Ask The Trees
Ask The Trees
Summary: Brains ,braids and a mischievous streak large enough to get him run out of Britain. Who is this 'green boy'? And what happened to Harry Potter? BtVS xover. SLASH. Xander/Harry
Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They belong to JK Rowling and Joss Whedon respectively. I am making no money from this.
Chapter One
Harry has always known he was a little... odd. It comes with having green skin. Oh, not bright green skin. Just enough to make him look a little different. Or ill. Most people took it to mean he was feeling sick.
Of course, once he found out about his parents and the wizarding world, Harry began to wonder if there was a reason for his strange pigmentation or the fact that he could make things happen just by thinking of it.
The explanation that he was a wizard just didn’t cut it with Harry. Not when he was eleven, and certainly not as he got older. And it turned out that wizards were just as, if not more, blind than muggles in some things. His skin being green just happened to be one of them.
He spent the whole of his time at Hogwarts thought of as sickly. It irritated Harry a little, if he was honest.
Another thing that annoyed him was everyone saying he looked so much like his father. If they were talking about James, then they were blind. Harry saw photos of James Potter and could honestly say that he saw no likeness between them. Well. They both had black hair. He could admit that might be similar.
Harry didn’t wear glasses though, James did. Harry was short, really short, and as far as he could tell from the photos, James really wasn’t. Of course, Harry had conceded that that could have been caused by the near starvation he endured at times by the Dursley’s. Not that he blamed them for starving him. He was a little shit to them.
So for the first sixteen years of his life, Harry had no idea who he really was. He didn’t believe the cock and bull story the wizards gave him about being the son of Lily and James Potter, The Boy Who Lived, Saviour of the Wizarding World. No. Neither of the elder Potter’s had green skin!
So Harry just stewed in silence, not bringing attention to the fact that he had no idea who or what he was. He certainly wasn’t human. He knew that trees didn’t speak to humans. Not that they were very helpful. They didn’t tell him what he was either.
Then, he got his break through in his sixth year. They had to do a potion that would show them the names of their parents. It wouldn’t have told him what he was, but it told him who he was.
Harry watched Slughorn closely as he told the class what the potion for that day was supposed to be. He silently admitted to himself that he really wanted to do this potion. An inheritance potion apparently. Which would tell him who he was and give him a starting point to finding out what he was. Because the trees were really beginning to fuck him off.
Harry quickly got off his stool and walked to the store cupboard to get the ingredients he would need for this potion.
After adding the finally piece of arrowroot to his cauldron and then stirring it the required amount of times, Harry was pleased to see that it was the right colour. Not that he was shocked. Even if he had been bad at Potions when he first arrived, the prefects of Ravenclaw made sure that none of the new Raven’s were behind or struggling in any of their subjects. Apparently that wasn’t the impression they were supposed to give of their house.
Not that Harry particularly cared what people thought of him or his house. He was quite clearly a disappointment to the Wizarding World as a whole, and obvious distrust of everyone, a mischievous streak a mile wide and apparent discomfort in general made people prefer to leave him alone.
Still, Harry had made a particular effort with this potion. He wanted, no needed to know who his parents were. And possibly what he was.
His hands trembled in barely concealed excitement as he took out the sheet of parchment he would be turning into a new birth certificate, and then glanced around the room to see what everyone else was doing. It appeared he had managed to finish the potion before most of his fellow classmates, besides Terry Boot, who was now allowing his charmed quill to write across his own piece of parchment.
Harry then nibbled on his lip and glanced at his potion anxiously, he then took a deep breath and pricked his finger, allowing his blood to drop four times into the potion, watching it turn from pale yellow, to burnt orange, then, somehow, fade into pure gold, in satisfaction. He grabbed his quill and dipped it into the potion and then placed the nib at his parchment.
Harry jerked and opened his eyes at the sound of his quill dropping to the table and then glanced at the writing on the parchment nervously.
“Buck up, Potter. Read it.” He muttered to himself and then frowned at what it said, glancing around him to make sure no one was paying him any attention. He wasn’t surprised to see that no one was. The novelty of the strange Potter kid, that was supposed to save them, but never did, had worn off part way into his second year, when he had made a snake explode for calling him names.
His defence that he had actually been intending to tickle the snake into an apology hadn’t cut it and he’d been given a detention. During that month of scrubbing cauldrons, the students and staff of Hogwarts had come to the general consensus that he really was just as odd as he had appeared to be when he had first arrived.
To be fair to Harry, having only really had trees and flowers to talk to for the first ten years of his life had had somewhat of an affect on his mental state.
Still he was now looking at his homemade birth certificate, holding it with shaking hands, a multitude of emotions running through him. The main one being relief.
“The prophecy doesn’t mean me.” He whispered as he stared at the sheet of parchment in his hands.
Name: Rhys-Robin Goodfellow
Date of Birth: 1st August, 1980 Time of Birth: 5:57am
Mother: Lily Evans-Potter
Father: Robin Goodfellow.
Now all he had to find out was who the hell Robin Goodfellow was, and what the bloody hell he was. He was almost certain that Lily was human. Ninety percent. Maybe eighty.
Which left Robin Goodfellow.
And why the bloody hell everyone called him Harry.
It took him until the end of his sixth year to find out who Robin Goodfellow was, and he found out by pure accident when he stumbled into the small section in the library dedicated to Muggle literature.
In a play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck.
Harry, or Rhys as he had been calling himself mentally, was man enough (or possibly not, given who his father was) to admit that he had laughed somewhat hysterically at that. Then wondered if it was just coincidence.
So he decided that there really was only one way to find out.
So whilst everyone else was busy being distracted by the fact that Voldemort was trying to take over the Wizarding World, and the fact that someone had somehow managed to fill the Great Hall full with Marshmallows, Harry snuck out into the Forbidden Forest. He greeted the trees he was most familiar with happily, as they directed him with whispers towards a clearing that would be perfect for him to call Robin Goodfellow to him.
If he was honest, he had been more surprised that Robin Goodfellow actually did exist and hadn’t been made up by some whacked out Muggle who clearly had something of an unhealthy addiction to an opiate of some sort, than he was that there was a way to call the... whatever he was, to him.
So Harry, or Rhys, made his circle of sugar and then placed his offering in the middle. It hadn’t stated what the offering should be, but Harry had figured if he was going to be summoned, he’d like something to eat and drink when he arrived. So Harry’s offering was some treacle tart, a glass of honeyed water and a bag of the best pranks he had been able to find without leaving Hogsmeade. He was actually quite proud of what he had managed to find.
“Er... shit, knew I should have memorised that bloody spell. Look, Mr Goodfellow, sir. If you can hear me, I kinda need your help with something.” Harry looked around the clearing and then sighed after ten minutes of silence. “I have treacle tart?”
“Why didn’t you say that?!” Harry shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air, then turned around and saw a tall man standing behind him with a smirk on his green-tinged face, leaning against the oak tree that Harry was rather fond of. “So, kid. What did you need my help with? The marshmallow thing in your school wasn’t me.”
“No. No, that was me.” Harry admitted with a shrug and a frown, nibbling on his lip as he wondered how to word his enquiry. Robin threw his head back and laughed, showing off his pointed teeth, that made Harry run his tongue over his own slightly pointed teeth.
“Ah, that was a good one, kid. Mind if I use that in the faerie courts one day?”
“Sure?”
“Cool. So, what did you need to ask of me then?” Robin asked him, pushing up from the wall and walking over to the offerings in the middle of the circle. He picked up the goblet and sniffed it, before raising an eyebrow and looking at Harry. “How’d you know my favourite drink?”
“It’s my favourite. I figured if it was good enough for me, it might be good enough for you.” Harry said, then frowned as he thought about what he had said. “That didn’t come out right.”
“I get what you meant, kid. Look, I can’t keep calling you kid, what’s your name?” Robin asked, moving to sit on the grass with his legs cross. Harry nibbled on his lip for another second before taking a deep breath and moving to sit across from Robin.
“I’m Rhys.” Harry told him in a quiet voice, noticing Robin stiffen slightly, Harry looked up through his shaggy fringe and eyelashes at the man before him. “Rhys-Robin Goodfellow.”
“What?” Robin gasped out in a whisper, and Rhys looked away, shrugging and then shifting and pulling the parchment out of his robe pocket. He handed it to the being in front of him and then looked out to the trees, smiling softly when he felt their reassuring whispers brush over his skin, caressing him and soothing him.
“She told me you’d died.” Rhys jerked in his seat to look at the man, who was looking at the parchment in his hands as though it held the answers of the universe. Rhys was pretty damned certain it didn’t. He wouldn’t have handed it over quite so eagerly if it had.
“Huh?”
“Your mother, Lily. She told me that she had miscarried. Then she... she disappeared a month later. I never... I didn’t know about you. I didn’t know.” Robin said through gritted teeth, the parchment in his hand being crushed, before he shakily let go and smoothed it out.
“So... you thought I’d died?” Rhys asked him after a few moments of complete silence, broken only by hushed whispers from nature and Robin’s heavy breathing as he tried to calm himself down.
“Yes. Where... where is she now?”
“Dead. As far as I know, anyway. Died when I was one. I was brought up by her sister and her family. They didn’t like me very much.” Rhys added with a shrug, then smirked and looked up at Robin. “I made sure they’d never forget me though.”
“Oh? What... Did... Why did you find me?” Robin asked finally, after seemingly trying to find the right words.
“I knew. I knew James Potter wasn’t my father. But everyone around me... they’re blind! They can’t see me. They don’t.... they don’t get me. They think I’m a freak and... I am! Compared to them, I am. I never knew that Wizards had never really encountered a vegetarian before I came along. I don’t... I spent the last six years in this world looking for who I am. Then we made that.” Rhys said, waving his hand at the birth certificate and shaking his head, the small braids in his hair whipping around him.
“And you found out about me.” Robin finished, and Rhys nodded and then shrugged.
“I get if you don’t want anything to do with me, really I do. I just... I need to know who - No, what I am. I just needed answers.”
“What gives you the impression I wanted nothing to do with you?” Robin asked him incredulously, and Rhys’ head snapped up and he gaped at Robin.
“Why would you? I’m sixteen, nearly seventeen. I... who wants a nearly adult son dropped in their lap?” Harry asked him, still incredulous. Robin smiled at him and then shook his head.
“Me. I’ve never had a kid. No one to pass on my knowledge to. No one I could trust with my kingdom. I’m a king. I... I want to be your father.”
“Sounds good to me.” Rhys said with a weak smile, looking at Robin, who smiled back at him. “One more question. I promise, this is my last one.”
“What’s that? And you can ask me all the questions you want.” Robin added, making Rhys look at him dubiously before looking down at him.
“What do I look like to you?” Rhys asked, looking back at Robin, to see him staring at Rhys in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean... you didn’t even twig who I might be, no one seems to think there is anything actually different with me besides being mentally unstable, everyone thinks I look like James. What do they see? Because it sure as hell ain’t what I see when I look in the mirror.”
“Huh. You’re short, but not too short, maybe five foot six? You have lightly tanned skin, wide green eyes, and shaggy, short black hair. Why, what do you see?” Robin asked him, and Rhys gaped at him for a few seconds before he closed his eyes and ran his hand over his face.
“I’ve got skin the same colour as yours, my hair is shaggy and black, but it’s not that short. It’s just above my shoulders. And my height? I am short. I’m five three. If that. My eyes are green though, dunno if they could be considered wide. I always thought they were more cat-like. Like your own.” Rhys added, looking up at Robin, his father, who had stood up during his description and was pacing. Rhys could see that Robin quite clearly reached six foot, if not taller.
“You... You must have some sort of spell on you.” Robin finally concluded, and Rhys nodded his head, having come up with that same explanation himself when Robin described him, and stood up, brushing off his robes and placing his hands in his pockets. “I can... I can find some way to take it off of you.”
“Okay. Just... I figure I should graduate first, before I change species in front of their eyes.” Rhys said with a small grin.
“It may fade naturally on your seventeenth. Wizards have some sort of unhealthy obsession with that age.”
“I’d noticed. They mature or something on that birthday.” Rhys added with a shrug and Robin looked at him and grinned.
“You won’t. You’re only a baby in sprite years. We don’t truly reach adulthood until we are six hundred and thirty.”
“Huh. That’s quite... old.” Rhys said, using all his energy to not gape at his father.
“You could say that.”
“So... what now?” Rhys asked, after a couple of minutes in which they just stared at one another in silence.
“When do you finish this year of school?”
“Er... next Wednesday. We take the train back to London King’s Cross. We normally arrive into London at about six in the evening.” Rhys told him, frowning a little in confusion.
