Title: A Different Beginning.
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Dawn from fifth and maybe some from first few series.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy. I would buy them but I am broke.
Category: Buffy/Xander
Summary: What if it was someone other than Pike who fought beside Buffy at Hemery? How would that change things?
AN: Dawn is in this, she is not the Key, she's just Buffy's sister. Joyce is the Joyce from the Movie, the absent parent, not Joyce from the series who I think was a good role model and should never have been killed off. A slight crossover, not telling with what yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Hemery High, LA, 1996~
Buffy slumped to the ground, the still smouldering remains of the school gym behind her. It was over, she had defeated Lothos, but she could not have done it with him. She looked around, searching the immediate vicinity, filled with police cars, ambulances, fire trucks and news vans. She saw him striding along towards her, and she smiled, snuggling into his jacket that she was wearing.
"They said we are finished here. As soon as you are ready, we'll go pick up Dawn, pack up your stuff and leave." He said.
Buffy was glad that he had insisted that Dawn be babysat tonight; despite the almost ten year old's protests that she was not a kid. With Buffy's parents absent so much, either working or going out to charities or on vacation without their daughters, Buffy had mostly risen Dawn on her own and although she could be extremely annoying, like all the time, Buffy would die to protect her. Just as she would die to protect him, and knew he would die to protect her.
"Alright, let's go." She said.
They walked over to his van and hopped in. The back was half filled with a motorcycle and all his stuff, the rest of the space reserved for the Summers sister's belongings, except the jury-rigged seat made up for Dawn. They drove back to the Summers' residence and packed all the girls stuff they could fit into the van, and strapped Dawn into her seat. Twenty minutes after arriving at the Summers house they were gone. Buffy idly wondered if her parents would miss them.
"Thank you for everything." Buffy said as they passed the LA city boundary.
"No problem." He replied.
"I mean it." Buffy said. "Thank you, Xander."
********
~Eighteen Months Later, late 1997~
A slightly beaten up van crested the hill that led into town and stoped. It was joined a second later by a motorcycle. Buffy stepped off the motorcycle, removing her helmet and dusting off her leathers. She unplugged the radio interface to the helmet as Xander and Dawn got out of the van. Buffy was wearing her bike outfit, which was protective leather pants and jacket with a white blouse under the jacket and boots. Her brownish blond hair was kept back in a ponytail. Xander wore a similar outfit with his brown hair cut short and the end of a scar peaking out from under his white shirt at the side of his neck. The pair looked more eighteen than their sixteen years, mostly because of their eyes that had seen too much. Dawn, who still held innocence in her eyes, was wearing lose cargo pants and a long sleaved blouse, both in dark blue. All three had crosses on chains around their necks. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was touching the horizon.
"Picking up and ultra creepy vibe." Buffy said.
"Yah, this place gives me the Wiggins too." Xander replied.
"Right. Xand, stow the bike. Dawn, start checking the weapons. We move in twenty." Buffy said.
Xander wrestled the motorcycle into the back of the van and locked into its wall bracket. Dawn, now eleven, was methodically checking out the stakes, crossbows, sword and other assorted weaponry that they used. That was her job as she generally did not fight, which is not to say she did not know how to defend herself. No one survived in this business if they could not defend themselves. So Dawn looked after the weapons and communications from the van while Xander and buffy fought.
Stripping off his jacket and shirt, revealing the scar that ran from the side of his neck half way to his waste, Xander strapped on a body armour vest. The put his shirt and jacket back on, grabbed one of his swords and his gloves, and went outside to stand guard while Buffy and Dawn got ready. Xander pulled on his leather gloves and looked at the crosses on the knuckles. Idly swinging the short sword, he thought back on his life.
Xander had always looked out for Buffy, ever since he first saw her in third grade and he had fallen instantly in love. She had never noticed till she was called, but he had been there, even beating up the guy who had called her names in fifth grade. He had run every day and tried to keep fit for his role, also so he could run to her house in under ten minutes if he ever found out something was going on against her. He was actually strong for his age but he had kept it hidden by his baggy clothing. When Buffy had been called as the Slayer, Xander had stepped up to the plate again, and this time she knew. He had faced off against his friend Marcus who had been turned to protect Dawn. Buffy arrived, from a training session with Merrick, half way through and saw Xander stake his friend, to protect her sister.
After they left LA they had travelled a lot, moving from place to place to find the vampires and kill them. They had met up with others who knew the score and had learnt from them. They had gotten the body armour from a cop over in Detroit who had seen them fighting vampires. Sure it was designed to stop bullets but it worked just as well against demon claws. They had found contacts all over the US and Mexico who supplied them with weapons, information or training. Buffy had been training Xander and, to a lesser degree, Dawn since basically day one so they were an effective team.
