Slayer and Immortal

The Witch

The Horror

Sunnydale High Library

"This is madness," Rupert Giles lamented aloud, as he pounded his fist in the desk, "what could you have been thinking?" He turned around to face the fiend that seemed to have become the focus of his ire. "You are the Slayer, lives depend upon you," he turned away and began pacing back and forth in the library, "I make allowances for your youth, but I expect a certain amount of responsibility, instead of which you would enslave yourself to this – this cult!"

When he turned his accusatory gaze upon his charge, wearing the raiment of the so-called cult, Buffy looked at him with a wide-eyed deer in the headlights look. Then turning to gaze down at herself, she wore a plain white, long-sleeved blouse, a pleated, burnt-orange, and white mini skirt that reaches mid-thigh, and white sneakers. Her hair was gathered in a high-ponytail, in her hands were a pair of pom-poms, she looked up not getting what Giles's deal was, "you don't like the color?" It was her uniform for the cheerleader tryouts, in the week since they thwarted the Harvest, Buffy has thrown herself into training with Amanda and Xander, she was anxious to get back to her pre-Sunnydale Slayer fighting shape. For the last seven days, she and the two Immortals practiced fighting every day, and unlike with Giles and Merrick, where she had to hold back, she was able to go all out with her two friends, and hopefully more someday, with one of them. She felt that she had been doing good, and when she heard about the cheerleading tryouts being held at Sunnydale High, she jumped at the opportunity to get back something from her life, before Slaying. She thought it would help her blow-off some steam, and even help her with Slaying by increasing her agility, Giles apparently did not see it that way.

"I d…," Giles could not even look at her, as he bit back several scathing remarks, taking a breath, he turned to pick up some books from a table. "Do you," he began, "do you ignore everything I say, as a rule?"

"No," she said sarcastically, "I believe that's your trick," she finished with a smile. "I told you, I'm trying out for the cheerleading squad," she exclaimed, while coming and hopping into his path while striking a pose.

"You have a sacred birthright, Buffy," he said, getting in her face, "you've been chosen to destroy Vampires, not to, wave pom-poms at people, and as the Watcher, I forbid it."

Giles began to turn away, as if that was the end of their discussion, but Buffy grabbed his tie, and jerked him back to face her. "You may be my Watcher, but you are not my father," she growled in his face, "your job is to give me intelligence on any vampire, demon, or monster, I may face! You will not dictate to me how I run my life, understand," she demanded? Giles's eyes widened at her fierce attitude, "I have accepted my role as the Slayer, okay, but I refuse to let it control my life anymore than it must," she began explaining, "I've been training non-stop for the last week, and I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted! I understand my responsibilities now, and I promise, I won't be derelict in my duties as a Slayer, but I want something in my life that isn't connected to the supernatural!"

Buffy relinquished her hold on his tie, while he stepped back in shock. He turned away, began adjusting his tie, "and have you told Amanda and Xander of your plans."

"Of course, I told them everything," Buffy assured him.

"And, what were their responses," Giles asked turning back to face his Slayer, who had just reminded him of the enormous pressure Slayers were often put under?

"Xander was all, 'You in a cheerleader's outfit, awesome,' he was all but drooling over the idea," Buffy giggled, her own face turning red as she imagined Xander's face, when he saw her outfit now.

"And, Amanda…" Giles asked?

"Amanda was better able to articulate her feelings, 'that's fine, but when you're not working with the squad, I'm going to double-down on your training, and I won't go easy on you because your tired from practice, because the monsters won't let you rest when they're trying to kill you,' she said the practice from cheerleading will not only help with my agility, but it'll help me gain stamina for prolonged fights with the forces of evil," Buffy concluded, "she at least seemed to see the benefits of me doing this. You're just so mired by tradition, you seem to think I should just toe the line, and follow the model of Watcher-Slayer, set forth from the Dark Ages."

"What pray tell is so wrong with that," Giles growled?

"None of them lived past the age of 25," Buffy snapped, at his surprised eyes she went on, "I've been delving into the non-physical aspects of Slayer's, Amanda has been teaching me meditation, and other things that will help me hone my Slayer senses. There was a side-effect, it seems Slayers are connected, I was able to go through many of the Slayer lives, and one thing stood out, they all died violently, and none ever saw their twenty-sixth birthday. The ones that did make it to twenty-five, were so burnt out by then that when death finally came, they welcomed it with a smile," Buffy's eyes had a haunted look in them. Then she came back to her senses, and gave him a hard look, "I will do something that is not Slayer related, even if it kills you, even if I have accepted that I could die at the hands of a monster, I intend to do it after living a full life, so that I will not see my death as a relief!"

At that, Giles lowered his eyes in shame, he of course knew of the previous Slayers, even the one which preceded Buffy, the Watcher's Council knew of how they all met their ends, but many on the Council often viewed the Slayer's as little more than canon fodder, not worth anything more than the ink used to record their demise. He was sorry to say, that until he met Buffy, he was of that same mindset, but now that he had an active Slayer with him, he realized that mentality, made them no better than the monsters, they sent young girls out to fight. He looked up to apologize, only to find his Slayer already walking out of the library.

Cheerleader Tryouts; Self-esteem Killers

Sunnydale High Gymnasium

In the Sunnydale High school gymnasium, the ladies of said school spread out over the floor. They were practicing their routines, some were practicing flips, others were practicing dance routines. Near the bleachers a dry erase board on an easel read: Welcome to the 1998 Cheerleading Tryouts || Sign-in & Fill-out your application, with a caricature of a cheerleader waving at the reader, all in blue-marker.

The gym doors opened, Buffy and her friends walked into the gym, Buffy and Willow were discussing what happened earlier in the library, "Giles didn't approve, did he," Willow asked? She was wearing a white, flower-print blouse, and faded jeans, her hair was swept back out of her face, and parted on the left.

"Totally lost his water," Buffy confirmed, "he started trying to order me not to do it, but I told him what he could do with himself, when it came to my daily life. I set him straight on just how much authority, I'd let him have over me," Buffy informed her friend, "when it wasn't related to supernatural business. We haven't seen a vampire in over a week," Buffy reminded them, "I'd tell him to get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old."

"Well, we're behind you," Willow assured her.

Xander who was only listening with half an ear, gawped at the women in the gym. Since, Amanda returned to town, she began making him dress better for his time in school, today he wore a long-sleeved polo shirt, and faded denim jeans, with a thick belt. The shirt was tucked into his jeans and on his feet, he wore tennis shoes, his hair was still unkempt but many of the ladies in school began to notice him more as he walked down the halls, much to Buffy's private chagrin. "People scoff at things like school-spirit," he noted, and Buffy held a small smile as she turned her attention to her male friend, "but, look at these girls giving their all like this," he concluded with an approving tone. He finished his remarks as they came even with a cheerleader, practicing her front splits, elevated above the ground using two chairs, one foot on each chair, "ooh, stretchy." Buffy glared a little at his ogling, then rolled her eyes in derision, and stomped off, boys, she was thinking, though she would not have minded if he was looking at her like that, in private at least. "Where was I," he said, absently waving his finger at Willow?

"You were pretending that seeing scantily-clad girls in revealing postures, was a spiritual experience," Willow reminded him with a light-hearted rebuke.

"Who said, I was pretending," he retorted to Willow? Then remembering something, as he came up to Buffy, "Oh, hey," he said to her as he fished something out of his pocket, he pulled out a silver friendship bracelet, "here's a little something I got you, to wish you good luck for tryouts," he handed it to her.

"What's this," Buffy asked with a grin, accepting it from Xander, which made her heart flutter at his thoughtfulness?

"What's that," Willow asked with chagrin?

"How sweet, 'Yours Always,'" she read aloud, but she blushed, then he turned it over for her to show her the rest of the engraving, "'Your Eternal Partner,' oh, Xander," Buffy said softly, but emotionally, "that's so sweet," then she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, it feels good kissing him/… getting a kiss from her. The bracelet was not much, but Buffy loved it, because it came from him, on the flat of the bracelet was an inscription, which read, Your Eternal Partner, on the side that faced the wrist, and, Yours Always, on the front side.

After school, after homework, and after sparring, Buffy and Xander have gone out on patrol, every night of the week this week, except Saturdays and Sundays. For all the good it did them, Buffy was correct when she mentioned, they had not seen a vampire this whole week, and Xander had not even felt one through his Quickening. It seems all the vampires had gone to ground, when Buffy dusted Luc, and perhaps Xander's display during the Jesse rescue mission could have also gotten around to the local bloodsuckers. Either way, the vampires seemed to be licking their wounds, and staying away from the Slayer and Immortal duo, they did not even seem to see the weird vampire from the tomb, Angel.

When they went on patrol, they wore a uniform of sorts. They wore the same jackets, they wore into the tombs on their first foray into enemy territory: the Templar motorcycle jackets, sans the bandolier, stakes were kept in the interior jacket pocket, and the cherry bombs were kept in the same Place he kept his Butterfly Swords, while both carried the Holy-soakers. They would walk around different areas, and different graveyards during their patrols, but if there were any vampires in those places, they kept their distance. While Buffy and Xander patrolled Sunnydale, with so little activity, it gave them a chance to get to know each other.

Buffy learned about his mom, when Xander was six his mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which rendered her infertile. Which was when Amanda became his primary caretaker and was made legal guardian of Xander, should anything happen to his mother, who went into remission in 1991, after surgery to remove her ovaries, and the Chemotherapy treatments took effect. Xander's father for whatever the reason, left almost as soon as she was diagnosed, for some reason, he did not feel bound to his broken wife as he called her, nor his child, and for some reason never acknowledged Xander as his son.

Buffy told Xander about her previous school, and Merrick, her first Watcher. She told him the story of her first few months as a Slayer, and what she was like before her responsibilities as a Slayer were thrust upon her. She told him about Lothos, and his henchman, who looked a little like the host of an old children's TV show, and the events that took place the night of the freshman dance. She even told him about how her father abandoned, her and Joyce, when Buffy was sent to juvie, which caused some estrangement between mother and daughter. But since Buffy's coming out so to speak, she and Joyce have been working their way toward being friends, it has only been one week, and they know it will take time to get there, but they were willing to do the work, since the gain for such effort was so rewarding.

Buffy placed Xander's bracelet on her wrist with a smile, at that time, Cordelia Chase walked up to stand next to Willow. "Will you look at Amber," she scoffed, as the girl they saw doing the front split, had moved out into the gym floor to continue stretching with a standing front split, "I mean, who does she think she is, a Laker girl?" Cordy was wearing a navy-blue leotard, and halter-top, festooned with stars, similar to what one would find on the American Flag. Despite her words, nothing could disguise the naked envy, which spread all over her face as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Willow looked at Cordy, then Amber, and smirked, "I heard she turned them down," she replied in a deadpan voice.

Finally, it was time to get started, as the music was shut off, a senior cheerleader came out to center court, "Okay, listen up, let's begin with… Amber Groves! If you're not auditioning, move off the floor," she ordered!

Willow turned and saw another girl she knew, standing near them staring at Amber intensely. Willow got her attention, by waving and calling out to her, "Amy!"

Then with a bright smile coming over her face, Amy waved back, "Hi," and walked over to stand with Willow, and her friends.

"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader," Willow asked in confusion? "You lost a lot of weight," Willow added, crudely.

Amy eyed Willow carefully, "had to," she said softly.

Willow turned and introduced Buffy, "Do you know, Buffy?"

Amy and Buffy greeted each other with a cordial smile, and a, "hi." As Amy passed by Xander though, something weird happened, he was feeling slightly warmer. When she passed him to greet Willow, the sensation seemed to move with her, he distinctly felt the warmth on one side of his face, but it seemed to move with Amy and was now on the side she was standing on. He did not know what it meant, but he knew it was a reaction from his Quickening to something about her, but he did not know what about her was causing this reaction. He also knew, not to dismiss it, since once he started doing that, he might begin dismissing it for other things, and that could cost him, his head. Amanda told him to never dismiss anything his Quickening told him, even if he did not know what it meant, it always meant something.

"Oh, how I hate this, let me count the ways," Amy quipped in an annoyed voice, and a roll of her eyes. On the gym floor the music began, and Amber began to dance, showcasing her talent and flexibility in her dance routine. It was apparent to anybody with eyes, that she was the one to beat, if they wanted a spot on the squad, and she set the bar pretty high too. As Buffy watched, she began to realize how much had changed, while she was away from cheerleading, her eyes were getting bigger and wider as she watched Amber strut her stuff on the gym floor. "She trained with Benson," Amy said to her, "he's one of the best coaches money can buy."

