After Freedom

Summary: Post S7 & mid Eclipse. Being able to choose your own path isn't everything Buffy thought it would be. Especially when the Scooby gang discover a whole new breed of vampire and are once more thrust into war. Buffy/Twilight crossover.

Yes, I am an idiot. I have decided to begin another story. And yes, it's a Buffy/Twilight crossover. As if I wasn't already enough of an idiot. Alas, this plot bunny just would not burrow back into its hole, and so I am left with no choice it seems, but to do this.

Groundrules: Buffy comes out better than Twilight in this. Sorry, but that's just the way it'll work. I will give just as much care and attention to both fandoms, but when it comes to slaying ability, Buffy comes out ahead. No offence, Edward. However, no, stakes, holy water etc will not work, because I'm not completely ignorant of canon, but I have another plan in that area involving Willow and a scythe.

Other ground rules; there will be no Buffy/Cullen pairings. In fact, I can guarantee that if Buffy even did end up with someone at the end of this (which she probably won't but just in case) it will either be Angel or Spike. All pairings in this will be canon - probably. There will be no slash (as I'm not planning on getting Willow with anybody.) The only maybe non-canon pairing in this could be Dawn/Jacob. Depending on what you guys think and whether or not I feel the story develops that way. However, I will be trying to keep all pairings, romances and characters as much in canon and character as is possible in a crossover. I am very open to audience participation and would love to hear suggestions as to where this should go.

It had been two months since Willow's spell, and the fall of the First Evil at the hands of Buffy and her army of Slayers. After Sunnydale collapsed in on itself, the survivors had rode the school bus all the way to Los Angeles (don't even ask how they managed to pay for gas money - suffice to say Andrew was going to need some serious therapy for the next few years at least), and met up with Angel and his team.

Buffy had to admit she had been impressed by the second front Angel had assembled at her request - being alive for as long as he had, he'd garnered a lot of favours to call in. And boy, he'd called them in alright. She was almost disappointed when she told Angel they'd defeated the First; the horde of demons and other creepies that had assembled was damn powerful looking.

They stayed at the Hyperion Hotel to recuperate for a few weeks; there were plenty of rooms to go around. Buffy had healed up within a day, and for the rest of the time, felt weird. She didn't quite know what to do with herself. Usually, if she felt that way, she'd go out on patrol or she'd be dealing with some big crisis whether it was magical or villainous or sisterly or her oft-doomed romances. She'd be preoccupied with something, anyway. Buffy had been a lot of things in her life, but she'd never been bored. She'd never sat around twiddling her thumbs.

To be honest, if this was what freedom was, Buffy wasn't sure she liked it all that much. Sure, it had been alright for the first couple of days or so, sleeping in, staying in her pyjamas all day and eating ice cream while catching up on episodes of 90210... but then it all just got-

"Very same-y," Buffy said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I do like that there aren't any Big Bads or... even Small Bads, after us, but..."

"But what, Buffy?" Dawn said, looking slightly annoyed. "Just chill out for once in your life." She spread her arms up into the air. "Look around. We are in a massive hotel, with free cable and all the chocolate and iced tea a girl could ever want."

Buffy smiled. "I know... you're right. I am going to enjoy this." The last part she said to herself, and refocused on the television.

But still she felt restless inside.

The next few days were even harder. She'd even snuck out the window at night to go on patrol - it was like living at home with her Mom again. She felt dirty - it was like quitting smoking or something and she was falling off the bandwagon, badly. Buffy had never thought that Slaying might turn out to be addictive. Before, it had always just been her destiny, a chore to be done. But now that she didn't have to... Buffy was beginning to realise that maybe she wanted to.

Maybe she just didn't know another way to be.

And it was frustrating. With all the non-action she was getting, the Hyperion Hotel was starting to feel more like the Retirement Home for Slayers.

The relief for her came with Giles. He'd headed back to England a week or so before to see what was left of the Watchers' Council. They had been right; no survivors. He'd scoured the local hospitals looking for Watchers, but there was no one. He'd only been able to perform a quick lookabout before, just after the explosion, he hadn't had the time to do a deep search of the building. Getting the information about the First had been of the essence, but looking harder, Giles had come back with a much larger pile of books and papers that had not been destroyed in the blast.

He was currently buried headfirst in said pile of books, and he had a look of supremely deep concentration on his face, the kind that Buffy associated with evil afoot. She planted herself on the arm of the couch, and poked him gently in the shoulder. At the contact, Giles jumped with a start, and made a strange, strangled yelping noise. Buffy grinned.

