The World Has Teeth

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU (Xander is an FBI Agent. Universe is vaguely based on Normal Again.)
Summary: Buffy's escape attempt gets interrupted.
Word Count: 960
Rating: Teen

         It’s not the first time Buffy’s felt the urge to just...leave and not come back. It probably won’t be the last. It’s not too helpful, not here. She could just have that normal life like she’s always saying she wants, but the issue is that she remembers. Even if none of it is hers, even if none of it actually happened, here, she can’t just forget like everyone expects. And it doesn’t help that since they came out here for the little vacation, it suddenly became pretty clear that there’s magic and weirdness, even if it’s a different flavor than she’s used to and Xander is kind of trying to hide it from her, trying not to let her get involved.
         It is the first time she’s tried to do this that she’s been caught. Well. That’s not exactly the right way to say it, really. She gets interrupted.
         Her stealth is good. Better than what she remembers, really, maybe partly because she’s absolutely sick of being on stage in the spotlight, though she does remember things like ‘pretend you’re supposed to be where you are and no one will question it’.
         She sees Agent Xander walking around, only it isn’t like he’s patrolling, or anything. There’s a shambling quality to it that says he’s being mind controlled, or something, though she’s still arguing with herself about what she should do when he walks straight up to the pool with no hesitation and wades in, and something’s trying to kill him, and even if they’re not friends like they were, she’s still not going to let whatever it is succeed, because damn it she likes Xander and the world’s not going to take her friends away from her, not after she’s finally found at least one. Well, maybe more of ‘friend’, but hey, she’s working on it, cut her some slack.
         She’s not as strong as she remembers, being the Vampire Slayer, but she’s not, not in this reality, though maybe she’s something else. The wheelchair apparently helped her upper arm strength a lot, though. She doesn’t even really need it most of the time, but she’d been put in one after the latest coma kept her out of things for a bit, and she doesn’t need the docs to tell her she’s weaker, because she absolutely can tell the difference, here, thanks. She probably could push it faster than they’re willing to go, but apparently she’s had at least one seizure they haven’t been able to pinpoint so they really, really want to go slow. She can still sense things (well, she thinks she can, though getting outside confirmation of this is really difficult, particularly when she’s trying to convince her parents that she’s all better now), so there’s a lot of flailing, particularly when he—well. He’s not fighting her, but he’s not helping out, either, a dead weight staring creepily, listlessly into space, like he’s possessed. And this Xander is older, older than her, which is wig-tastic, keeps in shape, and is thus weighs a whole lot more, making this so much harder.
         It’s obvious when he comes back, though that doesn’t make it any easier; he starts flailing more than a wacky inflatable tube man. Honestly, there might be screaming, though from who it’s hard for her to say. It’s clear when he realizes that he’s not alone and whatever else is going on with him what with the whole avoidance of water thing (seriously, he’d basically tiptoed around the pool as far away as he could get, the last time he was looking for people to get statements) he’s also not going to let her die, or whatever, that he actually, with the sort of grim determination she’s seen from him before (well, another her, in another reality), getting ready for the whole Mayor thing in which they all suspected they’d die, that he all but drags them both out of the water.
         Once out, though, the tremors in his hands quadruple and he kind of falls on the concrete and just lays there, coughing out water and apparently unable to move on purpose, like a half-drowned rat. The panic in his eyes—in his face—can’t be ignored.
         “You all right?” she asks, concerned, and the seriousness of the situation is underscored by the fact that he brings the full force of his sarcasm to bear, trying to get her to pay no attention to the actual content of his words.
         “Oh, I’m never all right.” It’s as airy as he can manage while still coughing out water, voice hoarse. “So, situation normal, I guess, thanks for the concern. Hope I didn’t ruin your sneaking out attempt.”
         “I come bearing towels,” his partner (Oz! she hadn’t expected that) announces, throwing something extremely fluffy at her—and, score, she actually manages to catch it. “Sharpe, should I worry about sleepwalking?”
         “...Between the three of us, sort of, yes that was probably a murder attempt although if it was the culprit or culprits, plural, or the return of a childhood curse, I’m not sure. Everyone else concerned, absolutely, sleepwalking.” He stops trembling as much but makes no move to actually get up or dry off.
         Oz just kind of tuts and actually walks over to start toweling the guy off, and Xander just kind of limply lets him.
         “I’m glad you’re okay,” she tells him, and Oz gives her a thumbs-up, and Xander smiles a little even though he looks like he’s starting to fall asleep, which probably has more to do with the shock than the cold, though it’s a good thing someone’s working on getting him warmed up. There’s the sound of others stirring, behind. Hopefully they won’t make too big of a fuss.