Buffy looked at her in astonishment, "they have cheerleading coaches?"

"Oh yeah," Amy confirmed, "don't you have one? I train with my mom," she added, "three hours in the morning, three at night."

"That much quality time with my mom," Buffy explained, "would probably lead to some quality matricide." Which was true, even after their attempts to grow closer, Joyce and Buffy, both understand they can only stand each other in small doses, to build a tolerance, so to speak.

"Oh, I know it's hokey, but she's really great," Amy said, speaking about her mom.

The warm feeling Xander felt from Amy, suddenly intensified, and out on the gym floor Amber began to emit smoke from the sleeves of her blouse. "Hey, she's smoking," Xander yelled, "is that a part of her routine?"

Buffy was mesmerized, "What the Hell?" Amy, Buffy, and Willow were staring intensely at the girl on the gym floor, while Xander turned away to take something from his Place.

"That girl's on fire," Willow exclaimed!

Cordy who had turned away during Amber's performance, retorted, "enough with the hyperbole."

As she said that Amber's hands literally burst into flames, everybody was shocked but Xander and Buffy. Buffy moved back away from her to pull down the school banner, while Xander moved out onto the floor, with a container filled to the top with water in his hand. He grabbed Amber's hand, pulling it down to pour the water on Amber's hands. Just as Buffy reached them with the banner, ready to smother any flames that may spring up from other places on her body. Buffy was looking at Xander as he doused the flames, as if she was trying to figure something out, then she just asked, "How did you know this was going to happen," she asked?

Xander continued to work, as he thought about how to answer with so many people present, finally he said, "how did I know about Angel, before we saw him?"

Buffy was bewildered for a second, before realizing what he meant, "you need to talk to your aunt about this."

"I will, as soon as I see her tonight for sparring," Xander concurred.

Sunnydale High Library

It was the end of the day, Amber had been taken to the hospital, to get treatment for her burns, and of course what happened was all over the school by lunch. It was the end of the school day and the gang was gathered in the library, for their 'Crime Stoppers Club Meeting.' At the moment, they were sitting at tables near the librarian's office. What they had seen, had even weirded out Buffy who said as much, "I've been Slaying Vampires for more than a year now," she informed them in a highly agitated state, all the more pronounced because of her pacing, "and I have seen some pretty cringe-worthy things, but nobody's hands ever got toasted before." She had changed out of her cheerleading outfit into a cream-colored one-piece dress, sheer-white thigh high, stockings, and black boots.

"I imagine not," Giles agreed, as he walked out of his office holding, what else, a book.

Buffy turned to him, "so… this isn't a vampire problem."

"No," he confirmed.

"But it is funky, right," she asked, "you know, not of the norm?"

"Quite," Giles answered her as he turned from perusing his book, "spontaneous human combustion is rare and scientifically unexplainable, but there have been cases for hundreds of years," he lectured, "usually all that's left is a pile of ash."

"That's all that would've been left if it hadn't been for Xander and Buffy," Willow told him, then looking at her best friend asked, "where did you get the water?"

"I carry a couple of extra containers of water for the Holy-soakers within my subspace field," he told her, when they looked at him in confusion, "that's the Place where I keep my blades when I'm in school. All immortals have them, it allows us to walk through modern society without attracting attention," he explained, "it's usually only big enough to house your weapons, but since mine are small compared to other Immortal's weapons, I have more room to keep other things in it." Then went on with explaining the water, "the holy-soakers are a finite resource, we don't want to risk running out in a Hunt, never thought I'd be using it for something like this." Then he asked Giles another question, "so we have no idea what could've caused this?" Giles merely shook his head in the negative, and Xander nodded in sarcasm, "that's a comfort."

Giles just grinned an excited grin, "but that's the thrill of living on the Hellmouth, there's a veritable cornucopia of fiends and devils and ghouls to engage." He turned his gaze to see if they were as excited about living on the Hellmouth as he was, only to see them looking at him with derision. "Well pardon me for finding the glass half-full," Giles turned to Xander, "and how was it you knew to bring out your water container?"

"I don't know, but I felt something weird happening with my Quickening," Xander answered him, "and it seemed to be pointing me, toward Amy. I felt a warming sensation whenever she walked by me to speak with Will and Buff, which seemed to intensify just before Amber became the human torch, the hard way."

"Do you know what it could mean," Willow asked, wondering if Amy might be an Immortal coming for her best friend's head?

"No, for all I know it could be an Immortal version of cupid, she is cute," Xander answered with a wry smile, putting his hand over Willow's, before adding, "but I'll be sure to ask Aunt Manda, tonight when we spar.

Buffy stared holes in the back of her friend and partner's head, then rolled her eyes, before turning to her Watcher to ask, "any common denominators in cases of spontaneous combustion?"

"Rage," Rupert answered, "in most cases the person who ignited was terribly angry or upset."

"So, maybe Amber's got this power to make herself ignite on fire," Xander was guessing, "only she couldn't control it and it burned her, just like the Stephen King novel, Firestarter©, only it got away from her."

"I need to get the skinny on Amber, find out if she's had any colorful episodes before," Buffy decided.

"That means hacking into the school database illegally," Willow said, pleased to be useful to their little group, "at last, something I can do."

"Well, I'll ask around about her," Xander added.

"Okay, but just… walk softly," Buffy admonished, "at least until we know a little more." Then looked around them to her Watcher, "I mean, what if Amber isn't the cause of these problems herself?"

"Then we have to determine who… or what did," he admitted, "and, deal with it accordingly."

Summers Residence

Buffy just shut the back door and walked into the kitchen, where Joyce was using a pry bar, in an attempt to break open some wooden shipping containers. The kitchen was filled with them, and every available space had a container on it. Buffy entered the kitchen, Joyce glanced behind her and smiled at her daughter, but returned immediately to her task. "Hey," Buffy greeted her mother.

"Hey," she asked, "how was school, how'd your tryouts go?"

"Well, a girl caught fire in the gym today," she said, but she sounded like it happened all the time, "other than that, it was a reverent joy." Buffy placed her purse on a table next to her mother's and turned to look at the rest of the room, "What's all this?"

Joyce looked at her daughter with raised eyebrows, who smiled back at her, so Joyce decided to play along, and smiled back, "It's for the tribal art display."

"Cool," Buffy replied, "do you need a hand getting them open," Buffy noticed her mom having trouble, even with the crowbar?

Joyce's first thought was to say, 'no, thank you,' but then she remembered who her daughter is, so she turned to Buffy with a smile, "that would save me quite a bit of time, thank you," she said stepping back and handing Buffy her crowbar.

Buffy took the crowbar, inspected it then gave it back to her mother, "No thanks," she said, "I don't need it." Buffy stepped over to the window over the kitchen sink, and drew the curtains, before walking over to the crate her mother had most recently been working on. She grabbed the top of the crate, and with a wrench and a creak, she ripped the top off of it. Buffy leaned the top against the side of the box and turned to watch her mother's thoughtful expression.

Buffy went through the other boxes quickly, as Joyce remembered last week, when Buffy had picked her up like she was a baby. Joyce could not appreciate it, then, because of her own shock, and later she learns of her daughter's fight with monsters, which caused their estrangement. Buffy and Joyce discussed what happened at her old school, how after the shock wore off, everybody who was there, and witnessed everything, turned on her daughter and denied everything that happened, which led to Buffy's expulsion and incarceration. Buffy had saved their lives, but instead of praising her, and thanking her as they should have, they made up the story of her burning down the school. For the first time in her life, Joyce felt hatred toward those people, and fervently wished them a bad life, with no happiness at all. Joyce's own sense of guilt over not believing her own daughter still kept her up at night, it made her question her own fitness as a mother. "So, what happened with the girl who caught on fire," Joyce asked?

Buffy turned to her in surprise, not thinking her mother wanted to know all the gory details, but Buffy shrugged, if her mom wanted to know, she had no problem talking about it. "One of the better candidates for the squad, was performing her solo routine for the judges," Buffy smiled ironically, "and with her performance, she would have gotten on the squad easily. Anyway, while she was dancing her arms started to smoke, and before anybody knew it, her hands burst into flames. Me and Xander reacted quickly enough to extinguish the flames, before they spread all over the rest of her, so at most only her hands and forearms were injured."

"That's nice, it was a good thing you and your partner were there," Joyce commended them.

"Yeah," then knowing her mother's need to know of everything related to Xander, informed her mother of the issue regarding his Quickening, "well Xander said he had a reaction to one of the other girls, Amy." Joyce looked at her daughter and listened, as Buffy elaborated, "he said, he felt a slight warming of his Immortal juice whenever she passed by him, and it seemed to be able to follow her. He also said he felt the heat increase and point toward Amber, right before she caught fire," she added as an aside.

"Did he tell you what it meant," Joyce asked?

"He didn't know, but made a point to tell Amanda, when they got together to spar tonight," she explained, then with a frown added, "he said for all he knew, it could be an Immortal form of cupid, then called Amy 'cute,'" Buffy grumbled, before walking to the fridge to get some juice.

Joyce hid a smile behind her hand as she looked at her daughter's naked jealousy, "that's very interesting," she said, as she stepped over to the first crate, she was working on to open it, and look inside, she reached in and picked up the statue. Joyce got a good look at it, and blushed, "oh dear," she said in embarrassment, before quickly putting it back in the crate and closing the lid, just before her daughter turned her head back in curiosity.

"What," Buffy asked?

"The fertility statue – you don't need to see that," Joyce said quickly, before taking a clipboard and cataloguing the statues.

Buffy walked up to her mother hesitantly, "you know this girl, Amy, and um," Buffy hesitated as Joyce turned to look at her, "she trains with her mom, like, 3-hours a day." Joyce nodded as she listened to her daughter, "sounds like her mom's pretty into it."

Joyce closed her eyes in understanding, then looked at her daughter, "Buffy, I don't know anything about cheerleading, I was never one of them, I was more into fine art," Joyce said. "I was on the yearbook committee, not the cheer squad. I mean you've seen me dance, right," Joyce asked, hoping Buffy would understand not helping her this time?

"I know," Buffy acquiesced, baby steps, Buffy, she admonished herself. "I was just hoping to spend more time with you," Buffy admitted, "and this seemed like a good way to do that."

Joyce reached over and squeezed her daughter's hand, "I know you do, and I do too, but I think if I helped you with this, it would only insure you never made the squad. Besides, it sounds like Amy's mom doesn't have a lot to do," Joyce retorted, "three hours at night sounds like a lot of time to spend on a single activity."

Joyce smiled at her daughter as she left the kitchen. Buffy waited until her mom left then peeked inside the box she was leaning on, and got an eyeful of the 'male' fertility statue, "Jeepers," she whispered, before leaving the kitchen to go get ready for bed, wondering, does Xander's look like that? Out of consideration for tryouts, Xander and Buffy decided on their way home, to skip patrol tonight, though she wanted to know what Amanda said, she would have to wait until tomorrow, after tryouts.

The next day

Early the next morning, the cheerleader hopefuls gathered in the gym as scheduled. They were lined-up in two rows, Cordelia was on the front row, Amy was behind her. Buffy stood in the back row as well, to the left of Amy. They were done stretching and warming up, so the cheer captain called them to order, and began speaking about yesterday's tragedy and what today would bring. "Despite the terrible events of yesterday, we still have to pick new cheerleaders," she spoke with an arrogant voice, and a cocky strut, "if you make the team, you'll find your names posted in the quad, after lunch. Let's begin with group performance," she concluded!

Amy turned to Buffy and whispered, "Why do my hands have to sweat, when I get nervous?"

Buffy tried to reassure her, "don't worry, you'll do great," she said with a nod, and a smile. While Buffy wanted to make the squad as much as anybody else, she was not nearly as worried about it, as some of these other girls. She guessed it had something to do with her Slayer lifestyle, once you've been in real life or death situations, it's impossible to feel nervous over such trivial things as making cheerleader.

"5–6–7–8," came the voice of the captain!

Together the candidates began a simple cheer, "Sunnydale, Sunnydale, we never fail! We never fail! Jump and shoot, swish and score! The other team is such a bore!" They all moved with the beat, then after 'bore,' they did a cartwheel and Buffy was not happy with her performance, but she was not the worst. Because just as she landed her wobbly cartwheel, she heard two shrieks to her right, as Amy wheeled right into Cordy, knocking them both to the floor.