"Hi."

"Buffy," Giles said, with a look on his face somewhere between relief and weariness.

"So, d'you find anything in this pile of trash?" Buffy said, sniffing at a charred piece of parchment that smelled of coal and mould.

"This pile of trash as you so eloquently describe it, Buffy, represents what is left of thousands of years of research by people who dedicated their entire lives to finding and putting to paper this information so it could be passed down through the centuries to ungrateful waifs like you," Giles said, raising his eyebrow as the corner of his mouth twitched with amusement.

"Okay... well then as an ungrateful waif, I'm asking you if you found anything," Buffy said, smiling at her mentor.

"As it happens, yes," Giles said, taking off his glasses and rubbing the lenses absent-mindedly on the corner of his shirt. Buffy waited patiently for him to finish and place them back on before he spoke.

"There's something interesting here," Giles said, squinting at a small, ancient looking book. Buffy waited for a little longer before she spoke, "Giles, I'm not going to mind read from you what this interesting thing is, so would you mind...?"

"Oh, yes," Giles said. "Well, it makes reference to a species of demon that I've never heard of before... which I assure you, is quite unusual."

Buffy smirked, "Oh, I believe you."

"At first I believed it was merely a name particular to this volume - a nickname, if you will - for a species more commonly known by a different name, which for a tome of this age would not be unusual, from the binding and the print I would say this dates to at least before-"

"Giles, getting a little off-track here," Buffy interjected.

"Well, what I'm saying is I thought this not an unusual occurrence... until I started to come across the same name in a few of the other texts I found."

"Maybe these dudes all got together to write their books?" Buffy posited.

Giles gave her The Look. "No... it is impossible for these writers to have collaborated, Buffy. They lived in different centuries. I believe that this collection of texts was contained in the deeper levels of the Council, Buffy. It would explain why they were all grouped together and why they have managed to escape the blast largely unscathed."

"So... you're saying that the Council hid a bunch of books about a whole species of demon, because they didn't want people to know about them?" Buffy asked.

"Perhaps. But... given the age of these texts, I would suggest that these books were hidden long before the reign of this Council. I believe they were hidden before the building was even constructed, and that the blast was what freed them."

"How come?"

"Because when I found them, they were covered in grey dust. Cement, Buffy."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "So, what are they about then?"

"What?"

"The hidden species. What are they?"

"Ah..." Giles said. "They are referred to as the Elderkind in this, and as the Ancients in this. They are connected by the word Volturi - which I cannot translate; it doesn't appear to mean anything in any language I could reference. I can't tell you exactly what they are, Buffy, but they are referred to in this passage as 'the Cold Ones' and here as 'the shadows who crawl in the night'."

"So... vampires, then," Buffy said.

"Perhaps," Giles said. "But it would be wise not to jump to conclusions, Buffy. There are many things that crawl in the night."

"Don't I know it," Buffy said, wryly. "Well... are they still hoppin' around, or what?"

Giles looked confused.

"Are they endangered, at least?"

"Ah, you're asking me if they are extinct? I have no idea. These books were written an inordinate amount of centuries ago, Buffy, but then, so were many books about vampires, and they still exist today."

Buffy sighed, "Okay, well, you keep on digging, Giles. Tell me when you find something."

Over the following days, Buffy became increasingly preoccupied with the thought of this new species - well, old species, according to Giles. Really old. Like, before modern civilisation old. He'd decided that the books found in the library must be copies of even older Watchers' reports made on the fly when they found whatever species it was. Meaning that these demons, if that was what they were, must have been encountered by some of the first Watchers to ever exist.

"Then why didn't the Slayer on duty way back when kick their primeval asses?" Buffy asked.

It was a day later that Giles came up with the answer to that question.

"Because they were before the time of the Slayers."

Buffy gave a low whistle. "Damn... that's old alright."

"Not just that, Buffy," Giles had a look of frightened exasperation on his face. Buffy looked blankly back at him.

"This species, whatever it was... it was the reason the Slayer was created."

Buffy took in this news with a blink.

Giles seemed rather peeved that Buffy didn't seem to appreciate the gravity of his statement.

"Buffy, this is a rather, as you would say in America - 'big deal'. Whatever this species was, or indeed, is, it was so fearsome that it inspired men to mount a defence as powerful as the Slayer!"

