Galena, Illinois (Redux) - August 17th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 17
Title: Galena, Illinois (Redux)
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SPN
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Supernatural people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Buffy didn’t land in Heaven when she leapt to save Dawn in “Gift”.
Notes: So this is a twist on my existing FaD series “Two Hunter Brothers and a Slayer Sister” - you do not have to read the other one at all to read this one. It’s just an example of my muse doing multiple ‘what-ifs’ on the same initial prompt.
Seasons: “Gift”/Pre-Season 1
Word Count: 1775
May 2001
Buffy landed roughly on the ground, which was surprising. Glory’s tower had been at least five stories high. She should be dead, totally dead. Instead, she was alive. She was somewhere not in Sunnydale. There were only half a dozen motels around Sunnydale and none of them looked like this place. And it was the middle of the day instead of barely sunrise.
“What the hell?” a man muttered somewhere behind her.
She looked up at him from the floor. He was easily twice her age, over six foot, with black hair and a dark, stubble roughened jaw.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Buffy fought it, the exhaustion of the last week, the shock of being alive after jumping to her death to save Dawn…but the blackness edged in around her and she sank into unconsciousness.
John grabbed a bottle of holy water and popped it open. With a flick of his wrist, he was able to confirm the girl wasn’t possessed by a demon. He reached into his bag and pulled out a silver knife. He pressed it to her cheek. Nothing.
“Huh,” he grunted as he looked down at her. She was a bottle blonde. She was dressed in a cream sweater that had dirt stains on it. Gray slacks and black heeled boots.
The door behind him opened to admit his eighteen year old son, Sam. He had already grown taller than his father and older brother.
Sam frowned down at the girl. “What happened?”
“She appeared out of thin air,” John said. “No reaction to holy water or silver.”
Sam set his backpack down and kneeled next to her. He patted her pockets. “No ID.” He pulled out a piece of paper, a receipt for the Magic Box. He pointed behind his father. “That hers?”
John twisted around to see a dark blue backpack. Embroidered on the front was E.W. “That wasn’t there a moment ago,” he muttered.
He grabbed it and opened it as Dean entered.
His oldest son wore a leather jacket and a self-satisfied smile. He raised an eyebrow at the scene before him. “What’s going on?”
A piece of paper fluttered through the air and landed on the girl.
John grabbed it and read it quickly. His face became like granite.
“Dad?” Sam said.
John looked through the things in the backpack. His face completely drained of color. He shoved the paper in and grabbed the receipt from Sam.
He stood and addressed Dean. “Keep her and Sam here. I’ll be back in a few days.”
“Yes, sir,” Dean replied immediately.
John grabbed his bag, the blue bag, and his car keys, striding out the door without another word.
They listened as the Impala roared to life and drove away.
“What was that about?” Dean asked.
Sam looked down at the girl. “My guess would be her. He said she just appeared out of nowhere.”
“I guess we should get her more comfortable than the middle of the floor.” He lifted her to the closest bed.
Sam studied her. “Dad was freaked out.”
Dean made no response. He turned on the television and sat on the end of the other motel room bed.
88888888
“John Winchester,” Missouri Moseley greeted in surprise. “I thought that was your car.”
“Missouri,” he said, walking past her and letting himself into her parlor. He set down the blue bag and watched her.
“You are…confused and angry.” She moved a hand. “Something happened.”
John opened the bag and pulled out several pieces of paper.
Missouri looked at him with concern before focusing on the papers. Her hand hovered over them. “These are…touched.”
“What does that mean?”
“Celestial, John. Powerful beings.” She picked up an official document. “Elizabeth…”
“It’s not possible.”
“Oh, sugar, I would like that to be true. But I can see the being that made this, he delivered your daughter into this world while her mother screamed.”
He rubbed his jaw and walked away to get a drink from the sidebar.
Missouri sighed and looked at the information in front of her. “What’s this?” she whispered. She picked up a crumbled receipt. She gasped in surprise.
John returned with a glass of whiskey.
“She’s a strong woman,” Missouri said as she sat. “Buffy - Elizabeth - she’s been fighting since she was fifteen. And she’s good at it. So good, she’s sacrificed her life to save another, that’s how she got back here.”
“Back here?”
“She grew up in a different world, a reality just out of contact with ours, until a breach was ripped open. She gave her life to close it.”
“I…How did this happen?”
Missouri gave him a sympathetic expression and pressed her hand to his. “I can only tell you what I sense, John. I don’t have answers.”
He threw back the rest of the alcohol. “I’ll take whatever you have.”
She took a deep breath and pushed one of the papers towards him. “We should talk about this.”