“Then I shall pick you up from there at six. If I am to be a good father, I need to start by collecting you from school. Then move on to making up for the sixteen birthdays and Winter Solstices I have missed.”
“You - You want me to live with you?” Rhys asked him, gaping in shock.
“Sure. I get if you don’t want to. I mean, you’re almost an adult in human years, but... you’re my baby son in my eyes. I want to make up the time we lost. And most of all, I want to introduce you to my kingdom.”
“I thought... I thought Titania and Oberon ruled the faerie court.” Rhys said with a confused frown and Robin grinned at him mischievously.
“Technically, they do. But I rule over nature. They listen to my advice, because they know that if they don’t, I’ll prank them mercilessly.”
“Oh. And you really want me to be your son?”
“I’m positive.”
“Oh. Well... that’s really pretty cool.” Rhys finally said, beaming at his father, getting a wide smile in return.
“Now, about the marshmallow. How did you get it into the hall?”
Of course, being the son of Puck did explain his insatiable need to cause mischief. Rhys went through his seventh and final year being ignored by most of the staff and students or getting disappointed looks from them for not doing anything to stop Voldemort. He just stayed in the background, did his homework and made everyone in Hogwarts lives a living hell through pranks.
Occasionally he played jump rope with the Whomping Willow when everyone was asleep. That was fun. Especially the cursing that the Willow did when talking about the stupid students that tried to play chicken with him.
And when he graduated, he was actually proud to be leaving with the third highest NEWT scores in their year. His father was equally proud.
They had spent the whole of his seventh year talking through weekly letters, making plans on how to make the Wizarding World pay for keeping him away from his true family. To be fair, Rhys did concede that it was really just Lily’s fault, but still, he and Robin were both pissed about it and had made plans to make everyone pay.
Which brought him to where he was now. Running. From an entire country of angry wizards and witches. Voldemort even more so. He hadn’t appreciated all of his followers being cursed into perma-Playboy bunnies. To the best of his knowledge, they still hadn’t worked out how to get rid of the rabbit ears and fluffy tails. Rhys snickered every time he remembered the look on Lucius Malfoy’s face as he tried to push the floppy ear out of his face whilst he aimed a curse at the laughing sprite.
That was another thing that he hadn’t kept secret. During the graduation ceremony, Harry Potter had walked up to accept his certificate and Rhys-Robin Goodfellow had left the stage much to the shock of everyone in the Great Hall, and pride of Robin Goodfellow.
So two years after his graduation, almost a month after he turned nineteen, Rhys was on a plane to America. The Hellmouth to be exact. He could have gone to live with his father, but he wanted to see the world.
Actually, he just saw the potential havoc and mischief he could cause in a place where evil seemed to congregate. Rhys giggled evilly and rubbed his hands together, making the woman in the seat next to him shift away from him and glance at him nervously, when the pilot announced their arrival at LA.
The mischief was about to begin.
If Rhys could work out a way to get to Sunnydale...
Rhys got to Sunnydale by hitchhiking. And a little magic. Well, who could blame him? Wasn’t safe to be accepting lifts from complete strangers. Especially strangers heading to Sunnydale. It was also still daylight just about, when he got into the van, so at least he had that one less worry. Still, there were a lot of human looking demons/creatures that could walk around in sunlight. He was one of them after all.
The van he had chosen to take him into Sunnydale was driven by a young man called Devon, who was apparently the same age as him and was in a band. He also had a marijuana plant growing in the back, which was giggling and whispering secrets to Rhys about werewolves and what Devon got up to in the back of the van. Things that had Rhys raising an eyebrow and desperately trying to smother his laughter.
“So, you not from around here then?” Devon asked once they watched the ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ sign pass them by, Rhys turned to look at Devon incredulously.
“Whatever gave me away?” Rhys deadpanned, watching as Devon shrugged.
“Dunno, the accent I guess. You don’t sound like you’re from Sunnydale.” Devon told him and Rhys gaped at him and then looked behind him at the badly hidden plant.
“Huh. No, I’m not from Sunnydale. I’m from London, England.” Rhys told him, looking out the window at the passing houses, noticing just how many cemeteries there were.
“Sounds nice. Where do you want to be dropped off?”
“Er… is there a park?” Rhys asked, watching the scenery pass them by.
“There’s loads. But there is the main one near the old high school. You wanna be dropped off there?” Devon asked him and Rhys glanced at him and then nodded.
“If that’s not too much trouble.” Rhys told him with a wide smile, using his magic to subtly make Devon agree to it.
“Nah, I’ll drop you off there, it’s not that far from my parents house.” Devon told him and Rhys smiled widely at him and then turned to look back out the window.
It took another ten minutes before Devon pulled to a stop outside of a large park entrance. Rhys grabbed his backpack from behind his seat and then opened the van door.
“Thank you for the lift, Devon. Oh, and you should learn to hide your plats a little better. And the one in the back would like some more sunshine if you would.” Rhys added with a grin, giggling at the dumbfounded expression on the musician’s face. “I hope we meet again.”
Rhys shut the van door behind him and then hitched his bag over his shoulder and looked at the park in front of him. It was practically brimming with trees and thus, perfect for Rhys’ new home.
Grinning to himself, he waited until Devon had pulled away and the tail lights of the van had disappeared into the darkness of the night, before he walked into the park, sighing in relief when he felt all the trees reach out and greet him, voices all chattering along the wind happily.
Rhys delicately walked through the park, heading for where he sensed the parks oldest tree was, a willow tree, which happened to be his favourite type, and silently made his way off the path, and through the trees, the plants along the ground stretching up to caress his legs as he passed.
‘Behind you.’ Rhys tilted his head to the side and stopped where he was walking, looking at the trees that were bending towards him, the grass and plants near his feet winding over his soft leather shoes.
“I wouldn’t attack me if I were you, little vampire.” Rhys said, still not turning around to face the one following him.
“Oh? I would say you were the little one.” A decidedly male voice said behind him and Rhys bristled slightly but then smirked and left his hand brush across the trunk of the nearest tree.
“Perhaps, but I am not food for you. You don’t want to cross me. I’m not human.” Rhys said, smiling as the thin branches of the tree wound around his wrist and tugged at him playfully, making the vampire behind him gasp.
“What the hell are you?” Rhys gently pulled his arm free f the trees grasp and then turned around the face the vampire behind him. He was taller than Rhys, which wasn’t really hard, but he really wasn’t that tall. No more than average. He had dirty blond hair and Rhys couldn’t help but wonder what colour his eyes would have been, had he not been in his demon face.
“Me? Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rhys Goodfellow. I’m a sprite. And you, you picked the wrong person to stalk. Did the green skin not give me away that I wasn’t normal?” Rhys couldn’t help but ask, watching as the tree behind the vampire raised a thick branch.
“Oh yeah! You’ve got green skin. Dude, that is so wa-“ The vampire was interrupted and looked down in horror at the branch sticking out through his chest.
“The trees like me. Don’t mess with me.” Rhys told him just as the vampire exploded into a cloud of dust and the branch that had killed him was pulled back into the treetops. “Thank you.”
Rhys smiled and stroked the trunk of the tree beside him once more and then turned around and began on his way to the mother tree in the park.
It took him another five or so minutes before he got there, and then he stood and smiled widely and the huge tree in front of him.
“May I make my home within your branches please?” Rhys asked the tree, head tilted to the side as he looked up at the large plant.
‘My arms are your bed, little prince.’ Rhys blushed and then smiled widely, stepped through the long branches that brushed the ground, feeling them whisper as he passed through them and then looked at the trunk of the tree, trying to think of the best way to get as high up as he could get.
Nodding his head decisively, he walked over to the trunk and then carefully placed his foot in a small groove in the trunk and pulled himself up into the mass of branches. He carefully moving between them, making sure not to damage the tree as the branches moved out of his way to show him towards the highest, most comfortable place in the tree.
“Thank you.” Rhys said once he had made himself comfortable, smiling as several branches came and draped over him, curling over his sides to make sure he didn’t fall out. Rhys then moved his bag to act as a pillow and plumped it slightly before he put his head down on it. It had been a long day and so it was hardly surprising to Rhys when he fell asleep almost immediately, soothed into sleep by the gossipy whispers of the tress as they spoke to each other.
Rhys spent the next week wandering around the town of Sunnydale, smiling when he passed the University and noticed that it must have only recently started. The trees surrounding the paths on the campus all seemed very happy to see him and speak with him. Though they were somewhat upset that he chose the other side of town to make his home.
He had been there a week when he was walking down a path at night, just as a branch snuck out and wrapped around his waste tightly, pulling him into the trees and shrubs lining the path. Rhys gave a startled, somewhat muffled cry but was silenced when another branch came up and brushed down his cheek soothingly.
‘Shh. See the Slayer.’ Rhys titled his head curiously, and then looked out through the leaves covering him as he watched a young blonde girl, possibly the same age as him, though if what she was saying was right, then a year younger. She was possibly only an inch or two taller than him and was talking to a vampire, who she seemed to know.
“Eddie! Eddie, hey! Wait up. God, I was worried something had happened to you!” The blonde girl, the Slayer, shouted as she jogged after the vampire whom Rhys realised she clearly didn’t realise what he was.
“I thought Slayer’s could sense vampires.” Rhys whispered to the branch caressing his face.
‘She doesn’t use her powers to their fullest.’
“And of course it has, because you’re a vampire.” The Slayer said as she caught up with the vampire, who was now wearing his demon face. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” Eddie said to her, before he lunged for her and Rhys absently took the offered petals and began to munch on them as he watched the two fight, not in the least surprised when the Slayer staked the vampire only seconds later. Of course, by that time, Rhys had noticed the blonde vampire that was standing on a rock behind the vampire and just to the side of where Rhys was being hidden.
“I like the blue ones, whose are they?” Rhys whispered, and smiled when a small shrub by his feet rustled in excitement. “Thank you.”
“The Slayer!” Rhys looked over at the blonde vampire just as the Slayer turned around the face her as well. “Wow. Um, I head you might be coming here.” The blonde vampire said, as more vampires came out of hiding and surrounded the Slayer.
“Does she not have a watcher anymore?” Rhys whispered, making a small, excited noise when he was offered more light blue petals.
‘She is separate from the Council. Her watcher is no longer her watcher.’
“This is… I mean, what a challenge. The Slayer.” The blonde vampire said, as the Slayer watched the newly arrived vampires warily.
“And you are?” The Slayer asked, looking at the lead vampire. Rhys was impressed at how she wasn’t showing the fear she quite clearly was feeling.
“Should we help?”
‘Not yet, princeling. Do not bring the Slayer’s attention on to you.’
“I’m Sunday.” The vampire told her, flicking a piece of blonde hair over her shoulder and making Rhys wrinkle his nose. “I’ll be killing you here in a minute of so.”
“That threat gets more frightening every time I hear it.” The Slayer said, and she and the vampire stared at each other, until the vampire next to Sunday shifted and took a step forward.
“Are we gonna fight? Or is there just gonna be a monster sarcasm rally?” The male vampire asked, pressing his hands together in front of him.
“I’m in for a piece.” Another female vampire said from behind the Slayer, making the Slayer turn her head to look at that vampire. Rhys narrowed his eyes and grinned as he watched a branch slowly sneak out and stake the vampire furthest from the group and the only one that had yet to speak. He turned to dust with barely a gasp just as the Slayer spoke again.
“Everybody gets to play.”
“Hear that? We get to play.” Rhys whispered, wiggling with excitement as he wriggled his fingers.
“Guys, this… is totally… mine.” Sunday said as she casually strolled down the steps from her spot and walked to stand in front of the Slayer.
“What’s her name?”
‘Buffy Summers.’
“Okay, but you gotta share the eatin’. ‘Cause I’m thinking Slayer’s bloods gotta be - whoa! - like Thai stick.” The male vampire said, making everyone look at him incredulously.
“Aren’t people supposed to get smarter in college?” The Slayer, Buffy, asked, which was very similar to what Rhys had been thinking. The trees and plants all giggled around him, making Rhys see just how fond of their Slayer, the plant life in Sunnydale actually were.
“Why’d you like her so much?”
‘She gave us back the sun!’
“I think you had misconceptions about college.” Sunday told Buffy, then sneered at what Buffy was wearing. “Like anyone would be caught dead wearing that.” Buffy looked somewhat insulted and then looked down at her clothes, which gave Sunday the opening she needed to punch Buffy, sending the Slayer flying to the floor, where the other vampires all pounced on her.
“Hey, do you have any of the pink ones left?” Rhys whispered, and then made a happy sound when a branch appeared with hundreds of pink petals resting in the leaves. “Thank you.”
