Buffy
I realise that I don't know where my history class actually is, given that I've skipped it almost every time I've had it. I think I was there the first day... Possibly. I'm not really sure. Anyway, I stick close to Cordelia, because she looks like she knows where she's going.
Oh, she's on to me! She turns and holds the door open to a classroom, and says, rather too jovially for my tastes, "You don't know where the class is, do you?" I shake my head forlornly, and she chuckles. This must be what Xander feels like all the time. She gestures for me to get in, which I reluctantly do so.
I sit down at a free table (I assume it's mine, seeing as how no one is telling me to move), and look at the questions. Unsurprisingly, I realise that I don't know the answers to any of the questions. I look around, and see everyone else getting busily on with it. Oh well, at least this is America, and I get a mark for writing my name. I know that. I look up at the clock, knowing I've got a whole lesson in which to write my name. 11:35. 55 minutes to go. May as well take my time. I rummage leisurely for a pencil, look up at the clock again. 12:00. Surprised, I begin to write, only to have my pencil crack before I can even write the first letter. Suddenly, the bell goes - what? I've heard of time flying, but this is ridiculous. Oh well, there's nothing I can do. With a feeling of dread at what Mom will say when she sees the grade, I leave.
Just outside the door, a see a young boy, no older than ten or eleven, dressed in some kind of white shift, looking at a girl (What's her name? It's on the tip of my tongue... Laura, that's it.) with a mournful expression on his face. He seems so familiar... Laura descends into a cellar, and the boy mutters something I don't quite catch. I walk up to him to ask who he is, but then there's an ear-splitting shriek from the cellar, which is abruptly cut off, leaving a deafening silence. And the boy is gone.
Regrettably, I'm not the first person down there, and by the time I am, the place is a mess. But not as much as Laura. She's been beaten to a pulp, and she's lucky to be unconscious and not dead. But there's no chance of me finding something in here, I'll just have to speak to her at the hospital after she wakes up. Now, all I can do is go and find the others, fill them in on what just happened. And tell them about the boy, the one I mysteriously managed to forget earlier. Just who is he, and what's his relationship to all of this?
Anyway, I'm off to the library for another round of Giles-informing, which seems to be something I do regularly. Although, it must be said that he does his fair share of Buffy-informing as well - which, hopefully, is exactly what he's going to be doing right now.
I pause just outside the door because I can hear voices coming from inside - something that very rarely happens. Unfortunately, they're speaking too quietly for me to identify them, or hear what they're saying, so I have no choice but to go on in. After all, I'm the Slayer here, so I should have priority. I push open the doors and stride in.
"- and how am I meant to do that, if she doesn't trust me?" says Theo to Giles in a low voice. I should've known he'd be here - he obviously doesn't care about skipping classes. Well, it's nice that I was able to surprise him, he doesn't even seem to notice I'm here until Giles mkaes some kind of gesture and he looks up. For a split second, a bunch of emootions flicker across his face before he smoothes them away - I see frustration, annoyance, anger, and several others that are gone too fast to identify. Then he glides across the floor (Technically, he's walking, but it's so smoothly that it may as well be gliding.) towards me. I fight down the sudden rising panic, because I know I couldn't take him in a straight fight. But he moves right past me, as if I'm not even there.
For a fraction of a second, some light seems to puddle around his hands, which, with an odd twisting motion, he throws at the library doors, causing them to burst open with a resounding crash which makes both Giles and I wince. Before either of us can recover, he's gone. Again.
Xander
WIllow and I were just around the corner from the library when we hear a resounding crash. Of course, we speed up so that maybe we can get in the way of the villain before Buffy slays it. I don't have a high estimation of our usefulness to the physical side of Slaying. Now, moral and intellectual support, that's more our forte. But I digress.
It's not a demon we see fleeing the scene of the crime. Or maybe it is - I didn;t really understand Giles' explanation. But anyway, it's Theo, striding in the opposite direction to us.
