Afterimages

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Buffy/Devil May Cry
Chapter Summary: The team has a useful conversation, they spot the girl from one of their previous cases, and Buffy has a revelation.
Word Count: 2243
Rating: Teen

 

         Giles is already relaxing just a little, which is good. He might honestly need it the most, because other than that little skirmish against the Shaede he hadn’t gotten outside his comfort zone at all. By the time they barely manage to secure a parking spot without getting rammed, he’s looking frazzled, and that’s not helped at all by Xander waving cheerfully by the entrance, bike nowhere in sight. Knowing him, he’d parked it somewhere no one would think to look and walked over, because he has an uncanny knack of figuring out where to stash things so they won’t be noticed.
         “Thanks for buying us tickets, G-man.” He’s a little odd, wants to fidget, but he’s trying to restrain himself and actually behave for once. It feels even weirder to her than his normal demon-ness does. Of course, he’s always going to be awkward, when it comes to this, because even more than her she’s pretty sure he can feel Giles’ hesitation, no matter how much he tries to hide it.
         “It’s better to pay for things now and then.” Of course, he doesn’t have that much to complain about. Their living expenses are next to nothing, considering they’re not paying for the hotel and who knows where chefghost gets the food. The only things they actually would need to spend any money on are things like research books and clothes, and none of them have steady jobs other than the occasional money they get from Xander’s private eye business. But that’s kind of beside the point.
         Xander just waves that off, slouching a little further. It’s not clear if he notices he’s essentially trying to draw into himself and become less visible, only with slightly less success since he’s in his human form and doesn’t have the magic wings to wrap around himself. “They’ll be repaid eventually. But I appreciate it anyway.”
         He’s made cryptic remarks like that before, and maybe it’s related to the whole devil side thing, because she hopes he’s not delusional enough to think he’ll be a millionaire in the future. They’d had an argument about it before, she knows. Quietly enough Willow wouldn’t have heard, because neither of them want to hurt the redhead, and it was over the computer he’d gotten her and she loved, so of course she’d feel involved if she knew anything about it, but not too quiet for a Slayer’s ears. Giles thinks he’s being reckless, taking risks. And of course Xander thinks it’s fine. Buffy thinks he probably knows what he’s doing, if he’s been doing it this long and not gotten caught, but can’t be sure. All she can do is trust him. Which she does. Giles is…getting there.
         He restrains himself now. “You’re welcome.” Bristles slightly as Xander glances away (which, yeah, he seems to get distracted easily), except as they turn to look there’s a very good reason why his attention wandered.
         Arianna’s waving enthusiastically, but the woman holding her hand won’t let her come over. Maybe she just wants to keep her spot in line, but she seems a little distrustful. Xander tenses a little, but waves back anyway, soft smile on his face.
         “Who’s she?” Buffy asks, suspicious, but he answers easily.
         “Ms. Andrade. She works with Miss Gallagher, formerly Dowell, at her volunteer charity thing. She’s the closest thing Ari’s mom has to a family friend, and apparently was a real help through the whole thing. And definitely human.” Now that she thinks about it, Buffy does vaguely remember seeing her in the courtroom crowd, but she’d been paying far more attention to the non-human slimeball giving her the creeps. “Apparently she’s less high up in the hierarchy, and their schedules are staggered so she can look after the kid when her mom can’t.”
         “She’s glaring at us,” Willow observes, equally hurt and protective.
         Xander sighs. “It’s not like I don’t get it. She’s just the messenger for Gallagher. I’m not the little league coach or anything, but I’m still a—she probably still thinks I’m in my twenties, but even then older—guy hanging around her kid. I only have the bestest of intentions, but she’s not psychic. She can’t know that for sure. Plus I bet He of the Fast Food griped about me a bit, and given what happened I’d be surprised if she can bring herself to trust easily ever again. From the babysitter’s point of view she knows even less about me. So, a chaperone.”
         “That’s not fair,” Willow grumbles, kicking at the sidewalk, and their half-devil shocks them with a smile.
         “Who said anything about fair? Sure, it’s a sucktastic situation, but she’s still letting me keep an eye on the kid, and like hell am I gonna throw a fit about something that lets her feel safe after all that. Alvin’s getting the same treatment, and he agrees with me.” His foot is bouncing a little as they reach and join the end of the line, but then, sitting still unless he’s deeply asleep is not one of his finer attributes.
         Still, there’s something he’s not saying—wait. “You think she might still be a target.”
         “I’m not saying that’s a sure thing, but she’s still got her psychic mojo whatever-it-is. She’s far from the first psychic or priestess or whatever to be targeted for their abilities, and usually that’s a kind of lifelong deal, power being what it is and all.” He shrugs, uncomfortable. “I’d still…I’d still want to see the kid, even without that. She’s cute and really likes me for some reason and I’d hate to upset her. But I’m not going to let anything hurt her, either.” He pauses, then adds thoughtfully, “…actually, no, I might’ve been wrong earlier; her mom might be slightly psychic, actually. Not like she saw through any of it, but she totally felt it when I used my Jedi Mind Tricks. She wants to be able to trust me, knows she can, and can’t deal without her safety blanket anyway.”
         “So she might have inherited her abilities from her mother?” Giles asks, suddenly interested, and Buffy doesn’t miss the smirk Xander tries to hide. Yeah, okay, it’s funny that her former Watcher can only interact like a normal person when Research is involved, but still, he’s way too zen about it.
         “Yeah, probably, though the lioness is big leagues and her mom’s still swimming in the kiddie pool. Maybe her scumbag, uh, gene donor?” And he’s even trying to censor his word choice, even if Arianna probably isn’t in earshot. “He might also have something. Been more attuned to the supernatural, accidentally contacted something he shouldn’t have, and next thing you know he’s starting a cult.”