Rhys then sat back and watched with slight disappointment as Sunday slowly beat her to a pulp, before wrapping her fingers around Buffy’s neck picking her up off the platform she had been standing on not long before.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but…” Sunday hit Buffy then grabbed her again. “… you fight like a girl.” Buffy was then thrown off the platform, where Sunday jumped off of it after her.
Rhys stroked the branch holding him soothingly and smiled when the bushes by his feet (with the blue petals) rustled with excitement when Buffy began to land kicks on Sunday. Unfortunately it didn’t last for long, and soon enough, Sunday once again had the upper hand and threw Buffy onto a large car, then followed her onto it and carried on beating her up.
“Kill the tubby vampire.” Rhys whispered, stroking the branches as the said tubby vampire passed in front of him, only to give a small cry of shock as a sharp branch was forced into her heart from the back. “Good trees.”
He turned back to the fight just in time to see Buffy get thrown to the floor and then pick herself up, glance at the two vampires left and then quickly run away from them. The vampires watched her leave and then turned to face one another once more, both looking shocked that they were the only two left.
“Where are -?” Sunday stopped and looked around them, spotting two piles of ash where the two vampires had been standing and frowned. “Let’s get out of here.”
Rhys waited until the vampires had disappeared form sight before he detangled himself from the tree, letting his magic brush over the trees and shrubs that had covered and fed him, making them all grow and bloom a little more right in front of his eyes, and then bounced on his toes.
“That was exciting! Weren’t you excited?” Rhys asked, looking at the plants that had protected him from view.
‘You should head back to Mother Willow, princeling. You will be getting tired soon.’
“No! No, I’m not!! I’m so not tired! I’m riding the excitement of seeing the Slayer!!” Rhys said, still bouncing slightly and completely ignoring the fatigue he was feeling.
‘You are still a baby. You need your sleep.’ The trees whispered to him and Rhys pouted and then sighed.
“Fine. I’ll go home and to bed. I’ll make sure to come back here tomorrow to say hello. And to see if I can follow the Slayer! I like her, she’s spunky.” Rhys told them with a bright smile, eyes twinkling with excitement, then he winked and disappeared, leaving behind a cloud of green and gold glitter.
Rhys practically skipped through the town the next day, running his fingers over the flowers that he passed and making small, excited noises when they offered him plenty of petals to eat as he wandered the town. He noticed a club that wasn’t open yet, but looked interesting, called The Bronze, and made a note to go there if things at the college were boring.
“So… what’s the gossip?” Rhys asked vaguely a couple of hours later after he had wandered around the town and was now in the campus, looking for all the world like he was talking to himself as he allowed his fingers to run through the grass, letting his magic flow into the earth and plants as he passed.
It had slowly been noticed that Sunnydale had never looked so green before, though no one actually put any notice in why. The trees had reassured him that no one important had truly noticed. Or if they had, they hadn’t noticed him.
‘The vampires have made it look like the Slayer has left town.’ A fern that Rhys was passing, next to the door to one of the halls of residence, told him and he frowned and nibbled on his lip.
“Well… that’s not good. Should we help her? We should help her.” Rhys said with a sharp nod of his head, quickly jumping out of the way when a group of students tumbled out of the dorms.
“Watch it, dude.” One of the men told him, turning back to his friends and then laughing at something they had said. Rhys watched them and then narrowed his yes, before wriggling his fingers and grinning when all their hair slowly changed colour into grey and the texture changed to steel wool.
“Don’t mess with the best!” Rhys muttered and then punched the air in front of him and did a small hopping jig, before coughing when he heard the trees giggling at him. “So… do we help?”
‘How?’
“Er… I dunno. Where is she now?”
‘The Bronze. You just missed her.’
“Darn. Well, I did want to go to that club. Hmm, you stay here.” Rhys said with a snicker, and then vanished with a wink and some glitter.
Rhys appeared in front of The Bronze and then twisted his magic to make people not notice that he was green, though he had learnt that the citizens of Sunnydale were even more blind to strange things than anywhere else in the world. Including the Wizarding World.
Rhys then made his way through the throngs of people, wrinkling his nose as his connection with his plants and trees slowly became more and more muted as he moved further and further indoors.
He looked around the room for any sign of Buffy, not entirely sure what he would actually do should he have found her, but then his eyes was caught on someone else and he felt his cheeks burn dark green. A young man was standing near the bar, with shaggy brown hair and a grin that just screamed mischief, and Rhys felt his heart literally pound against his rib cage.
“Oh sweet Puck.” Rhys muttered, completely forgetting about needing to find the slayer and instead moving unconsciously towards the man, smiling brightly when the guy spotted him walking over to him and smiled back. “Hello.”
“Hey!! British! That’s so cool! Why are you here?” The man asked, making Rhys gape at him a little, and then blink and shrug.
“Family… I guess. I’m Rhys Goodfellow by the way.” Rhys introduced, holding out his hand, which the man took and gave a quick shake.
“Alexander Harris, but everyone calls me Xander. Your family not in here with you?” Xander asked him with a small frown of confusion, before looking past Rhys at something that made him smile even wider.
“Ah… they don’t really like places like this.” Rhys said, turning his head slightly and grinning when he saw Buffy standing in the crowd. “Is she your friend? I should go, let you go tell her you’re here.”
Rhys was actually a little surprised that Xander seemed to know Buffy, what he had heard of Slayer’s of the past, they had never really had friends outside of their watcher, if their watcher could be called a friend.
“Yeah, hang on. Buff!” Xander yelled, then waved to get Buffy’s attention, she spotted him and her eyes lit up and she smiled widely, hurrying over to them and throwing her arms around his shoulders.
“Xander!” Rhys watched them with a light smile and then waved down the bartender, smiling brightly at the poor man and weaving his magic into the man’s system whilst the Slayer was distracted with talking to Xander.
“What can I get you?”
“Can I have the sweetest drink you have please? And whatever these two want.” Rhys said, waving behind him at Xander and Buffy, getting Buffy’s attention when she realised that Xander must have been speaking to him before she saw him.
“Hi! I’m Buffy! Xander’s friend! How do you know Xander?” Buffy asked him, and Rhys looked at her and blinked.
“Er… We just met. What would you like to drink?” Rhys asked her, and she gaped at him a little, clearly taken aback by his accent and then shook her shock away.
“Can I just get a lemonade, please?”
“Sure, Xander?”
“Same.” Xander agreed with a nod of his head, smiling at him, getting a bright smile back from Rhys, who was clearly like one of Pavlov’s dogs when it came to this man’s smile.
Rhys then turned his attention back to the slightly dazed bartender and smiled brightly at him.
“Two lemonade’s as well, please.” Rhys added, and the bartender nodded and turned away to get their drinks.
“So, Xander, when did you get back?” Buffy asked, smiling when the bartender brought over their drinks and Rhys turned to the man once more, making eye contact with him and pulling over his hand.
“Thank you. Here’s the right amount.” Rhys told him, running his fingers over the man’s wrist and depositing some petals in his hand, grinning at the man and then winking. The bartender smiled back widely and then walked away to serve someone else.
“Thanks for the drinks!” Xander told him and Rhys smiled at him, and took a sip of his own bright green drink, sighing at the taste of pure sugar.
“So? When did you get back?”
“You went somewhere?” Rhys asked, looking at Xander with wide eyes, making Xander stare at him before he coughed and smiled sheepishly.
“I went on a road trip. Got back a couple of days ago.” Xander added, looking at Buffy, who pouted and then gently slapped his arm.
“Freak of nature!” She exclaimed, which Rhys took offence to but didn’t say anything. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“You were starting the college adventure and I didn’t want to…” Xander chewed on his bottom lip and then grinned. “…you know, help you move.”
Rhys snorted into his drink at that, whilst Buffy rolled her eyes and then smiled at him, moving to take a seat at the bar next to Rhys, Xander grinned and rubbed the back of his neck before taking the other one on the other side of Rhys, who moved back slightly so they could see one another.
“I missed you. How was your trip? Is America nice? I hear it’s nice.” Buffy said and Rhys frowned and looked confused.
“You are American. How can you not know if your own country is nice?” Rhys asked, looking at the two confused. Buffy flushed and then nudged him playfully.
“I was being… ironic!”
“Ah, so, is America nice?” Rhys asked, looking over at Xander, who was grinning at them both, he shrugged easily and then played with the straw in his glass.
“There’s some purple mountains majesty, I have to say.” Xander told them easily and Rhys narrowed his eyes, feeling the lie coming from him and wondering why he was lying.
“What’d you do? What’d you see?” Buffy asked him eagerly, and Rhys turned to look at Xander in interest. He loved seeing new countries and in between learning small tips on ruling a country and creating havoc on Britain, his father had taken him to certain countries in Europe.
“Well…”
“Tell me!”
“I admit, I too would like to know. I only arrived in America a couple of weeks ago.” Rhys admitted, swirling his finger in his drink and then placing it in his mouth, smirking around it when both Buffy and Xander watched him before they both flushed and looked away quickly.
“Grand Canyon!” Xander exclaimed and Rhys looked at him with a small frown, wondering why he was still lying.
“You saw the Grand Canyon!” Buffy exclaimed, excitement in her voice, and Rhys turned slightly to look at her and smiled when he saw Xander shift uncomfortably out the corner of his eye.
“Well, I saw the movie Grand Canyon on cable. Really lame.” Xander added with a frown and look of disgust, which made Rhys chuckle, whilst Buffy just looked at Xander in confusion.
“Huh?”
“Basically, I got as far as Oxnard and the engine fell out of my car.” Xander told them, and both Buffy and Rhys turned to look at him incredulously. “And that was literally. So, I washed dishes at the fabulous Ladies Nightclub for about a month and a half while I tried to pay for the repairs. No one bothered me or even spoke to me until one of the male strippers called in sick…” Rhys choked on his drink at that and turned his full attention to Xander, who blushed bright red at the interest Rhys and Buffy were paying to him. “No power on earth will make me tell you the rest of that story.” Xander added and both Rhys and Buffy both visibly slumped, making Xander laugh nervously.
“Damn. No power? Not even a really powerful, power?” Rhys asked, tilting his head and look at Xander with wide eyes. Xander looked at him with a shocked look and then shook his head furiously.
“No. No power. Suffice to say, I traded my car for one that wasn’t entirely made of rust came home to my loving parents, where everything was exactly as it was except I sleep in the basement and I have to pay rent.” Xander told them and Rhys frowned and wondered if Lily and James would have done the same to him. He knew his father wouldn’t, but then, in his eyes, Rhys was still a baby. Literally. “How’s college?”
“Male strippers.” Buffy said and Xander once again shook his head.
“No power on this earth.” He told her firmly and Buffy pouted, making Rhys grin into his drink, amused by the two, obviously very close, friends.
“Okay.” Buffy said with a wide grin. “College is good.”
“Okay, once more with even less feeling.” Xander said, and Rhys had to agree, if silently, with Xander. Though Rhys also had more of an idea as to why.
“No really! I mean, Willow’s in heaven and Oz has this really cool house off-campus with the band.” Buffy explained and Rhys looked at her with interest, wondering if this band with the mysterious Oz was the same one Devon was in.
“And you’re sitting here alone at the Bronze looking like you have cancer of the puppy.” Xander told her and Rhys snickered and looked over at Buffy, wondering if there was anything he could say to make her feel any better. Probably not.
“It’s just…” Buffy sighed and shrugged, before glancing at Rhys, then back to Xander. “There was this girl and she was a real… bitch.”
“A girl? A strangely light-phobic girl?” Xander asked and Rhys choked on his drink slightly and then started to laugh, making Xander and Buffy stare at him. “You okay?”
“Yeah! Yeah, you can say vampire in front of me you know. I know about them. You don’t have to give… strange euphemisms. It’s nice meeting some people who seem to know about them too. People in this town are shockingly blind to it all considering what this town is.” Rhys added, draining the last of his drink, completely oblivious to the gapes of shock he was getting.
“You know about…”
“Sure. What, you think I’m a stuffy Brit? Don’t be silly, we don’t all drink tea and eat crumpets. Don’t like crumpets myself.” Rhys added, sighing and looking to the side at Buffy, then at Xander, seeing that they both looked pretty shocked. “I’d best be off. I hope we can meet up again sometime. Buffy, I hope you can sort out your little problem. Consider asking the trees for help. They like you.” Rhys added with a wink, then slid off his stool and walked away, getting lost in the crowd, feeling Xander and Buffy’s stunned gaze on his back until he was out of sight.
“Trees?” Buffy asked Xander once she had gotten over her shock.
