The Two - Background

A lonely, Post Season 7 Buffy (heavy on the canon) wakes up early one morning in some place that looks like but isn't quite her old home at 1630 Revello Drive in Sunnydale, CA with no idea how she got there. The how might take a while to figure out.

Yes, it's an alternate universe. But not very close to her own. Think of it as The World Without CoW. Yes, Buffy will figure out it's a different dimension/universe (Possibly a little too easily...) and, probably for the first time in a dimension-hopping fanfic she won't tell everyone who she is five minutes after meeting them. And yes, it is a B/W fic of sorts. Eventually.

This is not a "light and fluffy" fic. It's an attempt to show an older and wiser Buffy adapt to a world that isn't used to someone with her skills but where she finds out she is needed. That kind of fic is usually a Willow-centric story but I would rather focus on Buffy as the "outsider with knowledge who must adapt without loosing herself in the process."

But the rest of it...

All else will be revealed over time...

• A note about length and how long this will take to write:
  

  I write very slowly. And this is just one of many fics I'm slowly writing. Looks like it'll be 24 parts of 3000-4000 words/ea. though it might be longer or shorter. (They've been growing as the story and my writing skills progress.)

• Credit where credit is due department -

  I was inspired to write this by a too brief flashback scene in an AU Willow the Vampire Slayer fanfic. I've flipped the idea around and on its' head but that's where I got it. Everything else is different.

• The plot is basically:
  • Buffy wakes up somewhere else - a kindler, gentler Sunnydale - with a closed Hellmouth
  • Buffy meets the local slayer who looks like her sister
  • This is the Land without the C.o.W. (Slayers are trained by a coven)
  • Buffy meets this AU's version of Willow who happens to be this AU's version of a watcher for the local slayer
  • Buffy is a bit disturbed at how untrained this slayer is
  • She (eventually) offers to train her.
  • Apocalypse happens
  • Buffy goes home/dies/something happens to her

    I really haven't decided yet how it will all end. Will she be able to go home? Will she want to if given a choice? Will her friends ever find her?

  Some ongoing themes while the above is happening
  • Buffy tries to fit into this AU without attracting attention
  • She doesn't tell people she's from an AU (Not sure yet if she'll say she's a slayer)
  • She tries to learn all she can so she can go home (can you say angst?)
  • She becomes friends with the AU Willow against her better judgement (with a gradual change to B/W-ness)
  • How is Buffy going to deal with a Willow who is confident/doesn't need her?
  • What is a CoW-less slayer/watcher pair like and what kinds of conflicts will they have with Buffy's expectations?