The Instruments Available Season 6 by Jixer

[jixer]

Chapter 24

Closing In









“Magic?” Xander asked nervously.



“Not really, sweetie,” Anya explained. “Grounding is sort of being the anchor.”



“It makes sure we don’t slip away while we’re in the spirit realm,” Willow said.



“And it has to be people we trust,” Tara added. “Otherwise it won’t work.”



“Do you think I can do this?” Xander asked looking into Willow’s eyes.



“Yes,” Willow said without hesitating.



“Okay,” Xander said with more calm than he thought he had. “What do we do?”





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Rupert Giles tried to relax in the kitchen of 1630 Revello Drive. He glanced at the day old London Times, sipped his tea, and discreetly looked at his watch.



“It’s five minutes since the last time you looked,” Tara said gently. “Sorry, just…”



“Neither of us can fix this,” Giles said giving up all pretense of reading his paper. “As much as we want to we can’t take away the loss that’s coming.”



“Maybe they’ll get something back,” Tara said hopefully.



“What?” Giles asked.



Tara looked at him as she heard the hidden desperate hope in his voice. “They’ll know that both their fathers loved them,” she replied. Then she looked down as the memory of her own father snarled through her memory. She was struggling for control and Giles’ arms circling her in a protective embrace came as a surprise.



“It’s all right,” Giles said softly and Tara let herself believe it in her heart.





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Later that day in the afternoon, on an isolated beach half an hour from Sunnydale, an odd-looking group of beach goers walked across the sand. Their clothes were somber yet they were all barefoot. The afternoon sun’s heat was moderated by the steady breeze as the knot of people came to a stop on the edge of the sand still damp from the falling tide.





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It was a beautiful day. Dawn looked at the sky and wished it were dark and cloudy with rumbles of lightening. The raucous calls of the gulls and the gentle waves of the calm Pacific were the wrong noises for the storm in her heart.



It’s not like he’s my real father anyway, Dawn thought. I’m just here to get Buffy through this. Dawn looked sideways at her sister and saw the uncertainty breaking through the mask of control. Dawn tightened her grip on Buffy’s hand.





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Willow looked at Tara. Tara nodded and Willow took Xander’s hand for a second. The beach became less bright as she let go. Willow looked at Tara and saw her clearly. A bright line slipped from Tara to a darkened Anya. The sea was a distant groan. The witches joined hands and looked into the mists on the edge of their sight.



“Hank Summers,” they intoned softly. “Your girls are here.”





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Buffy heard Willow and Tara’s distant voices on the wind for a moment, but the words were swallowed by the gentle rhythm of the surf. Then she heard another voice.



“Buffy!” her father called out with a tone of exasperated relief. “Dawn! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”



Buffy was fourteen again. She was looking up at her father in the loud beach shirt she’d bought him for his birthday when she was ten. With his ragged cut offs and sandals it was his beach uniform. She looked again into those eyes that could sparkle and charm anyone.



“Daddy!” Dawn cried out happily.



Then Xander shifted in the sand behind Buffy. She caught Anya looking pale next to Tara as the witch’s hands moved in a pattern. She knew behind her Willow was doing the same. Buffy looked back to her father and saw the horizon show through him dimly.



“Daddy, we’re safe,” Buffy said as her vision filled with tears.



“Oh…” Hank said as he looked out over the water. He looked back to his daughter’s as his smile faded. “There’s so much I need to say…”



“We know-” Buffy tried to say.



“We know you love us and we love you,” Dawn said hurriedly. “Always, always, always!”



“Love you,” Buffy whispered through her tears.



“I love you both so much…” Hank said in a fading voice. Then he disappeared.



Buffy somehow found Dawn but both girls seemed reluctant to let out their grief. They didn’t notice as Willow and Tara swayed and seemed to droop along with their respective anchors. The two Summers girls didn’t notice anything until they were surrounded by friends. Then it was safe and they let their grief go.





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Miles to the south Faith leaned against the wall and silently cursed her Slayer hearing. The words below made her want to hit the door and never stop running. It was like being a kid again and listening to what was left of her family tear each other apart with words before they resorted to blows. Finally it stopped and she felt the air conditioning blow cold across the rivulets of sweat that hadn’t been there before. She heard footsteps on the stairs that were too fast to be human.



No one else here would have seen the dark scowl that was more frightening than the vampire’s hunting mask. Angel’s eyes were coals as he strode towards her. Faith felt an echo of his anger in her soul. She fought down the urge to join him in letting the pain take over and riding the rage into the night faster than she could realize she’d had the thought. Angel stopped silently in front of her. She met his eyes.



“By the way,” Faith said with a smirk. “Hi, and yes, it is nice to be out of prison.”



“Sorry, I-”



“Yeah,” Faith interrupted. “Big with that ‘I’. Forgive me but I couldn’t help hearing all that ‘I’ down there.”



“I can protect him,” Angel growled. “Connor needs me!”



“I know,” Faith said with a soft hint of pain in her voice. “He needs you. Connor just doesn’t know it yet. And if you hold onto him and try to protect him he may never know how much he needs you.” She saw the pain in his eyes before he turned away. “Sorry,” she said with a wince.



“I want what’s best for him,” Angel said tiredly.



“And you’re afraid to let him go,” Faith added. “You give a shit. He’s so damn lucky, and I promise I’ll make him see that. Even if I have to kick his ass to do it.”



“You won’t have to,” Angel sighed. “You and Wes already have more control over him than I do. He listens to you.”



“Wes isn’t the father he’s way fucked up about and I’m a girl,” Faith grinned. “I kind of have an advantage over both of you.”



“Do you have any rivals?” Angel asked suddenly sounding like a worried father.



“Only kind of,” Faith said with a frown. “He likes Tara, but I don’t think it’s the same.”



“What’s she like?” Angel asked.



“I met her once,” Faith replied shaking her head at the memory. “Way gay, in love with Willow and a nice kid. So I tried to fuck up her brain. I’m pretty sure she and Red mojoed me.”



“She pulled me out of the ocean,” Angel said distantly. “I don’t remember a lot but I think she was kind of doing a mother hen thing in the back ground. How does she know Connor?”



“She’s what convinced him you were worth being fucked up about,” Faith explained. “She and Connor and Wes did some truth spell and the bitch who helped Holtz got some witchy therapy too. You might have heard about that before the shouting if you’d try listening, big guy.”



“How do you know so much?” Angel asked looking at her.



“I listened,” Faith replied. “It’s a long way back to LA from the girls’ school I was at. I asked Wes what was going on. He finished about the time we made it to the city limits. I’ve been asking questions since, and listening to the answers.”



“Oh,” Angel said.



“Look, just hear me out,” Faith said in a rush. Then she stood up straight and met Angel’s eyes. “Connor’s your son. Wes is your friend but he fucked up, and to get them both back-and you need both of them, believe me-you’re going to have to forgive and to trust. That’s a huge part of what redemption and love are all about. I should know.”



A moment of silence filled the hallway. Finally Angel seemed to smile if such a wan thing could be called a smile.



“You know what it’s going to be like riding herd on those two?” he asked.



“I figure I’m up to it,” Faith said nonchalantly. “Besides, I owe a friend.”





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The drive home from the beach was quiet in the Summers Jeep as they followed Xander’s battered Ford. Willow and Buffy were in the front seats while Dawn and Tara sat behind. Every once in a while there was a sniffle. Tara had reached for Dawn’s hand but the teen had been looking out the window. She looked at the ‘mom mirror’ and met Willow’s eyes with a look of helplessness. The redheaded witch nodded.



“Where did he get that shirt?” Willow asked with a theatrical shudder.



“Buffy gave it to him,” Dawn said with a soft smile. “That explains the colors.”



“I was ten,” Buffy said with her own smile. “I’d saved up my allowance for his birthday. One day it got windy at the beach and he let me wear it. It was so big!”



“I remember him wearing it and him carrying me back to the car after I’d been swinging in a wet bathing suit,” Dawn said in a more lively voice.



“And there was the time you got ice cream on his shirt,” Buffy interjected.



“What about the chili dogs?” Dawn giggled.



“Who got him?” Tara asked.



“Both of us!” Dawn laughed. “This car backfired-”



“We both jumped-” Buffy smiled.



“With our chili dogs in our hands!” Dawn finished. “And we had cheese on top!”



For a long moment there was silence as the Jeep turned onto Revello Drive. Finally Dawn reached for Tara’s hand.



“Thanks, both of you,” she said blinking away tears but still smiling. “Thanks for giving us back our dad.”





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“Are you okay?” Elizabeth asked gently.



YES. I COULD WATCH THIS PART ALL DAY.



Elizabeth took those words for what they were worth and looked about her with studied casualness. She saw one cluster of lights stand out as the rest of the lights came back.





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“Buffy, what are you doing?” Willow asked.



“What do you mean?” Buffy asked defensively.



“That’s a clipboard,” Willow pointed out. “You hate clipboards. You have ever since high school.”



“Well, its time I got over my fears and dealt with my dislike of clipboards,” Buffy said primly.



“Normally I’d say that’s a good thing,” Xander added. “But I don’t see the usefulness of office supplies on patrol.”



“Oh, right,” Buffy said setting down the clipboard. Willow glanced at the bulging papers.



“You know, you could take some time off,” Willow pointed out gently.



“I can’t afford…um…I’ve got tests for the Reserve Patrol,” Buffy replied.



“Next Wednesday,” Willow said firmly.



“No fair,” Buffy complained. “You set up my study program.”



“It’s not just you who need to get away for a bit,” Xander added.



“We all can’t go,” Buffy insisted. “New Big Bad with a deadline, remember?”



“Not all of us,” Willow said more gently. “You and Dawn.”



“She hasn’t had a summer vacation, Buff,” Xander said.



“She’s been going on about that horse since the bachelorette party,” Anya said brightly.



“But…” Buffy started.



“It would be good for you,” Anya insisted cheerfully. “She could ride a horse and you could ride a cowboy.”



“Anya!” Willow squeaked.



“I’m just saying you need a change of scenery,” Anya said.



“Buffy,” Xander started interposing himself between his wife and his best friend, “I think we all are saying you’ve been through a lot and we need you to be on top of your game and fresh as we get down to the wire.”



“Okay, I’ll look into it,” Buffy sighed. “The intervention is over. Now can we go kill some vampires?”





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Elizabeth felt her cheeks burning.



CAN’T BELIEVE SHE SAID THAT? the voice asked lightly.



Elizabeth just shook her head and looked hurriedly at a different set of lights.





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“Hello, Spike,” the night itself said.



“Welcome to my ever bloody humble abode,” Spike said without looking up.



“My dear Spike, why so cross?” the voice asked as it became Angel.



“Oh, great salesmanship that is,” Spike said with a glare.



“I’m offering you what he has and doesn’t want,” the First replied as he became Buffy. “All the powers of the vampire and the heart of the little Slayer.”



“You can give me the Slayer?” Spike asked with a snort. “How about a reunion of the Sex Pistols this side of Hell. There’s more chance of that.”



“All right,” the First said becoming itself. “How about the power of the vampire without the weaknesses? Then you can have her, take her, and then break her.”



“What’s it gonna cost me?” Spike asked.



“You do my bidding for just a little while,” the First replied. “Not so hard, is it? Especially for what you’d get.”



Spike’s eyes narrowed as the First became Buffy again.





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Willow and Tara waved as the Jeep pulled out of the driveway. Both witches were wondering what chance the clothes that filled the four suitcases in the back would actually be needed. Tara let out a sigh.



“They’ll be okay,” Willow said.



“Do you realize it’s just a couple of years until Dawn goes to college?” Tara asked.



“I’m too young to feel old,” Willow replied. “Come on, Wes said he’d be at the Magic Box this morning.”



“Did he say why?” Tara asked as they started down the road arm in arm.



“Just to give me a chance to walk with my girl,” Willow replied with a lazy smile.



“I’m sure that’s why he came all the way to Sunnydale,” Tara smiled back.



“Well, that and something about needing something for Connor to accomplish,” Willow admitted.



“He needs to be more than just Angel’s son,” Tara agreed. “What kind of quest do you have in mind?”



“I’m thinking that we send them off on something of an arc with some herbal sachets,” Willow replied.



“I’m sure there’s a plan there,” Tara said.



“We key the sachets to us, they burn the herbs and we see how the magic reacts on the way past the Hellmouth,” Willow explained warming to the subject. “It’s like using echo location or finding a black hole by the light reacting to the singularity.”



“I would have said its like looking at a painting from another perspective,” Tara said.



“Yeah, but you’re one of those soft arts types,” Willow said sagely.



“Any complaint about my being a soft art type?” Tara asked with a raised eyebrow.



“Well there’s the whole decadent artist thing,” Willow said. “It’s a strain for us mousy scientist types to keep up with you libertines.”



“You’re doing fine so far,” Tara purred. “But maybe you’d like a decadence workshop with one on one instruction.”



“I’m very much with the whole learning new things scene,” Willow agreed. “What sort of supplies would we need?”



“Decadence can be best if it’s improvised,” Tara explained. “For instance…”



Tara gently touched a rose at a kiosk they were passing. Tara’s fingers found Willow’s wrist and moved slowly down her hand, pausing briefly and then trailing softly on with the soft caress of rose petals.



“I see,” Willow said with a slight shiver of delight.



All too soon they were at the Magic Box. Willow walked in, amazed that the day could be perfect. She looked at the table and saw Wes. Then one of the customers, a young brunette woman in nice shape, turned around.



“Hey Willow,” Faith said carefully.



Without thinking Willow took a step and placed herself between Faith and Tara. Magically Tara saw the protection spell snap into place around Anya and the barrier between Faith and Willow blossom as an angry red wall of flame.



“Be nice everybody,” Anya said warningly.



“I’m nice,” Faith said evenly.



“Since when?” Willow snapped.



“Honey,” Tara said soothingly.



“You don’t know her, well, you kind of do actually,” Willow replied.



“We need the herbs,” Tara said calmly. Let me see what I can find out. And if you think a rogue Slayer can touch me I’m going to be vexed, She added to her witch.



I prefer you as vixen, Willow replied. Then she turned and walked to the counter. “Anya, is my order ready?”



“Tara,” Wes said with a sigh. “Good to see you. This is Faith. Have you two met?”



“Only kind of,” Tara said looking at Faith and then carefully where the Slayer was looking. “You might say I know her body or soul but not together. We’ve never been formally introduced.”



“Hey,” Faith said uncomfortably. “It’s really me this time.”



“Hello Faith,” Tara said politely. “Where’s Connor?”



“Looking over the weapons,” Wesley said pointing at the youngster.



“I’m glad he missed the floor show,” Faith said. “I see you and Red are still together.”



“Yes,” Tara said sweetly. “A few rough spots but we’re still together and very happy.”



“Good,” Faith said flatly.



“Hi Tara!” Connor almost shouted as he finally looked up from the display full of pointed objects.



“Hi,” Tara said with a real smile. “I’ll talk to Giles about getting you some of the real weapons.”



“Cool!” Connor said happily.



“You must be Connor,” Willow said as she came over with a bag full of scented bags. “I’m Willow.”



“Hello,” Connor said looking at her with unabashed admiration.



“You were saying there was an urgent mission you needed help with,” Wes said.



“It’s going to attract attention,” Willow warned. “The kind of attention that can bite.”



“No problem,” Connor replied quickly. “What do we do?”



Willow laid out the plan with an emphasis on the reconnaissance nature of the task. All three had a chance to ask questions. Tara observed them and noticed how attentive Faith was when Willow spoke. The keying the herbs in their sachets to the witches took but a few seconds. Finally Giles arrived and Tara followed up on her promise to Connor while Wesley made a list of the books he wanted to take along and consulted Willow about the herbs and the fine points of the plan. Faith hung back at the table.



“You’ll need weapons,” Tara said carefully.



“Yeah, it’s just…how’s Buffy? And the kid? And Xander?”



“And Willow?” Tara asked meeting Faith’s eyes.



“She kind of made it clear she hates me,” Faith said tiredly.



“There’s a lot of old problems that never got fixed,” Tara said gently. “It might take some time but there can be healing.”



“Kind of hard for me to apologize to Joyce,” Faith said bitterly.



“Faith,” Tara began. The dark haired Slayer held up her hand.



“I know you’re tryin’ and I appreciate it, Tara,” Faith said harshly. “I really do. I just don’t think it will work out.”



“Coward,” Tara said levelly.



“What?” Faith said in a stunned voice.



“You’re a coward, Faith,” Tara said sternly. “Sure you can face death and monsters, but that’s easy for you. Have you got the guts to take a stand and stick to it day after day after rotten day? That’s when it really counts. It’s living that can be a bitch, and you have to do it everyday. Is it too much for you?” Tara paused but Faith just stared at her. Tara stood up. “Don’t get Connor or Wes killed, or I’ll take you apart myself. Now get back there and get something sharper than your attitude.”



“It’s not like that!” Faith said suddenly.



“It’s most of it,” Tara said. “That and the fact that you’ve never figured out how you feel about Willow and Buffy.”



Faith just gaped at the witch for a moment. Finally she found her voice. “How…?”



“You watch her, you listen to her,” Tara said with a small smile. “For a second there I thought I was going to have to get butch, but it’s not love.”



“Might be lust,” Faith said with a weak grin.



“It’s not,” Tara said gently. “I think you wanted to be her, or Buffy. Only you didn’t know how to even be yourself.”



“After my first Watcher…” Faith flinched at the memory. “And then that bitch Post.”



“After that no one could get past the wall you set up,” Tara finished. “Did anyone here really try? Besides Joyce, I mean.” Faith just shook her head. “This town must hurt just to be here.”



“I thought I could handle it,” Faith admitted. “All the old stuff surprised me.”



“You can handle it Faith,” Tara said with a small but real smile.



“How?”



“You don’t handle it alone.”



Tara held out her hand. Faith took it and stood up. Then she grinned.



“You’re a pain in the ass, T.”





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Willow looked at Tara holding Faith’s hand and felt a flush of jealousy sweep over her. Then she smiled ruefully as she read Faith’s posture and movements along with the stormy aura that whirled about the Slayer. The emotional storm abated a little as Tara held Faith’s hand.



Love, you can’t resist a challenge, Willow sighed to herself. But that’s not a song bird with a broken wing, it’s an eagle with issues. I mean a buzzard! Not an eagle which is beautiful and majestic and-



“I think that’s a hopeful sign,” Wesley said quietly.



“Hopeful?” Willow asked quickly. “Oh, right, what with the reaching out and making up and…stuff.”



“Yeah, that’s good,” Connor said as joined them. “Tara’s the best.”



“Yes, she is,” Willow agreed.



Willow felt the jealousy flare for a moment as Tara turned to her, still holding Faith’s hand. Tara gave Willow a quirky, questioning look, and then smiled.



You’re jealous, Tara sent with the hint of a tease.



Well, yeah!



I look forward to you enforcing your claim later, Tara sent as Willow felt a different kind of flush altogether. Tara’s eyes seemed very dark blue for a second. “Wes, I’m going to take your Slayer and get her caffeinated at the Espresso Pump.”



“Take care of my girl,” Willow said looking at Faith.



“Yeah,” Faith grinned back. “I wouldn’t want to become a frog.”





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“How’s she doing?” Elizabeth asked.



BETTER. YOUR LETTERS ARE THE HIGH POINT OF HER DAY.



“Nobody will tell me this, so what’s so special about this road trip? Faith just smiles and Willow says she doesn’t know but I know she does.”



WELL THERE WAS MAGIC AND-



“The real reason.”



YOU DIDN’T HEAR IT FROM ME, OKAY?



“Okay!”





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Oh dear, Willow thought nervously. That’s not a good sign after an afternoon of bad signs.



Tara was standing by the window of their room, but she was really looking out a long lost window at something only she could see. Willow slipped up behind her and without speaking and embraced her gently. Willow felt Tara’s touch where her hands crossed the blonde’s tummy.



“You need to be held,” Willow said softly. “By somebody who can listen, or not if that’s what you want.”



“Yes,” Tara whispered. “I need to be held.” Willow closed her hands more tightly around her lover. “You never know how much you have until you see how much somebody else is missing.”



“She hurt you,” Willow said. “Because she shared.”



“Yeah,” Tara whispered. Then she shuddered. “Her ‘family’-ewww!”



“I don’t suppose there’s anyway to smack some of her family upside the head and make this a Hallmark Special ending,” Willow sighed.



“I casted,” Tara admitted. “Her biological father crossed a drug smuggler and her mother died two years ago of liver failure. The rest of the bastards her mother shacked up with should be gelded with a chainsaw!”



“Anger, it’s a bit healthier,” Willow said. This has been building since I picked her up at the Espresso Pump, Willow thought. Rough weather ahead.



“And those stupid bureaucrats who kept giving her back to her mother,” Tara snapped. “What were they thinking?”



“They don’t think, they’re bureaucrats,” Willow replied. Whoa, Willow! the redhead realized. You’re buying into her anger because they’ve made your baby upset. “Honey-”



“I need you to hold me,” Tara whispered urgently.



“I’m here,” Willow said.



“Please, Willow,” Tara said desperately.



Willow guided her distraught partner to the bed. Willow laid Tara down and covered the blonde witch with herself. Then she opened the unique connection they shared with the softest of mental touches.



I’m here, Baby, Willow sent with more emotion than words. I’ll always be here.





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It was forty-eight hours and three sachets since the three had left Sunnydale. Connor had proven to be adept at picking radio stations Wes hated and sleeping in the back seat. Faith’s driving was improving to the point where Wes could cat nap in only moderate terror. Without a word the Slayer had pulled off the interstate and headed down a state road. In the back Connor woke up and looked out the window.



“Isn’t that…” he started.



“Just getting gas,” Faith said.



They pulled into a small station and stopped on the ‘Full Service’ side. In a moment a large man with a pot-belly and a ‘My Boss Is A Jewish Carpenter’ T shirt on came out.



“How can I help y’all?” he asked.



“Twenty of the Plus and maybe some directions,” Faith said easily. “You know the way to the Maclay place?”



“You friends of theirs?” he asked suspiciously.



“Tara’s a friend of ours,” Connor said stretching his legs. Faith tensed.



“How’s she doin’?” the big man asked with a real smile.



“She’s okay,” Faith answered warily. “In college and getting good grades.”



“Good for her,” the man said. “She’s so much like her momma.”



“You knew Tara?” Wes asked.



“Yep,” the attendant replied. “It’s a small town. You know who went to church and warmed the benches, the ones who sang real loud, and who went and listened. She listened. Look, I’m afraid y’all might not be welcome up at…the Maclay’s.”



“We’re kind of sure we won’t be welcome,” Faith said easily.



“Well then, you go about two miles down this road and turn left at the Texaco,” he said trying to hide a smile. “Then it’s a half mile past that. This is easier with GPS or OnStar, but I don’t suppose you got either one.”



“Oh, don’t get her started,” Wesley sighed.





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“Donald!” Robert Maclay bellowed. “If those are your hooligan friends you can just stay out all night without dinner because the doors will be locked!”



