Willow's Legacy
by Didge
Part Two
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Jenny raised her head and looked round at her cousin and raised her eyebrows in query. Receiving an encouraging nod from Joy she turned the page and the two girls returned their attention to the story.
Chapter 3
I first met Buffy Summers at the original Sunnydale High School. It was the first day of term and rumours had been circulating about a new girl starting today. I remember it was between classes and I was just getting a drink of water from a fountain when I heard my nemesis Cordelia Chase saying something about my dress sense. When I looked up I noticed a small blonde girl standing with the bitchy brunette but I didn't take much notice of her as I was flustered as usual by Cordy's verbal assault. As I made a rapid retreat I looked back and saw the blonde looking at me with a frown on her face but I didn't think anything about it at the time I just figured that she would be another member of Cordy's group who would delight in tormenting me when she wasn't ignoring me.
At lunch time I was sitting outside just getting my lunch out when I heard a gentle voice. "Hi Willow right?" I looked up and saw the girl who had been with Cordelia looking down at me with a small smile on her face. I asked her if she wanted me to move. The girl waved her hand at me and instead of asking me to move she told me her name was Buffy and asked me for a favour saying that it didn't involve moving but it did involve hanging out with her. I was shocked, as she moved round to sit next to me I noticed how beautiful she was and when she said she wanted me to hang with her I thought there was some mistake and asked her if she wasn't hanging with Cordelia. She asked me if she couldn't do both so I told her, "not legally," which made her smile. She then went into a speech about how she didn't want to flunk her classes and heard that I would be the best person to help her get caught up. I was only half listening to what Buffy was saying while I was mainly checking her out, ash blonde hair just below shoulder length, hazel eyes with a touch of green, slim body wearing a white short sleeved cardigan over a white T-Shirt, a short dark red mini skirt over bare legs and knee high boots with a low heel (I can still remember after all this time, shows how besotted I was even though I didn't realise it then). When she asked me to help her with her classes I got a little excited. Nobody had ever asked for my help before, well except for Xander, and I started babbling about how I could help her in free periods but when I mentioned the library I remember her face fell which puzzled me at the time and when I mentioned the new librarian her face became very serious but then I realised how I had been babbling and asked her if I was the single dullest person alive. This brought a smile to her face that was like the sun coming out from behind a cloud as she denied my statement. Before we could continue with our conversation we were interrupted by Xander and Jesse and I remember that I was a bit miffed when Xander squeezed in between us to talk to Buffy. After a short bit of banter between Buffy, Xander and Jesse we were again interrupted by Cordelia who told Buffy that Gym had been cancelled because a dead guy had been found in a locker. Buffy's face fell and she quizzed Cordy about the body then when Cordelia couldn't tell her anything Buffy made an excuse, gathered her things and left and I didn't see her for the rest of the day.
That evening I was sitting at the bar in the Bronze eating raisins when I heard someone say "Hi." I looked up and there was Buffy. She smiled and sat down next to me and signalling for a drink asked me if I was there with anyone. I told her I was waiting to see if Xander showed and she asked if we were going out so I had to explain how we used to go out but broke up when he stole my 'Barbie' when we were five and now we were just friends. I then proceeded to babble on about not dating a lot because when I was with a boy I became flustered and couldn't talk to them. This made her laugh and she told me her philosophy was 'Life is Short' and why waste time worrying about being shy and laughed at, just to seize the moment because you might be dead tomorrow. I then saw her face fall as she looked up to the upper level of the club. She got up and told me she'd be back. I told her that it was all right she didn't have to come back, which brought a smile to her face and she told me again that she'd be back before turning away and disappearing into the crowd. I was sitting at the bar thinking about what Buffy had said about seizing the moment when a boy I didn't know came up and started chatting to me. I can't remember what we talked about but when he suggested getting an ice cream I agreed and we left the club.
The boy took my hand and led me through the graveyard saying he knew a short cut to the ice-cream bar but as we passed one of the crypts he pushed me inside. I was moving away from him trying to get outside before he attacked me or something when I bumped into a blonde girl coming down into the crypt. She was talking to the boy as if she knew him and then Jesse came stumbling down the stairs into the crypt holding his neck. I grabbed on to Jesse as he stumbled and when I looked at his neck I saw there was blood. I was trying to get Jesse back on his feet and get out of there when the blonde came up to me and said we weren't going anywhere until they had fed and then her face changed into a horrible ridged mask. I screamed and slid down beside Jesse and I was just wondering what was happening when Buffy appeared at the top of the stairs to the crypt. It seemed weird. Buffy just walked around the crypt making comments about the decor and slagging off the boys dress sense. Buffy was talking to the girl when the boy came up behind her. She took a piece of wood out of her jacket and stabbed backwards into the boy and he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Then Buffy told Xander to go (I didn't even realise that Xander was there) and Xander grabbed me and Jesse and dragged us outside. As we left I saw the girl with the weird face attack Buffy.
