Quickened
by P.H. Wise
A Buffy crossover fanfic
Chapter 5: Disclosure
Disclaimer: I don’t own Buffy. I don’t own Highlander. Please don’t sue me. I’m only a poor starving writer. I have no money.
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Night hung closely over the town of Sunnydale. It was early September, and the oppressive summer heat had not yet lifted, and waves of heat distortion still rose from the paved streets. At the Summers residence, however, all was well. Central Air had staved off the evils of summer heat, and although Dawn had just experienced her first day of the new school year at the newly renovated Sunnydale High, it hadn’t gone too badly. There had been no invisible people, hyena people, fish people, homicidal cheerleader witches, or even preying mantis teachers. Just some run of the mill ghostly-vengeancy-spirit type activity. Well, that and Spike was insane in the basement.
They sat in the living room – Dawn, Buffy and Xander – watching movies and feasting on junk food. They had been there for a few hours now, and they had three movies left to go.
The doorbell rang.
None of them moved.
...
The doorbell rang again.
None of them moved.
...
A third time it rang. Finally, Dawn clambered to her feet and went to answer the door, grumbling faintly as the other two smiled faintly at not having to interrupt their movie watching.
A young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes was at the door, clad in the latest fashionable attire. She smiled as Dawn answered the door.
“Can I help you?” asked Dawn.
“Is this the Summers’ residence?”
“Yeah,” said Dawn, her tone giving the word the feeling of a question.
The blonde girl’s eyes brightened. “Can Buffy come out and play?”
“... Who’s asking?”
“Alisoun. I’m new in town.”
Dawn nodded. “Well, she’s here. Why don’t you come...” she stopped short, took a step back from the door, and looked at Alisoun suspiciously. “Why don’t you wait there while I go get her?”
Alisoun tried to conceal her look of disappointment as Dawn shut the door in her face. Dawn quickly returned to the living room.
“Who was at the door?” asked Buffy.
“Less talking,” said Xander, “More Fist of the White Lotus.”
Dawn frowned. “There’s a vampire at the door.”
“OK,” said Buffy.
Buffy and Xander returned their attention to their martial arts movie.
A few seconds passed, and the doorbell rang for a fourth time.
“Buffy...” said Dawn.
“Give me a sec!”
“We don’t have time for secs! There’s...” Dawn trailed off, and both Buffy and Xander turned to look at her with strange expressions.
“OK,” Dawn said after a moment of awkward silence, “That sentence didn’t go where I thought it would.”
Buffy nodded. “Right. So my choices are, face the vampire at the door, or keep watching Fist of the White Lotus?”
No one moved.
A few seconds passed.
“Buffy!”
“I’m thinking about it!”
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TEN MINUTES LATER
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They brought her into the ER on a stretcher. Her face was pale, her eyes distant, and she was covered in blood. She obviously wasn’t long for this world, but they were doctors, and they had a job to do. Dawn and Xander had come with them in the ambulance, but were left behind in the waiting room as the medics rushed the mortally injured young blond into the operating room.
“What have we got?” the doctor asked as he put on his gloves.
“Someone ran her through with a sword.”
The doctor shook his head. A SWORD? Before he could comment, the paramedic went on.
“On top of that, she’s got multiple stab wounds, slashes across her right and left forearms, a broken leg, and two puncture wounds on her neck believed to be the ‘calling card’ of one of the local gangs that’s known for abusing PCP.”
The doctor nodded grimly. “Right. Let’s go to work, people.”
They worked frantically for the next half hour, repairing mangled tissue as best they could in an effort to save the life of their patient.
“She’s bleeding out too quickly...”
“Setting her leg...”
“Shit. She’s hemorrhaging.”
“We’re losing her!”
Buffy thrashed on the table. One of the nurses moved in to hold her down, and was thrown clear across the room for her trouble, hitting the wall with the loud crunch of a breaking bone. Shrieking in pain, the nurse clutched at her broken arm. The surgeons backed away from the flailing girl on the table, staring incredulously.
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Alisoun wore a triumphant smile as she entered yet another shrine devoted to yet another creature of purest evil. Everything was going exactly as she had planned.
“Did you see that?” she said excitedly. “I killed the Slayer. I killed the Slayer!”
Her flunky bowed. “Truly, we did not hear it the first thirty-six times that you informed us, but now, oh most magnificent Lady Alisoun, we understand. You killed the Slayer.”
Alisoun nodded. “I did, didn’t I? Well, ok, so maybe she wasn’t DEAD when I left her, but she was at least mortally wounded. AND I got to taunt her family afterwards!”
