AUTHOR: Miriam Rocke / mrrocke@leland.stanford.edu TITLE: All alone in the night [1/1] RATING: G SUMMARY: You'll see. Poor you... DISCLAIMER: Joss and the WB own Buffy and co. JMS and his lot own the B5 crew. I own nothing except the story, and an excellent story it is too. I'm not making any money off this, it's purely for entertainment. Of a very twisted sort. "Buffy you have *got* to come to the library. *Now*." Willow grabbed her friend's hand and started dragging her. "Goodness Willow where's the fire?" Buffy asked? She was glad to get away from studying because she didn't like studying, but Willow wasn't usually this hyper, unless it involved a new computer system, but Giles wasn't about to get a new computer system because Giles didn't like computers, so it had to be something else. "Huh? Oh, there's no fire, there's just this really weird guy come to see Giles, actually he says he came to see you." "To see...me?" "Yeah. He knows you're the Slayer, too. It's really weird." Buffy blinked at that, no one knew she was the Slayer. Well, Giles did, but he was her Watcher, and the Slayerettes did but they were the Slayerettes so that's okay, except new weird guys weren't Slayerettes, not yet at least. "Who is this guy, some kind of Watcher?" "I don't know, he just sorta appeared." "Appeared?" "Out of thin air." Willow made a poofing gesture with her hands, and grinned, she had a nice grin. "It was really cool." "I *don't* think I want to know." "Well, you've got to. C'mon!" She dragged her into the library, but buffy pulled back. "You didn't tell me he was a fur-wearing hunchback," Buffy hissed. "Come *on*." Willow shoved her forward. Giles was trying to reason with the new strange guy: "Look, uh, she'll, um, be here soon, I promise. Ah, uh, uh, er, is there, well, anything I can do to, uh, help?" The visitor clucked his tongue and shook a shaggy head. "no no no, not the one", he insisted. Then catching sight of Buffy. "Ah! The One!" "What?" Buffy mouthed to Willow, she shrugged and smiled and pulled out an apple and began munching. Next to her Xander had a trig book open but he was looking at the visitor and not the book. "You are the One. Zathras very pleased to meet you, yes, glad to find you, yes yes yes." Buffy looked helpless at Giles but he was studiously cross-referencing demons with curry which was strange but it meant he couldnt offer any advise which was maybe why he was doing it. "What do you want?" she asked? "You are the Slayer. Zathras sent to find the Slayer, yes, so Zathras find the Slayer." "Uh, good. I guess. Who sent you? And why?" Zarthras shook his head and the furs on his shoulder wiggled, Buffy thought they looked like raccoon tails but she couldnt be sure. "No time, no time, we must go now. Come with Zathras." "Come - where? Why? I don't-" "Take these" Zathras said pressing strange round objects into the hands of the slayer and watcher and slayerettes. The air began to glow kinda like the special effects you see in cheesy science fiction movies only this wasnt a movie it was real life. Miss Calendar stormed into the library, closely followed by Cordelia and Principal Snyder. The three of them spoke at once. "Willow, you need to be in class--" "Im just here tagging along--" "Ah, you three delinquents again, I should really--" Poof. "Oops" said Zathras. "Oh dear" said Giles. "What the-?" said Miss Calendar "I need to have my eyes examined," said Principle Snyder. "Oh my," said Buffy. They materialized in a very metal room, with metal floors and metal chairs and very stale air. "Okay, what is going on here?" Cordelia demanded, "I'm missing a very important date so this better be good." There were people sitting in the chairs too, wearing weird uniform things, but they didnt look like police or anything. Buffys spider sense was tingling way off the charts, which didnt mean that there were spiders anywhere about, but did mean that there was a vampire. Only she couldn't tell where it was, so she waited. "Who are you people?" demanded one of the people in the chairs looking hostilly at Buffy. "I am Zathras," Zathras announced proudly. "I *know* that, remember Babylon 4? Sheesh. But who are the other people?" "I'm Buffy and I'm the Slayer," Buffy blurted. "Geez Buffy, what did you say that for?" said Willow angrily. "I don't know, but this is just one big dream, so it doesnt matter if they know." "Whats a Slayer," another of the uniform people asked, he had fuzzy hair that reminded Buffy of a teddy bear. "I kill...things. Bad things. Vampires and stuff." "You cant kill anything, not on my station," said a third uniform person. "Im a doctor and I wont allow it." "I already told you that theyre vampires. Vampires