Xander, Jesse and I were stumbling through the graveyard when another group of weird people attacked us. One of them threw me to the ground, got on top of me and I thought he was going to rape me or something when I heard Buffy's voice. The man looked up and I saw Buffy kick him off me and he ran off. We looked around for Xander and saw him being dragged away by a boy and girl. I shouted Xander's name and as the two people turned Buffy punched one and kicked the other then she broke a piece of wood off a tree and as the boy got up she stabbed him in the chest. He disappeared in a cloud of dust just like the boy in the crypt. I ran to Xander and asked him if he was OK and he replied that someone had hit him. Buffy asked where Jesse was and Xander said the girl took him; we looked around but couldn't see anyone. Buffy helped me get Xander on his feet and then walked me and Xander home. On the way she told us that the people we had been fighting were vampires and that she was a vampire slayer which you have to admit sounded a bit odd but when Xander refused to believe her she told us to meet her early the next morning in the scool library and she would get Giles to explain things in more detail. That night it took me a long time to get to sleep. I couldn't help thinking about what had happened and what Buffy had told us and where did Mr Giles fit in?
The next morning I was already awake and dressed when my alarm went off so I was waiting outside the school when Buffy arrived and Xander arrived at almost the same time. Buffy wouldn't answer any of our questions, she told us to wait until we saw Mr Giles. When we got to the library Buffy told Giles what had happened while he got her an icepack for a bruise on her elbow then Giles told us about demons and vampires. Xander seemed to be in denial about vampires and Buffy told us that she was the same when she saw her first vampire. Giles then went into his famous speech. "For as long as there have been vampires there's been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One." Buffy interrupted him so he cut it short. "All right! The Slayer hunts vampires. Buffy's a Slayer. Don't tell anyone. I think that's all the vampire information you need." Xander finally accepted this but wanted to know how to kill vampires. Buffy told him that he didn't, that was her job. Xander went on about how Jesse was his friend but Buffy shut him down taking responsibility for Jesse getting taken. Both Xander and I jumped on Buffy reminding her that if she hadn't shown up we would have been taken as well. We all then began discussing what had happened to the vampires and decided that they had probably gone through the sewers and when Giles mentioned a diagnostic of the tunnel system I finally came into my own and introduced the gang to the wonders of computers. I brought up a plan of the city tunnels but we couldn't find any access even though the tunnels run under the graveyard then Buffy remembered that a vampire came from behind her even though she was facing the entrance to the crypt and she realised that the entrance to the tunnels must be in the crypt. Xander wanted to head straight back to the graveyard but Buffy told him that she was the Slayer not him and she had to do it alone. I told Buffy that I needed to help and Giles suggested that I help him by digging out information on the Harvest that Buffy had heard about from Angel.
I got a list of topics to research and Xander and I headed off to class while Buffy headed back to the graveyard to find Jesse. Xander was feeling a bit useless because he had nothing to contribute and I didn't know until later that instead of heading to class when we split up he went to help Buffy. At the end of the day I took the results of my searches to Giles in the library and he started to make sense of the Harvest when Buffy and Xander finally returned they told us that they had found Jesse but that he was a vampire. They were both dispirited and Buffy asked Giles if he had anything that could make the day any worse. Giles told Buffy the research we had been doing, about the Master coming to America, how Sunnydale was built on a Hellmouth, How the Master tried to open the Hellmouth but was foiled by an earthquake which trapped him in the Hellmouth and how the Harvest was a way of freeing him from his trap. Giles then went on to describe how the Harvest works and drew a picture of the symbol which would indicate which of the vampires would be the Masters vessel. Xander worked out that the Harvest would take place at the Bronze because of all the people who would be there so we all set out for the Bronze.
Buffy was delayed getting to the Bronze when her Mom grounded her and she had to sneak out so when we finally got there the doors were locked. Buffy sent us round to try the back door while she found another way in and she warned us just to get the people out, not to take on any vampires. When we got round the back that door was locked as well and Xander went on about having to get in before Jesse did anything stupid but Giles pulled him up and told him that Jesse was dead and if he saw him inside it wouldn't be Jesse but the thing that killed him. When we finally managed to break in through the back door Buffy was already inside fighting with a large vampire on the stage. We started to clear people out but got jumped by vampires. One grabbed Xander from behind but Buffy saw him so she picked a cymbal from the drum kit on stage and frisbeed it towards them. Xander saw it coming, ducked and the cymbal took off the vampires head causing the vampire to turn to dust. A female vampire jumped Giles and was just about to bite him when I threw a bottle of Holy Water in her face and she ran out of the Bronze with smoke pouring off her face. Xander had found Jesse attacking Cordelia and threatened to stake him but while they were arguing someone rushing to get outside bumped into Jesse and he fell onto the stake that Xander was holding and turned to dust. Meanwhile Buffy had managed to stake the big vampire on the stage that she was fighting and as he turned to dust the rest of the vampires stopped and looked towards the stage. I have never seen anything like it. Buffy stood there with her hands on her hips; she slowly raised her head and looked at the rest of the vampires with a stern look on her face. She looked magnificent. The other vampires took one look at her and they all turned and ran. We gathered together realising that we had won, gathered up our things and went home.
The next day we were expecting some reaction but everything seemed normal. Some of the kids at school were talking about rival gangs fighting at the Bronze, no one mentioned vampires. Giles told us that people tend to rationalise what they can remember or forget things that they can't explain. He went on to say that the next time we would be prepared.