September News

Due to the holiday and the iffy fate of this site, this week's Friday's Fanfic is not being published this week. Maybe this week if all goes well.

Friday Fanfic

"The Final Meeting"

(A story inspired by an alternative version of Season 5. This may or may not be the last story posted on this site, depending on what changes get made on this site without my knowledge.)

It began with a knock on the bedroom window pane.

It started so softly that Xander had been certain that it was part of a dream. Then it grew louder to the point that he could no longer ignore it.

So he went to the bedroom window and pulled the curtain aside, only to see --

"Buffy!"

It was his old friend Buffy Summers and she looked so lost and all alone. She wore a big black coat and a red scarf that she had never worn before.

"Let me in, Xander," she said. "Please let me in."

"Let you in?" asked Xander. "Let you in? I can't let you in. What would Anya say?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh, really, Xander? Do you really think I care what Anya thinks at a time like this? Besides, she's not here right now. So go ahead and open the window and let me in."

"Anya's not here right now?" asked Xander.

Then he looked around and realized that Buffy was right. Anya was not in the bedroom sleeping besides him like she normally would be. In fact, she seemed to be nowhere around as far as he could tell. But how did Buffy know that?

"Come on, Xander," said Buffy. "I thought we were friends. In fact, the two of us were friends long before Anya came along. So why don't you just let me in for old times' sake?"

"I got a better idea," said Xander. "Why don't you come to my front door and I'll let you in that way. It would look less suspicious."

"Okay," said Buffy, rolling her eyes again. "If you say so."

A few minutes later, Xander was opening the front door of his apartment and greeting Buffy face to face. But then Buffy seemed reluctant to come in.

"You need to invite me in," said Buffy, looking more than a bit embarrassed. "It's not going to work if you don't invite me in."

"Why do I need to invite you in?" asked Xander. "You and Riley have been here dozens of times."

"Oh, please don't mention Riley right now," said Buffy. "Just let me in."

"Okay, Buffy," said Xander, sensing something serious going on. "Come on in."

"Thank you, Xander," said Buffy.

And with that, she ran into the apartment and embraced Xander as if he were a long-lost relative, an embrace that was only marred by the fact that it felt just a tad colder than one of Anya's hugs.

"Whoa, Buffster!" cried Xander. "It's only me. You've never hugged me like this before. What's wrong?"

"Everything," said Buffy. "Everything's wrong."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Xander.

"I broke up with Riley today," said Buffy, still hugging Xander. "We had a fight. He accused me of all sorts of stuff. He even tried to hit me. Tried, anyway."

"He tried to hit you?" asked Xander.

"Yes," said Buffy. "But don't worry. He'll never do that again."

"Who's worried?" asked Xander. "If I ever see him again, he should be the one who should be worried. All this time I thought he was a stand-up guy and then he goes and tries to hit my best friend. I don't care how long he's been in the military. There's no way he's getting away with that."

"It's okay, Xander," said Buffy. "It's been handled. I handled it. Riley will never hurt anyone else again. I swear."

"But still..." Xander started to say.

But Buffy just smiled and put a finger to his lips. "It's okay, Xander. I know what you're trying to say. And I've been thinking the same thing. Ever since I last saw Dracula."

"Wait a minute," said Xander. "You saw Dracula again?"

"Of course," said Buffy. "That's what the fight was about. Riley found out I was seeing Dracula again and he got angry about it. Apparently he didn't trust me to handle myself around him. Well, I showed him."

"Er, okay," said Xander. "By 'showed him,' do you mean --"

"Does it matter, Xander?" asked Buffy. "Does it really matter? Look, I know you consider the two of us to be friends but we both know that you in particular always wanted us to be more than friends. And now that's Riley's out of the picture, now's your chance."

"My chance?" asked Xander, wanting to be smarter right then but not quite managing it.

Then he thought of something. "Hey, what about Anya?"

"What about her?" asked Buffy.

"Well, I'm with her now," said Xander. "And after what I went through with Cordelia and Willow, why, I can't turn my back on her too!"

"Oh, it's so sweet that you can talk like you really believe that," said Buffy. "But we both know whom you really love and anything Anya has done during the last year is not likely to have changed that."

