Fanfic / Blue Moon

Blue Moon by ChibiChibi is a crossover between The Twilight Saga and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, set shortly after Eclipse and “Chosen”, where Bella learns that she is one of the newly-activated Vampire Slayers after Xander and Willow visit her to explain some recent changes, such as her increased sense of balance and enhanced healing. While the fic initially seems simple as both parties learn more about the other’s ‘breed’ of vampire, the mood shifts significantly with the revelation that the Volturi are coming to Forks because of Bella’s changes, leading to a dramatic confrontation between a demon army led by the Volturi and Bella’s own ‘army’ of her existing allies and around thirty vampire slayers.

The fic can be read here and here.

Blue Moon contains examples of:

• 11th-Hour Ranger: Buffy Summers fills this role as she appears towards the end of the final battle, albeit only to reveal the truth about Francesca’s fate rather than stepping in to fight anyone.
• Achievements in Ignorance: During the final battle, Edward not only kills a Mohra demon while unaware of the fact that he needs to shatter the jewel to kill it, but also becomes human when he drinks its blood by chance.
• Adaptational Badass: Klutzy Bella Swan becomes a Vampire Slayer who can at least give Edward and Jacob an interesting challenge in a race, and even beats Emmett in an arm-wrestling match (albeit when he isn’t really trying). After training with other Slayers, Bella manages to kill Jane of the Volturi in a fight.
• Amnesia Missed a Spot: Discussed even if it isn’t shown explicitly; Aro suggests that the Council ensure that Bella is never tempted to become a vampire by having her and Edward’s memories of each other erased, but Willow states that Edward and Bella's love is too strong for that to work even if she was willing to cast that spell in the first place.
• An Arm and a Leg: During the final battle, Caius loses an arm, although he retrieves it after the battle and will likely be able to reattach it.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Emmett manages to deliver one to Sam Uley when Sam asks how the 'Old Ones' can drink human blood if they have souls, Emmett comparing their appetites to the idea of trying to make Sam or the other wolves choose a salad over a steak dinner.
• BFG: The Scythe is treated as one, as it’s established as one of the few weapons capable of injuring the Volturi. While training to confront the Volturi, the other Slayers all agree that Bella should be the one to wield the weapon in the final battle given her personal stake in the fight, while Faith (the most senior Slayer present) gets the additional weapon of the troll hammer Buffy used against Glory.
• Back from the Dead: A minor example; Edward reveals that Bella actually died for a few seconds after James’s attack.
• Birds of a Feather: When Bella witnesses the first meeting of Carlisle and Giles, she's struck by the idea that they're both very similar men.
• Blood Knight: When the Volturi come to Forks, Caius is the one most eager to provoke a fight.
• Brought Down to Normal: After the battle with the Volturi, Edward becomes human as he accidentally drank the blood of a Mohra demon, leaving him briefly frustrated at his restored human limits before he decides to join Bella and become a Watcher.
• Chekhov's Skill: Hinted at; when Giles was discussing the diaries of Sir Richard Gladwin, the Watcher to the vampire Slayer Francesca who was turned by the Volturi, Edward notes that he is impressed that Giles’s mind is able to focus exclusively on what he is telling them with no further stray thoughts. It’s later revealed that the diaries also included reference to Sir Richard being visited by his Slayer on his deathbed, which leads to Giles contacting Buffy to confirm that Francesca just faked her death.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When Bella finds herself surrounded by three regular vampires, Edward tears off the heads of all three before Bella, Willow or Xander realise he’s even moved.
• Death by Adaptation: In the final confrontation with the Volturi, Bella kills Jane by tearing off her head and burning her body, and Faith kills Alec with the Scythe.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: A good description of Xander in the final battle; despite being the only pure human on the field, he has no problem pointing out the various flaws in the Volturi's justification for coming to Forks even when Caius is yelling at him face-to-face.
• The Dreaded: Even after the Volturi’s demon allies have started to fight, all Buffy has to do is show up and the still-living demons start running away even after facing an army of thirty Slayers (including Faith), the Cullens, the Denalis, and the Quillettes prior to that point.
• Faking the Dead: Francesca, the first vampire Slayer encountered by the Volturi, faked her death with the aid of one of their guards.
• Genre Savvy: After Mike Newton is attacked by a vampire, he is relatively nonchalant when Willow and Xander drop in to ‘edit’ his memory of the event.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: Giles and Carlisle in particular bond over their status as this.
