Disclaimer: The Warcraft universe is owned by BLizzard North Entertainment and BTVS is owned by Mutant Enemy productions. If you recognized it, it's probably not mine. Now, let's go deconstruct some card deck houses.

~! #$%^&*()_+

Jonathan Levinson whimpered. He had made the mistake of taking his scooter on a trip to shop at the Magic Box instead of calling a cab and been accosted by a vampire. Caught without any of his magic tools, wooden crosses, runed demon controlling bones, even the enchanted boomstick he'd bought from Ethan Rayne after Buffy had stopped him from committing suicide. Now he was backed up to a dumpster in a blind alley with no way out.

"Please don't kill me."

The vampire, chuckled. "Heh, you gave me a good run there. I bet the bloods just pumpin. I bet it's hot. Sweet. Full of fear. That always tastes good."

Then there was the sound of a door opening. Oh thank god!

"Hey, what's going on?" said a soft sweet voice. Jonathan looked over and saw a very familiar blond 20 year old.

"Buffy! God you have no idea how happy I am to see you! Is that the magic box?"

"Uh, yeah. Who are y-"

The vampire however had gotten tired of being ignored and growled loudly. "Get out of here, girlie. This doesn't concern you."

Buffy ignored him further though. "Wait, Levinson? Talk about a blast from the past! I haven't seen you since that macho spell you pulled a year and a half ago! Is this guy bothering you?"

Jonathan nodded vigorously. "He's been chasing me for the last two blocks, Buffy. Please? Could you help me out here? I swear, I'm not going around casting dangerous spells anymore. I just wanted to buy some potions ingredients."

"Fine," the fang-head drawled. "You want to stay, I don't mind a little appetizer."

Buffy smiled and walked towards him slowly, confusing the monster. "Have you ever heard the expression 'biting off more than you can chew'?" The ridged forehead crinkled in confusion. "Um, ok. How about 'Vampire Slayer'?" The creatures stepped forward slightly, confusion now written all over his deformed face.

"The hell you talking about?"

"Wow," she replied, voice bemused. "It's been a while since I met one who didn't respond to that. How about 'oh god, my leg, my leg'?"

Jonathan watched, much calmer and now slightly amused as the vampire lost patience and charged his...friend? Part time savior? It didn't take more than a second till his attacker was screaming out just the same statement Buffy had posed earlier, his leg bent backwards at the kneecap. Seizing the opportunity, Jonathan grabbed a broken pallet slat from the top of the dumpster he was up against and stabbed it through the vampire's back, dusting him.

Buffy looked down at the pile of ashes and huffed. "Been a long time since I met one that didn't know me." She looked up at him and frowned slightly. "Why'd you do that though? I was happy for the distraction."

Jonathan looked at her confused and worried for a second and then his expression cleared. "Righ..! It's the end of the year! Big bad on the loose! I'd heard something about that. You don't ah, think I could help? To repay you for saving me?" She stared at him. "I could be support. I wouldn't get in your way! I know a lot of spells, and I'm getting really good at controlling demons. Whatever you're dealing with I could make it freeze, or confused! I'd say I could banish it, but if it's stumping you and Willow..."

Buffy nodded thoughtfully. "Confused… confused is good. Ok, come on."

Jonathan smiled brightly and tried not to stare too much at the shiny tight leather pants Buffy was wearing as she led him through the back rooms of the Magic box.

"What was going on, Buff?" Levinson heard the voice of Xander Harris. "Trouble outside?"

"No," she replied quietly. "Just a fledgling trying to eat Jonathan here."

He waved to the group hesitantly. "Hi."

There was a chorus of hellos and Xander came over and pulled him over to where he and a curly blond were standing.

"Xander, who is this?" Anya asked at the same time Buffy asked Giles. "Anything?"

"Nothing you want to hear. The, the ritual it's..." The watcher, former librarian, and new proprietor of the magic box replied.

Simultaneously Xander whispered "this is an old friend from highschool, Ahn. He's like me, if I'd never become friends with Buffy."

"So dead then." She replies matter of factly. Jonathan frowns self consciously, trying to shut Xander's rude lady friend out and listen to what's going on. It was always the same. Why was it always the same? Girls were only ever not cruel when either he was writing the rules to reality or they were Willow and Buffy. Speaking of Buffy. "Explain It Again," she snapped.

Rituals? He was good at rituals. They were like D&D. Or math. All you needed to do them were a little patience, a steady hand and a good grasp of basic concepts. He could very probably help with this.

"He runs the comic book store." Xander explained to Anya. "He's also in college and does magic on the side. You remember when things got weird just before we took out Adam right?"

"Oh!" Anya replied, her voice sounding brighter. She grabbed his shoulder, almost causing him to miss what Giles was saying next and whispered into his ear. "Be sure to buy lots. We've a very good stock for powerful warlocks."

