Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters are copyright and trademarks of WB, David Greenwalt, Joss Whedon, 20th Century Fox, and others. please do not plagarise or anything. LOVE YA
Author's Note Ok, if you haven't read chapter 11, you must or this chapter will not make sense. It used to be a preview, but I updated it into a real chapter. Please enjoy and write me if you do enjoy it.
Chapter 13: In the Beginning...
"OW!" I said, getting thrown to the ground, " You're so dust." I said, jumping to my feet. I drop kicked him and staked him, " See, told ya." I turned to walk away but stopped at the sight of Doug and Kelly, " Oh."
" So, where is Austin again?" Groo asked, placing books back on the shelves.
Connor tore himself from a book about hell dimensions, " Late class, then patrolling." he said, going back to the book.
" What are you reading?" Groo asked, taking a closer look.
" Hell dimensions." Connor said, " Quartoth, Divea, Uratha...that's like the worse one besides, you know, hell." he finished.
" There is a definite one?" Groo asked.
" Yeah, one big one and a few lesser ones." Connor answered, " They're reserved, but I do know that Quartoth's not so bad."
" Sounds like Pylea." Groo smiled.
" That's not a hell dimension." Connor said, confused.
" It is if you live there." Groo smirked, " Besides Uratha sounds like a resort for little human kids."
" Yeah, a resort from Hell." Connor smirkedm turning to Oz, " What's that?" he asked, referencing a giant, dusty book Oz was reading.
Oz looked up from the book, " Watcher's guide. Giles sent it to me, he said that it never really did him any good." he smirked, " And seeing how Austin and Buffy share a certain..."
" Resemblence?" Groo said.
" Yeah, and he reminds me of Faith a little too...Not in an obvious way, though. He's just got that essence." Connor said.
Oz sighed, " Yup, I'm screwed." he said.
" Watcher?" Groo asked.
" Every slayer has a Watcher." Connor replied.
" The watcher helps the slayer by...umm..." Oz said, searching for the right word.
" Watching?" Groo asked.
Oz nodded, " Yeah, I guess. In the words of Giles, ' I'm support and help for the slayer.'" he said quickly, " So, have you heard about the new club down the street?"
" No, what new club?" Connor said, walking to the window.
" A little farther than that." Oz smirked, " A few blocks farther."
" Really? It have a name yet?" Connor asked.
" I think it's called 'Caritas'." Oz answered.
Connor and Groo exchanged confused looks.
" Say that name again." Connor said.
" Umm..." Oz started, but before he could get a word out, I bursted through the door, with Doug and Kelly right behind me, " Austin..."
" They saw me dust a vampire, then followed me here." I said angrily, " Anybody order out?"
Oz chuckled, " Are you serious?" he asked.
I pointed to them, " Yeah, I'm hungry." I said.
" No! The kids." Oz said nervously.
" They're strays..." I said unphased, " There's seriously no food?"
Doug cleared his throat, " Vampire?' he asked, " Kel, you're not shocked?"
" I lived in Sunnydale." Kelly shrugged, " So have you always fought vampires and stuff?"
" No." I said quickly, " I was normal once."
" You're normal." Connor interjected, " You're just hella strong. And fast. And..."
" The point..." Oz said, " ...the point is that you have to keep this secret, alright?" Oz asked.
" What's it worth?" Doug smirked.
" I won't break your arm and make you cry like a little girl again." I said simply.
" Good enough." Doug shrugged, " so, I see you're hiring."
I looked at the window, to the sign that read, " Now Hiring" and I scoffed, " Why?" I asked.
" Well, he's from Cleveland and I'm from Sunnydale." Kelly smiled.
" What do you know about Cleveland?" I asked.
Doug once again shrugged, " I know it's hell to live there." he laughed.
Oz, Connor, Groo, and I all exchanged nervous smirks.
" True." Oz smirked, recieving an evil stare from me.
" No. Sorry." I said quickly.
" Come on!" Kelly said, " You've been really snotty since we got there. And I haven't even said anything about those tacky shoes or those...ewww, jeans."
" I just got thrown in mud!" I protested, " And I have not! Look, we were never really friends anyways, we need people who can do things."
" I can...manage the money." Kelly sparkled.
" And I can...do stuff." Doug said uncertainly.
Groo walked up and put a hand on my shoulder, " We could use the help. And none of us have been able to find suitable employees, why not them?" he asked.
" Because they can't take care of themselves." I said blatantly.
Doug and Kelly looked taken back.
" We so can! Just give us a try, what's the worst that can happen?" Kelly asked.
" Death." Oz said.
" Aren't you from Sunnydale? You played with the Dingoes, right?" Kelly asked, " I snuck out to see you a few years ago." she smirked.
