Our Continuing Saga
Mar. 18th, 2004 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thedeadlyhookIt's time for fabulous Chapter 3 of our story about post-S7 BtVS. Read it and, uh... well, have a reaction. And tell us about it!
ACT THREE: MOMENTS OF CLARITY
By the time they'd reached Salinas, Xander had had enough. "I can't take it anymore," he declared, gesturing dramatically for the benefit of the passengers in the back of the rental minivan. "Even if we're engaged in a desperate cross-country race against time, we'll never be able to pull this off without some decent music."
A chorus of indignant squeals arose from the back of the van as Graciela and Bet suspended their ongoing game of punch-buggy to rise to the defense of Aguilera and Timberlake. Kennedy, for her part, peered over the shoulder of Willow's front-row seat to inquire as to what exactly Xander had against AC/DC. "Maybe you don't consider 'You Shook Me All Night Long' to be suitable driving music," she admonished him, "but I'm due to take over the wheel for this next leg anyway."
Xander solemnly shook his head and began maneuvering into position for the freeway off-ramp. "Sorry, girls, my mind's made up. We're about due for a pit stop anyway, and this'll be our last chance to go CD shopping before we cut over to I-5. Look, the sign says Northridge Mall! Sounds promising."
While Xander made his emergency run to Sam Goody's, and the junior Slayers scattered to the four corners of the shopping center in blatant defiance of his admonitions, Willow and Kennedy found themselves left to their own devices for the first time since they'd left the motel. Kennedy slid between the armrests into the front row and eased herself into the driver's seat, then reached over and gave Willow's hand a warm squeeze. "How you holding up, babe?"
"Pretty well, thanks." Willow's smile was noticeably less forced now. "I think the change of scenery is doing me good."
"Cool." Kennedy mirrored her grin for a second, then her expression darkened. "I still can't get over that Lorne guy, though. Where does he get off speaking to you like that?"
Willow gave Kennedy's cheek a soothing pat with her free hand. "Sweetie, it's okay. I'm a big girl. Besides, I've been thinking about what he said - you know, about the advice."
Kennedy raised a dubious eyebrow, but Willow pressed on. "I remember something Giles said to me, before I came back to Sunnydale. He said, my magic... that it's a great power, and I'm responsible for it. That I have to... learn to control it." Motioning Kennedy to hear her out, she paused again, then continued. "Xander said something like that, too. It was some kind of analogy involving a hammer. I, uh, don't exactly remember what his point was, but I think it was kind of the same thing."
Kennedy burst in impatiently. "What's that got to do with anything? You're past that now, Willow. I saw you pull off a miracle, and you were a goddam goddess. None of these dickwads have jack to teach you about control."
Willow pulled away slightly and turned to regard the glove compartment. "I don't know if that's really true, Kennedy. When I worked that spell... it was like something going through me. Some kind of power that was in the scythe, and I just let it out." Kennedy began to say something, but Willow cut her off with a vigorous shake of her head. "I'm serious. I... I've felt that way before. I've had power given to me as a gift. And I've, I've taken it by force."
Her pale face was burning now with shame, and she had to gulp down hot tears before she could continue. "I don't know how I can explain it, but it's different. There's a difference between drawing on my own power, and borrowing someone else's." Kennedy reached for her, and Willow pushed her arms away. "Like I borrowed yours. But... but I'm afraid, Kennedy. I'm afraid what would happen if I drew on my own power."
Gently but firmly, Kennedy forced her way past Willow's hands and wrapped her arms around her quivering shoulders. "Shh. It's okay." She pulled Willow closer, stroking her hair. "Don't be scared, babe. Whatever's in there, I can deal with it. You don't have to be afraid to show me."
Willow extracted an arm and fumbled for the tissue box on the dashboard, then blew a couple of mighty honks. After a minute's consideration, she straightened up and looked Kennedy in the eyes.
"So maybe that's the problem. I guess it's true what they say about easy solutions, huh?" Willow dabbed away a few last tears, then drew her features into a mask of determination. "I can't keep running and hiding from myself, can I? I can't just look to... to some kind of outside power to make things right, so I don't have to deal with what's inside me."
Kennedy laughed, pulling Willow tighter still. "You are impossible, aren't you? I can see why people get tired of giving you advice." Then her lips found the white skin of Willow's neck, and for a while there was no more talking.
............
"Maybe it's time I wrapped up that loose end as well..."
"Huh?" Dawn looked up from the placard she'd been studying. "Did you say something, Buffy?"
"Just saying it's time that guy wrapped up the geology lecture." Buffy motioned towards a cluster of junior high school students gathered a little further along the lakeshore, evidently here on a field trip. "Reminds me of Mr. Zaragosa's World History class, and I swear, by the end of the semester I was this close to staking him." The slouching adolescents were being treated to a longwinded discourse by their teacher, who paused occasionally in mid-drone to mop the sweat from his balding forehead.
"As I mentioned before, the entire Yellowstone area was originally a caldera - a crater, in layman's terms - formed by the explosion of what you might call a super-volcano, some six hundred thousand years ago." The man gestured across the placid waters of Yellowstone Lake. "They say that ash from the blast rained down as far away as Texas. This is still one of the most active volcanic areas on Earth, of course, and the subterranean heat is what produces its famous geysers..." Mercifully, the group was moving away, and the remainder of the teacher's speech faded into inaudibility.
"Hey, there's a bit over here called Butte Lake." Dawn had returned to studying the placard and its map of the lake's environs. "Here's Biscuit Basin. And Evil Twin Lake... kinda reminds me of that time with Xander." After spending the entire afternoon inspecting bubbling hot springs, she'd given up trying to feign enthusiasm.
"Come on, Dawnie. Don't you think it's kind of exciting?" Buffy gazed out over the lake, her eyes bright. "So quiet on the surface, and all that power gathering underneath. Just a mile from where we're standing, there's a bulge on the lake bed a hundred feet high. Imagine all that heat and pressure building up, waiting to break free. When it finally blows, it's going to make Sunnydale look like a hiccup."
Dawn gave her sister an indifferent glance as she extracted a penknife from the pocket of her jeans and began carving something into the placard's wooden frame. "People always think of the earth as something stable and solid," Buffy continued, more to herself than to Dawn. "But it's really not. Under the surface, it's all churning magma and grinding rock. And beneath that, pure liquid iron... a furnace of swirling metal. Power that never sleeps."