"The Key was living energy. It needed to channeled, poured into a specific place, at a specific time. The energy would flow into that spot, the walls between dimensions would break down. It stops when the energy is used up and the walls come back up. Glori uses that time to get back to her own dimension, not caring that all manner of hell will be unleashed in the meantime."

Jonathan's eyes bugged out at this tired pronouncement. Dimensional travel. And not even just some petty summoning either. They were dealing with big stuff. But what was this key? It sounded like a really powerful artifact. He forced a smile down imagining what he could possibly do with such an item. The places he could go! Anything would be open to him if he could have it! And it was magic, doubtless there would be ways to use it that didn't involved the causing of an apocalypse. It was just the demons being chaotic evil again.

"But only for a little while, right?" Anya asked, hesitantly. "The walls come back, no more hell?"

"That's only if the energy is stopped." Willow explained saddly. "How that the key is Human..." She looked forlornly over at Buffy. "Is Dawn..."

Dawn..! Jonathan's mind screeched to a grinding halt. Cute little 15 year old Dawn? Well, that explained why she'd come into the shop asking about comics with heroes who were created by magic rather than born. He'd given her Merlin, Raven and Wonder Woman.

"When blood flows, the gates shall open. The gates shall close when it flows no more." Giles droned out, tiredly, depression and anger permeating his tone. "When Dawn is dead."

"I Have Places to Be!" Jonathan jumped as the voice of an unknown in pajamas cried out, and opened his mouth to speak, before closing it again. Did Dawn really need to die to stop the ritual? Magic he'd found relied just as much on riddles or utterly literal translations as things that would seem obvious when read. It was a lesson he'd learned at cost over the years since he'd been awakened to the truth of their town by the scoobies shenanigans.

"What is it Jonathan?" Xander asked.

"Well, does she really have to die? I mean, magic is sometimes extremely literal as opposed to being logical."

Buffy grabbed Jonathan and turned him to face her. "Make with the explany."

"Well, the passage says that the ritual will only happen while she's still bleeding. What if it literally means that all she has to do is stop bleeding, rather than finish bleeding out? If Dawn Literally is the power, then closing her wounds would be like shoring up the wards around your house. All you'd need is a healing spell or salve. I mean, they're not easy to get, but it's doable… Even in a pinch."

"Giles!" Buffy barked, shoving him away and staring intensly at her mentor, and odd emotion in her gaze. "Is he right? Can stopping the bleeding stop a blood ritual?"

Giles looked taken aback. "Well, um, theoretically. I think. I'd have to check my books, but I don't think it's ever come up. Most blood rituals involved outright sacrifice, and those that don't are typically small and complete themselves before the bleeding is stopped. Even then I don't know any healing spells that work particularly fast. Ah, Willow, maybe you and Tara..?"

Willow shook her head. "Nobody I've talked to. That circle you put us in contact with in Devon was the closest, but you need skin contact and several minutes to close a wound."

Jonathan rocked back and forth on his feet uncomfortably. This could be his chance to shine. If he was right about the bleeding thing then he had a way to provide literally instant health potions, and a slayer eager to help him procure the materials.

"There is..." That was as far as he got before Buffy was on him again.

"Jonathan, if what you have will work, you're my new best friend. Now spit it out."

Jonathan grinned weakly, acutely aware of how close a very hot, very powerful blond was to him at the moment. "How do you feel about guns and demon summoning?"

Buffy's face darkened and Jonathan hastened to explain. "There's a type of demon called the Moh-Ra. They're warrior demons from the dimension Kelsor and their blood has incredibly powerful regenerative propert..."

"Hey, I know those guys!" the Slayer said brightly. Jonathan relaxed greatly as his pseudo captor's demeanor lightened. "Angel defeated one by smashing the gem in his forehead. They eat salt and have forever blood and shit. Angel seemed scared of them."

"Yeah, um, well they can heal just about anything really. But it's really hard to bleed them. Wolverine, y'know?" Jonathan laughed nervously.

"You know? I've always liked you, Jonathan. You named me class protector at the prom, and you're shorter than I am. Maybe you should stick around when we've finished with Glori. We could use another scoobie."

Giles stood slowly, his fists on the table. "I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings," He said, bringing everybody back to seriousness and turning towards him. "But assuming this works, and healing Dawn would stop the ritual (which if I might add is a very big if) How do you propose we get the blood to Dawn and get it into her. And are there any side effects we should know about as well? Aside from that, we should still be thinking about stopping Glori from starting the ritual to begin with. While undoubtedly harder, it is by far the safer of the three options. And that is saying something."

"Two options, Giles. We save dawn before the ritual, or use Jonathan's thingy to stop it." Buffy snapped.

"If Glory begins the ritual…" Giles insisted, pushing on "if we can't stop her…"

"Come on," the Slayer challenged. "Say it. Tell me to kill my sister."