“It doesn’t sound like them,” Donald replied. Beth’s at her momma’s and you can’t cook he added to himself. Big threat old man.



“Well go see who it is, boy!” Robert snapped.



Donny went out the door and headed for the barn where the strange car was parked. A moment later there was a knock at the door. Robert opened the door and glared at the lean, dark haired man with a black turtleneck who stared at him.



“Mr. Maclay?” the visitor asked with an English accent.



“Yes,” Robert Maclay answered tersely. “Who are you?”



“Let’s just say I’m a friend of your daughter,” the Englishman replied.



“You are not welcome here!” Robert replied and tried to close the door but it sprang back into his face. Maclay reached for the shotgun but it twisted out of his grasp and the butt of the scattergun slammed into his solar plexus.



“I’m sure you’d welcome education,” the hard eyed man said as Robert fought for a breath. “Consider me a teacher.”



“Hi!” a bright-eyed boy said from the door. Robert Maclay couldn’t believe such a slight youth could carry Donnie so lightly over his shoulder. “You were right. I said he had a nice ass and he just swung without even a basic guard. Where is it?”



“It?” Robert Maclay groaned.



“Now we come to the lecture and practical part of this class,” the Englishman said pedantically. He held up a roll of duct tape. “This is to simulate the helplessness Tara felt.”



Both Maclays were sufficiently recovered to struggle, though uselessly, at their bonds as the frighteningly focused Englishman opened the closet, removed anything useful and unscrewed the light bulb. Then a wild eyed brunette, no doubt a lesbian because no normal woman could manhandle two people into a closet, propped them up in the dark space and slammed the door. Outside they could hear something moving in front of the closet door.



“Here is the important part of this lecture,” the Brit called from outside. “Listen hard as there’ll be a test later. Closets are for clothes, not little girls. Let’s remember that, shall we?”





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“We’re not coming back here, are we?” Faith asked.



“No,” Wes said as he unlocked the car.



“Then what was that about a test?” she insisted.



“All of life is a test,” Connor said smugly.



“Quite,” Wes agreed.



Before Faith could give her retort a horn sounded and a car spun down the drive to stop in front of the Maclay place. Bad rap music filled the night as two young men spilled out of the car.



“Whoo!” one of them shouted. “Donnie’s been holding out on us! Hi sweet thing!”



“Oh, I’m not a friend of Donnie’s,” Faith said taking a very deep breath. “I’m a friend of Tara’s.”



Behind her Connor tensed. Wesley put a hand on his young charge’s shoulder. “Now observe this interchange,” Wesley said. “It’s going to be quick.”



“Maybe we can cure her,” the other, more bulky man purred menacingly.



“Did you two studs try to cure Tara?” Faith asked sweetly.



“Donnie wouldn’t let us,” the first one said stepping closer.



“That makes me glad I didn’t kill him,” Faith said with a grin.





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At three twenty one the next morning Deputy Sheriff Clyde Manning managed to get the trunk of the Peterson boys’ car open. He flashed the light inside and then stood back.



“Now how did this happen?” he asked.



“…six guys…with clubs…” Matt Peterson said past swollen lips.



“What color were those six guys?” Manning asked casually.



“Black,” Mike Peterson said.



“White,” Matt replied at the same time.



“Okay,” Deputy Manning said. “You wait there.”



Clyde walked over to his shift supervisor and tried to get the smell of the trunk out of his nose. Senior Deputy Bret Grayson glanced up from the paperwork. “What have you got, Manning?”



“The Peterson pests naked in a stinky trunk and I can tell some things are painfully swollen,” he replied. “They say it was six guys in a salt and pepper mix with blunt objects. How about the Maclays?”



“An army of gay ninjas hired by his daughter,” the Senior Deputy answered.



“Gay ninjas being notorious for their use of closets and duct tape,” Manning said nodding. “Bret, about that closet-”



“Yeah, I know,” the older man said. “I’ll follow up here. You get Frick and Frack home.”



“The smell-”



“Rank hath its privileges,” Grayson smiled.



“What about that untraceable call?” Manning asked. “Some college hacker might have been able to do that.”



“And Tara Maclay’s at college,” Grayson said nodding. “I’ll follow up on that too.”





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In the midst of the frantic next few weeks Tara came home to find a postcard in the mail for her. It was postmarked in her old home-town. She read it and laughed. Willow looked up.



“What’s so funny?” Willow asked.



“Well, my champion of computers, some program hasn’t been updated,” Tara said waving the card. “It’s from the Sheriff’s office of my home town. They’re reminding me to buckle up, it’s the law. At least a human knows I’m at college because they wrote if I’m coming home to obey the law. How weird is that?”



“Absolutely unexplainable,” Willow said.

[behindhereyes]

Jixer



Nice long amazing update !! Wow..there is just so much going on here...you juggle beautifully.



Faith, Connor , and Wes at the Maclays (rotten bastards)

"closets are for clothes, not little girls"... some justice for young Tara.

I'm so glad you did that... I feel a little more peaceful. This story is so amazing , speaks well on the ability of the author.



To you Jixer



behindhereyes

Kim

"To the world, you may be one person; but to one person, you may be the world"

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



It's Get Things Done Before Work Day. Thank goodness for Kitten feedback!





behindhereyes- Thank you for the juggling image! I just couldn't see Wes and Connor letting things go after sharing their images of their fathers with Tara in her truth spell for Connor. As for Faith I just think there's more there than canon ever dealt with and Tara's the perfect person to deal with the girl who is in many ways her polar opposite and a witch to boot. I'm so glad there's Pens and Kittens!





Jixer

[russ]

Hi Jixer,



Sorry to be all tardy with the feedback. We seem to be in the "feast" part of the "feast or famine fanfic cycle," and I'm getting a bit behind. Now that Toronto's won the Grey Cup, and I can mock my B.C. relatives, let's get to it.



The theme of families, especially fathers, begins and ends this chapter. Tara grieves the father's love she never had, and is comforted by the one who is truly a father to all the Scooby family. Angel is torn by the conflict with Connor, and is taught by Faith, of all people, forgiveness and trust. The Summers girls get a last few moments to reconcile with Hank, and to grieve his loss. Dawn's, "Thanks for giving us back our dad." had me blinking away or tear or two as well.



Hmmm, I'm beginning to have a suspicion as to the identity of Elizabeth's guiding voice. Who would be moved by this scene, and yet be happy to relive it? Do I detect a faint greenish light?



But now the worry. Who's the "she" that Elizabeth's asking about? Someone E. only communicates with by letter. Not Faith or Willow, by the following sentence. Does something bad happen to Tara in the future? But then, the future's been (being?) changed by everyone's reaction to Xander's revelation, right? The more I think about this, the more confused I get. Stopping now.



Willow has some issues to work through with Faith, and Tara's just the gal to see that they get sorted out. I love the way Tara can defuse Willow's overactive emotions, whether anger or jealousy. The perfect combination of unconditional love and gentle humour never fails. Then, in the next scene, Tara turns to Willow for comfort and healing. Always a two-way street with them.



Then the ever-so-satisfying road trip. I was quite prepared for the gas station attendant and the local cops to be more good-old-boy bullies. Instead, they're decent folks who have no more use for the Maclay men than the rest of us. I doubt if the lesson will do any good, but it sure was satisfying. There was chuckling throughout, as well as grim satisfaction. "Closets are for clothes" indeed.



Thanks, Jixer. See you next time.

Russ



When we love and give it everything we've got, no matter what the consequences, we are doing what we were put here to do -- Geneen Roth

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



Baby, it's cold outside. Let's stay inside like sensible Kittens and spend time in Pens!





russ- Oh for a feast of time to enjoy all the new fics! That and the fact that I have to go to depressed Lions fans country-Vancouver-are the only things I have to complain about at the moment.



I have to say the placing of the theme of fathers and fatherhood were a happy accident. The road trip was something I'd been thinking about and it wasn't until I'd posted that realized it helped make the chapter more balanced. The letters reference will make sense, I hope, but it will take a bit.



Thank you for stopping by in the banquet of fanfic,





Jixer

[mollyig]

Dawn, bless her, trying to make herself believe that she wouldn't be affected by seeing Hank, and was only attending to take care of Buffy. This is typical Dawn, trying to hard to be more grown up, not wishing to be a burden on her sister.



Willow's reaction to Faith being in the magic box was understandable. It'll be a while before she'll fully trust Faith. Tara's past makes it easy for her to understand Faith's defence mechanisms and how to get her to listen to her.

---

You stay the course, you hold the line, you keep it all together.

You're the one true thing I know I can believe in - Sarah McLachlan

[robotguru]

Hey Jixer. This is a real cool fic, i spent most of yesterday evening till late...erm...early reading it lol.



Anyways, thaks for sharing this, it's a real good one.

------------------



There can be no rainbow without rain, you cannot know true happiness until you know sadness first.

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



Before sitting down to even more organic free range turkey in the form of leftovers I glow in the warmth of Kitten feedback!



mollyig- I have to admit I like writing Dawn growing up, learning from W&T, and being the 'little sister'. Faith is more of a challenge, but there is so much potential especially with her history with Willow and to a lesser extent Tara I enjoy using her as well.



robotguru- Thank you for all that time and your kind words! And thanks to Pens for giving me a place to share these words.





I see I'm sharing Pens with ever more W&T ficwriters each week. I think that's a good thing and a hopeful one.



Thank you all,



Jixer

[jixer]

Chapter Twenty Five

History Lesson











Dawn could feel the wind in her hair as she let the horse under her have its head. The clean air and the open spaces beckoned her. For a moment she let herself think she could ride forever. Above her she heard a raptor cry. In front of her the ground became more broken and rough. She gently reined in Autumn Storm and felt him slow down. They turned on an old dirt road and Dawn’s eyes widened at the scene in front of them.



An old homestead had gradually gone back to the land. The trees planted as a windbreak were long gone, but their offspring had taken root on the old watercourse near the homestead. In the arid region around her the trees, small bushes and grasses in the swale near the spring and creek were an emerald of life. The air was full of the sound of birds and insects. Dawn rode slowly closer and felt as if she were somehow coming home. There had been isolated scrub brush and miles of cheet grass fighting the sage for what resources the high plain had to offer. Now as she rode into the shade she could understand the pull that this rugged land could have.



She didn’t know exactly how long she stayed there, but when she turned back to the ramshackle ranch she knew she would come back here someday.





===========================================================





Buffy felt the sweat cooling on her body and shuddered. Then she smiled and sighed.



“You seem years younger when you smile,” Charles said gently as he traced her cheek with one hand.



“Years, huh?” Buffy teased lazily. “I guess that makes me jailbait.”



“A felony of lust,” Charles agreed. Then he added softly, “I like it when you smile.”



“These last couple of days I’ve been doing it more often,” she admitted softly.



“I only kind of know what you face every day,” the young man said. “You don’t have to face it alone, do you?”



“No,” Buffy said as she marveled at the sincerity in his voice. She hadn’t been looking for this but it felt better than she remembered. Then she remembered Anya’s advice and laughed. Charles just looked at her with a grin and waited.



“One of my friends gave me some advice about exercise,” Buffy grinned. “I’m glad I took it.”





===========================================================





Giles, Willow and Tara paced around the table. Each of them had tried to see a weakness that could be exploited, some failing point the designers of the magic had failed to consider. Finally Giles stopped and took off his glasses.



“There isn’t one,” he said flatly.



“Everything has a weak point!” Willow insisted getting almost onto the table looking at the diagrams.



“Weak is a relative term,” Tara replied.



“There’s got to be a back way or a hidden catch or, or something that means we don’t have to make a frontal assault and face an entire Hellmouth full of vamps and demons,” Willow muttered. Then she picked up on of the sheets of paper. “How about this?”



“That’s a plumbing blueprint for the boys bathroom on the first floor,” Giles said taking a closer look.



“Oh,” Willow said crestfallen, “I thought it was a hex point in a shielding spell.”



“It is,” Giles replied. “Using earth, metal, and water as components of the spell.”



“That’s an over-engineered spell,” Willow complained. She turned back to the papers and began to shift them again.



“Honey,” Tara started.



“We can’t find a back door, can we?” Willow asked morosely.



Tara just shook her head.





===========================================================





Elizabeth shook her head as she looked the scene in front of her.



“He didn’t think he could be defeated,” she said sadly. “He isn’t the one who tried to kill Tara is he?”



NO the voice replied. THEY NO LONGER EXIST. THEIR TIMELINE COLLAPSED EARLIER THAN THEY THOUGHT WHEN YOU SENT HIM BACK.



“Too bad,” Elizabeth said neutrally.



YEAH



Elizabeth looked up from the lights she was passing and gasped. In front of her a band of green light stretched as far as she could see.



“Oh my God…”





===========================================================





Buffy smiled at the familiar ring of the bell over the door in the Magic Box. Anya looked up at the noise and gave the Slayer a knowing smile.



“I want details,” the ex-demon said. “The juicer the better.”



“How about if I bat my eyes innocently and say I have no idea what you’re talking about?” Buffy asked.



“Right!” Anya managed to get out past her chortling.



“Ah, Buffy,” Giles said from the bookrack above.



“Uh-oh,” Buffy said. “Watcher with the bad books. Not a good sign.”



“I’m afraid we have some bad news,” Giles said carefully coming down the stairs with a large tome.



“The new nebulous big bad doesn’t have a weakness and you’ve got almost nothing on him, right?” Buffy asked with a half grin.



“You’re taking this more calmly than I thought you might,” Giles said with a puzzled frown.



“Getting used to it,” Buffy shrugged.



“I should also point out you have your tests for the Police Reserve the day after tomorrow,” Giles added.



“Okay, now I’m freaked.”





===========================================================





One of the odd ‘consultants’ from the law firm dropped a piece of paper as he hurried out of the locked and guarded office on the site. Xander finished his coffee before he picked up the discarded piece of paper and wadded it up. He tossed something into the waste barrel at the site. A moment later the consultant returned looking terrified. He ran past Xander and his sweating crew without even seeing them. It took all of his self-control but Xander didn’t reach for his pocket where the paper was.



I wouldn’t get it anyway, he thought looking back at the plans on his board.



“We need more bracing here,” he told his people.





===========================================================





“I don’t know what it is but the guy who was looking for it was in about three shades of panic,” Xander explained as he handed the piece of paper to Willow. “I hope it’s more useful than the rest of the stuff I’ve brought you.”



“It’s all been useful, Xander,” Giles said as he looked up from his book.



“We just aren’t finding anything they haven’t thought to protect,” Tara said.



“Let me try something,” Willow said looking at the wrinkled surface. “Tara, Xander, Giles, hold hands and when I say ‘go’ look at this paper, close your eyes, and then open them. Tara, you’re on my right.”



As they gathered around the table in the Magic Box Tara noticed her lover was looking at something far away. An old shadow of doubt briefly slipped up but Tara refused to give it a single thought. Finally Willow seemed to become alert and eager. Tara closed her hands on Willow’s graceful fingers and Giles’ strong hand.



“Go!”









Tara’s eye’s widened in shock. The forces arrayed against them were huge. They were bound by ever increasing levels of magic to one man who she could not see. It seemed to her that all of the powers of magic that were usually loose in the chaos of the Hellmouth were being controlled by that invisible enemy.





===========================================================





Willow considered the delicate form in front of her. The diagram was exquisitely crafted. The precise order and the increasing fields were perfect in form and function. The first would be the ancient, hard vampires for chaos. Then there would be the dragon. Then their enemy would arrive and loose his three carefully shielded demons. After that there were exactly sixteen champions of evil to act as a bodyguard. Then the armies would arrive. The magic needed for the matrix of conquest was enormous.





===========================================================





None of the armies could advance until the leader could control the entrance to the Hellmouth. Giles was sure of that. The demons, the vampires, and the dragon would be enough danger. He began to plan.





===========================================================





One barbarian girl faced him with a sword. After destroying the king and his army, shattering chariots and controlling the very core of evil she seemed like a trivial matter on his road to vengeful victory.



“You weren’t content to be a temple scribe,” she spat. “You had to reach beyond the world into darkness!”



“I deserve it after the way they treated me!”



“No, you deserve two blows with this!”



His undead bodyguards reached for the weapon as she thrust it at him-and screamed their last. He was leaning back when a burning pain tore into him. He saw runes on the blade of the sword flare as a wave of fire melted the magic talismans onto him. He screamed as his body and the power bought by torture and death became one. Then behind the swordswoman a pair of old women lifted their hands and cast a spell. A giant whirlpool of nothingness pulled at his creatures and himself. The girl tried to stab him again but he tossed the closest demon he could reach onto her sword and then there was only blackness.



The sword seemed to look at Xander across the ages. Somehow Buffy came to his mind along with Willow and Tara. Then he saw a box in a room, the room in relation to a city and the city in relation to a continent.





===========================================================





Willow and Tara sagged against the table. Giles rubbed his forehead. Xander turned away from the group. He was pale and shaking. Anya looked at him with worry.



“Did you just have another vision?” she asked. Then Anya glared at the witches. “Did you just give my love poodle a vision?”



“I need a map,” Xander said shakily. “It’s in LA.”



“What’s in Los Angeles?” Giles asked.



“The sword that stopped him the last time,” Xander explained. “And please don’t shout.”



“Xan?” Willow asked worriedly.



“It’s the visions,” Anya said testily. “They do this to him. He’s not supposed to see visions.”



“I-I think I was supposed to see this one,” Xander said with a grimace.



“Here,” Tara said handing Anya a small wet towel. “Put that on his forehead.”



As Anya reached for her husband Tara guided the former demon’s hands. The Tara let some of her own power flow through Anya’s hands to Xander’s throbbing head.



Giles arrived with a map. As Giles opened it Xander put his finder on the coast and went inland.



“That’s the place,” Xander said with a wince.



“Burbank?” Giles asked with puzzled frown.



“It’s in a box, in a-a store room, I think,” Xander. “I kind of think it’s pissed off.”



“Well, if I were a magical sword I’d want to be in a castle or something,” Anya said. “Not some box in a museum in Burbank.”



“Let me check something,” Willow said as she went to the computer. After a moment she looked up and frowned. “Xander’s magical sword is in ‘Moore’s Marvelous Emporium Of Movie Treasures’.”



Tara looked at her lover with a frown. “You mean…?”



“We’re looking for a prop.”





===========================================================





“A gift, young one,” a voice hissed in the darkness.



Spike turned around to see one of the old vampires release its hold on the wall and land in front of him with an animal grace. Then the undead creature held out a box.



“What?” Spike asked with a half sneer. “A box of Cohiba Coronas?”



“Something with more bite,” the vampire said with his own sneer. “Like you used to have.” Spike opened the heavy box and saw the matched set of Desert Eagles bordered by cartridges with odd-looking bullets. “Those are dearly wrought projectiles capable of undoing even the Slayer’s or her witches’ magic,” the old vampire explained. “Use them wisely.”



“You got it,” Spike replied with a feral grin.





===========================================================





“So let me get this straight,” Buffy said looking at her friends. “All I have to stop is a bunch of really ugly vamps, three demons, and a dragon?”



“And the big bad himself,” Willow added. “I’m working on a kind of plan to make the odds more in our favor but…”



“This doesn’t include making your head explode, does it?” Buffy asked pointedly.



“Not exactly mine,” Willow replied looking at Tara who was reading a book nearby. “More like ours.”



“Can I say I don’t like any plan with exploding witches?” Buffy asked.



“Thanks,” Willow said with a weak smile. “Its not my favorite either.”





===========================================================





Cordelia watched Angel with a growing concern as the vampire re-read the letter and looked at the accompanying drawing that had appeared in their mailbox.



“What is it?” she asked.



“Buffy’s asking for help,” Angel said in a distant tone.



“What the hell does that mean?” Gun said looking up from sharpening his axe. “Blondie finally got her Guccis scuffed?”



“Charles,” Fred said gently.



“It means she needs something found,” Angel said looking at Cordelia. “Something kind of Hollywood.”





===========================================================





Cordelia pulled up in front of Moore’s Marvelous Emporium of Movie Treasures and wondered just how marvelous the treasures were in the woebegone establishment. She entered and nearly tripped over the tail of a battered alien inexplicably painted yellow and green. There was only one other customer in the shop, a very large man wearing a trench coat, a heavy pair of boots and fedora pulled down low. A small, owlish man sat behind the counter watching the large man carefully.



“Mr. Moore?” Cordelia asked getting his attention. “Hi. I’m looking for a sword.”



“What kind and how many?” the small man asked. “I can make you a good deal on rapiers.”



“Sorry, I’m looking for something more Egyptian than Three Musketeers,” Cordelia explained. “I’m looking for a bronze sword.”



Behind her the large man took in a very quick breath. Cordelia felt a rush of adrenalin as her Sunnydale-born survival instincts kicked in. She let a fraction of her power gently trickle into her hand.



“Bronze, huh?” Mr. Moore said thoughtfully. “I’ve got a couple of boxes in the back. Any style in particular?”



“It has a single edge,” Cordelia said.



“This way,” the proprietor said turning for a door with a beaded curtain.



Cordelia followed him, listening behind her for the large man, if that was what he was. She almost ran into the shopkeeper when he stopped at a box. On the outside was marked ‘Guards Weapons Scene 2’.



“See what you’re looking for?” Moore asked taking off the lid.



“This one,” Cordelia said picking up the sword in the drawing.



“That’s twenty or you can have the whole lot for fifty,” Moore offered. “Not much call for bronze swords.”



“Just this one, thanks,” Cordelia replied politely.



“All right,” he said. “Come with me and I’ll see if I can find you a still with this in it.”



Cordelia turned around and saw the large man lurking in the shadows. She brushed back her hair with her tingling hand. When they arrived at the front Mr. Moore went into a cluttered office looking for a still photo from a movie the sword had been used in. Cordelia saw the large man come out of the back and realized he was no human. A rill of sharp scales where eyebrows should be could be seen against the olive hue of his skin. Cordelia lifted her hand and let it glow.



“Your pardon, dear lady,” the scaled figure said in a polite tone as he bowed. “I did not know you served the Light.”



“That’s me, side of Light girl,” Cordelia replied warily.



“Even though you are most puissant in power, I ask you to forebear using the sword,” he added. “Truly it does require a Slayer of Vampires to accomplish its destiny.”



“Oh, that’s all right,” Cordelia replied. “I’m picking it up for her.”



“Oh,” the creature replied. “Then do you require an escort to bring it to the Slayer? My quest is to protect the sword until it is called for.”



Cordelia held back a smile as she heard the deep voice crack a little. She acted as if she had heard nothing out of the ordinary and studied him carefully. Beyond the fine scales instead of skin she would have thought she was looking at an older teen.



“Have you been on many quests?”



“No, my lady,” he admitted shyly. “This is the first since I received the buffet and my spurs.”



“You’ve done a fine job,” Cordelia said sincerely. “But I’m taking this to her right now.”



“I shall accompany you,” the young knight announced. “I have been told the byways of this dimension can be fearsome. The one called ‘Interstate 5’ has a truly horrific reputation throughout the civilized dimensions.”



