Cemetery Tales (The Baby Slayers Remix) (gen, original characters, G)
Title: Cemetery Tales (The Baby Slayers Remix)
Author: Trekker (trkkr47@gmail.com)
Rating: G
Fandom: BtVS
Warnings: none
Spoilers: through "Chosen"
Title, Author and URL of original story: Cemetery Tales, by bellatemple, http://www.bellatemple.com/ct.html
A/N: My first remix fic. The original fic was about veterens reflecting on all they'd learned. I tried to turn it around and write about novices, seeing it all for the first time. All original characters, not the SITs from season seven. ETA: Betaed by mydeira and kindkit. Thanks muchly, guys! Dang it, I always forget to thank my betas. Bad, bad me.

Summary: A quiet night for the newly-called Slayers.
 
*** Crystal ***
 
I hate cemeteries. Especially at night. They're dark, they're cold, they're ucky. Figures that when we drive a hundred miles away from our stupid school, the bus ends up stopping at another creepy iron gate that's covered in scratchy vines that are probably poison ivy, and then leaves us all there. Yeah, around us, this is what they call a retreat.
 
In my old world, the one I liked, a retreat was a spa. Or a cruise.
 
Here, it's grimy old tombstones that look just like all the other grimy old tombstones in all the world.
 
The mosquitoes are already attacking my ankles.
 
I wasn't going to come, but Dad was all "your planet needs you," and "do your part." Shyeah right. I don't see him out here in Bumfuck, Nowhere wandering around in dead-people land.
 
*** Leslie ***
 
Part of tonight's plan is having each of us walk to the campsite alone. It's about being brave or facing the darkness or something. For me, it's a relief. It's the first time I've really been alone since I got to school. Really, it's the first time I've been alone since Mr. Wells showed up on my doorstep and explained to me and my parents why everything had gotten so weird all of a sudden.
 
It's nice. I'm walking slowly on purpose, just to drink in the solitude. Things rustle in the dark woods, but I'm not afraid. It's a nice sound, as far as I'm concerned. The sound of creatures going quietly about their business.
 
It's cold tonight, but it feels good. A nice, honest bite in the air.
 
I shut my eyes and breathe in deeply.
 
When I open them, I find I've stepped out into the clearing, where the others are already sitting around the fire, chattering like they always, always do.
 
I wish I could slip off into the dark, quiet woods and stay there.
 
*** Emily ***
 
Ever since I got my period, everything's been different. I thought maybe it happened to everyone, but it doesn't. They said it only happens to a few people, special people, like me. They took me off to this whole new school, miles and miles and miles away from home. I flew on a plane all by myself to get there.
 
My brother takes karate and he's so dumb. He kicks everything all the time. Now, they're making me take karate. I don't even like kicking things.
 
But right now, I wish I knew more about karate, because it's really, really dark, and there's scary noises in the woods, and I don't want to keep walking, but I have to, because that's the only way to get out of here. Mommy and Dad always said there was no such thing as monsters, but they were wrong, there are monsters, and they say I'm supposed to kill them, and that's crazy, 'cause monsters are monsters, how am I supposed to fight them? That's for grownups, and it's so scary here.
 
Then, finally, I can see the fire, and I run a little bit, but I walk out, because I don't want everyone to know what a baby I am, and when I get there, Mr. Giles smiles at me and squeezes my shoulder and tells me I did a good job.
 
*** Christina ***
 
 "And then," I say, pausing for dramatic effect, leaning in to let the campfire do that spoooky lighting thing on my face, "Another one came right out of the bushes!"
 
"No way!" Kristy says.
 
"Wait, wait, wait," says Ananda, "You can't be serious that there were two vamps in North Dakota. What the hell would two vamps be doing in North Dakota?"
 
I roll my eyes. She thinks she's so smart. But she's never faced real vampires like me. "Duh," I say, "We get less sunlight up there? Anyway," I turn away from her and make sure I still have my audience spell-bound. And yup, I do, 'cause Lisa's marshmallow is flaming and she doesn't even notice. "The other one runs over, and I totally just out of the blue did this complete Matrix move where I jumped up and kicked 'em both at the same time."
 
Well, not exactly. I actually just ran, and they crashed into each other. Same end result though.
 
"So," I continue, "They're both on the ground, and I don't even know why I'm doing it, but I grab this branch and just wham wham stake 'em both. Poof, dust. Just like that. And Rob, my boyfriend, is totally just standing there, like, 'duuuuude.' It was awesome."
 
"Wow," Kristy says.
 
"Yup," I say, and eat my marshmallow.
 
*** Linda ***
 
I was already rebuilding my life long before the powers came to me. Pulling myself out of the bottle I'd crawled into after the accident that had stolen away my Jake and my Ellie and my Todd. So when Rupert showed up at my door and told me I'd been Called, I went with him. I didn't even have to tell anyone where I was going. I just went, and here I am.
 
I sit, apart from the group as I usually am, watching the others and smiling. They are around the age Ellie would have been now. Their voices rise and fall, tumbling over and under one another like puppies in a pile. They relax with the same intensity they fight with, and, Slayer or not, I'm no match for them on either score. Still, when I flex my hands, I can feel the ceramic of my coffee mug creak.
 
I turn my eyes away from them, and see Faith sitting at the peripheries as I am, watching the woods with one eye and her charges with the other. Rupert is seated at the other end of the same log I'm sitting on, and he has his hands tucked in his pockets and his face turned up to the sky. The firelight is glinting on his glasses and his posture seems more relaxed than I've ever seen him before.
 
Voices and footsteps approach down the path, and a moment later, Xander, Andrew, Willow and Buffy enter the clearing. A part of me relaxes now that the whole group is together, that part that was always a bit tense until Ellie and Todd were home from school for the day, and Jake had called to say he was on his way. Everyone's accounted for. The family's safe for now.
 
***
End