leni_ba organized the Buffy/Angel Ficathon. I was assigned geekette, who requested the duo in a place we've never canonically seen either in, and set a few years in the future.

Title: A Whole New World
Author: voleuse
Fandom: BtVS/Angel
Ship: Buffy/Angel
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: Define "happiness."
Notes: Post-Chosen, no spoilers



"Thanks for coming with me," Buffy said again. "None of the others wanted to come back to California yet, except for Andrew, and I didn't want--"

"Hey, I met the guy," Angel shrugged. "I understand why you wouldn't want to bring him here." He smiled tightly as Winnie the Pooh waved at him. "It's bad enough here as it is."

"Here?" Buffy scanned their surroundings, absent-minded, taking in the spinning rides, the mobs of children, and the stand for five-dollar churros. "It's not so bad. It's supposed to be the happiest place on earth, aside from Florida, and Tokyo, and Paris..." She glanced at Angel slyly. "You're not feeling too happy, are you?"

Angel rolled his eyes, but she pointed at him, undeterred. "Are you evil now? You're evil!" she yelped.

Angel glanced around nervously, but the only person reacting was the Mad Hatter, who did a fist-pump of solidarity. Angel laughed weakly. "Very funny."

"Yep." Buffy grinned. "It's mostly why I asked for your help."

"For a joke."

"Well, yeah," she piped. "That, and I heard you've had experience with puppets possibly gone bad."

Angel struggled not to react. "Really?"

She giggled. "And I've seen the pictures."

"Spike swore he wouldn't--"

"Oh, please." This time, Buffy rolled her eyes. "Copies of that episode of Smile Time were online half an hour after it aired. Puppet gore is apparently very popular."

"I, uh..." Angel casted about for a change of subject for a second. "I can't believe how much tickets to this place cost," he grumbled.

Buffy eyed him skeptically, but took the bait. "Brought to you by the All-New, All-Different Watcher's Council," she proclaimed, in a voice that reminded Angel of Xander. "They're excellent about the paid working vacation."

"Huh."

"'A happy slayer is an efficient slayer,'" she continued. "That's our motto this year. That, or 'A cranky Buffy wreaks havoc at every meeting until she gets an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and a double espresso.'" She nodded for emphasis. "We haven't quite decided yet."

"Sounds like a tough choice," Angel said, chuckling. "I'd go for the first one, myself."

"Bo-ring," she yawned, orange light reflecting off the sunglasses perched on her head. She scanned the boulevard again. "God, where is this demon guy? Willow said he was impossible to miss."

"This is a big place," Angel said, scrutinizing a shifty-looking kid in a glow-in-the-dark Aladdin T-shirt. "It could take a while for us to find him."

Just then, a tall, skinny guy in a three-piece suit walked past them, a cage full of crickets in hand.

Angel blinked. "Or, he could walk right past us."

"Right."

"We should follow him."

"Duh."

"Do you think he saw us?'

"Does it matter?"

"Do you think he's dangerous?"

Buffy gave him a long look. "Would I have flown ten million miles to stop a fuzzy bunny demon?"

"Guess not." They started weaving through the crowds, briskly following the demon from a few yards behind. "In my defense," Angel muttered as he dodged a girl in a Tinkerbell dress, "you didn't exactly outline the specifics of this mission."

Buffy shrugged. "Demon in Disneyland. Simple."

"But," Angel gestured, narrowly avoiding a very shiny balloon, "you never really told me what kind of demon this is."

"You didn't ask," she pointed out. "I said demon, you said 'Where?' Ergo, Disneyland."

"I don't know if 'ergo' is really--"

"Oh! He just went inside," she squinted, "Pirates of the Caribbean. Thank god it wasn't Haunted Mansion."

"That would have been silly."

"Right." They fell into line, five tourists behind the demon. "Why doesn't anyone notice the crickets?" Buffy wondered.

"Maybe they think they're toys," Angel answered. "Or maybe the crickets have magic powers."

"Magical crickets?" Buffy rolled her eyes. "That is so cliched." Angel gave her a questioning look. "Never mind."

The boat rocked as they climbed into the back, and Buffy leaned over the side to locate the demon, one boat ahead of them.

"Ma'am," a park worker called out, "Please keep your hands and arms--"

"I know, I know." Buffy held her hands up in surrender. "Promise." Angel looked at her sideways, and she pointed at him. "Say. Nothing."

He nodded, and clutched the bar in front of him as the ride began, clinking silverware dissolving to spooky voices and a talking skull, then a mild rollercoaster that Buffy explained was the underground shortcut from New Orleans to the Caribbean.

Angel was starting to understand the appeal of the ride, but as they crossed into a patch of pitch blackness, he heard the echo of a whimper in the space ahead of them. "Did you hear that?" he murmured in Buffy's ear.

He felt her nod. "He's feeding," she whispered. "Can you see him?"

He peered ahead, caught a glimpse of a pair of mandibles and a frightened soccer mom. "Yeah."

"Take the crickets away. He'll chase you."

Angel nodded and slipped out of the boat, the splish of the boat rocking the only sound, aside from the demon's victim. He waded silently to the boat in front of them and grabbed the crickets' wicker cage.

The demon stopped and squealed, just as a long buzz sounded, and a voice from the loudspeaker demanded that everyone remain in their seats. Over all that, Angel heard Buffy chanting monotonously in Latin, until a burst of green-scent filled the air, and she shouted, "Run!"

Angel jumped toward the fluorescence of the emergency exit sign, and he heard the boats tip over as the demon, then Buffy, followed. He pushed through the door and found himself in an ordinary hallway, beige walls and innocuously blue carpeting.

The demon burst in after him, no longer human-faced, but insectoid, and Buffy was right behind it. She tossed a handful of gravel at its head, then stabbed it through the throat with a dagger.

It screamed, then crumbled into a heap of dirt.

Angel stared. "That was...easy."

Buffy smiled. "Thanks to a month of research and a little witch fu, yeah."

"What were you chanting before?"

"Pre-made glamour, courtesy of Willow." Buffy wiggled her fingers in the air. "We'll be invisible for a few more minutes."

"Invisible?" Buffy nodded. "Huh." Angel looked at the cageful of crickets in his hand. "What should I do with these?"

"We can set them free outside," Buffy said. "They're harmless without Big Daddy Mantis to feed them human bits."

A couple of security-looking types walked toward them, and they flattened against the wall. The guards looked right past them, and made their way to the door to the ride, where Angel could make out the miserable sounds of a mother and three children standing hip-deep in water. "We should go."

They headed towards an exit to the pseudo-streets of Disneyland. "You know, the park doesn't close for a couple more hours," Buffy mused.

"Did you want to go on another ride?"

"The Haunted Mansion is right next door," she wheedled.

"Aren't there mirrors on that ride?"

"Yep."

"Won't people freak out when they see I don't have a reflection?"

"Uh-huh." Buffy grinned. "It'll be fun."

Angel shrugged. "Sure. Why not."

As they emerged into the alleys of New Orleans Square, Buffy slipped her hand into Angel's, and he thought that maybe, just maybe, this place was a little magical after all.


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A/N: Anyone working for Disneyland out there? Feel free to send those comp tickets anytime. I'm always happy to shill. *eg*

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