The van had become their mobile base, but they had numerous store dumps around that they could use to get whatever they needed. They had all leant basic first aid and a range of other stuff, mostly guns, from this mother son team who roamed around. They had learnt a lot in the four months they had spent with them. Most said the mother was crazy, preaching about the end of the world, but to them the end of the world was exactly what they were fighting, they would just have to be wary of this one. Sure the date she had preached had passed, but Judgement Day may still come. They had been sad to hear of Sarah Conner's death and hoped her son, John, was ok.
As the sun finally dipped behind the horizon Buffy opened the back door of the van and stepped out.
"You ready?" She asked, as she clipped the radio to his belt and ran the line to the headset down under his shirt.
"Sure." Xander responded.
They got back into the van, Xander putting the short sword in a sheath in the back of the driver's seat. Xander got in the drivers seat while Buffy got into the passengers. Dawn was strapped into her seat, which had been converted into a communications and observations station, with monitors for the hidden external cameras on the van and scanners set to every emergency frequency. By the time they reached the town limits full dark had fallen. They drove through the streets slowly, scanning the area with the infrared that they had picked up from Conner. After twenty minutes they picked up something.
"Turn left. The park. Five humans versus vamps. Wait a sec, one of the vamps is fighting others." Dawn called.
Xander drove up and he and Buffy jumped out of the van. Xander had the short sword from the back of his seat, as well as several stakes and a long knife. Buffy had a Bastard sword in one hand, an axe in the other, a crossbow slung on her back and several stakes.
"Dawn, track the vamp the humans are fight with, warn us off him. We'll help out with the rest." Buffy said into her headset as they rushed to the battle.
Xander and Buffy got lost in the fight, running on instinct and the stream of information that Dawn was relaying through their headsets.
********
The other combatants were amazed at the newcomers. The lost count of the number of times that they spun to face enemies that they could not possibly know were there. The humans also noticed the aborted attacks at their vampiric ally. When all the attacking vampires were dead the pair of newcomers stopped.
"All clear here." The man, about sixteen years old, said, obviously speaking to someone over the headset.
"Right. You want to come and meet them?" the woman, also sixteen, asked a second later.
"You will be covered." The man said after a short pause.
A few seconds later the door of the van the newcomers had arrived in opened to reveal an eleven year old girl, also wearing a headset, and carrying an MP5.
*********
Xander chuckled on the inside. Dawn loved that MP5, ever since John Conner had given it to her and shown her how to use it. Xander, Buffy and Dawn turned to face the other group.
"Thanks. They were little buggers" The older gentleman said in a cockney accent, before changing to a cultured one. "I think that this would be an appropriate juncture for introductions."
"Whoa." Xander said, hearing chuckles from the other group.
"Alright." Buffy said. "That's Xander Harris, the squirt with the MP5 is my sister Dawn Summers, and I'm Buffy."
"Shit. You're Buffy Summers? You're the sodden Slayer? I'm Ripper." The older man said, changing accents again. "Um. Rupert Giles."
He was probably in his late forties, with his hair going slightly grey. He was actually dressed similarly to Xander, but without the jacket and with a jumper tied around his waist, although Xander could easily picture him with glasses in a tweed suit.
"Angel." The vampire that had been fighting with the humans said.
He was dressed in typical vampire fashion. Buffy was eyeing him as if she wanted to stake him, and Xander felt the same urge.
"What's his deal?" Dawn asked sceptically, aiming her MP5 in his general direction, aiming from the hip.
"He's got a Soul. Name's Jessie." Said a young man about Xander's age.
Jessie was a well built young man, his dark hair was slicked back and he had a look in his eye that mirrored Xander's. He was dressed in black cargo pants and a black t-shirt. Behind him, and closer to Ripper, was an older lady who had long black hair and was dressed in conservative clothing but handled her crossbow like she knew how to use it.
"Jenny Calender." She said.
"Janna of the Kalderash?" Dawn asked.
"Where did you hear that name?" Jenny said shocked.
"We met up with some Romany a few months ago." Xander said.
Angel shifted nervously but the rest seemed to take it in their stride.
"I'm Willow, and this is Oz." The redhead in the back said.
"Hey." Oz added.
Willow had flowing red hair that she let fall over her face. She seemed to shy but they had seen her in battle. She was very accurate with her crossbow and they, particularly Dawn, had seen her throw fireballs during the battle. She raised her head and smiled. There was a long scar running down her face, which just missed her right eye, and along her neck which was hidden by her hair when she had her head down. Oz was quite short with spiky hair that was orange. He was stocky and they had seen him fiercely protect Willow, with a hint of animalistic motion in the way he fought.