" Look, as much as I want Backhand-Barbie and Grabby guy to work here, I cannot take that risk." I sighed.
" Buffy." Oz said.
" What?" I asked.
" Nothing, must be a slayer thing." Oz said quickly.
" It's not...wait, would that be a good or bad thing?" I asked.
" Good, but you gotta learn what it took her years to learn." Oz smirked.
" And what the hell is that, Watcher jr.?" I asked.
Oz grabbed me and took me into the office, " That you can conquer the world alone, but you can't save it alone." Oz answered.
" Didn't know I was alone." I looked back at them through the glass.
" We'll support what you do. I understand the human risk thing, hey I'm only wolfy a few times a month...well not so much anymore, but....maybe we could keep them here." Oz suggested, patting my back.
" Do you think I should?" I asked.
" Does it matter?" he asked.
" Do the words duh ring a bell?" I asked, " Fine, but...DUCK!" I said.
" HUH?" Oz asked.
" DUCK!" I said, pushing him to the floor and I grabbed the demon, who appeared from nowhere! The demon was a bright yellow with horns and weapons sticking out of its hands. I ducked and kicked the monster, barely avoiding his sharp hands and slammed it into the wall! The monster looked like a mofAeite or a close cousin. I ran to the wall and grabbed it, slamming it to the floor and jumping on top of him. I slammed my fist into him and screeched and threw me through the office door, causing me to skid across the floor and stop at Doug and Kelly's feet, " You're hired." I said, jumping to my feet. I saw the thing barreling towards me with a huge, sharp weapon sticking out of it's hands.
" AUSTIN!" Connor shouted, throwing a sword to me.
I grabbed the sword and swung it at the monster, cutting deep into its skin! The demon roared and the things sticking out of its arms lengthened and it shot one at me that clipped me! I ducked the other one and slid the sword into his chest!
" Is that what we're going to be doing?" Doug asked, shocked.
" No." I said, running my hand over my arm, " You are strictly indoor kittens." Is aid, sitting on the couch.
Connor and Groo sped over to me, " Are you okay?" Connor asked.
" Yeah, but someone should check on Oz." I said, noticing my vision flicker in black and white. I saw the inside of a basement...the basement.
----------------Flashback------------------------------
" Mom, dad? you're gonna let them take me?" I asked.
Mom turned away while dad looked into my eyes, " You're...who are you?" he asked.
" I'm your son...I'm Austin." I said, on the verge of tears, " I...I know what this is, I think. Buffy..."
" Buffy?" Mom shrieked, " That weird woman, I always knew she was shifty and a little odd, but doing whatever she did to Sunnydale..."
" She did it to save us." I sneered, " Who are you? You're not my mother." I said angrily.
" No, I'm not. I don't know you." Mom said, turning to the guy in the lab coat, " Take him."
The guy raised a gun and shot me with something...he knew. He knew what I was from the get go, that's why he had to tranq gun! Then it faded!
The rest of the gang stood around, trying to figure out what to do. Austin had gone through a whole speech, complete with tears. Connor tried to reach him, but there was no reaching him.
" What should we do?" Connor asked impatiently, " What does the watcher's guid say?" he demanded.
" Nothing, Connor, just relax." Oz growled.
" look, we can't just let him...did you hear what he said?" Connor asked.
" Yes, he was most agreived." Groo said, snapping his fingers in front of Austin.
" STOP THAT!" Connor snapped, moving Groo's hand, " He said he was kicked out of his house, but..."
" He wasn't." Oz said from the books, " He was kidnapped. his mother and father thought they were sending him to a doctor to 'fix' his...gay 'condition'. Someone kidnapped and tortured him." Oz said.
Connor and the rest of the room went silent.
" And you waited until now to tell us?" Connor asked.
" If he wanted you to know, he'd have told you." Oz snapped, " We need some insight."
" So, what do we do?" Groo asked.
" I don't know." Oz said simply.
" We need to get someone into his mind." Doug said, causing everyone to turn to him, " I've dabbled...and I read this book once...yeah, I read a book! Well, anyways, it said something about projecting onself into another's mind."
" In someone else's mind?" Oz asked, " When you say 'dabbled'..."
" Witchcraft. I'm not just a jock, you know." Doug said quickly.
" How'd we do that?" Connor asked.
" How experienced are you?" Oz asked.
" Just us...and a spell, but I'm sure I could improvise." Doug said, getting a book of astral spells from the book shelf, " I'm gonna put you in his mind."
" Now I know why Giles was always cranky, british guy." Oz chuckled.