88888888
Buffy came awake slowly. She felt hungover, which it took a lot of alcohol to do and there were way too many things going on to drink.
So why do I have a hangover?
She curled tighter into a ball as her mind tried to work through things. Then it struck, like the power of the portal that should have killed her.
“Dawn!” she gasped coming to.
She was in the same room as before. There were two guys about her age and the man from before. He was pacing from one end of the room to the other.
“Dad,” the skinny kid on the bed next to her said. “She’s awake.”
This declaration brought the attention of all three of them to her. The man stopped pacing.
“What is going on?” she demanded, quickly taking stock of things. She was dressed in the same clothes she had put on at her house while Spike had gathered weapons. She had no weapons on her. There were a few things in the room that could be used, but nothing that looked like a threat against her.
“You’re safe,” the skinny kid told her kindly.
“How is this possible?” the other guy burst out, standing and facing the older man.
“Sit down, Dean,” the man ordered.
There was a moment where it looked like he was going to argue, but he sat, slouching in his chair.
Then the man refocused on Buffy. “You appeared in front of me a few days ago.”
“Days?”
“You slept pretty hard,” the kid explained.
“I went to see a friend,” the guy said. “She is a psychic, she got come readings off your bag.”
“Bag?” Buffy frowned.
“This one,” Dean said, putting it on the bed next to her.
Buffy looked it over. “This isn’t mine.”
“You’re Buffy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m John Winchester. This is my oldest, Dean. And my youngest, Sammy.”
“Sam,” he corrected with a smile at Buffy. “It’s nice to meet you, Buffy.”
“You…too?” she looked at them. “I jumped. I died - or I should have.”
“Yeah. Missouri had a few thoughts about that. You came through the portal that was opened. In sealing it, it sent you to where you belong.”
“Belong?”
John opened the blue bag and handed her several pieces of paper.
Buffy looked at it in surprise. It was a birth certificate - hers. The hospital she was born in, the time and date, the overseeing doctor. But her name, her mother and father were wrong. It was for an Elizabeth Winchester. Daughter to John and Mary Winchester.
The next paper was a letter.
Winchesters,
Important news: It’s a girl! Mary named her Elizabeth.
She’s the Slayer. I had a hand in getting her to a world where she would learn to handle herself. After twenty years, she’s baaaack and she’s here to help.
Gabriel
The last was a set of transcripts from the University of California for her first year of college, along with a record of her SAT scores and high school.
“I…I don’t-”
“You’re our sister,” Sam said. “You were born between Dean and me.”
“No… No. I have an absent father and a mom I buried a few weeks ago. And I have a sister, Dawn.”
But those memories were spotted, the truth of them seeping through. Dawn had only been around a couple of months. She had been as real as the monks needed for Buffy to protect.
“They were the equivalent of an adoptive family,” Sam said. “Sorry, but it looks like you’re stuck with us.”
There was an apologetic note to his voice that made her focus on him. Green eyes, shaggy brown hair. He was rail thin and still mid-puberty.
“This is ridiculous,” Dean snapped as though echoing her thoughts. “You never mentioned another kid between me and Sam.”
John’s jaw clenched. “We found out Christmas 1980. Your mom went on trip in January and came back believing she had miscarried.” He looked at Buffy. “Obviously, this Gabriel had a hand in it. Elizabeth had been a name she suggested when we started wondering if it was going to be a boy or a girl.”
“This is insane,” Buffy said. “And I spent the last few weeks trying to outrun a god.”
“A god?” Sam asked.
“Yeah. Hell-bitch named Glory. She wanted something I was protecting.”
“What were you protecting?” John said.
“My sister - not a real sister - but I thought she was…She was unique. She was special. I had to protect her.”
“And how did that work out for you?” Dean asked.
“Well, I died to save her, so depends on how you count victories,” she shot back.
88888888
John looked at his beer bottle, annoyed to find it empty again. He gestured to the bartender. He needed to be blind drunk to even begin to process the latest craziness that life had thrown him. Not only did he have a daughter, she was Mary’s daughter. She was quick-witted and full of attitude.
Something ‘celestial’ had worked to hide her away in another world where, just like her brothers, she was a monster hunter. Only difference was that she was granted a normal life. Like Adam.
He blinked at the new bottle of beer and put it to his lips. Buffy had gotten that until she was fifteen, then she had been made into the Slayer. She was made stronger and faster - she knew about monsters and fighting. Sure, there were some differences in their monsters, but she hadn’t blinked at the fact that people fought them.
There was a reason for everything that happened. Maybe it meant he was closer to Yellow-Eyes and avenging Mary.
