Chapter 2: Ouch
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Cassandra hummed quietly as she fingered her pen, smoothing the sheet of paper down as it attempted to answer the light breeze that swept her porch. She heard banging noises floating from over the wooden fence and sighed, trying to keep her mind focused. Unfortunately, unwanted images drifted up and she sighed again, frustrated.
The pen dropped from her hand. There was no point in writing now. The only thing she could write when she knew that Mia and Bryan were at it again was insults, and that generally didn’t go down too well. Besides, it was a waste of paper.
“Hey. What’s got you all frustrated?”
Startled, Cassandra shot upwards, crashing into a hanging pot-plant that promptly fell of its hook and spilt its contents over her head. She tripped over the edge of the porch and landed sprawling on the lawn, covered in dirt. Immediately, her face went flame red, contrasting heavily with her black hair as she heard a low chuckle. Someone sought her hand, and she was pulled upright.
“Well, the next time I disturb you in one of your reveries, I’ll make sure to call an ambulance first.”
“Daniel,” Cassandra didn’t dare look at him in mortification. “I’m sorry…”
“To have made a scene,” he finished, grinning at her. “Hey, don’t stress. Now get inside, and have a shower.”
“Okay,” she smiled slightly. “But I have to get this cleaned up first.” She gestured at the mess she’d accidentally made.
“But I have to get this cleaned up first,” mimicked another voice from over the fence.
Their heads snapped up, and Daniel scowled at the couple lounging on the wood, tangled up in each other’s arms, but thankfully, presentably dressed. “Get lost, Mia.”
“Are you telling my girlfriend to get lost?” Bryan asked menacingly,
“Since when did you lose your hearing, doofus? Yes, I am telling your girlfriend to get lost.”
Before Bryan could say something macho, Mia finally decided to comment on Cassandra’s appearance. “Been rolling around in the dirt more than usual, have you Cassandra? Of course, considering most of your relatives live in it, hardly surprising.”
Even Bryan froze as the words came out of Mia’s mouth, and Mia herself was a little shocked. But the look on Cassandra’s face was devastating.
Finally, the silence was snapped. Carrying herself with an air of quiet dignity that none but Daniel had ever seen before, Cassandra turned around and faced them fully.
“Mia, that was beneath you,” she stated icily. With that, Cassandra belatedly walked into the house to take Daniel’s previous advice.
The three stood outside for awhile, in stunned silence. Eventually, Bryan broke it.
“Aren’t you going to even go after your girlfriend you idiot?”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Daniel glared daggers at him. “Now, really, Mia. Get lost.”
He turned and stalked into the house after his best friend, and left Mia and Bryan hanging on the fence, now both looking and feeling ever-so-slightly foolish. They eventually looked at each other in the semi-darkness that now enveloped them, imagining the painful scene that must be unfolding inside.
“Ouch.”
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Despite their predictions, Daniel was merely sitting on the floor as Cassandra, still dirt-covered, quickly seized her forgotten pen and paper and started feverishly writing. He flipped on the T.V casually like he had so many times before, knowing she just had to get whatever she had out of her.
The words poured out of her, and she couldn’t stop them. She didn’t want to stop them as they ran their course from her mind and soul along her arms to finally end at her fingertips, moving the pen back and forth as the poetry boiled out of her.
“Throughout the mist that Darkness shares with Light, the Shadows fall,
Their child in all ways but one, who answers both their calls,
Caught between their warring worlds, with Life and Death’s embrace,
Seeking praise on both their terms to only fall from grace…”
Her pen stopped moving. “Damn.”
“What is it?” Daniel leaned over and read her work.
“I… just stopped. It’s like I can’t write anymore.”
He surveyed it, silently. “It’s good.”
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“You know, it’s so fun having Mia as my neighbour, d’you know that?”
“Well how do you think I feel about having Bryan as my neighbour?” Daniel laughed. “It’s definitely not all fluffy clouds and rainbows.”
“True. I still can’t believe the four of us used to be best friends.”
Cassandra was a comfortable half-meter away from Daniel as they walked to the disco/nightclub that they liked to call the Bronze underneath the silent moon, but she physically felt him freeze. He didn’t stop moving, but something within him got even colder than it had. A small ball of ice that lay buried in his chest that had just become a couple of degrees lower. She stopped, concerned, but he just laughed. It lacked the carefree ring of his earlier one.
“Neither can I.”
They continued, less talkative than before. As they walked into the Bronze, they heard two successive snickers, and Daniel rolled his eyes. Cassandra almost smiled. That one familiar gesture seemed to be all that was needed to make her lips quirk.
“D’you want a drink?” Daniel asked as they moved away from where Mia and Bryan were displaying their affection to the world.
“Wouldn’t mind one,” Cassandra admitted, already feeling the musical vibrations in the air pounding its way through her body. “But… uh…”
“You’d rather dance first, right?” Daniel finished the sentence for her, amused.
She laughed, suddenly, and it lit up her face. “You know me too well. Dance with me?”
“Of course.”
As a softer, less pounding song went on, the two spun around in circles, laughing as they danced. But halfway through the song, they heard a sudden commotion near the door, and the band went silent. It was an entire minute before they picked up the music again, but by then Cassandra and Daniel were already on their way to the disturbance. Unsurprisingly, it was their dear old ‘friends’ being accosted by someone who looked the mirror image of Bryan, only bigger, badder, and blacker.
“So, kid, are you ever going to pay me back?”
Daniel was surprised to see real fear in Bryan’s eyes. “Yes. Of course! I will. Just give me more time!”
The man let out an expansive sigh. “You see, kid, time ticks by… it’s been four weeks.”