After the introductions, they decided to go back to the local team's headquarters to discuss matters. Jessie came with Buffy, Xander and Dawn to direct them to the headquarters, the library of the local high school, while the rest of the local group made their own way back. Jessie seemed genuinely impressed with the van's setup, especially the weapons and Dawn's communications station.
********
Xander sat down on the stairs next to Willow. They had been in the library for about five hours with Buffy and Giles giving back story of the groups.
"Nice scar." Xander said offhandly. "How did you get it?"
"A 400 year old vampire named Darla." Willow said shyly.
Xander pulled back her hair gently and looked at the scar, which stopped just above the collarbone. Willow's face was pretty and, to Xander, the scar added a ruggedness that enhanced the beauty of the rest of her face.
"Knife or sword?" he asked.
"Knife." She said quietly.
"Yah. One of mine was a knife, the other was a sword."
"Huh?"
"My scars." Xander explained. "This one was from a sword."
Xander traced the scar from his neck down his chest.
"It was Gonax demon. They look human but their heart is in the centre and their kidneys are located just below their shoulder blades. That was before we got the vests. This one was done by a vampire with a knife."
He pulled up his left sleave and revealed a scar running from mid bicep to just above the wrist.
"Wow." Willow whispered.
"Yah, had about four broken bones as well." Xander paused. "Why do you hide?"
"Hide?"
"Your face."
"It's hideous." She sobbed.
"Never. I think it makes you look more beautiful. Unfortunately you are spoken for, and I think I am too." Xander said with a grin.
The Sunnydale gang was suddenly startled by a sound they had not heard for over eight months. The sound of Willow laughing. Another shock came when, while still laughing, she tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing her scar. It was a pale, thin line down her face, not the vicious looking thing that she had feared, and it did not detract from her beauty at all, despite what they had feared.
"Wow. She hasn't laughed since she got that scar." Jessie whispered to Dawn.
"He's Xander. That's what he does. That and kicking undead ass." Dawn replied in a conspiratorial whisper.
"Ok. Enough back story. What was that fight tonight about. They seemed seriously bent on getting you guys." Buffy interrupted.
"They were The Master's men." Giles responded.
TBC.
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Dawn from fifth and maybe some from first few series.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy. I would buy them but I am broke.
Category: Buffy/Xander
Summary: What if it was someone other than Pike who fought beside Buffy at Hemery? How would that change things?
AN: Dawn is in this, she is not the Key, she's just Buffy's sister. Joyce is the Joyce from the Movie, the absent parent, not Joyce from the series who I think was a good role model and should never have been killed off. A slight crossover, not telling with what yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Hemery High, LA, 1996~
Buffy slumped to the ground, the still smouldering remains of the school gym behind her. It was over, she had defeated Lothos, but she could not have done it with him. She looked around, searching the immediate vicinity, filled with police cars, ambulances, fire trucks and news vans. She saw him striding along towards her, and she smiled, snuggling into his jacket that she was wearing.
"They said we are finished here. As soon as you are ready, we'll go pick up Dawn, pack up your stuff and leave." He said.
Buffy was glad that he had insisted that Dawn be babysat tonight; despite the almost ten year old's protests that she was not a kid. With Buffy's parents absent so much, either working or going out to charities or on vacation without their daughters, Buffy had mostly risen Dawn on her own and although she could be extremely annoying, like all the time, Buffy would die to protect her. Just as she would die to protect him, and knew he would die to protect her.
"Alright, let's go." She said.
They walked over to his van and hopped in. The back was half filled with a motorcycle and all his stuff, the rest of the space reserved for the Summers sister's belongings, except the jury-rigged seat made up for Dawn. They drove back to the Summers' residence and packed all the girls stuff they could fit into the van, and strapped Dawn into her seat. Twenty minutes after arriving at the Summers house they were gone. Buffy idly wondered if her parents would miss them.
"Thank you for everything." Buffy said as they passed the LA city boundary.
"No problem." He replied.
"I mean it." Buffy said. "Thank you, Xander."
********
~Eighteen Months Later, late 1997~
A slightly beaten up van crested the hill that led into town and stoped. It was joined a second later by a motorcycle. Buffy stepped off the motorcycle, removing her helmet and dusting off her leathers. She unplugged the radio interface to the helmet as Xander and Dawn got out of the van. Buffy was wearing her bike outfit, which was protective leather pants and jacket with a white blouse under the jacket and boots. Her brownish blond hair was kept back in a ponytail. Xander wore a similar outfit with his brown hair cut short and the end of a scar peaking out from under his white shirt at the side of his neck. The pair looked more eighteen than their sixteen years, mostly because of their eyes that had seen too much. Dawn, who still held innocence in her eyes, was wearing lose cargo pants and a long sleaved blouse, both in dark blue. All three had crosses on chains around their necks. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was touching the horizon.