They were not hurt beyond their pride, and Cordelia was on her feet quickly, but she was looking at the judges, and exclaiming, "You saw that right, that wasn't me?" She sounded almost desperate for the judges to know it was not her fault they screwed up the cheer. "You saw that, right," she implored the judges, before turning to give Amy an ugly glare, then back to the judges, "right?" Of course, Cordy did not need to cast accusatory glares at Amy, because the look on her face was a mixture of mortification and for some reason, fear.

The rest of the performances went off, more or less as good as the first. For the rest of tryouts Cordy sat some distance away, casting glares at Amy, who though not looking in her direction seemed to shrink under the hot light of Cordelia's eyes. Buffy sat with Amy, placing herself between Cordy and Amy, as much as possible. Finally, tryouts were over, and Amy rushed off the bleachers and dashed into the locker room, Buffy could here crying as Amy ran away.

Buffy wanted to console her, but she did not know what she could say to help. So, she went to her own locker to change for the rest of her day. She finished getting dressed and started heading out of the locker room, Buffy walked out to find Amy staring wistfully at a trophy case, specifically at a photograph of a pretty, red-headed cheerleader. Amy turned to see Buffy looking through the case with her, Amy smiled, "that's my mom," she pointed proudly.

"Really," Buffy scoffed, but Amy just nodded with pride? "Catherine Madison," she read, "get down with your bad self," Buffy said graciously.

"Her nickname was Catherine the Great," Amy told her with pride in her voice, "she took that team and made them tri-county champions, you know," Amy spoke rapidly, "no one's ever done that before, or since. She and my dad were homecoming king and queen," she told the Slayer happily, then her excitement began to wane as she added, "they got married right after graduation."

Buffy smiled at the thought, "that's kind of romantic."

"Well, he was a big loser," she said as her excitement ended, "never made any money, ran off with miss trailer trash when I was twelve."

"Okay," Buffy amended, "that part's less romantic," then shared a little of her own story, "my folks split up, too."

"Drag, huh," Amy asked, before adding, "he left my mom with nothing, she put herself through cosmetology school, bought me everything I ever wanted," she said with a bright smile, "and never gained a single pound."

Buffy step forward, "she sounds really great, Amy, but," she turned to face Amy, "that doesn't mean that you need to be in lock step, as far as this cheerleading thing goes."

"She was the best," Amy insisted, "and I can't get my body to move like hers. I choked in there so bad," she cried!

"Amy, you did fine," Buffy began to assure her.

But Amy turned her head, then with a smile of gratitude, said, "I'm going to get changed," before turning and walking back into the locker room. Buffy tried to stop her, but it was no use, as Amy just walked back through the door to the locker room, ignoring Buffy's pleas to stop.

Willow came walking through the same door, saying, "Hey Amy," Willow greeted her, but she just ignored her too. Willow turned back to a frustrated Buffy, "is she okay?"

"No," Buffy replied glumly, "she's wigging about her mom, 'the big cheer queen from back when,'" she finished with irony.

Willow just nodded with a knowing grin, "yeah, her mom's kind of –"

"Nazi-like," Buffy finished for her?

"Heil," Willow confirmed, "if she gains a ounce, she padlocks the fridge and won't eat anything but broth."

Buffy knew what she was talking about, "So mommy dearest is really… Mommy Dearest," she assumed with a sardonic nod, thanking God, her mom, let's her do her own thing.

Willow nodded and raised her eyes in irony, "there's a bitter streak, but Amy's nice. We used to hang in junior high, when her mom went on her broth kick, Amy would come over to my house, and we'd stuff ourselves with brownies."

Buffy chuckled at that, before changing the subject as they started to walk to class, "Hey, any word on Amber?"

Willow shrugged, "Nothing thrilling," she explained, "average student, got detention once for smoking. Regular smoking, with a cigarette, not grass," Willow explained, "all pretty normal?"

"So, we have to wait and see what happens," Buffy nutshelled, then shrugged, "maybe nothing will," she hoped, then she felt a shiver run down her spine which here in school in the middle of the day, could only mean one thing. Her Immortal was coming, and just as she thought that, Xander hurried up to them with an intense expression on his face.

"Hey, Xander," Buffy greeted him cheerfully, her smile always seemed wider and brighter when he was around for some reason. She waved the hand she was wearing the bracelet on to show him she appreciated his gift.

Xander smiled thinly, and after returning Buffy's greeting, spoke to them seriously, "I've got some news about yesterday, but I want to make sure nobody can hear us, so meet in the library today, like normal, okay?"

They looked at him and saw that for once Xander was serious, which means whatever his news was going to be was huge. So, Willow and Buffy, just nodded while Willow said, "okay, Xander, we were going to be there anyway, so whatever you need to tell us, we'll be there."

The Quad at Lunch

Willow and Xander met up after lunch, and she briefed him on her talk with Buffy about Amy, then what she found out about Amber. Xander had also asked around about her, and other than the smoking thing, there was not much about her character that stood out, except the reason for her flexibility was her ten-years of gymnastics training, coupled with ballet. She viewed cheerleading as the extra-curricular credit she needed to get into college. She was just your basic average teenager, with nobody saying anything bad about her, and while the burns were bad, they were not crippling.

After dishing to each other about Amber, Xander began talking about another subject, that happened today. "Did you see Buffy wearing the bracelet I got her," Xander asked excitedly, "almost like we're going out, right?"

Willow just smiled, "Except without the hugging and kissing, and she not knowing about it," she explained to him.

"So, I should just bite the bullet and ask her out shouldn't I," he asked his best friend?

"You won't know until you ask," Willow reminded him?

Xander just grinned, and smacked his own hand with his knuckles, "that's why I love you, Wills," he said in warmth, "you're like my sister, only you're cool and you don't want to kill me, most of the time. You're the one I could always turn to when I need advice about girls."

Willow actually smiled, a pretty smile, "You love me like a sister," she asked, "that's great?"

Xander looked at her making sure she was understanding his double-meaning, "Yeah," he said tentatively, "you know all my embarrassing secrets, with which you can blackmail me, things I don't want to tell any other girl, because then both of you would know, that I'm not perfect."

Willow looked at him, she did understand what he was saying. Xander was telling her how special she was to him, just not in the way she wanted to be special to him. They walked along in silence, as she looked at him, and she could not help the tear or two that leaked from her eye. She dashed them away, as she felt him place a hand on her shoulder, she began to think about a few things, using her near genius level intelligence, it's not like we could have a future or anything, he's going to be dodging headhunters for the rest of his life. Even if he were to stay with me, and manage to be victorious against those people, I would begin to look older, while he remained the same apparent age. I'd say that our children and grandchildren would be able to keep him company, but the Powers have denied him even that small solace. Willow reached up to her shoulder and squeezed his hand, before narrowing her eyes and shoving his hand off in a huff, he looked at her with wide eyes, which held a little fear. "Don't think I won't do it either, Alexander Harris," she snapped, "I've got the mustard story ready to go, and I'm not afraid to use it, so you'd better watch yourself, and treat me like a queen, or I'll tell everybody about it. Starting with Buffy," Willow quipped with a grin.

Xander gasped, "you wouldn't," he challenged?

"Try me," Willow growled, but there was a minute upturn along the corner of her mouth, which he caught?

Xander stood his ground, and stared her down, her hard eyes never wavered, then they turned the corner as they heard a crowd and using that as the subtext to avert his eyes, turned to see what the commotion was about. His eyes widened, "Oh, hey, they're posting the list," he stated urgently as he dashed over to join the crowd!

There were shrieks of every kind, from excited exclamations, to screams of despair, already there were girls, running away crying. Buffy and Amy were waiting at the back of the crowd, in front of the bulletin board used for school announcements. Amy was just a basket case, and while Buffy was hiding it well, her own stomach was doing hippity-hops. "I can't take this," Amy quivered.

Buffy was so nervous, she almost dismissed the sudden shiver down her back as nerves, until she saw a hand grab Amy's and felt another on her shoulder, pull them apart, and say, "cover me, ladies," he told them with cheek, "I'm… going in," he barreled through the throng of cheerleader hopefuls. Buffy shared a smirk with Amy, then a roll of her eyes over the boy's antics, though Buffy's heartbeat did pick up, and Amy looked flattered at his gallantry.

Coming out of the crowd of teenage girls, with a smile on her face was Cordelia Chase. She dropped her smile to a neutral expression, as she spoke to Amy, "you're fucking lucky," she said.

Then Amy asked excitedly, "I made it?"

But Cordy smiled a self-satisfied, smug smile, "I did," before walking away.

"Ow," came an exclamation of pain from Xander, "one of those girls hit me really hard, they should test for steroids!" They barely heard what he said as they waited for him to tell them their fate, seeing this he got a happy grin as he spoke, "okay, not only did you make the team, but you, Miss Summers are the first alternate," they were turning to congratulate each other, before they really heard what he was saying, and Amy's huge grin died on her face as she heard what he said next, "and Amy's number 3." Amy looked at Buffy in resentment before stalking away in a huff, "and what better way to celebrate than with a romantic drive through…" causing Xander to trail off in confusion.

Willow slapped him on the arm, and said in an exasperated voice, "Xander, alternates are the ones who didn't make the team," and his eyes widened at his mistake, but Willow continued explaining, "they only fill in if something happens to the ones who did."

Xander closed his eyes, then turned to Buffy to apologize for his mistake, she could not look at him, but placed her hand on his arm to let him know everything was okay between them. Buffy watched Amy leave out of concern, lightly squeezed Xander's arm, he did not mean to get her hopes up, before dashing them and she was not mad at him. She was more concerned about Amy, than herself at the moment, knowing how important getting on the squad was to her, and how mental her mom was, "Excuse me," she said giving her partner one more light squeeze before walking off to console her new friend.

Xander turned to Willow with a self-deprecating smirk, "For I am Xander, King of the Cretins, may all lesser Cretins, bow before me!" Then turning back to watch as his crush retreated, "this'll make what I have to tell you, Buffy, and Giles today, harder to take in," he said with a sigh. Willow looked at him in bewilderment, before looking after her two female friends, in concern.

Buffy caught up to Amy, who had slowed to a more normal pace, "at least it's over," Buffy offered, "and you know what I think we should do about it? Brownie pig-out, my house, after school," she offered.

Amy took a breath in frustration, before turning to Buffy and asking, "just how many more hours a day can I practice," she asked, "how much more can I do? This would never happen to my mother," she whined, before walking away from Buffy at an even faster pace than before, and Buffy heard one more, "never!"

Not Charmed At All

Sunnydale High Library: After school

Xander, Buffy, Giles, and Willow met in the library at the end of the day, the cryptic information Xander has hinted at since this morning, was about to come to light. The latter three sat patiently at one of the tables while the former first, was in front of them with his eyes closed contemplating how to begin. He finally opened his eyes and began to speak. "What I'm about to say came as much of a shock to me as it may be to you," he started, his face the most serious Buffy and Giles had ever seen it, "but as this comes from Aunt Manda, and she has never lied to me about anything this serious. It concerns the incident yesterday in the gym," he explained, "what happened yesterday wasn't random, and it wasn't an accident, it was magic." The expressions on Buffy and Willow's faces were at first shocked, then incredulous, "witchcraft to be more precise," Giles on the other hand became more thoughtful, as he contemplated the young man's words.

"Are you sure, it was a witch," Giles asked, at Xander's nod, and the look of shock on the girl's faces that the Watcher accepted this explanation as plausible, before Giles asked, "how can you be sure?"

"My Quickening," Xander answered shortly, "remember when I told you that it felt warm in the gym?" Buffy and Willow now had big-eyed expressions as it donned on them what he was feeling yesterday, "well like I promised, I asked Aunt Manda about it, and she was very interested. She told me that the Quickening can detect magic users, when they're close and only when they're actively using it," he explained. "She said, there have been Immortals in the past, who tried to use magic, to win the Game but failed because their very own Quickening disrupted the energies from even the most potent magics, power just short of the Powers Themselves."

"Is that even possible," Buffy wondered, then looking at Xander quickly explained, "I trust you Xander, but vampires are one thing, they're at least solid, but magic is a little hard for even me to swallow."

"Magic does indeed exist, Buffy," Giles chimed in, "I have dabbled in a little magic myself, when I was younger. Remember when I told them the true story of the origin of the Earth," he asked at her nod, "in the last part I told them the only thing left of the Old Ones, were certain magics, and vestiges, well none of that was hyperbole, I was telling them the naked truth."

Buffy just nodded and turned back to her partner with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry Xander, I didn't mean to doubt your word, but as I said, vampires and other monsters I can get on board with, but hocus-pocus was where I drew the line."

