Brethren, Where Art Thou?

Some Things Never Change

Nights were beginning to be more sleepless. Tossing, turning, finding the cover on the floor, Morgan was livid with herself. It didn't help that she was already quite more than marginally not normal, but walking around like you haven't slept in weeks when you really haven't, does not tend to rank you way up high on the coolness scale.

Lying stomach down, arms in uncomfortable positions around her, she groaned herself toward awakening. "Why, why, why." she repeated to herself, over and over while trudging towards the bathroom, managing to forget not to step on the squeaky floorboard that could wake the dead. And once before, it had.

"Morgan?" she heard, the voice muffled, probably underneath a thick blanket of covers and sheets.

"Yes, mum?" Morgan raked a hand through her dark red hair, blinking several times to adjust to the light streaming through the bathroom window. Green eyes stared at her from the mirror and she scowled at them. "What you looking at?" She asked them, rubbing her eyes. “Ahuh, the slayer. Yeah, right.” She said to herself, her smile spreading across her face. She loved who she was. She had power, lots of it, and she knew how to use it.

*******

The slayer vaulted onto a parked car, careful to not set off the alarm, and leaped off the bonnet and onto the thin, but nimble vampire. He squirmed under her, kicking her away and the red-head was flung backward many paces. He growled at her.

“William the Bloody has returned and he will find you, Buffy. Find you and suck you dry.” The slayer’s stomach trembled and she hastily closed the gap between them, her hidden stake finding his heart with a squelch. She glanced around. The night was cold, no clouds, just stars, dazzling the darkness like fairies. Something else was out there; she could feel it.

“God, my name is Morgan, is it that hard to memorise a six letter word?!” she protested loudly to the wind carrying the remains of the vampire in it's sails.

Morgan ran the rest of the way to the library, never taking her eyes from her path and not paying attention to her spidey sense. As she entered the old-book smelling room, all three of them looked up and smiled, but then returned to the books that they were pretending to study.

“Hello Bu… Morgan, are you alright?” Giles stammered, feeling rather awkward at his mistake, but continuing to rustle through his musty books. He picked one up, moved it to another pile, picked it up again and then moved it back to it's original place.

“Yeah Buff… I mean Mor,” Xander said slapping his head in confusion. “Shoot, sorry.” Morgan shot him a look of false disgust. His eyes widened like a rabbit in headlights.

“Morgan, forget those losers who need names stuck to their heads on a post-it note before they remember anybody’s name.” Willow comforted, looking at Giles and Xander with a stern expression dancing on her pale face. The redhead put her arm around the slayer and gave her a cheeky grin. Morgan smiled back. Willow was the best friend she had ever had, even in other schools in other states, Willow was the only one to stand by her when things got rough. And they had the same colour hair and eyes, they both thought it was cute.

“Yes, I apologise. I’m sorry. Deeply sorry.” Giles said, stressing his last words. “We do know the difference, Morgan, it is just a coincidence the Council put you in my charge, takes a little getting used to." Xander advanced toward her, throwing his arms around her, his hands moving in steady circles on her back. Morgan closed her eyes and smiled.

“Forgive me.” He whispered, squeezing her firm body against his.

“I forgive you.” she cooed, knocking her nose against Xander’s playfully. Morgan looked to Giles and he smiled at her with those eyes that could melt even the coldest of hearts. “And I forgive you.” She removed herself from Xander’s embrace and went to hug Giles. He was warm and gentle, and his hand stroked her curly dark, red hair.

“I’m so proud of you. You are diligent, brave, not stubborn and most of all you listen to my advice.” He chuckled. “Do you know how hard it is to find a seventeen year old who listens to me?” He brought Morgan’s eyes to his and smiled. Rupert then pulled away from her and returned to his books. “Anything to report this evening?”

“Uh, no, not really.” She paused, suddenly thinking of a boyfriend back in England that she had left behind when she moved. “Oh, wait, yes. A vampire told me William the Bloody was back in Sunnydale. But then he and my stake met, but they didn’t hit it off, it left him kinda dusty. She still has some trust issues.” She expected a smirk or a slight snigger, but she got nothing. Tough Room. “What?” She looked at the white-faced trio. “What is it?” The absolute fear written across their faces contrived a feeling of raw anxiety inside her mind, body and soul. Giles removed his glasses from his face, his eyes still wide and dark.

“William the Bloody was the vampire that took Buffy to Angelus to be killed.” he told her grimly, looking to Willow for more information. He had given her far more responsibility when it came to training Morgan, more than he would of with Buffy. Willow was exceptional, she knew things he didn’t, and he her.

“He now goes by the name Spike, from his reputation of skewering people with railway spikes. His psycho vampire girlfriend Drusilla dumped him and we haven’t seen him since. But we do know that Angelus and Buffy follow under his rule. Angelus is his sire but he doesn’t mind taking a back seat with an ex-slayer.” Willow took a deep breath, unfolding her hands and smiling sadly.

“Okay, so I should be worried.” The slayer confirmed, her hands tightly pressed together. If she were anyone but the slayer, she would have many several broken bones.

“In short. Yes. He beat Buffy to a pulp and she was one of the longest living slayers. She was one of the best, and he beat her.” Willow said, regretting her choice of words as it suggested that her friend would be beaten also.

“But,” Giles glared at Willow firmly, but his eyes could not hide his affection. “Even someone like Xander can see that you are far more advanced than Buffy was.”

“What do you mean, someone like Xander?!” The teenager protested, his fingers in ‘V’s imitating speech marks, then suddenly putting his hands on his hips. An expression of false hurt etched on his handsome features. "Oh right, someone like 'Xander'. Ahuh. Fine." He pointed at Giles, his eyes full of pretend warning. "You just wait until someone like 'Xander' sticks a long metal object into your spine, you know what I'm saying?" He grinned. "Okay, bit too far, huh." He thrust his hands in his pockets, mouthing ‘sorry’ to Willow and Morgan, and throwing an awkward smile to the frowning Watcher.

“Okaaay.” Morgan said, smirking at Willow. The comfortable silence that sprang between them rested a moment in the air. “Um...what shall I do about this Spike vamp? Load up, get to him first, what?” She motioned a short fighting scene that had always lay rested in her mind. “You know what I’m saying?” Morgan spoke with a smile spread wide across her face, she always loved the spotlight. Sometimes she thought it was because her sister had most of the praise bestowed upon her as she was the oldest, so Morgan fought for her parents’ attention. Well she certainly got their attention when she told them she was the one girl in all the world, chosen to fight the forces of darkness. Her parents finally agreed on one thing, for once in their divorced lives, that Morgan was to be sectioned, they thought she killed innocent people who she called the ‘vampires’. She laughed in their faces, wanting to scream to them from the highest tower “I told you so!” when a vampire attacked them after a late night court session and she saved them.

“Morgan?” Giles inquired as she stared into space.

“Hey, girl with superhuman strength, can you let go of Willow?” Xander said, the slayer snapping out of her trip down the dark alley she calls memory lane and realising her hand was wrapped firmly around her friends arm, the skin was reddening. She let go immediately, remorse covering her face.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry.” She clapped a hand over her mouth. Willow’s face was scrunched up.

“That’s okay.” she murmured between pursed lips. Morgan stepped away from everyone into the space in the middle of the library.

“I’m gonna go, patrol, or somethin’. I’ll check back in later if you’re still here.” She didn’t wait for a reply or an objection, she just had to get out of there. Morgan walked backwards for a couple of steps then turned and ran. She had power alright. And sometimes she couldn’t control it.

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