For some reason, Willow turns to me, an unspoken question in her eyes. It's a shame I'm not much good at that sort of thing, but this one's fairly clear - "Can I go after him?". I don't know why she's asking me, to be honest. It's her own choice. But she's been wanting to speak to him all day, and Buffy's been stopping her. I guess she won't be happy until she does... Put like that, what choice do I have? I nod, and her eyes light up, she looks so happy. I wish she'd look like that more often. I sigh softly to myself as I watch her go after him.
Anyway, judging by the raised voices coming from the library, the last thing Buffy and Giles need right now is a Xander-appearance. Unfortunately, since Jesse died, I haven't got any friends outside our little Slayer circle. So it looks like I'm off to the common room, the guys there generally have a card game going, and they don't care who plays. I let my feet lead the way while my mind day-dreams.
When I arrive, I'm greeted by raucous laughs and incredulous looks in my direction. I turn behind me to see what could've caused this, but there's nothing but an empty corridor. Then I look down at myself, and instantly flush a deep red, then I run out of the room, with just a vague hope that there might be some clothes in the changing rooms. Because mine have dissapeared. This nightmare business is worse than I thought. But that doesn't really matter right now, the most important thing is to get dressed and far, far away from those mocking laughs.
Willow
I realise, as I chase after Theo, that I have no idea what I'm going to say to him. I don't even know if I'll catch up to him. But I have to try - the last time I saw him, he'd saved me from Moloch. I'd been asleep when he'd come to the library, and he hadn't even said goodbye. I quell that thought. My mind's such a jumble right now, none of my thoughts are making much sense. I just know I have to speak to him. To make sure he doesn't vanish again. Yes. That's why. No other reason. Just focus on that.
Suddenly, I find myself outside, with very little idea of how I came to be there. I'd just been walking aimlessly, I guess, hoping to find Theo, and I'd wandered out here. I turn to go back inside when I see a solitary figure standing in the middle of the green. Even though he's not facing me, I know he's waiting for me. The question is, do I have the courage to walk over there to him. It's been nearly three weeks since he'd vanished, and not a day had gone by since then that I hadn't wondered what I'd say to him, if he came back. But now, with him here, actually in my reach, I have no idea of what to say.
But since when has that mattered? I take those steps that will take me to his side. I'm there all too quickly. I have to say something - this silence is unbearable. I can't make myself look at him, so I focus on a blossoming cherry tree a little distance away, and ask the first question that comes to mind. "Why did you come back?". Instantly, I know it's the wrong choice - too accusatory by far. I don't want to come across as antagonistic, like Buffy - what's with her, anyway? Then all my thoughts are silenced when he begins to speak. Oh, how I've missed that voice. "Why did I come back? You know, I could've gone anywhere, anywhere in the world. And I wouldn't have fitted in anywhere. I'm unique. I tried isolation for a while - you don't know what it's like, to have all this power, available all around you, to have it just burst out of you - it's terrifying. But I got over that, eventually. Now I'm me again - more or less. So I came back. After all, I must be here for a reason."
I honestly don't know what he's talking about. I think he's rambling. But I don't care. "Thank you" I whisper softly, but knowing that he'll hear it. He turns to me, and my heart speeds up. I still don't look at him. "What for?" he asks quizzically. Then, at last, I look him in the face. His eyes are blazing silver, and I don't care. "For coming back." I say, in the same quiet whisper. His eyes slowly fade back to their normal dark brown, and they're briefly filled with a deep, physical pain, although he gives no other sign of it. Then he smiles, and it's like the sun coming up. He turns back to face the cherry tree, as do I. We stand there in companionable silence, because there's nothing more that needs to be said. It feels entirely natural for my hand to creep into his as we stand there.
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Author's note.
I was going to write about how a nightmare version of Buffy's dad turns up and tells her that the divorce was all her fault and generally being cruel, but I found it too emotionally difficult. So, you'll just have to imagine it happened. It won't really be all that important to the story anyway. But, nevertheless, there will be a touching moment with Buffy in the next chapter.
That's the rationale behind the title - each of the trio bares themselves in some way.