Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU

Something of a follow-up to my previous Buffy-based entry about the show's creatures (khialat.deviantart.com/art/Buf…). Here I tried my hand at devising an AU. The main change is made to the story of Collin, the Anointed One. This character played a big part in inspiring my Dracula spinoff The Westenra Boys (khialat.deviantart.com/gallery…), and I felt a need to create a world in which he is dealt a better hand than on the show. It was always made clear that Collin was different from other vampires in some way. As well as inhabiting a child's body, he was only able to be created through certain actions and conditions dictated by a prophecy ("Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed One shall rise"), and the Master clearly had great plans for him that were cut short. Most viewers criticised that Collin's special traits or powers were never clearly defined or shown (besides leading Buffy into the Master's lair). Well, here I take Collin in a new direction, and take the chance to explore him a bit:

As the Anointed One, Collin serves as the host of a powerful demonic spirit related to Maloker, the Old One responsible for creating the first vampire (as revealed in the comics). He is closely linked to the Master, who plans to train him to be his greatest warrior once the Slayer is dead and the Old Ones return to the Earth en masse. As we all know, Buffy cuts those plans short, slaying the Master and closing the Hellmouth. This has an unexpected side effect: Collin's human soul is restored (though, as with Angel, the demon still remains too). Overwhelmed and scared by his experiences, he flees from the Order of Aurelius and goes into hiding. Angel finds him soon afterwards, and quickly decides that the best place for him is in the care of Buffy and her friends.

Their responses to this new addition are varied. Willow warms up to him first, being the most gentle and mild-mannered, and sympathises with Collin in that they are both misfits to a degree. Buffy is more reluctant - this kid led her to her intended death, after all - but when he apologizes for that in a rather amusing moment, she realizes he wants to leave those dark days behind and becomes kinder to him, even personally protecting him from danger on a few occasions. Giles agrees that Collin is best off in their custody, but - given the vagueness of recorded information about the Anointed One - is cautious about what traits and abilities he may yet develop. Xander, already slow to trust Angel, regards Collin as a nuisance and a burden, and nicknames him "the Annoying One" for a while until Buffy and Willow tell him to knock it off.

Around this, things go rather similarly to the televised second season: regular encounters with vampires, demons and other foes; Spike and Drusilla arrive to assume command of Sunnydale's vampires; Angel loses his soul and torments the gang as the evil Angelus, etc.. Just as Giles suspects, Collin quickly starts to show traits not found in other vampires. For one, his body continues to age and grow as if he were still human. Also, after a while, the demon still present in Collin becomes envious at seeing the vampires led by the "invading upstarts". It vents its spite by tormenting Drusilla in her psychic visions, causing her great distress; Spike is enraged, but doesn't know who or what to direct it at. Angelus - always ready to seize a chance to make Buffy and her friends suffer - reveals what's happening to Spike, suggesting that destroying Collin might make it stop. Buffy won't let that happen - thus the conflict between her and Spike and Angelus becomes even more intense.

So of course, the main cast of season two - Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles and Jenny Calendar - are featured here, with Collin included, along with villains Angelus, Spike and Drusilla. Two other characters are also present here. The scaly green coils belong to the serpentine demon Machida, from "Reptile Boy". A scene cut from the final episode would have shown him reforming his severed body and leaving to hide in the sewers beneath Sunnydale, where Buffy might someday encounter him again. Plus there's Eyghon, the demon Giles summoned in his days as "Ripper", who returned to antagonize him in "The Dark Age" and later appeared again in the comics.

Enjoy, everyone! See here for my full Buffy folder:
www.deviantart.com/khialat/gal…