Date written: Mon 9 Sep 2002
Author: Starway Man
E-mail: theop at kew dot hotkey dot net dot au
Disclaimer: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, Kuzui, and UPN; no copyright infringement is intended, and no money is being made from this fanfic
Setting:Takes place in AU season 6 of BTVS, initially at the end of "Seeing Red"
Rating: R-ish (some violence, language)
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Psyche's transcripts, for some sections of this story
Warnings: There is character death, and spoilers present for up to BTVS season 6 "Grave"
Classification: Action-Adventure, Alternate Universe
Summary: AU fic. What would have happened if things had gone differently in the Slayer's backyard with Warren that day?
Title: Villains, Revisited
Xander Harris was talking with his hero, the blonde vampire Slayer named Buffy Summers. He spoke from the heart when he told his friend, "I don't know what I'd do...without you and Will."
Buffy smiled. "Let's not find out." She took him in her arms as Xander hugged her close, tears of relief breaking loose. "I love you. You know that, right?"
Xander was about to reply, but then his eyes went wide with surprise. "Buffy!"
The Slayer turned around, as she and Xander got up and saw who else was present at 1630 Revello Drive.
The young man named Warren Mears was standing in very back of the yard, his face twisted in rage over what had happened the previous night. He growled at the Slayer, "You think you can just do that to me? You think-"
It was at this point that Xander saw the gun in the maniac's hand. And all of a sudden, the construction worker completely lost it.
After all of the events of the past few weeks - leaving his fiancée Anya at the altar, seeing the former demoness having sex with Spike live on TV, the revelation that Buffy had been sleeping with the soulless vampire as well, getting beaten up by Warren in that bar...
Well, having the asshole come here and threaten them this way, it was just too much to deal with.
Casting caution to the wind, Xander strode forward and yelled out, "WARREN, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
Looking annoyed at the interruption, the robot maker snapped out, "Shut up! I'm talkin' here..."
"Yeah?" Xander sneered, ignoring Buffy as she started after the glorified bricklayer. "Well, without your pals and that big-ass magic mojo you had last night, I'm guessing that's just about all you can do now..."
Warren didn't reply, he just raised the gun and took aim.
"NO!" yelled the Slayer. But it was too late.
Xander rushed Warren to disarm him, but he wasn't quick enough; the villain got off two shots, that slammed home into his target's chest. There was a spray of blood and cartilage, as Xander almost fell onto the gunman - badly wounded.
Due to the Slayerette's proximity to him, Warren wasted valuable seconds shoving the dying body aside. He then noticed Buffy charging towards him, and again raising the weapon the man fired at the Slayer.
The first bullet hit her in the shoulder, and sent Buffy spinning away. Warren, looking half-crazed, fired twice more before turning around and running away. But luckily, neither of the extra gunshots hit the Chosen One.
Upstairs in the house, the witches named Tara Maclay and Willow Rosenberg had heard the earlier discharge that had hit their friend Xander. Tara had just barely had enough time to turn sideways to look out the window, when one of the two stray bullets aimed at Buffy crashed through into the house and hit her in the arm.
"TARA!" Willow screamed in fear.
The blonde Wiccan grunted in pain, as the blood started to pour down her left arm. "It's okay," she said to the redhead, as the other girl rushed over to her lover. "It, it just winged me..."
"Lemme see!" Moving Tara's hand, Willow saw the bullet had passed clean through. She then sighed in relief, "Oh, thank God! But we better get you to a hospital..."
"What's goin' on?" Tara asked, as Willow got something to bind her wound. "Wh-why is someone shooting at us?"
"I don't know," Willow remarked in a daze. "I just don't-"
"XANDERRRR!" they heard Buffy scream from outside. Not wasting any more words, the two lovers raced out of the room and down the stairs.
In the backyard, the man in question was not doing well. In fact, Xander was dying; he knew that, the Slayer's friend could *feel* the life leaking out of his body from the red holes the bullets had created.
Buffy had crawled over to him, and was holding her hands over the wounds to try to stop the bleeding. She begged the guy not to give up, "Please, Xander please, don't do this - hold on, we'll get you to a hospital..."