Xander just nodded his forgiveness, then, "It's okay, Buff," he said, "because you're the very soul of acceptance, compared to how I was, when Amanda first told me about it. She used the same logic on me that Giles did on you. But wait there's more, Immortals can't cast magic ourselves because of the Quickening, and magic can't be cast directly on us, also because of the Quickening. Spells cast over a broad area can affect us, but the Quickening after a while will usually undo its effects on us and bring us out from under a spell's hold over us."

"Why's that," Willow asked, her mind whirling with the possibilities of magic?

"Come on, Will, isn't it obvious," Xander asked matter of factly, "the Game wouldn't be fair if an Immortal was able to use magic to beat his opponent from a distance? Which I'm sure, violates Sacred Rule Number Three, no projectile weapons, which magic would certainly qualify as a projectile." They looked at him in surprise, then he sighed and bowed his head, before looking up and continuing, "look forget what I said about the game in the beginning, it may be a brutal, bloody suck fest, but it's fair for everyone."

"We can detect magic users, and those they've cast spells on," Xander explained a little more of the capabilities of Quickening, "but only while the magic is active. Once it has run it's course, the warming sensation from our Immortal soup goes back to normal," Xander finished.

"You said yesterday, that you were getting the warming sensation, from Amy and Amber, right," Buffy asked severely, to which Xander nodded mutely?

"Amber was the one that was injured though," Willow added, "and Xander's Quickening did sort of point Amy out to him."

"He said it seemed to follow her, as she moved by him," Buffy concurred, "and it stayed pointing in her direction, right up until Amber's hands did their matchstick impression."

It was Xander's turn to speak as he held up his hands in a placating gesture, "Now, before we go all Salem on Amy, we need to make damn sure she's the actual witch, and not the intended victim." Then looking at Buffy and Willow asked, "besides isn't she your friend, shouldn't you be giving her the benefit of the doubt, for all we know it could be Amy's mom practicing witchcraft. I remember her, growing-up, she was practically the Wicked Witch of Sunnydale toward Amy."

The girls looked confused, "I know her mom sound's harsh, but would she really try to hurt another girl, just so her daughter could get on the squad," Willow wondered?

"If memory serves, there was an issue somewhere in the southern part of the United States, about a mother, hiring a hitman to kill a girl so her own daughter could be considered for the cheer squad," Giles inserted himself into the conversation. "Also, as a practitioner of magic myself, I have had a number of spells backfire on me," Giles admitted, "therefore I would not rule out young Amber herself. She could have cast a spell intending to give herself a more spectacular finish but said, or did something out of place, and the resulting backlash was the charred flesh."

"I see your point and you're both right," Buffy conceded with a small smile, "I guess seeing my friends become vampires, made me distrust her a little. Being the Slayer means that sometime in the future, I may have to dust someone who's a friend, or was when they were alive," she told them, "but your right, we'll wait and see what happens."

Sunnydale High: The next morning

The day after the posting of the cheerleader results, was as normal as any other day at Sunnydale High. The ones who made it, were understandably happy and upbeat, while the girls who failed were also understandably subdued and downcast. There was one person walking the halls of Sunnydale and acting strangely, this person should have been rubbing it into the faces of the failures that she had become a cheerleader, while they had not. Instead this person was quiet, and seemed to be acting more like the losers, than the winner she thought she was, it was none other than Sunnydale High's resident Queen B, Cordelia Chase. In fact, her behavior was so bizarre it caught the notice of the self-proclaimed King of Cretins himself, Alexander Lavelle Harris, who today was wearing more relaxed clothing. A midnight-blue and cardinal-red jersey, and green-cargo pants, with his uncle's dog-tags, hanging down to the middle of his chest.

Cordy was walking out of one of her classes, which just so happened to be right next to Willow's locker. He noticed the dead expression on her face, and spoke to her, "Cordelia, you haven't been mean to me all day, is it something I've done," he wondered aloud, but as she approached, he felt his Quickening grow warm, and he reached over to touch his best friend's shoulder. She turned to look at him, "something's happening with Cordy, I don't know what it is, but she's not acting like the bitch we know, and moderately dislike."

They had followed Cordy down the hall, when he felt a shadow flash across his vision, just before Buffy came into the hallway. When she saw them and looked at Xander she became subdued, her inability to make the squad, had been eating at her all last night, even during patrol. Xander and Willow continued to watch Cordy, who went to a locker which was not her own, and as Buffy came up to them looking at the brunette queen b, with a confused expression, "Is that even Cordelia's locker?"

"No, it isn't, and you know what, she hasn't even been mean to me all day," Xander affirmed lightly, though his eyes showed he really was concerned for his female tormentor. "At first, I thought it was my clothes she liked or my new grooming standards, that she appreciated," Xander scoffed, "but that can't be it, Cordy would never be so shallow as to change her attitude toward me simply because I dress better now." He turned to his best friend since kindergarten, "Will, you should probably head to class, you shouldn't be late because of this, me and the Buffster have partnering to do," while what he asked sounded like a question, she knew it was his way of telling her to get to class, and let them take care of it, if something happens?

Willow's eyes glowed with anger, but she nodded and walked off, but not before she uttered one word under her breath, though Buffy's senses caught it, "mustard."

Buffy and Xander turned to watch as Cordy gave up on her locker and staggered off down the hall. They decided to follow Cordy, as Xander continued to inform his partner of everything he noticed about Miss Chase. "Then I saw her expression, which made her normal airheaded façade, seem positively expressive," he explained as they followed her down the hall, "she was doing an impression of a Zombie," he surmised, "and doing quite a good job too, she would make other Zombie's proud enough to eat her brains." Buffy was smiling at how he described his bully, and the way he genuinely showed his concern for Cordelia Chase, the number one anti-Xander person in the school, showed that he really could rise above his own ego for this kind of work, "it wasn't until she walked by me a couple minutes ago, that I understood what was happening, she's been Samantha and Darren'd."

Buffy was confused at first, before she remembered a certain old TV show from the sixties, "are you sure about that," she asked?

"The juice don't lie, Buffy," Xander nodded, "she warmed me up as she walked through these halls. By the way, Buff," Xander began, "how're you feeling this morning," when she looked at him in confusion, he reminded her of what she told him last night, "you told me you were depressed about the results of the tryouts, so I wanted to see if you were feeling better than you were last night?"

Buffy turned away quickly, before turning back to look at him with a half-hearted smile, "I'm still reeling over what happened yesterday, that's for sure, but I am feeling better about it." The partners surreptitiously follow Cordelia out of the school, across the quad, to the school bus parking lot, which was also where the driver's ed class was conducted. When they got to the parking lot and saw where Cordy was heading, and Buffy made a comment to lighten the mood, "don't know which is more evil, the asshole who cast the spell on her, or the system that would be willing to give Cordelia Chase a driver's license?"

They watched as Cordy walked up to the teacher, who seemed to be awaiting her, rather impatiently. He spoke to her as she walked up, but by the set of his jaw, he was not complimenting her. There were two other students in her driver's ed class, who all got in the back seat, it was Chase's turn to drive, apparently. The Slayer and Immortal came around the front end of one of the busses in the parking lot, and watched Cordelia sit in the driver's seat. From right behind Buffy, Xander whispers in her ear, "you know how they say driving under the influence is bad," he states to Buffy who just nods, doing her best to concentrate on their work, "they're usually talking about alcoholic or other mind-altering chemicals, right?"

"Yep, that's what they're talking about," Buffy nodded understanding where her partner was going with this, "but I think getting hexed and getting behind the wheel of a car would qualify as under the influence too."

"So, do I," Xander agreed, "stay back here, okay? I'll just get detention, but with your record, they might suspend you, or worse for cutting class," he said, as he moved out from behind Buffy into the open, he jogged up to the car, but before he got there, the vehicle lurched backward, into some portable signs then barreled forward swerving toward Xander. As it neared him, he felt his adrenaline pumping, and moving on pure instinct leapt over the car. Xander landed on his shoulder and rolled a little to bleed off his momentum. It seemed Jesse's power was still present within Xander, and Xander sent a quiet, "thanks, buddy," to Jesse's soul.

The car with Cordelia driving, continued to go out of control, they heard screams of fright from the vehicle, and Buffy had moved out from behind the bus and after checking to be sure Xander was alright, began running in the direction she predicted the car was headed.

"Brakes," the driver's ed teacher called out in fright, "Brakes, Braaakes," as she rushed toward the fence-line! At this point both Xander and Buffy were running toward the car, hoping to avert disaster, and in the car the now fully awake Cordy applied the brake, but it was too late to stop her momentum and she crashed through the fence, finally coming to a stop in the middle of the street. Other cars on the street narrowly avoided colliding with the driver's ed vehicle. "Everybody out," the teacher ordered, and they all exited the vehicle!

Cordelia slowly exited the vehicle, she seemed to be feeling wobbly, and was still disoriented, she was finally becoming fully cognizant, but soon, another malady began cropping up. Then she heard rumbling behind her and turned and almost came face to face with a delivery truck, she was frozen in place but had the wherewithal to scream, when she was roughly pushed out of the way. She and her unknown rescuer rolled out of the way.

Buffy was the one who rescued her, and as she sat up, Cordy voiced her new ailment, "Oh my God," she exclaimed, "I can't see anything!"

Buffy started reassuring her before she looked at the pretty brunette's face in awe, "Oh, god," Buffy quipped in amazement as she watched the pretty brunette's eyes, turn completely white.

"What's happening," Cordelia asked, fear rife in her voice, then she cried, "I can't see anything?"

Sunnydale Library

"It was most definitely, witchcraft," Giles determined while sitting down to face them, before continuing, "blinding your enemies to disorient and disable is – it's classic." After the incident, Cordelia was also taken to the hospital, but they were all baffled about the cause of her blindness, not to mention the milky-white eyes.

"This just confirms what we thought before," Xander reminded them, before lamenting with, "first vampires, now witches, no wonder you can still afford a house in Sunnydale."

They all looked in his direction before Giles asked, "why should someone want to harm Cordelia," he wondered out loud?

Willow just smiled and retorted, "maybe, because they've met her," then with wide innocent eyes, she said, "did I say that?"

Then Giles continued, "and setting Amber ablaze?"

"Those two aren't friends," Xander put in, "what do they have in common?"

"They're both cheerleaders," Buffy answered her partner.

"Either someone doesn't like cheerleaders," Xander stated, "or…"

"… likes it too much," Buffy concluded!

"We're back to Amy," Giles stated.

"or her mother," Willow contradicted.

"or both," Xander added as a compromise, "maybe they have mother-daughter bonding over bubbling cauldrons."

"Either way," Buffy agreed to all points, "Amy's desperate to get on that team, and I've got a hunch, she, her mother, or both, would do just about anything to make her mother's dream come true."

"Regardless of what I said yesterday," Giles said in disbelief, "I can't believe this witch, whomever it might be, would be casting horrible and disfiguring spells, so that she can make her or her daughter a cheerleader?"

Buffy smiled in irony, "I think you're underestimating the kind of pressure a parent can lay on you. If you're not a picture-perfect carbon-copy, they tend to wig."

Xander quirked an eyebrow, "I can't imagine your mom putting that much pressure on you, Buffy?"

Buffy smiled warmly at him, and affectionately laid her hand on his and squeezed it, "well she has gotten better at laying off the pressure, once she found out about the Slaying, but she still has her irrational moments. This morning she even tried to get me to think about joining yearbook committee," she told them, "claiming that it's something she enjoyed, I had to remind her that I wasn't her."

The two teens gave her sympathetic expressions, though Giles's expression remained neutral, and in his mind had to ask, what is so wrong with being an annual board member?

"Cheerleading was kind of the last time her mother felt important," Willow told Giles.

"You know, we don't have any proof, it's either one of them," Xander added, "so without going all… Spanish Inquisition on them, how do we figure out which one's the witch?"

That raised Willow's eyebrows, "looks like, someone's been doing their history homework," she noted with a grin, "that's two correct references to religious history, centering on witch hysteria in two days. Who are you, and what have you done with my friend, Xander," she asked sarcastically?

Xander grinned, "hey, I'm not just a pretty face." He returned to being serious again, "seriously though what do we do to prove witchcraft?"

Giles nodded his agreement to Xander's stance, with, "we really should make sure she's the witch before arousing her suspicions, she's capable of some very unpleasant things."

"Okay," Buffy said as she gave Xander's hand one last squeeze and stood up to begin pacing, and trying to use logic, "alright, so you're in high school, you are desperate to make the team and please your mom, so you turn to witchcraft." Then looking at Giles asks, "what's the first thing you're gonna do?"