"She's not your sister," Giles contradicted her, his voice little more than a whisper.

The hurt in her voice when she spoke again was palpable. "No. She's not. She's more than that. She's me. The monks made her out of me. I hold her ... and I feel closer to her than …" the blond looked down hiding tears. "It's not just the memories they built. It's physical. Dawn ... is a part of me. The only part that I…"

Jonathan tapped Xander on the shoulder. "What's going on?"

"We'll solve this." Willow picked up, voice soft and comforting. "We will. Don't have another coma, okay?"

Buffy gave her a small smile and Xander leaned in to whisper a reply. "Big demon boss escaped her dungeon, so the monks who were keeping her there turned her escape portal into a person. The monks showed up a couple of months ago and told her that Dawn was created from the slayer, so that the slayer would protect her."

"If the ritual starts, and Jonathan's idea does not work... then every living creature in this and every other dimension imaginable will suffer unbearable torment and death... Including Dawn." The Watcher stated, a pleading look in his eyes.

"But she doesn't look much like Buffy?" Jonathan whispered back.

"Then the Last thing my sister will see is me protecting her," Buffy stated defiantly.

Xander shrugged. "She may be part of Faith, the other slayer."

"You will fail." Giles said in that same heavy tired voice. "You'll die. We all will." Everybody was quiet for nearly a minute, darkness weighing heavily on everyone's shoulders.

"So… she's buffy's daughter then?" Jonathan concluded quietly, looking startled. Xander, Willow and Anya regarded him with shocked expressions.

"I'm sorry." Buffy whispers, voice raw. "I love you all, but I'm sorry."

"Alright. Everybody in favor of stopping Glory before the ritual?" Anya spoke out perkily, breaking the tense silence. "Suggestions, ideas. Time's a wastin. Jonathan, you what were you saying earlier?"

"I was, ah, thinking about the time Buffy stopped me from killing myself. If we loaded my dad's rifle with tranquilizer darts filled with Mohra blood we could inject the blood and heal Dawn even if we can't get to her."

"Ooh! Ooh!" Willow cried, bouncing in her chair. "We still have the tranq gun we used on Oz! And all of the ammunitions too!"

Anya clapped. "Right! Anyone else? Willow. I bet you've got some dark spell a-brewin'. Uh, make her a, a, a toad? Little hoppy toad, we can hit her with a hammer?"

The now Identified Tara mumbled something about toads and Willow looked over at Anya. "I have something I've been working on. It was supposed to be a way to fix Tara, get back what Glori took from her. I know that's not the priority right now, but it may weaken her. I mean, she needs the brains to stay coherent, right? "

"Hah, good one red." Spike laughed. "Pull out her brains and she'll be on the ropes. If it makes her anything like your girlfriend here she'll be too busy trying to form a coherent thought to bleed the nibblet. She's only got the one chance, right?"

"Right!" Anya said happily, "We've got the start of a plan, but we need more. She's a god. Let's think outside the box!" The shopgirl finished with a gesture making a square in the air.

As the meeting continued, several more suggestions and quips coming from Anya herself, Jonathan headed for the stairs to the library up top. It had been a long time since he'd considered summoning a Moh-Ra. Fierce warriors capable of taking on vampires and the slayer in single combat according to his reading they were relentless and if killed in any manner other than by smashing the Eye of a Thousand Fates on their forehead they'd only come back stronger tougher and faster with each defeat. The Mohra's biggest weakness and the summoners typical means of controlling them was salt. This was not a weakness like Superman and Kryptonite, but rather one of nutrition. Mohra needed pretty serious amounts of salt each day to live outside of their homeworld and thus they could easily be controlled by those who provided it.

Or, at least, that was how it had worked in the past. In modern times the Mohra had become somewhat recalcitrant, killing warlocks who summoned them if they didn't like the target they were sent to kill and taking up residence in warehouses used by either road working companies or supermarkets where they could have easy access to large amounts of rock or table salt. Thus supplied they'd begin to choose their own targets and become a deadly nuisance to be hunted down with prejudice by demon hunting organizations.

Here though, Jonathan had an opportunity he'd never thought likely before. Willow Rosenberg, one of the most powerful solo witches on the west coast and Buffy Summers the Slayer, were both now aware of the benefits of having your own personal Moh-Ra and in a situation where they'd be invested in helping him succeed in keeping it contained. Anya Jenkins the store owner would probably be willing to give him all the materials he wanted free, for the chance to sell Moh-Ra blood, and Giles the watcher too would be happy to assist for the extra insurance of an easy restorative for his Slayer.

As he searched the the stacks of books though, Jonathan came up against a problem. The Tome of Kelsor wasn't on any of the rows of books in the Magic Box. With an irritated sigh he climbed back down the ladder and saw Spike and Buffy headed out the door. "Where are they going?" He asked Giles.