The flunky nodded. He wasn’t so sure that this was a good thing – after all, the last time something like this had happened, the world had nearly ended. And most vampires, well, they liked to talk about destroying the world, but they didn’t actually MEAN anything by it. It was just talk. They liked the world just fine the way it was. Anything that brought about the end of the world... that was a bad thing in his book. Not that he would ever admit such a thing to his Lady.
“It was just so cool!” Alisoun went on, nearly jumping up and down in her excitement. “She was all, ‘What is it with bad guys and swords these days? Is this the new fashion? Am I last year girl?’ and I was all, slash slash smash crack stab, and she fell over with her insides hanging out! And with her dead, so dies the single greatest threat to my plans.”
The flunky nodded, not mentioning the fact that from what he had seen, the Slayer had accepted impalement on the sword only to gain the opportunity to stake Lady Alisoun, and that the only reason Alisoun hadn’t turned to dust was that the stake had snapped on impact.
Alisoun grinned cheerfully as she went through yet another ritual of awakening. This time she had plenty of Buffy Summers’ blood, and had no need to spill her own. “Wakey wakey!” she said as she poured the blood of the Slayer over the altar.
Her flunky frowned. “Lady Alisoun, exactly how many of the Ancients are we in service to, anyways?”
Alisoun smiled brightly. “All of them, of course. See, I figured that if I sold my soul to EVERY devil, they’d be so busy fighting over it once I finally bought it that I’d just slip right past them into paradise.”
The flunky thought about that for a long moment. “... But Lady Alisoun... you don’t actually HAVE a soul.”
Alisoun nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. Yes, I know. That always was the flaw in my plan. No matter! The body of the Eater of Souls should be ready to go by now. Now all we have to do is take it to... what was the name of that Italian town again? No matter. We take it there, wait until the planets are properly aligned, and begin the Ritual of Reawakening.”
“My Lady, far be it for me to question you, but are you sure this is... well... wise?”
Alisoun glanced at her flunky. “You don’t think it WISE to have the Circle of the Black Thorn in your debt?”
“Circle of the what who?”
“You remember that evil law firm in Los Angeles?”
“Huh?”
“... Forget it. Just trust me on this – it’s wise.”
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The surgeon sighed as he turned away from Buffy’s corpse. Abnormal strength or no, she was still dead. Not that there had been much hope to save her in the first place. He held up a small tape recorder and hit ‘record.’ In the background, the EKG was giving off the dull whine of a flatline.
“Time of death occurred at 11:09 PM...” He hit ‘stop.’
“I’m amazed she lasted even that long,” said one of the nurses. “It was pretty obvious that we couldn’t do much.”
The surgeon nodded, but it did nothing to lighten his mood. “I hate to lose the young ones. It seems like such a waste...” he shook his head. “Have her body taken to the morgue. I’ll... try to think of what to tell her friends.” He turned to leave the operating room.
The EKG beeped. And again. And again. It continued beeping, showing a strong, steady pulse. A feeling of sick fascination filled the surgeon as he slowly turned around to face the dead girl on the table.
“What the hell?” he breathed as he approached.
Most of the lacerations on the girl’s body were gone, with only the deepest cuts still present. Even those were visibly healing – and NOT leaving scar tissue behind. The puncture wound on the girl’s stomach and the corresponding wound on her back were still there, but were visibly closing up as little arcs of electricity shot across the ragged edges of flesh on either side of the injury. A few moments later, Buffy opened her eyes and sat up groggily.
A clipboard clattered to the floor, as the operating team stared in shock.
Buffy glanced down at herself, then at the operating team, doing her best to keep calm as she took in her situation.
“... Um... hi,” she said.
For a very long moment, the operating team just stared at her. And then one of the nurses screamed. Another fainted.
“Well,” said Buffy as she pulled the IV out of her wrist and went about detaching the heart monitors from her chest, “Thanks for your help, doctor. Um. Whichever one of you is a doctor, that is. Since I’m better now, I really need to be going.”
THAT certainly set them into a frenzy.
“Wait!” said the surgeon, striding forward, “You can’t just leave! Not after this... miracle! If this kind of healing can be duplicated, can you even imagine the possibilities!?”
Buffy ignored the man. “Can I get my shirt and bra back?” she asked. “And maybe something to clean up all this blood?”
Everyone stared.
Buffy grew a little bit annoyed. “Hey! Shirt! Bra! Where are they?”
At length, one of the nurses responded. “You were... we had to cut the shirt off of you, and...”