" YOU BASTARDS! LET ME GO!" I shouted. I wasn't in my body anymore. I was watching the torture they handed me...the anger, the pain, the...slayer would awaken in a few days from then. I watched as they jabbed me with sharp things. The blood pouring from the table...the screams.
" Oh, my god." Connor's voice said, causing me to turn.
" What are you doing here?" I asked, turning back to the sight of me laying on the table, bleeding.
" What...is that you?" he asked.
" What are you doing here?"
" Why didn't you tell me?"
" What...are you doing here."
Connor looked from the sight to me and grabbed my shoulders, " Why didn't you tell us?" he asked.
" What would it have changed? You'd have felt sorry for us?" I asked.
" I would have been closer to...Us?" he asked.
" They sent me here. They thought that...they were trying to help and they sent me to them." I stuttered, " Do you know how it feels to bury your parents?"
" I can't imagine." Connor said sadly.
" You hit the nail on the head. You can't...even if you knew, it happened already." I chuckled, letting a tear fall, " If I had gotten my 'powers' a few days earlier...Ironic, huh." I sobbed.
Connor wrapped his arms around me, " What is?" he asked.
" I can heal my outer body super fast, but my heart...it's not healing." I said and the scene changed. same scene, different day. I was laying on the table and they strapped me down. I watched as the devices cut into me and I looked around and saw a face. A guy. 6'3, around twenty four, blonde with green eyes. Penetrating green eyes. There were two of them. One looked out of place and he disappeared, " You see him." I asked.
" Yeah, disappearing guy?" Connor asked.
" He's...who is he?" I asked. Before I got an answer, the other me screamed and started snapping the straps. The people tried to hold me down, but I broke free and went beserk, nearly killing a few people, then I ran out.
" I'm so sorry." Connor said, watching the other me run down the long corridor.
I looked at him in confusion, " I get that alot." I said, walking away.
" Yeah, Giles, he's in some sort of coma. I seriously don't know if I'm fit to be a Watcher, I mean it's only been two months since he left you and I broke him." Oz said quickly, " We sent Connor into his mind, sorta like a helper..."
Connor walked through a corridor, then through a door into a dark house. He immediately noticed the door was open and followed Austin upstairs. When he got to the top, he found that there was blood all over the walls and floor as if someone had been dragged. When he got to a big room, he found Austin...s. Younger Austin was crying next to his mother and father's faceless bodies. The faces were so messed up that it was hard to tell who they were.
Austin looked up from himself and the bodies, " I was too late." was all he said.
" There was nothing you could do. They look as if they had been dead for some time." Connor said, standing over the bodies.
" What?" I asked.
" Were they cold?" Connor asked.
" Yeah...as if they'd been there...for weeks." Austin said, looking down at himself, " Then who was on the phone?"
" Titan." Connor said, realizing who the man was, " Titan was there...He was somewhere in the house, just like in the basement of that place."
" The man?" I asked.
" Bingo." Connor answered, " But who is he workin for?"
I thought back to arriving in L.A., " Wolfram and Hart. It's not just because a slayer is in town, it's because I'm here. But why me? What's the Titan got against me? I mean he wanted me before I was a slayer." I said, trying to think.
" Wolfram and Hart." Connor said quickly, " When Angel and his crew fought them, there were these...children of the partners, made to do their bidding." he explained.
" So Wolfram and Hart wants me? Why?" I asked. The scene changed from me crying over a body to me at the funeral, " Because I'm the only one, right? They collect things, right?" I asked.
" Makes sense." Connor said, watching me stare down at the coffin, " Where is everyone?"
" Gone." I frowned, " Just me. Alone like usual."
" You're not alone." Connor said.
" No matter how many times you say it or Oz says it or even Groo, I am. I am alone. Buffy has Dawn...and Willow...and Xander...and Giles. I never had that." I said as a tear fell from my eye.
" YOu have me." Connor said, moving closer.
" Not really. In the end, I have me." I said, looking back to me and at the same time we both said, " Alone."
" You didn't cry?" Connor asked.
" What?" I asked.
" I bet you didn't cry." Connor said angrily, " I bet you just treated it like they were your mess. You didn't care that they were dead."
I punched Connor, who fell to the ground and the scene changed to me, crying in the basement, then crying in my house, " I cred so hard, I didn't think I'd stop." I said, sobbing.
Connor got up and pulled me into a hug, " I know this basement...Wolfram and Hart's basement." he said, holding me.
" I don't want to go back." I said.
" To the basement?" Connor asked.
" Reality." I said simply.
I opened my eyes to see Oz and the group looking into my eyes, " We have to get ready." i said, breezing past them.
" Ready for what?" Oz asked, following me.
" i don't know..." I said, stopping at the spiral staircases, " Whatever it is is big and bad." I said, climbing the stairs.