Part One: Things Born of Fire - Chapter 6
Title:We Can Run Away Now They’re All Dead and Gone.
Author: Aurey09
Fandom: Buffy
Part One: Things Born of Fire.
Chapter: 6/10
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, not me.
A/N: Thanks again noandwhere for beta-ing this.
Buffy thrust her motel door shut with her elbow, and it gave a satisfying crack as it hit the wall.
The Slayers were all checked in; it taken a while to arrange them into groups in which they were least likely to squabble, because with Slayers it was never just hair pulling.
Buffy had hated how her home had been swarmed with the girls, all their mess and trivial arguments, but she’d been finding their loudness a welcome distraction, the louder the better, making up for all the missing ones. Here she was though? Alone; she’d chosen for it to be that way. She’d taken a dark room that smelt of cheap air fresheners hiding the stench of who knew what and a shower covered in mould - instead of a game of cards with her friends.
Willow had invited her to join them but she didn’t feel up to it. Willow had given her a few things to think about. In her absence it been decided by Giles that they’d be staying with Angel in LA. They wouldn’t be leaving till late tomorrow due to Willow sensing a Slayery vibe in town. Willow had said that she could feel them awakening everywhere but Buffy hadn’t guessed that it would be so close to home, without them knowing already. Willow was cautious of doing another spell so soon after the one today. She was going to do a relocating spell tomorrow - when she wasn’t so exhausted, and Buffy could relate to that.
She laid down on the bed, closed her eyes; she tried to imagine a less spongy mattress and tried not to think how it was the first time in days she’d slept in a bed alone. Faith had said something about sleeping for a week. Buffy wasn’t sure of that - a few years seemed more to her liking.
She could just disappear - the world wasn’t in short supply of Slayers, whatever the death toll of today might have her feeling. She was one in a very huge crowd - that made it easy to disappear.
The dead of Sunnydale hadn't disappeared - she was sure she’d seen Cassie and Jonathan had spoken to her; people overlooked all their lives - now making themselves known. Why them?
Maybe it wasn’t them maybe she was crazy. She decided to ignore her new possible found psychosis, if anyone could do it she could. Not seeing what was in front of her, had always been a talent of hers. You ignore something until it goes away, or becomes invisible like a girl ignored by her classmates, the school that took no notice of her was gone. Maybe Buffy saw them so that they and Sunnydale weren't completely gone.
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Andrew looked at the cards in his hands, he needed the ten of clubs - he had the other three tens; a three, four and five in one suit and a King of Hearts. He’d been playing a good game of rummy and not winning - someone was cheating - he was sure of it. He’d so far crossed Kennedy off the list, she was watching TV with some of the other girls. It couldn’t be Willow, she hadn’t come back from her talk with Buffy, yet. That left Xander, Dawn and Giles.
It probably wasn’t Xander, it wasn’t his nature to cheat - and he’d yet to win a game. Giles had motive, he was a bad loser - he’d seen evidence of that the night before and he was all means to the end guy. Dawn was a teenage and therefore morally iffy to begin with. They both had sufficient intellect to do it.
Andrew had always been good at whodunits as a kid. People at school were always going missing, or dead or turning up to school with one less limb than the day before. He had known stuff about demons and magic all his life - he figured it was why he’d survived the longest out of the trio and his graduating class. The point was, he was always right in guessing what had happened to them, but you couldn’t make an arrest against vampires or demons.
Dawn smiled and lay down her winning hand. She also had a king of hearts. Stupid motel cards!
"Giles, Dawn keeps cheating make her stop."
"Hey!" Xander stopped in the middle of massaging his temple. "Could you quiet it down, I’ve got a migraine the size of a crater where my home once was."
Andrew winced apologetically, now Xander was all mad at him.
"I’m beginning to think suggesting a game of cards was folly on my part." Willow lifted a questioning eyebrow at the long suffering Giles as she came through the door.
