Category: Uncategorized

Where The Heart Is // Dawn & Buffy

keywithnolock:

This was the first time Dawn had gotten into her car in weeks, quite literally. She wouldn’t be surprised if the gas in the tank had frozen or something, if that was even possible. It was a cold night, and Dawn had bundled herself up pretty good, coat, hat, scarf, gloves, the whole enchilada. Sliding into the car, she started it up and turned on the heat right away. Thank god for parking garages. Dawn didn’t have the patience to clear her car off tonight, and Buffy was lucky Dawn loved her enough to even drag herself out of her dorm and do the one thing she’d been avoiding for weeks. Drive. She let the car warm up for a few minutes, rubbing her gloved hands together to warm them up. When she was sufficiently toasty, she backed out and exited the parking garage, making her way to the one place in the world she’d rather not be.

She was happy Buffy was feeling better though. She had to admit that as much as she was absolutely dreading the thought of even being in remotely close proximity to Willow or Faith, she was excited to see her sister again. She remembered being sort of upset she was staying with them, because it guaranteed Dawn wasn’t coming to see Buffy. But it was her decision. She knew half of the people in their circle of “friends” thought Dawn was being silly, holding her grudge. It wasn’t really Faith. But it was. It was to Dawn’s subconscious, and that’s what mattered most in this situation. Even if somehow, someday down the line, Dawn could bring herself to forgive what had happened, she’d never, ever forget. She’d still see Faith and her first thought would be pain. Her first instinct would be to reach into her pocket for a crystal to ward her away. Her first reaction would be fear and heartache. She couldn’t put herself through that right now, not when she was so broken. So for now she’d be silly. She’d be silly until she could glue her pieces back together.

Turning onto the street, Dawn felt her stomach do backflips and tie itself into knots. This was like cruel and unusual punishment, but she’d go through what she had to to see her sister. With a deep breath, she gripped the wheel and turned into the driveway when it came, her heart swelling when she saw her older sister sitting on the steps of the porch. She saw her wince while standing up and prompted herself to get out of the car even faster to help her. Car in park, seatbelt off, door open. She left the car running to keep it warm. She saw the stupid grin on Buffy’s face and without thinking felt her face match it. 

Only a few strides and they met in the middle of the sidewalk, hugging each other like their lives depended on it. Who was she kidding, they did. Because as much as they fought, as much as they bickered and quipped, they were nothing without each other. Summers sisters stuck together, they were strong. If they were so strong, why was Dawn crying? She pulled away from Buffy, holding her at arms length. “I’m glad you feel better,” she said, tears still mixing with the cold and stinging her eyes. “I missed you, Buffy.” She sniffled. “Right, let me help you with your stuff.”

She took a few steps past her sister, picking up her bags. It was right there, the front door. She brought her eyes up to meet it, staring at the piece of wood that separated her from…from them. From everything she feared and detested. Blinking a few times, she snapped herself out of it, licking her lips and swallowing hard, regaining her composure. She popped the trunk open and slipped Buffy’s bags inside, shutting it with a slam. She wondered if somewhere in the house, Faith and Willow were watching them. Dawn didn’t even bother glancing up to check. She hoped that if they were watching, they could see how the hatred spilled off of her. See how much they’d ruined her.

Hurrying over to the passenger side door, Dawn pulled the door open for her sister, letting her use her arm to steady herself as she slipped inside. She clicked the door shut and against her better judgement, flicked a sideways glance at the house. Nobody there. Huh. She positioned herself in the drivers seat and was more than happy to get the hell out of there. “You wanna head right back, or are you hungry or anything? I can stop somewhere.”

Having her younger sister wrapped in the safety of her arms again made Buffy’s heart soar.  Maybe they didn’t always get along, but this was where they belonged- together.  "I missed you too,“ she felt tears of her own forming in her eyes when she saw that Dawn was crying.  "So much.”  They were happy tears, Dawn was the one person she’d needed to see right now and she hadn’t really even known it.  Her sister was one of the only things left in this world that truly felt like home.  They shared the same blood, they survived the loss of their mother together, and they’d both lost each other for what felt like forever.  But somehow the world’d brought them back together yet again.  And now Dawn needed her, nothing would stop her from being there.

She stirred into action when Dawn did, assisting in putting all of her stuff into the car.  She slid into the car, still a little to weak to do it without bracing herself on the door.  She buckled her seat belt and adjusted her hair and clothes in the tiny reflection of her sun visor mirror, not like there was even a sun to block.  She flipped up the mirror just as Dawn joined her in the car, taking her place in the driver seat and starting the vehicle.  With a slight sniffle, she answered.  "I’m only hungry if you are.“ Her face was a little wet and she wiped the few tears that hung on her cheeks away.

