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| Carefully Everywhere Descending - Purple Haze by Dark Eyed Seer (13 Reviews) | | abc + + + |  | | | (Author's Note: So the verdict is in. The Spuffy Realm wants Carefully Everywhere Descending and the Bloodshedverse prefers Intolerable Beauty. You're evil, the whole lot of you. So I'm attempting to write both of those. I've had an e-mail from an author called Hot Lips Jen who is willing to help me with The Story of the World and I've given my permission for a co-author so we'll see how that goes… I'm stunned that you think this story will just be smut. Mostly because I don't think I'm capable of writing something that meaningless. I've tried, every time I try to write a simple scene it just gets more complex with every sentence. No one has faith in me.)
The bell rang signaling the end of class. Spike bolted out of his seat and grasped his brother's arm, dragging him from the room.
He'd sat there stewing for forty minutes, practically feeling Will's discomfort and he had a plan. He deposited Will in the boy's washroom and went to find a solution.
Five minutes later he returned and produced a rather large bag of marijuana. Will blinked at him, “We've been in the country less than twenty-four hours and you've already found a dealer?”
“What? It's hard? This is California, mate, they invented drugs here.”
“No, they invented drugs in various parts of Asia, South America, and Europe and imported them here. The fact that they produce them now is only because-“
“All right, whatever! Do you want some or not?” Spike fished through his pockets for his grinder and tin.
“Of course I bloody well want some. I can't stand this place and we haven't been here an hour. We're supposed to be meeting Giles in the library, though.” Will splashed cold water on his face in an effort to clear his mind.
“He'll get over it. I think there a nice secluded place behind the gym. Let's go.”
* * *
Will closed his eyes as he felt the THC do its work. All his muscles relaxed and he felt a rush of relief. They were sitting on a pile of musty old mast piled outside a blocked off exit door. Spike had ground and rolled three neat joints from the bag and tucked the rest away for later.
They were putting some serious efforts into getting totally lit.
“What am I going to do?” Will asked suddenly.
“You'll be fine. We'll just drug you up nicely and you just won't talk to anyone.” Spike puffed twice on the ends of a roach, singing his fingers in the process, “Ow.”
Will snorted, “I suppose that's a solution as good as any. Of course, you're going to be just as stoned. A fine pair we're going to make.”
* * *
Buffy blinked, they had disappeared. What the heck?
Giles had told her to take them, Willow and Xander to the library. And now they were gone.
“Where are Sid and Jerry?” Xander asked, getting out of the crowd to approach her and Willow.
“What?” Buffy asked, confused.
“You know, Sid Vicious and Jerry Garcia. I thought it was appropriate.”
“Don't start, Xander.” Willow warned, “You haven't even met them yet and you're all ready calling them names.”
“I didn't mean it in like a bad way.” Xander whined.
Buffy ignored them both, scanning the crowd as they walked toward the library doors, “Maybe they're in there already.” She said hopefully.
They were not in there already.
“Buffy! There you are. Where are the boys?” Giles put down one of the files the council had sent over and looked at them over his glasses.
“I don't know. I thought they were with you.” Buffy put down her book bag, “I'm not their keeper, you know.”
“Yes you are.”
“Oh.” Buffy blinked in surprise, “I am?”
“Buffy, you need to remember that they aren't human. They make have souls and they may look human but they are not human beings. You need to keep them under control for them to be of any use.” Giles flipped through a manila folder, “I've almost forgotten that important fact myself. But I've just read a stack of reports to remind me.”
“Right, their demon hybrid thingies… good to know. That makes it easier.” Buffy fiddled with a file, “Can I read some?”
“I don't see why not. Every Watcher ever put in charge of them submitted a rather lengthy report. It seems they are a bit rebellious, or rather Spike is rebellious and Will is just following his example. So I suppose it isn't a surprise that they aren't where we told them to be.”
Buffy opened the folder and started reading aloud, “Jamie continues to rebel against my authority and must be corrected frequently. Will would be an excellent pupil if it wasn't for his brother's influence. I would suggest separating them or perhaps destroying the uncooperative twin as he may become a liability in the field- What the Hell does that mean?”
Giles blinked at her, “They considered putting James down on several occasions after the boys were about thirteen, he was getting out of control.”
“They wanted to kill him?” Willow asked softly.
Giles sighed, “I was afraid this would happen. They are not human, Willow. You shouldn't identify with them. We've been through this. Everything about them that looks human is the Fey components and there is a lot of demon blood in their veins.”
“But I haven't even met him yet and that doesn't seem right. You can't just make something and decide because it doesn't fit what you want it to be it just has to die. That would be like- that would be like having a kid and because it doesn't have blonde hair you just smother it or something and try again!” Willow was standing up now and her voice was raised.
