Title: Again, the Crimson Road (3/??) Author: Tim Williams Rating: TV-14 or so. Violence, adult situations, etc. Pairing: Buffy/Xander, a few hints at others Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, etc. Even the ideas are probably things I've read and half forgotten. Joss owns Buffy, Xander, and crew. Any other characters are owned by someone else entirely. Distribution: Take my fanfic! Please! Also try, if you're looking for past parts, etc. http://www.angelfire.com/tn/twillia/buffy/bufindex.html (updated through WTCR 4). Feedback: I'm definitely looking for feedback, in the worst way. Anything you can tell me, even if it's just "I read it." is wonderful. Spoilers: Some general stuff. Season 1, heavily, mentions of Season 4 (nothing important, I wouldn't think, besides Adam). Summary: Sequel to Carve the Crimson Road and Walk the Crimson Road. It got into Xander's hand and things went bad. Xander ha(s/d) a magical disk implanted in his left wrist, which turns out to be an elemental weapon capable of forming tendrils and weapons from metal. Think Terminator 2 but more so. Now they (Buffy and Xander) have just stepped into a space/time rift that was tuned under a great deal of stress by someone who's only done it a couple of times before (if at all). Good luck, folks! Author's Notice: This part is going to be less closely tied to the original, so don't be shocked if something odd happens. I just sort of did this part. I'm not sure what's going on, really, and would greatly appreciate opinions. I'm not sure about what I've done here... if you read it, I'm sure you'll see the plot element I'm talking about. Also, thanks to everyone who's read this and my other parts, and especially those of you who mailed me feedback :) Your contact is much appreciated. *** We had set a rendezvous for after school, which meant that time slowed down exponentially the closer it came to the last bell. A watched pot never boils, but I couldn't help myself. Focusing on Willow's study help was pretty hard. I mean, I survived Dr. Walsh's class, in more ways than one, and now high school seemed almost... easy. Why did I ask her? Willow, to study, that is. Oh, yeah, it's not like I can just walk up to her and say something like, hi, I'm Buffy, your new best friend. Trying to keep up the appearance of normalcy and all. "Buffy?" I realized that I'd zoned out for a moment there. "You in there?" "Um, yeah. I'm totally paying attention." "Really? What was I just saying, then?" "You were asking me if I was paying attention." She grinned. "Well, it's almost time to go, anyway. You did really well for your first day." "Really?" I smiled, more from joy at the end of the day than anything. "Yeah... umm..." she seemed to blush a little, but I might have been imagining it. "Do you want to... never mind?" I tried to discern what she was going to ask but drew a blank. "Want to what?" "You know... hang out, outside of a study kind of situation." "Sure," I smiled back at her, relieved a little. "Um... want to go to the Bronze tonight? It's like the coolest place to be in Sunnydale." "Would it happen to also be the only place to be in Sunnydale?" "More or less." *** Little known fact, most Slayer's can't get pregnant. It's both a blessing and a curse. On the down side, you don't get to have children. On the up side, you probably won't live long enough for it to matter. Have I mentioned that my job sucks? Giles definitely didn't tell me about this little fact. It's something I hit upon during one of those oh-so-wonderful all night researching sessions during senior year. It definitely takes a lot of the hassle and risk out of sex, so long as I don't think about the consequences too much. Of course, that doesn't help much when the danger in question is your mother walking in on you and a guy that, to her knowledge, you've known less than twelve hours doing it. Not one whit. We stopped off at my house, we being Xander and I, to get some alone time. The closets at school were really starting to annoy me. Mom wasn't supposed to be home until later. Emphasis on the "supposed" to be. Somehow, we ended up making out on my bed, and that flowed into hot naked time. Have I mentioned that I let my hormones think for me more than I should? Well, I really, really do. I mean, really. But I swear, I locked the door. I really did. I know we where a little caught up in the moment and all, but I really did lock it. Really. "Buffy?" It was a small, quiet voice. Like a frightened child asking why her pet wasn't moving.. Xander froze as soon as she said it. And I could see the terror cross his face and his eyes dart to the window. Hurriedly, I grabbed him with one arm and a sheet with the other, spinning us around and changing our positions so that he was behind me and a sheet covered us. "M-mom..." "I'm going downstairs now." Her eyes were glassy, almost like she was moving on autopilot. "Come down and bring your friend with you." I collapsed backwards onto the bed and onto Xander, nearly catatonic with fright. "This isn't going to be good," was all I could murmur. He just whimpered. *** "I thought things were going to change, Buffy," she was still talking in that damn small voice. I wish she had just started yelling at me and got it over with. This quiet thing was scary. "They will be, mom." Her eyes seemed to focus on me for the first time since she'd seen us. "Will they? You promised me you'd stay out of trouble, and look what I find... your first day no less." "It's complicated." "Then make it uncomplicated. Tell me what's going on, Buffy." There was about of foot of couch between Xander and I. He just sat there, quietly shaking in fear. He's never been one for confrontation with mothers. "I can't, mom..." "I see." "Mom..." "Why did we come here, Buffy?" She was not as far away now, I could see the shock giving way to anger. "We were going to leave all the bad stuff behind, back in LA. But that was a stupid idea, wasn't it?" "It wasn't stupid, mom..." "Yes, it was. Stupid." She was wholly back in reality now, and glaring at me with a passion. "As soon as I can tie up my business here, we're going back to LA. You are going into counseling." "Mom... I can't go back... I'm needed here." "Needed? Who could possibly need you here?" That's when I knew I was at one of those moments. You know, back when I was fifteen and sixteen, I was always hoping for a chance to just, you know, nonchalantly slip in the fact that I was the slayer to mom. Please pass the mashed potatoes, honey. Sure, mom, can you toss the salt? Here you go. By the way, I have a sacred calling to kill vampires and other assorted demons on a nightly basis, thrown in with lots of risking my life to save the world. That's nice, dear. Pass me the peas? But it wouldn't happen that way. Not really. So, I might as well let her have it. Full force. "Well, this town was designed to be one giant feeding trough for demons and is run by a homicidal manic that plans to turn himself into a huge thing with lots of scales and bad breath in a couple of years, killing pretty much everyone in town in the process. A vampire as old as Christ is living under the school library and hopes to shove the whole world into hell, or at least kill most of the humans or enslave them. Oh, and there are enough evil ancient things buried under this town to make Indiana Jones run for cover." Her look said, Are you insane?" "Are you insane?" I sighed deeply, knowing that I was in for one long discussion.