"I don't know whether to feel complimented or offended by that," Buffy mused to herself. "Anyway... Giles, that shadow puppet show thingy we found in Nikki's Slayer bag o' tricks said that it was demons. As in; plural. This species was probably only one kind."

Buffy was creeped out by the fact that Giles looked a little disappointed; but realised it was probably less for the realisation that this Big Bad wasn't as big and bad as he thought and more for the fact he could be wrong, so she let it slide and gave a lopsided smile.

"Even so, Buffy... if these creatures are still in existence, I fear there could be trouble."

"Isn't there always?" Buffy sighed, with a weary smile. "Besides, these books were hidden away in a creepy old vault below a giant library for thousands of years... and we never heard anything from this Ye Olde Species before, so what makes you think that just because you've unearthed it now, something's suddenly going to happen, out of the blue?"

Giles looked thoughtful and paused before he spoke. "But... doesn't that happen to us quite a lot?"

Buffy matched his look, and her eyes widened a little.

"Um... well... to coin a Giles phrase..." Buffy met her Watcher's eyes. "Oh, dear."

Buffy was on a knife edge for the next few days.

Being on constant alert for some unknown ancient species of demon with unknown powers that probably wanted to kill her was starting to make her crabby. And people were starting to notice; the first of whom was Dawn.

"So, sis, how come you're being such a b-i-t-c-h lately?" Dawn asked amiably, popping a kernel of popcorn in her mouth.

Buffy fixed her sister with a stern look. "Dawn, if you think you're old enough to curse, then you're probably old enough to not have to spell it out."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Come on, Buffy. I can tell when something's wrong. You're grumpy. And don't tell me it's PMS, 'cause I know it's not your time of the month yet."

"And I don't want to even know how you know that..." Buffy said, studiously ignoring the question. It was half stubbornness (she didn't want to enable her little sister - the girl was annoying enough already) and half protectiveness. It had still only been a month and a half since the First. It was one thing for Buffy to be on alert again so soon - she was the Slayer, it was her gig - but Dawn didn't have to be.

And for as long as Buffy could keep the nosy little beast (said as lovingly as possible) in the dark, she planned on doing just that.

The only person in whom Buffy confided the news of a possible Bad of indeterminate Bigness to was Faith. Purely because that girl was all about the fighting; she was just as bored with sitting on her ass all day as Buffy was. Once Faith had followed through on her threat to sleep for a week, she was up and at 'em, and it was starting to get on some of the other Potential-turned-Slayers' nerves. While Buffy had tried as hard as she possibly could to keep her Slayage impulses under wraps, Faith was the exact opposite, and she was starting to pick fight with the other girls just for the hell of it.

Buffy had to admit she found it faintly amusing - but she would never in a million years admit that to the other First Generation Slayer (as the girls were now referring to Buffy and Faith as - whereas Willow had in turn affectionately named them the Slayerettes).

The second Faith had heard there might be a new threat on the horizon; her eyes lit up with excitement. "Seriously? You ain't kiddin' me around here, B, are ya?"

She looked dangerously like a child who'd just been told they were going on a surprise holiday to Disneyland.

Buffy's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "Faith... this is not a good thing, you do know that, right?"

"Sure it is!" Faith laughed. "Hell, I've been itchin' to kick someone's ass for weeks!" She pounded one fist into her other palm as she spoke.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Down, girl. We don't even know if there is anything, I just thought I'd let you know, just in case."

Faith sighed. "Alright, B. I'll keep look-see, anyway."

Buffy walked away from the other girl thinking that the only reason she was so happy was because if there was another Big Bad, she wouldn't have to go back to jail yet.

That thought didn't piss Buffy off as much as it would have only a year ago.

The other issue darkening the minds of the Scoobies and the Slayerettes were the losses. Casualties. Buffy still hated that word; but she hated it even more now.

The hardest were Spike and Anya. Xander cried in the night unabashed for the first week, while Buffy privately mourned Spike whenever she was alone. She didn't cry anymore. She had the first night, silently, into her covers. Now she just stared out of the window and replayed in her mind their last conversation as his hand ignited and he made his sacrifice. For her.

Buffy knew it had been for her. She knew it as it was happening; so she gave him the only thing she could - and she told Spike she loved him. As she said the words; she realised that she meant them, in some way. Maybe not as lovers, or as friends, or even just as two fellow warriors fighting alongside each other. Or perhaps a weird combination of the three. Buffy couldn't really put into words how she felt about Spike, so she just sort of left it at that.