Cordelia looked at the knight and tried to think of a polite way to decline the offer. The youngster knelt and drew his sword from under the trench coat. He kissed the cross-guard and offered her the weapon hilt first. Cordelia looked at his earnest face and sighed.



“Okay, Sir...what is your name, anyway?” she finally said in a resigned voice.



“Timothy, ma’am,” he replied.



“Okay, Tim,” Cordelia said quickly as she put on her sunglasses. “Three rules. No criticizing my driving. Wear your seat belt. And don’t call me ma’am ever again.”





===========================================================





Rabbi Hannah Green shook her head as her daughter Terri loaded a large wooden box into the SUV. Terri turned around and caught her mother’s expression. Terri rolled her eyes.



“We’ve been through this before,” Terri said.



“Why do you have to play cowgirl?” her mother asked. “This conference is going to have some-”



“Of the best minds in Reform Judaism,” Terri finished. “Mom, I like cowboy action shooting. This is the only weekend I can get off that has an SASS match. We’ll be in the same town Friday and I’ll be at temple Saturday.”



“Nice Jewish girls-” Hannah started and then blushed.



“Somebody’s channeling Grandma,” Terri teased.





===========================================================





Oldest Hunter saw the dragon. It was heading for the Medicine Trees. He could not get to it for fear of the many dragon eggs in the area. It began to burn the trees as he watched. He shouted in his rage.



“Grandfather!” his oldest son’s son said.



Oldest Hunter awoke and saw the familiar weave of the roof and caught the scent of distant rain.



“You were fighting in your sleep,” the boy said. “I heard the war cry. What is it?”



“I must go into the forest tomorrow,” the old man said. “I will be there for some days.”



“Alone?” the boy asked fearfully.



“No,” Oldest Hunter said looking past the child to the familiar spear against the wall. “I will not be alone.”





===========================================================





Alistair Browne hurried up to the Senior Watcher’s office and knocked. Then he pushed in excitedly. Roger Windham-Pryce looked up from his desk.



“A trace of decorum is still required, Mr. Browne,” Roger said dryly.



“I’m sorry, Chief,” The younger man panted. “He’s here! We’ve got him in the cage.”



“Very well,” Roger said closing his ledger. “Let’s go see our prisoner.”



It was a short distance but it took them some time to go through the various locked doors and security points. Finally they entered a room full of monitors and video screens. On most of the screens a handsome face glared. Roger picked up a microphone.



“Good evening, Count,” he said politely.



“Let me out of here,” Dracula replied in a level, calm voice.



“Terribly sorry,” Roger replied. “Digital reformation of your voice just loses some of the inherent command in your tone. Plays merry havoc with the look of eagles as well.”



“Why am I here?” the Count demanded. “Why not just kill me?”



“Because you are most hard to kill, my dear Count,” Roger explained. “In fact, you could say I’m counting on it.”



“Droll, Watcher,” Dracula huffed. “Why all of this?”



Roger watched the Count gesture at the stark clean metal surfaces, the sensors, and the two grills. The Senior Watcher watched a tape of the vampire turning into a mist only to be recirculated into the room. Neither as rat nor bat could he fit past the titanium grills. Roger smiled. He had planned for everything.



“If you’re feeling peckish, there is blood in compartment under the bier with your coffin,” Roger said.



“Why are you doing this?!?” Dracula roared.



“Good night,” Roger said blandly as he turned off the mike. He looked at the senior guard. “Bring me the master keys.”



As the guard hurried for a large vault door Alistair looked at the older man and whispered, “Why are we doing this?”



“Because Watchers need Slayers,” Roger replied. “And Slayers need vampires, or at least one vampire, to keep being called. I will not see our traditions become nothing because of two silly girls and their weak willed molly-coddling failures. Things will be done as they have always been done, the way that they should be done.”



“So the prediction in the Scroll of St. Pandwyna could be real?” Alistair asked in a shocked voice.



“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Roger replied grimly as the guard returned with a keycard and an intricate mechanical key. Roger took them, signed the register and went upstairs. Alistair followed him as the older man entered the Watcher’s laboratory. Roger handed the first key to technicians who placed the keycard on a large electro-magnet and threw a switch. They then ran the card through a reader and nodded.



“Blank, sir,” the chief technician said handing back the inert card. Behind him there came a shriek as another lab assistant ground away the teeth on the very expensive key. The chief picked up the now useless metal shape and gave it to Roger. For the first time in weeks Roger Windham-Pryce smiled as he left the lab. Alistair followed with a confused expression.



“How will Dracula survive if he’s locked in a room that no one can open?” Alistair finally burst out. “He’ll starve.”



“No,” Roger replied merrily. “Any other vampire would, but one of Dracula’s little tricks is hibernation when there is a lack of food. In a week he’ll run out of blood in a self-contained, locked, warded, protected room where no one can get to him and he’ll be perfectly safe for decades. And Slayers will still be called after Faith manages to kill herself in one stupid stunt or another.”



“But without the vampires, what will the Slayers do?” Alistair asked.



“We’ll find something for them,” Roger promised with a smile. “If we need a vampire or two the locks will be fixed in about six months.”



“I think you’ve thought of everything, sir,” Alistair said with open admiration.



“It’s what I do.”





===========================================================





“HI Cordie,” Buffy said with a smile as the brunette got out of her Jeep. “Who’s you’re escort?”



“This is Tim, he’s a knight from some nearby dimension thing that keeps getting dumped on like Sunnydale,” Cordelia explained as she got out a slim meter long wrapped package. “Oh, you can let go now, Tim.”



“He survived your driving?” Buffy said innocently. “He must have a strong heart.”



“Don’t start,” Cordelia said warningly. “Tim, let go, we’re here.”



“Yes, ma-Cordelia,” Timothy replied finally convincing his clutching fingers to let go of the safety bar on the dash board.



“This is the famous Slayer I’ve been telling you about,” Cordelia said.



“An honor, most renowned of Slayers,” Timothy said kneeling in front of Buffy. “I offer my sword to your cause.”



Buffy saw the inhuman nature of the knight but felt her Slayer senses stay on their usual alert level without the animal urge to fight.



“You don’t know what my cause is,” Buffy said with a tired smile. “I’m not sure what it is.”



“It will be a good one,” Timothy replied earnestly. “You are Buffy, the greatest Slayer in generations, renowned wherever the good struggle against evil. I have sworn to see the ancient sword, lost for eons, returned to a Slayer. I could only hope it would be you, lady.”



“Don’t look at me,” Cordelia sighed. “He came with this hero worship.”



He’s young, Buffy thought. How long has it been since I had that simple good guys and bad guys view of the world?



“Thank you, Sir Timothy,” Buffy said in a formal tone. She opened the wrapping and pulled out the sword.



*Finally!* the sword said waspishly. *I work my way to the surface of the desert over two millennia and some prop-boy for a miserable sand and sandal epic picks me up. I’ve been in every damn desert B-movie since. Do you know how embarrassing it is to say ‘The Scorpion King’ was better than most of the crap I’ve been in?*



Buffy blinked and realized no one else had heard the sword’s diatribe. She looked back towards the kneeling otherworldly knight and briefly saw herself looking at Merrick.



*Come on, honey, the sword said condescendingly. *You can hear me, you’re a Slayer, and kind of an old Slayer at that. Let’s go meet your destiny.*



“I have received the sword, Sir Timothy,” Buffy said firmly. “Your quest here is at an end. My own who will stand with me are many, so one more sword, even one so sharp and well trained as yours, will not make a difference in the coming fight here. You will be needed somewhere else. I release you from your bond.”



Buffy kept her face still and returned Tim’s bow gravely as he pulled out a cross on a chain and took it off. He seemed to shimmer for a second and then he was gone. Buffy smiled sadly.



“What happened to you?” Cordelia asked. “You’re acting like a grown up. And are you studying?”



“Long story,” Buffy replied. “Let me get my books for some last minute cramming and I’ll tell you about it over a mocha at the Espresso Pump.”



*What about your destiny?* the sword demanded. *I’ve been waiting six thousand years for this!*



“And you’ll wait the next week in a box if you don’t shut up!” Buffy growled.



“What?” Cordelia asked.



“Nothing,” Buffy sighed. “Thanks for the sword. I think I’ve got another favor to ask.”





===========================================================





Tara paced in Willow’s dorm room. Willow was looking sick and Tara stopped.



“Let me do this,” Tara said softly.



“No,” Willow said firmly. “Together.”



“But honey…”



“I’ll be okay,” Willow said gently. The phone rang and Willow grabbed it.



“The actors are in place,” Giles said without preamble. “Good luck.”



“Ready?” Willow asked.



Tara nodded. It had been surprisingly hard to find a vampire to take to the meeting in St. Michael’s church. She recalled the drain on her power as she and Willow had brought the hard to find undead creature into the church under their control as it tried alternately to flee or attack. Tara remembered the shocked look on Father Joe’s and Rabbi Shulman’s faces as Giles staked the vampire into dust in front of them, confirming the whispers they had heard. Tara had never known Giles to be so eloquent as he explained the danger and the reason for the meeting. In the end all of them had agreed to the plan. Tara’s reverie was shattered by a chirping sound from Willow’s computer.



“The moon is below the horizon,” Willow said.



“Let’s do it,” Tara said with a dry mouth.



“I’ll go first,” Willow said as she sat down and took Tara’s hand.



Tara just nodded.





===========================================================





On the very surface of the door of Saint Michael’s the paint blistered and then burst into flame. The old paint left a greasy black pall on the granite around the door. From his truck Xander called 911 and when the operator answered he shouted “Somebody’s set fire to the church at Fourth and Maple!”



Xander left the phone on and ran for the church with a small fire extinguisher.





===========================================================





“Done,” Willow said flatly.





===========================================================





Outside Temple Beth Israel Dawn limbered up. She didn’t look at the door. The can of non-toxic red paint she had left no fingerprints on opened seemingly by itself. A glob of paint flipped up and onto the door. It happened five times.





===========================================================





Willow had slipped out of the ethereal world with relative ease but her actions had left a kind of negative essence behind. In the swirling almost reality of the astral plane Tara’s effort attracted more and more negative energy. Her own dislike of the work made her efforts more painful with each passing heartbeat.



“I can’t finish it…” Tara said dejectedly. “It hurts.”



“It’s okay honey,” Willow said supporting the blonde as both began to cry.





===========================================================





Dawn looked at the almost finished symbol on the door. Intellectually she knew it had once been a sign of the sun, fire, even life itself. The girl did not know the name came from Sanskrit words that meant originally “conductive of well being”. She also did not know this ancient symbol had been tainted so badly with evil done under it that the ancient good symbol was an agony for any good person who touched it magically. All Dawn knew was that the partial swastika on the synagogue filled her with disgust.



She can’t finish it, Dawn heard from Willow in her mind. Go on.



Dawn, dressed in dark loose clothes with her hair tucked in her jacket and wearing a black watch cap, was very indistinct as Buffy shouted “Hey!”



Dawn ran in a carefully calculated pattern that never quite left a good look at her in the various security cameras.



“Hey! Boy!” Buffy shouted. Then Buffy reached for her cell phone.





===========================================================





“Let’s work on the good stuff now, okay?” Willow said half lifting, half guiding her lover to the desk. Tara followed, shaking. Together they placed their hands on the pile of heavy paper on Willow’s desk.



“By the many faces of the Light,” Willow started.



“We call on all of your power and grace,” Tara added.



“To fill this with your power,” They both chanted. “We give ours as well.”





===========================================================





Jason Williamson had had just a bit too much Bud Light, and it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet. Suddenly the corridor of Stephenson Hall was filled with bright light as it spilled out of room 214. Jason blinked and staggered.



“Holy shit!” he whimpered. “I’ve gone blind! Oh God, I’ll never drink again!”





===========================================================





Chief Hernandez looked out into the small room full of reporters and community leaders. He cleared his throat.



“I have a brief announcement,” he said. “Last night two citizens stopped what appears to be the work of a new gang. We’re holding the citizens’ names at this time for their protection.”



“What’re the Police doing?” a reporter demanded.



“First we’re bringing on new reservists to boost our patrols,” the Chief said resolutely. “The other thing is to raise community awareness. I’ve asked all of our merchants, homeowners, and schools to put these signs up everywhere to let these hoodlums know they aren’t welcome in Sunnydale.”



The cameras focused on the signs with the silvery letters spelling out ‘SUNNYDALE CARES’ above and ‘FOR EVERYONE’ underneath the silver cross and Star of David.





===========================================================





Buffy felt the night change ever so slightly. As the Slayer stopped Willow and Tara looked up from their mochas.



“Vampire,” Buffy said. “I guess this really is a patrol after all.”



“Angel,” Tara said looking down the alley.



“In sunglasses?” Willow wondered as the tall vampire slipped into the light.



“I suppose after finding me under a thousand feet of water I’m not gonna sneak up on you,” Angel said to Tara with a smile.



“Why the shades?” Buffy asked.



“Those posters are…disturbing,” Angel said hesitantly.



“Oh,” Buffy said with a small smile.



“Willow, Tara, could I talk to Buffy alone?” Angel asked.



“Um,” Tara began.



“I’ll meet you at home,” Buffy said evenly.



“If you’re sure, I mean…you know…” Willow said looking back and forth between the Slayer and her former beau. “We’ll have some coffee ready.”



Angel stepped back into the alley. Buffy followed. They walked along for a minute. Buffy could feel Angel’s turmoil. She stopped and looked up. Angel looked up quickly and saw only an old fire escape.



“This is where we met,” Buffy said with a soft sigh.



“You’re right,” Angel said nodding. “You were a nimble little thing.”



“Were?” Buffy asked pointedly.



With that she leapt to the fire escape landing and swung up to a perfect handstand on the rail. She gave a bit of a push and dropped lightly to the ground in front of Angel.



“Alright,” Angel said with a shrug. “Are.”



“Better,” Buffy said. Then she looked around and listened. She beckoned Angel to follow her and leapt again for the fire escape. This time she followed it up to the roof. Angel followed. Even with the speed of a vampire he was hard pressed to keep up with her. On the roof Buffy paused again as she listened to the night.



“We’re alone,” she said. “Go ahead and yell.”



“I’m not going to yell,” Angel said quietly. “I’m just going to say ‘no’. You want me here, fine. Leave Cordie out of this.”



“I need you both,” Buffy said urgently. “You’re a vampire with a soul and she’s-she’s the last power.”



“There’re plenty of other powers!” Angel snapped.



“Not now!” Buffy replied. “The night we got you back most of them vanished. Now Willow and Tara can’t find a single one. Please, Angel, we need Cordelia!”



“No!” he roared and slipped into his hunting face.



“Angel,” Cordelia said gently.



Both of them turned to see Cordelia shimmering in the pale light. Then the brunette stepped forward and framed Angel’s carnivore visage gently in her hands.



“No,” he said softly. “You’re powerful but you don’t know how to use those powers yet.”



“The equinox is coming, whether we want it to or not,” Cordelia replied. “I have these powers for a reason, love. This is our fight too. It won’t stop in Sunnydale this time.”



“I hate this place,” Angel growled as he shifted back into his human face. He turned and glared at Buffy. “If anything happens to her you and your witches will answer to me.”



“Let’s go home,” Cordelia said separating Buffy and Angel before Buffy could answer. Angel swept Cordelia into his arms and was gone down the side of the building leaving Buffy alone under the pale stars.





===========================================================





“Master!” a diminutive demon hissed eagerly. “I have news!”



“The humans are gathering their forces to meet me on the equinox?” The First asked.



“Well, I have details then!” the demon said with less enthusiasm.



“Just a moment,” the First said politely. In four Wolfram and Hart boardrooms he turned and smiled. “I hope everyone’s kept the fifteenth open on their planners.”





===========================================================





“Why the fifteenth?” Saunders asked after the meeting.



“The high school opens in Sunnydale,” Grayson replied.



Saunders nodded and followed his boss quietly down the halls of the New York office. Unbidden a memory of the lightening bolt that destroyed his case came back. The Slayer still had Maclay and Rosenberg. Saunders began to plan a legitimate reason to be out of the office for most of the fifteenth. Getting lunch could be good for an hour if he phoned back to the office about bad lines.





===========================================================





“You were great,” Cordelia said as Angel drove on the way back to Los Angeles. “For an unscripted piece it was so sincere.”



“I wasn’t acting,” Angel said flatly. “I don’t like this. I can’t lose you.”



“You won’t,” she promised. Angel just stared sown the road. “Willow and her girlfriend are two of the most powerful witches ever,” Cordelia added. “We’re a distraction.”



“The word is ‘bait’,” Angel said with a frown.





===========================================================





“Any word from the wandering players?” Buffy asked as she took off her jacket.



“They’re in Ventura,” Willow said. “Wes is complaining about keeping a Slayer and a teenage boy fed.”



“Does he have his special delivery from his friend?” Buffy asked.



“Maybe,” Willow said.



“Sorry, Will,” Buffy said with a knowing smile. “It’s a secret.”



“Fine,” Willow pouted. “Yes, he’s got your secret weapon. C’mon, Buffy! Give me a hint!”



“I’ve used something like it in the past,” Buffy said. “That’s it.”



“Oh great,” Willow muttered. “That narrows it down a lot.”



“Are you ready?” Tara asked.



“Did you get the posters up at school?” Buffy asked as Dawn came into the kitchen.



“Yeah,” Dawn said. “Do we have to fight in the gym? There’s this neat pool there. It actually might not suck to go to this school.”



“We’ll try to leave a wall or two,” Burry replied turning her attention back to Tara. “Okay, there’s just one more thing to do.”



“Same for us,” Willow said.





===========================================================





The next afternoon Buffy stepped out of the Sunnydale Police Station with a ringing head and a cramped hand. She looked at Giles, Willow and Tara as they waited on the sidewalk. She walked up slowly.



“Well?” Willow asked.



“Deep subject,” Buffy said.



“Especially for a shallow mind,” Willow snapped. “Did you pass?”



Buffy smiled and flipped open her brand new badge carrier.



“Yes!” Willow cheered and hugged her.





===========================================================





Anya sat next to Xander and put her hand on his knee. She smiled at him and then turned to her guests.



“I think I know what you want to ask us,” she said.



“And we’re willing to do it,” Xander added.



“Guys, being our grounding for this isn’t going to be easy,” Willow warned.



“It won’t be like last time,” Tara pointed out. “That was kind of a mix of healing and cleansing magic. This is going to be…”



“War magic,” Anya said bluntly.



“And you’re okay with this?” Tara asked.



“I don’t like it,” Any said. Then her face seemed to darken. “But this bastard sent a magicked contract to my husband. He knows who we are. If he wins there won’t be a safe place for us, so we’re in.”



Willow looked at Tara and saw her nodding slightly.



“We’ll kick his ass,” Tara promised.



“And then cut it off,” Anya added with a feral snarl.

[onlyhalfevil]

woah jixer, there's so much action going on, it's mind-boggling. i'm actually kind of confused about some bits. why did buffy shout 'hey! boy!' at the dawn running to avoid the security cameras part? i think the rest of the confusion has to do with the what-on-earth-exactly-is-the-gang's-plan? thing, so never mind me there.



the snippy slayer sword was a hoot. i also like fiercely protective Anya. great long update, things seem to be coming to a head, really looking forward to the next update.



oh yeah, it was really lovely how you worked the handstand moment in.

Edited by: onlyhalfevil at: 1/1/05 2:10 pm

[behindhereyes]

Jixer



OMF



This update was jam packed...Woo Hoo ! Your decision to let us witness so much of the preparations in detail... that was just an awesome bonus !! I can't get over my amazement of your ability to keep so many different story lines moving with that much clarity . The whole gang pulling together the way they have. Anya... knowing it was "war magic" and not only agreeing, but letting loose with some verbalized anger... damn... this is fantastic .



behindhereyes

Kim

[russ]

Wow, Jixer. You've certainly gotten the new year off to a bang with this chapter. There's so much going on, it's hard to know where to begin.



Nice to see Buffy finding someone to make her smile; glad she took Anya's advice. And Dawn seems to have had a personal epiphany in her connection to the land.



I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love the way you allow each character to play an important part. No one is a one-dimensional stereotype here; no spear carriers (except for Sir Tim). It's refreshing to see Xander allowed to use his wits to good purpose, and to see Anya and Cordelia portrayed as complex and interesting characters.



Of course, you leave us with questions and mysteries. Elizabeth's cryptic conversations with her guide, which I hope will be made clear at story's end. And what the heck is going on with Terri Green and the Oldest Hunter?



Leave it to the Council to preserve vampires from extinction in order to justify their own continued existence. Rather like the miltary: gotta have a war to get those budgets approved.



Clever of Saunders to plan a long lunch hour on the fifteenth. The planning and plotting to try to overcome the First's strength is building the tension higher with each paragraph. I just hope you can get the next chapter posted promptly, 'cause, you know, fingernails pretty much bitten right down now.



Happy new year to you and yours.

Russ



When we love and give it everything we've got, no matter what the consequences, we are doing what we were put here to do -- Geneen Roth

[hidden watson]

This is the first time I left feedback though I've been following this story since the beginning. So much is going on at the same time! Everytime you post an update I have to re-read the prior chapter (or sometimes several chapters) to make sure I'm remember everything, that makes me happy cos of more reading opportunity. Though you don't use many descriptions, the simple, layered dialog allows us the readers to accurately picture surroundings and emotions. Bravo!

Edited by: hidden watson at: 1/2/05 6:07 am

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



Outside the wind blows and its dark and cold. Sensible Kittens are inside Pens where it's always nice and warm.



onlyhalfevil- I hope the plan comes together and clears most things up. As for Buffy calling Dawn a boy-that's mostly letting anyone close have a hint, albeit misleading. A shadowy figure, vandalism- it must be a boy, right? The security cameras are more prevelant than most people know (ATMs, 7-11s, etc) and since a hate crime might well bring the FBI and they will look for those tapes the cameras must be avoided. With nothing to refute the story Hernandez can say gangs and not have some Fed or reporter ask about this suspicious Dawn Summers person and her sister.



behindhereyes- I think the best way to not cheat is show the background. It gives me a chance to deal with a lot of things I thought went wrong in canon as well. Anya, a ages old ex-demon with no filters, is a treasure for a fanfic writer!



russ- I will try to save the fingernails! I know what you mean about the other characters, and the two I thought got the worst of it besides W&T were Anya and Cordelia. So I'm glad to do some rescue and refinishing here at Pens.



Terri and Oldest Hunter will be explained. How well remains to be seen. The same can be said for Elizabeth and her guide.



No one seems to like the new Senior Watcher. Pity.



hidden watson- Thank you for delurking! I understand about reading to keep the story straight. My thanks for your comments on the dialogue. It's another part of writing that any success I have I credit to reading good writers and growing in my ability by writing here at Pens.





That's all for now, gentle readers. My thanks for your precious time,





Jixer

[jixer]

Chapter 26

Deceptions and Reconnaissance









Elizabeth looked over the vast sweep of lights that all seemed to run into a galaxy in miniature. She hesitated, trying to decide where to start.