But it was too late for that, and deep down they both knew it.
Xander's last lucid thoughts as he gazed vaguely at his old crush were, { Oh man, Buff, I never thought it would end like this. Some famous last words, huh? Well, guess that's it - except, hey, you better take good care of Dawnie for me... }
Then he was aware of nothing more, and Alexander Lavelle Harris died.
A short time later, people from the coroner's office and members of the Sunnydale PD were in the backyard. Someone had shut the dead man's eyes; a man zipped closed the black nylon body bag over Xander's silent face, and the corpse was wheeled away into the waiting black vehicle.
Ignoring the EMT bandaging her wound, Buffy watched the show still in a daze, mechanically taking everything in. The pictures being taken of the crime scene, the pretty yellow tape being strung up, the blood on the grass...all of it.
It was like being torn out of Heaven all over again. The Slayer didn't know how to cope with having lost one of her best friends, just moments after having gotten him back.
{ Why did you do that, Xander? Why did you have to act like some kind of half-assed White Knight, and try to stop Warren all by your lonesomeness? }
Nearby, Tara was also getting her arm looked at by the medics. She also had her hands full trying to comfort Willow, who was still weeping over what had happened.
{ This must be so hard on her, } the blonde witch thought to herself sadly. { She and Xander knew each other since they were five, and now she's lost him forever... }
Nearby, Buffy looked at Willow and was having similar thoughts. { How is Will gonna handle this-? }
"Miss Summers?"
Jolted out of her thoughts, the blonde noticed one of the cops had left the crowd and had come to talk to her. "Detective Stein," she said in a flat, robotic voice.
The policeman looked uncomfortable, but it was his job to ask questions. "I need to ask you..."
The Slayer interrupted him, "Warren did this."
Stein was momentarily thrown off-balance. "I'm sorry?"
Buffy, for the first time, really looked at the detective. "You want the who, how, what and why, right? His name's Warren Mears. He had a handgun, maybe a .45 - I don't know, I didn't see it clearly. He wanted to kill me, because I screwed up his plans to take over this town and become rich and famous - but Xander got in the way."
The cop was now definitely uncomfortable. He had known Buffy for years, had even questioned her as a murder suspect twice - but this wasn't high school anymore. "I see."
"He has two friends, Jonathan Levinson and Andrew something-or-another," Buffy stated, no longer looking at the police official.
"We'll be questioning them as soon as possible," the detective promised her. "And we're also putting out a state-wide APB - don't worry, we'll find this guy."
Buffy stared at the man, feeling empty and hollow. "You mean, the way you found the killer of the deputy mayor a few years ago - what was his name? Allan Finch?"
Stein had no answer to that, and feeling unexpectedly embarrassed he just turned and walked away.
All of a sudden Dawn Summers, Buffy's little sister came home from school. She took in the police and medical circus outside her house, and ran to find her sibling.
"Buffy?" the brunette girl called out. Racing to the backyard, the young woman fell into a state of panic. She couldn't deal with losing her sister again. "BUFFY!"
"I'm here!" the Chosen One called out. As Dawn came to her, the two girls embraced tightly.
"God, I was so worried!" the former Key exclaimed. "What happened?"
Willow and Tara came to join them. "Dawnie, hey," Willow sniffled through her tears.
Dawn looked around. "Something's wrong," she said. "What, what is it?"
Buffy sighed, and told her.
"NO!" the teenager freaked out, refusing to accept that Xander was dead.
Her sister and the witches just hugged her, and offered empty words of comfort. Slowly the assembled officials began to disperse, giving the grieving women at least the illusion of privacy.
Later that night at the lair of a magic dealer named Rack, Warren Mears was pacing madly, waiting to see the man in question.
As Rack came out of his private office, Warren jumped and said "Hey! I'm next!" before the guy had the chance to say a word.
Rack grinned. "Someone's eager," he remarked casually.
The killer nerd was in no mood for games, however. He held up a lot of cash and said, "Yeah, and I come bearing lots of dead presidents. Now let's take this inside, 'cause I don't have all night..."