"You're wrong, Buffy," said Xander. "I love Anya. I really do. Maybe not as much as you loved Angel but --"

"Please don't bring up Angel right now, Xander," said Buffy. "If I wanted to see Angel, I'd be on my way to LA right now. But I'm not. I'm here. To see you."

"To see me?" asked Xander. "Why?"

"Really, Xander?" asked Buffy, rolling her eyes again. "Do I really have to keep repeating myself? Perhaps I should put it this way: Xander? Did I ever thank you... for saving my life?"

"Oh," said Xander. "This again. Er, oh, no, Buffy. You didn't."

Buffy smiled again. "Don't you wish I would?"

"Well, that boat sailed a long time ago, Buffy," Xander replied. "So if you don't mind..."

"Oh, stop making such a fuss, Xander," said Buffy. "Tonight's the night I finally pay you back for saving me from the Master. You should appreciate it."

"I should appreciate -- " Xander started to say.

Then a thought occured to him. "Hey, wait a minute! Why tonight in particular? What happened tonight that suddenly made paying me back so important? Surely your breakup with Riley was not that bad, was it?"

"Oh, Xander," said Buffy in an increasingly gruff voice. "Willow was right. Sometimes you really don't know when to shut up."

And then as Xander watched in horror, Buffy's face suddenly transformed into the face of a killer vampire.

Only to immediately dissolve into dust upon being pierced from behind by a crossbow bolt.

And of course, when the dust that used to be Buffy Summers cleared, Xander could see his girlfriend Anya standing in the doorway with a crossbow in her hand.

"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner, Xander," said Anya. "I always suspected something would happen some day. I just didn't expect it to be tonight. But fortunately, I had all the right ingredients for an invisibility spell and of course, I do know something about crossbows though I must admit I'm a bit out of practice... Hey, why are you looking at me like that? I just saved your life. I realize that you might be feeling a little odd right now but if it weren't for me, Buffy would have ripped your throat out just now. And I believe the correct response to me preventing that is 'Thank you!'"

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Nineteen-Beta

Buffy worked in a daze the next few hours, trying to extinguish the flames that beset the inn. And even once she was done, she was still obsessed with looking for yet more flames.

Eventually Laurel came down and saw Buffy sitting on the front steps of the inn.

"Whatcha's doing?" asked Laurel.

"Waiting for Lady Isabel," said Buffy.

"Oh, really?" asked Laurel. "Why?"

"Because apparently she's the new dragon slayer," said Buffy.

"Oh, I see," said Laurel.

Then Laurel thought a moment and said, "Wait a minute! Does that mean --"

"Yes, it does," said Buffy. "Apparently I'm retired now."

"Oh," said Laurel. "But didn't you want to be retired? Weren't you always complaining about having to go out and fight dragons and such? More importantly, doesn't this mean you never have to worry again about dying in flames on a rainy night?"

"You're right about all that, Laurel," said Buffy. "And yet-- I wish things had ended a different way."

"Well, maybe they will," said Laurel. "I've been talking to Sir Roderick about what were to happen if you ever got sick of dragon-slaying and he hears that there's been some talk about training Slayers to go after vampires instead."

"Well,that's very nice of him to say that but I don't really see that happening," said Buffy. "And even if it did, can you imagine how fast a war like that would last? Those poor vampires wouldn't stand a chance."

"But still," said Laurel. "You never know."

"True," said Buffy. "But realistically speaking, we're talking about training young girls who are accustomed to killing giant fire-breathing reptiles to go after mere human-sized bloodsuckers. I don't see that war lasting more than, say, a week. If that long."

The end?

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Nineteen-Alpha

It was done, thought Sister Lilith.

The treacherous Spider-Eve was finally dead. She had to be. She was on Sister Lilith's back when Sister Lilith crashed into the ground. So she had to be --

"Hey, what's up, Miss Dragon?" asked the familiar voice of Spider-Eve. "Did you crash into the ground deliberately or did you just get mixed up?"

No, Sister Lilith thought. It can't be. She can't be alive. Not after all this time...

Sister Lilith slowly raised her head and opened her eyes. There she saw Spider-Eve standing in front of her.