“I will. I’ll pay. Please. Another week.”
The man looked thoughtfully at the boy whose neck he was still slowly squeezing. An idea lit his eyes, then, thoughtfully.
“Actually, maybe I’ll cancel your debt.”
He laughed at the look of hope in the boy’s eyes, and then squeezed harder. Bryan choked as his feet dangled a couple of inches from the floor.
“My boys haven’t been in a good fight for a long time,” he explained almost casually. “I figure the hospital bill will be about what you owe me, anyway.”
Just as he and his three burly friends were about to make good their threat, Cassandra stopped them. She didn’t know why, and she didn’t know how. Unconsciously, she stepped forwards.
“Let. Him. Go.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Now who’s this, Bryan?” he mocked, even though he was a little surprised that anyone had stood up to him. “I thought your girlfriend was that little heap over there.”
Cassandra ignored the joke, but now she was feeling a little less certain of herself. “Let him go. iPlease/i.”
“Please?” he sneered. “Oh, that’s pretty. Maybe I will, then,” he dropped Bryan, who lay wheezing on the floor. “But what makes you think I still won’t take his debt out of his body, girlie?”
Daniel knew his friend too well. Saw the small waver before she replied, but then he was there.
“Because Bryan, Mia, Cassandra and I are going to walk out of that door,” he inclined his head towards the exit. “And you will not follow us. Bryan will pay you back, and no-one will have to go to hospital. Now, we’re going.”
With everyone still in shock, Daniel sighed, smiled his trademark smile, and grabbed Cassandra’s hand and Mia’s. Mia instantly pulled Bryan up, and they all filed out of the door.
But it wasn’t over yet. As they walked through the alleyway, Bryan recovered from his shock and yanked Mia’s hand from Daniel’s.
“What were you doing?” he hissed. “I had it perfectly under control, you wanker.”
“I’m not going to waste time arguing with you, Bryan,” Daniel shrugged instead. “But just feel grateful that Cassandra stopped big guy back there from kicking your ass.”
At the murderous look in Bryan’s eyes, Cassandra understandably became very scared. “Daniel, please. Let’s go.”
“You certainly do say ‘please’ a lot, don’t you? Polite little girl. Not going to stop us, though.”
All four of them spun around.
After the bashing in the quiet alley, away from the eyes of others, the four men seemed satisfied, and left. Not that they left without their own injuries, but four experienced fighters against four inexperienced kids hardly constituted as a fair battle. The ambulance had been called by a couple who had snuck into the alley for some sweet nothings and more physically related action. They’d all been taken to the hospital, where broken bones were set and large cuts were stitched. Bryan and Mia, who’d been at the back, hadn’t copped it as bad as Cassandra and Daniel. They were due to be discharged tomorrow. Cassandra and Daniel, however, would be staying for another week after complications due to slivered bones.
In the hospital bed, nursing his split lip, bloodied nose, and black eye, Bryan pondered a sweet and agonizingly painful revenge upon both Daniel and Cassandra for his humiliation, never stopping to remember how they’d stayed. And fought.
And that was when the idea of the curse came upon him.
And when he told Mia, her only word was an expected one.
“Ouch.”
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“Ouch.”
Adam raised his demon eyebrow, a habit he’d almost unconsciously copied from the bleached blond. “I take it that you approve.”
“Approve?” Spike snorted. “It’s…” he quickly revised his answer. “It… could be improved.”
“Really?” Adam asked mildly. “And how might that be?”
“The Slayer is going to know about this. And she’s going to do something about it.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that. In fact, I count on it. The disks that you procured for her will decrypt in exactly seventy-two hours and give her the information.”
“You mean you’re actually going to let her know your plan? Doesn’t that, like, make it easier for her to stop it?”
“She has no choice in the matter. But when the time comes, she will be where I want her to be.”
Riley felt the urge to clench his fists, but nothing seemed to be under his control. For the moment, however, he knew that he could speak.
“You don’t know Buffy. Neither of you do,” he snarled. “She’ll see through your stupid plan and then…”
“Quiet,” Adam raised a hand. Spike watched in amazement as Riley, with a vein in his temple still throbbing, fell silent. The vampire could almost see the muscles in his hands attempting to work.
“Well, well, well,” he breathed, eying Riley. “What mojo did you work on him?”
“I did not ‘work’ anything on him, as you put it,” Adam snorted derisively. “I merely activated his chip.”
“His chip?” Spike’s eyebrow shot up, accentuating the slivered scar across it. “Well then. Chips all around, is it?”
Adam ignored him. “Go now. You have a job to do.”
“And when I’ve finished it, I will get the chip removed, won’t I?” Spike pressed.
Adam’s eyes gleamed faintly with what Spike warily decided to take as amusement. “Scout’s honour.”
As Spike left, however, he heard voices echoing along the passages, and quickly jumped into the protection of the nearest shadows that were available. Laughter ricocheted off the walls as two vampires passed him, oblivious of his presence.
As he listened to them discussing the hybrid demon/man/machine’s plans, a sudden realization came over him. With one quick glance backwards at the cave that contained Adam, who was now completely unaware of his presence and bent over his computers, the vampire’s eyes narrowed.
Oh yes, he thought. I believe I do have a job to do.
When he thought of what it would entail, he winced.
“Ouch.”
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(Okay, I’m sorry if it’s not good enough. I’m going to sound desperate, but that’s because I am. Please review! Tell me how to make it better. Thanks. : ) )
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except for Mia, Bryan, Daniel, and Cassandra. Joss Whedon owns all of the others.
Thankyou to all who reviewed, by the way!
Thankyou to all who reviewed, by the way!