"Powerful indeed." Both women looked up in surprise at the stranger wandering down to the lakeshore beside them. Shifting his bulky backpack onto one shoulder, the newcomer raised a hand to his forehead to shield his eyes from the reflected sunlight. "And the power that carves mountains is all the stronger for doing its work unobserved."
Dawn studied the stranger with interest. She loved sightseeing as much as the next girl, but had long since tired of having only her sister for company. They'd taken in a lot of scenic "natural wonders" on their cross-country tour, but people had been in relatively short supply. After days on the road, Dawn was just about starved for a decent conversation.
And decent conversation with a cute guy? Bonus, she thought eagerly, sizing up the new arrival. He was muscular, with an incongruously boyish face, and dark, shaggy hair that fell almost to his shoulders. She unconsciously stood a little straighter, tossing her long hair.
Buffy swiveled around, hands on hips, and gave the interloper a hard stare. The man didn't flinch, but he lowered his hand over his chest and bent his head in a tiny bow. "Apologies if I have interrupted you, my ladies. I meant no offense." He straightened and turned to follow the lakeshore.
As the stranger began trudging away, Dawn choked back a surge of disappointment and called after him, trying to sound casual. "Hey, it's cool. We were just hanging." Folding up her penknife, she stepped back from the placard and gave the man a small, friendly wave. "I'm Dawn, and this is my sister. She's supposed to be showing me the world."
The man stopped and looked back at her, his face breaking into an affectless grin. "Then we have something in common. I am also a wanderer in this land." His pronunciation seemed a little awkward, like that of a foreign exchange student, but Dawn couldn't quite place the accent. He gave his name, and it sounded something like "Grew."
Dawn moved a few steps closer, distractedly stirring the loose soil with the tip of a sneaker. "A wanderer, huh? Is that like being a bum?"
The man chuckled. "I understand what you mean. No, I am not a vagrant. I work when I need money, and I sleep under the stars when I can. It is a life that suits me well."
"Then maybe you'd better get back to it," Buffy snapped. "Don't you have a princess to go rescue somewhere?" Dawn shot her a startled look, but the man's eyes were steady and unsurprised.
The man shouldered his backpack and looked back at Dawn. "It was a pleasure to meet you, my lady. Be careful, and watch for what lies beneath you." Then he turned and strode rapidly away along the shore.
"Why did you have to chase him off?" Dawn pouted. "He seemed nice."
"It's time we were going," Buffy replied. "If we leave now we can be in Helena by evening, and get a head start on the trip up to Canada." She set off in the direction of the visitor center where they'd left the car, with Dawn trotting along behind her.
"I thought we were staying in the park overnight," Dawn protested.
"I figured you'd had enough of it." Buffy was striding faster now. "Let's get along to Canada. It's a whole other country, and I hear they have shops. It'll be like San Francisco. You liked San Francisco."
Dawn opened her mouth with every intention of revisiting the topic of their rather eccentric cross-country route, but then thought better of it. Her sister was clearly in no mood for being questioned. And everything would be better once they reached New York and began the European leg of their trip, wouldn't it? She pursed her lips and thought of London, Paris, Rome. It would be, she decided, just like a movie. Only better.
The rental car beeped as Buffy pushed the keyring button to unlock its doors. While Dawn folded herself into the passenger seat with a halfhearted shout of "shotgun," Buffy popped open the trunk and reached inside. For a moment, her fingers brushed the ancient metal of the object that lay within, and her mouth stretched in a fierce grin as she spoke a single word.
In a clearing in the woods along a river, on a boulder at the bottom of a canyon, on the boiling ground beside a bubbling geyser, intricate symbols glowed. The dark blood in which they were written hissed and spat with the sudden heat, then gradually faded from sight as it sank into the thirsty earth.
Something that coiled within the heart of the Slayer, something that writhed and burned like molten iron, spread the wings of its awareness across the span of the vast caldera. It sensed the opening of the great locks of the earth, felt the surge of new strength, and it was pleased. Its girls had made their preparations well.
............
The minivan rolled into Sacramento just after sundown, coming to rest at a conveniently situated motor lodge. After they'd checked in, Xander rummaged about inside the manila envelope that Lorne had left them as a parting gift and retrieved a wad of Wolfram & Hart cash, crisp twenties in a cheery rubber band. "Who's up for a trip to Sizzler?" he whooped. "We're eating steak tonight!"
After a trip to the buffet, a couple of beers, and a staring match with an eight-year-old at the next table who seemed hypnotically fascinated by his eyepatch, Xander declared himself ready to turn in. Kennedy and Willow seconded the notion, but the four junior Slayers were still going strong. "We've been stuck in the van all day," Graciela pointed out as they filed out of the restaurant. "Can't we stay out a bit longer?"
"I dunno, girls. Until Giles gets around to setting up some kind of Xavier Academy for Gifted Vampire Slayers, we're kinda responsible for your health and safety." Xander paused and bent down in front of a newspaper box, squinting at the front page of the Sacramento Bee. "And these are dangerous times. Look, 'Police Baffled by National Park Slayings.' They've got a local one, too - 'New Lead in Old Town Killing Spree.' Must really pack in the tourists."
"Hello, superheroes here," Lo huffed. "If we could handle a class trip into the pits of hell, I think we're okay going out to the malt shop."
"She's got you there, Harris," Kennedy laughed. "Let the kids have some fun while we're shuffling off to the rest home." Xander gave in and tossed Neena a spare set of room keys, warning the girls to be back by midnight and cautioning them not to disturb the driver's beauty sleep, unless they wanted to find out what happens when the guy behind the wheel dozes off at eighty miles an hour.
At first it seemed they'd have no trouble meeting the deadline. By nine-thirty the quartet had emptied their pockets, expending their last few dollars on a round of ice cream, and were ambling down the sidewalk on their way back to the motel. Then, as they passed the service alley behind a row of restaurants, a sudden rustling noise caught their attention.
"Hey, you hear that?" asked Bet. The others nodded and, holding their ice cream cones carefully level to prevent tragic dessert spillage, began tiptoeing down the alley towards the source of the sound. Though its walls picked up a fair amount of light from the streetlights on the main road, the alley's floor was sunk in shadow, and they had to squint to make out the terrain ahead.
"Eww," Graciela whispered, nose crinkling. "I smell blood." Sure enough, something slick and dark was puddled on the ground ahead of them, its source hidden from view by a hulking dumpster. Then, as they drew closer, a small, agile figure darted out from behind the dumpster and paused for a second to survey the surrounding area. Just as it spotted them, the four girls lunged forward, missing their target by a fraction of a second. With superhuman swiftness, the figure sprang up into the air and landed atop the dumpster, where it drew its forearms up in a defensive pose.