Sister Lilith smiled. Summoned up a huge burst of flame. Started to breathe out.

Then a bolt of lightning hit her and next thing Sister Lilith knew, she was no longer a dragon. Just an exhausted lady barren of all covering save for her own hair.

Sister Lilith glanced over at the Violent Moon and saw three women staring at her with an expression that seemed like pity. One of them -- a blonde maid -- started to offer her a dress to cover herself with but the last thing Sister Lilith wanted at this point was pity from one of the women she had so eagerly meant to kill.

Instead she ran off and screamed.

As she ran, the blonde maid turned toward her redheaded companion and asked, "Should we follow her?"

The redhead shrugged. "Would it matter?"

xxx

Buffy couldn't believe it. The witches and the innkeeper managed to keep the Violet Moon from burning down in her absence -- save for the one room where her clothing was being stored. Fortunately, one of the hotel maids -- Tierra --had a dress Buffy could borrow but still it seemed a darn shame to have lost all her clothing in the fire after sacrificing so much to defeat the dragon.

But the most important part was that it was over now. The dragon was defeated, the village was spared and soon Buffy and her companions would be moving on to another village. Buffy was not sure if she'd ever be able to make it up this way again but at least she would be forever remembered as the brave young maiden who saved the village from a vicious fire-breathing dragon.

Or so, she thought, until she heard the mysterious minstrel Aus playing a joyful little ditty in the village square as she rode off with Laurel, Tierra, Jamie and Sir Roderick.

A ditty that went:

"Spider-Eve, Spider-Eve.
Friendly neighborhood Spider-Eve!
Smoke and flame she's ignored
Action is her reward..."

The end?

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Eighteen-Beta

Buffy grabbed Querida's arm in time to keep her from stabbing her with the crossbow bolt -- but not in time to enable her to save Lady Isabel.

Which is just as well since Lady Isabel had already summoned her flames against her two female attackers and there was no way Buffy could interfere without getting burned herself.

Nevertheless, Querida kept trying to stab her with the crossbow bolt, only to stop when Buffy finally broke her arm.

Then Querida tried to use her other hand to stab Buffy with a crossbow bolt.

"Please stop this," Buffy said. "I don't want to kill you, Querida."

"But I want to kill you," said Querida.

Buffy sighed and broke Querida's other arm, only to note that Querida was now crawling in her direction and attempting to bite her feet.

At the same time, Buffy heard the sounds of someone running up behind her. She turned in time to see Warden Meers running at her with a drawn dagger -- and out of instinct, she hit him. Hard.

As Warden collapsed, Querida again tried to bite Buffy on the foot. But this time Buffy just sighed and stomped on Querida's head until she finally ceased to move.

When she turned to check on Lady Isabel, Buffy noticed that the two women Warden had sicced on her were now aflame and no longer in a position to harm anyone. Unfortunately, much of the inn was on fire too. Buffy reached for a loose towel and started trying to smother the fire.

But before she could get too far, two people -- an one-armed man and a dark-haired woman -- entered the inn and aimed yet another crossbow in her direction.

"Give it up, Slayer!" cried the woman. "As of now, you are being permanently terminated."

"Funny that you'd say that," said Lady Isabel. "I was about to say the same thing."

And before the two newcomers could say anything more, Lady Isabel unleashed yet another wave of flame in their direction.

xxx

"You killed them!" cried Buffy.

"Of course I did," said Lady Isabel. "I had no choice. Now if you excuse me, I need to go kill that dragon."

"Wait," said Buffy. "You're going to kill the dragon?"

"Yes, of course," said Lady Isabel. "You don't honestly think I went through all that for nothing, did you? Besides, someone needs to stop this fire and since I tend to be better at starting fires than stopping fires --"

"No, wait," said Buffy. "I thought I was supposed to kill the dragon."

"Well, maybe next time you could," said Lady Isabel. "But tonight's it's my turn. If you want, you can consider yourself to be -- oh, what's the word I'm looking for -- oh, yes, retired!"

And with that, Lady Isabel ran off into the darkness, leaving behind a very puzzled dragon slayer...

