Repost FIC: To Cross the River Styx (5b/?)

[PChazzman@xxxxxxx]

TITLE:  To Cross the River Styx (5b/?)
AUTHOR: Chazzman
E-MAIL: PChazzman@xxxxxxx  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They all belong to Joss and the WB network. Please don't sue. 
SPOILERS: Open season on Season 4. 
SUMMERY: I'm re-inventing season 4. This chapter centers on events from 'Doomed'.
RATED: PG
DISTRIBUTION: Just ask me, please...
FEEDBACK: Is very welcome.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you again to all the wonderful people who have sent me feedback saying they are interested in seeing more. 


To Cross the River Styx

Chap 5b


"Rosenberg? Yeah, right. She was just some egghead who tutored me a little in high school. She's nice, but, please... captain of the nerd squad," said a male's voice.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe you have a thing for geeks," said a giggling female.

"No. I like my women hot. Call me old fashioned..." the male countered.

Buffy stiffened as those words carried over the divider.  It was dark in the dorm common room due to the power not being restored yet from the earthquake, but she recognized the male's voice.  She groaned when she glanced at Willow and saw that she too had heard that snippet of conversation.  For a moment she could have sworn she saw something dark flash across Willow eyes before she looked away.

"I need some air," said Eve as she turned to walk towards a door.

"Will," said Buffy as she started to follow her.

"Buf, it's OK. I just thought I could say 'Hi'.  It just shows that you can't be nice to some people.  I'll be right back.  Promise," Eve turned again and walked off.

Buffy looked sadly at the back of the redhead as she walked away.  She had practically dragged Willow to this stupid "Aftershock Party" tonight because Willow had become so solitary since her abduction.  She only seemed to talk to Buffy for any length these days.  Even Xander and Giles had noticed how little she talked to them.  But they resisted the urge to press her about it.  Buffy was now kicking herself for forcing Willow to this party.  Then she got angry.

With a determined gleam in her eye, Buffy stalked through the party over to Percy West and grabbed him by his elbow.

"We need to talk," she said in a voice that bordered on a growl. For added emphasis she squeezed slightly on the elbow causing Percy to gasp in pain.

"Hey!" protested the dark hair girl with whom Percy had been flirting.  Buffy ignored her and proceeded to drag a whimpering Percy to the first unoccupied room she could find.  Buffy released Percy's arm and he began rubbing it to restore the circulation.

"Jesus, Summers!  What's your-" Percy began to complain before a hand slammed into his chest knocking his breath out and pinning him to the wall.

"Shut up!" Buffy snarled at him.  "Just stow it you asshole!"

Buffy paused, let out a breath as she collected her thoughts for a second.  

"I put up with people like you putting down me and my friends all through High School when you didn't even know us.  Well I'm sick of it, you hear?"  

She grabbed his hand and began to bend it backwards.  Gasping in pain, Percy sank down quickly to his knees. 

"Now, you had better listen to me and listen good.  If I ever hear of you speaking about Willow in a disrespectful way again, I will end your basketball career.   Do we understand?"  She emphasized her question by bending Percy's hand even further.

"Ah! Yes! OK! OK! Absolutely.  I'm sorry. No problem," Percy whimpered as he strained to keep from crying.

"And don't think you can go back to LA and start dissing her there.  I have friends down there as well, and if they hear of you saying anything, you will wish I had gotten' to you first.  Capiche'?"

"Yesyesyesyes, anything! Oh God! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Percy gasped as the pissed off slayer gave an extra twist to his wrist.

"Fine. Now -" 

Whatever Buffy had been about to say was lost when the house lights came on revealing a very dead student stretched out on the bed next to them.  His throat slashed and chest carved upon.

"Ah, crap."

*******

All things considered, the police were actually very fast and asked very few questions of Buffy and Percy.  As soon as they had seen the body, they began to proceed in a rather standardized fashion.  The jaded veterans knew it was going to be yet another unsolved murder.  One detective seemed to want to ask more than the standard questions, but the two senior detectives hastily reassigned him to evidence gathering.  Buffy figured he must have been a new transfer.

When Buffy had finished answering their questions, she left to go search for Willow and found her just outside the dorm.

"Will are you OK?" she asked with concern as she took Eve's arm and discreetly walked away from the crowd in front of the dorm.

"I'm fine, Buffy.  The police wouldn't let me back in and someone said something about a body.  What happened in there?" Eve asked.

"Lights came on, and 'Oh look, a Buffy party'," grumped the slayer.

"Demon?"

"That or a very nasty game of 'Truth or Dare'.  Someone played 'Etch-A-Sketch' on his chest.  Ever seen something like this?" Buffy asked, holding up a quick sketch she had made of the symbol on the dead man's chest.

"Nothing comes to mind"

"Damn.  I was hopin' you'd remember.  I know I've seen it somewhere before. Oh well.  Maybe Giles will know," Buffy said as they started to walk in the direction of his house.

They walked in silence for several minutes before Buffy took Willows hand and pulled her to a stop.

"Willow about what Percy said-"

"Percy West can so go jump off a cliff as far as I care.  He's certainly not someone whose opinion matters to me," Eve replied squeezing Buffy's hand.

Buffy smiled as she looked at Eve, felt a tear start to form in her eye, and then quickly pulled her into a hug.

"I missed you so much, you know," she whispered into Eve's ear, "don't ever leave me again!"

"I missed you most of all, Buffy," cried Eve into Buffy's shoulder as the Slayer held her tightly.

The girls hugged for several minutes.  Finally, Buffy stepped back and wiped her eyes and nose.  Eve burst out giggling. 

"What?" asked Buffy.

"Sorry, sorry.  But you've just given yourself two black eyes and a moustache," Willow grinned.  "It looks like a raccoon.'

"Ah!?" Buffy exclaimed as she looked at her hands and found them lightly coated with a black greasy substance.  "Eeww."  She was about to wipe them on her pants when she stopped.  It was hard enough to clean demon slime off of her clothes without having to worry about oil stains.  "Where did I...?"

She trailed off as she looked at the grinning Eve.  

"Willow.  Could you turn around," said Buffy calmly.

"What is it?" Eve asked in concern as she spun about to look for any danger.

"Uh-huh," said Buffy, "as I thought."

"What?"

Buffy grinned as she took Willow's hand and ignored her protest as she started to pull her along back to their own dorms.

"Buffy what is it?"

"Will, I don't know when you took up oil wrestling but next time you gotta invite me."

"What?!" Willow exclaimed as she tried to look at the back of her shirt.  "Oh man.  How did I-?  Oh no.  Argh!  I though it was just water on the grass.  That's great, it's totaled."

"Yup, my little skunk," said a grinning Buffy, "you've transformed us both into animals."

"But skunks have white stripes on their backs," grumbled Eve as a grinning Buffy again took her arm.

"Yeah, well... blame it on the Hellmouth," sighed Buffy.

"That's your excuse for everything."

As the two girls headed back to their dorm room, a lonely ghost sat silently on a nearby bench.

"If I'm not real, then why the hell do I still miss you, Buffy?" Willow asked aloud.  But nobody was there who could hear her words let alone answer her question.

*******

Police reports would estimate the speed of his vehicle to have been exceeding 80 mph. Post-mortem toxicology reports would show that he had been drinking, and while the level was below the legal limit, the fact that he was a minor would pretty much close the case.  No one would bother to inspect the vehicles brake system for tampering.  Why should they?

Percy West was just another teenager who'd had a promising career and then thrown it all away by partying a little to much before getting into a car.

######

End Chap 5b
TBC