April Challenge - Secret Origin

[Allan]

Given we had a couple of entries in the March challenge, let's try one for April. We can always hope that people are getting the bug.

Challenge Name:[/u] "Secret Origin"

Fandoms:[/u]
Anything Jossverse. Non-Jossverse is cool as long as I'm familiar with the fandom (so if you'd like to do something different, check first .

Setting / Requirements:[/u]
Pick a character (or characters) from your fandom and write a story set before their first appearance in the fandom.

Entries and Word Limit:[/u]
On the offchance people want to enter multiple times, you can do so twice. These should be no more than 2,000 words per entry. If it comes to less, that's always good, just don't post a novel.

Prizes:[/u] I'll try and wrangle some banner sets from someone for First, Second, Third place.

Rating:[/u] Nothing 'R' or above, it shouldn't be necessary. Please indicate the rating in your notes.

Deadline:[/u] Monday, April 30.

If you have any questions, post below or PM me. It'd be nice to get some entries a second time round.

[Deleted]

Title: Dreams
Characters: Joyce, Hank, and Buffy were created by Joss Whedon. They do not belong to me.
Setting: Several years before Season 1
Word Count: 428
Rating: G
Beta(s): none
Author’s Notes: I’m not completely sure that this (a potential Slayer having the Slayer dreams before her activation) is widely accepted/accurate BtVS mythology, but I couldn’t find anyone around to confirm/deny it as I was writing so I decided to go with it anyway. Even if it’s not entirely accurate I hope it makes for fun reading. It’s obviously not a very long fic, really more of a drabble. It would be the equivalent of a scene in a full-length episode, probably.

A young girl is startled from a dream. She sits upright in bed, her hands clutching the sides of her head. I thought the dreams were gone. She lets out a groan and buries her face, now wet with tears, in her knees. They were gone. They were.

A series of images flashes through her mind. A young dark-colored woman stands in the middle of a desert, her face and arms bearing tribal designs painted in white. A ring of demons stand in a circle around a woman gnashing their teeth and clawing at her. A young girl, the same girl who has these dreams but now a few years older, stands in the opening of a cave holding a crossbow. A series of faces flash by in rapid succession: young, old, tall, short, men, women, boys, girls. The earth rumbles, the ground cracking and giving way as a large mouth rises to the surface.

“No!” the girl cries aloud, the terror evident on her face. “This can’t be happening! Not again.”

“Buffy!” A middle-aged woman runs into the room. “Honey, what’s wrong?” she asks, cradling the crying girl.

“Oh, Mom, I had the worst dreams! There were monsters, and a cave, and…”

“Buffy, you’re not having those dreams again, are you? I thought you’d stopped that nonsense. There’s nothing to be scared of. Dreams can’t hurt you.”

“I know, Mom,” Buffy says, trying to mask the hurt she feels from being reprimanded about something she can’t control. “They just seemed so real.” She lets her voice trail into the emptiness, wanting her mother to leave her alone.

“Well, try to get some sleep. You have school tomorrow.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“What was it this time?” Buffy can hear her father ask from the other room.

“She had a nightmare and it scared her.”

“Don’t tell me she’s starting that again.”

“They’re just nightmares, Hank. Everyone has them.”

“That may be true, Joyce, but with her it’s just not natural. These have been going on for years. These same exact dreams. It’s not natural.”

“They’re simply childish fantasies from an overactive imagination.”

The voices continue to drift down the hallway, but Buffy does her best to drown them with her own thoughts. Despite her efforts, she cannot shake the vivid pictures and feelings of the dream.

Dad’s right. This isn’t normal. I’m not normal. No one has dreams like this. I just wish I knew why they’re haunting me. She lays her head back on the pillow and closes her eyes tightly, trying to push away the night’s events.

[shred]

Argh! I completely forgot about this challenge!

I'll see whether I can squeeze an entry by tomorrow.

[Allan]

So...I'm guessing you didn't get anything written, Irene.

And sorry it's taken me so long to comment. And further apologies, as I haven't had an award made up.

I thought your entry was great, Marie. It was a nice take on how the dreams would affect a "normal" young girl. The reactions from Hank and Joyce were appropriate, telling Buffy that there's nothing to worry about, there's nothing real about the dreams - and as far as Buffy knows, they're right. You really made me feel sorry for Buffy with this/

[Deleted]

I'm glad you liked it, Allan. I don't know that I was going for making everyone feel sorry for her, but I guess that works, too.

[Allan]

The feelings of her not feeling normal are what did it for me more than anything. It was relateable, and for a young girl to not understand why she's having the dreams, and coming away deciding she's not normal is kind of sad. Granted, she eventually learns why, but the time before then would have to be tough on you.