She snuggled up next to Kennedy on the far bed, who was watching TV with two of the other Slayers, Shanno and Heidi - they’d not been suspects, though they had played a few hands.
"Is Buffy not joining us?" Giles asked.
"No." Willow said she seemed defeated, Kennedy squeezed her hand, Willow smiled back. They're too cute for words at least someone got a happy ending.
Xander dealt out some more cards.
"Who’s winning?" Willow whispered to Kennedy.
"Not Andrew."
"I could be winning if people would stop cheating!" Andrew glared at Giles. "We could have been playing D and D if you hadn’t thrown it into the trash." Andrew folded his arms with an attempt at being menacing. He’d found his game that morning all screwed up.
"I did us all an immense favour by doing so."
"You’re a poor loser."
"That game happens to be the worst ever devised by man." It was illogical, that someone as smart as Giles couldn’t grasp D and D.
"Didn’t your country invent cricket?"
"A game for gentleman, I wouldn’t suppose that means anything to you."
"We could always play a different game." Willow said, trying to calm them down.
"There’s always strip poker." Kennedy suggested.
"My patch counts as an article of clothing, right?"
The gang's attemptedt intervention was having no affect, Andrew and Giles were still arguing cricket vs. Dungeons and Dragons.
"It takes skill, not like rolling a dice and praying for the best outcome. Actual technique, not some childish game played by grown men in their basements."
"One person’s basement is another one's bitchin' underground lair."
"I’m talking about something that has historical merit, it teaches self-control and teamwork, it’s--."
"It’s snobby slow baseball!" Andrew yelled, cutting of Giles calmer explanation.
Faith cleared her throat at the door, everyone turned to look a at her.
"Faith, is everything fine back at the hospital?"
"Yeah, fine." Giles stood and followed her out onto the motel balcony.
Giles had escaped from the conversation of which he was one step away from being shown as a no-knowing fraud. Andrew figured he’d won the debate round, he hoped Giles battered ego didn’t affect his chances of ever becoming a full fledged Scooby.
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Giles was eager to hear about Wood’s condition. He’d been there when Wood had been attacked. It had been on his mind - when the situation with Buffy hadn't.
"How is Robin?" Giles asked.
"Awake." Faith answered. Giles didn’t know how to respond to the brevity of her words, he knew he wasn’t meant to. "And Buffy seemed fine?" He wanted to speck with Buffy himself but the opportunity hadn’t presented itself as of yet. He wanted to know if Spike’s death had refreshed in her mind his involvement in the plot to originally kill Spike.
"We had a chat, if you’re asking is she cut up over Spike, I guess."
"It’s expected. I tried to kill him, Robin and I." He admitted.
"I heard," She said and shook her head, a lot had gone on during her incarceration. A lot happened on a Hellmouth, Giles understood her amusement at all that had happened. "Spike brought her back to the fold, after we chucked her away - we’re such lucky bastards on that."
Giles nodded.
"Anyway, I’m, I don’t know, restless. Thinking of going on a patrol, hoping that when the demons fled they didn’t get that much distance from the Hellmouth, might catch them with there pants down." She seemed to be waiting for some sort of approval.
"Hmmm," Giles wasn’t used to be consulted as a Watcher, at least not by a Slayer - he was going to have to get used to it. He’d never been good at asserting his authority over Buffy, but she’d never been a typical Slayer; she was exceptional. "Yes, you might take some of the girls with you."
"Giles, you out of all people you know I don’t play well with others."
"Are you certain it’s the best idea, going alone, we don‘t know much about the area and there could be all manner of--."
"Giles, don’t start caring. Do us both a favour, leave all you warm Watcher fuzzes for Buffy, besides cooped up ain’t my style all this roof and fire ain‘t doing a thing for me."
He looked at her, his eyebrows scrunched in mild shook. Faith was quoting literature.
"Good prison library, they educate us enough so we know our place." Giles didn’t know if she was joking, his wit was dry but hers was lacking or completely dehydrated, he suspected it was the latter.
