(Untitled)

[the23rdevil]

I left the hospital the moment I heard the doctor say that Cristoff would be okay. Both Izzy and Eva wanted to talk me, tell me that they were still my friends and my past doesn't change anything. But I didn't want to talk, I don't want to hear the sympatheic tones as they comfort me and say that it doesn't matter what I did in the past. Because

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[theresa_trejo]

I hear someone calling for Anya, from the back where I am getting out boxes or candles to restock the shelves. I pile up the boxes in my arms and go upfront. "Anya's isn't here right know. She's in England." I can't see who I am talking to yet.

Setting the boxes down, "Is there something I can help you with?" I turn and look at him, kind of surprised. He looks familiar and I can't remember from where. I tilt my head to the side looking at him trying to figure out how I know him.

[the23rdevil]

A dark-haired teenage girl walks out from the back. Her arms are full of boxes and before I can offer to help her, she sets them down. She looks at me sort of surprised and tells me that Anya is in England. I swear, what the hell is up wtih that country to make everyone want to go there?

"Well I was hoping that Mr. Giles left behind some of his books about demon and..." i trail off as I see her nametag on her shirt. Theresa Trejo. Plain as day. I stare at her, she looks so much like the girl I remember, but that is fricking impossible. I mean I know the world is that small, but jesus christ.

"Fucking hell this has been a weird night," I say in awe before I could stop myself. She's going to think I'm nuts, I mean the chances of her even remembering me is going to be so slim.

[theresa_trejo]

I know I am being rude cause I am staring at him. He's asking if Mr.Giles left any books on demons, and then he looks at me like he knows me. And saying something about it being a weird night. "Heh, it's been a weird life. Doesn't show any signs of changing." For some reason my hand goes to the cross at my neck. I was gonna take it off, but I felt like I shouldn't, I figured I wasn't ready yet.

I try to shake away the rudeness that is me. I smile a little, "I'm sorry. you were asking about some books? Anything specific in mind. Mr. Giles has a lot of them. Even with him bringing half of them to England."

[the23rdevil]

I watch as her hand goes to the cross she's wearing around her neck. Yep, thats the cross alright, I couldn't forget it anywhere. That is definatly her. "Yeah it has been," I say in agreement about life being weird. No truer words have been spoken.

I shake my head. I wish there was something specific. "No, nothing. Just something is wrong with a friend of mine, and it seems to be of the supernatural cause. I want to know if there's some sort of demon that can do that to him," yeah, I didn't sound like a moron there.

Unable to keep my eyes off her. Its her, after all these years. I honestly thought I would never see her again. I had to know if she remembered me at all. I mean it was hard for me to forget her, she did turn my world upside down. "Look, tell me if I'm wrong, but you don't happen to remember me do you? Four years ago? The name Yuffie Snapdragon?"

[theresa_trejo]

I motion for him to follow me over to where we keep the books Giles left behind. We don't just let anyone look at these books, why I'm just showing him to the books no questions asked is beyond me.

When he asks me if I remember him, and says his name. I remember a dream I used to have, a young man giving me the cross thats around my neck telling me not to take it off. I would ask him who he was and he said his name was Yuffie Snapdragon, which always made me think of brave knights riding in on fierce dragons. I sorta stop and look at him again. If this wasn't Sunnydale, if all the things that had happened so far in my life hadn't happened. I would think I was crazy. "You're the guy from my dream. You gave me this cross." I tilt my head a little. "Except it wasn't a dream was it? You're really real."

[the23rdevil]

Yeah, this had to be one of the strangest nights I've had...well in weeks.

I nod and smile a little bit. "yeah, I'm really real. That wasn't a dream," i tell her. She actually remembered me, sure she thought I was just a dream, but hell that was more than what i expecting. She remembers me giving her the cross. And from what I see, she listened to me and didn't take it off. And it actually worked. Here she was, fully alive and close to adulthood working in a magic store. I can't help but be curious "How have you been?"

We walk to the back where the books are kept. Damn Giles had left a lot behind. Its just shelves after shelves. Several of them in languages I had no idea about. This could take weeks. "I'm guessing that he doesn't have cliff notes huh?"

[theresa_trejo]

He smiles and says he's real. probably a good thing cause I really didn't want to think to top it off I was going crazy. He wasn't a dream and he did give me the cross, "But why? Why did you give me a cross?"

He's also asking me how I have been, like I don't know, like a relative or an old friend you haven't seen in a while does. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to hear that I am a mess barely hanging on by a thread. "I've been good. Well as good as anyone in Sunnydale can be." For some crazy reason I ask back "And you?"