“Trees.”
Rhys stood in the shadows outside of the Bronze and waited for Buffy and Xander to leave, eyes half-closed as he listened to the voices on the wind telling him things about the town.
It was only about ten minutes later that Buffy and Xander emerged from the club and made their way to a building on the campus. Rhys followed them at a safe enough distance not to be noticed by Buffy, trailing his fingers over any plant that stretched out to get his attention.
“Do you know where they are?” Rhys asked the trees he passed, and the heard the question being brushed along the wind to all the trees around the campus.
‘Yes… We can take you there.’
“Ah, we’ll wait for those two, see if they can find out where they are as well. Anyway we can give them a helping hand?”
‘Technology is not a part of nature. It is out of your control.’
“Bugger, thought you’d say that. Ah well, looks like we just sit back and wait then.” Rhys said and then moved away from the trees that were wrapping around him lovingly and moved towards the broken door to listen in.
“…can’t believe the vampires took your stuff. Murder I expect, but petty larceny seems so… petty.” Rhys grinned when he heard Xander talking, but not moving to look into the room, just in case either one of them saw him.
“They have to be keeping it somewhere. On campus or at least nearby.”
“Hey, how far back do the disappearances go?” Xander asked and Rhys heard the sound of someone typing on a keyboard, mentally sneering at the use of technology. Computers were useless when you had trees.
“They weren’t too common before ’82.” Buffy told him after a minute or two of searching.
“Magic number! Check this out.” Rhys nibbled on his lip and wondered what Xander was showing Buffy and wishing he hadn’t wimped out and left them when he had.
“Psi Theta loses its charter. Building to be closed for renovation.” Buffy said, and Rhys wondered if she was reading something, whatever it was, that Xander had found.
“1982. Look at this.” Xander said and this time Rhys heard some paper being rustled. “Former Psi Theta house lies dormant while issues drag on before the city council. We have a winner.”
“Block the doors discreetly. Don’t let the vampires leave the house.” Rhys muttered and felt his command being passed along the wind, knowing that it would be followed within a few minutes.
“Looks pretty cherry.” Buffy said, making Rhys wonder what the hell she meant.
“You up for a little reconnaissance?” Xander asked and Rhys grinned, moving back from the door.
“Where we all sculpt and paint, and stuff?” Buffy asked, and Rhys bit down on his lip hard to stop his laughter as he quickly moved away from the door and moved back into the safe hold of the trees.
‘The doors have been blocked. No one will be able to leave. Ivy has grown up, around the house and has managed to creep in the windows. You will have help on the inside should you go in.’
“Thank you. Don’t know if I will use it though. It would give away that there was something a bit… different about me.”
‘Your father taught you to fight. He would not have allowed you to come here without that knowledge.’
“Yeah, he did. Oh, Burnham Wood’s on the move.” Rhys muttered, watching as Buffy and Xander exited the building and made their way towards the abandoned sorority building.
Rhys followed behind them, once again at a safe distance, and then grinned in satisfaction when he saw the house the vampires were in. The doors were blocked, but not obviously so and ivy covered all the walls and most of the windows.
Buffy and Xander looked at the house and then slowly walked around it until they came to a part of the house where they could climb up it safely. Rhys winced slightly as he heard the whispers of pain coming from some of the ivy, and so let his magic run out and sooth it, making the plant stronger and more resistant to the humans climbing it. Rhys winked and appeared on the roof of the huge house, far enough away that Buffy and Xander didn’t notice him.
‘Prince Robin! Prince Robin!’ Rhys winced at the excited whispers of the ivy and crouched down to run his fingers over it, keeping an eye on the two humans looking in the house through the large window on the roof.
“Score!” Buffy whispered, whilst Xander climbed the rest of the way on to the roof and moved to lie next to Buffy, looking in the window. “Oh! That’s my skirt!” Rhys rolled his eyes and wondered if Buffy took anything seriously, then blushed at how hypocritical that sounded. “You’re never gonna fit in it with those hips! We have to kill them.”
Rhys grinned and managed to hold back the snickers that wanted to escape him, instead focusing on calming down the excitable plants writhing around on the roof before Buffy and Xander noticed that the ivy was moving.
“We need weapons.” Xander pointed out and Buffy moved back to look in the window.
“I don’t see my weapons trunk there. It was right by my bed. Mr Gordo?” Buffy suddenly gasped out in horror, making Rhys wonder who the bloody hell Mr Gordo was. “Go to my room. If it’s not there, try Willow’s. I’ll keep an eye… My dairy?!”
Rhys winced at Buffy’s hissed shriek and then sighed and twitched his nose, wondering if he could get away with pranking one of the two on the roof with him. Probably not the best idea, given who they were.
“I’ll hurry.” Xander exclaimed quietly and then moved away from the skylight and down the side of the house, the ivy doing Rhys’ bidding and making sure he didn’t fall.
“Laugh all you want. This time we play it my way. And the rules are gonna be-“ Rhys watched in disbelief as the skylight gave way and Buffy went crashing through it and into the house with the two vampires. Rhys cursed under his breath, hurried over to the skylight and looked down, seeing Buffy lying on the floor, with the two vampires staring at her in shock. Rhys cursed again and then winked and appeared in a shadowy corner. The ivy trailing through the boarded up window reached out to caress his hair lightly, making him smirk, and then wiggle his fingers and watch as both the vampires tripped up as they went to walk over to Buffy.
Buffy gaped at them from her spot crouched on the floor, clearly in pain, the two vampires cursed and quickly scrabbled to stand up, the slightly more dense vampire actually falling down again. Sunday watched her companion and sighed, then looked down at Buffy, who had managed to push herself up off the floor slightly.
Rhys moved away from his corner and slowly, quietly walked around the wall of the room, keeping his eyes on the vampires and Buffy, making sure that he was ready to jump in should Buffy actually need it. But also making sue he was out of sight so that he could stay hidden from them for as long as he possibly could. He wasn’t naïve enough to actually believe he would be able to leave this room without someone noticing him.
“…beating the crap outta you?” Rhys jerked back to attention when he realised that Sunday had been speaking to Buffy.
“I just thought I’d drop in.” Buffy told her, standing slowly keeping her arm close to her body, making Rhys frown and wonder if she had hurt herself badly in the fall. Nothing he could do if she had. He only healed himself and plant life. “Get it? Drop in?”
Rhys snickered softly and then cursed when he realised it wasn’t quite quiet enough and everyone was now looking around for the source of the chuckle.
“Who’s there? What, did the little Slayer bring a friend?” Sunday called out and Rhys sighed and then stepped out of the shadows, one strand of ivy reaching out to him discreetly before pulling back again before anyone other that Rhys, noticed.
“Hello again, Slayer.” Rhys said with a nod in her direction, noticing her shock that he hadn’t said her actual name. Though the vampires probably already knew it, given they had her stuff.
“Oh! Rhys! Er… what are you doing here?”
“Taking in the scenery.” Rhys told her breezily, moving further into the room and moving to stand near to the male vampire and wriggling his fingers, before he caught Buffy’s eye and winked.
“Little short to be playing big bad vampire killer, aren’t you?” Sunday asked with a sneer, making Rhys look at her with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m not a vampire killer, she’s the vampire killer. Being the Slayer and all. I’m a botanist. I like plants. They like me too. I can hear them talking, whispering, gossiping. Oh my, you are a strange little vampire, aren’t you?” Rhys asked when he tilted his head to the side as though listening to something only he could hear.
“What?! What the hell is going on here? Enough of this, you two are going to become our next meal!” Sunday snarled and then launched herself at Buffy, who went down having not been paying all that much attention to Sunday, but rather looking at Rhys in confusion.
Rhys sighed when he felt the male vampire move to grab him, and then decided to have a little fun and let him get a hold of him.
“You really aren’t a fighter, are you?” The vampire asked with a leer and he moved down to sniff at Rhys’ neck, making Rhys smirk and then lean his head back and let his body go completely limp.
The vampire cursed loudly, and let Rhys drop to the floor, having not expected the sudden dead weight. Rhys then swung his legs out and caught the vampire’s ankles, making him drop the floor in shock. Rhys quickly got up, moved quickly to straddle the vampire and looked down at him, smirking wickedly.
“I don’t kill vampires you know…” Rhys purred, looking down at the vampire that was staring up at him in horror. “I play with them. I wasn’t lying. Plants love me. You know what makes them grow big and strong?” Rhys whispered in the vampire’s ear, glancing towards the door when Xander came running in, followed by another, shorter man and a young woman. All three stopped and looked at Rhys in shock. “Xander! Hello!”
“Er… Rhys. Why are you lying on a vampire?”
“We’re playing!”
“What? No!! Dude, you gotta help me! He’s gonna kill me! Please! He’s insane!” The vampire begged out, making the male behind Xander snort in amusement, whilst Rhys pouted and Xander just gaped at them incredulously.
“Why would I save you? I kill vampires.” Xander pointed out and Rhys sighed and shuffled slightly to get comfortable.
“Besides, I never said I was going to kill you. I said we’d play. It’ll be fun! We can all become playmates or something. Never had them as a child. I was a little… sheltered. Being a prince and all that.” Rhys lied, grinning and showing his perfectly pointed teeth to the horrified vampire when he looked up at him.
“You… you’re not human! He’s not human!! Kill him!! Save me!!”
“Hey!! Who says I’m not human? You can talk, you go all bumpy and shit. That’s just not normal.” Rhys pointed out with a frown and a pout. By this time, both Buffy and Sunday had stopped fighting to watch them as well.
“Er… Rhys?”
“Hmm?” Rhys asked, turning to look at Buffy, frowning when he saw Sunday standing beside her, gaping at him. “Why is she still alive? You should kill her whilst she’s distracted.”
Buffy jerked and looked to the side, before tightening her grip on the large splinter of wood in her hands and thrust it into Sunday’s chest. Sunday gasped and staggered back before turning into dust.
“Looks like it’s just you and me, kid.” Rhys said, looking down at the male vampire, who was staring at where Sunday had been stranding in horror. “Aw, don’t cry. If you cry, then I’ll cry and then we’ll all cry!”
“You killed her.”
“Well yes, she is the Slayer. Really, I thought we’d established this. Bugger this, you’re far too boring now. All mournful and no amusing pleading. Hmm… bugger, where’s all the wood?” Rhys pondered, looking around him, then and smiling brightly when Xander silently handed him a stake.
Rhys then looked down at the vampire in front of him and leant down so that they were chest to chest and Rhys’ lips were next to the vampire’s ear.
“Your dust. Your dust makes my plants grow big and strong. With your death, you’ll be giving something else life. Think about it.” Rhys whispered, then pulled back and quickly plunged the stake into the vampire’s chest and back out again, jumping up and off the vampire just as he turned into dust. “Well, that was refreshing.”
“Er… Rhys?” Xander asked, and Rhys looked at him and smiled brightly once again, before handing him back the stake.
“Thank you for that. Hello, I’m Rhys Goodfellow. I met Xander and Buffy in the club in town earlier tonight. You must be Willow and Oz.” Rhys said, proud of himself for remembering the two names Buffy had mentioned earlier that night.
“Ask the trees? What did you mean ask the trees?” Buffy asked before Willow or Oz could answer him.
“Er.., I was being quirky? You know, leave them with a mysterious comment to make them wonder what you are all about. Ask the trees was pretty cool!” Rhys said with a grin, bounding on the balls of his feet.
“Ask the trees is cool.” The other man, Oz said in a slightly stoned voice, making Rhys almost certain that he was in the same band as Devon.
“Thank you! Well, I really had better go, it’s past my bedtime and all that. Mother Willow - Hey, Willow! Coincidence, no? She’ll like you for having that name. Still, she doesn’t like it when I’m out too late. The oogedie boodgies that are wandering around and all that.” Rhys said, slowly walking along the wall towards the exit. The four humans all just stared at him in shock.
“Hey! Do you have a number we can call you on? Maybe we could hang out or something?” Xander exclaimed suddenly, making Rhys stare at him and then flush and look down at the ground.
“Ah, no. But… you know, if you do need me, then…” Rhys looked up at Xander and smirked. “Ask the trees.” He then used the shadows to his advantage and stepped into them, leaving the room without any of the others being able to see him.
Once he was outside the house, he winked and disappeared with a cloud of glitter, hearing Xander’s confused question just as he left.
“Why does he keep telling us to ask trees?”
