Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 17

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Josephine and Buffy must fight for their lives.
Word Count: 1200
Rating: K
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

 

            Josephine steps forward, rage driving her.  Buffy moves forward to pull her back, but the sound of breaking glass and inhuman screams of rage fill the air, surrounding them in as heavy a cocoon as the earlier silence.  Miss Joestar flips backwards and kicks away one of the monsters charging them.  The Slayers form a protective circle, but not all of them are quick enough to deal with the humanoid monstrosities attacking them.  Buffy hears a high-pitched scream that's quickly cut off, and hopes that that Slayer is only wounded, unlikely as that is.  She wipes off the sweat from her face.

            Just as suddenly as it begins, it ends, and a silence more menacing than the first descends once more.  Simone's holding up a hand, eyes dancing with merciless laughter.  "See, Buffy?  No more of this 'with power comes responsibility' crap.  You're still playing at being the hero, still stuck in medieval times.  You talk about girl power and being a Slayer, but none of that means a damn thing.  You're still stuck worrying over boys, and as for disobeying?  Hah!  You're the most obedient soldier I've ever met.  Welcome to the real world, where the strong rule and the weak wither."  And with that speech, she pulls out a pistol.

            Buffy's brain halts completely, unable to understand this.  How did she even get a gun?  Those certainly weren't handed out when they were arming the Slay—

           She realizes that her right shoulder's on fire and grunts loudly, gritting her teeth.  She's had worse.  Dying for instance.  Her brain's being slow on taking inventory, though, so she doesn't realize that she doesn't have a fatal wound for a few vital seconds.  Being shot, Buffy thinks vaguely, hurts a lot more than they show on TV.  She's been stabbed and mauled before, and no wound is fun.  But yeah, wounds certainly beat dying, hands down.  Or coming back from death, the second time.  She decides now, that out of the types of wounds, she kind of prefers not-bullet.  Other types of wounds don't bring the same breath-stealing agony that a bullet does.

            She hears a howl and manages to make it to her elbows.  Yeah, that's Spike, in full Game Face, charging Simone.  Well, at least it's someone to whom getting shot isn't a big deal, but Simone's a powerful, strong Slayer, even if she is a complete psycho.

            "Don't worry, Buffy.  I'll get you out of here."  Andrew.  Not exactly someone she'd ever thought she'd be this happy to see, but she manages a smile for the troops.

            "Don't worry.  I won't die on you.  That'd be rude." She feels better, now that she has something to focus on besides the pain.  I'm stronger than the pain, she tells herself.  And judging by how much this hurts, that's really, really strong.

            "And you were never rude to me, even when I was a prisoner-guest."  Andrew's terrified, but he's willing to put himself in the middle of a battle for someone else, now.

            The spray of blood covers their faces, and the Watcher falls over backwards with a yelp, staring helplessly with only a slight amount of comprehension at the Slayer that had dived in front of the blow meant for them.  This Slayer was the one who'd spoken up against Simone earlier.  She grins a bloody, triumphant grin as she holds on to the sword in her stomach.  "I failed to save my sister.  I didn't fail this time."

            "Your sister?" Simone scoffed.  "You're not even related."  She doesn't have the gun anymore, Buffy's glad to see, but the fact that she's not still fighting Spike sends a thrill of fear through her.  He can't be dust, not now.

            "You'd never understand."  Buffy had never gotten her name.  Never even bothered to ask.  She should've asked; should've somehow been ready, stopped this...but at least, she'd never forget this Slayer.  Never forget the look of peace and triumph, like she'd won the only moral victory, the only victory, she'd ever need.

              The shape that now tackles Simone is Spike, bloody and raging.  He's still alive.  Or unalive.  Either way, he's not dust, which is the important thing. 

            She tries once again to tug the sword from the Slayer's body, but it's held in a death grip and isn't moving, even as the Slayer sinks to the earth in front of Buffy.  Simone lets out a curse and scrabbles in Spike's grasp, but the vampire's enraged and out for blood.

            Buffy's barely able to follow the wrestling, but she does notice when the psychotic Slayer's hand gets free and starts to move toward the back of her pants.  It's where Buffy keeps a spare stake, sometimes.

            "Spike!" she shouts in warning, and summons the strength to kick at the free hand.  She can't really get speed or momentum, because it's barely within reach and it's at a weird angle, so it's not enough to, say, break the wrist, which is a pity, but at least Simone abandons her efforts, swearing.  Her warning somehow got through the bloodlust, and Spike springs back, yellow eyes wary.

            Josephine barrels in their direction, and Simone curses again, staring at them all wildly, then darts away, charging behind some of the attacking monsters.  They're hideous.  She'd call them zombies if they weren't hulking powerhouses.  The bodily deterioration is about right.  Josephine's frustrated and angry and favoring her left arm, but gives up her pursuit.  Unlike Simone, it's not a question of survival, but of protecting others.

            Buffy finds herself being lifted, and her mind begins drifting.  It's warm, and she's done at least as much as she can for now.  The fires, the destruction, the dead bodies....the war isn't over.  This is just the first battle, and she's not really sure if either side won.

            But for now, she can rest.

 

            "Buffy!  You're okay!  N-no, don't try to move too much!"  Willow, beginning to babble.  This is a familiar, safe feeling.

            She opens her eyes to see Spike, Andrew, Giles, Josephine, Dawn, and several dozen Slayers trying to stay out of the way in various nooks.  Willow's by her bedside, holding her hand.

            "I wouldn't have provoked her quite like that if I'd known."  Spike tried to sound airy, above it all, but the slight amount of guilt rings through.

            "Provoked?"  Buffy raises an eyebrow.

            "A false accusation for a false accusation, but I was betting it'd smoke her out."  Josephine's gaze sharpened, but the pleased twitching of the corner of her mouth indicated she approved wholeheartedly.  Even if Spike was a vampire.

            "Spike, I don't think Simone hid an army of zombies and vampires—"

            "Slaypires," Dawn interrupted.  Buffy stared at her incredulously.  "What.  Xander's not here to give things ridiculous names, so I'm filling in.  My work here is done."

            "Slaypires," Buffy continued, "...if she hadn't been planning to kill us anyway.  We're lucky she didn't succeed, but it's close.  And I'm out of practice.  I need to start training again."

            "Later," Willow stated with a warning look.  "Once you've healed."

            "I'd be up for that," Josephine volunteered, starting a chorus of 'me too' for sparring partners.  Buffy grinned.  They'd be ready next time.