Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 171

[madimpossibledreamer]

Note because beta-senpai was confused: Will is a nickname Buffy and Xander occasionally use for Willow.
*to be fair not all of this is Joseph’s fault, as the whole ‘worlds merging thing’ did change the worlds…and some of it could have happened offscreen.  But it makes sense as a complaint here.
ALSO IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: I have gone back and filled in a giant plot hole in Volume IV with the help of beta-senpai, so go back and re-read that if you feel like it.

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Buffy turns the tables on the Siphon.
Word Count: 1036
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

        It feels like a pain-filled forever before she feels Willow’s mind lightly touch her own.  She’d been starting to wonder if she’d just die like this, or if Shizuka would be compelled to step in and they’d be required to finish the fight normally.  Her friend’s concentrating, so she doesn’t have time for the big lecture she wants to give, but Buffy can feel the disappointment on the edge of her mind.  And, well, yeah, it’s fair, the disappointment.  Because there might’ve been a way that didn’t end here, but Buffy couldn’t see it.  She’d tried.  Not enough, maybe, but she was limited in time and options, and all the different fights she’d seen play out in her dreams, she’d never come this close.  There was a glimpse of a cop with a gun, in one of them, and that had sort of worked, she’s pretty sure in a hazy way, but given that she’s not sure if they send police with a fire truck like they do in America, she’s not sure if they’d even get in that situation, never mind any situation without guns is a good one.
        Unfortunately, it also means she’s going to have to endure this for a bit longer.  A Slayer’s life is hardly free from pain, so it’s not like she’s not used to this, but as used to it as she gets, it’s not like it actually gets any easier.  And she doesn’t have control over her body, right now, so she can’t do the quippage part of the fight.  All in all, there are better places to be, though she supposes this time around there’s not a man expounding on the virtues of cheese, but she’s here because she’s the Slayer and that’s the destiny she’s chosen for herself, thank you, she’s had her taste of almost-normal and boy is it actually boring though it might be a little bit more pleasant on the pain front—
        Buffy, break the connection! Willow’s voice coming through loud and clear, urgent in its warning, because with the way Buffy’s heart is hammering in her chest she’s not going to last with him draining her like this.  Unfortunately, like the cartoon of sticking your fork in the socket, she can’t move.  Can’t break the circuit.  Fortunately, she doesn’t have to do this alone.
        “Shizuka,” she croaks.
        The Siphon drops her, and she falls to her knees, forcing herself to move, even if it’s just enough to glance up to see Shizuka has pinned him against a crate, sword sticking through his chest.  The sword itself is crackling, but the light around Severin has greatly dimmed.  He almost looks human, though it’s impossible to tell whether he’s awake or unconscious.
        Invisible hands, helping her to her feet, as she leans against Shizuka.
        “What did you do?”  She sounds impressed, and a little bit worried.
        “The last time someone attempted to take the power of a Slayer, the spirit of the First Slayer was more than a little not on-board with the idea.  She tried to kill everyone involved.”  And wouldn’t that have been embarrassing, dying in her sleep?  “Except Willow thought it wouldn’t work.  Sineya’s maybe a little weakened after One Slayer became Slayer Army.”
        “It looks like it’s working.”  It sounds like Shizuka the Friendly Ghost learned the comic-book rule that you shouldn’t say something like that definitively, lest the universe try to prove you wrong.
        It’s not, Willow disagrees softly, still present.
        And as Buffy concentrates on her breathing and feels a spark of something ignite within her, she has to agree.  Will, we rewrote the rules again.  The Slayer’s gift is death, all right, whatever, but that’s not all anymore.  “He’s a Slayer, now.”  She can feel him, like the others.  “Which means his power is our power.”  A wave of déjà vu hits her, but she’s never run into anything like this.
        He’s not juiced up anymore.  So his lungs aren’t healing that.  If you can send one powerful shockwave into him now… Willow fills her in.
        She concentrates on her breathing, enough for a glimmer to appear in her hand.  As she strides forward and feeds that glow into the sword, and she can feel the light start to fade.  It’s not as powerful as his, for sure, so she'll definitely have to train with it, and she’s not sure she’ll ever look into how to use it to siphon powers, but a new martial arts style is always fun.
        “And here I thought I was making the smart play,” Severin coughs, laughing through the blood.  He is awake, then, but he won’t be for long.  It hurts to know there’s another one she couldn’t save, but it’s all part of the job, in the end.  “With the Joestar death count…”
        “What do you know about my family?”  Shizuka sounds angry, but Buffy holds up a hand in her way based on where her voice is coming from.  The last thing they need is Shizuka getting too close, getting drained, and somehow bringing the Siphon back from the brink.
        “Oh, I know more than enough.”  The demented smile sends chills up Buffy’s spine.  “Some friend your father was.”  Fortunately, Buffy manages to grab Shizuka’s arm, just as she charges him, shouting.
        “How dare you say something like that?”  She’s still not becoming the Visible-Girl, which is fair enough as no matter how final this feels, it doesn’t look that way.
        He waves that off, probably as cliché.  “He didn’t realize he’d had a bastard for years.  He kept a few tabs on Smokey Brown, but did he ask about his son or grandson?  When he heard the Nazi died in the war, he believed that to be an ending, as well.  Did he ever bother to tell his supposed best friend’s family about his death, or leave them to wonder, just as they had with their father’s disappearance?”  He sighs.  “I could answer that one, with years of research, with tapping into new uses of hamon, techniques that will die with me.  But it’d be easy enough to write that off as the ravings of a madman, so I will, perhaps, just re-introduce myself.  Severin Reuel Zeppeli.”