"Oh, yes, Jonathan. They're going to Buffy's house to gather some more weapons," the Englishman replied distractedly. "Did you need something for your summoning?"

"Yeah, the Tome of Kelsor? I couldn't find it on your bookshelves."

The store owner nodded. "Right. Let me check the inventory for you." He went around the desk, muttering about the 'wretched machine' and began typing. After a moment he shook his head. "I'm afraid we don't have it. I recognize the name though. It's a bestiary of summons for mid level demons. Are you sure you want us to do this?"

Jonathan nodded. "Unless you don't think we have the time?" He asked nervously. "Moh-Ra are assassins, so they're relatively easy to summon. I have the book at home, but I haven't tried it because it noted how they'd been becoming harder to control as commercial salt went on the rise."

"Well, we do have a few hours before we need to find Glori, I could drive you home to pick it up."

The young warlock nodded and the two of them left the shop together.

~! #$%^&*()_+

Jonathan decided that he very much liked Giles' car. It was a red sporty model that spoke of money. Probably a midlife crisis vehicle, but his being able to afford it spoke to the prosperity of the magic box. Giles was pleasant and followed his directions easily so they were quickly back at his mother's house and headed for the side door to the basement. He opened the door and apologized for the mess before heading off to the corner where he kept his arcane materials.

Jonathan's copy of the 'Tome' was on his laptop along with most of the rest of his library so after looking up the relevant page, he unhooked it and put in in his backpack alongside a small bag of monkey knuckle bones soy beans and cherry pits. That done he slipped his boom stick and magic bone into his jacket pockets and went back over to Giles. "I'm done here," He said, taking the man's attention from a pile of tabletop game manuals; the one in the watchers hands being the book of vile darkness. An interesting choice, Jonathan thought, given it had provided some of the creepiest and most interesting characters he'd played over the years. "We need to stop somewhere for salt though. Table salt will work, rocksalt is better, seasalt would be best."

"We have a fair amount of salt at the magic box," he old Brit replied. "How long will you need to set up? We have..." He checked his watch. "Three hours and twenty seven minutes if my calculations are correct."

"I'm...not sure. Maybe fifteen minutes to draw the circle, two or three for the incantations. Normally I'm by myself, so I'd take a few hours double checking everything just to make sure. We also need to have something set up so we can hold the demon while we bleed him in case he doesn't take well to direction. When I was planning doing this on my own I was working out how to set up a small prison cell that could spring up around the summoning circle, just in case, and magical restraints of various sorts. I kept on chickening out though."

"A wise choice perhaps. Demon summoning is not something to be done carelessly, believe me, I know."

Jonathan wondered about that, trying to imagine what sort of mischief a stuffy watcher could get up to, but shrugged it off. He could learn later as he was included in the group dynamic. Preparations complete, the pair of them headed back to the magic box.

~! #$%^&*()_+

Half an hour later, Jonathan stood over the completed diagram. Three monkey knuckle bones inscribed with runes of binding on seven of the eight points of the compass. On the open northeast corner the cherry pits and soybeans formed a double shaded hex mark meant to call specifically for the Mohra. The entire rest of the circle and its instructions were drawn with salt; table salt for the lines, but Giles Anya had graciously provided seasalt for the runes.

To either side of the diagram stood Buffy and Spike, both having recently returned from Buffy's house with melee weapons for everyone. Flanking Jonathan personally, and practically hovering, stood Willow and Giles. "Alright, everybody know their roles?" the short warlock asked.

"Yeah," Spike drawled. "If you bungle things, Slayer and I grab the demon and chain it to the wall."

Willow nodded perkily. "And Giles and I will be helping you with the bindings."

Jonathan nodded, giving Willow a shy smile and Spike a small scowl. "Once it's immobilized, we bleed it. They're about the same size as a human so a pint of blood won't be missed and with their regeneration it'll be good to fight Glorificus with us. If we have to chain it up, Anya can take as much as she wants. It won't die unless you smash the gem in its forehead and it'll continue regenerating so long as you have salt to feed it. Be careful about injuring them though, if they have to regenerate an injury, especially a fatal one, they get bigger and meaner."

"Get on with it, pup." The blond vampire drawls. "We haven't got all night for you to stand around feeling important. Summon the bloody bugger already."

Jonathan glowered at him, but followed suit.

"Azarat custos duarum maceriarum saecula." The salt lit up with a greenish glow. "Hoc quaerit in virtute humilis supplexque kelsor." Jonathan cut open the side of his hand and spilled blood into the center of the diagram. As the words finished the beans began to burn and the pits became glowing coals. "Pariet mercenarius filiis diaboli Moh-Ra." As the last line was spoken a picture of Glori was tossed into the diagram where it caught on fire. A tear appeared in the air above the diagram and spread like cracks in glass before vanishing as swiftly as they had come, leaving a green skinned man in their place.