Willow's eyes got big as she made the connection, "check out the books on witchcraft," she concluded while getting up, to go around Xander to sit at the computer near the desk, at which they sat.

Xander was beginning to nod his head in agreement before his eyes got big and he began speaking very fast, "No, no, that would be the last thing you'd do. You don't want to leave a paper trail, forget that." Which may have worked if they had paid any attention to him, but they just ignored him, Buffy may be getting more affectionate with Xander, but she will not coddle him.

"It'll just take a minute," Willow replied absently.

"We don't have a minute," Xander stated vehemently, "cheerleaders are in danger," he said head pointing to his partner! "Buffy's in danger," he said as he stood up and circled around to Buffy's other side, and reminded her, "you were the first alternate, and you're on the team now that Cordelia's out. You could be next," he stated, "we gotta get you to a safe house," he stated, taking Buffy by the arm to pull her along with him, she resisted of course, but Buffy could not help but find his concern for her endearing, until Willow found something.

"Xander," she read?

And, so close, he thought as he closed his eyes, and knowing he was caught turned to face the music, "Yeah," he said in a light-hearted, yet pensive voice?

Buffy scoffed at him and removed her arm from his grasp, and returned to stand behind Willow, so he wasn't just trying to protect me, he was covering his own ass. It's actually pretty funny, this must be where he got those historical references, Buffy mused to herself, at least now I know he's like other males when he's about to be caught with his hand in the cookies, run and hide. What I've learned about him doesn't make me pity him, and it would probably insult him if he thought I did.

"Witches: Historic Roots to Modern Practices," Willow said, "checked out by Alexander Harris." Xander sort of scuttled back around to his chair, in quiet embarrassment, hands in his pockets like a little boy caught being naughty.

"The Pagan Rites," Buffy read with a huge derisive grin on her face, "checked out by Alexander –"

"Alright-alright," he interrupted trying to downplay his book choices, "It's not what you think."

Buffy turned immediately to look at her Immortal, with an amused smile on her face. "You like to look at the semi-nude engravings," Willow guessed, which was not a guess, because she knew her best friend well, while slowly turning to look at the boy?

"Oh, well, uhh…" he stammered, "maybe it is what you're thinking," he admitted casting glances over at Buffy, who smirked back at him. She was shaking her head, she actually found it refreshing that he had such a typical male outlook on something like this, despite his new condition he is still like every other teenage boy his age.

Giles broke into their little side-bar, by asking them pointedly, "have you all quite finished? We have to find a conclusive test," he reminded them, then holding up his book said, "there may be something in here." Buffy stood up straight and paid attention to her Watcher, as she subconsciously leaned a little closer to Xander than she realized, not touching him but only barely. Rupert read for a bit then perked and nodded, "yes, this should do it: you'll need some of her hair… a little quicksilver, and… aqua fortis," he said happily.

Willow recognize them right away, "well, that's just mercury and nitric acid," she told them, "you can get that in the science lab."

Giles nodded and continued reading, "heat ingredients and apply to witch. If the spell has been cast in the previous 48 hours, the witch's skin turns blue. Oh dear," he said in very slight consternation, and at the raised eyebrows of his Slayer, he answered her unspoken question, "only that you'll need some eye of newt."

Buffy turned to Xander, who was deep in thought and nudged him slightly to get his attention. He doesn't need my pity, but someone who truly cares for him, maybe if he remembers me in the centuries to come, he will remember that someone truly cared about him. When he turned to look down at her inquiringly, she smirked, "do you ever get the impression, we're just glorified muscle," she asked?

Xander immediately grinned, "if that were true, then you'd still be the pretty one, and I'd just be the big dumb one."

Buffy blushed at his compliment, but she lightly slapped him on the stomach, in rebuke for putting himself down, "the big part's right, but the dumb part, not a chance. Just what were you thinking over there," Buffy asked her partner?

Xander grinned down at her, then spoke, "while my original reason for checking those two books out, was to sooth my own hormones, I did read them too, and one of the parts that sticks out the most right now, was the part concerning protection from witchcraft. While there are a few different means in both books, one of the ways they both agreed on, was the use of copper, brass, or bronze, to keep yourself from getting zapped or something."

Buffy turned to her Watcher to see if he agreed, but the widening of his eyes told her the answer, she reached up to pat Xander on the cheek, and quipped, "see, what'd I tell you? Big, yes, you big lug, but dumb? No, fucking, way," she insisted!

Sunnydale Science Lab

The next period they had science class. At Sunnydale High, faculty capacity was unusually low, for a campus and student body so large, so to make-up for the lack of teachers, many teachers taught two classes at the same time, and science class was one of those. Biology class, also called track one, was taught with track two, Chemistry. "Those of you in track one," the teacher instructed, as he drew a vertical line down the ventral section of their complimentary frogs, with his latex gloved hand, "may begin your dissections… now, those of you in track two," he said, putting on his heavy gloves over the latex, "take your hydrochloric acid and ammonium hydroxide and carefully… pour them into… your beakers." He cautioned them to do it slowly, showing them the proper procedures for mixing chemicals.

Xander was in track one, and he was following the teachers previous instructions as well as he could. Normally, he would be squeamish about cutting open dead animals, but if he was going to be Buffy's partner on patrols, he would have to learn to get his hands messy. Giles and Amanda both had told him that not all monsters turned to dust upon death, so he had to learn to stomach these kinds of things, at least the frog was already dead and drained of bodily fluids. He extracted the eye of newt from the frog and dropped it into the solution Willow was heating at her station, then sighing he asked quietly, "how's Buffy doing with the hair?"

Buffy was casually walking down the aisle to the station Amy was at, when a student named Lishanne, the alternate on the squad after Buffy, looked up at her, smiled, and quipped sarcastically, "isn't this exciting?"

Buffy just returned the smile, with a good natured one of her own, and replied with, "oh, yeah." Before she turned to Amy and with a pleading face asked, "Amy, help me," she brought her hands up in a prayerful gesture, "um, which one is the hydrochloric acid, and which is the ammonium hydroxide?"

Amy just smiled and explained in an obvious tone of voice, "well, the bottle that says, 'hydrochloric acid' is usually the hydrochloric acid."

Buffy just shrugged like it should have been obvious to her, and nodded ruefully, "read the bottles," she nodded with a huge grin, "what a concept." Buffy shrugged again and dropped her troll pin, immediately bent down to get it, and while she was down there, went into Amy's open bag and collected the hair she needed from Amy's hairbrush. When she came back up, Amy was looking right at her, and gave Buffy a thin smile, so she stuffed the pencil with the hair in her pocket and with a genuinely concerned smile, stepped closer and asked, "um, Amy," and Amy looked at her expectantly, "the reason I came over here, with the really obvious question," Buffy began, and they both shared a giggle, "was to ask you how you were feeling today, did the shock of yesterday's cheerleader results, have at least a day to wear-off?"

Amy's eyes widened like she was not expecting Buffy's concern, then she cast her eyes down, "my mother went ballistic last night, and made me do double the work-out we normally do. She said I was as worthless as my father," Amy admitted to her. "I barely got to sleep last night, before coming to school this morning," Amy told Buffy, "I had to hurry and finish my homework before I could sleep."

Buffy placed a hand on Amy's arm, "I'm sorry, about that," she said solemnly, "good news is, with Cordy out you're one-step closer to being on the squad." They heard a grunt from the instructor, and he gave them a hard look from the front of the class, so they nodded apologetically, and returned to their work. Amy turned to get back on task, and Buffy returned to her station with Willow and Xander. Buffy gave the hair to Willow as she passed by, who added it to the solution they've been working on all class.

Xander and Willow felt eyes watching them, and turned to where they felt them, noticing Amy staring at them. Willow ignored her, while Xander just grinned benignly, which Amy returned before quickly turning back to her work. "Wave hi to the nice little witch," Xander said with his plastic smile, Amy turned back to them again, and noticed what they were doing, "I don't think we're hiding our intentions here," he groused, "if she knows her stuff then, she knows what we're doing over here."

Buffy and Willow looked at him intensely, then turned to watch Amy with suspicion. The potion complete, Willow took the boiling beaker off the Bunsen burner and poured it in a glass vial, then picked it out of the rack, "all set," she said, and was about to hand it to Buffy, and asked, "do you have a plan?"

"Spill it on her," Buffy sighed, "try to make it look natural," she nutshelled as she reached for the phial, but Xander beat her to it as he grabbed it from Willow before Buffy could get it.

"Let me handle this part," Xander suggested, "I've spilt stuff lots of times," he stated with a cheeky grin, before hurriedly walking around from his side.

Buffy tried to stop him at first with, "no, Xander," she said in a hushed whisper, then in a louder whisper, "Xander!" She acquiesced as he got out of her reach, maybe it would seem more probable for him to spill stuff like that on her, it might make her suspicious if I did it after showing concern before. Besides, I want him to know that I have faith in him, so in the years to come he can return that faith to someone else.

Xander quickly stepped out of easy reach, while walking backward holding the glass-cylinder, he appeared to bump into something, then almost lose control of the vial, his face took on an urgent expression as he fought to retain control of it. "Wha… what… whooooa," he exclaimed, and he appeared to regain control of the phial, with a triumphant yell before turning around right in front of Amy and dumping the potion all over her right arm! The reaction was instantaneous as it turned any skin it made contact with blue, they looked at each other with astonished expressions on their faces. To finish the performance, Xander began muttering apologies, "Amy, I'm so sorry, I guess I was showing off too much, and look, I made a mess," his tone remained apologetic, but his eyes pierced into hers, as he leaned forward to place his arms on either side of Amy.

Amy was just looking at him in fear, and astonishment, "It's… it's okay, Xander," then looking down at her now unblemished skin, "it doesn't seem to have caused anything permanent."

Xander sighed in relief, and dropped his head, "that's a load off my mind, I mean this is high school, the last place we have to be kids before the big bad world is thrust upon us," he reminded her. "This place should be temporary, and unless a horrible accident occurred, like having your hands catch on fire, or you go blind while taking driver's ed, barreling through the school fence into oncoming traffic, and almost kill yourself and three others, before nearly getting flattened by a delivery truck," Xander said all of this in a deadpan voice, as if these horrible things never really happened to people they knew, "I mean high school has one thing going for it in my book, it ends, and whatever happens while you're here should be fond memories down the road, even your not-so-good memories should make you laugh at how much of a dumbass you are," then looking back at his friends, "or were, when you were a kid."

Amy pressed a hand into Xander's chest and pushed him back to arm's length, and he let her. Once Amy had Xander at where she wanted him, she looked at him with hard eyes herself, she said, "some things are permanent, even in high school," she told him, "some choices you make always leave a permanent mark on you!"

Xander stepped back, "sorry again, for spilling on you, Amy," and turned away to return to his station. Looking around when he did, the teacher not even noticing his actions, because he was helping out the girl who spoke to Buffy.

"Lishanne, can you tell me, why these chemicals have this reaction," the science teacher asked her? "Lishanne, are you…" they began to hear muffled screams coming from the station next to Amy. "Oh my God," the teacher exclaimed, and the entire class turned to look at what the commotion was, Lishanne stood up in a panic, it looked like her mouth had been sealed shut! While most of the class looked at the victim, Xander, Buffy, and Willow turned accusatory glares at Amy, but what they saw surprised them, Amy was genuinely shocked by what she was seeing.

It was right after class, and the gang were all in the hallway discussing, what they witnessed toward the end of class. "Did you see, Amy was just as freaked out as the rest of us," Willow reminded them.

"So, it's not her, right," Buffy concluded?

Xander shook his head, "no, the test was positive, her skin did turn blue, for a couple of seconds. She's our Nancy Downs," Xander confirmed. (Author's Note: The Craft)

"Then, I don't think she realizes what she's doing," Buffy suggested.

"Well, should we talk to her," Willow wondered?

Buffy sighed, and looked at Xander, "I think we should talk to her mother, I wonder if she knows, what she's pushed her daughter to become?"

Finally, Some Action

Sunnydale Cemetery

That night on patrol, Xander and Buffy were walking through another, Sunnydale graveyard. So far, it was just a routine patrol, quiet, which had become the standard for patrols during their first week as partners. They had been out, for a good two hours, and most of the talk tonight had been on their current dilemma, Amy. Xander was of the opinion that both Amy and Queen Catherine as he came to call her, were actually working together, but her mother was the force behind the witchcraft, while the daughter was just the willing, but misguided follower trying to make her mother proud.