"Missed me, you bloodsucking freaks!" the stranger yelped. With the benefit of better illumination, it was now apparent that the spry figure was actually a teenage girl, who was currently engaged in fishing a handful of tent pegs out of her Sanrio shoulder bag.
Neena stood up, letting the streetlights illuminate her face. "It's okay, we're not going to hurt you." She took a careful step closer, holding up her hands to show that they held nothing more menacing than two scoops of praline fudge swirl. "But you ought to be more careful. Running around dark alleys waving pointed sticks is going to get you in trouble."
The girl atop the dumpster stared down at Neena, her nostrils flaring with wounded pride. "It's my duty," she declared. "I'm a Vampire Slayer."
............
The girl's name, it transpired, was Veronica Lin. "Gosh," she burbled enthusiastically, "I can't believe it. From those dreams I've been having, I thought I was born to be the Chosen One. But now I find out it's, what, the Chosen Five?!"
"More like fifteen," Graciela replied. "That's assuming that the ones who were with us in Sunnydale were the only other ones. And frankly, I'm starting to wonder about that."
Neena gave her a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it," Graciela answered, brows knitted in contemplation. "The first town we visit after leaving Sunnydale, and we immediately run into another Potential. Well, former Potential. What are the odds of that?"
"Uh, guys?" Bet tugged anxiously at Neena's sleeve. "Remember the big pool of blood?"
"More like a satanic ritual murder," Lo muttered, regarding the crumpled wreck slumped behind the dumpster. "A vampire's strong enough to crush someone up like that, but I think they like to drink the blood of the living, not finger-paint with it." Surrounded by scattered garbage bags, which Veronica had shoved aside to expose the corpse beneath, it was an exceptionally grisly sight, and Lo had to struggle to suppress a wave of nausea. Pretend it's a movie, she told herself. I declare, Mister Savini, you've outdone yourself this time.
"Bet's right," Neena decided. "We cannot just stand around here until the police arrive." She walked around the dumpster and peered over Lo's shoulder. "This is not exactly my area of expertise, but I believe that body has, ah, been there for some time. The blood... is certainly long dry." Neena's face paled and, with a quiet "excuse me," she stepped away into a dark corner and retched discreetly.
"Looks like this trail's gone cold, then," Graciela concluded. "I guess it's time for some research."
"Research?" Lo gave her a dubious look. "What, are we on the case now?"
"Yep," Graciela nodded. "Superheroes, remember?" She and Bet struck a triumphant high five, and then the girls turned and walked briskly away from the remains in the alley.
............
Dawn sprawled on the double bed next to her sister, kicking her feet idly as she flipped channels on the motel room's tiny television set. At length she parked it on one of the movie channels and, heaving a theatrical sigh, rolled over to stare at the ceiling.
Buffy looked up from her road atlas, where she'd been jotting down notes in an illegible scrawl of red pen, and paused a minute before responding. "There's a zoo in Calgary. You like zoos, don't you?"
Dawn regarded the slowly spiraling ceiling fan. "I guess. Not so fond of the hyenas, though. I still remember what they did to that pig." She gave a contemptuous snort. "Except I guess I really don't. I wasn't actually there, was I? Have I ever even been to a zoo? How should I know if I like them or not?"
"Oh, don't start." Buffy heaved a pillow at Dawn, who swatted it aside with a listless forearm. "You're here now. It's just us two, the Summers sisters touring the world and seeing the sights. Tomorrow we'll go to the zoo and see how you like the funny monkeys."
Dawn lay silently for a while, her breathing growing gradually slower. Then she spoke up again, more quietly. "Buffy?" Her sister waited, pen suspended over the page. "When you were... you know, in heaven. Did you ever... I mean, was... was Mom there?"
Buffy resumed writing. "Go to sleep, Dawnie," she said, not without fondness. "We'll talk about it tomorrow."
Minutes passed. Dawn's breathing slowed further, then became ragged snoring. Buffy put her maps aside and clicked off the light, then stretched out on her side of the mattress and clasped her hands behind her head. Soon she was asleep as well.
As the Slayer's body slipped into sleep, something uncoiled within her. Its consciousness unfurled like great wings, expanding until it wrapped around the globe of the world. Its awareness was diffused now, everywhere and nowhere. It glimpsed the world through a thousand eyes, felt its impulses twitching through a thousand hands, and it relished the sensation for a moment while it considered where to focus its attention first. The preacher and the Harbingers had culled many of the line, it was true, but only as many as was absolutely necessary. And there were so many more left.
............
In Sacramento, Willow and Kennedy lay entwined and fast asleep. Kennedy stirred as something flitted through her mind, the faintest touch of an alien consciousness brushing against hers. In its wake it left thoughts like tiny ripples in her brain, stray words that would be long forgotten by the time Kennedy awoke. Soon, it decided as it passed through her mind, and the word was tinged with playful malice. Soon, but not tonight.
............
"Oh my god, you guys, this is so cool!" The young Slayers were now just a couple of blocks from Veronica's house, and their new acquaintance was still giddy with excitement. Bet and Graciela, the smallest of the girls, almost had to trot to keep up with Veronica's pace. "Now we're going to be researching and investigating and we're like a total crime-fighting team!"
Lo rolled her eyes at this unseemly show of enthusiasm, but Neena smiled tolerantly. "It's certainly preferable to fighting a lonely battle against the forces of evil by yourself, isn't it?"
Veronica nodded vigorously, her ponytail wagging in synch. "The dreams made it sound so scary. They said I'd fight alone, and die alone, and I was starting to wonder if I should even bother filling out my college applications..." She gave them a sunny smile. "I never thought I'd be so happy to know I still have to study for the SAT."
"So," Graciela puffed, "you have an Internet connection at your house, right? We'll need to look up all the newspaper coverage, and I think I remember the tricks Willow uses to get into police databases..."
"Yeah yeah," Veronica assured her. "And my dad's good with that stuff too. Oh man, I can't wait til you meet my parents! They've been totally nice about it, but I know they were starting to think I'd completely flipped out."
"I'm still trying to picture us as an elite crime-fighting team," Lo mused. "I don't know if that would make us more like Charlie's Angels or the Spice Girls."
"Guess we know who'd be Baby Spice," Graciela added, shooting a mischievous glance in Bet's direction.
