A Serious Affair

[madimpossibledreamer]

This being Buffy, I think she has chosen Chaos Route. Though you could make an argument it’s Neutral Route instead.
Maybe slight homophobia/biphobia?

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/SMT Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha (Casts Shadows)
Summary: There are repercussions for Halloween.
Word Count: 1344
Rating: Teen

 

         Neither Xander nor Willow had been acting normally since Halloween. That wasn’t entirely unexpected; there’d been a lot of lingering weirdness since then. Buffy’s pretty sure she’d seen an old grandma push a city bus once before going back to hobbling across the streetwalk with her little cane. And there’s all the stuff about the tips and community patrolling and some people are still treating her like she’s their ruler and she catches herself planning a takeover of her city. Not that she doesn’t appreciate it, and it’s honestly very soothing to actually coordinate efforts like this and get a few nights off, even though Giles has apparently started to get worried, for some reason.
         But it’s gotten...weirder? Not that she wants to make a fuss about...some stuff. It’s an adjustment, that’s all. But Xander’s gotten a lot more respectful about the stuff he says and he’ll join in with the rating guys thing like he’d always been doing that, and it’s weird that it’s so normal. Probably the wiggiest part is that he’s being polite to Angel and acting as if he’s been doing that all along. At least if he’d apologized they wouldn’t feel like this was the Twilight Zone.
         It’s just that...they’d put all this energy into Buffy’s plan to get Xander’s attention using a secret admirer. There had been talk of letters and other stuff, and Willow just told her that wasn’t necessary, which, yeah, okay, maybe if she’d managed to get through to him just with the costume, that was one thing, but they don’t actually seem like they’re dating, and yet Willow’s fine and not mopey or despairing or anything anymore.
         So when she comes to school and Willow just tackle-hugs her, Buffy’s only sort of prepared. And actually manages not to slam her into the wall. Too hard.
         “Uh, Willow? What’s up?” She’s a little sheepish about that. And Willow’s crying, which just makes her feel worse.
         “Xander’s in the hospital!” ...Oh. Okay, so that wasn’t about the manhandling. Womanhandling. Whatever.
         “From a patrol, or?” This is kind of why she’d been against the idea of Xander handling sharp objects in the first place, not that she was going to actually say any of that when he’d already seemed upset enough about Giles being the voice of reason.
         There’s stares. Including Cordy, of all people. Willow glances around and then remembers to lower her voice. “No, apparently there’s a Council ‘Wetworks Team’ or something and they basically started seeing him as a threat, like, a bad influence on you, you know, so…” She draws a line across her throat and then starts crying again. “Angel saved him.”
         It’s a good thing sometimes that she’s the Slayer. Because she could be panicking, and she is more than a little bit right now, but there’s also Slayer Mode where she gets into the fixing (or staking) of problems and can postpone the actual freaking to later or never. Both Merrick and Giles had hinted that she was...really unusual, for a Slayer. Because she wasn’t under their control. And if there’s one thing a bunch of people like this love, it’s control. Maybe they’re not, strictly speaking, Big Bads, but the principle is the same. They’re just as bad as the Master.
         And okay, yeah, sure, they might have a bit of a point, because she’s still not sure about all this demon stuff and Xander is definitely throwing himself into harm’s way a little too much, but he’s also her friend, and if they think she’s just going to let them do this—
         Maybe they don’t. Maybe this is a last warning but they’re definitely planning on taking her out too. Or if they’re not now, they’ll change their minds. It’s only a matter of time. She’ll listen to Giles. Barely. But she’s not big on the taking orders part, and they’re big on the giving orders part, so there’s a mutual incompatibility there.
         “Come on,” she tells Willow, who stops crying abruptly even though she looks very, very confused.
         “Where are we going?” Cordy asks from behind them.
         “Giles, if you’re getting involved.” If she’s getting in the way, Buffy’s just going to shove her aside. She doesn’t have time for social dominance contests.
         Cordy just kind of...smiles? “You’re still giving the orders, Duchess.”
         Buffy rolls her eyes but allows the tag-along even as she storms down the hallway, not remotely bothered about appearances or anything else right now. Cordy’s bored, probably. And making fun, but she is actually maybe vaguely interested in helping.
         And Giles is in the library, talking to a guy in a suit, and they both have tea and British accents, so the Watchers are already here.
         And she’s just so very done. And she really wants to make a point. So she slams the guy’s head into the table. Cordy actually looks vaguely impressed. Giles is panicking. The Watcher isn’t dead, though, though he’s out cold. She might’ve just given him a concussion. She’d be all ‘whoops’ about it if not for the fact that she is not going to let them just dictate her life or take her friends from her like this.
         “Buffy, that was a fellow Watcher!” Like she didn’t know already.
         “He started it. Xander’s in the hospital. We are figuring out a way to make them back the hell off and leave us all alone, and you’re going to help out or I swear you’re joining him.” Giles does not seem to be processing and is a little in shock. Fine, whatever, he’s going to be useless for a bit.
         “You have to show them who’s boss. In this case, it’s a group, so you get your own clique together. You’re strong, Buffy, but if they don’t see that, they’re not going to back down.” Cordy sounds vaguely interested. Probably mostly like this is helping out her boredom, but. That’s also kind of useful.
         “Oh! Buffy, the Devil Summoners worked for the Yatagarasu! Maybe we could make it look like they’ve set up here!” Willow’s getting really excited about this, but…
         “The Yatawhosit? And Willow, that wasn’t real.” As hard as it is to remember sometimes, when she’s thinking about her city or her people or whatever.
         Giles sighs. At least he’s on the ‘cleaning his glasses’ part of things. “To clarify, Buffy, the Council has deployed their Wetworks team?”
         “Angel knew who they were, apparently,” Willow offers instead.
         It looks like Giles is making his decision, determination filling his face. Good. “If they’ve reached that stage, then any offers of negotiation are a mere façade. They won’t stop or change their minds unless they have a particularly compelling reason to do so—and Miss Chase is correct, for once. The only reason they would do so is if they believe it would be far too dangerous to themselves to do so.”
         Cordy looks smug up until the point of the dig, at which point she protests, “Hey!” No one’s listening to her though.
         “As long as we suggest the organization has different names at different periods, it should be simple enough to stitch together a tale, though we will need aid in that regard…” He sighs again. “Much as I don’t want to involve him, Ethan may be of some help.”
         “We’ll help too!” Buffy doesn’t remember this kid directly, just that he’s younger and volunteered for the community watch.
         “Nobody should be alone. How long before they try again?” The inside knowledge could wind up being super handy.
         “Twenty-four hours, at most. Likely four hours at the least. You confer with your ‘community watch’.” He’s already turning away to his books.
         Cordy thinks about it before shrugging. “I’ll help him. Go make sure the loser’s okay.” And from the look she gives Buffy, she’s offering to keep an eye on Giles, just in case he betrays them. Well, okay then. Willow is super grateful, smiling nice and wide at Cordelia, who busies herself with books Giles absent-mindedly hands her rather than interact with them any further.