Buffy conceded, that it was possible for that sort of thing to happen, but she wanted to at least keep an open mind, and not become too fixated on either one of them. "Sometimes the most likely culprit, comes in the least likely package, Alec," she instructed him, "if Slaying vampires has taught me one thing, is to never judge a song by the singer, the ugliest truths can come in the most innocent smiles. Hell, most vamps, use seduction as a means to lure their victims in," Buffy instructed, "and they can't do that if they look like a nightmare."

Xander nodded as he scanned the area with his vampiric eyes, another gift from his slain best-friend, which made him understand what Jesse meant when he said he was 'connected to everything,' and, he could 'hear the worms in the Earth.' Luckily for Xander, he could turn these senses on and off when he did not need them, like right now, when on patrol they were active. At home, when he was asleep, or at school he took them off-line, so he was not overwhelmed with sensory input. Amanda had them too, as did all Immortals who have taken the head of a vampire. "I hear you, Anne, and I agree, I'm merely spinning the most probable outcome of what we may encounter," Xander explained with a nod, "and I want to mentally prepare myself if we have to confront both of them."

They reached a section of the graveyard where all the paths converge. This section is twenty-six-feet in diameter, five paths converged on this area, but placed between the path sections were five backless, stone benches, cut in such a way as to create a pentagon. The partners walked into the center of the section, and before she knew it Buffy was pulled roughly, until she found herself pressing fully into Xander. She looked up at him in astonishment, then she saw his eyes boring into hers, but she did not need to be told what he was doing. She lay her head against his shoulder but moved her eye, until she was peering around Xander's arm, to look behind him. "I see them, Alec," she snaked her hand into his jacket, "there are seven of them, coming this way, from behind you."

Xander moved his hands down to her waist, "I count six, back behind you," Xander moved a hand around to her front and into her own jacket, "just so you don't think I'm taking advantage of you, I apologize for feeling you up, when we're not even dating, yet." The vampires were slinking up behind the couple. The bloodsuckers came close to the pair, thinking they were lovers, and totally engrossed in each other.

"It's okay, Alec," Buffy was heard saying, "I trust you, and I'm not uncomfortable with you at all," many of the bloodsuckers smiled lecherous smiles. "Why Mr. La Velle, is that a stake in your pocket or are you happy to see me," Buffy quipped, but she thought, he said, 'we're not dating, yet,' just when do you plan to ask me out, Mr. Harris?

Xander smirked, "I'm always happy to see you, Ms. Verão," when going out to fight the forces of evil, they felt that calling out their real names could bring trouble to themselves and their families. Therefore, they devised codenames, they would say in place of their common names, but to make it easy for them to remember, they used derivations of their real names. Buffy Anne Summers used her real middle name, and the Portuguese translation of Summers to become, Anne Verão. Alexander Lavelle Harris reverted to his family's past to become, Alec La Velle; Amanda got a little misty-eyed when she heard and thanked him, with a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek, in her mind, he was honoring her husband by assuming that name.

"I've found something interesting to hold onto," Buffy informed him in a husky voice, many of the vampire's bodies reacted to what they seemed to perceive as a possible copulation.

"Me too, Anne," Xander growled, "how do you like the size?"

"Oh, It'll take some getting used to, Alec," Buffy told him, "it's a bit big for my tiny hand. Do you like how mine feel," Miss Summers asked her partner?

"I'm okay with them, they are a little small for my taste, but I can get used to them," Xander explained to her. Which caused the vamps eyes to quirk, you do not tell a girl that, if you ever wanted to see your girlfriend naked. Many, even the six vamp tramps in the group, were aghast at the stupidity of the boy.

Buffy just huffed, "well excuse me for being so tiny, Alec, I can only do so much with the equipment God gave me," she told him.

"Anne," Xander called out to her, "I never said I didn't like them," then as fast as he could, Xander spins around, bringing something out of her jacket, and into the chest cavity of a glasses wearing nerd, "they work for me just fine."

As Xander moved, so did Buffy, as she brought out a stake from Xander's jacket pocket, as she also spun around to bring it up into the ribcage of a well-built man. They both spun back, and like NBA all-stars pivoted around each other as their respective vampires, turned to dust. Xander and Buffy had on, pretty much the same exterior garments as they did the first time they went to face-off against vampires, except Xander was wearing a different leather bracer, with rivets embedded in the shape of a staurogram, the Greek monogram of Christ on the cross.

Xander brought his arm up to block the punch of a pretty Mexican woman, while plunging his stake through the chest of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white guy. Then full on punched the woman in the face, calling again upon Jesse's fledgling vampiric strength, and what he learned from Amanda, before thrusting forward, and pushing his stake into her chest. Deliberately turning his back on what, he could only describe as an old Asian dude, who hissed as he was repelled by the Templar cross on his back, Xander faced a red-headed, freckle-faced teenager, who lunged directly at Xander. The red-head was apparently a scrapper in life, and seemed to hold his own for a second, as he and Xander traded blows, but Xander's bracers with the symbol of Christ's sacrifice finally got him. He finally recoiled from a particularly powerful punch, but Xander did not let him recover, and dusted him quickly, but as he was dying for the last time, he clutched the stake to his chest and Xander was forced to let go of it. The Asian dude had circled the fight, to find an opening he could exploit and jumped through the dusted form of the red-head, as he fell. Xander's arm was still extended, so he opened his palm, and lowered his center of gravity and let the Asian dude ram right into his palm. The vampire hissed and recoiled from something on Xander's palm.

Another new addition to his wardrobe, a gift from his Aunt Manda, was a pair of fingerless, leather gloves. It was another symbol of Christ, the I-X or X-I monogram, in a circle on the palms, this symbol stands for Jesus Christ. The name of Christ is always more powerful than the symbol of his sacrifice, because it is the name of God. The Asian dude backed up, right into Buffy's stake, who had already dusted her seven, now eight bloodsuckers. There was one more left, and unlike the rest, this one seemed to be content to stand back and watch. This vampire was taller than Buffy, but shorter than Xander, with brown-hair, and seemed to be in his late-teens, early twenties, he was fit but not overly muscular. He was observing them, "I've gotta say, I've been a Vampire for over fifty-years, but I've never seen two people able to keep up with the likes of us."

"I guess, you've never before gone up against a Vampire Slayer," Buffy asked, "have you?"

"Sorry, never heard of a slayer before, my name is Shane," he said shaking his head, "may I have your names?"

"I'm Alec La Velle," Xander introduced himself, then indicating Buffy, "this is Anne Verão, why do you want our names in the first place," Xander asked, as he returned his stake to his jacket's interior pocket, and reached into his Place?

"I like to know the names of the people I snack on," Shane grinned showing his teeth, thinking it would intimidate them, he was obviously new in town, and he really was ignorant of Slayers if he thought showing his teeth to one would intimidate her. Shane lunged and his speed was impressive, but Xander had been ready, his butterfly swords came out, while he and Buffy side-stepped apart. Xander raked his blade across Shane's right-flank, "ow, son of a bitch," Shane looked down and noticed the burning slash across his abdomen! He looked up, at them in astonishment, "but I'm atheist, how can holy objects hurt me?"

Xander raised an eyebrow, "did you think that merely not believing in something would erase it from existence? Oh, the arrogance of us humans, and former humans," he rebuked the vampire, "the Divine exists, whether you believe in them or not." Shane's eyes narrowed, and he snarled and lunged at Xander, who had his butterfly swords in a reverse grip, and as Shane went to clothes-line Xander, Buffy popped up to his side with a spinning side kick right into Shane's injured flank, sending him over a bench into a granite-marble tombstone. "Did you forget, Shane, that I have a partner, who is strong enough by herself to take on a vampire at least two-hundred years-old," Xander quipped?

"How can you let a woman fight your battles for you, Slayer," Shane gasped, leaning against the tombstone?

That raised their eyebrows, "you really don't know anything about Slayers do you, Shane," Buffy asked, "I thought you were just trying to psych yourself up for fighting me."

Shane's eyes were bulging out of their sockets, "you're a Slayer?"

Xander suddenly blurred to his side, using Jesse's speed which surprised Shane, "all Slayers are women, dumbass," Xander snapped, before, like the rolling of thunder he took Shane's head! As the cold-flames of Shane's demonic energy enveloped Xander, Buffy took a seat on one of the stone benches to keep a look out, she thought, that's my Immortal. I've been thinking about him more and more, not always in PG rated thoughts either. He has been especially on my mind after, what I found out two days ago, I wonder if Xander will meet any Slayer after I'm gone? Xander finished absorbing Shane's demonic energy, and stood up with a shake and a shiver, "I'm never gonna get used to that," he moaned.

Buffy looked at him and smiled, "so that happened, we're finally getting some action, on these patrols."

Xander just nodded, then smiled back, "all things being equal, when I'm with a hot girl, I prefer the kind of action that phrase was coined for," his smile widened at her blush, "but it beats being bored, that's for sure."

Xander came around to the front, and Buffy stood up and pushing her chest out, strutted over to meet Xander and pressed herself into him, making sure he could feel her boobs, through his shirt. She crossed her arms and leaned-up with her crossed arms pressing into his upper-chest, she fluttered her eyelashes at him, and with an overly-cutesy voice asked, "do you really think I'm hot, Alec?"

"yes," came Xander's own high-pitched voice, then coughing to clear his throat, he answered again, in a deeper voice, "yes, I do, Anne; you're one of the hottest girls at school and could put some magazine models to shame."

"Well, thank you," Buffy replied, and her blush returned, she inched her way closer to Xander's face, tilting her head to the right, "I think you're pretty handsome too," she whispered. Then at the last instant stepped on her tiptoes and kissed his left cheek, "but we should try to be professional when we're in the field," she admonished him playfully, while stepping away from him quickly.

Xander barked a laugh and jogged after her, as he caught up with her, "oh, so that's the rule," he began, "no hanky-panky on vamp-patrol? What if I'd said, how hot you are when we were at school, or other places," Xander asked?

Buffy gave him a coy smile, "if it's genuine, you'll have to try and see for yourself, now won't you?" Xander, still smiling, began to say something, when his smile dropped off of his face like a leaf from a tree. Buffy stopped immediately, to look at him in concern, "was it something I said?"

Xander shook his head, "no, but I just became really warm, like close to hot, warm," he informed her.

Buffy stepped up to her partner, suddenly all business, and placed her hand on Xander's forehead, and she actually felt the warmth coming off of him, "I'm feeling it too, Alec," then she noticed something, or rather, something she did not notice on her wrist that should have been there, the friendship bracelet Xander gave her. "Alec, did something of yours come up missing today," Buffy, her voice a near whisper, asked with malice, that was in no way, shape, or form directed at her Immortal?

Xander's eyes went blank as he tried to remember, then his jaw dropped open, "my uncle's Vietnam dog tags, I remember seeing them early today, but I don't remember seeing them after…" he paused as realization dawned in his eyes, "… after Chem. lab, when Amy put her hand on my chest to push me away."

Buffy nodded, "well my bracelet is missing too, the one you gave me," she said, in an acidic voice, "Amy must've taken it after she saw me rooting through her bag."

"Are you feeling okay, Anne," Xander asked?

"Other than the fact, someone stole something precious to me, right out from under my nose, I'm peachy," she answered sardonically.

"It's good to know, how much you value my gift, Anne," Xander said, "but I'm just wondering if, other than being pissed you were feeling any different?"

Buffy looked at him in confusion before she understood what he was asking, "no, I don't feel any difference, but that's probably because I took your advice on how to ward-off magic." She pulled out a necklace from under her shirt, the chain was long, and the charm was an infinity symbol, "it was my grandmother's, the chain and the charm are made of solid bronze, and I did my own research, before we came out tonight, another thing most of the sources I checked agreed upon, was the infinity symbol amplified the protection of the necklace like, well… infinitely. So, I'm good, but I want my bracelet back," Buffy exclaimed with a growl, then looking him furiously in the eyes, "it came from someone who means, a lot to me!"

Xander smirked, "then we'll have to get it back, and make sure whomever took it, pays for her crimes," he turned and opened his arm for her, who hooked her own arm through his, and they began to walk forward, "let's finish our patrol and get home, I think we should bang in sick for school tomorrow," he suggested.

"We'll let Amy think her magic worked," Buffy agreed, "and go talk to her mother, Catherine, the-not-so-Great."