"Nuh-uh!" Bet countered. "I'm eight months older than you, remember? That makes you the baby, baby."
"And I guess Neena and Veronica would both be Posh," concluded Lo. Just as Neena was about to deliver a rejoinder, the group screeched to a halt and Veronica brightly announced they'd reached their destination.
While the other four girls waited by the front steps, Veronica bounded up to the door and rapped loudly. "They're going to be so surprised," she giggled. "I went out my bedroom window on the second floor, so I bet they don't even know I'm gone. They think I'm still in there working on my paper for summer school." She waited, rapped again, then shrugged and began fishing a set of keys out of her shoulder bag. "Huh. Well, let's go on in. Maybe they have the TV turned up real loud."
The Slayers filed into the hallway, reflexively wiping their shoes on the welcome mat as they entered. Veronica peered down the dark, silent passage and issued a tentative "Hello? Mom? Dad?" When no response came, she proceeded down the hall to the foot of the staircase, flicking on lights as she went. "C'mon, you guys. It's cool. I guess they turned in early. Or maybe they stepped out for a minute." Veronica shuddered in mock horror. "Oh man, I hope they didn't notice I skipped out. I just bet they're driving around the neighborhood looking for me. I'm going to be in so much trouble!"
"Hey," Lo asked, "Is it okay if we raid the fridge?"
"You bet," Veronica assured her. "There's pop and juice, and you can get water from the tap filter. Just don't mess with dad's liquor cabinet, okay?" Lo gave her an OK hand gesture and, with Bet in tow, veered off towards the first-floor kitchen. Neena and Graciela followed their host up the stairs, and the trio gathered in Veronica's bedroom, where a sleek flat-panel computer display hummed atop an elegant wooden study desk.
"Wow, your room is so tidy," Graciela sighed. "I'm almost afraid to touch anything."
"No, it's totally cool." Veronica tapped the keyboard and the computer began powering up. "Here, have a seat." She motioned Graciela towards the leather-upholstered office chair, then padded over to the door to holler downstairs. "Hey, you guys finding everything okay?"
Lo's voice wafted faintly up from the kitchen. "Yeah, we're on it. But something sure smells funny down here. Maybe it's the liquor cabinet."
"I told you guys," Veronica giggled, "don't go messing with that!"
Meanwhile, the computer had finished waking up. Graciela squinted at the screen, and Neena, watching over her shoulder, commented "Hey, there's a file open on the desktop."
Veronica looked back over her shoulder. "That'll be my summer-school paper. You can go ahead and close that up."
Graciela moved the mouse into position to close the window, then paused, reading out the title text. "The Slayer Lives in the Action of Death. By Veronica A. Lin."
"What?" Neena craned over the back of the seat. "The Slayer lives in the action of death. The blood cry. The penetrating wound. The Slayer lives in the..." She straightened up, every muscle suddenly tense. "Veronica? What is this shit?"
Veronica was frozen in the door, trembling, paralyzed. Lo called again from downstairs, louder and more urgent. "Holy crap, guys. I think... I found out what that smell was."
Graciela rose from the leather chair, and she and Neena slowly began edging towards the other girl. Veronica's mouth worked, but no words came out. She looked down for a second, then her head snapped up again, and Neena and Graciela gasped in shock.
The pupils of the girl's eyes were grossly dilated, her irises entirely swallowed up into black pits. Veronica's mouth twitched, and she finally gulped out a few words. "It... it sees. It sees you."
Lo and Bet were bounding up the stairs now, and Neena and Graciela had edged close enough to touch Veronica. "It's okay," Neena murmured soothingly. "Nobody's going to hurt you." She reached out a hand, but Veronica was suddenly thrashing about, knocking her arm away.
"I can't! I can't let it see you!" At once, Veronica Lin was a blur of motion, smashing past Neena and Graciela, swatting the computer display to the floor as she leapt over the desk, plunging towards the window and bursting through it in an explosion of glass fragments. The four young Slayers stood there stunned, listening to the girl's feet smacking onto the concrete patio below and then beating out a rapid, irregular rhythm as she ran away, howling, into the night.
For a long minute, no one said anything. Lo was the first to break the silence.
"Oh shit. I guess we'd better call the cops."
............
Despite their solemn promise, the girls felt they had no option but to shake Xander awake as soon as they made it back to the motel. "You did the right thing, guys," Xander mumbled as they finished up their account and described the frantic anonymous call they'd placed to the Sacramento police department. "We don't know the lay of the land here, so the best way for us to help her is to keep trying to get to the bottom of this whole thing. And that means we have to keep moving."
"So you think it's all connected, then?" Graciela asked. "What happened to Willow, what happened to Veronica..."
"...And what might happen to the rest of us?" Bet concluded.
"I honestly don't know." Xander sighed. "And right now I'm too wiped out to think about it. Let's see if we can get some shut-eye, and we'll discuss it with Willow and Kennedy first thing in the morning." He rolled over, sinking his face into the pillow. "But it's good you told me. Thanks, guys."
Xander was soon asleep, and one by one the girls began following suit as exhaustion won out over agitation. At last only Bet and Neena remained awake, and as Neena slipped into drowsiness, Bet couldn't help but ask the question that was cycling endlessly through her head.
"Neena... what do you think is going to happen to her? To Veronica?"
Neena sighed, no more than half awake. "I don't know. I hope we can help her."
But to Bet that seemed slim comfort, and while her companions fitfully dozed, she lay awake through the night.
ACT THREE: MOMENTS OF CLARITY
By the time they'd reached Salinas, Xander had had enough. "I can't take it anymore," he declared, gesturing dramatically for the benefit of the passengers in the back of the rental minivan. "Even if we're engaged in a desperate cross-country race against time, we'll never be able to pull this off without some decent music."
A chorus of indignant squeals arose from the back of the van as Graciela and Bet suspended their ongoing game of punch-buggy to rise to the defense of Aguilera and Timberlake. Kennedy, for her part, peered over the shoulder of Willow's front-row seat to inquire as to what exactly Xander had against AC/DC. "Maybe you don't consider 'You Shook Me All Night Long' to be suitable driving music," she admonished him, "but I'm due to take over the wheel for this next leg anyway."
Xander solemnly shook his head and began maneuvering into position for the freeway off-ramp. "Sorry, girls, my mind's made up. We're about due for a pit stop anyway, and this'll be our last chance to go CD shopping before we cut over to I-5. Look, the sign says Northridge Mall! Sounds promising."