Title: Galena, Illinois (Redux)
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SPN
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Supernatural people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Buffy didn’t land in Heaven when she leapt to save Dawn in “Gift”.
Notes: So this is a twist on my existing FaD series “Two Hunter Brothers and a Slayer Sister” - you do not have to read the other one at all to read this one. It’s just an example of my muse doing multiple ‘what-ifs’ on the same initial prompt.
Seasons: “Gift”/Pre-Season 1
Word Count: 1775
May 2001
Buffy landed roughly on the ground, which was surprising. Glory’s tower had been at least five stories high. She should be dead, totally dead. Instead, she was alive. She was somewhere not in Sunnydale. There were only half a dozen motels around Sunnydale and none of them looked like this place. And it was the middle of the day instead of barely sunrise.
“What the hell?” a man muttered somewhere behind her.
She looked up at him from the floor. He was easily twice her age, over six foot, with black hair and a dark, stubble roughened jaw.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Buffy fought it, the exhaustion of the last week, the shock of being alive after jumping to her death to save Dawn…but the blackness edged in around her and she sank into unconsciousness.
John grabbed a bottle of holy water and popped it open. With a flick of his wrist, he was able to confirm the girl wasn’t possessed by a demon. He reached into his bag and pulled out a silver knife. He pressed it to her cheek. Nothing.
“Huh,” he grunted as he looked down at her. She was a bottle blonde. She was dressed in a cream sweater that had dirt stains on it. Gray slacks and black heeled boots.
The door behind him opened to admit his eighteen year old son, Sam. He had already grown taller than his father and older brother.
Sam frowned down at the girl. “What happened?”
“She appeared out of thin air,” John said. “No reaction to holy water or silver.”
Sam set his backpack down and kneeled next to her. He patted her pockets. “No ID.” He pulled out a piece of paper, a receipt for the Magic Box. He pointed behind his father. “That hers?”
John twisted around to see a dark blue backpack. Embroidered on the front was E.W. “That wasn’t there a moment ago,” he muttered.
He grabbed it and opened it as Dean entered.
His oldest son wore a leather jacket and a self-satisfied smile. He raised an eyebrow at the scene before him. “What’s going on?”
A piece of paper fluttered through the air and landed on the girl.
John grabbed it and read it quickly. His face became like granite.
“Dad?” Sam said.
John looked through the things in the backpack. His face completely drained of color. He shoved the paper in and grabbed the receipt from Sam.
He stood and addressed Dean. “Keep her and Sam here. I’ll be back in a few days.”
“Yes, sir,” Dean replied immediately.
John grabbed his bag, the blue bag, and his car keys, striding out the door without another word.
They listened as the Impala roared to life and drove away.
“What was that about?” Dean asked.
Sam looked down at the girl. “My guess would be her. He said she just appeared out of nowhere.”
“I guess we should get her more comfortable than the middle of the floor.” He lifted her to the closest bed.
Sam studied her. “Dad was freaked out.”
Dean made no response. He turned on the television and sat on the end of the other motel room bed.
88888888
“John Winchester,” Missouri Moseley greeted in surprise. “I thought that was your car.”
“Missouri,” he said, walking past her and letting himself into her parlor. He set down the blue bag and watched her.
“You are…confused and angry.” She moved a hand. “Something happened.”
John opened the bag and pulled out several pieces of paper.
Missouri looked at him with concern before focusing on the papers. Her hand hovered over them. “These are…touched.”
“What does that mean?”
“Celestial, John. Powerful beings.” She picked up an official document. “Elizabeth…”
“It’s not possible.”
“Oh, sugar, I would like that to be true. But I can see the being that made this, he delivered your daughter into this world while her mother screamed.”
He rubbed his jaw and walked away to get a drink from the sidebar.
Missouri sighed and looked at the information in front of her. “What’s this?” she whispered. She picked up a crumbled receipt. She gasped in surprise.
John returned with a glass of whiskey.
“She’s a strong woman,” Missouri said as she sat. “Buffy - Elizabeth - she’s been fighting since she was fifteen. And she’s good at it. So good, she’s sacrificed her life to save another, that’s how she got back here.”
“Back here?”
“She grew up in a different world, a reality just out of contact with ours, until a breach was ripped open. She gave her life to close it.”
“I…How did this happen?”
Missouri gave him a sympathetic expression and pressed her hand to his. “I can only tell you what I sense, John. I don’t have answers.”
He threw back the rest of the alcohol. “I’ll take whatever you have.”
She took a deep breath and pushed one of the papers towards him. “We should talk about this.”