ELIZABETH, THIS PLACE MAY BE PARTLY OUT OF THE LINEAR FLOW OF TIME BUT YOUR ANCHOR HAS BEEN HOLDING YOU FOR QUITE A WHILE.



“Yes, but-but…there’s so much I want to know,” the girl said urgently.



WHAT A SURPRISE, the Voice said gently. PAY ATTENTION, BUT WE MUST KEEP GOING.





===========================================================





Willow slumped at the kitchen table as the sunlight was just hitting the windows. She poured too much overly sweet cereal into a bowl and studied the cheerful box. She didn’t look up when Buffy came in dressed in her robe.



“I think you need some insulin to make that a balanced breakfast,” Buffy said.



“I’ll skip adding sugar,” Willow grumbled.



“What’s the matter?” Buffy asked. “Something about the big bad?”



“No,” Willow said unhappily. “This is important.”



“Are you and Tara okay?” Buffy asked suddenly concerned.



“Do you think we got back together too soon?” Willow asked. “I mean after everything shouldn’t she have made me sit down and talk and maybe set some rules about her coming back?”



“You’re asking for relationship insights from me?” Buffy said with a shake of her head. “Will, half of the guys I’ve been with have been undead creatures of the night.”



“It’s just that it happened so fast,” Willow explained. “Is getting back with me the best thing for Tara?”



“I think the question is the answer,” Buffy said with a smile. “She’s back with someone who worries about what’s best for her.”



“But…”



“But there was this warning from the future about some crazy guy tried to kill us and an evil mage and a wedding,” Buffy interjected. “Not to mention I saw the other side when you went to England with Dawn. Willow-less Tara wasn’t a pretty sight. She was a mopey witch who sighed a lot.”



“A lot?” Willow asked hopefully.



“Tons,” Buffy confided. “Believe me, she’s much happier with you and the prospect of unknown danger.”



“Good,” Willow sighed happily.





===========================================================





Tara saw the Hellmouth, a shark’s maw with teeth of flame, open wider and wider until it devoured the whole town. Everything she knew was falling into the blackness. Then dark things sprang up in the crater and began to march away. She looked down and saw the university teetering on the crater.



Tara opened her eyes and glanced at the alarm clock. A moment later the phone rang. She reached for it automatically.



“Hello?”



“Tara?” Anya asked.



“Did Xander just have a vision?” Tara asked.



“He’s trying to draw it now,” Anya replied.



“Is it Sunnydale being eaten?” the witch asked tightly.



“He said devoured from below,” Anya said. “How did you know?”



“I just saw it too,” Tara explained. “It was a dream.”



“She saw it too,” Anya said on the other line.



“What does it mean?” Tara heard Xander say I the background.



“I don’t know,” Tara answered before Anya could speak.





===========================================================





“The whole town?” Giles asked.



“Yes,” Tara replied. “Everything in a circle clear to the University.”



“Extraordinary,” Giles said thoughtfully. “No one’s ever seen a Hellmouth that large.”



“The college is what, a couple of miles from the high school?” Buffy asked.



“Yes,” Willow replied.



“How far is it to Shady Rest?” Buffy asked quietly. “Is it in this eaten zone?”



“I believe so,” Giles said. “I’d have to look it up on my cemetery notes. Why?”



“I don’t want this thing touching my Mom,” Buffy said with a quiet fierceness. The room grew silent for a moment. Buffy looked up when Willow lifted her head with the thinking look Buffy knew so well. “What is it, Will?”



“What is a Hellmouth?” Willow asked.



“A bad place,” Buffy snapped. “Sorry.”



“It’s okay,” Willow said almost serenely. “Giles, what makes a Hellmouth a Hellmouth?”



“A concentration of magical power focused on a place that allows the darkest dimensions to touch this world,” Giles said carefully.



“What focus?” Willow asked.



“It seems to vary,” Giles replied. “This is the most stable one ever found. I looked up previous Hellmouths my first year here but all the notes indicated they shifted almost yearly. The last one vanished over a century before. That’s one of the reasons the Council dismissed my concerns about this place.”



“That and the fact that they’re raging…” Buffy said before she looked at the stairs.



“Assholes,” Dawn answered. “I know, I know, language.”



“Why the questions?” Tara asked.



“I think there might be a way to get the Hellmouth to move,” Willow said with a smile.





===========================================================





Anya looked up at the ringing of the bell over the door of the Magic Box. She saw Megan and Clem enter. Anya smiled at the sight of the list in Megan’s hand.



“Hello,” Anya said brightly. “Did you get our thank you note?”



“Yes,” Megan said with a smile. “You’re doing a good job civilizing Xander. And you didn’t have to thank us, that Burns character was rude. It was a pleasure to beat him to a grease spot.”



“I understand,” Anya nodded. “Looking for something special?”



“Some defensive spell ingredients,” Clem said glad to change the subject. “There’s been a couple of peepers around town.”



“Damn!” Anya growled. “I’ll have to recharge the defensive spells.”



“There’s something else,” Clem said more quietly. “I gave up Kitten poker at Willie’s, but one of the guys says the game’s off for now.”



“Why?” Anya asked leaning forward.



“Most of the big players have left,” he explained.



“Left Sunnydale?” Anya inquired.



“Left the whole dimension,” Clem said with a bit of worry in his tone. “Some of the best caves and crypts in town are empty. The Visokan demon that was working at the Seven-Eleven moved out of his apartment and took his dog. And you know how hard it is to get a dog friendly apartment in this town.”



“Oh wow,” Anya whispered.



“We put in for it,” Megan said with a shy smile. Clem, much to Anya’s surprise, blushed.



“I hope you get it,” Anya said brightly as she began to make a list of housewarming gifts in her mind.



“We better hurry, Megan,” Clem said looking at his watch. “Your taxidermy class starts in an hour.”





===========================================================





Buffy stood in the hallway for a long moment watching Dawn sort through her school clothes. There was a normalcy that she was loath to interrupt with questions about what Dawn had seen in her volunteer work to get the new Sunnydale High ready. Then Dawn took out a shirt that was far too tight and a dress that was more suggestion than garment.



“And where did you get that?” Buffy asked pointedly.



“Janice’s little sister,” Dawn pouted. “Why couldn’t we have a bit more curve in our genes?”



“You’ve got plenty of curve,” Buffy said quickly. “All of which can be seen in that outfit.”



“Don’t you want to know what I’ve seen at the new school?” Dawn asked.



“Nice shift of the subject,” Buffy replied. “Yes, and I want to know what you’ll be showing at school.”



“I seem to remember a certain previous Sunnydale student who wore things that were a bit revealing,” Dawn countered.



“Willow never wore stuff like that,” her sister said evasively.



“Willow?” Dawn said with a smirk. “Right. Wait, there was that Halloween with her in that great-”



“No,” Buffy said flatly.



“Fine,” Dawn sighed. “I’ll just have to get used to staying home every night for the rest of the year, alone.”



“So what did you see?” Buffy asked as Dawn put away the clothes.



“There was this really creepy trophy,” Dawn said with distaste. “Oh, and the new principal is cute. We put the posters up everywhere but there was a security guy on one of the doors, the one that leads to the basement.”



“The basement is being guarded?” Buffy asked pointedly.



“Yeah,” Dawn nodded. “They say it’s for our safety. I guess they’re right since the Hellmouth is kind of an unsafe place.”



“True,” Buffy said with a shudder. “Anything else?”



“The big pool under the gym floor was neat,” Dawn said brightly. “Oh! The classrooms are all wired and in the science labs we’ve got tons of new computers. Do you think we can save any of that, like the pool?”



“Willow’s got an idea,” Buffy said.





===========================================================





Giles opened the door at the Summers house with a dish towel over his shoulder. Anya looked at him and smiled.



“Buffy offered to make our working lunch?” she asked.



“With Dawn’s help,” Giles replied with a well-concealed shudder.



“My stomach thanks you,” Xander said in an almost whisper.



“Where is everybody?” Anya asked stepping inside.



“Everyone’s in the dining room,” Giles replied. “The salad will be out in a moment.”



The couple went into the dining room and found Willow glaring at her laptop with Tara, Buffy and Dawn setting the table. Everyone but willow greeted them. Tara tapped Willow on the shoulder.



“I’m not hungry,” Willow muttered.



“We’re not on the menu,” Anya said dryly.



“Oh,” Willow said sheepishly finally looking up. “Hi.”



“Hi yourself,” Xander said lightly. “Why the grumpy Willow face?”



“Wait a second,” Buffy said as Giles came in with a tray. “First we eat at least the salad. Then we start from the beginning.”



“What happened to going off without a plan and getting our butts kicked?” Xander asked sitting down.



“We’ll all go to the mall on Christmas Eve night for a bit of nostalgia,” Anya quipped. “Sort of a trial by capitalism.”



“Besides, presents are better than bruises,” Tara added.



Lunch was decidedly low key. Willow even put away her computer and listened to Dawn’s description of the principal. Tara showed a bit too much interest in the teen’s description of Willow’s costume for Halloween in her Junior year.



“Hardly fair,” grumbled Willow. “I don’t know what naughty outfits you wore in high school.”



“You mean besides of the scanty French Maid outfit with the fishnet stockings and the Lady Godiva costume?” Tara asked sweetly. Willow and Xander seemed to cough at about the same time.



“Don’t choke them,” Buffy laughed. “We’ll need them later.”



“Sorry,” Tara said innocently as she looked at Willow.



“Of course,” Anya said with a smirk. “You have to watch out for the quiet ones.”



“Quiet?” Dawn asked archly.



“Before this goes any farther I suggest we get down to a safer subject, like the Hellmouth,” Giles said as he cleaned his glasses.



“Yes, please,” Xander said before he gulped down a glass of water.



“Sounds good,” Buffy said giving her sister a significant look that was ignored.



“I’ve found something kind of suspicious,” Willow said starting up her laptop. “I looked at the schedules I could find but there isn’t anything big in the gym except for the obligatory welcome to the new school rally on the fifteenth.”



“Gym full of teenagers,” Buffy sighed. “A classic. I know how this usually goes.”



“There’s that and this,” Willow said turning her computer around. “It’s labeled a ‘safety emergency drain’ but there were no hits in Google or Yahoo for that.”



“Where does it drain to?” Xander asked.



“Let me guess,” Buffy said. “Hellmouth?”



“It’s not listed as such,” Willow said. “It says storm sewer, but there aren’t any storm sewers there.”



“And we’d know because we’re experts on Sunnydale sewers,” Anya sighed. “Only the best for us.”



“We knew we’d have to move before the equinox,” Tara said. “Do we need to go faster now?”



“Maybe,” Buffy said. “It depends on Will’s plan.”



“And I need to know what your team is doing, Xan,” Willow said.



“I’m kind of creeped out,” Xander said looking at the plans. “We’re scheduled to do the under-flooring in the gym. These guys are spending big bucks. Everything in the gym is waterproofed and there’s going to be dehumidifiers to keep the woodwork stable.”



“I think we got our first break,” Willow said visibly relaxing. “But we need to hurry. How long are you going to take on the flooring project?”



“We’re scheduled for thirty-six hours with a bonus if we can shave off some time and still meet specs,” Xander replied.



“I think we can get you a few more bodies,” Willow said with a very small but hopeful smile.



“Okay,” Buffy said nodding. “Anything else?”



“Something weird is going on with the demons,” Anya said seriously. “They’re leaving the dimension. Oh, and peepers are showing up so I need the defensive shielding on the Magic Box increased and don’t talk about anything important without a spell.”



“What are peepers?” Dawn asked.



“Brownies,” Anya said with a shudder.



“The little Girl Scouts or the chocolate cookies?” Dawn said wondering why either were bad.



“No, not cookie sellers or cookies,” Anya explained. “The faeries called Brownies. Annoying little bastards. Think of paparazzi only without so many scruples and they drink more too. The Faerie Queen booted them all out so my guess is they’ve signed on with the new big bad.”



“He’s called the First,” Buffy said almost distantly. Then she shrugged. “I don’t know how I know. Probably the dreams.”



“That’s the sort of thing you need to be careful with,” Anya said sternly. “Names are important in magic.”





===========================================================





“Yes, yes big stupid shopkeeper washed up demon girl,” the peeper at the base of the stairs laughed in a voice no one in the room could hear. “The boss will be pleased to know how much you know.”



The fey spy turned back thinking about the whisky he would have soon and listened so intently he missed the very slight change in the air pressure above him until the predator many times his own weight smashed his tiny winged body into the floor. He was dead before the teeth crushed his skull.





===========================================================





Miss Kitty Fantastico proudly picked up her strange bug prey and headed under the couch for a quick wash after hunting. Then she would eat her strange bug in this dark place where she could keep her treasures and eat her secret victories without her mommies taking them away. They were so protective sometimes.





===========================================================





“Are we thinking the demons leaving is like all the animals running away before an earthquake?” Dawn asked.



“Exactly!” Anya nodded. “Something’s got them spooked. At least the ones who haven’t settled in.”



“Is Clem still here?” Xander asked.



“He and Megan are trying to get an apartment,” Anya replied.



“They’ll need housewarming presents,” Tara said. “Make a note of that, honey.”



“Okay,” Buffy said with a frown of concentration. “We need to be really careful because of faerie snoops who will sell us out to the First or the Enquirer, we need a list of presents so we don’t all get Clem and Megan toasters, and Will may have a plan. How about a ‘keeping secrets’ spell before we talk about the plan?”



“Good idea,” Giles agreed. He turned to Willow and Tara. “Will you need something from the kitchen?”



“A bay leaf and some basil, please,” Tara said. Then she looked up. “Where’s the nearest smoke detector?”



“Hallway and kitchen,” Buffy answered as Giles returned with the herbs.



“Give me your keys everyone,” Tara said. After they had all turned over their respective keys Tara had Willow clasp her hand over the bulging pile of metal in Tara’s palm. Then the blonde witch opened her other hand and the herbs floated up for a moment and then flared away as Tara closed her eyes and muttered “Contego!”





===========================================================





Under the couch Miss Kitty finished washing and was about to dine on her prey when it crumbled into dust. She yowled a disappointed meow.





===========================================================





“That should keep the lesser forces of the First at bay,” Tara said. “At least wherever these fit.”



“And no setting off the fire alarm,” Buffy said brightly.



“Very efficient combustion,” Giles said with some pride.



“Before Willow points out it’s because Tara is so hot,” Xander said standing up. “I need to get back to the site. What do you need me to do?”



“Just let your guys know you might be taking in some, uh, oh!” Willow said with her face brightening. “Some ‘community volunteers’ who are mostly going to be at least middle aged.”



“Okay,” Xander said. “We keep getting told how great this is for Sunnydale. I’m sure no one will be too curious.”



“What about us?” Buffy asked.



“Anya goes back to the Magic Box and acts as an observer,” Willow said. “Giles, Tara and I have to make some calls. Oh, and Tara and I have to go to LA.”



“You’re not patrolling alone,” Dawn said looking at her sister.



“I’ve got to do a ride along with the Chief this afternoon,” Buffy said meeting her sister’s eyes. “That means you’re going to have to be the hostess.”



“For?” Dawn asked suspiciously.



“My back up tonight,” Buffy said evenly.





===========================================================





“Sir!” an agitated peeper squeaked. “The dreadful familiar of the witches ate Cowslip!”



“Not unexpected,” the First sighed. “Were you able to get in?”



“No!” the Brownie shuddered. “The witches put a strong protection on the house.”



“Very well,” the First said blandly. “Have the rest of your kind flit about and see just what they have planned for the equinox.”



“What about poor Cowslip?” the Brownie asked.



“Very well,” the First sighed. “You may have a wake, but do be more discreet than the last time, even if it is Willie’s.”





===========================================================





Buffy pulled on her Sunnydale Police Reserve uniform and looked at the mirror. She saw the creases in the pants were razor sharp and the drape of the whole uniform made her look a bit older and more mature.



“Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?” Dawn sang from the doorway.



“My first arrest,” Buffy said. “Felony sister taunting.”



“Wow, you actually look like you know what you’re doing, Probationary Reserve Officer Summers,” Dawn said giving her sister’s new look a close once over. “You look like a recruiting poster.”



“The benefits of being a fashionista,” Buffy replied.



“Do you have on your old body armor?” Dawn asked seriously.



“I’ve got the Sunnydale issue vest on,” Buffy answered. “It’s got the same rating. The old one is with Willow and Tara.”



“Okay,” Dawn replied.



“I’ve got to go,” Buffy said looking at her watch. “You hold the fort until Giles gets back or the others show up.”



“Hey!” Dawn said looking at Buffy’s closet a bit closer than she should have. “Is that the sword?”



“Do not touch the sword!” Buffy snapped. “It’s…vicious.”



“How can a sword be vicious?” Dawn asked ‘accidentally’ brushing the sword hilt.



*Don’t touch me!* the voice snarled. *Only destined spoiled little, especially around the chest, Slayers can touch me. Admire me afar, child. At least you don’t bleach your hair.*



“It is vicious!” Dawn said resisting the urge to kick the old weapon.



“I told you so,” Buffy sighed. “C’mon, get out.”



Dawn followed her sister down the stairs.





===========================================================





“Fred, you don’t have to vacuum again,” Cordelia said shaking her head. “It’s clean. The magic…thingees are in neat piles and rows and...maybe you can do something to make the computer, uh, more ready.”



“I reworked the firewall and got the new RAM installed,” the lean girl said. “I made sure the memory is working. Do you think I need to do a clean install?”



“As opposed to a dirty install?” Cordelia asked. “Never mind. Wait until Willow gets here. Then you two can talk RAM and CD and giga-whatsits with her and spells with Tara.”



“What are you going to do?” Fred asked without sounding critical.



Just then the brunette flared with tendrils of pure white light all over body as her eyes glowed blue-white. There was the sound of Angel leaping behind the desk.



“Stand around looking like a light bulb,” Cordelia sighed. “I think I’m safe now.”



“Sorry, its just…” Angel said peering over the top of the desk.



“Bursting into flame is such a downer,” Cordelia said.



“Wow!” Willow said from the door. “I’m glad I had my shades on! ”



“H-how long have you been channeling radiance?” Tara asked closing her eyes.



“Since that night on the beach,” Cordelia said. “It was just a tiny bit then about noon yesterday I lit up the whole office and scorched Angel.”



“Who ran over me getting out of there,” Gunn said coming down the stairs.



“It looks like old good magic is being called to you,” Tara said opening her eyes. “Fragments of old spells, invocations of old faces of the Light, blessings, that sort of thing.”



“Being attracted to the most powerful, um, power in the world,” Willow said nodding. “Probably acting as a counter balance to the new bad thing. Is there a place we can do a spell?”



“How about the office?” Fred suggested. “You can check out the computer at the same time.”



“But without you,” Gunn interjected.



“Charles,” Fred started.



“No way, I know the type,” the tall black man said firmly.



“Oh?” Willow bristled.



“Yeah,” Gunn sighed. “Look, I’ve got nothing against you, but you and my girl in the same room isn’t gonna happen.”



“You’ll lose her?” Willow asked almost with a growl.



“Won’t see her ‘til tomorrow,” Gunn insisted.



“Charles, you’re wrong,” Fred said in a small voice.



“Oh yeah, try just saying the word ‘operating’ without ‘system’,” Gunn said pointedly. “These gals came down to do some serious mojo, not rework the database.”



“Computers can be useful in magic!” Fred snapped.



“Yeah!” Willow added forcefully. “I mean…”



“We’ll do the spell and then talk to all of you,” Tara promised. “The only computer we’ll use is Willow’s Powerbook.”



“But I updated the RAM!” Fred complained.



“Whose did you use?” Willow asked.



“Kensington,” Fred replied.



“Honey,” Tara said in a no nonsense voice.



“Not that I’m really interested,” Willow said with very little sullenness.





===========================================================





Dawn answered the doorbell with a sword in the hand hidden by the door. She looked at Faith and told herself she had never really met the dark haired Slayer. Faith took a step over the threshold.



“See?” Faith said. “Breathing and everything. No reason to skewer me with the pig-sticker.”



“How?” Dawn asked stepping away from the door.



“Your stance,” Connor said. “That and the way you had your arm. If it had been any other human you would have gotten them with the blade before they were all the way inside.”



“Have you been studying?” Wesley asked.



“Giles and Buffy let me practice,” Dawn shrugged. “You’re the back up?”



“Yes,” Wesley said. “Is Buffy going to be long?”



“No,” Buffy said behind them.



Faith turned and froze at the sight of the uniformed female there. The dark sunglasses and the dying sunlight behind her made Faith want to bolt. Beside her Wesley nodded.



“A very good idea,” he said in a calm voice. “I suppose as a Reserve you are expected to do the things that would tie up a uniformed officer. You can work within the system.”



“More or less,” Buffy agreed. “Let me get out of the cop suit. Faith, I’m afraid patrol is going to be kind of boring.”



“I doubt it,” Faith muttered.







===========================================================







Willow and Tara sat with their backs to Cordelia in the office in the physical world. In a place more shadows and diffuse light the three passed a ball of white light back and forth. Then the ball disappeared and the witches made a gesture. A ball of white light sprang forth. Willow grinned at Cordelia.



“Genuine or knock off?” she asked.



“It looks like my power, and it feels like it, but I’m guessing because of that ‘just hit deliver’ grin this is a fake,” Cordelia replied.



“Deliver?” Tara asked.



“Ancient history,” Willow assured her.



“Sophomore year,” Cordelia clarified. Then she frowned. “I can’t tell the difference.”



“Take it,” Tara said.



“Okay…” Cordelia said uneasily.



“Now make the flower,” Willow said gently. “Just see it.”



In the half-light of the almost real place the three women were in a rose formed out of the pure light. Then a very slight shimmer of pure white light outlined one petal.



“Does it feel like you made it?” Tara asked.



“Yes,” Cordelia said. “And that light looks like just what’s happening to me.”



“Good work baby,” Tara said with a smile. “That’s so hard to get right.”



With that Tara opened her hand and the rose flowed back into light, gently passed through Cordelia, and faded into Willow and Tara’s clasped hands. Both witches smiled at the feeling of their shared power. Cordelia clasped her hands and held them to her face as she made a theatrical sigh.



“We aren’t that bad!” Willow pouted.



“Yes we are,” Tara purred and pulled Willow close for a kiss. Here in this place sparks literally flew as Cordelia laughed softly. Willow blushed.



“You should be thanking me after that kiss,” Cordelia teased as the office became more real around them. Willow held Tara’s hand and looked into blue eyes that danced with life.



“Thanks,” she murmured.





===========================================================





Giles and Wesley were looking things up in the Magic Box while Connor and Dawn practiced under Xander’s careful watch. Buffy could almost feel the tension in Faith’s core as they left the store. Buffy stopped and made sure her cell was on silent mode.



“Cell phones for Slayers?” Faith asked in a surprised tone.



“No,” Buffy replied. “All Reserve officers have to be available a certain number of nights. Tonight’s my night.”



“Oh,” Faith said distantly.



