|
Trick or Treat
Author: Margot
Rating: U
Timeline: Halloween, S5.
Disclaimer: If you recognise it, it's not mine.
A/N: You would not believe the trouble I had getting this down to 998 words. In the end I resorted to rearraging phrases so they had less words because I couldn't bear to lose any more of it. And I thought this word limit was a good thing...
Anyway...enjoy :)
"Buffy!" There was no answer. "Buffy, hurry up before it gets too dark!" This was met with the slam of a door and a thundering of feet on the stairs. Buffy's father cringed at her treatment of the stairs - if she kept that up, he'd have to put a gusset on every step.
"Coming!" Buffy yelled, as she raced to meet the tall man at the foot of the stairs. She landed before him, a huge grin threatening to split her face in two.
"You look beautiful, darling." Her father spoke softly, gently stroking her hair back into place after her descent of the stairs. Buffy giggled, and began to hop excitedly from one foot to the other. She was about to embark on the most exciting experience of her life to date: it was Halloween, and as was the praxis at this time of year, her father was taking her trick-or-treating. She was dressed as a fairy for the occasion; wearing a pink dress that fell almost to her feet, white glittery wings on her back, and the feature of which she was most proud – a plastic tiara.
"Can we go now?" she asked, looking up at him expectantly.
He could not help laughing at her impatience. "Sure thing, princess. Go say bye to your mom."
Buffy spun round to face the slice of kitchen she could see through the door, from her position in the hall. "Bye Mom!" she shouted. For a little girl, she had a voice loud enough to scare people on the other side of the country, her father thought with a wry smile.
A second or two later, Joyce appeared in the kitchen doorway. "Have fun, sweetie. Try not to terrorise the neighbours too much," she smiled.
Buffy's face took on a serious look. "I won't, Mommy," she said, shaking her head vehemently. "Fairies don't scare people!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Joyce replied, her face masked by a good attempt at seriousness, though in truth she was dying to smile at her daughter's naïve misunderstanding.
Buffy turned to her father and tugged at his hand. "Daddy, can we go now?"
He laughed and opened the door to be practically dragged outside by the force of the six-year-old fairy.
"Don't be out too late," Joyce warned.
* * *
After visiting every house on the street, Buffy declared that the evening had been a complete success. She skipped along beside her father, partly because she was still on a sugar-induced high, and partly because he took such big strides that skipping was necessary to keep up with him. Chattering incessantly, Buffy didn't notice as they walked past her house and carried on down the street. Suddenly she stopped.
"Daddy, my wings are hurting. Can you take them off?" she asked, wriggling her shoulders to get them free of the elastic that was beginning to dig into her. When there was no reply, Buffy looked up to where she knew she would see her father's smiling face. It wasn't there. "Daddy?" she asked, looking around her. "Daddy, if you're trying to scare me…" she began sternly, but her sentence was never finished. To her left, she noticed a cemetery – one she had never seen before. Slowly she walked up the edge where the grass met the street and peered in. "Daddy?"
"In here, Buffy!" came her father's voice, though she could not see him. She ran towards the voice, and found her father sitting on one of the gravestones.
Suddenly, a flash of black tore past them. Instinctively, Buffy ran after it. She looked down at the ground as she covered it, and was amazed that she could run so fast. She was catching up to the flash, and as she got closer she saw that it resembled a person. The only thing making it any different from a man was the way his face was sort of bumpy, and his teeth protruded much further than any normal person's should.
Buffy pushed herself harder, and the extra speed allowed her to collide with the vampire, the force of the collision sending them both to the ground. Buffy was back on her feet in an instant, and the vampire was not far behind, turning around to face his attacker as he rose.
"Trick or treat," he sneered, not realising that he was facing a Slayer. Buffy wasted no time; she immediately brought her leg up to kick the vampire in the stomach, sending him reeling backwards. Simultaneously, Buffy noticed that she was no longer wearing her pink fairy dress; in fact she was no longer six years old at all.
There was no time to contemplate this strange development, however, because the vampire had recovered and was rushing towards her again. Buffy dodged quickly, turning as the vampire barrelled past her and slamming her stake into his back. He fell to the floor and she pulled the stake out as he crumbled to dust. She stood up, brushing the dust off her hands, and made her way back over to where she had left her father. He was gone, and in his place stood Willow.
"Will? Why are you here?"
"What do you think, Buffy?"
* * *
"Huh?" Buffy asked groggily, as she was jolted awake.
"I just asked you what you thought of my pumpkin. Xander thinks hisi s better," said Willow, sending Xander a friendly grin.
"Please!" scoffed Dawn. "Yours are boring. Mine, on the other hand, is a masterpiece."
"Are you okay?" Willow asked Buffy, when she noticed her friend looking shaken up.
"I, uh, had a weird dream, that's all," Buffy assured her.
"A prophetic dream?" asked Dawn.
"Don't worry, Dawnster," Xander said brightly. "Nothing happens on Halloween."
"Xander!" the three girls shrieked in unison.
"You've jinxed us!" Willow cried.
As soon as she spoke, a scream went up outside. All four pairs of eyes snapped to the windows and stared in horror at what they saw.
|