The Mohra was clothed in black silk, wrapped tight around his forearms, shins and waist, but left loose and billowing everywhere else. He could have been called a stereotyped ninja had it not been that his head was uncovered, showing vivid green skin and an odd facial structure. A pair of black swords were strapped to the 'demons' back and at the center of his forehead was the ruby 'Eye of a Thousand Fates'.

"Warlock," the creature rasped "You summon me for a challenge worthy of my people. To slay the mortal avatar of a god is no small feat..." Then it unsheathed its twin blades in a flash, placing the tip of one under Jonathan's chin and the other under Buffy's.

...Or at least, it tried. Buffy slapped the blade out of the way and Spike dove at it in a flying tackle. The Mohra assassin twisted out of the way, forcing Buffy to dodge the vampire as well and spoke again, as Buffy pressed her own attack. "You insult me however by counting A Slayer among your allies. It is our duty to slay champions, not aid them. For this you shall pay with your life."

Jonathan tried not to whimper too loudly and went for the bone in his jacket pocket while Willow and Giles chanted binding spells and Buffy and Spike engaged the demon physically. Grasping hold of the femur, Jonathan stepped back from the melee and held the bone out, parallel with the floor, and began chanting. "Refugit orbis, qui in medio, carceris fit. Refugit orbis, qui in medio carceris fit..." With the first repetition of the spell, Jonathan's voice clipped and shaky, the demon snapped back to the position it had been in when first summoned. "Warlock." It continued with its introduction only to snap back again as he completed the second repetition and soon appeared to be twitching in place as he completed the third, his enunciation much more confident now.

"Mr… Levinson..." Giles said, taking off his glasses and rubbing them vigorously. "Wh-what precisely did you just do?"

Everyone stared at the green faced ninja demon who was stuttering "War.., war.., war..." and twitching in place, and back at Jonathan.

"Oh, ah, it's my m-magic bone." He answered, quickly dropping his hand. "I put the Mohra in a short focused time loop."

Everybody stared at him.

"I came up with it during that thing last year and after Buffy defeated my nemesis and put the world right again. I copied it down before everything faded. It's meant to allow me to fix mistakes like that stupid enhancement ritual I botched. I wasn't trying to become the center of everybody's universe march before last, I just wanted to have all the same abilities that made you all so cool..."

"Right!" Buffy said, brightly. "Mr Morry's not going to play nice, so let's tie him up. And then you can stop your time loopy thing… so your can bone stop smoking. You really should do something about that."

Jonathan yelped and started blowing on the ends of the bone in a panic. It wasn't very hot, but it was smoking and the tool had never done that before. By the time Buffy and Giles had finished fitting the demon with a set of manacles on the summon the bone had developed cracks along the ball socket and was starting to blacken at the knee. As he let the spell collapse, the smoking stopped and the Moh-Ra began struggling against the bonds holding it. It was too late for the warrior though. Buffy and Spike were already manhandling it over to the wall where they hung it by the shoulders from a bar, it's arms between the bar and the wall and cuffed again to it's feet.

With the demon properly restrained, Buffy went off to practice with Olaf's hammer whilst Giles and Willow helped him with bleeding the demon. Normally there was, on average, 11.5 pints of blood in the human body, and the Moh-Ra wasn't a whole lot different in that regard, but between the creatures regeneration and regular sea salt slurries Jonathan mixed up for it, they managed to get 17 pints over the course of one of their two remaining hours.

While most of the blood was quickly stored in a padlocked refrigerator in Giles secret safe room, Xander, Anya and surprisingly a Robot Buffy ended up getting roped into filling tranq darts with the viscous liquid. Jonathan noticed Spike stealing one of the darts, but said nothing. Far be it for him to question a vampire wanting to be human again, and honestly, it made him much easier for Jonathan to deal with. Humans had fewer senses, less speed and strength and a whole hell of alot more weak points.

And then it was time to go.

As the rest of the Scoobies assembled in the main room in front of Tara, Jonathan quietly slipped back into the training room where they were holding the Mohra. Armed with an athame and a pair of tongs he quickly pried out the gem in the demon's forehead and watched as it disappeared in a sparkle of red light. Holding the gem up to the light Jonathan could feel its power tingling beneath his fingers and slipped the rock into his pocket. Then, just to make sure his research was correct and he hadn't fucked everything up, he checked the jar containing the last of the Moh-Ra blood they'd been injecting into the darts. It was still maybe a third full, same as before he'd banished the demon.

His prize acquired Jonathan hurried to catch up with the rest of the group.