Buffy’s next few attempts to draw the dark haired Slayer out were met with monosyllables. Buffy gave up and headed for Shady Rest cemetery. After a slow walk around with two Slayers nothing showed up even though Buffy could swear she felt eyes on her. Finally they stopped at Joyce’s grave.



“Hi Mom,” Buffy said in a small voice.



“I’m sorry, B,” Faith said hesitantly.



“So am I,” Buffy said meeting Faith’s eyes despite the tremble in her voice. “For so damn much.”



“What have you got to be sorry for?” Faith asked.



“Being a bitch and not taking care of you,” Buffy said flatly.



“Hey, I was a big girl,” Faith said with a forced lightness.



“For not understanding somebody who went through losing their first Watcher to an old vamp,” Buffy went on. “I should have known better. I lost Merrick…”



Faith shrugged, wondering again if her first Watcher could see the shambles her charge had made of her life.



“I ran away the summer before you came,” Buffy said looking out into a darkness only she could remember. “I really hated somebody new crowding my space. I never looked past that.”



“Your mom tried,” Faith said with a downcast look. Somehow looking at Buffy admitting her failings made Faith even more unhappy. Faith closed her eyes. “Even after I held her at knifepoint she wanted me to get help and thought I was unhappy, not some psycho nut job.”



“She used to make Spike hot chocolate,” Buffy said with the ghost of a smile. “He…he misses her.”



“I wonder what Joyce…” Faith gave up and just shrugged.



“I know what she’d do,” Buffy said. She stepped up to Faith. Gently Buffy touched Faith’s face and looked into her eyes. “First she’d say it was done and in the past. Then,” and with that Buffy kissed Faith on the forehead. “She’d say we’ll leave it there and go on.”



Faith made to pull away but Buffy held her. Finally Faith just held onto Buffy like a lifeline in a storm and cried for everything she’d missed. Finally she stopped and stood straight, although a touch unsteadily.



“Great,” Faith said weakly. “Now I’m a mess. Was that your secret plan?”



“Yep,” Buffy grinned. “You look better than I do in leather pants and that’s not allowed.”



“You’re saying I look hot?” Faith asked suddenly slinky. “Bad girl beautiful?”



“Yes, I’m jealous,” Buffy said with a theatrical pout.



“Good,” Faith replied. “Buy me a real mocha and I’ll let you have my evil beauty secrets.”





===========================================================





The peeper watching Buffy and Faith hurried away, bursting with news. He flew through ducts and past wards glowing with a sullen red until he was hovering near the First.



“Yes?” the First asked.



“I have news!” the creature almost hummed. “I know who the Slayer’s lover is!”



“Oh?” the First said with a sudden attentiveness.



“The other Slayer!”





===========================================================





“So, who’s got Dawn all excited?” Faith asked.



“I don’t know,” Buffy said studying her muffin. “Some boy band guy?”



“No, for you!” Faith said leaning close. “Dark hair?”



“Kind of,” Buffy admitted.



“Blue eyes?”



“Hazel.”



“Nice butt?”



“Nice ass, nice…many things,” Buffy said with a serene smile. “He’s…nice.”



“The new principal?” Faith guessed.



“Cold,” Buffy said with a smirk.





===========================================================





Cordelia stretched as she left the office. Angel looked anxiously at her. Cordy smiled.



“No more sudden sunshine,” she said.



“Is that why you came down?” Gunn asked as he came in with Fred.



“That’s all for tonight,” Willow yawned. “We found out what we needed to know for tomorrow.”



“What’s tomorrow?” Fred asked.



Before Willow could answer the phone rang. Cordelia picked it up automatically and then winced.



“Hello,” she tried to say mechanically. “Thank you for calling Angel Investigations. Our hours-oh, hi Lorne. What?” She looked at Angel. “Lorne says there’s a demon gang…here, you take it.”



“Life in the big city,” Fred said almost apologetically. She handed Tara a shopping bag. “Here’s your…package.”



“Package?” Willow asked.



“Later,” Tara replied. Then she smiled at Fred. “Thanks for getting these.”



“All I’m saying is its demons,” Gunn said loudly enough for them to hear.



“Charles,” Fred started.



Tara looked at the slim girl and saw her conflicted aura. Images of Lorne and Clem came to her mind. Tara looked at Gunn with hard eyes.



“I say just let the humans deal with the humans and demons can deal with their own,” Gunn said with a determined tone. “We should sit this one out.”



“We don’t interfere,” Tara said levelly.



“Exactly,” Gunn replied. “Just like demons shouldn’t interfere with humans.”



“So if a demon could have stopped what happened in Jasper, Texas he should have just let the vicious white humans kill a black human even if that black human was outnumbered and older,” Tara said with a bit of a drawl slipping into her voice.



“No!” Gunn shouted.



“Can’t have it both ways,” Tara said simply. “Good and evil are always fighting. All that evil needs to win is a good person deciding to ‘sit this one out’ just once too often.”



For long moments she and Gunn stared at each other. Willow stayed out of the way and held Fred when she started forward. After almost starting several angry retorts Gunn finally turned away and grabbed his axe.



“I’ll be in the car,” he said without looking back.



“Um…” Fred began. “Oh to heck with it. Thanks.” Then she grabbed her bag and a crossbow and headed after Charles.



“Why did you say that?” Angel asked from the doorway.



“We’re going into battle for our lives, all of us,” Tara said tiredly. “We need everybody we can get to be on the same side.”



“Which side is that?” Angel mused.



“The side of the angels,” Tara replied with a wan smile.



“Even if they’re a strange bunch of…angels?” the vampire asked.



“They’re what we have,” Willow replied.



“I think they’ll do okay,” Tara added.



“Do you need me?” Cordelia asked as she came into the lobby holding her jacket.



“We’ll manage,” Willow replied before Angel could.



After the door closed behind Angel and Cordelia the witches both sagged a bit.



“Ready for bed?” Willow asked. “I think we can find one here.”



They made their way to the third floor and used the key Cordelia had given them earlier. The décor was old but the room was clean as were the linens and there was an unlimited supply of hot water. Tara asked Willow to take a shower first. Willow waited hopefully but the blonde never came in. Finally Willow finished and dried off. She stepped out wrapping her hair.



“Why didn’t you come in?” she asked.



“Because,” Tara said, “I’m just going to get all sweaty again.”



Willow looked up to see Tara in a leather miniskirt with her legs in fishnet stockings. The blonde took a deep breath that threatened to tear the white blouse’s last two buttons.



“Aren’t I?”





===========================================================





It was later, or perhaps very early. Willow rolled in their borrowed bed and began to touch Tara’s hair. Blue eyes opened and Tara smiled.



“Thank you,” Willow said softly. “I mean for earlier, because we’re-and-it might be our last-”



Tara reached out and placed her finger over Willow’s lips.



“Our last time we’ll be alone in a hotel until we win,” she finished for her lover.



“Until?” Willow asked. “Not…?”



“Until.”

[onlyhalfevil]

again, it's really amazing how you write these long updates and manage to weave action, humour, and suspense into a very readable and engaging story still.



it's great to see how everyone's working together and really being there for each other. that especially comes through in Anya who seems to have matured quite a lot in your story, the Buffy-Faith exchange at Joyce's grave, and Cordelia-Willow with the old assignment sabotage reference. i guess i'm saying i really liked those particular parts.



also, it's interesting to see that the update opened with Willow's insecurity about their getting back together just like that, and closed with how she clearly need not have worried. heh. they're just good together.

[behindhereyes]

Jixer... damn



When i finish reading your current update... I'm awash in things I want and need to express, but there is just soooo much, that the biggest part of the time I would fail miserably.

This story is one of the most amazing I've ever read... and I've read some of the best.







behindhereyes

Kim

"To the world, you may be one person; but to one person, you may be the world"

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



Kitten Feedback- it cures Mondays! Which is quite the endorsement if you knew what my Monday had been like.



A note- there will be a slight delay for the next post while Mrs. Jixer takes me to Vancouver for her family get-together. Poor me stuck for a week in a hotel, in my favorite city to visit, with my wife. The only drawback is the BC Lions lost the Grey Cup and the stupid NHL strike is still on. That and I have no Internet access for a week



onlyhalfevil- The secret to the long updates is the number of ideas writing W/T fanfic gives me. I've got to let them out somehow!



The seasons best left unmentioned were short in the old theme of maturing and growing. I just brought it back and dealt with some things that always bothered me. I'm glad you liked my treatment.



As for Willow's concerns, she'll always worry just a bit about her and Tara. Love can do that. It helps to keep you from taking each other for granted as well.



behindhereyes- My blushes, Kim! I credit all that to what I've learned here at Pens. The tone of the board, the writers, and the readers makes this a very good place to learn and grow as writer, and then there's the bonus that W&T make wonderful muses!





Thank you for your time with my story, and I promise I'll take notes in Vancouver!





Jixer

[jixer]

Chapter 27

Sound The Muster













“Is this where it started?” Elizabeth asked as the lights swirled around her.



THESE COULD BE THE STARTING POINTS, the Voice agreed.





===========================================================





Willow and Tara sat across from Cordelia in the office. They all closed their eyes and saw themselves lift into a now familiar plane of reality. Without speaking Cordelia opened her hands and held them out to the witches.





===========================================================





In Sunnydale Xander led an older man in coveralls into the gym. The pool below was visible and filling with water as Xander’s team worked on the flooring above.





===========================================================





Faith watched Buffy as Giles and Wesley laid out the overview of the plan. The younger Slayer saw Buffy listen attentively and make a couple of notes. Faith held her tongue as questions seethed in her mind. She found most of her questions answered as she listened.





===========================================================





In the Magic Box Halfrek appeared. She was wan and tired looking.



“Sit down before you fall down,” Anya commanded.



“I can’t,” Halfrek sighed. “I’m just here to tell you I’m hearing all sorts of rumors.”



“Sit down and tell me about them over a cup of tea and some soup,” Anya said leading Hallie to a chair. “Don’t argue.”





===========================================================





“Such small things,” Elizabeth said softly.



ALMOST POINTLESS



Elizabeth gave her guide a sharp look, then she smiled.



“Point taken.”





===========================================================





In the place that existed beyond the seen Cordelia suddenly flared with light. She hurled her power against the dark web of power that was the Hellmouth. A bass groan echoed through the distance.





===========================================================





In the Hyperion Hotel’s office Angel saw the hazy form of Cordelia flare with light. He squinted and pushed a key on Willow’s computer.





===========================================================





“Most clever, little witches,” the First said with approval in his voice.



“They did not wait,” a bass voice hissed.



“No, my magnificent wyrm,” the First said to the curled dragon. “They did not wait to enlist the last of the powers.”



“As you suspected,” the dragon chuckled cruelly.



“True,” the ancient evil agreed. “I’m afraid the only question is if the rather delectable Cordelia will use four, five or seven bindings.”



“I’ll say seven,” the dragon mused.



“You’re a traditionalist,” the First said turning his attention to the assaults. “Now be quiet. I have work to do.”





===========================================================





On the floor of the busy construction site Xander could almost swear he felt the air change just before his pager vibrated. He looked over at the old man holding a board for one of the carpenters. Xander nodded. Father Joe held out his hand and began a prayer.



Over the next hour the pager vibrated six more times as six other older people including several men with beards helped the crew working on the flooring near the edge of the floor directly over the pool.





===========================================================





In the Hyperion Cordelia shimmered back into her native world a heartbeat ahead of the witches. Angel came to her side and cradled her as she slumped. She looked at Willow and Tara’s concerned faces.



“How did we do?” she asked.



“Great,” Willow said quickly. “Are you okay?”



“It’s her power,” Angel said unhappily. “She’s not human anymore.”



“I’m fine,” Cordelia started.



“He’s right,” Tara said gently. “Here.”



Tara took Cordelia’s hands in hers. Willow placed her hands on Tara’s. For the briefest of moments Angel saw Cordelia’s eyes turn blue and then green. Then the hazel brown eyes that had come to fill his dreams looked at him.



“Aren’t they cute?” Tara sighed.



“Yes we are,” Cordelia laughed. “Hey! I didn’t know vampires could blush!”





===========================================================





Charles Wainwright looked up from the fence he was trying to repair. An old Ford pickup he didn’t recognize slowed down and stopped. An old First Nations man got out and stretched.



“Morning,” Charles said politely.



“Morning,” the old man replied. “I’m looking for a guy named Charles who knows the Huntress of Shadow Drinkers.”



Charles looked closely at the old man. The CAT cap, the old boots, and the faded blue cotton shirt tucked into jeans held up with a belt buckle the size of a hubcap were a uniform in these parts. But even under the sun some things walked that were more than they seemed. Then Charles saw the intricately worked turquoise cross on a silver chain. The old man smiled and touched it.



“My grandmother told me to wear this,” the old timer said with a smile.



“Your grandmother?” Charles asked.



“Yeah,” the man said. “Believe me I’m not used to the dead showing up and giving me a quest.”



“Aren’t you a shaman?” Charles wondered respectfully.



“Hell no!” the old man laughed. “I’m a jeweler in Taos. I was working on my Spring Line when she shows up and tells me to go get some stuff out of the old safe and bring it here. Scared the shit out of me.”



“Give him the rings, Bobby!” an ancient voice ordered. Charles looked over and saw an old crone, her nose a beak beneath her dark eyes.



“Yes, Grandmother,” Robert said reaching for his pocket.



“Thank you, ma’am,” Charles said tipping his hat to the old woman.



“Good boy,” the old woman cackled. “Now, take these to the Huntress. They’re for her witches and the rocks of the witches. Understand?”



“No ma’am,” Charles replied.



“The witches are working over land with it’s own rules,” the woman said pointedly. “They were born here. They need this. Take it to them. And try not to trip over your tongue around the little blonde thing.”



“Grandma!” Robert said, embarrassed.



The old woman cackled merrily, winked at Charles and disappeared. Robert shook his head.



“Sorry about that,” he muttered.



“De nada,” Charles shrugged. “I think grandparents just like to see us blush.”



The jeweler handed Charles a packet. Turquoise and jade glowed under the sun. “I hope you understood that,” the jeweler said. “I’ve got to get back to Taos.”



“Thanks man,” Charles said. “Vaya con Dios.”





===========================================================





Willow and Tara gathered their things. Cordelia sat at one of the windows looking out to the street. The hotel seemed too quiet.



“Where’s the rest of the LA contingent?” Willow asked.



“They’re helping some people,” Angel said leaning against the windowsill on the safe side for a vampire. “We’re going north and this place is too big to defend with just Fred and Gunn.”



“What about Lorne?” Tara asked.



“His heart is in the right place, well at least for his species, but his talents aren’t really for combat,” Cordelia explained. “I hope they’ll be alright while we’re away.”





===========================================================





“This place is a sanctuary,” the old demon sighed. “It is holy. You do not understand.”



“Not really,” Gunn agreed. “It’s a church, and there’s a priest with those folks helping a bunch of illegals and they’re helping you all. I don’t know what makes that holy.”



“They give comfort to the alien and the slaves at the risk of their freedom, if not their lives,” the demon explained.



“The wetbacks aren’t slaves,” Gunn protested.



“No,” Lorne agreed. “The Goster demons are.”



“And the Kalish who held us are cruel and warlike,” the older demon said tiredly. “They will send the cruelest of their kind as hunters.”



“Slave catchers?” Fred asked with a hint of worry.



“Yes,” the demon nodded.



Gunn hefted his axe and smiled grimly.





===========================================================





Faith sat on the porch steps and looked at the backyard. With her Slayer hearing she caught the many everyday sounds of the town beyond the fence. The door opening behind her was obvious, as was Buffy’s steps on the porch. Faith took in a deep breath and reveled in the scents of the day.



“It’s weird,” Faith said as Buffy sat next to her. “I’ve got cash in my pocket, no one’s looking for me and I could be over that gate in a second.”



“But you can’t go,” Buffy said.



“Not a step,” Faith sighed.



“Are you ready for this?” Buffy asked gently.



“You know Slayers,” Faith shrugged. “Use a weapon once and you know it.”



“Not that,” Buffy started.



“I know, B,” Faith said. “No, I’m not ready. Shit. I’ll never be ready for this. Wes sure as hell shouldn’t come and Connor’s a kid. It should just be me out there. Just me.”



“Yeah,” Buffy agreed. There was a long moment of silence. Both Slayers turned toward the sound of an overworked engine coming their way. Buffy’s eyes widened as she heard Brooks and Dunn stop and Bach begin.



“I know that truck,” she muttered.



Buffy sprang to her feet with Faith just behind her. The Slayer tore into the house and looked out the window as Charles got out of his old Jeep pickup. He was almost to the door when it swung open.



“Don’t ask,” Buffy said quickly. “Just come in!”





===========================================================





As Charles entered the house he forgot just why he had come. For a second there was only the slim girl in front of him. Then someone pointedly cleared his throat. Charles looked over to see a distinguished looking man. Her father? he wondered as he felt slightly uncomfortable. There was a noise on the stairs and Dawn was there with a smirk on her face. Another young woman was leaning against a wall in such a way as to be both lazy and seductive. Another two men, one just a teenager completed the group.



“Hey, cowboy,” Buffy said in an almost purr and the others became indistinct scenery.





===========================================================





“I brought you this,” Charles Wainwright said as he pulled a kerchief out of his pocket. “I got it from…somebody who said your, ah, friends needed it. Oh, and their rocks.”



“Rocks?” Dawn asked looking at the kerchief Buffy was opening.



“It’s what she said the, ah…” Charles glanced at Wesley and then Giles.



“They’re in on the secret,” Buffy said gently.



“I think it was a ghost,” Charles said with a shrug. “I don’t know what tribe she was but she said the witches and their rocks would need these.”



“That’s jade and that’s turquoise,” Dawn said excitedly.



“Both are powerful in Native legends,” Wesley mused.



“A ghost?” Giles asked with a firm look.



“Yes, sir,” Charles replied.



“You seem remarkably calm for someone who’s spoken with a spirit,” Giles said carefully.



“Not really, sir,” Charles answered. “Especially after I started thinking about it. But both my grandfathers served in World War Two, one in Burma and one in Europe. They saw things. After my parents were married they got to comparing notes.”



“Is that why you’ve got the gun?” Connor asked.



“My grandpa’s old Colt,” Charles explained keeping his hands away from his waist. “Loaded with silver bullets made from…stuff.”



“And just how did this ghost give you these rings?” Giles asked scrutinizing the young man.



“Her grandson brought them to me,” Charles said carefully. “He’s not a shaman and it wigged him out. He was glad to give them to me and have his grandmother off his back.”



“We’ll keep them in a safe place until Willow and Tara can get here,” Buffy said carefully. “Charles, I know you want to help…”



Here’s where I lose him, Buffy thought sadly. At least he’ll be safe.



“But I’m a hand who doesn’t know the lay of the land,” Charles finished. “I’d get in the way and might get someone killed. If she’s willing, and I bet she isn’t, we could take Dawn in up at the ranch for a week or so.”



“Nope,” Dawn said quickly. “Not even if you throw in Autumn Wind.”



“She’s always been stubborn,” Buffy sighed.



“Unlike her sister,” Charles teased with a gentle grin.



“Of course,” Buffy said quickly.



The phone rang and Dawn leapt to answer it.



“I should get going,” Charles said quietly.



“Yes,” Giles said before Buffy could protest. “But for your own safety you should appear dejected at least if not angry.”



“Regret I can manage,” Charles said looking at Buffy. Then he turned and strode out the door without looking back.



“Now there’s a ride,” Faith said with unabashed admiration. “Keep him roped up.”



“No rustling,” Buffy said in a more threatening tone than she intended.



“That was Anya,” Dawn said from the phone. “Halfrek’s got some news.”



“Right,” Buffy said pushing her personal feelings down. “Giles, I think we all might want to hear this.”



“Yes,” Giles agreed. “Dawn, leave a note in case Willow and Tara show up here first.”



“Oh, Dawn,” Buffy said quickly. “Grab the sword.”



“The nasty one?” Dawn asked.



“Put it in it’s box,” Buffy added.



As the others got ready to go Faith pulled Buffy aside and the two Slayers went out onto the porch. Faith turned to Buffy.



“I was a bitch before,” Faith said raggedly. “B, I’m not that fucked up…thing…” She stopped and just shrugged. “Your cowboy’s safe.”



“I know Faith,” Buffy said calmly. Buffy put her hand on Faith’s shoulder. “Let’s just get through this one day at a time.”



Then Buffy remembered her mother and without thinking she gave Faith a quick but real hug.





===========================================================





“Yep, they’re hot for each other,” Ragwort said with a leer.



“Whadaya think confirmation would be worth to the boss?” Crabgrass mused.





===========================================================





“Come on!” Willow snarled. “This is an hour trip, not a three day cruise!”



“An hour from LA to Sunnydale?” Tara asked with a hidden smile.



“I can speed if I want to,” Willow insisted. “I just didn’t want to on the way down.”



“Of course,” Tara agreed readily.



“How’s the sewing project going?” Willow asked as the cars in front of them crawled northward like a herd of turtles.



“I should be finished by the time we get there,” Tara said carefully snipping a heavy thread.



“You’re sure magic won’t work?” Willow asked.



“Not a bit,” Tara said as she pushed through a most frightening needle with a leather palm. “But this Kevlar thread should.”





===========================================================





“Look, this is just rumors,” Halfrek said tiredly.



“Rumors enough to make you come to Anya,” Giles said pouring the Vengeance Demon more tea.



“Thank you,” Halfrek sighed. “All right, maybe you can make sense of this. I’ve been to the South Pacific, Pennsylvania, and LA chasing after a bunch of bloody pixies stealing kids. And that’s on top of taking apart a bunch of scum in three other dimensions.”



“Are you sure they’re pixies?” Wesley asked.



“As opposed to?” Halfrek asked warily.



“Brownies,” Anya said with distaste.



“Those nosy, loud drunks?” Halfrek asked. “I think you’re right. But it doesn’t make sense.”



“Why?” Buffy asked.



“Those gossipmongers are cowards,” Halfrek explained. “These little bastards fought and threatened me with their boss.”



“Their boss?” Giles asked.



“Yeah,” Halfrek nodded. “It was the usual ‘you’ll be sorry when our master is in charge’ crap.”



“Damn,” Buffy muttered. “How am I supposed to protect four places at once? We need more time.”



“We don’t have more time,” Wesley said calmly.



“I agree,” Giles said with a frown. “But we should wait and hear how things went with Willow and Tara.”



Buffy glared at Wesley and then at Giles. “I’ll be in the training room,” she said curtly and hurried to the back of the store.



“I need to get moving,” Halfrek said, followed with a very large yawn.



“You’re too tired to go teleporting around,” Anya said worriedly.



“There’s a couch in the back,” Giles suggested. “Though you’d be sharing space with an unhappy Slayer.”



“I don’t want to be a…” Halfrek gave a long shuddering yawn. “Bother. Oh dear. All right, I’ll take the couch. But just for forty winks.”