A/N - Um… Tell me what you think about this please! This is my first attempt at writing Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so… yeah. I’ll try to update again soon ish, but I have no idea when I will be able to as I’m having a couple of issues with my health. This is my way of ignoring it! Lol
Next Chapter
Summary: Brains ,braids and a mischievous streak large enough to get him run out of Britain. Who is this 'green boy'? And what happened to Harry Potter? BtVS xover. SLASH. Xander/Harry
Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They belong to JK Rowling and Joss Whedon respectively. I am making no money from this.
Chapter One
Harry has always known he was a little... odd. It comes with having green skin. Oh, not bright green skin. Just enough to make him look a little different. Or ill. Most people took it to mean he was feeling sick.
Of course, once he found out about his parents and the wizarding world, Harry began to wonder if there was a reason for his strange pigmentation or the fact that he could make things happen just by thinking of it.
The explanation that he was a wizard just didn’t cut it with Harry. Not when he was eleven, and certainly not as he got older. And it turned out that wizards were just as, if not more, blind than muggles in some things. His skin being green just happened to be one of them.
He spent the whole of his time at Hogwarts thought of as sickly. It irritated Harry a little, if he was honest.
Another thing that annoyed him was everyone saying he looked so much like his father. If they were talking about James, then they were blind. Harry saw photos of James Potter and could honestly say that he saw no likeness between them. Well. They both had black hair. He could admit that might be similar.
Harry didn’t wear glasses though, James did. Harry was short, really short, and as far as he could tell from the photos, James really wasn’t. Of course, Harry had conceded that that could have been caused by the near starvation he endured at times by the Dursley’s. Not that he blamed them for starving him. He was a little shit to them.
So for the first sixteen years of his life, Harry had no idea who he really was. He didn’t believe the cock and bull story the wizards gave him about being the son of Lily and James Potter, The Boy Who Lived, Saviour of the Wizarding World. No. Neither of the elder Potter’s had green skin!
So Harry just stewed in silence, not bringing attention to the fact that he had no idea who or what he was. He certainly wasn’t human. He knew that trees didn’t speak to humans. Not that they were very helpful. They didn’t tell him what he was either.
Then, he got his break through in his sixth year. They had to do a potion that would show them the names of their parents. It wouldn’t have told him what he was, but it told him who he was.
Harry watched Slughorn closely as he told the class what the potion for that day was supposed to be. He silently admitted to himself that he really wanted to do this potion. An inheritance potion apparently. Which would tell him who he was and give him a starting point to finding out what he was. Because the trees were really beginning to fuck him off.
Harry quickly got off his stool and walked to the store cupboard to get the ingredients he would need for this potion.
After adding the finally piece of arrowroot to his cauldron and then stirring it the required amount of times, Harry was pleased to see that it was the right colour. Not that he was shocked. Even if he had been bad at Potions when he first arrived, the prefects of Ravenclaw made sure that none of the new Raven’s were behind or struggling in any of their subjects. Apparently that wasn’t the impression they were supposed to give of their house.
Not that Harry particularly cared what people thought of him or his house. He was quite clearly a disappointment to the Wizarding World as a whole, and obvious distrust of everyone, a mischievous streak a mile wide and apparent discomfort in general made people prefer to leave him alone.
Still, Harry had made a particular effort with this potion. He wanted, no needed to know who his parents were. And possibly what he was.
His hands trembled in barely concealed excitement as he took out the sheet of parchment he would be turning into a new birth certificate, and then glanced around the room to see what everyone else was doing. It appeared he had managed to finish the potion before most of his fellow classmates, besides Terry Boot, who was now allowing his charmed quill to write across his own piece of parchment.
Harry then nibbled on his lip and glanced at his potion anxiously, he then took a deep breath and pricked his finger, allowing his blood to drop four times into the potion, watching it turn from pale yellow, to burnt orange, then, somehow, fade into pure gold, in satisfaction. He grabbed his quill and dipped it into the potion and then placed the nib at his parchment.
Harry jerked and opened his eyes at the sound of his quill dropping to the table and then glanced at the writing on the parchment nervously.
“Buck up, Potter. Read it.” He muttered to himself and then frowned at what it said, glancing around him to make sure no one was paying him any attention. He wasn’t surprised to see that no one was. The novelty of the strange Potter kid, that was supposed to save them, but never did, had worn off part way into his second year, when he had made a snake explode for calling him names.
His defence that he had actually been intending to tickle the snake into an apology hadn’t cut it and he’d been given a detention. During that month of scrubbing cauldrons, the students and staff of Hogwarts had come to the general consensus that he really was just as odd as he had appeared to be when he had first arrived.
To be fair to Harry, having only really had trees and flowers to talk to for the first ten years of his life had had somewhat of an affect on his mental state.
Still he was now looking at his homemade birth certificate, holding it with shaking hands, a multitude of emotions running through him. The main one being relief.
“The prophecy doesn’t mean me.” He whispered as he stared at the sheet of parchment in his hands.
Name: Rhys-Robin Goodfellow
Date of Birth: 1st August, 1980 Time of Birth: 5:57am
Mother: Lily Evans-Potter
Father: Robin Goodfellow.
Now all he had to find out was who the hell Robin Goodfellow was, and what the bloody hell he was. He was almost certain that Lily was human. Ninety percent. Maybe eighty.
Which left Robin Goodfellow.
And why the bloody hell everyone called him Harry.
It took him until the end of his sixth year to find out who Robin Goodfellow was, and he found out by pure accident when he stumbled into the small section in the library dedicated to Muggle literature.
In a play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck.
Harry, or Rhys as he had been calling himself mentally, was man enough (or possibly not, given who his father was) to admit that he had laughed somewhat hysterically at that. Then wondered if it was just coincidence.
So he decided that there really was only one way to find out.
So whilst everyone else was busy being distracted by the fact that Voldemort was trying to take over the Wizarding World, and the fact that someone had somehow managed to fill the Great Hall full with Marshmallows, Harry snuck out into the Forbidden Forest. He greeted the trees he was most familiar with happily, as they directed him with whispers towards a clearing that would be perfect for him to call Robin Goodfellow to him.
If he was honest, he had been more surprised that Robin Goodfellow actually did exist and hadn’t been made up by some whacked out Muggle who clearly had something of an unhealthy addiction to an opiate of some sort, than he was that there was a way to call the... whatever he was, to him.
So Harry, or Rhys, made his circle of sugar and then placed his offering in the middle. It hadn’t stated what the offering should be, but Harry had figured if he was going to be summoned, he’d like something to eat and drink when he arrived. So Harry’s offering was some treacle tart, a glass of honeyed water and a bag of the best pranks he had been able to find without leaving Hogsmeade. He was actually quite proud of what he had managed to find.
“Er... shit, knew I should have memorised that bloody spell. Look, Mr Goodfellow, sir. If you can hear me, I kinda need your help with something.” Harry looked around the clearing and then sighed after ten minutes of silence. “I have treacle tart?”
“Why didn’t you say that?!” Harry shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air, then turned around and saw a tall man standing behind him with a smirk on his green-tinged face, leaning against the oak tree that Harry was rather fond of. “So, kid. What did you need my help with? The marshmallow thing in your school wasn’t me.”
“No. No, that was me.” Harry admitted with a shrug and a frown, nibbling on his lip as he wondered how to word his enquiry. Robin threw his head back and laughed, showing off his pointed teeth, that made Harry run his tongue over his own slightly pointed teeth.
“Ah, that was a good one, kid. Mind if I use that in the faerie courts one day?”
“Sure?”
“Cool. So, what did you need to ask of me then?” Robin asked him, pushing up from the wall and walking over to the offerings in the middle of the circle. He picked up the goblet and sniffed it, before raising an eyebrow and looking at Harry. “How’d you know my favourite drink?”
“It’s my favourite. I figured if it was good enough for me, it might be good enough for you.” Harry said, then frowned as he thought about what he had said. “That didn’t come out right.”
“I get what you meant, kid. Look, I can’t keep calling you kid, what’s your name?” Robin asked, moving to sit on the grass with his legs cross. Harry nibbled on his lip for another second before taking a deep breath and moving to sit across from Robin.
“I’m Rhys.” Harry told him in a quiet voice, noticing Robin stiffen slightly, Harry looked up through his shaggy fringe and eyelashes at the man before him. “Rhys-Robin Goodfellow.”
“What?” Robin gasped out in a whisper, and Rhys looked away, shrugging and then shifting and pulling the parchment out of his robe pocket. He handed it to the being in front of him and then looked out to the trees, smiling softly when he felt their reassuring whispers brush over his skin, caressing him and soothing him.
“She told me you’d died.” Rhys jerked in his seat to look at the man, who was looking at the parchment in his hands as though it held the answers of the universe. Rhys was pretty damned certain it didn’t. He wouldn’t have handed it over quite so eagerly if it had.
“Huh?”
“Your mother, Lily. She told me that she had miscarried. Then she... she disappeared a month later. I never... I didn’t know about you. I didn’t know.” Robin said through gritted teeth, the parchment in his hand being crushed, before he shakily let go and smoothed it out.
“So... you thought I’d died?” Rhys asked him after a few moments of complete silence, broken only by hushed whispers from nature and Robin’s heavy breathing as he tried to calm himself down.
“Yes. Where... where is she now?”
“Dead. As far as I know, anyway. Died when I was one. I was brought up by her sister and her family. They didn’t like me very much.” Rhys added with a shrug, then smirked and looked up at Robin. “I made sure they’d never forget me though.”
“Oh? What... Did... Why did you find me?” Robin asked finally, after seemingly trying to find the right words.
“I knew. I knew James Potter wasn’t my father. But everyone around me... they’re blind! They can’t see me. They don’t.... they don’t get me. They think I’m a freak and... I am! Compared to them, I am. I never knew that Wizards had never really encountered a vegetarian before I came along. I don’t... I spent the last six years in this world looking for who I am. Then we made that.” Rhys said, waving his hand at the birth certificate and shaking his head, the small braids in his hair whipping around him.
“And you found out about me.” Robin finished, and Rhys nodded and then shrugged.
“I get if you don’t want anything to do with me, really I do. I just... I need to know who - No, what I am. I just needed answers.”
“What gives you the impression I wanted nothing to do with you?” Robin asked him incredulously, and Rhys’ head snapped up and he gaped at Robin.
“Why would you? I’m sixteen, nearly seventeen. I... who wants a nearly adult son dropped in their lap?” Harry asked him, still incredulous. Robin smiled at him and then shook his head.
“Me. I’ve never had a kid. No one to pass on my knowledge to. No one I could trust with my kingdom. I’m a king. I... I want to be your father.”
“Sounds good to me.” Rhys said with a weak smile, looking at Robin, who smiled back at him. “One more question. I promise, this is my last one.”
“What’s that? And you can ask me all the questions you want.” Robin added, making Rhys look at him dubiously before looking down at him.
“What do I look like to you?” Rhys asked, looking back at Robin, to see him staring at Rhys in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean... you didn’t even twig who I might be, no one seems to think there is anything actually different with me besides being mentally unstable, everyone thinks I look like James. What do they see? Because it sure as hell ain’t what I see when I look in the mirror.”
“Huh. You’re short, but not too short, maybe five foot six? You have lightly tanned skin, wide green eyes, and shaggy, short black hair. Why, what do you see?” Robin asked him, and Rhys gaped at him for a few seconds before he closed his eyes and ran his hand over his face.
“I’ve got skin the same colour as yours, my hair is shaggy and black, but it’s not that short. It’s just above my shoulders. And my height? I am short. I’m five three. If that. My eyes are green though, dunno if they could be considered wide. I always thought they were more cat-like. Like your own.” Rhys added, looking up at Robin, his father, who had stood up during his description and was pacing. Rhys could see that Robin quite clearly reached six foot, if not taller.
“You... You must have some sort of spell on you.” Robin finally concluded, and Rhys nodded his head, having come up with that same explanation himself when Robin described him, and stood up, brushing off his robes and placing his hands in his pockets. “I can... I can find some way to take it off of you.”
“Okay. Just... I figure I should graduate first, before I change species in front of their eyes.” Rhys said with a small grin.
“It may fade naturally on your seventeenth. Wizards have some sort of unhealthy obsession with that age.”
“I’d noticed. They mature or something on that birthday.” Rhys added with a shrug and Robin looked at him and grinned.
“You won’t. You’re only a baby in sprite years. We don’t truly reach adulthood until we are six hundred and thirty.”
“Huh. That’s quite... old.” Rhys said, using all his energy to not gape at his father.
“You could say that.”
“So... what now?” Rhys asked, after a couple of minutes in which they just stared at one another in silence.
“When do you finish this year of school?”
“Er... next Wednesday. We take the train back to London King’s Cross. We normally arrive into London at about six in the evening.” Rhys told him, frowning a little in confusion.
