Disclaimer: We don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We're just borrowing them when Joss isn't looking, and put them back in one piece before anyone notices. The one person we do own is Serena.
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It started one day in Sunday, Willow and Buffy were walking together, too happy for anybody to spoil their mood. It was a bright lovely day and they felt the same way too. Seeing them being so happy was a girl of about 20 with black long hair, gold top, and black tights. She shook her head and said, "Too happy to know, they'll have to learn."
"God, it's been quiet around here. No activity for 3 weeks," Buffy said to Willow cheerfully.
"But have you ever thought that this might be a bad thing?"
"No. Why?"
"As the Slayer, you should understand."
The girl in the bushes saw them walk by, unaware of what had happened. She finally got out and walked towards Buffy.
"Are you the one they call Buffy?"
"Yeah, but how did you know my name?"
"I... Does that matter?"
"I guess not. So what are you trying to say?"
"I don't think I want to say it."
"Come on."
"I don't know if I want to say in front of your friend."
"Do you know something?" Willow jumped in and said.
"OK, you asked for it. Your friend, Xander, is dead."
The next minute, Willow was on the floor.
* * *
"Are you OK?" Buffy asked once Willow regained conciseness.
"Yeah."
"I don't know. You were on the ground for a long time," the girl butted in.
"I'll be OK, once my heart starts beating again."
Buffy looked at the strange girl and said, "Who are you, and what is your name?"
"I am Serena."
"And who are you?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out."
Buffy was a little frightened by that remark, and the ones that followed.
"Are you sure he's dead?" Willow asked keeping an ice pack on her head.
"You think I'm lying?"
"I just want to know if..."
"He's dead dead, not a vampire."
"Hey! How did you know that we were going to ask that?" Buffy demanded to know.
"I just do."
"OK."
"The funeral is in two days."
"How can you make sure?"
"I saw the body 3 days after the death, where it belonged."
"Was he killed by vampires?"
"Yeah."
The two walked home, devastated. Buffy was strong about it, but Willow had a cow about it. She wouldn't pay attention to the teacher or school work the following day. She just stared into space. Never noticed if class was over unless someone told her. Buffy was concerned, she'd never seen Willow like this.
After school she went directly home. Didn't talk to anybody the entire day.
The funeral the next day was sad, Willow wearing the bleakest and the blackest thing she owned. Serena sat by Buffy.
"As a extra, I walked the funeral home all day and night before the funeral and didn't see him. However, I did see a security guard."
"That doesn't help."
As in any funeral people cried, but nobody cried as loud and long as Willow. At the end she tried to open the coffin, (don't ask why,) and it wouldn't budge.
"Buffy, how come this coffin won't open?"
Buffy couldn't open it either, and soon all of the girls were trying, but couldn't budge.
"It can't open." Buffy said as she gave up.
"Yes it can," Serena said after a strange ZAP sound.
Serena looked in but was confused.
"How old did you say Xander was?"
"About my age. Why?"
"Either he's in bad shape for his age or this isn't him."
"What the...?"
They all looked in, and instead of Xander, they saw a guy in his fifties with the name tag of Marlin Tabor.
* * *
"I'm confused. Who was that guy?" Willow asked Buffy later, in the school's library.
"That was a security guard," Serena said. "The last time I saw him was around Xander's... Around Xander." She didn't want to hurt Willow anymore.
"Then, where's Xander?"
"There is a possibility that he could be a..."
"Don't say it," Willow interrupted, going white.
"Like I was going to say, he could be alive," she said smoothly. "I don't know."
"The coffin lid was on pretty tight."
"It was mag... sealed tighter than it should be."
"How do you know how tight it should be?"
"I work here on weekends. I helped move the coffin."
"Did you look inside it?"
"I didn't feel like it."
"This is so frustrating," Buffy said angrily, pounding her fist on the table. "If he wasn't there, where could Xander be?"
Serena thought for a moment, she said softly, "It's possible that he wasn't completely dead when I found him, and the vampires decided to come back and..."
"So you're saying he's still alive?" Willow asked, eyes glittering with hope.
"But in the clutches of the vampires."
"That means he won't be alive for long."
"Well, they know about the Slayer," Serena muttered, "so they might be keeping him for safekeeping."
"How do you know about the Slayer?"
"I know a lot of things. Like, Buffy's the Slayer, Willow's a hacker, and I could go on."
"You've been watching us," Willow accused.
"I didn't see you until the day I told you about Xander."
"What we need to do is find him before the vampires decide to kill him, or turn him into a vampire."
"Where could they be?"
"Why don't you ask Angel?" Serena offered.
"How do you know about Angel?"