Summers Residence: the next morning

Buffy had briefed her mother, on what she knew about magic and witchcraft the day she found out about it. Of course, Joyce, had the same skepticism as Buffy; Vampires, Monsters, and Immortals were one thing, but magic was a little hard to swallow. Joyce called one of her superiors to ask if something like magic was really true, who placed her on hold, while he consulted with several chronicles of Watchers who had Watched, Hunter Immortals. He confirmed that many Immortals, Hunters and Gamers a like ran afoul of magic users who tried to attack them and were unable to do so, and the Immortals ended up killing the magic user, because while they could not be affected directly by magic, those close to them could. While they could be place under an area-effect spell, their Immortal energy was always able to bring them out of it before the spell ran its course or deactivated prematurely. There was even talk of some Immortals hoping to remove their Immortality, and die naturally, via magic. Not long after, these same Immortals having grown tired of living, would usually allow their heads to be taken. There were other Immortals, that tried to use magic to make their significant others Immortal, but whatever methods they employed were immediately overturned by their own Quickening, apparently the energies that create an Immortal, would not allow any other power to exist in conjunction with itself.

All of that information was relayed back to Joyce, who told Buffy about it, just incase she got any bright ideas about using magic to help Xander, or herself. Joyce was not blind to the way her daughter acted around her partner, so she wanted to let Buffy know how any future with Xander might happen, if she thought she could stay with him forever. Buffy was subdued when Joyce told her what she had learned, how magic worked around Immortals, and how it affected their significant others. This was the first night after Buffy learned about the existence of magic, and Xander noticed that she was mostly quiet while on patrol that night, which was two nights ago. Buffy refused to talk about what was bothering her, and Xander knew, thanks to being best-friends with a girl, that constantly asking would just make her more reluctant to talk to him. She let him believe when he asked, if losing out on the squad had her depressed, but adamantly denied that she was mad at him, for getting her hopes up with the way he broke the news of her standing on the squad. What does making the squad matter, he may be Immortal, but he's human? I'm sure I'll get mad at him in the future, but I refuse to allow myself to resent him, because of something as petty as not knowing the difference between an alternate and true victory.

This morning Buffy sat in her bedroom, in her meditation pose, contemplating everything she had learned about her significant male friend. She was beginning to have strong feelings for her Immortal friend, but she did not know if they were born out of what she learned earlier in the week, or if they have been there from the beginning of their relationship. Buffy knew she was lacking in experience with relationships, since her only significant boyfriend, had dumped her not long after she began training as a Vampire Slayer, because she could not tell him what she was doing, and because she started spending less time with him, because of her duties as the Slayer. Of course, that would not be a problem with Xander, since as her partner out in the field, they spent quite a bit of time together already. He, of course knows about her Slayer commitments, since he was a part of her Slayer existence, and not intimidated by her Calling, or powers.

Buffy was not worried about him feeling inadequate around her, since he had his own abilities. It seems whenever he takes the head of a new Vampire, he acquires their abilities. Xander has used Jesse's fledgling abilities, since taking his best-friend's head, but when he took Shane's head last night, an older, more powerful vampire, the strength, and speed of the older vampire, replaced Jesse's powers. He showed me the difference, last night when we got home, we sparred, and his hits were marginally more powerful, and he was marginally faster, than yesterday. Buffy wondered, if he could ever become stronger than her, Slayers grow stronger the longer they're active, with a partner like Xander, my life expectancy has increased, I might actually reach my thirties, if he stays with me. I wonder if there's an upper-limit to how powerful we can become?

Outside of Amy and Catherine's: Noon

Buffy had asked her mother to allow her to skip school today, because of the plan she and Xander hatched yesterday. They wanted to confront Amy's mother, about pushing her daughter so much to join the cheer squad, that she had to resort to using magic to hurt other people just to be on the squad. Joyce was angry, when they told her their suspicions regarding Catherine, "it seems like her mother is unfit to be one and seems obsessed, with trying to recapture her 'glory days,'" she growled, "instead of letting her daughter enjoy being a teenager. She also seems to be resentful of the choices she made," Joyce concluded, "she made bad choices in her life, and seems determined to make her daughter pay for them." Joyce granted Buffy's request to stay home, but told her not to make it a habit, as she may not always be so generous. Amanda, of course approved Xander's request, and after relaying their plan to Giles and Willow, would let them know when Amy got to school. Buffy called the captain of the cheer squad and told her she would not be able to attend tonight's basketball game, which put Amy on the squad.

When Xander and Buffy showed up at the house of their adversary, they received a surprise. Giles had taken a long luncheon, so he could meet them at the house, to tell the woman what he thought of her parenting. They walked up to the door and knocked, they saw Amy's mother sitting on her living-room couch, eating brownies, she jumped up, wiping her hands of crumbs, and hurried over to open the door. When she got there, she spotted Xander, and a smile of recognition crossed her face, when she opened the door, immediately said, "Hey Xander," she greeted him!

That raised Xander's eyebrows, "Ms. Madison," Xander returned politely, but with barely concealed contempt, which made her flinch.

"What's wrong," Catherine asked?

Giles stepped up, and began to speak urgently, "Mrs. Madison, we need to talk to you about your daughter!"

As they stood in the doorway, Xander began to feel extremely hot, and the heat was coming from the woman in front of him. "I'm not allow…" she began, then closed her mouth and eyes, and began again, "you'll have to come back later," and started to close the door on them.

Giles, however decided to be forceful, "Excuse me," as he forced the door open and walked through!

Catherine stepped back hurriedly, "What?!"

The three filed into the house, and Xander took the lead since her power did not affect him, and as he got closer, he could tell something was off, and he voiced his concerns, "Buffy, somethings wrong, I'm getting extremely strong, and evil magic, coming from her."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Xander," the red-head exclaimed!

"Oh, I think you know, only too well," Giles snapped!

"You've got to go," the middle-aged woman pleaded, "she could be home any minute, and…"

Xander's eyes went wide, "I remember something, when Amy was in sixth-grade she had a crush on a boy in our class. She used to sit beside him at lunch," he added, "she was his first kiss, he was wearing blue-jeans, and a Superman t-shirt."

"No, he wasn't, Jesse didn't like Superman," Catherine seemed to say automatically, "it was a Batman t-shirt!" Then she froze and looked at Xander and her face was so horrified at her slip, she began laughing, uncontrollable laughing, bordering on hysteria, before finally devolving into full anguished sobs, as she made her way to the one person in the room, she felt she could trust. She threw her arms around Xander's neck and sobbed into his chest.

"Amy," Buffy inquired, "are you Amy?" Amy in Catherine's body looked at her, then nodded, as she continued sobbing into Xander's chest. Xander was stroking her hair and trying to soothe her with gentle words.

Giles was looking between the crying woman and his Slayer, "I don't understand."

"She switched," Buffy said softly as the realization dawned on her, "she switched your bodies, didn't she?" Amy could only nod as she continued to cry, "it makes since, Xander can only sense magic if it is active, and I think, the more evil the spell the hotter you burn," Buffy guessed as she looked at her Immortal, "I can't think of a more evil deed than taking somebody's body. I'm kinda glad about that," she mused.

"Good Lord," Giles whispered.

"Mom was right," Buffy informed them in a horror struck voice, "Catherine, wanted to relive her glory days."

By now Amy was getting herself under control, and still sniffling began to speak, "she said I was wasting my youth," and with a brave smile said, "so she took it."

"I'm thinking that the citizens of Salem, might've had the right idea when it came to certain witches," Xander growled.

Madison family living room

It was a few minutes later, after Xander had calmed himself, they sat in the living room. Amy, in Catherine's body, began telling them about her life under her mother's thumb. "I didn't know anything about her powers," she was saying, "when my dad was here, they would fight and yell, and he would call her a witch." Amy seemed to be looking into the past, not at anybody in particular, "and, I mean, I just thought he meant…"

"… with a capital B," Xander answered, trying to inject some levity into the atmosphere.

Amy smiled and nodded in gratitude, Buffy smirked as well, only Giles remained serious throughout the whole story. "Oh, God, when he left, I so wanted to go with him," Amy continued, "but mom wouldn't even let me call him. She went crazy," Amy said in a distraught voice, "I mean, she'd lock herself upstairs for days, and she was always coming down on me, and telling me I didn't deserve to have it so easy and that I didn't know how hard it was to be her…," she trailed off as she looked down at herself, then back up. "I guess she showed me, huh," she asked, as she looked at them with tears in her eyes?

Buffy, who was sitting down beside Amy on the couch, placed a sympathetic hand on Amy's arm. "Amy, it's gonna be okay," Buffy assured her.

"A few months ago, I woke up in her… her bed," Amy told them as she began telling them about her body switch, "I didn't know where I was, and… then I looked in the mirror…" Amy trailed off and began to get lost in her memories, then Giles was suddenly kneeling beside her.

"She locked herself upstairs," he asked urgently?

"Yes," answered Amy.

"Where," demanded Giles?

Upstairs

Amy, showed Xander, Buffy, and Giles to her mother's spell room, which surprisingly was not locked. Xander insisted he be the first to enter, since his life was expendable and magic could not hurt him, which bewildered Amy, but Buffy and Giles only nodded sadly. He walked in looking around spotting a cauldron hanging over a fire, several barbie-dolls hanging by their hair from the rafters. Many of them were dressed in scaled-down Sunnydale cheerleader outfits, the last three entered after him, Giles in second, followed by Buffy, with Amy bringing up the rear.

As they moved further in, Amy suddenly got a touch of nerves, and clutched at Buffy's sleeve. "No please," she pleaded, "If she finds out I've been in here, she'll kill me!"

Xander looked at her with raised eyebrows in thought, something tells me that's not just an expression in this case, aloud he said, "Martha Stewart, this mom is not," he quipped, then looking at Giles, "I only read a couple of books on this subject, Giles. What do we do, the only thing I learned about how to end a witch's spells was to kill the witch, by beheading? It's not something I'm ready for yet," Xander said seriously, "if I ever will be for that kind of thing."

Giles glanced at him and nodded, before moving closer to the work bench, and spotted several of the dolls, in their spell representations. "My God," Giles scoffed, "I believe we can reverse your mother's spells," he turn back to them, "all of them."

"You could," Amy asked, not daring to believe her nightmare could be over, "really? You could?"

"We need to find her books," Giles replied, "there'll be specific… volumes she'd need for these kinds of castings." Then Giles moved around the room until he found the trunk, knocking off a wicker-basket, and black candle, before opening it. "Collect those dolls," he ordered them, "and any other personal…" as he opened the trunk a black cat came screeching out of the trunk, frightening the life out of the school librarian, in bated breath Giles said, "nice… kitty."

Buffy and Xander found the dolls representing them, both had Xander's uncle's dog-tags, and the bracelet given to her by Xander, respectively. Buffy's was the generic Barbie, while Xander's was a Ken-doll with his hair painted black, they immediately took back their possessions, since whatever magic meant to be used on them, had obviously failed. Then careful not to disturb the spells that worked, they found a canvas bag and placed each of them in the bag carefully, even their own, just to be thorough.

Giles took a breath to calm his nerves, "let's see what you were guarding." He raised the lid and dug through the trunk. He found a single, dusty tome that seemed to be what he was looking for, "Ah, yes, this is it."

"You found it, great," Buffy asked while standing next to Xander, with the canvas bag in hand, "now what?"

Giles stood-up, brandishing the spell book high, "now we reverse this witch's spells," then bringing down the book, "but we need to make sure she cannot get up to her mischief again."

"We also need to make sure, Amy's okay afterward," Buffy added, "trying to push your kid into a sport they don't like, isn't considered grounds to declare her an unfit mother, right?"

"Either way, we can't confront her here," Xander determined, "this is her home turf, and according to Sun Tzu, to fight on the enemies chosen ground will leave victory in doubt, it would be suicide to do anything here."

Giles widened his eyes in surprise, "he is right, surprisingly, when you confront a witch, you most definitely shouldn't do it from her place of power, but on your own, for me that is the school."

"We should probably also do it while she's distracted," Buffy suggested, "but we can let the cheer squad, do it for us."

"You mean during the game tonight," Xander surmised?

"More like at half-time," Buffy specified.

Sunnydale High Gymnasium

Buffy took Amy-in-Catherine's body home with her, to get her out of the house, Joyce was not home, as she was at work. Giles returned to work, and Xander was dropped off at school by Amanda, with a forged note from an ophthalmologist, and spent the rest of the day at school, where he briefed Willow on what they found out. There are a few things that piss-off a Willow, but messing with her friends, especially the way Catherine did it, was one of those things. So, they waited for the day to end, and attended the game, just to keep an eye on, the not-Great-at-all Catherine-in-Amy's body. Amy was sporting a big smile on her face, as she finally seemed to get to relive the greatest times of her life.