• Heroic BSoD: Bella has a breakdown when she confirms to her own satisfaction that she’s changed, smashing her truck and a tree after running through the forest, her initial enjoyment of her new strength countered by her fear that she’s now destined to be Edward’s enemy.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Leah at one point attempts to imprint on Xander, but concludes that it isn’t going to happen after she’s spent a few moments standing in front of him.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance:
  • The Cullens were unaware of the existence of other vampires and demons until Xander and Willow came to Forks (Carlisle and Jasper had heard of Slayers, but assumed they were just a myth, to the extent that they had never thought about it in Edward's presence until Bella brings it up).
  • When the Volturi come to Forks to confront the Cullens about breaking the rules about making contact with the Council, Carlisle argues that this basically applies, as they didn’t know there was such a rule since they didn’t even know the Slayer or the Council existed before Xander and Willow made contact, and only told them the truth once they’d confirmed that the humans were aware of the supernatural anyway.
• Insecure Love Interest: After all of Bella’s issues in canon about why Edward loves her, after the battle with the Volturi the now-human Edward wonders if Bella will still want him now that he isn’t a vampire.
• Junior Counterpart: Although Bella and Buffy don't meet until near the end, a few characters seem to consider Bella basically a younger version of Buffy given her relationship to Edward mirroring Buffy's relationship with Angel, save for the fact that this one has a chance as Bella can become a vampire to be with Edward without losing her soul. When Faith joins the Slayer army sent to Forks, she calls Bella 'Little B' as a further reflection of this, and the Slayers as a whole trust Bella to wield the Scythe in the fight with the Volturi.
• A Match Made in Stockholm: From Eleazar's description, this is one way to describe the relationship between Francesca and Antonius, as Francesca was a vampire slayer and Antonius was the Volturi guard who captured her. However, after Aro had Francesca turned, Antonius was the only other person who regularly visited the apparently insane Francesca in captivity, with Eleazar recalling that Antonius cared for Francesca far more than he should have done given their history. When Aro finally decided to have her killed, Antonius helped Francesca fake her death and escape, sacrificing his position in the Volturi and drinking animal blood rather than human blood to help Francesca adjust to her new state.
• The Mole: The Volturi have maintained a mole in the Watcher’s Council since they learned of the Slayer, ensuring that they were aware of the Slayer’s location and could deflect any investigation that might reveal their own existence.
• More than Mind Control: Chelsea’s ability is discussed, and is clearly regarded as this.
• Noodle Incident: Willow recognises Carlisle's name from a paper he published; Carlisle is grateful for the recognition, but observes that was the only time he was ever persuaded to publish something, given how important it is that he maintain a low profile.
• Oh, Crap!: Carlisle and Jasper's shock when Bella first asks the Cullens about the term "vampire slayer" basically amounts to this, as they're clearly shocked at the revelation that this myth is real.
• Off With Their Heads: In the final battle with the Volturi, not only does Faith decapitate Alec with the Scythe, but Bella manages to tear off Jane’s head with her bare hands while Jane is distracted by seeing her twin get killed, Bella subsequently burning Jane’s body.
• Offstage Villainy: Bella realises that she was actually indirectly taunted by the First during its campaign against the Slayers, guessing that the First was the reason she heard Edward’s voice speaking to her when the Cullens were away. Jasper and Edward confirm this was the case when Jasper reveals that he kept seeing some of his old vampire associates in the run-up to Bella’s birthday, Edward saw Bella during his travels, and the other Cullens report seeing various other deceased acquaintances around the same time.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Almost explicitly stated by Bella when she tells Xander and Willow that Edward’s a vampire while making it clear that he’s different from the ones they’re familiar with. Giles later speculates that the Cullens and other vampires are direct relatives of the original vampires, the Old Ones, with the Turok-Han now essentially the ‘missing link’ between the two types of vampire.
• Parental Substitute: When Giles does some research on Francesca- the Slayer who was turned by the Volturi- he observes that the diaries of Francesca’s Watcher, Sir Richard Gladwin, make it clear that he and Francesca had a similar relationship to Giles and Buffy, as Sir Gladwin clearly took it particularly hard when Francesca was declared dead. Francesca clearly reciprocated this affection; when she learned that Sir Gladwin was dying, she went to see him despite the risk to her plans to fake her death so that she could assure him that she had survived and was happy.