Buffy grimaced. “Fine. Get me a hospital gown, then.”
A nurse – a male one this time – retrieved one for her, trying not to stare.
Buffy looked down at the blood covering her, shrugged, and put the hospital gown on. It was very quickly stained with blood, but she didn’t much care about that. She could shower when she got home. She rose from the operating table.
“Wait!” said the surgeon. “You can’t just leave!” He glanced frantically towards his coworkers. “She can’t just leave!”
Buffy left.
The doctors weren’t going to give up just yet, however. The surgeon was quick to pick up the phone from its receiver on the wall. “Security!” he barked into the handset, “We have a situation in operating room three...”
A minute later, Buffy stepped through the double doors that led into the waiting room, leaving two unconscious security guards in her wake. Dawn and Xander rose to their feet as she entered the room.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
Dawn nodded, and Xander said nothing, though he looked as though he had something he wanted say.
“You guys in the mood to finish the movie? I think Hong Wen-Ting was about to have his big showdown with Pai Mei...”
They left.
Later, in front of the Summers home, Xander sat on the porch. Dawn had gone in, but Buffy stopped at the door and glanced at Xander.
“What?” she asked.
“What what?” he replied.
Buffy gave him an odd look, but after a moment, elaborated on her ‘what.’ “Ever since we left the emergency room, you’ve totally had this ‘I have something to say’ look on your face. So, what’s up?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh.” Buffy shrugged, and headed inside. As she was closing the door behind her, Xander spoke up.
“Buffy, wait.”
Buffy stopped short, and came back onto the front porch, looking at Xander expectantly.
“... what you did when you fought off that vampire...”
“Yes?”
“Buffy, you can’t be so willing to die to defeat an enemy.”
Buffy frowned. “Huh?”
“I saw what happened. You let her stab you so that you could stake her.”
“How is that a problem?”
“Buff, you DIED.”
“I’m immortal now, Xander. I can’t die. Well, not permanently, anyways, unless you go for the head chopping thing.”
Xander nods. “Yeah, but we’re NOT.”
Buffy’s frown deepened.
“Me, Dawn, neither of us are immortal. Neither is Giles, or even Willow, for all the world-endingly-powerful that she’s gotten. And the things we fight usually don’t travel alone. If you sacrifice yourself to take down a powerful enemy in the middle of a brawl, we’re all gonna be left to fend for ourselves until you come back to life. And most of us don’t have superpowers. Not to mention that your little gamble – trading your life for hers – didn’t even work!”
A jokingly petulant tone crept into Buffy’s voice. “It WOULD have worked if Mr. Pointy hadn’t betrayed me like that.”
Xander smiled faintly. “Well, Mr. Pointy was several years old - plenty old enough to have rotted through. It was his time.”
Buffy pouted.
“I’m serious, Buff. You can’t be taking that kind of risk. You can’t protect us when you’re dead, even if it IS only temporary. Not to mention – what do you think those doctors are gonna do now that they’ve seen you heal like that?”
Buffy nodded. “I know. I guess I’m just still trying to deal.”
Xander smiled. “Me too.”
“So tell me, why’d you call an ambulance when you knew I was immortal and would get right back up after dying?”
Xander blinked. “... I didn’t, Buff.”
“Dawn, then.” Buffy grew annoyed. “As if she wasn’t getting on my nerves enough already...”
“Nah, it wasn’t her either. We both know better than that.”
Buffy frowned. “So if it wasn’t Dawn, and it wasn’t you...”
“And this being Sunnydale, it couldn’t POSSIBLY have been a concerned neighbor who had spotted you fighting a sword-wielding vampire on your front lawn.”
“They’ve never noticed that sort of thing before, why would they notice now?”
Xander nodded sagely. “Guess we’re out of options, then. It MUST be part of some evil plot.”
Buffy nodded. “Evil Rescue 911 cultists.”
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The sun peaked through the smog cover early the next morning – there hadn’t been much in the way of breezes as of late, and the ever present yellowish cloud that hovered above the entire Los Angeles area was thicker than it usually was. Still, Sunnydale seemed pleasant enough in the morning light, provided one didn’t look at the horizon. After all, the sky looked blue if you were looking straight up, and Sunnydale wasn’t a bad looking place for a Hellmouth. The only thing that really seemed out of place this particular morning was the bloodcurdling shrieks that came from the Summers home. Or was that normal after all?
It was Dawn, naturally. She woke up screaming, bolting out of her bed and into the corner of her room, dragging her sheets along for the ride. When Buffy came rushing into the room, Dawn was looking down at herself with an expression of horror and amazement mixed in equal parts.