Halfrek left the others and went to the back room. She smiled tiredly at the thought that at the very least she could never get lost as a Justice demon. The Slayer was already in a tank top and hitting the heavy bag. Buffy looked up as Halfrek collapsed on the couch. The blonde stared at the demon for a moment.



“You look tired,” Buffy said levelly.



“No shit,” Halfrek yawned.



“Sorry,” Buffy muttered.



“No,” Halfrek sighed. “It’s just…it never stops.”



“What doesn’t stop?” Buffy asked. “The justice thing?”



“The calls for help,” Halfrek said in a fragile tone.



“Don’t run away,” Buffy said flatly. “It won’t help.”



“What will?” the demon asked.



Buffy looked at Halfrek. There was a desperation in her question Buffy understood too well. For an instant Buffy wondered what difference Halfrek’s new mission might have made in Faith’s life, or in Tara’s. The Slayer stopped and sat down beside Halfrek. Buffy met the demon’s eyes. “Let yourself get help,” Buffy said gently.



“We have a dozen of us changing the old ways,” Halfrek replied.



“How many are friends?” Buffy asked.



“I’m a Justice demon,” Halfrek said with a hint of exhausted pride.



“And I’m a Slayer,” Buffy replied. “We’re supposed to do the whole alone against the forces of evil thing too. I was the oldest Slayer in history when I died the first time, and that was because of the people around me.”



“I’m damn near immortal,” Halfrek said.



“As a Vengeance demon,” Buffy said suddenly thinking of Hernandez. “How many Justice demons just burn out?”



“I’m not going to toss the amulet!” Halfrek snarled. Then she looked away.



“That sounds like slang,” Buffy said quietly. “I’m guessing it means the same as eating your gun.”



“Almost,” Halfrek admitted in a whisper. “Just not so final.”



“Then the guilt gets to you cause you know deep down inside you’re not doing what you should be doing,” Buffy said looking straight ahead.



“That’s when you eat the gun,” Halfrek said woodenly. “Or go land diving. Or some other safe words to hide the truth behind.”



“You can’t do this alone,” Buffy said with a calm urgency in her voice. “The people I have didn’t start out as what we’ve become. It takes time, and sometimes there’s going to be pain, but it’s worth it in the end.”



“I’ll sleep on it,” Halfrek said as she yawned again. “I promised I’d take a nap before I ‘ported.”



Buffy nodded and stood up. “I’ll punch softly,” she said. When there was no answer the Slayer turned around and saw Halfrek deep asleep.





===========================================================





Buffy came out of the back room just as Giles was heading in. The Slayer held up her hand.



“She needs sleep more than I need to punch things,” Buffy said quietly.



Giles nodded and followed Buffy into the main part of the Magic Box as the door opened. Anya looked up at the ring of the bell and was about to chide Willow and Tara for being late when she saw Jonathon step in warily. Anya’s hand dropped to bat behind the counter. Buffy stepped in front of Giles. Faith and the others became more alert.



“What are you doing here?” Buffy demanded.



“Saying I’m an idiot and I’m sorry,” Jonathon said flatly.



“Why aren’t you in custody?” Giles asked.



“Nobody wants me,” Levinson replied. “I’m a whack job since high school and the big terrorist is dead. That and my dad got a lawyer, an expensive one.”



“How can he afford it?” Anya asked.



“He’s paying him with a second mortgage,” Jonathon said bitterly.



“So you’re sorry,” Buffy said levelly. “Now what?”



“I should help, but I’m not very good at anything,” he answered.



Behind Jonathon the door opened as Willow and Tara breezed into the shop. They stopped when they saw Jonathon. Tara’s look was wary.



“Sit down and don’t touch anything,” Buffy told him. “Will, Tara, we need to talk.”





===========================================================





“Okay, why the office?” Willow asked as the door closed.



“Because there’s a Justice demon sleeping in the training room among other things,” Buffy replied.



“Halfrek?” Willow asked with a touch of guilt.



“Yeah,” Buffy replied.



“Oh,” Willow replied with a glance at Tara.



“She looked for wishes, honey,” Tara said gently.



“Mine kind of changed things,” Willow said.



“That’s just part of it,” Buffy said quickly. “Will, the First has his snooping faeries out in LA, somewhere back east, and in the South Pacific.”



“Why?” Willow asked intently.



“I don’t know,” Buffy replied. “Maybe he’s looking for another Hellmouth location, or maybe he’s looking for innocents as hostages.”



“And if it’s civilians, you don’t want them hurt,” Tara observed.



“Yes,” Buffy sighed.



“Buffy, we can’t wait to go off and defend the world,” Willow said. “Our window here is a small one and we’ve got to fit a whole Hellmouth through it.”



“I’m turning into George, aren’t I?” Buffy asked with a wan grin.



“You just care a lot,” Tara said with a hint of pride.



“We go tonight,” Buffy sighed. “Oh, here’s one of the other things. Charles dropped this off. He said some Indian ghost told her grandson to give it to you.” Buffy held out the rings.





===========================================================





Four rings tumbled on the kerchief. The two red stone ones stayed in the center of Buffy’s cloth cover hands. The ring with the jade fell on Willow’s side of the bundle and the one with turquoise was on Tara’s. The rings resonated with power, old and feeling of land around them.



“I don’t know if-” Buffy began as the witches touched them.



The Magic Box was gone and Willow was on a spire of red rock. Next to her Tara stood on another. Wind and ancient rivers had formed this land under the bowl of the bright blue sky. Willow centered herself as she felt Tara do the same. Her shields came up and they felt more comfortable than they had ever done in England.



“Hello,” an ancient woman said.



“Hello,” both witches replied. It did not seem strange that the old woman was walking towards them on the air. She was wrapped in a blanket over clothes that made both witches think of the dry land in the Southwest. The old woman stopped and pointed at the spires.



“Look down, young ones,” she said.



Without fear Willow looked down and saw the rock jut from the ground. Willow could feel her magic binding through the rock to the earth. Then she looked closer. The two spires were connected about halfway down with a outcropping of quartz with flecks of gold in the sunlight. A cloud passed over head and as the sun came out again. Willow gasped as Anya’s and Xander’s face came into view, seemingly etched into the rock by the wind. Willow looked at Tara and then the woman.



“They agreed to be our anchors,” Willow said.



“This is where I got the rock to make their rings,” the wise woman explained.



“It must have been very hard to get the stones,” Tara said.



“Eagles are strong,” the woman said with a shrug. Then she fixed both witches with a stare. “Do you know why you are here?”



“Something evil is coming, something powerful,” Willow said.



“These rings are from here, our nation, our home,” Tara added. “They bind to this land.”



“This is where you come from, especially you blue eyes,” the old woman nodded. “But this is not the only place. You must know where you have come from in order to get to where you are going. Go back.”



Willow was on a ship and it was afternoon. Hundreds of people were crowding to the side of the ship. She strained forward and saw the huge statue of the woman with the lamp.



Tara was looking at a pale skinned man on the biggest dog she had ever seen. He had shiny clothes and a long stick that he seemed to put much trust in.



Willow was walking along the road, keeping a close watch behind them. There was going to be war, and the king would squeeze every farthing he could from any subject, even the ones in the ghettoes.



Tara looked at the garden and worked out how much food it would grow. Her master was away, over the Wall keeping the Picts at bay. Her mistress came out of the quarters and looked at her in a sad way. The news from far distant Rome must be bad.



Willow looked out onto the plains and tried to see her father, or at least the herds. She followed the trail and studied the plants on the way with her bundle of bread and cheese for his meal. She loved taking him his lunch and the trip.



Tara and Willow watched as the eldest woman of the group placed the plants in her mouth and began to chew. They would be more powerful that way. It would draw out the sickness and ease the fever. The tribe’s best hunter looked up at the woman with gray hair. There was worry in his eyes. She smiled and patted his hand.



“Feel the difference,” the old woman said. “Look through your power.”



“I can’t see anything,” Willow said.



“Why can’t we see with our power?” Tara asked.



“Open yourself, blue eyes,” the old woman said.



“That’s my line,” Willow muttered. The old woman howled with laughter.



Tara blushed and let her core draw on the power. She felt the power’s slow building and she opened her eyes in astonishment. “The magic is all bound at the sources!”



“There’s no lines or pools of power,” Willow said following Tara’s link and looking as far as she could.



“This is the way it was,” Rita said. “Remember this.”



Somehow it did not seem strange that in this ancient place Rita and Amelia should be sitting sipping tea in comfy chairs.



“That is where you came from,” the old First Nations woman said. “Now go back to the time when magic was loosed.”



It was the largest city in the world. Tens of thousands of people filled its mud brick streets. The scribes used the new writing to hold a person’s words forever. And now there was another new thing. One of the scribes had learned to write down the old knowledge and change it. Things that should not have been were now unleashed. The king himself was slain by things that were almost human. From the wastes an old man with the eyes of a fanatic led a barbarian girl with a copper sword. But the old man died in the first battle with the mage-king’s minions. The girl would have but for the two witches that hid and then healed her.



Then the girl took up the sword and went out for battle one more time. This time she was victorious, but the wounds her victory left soon cost the girl her life. The witches alone could not mend the rift that had taken place.



“That is where you and your power came from,” the old woman said.



“There are pools now,” Willow said.



“And lines,” Tara said sadly as they watched time flow past and saw more people grasping for the new magical power.



“Your journey started here,” the woman in the blanket said. “It is up to you to start the end song.”



“What?” both witches said in shock.



“You did not tell them?” the woman snapped.



“We wanted to be sure,” Rita said.



Willow’s face showed her shock as Rita and Amelia appeared in the same comfy chairs now in the air on the other side of the spires. The ancient scenes became a cloud that drifted over the valley.



“Sure about what?” Willow demanded.



“You two will train the last of the magic users,” Rita replied.



“Quite the honor,” Amelia said brightly.



“Providing you survive,” Rita added.



“Thank you, Mrs. Confidence,” Willow said with a frown.



“How can we set the magic back to being part of everyday life?” Tara asked.



“We’re facing the Adam of magic,” Willow answered her partner.



“All of the magic based on the original fails?” Tara asked worriedly. “Even the good magic?”



“What is the good magic?” Rita asked.



“The kind that restores the balance and takes no advantage,” Tara replied almost instantly for her reply was part of the very first things she had learned from her mother.



“But if there’s no magic, or rather magic goes back to being part of the interactions that make up life and being, and you can’t take advantage of magic anymore then there won’t be the need to balance it out,” Willow said thoughtfully. “But you can’t destroy a technology. Information is everywhere. Magic will be discovered again.”



“Not if it’s locked away with a key,” Rita said levelly.



“What does that mean?” Tara growled literally as she turned into a grizzly bear with flaring blue eyes.



“Yeah!” Willow screeched as she spread her wings and mantled them at Rita, an eagle’s cry echoing from the distant walls of rock.



“All of you have a part to play,” Rita said calmly. “You will need Dawn for the end of this.”



“We didn’t understand part of what were seeing,” Amelia explained. “But with Dawn’s ability to open or lock things it became obvious.”



“I was wondering where the green light fits in though,” Rita said thoughtfully.



“What green light?” Tara asked in a normal voice. Protecting Dawn’s identity had become second nature, after protecting the girl. Willow felt herself slip into the forced calm they had needed that terrible summer.



“Like a traffic signal saying ‘go ahead’?” Willow asked in a calm tone.



“Perhaps,” Rita shrugged.



“Bloody big signal,” Amelia said under her breath.



“How much of a chance do we have of pulling this off?” Willow asked pointedly.



“There are many possible futures,” Amelia said uncomfortably.



“You win, the world changes,” the old First Nations woman said. “You lose, the world changes. You cannot have a path without change. One future path is good, the other one is very bad. Don’t lose.”



“What about those brownies around the world?” Tara asked.



“Are the three places connected to the three demons the First controls?” Willow added.



“We can’t see past the shields,” Amelia said.



“And it would tip your hand if you two took a look,” Rita warned. “Lets just say it seems logical.”



“I know two of the places are unprotected,” the old Indian woman said. “The ones in Tongva and Lenape territory.”



“The other…” Rita shrugged. “It’s an old land that tends to grow its own protectors.”



“I know a resource we might be able to use for one of those places,” Tara said with a grim smile.



“The night will not wait forever,” the old woman in the blanket said.



“We’ll need to work out a couple of last minute details,” Willow said firmly as she reached for Tara’s hand.



“Good night,” Rita and Amelia said as they and their chairs vanished.



“Go home,” the last old woman said.



“-these will help,” Buffy finished. “What’s with the glowy eyes?”



“Just getting the manual,” Willow said as she blinked. “They’ll help.”





===========================================================





Xander was finishing up the last of the paperwork for the day when one of the out of town consultants came over to him. The well-dressed man smiled like a salesman.



“Mr. Harris, do you like papayas?” the consultant asked. “They are very nutritious.” Xander hesitated and tried to frame his answer politely. Then he felt the faintest tingle of magic. The consultant’s smile disappeared. “Okay worker bee, is the Slayer still planning to fight on the Solstice?”



“Of course,” Xander replied.



“Who is she bringing to the party?”



“I don’t know yet,” Xander said woodenly.



“You have a compulsion to find out,” the consultant growled. He put a card in Xander’s tool belt. “When you do call this number in secret. Now wake up and only remember me asking you for directions to a decent place to eat. You will put the card in your wallet after work.”



“Huh?”



“Never mind, Mr. Harris,” the consultant asked with his smile in place. “Thank you for the directions.”



“You’re welcome,” Xander asked as he bent down over his forms. The urge to look in his tool belt for the card was almost hard to resist, especially after the consultant simply disappeared.





===========================================================





“Ms. Morgan,” the First said as he strolled into Lilah’s office. “You’ll be getting a call in a few days from an Alexander Harris. He’s working on the Sunnydale project. Call me when he reports.”



“Is he one of ours?” Lilah asked.



“One of theirs,” the First replied. “But he signed a contract.”



“He should have had his lawyer look it over.”





===========================================================





“So two of these places aren’t protected?” Buffy asked.



“Both of them in the U.S. so we won’t have to get passports for anyone,” Willow replied.



“Will, can you link magic to a sword?” Buffy asked.



“Which sword?” Willow asked. “Steel and I are only acquaintances, not really friends when it comes to magic.”



“This one,” Buffy said pulling out the ancient bronze sword.



*Oh great* the sword snapped. *A Slayer’s been thinking. I know how that ends.*



“Bronze?” Willow said taking a close look at it. Buffy handed it to her.



*Don’t even think about runes, babe* the sword commanded.



“It talks?” Willow said almost dropping the old weapon.



*He talks, thank you* the sword said haughtily. *Hey, who’s the cute blonde chick? I wouldn’t mind getting sheathed if you know what I mean*



“Let me get a Dremel tool,” Willow said with a frown. “I’ll tie a spell or two to it.”



*WAIT!!*



“Or we can just bind the handle in two bespelled cords,” Tara said. “But we’d need to have the people we’re sending.”



*Listen to the nice blonde girl!*



“I’ve got a thought about that,” Buffy said.





===========================================================

       



The door to the office opened and Buffy strode out to Giles. Buffy caught sight of Dawn talking to Connor and felt her heart beat just a bit faster and she almost hesitated.



She has a part in this, Buffy thought unhappily. An unknown part.



“Buffy?” Giles asked his distracted Slayer.



“Sorry,” Buffy said giving him all of her attention. “Giles, I met a knight when Cordie brought me the sword. He wasn’t quite human. He had really fine scales, the kind you get on a real lizard bag, not like alligator belts.”



“Are you trying to accessorize him?” Faith asked.



“No,” Buffy said rolling her eyes. “He said he was from a bunch of knights defending their land from the nasties the Hellmouth drops on them. Oh! His name was Tim. I got a very good vibe off him. Does he sound familiar?”



“Unless there’s a man-killing white rabbit I have to say no, not personally,” Giles replied. “But I may know the order. I’ll give the people I’m thinking of a ring.”



“You have otherworldly knights on your speed dial?” Willow asked.



“Not that kind of ring,” Giles said rummaging through bookshelves. “Here go.”



The former librarian pulled out a miniature gong and struck it with the tiny hammer attached. The sound it made was too deep and resonant for the toy it seemed to be. A moment later there was the blare of a trumpet and voice came through the tiny instrument.



“We are the Order of St. Hubert,” a male voice said. “Please state your name and reason for your call.”



“Hello, this is Rupert Giles for Sir Douglas,” Giles said politely.



“Why of course!” the voice said very much more excitedly. “Please wait.”



Willow and the others looked at Giles with questions until a new voice boomed through the gong. “Rupert!” it declared happily. “How’s it swinging, old cock?”



“Quite well, thank you,” Giles said dryly. “Douglas, I’m sorry to bother you but we could borrow one of your knights errant?”



“Let me guess, Timothy?” Douglas asked less brightly.



“Problem?” Giles asked.



“No,” the other man said unhappily. “He may be our youngest but he is a knight of the Order. Figured it must be your girl he was talking about. We shall send him on a quest to you in a quarter candlemark.”



“Thank you, Douglas,” Giles said. “If I can I’ll explain later.”



“I’ll be waiting,” Douglas replied.



There was another resounding tone and the voices disappeared.



“Now what?” Faith asked.



Buffy turned and looked at Jonathon. “Some old debts get paid.”





===========================================================





Xander arrived at the Magic Box and saw it was crowded. He held back until he realized he knew all of the occupants except one, and that one was talking to Giles and Wesley. He stepped in and went straight to Anya.



“Hi,” he said with a smile. “I’m looking for a love potion to drive a married lady crazy.”



“We keep that in the back,” Anya said with a wicked smile. “Unfortunately I can’t leave the money right now. They might give more of it to Tim or Jonathon.”



“Jonathon?!?” Xander snapped as he whirled around.



“Uh, hi?” Jonathon said with a weak wave.



“I’ll explain in a bit,” Buffy said quickly. “You and Anya need to get to the back room.”



“Dawn, listen carefully,” Anya said as the teen slipped behind the counter. “The newest tax rate page is here and the only thing on sale is the mummy hands. Everything else is full price. You have command of the money.”



“I’ll make as much profit as I can,” Dawn promised.



“Good!” Anya said proudly.





===========================================================





In the back room Willow and Tara holding each other closely, swaying just a few inches off the ground as Melanie Doane’s I Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You came to an end. The two touched the earth again and smiled.



“Thanks for the dance,” Willow whispered.



“Anytime,” Tara promised with bright eyes. Both of them looked at the door. “They’re all here,” Tara sighed.



“Time to start,” Willow said giving Tara one more hug.

[russ]

"Is this where it started?" You mean the previous 26 chapters have been prologue? Obviously Elizabeth has a different point of view from us mere mortals.



Delightful to see another chapter up, Jixer. It's always a pleasure to see your name at the top of the board.



Got to say, you sure know how to build the tension. There are still lots of points I don't understand, but bit by bit things are coming together and being explained. The rest (what is Tara sewing?) just tantalize as we await the final battle. The First thinks it has everything under control; it's in for some surprises, I'm thinking.



Again, and as always, I'm impressed by the way you write each of the characters with such respect. Even minor characters have their role to play, and are allowed their moment in the spotlight. Buffy is having a relationship with a guy who is mature enough to not be threatened by what she does. Amazing; why did that never occur to certain other writers? Xander gets to be brave and intelligent. I could go on, but you get the point.



Thanks again for this.

Russ



When we love and give it everything we've got, no matter what the consequences, we are doing what we were put here to do -- Geneen Roth

[Still Waters Run Deep]

J, you certainly know how to keep the tension up there at level 10.



strange how certain *other* writers found it extremely hard to create, let alone maintain, any tension in S7.



It's a pity that the whole BtVS canon [or just W/T] can't be handed over to the writers at Pens, we all know BtVs will then be elevated to new heights.



Having read some of the crap written by hack writers, working to rote, that actually gets published, how I long for the quality shown here by yourself and others to be on the printed page and not just on the screen.

-----------------------------------

love and kisses

Still Waters



"collecting dead rainbows from puddles and mires"



lostcoast.blogspot.com

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



My monitor seems especially bright when showing Kitten feedback.





russ- With Elizabeth it's less power than it is perspective.



I'm glad I've managed to keep a few things secret enough to tantilize bright Kittens. Tara's handiwork will be revealed in the next chapter, and I can say it's not monogramed sweater.



All of the characters make up the story, so to me they're all important. I think most writers take care here in Pens because we remember how badly treated our girls were by those who saw Tara and eventually Willow as 'minor characters'.



Still Waters Run Deep- I understand as I gave up on BtVS after I found out Tara would not be back. As an aside I think Amber's decision is one big reason the Kitten is as big and as well done as it is.



I can think of dozens of fics here that would make wonderful TV or even graphic novels. Artemis' story 'Finding Miss Kitty Fantastico' cries out for 'Lion King' quality animation or the best of anime. At least, thank goodness, we have Pens and Magic in 2.





Thanks to everyone who has given some of their time to my story,



Jixer

[jixer]

The dragon flapped his wings and felt the night wind again. He tried to start his flame but the holy water had snuffed that for now, and he had a sore throat as well. Angrily he looked for a victim below. He saw movement and the glowing outline of a sword of power. He spiraled on a thermal as he looked at the two running figures. The sword was magic, but no dragon killer. He cocked a wingtip and swept down. The first pass met with a boy’s laughter as the swordsman danced away from his talons.



“Probably a hero,” the dragon muttered angrily.





===========================================================





“Don’t toy with it!” Wes said over the roar of the motorcycle. “And get back from the edge!”





===========================================================





Tara looked up and saw the sun overhead. She touched Willow and saw the moon. Below her the red rock was a solid base. Another storm rolled in, bright lightening and dark clouds followed by a long line of dust dry and hot. She could feel the cold night rain falling on her hand where she held onto Willow.



“This is yours,” the witches said together.



But one storm still raged, and it was beyond their reach.





===========================================================





The dragon felt the magic in the world fade just a bit. He lost altitude and decided to land in front of the boy. He needed that sword and the lad had run out of rooftops. Still the human smiled and brandished the sword. The dragon sighed happily. Heroes were so satisfying, like cracking a hard nut for the sweet meat.





===========================================================





“You know,” the First said. “I can be reasonable.”



“Oh?” Buffy said warily.



“Yes,” he said. “Lets skip the fighting. Cordelia Chase, Power and source, I claim your power.” The First opened himself to receive and instead felt a wrenching that staggered him. He barely blocked the sudden rain of blows from the Slayer as he held on barely to the last controlling spell tied to the Hellmouth. “How?”



“Dipped if I know,” Cordelia replied.





===========================================================





Father William Harmon was wrapped up in his thoughts. The masses for Mary Theresa Kelly had made him look into the girl’s life. He had wept useless tears and then gone to his superiors. After many meetings where his hesitant careful words had turned into a directness that had surprised even himself he was being given his wish. He would be a missionary to the lost ones that filled the streets, his message that all were loved. Now that he had the letter in hand giving him six months in a trial program he desperately hoped he could save at least one soul. In his doubt he knelt and prayed.



