Disclaimers : Check back to part one for full disclaims and what not
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Part Six
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The halls of Sunnydale high school buzzed with student activity. The casual observer would have no suspicion that only days ago there had been a terrible battle there. This was largely due to the fact that Buffy, Giles, Xander, Willow, and a reluctant Cordelia had spent all of their weekend cleaning the place up. Callista had vanished somewhere over the weekend, but her presence was still strongly felt in Sunnydale. Buffy decided that she might need a few days alone to think about recent events.
The school had a much more pleasant atmosphere during the day, namely because it was full of kids instead of vampires. A girl, whom no one recognized, entered the high school. Callista nervously walked through the halls. She felt very out of place, as she had not been in a school house in over a thousand years. She tried to remain inconspicuous, because she did not want to risk a confrontation with the other students.
Callista was dressed in some clothes that Buffy had lent her. Actually, Buffy had generously given her a couple of outfits, in an attempt on her part to create some closet space. Right now, Callista wore a simple brown dress, and black platform heels. They were more restrictive and not as comfortable as her other clothes, but she was going to have to get with the times.
*When in Rome ... * she thought to herself smiling.
Her uneasiness was easily detectable by the other students as Callista roamed the corridors. In fact, a couple of the male students decided it would be fun to follow her around. They cornered her at a locker. To them, all she was was a new student, which isn't even remotely relevant because she wasn't a student. One of the larger guys put an arm around her.
"Woah, hold up there. Hey babe. I've never seen you before. What's happening?" he asked with a stupid grin on his face.
Callista paused. She wasn't quite sure how a girl was supposed to deal with this sort of thing. So she just ran with her gut instinct. She grabbed the boy by his collar, lifted him up off of the ground and slammed him hard into a locker.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled as he was suspended above the ground.
"Yeah, what's your problem?" asked another one.
"Touch me again and the next words you say will be muffled by your own spleen," hissed Callista.
She shoved him harder against the locker and then dropped him. The group looked at her with distaste and moved off.
"Damn foreign girls," she heard one of them mutter.
*Toads* thought Callista as she moved on.
She continued on her mission to try and locate the library in an attempt to find Buffy and her friends. The school seemed a lot different when it was full of kids. She had easily become lost.
Callista turned a corner and then finally saw a familiar face. Cordelia was chatting with a large group of girls. For her point of view, Callista noticed that Cordelia didn't look at all happy. Callista approached the group. Unfortunately, Harmony spotted her coming first.
"May we help you?" she asked snottily.
"Umm ... yes," replied Callista, slightly taken aback by the girls rudeness, "I need to talk with Cordelia."
"Cordelia has no time for you," spat Harmony.
"Excuse me Harmony," interjected Cordy, fairly miffed off, "Since when do you organize my schedule?"
"She just thought ..." started Aura, another girl in the group.
"Thought what? That just I can't have other friends because I'm talking to you? God, what am I, a dog who has to come and sit for you people on command?"
"What is your damage Cordelia? God, you've changed or something, and it's not for the better," commented Angie, another of the bimbettes.
"Cordelia, I think you need a serious reality check," exclaimed Harmony, "Come on girls. I think Cordy would rather hang out with this scrub or maybe Buffy and her friends in the library."
With that the group of girls left in a huff, leaving Cordy and Callista by themselves.
"Should I be offended?" asked Callista outloud to no one in particular. The twentieth century lingo often confused her.
"Aww, who needs them," spat Cordelia angrily.
"I am really sorry Cordelia. I didn't mean to get you into trouble with your friends. I just wanted to ask you where the damn library is," said Callista.
"That's okay. They weren't really good friends anyway ... why do you need to know where the library is? You found it okay the other day."
"Well, this is really embarrassing. See, before, I didn't really find it ... Cormerik found it for me," admitted Callista.
"Oh. Well, I'll take you there. God knows I've got nothing to do now," muttered Cordelia, slightly resentful.
The two girls walked in silence for a few seconds. They rounded a corner and nearly ran over Principal Snyder.
"Watch where you're going," he sneered. Snyder had an aura of dislike for students about him. Callista could tell by his face that he was not happy to be there. She deduced that he was not very enthusiastic about his job.
"You," he added, staring at Callista, "I don't know you. Who are you ... are you a student here?"