What she did know was that she was sorry he was gone, and that she missed him. She wished he were still alive.

Angel got a strange look on his face when Buffy broke the news that Spike was dead. It seemed he too didn't quite know how he felt about this news. On one hand, he sort of hated Spike. But on the other, he sort of didn't mind him being around either. It had been a mutual love-hate relationship (except that the love was more a sort of faint tolerance of each other's existence). It seemed Angel had grown a little bit of respect for Spike once Buffy had broken the news of his soul-getting (of course, that was only once Angel had gotten over his petulance at precisely that fact - "You know, I started it. The whole... having a soul. Before it was all the cool new thing.")

Angel told himself that it was good Spike had learnt what it meant to have a soul before he died. And he left it there.

As for the other Slayers who had died during the battle; their losses were felt by Buffy as that of a general who had lost his team in combat. She had lived with them, talked to them (and at them) and she had fought with them. Their deaths seemed a little more distant to her than Spike and Anya, but only just. She supposed that was normal though - while she had known both Spike and Anya for years, she had known the fallen girls for only a few short months.

But still, sometimes, she would reach for a cereal box or complain loudly about the temperature of the shower or roll her eyes at Dawn or pour some juice... and she would remember one of them, and just for a second would experience dizzying déjà vu and a brief sense of sorrow, and then she would carry on.

Unsurprisingly, the Slayerettes took it harder. Buffy didn't blame them - in a sense they had all been in the same boat, but for the girls it hit much closer to home. They walked around, knowing that it could just as easily have been them. (I could be the one who didn't make it to the bus.)

It had scared all of them. Some a little too much.

Three new Slayers had left for home the same day as they had recovered.

Two the day after that.

Willow cried the day Kennedy left. Buffy remembered holding her as she shook.

"It's probably for the best," she soothed. "Better sooner than later, anyway."

"True," Willow whispered, sniffing into Buffy's sweater.

"If she couldn't handle our Willow, that's her loss," Buffy said, not merely reassuring, but meaning every word she spoke. Kennedy had been intimidated by the sheer elemental power Willow had gained the day of the spell that had activated the new Slayers. Willow had discussed this concern previously with Xander, but he had assumed that Kennedy would be able to hold her own - being a Slayer and all.

It appeared not.

The remaining Slayers had been bidden by Giles to return to their families if they had any, and decide which path they truly wanted to follow - to become a full-time Slayer, to completely ignore the Slayer part of themselves, or to try and live a normal life but fight should the situation arise. They had all agreed to this plan, and so finally; only Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Dawn, Andrew, Robin, Faith, Angel and the rest of his team remained in the hotel.

Robin and Faith were a tricky situation. Buffy was pretty sure that they were uh, getting bouncy with each other (as Faith would put it) but other than that, she had no idea what was going on there. Though she had to admit, she wasn't exactly the expert on reading signals like that. She had noticed them exchanging glances - but that was all they looked like to her... glances. What they meant? She had no idea. Faith definitely wasn't the settling-down-type, though. She knew that much at least. And she had a sneaking suspicion the same could be said for Robin. He was a lot like a Slayer in that respect. Buffy kind of hoped for his sake that the 'ending up alone' gene wasn't something that got passed down from Slayer to child.

Buffy guessed it was more likely that neither wanted to be tied down. They both wanted to be prepared for action; pumped for a fight and ready to go.

So it was no surprise they both grinned from ear to ear when Giles announced there was indeed a bad. And it looked pretty big.

"So, what's the sitch?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, Buff," Xander added, "I mean, we don't normally do cross-country Scoobying, you know?"

Buffy sat in the deserted lounge area with her two best friends who had not been present for Giles' explanation on account of serious caffeine deprivation. Buffy drank deep from her tall latte and sighed in appreciation before speaking.

"Well... basically, Giles has been keeping up with the news on account of the whole suspected ancient demon-y things... I told you this part, right?" Buffy checked as Willow and Xander nodded in unison. "Right, so, while he was looking for that, he came across something else big and demon-y."

"Did he stumble into Angel's bedroom during the day or something?" Xander asked, smiling innocently.

Buffy fixed him with a look, before continuing, "There's been attacks in Seattle."

Willow raised an eyebrow, "Demon attacks?"

Buffy shook her head, "Giles thinks vampires. A gang of vampires. He's worried they've set up some sort of a blood ring or sting or hit or something evil and gang-sounding anyway."