         Willow frowns. “Does that mean we could’ve saved him?” She looks like she’s taking it personally, and it takes Buffy a second to clue into the fact that their resident witch is probably taking it seriously from how both she and her best friend had kind of…gotten out of control, that time.
         “There’s only so much you can do when the person in question doesn’t want your help,” Giles explains gently, and Xander shrugs, nods, and points at the Designated Adult in agreement (which honestly might be a first?).
         “I can’t say for sure sure, never having actually seen let alone met the man…” He…hadn’t? Buffy thinks about it, and, no, he’s right, he’d been kidnapped before the trial even started, so he hadn’t even seen the dirtbag in court, and unless the cult leader had some sort of fancy magics he couldn’t be in two places at once and probably was getting ready while her friend was being tortured. That’s weird to think about, but maybe it’s for the best, given how he’d reacted in the adjoining room in the police station (come to think about it, she’s still not gotten a good explanation from either Alisha or their devil dork what they’d wanted to talk about, not that she thinks they’ll actually tell her if they haven’t by now). “….but the impression I got from the goons was that it didn’t matter if he started with good intentions or whatever. He was full steam on the path to Hell, high on the power, and didn’t care who got hurt. At some point you have to stop trying to disarm the bomb and start bracing for the fallout.”
         Willow swallows. She looks hurt, but she has to know that he’s different when it comes to them, right? He’s all easygoing and for second chances, but when it comes to people he doesn’t know personally he wouldn’t be quite as forgiving as he would be for them. (Example A: Giles, and somehow he’s got more patience than she does on the subject.) Buffy reaches over and pats their witch’s shoulder, just to snap her out of it. Hopefully.
         Xander’s attention has already wandered away. “Hey, they’ve got some rides.” He’s pointing at a Ferris Wheel and something else metallic that isn’t quite visible this close to the fence.
         Surprisingly, it’s Willow that tries to snark back, though she’s a little hesitant about it. “No, you’re not allowed to jump off. You’ll scare people.” There’s something going on there, and Xander looks entirely oblivious. Not that that’s uncharacteristic. He can be really oblivious when he’s not playing detective.
         He pouts at her but can’t hold it for long, switching to a goofy grin. “It’ll still be fun. And no, Will. I’m not gonna jump. I’ll be a good boy. The bestest boy.”
         “I’m looking forward to beating you at the eating contest,” Buffy remarks, and his eyes go wide. All right, so they pretty much have all the food they’d want thanks to chefghost, but heshe does seem to care about them eating well and sometimes you just want to pig out on junk food.
         “Wait, they have eating contests?” He’s trying, very hard, to contain his goofy little dance of glee, but it’s not working very well.
         It’s been a little while since she’d gone to one, and she definitely doesn’t remember any, but her parents wouldn’t have let her enter anyway. “If they don’t, I’m declaring one between us right now.”
         He pumps his fist and then seems to realize what he did, looking sheepish. Like it’s not the point that he’s their half-devil dork. Like them having fun and making fools of themselves (and probably Giles in the process) isn’t the point. “I’m probably going to suffer and I’m still going to have fun.”
         Giles sighs on cue, casting apologetic glances at the other carnival-goers despite the fact that none of them appears to be paying any attention to their little group. “As long as you go on the rides first. I think the least we can do is not inflict vomit on the good workers.”
         “I thought you signed a contract you weren’t allowed to be a spoilsport today,” the Slayer teases as…does Xander look a little green at the thought?
         “Eh, he’s got a point. We could build up an appetite first.” He sounds a hint more serious, but manages a grin when Willow elbows him, a concerned look on her face. “No need for the Resolve Face there, missy. No running away for this Xanman except in the quest for less perforation of said Xanman. Just…fit vague flashbacks of every time I had the flu or overstuffed myself as a kid into the space of a couple seconds. We’ve already talked about it, but my memoryspace post-Spikyself is weird.”
         “Do you know why?” Giles asks, and…well, that’s a switch. He’s still a little distant and academic about it, but he’s actually asking questions like he cares and that’s a change. Of course, the academic side had always intrigued him, but he’d done his absolute best to hide that from her friend like it’d validate his existence in some way or some ridiculous excuse like that.
         Xander sighs but answers anyway, lowering his voice and eyeing the gates they’re slowly shuffling to. “Traumatic first shift. Not rewriting my genetics, considering that was already there, but unlocking something and probably rewriting my body. Something else funky about devil genes. Take your pick.”
         Willow speaks up unexpectedly again. “To be fair, I’m probably one of the few good things for him to remember.” That’s…kind of bad, but it’s not like Buffy’s trying not to remember her own past for Completely Unrelated Reasons (mainly she’s starting to feel really guilty about her mom thinking she’s been kidnapped for nefarious reasons).
         He winces. “Guess you figured out I was lying to you, huh?” He pulls her into a hug. “I didn’t want you to be sad.”
         “How many times are we going to have this conversation?” she asks, adding a disappointed tone to the Resolve Face.
         “Until I get smarter?” he offers, charming smile and all, and it’s really unfair he keeps pulling that card. “Working on it, Treefriend.”
         They’ve finally made it to the end of the line. “Well, we can start with having fun now,” Giles insists, handing their tickets over.
         “Thank you! I hope we can make your day brighter!” the worker responds with more enthusiasm than Buffy can remember anybody working in customer service ever. Like they do actually care, and it’s not just a job.
         “Can’t argue with that,” Xander agrees wholeheartedly, finally releasing Willow from the hug, and she’s blushing.
         They’re going to have to talk.