Buffy continued to stare at the words on the page, her mind felt unable to process the information it had been given.
“It's not like that at all, Willow. They aren't human children. Think of them like trained attack dogs, if it helps. Sometimes you need to euthanize them when it just doesn't work out and they don't respond properly to training.” Giles shifted through more of the files and avoided eye contact.
“That's sick.” Buffy said suddenly.
Everyone looked at her. Xander, who had been quiet through most of this, cleared his throat, “What, Buff?”
“That's really sick. I've talked to him, to Spike. Yeah we didn't get along right away but he's a person. He thinks and he feels and I really pissed him off by saying something mean about his brother. He loves and he hates and he's sarcastic and funny and I got all that from only being with him for an hour. How can you just-it doesn't make sense. He has a right to rebel and be his own person.”
“No, he does not. He is not a person. He was created by the council and needs to bend to the will of the council if he wishes to continue to exist.” Giles continued to avoid looking at them and read through more papers, “Jamie continues to wet the bed every night despite reaching his twelve birthday. I've attempted to correct this behavior to no avail-“
“I did that. It wasn't Jamie.”
Every one jumped. Both of the twins were in the room, standing next to the table and no one had noticed they had entered.
But it was Will who had spoken, which Buffy found shocking. He had a slightly shaky tone but his voice was clear.
And he was angry, that was also clear.
“He said he did it so they wouldn't hurt me.” Will continued.
“Will, you don't have to tell them anything-“ Spike began next to him but Will cut him off, “Yes I do.”
“If they're just so damn curious. If they think we're not people. They should know. Do you know how they would 'correct' us?” He asked his voice grew steadier with every word.
“How?” Buffy asked, really not wanting to here the answer.
“They beat the living Hell out of us. Well, not really me. Jamie always said it was his fault so they never really hurt me. Much. They had a whole lot of ways to make it hurt. It isn't easy to really hurt us, you know. We heal too quickly. I'm sure the council told you that.”
Buffy swallowed and shook her head.
“Has something to do with Fey blood. Makes us almost immortal. We regenerate lost and damaged tissue at a rate so rapid we're difficult to destroy. You need to obliterate approximately ninety-six percent of our soft tissue to prevent us from regenerating completely. You need to leave less then a square inch of body mass. That's the only way. You wanna know how they found that out?”
Buffy felt nauseous, “No. I really don't.”
“Yeah, I wish I didn't either. You may think we're not people. You may think we don't get rights or some such. But if you come near my brother I'll kill you myself.” Will looked right at her when he said that and there was no trace of the softness she had seen the night before.
He meant it. Buffy realized they had walked in during Giles last speech and hadn't heard her or Willow protests.
Will looked from her to Willow, to Xander, and finally focused on Giles, “I'd really like to see the council try it. I really would. Did you ever wonder why they didn't try to kill us off? After we were about fourteen, a bastard named Connolly tried 'correcting' Spike. Spike decided he'd had enough. I think he's back on solid foods now. You'll have to check for me. They're afraid of us, Watcher. And so are you, I can smell it. They made us and now their pretending it all went according to plan because they can't deal with it. We're not six years old anymore. We don't need approval or attention or anything from anyone. And you can't toss us around now. Too bad.”
Spike had remained silent throughout his brother's speech. That was something Buffy had found shocking, from what she'd heard of him the night before he never shut up. But he was letting Will have his say. He glanced at her a few times, his gaze was impassive and his face was blank, betraying nothing.
Will stalked out and Spike followed. Buffy leapt up from her chair.
“Buffy! They just threatened your life! For God's sake sit down! I need to contact the council and find out what they just unleashed.” Giles went for the telephone.
“No, if they send anyone it's going to be a bloodbath, you heard him. They just don't understand, I can explain it to them.” Buffy dashed down the hall to find it empty. She checked each classroom until she heard sobbing from the janitor's closet.
They're not human, Buffy. She thought, yeah, right.
“I hate this.” She could tell that was Will. She marveled at her ability to tell them apart audibly already.
“It's gonna be alright. We'll just take off.” That was Spike.
“No, it's never going to be alright. I wish they had never made us. Where are we going to go? What are we going to do?”
Buffy swung the door open and entered the closet before either of them could protest. She closed the door behind her and propped several things in front of the knob. She turned around to face them and found both twins staring at her as if she had lobsters crawling out of her ears. Will still had tears trailing down his face.
Oh he had meant he would kill her if she hurt his brother, but he wouldn't enjoy doing it and it would probably haunt him forever. All that was in his eyes, still full of tears.
“O.K, you guys missed a lot and we really need to talk.” Buffy felt their presences in the close quarters keenly because she was less than half a foot from both of them. They smelled strongly of what she thought was just cigarette smoke but now that they were isolated, she had her suspicions.
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