I feel heaps better,’ she scowled into her coffee. This thing had her more shook up than she let on. Something about it, beside the morphing thing, disturbed her greatly. Maybe it the malevolence emanating from the being that had her so worked up, The creature had not only sounded pure evil, nor did it seem it, no, it felt pure evil and Buffy had never felt that before, only one time had come close.
‘When was that?’ Willow asked quietly and Buffy jumped. She hadn’t realized she’d spoken out loud.
Giles and the others were watching her silently. She cursed herself under her breath. Sometimes she needed to think before she spoke... or thought, apparently, since the comment had come from her mouth without her even realizing it… she’d have to watch that. ‘When was what?’ she tried to bluff her way out of it.
‘Buffy,’ Giles said sternly and Buffy knew she wasn’t getting out of this intact. She’d have to share because they weren’t going to let her go otherwise.
She sighed. ‘Okay, fine. You know a lot of bad things happened to me before the whole other dimension thing, when Angel found me, right?’ They nodded as Angel entered the room. He kissed her on the head and sat down. Buffy hesitated but at Giles’ look, she continued. ‘Well, there was one time, long after Merrick was killed that I felt something close to what I felt before.’
By now Angel had sensed the serious mood and was listening intently. Buffy loved that he would concentrate so deeply on what she had to say. It made her feel better, to know he was there supporting her.
‘I was in a graveyard one night when I felt something coming near me. I didn’t know what it was but I felt it’s… presence… and it freaked me out, majorly. It was evil, pure evil and it was way close,’ she searched each of their faces and found only rapt attention for the most part. Giles looked ready to run to the closest book the moment she said something significant. She almost smiled at that.
‘I didn’t see it at first, but I knew it was there. It had an essence that seemed to float all around me, trying to devour me and my soul but at the same time, nothing was happening. It didn’t come any closer. It didn’t touch me, harm me in anyway, and it didn’t seem to actually want to do any damage. It was just… there.’
‘What did you do?’ Willow smiled and Buffy grinned.
‘Well I certainly didn’t stand there twiddling my thumbs. I waited a moment so I could pin where it was coming from then I headed towards it. I felt it backing off and, stupidly, I thought: Yay me.’ She shook her head at her naivety. ‘When I passed one of the mausoleums, I was grabbed from behind and slammed against the inside wall. Hurt like hell,’ Buffy recalled. ‘Had a bruise the size of Turkey on my side for days…’
Just then, Faith walked through the door, eyeing the gathered party curiously. ‘What’s up?’ she asked the group nonchalantly. ‘Someone die?’
Giles harrumphed and squeezed the bridge of his nose in frustration. ‘Sit down, Faith,’ he ordered and the other Slayer promptly sat, looking as though she hadn’t a care in the world. ‘You were saying, Buffy?’ Giles hinted and Buffy resumed her story, mentally glaring at Faith.
‘When I came to, I found this great big vamp standing over me, a proud grin on his face. I must have been out for about fifteen seconds, I figured,’ she shrugged, unconcerned with the detail. ‘Anyway, he started spouting some crap to me, can’t remember what, but none of it made sense. Something underneath me is gong to eat me or something to that effect,’ she tried to remember, but she knew it wasn’t right.
Giles looked fascinated by the new information. Buffy decided to fill his head with more, see if she could send him into overload, unlikely as it was. ‘Once I staked the moron, something else took his place. It was another vamp, smaller, less beefy and it stared kinda creepily at me. I tried to fight it but for some reason I still haven’t worked out, none of my hits connected. It was way weird.’
‘It just smiled at me and when I looked down, I realized my hand was going straight through it! It wasn’t even real. It laughed at me and disappeared. Once it had gone, the evil feeling had gone to and I knew that that whatever it was had been the source. I looked all over for it but it never showed its face again.’ Buffy felt herself relax once she’d finished her tale. Although she didn’t want these people to know anything about her past, she had to admit that it felt so much better to tell them these things.
Giles adjusted his glasses. ‘My word,’ exclaimed and Faith snorted. Glaring at her, Giles took off his glasses and searched his pocket for the cleaning cloth. Not finding it, he reached for a handkerchief. ‘This all sounds terribly familiar. I’m sure I have read it somewhere, but unfortunately, I cannot recall where. I shall have to do some research.’
‘Research party?’ Willow asked hopefully and Giles nodded.
‘Quite.’
Xander groaned and Buffy smiled. This was her Xander. She stood instinctively and gave him a quick hug; reassuring herself he was still him. He returned the hug with vigor and Buffy laughed. She could practically hear the other Slayer rolling her eyes, but she didn’t care. Let Faith think what she wanted.
Buffy let the boy go and he and Willow followed after the deep in thought Watcher. She grinned. It’s good to have friends like these. Angel and Faith remained at the table. Buffy reseated herself and glanced at the other two. ‘So, I missed something big,’ Angel commented and Buffy smiled.
‘Yeah, you did,’ she agreed and then laughed. ‘It was pure evil. Wearing Xander’s face. Scared the hell out of me.’
‘And you’re laughing, why?’ Faith asked the chucking Slayer.
Buffy stopped laughing and turned a serious look on the other Slayer. ‘Because if I don’t laugh, then things will overtake me and I don’t know what else to do. I’ve never faced something this big, and it is big, I can feel it.’
Angel nodded, still deep in thought. Buffy noticed the frown on his face and wondered exactly what it was that he was thinking.
‘This thing,’ he spoke suddenly. ‘It spoke to you, taunted you?’
‘Yeah,’ Buffy confirmed. ‘It sounded pretty serious about it too, both in L.A and here in my room.’
Again, he nodded. ‘I’ve heard of something similar. Something long ago. I can’t remember it but I know where I can find it. I’ll be back soon,’ he rose from the table.
‘Wait,’ Buffy stood also, almost afraid to let him go so soon. ‘Where are you going?’
‘To get some answers,’ he said quickly. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said a little more softly and Buffy knew the worry she felt was written on her face as clear as day. ‘I’ll back soon.’
He left leaving the two Slayer’s alone in Buffy’s new kitchen. ‘So, how’s the new house, B?’
I am so, so sorry for not updating. I got busy and i literally just... forgot... about this story. I was going through some files last night and almost slapped myself. So here is a chapter, sorry for the wait.
Any comments, criticisms are welcome... bring it on....
Please review... I like to read.
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