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Eighteen-Alpha

As the thin dark-haired man with the face of a fox aimed his crossbow in Buffy's direction, his one-armed companion cried out," Wait a minute! You just said dragons are almost indestructible. What good is a crossbow going to do?"

"Grab her attention for one thing," said the dark-haired man. "Anyway, I need to get her within range of me in order to reverse the transformation spell that has been placed on her and there's no way I can do that without getting her attention first. And that means using a crossbow."

"But suppose she attacks you?" asked the one-armed man.

"By the time she's close enough, I'll have reversed the spell and she won't be a dragon anymore," said the dark-haired man.

"But won't she fall if she turns back into a human while she's still in the air?" asked the one-armed man.

The dark-haired man smiled. "What do you think?"

"I think your plan is foolish," said a voice behind the two men. "Buffy may be young and inexperienced but I sincerely doubt she'll go out of her way to attack a mere human when there are far more important things she could be dealing with. After all, she is a hero, don't you know?"

The dark-haired man turned and saw Sir Roderick standing behind him and the one-armed man with a crossbow that was even larger than his own.

At that point, the dark-haired man sneered and said, "Stay out of this, Sir Roderick! You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Nor do you, Erastus," said Sir Roderick. "Now please put down the crossbow before someone gets hurt."

"Fat chance, Sir Roderick," said Erastus. "Now turn away now if you don't wish to see your precious Slayer get hurt."

"Oh, it's not her that I'm worried about," said Sir Roderick. "After all, she is a hero."

"So?" asked Erastus.

"And I -- unfortunately for you -- am not," said Sir Roderick.

And with that, Sir Roderick fired a crossbow bolt into Erastus Rayne's back.

xxx

The one-armed man just looked at Sir Roderick in shock for a few minutes.

Then he cried, "You idiot! You have no idea what you've done. By the time my employers are done with you, you will be in for a world of trouble."

Sir Roderick just smiled and said, "Somehow I doubt the good people of this village will be too displeased to find out that I just killed someone who was trying to murder a dragon slayer. Nor will the king."

"You idiot!" cried the one-armed man. "Do you really think it's going to stop there? After all, this whole dragon fight isn't about right or wrong. It's about power! And if you weren't such a clueless imbecile, Sir Roderick, you'd real -- Wait a minute! Why are you aiming that crossbow at me?"

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Seventeen-Beta

"I should ask you the same question," said Lady Isabel.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Warden Meers.

"Do you have any last requests?" asked Lady Isabel. "Because if you sic your creations on any more people, you're not going to be long for this world yourself."

Warden Meers took one look at Lady Isabel's glowing hands and said, "Stand down, girls."

"But, Warden --" said Mina.

"I said, 'Stand down!'" Warden exclaimed.

"We can take her, Master," said Salome.

"I said, 'Stand down!'" Warden exclaimed again.

"But, Warden..." said Salome.

Oddly enough, the two girls looked like they were going to cry. And yet Buffy could not find it in her heart to feel sorry for him.

Instead she turned towards Warden and said, "Okay, Warden. Why are you here?"

Warden shrugged. "I'm here because me and the girls were hired to be here. Nothing personal."

"Nothing personal?" asked Buffy. "You were just about to have them kill me before Lady Isabel stepped in. And before that, they killed at least three other people in this room."

"So?" asked Warden.

"So?" asked Buffy. "If I were as coldblooded as you, I'd ask Lady Isabel to burn you right now. But right now I don't trust myself so I'll leave it to her to decide your punishment."

Lady Isabel just looked at Warden Meers silently for a long while and then said, "I don't have time to deal with this right now. Come with me to the village jail, Warden, and we'll decide your fate in the morning. In the meantime, we have a dragon to kill."

Warden nodded, bowed his head and held out his arms.

As Lady Isabel walked over to chain him, Warden just smiled and said, "Okay, girls. You know what to do. Kill Lady Isabel."

And as the two girls sprang into action, Buffy cried, "No!"

Then tried to run forward, only to realize that something was grabbing her leg.

That's when she looked down and saw that it was Querida. She was conscious again and she had a crossbow bolt in her hand. A bolt that Querida was thrusting upward in the direction of Buffy's chest.

To be continued...