The air in the cathedral seemed suddenly unsettled. He turned around and saw a beautiful woman coming towards him. Once he had struggled to maintain his vows. Those days were over but he felt an odd stirring for in one person everything he had ever struggled to control was made manifest. Suddenly he realized the stirring was not lust but danger. Then she grinned and there were too many teeth. The rosary in his hand felt hot. He held it up.



“Halt!” he ordered.



The thing wearing a woman’s form pulled back her hand. It sprouted claws. She lashed at him. There was a ringing noise as she hit the sword that appeared in front of the priest. A huge scaled man-like creature in armor stepped forward and glared at the lethal thing in a woman’s form.



“This is a house of the Lord!” the knightly creature intoned. “By Christ and St. Michael I vow you will not pass my blade!”



“Stupid child,” the woman hissed.



The priest watched in horrid fascination. It was over in handful of seconds. The scaled warrior dropped, his armor flapping and stained crimson with his blood. The woman sneered and began to step past him. The warrior lifted his blade and plunged it into her from below. She spat at him and fell.



“You…will…not…pass,” he wheezed bloodily. Then he fell beside her.



The priest stumbled to his side. In front of the older man’s eyes the blood of the warrior was collapsing the woman’s body where it touched her still form. As he knelt by the scaled fighter Father Harmon saw how the creature’s gaze fell on the rosary. A scaled hand closed on the priest’s wrist as the armored one looked at with frightened eyes.



“I must be shriven, Father,” he begged.



“Hold on!” Harmon said as he scrambled to his feet, tearing off his jacket to cover the wounded knight. The priest pulled out the thin stole and kissed it.



“You…frighten…them….”



“Save your breath,” Harmon pleaded as he began the ancient ritual.





===========================================================





“Well, then” the First said angrily. “How about this?”



Angel let out a howl and Spike joined him. Angel collapsed, pale and sweating, into Cordelia’s arms. Spike smiled and his face took on the familiar vampire’s hunting mask. The vampire pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a deep breath into lungs that served no true purpose now.



“Everyone gets what I want,” the First said.



Spike moved with a vampire’s speed and his hands were filled with the matched pistols.



Buffy hesitated and the First attacked. It was all she could do to defend herself against a human who had been practicing for millennia.





===========================================================





The dragon snapped at the boy. The youngster laughed and danced away, dropping the sword on the roof. The dragon saw him drop next to motorcycle and leap into the sidecar. The creature looked around for a trap and saw a perfectly round object wreathed by smoke heading for him. By instinct he opened his mouth to flame the device. In the last millisecond of his life he remembered he no longer smoked.





===========================================================





“Joyce’s girl,” Spike said lifting the handguns behind Buffy.



Buffy made a last parry and ducked.



The night exploded as Spike fired the weapons with inhuman speed, their recoil barely felt with his undead strength. Each weapon barked eight times. To Buffy it seemed he was shooting into nothingness, but the screams from that nothingness made her realize his vision, half human and half demonic, saw things she could not. All she could see was the First was seething.



“My bodyguards?!?” the First bellowed. “Ingrate! I made you a vampire again!!”



“And you know how rotten undependable we can be,” Spike said. Then he hurled the weapons at the First and leapt at the ancient father of magic and vampires. “No one owns me!”



The First’s blade took off his head. Buffy snarled and lunged. The First gave ground with a smile.



“Your First casualty,” he said lightly.





===========================================================





Oldest Hunter stood up as the wind changed. There was a stench even a babe could follow on the breeze. He grabbed his spear and headed into the wind.





===========================================================





Hernandez did a quick count. There were twelve burned patches on the street, two cops with broken bones and everyone still standing was breathing and smiling at the very least. Even the injured were smiling, their hurts coming from being too close to exploding monsters.



“Good work,” he said loudly. The ringing in his ears from exploding vampires was a symphony. He turned his radio to the standard frequency.



“All suspects down at First and Main,” he said.





===========================================================





Giles felt helpless. Beyond guarding Dawn there was nothing he could do until the First defeated his Slayer or she was triumphant. Suddenly the radio he was holding because she couldn’t wear and fight like she had to squawked in his hand. He listened and then held it up.



“Buffy!” he called out.





===========================================================





“Repeat, all suspects at First and Main down,” Hernandez’s voice almost shouted.



“How’s that for irony?” Buffy asked.



“A dozen of the most powerful vampires destroyed by cops?” the First asked in horror. Suddenly a distant detonation came through the night, followed by a failing death wail. Dawn’s cell chirped.



“It’s Faith,” Dawn said. “She wants more stuff to blow up. I’m not sure the rocket launcher was a good idea.”



“Your lover lives,” the First wheedled. “Surrender and I shall spare you both.”



“Faith?” Buffy laughed. “Oh my God, we’d kill each other! Besides, she likes hip hop.”



“Remind me to skin some brownies with your dying breath, would you?” the First asked politely.





===========================================================





Oldest Hunter ran along the trail to the last of the Medicine Trees. The approach to the old grove was filled with dragon eggs, and it took a day just to go the short distance without releasing the flames in the eggs the flying dragon had dropped on colorful streamers years ago. Ahead of him Oldest Hunter could just make out the form of a giant lizard covered with scales draped with fungus and ripping the ground with its claws. It was headed for the grove. Oldest Hunter prayed to his ancestors as he dashed to head off the creature.



As he arrived just on the edge of the dragon eggs the creature turned the bend. Now Oldest Hunter could see a collar on the beast and the scales so thick they would blunt any spear. It was no thing of the jungle. No animal would look at him so condescendingly or let out a ragged, wheezing laugh.



“Go home, old man,” it cackled. “I am slow death.”



“I am fast death!” the man shouted as he lunged.



The creature opened its great mouth and breathed out a wave of odor that made the old man want to vomit. He let out his disgust with a cry of rage against the intrusion of such evil into this place of his tribe and ancestors. The creature’s mouth was still open as Oldest Hunter ran into that awful maw and drove his spear into the beast’s skull. The spearhead disappeared and a scream came out of the beast with a foul breath.



Oldest Hunter held on and kept up the pressure as the beast swung its head. He felt the cruel teeth rip into his legs and feet as he swung. He felt the burning and then cold as the poison of the beast leached into his wounds. The creature rolled trying to dislodge him.





===========================================================





The landmine would not go off without the pressure of a real target. That was why the government had purchased it and those like it for it was more cost effective over time. Now there was a gradual build up like a foot being placed on it. The trigger mechanism released and the detonator fired. A fraction of a second later more mines had their firing criteria met.





===========================================================





Oldest Hunter heard the snap of the dragon eggs as the beast rolled. There was another noxious scream as the little dragons in their eggs tore at the flesh of the beast. Then one blast filled the mouth with black blood that burned his flesh. The beast lay still, then twitched, its jaws snapping down despite the spear being driven deeper. Oldest Hunter’s body was laced with pain and he heard bones break. With a convulsive leap he rolled out of the monster’s mouth into the clean air of the grove. He looked up as his world grew dark and saw a flower from one of the trees drop a petal. A bird called out for a mate. Oldest Hunter wished he could make a fire for he was so cold…





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Willow felt the rock beneath her tremble slightly. Tara’s attention was on the storm. Willow could feel her lover’s desperation as she sought to bind away the power of Hellmouth, but that unholy tangle of spells was tied to the First. Tara pushed too hard and the storms they had already calmed and bound rumbled ominously.



“Tara!” Willow called out. “We can’t lose what we’ve already done.”



“I’ve almost got it!” Tara called out.



Willow looked back and saw the whole picture. Tara was chasing one part of the spell of the Hellmouth while another trailed off into the distance. Willow followed the long tendril until she saw Tara’s back.



“No!” Willow cried and pushed the power of night into the cunning trap. The spell let out a hiss like lava hitting the ocean and slapped her down.





===========================================================





“The witches,” The First said suddenly in the middle of his attack. “Of course! Brilliant. I must study them down to their anatomy.”



Buffy could not look to her friends but the light that was now casting shadows in front of her filled her heart with dread. She launched a new flurry and the First’s attention returned to the Slayer at hand.





===========================================================





“That’s not possible,” Elizabeth said. She saw Tara’s clothes on daylight and Willow’s on the nighttime sky. Xander and Anya were statues of weathered red rock with eyes that reflected their respective bond. “They’ve never said anything about this.”



THEY MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN, the voice explained. THEY WERE KIND OF DISTRACTED AT THE TIME.





===========================================================





“We have to bind what we have or it’s going to slip away!” Willow shouted over the increasing wind.



“But the rest of the magic!” Tara replied desperately.



“Its from outside our world,” Willow replied.



“Dawn,” Tara said suddenly as Willow’s face reflected her realization. Another rumble in the rocks below almost tumbled the witches. “We’ll lose them,” Tara said in a small, resigned voice.



Both witches lifted their hands.





===========================================================





Thunder drove everyone to the ground as a cold blast of air chilled the night. The First stood up, barely breathing hard. Buffy lifted the sword in her hand. In front of her the First’s next breath steamed like her own.



“All of it gone save that from outside our world,” he said with a shrug. “I’m afraid your blade is just a copper artifact now.”



Beside Buffy there was a groan. She glanced quickly down and saw a naked man of about twenty, flawless and handsome with an Middle Eastern cast to his features. Buffy barely had a chance to block the next attack. Her blade made an unhappy ring and a notch was left in the blade. Only her speed had saved her head.



“Well, all of it gone except that we’re draining from my first creations,” the First smiled. “How does it feel to know your power comes from the things that kill in the dark?”



“What are you talking about?” Buffy asked letting her breathing return to normal.



“Vampires,” the First laughed. “I’m their father. And now I need some help from the kids.”





===========================================================





Drusilla clutched the wrist of the overbearing swain and grinned with all her teeth.



“Don’t you want to meet my Daddy?” she asked sweetly as the man struggled. “He’s so sad with his soul and all but I just know you’ll love him.”



Then her grip slackened and she stumbled. The man pulled away and ran without looking back.





===========================================================





The First stepped back and his eyes suddenly took on a feral glow that Buffy had seen a hundred times before. He shook his head and turned his handsome face to her with a smile.



“We both know how this ends,” he said.





===========================================================





Tara looked around her. She saw the scene in front of her through a hundred different eyes and knew it from senses that she could not name. Willow was with her, despite the collapsed red haired form that drew ragged breaths just yards away from Buffy. Together they tried to move but there were too many things to organize movement. They had the feeling they should hop, fly, or possibly send out a tendril of rootstalk.



“Great,” Willow sighed. “We’re the park.”





===========================================================





“How does it end?” Buffy asked steadying herself internally.



“You can not defeat me,” he said almost sadly.



“I know I can’t beat you but I just-” Buffy started. Then she attacked, but her timing was very slightly off. The First brought his thrust into her chest seeking her heart. His blade stopped and Buffy twisted, catching his blade for an instant while she brought her own notched sword up as hard as she could and drove it into her opponent’s chest by force rather than skill. Blood fountained from the First’s mouth. He staggered back and fell to his knees, his sword dropping from weakening fingers.



“How?” he burbled.



“Willow’s idea was reinforcing the vest with some sort of carbon, or was it boron, anyway plates of this super stuff,” Buffy replied as the First leaned forward and gasped. “Anya found a manufacturer on the net and got a whole sheet, Xander knew a guy who had the machines to make it into small enough parts for Tara to sew onto my old body armor using a pattern Giles found. He calls it ‘brigandine’. We got it blessed at every place we could and Sunnydale is a very churched town.”



As she spoke Buffy reached down and hefted the First’s own sword. He looked at her with eyes more vampire than human.



“You’re not dying so I’m betting you’re draining all of your children to stay alive,” Buffy said coldly. “I don’t know what you’re trying to become, but I don’t like it.”



With that she swung the unmarked sword back as the First held up his hand. She brought the blade down with all her strength across his neck. A bolt of lightening exploded from where the First had been and Buffy was knocked to the ground by a wave of light that knocked Giles to the ground and made the still forms of the others twitch.





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Dawn knew she had ended up being useless as usual. She flinched at the light and braced herself without thinking how she could see the wave moving. The light passed her and she closed her eyes but nothing happened. She watched it dissipate and looked back to her sister. Then she saw the pale blue ball of light hovering just over where the First had been. She stepped closer to it and heard it’s low pitched hum.





===========================================================





“Dawn!” Tara and Willow screamed together.



The teenager stopped and turned back towards the park, her eyes glowing a brilliant green.



“Willow?” Dawn asked hopefully. “Tara?”



“We’re right here!” Tara called out.



“Please get away from that!” Willow begged.



“Where are you?” Dawn asked.



“We’re all around you,” Tara tried to explain.



“It’s backlash from the magic,” Willow added. “Please get away from that energy.”



“…Dawn…” Giles said lifting his head. “Your eyes…”



“What is it?” Dawn asked with fright.



“…green…”



“Energy,” Dawn said with a sudden calm. She took another step towards the pale orb of light.



“No!” Tara howled.



“That’s the Hellmouth, or what the Hellmouth was made out of, isn’t it?” Dawn asked.



“Dawn, please get away from that,” Tara said urgently.



“Can anybody use that sphere?” Dawn asked. “I need to know the truth.”



“Please…” Willow managed to say before her words failed.



“What?” Giles asked now lifting his head. “Good Lord.”



Dawn whirled back when she heard the horns in the distance. She peered into the sphere and saw bands of tiny figures clashing as they raced forward and grew larger. The turmoil of the landscape in the sphere seemed to allow all sorts of travel, all of it centered on reaching the pale blue orb of light.



“Dawn, get away from there!” Giles ordered as he struggled to prop himself up.



“Give us a minute, Dawn!” Tara begged. “Please.”



The girl looked into the sphere.



“We don’t have a minute,” she said. “I’ve got to lock the door.”



Giles’ “NO!” seemed to be echoed by the night itself as Dawn touched the sphere. There was a green light.





===========================================================





Drusilla staggered upright, her strength returning. Then there was a hot feeling and she was aware long enough to see green fire. A second later a burned doll fell ownerless to the alley.





===========================================================





All over the Earth there were flares of green light in the darkness. Had some observer tracked them they would have seen a radiating pattern coming from a small town in California with the rare flare of white flame. There were other things happening as well.





===========================================================





Saunders felt the faintest of ironies as he slipped into bed that night. Here he was, in a monastery with nothing but his digital camera and handful of notes. The entire tour had been devoted to herb gardening and as part of the tour he was spending a night in a place with one of the best herb gardens in North America. He looked through his notes trying to find something useful for the fifteenth, perhaps something that signified neutrality. He was working on it when his card case burst into flame. He leapt back but it was already out, the case and the cards burned to a crisp leaving the desk unmarked.



Saunders was reaching for his cell to call the office when he stopped and decided instead to turn in early. The call could wait.





===========================================================





MAKE A CHOICE



Demons all over the planet heard that. Many made theirs in an instant. For some it was because no other place was home. For some it was made because of ties that would not exist in other places. There were other reasons as well.



Not all choices work out.





===========================================================





In an apartment in Sunnydale Clem looked up from the paper. Megan looked down at her skin. The dermal plates were gone. She looked at Clem and saw an average looking human with a big nose. She hurried to the bathroom. A plain woman looked back at her. Megan slumped.



“What’s the matter?” Clem asked.



“I thought I might be beautiful,” Megan said softly.



“You are now and always have been beautiful,” Clem said taking her hand.





===========================================================





In a church basement in LA the Goster demons heard the sounds of their ancient oppressors.



“We stay ‘cause we rule!” a Kalish demon crowed.



As the door swung open Lorne realized he was seeing the colors in just a slightly more muted tone. Then the Kalish strode in, ruthless mercenaries feared across the multiverse. They bulled through the door, the tops of their heads missing the top door jam by a couple of feet. One of them tripped over pants that were a good foot too long in the length. Behind him Lorne heard the Goster demons begin to laugh in a cold, hard manner.



“What the fuck?” one of the smaller Kalish demons squealed.



“Oh!” Fred said suddenly. “I understand. Now there’s a basic species template. All variations are off of one type.”



“So if a Goster had to be the toughest of their kind to survive,” Lorne mused aloud.



“They’re big,” Gunn said turning around and looking slightly up at a Slavic looking man. “And if you were a small guy at home…”



Gunn turned to look back at the Kalish demons only to see an open door and an empty pair of large pants.





===========================================================





The firemen in Cairo looked at the smoking wreckage and then at the scorched walls of the neighboring buildings. The fruit stand out front was untouched. It was the second time this year they had been to this place. The first time the top two floors had burned off before the fire department had arrived. One of the firemen shook his head.



“What kind of fire was this?” he asked.



He didn’t know it but in other cities across the globe his counterparts were asking the same question.





===========================================================





In the lowest basement of the headquarters of the Council of Watchers Alistair Browne was growing even more bored. Dracula had been reclining on his slab for thirty-four hours now. Alistair heard an odd sound like a click and looked up just in time to see the doors of the vault open. Dracula leapt to his feet-and screamed as green fire burned and then kept on burning until even the ashes of the vampire were consumed. The sprinklers did not come on.



Alistair Browne’s hand was shaking as he called the Senior Watcher.





===========================================================





Halfrek hesitated. She could hear the calls for help, and knew even if she didn’t hear them she would know that they were there.



“We have more in our own worlds, and fewer ones to help,” a Justice demon beside her said.



Halfrek nodded and turned away. Fortunately she had someone to lead her for she was quite blind with her tears.





===========================================================



“Wow,” Elizabeth said in a stunned voice. “I mean I’d heard, but…wow.”



WAIT FOR ME FOR A MINUTE, LIZ



Elizabeth nodded as she looked around. Now the inside of the sphere was green and park-like. On a distant hill in moonlight Dawn sat around a campfire with Spike, Timothy, and Oldest Hunter. On a plain the four of them faced an army of trolls driven out of another dimension. Meanwhile Dawn was reading a book in a meadow while the other three sparred, or perhaps just engaged in horseplay, with cattails. Elizabeth looked farther and saw Dawn and her companions dotted across the broad expanse. She didn’t see the small glade with a tree and Dawn kneeling beside Buffy.





===========================================================





“Hey,” Dawn said gently.



“Are you all right?” Buffy asked. “That last bang was close.”



“I’m fine, Buffy,” Dawn said. “And I’ll be fine while the rest of you work on getting me out of here.”



Buffy looked around and her eyes flew open. She stood up looked at Dawn in fright.



“What did you do?” Buffy demanded.



“I locked the Hellmouth,” Dawn explained. “Of course some people don’t get the hint and they try to break in anyway.”



“So we’ll just get rid of the damn thing!” Buffy said. “Where’s my sword?”



“Buffy,” Dawn said in a tone with just the hint of a whine. “You’re being all big sister for the baby again!” A long moment passed and Dawn looked chagrined. “I can’t believe I said that after all this time.”



“All this time?” Buffy repeated.



“See the girl on the hill?” Dawn asked.



“Yeah,” Buffy said unhappily.



“When you see her you’ll know how long ‘all this time’ is,” Dawn explained.



“But…”



“I’m fine,” Dawn said gently. She smiled as Buffy reached out and ran her fingers through her little sister’s hair. “I just have to be the Key until you can separate Dawn from what I have to be.”



“Isn’t there some sort of time loop thing where you can come home now?” Buffy asked in a very small voice.



“No,” Dawn said sadly. “All the nows would happen at once and-let’s just say it would be very, very bad.”



“But you can come home, right?” Buffy asked pointedly.



“I’ll even be able to come home for Thanksgiving,” Dawn said. Then she frowned. “Of course it’s only for one thousand four hundred forty eight minutes and six point four seven eight two seconds every episode with an average mean derivation of seventeen ten thousandths of a second.”



“You’ve already been through this,” Buffy said softly.



“Not this part,” Dawn said. “You’ve always told me I’d know when we’d have to have this conversation. Its been driving me crazy.”



“For all this time?” Buffy asked.



“Even longer here,” Dawn sighed. “That’s the drawback existing in a multi-variance temporal convergence with broad dimensional interfaces-sorry. Yes would have been my answer but you just bring out all sorts of things, big sister.”



“Always,” Buffy smiled. “Are you okay with them?”



Dawn looked at where her sister was pointing. Spike and Oldest Hunter were wrestling while Timothy read a book.



“It’s been educational,” Dawn said.



“Does the, um, guy with the least clothes always wear, um, that…”



“Oh, that,” Dawn said with a shrug. “It was part of who he was, so yes.”



“Learning anthropology?” Buffy asked.



“And how to be an elementary school referee,” Dawn laughed. “Talk about sharing and playing nicely with each other, they don’t always.”



Buffy actually laughed. She leaned back against the tree and felt the cool breeze drift through the glade. Dawn smiled sadly.



“You need to wake up now,” Dawn said giving Buffy a hug. “Don’t let Will and Tara guilt trip themselves, and tell Giles to keep carrying all the usual stuff.”



“But the Hellmouth is gone,” Buffy said worriedly.



“Yeah, but the outside magic will take a longer time to work out,” Dawn explained. “You and Faith will be Slayer strong for a while, then it will fade until you can only bench press a bison instead of a hippo. Which reminds me…”



“Yeah?”



“Tell Giles I still haven’t found out what the manatee and the giraffe mean,” Dawn said with a frown. “It’s frustrating!”





===========================================================





Elizabeth had wandered quite a ways but Dawn found her all too soon in Elizabeth’s opinion. Suddenly Dawn was just there.



“All right,” Dawn said firmly. “No more stops unless they’re absolutely critical moments in family history.”



“But-” Elizabeth began to retort.



“Critical moments,” Dawn said as she became light again. BE GLAD YOU’RE GETTING THAT



===========================================================





Buffy opened her eyes and brushed away a tear. Tara and Willow were being helped up by Xander and Anya. Giles looked ashen, staring at the place where he’d seen Dawn disappear. Cordelia and Angel were leaning on each other.



“Would somebody please tell us what happened?” Xander asked.



“We didn’t see or hear anything,” Anya complained.



“Dawn’s…Dawn’s gone,” Giles said flatly.



“No,” Xander whispered. He and Anya turned toward Buffy as Willow and Tara leaned on each other and cried. Buffy walked up to the witches and wrapped them up in her arms.



“We’re so sorry,” Willow choked out.



“We’ll find her,” Tara said shakily. “We’ll get her back.”



“I know,” Buffy said. “She told me so.”

Edited by: jixer at: 2/18/05 10:01 pm

[jixer]

Chapter 28

Fiat Lux











“You can come out now,” Cordelia said as she opened the trunk.



“That’s open to debate,” Angel complained as he gracelessly tried to get out of the car. “Why do classic cars have such uncomfortable trunks?”



“Just another missed market segment,” Cordelia said looking around her. “Damn! This alley brings back memories. Let’s get inside.”



“Front door or back?” Angel asked.



“The back is fine,” Willow said from the door. “Hi guys.”



“Which one of you felt us?” Angel inquired.



“Both of us,” Willow said with a pout. “We were linked…”



Angel’s eyes grew wide.



“Psychically,” Willow finished. Then she smiled broadly.



“That was cruel,” Angel sniffed.