"Picking up and ultra creepy vibe." Buffy said.
"Yah, this place gives me the Wiggins too." Xander replied.
"Right. Xand, stow the bike. Dawn, start checking the weapons. We move in twenty." Buffy said.
Xander wrestled the motorcycle into the back of the van and locked into its wall bracket. Dawn, now eleven, was methodically checking out the stakes, crossbows, sword and other assorted weaponry that they used. That was her job as she generally did not fight, which is not to say she did not know how to defend herself. No one survived in this business if they could not defend themselves. So Dawn looked after the weapons and communications from the van while Xander and buffy fought.
Stripping off his jacket and shirt, revealing the scar that ran from the side of his neck half way to his waste, Xander strapped on a body armour vest. The put his shirt and jacket back on, grabbed one of his swords and his gloves, and went outside to stand guard while Buffy and Dawn got ready. Xander pulled on his leather gloves and looked at the crosses on the knuckles. Idly swinging the short sword, he thought back on his life.
Xander had always looked out for Buffy, ever since he first saw her in third grade and he had fallen instantly in love. She had never noticed till she was called, but he had been there, even beating up the guy who had called her names in fifth grade. He had run every day and tried to keep fit for his role, also so he could run to her house in under ten minutes if he ever found out something was going on against her. He was actually strong for his age but he had kept it hidden by his baggy clothing. When Buffy had been called as the Slayer, Xander had stepped up to the plate again, and this time she knew. He had faced off against his friend Marcus who had been turned to protect Dawn. Buffy arrived, from a training session with Merrick, half way through and saw Xander stake his friend, to protect her sister.
After they left LA they had travelled a lot, moving from place to place to find the vampires and kill them. They had met up with others who knew the score and had learnt from them. They had gotten the body armour from a cop over in Detroit who had seen them fighting vampires. Sure it was designed to stop bullets but it worked just as well against demon claws. They had found contacts all over the US and Mexico who supplied them with weapons, information or training. Buffy had been training Xander and, to a lesser degree, Dawn since basically day one so they were an effective team.
The van had become their mobile base, but they had numerous store dumps around that they could use to get whatever they needed. They had all leant basic first aid and a range of other stuff, mostly guns, from this mother son team who roamed around. They had learnt a lot in the four months they had spent with them. Most said the mother was crazy, preaching about the end of the world, but to them the end of the world was exactly what they were fighting, they would just have to be wary of this one. Sure the date she had preached had passed, but Judgement Day may still come. They had been sad to hear of Sarah Conner's death and hoped her son, John, was ok.
As the sun finally dipped behind the horizon Buffy opened the back door of the van and stepped out.
"You ready?" She asked, as she clipped the radio to his belt and ran the line to the headset down under his shirt.
"Sure." Xander responded.
They got back into the van, Xander putting the short sword in a sheath in the back of the driver's seat. Xander got in the drivers seat while Buffy got into the passengers. Dawn was strapped into her seat, which had been converted into a communications and observations station, with monitors for the hidden external cameras on the van and scanners set to every emergency frequency. By the time they reached the town limits full dark had fallen. They drove through the streets slowly, scanning the area with the infrared that they had picked up from Conner. After twenty minutes they picked up something.
"Turn left. The park. Five humans versus vamps. Wait a sec, one of the vamps is fighting others." Dawn called.
Xander drove up and he and Buffy jumped out of the van. Xander had the short sword from the back of his seat, as well as several stakes and a long knife. Buffy had a Bastard sword in one hand, an axe in the other, a crossbow slung on her back and several stakes.
"Dawn, track the vamp the humans are fight with, warn us off him. We'll help out with the rest." Buffy said into her headset as they rushed to the battle.
Xander and Buffy got lost in the fight, running on instinct and the stream of information that Dawn was relaying through their headsets.
********
The other combatants were amazed at the newcomers. The lost count of the number of times that they spun to face enemies that they could not possibly know were there. The humans also noticed the aborted attacks at their vampiric ally. When all the attacking vampires were dead the pair of newcomers stopped.
"All clear here." The man, about sixteen years old, said, obviously speaking to someone over the headset.
"Right. You want to come and meet them?" the woman, also sixteen, asked a second later.
"You will be covered." The man said after a short pause.