"Be careful." He said and she seemed to consider it.
"Never." She jumped over the railing and was gone.
"I know the oddest girls."
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Willow was quiet, she could be sometimes - when she was worried; when she was nervous she babbled.
"Buffy will be fine, she's a Slayer, we’re more than a little tough." She knew Kennedy was right.
Willow had her head on Xander’s shoulders, he was chatting at a temped speed to her. Kennedy wasn’t showing any signs of jealousy - even knowing Willow's past with Xander.
"Too bad I didn’t lose an eye sooner I could have got a snazzy glass eye on my insurance. Construction work has a high eyeball losage rate."
"How?" Dawn asked.
"Holding the nail gun the wrong way, just takes that one time."
"We get it you only have one eye." Willow said affectionately. She still felt guilty having said it, she still had the image of it lodged in her brain - despite not having been there.
"I forget you guys see and hear about it. I'm avoiding the mirror myself." He replied self-consciously, vulnerable Xander was equally lovable and pitiful to her.
"Dawn wins again." Xander pointed out, nobody was really paying attention.
"I think she made a pact with the devil." Andrew said.
"We should burn her at the stake, like the pilgrims did." Kennedy added as she took some of Andrew's popcorn.
"Oh no gives me the belly rumblings." Willow said with a shudder. Kennedy waited for an explanation. "Right, well me, Buffy and Amy had this whole problem back in senior year - we were accused of witch craft, it was this whole spell thing, which made everyone super paranoid about the occult and see not real dead kids who wanted them to kill us."
"Mom locked me in my room when it was happening. I had nightmares about it for weeks."
"Poor Dawny." Willow said sitting up.
"It would make it better if we played another game of cards - beating Andrew is fun and we could bet for snacks."
"Right, when you’re with the compulsive cheating." Andrew said.
Xander had his own theories about the cheating. "Fess up Dawnster, Spike taught you a great strategy for cheating, right?"
"No, Spike knew if he taught me to cheat Buffy would have kicked his ass more than per usual. It was Anya who was the capitalist master of the card decks." She regretted her words as soon as she saw the look on Xander‘s face.
That look was why people had avoided her name for the last few hours. Dawn hadn’t realised speaking it would be like an incantation. Willow knew somebody had to say that they were sorry or show some remorse to break it. But Xander left the room before that could happen - he’d never had patience for magic.
"I should go and check on him." Andrew said.
"He shouldn’t be alone." Willow said. Andrew clambered out of the room after the quickly retreating Xander. Willow didn’t like it, she should have been the one to go.
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Andrew was the last person Xander felt like talking to. He knew the resentment he felt towards him was unfair, but it was unfair that Andrew had lived and Anya hadn’t.
"Xander?" Andrew called after him. Xander ignored him, hoping he'd get the message and let him be on his own or that one of them would evaporate into thin air.
"It helps to talk about stuff that’s bothering you, like this one time this guy was bulling me at school and my brother Tucker taught me this real neat curse--" Xander stopped listening to Andrew's aimless story, that wasn't hitting any point. He figured Andrew came from a more dysfunctional family than his own, it should have made him sympathise but it just reminded him of the reasons nothing ever good lasted in his life.
"Go away Andrew." Xander said, it sounded like a warning even to himself.
"I’m sorry." Andrew mumbled, it was an amazement that Andrew could actually pick up on something he done wrong for a change.
"You should have been the one to die. You killed your best friend, you should be the one not her." Xander felt himself crying.
"Yeah I know. What good am I. Anya knew stuff, she was smart and brave. And though I’m not supposed to tell anyone she loved humans." Xander turned away. He’d been looking for somebody to blame, he’d found it but it no longer seem important that he yell at Andrew. What good could come from it, none. Andrew looked like he wanted to say more but something else caught his attention, the same something that had Xander's. "Do you smell burning?"
"Yeah."
They heard a woman screaming. Xander didn’t know how to deal with all that he was feeling but he knew this, this was what they did.
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