88888888
Buffy came awake slowly. She felt hungover, which it took a lot of alcohol to do and there were way too many things going on to drink.
So why do I have a hangover?
She curled tighter into a ball as her mind tried to work through things. Then it struck, like the power of the portal that should have killed her.
“Dawn!” she gasped coming to.
She was in the same room as before. There were two guys about her age and the man from before. He was pacing from one end of the room to the other.
“Dad,” the skinny kid on the bed next to her said. “She’s awake.”
This declaration brought the attention of all three of them to her. The man stopped pacing.
“What is going on?” she demanded, quickly taking stock of things. She was dressed in the same clothes she had put on at her house while Spike had gathered weapons. She had no weapons on her. There were a few things in the room that could be used, but nothing that looked like a threat against her.
“You’re safe,” the skinny kid told her kindly.
“How is this possible?” the other guy burst out, standing and facing the older man.
“Sit down, Dean,” the man ordered.
There was a moment where it looked like he was going to argue, but he sat, slouching in his chair.
Then the man refocused on Buffy. “You appeared in front of me a few days ago.”
“Days?”
“You slept pretty hard,” the kid explained.
“I went to see a friend,” the guy said. “She is a psychic, she got come readings off your bag.”
“Bag?” Buffy frowned.
“This one,” Dean said, putting it on the bed next to her.
Buffy looked it over. “This isn’t mine.”
“You’re Buffy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m John Winchester. This is my oldest, Dean. And my youngest, Sammy.”
“Sam,” he corrected with a smile at Buffy. “It’s nice to meet you, Buffy.”
“You…too?” she looked at them. “I jumped. I died - or I should have.”
“Yeah. Missouri had a few thoughts about that. You came through the portal that was opened. In sealing it, it sent you to where you belong.”
“Belong?”
John opened the blue bag and handed her several pieces of paper.
Buffy looked at it in surprise. It was a birth certificate - hers. The hospital she was born in, the time and date, the overseeing doctor. But her name, her mother and father were wrong. It was for an Elizabeth Winchester. Daughter to John and Mary Winchester.
The next paper was a letter.
Winchesters,
Important news: It’s a girl! Mary named her Elizabeth.
She’s the Slayer. I had a hand in getting her to a world where she would learn to handle herself. After twenty years, she’s baaaack and she’s here to help.
Gabriel
The last was a set of transcripts from the University of California for her first year of college, along with a record of her SAT scores and high school.
“I…I don’t-”
“You’re our sister,” Sam said. “You were born between Dean and me.”
“No… No. I have an absent father and a mom I buried a few weeks ago. And I have a sister, Dawn.”
But those memories were spotted, the truth of them seeping through. Dawn had only been around a couple of months. She had been as real as the monks needed for Buffy to protect.
“They were the equivalent of an adoptive family,” Sam said. “Sorry, but it looks like you’re stuck with us.”
There was an apologetic note to his voice that made her focus on him. Green eyes, shaggy brown hair. He was rail thin and still mid-puberty.
“This is ridiculous,” Dean snapped as though echoing her thoughts. “You never mentioned another kid between me and Sam.”
John’s jaw clenched. “We found out Christmas 1980. Your mom went on trip in January and came back believing she had miscarried.” He looked at Buffy. “Obviously, this Gabriel had a hand in it. Elizabeth had been a name she suggested when we started wondering if it was going to be a boy or a girl.”
“This is insane,” Buffy said. “And I spent the last few weeks trying to outrun a god.”
“A god?” Sam asked.
“Yeah. Hell-bitch named Glory. She wanted something I was protecting.”
“What were you protecting?” John said.
“My sister - not a real sister - but I thought she was…She was unique. She was special. I had to protect her.”
“And how did that work out for you?” Dean asked.
“Well, I died to save her, so depends on how you count victories,” she shot back.
88888888
John looked at his beer bottle, annoyed to find it empty again. He gestured to the bartender. He needed to be blind drunk to even begin to process the latest craziness that life had thrown him. Not only did he have a daughter, she was Mary’s daughter. She was quick-witted and full of attitude.
Something ‘celestial’ had worked to hide her away in another world where, just like her brothers, she was a monster hunter. Only difference was that she was granted a normal life. Like Adam.
He blinked at the new bottle of beer and put it to his lips. Buffy had gotten that until she was fifteen, then she had been made into the Slayer. She was made stronger and faster - she knew about monsters and fighting. Sure, there were some differences in their monsters, but she hadn’t blinked at the fact that people fought them.
There was a reason for everything that happened. Maybe it meant he was closer to Yellow-Eyes and avenging Mary.