While Xander made his emergency run to Sam Goody's, and the junior Slayers scattered to the four corners of the shopping center in blatant defiance of his admonitions, Willow and Kennedy found themselves left to their own devices for the first time since they'd left the motel. Kennedy slid between the armrests into the front row and eased herself into the driver's seat, then reached over and gave Willow's hand a warm squeeze. "How you holding up, babe?"
"Pretty well, thanks." Willow's smile was noticeably less forced now. "I think the change of scenery is doing me good."
"Cool." Kennedy mirrored her grin for a second, then her expression darkened. "I still can't get over that Lorne guy, though. Where does he get off speaking to you like that?"
Willow gave Kennedy's cheek a soothing pat with her free hand. "Sweetie, it's okay. I'm a big girl. Besides, I've been thinking about what he said - you know, about the advice."
Kennedy raised a dubious eyebrow, but Willow pressed on. "I remember something Giles said to me, before I came back to Sunnydale. He said, my magic... that it's a great power, and I'm responsible for it. That I have to... learn to control it." Motioning Kennedy to hear her out, she paused again, then continued. "Xander said something like that, too. It was some kind of analogy involving a hammer. I, uh, don't exactly remember what his point was, but I think it was kind of the same thing."
Kennedy burst in impatiently. "What's that got to do with anything? You're past that now, Willow. I saw you pull off a miracle, and you were a goddam goddess. None of these dickwads have jack to teach you about control."
Willow pulled away slightly and turned to regard the glove compartment. "I don't know if that's really true, Kennedy. When I worked that spell... it was like something going through me. Some kind of power that was in the scythe, and I just let it out." Kennedy began to say something, but Willow cut her off with a vigorous shake of her head. "I'm serious. I... I've felt that way before. I've had power given to me as a gift. And I've, I've taken it by force."
Her pale face was burning now with shame, and she had to gulp down hot tears before she could continue. "I don't know how I can explain it, but it's different. There's a difference between drawing on my own power, and borrowing someone else's." Kennedy reached for her, and Willow pushed her arms away. "Like I borrowed yours. But... but I'm afraid, Kennedy. I'm afraid what would happen if I drew on my own power."
Gently but firmly, Kennedy forced her way past Willow's hands and wrapped her arms around her quivering shoulders. "Shh. It's okay." She pulled Willow closer, stroking her hair. "Don't be scared, babe. Whatever's in there, I can deal with it. You don't have to be afraid to show me."
Willow extracted an arm and fumbled for the tissue box on the dashboard, then blew a couple of mighty honks. After a minute's consideration, she straightened up and looked Kennedy in the eyes.
"So maybe that's the problem. I guess it's true what they say about easy solutions, huh?" Willow dabbed away a few last tears, then drew her features into a mask of determination. "I can't keep running and hiding from myself, can I? I can't just look to... to some kind of outside power to make things right, so I don't have to deal with what's inside me."
Kennedy laughed, pulling Willow tighter still. "You are impossible, aren't you? I can see why people get tired of giving you advice." Then her lips found the white skin of Willow's neck, and for a while there was no more talking.
............
"Maybe it's time I wrapped up that loose end as well..."
"Huh?" Dawn looked up from the placard she'd been studying. "Did you say something, Buffy?"
"Just saying it's time that guy wrapped up the geology lecture." Buffy motioned towards a cluster of junior high school students gathered a little further along the lakeshore, evidently here on a field trip. "Reminds me of Mr. Zaragosa's World History class, and I swear, by the end of the semester I was this close to staking him." The slouching adolescents were being treated to a longwinded discourse by their teacher, who paused occasionally in mid-drone to mop the sweat from his balding forehead.
"As I mentioned before, the entire Yellowstone area was originally a caldera - a crater, in layman's terms - formed by the explosion of what you might call a super-volcano, some six hundred thousand years ago." The man gestured across the placid waters of Yellowstone Lake. "They say that ash from the blast rained down as far away as Texas. This is still one of the most active volcanic areas on Earth, of course, and the subterranean heat is what produces its famous geysers..." Mercifully, the group was moving away, and the remainder of the teacher's speech faded into inaudibility.
"Hey, there's a bit over here called Butte Lake." Dawn had returned to studying the placard and its map of the lake's environs. "Here's Biscuit Basin. And Evil Twin Lake... kinda reminds me of that time with Xander." After spending the entire afternoon inspecting bubbling hot springs, she'd given up trying to feign enthusiasm.
"Come on, Dawnie. Don't you think it's kind of exciting?" Buffy gazed out over the lake, her eyes bright. "So quiet on the surface, and all that power gathering underneath. Just a mile from where we're standing, there's a bulge on the lake bed a hundred feet high. Imagine all that heat and pressure building up, waiting to break free. When it finally blows, it's going to make Sunnydale look like a hiccup."
Dawn gave her sister an indifferent glance as she extracted a penknife from the pocket of her jeans and began carving something into the placard's wooden frame. "People always think of the earth as something stable and solid," Buffy continued, more to herself than to Dawn. "But it's really not. Under the surface, it's all churning magma and grinding rock. And beneath that, pure liquid iron... a furnace of swirling metal. Power that never sleeps."
"Powerful indeed." Both women looked up in surprise at the stranger wandering down to the lakeshore beside them. Shifting his bulky backpack onto one shoulder, the newcomer raised a hand to his forehead to shield his eyes from the reflected sunlight. "And the power that carves mountains is all the stronger for doing its work unobserved."
Dawn studied the stranger with interest. She loved sightseeing as much as the next girl, but had long since tired of having only her sister for company. They'd taken in a lot of scenic "natural wonders" on their cross-country tour, but people had been in relatively short supply. After days on the road, Dawn was just about starved for a decent conversation.
And decent conversation with a cute guy? Bonus, she thought eagerly, sizing up the new arrival. He was muscular, with an incongruously boyish face, and dark, shaggy hair that fell almost to his shoulders. She unconsciously stood a little straighter, tossing her long hair.
Buffy swiveled around, hands on hips, and gave the interloper a hard stare. The man didn't flinch, but he lowered his hand over his chest and bent his head in a tiny bow. "Apologies if I have interrupted you, my ladies. I meant no offense." He straightened and turned to follow the lakeshore.
As the stranger began trudging away, Dawn choked back a surge of disappointment and called after him, trying to sound casual. "Hey, it's cool. We were just hanging." Folding up her penknife, she stepped back from the placard and gave the man a small, friendly wave. "I'm Dawn, and this is my sister. She's supposed to be showing me the world."