“Then I shall pick you up from there at six. If I am to be a good father, I need to start by collecting you from school. Then move on to making up for the sixteen birthdays and Winter Solstices I have missed.”
“You - You want me to live with you?” Rhys asked him, gaping in shock.
“Sure. I get if you don’t want to. I mean, you’re almost an adult in human years, but... you’re my baby son in my eyes. I want to make up the time we lost. And most of all, I want to introduce you to my kingdom.”
“I thought... I thought Titania and Oberon ruled the faerie court.” Rhys said with a confused frown and Robin grinned at him mischievously.
“Technically, they do. But I rule over nature. They listen to my advice, because they know that if they don’t, I’ll prank them mercilessly.”
“Oh. And you really want me to be your son?”
“I’m positive.”
“Oh. Well... that’s really pretty cool.” Rhys finally said, beaming at his father, getting a wide smile in return.
“Now, about the marshmallow. How did you get it into the hall?”
Of course, being the son of Puck did explain his insatiable need to cause mischief. Rhys went through his seventh and final year being ignored by most of the staff and students or getting disappointed looks from them for not doing anything to stop Voldemort. He just stayed in the background, did his homework and made everyone in Hogwarts lives a living hell through pranks.
Occasionally he played jump rope with the Whomping Willow when everyone was asleep. That was fun. Especially the cursing that the Willow did when talking about the stupid students that tried to play chicken with him.
And when he graduated, he was actually proud to be leaving with the third highest NEWT scores in their year. His father was equally proud.
They had spent the whole of his seventh year talking through weekly letters, making plans on how to make the Wizarding World pay for keeping him away from his true family. To be fair, Rhys did concede that it was really just Lily’s fault, but still, he and Robin were both pissed about it and had made plans to make everyone pay.
Which brought him to where he was now. Running. From an entire country of angry wizards and witches. Voldemort even more so. He hadn’t appreciated all of his followers being cursed into perma-Playboy bunnies. To the best of his knowledge, they still hadn’t worked out how to get rid of the rabbit ears and fluffy tails. Rhys snickered every time he remembered the look on Lucius Malfoy’s face as he tried to push the floppy ear out of his face whilst he aimed a curse at the laughing sprite.
That was another thing that he hadn’t kept secret. During the graduation ceremony, Harry Potter had walked up to accept his certificate and Rhys-Robin Goodfellow had left the stage much to the shock of everyone in the Great Hall, and pride of Robin Goodfellow.
So two years after his graduation, almost a month after he turned nineteen, Rhys was on a plane to America. The Hellmouth to be exact. He could have gone to live with his father, but he wanted to see the world.
Actually, he just saw the potential havoc and mischief he could cause in a place where evil seemed to congregate. Rhys giggled evilly and rubbed his hands together, making the woman in the seat next to him shift away from him and glance at him nervously, when the pilot announced their arrival at LA.
The mischief was about to begin.
If Rhys could work out a way to get to Sunnydale...
Rhys got to Sunnydale by hitchhiking. And a little magic. Well, who could blame him? Wasn’t safe to be accepting lifts from complete strangers. Especially strangers heading to Sunnydale. It was also still daylight just about, when he got into the van, so at least he had that one less worry. Still, there were a lot of human looking demons/creatures that could walk around in sunlight. He was one of them after all.
The van he had chosen to take him into Sunnydale was driven by a young man called Devon, who was apparently the same age as him and was in a band. He also had a marijuana plant growing in the back, which was giggling and whispering secrets to Rhys about werewolves and what Devon got up to in the back of the van. Things that had Rhys raising an eyebrow and desperately trying to smother his laughter.
“So, you not from around here then?” Devon asked once they watched the ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ sign pass them by, Rhys turned to look at Devon incredulously.
“Whatever gave me away?” Rhys deadpanned, watching as Devon shrugged.
“Dunno, the accent I guess. You don’t sound like you’re from Sunnydale.” Devon told him and Rhys gaped at him and then looked behind him at the badly hidden plant.
“Huh. No, I’m not from Sunnydale. I’m from London, England.” Rhys told him, looking out the window at the passing houses, noticing just how many cemeteries there were.
“Sounds nice. Where do you want to be dropped off?”
“Er… is there a park?” Rhys asked, watching the scenery pass them by.
“There’s loads. But there is the main one near the old high school. You wanna be dropped off there?” Devon asked him and Rhys glanced at him and then nodded.
“If that’s not too much trouble.” Rhys told him with a wide smile, using his magic to subtly make Devon agree to it.
“Nah, I’ll drop you off there, it’s not that far from my parents house.” Devon told him and Rhys smiled widely at him and then turned to look back out the window.
It took another ten minutes before Devon pulled to a stop outside of a large park entrance. Rhys grabbed his backpack from behind his seat and then opened the van door.
“Thank you for the lift, Devon. Oh, and you should learn to hide your plats a little better. And the one in the back would like some more sunshine if you would.” Rhys added with a grin, giggling at the dumbfounded expression on the musician’s face. “I hope we meet again.”
Rhys shut the van door behind him and then hitched his bag over his shoulder and looked at the park in front of him. It was practically brimming with trees and thus, perfect for Rhys’ new home.
Grinning to himself, he waited until Devon had pulled away and the tail lights of the van had disappeared into the darkness of the night, before he walked into the park, sighing in relief when he felt all the trees reach out and greet him, voices all chattering along the wind happily.
Rhys delicately walked through the park, heading for where he sensed the parks oldest tree was, a willow tree, which happened to be his favourite type, and silently made his way off the path, and through the trees, the plants along the ground stretching up to caress his legs as he passed.
‘Behind you.’ Rhys tilted his head to the side and stopped where he was walking, looking at the trees that were bending towards him, the grass and plants near his feet winding over his soft leather shoes.
“I wouldn’t attack me if I were you, little vampire.” Rhys said, still not turning around to face the one following him.
“Oh? I would say you were the little one.” A decidedly male voice said behind him and Rhys bristled slightly but then smirked and left his hand brush across the trunk of the nearest tree.
“Perhaps, but I am not food for you. You don’t want to cross me. I’m not human.” Rhys said, smiling as the thin branches of the tree wound around his wrist and tugged at him playfully, making the vampire behind him gasp.
“What the hell are you?” Rhys gently pulled his arm free f the trees grasp and then turned around the face the vampire behind him. He was taller than Rhys, which wasn’t really hard, but he really wasn’t that tall. No more than average. He had dirty blond hair and Rhys couldn’t help but wonder what colour his eyes would have been, had he not been in his demon face.
“Me? Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rhys Goodfellow. I’m a sprite. And you, you picked the wrong person to stalk. Did the green skin not give me away that I wasn’t normal?” Rhys couldn’t help but ask, watching as the tree behind the vampire raised a thick branch.
“Oh yeah! You’ve got green skin. Dude, that is so wa-“ The vampire was interrupted and looked down in horror at the branch sticking out through his chest.
“The trees like me. Don’t mess with me.” Rhys told him just as the vampire exploded into a cloud of dust and the branch that had killed him was pulled back into the treetops. “Thank you.”
Rhys smiled and stroked the trunk of the tree beside him once more and then turned around and began on his way to the mother tree in the park.
It took him another five or so minutes before he got there, and then he stood and smiled widely and the huge tree in front of him.
“May I make my home within your branches please?” Rhys asked the tree, head tilted to the side as he looked up at the large plant.
‘My arms are your bed, little prince.’ Rhys blushed and then smiled widely, stepped through the long branches that brushed the ground, feeling them whisper as he passed through them and then looked at the trunk of the tree, trying to think of the best way to get as high up as he could get.
Nodding his head decisively, he walked over to the trunk and then carefully placed his foot in a small groove in the trunk and pulled himself up into the mass of branches. He carefully moving between them, making sure not to damage the tree as the branches moved out of his way to show him towards the highest, most comfortable place in the tree.
“Thank you.” Rhys said once he had made himself comfortable, smiling as several branches came and draped over him, curling over his sides to make sure he didn’t fall out. Rhys then moved his bag to act as a pillow and plumped it slightly before he put his head down on it. It had been a long day and so it was hardly surprising to Rhys when he fell asleep almost immediately, soothed into sleep by the gossipy whispers of the tress as they spoke to each other.
Rhys spent the next week wandering around the town of Sunnydale, smiling when he passed the University and noticed that it must have only recently started. The trees surrounding the paths on the campus all seemed very happy to see him and speak with him. Though they were somewhat upset that he chose the other side of town to make his home.
He had been there a week when he was walking down a path at night, just as a branch snuck out and wrapped around his waste tightly, pulling him into the trees and shrubs lining the path. Rhys gave a startled, somewhat muffled cry but was silenced when another branch came up and brushed down his cheek soothingly.
‘Shh. See the Slayer.’ Rhys titled his head curiously, and then looked out through the leaves covering him as he watched a young blonde girl, possibly the same age as him, though if what she was saying was right, then a year younger. She was possibly only an inch or two taller than him and was talking to a vampire, who she seemed to know.
“Eddie! Eddie, hey! Wait up. God, I was worried something had happened to you!” The blonde girl, the Slayer, shouted as she jogged after the vampire whom Rhys realised she clearly didn’t realise what he was.
“I thought Slayer’s could sense vampires.” Rhys whispered to the branch caressing his face.
‘She doesn’t use her powers to their fullest.’
“And of course it has, because you’re a vampire.” The Slayer said as she caught up with the vampire, who was now wearing his demon face. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” Eddie said to her, before he lunged for her and Rhys absently took the offered petals and began to munch on them as he watched the two fight, not in the least surprised when the Slayer staked the vampire only seconds later. Of course, by that time, Rhys had noticed the blonde vampire that was standing on a rock behind the vampire and just to the side of where Rhys was being hidden.
“I like the blue ones, whose are they?” Rhys whispered, and smiled when a small shrub by his feet rustled in excitement. “Thank you.”
“The Slayer!” Rhys looked over at the blonde vampire just as the Slayer turned around the face her as well. “Wow. Um, I head you might be coming here.” The blonde vampire said, as more vampires came out of hiding and surrounded the Slayer.
“Does she not have a watcher anymore?” Rhys whispered, making a small, excited noise when he was offered more light blue petals.
‘She is separate from the Council. Her watcher is no longer her watcher.’
“This is… I mean, what a challenge. The Slayer.” The blonde vampire said, as the Slayer watched the newly arrived vampires warily.
“And you are?” The Slayer asked, looking at the lead vampire. Rhys was impressed at how she wasn’t showing the fear she quite clearly was feeling.
“Should we help?”
‘Not yet, princeling. Do not bring the Slayer’s attention on to you.’
“I’m Sunday.” The vampire told her, flicking a piece of blonde hair over her shoulder and making Rhys wrinkle his nose. “I’ll be killing you here in a minute of so.”
“That threat gets more frightening every time I hear it.” The Slayer said, and she and the vampire stared at each other, until the vampire next to Sunday shifted and took a step forward.
“Are we gonna fight? Or is there just gonna be a monster sarcasm rally?” The male vampire asked, pressing his hands together in front of him.
“I’m in for a piece.” Another female vampire said from behind the Slayer, making the Slayer turn her head to look at that vampire. Rhys narrowed his eyes and grinned as he watched a branch slowly sneak out and stake the vampire furthest from the group and the only one that had yet to speak. He turned to dust with barely a gasp just as the Slayer spoke again.
“Everybody gets to play.”
“Hear that? We get to play.” Rhys whispered, wiggling with excitement as he wriggled his fingers.
“Guys, this… is totally… mine.” Sunday said as she casually strolled down the steps from her spot and walked to stand in front of the Slayer.
“What’s her name?”
‘Buffy Summers.’
“Okay, but you gotta share the eatin’. ‘Cause I’m thinking Slayer’s bloods gotta be - whoa! - like Thai stick.” The male vampire said, making everyone look at him incredulously.
“Aren’t people supposed to get smarter in college?” The Slayer, Buffy, asked, which was very similar to what Rhys had been thinking. The trees and plants all giggled around him, making Rhys see just how fond of their Slayer, the plant life in Sunnydale actually were.
“Why’d you like her so much?”
‘She gave us back the sun!’
“I think you had misconceptions about college.” Sunday told Buffy, then sneered at what Buffy was wearing. “Like anyone would be caught dead wearing that.” Buffy looked somewhat insulted and then looked down at her clothes, which gave Sunday the opening she needed to punch Buffy, sending the Slayer flying to the floor, where the other vampires all pounced on her.
“Hey, do you have any of the pink ones left?” Rhys whispered, and then made a happy sound when a branch appeared with hundreds of pink petals resting in the leaves. “Thank you.”