"Uhh, yeah," said Callista hesitantly, "My name is, uhh, Brittany, Brittany Cameron."
"Oh," he replied glumly, "Cause if you weren't I could charge you for trespassing."
"And I'm sure you'd love too, but we really have to go now Mr. Snyder," interjected Cordelia.
"Cram it Chase. I'll be keeping an eye out for you," he said and left grumbling.
Callista watched him go, relieved she didn't have to talk to him anymore. "What is that guys problem?"
"I don't know ... here's the library," said Cordelia, pointing to the familiar double doors. They entered to see Buffy, Giles, and Willow fawning over a book, discussing a prophecy.
"I'm serious Buffy ... It says that someone will be trying to resurrect the Judge .... oh, Callista, " said Giles, slightly surprised at the girls presence.
Buffy and willow turned to see Callista and Cordelia standing in the doorway.
"Hey Callista ... where have you been?" asked Willow curiously.
"Yeah, we were worried when you Houdinied on us," added Buffy.
"Well, I kind of needed some time for myself to think. That's why I'm here," said Callista.
Just then, Xander came sulking into the library.
"I have had the worst Monday morning in the history of this whole wretched day," he exclaimed, "I flunked a french test, and I'm dangerously close to failing math, which means no more slaying trips for me the next couple of weekends. No, I have to stay home and study, and hi Callista, how've you been? Where's the bird?"
"Hello Xander. Sorry to hear about your bad day and all. And he's waiting for me outside."
Xander flopped down in a chair opposite Buffy. A considerable tension appeared in the old library. Apparently, Buffy and Willow were still upset with Xander about him and Cordy. Cordelia herself noticed the strain, and thought it best if she left.
"If you don't need me anymore, I'll just go," she said, staring at Xander the whole time. She turned on her heels and left. All the eyes in the room were suddenly on Callista. She looked around nervously.
"What?" she asked.
"Didn't you have something to tell us?" answered Buffy.
"Oh yeah. Well, I've been doing a lot of soul searching the past few days. Now that Cataluna is dead, I don't know what I'm going to do with the rest of my life ... which happens to be eternity," she explained.
"Callista, you have a lot of power. You can do a lot of good in this world," said Willow comfortingly, "It's not like the earth can have too many good guys."
"I know. That's why I've decided to leave Sunnydale," announced Callista.
The library was silent for a moment. Everybody had figured that Callista might want to stay with them for a while.
"Where are you gonna go?" asked Willow.
"I'm going back to Canada for a while, to see Anikka. I owe her so much, and I promised her if I ever defeated Cataluna in her life time I'd go back and visit her."
"Yeah, I guess that would be kind of important," remarked Buffy.
Callista could tell that everyone was a little sad she was leaving, and it touched her. No one had ever been close enough to her to feel remorse over her leaving.
"Buffy, I'll be back. I'm going to come back. I mean, Sunnydale is sitting right on the Hell Mouth. There's a lot of work to be done here."
There was nothing left to do now but say their goodbyes. There were rounds of hugs and various "so longs". Buffy gave Callista a hug goodbye, but before they separated, Callista whispered something in Buffy's ear.
"Hey, don't be to hard on Xander and Cordelia."
Buffy smiled, "We'll try."
Callista turned and headed for the door. "Good bye everybody," she said. The girl took one last look at her new found friends and then left the library. Of course, she knew that this wasn't the end. She would be back, probably sooner than they thought. After all, the Hell Mouth will always be around and Spike and Drusilla were still alive -- so she had the excuse to come back.
* * *
The warehouse had an eerie glow to it. The place reaked of death and defeat. Spike, upon awakening to a monsterous headache, hauled himself out of a pile of boxes. He surveyed the site before him. The place was literally trashed. Drusilla was out cold in a pool of her own blood. A few stray vampires had found there way back to the building before the sun came up. Spike was fuming. He was so angry, he wished that the slayer was standing in front of him so he could kill her again and again. But he would have another chance. It was only a matter of time. Until then however, he would have to be content with his own loathing.
"I really, really, hate that girl," he muttered to himself as he kicked a cardboard box across the room, "She is so going to get it next time."
FIN
* * *
Well, that's it kiddies. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Send me your comments at anikka@hotmail.com I'm thinking about writing a sequel. Should I? Shouldn't I? It's your call.
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