are bad. They have to be killed." "Oh no you don't," the doctor said. "Its her job," Giles interupted, "her destiny." "Who are you?" "I'm her Watcher." "So you watch her? Kinky." "I know someone I wouldn't mind watching," said someone else. He didnt wear a uniform but his hair stuck up like a sideways mohawk. He was staring at Cordelia who stared back. "Whats with your hair?" she demanded. "Do you have a totally psycho hairstylist, or did you just stick your finger in an electrical socket?" "If Zathras can explain," Zathras interjected. "And you," Cordelia continued to rant, turning to the guy sitting next to the mohawk guy - at least Buffy assumed he was a guy but he looked more like a lizard - "can't you use moisturizer? And your eyes look awful, here I think I might have some Visine," she started rummaging around in her bag. "Zathras has something to say," Zathras said plaintively. "It's no use," Xander said in a low voice, "no one listens. They never listen." "Yeah. Zathras knows. No one ever listens to Zathras. Very pitiful." "I hear ya, man." Meanwhile Willow was sitting next to a guy that looked sorta like a vampire at first only his eyes were normal and he was totally bald and had some weird bone formation on the back of his head, so he couldnt be a vampire. He was very sweet and so Willow said "Hi my names Willow" and he said "Hi Willow I'm Lennier" and she said "I love Xander but he doesn't notice me," and he said "Yeah, I know how that goes, I love Delenn but she has no clue," and so Willow said "Whose Delenn?" and so Lennier pointed out Delenn who also had a weird bone thingy only it was a different bone thingy than Lennier had and she had hair too where Lennier was bald. "Theres a vampire here," Buffy said but no one listened to her except Snyder who said "Shut up Miss Summers you dont know what your talking about." There was also a weird thing in the corner that looked kinda like a statue of something only then it began to light up and make rumbling noises. "...the hour of longing is almost upon us," it said in a very distorted voice, "and the daisies need feeding..." "What's *his* deal?" Buffy wondered. "...and the night of the three cats will start the avalanche of fire..." "Of course!" Giles said enthusasticly, "why didnt I think of that?" "Think of what Giles?" "What he said, avalanche of fire and stuff. It's all perfectly clear now!" "Glad someone understands that beast," said one of the uniform people. "Oh, John," said the Delenn person, "don't be so harsh. I understand him too." "Yeah well you're weird," John said smiling. "That's the vampire," Buffy said suddenly, staring at John. A bable of voices burst out "Are you crazy?" "Miss Summers, do I have to confine you to a lunatic asylum?" "Sheridan, a vampire?" "What are you talking about?" "...the shadows of the river turn purple as they scamper..." "Are you sure about this Buffy?" "Yes Im sure," she snapped, "get me a stake." "Whats a stake?" Snyder asked? "Here I have one" said Giles, pulling one out of his pocket and handing it to Buffy. "Thanks" she said and staked Sheridan and he turned into a big pile of dust and everyone just stared, except Delenn who started sobbing hysterically and the fuzzy-haired guy who said "I knew that guy was weird, I just knew something was wrong". Suddenly an image shimmered into view, it was another creature with the bone on its head only it was tinted yellow, the whole thing that is and not just the bone, and Buffy could see the wall behind him, which was strange unless he was a ghost. "Zathras," the ghost said. "Yes Draal." "What happened here?" "Zathras brought the Slayer like you told Zathras to, yes." The ghost sighed, "Fine, take them back to where they belong now." The white light came again and Buffy could hear the ghost yelling "you *idiot*, I told you to get Slayver, as in Nickolas Slayver, the twentyfirst century mathematician" and Zathras said "Oops Zathras is really sorry." Then they were back in the Sunnydale library. "That was weird" said Buffy. "No kidding" said Willow. "I need a cappucino" said Cordelia and passed out. "You people need to get to class," Snyder said and walked out. Xander just rolled his eyes and said "Come on Willow let's go watch me fail a trig test" and Willow said "okay" and they walked out. "Take Cordelia to the nurse," Giles told Buffy. "Arent you going to, like, debrief me or something?" "Thats not my job, now go." Grumbling Buffy dragged Cordelia through the doors and towards the school nurse. "We're alone now," Ms Calendar said. "Yes," Giles said and they kissed and then he said "But you should get to class." "Okay," she said, and went to class. THE ENDReturn to the index.