Of Those Chosen: The Twins -- Overview
This is a short overview of the story Of Those Chosen: The Twins by HJ (me!). I wrote this so that people who read The Twins don't have to go through all 50,000 words in order to catch themselves up in order to read The Dreamless, and so people who haven't read The Twins don't have to read the entire 50,000-word story in order to start The Dreamless. Anyway. Here you go:
The Twins is set approximately one year after the events of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series finale, Chosen. The story incorporates show canon from Angel season five, but presents a twist on the very limited information we receive about the Scoobies.
At the start of the story, very little has changed for the Scoobies since the final battle with the First Evil. They live in Cleveland, but the group has not grown since then -- they are completely unable to locate any of the new Slayers created by the awakening spell Willow cast. Only nine Slayers survived Sunnydale: Buffy Summers, Faith (who now uses the last name Covington; not her real name), Kennedy Limon, Rona Davies, Kim Chao-Ahn, Vi Brodengard, Kimberly Mullin, Janet Unger, and Helen St. Claire.
Robin Wood and Xander Harris work with Rupert Giles as Watchers, and each has three Slayers he works with. Buffy, Chao-Ahn, and Helen work with Giles; Faith, Rona, and Janet work with Xander; Kennedy, Kim, and Vi work with Robin Wood.
The relationships in the house are also unchanged from the series finale. Willow and Kennedy live together and share a room, as do Faith and Robin. However, whereas Willow and Kennedy have settled down into a comfortable relationship since the awakening spell, Robin and Faith share an on-again, off-again, tumultuous relationship -- and although it is clear they do care for one another, they do not discuss often how much.
The Scoobies locate their first new Slayer by accident -- Katharine Beckford gets into an argument with Kennedy and Faith at a club one night. They follow Katharine and three friends out into an alley, where a group of vampires -- lead by a vicious, intelligent vamp named Cole -- attack. Katharine's three friends are killed, but she manages to dust her first vampire in the alley, as well.
Katharine and her twin sister Audrey, also a Slayer, eventually join the Scoobies in their houses. The vampire Cole, along with his sire and friend Donner, gather intelligence on the Scoobies and learn about them: the awakening spell, their patrols, and many other inner workings. Cole then sets up and executes an ambush on Xander's patrol group (including Audrey that night, on a trial basis). Xander and Faith lead the vampires away from the other three Slayers, and end up spending the night in an empty house the vampires cannot enter. While in the house, they have sex for the first time since Xander's senior year in high school.
The night together puts a strain on Xander and Faith, as well as not only just Faith and Robin's relationship but Xander's friendship with Robin. Katharine and Audrey finish their introductory period. Katharine joins Faith, Rona, and Janet as one of Xander's Slayers, and Audrey joins Buffy, Chao-Ahn, and Helen as one of Giles's Slayers.
Cole plans another attack, this time on the house one night when most of the Slayers are away. He forces Helen -- the youngest of the Slayers, at only fourteen -- to issue him an invitation, then kills her and abducts Audrey.
Katharine has a Slayer dream that night which tells her where to locate Audrey, but she waits until the next night to sneak out of the house and try to rescue her sister, or kill her if she has been turned. Xander, Faith, Janet, Rona, and Robin discover Katharine's actions not long after she has gone, and Willow casts a locator spell to find Katharine at Cole's hideout.
Xander, Robin, Faith, Janet, and Rona leave to try to protect and support Katharine, as Cole's hideout is nearly an hour from both of the night's patrol groups. In the ensuing battle, Faith kills Donner; Cole retreats with a broken ankle; Katharine stakes Audrey, but not before Audrey completes enough of the turning ritual that Katharine will die and rise a vampire. Katharine makes Xander and Faith promise to burn her body so she won't rise. Xander feels he has failed both Katharine and Audrey. Robin realizes that the past few weeks' discomfort between him, Faith, and Xander is due to their indiscretions together.
The Scoobies return to headquarters empty-handed. Faith and Robin break up. Xander gets into a fight with Willow and leaves, abandoning his Slayers. Janet, very hurt by Xander's departure, joins with Kim Mullin to approach Giles about an autonomous Slayer governing body. Willow discovers how she can contact the lost Slayers: by using the Slayer prophecy dreams to send them information on how to contact the Council, as well as the compulsion to do so.