Like most of the group, Jonathan was decked out in gear. Buffy carried Olaf's enchanted hammer. Robo-Buffy, Jonathan grinned as he recognized Warren's work, carried the Dagon Sphere. Xander and Spike carried a set of wicked looking axes. Anya strangely thought to use a Louisville Slugger in lieu of a more effective weapon, but he'd seen her cast spells without need for special materials or preparation before while shopping. Willow needed no explanation, though some of her jewelry was glowing suspiciously. As for Jonathan himself, he had the dart rifle and Moh-Ra blood, his magic bone (damaged as it was) and his 'boomstick' layered thick with hellmouth energy.

The walk to the ritual site took nearly twenty minutes, but they saw it a good five minutes out.

"Shpadoinkle." Xander exclaimed as we got a view of the tower. It looked like a cross between a crane support tower and a demented modern art project.

"What the hell is it?" Anya asked. Nobody answered her, but Giles comment explained it well enough.

"The portal probably opens somewhere up there."

Jonathan unslung the dart rifle and looked through the scope. Up at the top of the tower there was a bridge. At the end of that bridge was a girl. He recognized that hair, though not the fancy dress. "Dawn."

Buffy came over quickly and Jonathan handed her the rifle. Looking through the scope the blond swore. "Rangefinder at 430 meters. Willow, you're up."

"Need anything?" Giles asked the redhead.

She shrugged, getting a determined look. "A little courage."

Jonathan watched in amusement as Spike offers her his flask. Willow turns it down but thanks him regardless and the group proceeds inward. Following Tara, who's working to remove her cast, they're ignored by the rest of the people working on the construction site. As Tara makes her way in the door of the warehouse covering the base of the tower, Willow follows her while Buffy motions to the rest of them to stay back.

Into the room marches a beautiful blond woman with well done up makeup, bouncy curls and a curvy models body. This, much to Jonathan's surprise, is Glorificus. Glory indeed, he thinks, trying not to drool. The 'hell'-goddess marches up to Tara and grabs her by the arm, making her drop a brick she's just picked up and snaps "You. What are you doing here?"

"She's with me!" Willow stepped out of nowhere like a rogue shedding an invisibility cloak and grabbed both women's heads. Blue plasma flowed through Willows hands and Jonathan and Giles cringed as a psychic scream seemed to rip through the construction site. As the silent howl peaked to a crescendo, Willow Glory and Tara were thrown in opposing directions with a clap like thunder.

Buffy turned to robo-Buffy and tapped her. "You're up."

As the simulacrum walked off Jonathan noted again how Warren did damn good work. Hopefully though, getting with the scoobies would mean he wouldn't have to stoop to prosthetics or loneliness. They did seem to keep a remarkable number of pretty ladies around.

"Big day." the unbalanced 'goddess' said, moving as if drunk. "I got places to be, big day. Need a brain." She pauses, seeing 'Buffy' and gets a fox-like grin on her face. "I suppose I could always use yours..."

"Ok then." Robo-Buffy asks, perky as the original. "Come and get it." She challenges darkly. When Glori doesn't rise to the bait but continues to look drunk Robo-Buff continues, stepping forward with the innocent little girl walk. "You don't seem very well."

"Your little witch bitch ... gave me kind of a headache there," she mutters, shaking her head. Almost as an afterthought the taller blonde removes her ceremonial robe, revealing the simple black dress underneath. "But if you think this is gonna last more than eight seconds-"

Robo-Buff interrupts her though. "I noticed you're talking, whereas in your position, I would attack me."

Glori's minions come up and pick up the ruined dress. "Oh sweaty, naughty..." Jonathan doesn't give them time to suggest anything intelligent and fires one of the darts into the scabrous creatures eye. It goes down and Buffy foregoes the rest of her quipping to hammer the goddess with a haymaker. There's a flash of light in each fist as the Dagon Sphere the robot is holding does what it was meant to do, repel Glorificus.

"Huh..." the droid says, looking at her hands. "That was a LOT more effective than I thought it would be."

With that, the copy begins to wail on the goddess, the handicap of only having one hand to work with well made up for with the enhanced power of her blows and Glori's non resistance. The rest of the group takes the time to stream into the room, attacking Glori's minions who look, for all Jonathan can tell, like heavily diseased elves. As Jonathan walks in behind the rest of them, who are happily engaged in what looks to be the winning side of a skirmish, Jonathan notices something decidedly odd about the one he took down.

Laying in the place of the minion he'd shot in the eye was a tall fair skinned man with auburn red hair and long pointed ears. Another minion was kneeling beside his friend, carefully pulling the dart out of his friends eye to cradle it in his hands as if it were the most precious and beautiful thing it had ever seen. Jonathan watched in awe as green liquid filled the ruined eye before reforming the organ as if it had never been blown out in the first place.

As the obvious elf lay there breathing heavily and crying, his friend looked up at Jonathan with a look of desperate pleading. "Y-you did this?"

Jonathan nodded numbly and was caught completely off-guard as the creature, almost as short as him, surged off the ground and grabbed him by the shirt. "Please oh magnificent one, do me next! Bless this unworthy one as you have blessed her fellow retch!"

