ADVANCEMENT OF THE SPECIES
Part 4: Freak City, U.S.A.
by perletwo
"Spike also left me alone in the crypt," Rogue said. "But ah wasn't alone for long..."
Ah'd curled up in the armchair an' tried to grab a catnap - all the stresses of the day an' night were wearin' me down somethin' rotten. Ah'd just managed to drop off t'sleep when the door crashed open.
"SpikeI'msorrytobustinonyoubuttheScoobies'redrivingmecrazyand -"
"Spike's not here." Ah sat up an' turned around to face the door. A tall girl, about mah age, with long brown hair an' bright blue eyes. This just had to be his girl's sister.
"Sorry. Have we met?" Her arms crossed in front of her and she scowled. That threw me a bit - usually people haveta get t'know me a bit before the hostility sets in. Then ah realized what it must be, an' felt around the bridge of mah nose t'be sure. Ah was still in demon face.
"Umm, ah'm not - this isn't what it prob'ly looks like - See, your friend Spike helped me out'a a tight spot tonight, an - "
"And went out shopping?" Her foot began tapping. It'd've been a lot more intimidating if she wasn't in running shoes.
"Ah guess. He just said he had t'pick up some things."
Just then Spike came in behind his friend, dragging an old steamer trunk. "DAWN!" Next thing she knew he'd got the girl up in a big ole bear hug. "What brings you by at this late hour? Or early hour, depending on how you look at it."
"Oh, just the Scoobies've been driving me crazy. I was hoping I could hang out here until time for school - but I didn't realize you had company," she said, jerking her head back in my direction.
"Wha - oh. Dawn, this is Rogue. Rogue, this is Dawn." His face was all glowy and proud when he said her name, like she was his daughter or somethin'. "She's not really a vampire, Rogue is, Nibblet. Kind of an interestin' story actually. You know those mutant people they've been talkin' about on the news last few weeks? I think she's like them. Absorbs people's personalities through touch. So when a vamp attacked her - "
"- you got some of his vampiness?" Ah nodded, glad she was catchin' on fast, an' relieved 'cause she didn't seem too shocked, just curious. "Wow. That must be fun, having that kind of power."
"Umm, not really - see, it's not really somethin' ah *do,* it just *happens* - every time ah have skin-to-skin contact with anyone. So it's kind of a problem ah have to work around. An' it's not like bein' super-strong or bein' able to fly - ah can't think what you'd actually want to *use* mah power for..."
She nodded. "I'm like that too, sort of. The not-knowing-what-to-do-with-it part, I mean. Long story, but when I found out what I really am, the only people that wanted me to use it wanted me to do something bad...Never mind. Long story, really."
Her eyes rolled, and she turned to Spike. "Actually I'm kinda surprised we haven't met anymore like her around here before now, what with all the vampires and demons and beasties running around I'd think it'd be a perfect place to hide."
"You know about this vampire an' demon stuff then, ah, Dawn?" That surprised me a little, 'cause ah'd've thought people would'a tried to protect her.
"Yeah. My sister Buffy, she was the Vampire Slayer. Long story, just, she saved the world, like, a lot." She teared up then, and Spike reached around to massage her shoulders.
"Spike tol' me she died not long ago. Ah'm really sorry. Obviously she was somethin' special, the way you guys both miss her."
Dawn sniffled and nodded. Then she kinda sucked it up and pasted on a smile. "So what did you bring me?"
"Mostly hopin' I could find somethin' for Rogue, Bit, but there's probably something in here you can use," he said. "Got this from Angel's old place, we abandoned a bunch of stuff when I took Dru outta there a few years ago. Whattayaknow, some of it was actually still there."
He dug around in the trunk and came up with a pair of black lace gloves. "Best wear these while Rogue's around, Little Bit." She shrugged and put them on. "No...no...so *that's* where that got to...no...aha!"
He pulled out a long, sheer black scarf and passed it to me. "You'll want to hide those puncture marks and protect the skin around your neck from, ah, another attack like Grif's while you're here," he said. "Maybe you could paint some crosses on it or something..."
"Cool!" Dawn grinned. "That's gonna look really good on you, Rogue, with the long neck and all."
"Ah guess ah better just hope it does..." ah grumbled. "Though ah doubt anything's gonna look all that good with the lumpy face. Wish ah could see what it looks like, but ah don't have a reflection."
"Wait." She dropped her bag and sat cross-legged beside it on the big stone thing and started rummaging through it. A second later she came up with one of those li'l mini-Polaroids they were sellin' around that time - you know, the ones that spit out a strip of pictures, like the booths at mall give you? - an' took a few pictures of me. What came out was - well, ah was kinda sorry ah'd asked.
"Umm, can I just - " Dawn'd reached out an' put two fingers to mah throat before ah had time to react. Fortunately the gloves shielded her enough mah powers didn't kick in. "Yup. You've got a pulse. Congratulations, Rogue - you really are alive."
"Weird. This is so weird. Ah have a pulse, but mah face is all lumpy an' ah don't have a reflection?" ah grumped. The night's craziness was startin' to get to me, an' ah was worryin', deep down, that ah might be stuck with the lumpy face forever.