Faith leaves Cleveland as well, ostensibly to search for Xander, but also due to feelings of alienation and frustration and fear.
The Twins is set approximately one year after the events of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series finale, Chosen. The story incorporates show canon from Angel season five, but presents a twist on the very limited information we receive about the Scoobies.
At the start of the story, very little has changed for the Scoobies since the final battle with the First Evil. They live in Cleveland, but the group has not grown since then -- they are completely unable to locate any of the new Slayers created by the awakening spell Willow cast. Only nine Slayers survived Sunnydale: Buffy Summers, Faith (who now uses the last name Covington; not her real name), Kennedy Limon, Rona Davies, Kim Chao-Ahn, Vi Brodengard, Kimberly Mullin, Janet Unger, and Helen St. Claire.
Robin Wood and Xander Harris work with Rupert Giles as Watchers, and each has three Slayers he works with. Buffy, Chao-Ahn, and Helen work with Giles; Faith, Rona, and Janet work with Xander; Kennedy, Kim, and Vi work with Robin Wood.
The relationships in the house are also unchanged from the series finale. Willow and Kennedy live together and share a room, as do Faith and Robin. However, whereas Willow and Kennedy have settled down into a comfortable relationship since the awakening spell, Robin and Faith share an on-again, off-again, tumultuous relationship -- and although it is clear they do care for one another, they do not discuss often how much.
The Scoobies locate their first new Slayer by accident -- Katharine Beckford gets into an argument with Kennedy and Faith at a club one night. They follow Katharine and three friends out into an alley, where a group of vampires -- lead by a vicious, intelligent vamp named Cole -- attack. Katharine's three friends are killed, but she manages to dust her first vampire in the alley, as well.
Katharine and her twin sister Audrey, also a Slayer, eventually join the Scoobies in their houses. The vampire Cole, along with his sire and friend Donner, gather intelligence on the Scoobies and learn about them: the awakening spell, their patrols, and many other inner workings. Cole then sets up and executes an ambush on Xander's patrol group (including Audrey that night, on a trial basis). Xander and Faith lead the vampires away from the other three Slayers, and end up spending the night in an empty house the vampires cannot enter. While in the house, they have sex for the first time since Xander's senior year in high school.
The night together puts a strain on Xander and Faith, as well as not only just Faith and Robin's relationship but Xander's friendship with Robin. Katharine and Audrey finish their introductory period. Katharine joins Faith, Rona, and Janet as one of Xander's Slayers, and Audrey joins Buffy, Chao-Ahn, and Helen as one of Giles's Slayers.
Cole plans another attack, this time on the house one night when most of the Slayers are away. He forces Helen -- the youngest of the Slayers, at only fourteen -- to issue him an invitation, then kills her and abducts Audrey.
Katharine has a Slayer dream that night which tells her where to locate Audrey, but she waits until the next night to sneak out of the house and try to rescue her sister, or kill her if she has been turned. Xander, Faith, Janet, Rona, and Robin discover Katharine's actions not long after she has gone, and Willow casts a locator spell to find Katharine at Cole's hideout.
Xander, Robin, Faith, Janet, and Rona leave to try to protect and support Katharine, as Cole's hideout is nearly an hour from both of the night's patrol groups. In the ensuing battle, Faith kills Donner; Cole retreats with a broken ankle; Katharine stakes Audrey, but not before Audrey completes enough of the turning ritual that Katharine will die and rise a vampire. Katharine makes Xander and Faith promise to burn her body so she won't rise. Xander feels he has failed both Katharine and Audrey. Robin realizes that the past few weeks' discomfort between him, Faith, and Xander is due to their indiscretions together.
The Scoobies return to headquarters empty-handed. Faith and Robin break up. Xander gets into a fight with Willow and leaves, abandoning his Slayers. Janet, very hurt by Xander's departure, joins with Kim Mullin to approach Giles about an autonomous Slayer governing body. Willow discovers how she can contact the lost Slayers: by using the Slayer prophecy dreams to send them information on how to contact the Council, as well as the compulsion to do so.
Faith leaves Cleveland as well, ostensibly to search for Xander, but also due to feelings of alienation and frustration and fear.