The man stopped and looked back at her, his face breaking into an affectless grin. "Then we have something in common. I am also a wanderer in this land." His pronunciation seemed a little awkward, like that of a foreign exchange student, but Dawn couldn't quite place the accent. He gave his name, and it sounded something like "Grew."
Dawn moved a few steps closer, distractedly stirring the loose soil with the tip of a sneaker. "A wanderer, huh? Is that like being a bum?"
The man chuckled. "I understand what you mean. No, I am not a vagrant. I work when I need money, and I sleep under the stars when I can. It is a life that suits me well."
"Then maybe you'd better get back to it," Buffy snapped. "Don't you have a princess to go rescue somewhere?" Dawn shot her a startled look, but the man's eyes were steady and unsurprised.
The man shouldered his backpack and looked back at Dawn. "It was a pleasure to meet you, my lady. Be careful, and watch for what lies beneath you." Then he turned and strode rapidly away along the shore.
"Why did you have to chase him off?" Dawn pouted. "He seemed nice."
"It's time we were going," Buffy replied. "If we leave now we can be in Helena by evening, and get a head start on the trip up to Canada." She set off in the direction of the visitor center where they'd left the car, with Dawn trotting along behind her.
"I thought we were staying in the park overnight," Dawn protested.
"I figured you'd had enough of it." Buffy was striding faster now. "Let's get along to Canada. It's a whole other country, and I hear they have shops. It'll be like San Francisco. You liked San Francisco."
Dawn opened her mouth with every intention of revisiting the topic of their rather eccentric cross-country route, but then thought better of it. Her sister was clearly in no mood for being questioned. And everything would be better once they reached New York and began the European leg of their trip, wouldn't it? She pursed her lips and thought of London, Paris, Rome. It would be, she decided, just like a movie. Only better.
The rental car beeped as Buffy pushed the keyring button to unlock its doors. While Dawn folded herself into the passenger seat with a halfhearted shout of "shotgun," Buffy popped open the trunk and reached inside. For a moment, her fingers brushed the ancient metal of the object that lay within, and her mouth stretched in a fierce grin as she spoke a single word.
In a clearing in the woods along a river, on a boulder at the bottom of a canyon, on the boiling ground beside a bubbling geyser, intricate symbols glowed. The dark blood in which they were written hissed and spat with the sudden heat, then gradually faded from sight as it sank into the thirsty earth.
Something that coiled within the heart of the Slayer, something that writhed and burned like molten iron, spread the wings of its awareness across the span of the vast caldera. It sensed the opening of the great locks of the earth, felt the surge of new strength, and it was pleased. Its girls had made their preparations well.
............
The minivan rolled into Sacramento just after sundown, coming to rest at a conveniently situated motor lodge. After they'd checked in, Xander rummaged about inside the manila envelope that Lorne had left them as a parting gift and retrieved a wad of Wolfram & Hart cash, crisp twenties in a cheery rubber band. "Who's up for a trip to Sizzler?" he whooped. "We're eating steak tonight!"
After a trip to the buffet, a couple of beers, and a staring match with an eight-year-old at the next table who seemed hypnotically fascinated by his eyepatch, Xander declared himself ready to turn in. Kennedy and Willow seconded the notion, but the four junior Slayers were still going strong. "We've been stuck in the van all day," Graciela pointed out as they filed out of the restaurant. "Can't we stay out a bit longer?"
"I dunno, girls. Until Giles gets around to setting up some kind of Xavier Academy for Gifted Vampire Slayers, we're kinda responsible for your health and safety." Xander paused and bent down in front of a newspaper box, squinting at the front page of the Sacramento Bee. "And these are dangerous times. Look, 'Police Baffled by National Park Slayings.' They've got a local one, too - 'New Lead in Old Town Killing Spree.' Must really pack in the tourists."
"Hello, superheroes here," Lo huffed. "If we could handle a class trip into the pits of hell, I think we're okay going out to the malt shop."
"She's got you there, Harris," Kennedy laughed. "Let the kids have some fun while we're shuffling off to the rest home." Xander gave in and tossed Neena a spare set of room keys, warning the girls to be back by midnight and cautioning them not to disturb the driver's beauty sleep, unless they wanted to find out what happens when the guy behind the wheel dozes off at eighty miles an hour.
At first it seemed they'd have no trouble meeting the deadline. By nine-thirty the quartet had emptied their pockets, expending their last few dollars on a round of ice cream, and were ambling down the sidewalk on their way back to the motel. Then, as they passed the service alley behind a row of restaurants, a sudden rustling noise caught their attention.
"Hey, you hear that?" asked Bet. The others nodded and, holding their ice cream cones carefully level to prevent tragic dessert spillage, began tiptoeing down the alley towards the source of the sound. Though its walls picked up a fair amount of light from the streetlights on the main road, the alley's floor was sunk in shadow, and they had to squint to make out the terrain ahead.
"Eww," Graciela whispered, nose crinkling. "I smell blood." Sure enough, something slick and dark was puddled on the ground ahead of them, its source hidden from view by a hulking dumpster. Then, as they drew closer, a small, agile figure darted out from behind the dumpster and paused for a second to survey the surrounding area. Just as it spotted them, the four girls lunged forward, missing their target by a fraction of a second. With superhuman swiftness, the figure sprang up into the air and landed atop the dumpster, where it drew its forearms up in a defensive pose.
"Missed me, you bloodsucking freaks!" the stranger yelped. With the benefit of better illumination, it was now apparent that the spry figure was actually a teenage girl, who was currently engaged in fishing a handful of tent pegs out of her Sanrio shoulder bag.
Neena stood up, letting the streetlights illuminate her face. "It's okay, we're not going to hurt you." She took a careful step closer, holding up her hands to show that they held nothing more menacing than two scoops of praline fudge swirl. "But you ought to be more careful. Running around dark alleys waving pointed sticks is going to get you in trouble."
The girl atop the dumpster stared down at Neena, her nostrils flaring with wounded pride. "It's my duty," she declared. "I'm a Vampire Slayer."
............
The girl's name, it transpired, was Veronica Lin. "Gosh," she burbled enthusiastically, "I can't believe it. From those dreams I've been having, I thought I was born to be the Chosen One. But now I find out it's, what, the Chosen Five?!"
"More like fifteen," Graciela replied. "That's assuming that the ones who were with us in Sunnydale were the only other ones. And frankly, I'm starting to wonder about that."