Jonathan looked on dumbfounded as the diseased creature was dragged back off of him by Xander and Spike, still pleading for mercy.

"Hey, Jona, what's with the elf?" Xander asked.

The short boy stared between the two creatures several times before answering. "Ah, Glorificus minions are apparently elves. Sick ones. When I shot the other one to stop him from helping her it fixed him. Now this one wants me to inject it as well." A light-bulb went off in the 20 year old warlock's head and he locked his gaze on the thing in front of him. "Hey, if I cure you and your friends, will you switch sides and promise to serve us instead?"

The mottled grey crippled elf thing nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, anything you want! We served the Glorificus one because she promised to restore us when she was returned to her rightful legions. We were to be exalted! But you've beaten her..." they all looked over at where Buffy 1 and Buffy 2 were trading blows with the third blond like she was a beach ball "and cured Melorn with a casual malice. All of my brothers and sisters will happily join you for the chance to be whole again!"

Jonathan glanced at Xander and Spike. "What do you two think? We made plenty of darts in case our aim was off or we couldn't get to dawn while someone was up there bleeding her..."

"I dunno mate," Spike replied, shaking the little elf "It just seems like it'd be a letdown, yknow? I joined you guys for a fight. Work of my vampiric aggression and shit."

Xander rolls his eyes. "Give me the dart Jona. Turning enemies into allies? Yeah, that's the sort of thing that tickles my battered sense of humor these days." The two boys nodded and Jonathan unslung his backpack, retrieving a bag of extra darts for Xander. Then he removed one from the bandoleer Willow had conjured for him before the left the shop and stabbed their friend.

The three of them watched in awe as the creature between them began to grow visibly straighter, stronger and healthier, morphing from a diseased hobgoblin to a nearly seven foot tall willowy elf woman with long black hair. Xander whistled in appreciation whilst Jonathan just gaped. The woman, who had Spike and Xander has let go of at this point, began feeling her face and breasts with shaking fingers, tears forming and then streaming from her jewel bright blue eyes. She collapsed to her knees moments after her transformation finished and grabbed Jonathan by the shoulders, kissing the stunned boy; first on the lips and then all over his face, muttering "Thank you, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you" breathlessly between each kiss.

Spike gave a noise of utmost disgust and snatched a handful of darts from Xanders bag before heading off. Xander patted Jonathan on the back, grinning broadly and left as well.

The elf woman, who introduced herself as Belithia Firetree, stood up with him still clutched in her arms and called out something in a language Jonathan could only assume was elfish. It wasn't long after that until Xander, Spike and Jonathan were crowded by a dozen wretched elves each, all clamoring to be healed.

As the chaos of the situation died down and each boy was surrounded by jubilant crying elves Willow walked out of the back of the warehouse tears of her own running down her face, holding the hand of Tara Maclay. Jonathan took the opportunity to escape the attention of the elves surrounding him and went over to the pair.

"It worked then?" he asked.

Willow nodded and looked at her girlfriend who smiled back tremulously. "Yeah. Yeah it did. What's with all of this though? Where did these people all come from?"

"Oh," Jonathan replied, rubbing his arm, blushing crimson. "It turns out Glorificus minions were elves in need of a really good hospital. Your goddess had promised to heal them in return for helping her get back to her dimension."

Willow looked back and forth between him and the elves, who were now gathered behind him hugging each other and singing Jonathan's praises, with wide eyes.

"About Tara." Jonathan temporized, looking at the brunette witch. "Do you think you could do it again?"

"Um, probably." Willow replied looking at her girlfriend.

Tara nodded jerkily, but earnestly if her expression was anything to go by. "Willow explained the spell to me and I remember what the magic felt like. You had someone you wanted cured like I was?"

Jonathan nodded. "I noticed a few of my missing frie...well customers really. I just...know some of the crazy people here. Or I used too. If you could..."

The pair nodded in understanding. "I'm not sure how many we could get, but I'm pretty sure we could drain Glori to fix at least a few of them."

The elves, who were staring at Jonathan rapturously, moved to follow them, stage-whispering to each other, apparently having heard the exchange.

When they reached Glori and the Buffies, Glorificus is lying on her back, blood coming from her nose and ears. "Stop it..." the woman pleads.

"You're a god." Robo-Buffy replied kicking her.

"Make it stop," finishes the real on, bringing the hammer down on her chest with a sickening thud.

"You're just a mortal, how could you possibly understand my pain?" the prone woman asks, wheezing.

Buffy is about to quip again, but willow stops her with a hand on her shoulder. "Buffy..."

The slayer looks over at her friend sharply. "What?"

"You've won." Tara answered softly. She nodded up to the platform high above them. "Go get your sister."

Willow nods. "We'll handle Glori from here. Just leave us Robo-Buffy and the Dagon Sphere, we'll be fine."