"Not to sound callous, here, Buff, but isn't this sort of thing going on... well, everywhere?" Xander asked.

"It doesn't make the national news everywhere, though," Buffy pointed out and Xander conceded. "That's true. Boy, these guys must be doing a whole lot of blood collecting to get this noticed."

"Or they're just really sloppy," Willow said, sipping her coffee, forehead furrowed in concentration. "I just don't get what the point is though. People going missing as well as the plain old mauling and blood drinking. I don't get it. What do they want the people for?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Buffy said gravely, looking down at the floor. Xander and Willow both glanced at her, and she looked up. "Recruits."

The three exchanged glances of mutual disgust.

"Anyway, Giles wants us all to up-sticks and get over there sharpish," Buffy continued.

"Up-sticks?" Willow asked. "Like... move there?"

"Pretty much."

"But... where are we going to stay? There's like, the four of us at least, but then if all the others are tagging along too... sorry to be the Practical Grinch here, but we just don't have the money to stay in a city like Seattle, do we?" Willow looked worried.

"Giles said he could figure it out," Buffy shrugged. "He's always been Financial Guy that way."

Willow looked unconvinced.

"Really, Will..." Buffy smiled. "It'll be fine."

"You're kidding me, right?" Buffy stared at Giles with supreme disbelief.

"Not at all, Buffy," said Giles, disapprovingly. "It's close to the city, and it's a smaller, less populated area, so the houses are cheaper."

Buffy raised an eyebrow, the same look of disbelief still etched on her face. "Giles, the place is named after an eating utensil."

Xander smothered a snigger, and both Buffy and Giles shot glares his way.

"Now, now, Buffy... 'Sunnydale' wasn't exactly a very sensible name for a town either, was it?"

"Giles," Buffy was trying to give her very best no-nonsense tone now, but it just came out sounding a little petulant. "I'd take Sunnydale over Forks any day of the week."

"Well, unless you have the money to rent a hotel for possibly a matter of months in Seattle, it'll have to do," Giles sounded cross.

Buffy rolled her eyes, "Fine. But I hope you saved some money to get a decent van or something. We can't exactly roll up to a town that small in a bright yellow Sunnydale school bus."

They arrived in Forks, Washington during the night. (Again, some grisly things had to be done for gas money - this time it was Giles who would need the therapy, as punishment for Forksgate.)

It was quite fortunate really, as if they had arrived in the daytime, unbeknownst to them they would have been the subject of unrelenting gossip. Not to mention the news of strangers arriving in town would have spread faster than wildfire, and a group as ragtag as them could use the anonymity for as long as they could get it.

Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander and Giles had of course all come for the road trip. Andrew had elected to stay behind in Los Angeles with Angel and his team (elected of course here meaning been forced). Robin and Faith had also stayed with Angel (a situation in LA had arisen that Faith deemed needed the brutal force of a Slayer such as herself) though she did say before the gang left that she was literally a phone call away if something needed pulverising.

"Giles, you didn't mention we were going to be living in a forest," Buffy said drolly. "I'll be honest, I don't really wanna be pitching up a tent next to a bunch of wood nymphs or something."

"Don't be silly, Buffy," Giles shook his head. "There are no such things as wood nymphs."

Buffy rolled her eyes as Giles muttered under his breath, "It's the leprechauns you should be worrying about."

Buffy shot him a look as Willow asked, "We're not though? Right, Giles? We're not... living in the woods. That's not how you managed to get somewhere cheap to stay, right? Right?"

When he didn't answer, Buffy and Dawn's eyes both widened with panic. "Giles?" they both squeaked at exactly the same octave.

Giles refrained from laughing as best he could, and kept utterly silent as they drove away from the woods. Once it was obvious they had cleared the danger zone with regards to possibly having to camp outside in the rain, the Watcher shot all the panicked occupants of the van an amused smirk in the rear-view mirror.

Buffy's eyes narrowed and reached forward ready to deliver Giles a very hard punch in the shoulder, but was stopped by Dawn. "After we're parked and out of the van, Buffy. I'd kind of like to reach this place alive, thank you, which we won't if Giles is howling in pain."

"Ow!" Giles cried, clasping his shoulder tightly and glaring at his charge. Buffy shrugged as she stepped out of the van and joined the others, looking over at their accommodation, which, to her obvious surprise, wasn't half bad.

"Wow, G-man, you did alright," Xander said, slapping the older man's shoulder approvingly. (Unfortunately it also happened to be the shoulder a Slayer had just smashed her fist into.)