• Posthumous Character: Eleazar reveals that the Volturi are aware of the Slayer after they captured and turned the Slayer Francesca in the fifteenth century, but Aro had her killed two years later as she had apparently been driven insane after being turned. Subverted later on when it’s revealed that Francesca escaped with one of the Volturi guards and just faked insanity to get them to leave her alone and kill her.
• Put on the Bus:
  • Bella is ordered to stay at home while the Slayers and wolves are patrolling Forks after a standard vampire attacks Mike Newton a few days before the Volturi forces arrive, but this is justified as Bella is too well-known in town and would attract attention if anyone saw her walking around with a weapon.
  • Before the final battle, Giles is teleported to Italy as the group feel that he’s too valuable as the new Council’s most senior Watcher to risk in the current fight.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite the Council’s traditional approach to the idea of a Slayer becoming a vampire, after meeting the Cullens Giles expresses satisfaction that they are not like traditional vampires and it is ‘safe’ for Bella to become like them after her wedding to Edward if she wishes.
• Refusal of the Call: Bella initially plans to turn down the offer to become a full-time Slayer, but eventually decides to join the new Council for further training.
• Retcon: While talking with the other Slayers, Bella realises that the Edward she heard/hallucinated after he left Forks was actually the First trying to manipulate her.
• Selective Obliviousness: Carlisle and Eleazar each realise that they basically fell victim to this in their time with the Volturi, not realising until a talk with Xander and Dawn that, when dealing with rebellious vampires, Aro would use Chelsea to ensure that he could ‘recruit’ particularly unique vampires by turning them against their allies and making them more willing to join the Volturi.
• Ship Sinking: Once Jacob imprints on Dawn, his romantic feelings for Bella are over.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • The Scoobies all show little doubt about Bella and Edward’s relationship after confirming that he has a soul.
  • Bella shows subtle support of the idea of Jacob and Dawn getting together after Jacob imprints on Dawn.
• Shout-Out:
  • During her first training session against Edward, Bella adopts a combat stance that she explicitly compares to Neo from The Matrix.
  • When Xander and Willow show up to edit Mike’s memory of meeting a ‘regular’ vampire, he’s nonchalant about the idea, explicitly comparing it to Men in Black.
• Tear Jerker: Bella is particularly moved to hear Eleazar’s tale of Francesca, with Giles’s words acknowledging that Francesca’s Watcher, Sir Richard Gladwin, was one of those who truly cared for his charge rather than seeing her as a disposable weapon, Giles comparing the man’s relationship with Francesca to his own bond with Buffy. Francesca even risked exposing her survival to visit Sir Gladwin on his deathbed and assure him that she was well, with her Watcher showing nothing but happiness at the news that she was still alive even if she had become a different kind of vampire.
• Token Human: When the time comes for the final battle with the Volturi, Bella’s allies consist of thirty Slayers, the Cullens, the Denalis, the Quilettes, Willow, Dawn, and Xander, with Xander the only pure human in the group.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Not only does this obviously apply to Bella now that she’s a Slayer, but Willow reveals that the spell she cast to activate all Slayers at once actually increased their strength slightly, making it easier for them to fight the Turok-Han.
  • Later in the fic, Bella learns how to control her shield while she’s still human, to the extent that she disables Alec and Jane’s abilities to make them easier to kill.
• Weak, but Skilled: The main advantage of the Slayers when facing the Volturi; the Volturi forces are stronger than the Slayers, but many of the key Volturi haven’t actually done much fighting for years, whereas Slayers are trained to face a range of enemies.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Based on Eleazar’s story of Francesca, turning a Slayer into a ‘Twilight’-style vampire drives them insane even if it also exceptionally enhances their physical power; ultimately subverted when it turned out that Francesca was faking insanity to try and get the Volturi to kill her.
• Worf Had the Flu: Bella demonstrates her strength by beating Emmett in an arm-wrestling match, but it’s noted that Emmett was holding back in the assumption that he was facing a purely human Bella. Alice has a vision confirming that Bela would have suffered serious injuries if Emmett had been using all his strength against her, although all the Cullens acknowledge that the fact that a human Bella could beat Emmett in the first place makes it clear something has changed.

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