Buffy stares at them for several seconds before nodding sharply and leaving, hammer in hand.

Willow turns to Glori who's smiling bloodily. "Don't thank us yet." She says darkly. "We're not done with you."

Glorificus relief turns to horror as she notices the crazy people gathering behind the two witches, herded into the room by her former minions. Glorificus begins to scream as Willow and Tara join hands and begin chanting, Tara's hand resting on the hell-god's forehead and Willow's pointed out at the crowd.

As cyan fire streams out of Glorificus head to connect to the minds of her many victims another event occurs high above as if to steal away their victory by spite. Unknown to all, even Buffy who's halfway up the tower now, the inhuman warlock 'Doc' stands before Dawn summers, knife in hand.

"Shallow cuts.., shallow cuts," Doc mutters quietly running the knife over the screaming summers girl with deliberate speed and pressure. "Let...the blood...flow...free." He said, making an incision with each word. With the last word however, Buffy appeared behind him with a wet crunch as something broke. "Oh my," the lizard man said faintly as he fell from the tower.

"God damn it." Buffy muttered distractedly as she tugged on the bonds keeping dawn tied in position a giant hammer under one arm. "Come on, Dawnie, let's get you down from here before anything can happen. I've taken care of Glori, everything's going to be alright."

"Buffy!" Dawn cried, as the last rope came loose, and threw herself around her sister. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I never meant for..."

Buffy squeezed her sister, burying the taller girls head in her shoulder briefly. "It's alright Dawnie. We'll talk about it when we get home." The pair of them quickly fled the tower, unaware of the blood already on the metal grill.

The 'sisters' were nearly at the bottom of the tower, just above the roof of the warehouse, when the first drop hit the portal. The sound of tearing and thunder brought everybody out of the building to stare at the sky, a grim sense of doom settling over them.

"It's started." One of the elves stated, fear and reverence in his voice.

"Shit." Jonathan added, looking worriedly at the tower. Had he given Buffy her own dart before they left the magic box? He couldn't remember. "Giles, Willow, Tara, do you guys have any ideas that could slow this down? I'm going to find Dawn and see if I can stop this."

Before the three scoobies can answer though Belithia speaks up. "We can deal with this, Prince Jonathan. My people became as we were for an unsatisfied addiction to magic. A small arcane storm like this is nothing a few dozen Sin'dorei cannot handle."

Jonathan looks at them in askance and Firetree turns away from him with a soft smile on her face. "Hear me! The manastorm is ours, drink your fill!"

As the elves raised their hands to the untamed energy of Glori's unrealized portal Jonathan rushed off, missing the lightshow as streamers of power flowed down from the globe of light to connect with each of the elves instead of lashing out at reality. Jonathan rushed through the crates and hit the stairs running. He was a quarter of the way up the tower when he saw the sisters. Buffy and Dawn were staring, captivated, at the storm. Jonathan turned to see what looked like a New York Christmas tree made of magical power, streaming gently down from the portal to illuminate a series of points on the ground. Probably Glori's former minions.

Wrenching his gaze away from the brilliant sight, Jonathan finished climbing the last ladder to the pair both of whom were crying for some reason. "Buffy, Buffy!" He called, getting her attention. "Sorry I didn't give this too you earlier." He said, breathless and wheezing, as he held out a dark filled with glowing green blood. "I thought I'd have a clear shot from the ground, but by the time the portal opened you were already too far down the tower."

The Slayer grabbed him into a one armed hug, refusing to let go of her sister, The Key. "See Dawnie? I told you I had a fix. Blood flows, the portal will open. The portal will close when it flows no more. Jonathan gave us this healing...potion, thingy. You heal, blood stops flowing. No need to go back up there."

"But, wh-what if..?"

"No. Dawn, no what if. It will work. It has too." She turned to Jonathan. "Give it to her."

Jonathan nodded and held out his free hand. "Your arm please?"

Dawn nodded hesitantly and held out her arm. Jonathan took it gently and slid the needle into her skin. As flesh swallowed the length of silver Jonathan triggered the compressor on the back end of the dart. Blood mixed with blood and Dawn's wounds began to visibly close. As they did so the roiling storm of power above them began to fade and the small boy removed the needle. "There, all bet..."

As the puncture mark closed and the power behind and above them shrunk to a pinpoint there was a crack like thunder and streams of light reversed from the elves, up to the point of the portal and then back from the point into Dawn...and through Jonathan. Dawn watched in horror as her power lanced through her last minute savior causing him to light up like an X-ray and vanish, not even leaving dust behind to mark his departure.

Also in: forums dot spacebattles dot com/threads/glorificus-to-the-sindorei-btvs-warcraft dot 427463/

And: tthfanfic dot org/Story-31946/Chikageko+Glorificus+to+the+Sin+Dorei dot htm