“DAWNIE! Dawnie, are you ok!?”
Dawn looked up at Buffy, her face pale. “Do I still have human parts?” she asked, her voice a near whisper.
Buffy gathered her sister into a comforting embrace. “It was just a dream, Dawnie. Just a dream.”
“It didn’t feel like a dream.”
Buffy sighed. Tara would have known what to do in a situation like this. A deep sadness settled over her at the thought. There was eternal life on earth, but not for Tara. She was gone.
Still... the thought of the late blonde witch did give Buffy an idea, and she smiled in spite of herself. “Well, how about we go to the store and pick up some pancake mix? I don’t think I can manage rounds, though. All Buffy-cakes are funny shapes.”
Dawn smiled faintly.
As they made their way to the store, Buffy’s worries for her sister grew. Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation she had had with Angel and his crew before they had left Los Angeles.
--FLASHBACK--
“Buffy.”
Buffy turned around to face the ensouled vampire. “Angel,” she replied.
“Buffy,” he said, placing his arms on her shoulders. “You and I really shouldn’t – you know, with Cordelia still missing, and me not having sorted things out with her – we really can’t afford to do anything right now.”
Buffy nodded. “Right,” she said. “That would be bad.”
Angel’s hands slid down her back to her waist, and he pulled her close. She wrapped her arms around him, and they looked deeply into each other’s eyes.
“And we wouldn’t want to do anything... bad.”
Angel nodded his agreement, and they kissed passionately. “It would be a mistake to rush into anything.”
Buffy began to unbutton Angel’s shirt, and she slipped the straps of her dress off of her shoulders. A few seconds later, they were on the bed, their passion growing ever more intense, and then...
--END FLASHBACK--
Wait. That hadn’t happened. That had just been a fantasy she’d had. Buffy’s cheeks flushed with heat.
Dawn looked at her suspiciously. “What are you blushing about?”
“Nothing!”
“Uh huh.”
What had ACTUALLY happened, was that Gun, Fred, and Lorne had told her what had happened in the back room of the casino. Or more specifically, what had happened to Dawn.
“Little sis isn’t going to be little for much longer, sugar-puff,” Lorne had told her. “There’s some seriously dark mystical mojo going on there, and if she doesn’t make it through, the rest of the world won’t be far behind.”
Unfortunately, for all that she was worried about her sister, Buffy had no idea what to actually DO about it. Hitting the books was always a tried and true thing to do. And that’d be great. Except the books were mostly destroyed.
She had sung for Lorne herself, in the car on the way back from Vegas. Her path would be very difficult, yadda yadda yadda. There’d be trials and tribulations, triumphs and defeats. But that wasn’t what was bothering her (Of course not). What was bothering her was that she didn’t know what to do with her newly increased life expectancy. But! She shouldn’t worry! Because worrying only gave you gray hairs! ... Or wait, maybe it was that she had to find the path before she could walk it, and that would come in time. Whatever. Suffice it to say, she didn’t think much of Angel’s demon friend.
Buffy and Dawn went the rest of the way to the supermarket without much in the way of incident. In short order, they had purchased both pancake mix and milk (which they were all out of), and made their way to the lines. And that was when they saw the tabloid headlines.
‘GIRL MIRACULOUSLY RETURNS TO LIFE!’ the National Enquirer boldly proclaimed, a picture of Buffy displayed prominently on the cover.
Buffy dropped the milk, but Dawn caught it before it could hit the ground.
Another tabloid had a before/after the miraculous recover photo of Buffy, with the headline, ‘DOCTORS SAY MIRACLE GIRL COULD BE KEY TO IMMORTALITY!’ Yet another one declared, ‘FBI SENDS AGENTS TO INVESTIGATE MIRACLE GIRL!’
Buffy went pale, and she felt a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She stuffed a handful of bills into Dawn’s hands to let her pay for the milk and the pancake mix before rushing over to the more respectable newspapers. Quickly, she flipped them through, looking for any reference to the story she’d seen in the tabloids.
Nothing.
The Slayer let out a faint sigh of relief. All the same, as they headed home, Buffy couldn’t help but feel as though she was being watched.
She tried to tell herself that nobody took the tabloids seriously.
It didn’t help.
She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to worry about that. Now was the time to worry about burning the pancakes.
And about an hour later, a handsome man, thirty-something, with intense eyes and dark hair tied back in a ponytail stopped in front of the tabloid stand just in front of the registers. His mouth thinned dangerously as he read the headline. He paid for the paper and left the store.
END CHAPTER 5
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