"I told you, I know many things."
"This is wearing thin."
"The sun will be down in a few minutes. We should visit him then."
"I won't even ask if you know about what Angel is."
"You know that I'll say, 'Yes, I know he's a vampire.'"
They went to the Bronze, thinking that Angel would be there. It was Serena's idea. In fact, he was there. Buffy shot her a look that clearly read, I won't ask.
A smug smile crossed Serena's face, but she held back when they went to talk to him. "I really don't want to talk to him."
"Why?"
"He gives me the creeps. And I don't like vampires."
"Come on."
Serena tucked a lock her hair behind her ear, and shuffled towards Angel, but at the last second ran. Willow caught her arm and lead her back. Her black hair swung away from her collarbone, and then, for the first time, they saw the tattoo of a crescent moon. Under her shirt, Buffy noticed, for the first time, there was a slight bulge. A gold chain laid daintily around her throat, which obviously held what was bulging under her shirt, and her hair started to curl as the level of the room temperature rose. Her dark blue eyes flashed as she struggled harder, looking strangely feral. A fire sprang up on the stage, and Serena stopped struggling. She caressed the bulge, and the fire died down. She gently lifted the chain, and an amethyst crystal appeared.
"Be gone," she murmured, pointing the crystal at the fire. The temperature lowered dramatically, and the fire disappeared.
Everyone was looking at a crimson faced Serena, but not for long because she ran out of the Bronze.
"Willow, catch her while I talk to Angel."
Angel looked at Buffy. "Is she Serena?"
"Yes. Angel..."
"Makes sense."
"Why?"
"Her family was one of the elders that returned my soul. She is the whitest of the white witches."
"And that means...?"
"The purest kind of witch. She's the daughter of the main elder than punished me."
"That would make her 80!"
"Not really. She's 90. As a witch, she could live longer than humans."
"There are certain advantages of being a witch."
"I know what you're thinking. You have to be born a witch. You can't learn to be one."
Willow came back, breathless. "I couldn't find her," she reported.
Buffy suddenly remembered why she was there. "Angel, Xander's missing. Can you help us find him?"
He sighed. "I guess."
* * *
Serena kicked the wall. Why had she lost control over her magic? She threw a roundhouse kick at the wall. It was all his fault. The vampire. Angel. Serena didn't want him to be reminded of the curse. He might have killed her. She punched the wall a few times. She had been practicing magic for over 80 years, and she still couldn't control it. A loud growl escaped her throat. Her foot plunged into the desk as she kicked it hard. That was the second time that happened. First at the funeral home, now at the Bronze. At the funeral home, the coffin had been magically sealed. She didn't know at the time that she had sealed it, but it was crystal clear now. Serena smashed the desk into splinters.
"By the power of Air, I'm not going to be dead. Buffy will now have to find Xander by herself." Deep down inside, she knew that she would have to help them find him.
With a loud sigh, she grabbed a topaz ring and a diamond headband. Then Serena slid them on and looked at herself. She was wearing a simple white shift, and she looked like a white witch. She pulled out the amethyst crystal and started out.
* * *
Buffy was slinking through a tunnel with Angel leading the way when she sensed a vampire behind her. "I'm not in the mood for 'Follow the Beacon', and I'm the beacon." She turned with ease and saw twenty vampires.
"Buffy..."
"I know, Angel. I'm going to try anyway," she whispered.
Even with Angel's help, they were overwhelming. It ended up that Angel was pinned down with a stake over his heart and Buffy was about to be bitten.
"By Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, leave now, unholy creatures of darkness!"
One of the vampires looked up. "Who are you?" he snarled.
"Serena of the White Ones."
Buffy's head turned. It was Serena, but she carried an aura of power now, and she could feel it vibrating around her.
"I call on the powers of light to banish these creatures of darkness, I call on the powers of goodness to banish these beings without souls to the Hellmouth, and for them to never return."
"Serena..." Angel said urgently.
"By the White Power, I send you to the darkness. Be gone!"
"Serena!"
"By the Power of Fire, by the Power of Earth, by the Power of Air, by the Power of Water, I banish thee to the Dark World."
Angel's body quaked slightly. "Serena!" Buffy hissed. "You're getting Angel!"
Serena's body language told her that she knew what she was doing. A point to the vampire on top of Angel and it turned to dust. Unfortunately, Angel went unconscious for a minute.
"Angel!" Serena made a gesture that told Buffy to be quiet, motioned at all the vampires, and they all turned to dust. Then she bent down by Angel.
"He'll be fine. A little stunned, but alive."
"Where did you learn that spell?"
"My father, after the incident with him, Angelus."
