Prompt #168 - Every Tom, Dick and (insert name) - Living Nightmare (1/1) - spikesdeb - BtVS

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Title: Living Nightmare
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: Every Tom, Dick, and (insert name)
Rating: PG
Summary: One shot; Angelus is at large and Buffy's really having a hard time dealing with her life in Sunnydale. Why did she have to be the Chosen One? Set Season 2 after Innocence and during the whole Angelus rampage thing.
Word Count : 768
Thanks to seductivembrace for tidying up my ramblings.



LIVING NIGHTMARE

Buffy wished fervently that she could just walk away, leave everything behind. But that would involve leaving everyone behind, and she wasn't quite ready for that. She'd gotten pretty close though, she had to admit, and it scared her a little.

When she was first called from her life of leisure and lollipops by Merrick, after she'd recovered from the initial shock and disbelief, she thought it was pretty cool that she was the 'Chosen one'. The only girl in all the world who could fight the vampires and the demons. Pretty exciting for a young girl to find out that everybody depended on her to save them from the evil they didn't even know existed. At first.

By the time they'd moved to Sunnydale so that, as her mom took pains to point out, they could find a school to take her, it was becoming a burden. Chosen for such a short time and she was already desperate to shrug off the mantle. That was why she'd been horrified when Sunnydale turned out to be on a hellmouth and on her very first day she had to deal with a vampire attack, why she'd turned and ran when Giles had, with great delight, produced the Vampyre tome and told her he'd been waiting for her. All she'd wanted was a fresh start, and all she got was more vampires and more responsibility.

She'd gotten friends too, she couldn't forget that. But those friends were part of the responsibility and added extra pressure to her already over-burdened life. Just sometimes, Buffy would like the cries for help to be directed at any Tom, Dick or – well, anybody other than her. If wishes were horses, she'd have a stable of her own by now.

Willow nudged her and nodded towards the teacher vainly trying to engage the class's attention. She was worried for her friend who was becoming increasingly distracted and down, and no wonder. Angelus was intent on making her insane and they all felt it was only a matter of time before one amongst them would be found lying dead in the gutter with their throat ripped out. The fact that Buffy was in school at all was something of a miracle as she was getting no sleep, spending all night roaming the streets of Sunnydale in an effort to keep the sleeping populace safe and none the wiser of the danger that stalked them.

Buffy gave Willow a small smile and tried to concentrate on the lesson, but it was no good. Learning about history just reminded her that one day soon she'd be nothing but an entry on a page somewhere deep in the Watcher's Council archive, her life reduced to a bare description of her age and manner of death. Chosen felt more like cursed.

When school let out, Buffy headed home, promising to meet Willow and Xander at the Bronze a little later. It seemed slightly reckless to be going on a fun night out, but Willow insisted and Giles had encouraged her, reminding her that to be at her best, she needed to have some relaxation. Like she could ever relax.

After pushing her dinner around her plate and yawning, Buffy sidestepped her mom's well-meant scolding and lay down on her bed for a while, falling into a troubled sleep where she dreamed of kissing Angel only to see Angelus over his shoulder. She awoke with a start to her darkened room, the muted sound of the TV coming through the open door.

“Sleepy, lover?” Angelus drawled from his position on the roof, lazily licking his fangs as Buffy leapt up and grabbed a stake, her heart racing. “Gotta say, you are looking a little beat-up around the eyes these days. Not so fresh and ... innocent as you once were. Spoiled even.”

Buffy made a move towards him, stopping short of the threshold of the window where Angelus couldn't reach her. His taunts were hitting their mark, though, and she could feel the prickles of tears starting to blur her vision. She gripped the stake tight and locked eyes with the yellow gaze of the vampire who was destroying her last vestige of normal life. But try as she might, she couldn't speak without the threat of sobs escaping her throat.

Angelus laughed and bowed, dropping off the roof and shouting back to her as she watched out of the window, “Catch you later, my love. Be sure of it.”

Buffy allowed the tears to fall and sank to the floor, hugging her knees as she muffled her sobs.