"Gah!"

"Whoops. Sorry."

Giles just glared.

The house was medium-sized, with an old fashioned porch out front, complete with rocking chair. The white paint on the brickwork was peeling, and the wood around the windows was chipped and hanging off. It looked something like the house out of The Wizard of Oz, though Buffy had a sinking feeling it wouldn't take much more than a sharp exhale to blow this place away. Still, it was a roof over their heads, and it didn't seem to be the flea-infested, fire-trap haystack Buffy had expected with their budget.

Upon inspection of the property (furniture - grotty though it was - included) Giles was annoyed to find that there were really only two bedrooms, as opposed to the three that were described. The third 'bedroom' was so small you couldn't even fit a bed in there, it was more a kind of squashy, dirty armchair. Hence it was decided that Buffy and Dawn would share one bedroom, Willow and Xander the other, and Giles would sleep on the sofa downstairs.

"So, how did you get this place so cheap, Giles?" Xander asked suspiciously, once they'd unpacked their bags and settled down on the sofa to orient themselves. "What's the catch? It's not haunted is it?" His eyes darted around the room.

"No, Xander, it's not haunted," Giles said patiently. "But it was abandoned. Since they built a few mansions down the road, nobody wanted this place anymore."

"Why couldn't we get a mansion?" Buffy looked genuinely disappointed.

Giles looked heavenward.

Willow was amused, but battered on for Giles' sake. "So, what's the plan about these vamp attacks then?"

"Yeah," Xander cut in. "Straight night-time patrol and hope to get lucky or Scooby recon in the daylight first?"

"You sound like you've done this before, Xand," Buffy cocked an eyebrow with a wry smile.

"Eh, maybe once or twice," Xander smiled sheepishly.

"I think we should all just take a few days to get settled in and then go from there. Agreed?" Giles looked to Buffy. Even though he was the most senior member of the group, it was clear that Buffy was still the one they all gravitated towards as leader, especially since the fiasco with Faith and the First.

Buffy took a moment to consider. "We could be here for a while, guys. And while I don't know a lot about small towns, I do know that if you believe the movies, news travels fast. We should probably set down some roots first." She took a deep breath, aware that what she was about to say was going to be unpopular with one very dramatic teenager.

"Dawn, I think we should get you enrolled in the local school."

Dawn looked aghast. "Buffy! Come on!"

"Dawn," Buffy's tone was serious. "This last year has been difficult for all of us. I know it has. And you know as well as I do, keeping up with school was the last thing on anyone's mind. But the big danger is over now, and I'm sorry, but if you're going to have the opportunities in life that I never had - which I plan to make sure you do - you need to be getting to school."

"Buffy..." Dawn whined.

"No," Buffy said firmly. "I'm still your guardian. You're going to school and that's final. I'm sorry, Dawnie, but you have to."

Dawn pouted and looked down, but nodded. "Okay. But I promise I'm going to whine for ages about it, and make your life hell."

"But you'll go?" Buffy asked.

Dawn reluctantly nodded.

"That's all I ask," Buffy smiled, reaching over to ruffle Dawn's hair to a very indignant squeal.

Buffy had Dawn enrolled the very next day at Forks High School. As promised, Dawn did whine shamelessly, though it was mostly about the embarrassment of being forced to attend a school with Forks in its name (which, to be fair, Buffy fully sympathised with). Luckily, due to Dawn's age, she would only have to endure a few more months of school before the seniors graduated, and she would receive her high school diploma, after which -

"I'll never have to suffer in these hellholes again," Dawn beamed.

Buffy rose an eyebrow, "Imagine if you actually had to go to school on one for three years."

"True," Dawn laughed. Buffy grimaced, and pulled her sister in for a hug.

"Be good," she warned. "And... stay safe."

Dawn smiled softly. "You too."

Buffy left reluctantly. She was too used to bad things happening in schools to feel totally comfortable leaving Dawn alone. Even in the new Sunnyhell High, she had always been around and quick to hand if anything went wrong - not to mention having a Slayer's son as the Principal had helped matters quite a bit.

But really, this was a small town.

How could Dawn possibly find trouble in Forks?

Well, this chapter was very Buffy heavy, but I do promise there will be Twilight-ness in the next chapter, perhaps even Scooby/Cullen interaction. I would really love some feedback on this story, as it is my first full-length crossover, so all reviews are much appreciated. :)

Raven. x