Neena gave her a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it," Graciela answered, brows knitted in contemplation. "The first town we visit after leaving Sunnydale, and we immediately run into another Potential. Well, former Potential. What are the odds of that?"
"Uh, guys?" Bet tugged anxiously at Neena's sleeve. "Remember the big pool of blood?"
"More like a satanic ritual murder," Lo muttered, regarding the crumpled wreck slumped behind the dumpster. "A vampire's strong enough to crush someone up like that, but I think they like to drink the blood of the living, not finger-paint with it." Surrounded by scattered garbage bags, which Veronica had shoved aside to expose the corpse beneath, it was an exceptionally grisly sight, and Lo had to struggle to suppress a wave of nausea. Pretend it's a movie, she told herself. I declare, Mister Savini, you've outdone yourself this time.
"Bet's right," Neena decided. "We cannot just stand around here until the police arrive." She walked around the dumpster and peered over Lo's shoulder. "This is not exactly my area of expertise, but I believe that body has, ah, been there for some time. The blood... is certainly long dry." Neena's face paled and, with a quiet "excuse me," she stepped away into a dark corner and retched discreetly.
"Looks like this trail's gone cold, then," Graciela concluded. "I guess it's time for some research."
"Research?" Lo gave her a dubious look. "What, are we on the case now?"
"Yep," Graciela nodded. "Superheroes, remember?" She and Bet struck a triumphant high five, and then the girls turned and walked briskly away from the remains in the alley.
............
Dawn sprawled on the double bed next to her sister, kicking her feet idly as she flipped channels on the motel room's tiny television set. At length she parked it on one of the movie channels and, heaving a theatrical sigh, rolled over to stare at the ceiling.
Buffy looked up from her road atlas, where she'd been jotting down notes in an illegible scrawl of red pen, and paused a minute before responding. "There's a zoo in Calgary. You like zoos, don't you?"
Dawn regarded the slowly spiraling ceiling fan. "I guess. Not so fond of the hyenas, though. I still remember what they did to that pig." She gave a contemptuous snort. "Except I guess I really don't. I wasn't actually there, was I? Have I ever even been to a zoo? How should I know if I like them or not?"
"Oh, don't start." Buffy heaved a pillow at Dawn, who swatted it aside with a listless forearm. "You're here now. It's just us two, the Summers sisters touring the world and seeing the sights. Tomorrow we'll go to the zoo and see how you like the funny monkeys."
Dawn lay silently for a while, her breathing growing gradually slower. Then she spoke up again, more quietly. "Buffy?" Her sister waited, pen suspended over the page. "When you were... you know, in heaven. Did you ever... I mean, was... was Mom there?"
Buffy resumed writing. "Go to sleep, Dawnie," she said, not without fondness. "We'll talk about it tomorrow."
Minutes passed. Dawn's breathing slowed further, then became ragged snoring. Buffy put her maps aside and clicked off the light, then stretched out on her side of the mattress and clasped her hands behind her head. Soon she was asleep as well.
As the Slayer's body slipped into sleep, something uncoiled within her. Its consciousness unfurled like great wings, expanding until it wrapped around the globe of the world. Its awareness was diffused now, everywhere and nowhere. It glimpsed the world through a thousand eyes, felt its impulses twitching through a thousand hands, and it relished the sensation for a moment while it considered where to focus its attention first. The preacher and the Harbingers had culled many of the line, it was true, but only as many as was absolutely necessary. And there were so many more left.
............
In Sacramento, Willow and Kennedy lay entwined and fast asleep. Kennedy stirred as something flitted through her mind, the faintest touch of an alien consciousness brushing against hers. In its wake it left thoughts like tiny ripples in her brain, stray words that would be long forgotten by the time Kennedy awoke. Soon, it decided as it passed through her mind, and the word was tinged with playful malice. Soon, but not tonight.
............
"Oh my god, you guys, this is so cool!" The young Slayers were now just a couple of blocks from Veronica's house, and their new acquaintance was still giddy with excitement. Bet and Graciela, the smallest of the girls, almost had to trot to keep up with Veronica's pace. "Now we're going to be researching and investigating and we're like a total crime-fighting team!"
Lo rolled her eyes at this unseemly show of enthusiasm, but Neena smiled tolerantly. "It's certainly preferable to fighting a lonely battle against the forces of evil by yourself, isn't it?"
Veronica nodded vigorously, her ponytail wagging in synch. "The dreams made it sound so scary. They said I'd fight alone, and die alone, and I was starting to wonder if I should even bother filling out my college applications..." She gave them a sunny smile. "I never thought I'd be so happy to know I still have to study for the SAT."
"So," Graciela puffed, "you have an Internet connection at your house, right? We'll need to look up all the newspaper coverage, and I think I remember the tricks Willow uses to get into police databases..."
"Yeah yeah," Veronica assured her. "And my dad's good with that stuff too. Oh man, I can't wait til you meet my parents! They've been totally nice about it, but I know they were starting to think I'd completely flipped out."
"I'm still trying to picture us as an elite crime-fighting team," Lo mused. "I don't know if that would make us more like Charlie's Angels or the Spice Girls."
"Guess we know who'd be Baby Spice," Graciela added, shooting a mischievous glance in Bet's direction.
"Nuh-uh!" Bet countered. "I'm eight months older than you, remember? That makes you the baby, baby."
"And I guess Neena and Veronica would both be Posh," concluded Lo. Just as Neena was about to deliver a rejoinder, the group screeched to a halt and Veronica brightly announced they'd reached their destination.
While the other four girls waited by the front steps, Veronica bounded up to the door and rapped loudly. "They're going to be so surprised," she giggled. "I went out my bedroom window on the second floor, so I bet they don't even know I'm gone. They think I'm still in there working on my paper for summer school." She waited, rapped again, then shrugged and began fishing a set of keys out of her shoulder bag. "Huh. Well, let's go on in. Maybe they have the TV turned up real loud."
The Slayers filed into the hallway, reflexively wiping their shoes on the welcome mat as they entered. Veronica peered down the dark, silent passage and issued a tentative "Hello? Mom? Dad?" When no response came, she proceeded down the hall to the foot of the staircase, flicking on lights as she went. "C'mon, you guys. It's cool. I guess they turned in early. Or maybe they stepped out for a minute." Veronica shuddered in mock horror. "Oh man, I hope they didn't notice I skipped out. I just bet they're driving around the neighborhood looking for me. I'm going to be in so much trouble!"
"Hey," Lo asked, "Is it okay if we raid the fridge?"