We're back by the books now, and he askes for a cliffnotes version. Laughing, "Mr.Giles would be shocked and dismayed." In my best Giles impression, "There are certain things that can not be summed up in 50 words or less." I haven't laughed in a few days, it's feels good. "He was teaching me some things before he left. Maybe if you give me a discription, big and scaley? short but breaths fire? I can tell you where to start looking."

[the23rdevil]

Yep, there are those questions. I'm really not sure what to tell her. I mean does she really want to hear that I was originally hired to kill her but couldn't go through with it? "To protect you Theresa. There were people out there that wanted you dead, maybe there still are. The cross makes sure that for those people, you're impossible to find if they're looking for you

[theresa_trejo]

I should maybe be surprised at that, but I'm not. "You mean theres more people out there that want me dead? Am I like wearing a sign that say 'you can kill me, ask me how?'" I know he probably thinks I'm nuts, but really! "And why the heck does someone ever want to kill a 13 year old? I mean I get vamps and stuff, how did Kat put it, we're like steak to them, but I get the feeling I wasn't wanted dead because I'd look good on the menu was I

[the23rdevil]

I run my hand through my hair. "they knew about your power, how much potential you have as a witch," God, I really hope that I wasn't breaking it to her now that she was a witch. But come on, I mean she works in a magic shop? She has to know. "To be quite honest, they were scared of you and what you might become

[theresa_trejo]

Biting my lip afraid to ask the next question, "These people who thought I would be this super witch, were they good guys or bad guys?" It would really suck to find out that somewhere there were good guys afraid of what I was gonna turn out like.

"My parents weren't overly enthused that I was a witch. So the asked me to leave." Somehow even when I try to make it sound better, it really doesn't.

"Yeah, he sorta had a calming affect. Him knowing what to do all the time." Grinning a little, "Don't worry your secret is safe with me."

"So, this thing, it's invisible. It knows stuff about you, I would guess its stuff that you normally don't tell people, so maybe it's someone who knew you before they died." Thinking about this, making a face. "Sorry I'm not good at the watcher thing either."

[the23rdevil]

"They were bad guys. You can trust me when I say there was nothing redeemable about these creatures," I hesistate when I say the next part, but there's no point with hiding the truth. "I know because I used to be one of them

[theresa_trejo]

When he says they're the bad guys, I feel a little better. If the bad guys want to kill you that's gotta be a good sign right? Then he says he used to be one of them, I find it hard to believe. "What happened?"

I nearly start to cry, cause he's so nice. "It's not your fault my parents are kinf of ignorant about life in Sunnydale, about what exists outside the church. I'm probably better off on my own than not being to be the non evil person they want me to be." Do I have a place to stay, "Right now I'm sorta playing it by ear and staying here. Which is cool, cause hey, it cuts down on the commute."

He says Cristoff name and I sort of panic. "Cristoff, Cristoff Eleni as in Eva's Cristoff?" I try not to be freak out girl, "Could you please start at the beginning?"

[the23rdevil]

I shrug. "The typical story you know. Ran away from home, fell into the wrong crowd, lost myself in it," heh, it sounds so simple when stated like that. I remember it a lot differently, a lot more complex and painful. "But then I found out that I still had humanity in me that I thought I had lost, stumbled upon the right people and I was able to regain myself bit by bit," is that how it really went? I mean the change came so gradually I didn't even realize that I had changed much until the apocalypse

[theresa_trejo]

I know he's giving me the sanatized version of the story. But I don't think he's doing it to spare me cause he thinks I can't handle the truth. "These bad people you fell in with? Thats how you knew I needed saving?" I smile listening how he made his way back to who he is now. That was probably really hard. "But you're here now and you're okay? You have good friends and stuff?"

Laughing, I didn't once consider him a creepy pervert. Then I'm about to cry cause it's really sweet and he doesn't have to be this nice to me. I mean he already saved my life once, he doesn't have to do it again. "You could?"

"Oh god, I am so horrible. I haven't talked to them in a while since before they left for their wedding and now Cristoff been shot and I'm so stuck in my own problem I didn't even know it." Thinking this isn't the time to have a melt down. "What can I do to help?"

[the23rdevil]

I bit my lip, she didn't accept my simple story. "Not exactly. It was more they assigned me to kill you, and i just couldn't kill a kid. I'm a firm believer that anyone who harms a child is a fucking dog that doesn't deserve to live. So I decided to hide you instead, so you would have a chance," Might as well go with the truth. I'm no hero, just a guy who couldn't do something that horrible. And was I okay? I don't know, somedays it was hard to tell. "Yeah, I have good friends," well, at least that much was true