A few seconds later the door of the van the newcomers had arrived in opened to reveal an eleven year old girl, also wearing a headset, and carrying an MP5.
*********
Xander chuckled on the inside. Dawn loved that MP5, ever since John Conner had given it to her and shown her how to use it. Xander, Buffy and Dawn turned to face the other group.
"Thanks. They were little buggers" The older gentleman said in a cockney accent, before changing to a cultured one. "I think that this would be an appropriate juncture for introductions."
"Whoa." Xander said, hearing chuckles from the other group.
"Alright." Buffy said. "That's Xander Harris, the squirt with the MP5 is my sister Dawn Summers, and I'm Buffy."
"Shit. You're Buffy Summers? You're the sodden Slayer? I'm Ripper." The older man said, changing accents again. "Um. Rupert Giles."
He was probably in his late forties, with his hair going slightly grey. He was actually dressed similarly to Xander, but without the jacket and with a jumper tied around his waist, although Xander could easily picture him with glasses in a tweed suit.
"Angel." The vampire that had been fighting with the humans said.
He was dressed in typical vampire fashion. Buffy was eyeing him as if she wanted to stake him, and Xander felt the same urge.
"What's his deal?" Dawn asked sceptically, aiming her MP5 in his general direction, aiming from the hip.
"He's got a Soul. Name's Jessie." Said a young man about Xander's age.
Jessie was a well built young man, his dark hair was slicked back and he had a look in his eye that mirrored Xander's. He was dressed in black cargo pants and a black t-shirt. Behind him, and closer to Ripper, was an older lady who had long black hair and was dressed in conservative clothing but handled her crossbow like she knew how to use it.
"Jenny Calender." She said.
"Janna of the Kalderash?" Dawn asked.
"Where did you hear that name?" Jenny said shocked.
"We met up with some Romany a few months ago." Xander said.
Angel shifted nervously but the rest seemed to take it in their stride.
"I'm Willow, and this is Oz." The redhead in the back said.
"Hey." Oz added.
Willow had flowing red hair that she let fall over her face. She seemed to shy but they had seen her in battle. She was very accurate with her crossbow and they, particularly Dawn, had seen her throw fireballs during the battle. She raised her head and smiled. There was a long scar running down her face, which just missed her right eye, and along her neck which was hidden by her hair when she had her head down. Oz was quite short with spiky hair that was orange. He was stocky and they had seen him fiercely protect Willow, with a hint of animalistic motion in the way he fought.
After the introductions, they decided to go back to the local team's headquarters to discuss matters. Jessie came with Buffy, Xander and Dawn to direct them to the headquarters, the library of the local high school, while the rest of the local group made their own way back. Jessie seemed genuinely impressed with the van's setup, especially the weapons and Dawn's communications station.
********
Xander sat down on the stairs next to Willow. They had been in the library for about five hours with Buffy and Giles giving back story of the groups.
"Nice scar." Xander said offhandly. "How did you get it?"
"A 400 year old vampire named Darla." Willow said shyly.
Xander pulled back her hair gently and looked at the scar, which stopped just above the collarbone. Willow's face was pretty and, to Xander, the scar added a ruggedness that enhanced the beauty of the rest of her face.
"Knife or sword?" he asked.
"Knife." She said quietly.
"Yah. One of mine was a knife, the other was a sword."
"Huh?"
"My scars." Xander explained. "This one was from a sword."
Xander traced the scar from his neck down his chest.
"It was Gonax demon. They look human but their heart is in the centre and their kidneys are located just below their shoulder blades. That was before we got the vests. This one was done by a vampire with a knife."
He pulled up his left sleave and revealed a scar running from mid bicep to just above the wrist.
"Wow." Willow whispered.
"Yah, had about four broken bones as well." Xander paused. "Why do you hide?"
"Hide?"
"Your face."
"It's hideous." She sobbed.
"Never. I think it makes you look more beautiful. Unfortunately you are spoken for, and I think I am too." Xander said with a grin.
The Sunnydale gang was suddenly startled by a sound they had not heard for over eight months. The sound of Willow laughing. Another shock came when, while still laughing, she tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing her scar. It was a pale, thin line down her face, not the vicious looking thing that she had feared, and it did not detract from her beauty at all, despite what they had feared.
"Wow. She hasn't laughed since she got that scar." Jessie whispered to Dawn.
"He's Xander. That's what he does. That and kicking undead ass." Dawn replied in a conspiratorial whisper.
"Ok. Enough back story. What was that fight tonight about. They seemed seriously bent on getting you guys." Buffy interrupted.
"They were The Master's men." Giles responded.
TBC.