“I warned you about her,” Cordelia said lightly.



“Come on in,” Willow said. “We’re ready.”





===========================================================





“I thought there would be more…dramatic dialogue, I suppose,” Elizabeth said looking away from the light. “Maybe some evocative music somewhere in the background.”



I LIKE MELANIE DOANE, the voice said.



“I’m sure she’s very nice,” Elizabeth said politely.



The voice just sighed.





===========================================================





Buffy looked at Xander. He could see the Slayer’s hesitation for just a second, then she just took a deep breath.



“Okay, Xan,” Buffy said levelly. “You’re on.”





===========================================================





Chief Hernandez said goodbye to Father Joe at St. Michael’s. The cop went to his patrol car and tucked the pepper spray he’d just picked up into the back seat. His beeper buzzed softly. He looked at the message as he got in and buckled up. He grabbed the radio handset.



“Dispatch, send a recall page to all Red Patrol officers,” he said. “And put the Tac Team on standby.”





===========================================================





Lilah Morgan hesitated slightly when the special phone rang with its too cheery buzz. She picked it up and wondered what she was going to hear.



“Hi,” a male voice said. “I’m calling to tell you that the Slayer is going to attack after her friend does seven days of magic. It looks like Cordie can do magic. Who knew? Gotta go. Bye.”



Lilah dialed a number she hadn’t had the nerve to ever write down.





===========================================================





“That didn’t sound very dark magic minion-y,” Cordelia said with a frown.



“I’d know,” Xander shrugged. “Whoever did it was pretty casual about it.”



“It was good enough,” Buffy said tersely. “Okay, everyone knows their place?”



“I think I should come with you,” Dawn said.



“You’re with Giles at our rendezvous,” Buffy said firmly. “You’re a secret weapon.”



“Will this attract our opponent?” Connor asked holding up an ornate and rather useless sword.



“Oh yeah,” Willow said proudly. “It feeds off the background magic and broadcasts on every magical wavelength.”



“Then we should be off,” Wesley said. “We have the farthest to go.”



“Be careful,” Buffy and Angel said at the same time.



“De nada,” Faith said with a grin.



“We’re cool,” Connor said to Angel with a smile.



When the door closed behind them Angel took a step forward, then stopped, his shoulders slumped as he stared at the door.



“That…” he tried to say.



“Sucked,” Buffy said sadly. “They’ll be okay. I’ve got to change. Do you have it Tara?”



“Finished it on the way back,” Tara replied handing Buffy a stiff bundle.





===========================================================





“Listen up!” the Chief said to a room full of nervous patrol officers. “Tonight we’re going on three patrols of four officers each in the downtown area. In accordance with our anti-gang policy you’ll be wearing these.”



One of the younger officers picked up the Star of David and the cross. He looked at the Chief with a frown. “What about the ACLU?” he asked.



“This is anti-gang,” Hernandez replied. “And since these bastards are probably way out there on something we have a special pepper spray we’re going to use.”



“What makes this so special?” a skeptic asked.



The same prayers for holy water and the blessing used on oils for the last rites, Hernandez thought, but he said “Just don’t get any of it on you or you’ll find out.” Then he turned to face all of them. “I know there are things you don’t talk about out there on the night shift. This will help us take back the night.”





===========================================================





Gunn looked at the Goster demons and frowned thoughtfully. They were kneeling along with the illegals in front of a trio of candles in glass with the Virgin of Guadalupe printed on the front of the glass. Gunn had seen the candles in LA all his life, usually near where there had been death or trouble.



“What are they doing?” Fred asked softly.



“Praying,” Gunn replied quietly.



“Are they Catholic?” she wondered aloud.



“Maybe, maybe not,” Gunn said thoughtfully. “I knew a Muslim brother who wouldn’t go outside without the Koran and he told me Mary was aces in Islam. Maybe in Gosterville she’s cool too. Maybe it’s a something that reminds them of home at a scary time. I just hope it helps them get by.”



“What’s gotten to you?” Fred asked gently. “Not that I’m complaining, it’s just, well, um…”



“I’m not crazy?” Gunn asked smiling at her like he smiled at no one else. When she nodded shyly he looked at the smallest Goster demon. “Look at the little demon’s wrists.”



“Oh...” Fred said and swallowed when she saw the wide scars on the pale skin. “Shackles.”



“You know nearly every society ever had slavery of some kind or another?” he asked distantly.



“Yeah,” she said unhappily. “It usually disappears around the time industrialization takes hold.”



“There’s millions of slaves on Earth right now,” Gunn said flatly. “I don’t think its industrialization so much. I think its greed and not giving a shit.”



“So you’re going to show how much you care about this issue with an axe?” Fred asked in a clinical manner.



“That’s my motivation, the axe is just my idiom,” Gunn said with a smile.



“You are so LA,” Fred snickered.





===========================================================





The children were drifting in a bunch of lifeboats. She couldn’t keep all of them together on the dark sea. She was able to keep the largest group together but the boats full of human children kept drifting off into the fog. She went after them but she could not find her way in the cold grayness that swallowed up even their cries. Now the children of other dimensions were crying and she couldn’t find those lifeboats either.



“Help!” Halfrek called out. “Help me! I’m losing them!”



“Halfrek!” Willow said.



The Justice demon’s eyes snapped open. The red haired witch looked down at her with eyes full of worry.



“I’m all right,” Halfrek muttered.



“Halfrek, I’m sorry-” Willow began in a rush.



“I’ve got to go,” the demon interrupted. Then Halfrek teleported without another word. The shock of the sudden cold in this new place sent shivers through the demon. On the floor in front of her three children, two girls and a boy, none of them over ten, sat on a dirty mattress and looked up at her with wide eyes.



“I didn’t hear you come in,” a man said behind her. “Which one do you want?”



“What about their parents?” Halfrek said in a harsh whisper.



“I’ve got the youngest one’s momma locked up downstairs,” he answered. “You want her and the brat? That’s expensive.”



“I want all of them,” Halfrek said turning around in her full demonic form. “The price is going to be very high.”



“My God!” the man squealed.



“Bit late for prayers,” the demon replied.





===========================================================





Willow sagged a bit as Halfrek swirled away. “I’m sorry,” the witch whispered. Then she stood up. Beside her Tara took her hand.



“We’ve got to go,” Tara said softly.





===========================================================





“Ah, this should be delicious,” the First said indolently.



“Seven days of magic and she’s coming to the source,” one of the First’s demons said warily in a beautiful contralto. “It could be a stratagem.”



“My dear girl, everything to you is something to do with war,” the First replied. “But that’s why I bound you in the first place.”



“My target is too small,” she complained. “A pitifully easy opponent.”



“But one who is linked to the undoing of your nature,” her master replied in a pedantic tone.



“We are all thus linked,” said a second demon in a voice of rales and gasps. “At least yours move.”



“I will enjoy mine,” a sultry voice laughed. All who heard it were touched by the lust that it almost promised. “Though I fail to see how such a mousy man can destroy me in a world that all but worships me now.”



“You are not yet a god of degradation,” the First warned.



“They are coming closer,” the war demon hissed.



“Over the Hellmouth,” the First said smugly. “With her little Slayer friend as bodyguard. That is just so cute. It just makes you want to eat them right up.”





===========================================================





In a late night session in the Secure Wing of the New York office of Wolfram and Hart, Godfrey Somerset paused when the new Senior Partner seemed distracted. The First finally turned to the boardroom and smiled.



“A small matter has worked out better than I had hoped,” the ancient being said. “I’ll be with all of you in a moment.





===========================================================





“I don’t like this,” Angel complained as they opened the door.



“Its half finished,” Buffy said almost defensively. “The architect’s drawings really used the Razorback colors in a neat way.”



“And the cheerleaders get their own weight and routine rooms,” Cordelia said excitedly.



“I meant being over the Hellmouth,” Angel said in an exasperated tone.



“Oh, that,” Buffy shrugged.



“Got to go to work,” Cordelia said brightly. “Cover up, Angel.”





===========================================================





“Where are the witches?” a bass voice inquired.



“At a safe distance,” the First said looking away from the school to the park in front of it. “Or rather what they think will be safe. Now be quiet all of you. The last Power is going to make my web stronger.”





===========================================================



Elizabeth watched the light in the Hellmouth dim to almost nothing, but it did not become truly dark for in the false night countless eyes glowed like malevolent stars. Without thinking she stepped back as she felt the cold and hate-filled hunger behind those eyes.



“Hundreds of them,” Elizabeth said in a shocked whisper.



OVER A THOUSAND the voice said.



“But how…?”





===========================================================





Tara looked at Anya and Xander sitting on the ground holding hands, the red rock rings touching where they were worn on their fingers next to their wedding bands. Then she looked with her power and saw the two stone pillars connected by gold. She smiled.



“Wow,” Willow said. “I can feel it.”



“So can I,” Tara said with a smile.



Then the two witches clasped hands. “Now,” they said together.





===========================================================





Now



“That was cool!” Connor said excitedly as he unsheathed the sword.



“Let’s go,” Faith said slinging a bulky bag onto her back. “Try to keep up,” she added with a grin.



“Now be careful!” Wesley called out as the two scrambled up the fire escape of the old building on the edge of downtown Sunnydale.



“We will!” both replied.



Wes doubted it but followed their path on the ground and tried to remember how to ride a Harley with a sidecar.





===========================================================





Jonathan flinched at the clarity of the message. He blinked and saw Timothy cross himself.



“Saint Michael, be with me,” the knight intoned reverently.



Jonathan sent up a silent prayer to any deity that would give a screw up a moment of their time.





===========================================================





“Shit!” Hernandez whispered.



“What’s wrong, Chief?” a cop asked nervously.



“They’re on their way,” Hernandez said confidently. Then he smiled in a way that gave his men more confidence than words could. “Seems they’re a bit ignorant. Time for some education.”





===========================================================





Dawn touched a key on Willow’s Powerbook. The cellular modem chirped very discreetly.





===========================================================





Buffy took a deep breath. Cordelia let a wisp of power show as a radiant glow.





===========================================================





“Come on, honey,” the First said enticingly.



Next to him the dragon frowned. His ears had heard a click like that of one of the mechanical devices this age loved.





===========================================================





In the park near the high school Willow’s hand turned gracefully. Tara exhaled with a slow breath.





===========================================================





Dawn looked down at the screen and saw the text.



Sunnydale High School Emergency Drain Valve Program



The girl held her breath. Then a new line began flashing.



Drain Valve OPEN







===========================================================





In many religious traditions water is an important sign of purity. Some use it in worship, some take it as a sign of a grace, some simply accept that it represents a gift to give life and is thus pure. Seven people had been led out over the pool at Sunnydale High. Seven people had blessed it, each in a unique way. Now the water-blessed, holy, or acknowledged as a gift and reminded of its blessed nature-poured into the Hellmouth.



Water can wear down a mountain, and a narrow rush of water can cleave rock. This water did that and cut through curses both ancient and new. The walls became solid and confining as the First screamed in rage, his anger swallowed up by the death howls of the essences of vampirism that were suddenly caught in a tight space filling with water that in this place glowed with the light of a dawn sky. Then a skull, so long just part of the unholy ambiance of this iteration of the Hellmouth, its first use lost to the subsequent denizens of this place, was washed from the wall. It was caught in the flow, and for a second red light flared in long empty sockets. Then the light was quenched and the stream swept it against a rock where it shattered.





===========================================================





In a cave on the coast of Africa a human skull’s empty sockets flared with blue fire. The ancient demon caught in the glow screamed in terror and backed away, gibbering in his fear.





===========================================================





Buffy staggered as the gym shook and screamed. Beside her Angel grabbed Cordy and with the speed of the vampire ran for the door with her in his arms. Buffy took a strong grip on the sword and followed.



*I don’t want to be buried again!* the sword called out in real terror.



“Don’t worry,” Buffy said proudly. “This place is seismically safe.”





===========================================================



It was impossible but the Hellmouth itself was being called away. The current master of the Hellmouth had to make a decision. The First felt the connection to his armies fail as his power followed the ancient weave of spells, some of them his own, towards Chase’s witches. Inside the filling cavern the last of his vampires tore at their companions for the highest ground for a few more seconds of life. Then the saturated walls began to move under his remaining predators. He glanced up and saw the Slayer acting as rear guard in her silly uniform.



“Find those in that uniform and empty them!” he roared at the vampires. The he looked at the straining demons barely under his control. “Be loosed upon your victims!”



Behind him his bodyguards stood, four ranks of four in unwavering precision. The First grasped those wisps that still held him to the now undefined Hellmouth and pulled. It would not return.



“Follow me,” he growled. “After I kill the Slayer and win back my way into the world of men you shall kill everything near me until I tire of seeing blood.”



“We obey,” they said without pause.



“Now for Ms. Chase and her Slayer,” the First said. He watched Cordelia as she was carried to her witches. He saw the power that saturated Sunnydale flowing into the young women. It made him laugh with an unexpected joy. Kill the Slayer, take the Power and then drain her witches. It was all too easy for he had the Power’s true name.





===========================================================





“Yes!” Dawn said happily at the faint rumble in the earth.



“Now what are you doing out here alone, platelet?” Spike asked behind her.



“She’s with me,” Giles snapped.



“Save for an old shopkeeper,” Spike added.



“And Willow and Tara!” Dawn said quickly.



She turned and looked at the witches. Tara’s eyes were incandescent, and Willow’s were pits of purest black.





===========================================================





In a place where winds howled and storms raged as ancient powers were loosed a pair of young women leaned against each other and swayed to music only they heard. The dancers slowly were losing their form as the storms swept into them, becoming day and night.





===========================================================





The First felt the witches use a touch of the power Chase must have been feeding them. They were his for the taking.





===========================================================





Chief Hernandez turned back to his three-man section of tonight’s patrol. He saw the vampires stumble out of nothingness, steaming and coughing. Then they began milling about as the posters that were on every wall began to glow.



“There they are!” he shouted.



The cops froze for a second as their Chief dashed past them. They saw one of the things they had feared turn towards Hernandez. Then the new pepper spray was in his hand and the greatest fear of the night shift grabbed its face as tiny flames erupted on its body. The thing screamed and tried to get away.



“First and Main!” one called out on his radio. “First And Main! Watch that fucker squeal! Burn you son of a bitch!”





===========================================================





Death was near, the leader of the ultimate vampires knew. He could hear it but he was blind and his bowels were clenched in agony. It grew worse when he looked in the direction of the noise coming to him. All of that paled into insignificance as the skin on his face became heat itself. He lashed out.





===========================================================





Jerome Dawkins had been on the Sunnydale Police Force for eighteen years. He’d been afraid every night he’d been in uniform, and now his nightmare was screaming in agony and lashing out blindly. He grabbed the pencil he’d carried every night on patrol and plunged it into the chest of the monster in front of him. The cop was knocked back by the wave of fire as the creature fell apart and the dust of centuries touched the flames that had broken out on the vampire. The small dust explosion rocked the night.



Dawkins stood up and let out a wordless cry of triumph. Then he found his words.



“Take the fuckers down!” he yelled with victor’s zeal.





===========================================================





“Is everybody okay?” Buffy asked as Angel set Cordelia down.



“I’m safe,” the First said politely. “Hello, Miss Summers.”



Buffy whirled around with a Slayer’s speed to see the handsome face of her dreams. Buffy saw him draw from the night the mate to the sword she carried.



“As I said, I’m safe,” he went on. “But those who oppose me are going to die tonight. Can you feel them racing to their targets, Slayer? They’re going to kill the ones you should have saved above all others.”



Buffy looked at him and smiled. She held up the sword.



“Do it, you piece of tin,” she said without looking away from the First’s unfathomable eyes.



Under her hand the twin strings broke.





===========================================================





Terri Green stepped out into the night and took a deep breath. She’d dutifully gone to the dinner and now she was packing for the day ahead. Next to her another visitor was rolling out a box with a pair of beaded chaps bungeed onto it.



“Very Roy Rogers,” she said.



“Thanks,” the other guest said. He pulled down his trunk lid and Terri gasped.



“Mark Horowitz?”



“Terri?” the young man said. “Terri Green? Aren’t you Rabbi Green’s daughter?”



“Or Slick Sophie Greenberg when I can get the time,” she replied.



“I’m Coyote Abe,” he said shyly.



“I heard you play at Trails End!” she laughed.



“You were at the singing cowboys jam?”



The question was swallowed up by a loud snap of thunder. The lights went out.



“Sing a dirge, Horowitz,” a female voice commanded. “Your influence will no longer hang over me.”





===========================================================





One second Jonathan had been in the Magic box clutching his bag of magic focuses and the next he was rolling onto a dark parking lot in rural Pennsylvania. Ahead of him he could hear voices.



“Influence?” a young man’s voice said. “I run a blog and a I dabble in politics.”



“You are a voice of reason, growing powerful beyond your knowing,” a cold contralto replied. “I cannot have that.”



Jonathan touched a wooden box and held it up. “Capture and bind!” he yelled.



The light flickered back on to reveal a tall woman dressed in human skins. The remnants of humans writhed on her body, each attacking another. In her shadow generations of revenge swept by in grim detail. The distant screams froze Jonathan as his limited power disappeared into the box’s spell. She turned to him and drew a pair of swords.



“Revenge will sweep out again, unbound and always hungry,” she laughed. “You cannot hold me forever, little wizard. Not that it will do you any good. In this age where can you find two virgins to destroy me?”



There was a roar that almost swallowed up a sharp crack. The woman looked down and saw the skins began to tear at her own flesh. She screamed as she became smaller and smaller. Jonathan looked up and saw a young woman with a short shotgun with old style hammers and a young man with what he always thought of as a cowboy revolver staring at the vanishing horror. The guns had wisps of smoke fading out of their barrels.



“What was that?” the woman asked in a shaky voice. The young man just looked pale.



“Let me try to explain,” Jonathan said tiredly.





===========================================================

[Still Waters Run Deep]

Wow!........wow, wow, wow, wow. words fail me. wow.

-----------------------------------

love and kisses

Still Waters



"collecting dead rainbows from puddles and mires"



lostcoast.blogspot.com

[Missocki]

HOLY CRAP! The Voice was Dawn? Then just who Liz? OMG! Spikey dead? But hanging with Dawn, that's cool. I'm happy and sad at the same time for trapt Dawn, cuz happy for the yay, she's not useless, and sad for the whole stuck thingy.



Did anyone tell you that you are the best writer ever? Wow, just wow!

"I think when I cease to go to the bathroom, then I can call myself famous." -Amber Benson

"Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly." -Rose Franken

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



It is a heartening thing to have Kitten feedback on a long weekend.





Still Waters Run Deep- Just trying to capture what should have been. At least here in Pens W&T and their friends can get their due.



Missocki- I think to be really truthful the Voice is what Dawn has become. Liz will make it home in the next chapter (keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not attacked by a pack of Wild Tangents) after seeing a couple of those 'critical moments'.



A writer is only as good as his muse- and I have 2 in W&T!





My thanks to everyone who took some time with the story and most of all those who have left that wonderful writers elixir-Kitten Feedback!





Jixer

[russ]

To say I'm impressed with this chapter would be like saying the ocean is rather damp, or February is a cool month. You have done a masterful job of bringing the various threads of the story together. In the interest of keeping the commentary shorter than the chapter, I'll just touch on a few favourite parts.



It seems I say this every time, but it's the teamwork aspect that impresses me most. Buffy is so much more, as you write her, because she doesn't have to be the whole show. Rather than bemoaning her fate and insisting she's the one and only, here Buffy knows she can't do it all alone, and is ok with that. She takes the lead but depends on her team, trusting each to do their part.



Another aspect that you bring to the story is that of spirituality. While Joss' atheism was part of everything he wrote, it’s not possible to really do justice to a story about supernatural evil without making supernatural good a part of the equation. Here the spiritual forces of light are arrayed against the darkness.



And, let’s hear it for Sunnydale’s Finest, finally getting a chance to “take back the night.” Instead of their usual portrayal as either villains or blind & stupid, you let the police be real people, scared like any sane person would be in Sunnydale, and frustrated at their inability to do their job properly. Wouldn’t Buffy’s career have been easier if they had had blessed pepper spray all along.



I appreciate the little touches of humour that leaven this mostly serious chapter. From Willow’s “connected … psychically,” to Dawn’s “bench press a bison instead of a hippo,” you do one of the things the show did best: combine drama with wit. Here's to Saunders for deciding to stay put in the monastery. Gardeners are people of good sense.



Elizabeth is getting quite an education; now she just needs to learn to appreciate good music. Since my guess about the identity of her teacher was right, I’ll venture one on her own identity. Buffy’s daughter, right? We’ll see.



I’m not so worried about those Wild Tangents. If they delay Liz’s homecoming but lengthen the story, that’ll be just fine.

Russ



When we love and give it everything we've got, no matter what the consequences, we are doing what we were put here to do -- Geneen Roth

Edited by: russ at: 2/20/05 2:57 am

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-



Even in the morning when fingers seem to want to type in a different language it is wonderful to see Kitten feedback.



russ- Thank you! I'm glad you think I got most of the plates off their poles where they've been spinning with only a few cracks.



I think the teamwork really just comes from having Buffy's friends, i.e. people she can trust, back in her life. Buffy and Willow have shared their darker secrets and are there for each other once again, and sharing one burden makes sharing the burden of responsibility easier. Getting Tara back was the reason for the story, but getting her family back was just as important for me.



As a fanfic writer I get to kick over the traces when it comes to things that bugged me, and some of those were the near useless PTB, crosses and holy water working but in a way that seemed more based on a Dracula video game than a struggle of good versus evil, and Willow's Judaic heritage being mostly used for labelling. There were occasionally very good references to religion or the power of spirituality such as AtS's revelation of the 'evil' demon's Buddhist shrine, one that reminded me of Zen Buddhism which seemed to fit the true nature of demon-defender and bodyguard of a mother carrying a future leader of good. However JW never seemed to go beyond window dressing and shock value when it came to religion, spirituality, or the power of good people for the most part.



And since I had a sense that Tara was a decent and good person with a developed spiritual aspect I think we have another reason she was underused in the series.



The Sunnydale PD is kind of my salute to the people who keep trying even if they're up to their asses in alligators. Here as a fanfic writer I get to take those unexplored possiblities like Buffy testing well for law enforcement in Season 3 and run with them and grow the character in a different path.



Finally, all I will say about Liz is the next chapter will explain more.





Now I'm off to take my lady out for the day,





Jixer

[Irene73]

Howdy



Simply put...AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!



There are still some things I don't understand...you know Elizabeth for one...but as you continue to update I'm sure all the dots will be connected, that and I will be rereading this wonderful story again...CONGRATULATIONS on a job well done.



Wouldn't it be a great idea to have pics to go along with your fic? I've seen some that, I believe is Chris Cook has done, are very good. I've seen them on his site "Through the Looking Glass". Your fic would really come to life...not that it already hasn't...just adds more yummy goodness.



UPDATEY GOODNESS SOONISH?

IRENE

Edited by: Irene73 at: 2/22/05 11:09 am