Buffy's hand went to her shoulder. "Get down."
Instead, Serena whipped around and hit the vampire that was behind her in the face with her amethyst pendent. He howled in pain and backed up, holding his cheek. "Stake!" she called.
"Stake," she said, tossing it to her. Serena caught it and drove it cleanly through the vampire's heart. Buffy looked at her pendent. "How can an amethyst do that to a vampire?" she groused.
"It's a pure crystal. And anything pure hurts vampires."
"Hm. Hey, help me move Angel."
Both girls wrapped their arms around Angel and carried him to a long, hard surface. "What will happen when he snaps out of it?" Buffy asked.
"He'll have one major headache. Plus his reflexes will be a little slow."
A moan startled both the girls. "What happened?" he asked with a wince.
"Fight," Serena said briskly. "I came and killed the vampires with a wonderful spell that knocked you unconscious."
Angel slowly started up, then dropped back down. "Hurts, doesn't it?" Serena asked sympathetically. She placed her hand on his forehead, then murmured, "That should help for a while." She and Buffy helped Angel up, and Serena's pendent accidentally touched his skin a few times.
"We better get going. Xander might not last much longer."
"Where to next?"
Serena scouted ahead. "Down here," she called. "I see lights, and it's candle light. Plus, I feel power down here, along with human energy."
Buffy followed her, with Angel in tow. "I don't know..." she began.
"Come on. Uh, oh."
"What?"
"I see him, but I also see vampires."
"So?"
"And they look nasty."
"How bad?"
"Come here and look for yourself."
Buffy did so. They did look pretty nasty.
"Why don't you take them out?"
"I can't. I'm still tired from the last spell."
"Any spells you know that would take them out without tiring you out?"
She started to reply, but a growl interrupted her. Turning around, both girls saw Angel fighting with a vampire, and it looked like he was losing.
"Hey, ugly!"
The vampire looked at Serena.
"Fight this!"
A fire started and burned it right up. Before anyone could do anything, the vampires near Xander jumped on them. Buffy started to stake some, Angel tried to, and Serena burnt up the rest. Then she went over to Xander.
"OhmyGod."
"What's wrong?"
Serena cupped her palm, and a ball of light showed up. It lighted up the entire passage way, and illuminated Xander pretty nicely.
"Please not be a trick of the light, please not be a trick of the light," she chanted. Then she exhaled.
"Is anything wrong?"
"For a moment, I thought he wasn't breathing."
The ball of light slowly dwindled into nothing. Serena yawned and said, "We better get out of here. This could be a trap."
"Actually, it is a trap," an Australian accent intoned behind everyone. As vampires grabbed a tired Serena, Angel, and Buffy, Serena hissed.
"Spike," she said, looking feral again.
"Hello, Serena. How nice it is to see you."
"Wish I could say the same."
"You know our encounters are meaningful to me."
"Sure, since you always almost kill me."
Buffy could feel the power piling around her, but it was weak. Then Serena slumped and the power dissipated.
"How nice. You're also weak."
"What did you do to Xander?" she demanded.
"Just gave him a drink."
"Perhaps a codeine spiked one?"
"How do you know it wasn't the red kind?"
"He still has a human aura."
"You don't miss a thing, do you?"
Serena looked around. They had gotten so far, but... Wait. She noted that Angel's eyes were getting sharper. The aftereffects of the spell was wearing off. And Buffy... She was a beacon of energy. Even Xander, he was groaning and starting to wake up. Spike came forward, tilted her head back, and admitted, "I've wanted to kill a White One for so long."
"Sorry, but you'll have to wait a little longer." With that, she pulled at all the energy that Buffy and Xander were emitting. To personalize the kind, she gathered a little bit of Angel's vampiric energy. A light golden glow started to surround her. Then, she let it loose. All the vampires were up against the walls with the glow holding them there, and it looked like Angel staggered in the direction of a wall. "This way!" she called, and led them through a tunnel, backtracking a few times to confuse the other vampires so when the energy spell she put on them wore off, they wouldn't be able to follow them. Outside, the humans and the witch collapsed, exhausted.
"I'd hate to say this," Serena said after she got her breath back, "but it's getting light." Slowly, she started to peel herself off her back.
"Hey, who are you?" Xander asked.
"Buffy, you might as well tell him. I really have to go home right now. My brother must be worried sick about where I am, and what I'm doing."
"If we need your powers again..."
"I'll be around. Don't worry. Your energy is hard to miss, Slayer."
Serena stood up carefully. As she turned to walk off, she wobbled a bit, but she caught herself and walked off. Buffy turned to the task ahead of her, trying to explain everything to Xander.
The End
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