Rhys then sat back and watched with slight disappointment as Sunday slowly beat her to a pulp, before wrapping her fingers around Buffy’s neck picking her up off the platform she had been standing on not long before.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but…” Sunday hit Buffy then grabbed her again. “… you fight like a girl.” Buffy was then thrown off the platform, where Sunday jumped off of it after her.
Rhys stroked the branch holding him soothingly and smiled when the bushes by his feet (with the blue petals) rustled with excitement when Buffy began to land kicks on Sunday. Unfortunately it didn’t last for long, and soon enough, Sunday once again had the upper hand and threw Buffy onto a large car, then followed her onto it and carried on beating her up.
“Kill the tubby vampire.” Rhys whispered, stroking the branches as the said tubby vampire passed in front of him, only to give a small cry of shock as a sharp branch was forced into her heart from the back. “Good trees.”
He turned back to the fight just in time to see Buffy get thrown to the floor and then pick herself up, glance at the two vampires left and then quickly run away from them. The vampires watched her leave and then turned to face one another once more, both looking shocked that they were the only two left.
“Where are -?” Sunday stopped and looked around them, spotting two piles of ash where the two vampires had been standing and frowned. “Let’s get out of here.”
Rhys waited until the vampires had disappeared form sight before he detangled himself from the tree, letting his magic brush over the trees and shrubs that had covered and fed him, making them all grow and bloom a little more right in front of his eyes, and then bounced on his toes.
“That was exciting! Weren’t you excited?” Rhys asked, looking at the plants that had protected him from view.
‘You should head back to Mother Willow, princeling. You will be getting tired soon.’
“No! No, I’m not!! I’m so not tired! I’m riding the excitement of seeing the Slayer!!” Rhys said, still bouncing slightly and completely ignoring the fatigue he was feeling.
‘You are still a baby. You need your sleep.’ The trees whispered to him and Rhys pouted and then sighed.
“Fine. I’ll go home and to bed. I’ll make sure to come back here tomorrow to say hello. And to see if I can follow the Slayer! I like her, she’s spunky.” Rhys told them with a bright smile, eyes twinkling with excitement, then he winked and disappeared, leaving behind a cloud of green and gold glitter.
Rhys practically skipped through the town the next day, running his fingers over the flowers that he passed and making small, excited noises when they offered him plenty of petals to eat as he wandered the town. He noticed a club that wasn’t open yet, but looked interesting, called The Bronze, and made a note to go there if things at the college were boring.
“So… what’s the gossip?” Rhys asked vaguely a couple of hours later after he had wandered around the town and was now in the campus, looking for all the world like he was talking to himself as he allowed his fingers to run through the grass, letting his magic flow into the earth and plants as he passed.
It had slowly been noticed that Sunnydale had never looked so green before, though no one actually put any notice in why. The trees had reassured him that no one important had truly noticed. Or if they had, they hadn’t noticed him.
‘The vampires have made it look like the Slayer has left town.’ A fern that Rhys was passing, next to the door to one of the halls of residence, told him and he frowned and nibbled on his lip.
“Well… that’s not good. Should we help her? We should help her.” Rhys said with a sharp nod of his head, quickly jumping out of the way when a group of students tumbled out of the dorms.
“Watch it, dude.” One of the men told him, turning back to his friends and then laughing at something they had said. Rhys watched them and then narrowed his yes, before wriggling his fingers and grinning when all their hair slowly changed colour into grey and the texture changed to steel wool.
“Don’t mess with the best!” Rhys muttered and then punched the air in front of him and did a small hopping jig, before coughing when he heard the trees giggling at him. “So… do we help?”
‘How?’
“Er… I dunno. Where is she now?”
‘The Bronze. You just missed her.’
“Darn. Well, I did want to go to that club. Hmm, you stay here.” Rhys said with a snicker, and then vanished with a wink and some glitter.
Rhys appeared in front of The Bronze and then twisted his magic to make people not notice that he was green, though he had learnt that the citizens of Sunnydale were even more blind to strange things than anywhere else in the world. Including the Wizarding World.
Rhys then made his way through the throngs of people, wrinkling his nose as his connection with his plants and trees slowly became more and more muted as he moved further and further indoors.
He looked around the room for any sign of Buffy, not entirely sure what he would actually do should he have found her, but then his eyes was caught on someone else and he felt his cheeks burn dark green. A young man was standing near the bar, with shaggy brown hair and a grin that just screamed mischief, and Rhys felt his heart literally pound against his rib cage.
“Oh sweet Puck.” Rhys muttered, completely forgetting about needing to find the slayer and instead moving unconsciously towards the man, smiling brightly when the guy spotted him walking over to him and smiled back. “Hello.”
“Hey!! British! That’s so cool! Why are you here?” The man asked, making Rhys gape at him a little, and then blink and shrug.
“Family… I guess. I’m Rhys Goodfellow by the way.” Rhys introduced, holding out his hand, which the man took and gave a quick shake.
“Alexander Harris, but everyone calls me Xander. Your family not in here with you?” Xander asked him with a small frown of confusion, before looking past Rhys at something that made him smile even wider.
“Ah… they don’t really like places like this.” Rhys said, turning his head slightly and grinning when he saw Buffy standing in the crowd. “Is she your friend? I should go, let you go tell her you’re here.”
Rhys was actually a little surprised that Xander seemed to know Buffy, what he had heard of Slayer’s of the past, they had never really had friends outside of their watcher, if their watcher could be called a friend.
“Yeah, hang on. Buff!” Xander yelled, then waved to get Buffy’s attention, she spotted him and her eyes lit up and she smiled widely, hurrying over to them and throwing her arms around his shoulders.
“Xander!” Rhys watched them with a light smile and then waved down the bartender, smiling brightly at the poor man and weaving his magic into the man’s system whilst the Slayer was distracted with talking to Xander.
“What can I get you?”
“Can I have the sweetest drink you have please? And whatever these two want.” Rhys said, waving behind him at Xander and Buffy, getting Buffy’s attention when she realised that Xander must have been speaking to him before she saw him.
“Hi! I’m Buffy! Xander’s friend! How do you know Xander?” Buffy asked him, and Rhys looked at her and blinked.
“Er… We just met. What would you like to drink?” Rhys asked her, and she gaped at him a little, clearly taken aback by his accent and then shook her shock away.
“Can I just get a lemonade, please?”
“Sure, Xander?”
“Same.” Xander agreed with a nod of his head, smiling at him, getting a bright smile back from Rhys, who was clearly like one of Pavlov’s dogs when it came to this man’s smile.
Rhys then turned his attention back to the slightly dazed bartender and smiled brightly at him.
“Two lemonade’s as well, please.” Rhys added, and the bartender nodded and turned away to get their drinks.
“So, Xander, when did you get back?” Buffy asked, smiling when the bartender brought over their drinks and Rhys turned to the man once more, making eye contact with him and pulling over his hand.
“Thank you. Here’s the right amount.” Rhys told him, running his fingers over the man’s wrist and depositing some petals in his hand, grinning at the man and then winking. The bartender smiled back widely and then walked away to serve someone else.
“Thanks for the drinks!” Xander told him and Rhys smiled at him, and took a sip of his own bright green drink, sighing at the taste of pure sugar.
“So? When did you get back?”
“You went somewhere?” Rhys asked, looking at Xander with wide eyes, making Xander stare at him before he coughed and smiled sheepishly.
“I went on a road trip. Got back a couple of days ago.” Xander added, looking at Buffy, who pouted and then gently slapped his arm.
“Freak of nature!” She exclaimed, which Rhys took offence to but didn’t say anything. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“You were starting the college adventure and I didn’t want to…” Xander chewed on his bottom lip and then grinned. “…you know, help you move.”
Rhys snorted into his drink at that, whilst Buffy rolled her eyes and then smiled at him, moving to take a seat at the bar next to Rhys, Xander grinned and rubbed the back of his neck before taking the other one on the other side of Rhys, who moved back slightly so they could see one another.
“I missed you. How was your trip? Is America nice? I hear it’s nice.” Buffy said and Rhys frowned and looked confused.
“You are American. How can you not know if your own country is nice?” Rhys asked, looking at the two confused. Buffy flushed and then nudged him playfully.
“I was being… ironic!”
“Ah, so, is America nice?” Rhys asked, looking over at Xander, who was grinning at them both, he shrugged easily and then played with the straw in his glass.
“There’s some purple mountains majesty, I have to say.” Xander told them easily and Rhys narrowed his eyes, feeling the lie coming from him and wondering why he was lying.
“What’d you do? What’d you see?” Buffy asked him eagerly, and Rhys turned to look at Xander in interest. He loved seeing new countries and in between learning small tips on ruling a country and creating havoc on Britain, his father had taken him to certain countries in Europe.
“Well…”
“Tell me!”
“I admit, I too would like to know. I only arrived in America a couple of weeks ago.” Rhys admitted, swirling his finger in his drink and then placing it in his mouth, smirking around it when both Buffy and Xander watched him before they both flushed and looked away quickly.
“Grand Canyon!” Xander exclaimed and Rhys looked at him with a small frown, wondering why he was still lying.
“You saw the Grand Canyon!” Buffy exclaimed, excitement in her voice, and Rhys turned slightly to look at her and smiled when he saw Xander shift uncomfortably out the corner of his eye.
“Well, I saw the movie Grand Canyon on cable. Really lame.” Xander added with a frown and look of disgust, which made Rhys chuckle, whilst Buffy just looked at Xander in confusion.
“Huh?”
“Basically, I got as far as Oxnard and the engine fell out of my car.” Xander told them, and both Buffy and Rhys turned to look at him incredulously. “And that was literally. So, I washed dishes at the fabulous Ladies Nightclub for about a month and a half while I tried to pay for the repairs. No one bothered me or even spoke to me until one of the male strippers called in sick…” Rhys choked on his drink at that and turned his full attention to Xander, who blushed bright red at the interest Rhys and Buffy were paying to him. “No power on earth will make me tell you the rest of that story.” Xander added and both Rhys and Buffy both visibly slumped, making Xander laugh nervously.
“Damn. No power? Not even a really powerful, power?” Rhys asked, tilting his head and look at Xander with wide eyes. Xander looked at him with a shocked look and then shook his head furiously.
“No. No power. Suffice to say, I traded my car for one that wasn’t entirely made of rust came home to my loving parents, where everything was exactly as it was except I sleep in the basement and I have to pay rent.” Xander told them and Rhys frowned and wondered if Lily and James would have done the same to him. He knew his father wouldn’t, but then, in his eyes, Rhys was still a baby. Literally. “How’s college?”
“Male strippers.” Buffy said and Xander once again shook his head.
“No power on this earth.” He told her firmly and Buffy pouted, making Rhys grin into his drink, amused by the two, obviously very close, friends.
“Okay.” Buffy said with a wide grin. “College is good.”
“Okay, once more with even less feeling.” Xander said, and Rhys had to agree, if silently, with Xander. Though Rhys also had more of an idea as to why.
“No really! I mean, Willow’s in heaven and Oz has this really cool house off-campus with the band.” Buffy explained and Rhys looked at her with interest, wondering if this band with the mysterious Oz was the same one Devon was in.
“And you’re sitting here alone at the Bronze looking like you have cancer of the puppy.” Xander told her and Rhys snickered and looked over at Buffy, wondering if there was anything he could say to make her feel any better. Probably not.
“It’s just…” Buffy sighed and shrugged, before glancing at Rhys, then back to Xander. “There was this girl and she was a real… bitch.”
“A girl? A strangely light-phobic girl?” Xander asked and Rhys choked on his drink slightly and then started to laugh, making Xander and Buffy stare at him. “You okay?”
“Yeah! Yeah, you can say vampire in front of me you know. I know about them. You don’t have to give… strange euphemisms. It’s nice meeting some people who seem to know about them too. People in this town are shockingly blind to it all considering what this town is.” Rhys added, draining the last of his drink, completely oblivious to the gapes of shock he was getting.
“You know about…”
“Sure. What, you think I’m a stuffy Brit? Don’t be silly, we don’t all drink tea and eat crumpets. Don’t like crumpets myself.” Rhys added, sighing and looking to the side at Buffy, then at Xander, seeing that they both looked pretty shocked. “I’d best be off. I hope we can meet up again sometime. Buffy, I hope you can sort out your little problem. Consider asking the trees for help. They like you.” Rhys added with a wink, then slid off his stool and walked away, getting lost in the crowd, feeling Xander and Buffy’s stunned gaze on his back until he was out of sight.
“Trees?” Buffy asked Xander once she had gotten over her shock.
