madimpossibledreamer

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Josephine and Buffy find Giles's rescue group and work through some of the aftermath of the trial.
Word Count: 1537
Rating: K
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Josephine stays quiet on the way back, slightly discouraged, maybe, but more than anything else exhausted. Buffy had begun to wonder whether the lady ever shut up. Not that she was annoying, but Miss Joestar had been a bottomless source of cheerfulness and energy, it didn't all seem like an act. It still didn't, but the night was a lot darker without chatter to fill up the void.

Yet another similarity between her and her son, actually. This grimmer version was a lot harder to deal with. Even though taking some things seriously was probably a good thing, the minute either of them got serious, the switch in attitude was shocking. Even if the person beneath the smile or frown was the same. But all the Slayers, including Buffy, were just as tired, and she couldn't muster the strength to actually begin a conversation or anything. The oppressive stillness, silence, and darkness would prove to be spooky.

Somehow, even with the few Slayers carrying the bodies of their fallen comrades, they make pretty good time. Fast enough they make it to the area Giles and his group were searching. Discussion about returning to HQ had been quiet but earnest, but Buffy wasn't going to abandon any of her friends, ever. If some of them had been attacked, then a reasonable assumption was that they weren't the only ones in danger, even if, possibly, the biggest army had been sent against them. A few of the Slayers were heading back, if they weren't sure they wanted to fight this war. The ones carrying the bodies back were going too, since they couldn't fight and they didn't want to abandon their fellows even in death. They deserved a proper burial.

It's somewhat shocking that it's rather easy for them to find Giles and his group, but then, judging by the wounds on a few of the Slayers and Giles that she can see, they've had their run-in with the Slayer-Vamps too, and have returned to practically the starting point, where they'd all split up into their respective search groups.

The fact that Giles has been hurt makes Buffy uncomfortable. He's her mentor, closer to her than her dad. He can't die.

And then her heart jumps into her throat. There's another vampire behind Giles, and he hasn't noticed. He's off kind of by himself, and no one's close enough to get there in time. If only she hadn't lost her crossbow in the confusion...she'd still probably be too far away, but at least the range would give her a chance...

Buffy blinks and almost misses it. This time, she knows that Josephine is—had been—right next to her. And somehow steps sideways, and then is suddenly across the plaza right behind Giles and the vamp, and almost casually she stakes the bloodsucker in the brain. It shrieks, and now the Watcher finally reacts, as it dissolves into a pile of dust that's quickly taken away by the wind. It's not just moving fast, or dodging, or sneaking. She couldn't have possibly gotten across the square that quick. At least, not normally. Maybe she hadn't been hallucinating after all, and whatever Josephine had used was related to whatever it was Buffy had seen while lying on the pavement.

Of course, deciding how much to trust her foggy brain was a different issue, one that needn't be decided just yet. She rushes over to Giles's side, the other Slayers following.

Giles is sharp and catches that Josephine couldn't have possibly appeared like that without some sort of supernatural technique, but other than a quick, searching glance, doesn't question her about it at the moment. "Thank you. I believe you saved my life."

"Save my son's, and then we're even." Josephine sounds winded, bending forward slightly to try to catch her breath.

It's then that Buffy notices her sister kicking her heels, pouting written all over her body. She marches over to glare at her.

"You don't have to lecture me. I already had that from Giles, and from a few of the Slayers." Buffy's about to go off anyway when she notices that Dawn's lip is trembling. She's scared, but covering that in a veneer of teenage rebellion, even though she's not really a teenager anymore. It's taking everything she has not to burst out crying.

"You've seen the consequences...but you're still probably going to do it again, aren't you?" Buffy asks quietly, quietly enough that they can both deny this conversation ever happened later.

Dawnie sniffles and bites her lip.

"Just...be careful." If she hugs her sister now, they'll both start crying, so Buffy just manages a comforting hand squeeze. "We should probably teach you to take care of yourself, too, huh?"

"It's about time you realized trouble finds me wherever I go, and it's not my fault." Disbelieving eyebrows make her falter. "Well, only about half my fault."

"Now that, I can believe," Buffy states, dryly amused. It's a sign of her maturity, she thinks, that she hasn't gone ahead with a lecture anyway. Giles should be proud.

Speaking of Giles, she should probably ask him exactly what's happened. And maybe suggest that they find and warn the others, and return to HQ, because it's not as if huge battles can exactly be subtle and she's had enough dealings with the police for a lifetime, even if it was luckily few. Besides, she feels eyes on her, and that doesn't exactly make her feel comfortable. She turns, and Spike's arrived. This particular vampire wouldn't try to reenact the scene when they'd arrived, thank goodness. It's good to see him, though she was surprised when he didn't sign first in blood on the rescue brigade sign-up sheets. His strange friendship with Xander, Mr. All-Vampires-Are-Evil, was weird but made a strange kind of sense. His next words, though, explain that he was helping in his own way.

"I spoke to some of my contacts in the Underworld," the blond vampire reports. "None of them knew about the whelp, but there's been portents about something coming for months. Practically got thrown out of a blind seer demon's place just for asking about a stone mask. It's got them rushing around like headless chickens, or just cowering like they've been cornered by a black dog. Whatever this is, we'd better find the boy quick."

"Hate to stick up for Simone, but...her own survival's important to her. Turning someone when you're not a vampire would be dangerous, right? When they all attacked, she was here with us." The Slayer from earlier approached, still with a ready glare at Mohawk Witness Girl, who smirked.

"See? She knows what's what." The Slayer slapped the other on the back, who looked ready to growl at the touch.

"It's not that easy, an' you know it." Spike, eyes gaining the slightest tint of yellow. "How'd they get turned, that many, with no one noticing? Must've been done in Slayer HQ, and if there was anyone there not supposed to be, someone would've noticed."

"Maybe the ones who noticed got vamped too," Simone shrugs. She doesn't seem at all threatened by the vampire in her face, accusing her.

"Maybe, and you'd know that, wouldn't you?" A predatory grin. Spike is pulling out all the stops. "Forgot to mention, a friend of mine mentioned you asked for a place to stash over a hundred vampires. Odd thing for a Slayer to say."

Simone doesn't react for a long few seconds. Something twitches out of the corner of Buffy's eye, but when she looks there's only a window curtain, swaying in the wind. No one is standing there, but all of a sudden her Slayer instincts are screaming that they're out in the open, they're vulnerable, and the first attacks softened them up, made them easier prey. She's probably overreacting, but at the very least they have people watching and might end up with policemen too and this isn't the place to have this confrontation...

"Well, aren't you clever?" she drawls, the smirk growing. "I should've paid more attention to your attack dog, Slayer. His bark's nastier than his bite, and his bite's nasty enough. I had you going there for a while, though." By the way Josephine's hand is twitching, she wants to wipe that superior smirk off Mohawk Witness Girl's face.

Buffy's breath catches in her throat. "A-are you confessing?"

"You, on the other hand, are thick. And weak." Despite the fact that she was surrounded by people who would happily beat her into a pulp for what she'd done, judging by the way some of the onlookers were eyeing her, she remains smug and calm. "So afraid to use your power, so afraid of yourself and who you are. You haven't accepted that we're death, and with the power we have, we can do anything. Be anything. You're still a slave of the Watcher's Council, even though they're all dead and you're alive, and the new version's just a bunch of imitators." Simone stretches, actions somehow more full of menace than a threatening glare. "I'm nobody's slave."

The tension and silence hung thick and heavy, waiting for the brave fool thoughtless enough to take the first step.