Dawn patted me on the shoulder and led me over to sit with her on the big marble thingie. "Hey, no big. At least you're in the right place, Freak City U.S.A., and you've fallen in with the good guys." Spike yelled 'HEY!' from the floor where he was still digging through the trunk, and Dawn giggled. "Well, okay, the kinda-sorta-good guys, including one former Big Bad." That got her a snort from Spike.
"So, d'you just eat blood, or like, real solid food too?"
Ah shrugged, ashamed to admit ah'd drunk blood, even just animal blood out of a bag, an' she grinned huge, eyes shining. "Oh Spi-iiiiike..."
"Oh Lord," he grumped. "Yeeessssss, Niblet?"
"Could we have something to eat? Like, say, maybe something in the snack food family? And some drinks with extra caffeine and sugar?" He glared at her, and she grinned harder, tilting her head and batting her eyelashes.
Spike got up an' stalked to the refrigerator, grumblin' the whole way about wiles an' Summers women an' gullible men. But he brought us a handful of individually wrapped Twinkies, a bowl of Chex Mix and two cans of Jolt Cola.
"Summers women," ah mused. "That's you, right?"
"Yup. Me and Buffy," she said.
"And your mum, Platelet! Don't let's be forgettin' Joyce, now," Spike called from the armchair. Dawn rolled her eyes in response.
"Dawn?" The big blue headlights fixedon me, an' ah leant in a li'l bit, in hopes Spike wouldn't hear. "What'd you mean when you said you found out what you were?"
She blinked a bit, then leant in to meet me. "It turns out I'm not real," she whispered.
"YES you BLOODY well ARE!" Spike shouted, and she lobbed a pretzel at him. Unfortunately some snacks just weren't meant t'fly, an' it landed about halfway between us an' his chair. He smirked, an' Dawn shot him a pout.
"See, there was this Hell-chick named Glory in town last year, and she kept trashing places looking for her Key," Dawn continued in a normal tone of voice. "The Key was this ball of glowy green energy she needed to tear apart the walls between dimensions and get home to Hell. Turned out, some looney monks cast a spell and made the Key into a human and sent it to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to protect. They gave us all false memories so we'd all remember baby sister Dawn always having been there. But I wasn't; I was the Key."
Somethin' in her voice made things click into place. "Is that - was Glory - did Buffy -"
"- die? Stopping Glory?" She blinked furiously, holding back tears. "Saving me? Yeah. She did."
It was a risk, an' ah knew I'd feel awful if she jumped. But she sounded so desolate ah had't'do somethin', an' ah didn't know what to say t'that. So ah reached out a gloved hand an' dabbed at her lower lids, blottin' up the tears there.
She looked surprised, but didn't pull away, an' after a second threw herself into my arms, cryin' on mah shoulder, takin' care not t'lean on any exposed spots.
After pretendin' not to notice us for a minute, Spike got up an' came t'sit behind Dawn, rubbin' up an' down her back while she had her cry. He met mah eyes over her shoulder an' said, "Thank you."
Ah shrugged, best ah could with a cryin' teenager on me. "Didn't do nothin'."
"You're the first person she's told about being the Key," he said softly. "If you'd taken it badly..."
"Well, she's the first person ah've told about bein' - well, a freak," ah said. "Outside'a you, of course, an' ah'd never've mistaken you for a normal guy even before ah knew what you are. Ah didn't think - ah'm so afraid - "
" - that people'll try to hurt you if they knew?" He nodded. "Not in Sunnydale. Not with the Slayer's people for your friends."
Dawn pulled away after awhile an' dried her eyes. "Thanks. I can't really have a good cry at home, y'know. Not with the Scooby Gang around all the time."
"Scooby Gang?"
"I call 'em the Slayerettes, ducks," Spike explained. "Buffy's friends from high school an' college, an' her Watcher - sort of her Slayer guardian - all'a whom knew what she was an' helped 'er fight the fight. Some of 'em are stayin' with Dawn, an' they're all tryin' to keep the team together even without Buffy to anchor 'em."
Dawn sniffed. "See, here's the thing. Half the time they're all over me, hovering like crazy. Other half of the time they like forget I'm there at all. That's why I come over here to Spike's, he's easy to be with. He knows I'll tell him how I feel if I need to, and doesn't push. And I know he'll get it, 'cause I can see he's hurting all the way through just like I am."
"Much as it pains me to admit it, they're hurtin' too, Sweet Bit," he said, tweaking a lock of her hair. "An' they're doin' their best. Such as it is."
She harrumphed, back to pouting again. "I bet they haven't even missed me yet."
Just then the door slammed back open, lettin' in the first light of sunrise, an' Spike yelled an' dashed for shade.
A wild-eyed, distraught older man with glasses rushed in, looking around frantically.
"DAWN!" he yelled, in a British accent different from Spike's, rich like warm butter, and swooped down on her for a fierce hug. "Thank God I found you! I was so *worried* - "
Dawn rolled her eyes over her shoulder at me, and the man pulled back abruptly and polished his glasses. "Hello. Have we met?"