Science Lab

Meanwhile, Buffy, Amy-in-Catherine, and Giles arrived in the science lab. "Right, let's get started, while your mother is distracted with the game," he said looking at Amy-in-Catherine. They took all of the dolls out and laid them on the table, in no particular order, side-by-side. "I'm going to stop this," Giles assured Amy, "I promise."

Gymnasium

Back in the gym, the cheerleaders were doing their job, by keeping the crowd pumped with, "GO, SUNNYDALE, GO! GO, SUNNYDALE, GO! 6, 7, 8… GO, SUNNYDALE, GO! GO, SUNNYDALE, GO! 6, 7, 8… GO, SUNNYDALE, GO! GO, SUNNYDALE, GO! 6, 7, 8… GO, SUNNYDALE, GO! GO, SUNNYDALE, GO! 6, 7, 8…,"

Catherine-in-Amy was reveling in the limelight, it was everything she remembered, and as she let the excitement wash over her, she felt no guilt whatsoever. She gave her daughter life, and she squandered it, therefore Catherine took it back. She could now live her life over again, and she would not make the same mistakes she made in her previous life.

Science Lab

Back in the lab, Amy-in-Catherine, and Buffy, were helping Giles get the ingredients together to reverse all of Catherine's spells. Amy was dissecting a frog to get the eyes, and Buffy was working the bunsen-burner and bringing a few things to boil. Giles had just finished with his own preparations, and called their attention to him, "Right, here we go," he started, reciting in English then Latin, "The center is dark/centrum est obscurus. The darkness breathes/Tenebrae respiratis. The listener hears/Quod audit aliquis auditorem." Then turning his voice to the heavens, "HEAR ME!"

Gymnasium

In the gym, the game was proceeding apace, and the cheerleaders were really on fire, figuratively speaking, "GO! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8!" When Catherine-in-Amy suddenly stopped, as she became disoriented, when she suddenly got a vision, of a book, then a frog on a science tray laid out in front of her.

Xander's Quickening began to warm, as he watched the blonde on the gym floor.

Science Lab

In the science lab, the same thing was happening to Amy-in-Catherine, as she perceived the gym, and sighed in awe, "it's… it's working!"

Giles began reading in earnest, "Unlock the gate/Recludam de porta. Let the darkness shine/Luceat Fiat tenebrae. Cover us with Holy Fear/ Ne timeobduxit nos apud sancti. Show me…" As he continued to read, Amy-in-Catherine was reeling all over the place, as the spell began its work. Buffy moved around in front of her and grabbed her shoulders to help steady her.

Gymnasium

The game had reached half-time and the cheerleaders were performing their floor routine. A standard cheerleader pyramid, with Amy at the apex, but she suddenly could not stand up straight. She began to wobble, she saw the scene again, but Buffy was looking her in the eye, the pyramid could not hold, and she tumbled to the floor. Xander and Willow saw it all, and Xander's Quickening was still warm, he nudged Willow and jerked his head, indicating for her to follow him. Catherine-in-Amy stood up and began running for the door to the gym.

Science Lab

Amy-in-Catherine raised her eyes to look at Buffy intensely, "She's coming!"

Hallway

Catherine-in-Amy was barreling through the hallway, slamming through doors, trying to get to the Science Lab. "Amy," Willow called.

"Get out of my way," Catherine-in-Amy ordered!

"W-Wait," Willow stammered, "I-I need to talk to you. I-I can help you."

"Help me," Catherine-in-Amy grinned, "with what?"

"Well – Well, you know," Willow said, "uh, your witchcraft? I know this really good cauldron; do you actually ride a broom?"

Catherine-in-Amy recognized a stall tactic when she heard one, and suddenly looked behind her with her hand raised, but saw nothing. Catherine-in-Amy did not have time to waste with this girl, so she brought her fist around, and decked Willow. She now had to run, and she was almost to the Science Lab, when ahead of her, barring her path was Xander. She immediately thrust her hand forward in a grasping claw.

Xander felt his throat grow hot and clutched it, as he felt a shortness of breath, he began to wheeze and kneel on the floor. Catherine-in-Amy grinned wickedly, as she approached the apparently stricken Xander, "you naughty, little boy, did you think you could stop me?" By now, Catherine-in-Amy was standing right in front of Xander, with hands on hips, "as I told you yesterday, Alexander Harris, even in high school somethings are permanent," then she seemed to tighten her hold, "but it looks like you may not even make it out of high school."

Then as quick as an arrow leaving the bow, Xander's right hand shot out grabbing Catherine-in-Amy by the throat, and he stood up picking her up using a choke-hold. "Nah, your powers didn't even affect me, I just needed to get you close to me," Xander began lightly, before his tone descended, until he practically snarled. Catherine-in-Amy clutched at his grip as he lifted her, he was not squeezing hard enough to choke her, but her horror at her magic failing her added to her loss of breath. "If we didn't need her body intact and functioning properly," Xander began menacingly, "I'd totally be choke-slamming you into the floor, but that's Amy's body you're wearing Ms. Madison, so until she's back in it, you just hang tight."

Science Lab

"Corseth and Gilail…," Giles chanted, with raised arms, "The gate is closed/ Sit ad portam clausi. Receive the dark/Accipite tenebris. Release the unworthy/Ad indignus, Solve! Take of mine energy and be sated/Nec uxorem de navitas mea et saturetur!" Then as he said that, Giles plunged his hands down into the boiling liquid, the pain was obviously unbearable, as he gnashed his teeth in pain. "Be Sated, Release the Unworthy/ Ut propius fastidium: tubam solve indigni. Release! Release," he raised his hand in the direction of the dolls on the table, "RELEASE!"

Hallway

Out in the hallway, a change came over Catherine-in-Amy, a sudden glow began to illuminate from her eyes, and like the flash of lightning the spell was broken. Still in Xander's grasp, Amy's eyes went wide, and her mouth became slack, as the energies that returned her soul to her left her. "Xander," came Amy's voice in a croak, "it's me, I'm back."

Xander studied her closely, to make sure Catherine was not trying to deceive him, "what was Jesse wearing the first time you kissed him, it was a Spider-Man t-shirt, right?"

Despite her position with Xander's hand around her throat, Amy gave an exasperated sigh, "I told you today, Xander, it was a Batman t-shirt!"

Xander gave her one more hard look, before grinning and setting Amy on her feet, gently, "welcome back, Ames," he said giving her a hug, which she returned.

Amy stepped back, beaming, it felt good to be back in her teenage body, then a look of horror crossed her face, "Buffy, Giles, if I'm here, then mom's back there, with them!"

Xander's eyes boggled as he remembered, "I've gotta go check on Willow, your mom really laid her out earlier," as he looked between his best-friend, and his partner's directions, he was struck by indecision.

Amy laid a hand on Xander's arm, "Go get Willow, I'll go help Buffy."

"Are you sure," Xander asked, still unsure about letting her go back alone.

Amy nodded, "I think it's time I had a talk with my mom," she said in a determined voice.

Xander nodded, "okay, here's a key to get you into the lab," she looked at him with a curious expression. "I was to be a failsafe, in case their spell didn't work, it was supposed to be my job to finish off your mom," Xander said in a subdued voice. She raised her eyes in alarm, but he rushed on, "but the spell worked, so that no longer matters." Xander began to walk quickly back the way he came to check on his best-friend, but Amy had to ask something.

"Hey, Xander," she asked, "I know, with everything that's going on this may seem like an unimportant question, but where's Jesse, and how did you know about our kiss? We were alone for that," Amy told him, "and Jesse swore he wouldn't tell anybody, and his promises are worth more than gold."

Xander suddenly stopped, with his head down, then turning his head so they could see each other out of the corner of his eye, "he's dead, as for how I know," he said looking away from her stricken expression, "I'll have to tell you that, some other time."

Amy nodded, before turning herself, "I'll hold you to that," then walked back down the hall, slow at first before breaking into a run. Xander turned and was gone before she turned the corner.

Science Lab: Thirty-seconds ago

Buffy watched, as the same change that happened to Amy out in the hall, took place in the Science Lab to Catherine. As she came out of her stupor, the sweet, pensive expression from before, morphed into a wicked grin, that was pure evil. Buffy, who was still holding Catherine by the shoulders to steady Amy-in-Catherine, saw her flick her head, then a look of alarm came over Catherine's face as her magic failed, yet again to provide results. Buffy stood back from the witch, with a capital B, and gave her a confident grin. "Things are turning pear-shaped on you, aren't they, Cate," Buffy asked? Then before Catherine could recover, Buffy reared back and launched her fist, striking the witch so hard, she flew across the room, over an entire table rebounding from a bookcase of chemicals.

Catherine was just standing up when the door unlocked, and Amy came into the room, carrying a fireman's axe. "Mom… please…," Amy pleaded pointing the axe head at her mother. Catherine raised her hand toward her daughter, and the axe was jerked out of Amy's hand through the air into her outstretched hand. Giles ran out closing the door behind him, thinking, this seems like a ladies only conversation, I'll go see where Willow and Xander have gotten to.

Catherine looked at her daughter with nothing but hatred, "You… you little brat," she snarled with contempt, "how dare you raise your hand to your mother. I gave birth to you," she spat, "I gave up my life so you could drag that worthless carcass around and call it living?"

"Oh, grow up," Buffy snapped, "and stop blaming your daughter for the choices you made! You think she owes you anything," Buffy asked? "Nobody forced you to spread your legs for the so-called, 'Homecoming King,' that was your choice, bitch!" Buffy stood in front of a far wall, with the Periodic Table behind her, and a giant mirror suspended on her right. "You fell into the same trap a lot of people do, you thought high school and cheerleading were all there was to life, and everybody would continue to worship the not-so-Great Catherine, the rest of their lives. You probably had plenty of people telling you to get over yourself, and buckle-down on school, so you'd be ready for life after Sunnydale and cheerleading. You didn't listen, did you? You thought you knew how the world worked, and your high school popularity would follow you afterwards," Buffy guessed with her arms crossed, looking at Catherine in contempt, "when low and behold you got out into the real world and discovered, that nobody gave two-shits about your school-cred?"

"You're Homecoming King, turned out to be just a regular guy, and you could no longer call upon your 'friends' from high school, because unlike you, they moved on from here, and made lives for themselves. Something you never did, and instead of seeing you with respect, all they saw was a pathetic bitch, clinging to the past and not seeing the blessings you had in front of you, like your husband, who if what your daughter told me was true, worked his ass off to provide you and Amy with a roof over your head, and a full belly. Of course, that wasn't enough for Queen Catherine, was it? She wanted to live in a palace, sitting on her ass while all the lesser people slaved away," Buffy concluded with derision, "I'd say you were pathetic, but then that would be an insult to the other pathetics everywhere."

The longer Buffy spoke the angrier Catherine became, then with an acidic hiss she said, "I'm gonna put both of you little bitches, where you can't get in my way again." Catherine bowed her head and placed her hand in supplication, then began to chant, "I shall look upon my enemies…" then raised her head, as her eyes became all black, "I shall look upon her," she said as she looked at Buffy, then turned her eyes upon Amy, "and her," she growled, "and the dark place will have her soul." As she spoke her power began to rise, and little firefly-like motes began flitting about her person, and Buffy began to look around. She spotted the mirror being held up by a rod, "Corsheth, take her," Catherine finished chanting, and a pinkish energy was emitted from Catherine's body, and it was coming directly at her, and Amy!

Buffy did not know if her bronze infinity necklace would stop the spell coming her way, but she was not going to take the chance, plus Amy did not have any kind of protection Buffy knew about. "Hyah," Buffy screamed as she kicked the metal rod, and brought the mirror down in front of her and Amy! The energy reflected off the mirror, directly back at Catherine, who began to scream as the energy did to her, what she intended it to do to Buffy and her daughter and took her. Buffy looked at Amy, "you okay?"

Amy, her smile thin, replied, "I'm fine!"

The door opened and Xander, ran in with his butterfly-swords at the ready. Giles had come to take care of Willow, giving Xander a chance to come check on his partner. "Sorry I didn't get here sooner, but Amy here or her mom, packs a mean punch," Xander explained, "Willow's still a bit dizzy. Everything alright here, Buff," he asked urgently, "where's Queen Catherine?"

Buffy smiled warmly at him, "everything's fine, Xander," then thinking about his second question, "she's gone, I don't know where, but considering she planned to send me and Amy there, it's probably not some place she'll enjoy."

Amy walked over to Xander, "Xander, I think it's about time you told me what happened to Jesse," she demanded gently, "and how you can't be affected by magic?" Buffy's eyes widened, but Xander's eyes were filled with resignation, to the inevitable.

"It began two weeks ago, when Aunt Manda returned to Sunnydale," he began…