“Trees.”
Rhys stood in the shadows outside of the Bronze and waited for Buffy and Xander to leave, eyes half-closed as he listened to the voices on the wind telling him things about the town.
It was only about ten minutes later that Buffy and Xander emerged from the club and made their way to a building on the campus. Rhys followed them at a safe enough distance not to be noticed by Buffy, trailing his fingers over any plant that stretched out to get his attention.
“Do you know where they are?” Rhys asked the trees he passed, and the heard the question being brushed along the wind to all the trees around the campus.
‘Yes… We can take you there.’
“Ah, we’ll wait for those two, see if they can find out where they are as well. Anyway we can give them a helping hand?”
‘Technology is not a part of nature. It is out of your control.’
“Bugger, thought you’d say that. Ah well, looks like we just sit back and wait then.” Rhys said and then moved away from the trees that were wrapping around him lovingly and moved towards the broken door to listen in.
“…can’t believe the vampires took your stuff. Murder I expect, but petty larceny seems so… petty.” Rhys grinned when he heard Xander talking, but not moving to look into the room, just in case either one of them saw him.
“They have to be keeping it somewhere. On campus or at least nearby.”
“Hey, how far back do the disappearances go?” Xander asked and Rhys heard the sound of someone typing on a keyboard, mentally sneering at the use of technology. Computers were useless when you had trees.
“They weren’t too common before ’82.” Buffy told him after a minute or two of searching.
“Magic number! Check this out.” Rhys nibbled on his lip and wondered what Xander was showing Buffy and wishing he hadn’t wimped out and left them when he had.
“Psi Theta loses its charter. Building to be closed for renovation.” Buffy said, and Rhys wondered if she was reading something, whatever it was, that Xander had found.
“1982. Look at this.” Xander said and this time Rhys heard some paper being rustled. “Former Psi Theta house lies dormant while issues drag on before the city council. We have a winner.”
“Block the doors discreetly. Don’t let the vampires leave the house.” Rhys muttered and felt his command being passed along the wind, knowing that it would be followed within a few minutes.
“Looks pretty cherry.” Buffy said, making Rhys wonder what the hell she meant.
“You up for a little reconnaissance?” Xander asked and Rhys grinned, moving back from the door.
“Where we all sculpt and paint, and stuff?” Buffy asked, and Rhys bit down on his lip hard to stop his laughter as he quickly moved away from the door and moved back into the safe hold of the trees.
‘The doors have been blocked. No one will be able to leave. Ivy has grown up, around the house and has managed to creep in the windows. You will have help on the inside should you go in.’
“Thank you. Don’t know if I will use it though. It would give away that there was something a bit… different about me.”
‘Your father taught you to fight. He would not have allowed you to come here without that knowledge.’
“Yeah, he did. Oh, Burnham Wood’s on the move.” Rhys muttered, watching as Buffy and Xander exited the building and made their way towards the abandoned sorority building.
Rhys followed behind them, once again at a safe distance, and then grinned in satisfaction when he saw the house the vampires were in. The doors were blocked, but not obviously so and ivy covered all the walls and most of the windows.
Buffy and Xander looked at the house and then slowly walked around it until they came to a part of the house where they could climb up it safely. Rhys winced slightly as he heard the whispers of pain coming from some of the ivy, and so let his magic run out and sooth it, making the plant stronger and more resistant to the humans climbing it. Rhys winked and appeared on the roof of the huge house, far enough away that Buffy and Xander didn’t notice him.
‘Prince Robin! Prince Robin!’ Rhys winced at the excited whispers of the ivy and crouched down to run his fingers over it, keeping an eye on the two humans looking in the house through the large window on the roof.
“Score!” Buffy whispered, whilst Xander climbed the rest of the way on to the roof and moved to lie next to Buffy, looking in the window. “Oh! That’s my skirt!” Rhys rolled his eyes and wondered if Buffy took anything seriously, then blushed at how hypocritical that sounded. “You’re never gonna fit in it with those hips! We have to kill them.”
Rhys grinned and managed to hold back the snickers that wanted to escape him, instead focusing on calming down the excitable plants writhing around on the roof before Buffy and Xander noticed that the ivy was moving.
“We need weapons.” Xander pointed out and Buffy moved back to look in the window.
“I don’t see my weapons trunk there. It was right by my bed. Mr Gordo?” Buffy suddenly gasped out in horror, making Rhys wonder who the bloody hell Mr Gordo was. “Go to my room. If it’s not there, try Willow’s. I’ll keep an eye… My dairy?!”
Rhys winced at Buffy’s hissed shriek and then sighed and twitched his nose, wondering if he could get away with pranking one of the two on the roof with him. Probably not the best idea, given who they were.
“I’ll hurry.” Xander exclaimed quietly and then moved away from the skylight and down the side of the house, the ivy doing Rhys’ bidding and making sure he didn’t fall.
“Laugh all you want. This time we play it my way. And the rules are gonna be-“ Rhys watched in disbelief as the skylight gave way and Buffy went crashing through it and into the house with the two vampires. Rhys cursed under his breath, hurried over to the skylight and looked down, seeing Buffy lying on the floor, with the two vampires staring at her in shock. Rhys cursed again and then winked and appeared in a shadowy corner. The ivy trailing through the boarded up window reached out to caress his hair lightly, making him smirk, and then wiggle his fingers and watch as both the vampires tripped up as they went to walk over to Buffy.
Buffy gaped at them from her spot crouched on the floor, clearly in pain, the two vampires cursed and quickly scrabbled to stand up, the slightly more dense vampire actually falling down again. Sunday watched her companion and sighed, then looked down at Buffy, who had managed to push herself up off the floor slightly.
Rhys moved away from his corner and slowly, quietly walked around the wall of the room, keeping his eyes on the vampires and Buffy, making sure that he was ready to jump in should Buffy actually need it. But also making sue he was out of sight so that he could stay hidden from them for as long as he possibly could. He wasn’t naïve enough to actually believe he would be able to leave this room without someone noticing him.
“…beating the crap outta you?” Rhys jerked back to attention when he realised that Sunday had been speaking to Buffy.
“I just thought I’d drop in.” Buffy told her, standing slowly keeping her arm close to her body, making Rhys frown and wonder if she had hurt herself badly in the fall. Nothing he could do if she had. He only healed himself and plant life. “Get it? Drop in?”
Rhys snickered softly and then cursed when he realised it wasn’t quite quiet enough and everyone was now looking around for the source of the chuckle.
“Who’s there? What, did the little Slayer bring a friend?” Sunday called out and Rhys sighed and then stepped out of the shadows, one strand of ivy reaching out to him discreetly before pulling back again before anyone other that Rhys, noticed.
“Hello again, Slayer.” Rhys said with a nod in her direction, noticing her shock that he hadn’t said her actual name. Though the vampires probably already knew it, given they had her stuff.
“Oh! Rhys! Er… what are you doing here?”
“Taking in the scenery.” Rhys told her breezily, moving further into the room and moving to stand near to the male vampire and wriggling his fingers, before he caught Buffy’s eye and winked.
“Little short to be playing big bad vampire killer, aren’t you?” Sunday asked with a sneer, making Rhys look at her with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m not a vampire killer, she’s the vampire killer. Being the Slayer and all. I’m a botanist. I like plants. They like me too. I can hear them talking, whispering, gossiping. Oh my, you are a strange little vampire, aren’t you?” Rhys asked when he tilted his head to the side as though listening to something only he could hear.
“What?! What the hell is going on here? Enough of this, you two are going to become our next meal!” Sunday snarled and then launched herself at Buffy, who went down having not been paying all that much attention to Sunday, but rather looking at Rhys in confusion.
Rhys sighed when he felt the male vampire move to grab him, and then decided to have a little fun and let him get a hold of him.
“You really aren’t a fighter, are you?” The vampire asked with a leer and he moved down to sniff at Rhys’ neck, making Rhys smirk and then lean his head back and let his body go completely limp.
The vampire cursed loudly, and let Rhys drop to the floor, having not expected the sudden dead weight. Rhys then swung his legs out and caught the vampire’s ankles, making him drop the floor in shock. Rhys quickly got up, moved quickly to straddle the vampire and looked down at him, smirking wickedly.
“I don’t kill vampires you know…” Rhys purred, looking down at the vampire that was staring up at him in horror. “I play with them. I wasn’t lying. Plants love me. You know what makes them grow big and strong?” Rhys whispered in the vampire’s ear, glancing towards the door when Xander came running in, followed by another, shorter man and a young woman. All three stopped and looked at Rhys in shock. “Xander! Hello!”
“Er… Rhys. Why are you lying on a vampire?”
“We’re playing!”
“What? No!! Dude, you gotta help me! He’s gonna kill me! Please! He’s insane!” The vampire begged out, making the male behind Xander snort in amusement, whilst Rhys pouted and Xander just gaped at them incredulously.
“Why would I save you? I kill vampires.” Xander pointed out and Rhys sighed and shuffled slightly to get comfortable.
“Besides, I never said I was going to kill you. I said we’d play. It’ll be fun! We can all become playmates or something. Never had them as a child. I was a little… sheltered. Being a prince and all that.” Rhys lied, grinning and showing his perfectly pointed teeth to the horrified vampire when he looked up at him.
“You… you’re not human! He’s not human!! Kill him!! Save me!!”
“Hey!! Who says I’m not human? You can talk, you go all bumpy and shit. That’s just not normal.” Rhys pointed out with a frown and a pout. By this time, both Buffy and Sunday had stopped fighting to watch them as well.
“Er… Rhys?”
“Hmm?” Rhys asked, turning to look at Buffy, frowning when he saw Sunday standing beside her, gaping at him. “Why is she still alive? You should kill her whilst she’s distracted.”
Buffy jerked and looked to the side, before tightening her grip on the large splinter of wood in her hands and thrust it into Sunday’s chest. Sunday gasped and staggered back before turning into dust.
“Looks like it’s just you and me, kid.” Rhys said, looking down at the male vampire, who was staring at where Sunday had been stranding in horror. “Aw, don’t cry. If you cry, then I’ll cry and then we’ll all cry!”
“You killed her.”
“Well yes, she is the Slayer. Really, I thought we’d established this. Bugger this, you’re far too boring now. All mournful and no amusing pleading. Hmm… bugger, where’s all the wood?” Rhys pondered, looking around him, then and smiling brightly when Xander silently handed him a stake.
Rhys then looked down at the vampire in front of him and leant down so that they were chest to chest and Rhys’ lips were next to the vampire’s ear.
“Your dust. Your dust makes my plants grow big and strong. With your death, you’ll be giving something else life. Think about it.” Rhys whispered, then pulled back and quickly plunged the stake into the vampire’s chest and back out again, jumping up and off the vampire just as he turned into dust. “Well, that was refreshing.”
“Er… Rhys?” Xander asked, and Rhys looked at him and smiled brightly once again, before handing him back the stake.
“Thank you for that. Hello, I’m Rhys Goodfellow. I met Xander and Buffy in the club in town earlier tonight. You must be Willow and Oz.” Rhys said, proud of himself for remembering the two names Buffy had mentioned earlier that night.
“Ask the trees? What did you mean ask the trees?” Buffy asked before Willow or Oz could answer him.
“Er.., I was being quirky? You know, leave them with a mysterious comment to make them wonder what you are all about. Ask the trees was pretty cool!” Rhys said with a grin, bounding on the balls of his feet.
“Ask the trees is cool.” The other man, Oz said in a slightly stoned voice, making Rhys almost certain that he was in the same band as Devon.
“Thank you! Well, I really had better go, it’s past my bedtime and all that. Mother Willow - Hey, Willow! Coincidence, no? She’ll like you for having that name. Still, she doesn’t like it when I’m out too late. The oogedie boodgies that are wandering around and all that.” Rhys said, slowly walking along the wall towards the exit. The four humans all just stared at him in shock.
“Hey! Do you have a number we can call you on? Maybe we could hang out or something?” Xander exclaimed suddenly, making Rhys stare at him and then flush and look down at the ground.
“Ah, no. But… you know, if you do need me, then…” Rhys looked up at Xander and smirked. “Ask the trees.” He then used the shadows to his advantage and stepped into them, leaving the room without any of the others being able to see him.
Once he was outside the house, he winked and disappeared with a cloud of glitter, hearing Xander’s confused question just as he left.
“Why does he keep telling us to ask trees?”
A/N - Um… Tell me what you think about this please! This is my first attempt at writing Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so… yeah. I’ll try to update again soon ish, but I have no idea when I will be able to as I’m having a couple of issues with my health. This is my way of ignoring it! Lol
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