"You bet," Veronica assured her. "There's pop and juice, and you can get water from the tap filter. Just don't mess with dad's liquor cabinet, okay?" Lo gave her an OK hand gesture and, with Bet in tow, veered off towards the first-floor kitchen. Neena and Graciela followed their host up the stairs, and the trio gathered in Veronica's bedroom, where a sleek flat-panel computer display hummed atop an elegant wooden study desk.
"Wow, your room is so tidy," Graciela sighed. "I'm almost afraid to touch anything."
"No, it's totally cool." Veronica tapped the keyboard and the computer began powering up. "Here, have a seat." She motioned Graciela towards the leather-upholstered office chair, then padded over to the door to holler downstairs. "Hey, you guys finding everything okay?"
Lo's voice wafted faintly up from the kitchen. "Yeah, we're on it. But something sure smells funny down here. Maybe it's the liquor cabinet."
"I told you guys," Veronica giggled, "don't go messing with that!"
Meanwhile, the computer had finished waking up. Graciela squinted at the screen, and Neena, watching over her shoulder, commented "Hey, there's a file open on the desktop."
Veronica looked back over her shoulder. "That'll be my summer-school paper. You can go ahead and close that up."
Graciela moved the mouse into position to close the window, then paused, reading out the title text. "The Slayer Lives in the Action of Death. By Veronica A. Lin."
"What?" Neena craned over the back of the seat. "The Slayer lives in the action of death. The blood cry. The penetrating wound. The Slayer lives in the..." She straightened up, every muscle suddenly tense. "Veronica? What is this shit?"
Veronica was frozen in the door, trembling, paralyzed. Lo called again from downstairs, louder and more urgent. "Holy crap, guys. I think... I found out what that smell was."
Graciela rose from the leather chair, and she and Neena slowly began edging towards the other girl. Veronica's mouth worked, but no words came out. She looked down for a second, then her head snapped up again, and Neena and Graciela gasped in shock.
The pupils of the girl's eyes were grossly dilated, her irises entirely swallowed up into black pits. Veronica's mouth twitched, and she finally gulped out a few words. "It... it sees. It sees you."
Lo and Bet were bounding up the stairs now, and Neena and Graciela had edged close enough to touch Veronica. "It's okay," Neena murmured soothingly. "Nobody's going to hurt you." She reached out a hand, but Veronica was suddenly thrashing about, knocking her arm away.
"I can't! I can't let it see you!" At once, Veronica Lin was a blur of motion, smashing past Neena and Graciela, swatting the computer display to the floor as she leapt over the desk, plunging towards the window and bursting through it in an explosion of glass fragments. The four young Slayers stood there stunned, listening to the girl's feet smacking onto the concrete patio below and then beating out a rapid, irregular rhythm as she ran away, howling, into the night.
For a long minute, no one said anything. Lo was the first to break the silence.
"Oh shit. I guess we'd better call the cops."
............
Despite their solemn promise, the girls felt they had no option but to shake Xander awake as soon as they made it back to the motel. "You did the right thing, guys," Xander mumbled as they finished up their account and described the frantic anonymous call they'd placed to the Sacramento police department. "We don't know the lay of the land here, so the best way for us to help her is to keep trying to get to the bottom of this whole thing. And that means we have to keep moving."
"So you think it's all connected, then?" Graciela asked. "What happened to Willow, what happened to Veronica..."
"...And what might happen to the rest of us?" Bet concluded.
"I honestly don't know." Xander sighed. "And right now I'm too wiped out to think about it. Let's see if we can get some shut-eye, and we'll discuss it with Willow and Kennedy first thing in the morning." He rolled over, sinking his face into the pillow. "But it's good you told me. Thanks, guys."
Xander was soon asleep, and one by one the girls began following suit as exhaustion won out over agitation. At last only Bet and Neena remained awake, and as Neena slipped into drowsiness, Bet couldn't help but ask the question that was cycling endlessly through her head.
"Neena... what do you think is going to happen to her? To Veronica?"
Neena sighed, no more than half awake. "I don't know. I hope we can help her."
But to Bet that seemed slim comfort, and while her companions fitfully dozed, she lay awake through the night.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-18 11:44 pm (UTC)And as the Hook notes, the Yellowstone factoids are true, all true. Kind of a creepy planet we live on, when you really think about it. :-)
Finally, I'm glad you're enjoying the Mini-Slayers. They'll be taking a back seat for the next couple of chapters, the bulk of which is already written - the Hook has been patiently waiting for yours truly to finish up Chapter 3, so you can check out the extravagant weirdness she's been toiling over. So new chapters will be coming indecently soon.
Indecent, indecent I say!
Date: 2004-03-19 12:01 am (UTC)So what kind of WiPs you got going on? Show me show me show me!
Oh, and I friended you, by the way. I thought I already had, but I guess LJ was being weird or something. And here I thought you were just being quiet...
Having Faith
Date: 2004-03-19 12:54 am (UTC)Will Faith pop up here... hm. My first thought was that she may be too major a character to bring back into the thick of things without turning it into a Faith story rather than the sort of Scooby-centric one we've been setting up, but....ah, I may have an idea! Hm. Stay tuned.
And, oops, I just realized the title I gave this post is a little racy, eh?
Re: Having Faith
Date: 2004-03-19 01:07 am (UTC)Frankly, after seeing redredshoes at work, I'd almost be a little intimidated to tackle Faith. But maybe the Hook has an inner Rogue Slayer she can call up for the occasion. :-)
Personally, I find myself leaning more towards minor character cameos at this point. (There'll be another itsy bitsy Angel crossover next chapter as well.) I mean sure, everybody loves Faith... but what about Kendra, huh? Which would win, the FrayScythe or the classic Mister Pointy? The fans clamor for answers. Their hunger cannot be denied!
Re: Having Faith
Date: 2004-03-19 01:08 am (UTC)Oh, now you're just being silly.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-19 03:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-20 03:21 pm (UTC)I love it!
Date: 2004-03-29 09:05 am (UTC)I love Xander! Road trips! Mysteries!
And you know what else I love? Original characters. Makes me feel better about spending all my time on mine. (I loathe and despise self-pimpage so I say no more.) I think OCs are a great way to reflect and shadow the canon characters, and it gives the author a chance to explore newer ground.
I race to the next chapter.
And how delightful it is to have your husband be your writing partner! My ex-husband was happy that I enjoyed writing fic, but he never read one single word. Of course, he could be reading NOW, as far as I know, but I don't care.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-29 09:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-30 02:21 am (UTC)