"Is there food at the apartment?” she asked, glancing over to Dawn who had her eyes on the road.  Always the best driver, or at least always a better driver than she was.  Dawn had surpassed her in a lot of ways, but instead of being jealous, Buffy’d always just been proud.  She tried not to let the thought that was itching to cross her mind come to pass, but it did anyways.  She felt a twinge of pain as she thought about the fact that Dawn was in a very similar position to one she’d been in just a few years back.  Was it two or three years?  Time seemed to blur for Buffy these days.  How long had she lived in Cleveland now?  How many months had it been since this catastrophe began?  How many actual months had it been since her sister’d had her heart ripped straight out of her chest?

She shook her thoughts off.  She wanted to know if Dawn was as depressed as she’d been after coming back from the dead, she’d only just realized that that’s what’d been wrong with her, but she was afraid to ask.  She was afraid of the answer, afraid it was yes.  "I just want to get home really. But if you’re really starved and there’s nothing at home, we can go to a drive through?“  She wanted whatever they did to be okay with Dawn, she felt wrong about bossing Dawn around.  Sure she’d broken her back, but what Dawn was going through was probably ten times worse than that.  She remembered the sharp sting of mental agony, it wasn’t escapable like physical pain was.  When Buffy was hurting she’d let her thoughts drown out the pain.  But what could she suggest to her sister when her thoughts were what was causing the hurt?

Don’t Panic || Buffy & Francesca

groovytune:

   ”The creatures ‘round town sure do love bars, don’t they?”

Her head rested in her hand, her arm keeping it held up by propping itself on Ricochet’s bar countertop. Fingers were digging into her right cheek, but nothing could really scrap her eyes off of the far too obvious group of otherworldly people seated a few tables away from her. They all dressed the same: dark, angsty, no fashion sense whatsoever. Black wasn’t even a hard color to match something with, so what the hell was their excuse? Pale skin? Puh-lease, as if that could take away from the tacky malfunctions they had from head to toe. And don’t even forget to mention the ridiculous anarchy symbols some of them proudly walked around with. Did demons even have rules? And even if they did, they probably weren’t as strict as the kind humans lived by. ‘Don’t eat too many humans in one day’ or ‘don’t forget to bury the bodies’ or anything that’d be considered crazy by normal people.

   ”You sound bitter, Fran.”

A heavy sigh followed the comment, a glower tossed in Rick’s direction before he crossed his arms in front of her and followed her eyesight.

   ”They could be worse, but I hear the ones around Lake View take the cake in that category.”

She shifted what arm had the task of holding her head up, shutting her eyes and tapping on the counter; her signal for him to shut the hell up and get her a drink. He replied with an equally heavy sigh on his part before filling a shot glass up, sliding it her way and tending to the newer patrons. But now that she had the drink, she didn’t want it. Getting drunk at night would only lead to the worst case scenario, and she didn’t want to have a funeral her family couldn’t attend – let alone even find out about. She dismissed the drink and waved Rick off, leaving Ricochet with a face that could’ve been better summed up to her eating something way too sour. The vamps at Ric weren’t causing her any problems, but she didn’t want to be a meal; and with how little humans came around the club these days, she’d have to find a new place to be before they got to her.

But thinking about it wasn’t doing, and the doing was what needed to be done – but her thinking never led up to it. She kept thinking they’d leave: they didn’t. She kept thinking she’d find a better job elsewhere: she didn’t. She kept thinking she was doing herself a favor by sticking by her ‘they’re all monsters’ gun: she wasn’t. Maybe they weren’t all bad? But how would she know. The stick up her ass wasn’t really a “Come be friends with me!” allower, and the only vamps that sprung up at Ric’s were about as old as Linette; not grey-haired, but definitely older than her. She shook off whatever thoughts remained and came to a halt, passing a hand through her hair before she came to the conclusion that her thinking truly wasn’t doing her any favors.

   ”Where the hell am I…”

She lived in Cleveland long enough, or so she thought, and she still hadn’t come across graves before. Maybe this place was Lake View? But again, graves weren’t exactly something she saw every day – and she sure didn’t want to make it a regular sight now.

   ”Maybe I—”

A rough thud into her shoulder sent her pummeling down, a quick curse leaving her lips when her ass collided with dirt and grass. She tried to find the culprit responsible for landing her on the ground, but was greeted with nothing but the same surroundings she saw moments ago.

   ”You gotta be shittin’ me. I can’t be imaginin’ things… I didn’t even drink tonight!”

Vampire population in Cleveland: Supposedly high.  Places scoured for vampy/demony beings: every club in town, all the usual dark alleys, and all but one cemetery.  Number o’ dustings or even spottings: 0.  Buffy was making a last ditch effort to have at least a minimally successful patrol.  So far, no good.  She was supposed to be back in the game, fighting demons like the badass of old she used to be.  Could she even claim such a title anymore?  Or were the vampires just getting more hidey?  It had to be the vampires.  Since her little stay-in-bed-cation she’d been feeling particularly refreshed and agile, no way it was her.

She sat down against a tree, her sigh of disappointment the only noise that rung out in the dead silence of the graveyard.  She peered at the golden brown locks that cascaded down her shoulders.  Being a brunette was all… weird, and having a different face was something she’d never get used to.  She looked a little young or something, but fierce as ever in the eyes.  Which she really liked.  She was herself, only not.  Willow’d conjured up a good one, that’s for sure.  She remained, fortunately, a hot chick with superpowers.  

The almost inaudible crunch of feet on grass broke Buffy from her thoughts.  Someone else was in the graveyard.  In one silent motion Buffy jumped up to her feet and scanned the area around her for whatever else was lurking in the graveyard.  There it was, far off- a beast of the demon-y kind.  She set her sights on it like some sort of laser, she liked to pretend at times like this that she had some sort of special slayer scope with the little red dot and everything.  The demon, a sort of dog shaped thing with vibrantly red and possibly scaly looking fur, was a hundred yards off- but not nearly too far away.  She sprung into motion, weaving in and out of gravestones with precision a surgeon would be jealous of.  She was gaining on it, yes it was definitely of the scaly variety.  Each step brought her closer and closer to the beast. 

And suddenly a wall of blonde.  A blonde haired, humany shaped wall of person- she thudded into her and sent her flying to the ground.  It didn’t hurt her, but she could tell that it’d leave a bruise on the other woman’s shoulder and probably elsewhere.  She ran a few steps ahead, her eyes trying to focus on the demon which she still needed to be chasing after, but it was gone.  

“Great,” she said through clenched teeth and really only to herself.  She turned back to the blonde on the cold hard ground. Maybe her fall had been padded by the grass at least a little.  Either way, she was still lying there, trying to get up with a curse word and an exclamation of confusion.  She walked over to her, holding out a hand to help her up.  "Nope, no shitting.“  The word wasn’t one of the chosen few swears that Buffy liked to use and it felt a little funny and awkward coming out of her mouth.  "It’s all real- no imagination needed.” She shot the blonde a small smile as she helped her up, she didn’t need it too terribly much. “I’m sorry about that, I was chasing…” Well she couldn’t come right out and say that she was chasing a demon.  Nope, Buffy was the only slayer and right now she wasn’t Buffy. Or at least she was pretending she wasn’t, she was undercover like some sort of superspy with an awesome catsuit. 

“My uh, friend.” She forced out a chuckle.  Buffy gave the  blonde a quick once over, she didn’t look hurt.  Buffy could probably just leave her to her devices, but that was rude.  And if she wasn’t polite, what was she?  "Whoa, sorry.  On top of the stellar rudeness that is pummeling you to the ground, I didn’t introduce myself either.“  She held out her hand yet again, hopefully it’d get shaken and she wouldn’t be left hanging.  "I’m Bea." 

frozen-intern:

ghost-of-fashion-victims-past:

[pm] Well we got powers, but we weren’t born with them. If anything they are a mutation. We still call people affected by radiation humans don’t we? Maybe I worded that wrong, when slayers are dealing in the human world of course we should follow human laws. I don’t mean to say otherwise. But when it comes to the supernatural realm, which we are equally as much a part of, there are some laws that get in the way. I’ve broken the law before, but so have you. Sometimes you break the law for the greater good. There are times when, if I hadn’t broken the law, there would be no world. I’m not just saving a bunch of lives Leslie, this is the entire world we’re talking about. There are supernatural forces so much greater than anything you’ve ever experienced. These forces don’t care about laws, or civilizations, or any human things. When they work outside of the human realm, I have to get on their level. It’s a necessity. And we are at war, there is a war waging on constantly between the forces of good and evil. And I’m not trying to be dramatic here, I know it sounds ridiculous and blown out of proportion, but it’s not. I’ve experienced it. That being said, I get what you’re saying about the murder, but I’m not sure how I feel about that. To say that all human murders committed by a slayer are collateral damage in the supernatural war is maybe giving more leniency then we deserve. I do not approve of taking human life unless it is absolutely necessary, and that means slayers too. 

[pm] I’m not certain, Buffy, that we should speak much more on the subject if we are to maintain a working relationship. Suffice it to say that I will do the job asked of me and no more nor less. 

And should I be working on my own or for the city, I shall work towards my own goals. You cannot ask more than that, especially as I’m doing this as a free consultation. 

[pm] I wasn’t asking for more, I was just sharing my opinion on a subject that concerns me more than it ever will you. But I agree that we shouldn’t talk about it anymore. Thank you for answering the questions that I asked you. I have no reason to expect anything more from you. If ever you need a favor of me, come to me and we can be even. You seem like the type who doesn’t do anything unless you get something in return. I certainly don’t want you to feel like you’ve gotten the short end of the stick or been swindled somehow, that’s not what I’m about.