The older man shrugged, and beckoned him in; as Warren entered, Rack shut the door for them to have a little privacy.
"You're a hard man to find," Warren said quickly, looking fidgety. "I talked to a guy - he was one of your regulars. Offered to show me the way for 20 bucks..."
Rack smirked, "Should have haggled. Most of my customers will bring you here for five."
The gun-toting dork waved that aside. "Whatever. You know who I am, right?"
Rack started to pace around the room, and looked more amused than anything else. "I hear things, on TV and elsewhere. I'm guessin' you're the kid who tried to take out the Slayer today, and failed..."
Warren looked desperate. "I'm not a kid! Look, I need protection...I need your help. Whatever it takes..."
"Fight or flight?" asked the magic dealer.
Warren looked annoyed. "I'm wanted for attempted murder here. What do you think?"
Rack smiled, in a slow and lazy way. "You mean murder-one, don't you?"
The young man looked shocked. "What?"
"Didn't you hear the news? You killed a guy. One of the Slayer's best pals, too. Smart money's saying that right now, given how pissed the white hats are gonna be, your life isn't worth a plugged nickel..."
Warren came up to Rack, and pressed the cash into his hand. "Take it. And I can get more. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, but I want lots of firepower on this one. Just give me something here!"
The shady creature of dubious repute shrugged. "Not sure what I can do for you. This is a human matter, after all..."
The dark-haired young man didn't accept that, and after many minutes of listening to his unending stream of pleas and threats, Rack gave in. "There might be one thing..."
Warren said immediately, "I'll take it!"
"It'll cost you. As I surely need to take care of my expenses..." Rack then named an astronomical price for his help.
"Done. Give me an hour, and I'll have the rest of your money..."
Later at the Summers residence, Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Tara were in the living area, still shell-shocked from the day's events. They had all changed clothes to get rid of the bloodstained garments, and Tara asked softly, "Has anyone told Anya what's happened?"
The women looked at themselves, at the mention of Xander's jilted bride. "I-I don't think so, we should call her..." Willow stammered.
Buffy felt ill. "What do we say? 'Hi, how are you, by the way Xander's dead'?"
There was a silence. "So what now?" Tara questioned the group.
Dawn said hesitantly, "Do you - do you think it's not too late yet? Maybe, maybe we can try to resurrect him-"
"NO!" the other three girls said sharply, and Dawn instinctively recoiled in her seat.
Buffy came over, and gently took her hand. "Dawn, I-I know you mean well - but that...that's not the answer. Besides, Xander is - he, he's in a better place right now. Believe me - I know."
Dawn hugged the blonde, as the sisters shared their grief. Tara then spoke up, "Actually, I-I meant what now about Warren..."
Buffy and Dawn let go, and the Slayer sat next to the teenager. "Warren's human, not a vamp or a demon," Buffy said slowly. "I guess the police will handle it..."
Willow suddenly looked pissed. "Those morons! That's not good enough! If I find him, that nerd's a dead man..." She looked ready to explode, until Tara touched her arm and the redhead calmed down.
"Willow's right," the Slayer said suddenly, provoking surprised looks from her companions. "Not about the dead man thing - 'cause I don't have a license to kill! But we have to find Warren, before the cops do. It's the least we can do for Xander's memory..."
"And when we find him?" Willow asked.
"One thing at a time," the blonde Wiccan said, when it was clear no one had an easy answer. "First off, h-how do we find him?"
Dawn suggested, "We could talk to Jonathan, and that other one..."
Buffy nodded. "Good idea. Will, come on - let's check out the big house. Tara, you stay here with Dawn..."
"HEY!" the teenager in question exclaimed.
"Dawn, please don't start," the Slayer said impatiently, to the brunette's disgust. "Just stay here and lock the doors, we'll be back soon." She and Willow then got up and left, leaving the youngster in Tara's care.
Later across town in the Sunnydale police station, Jonathan Levinson and Andrew Wells were arguing in their cell about whether Warren was monitoring their conversation and/or coming to rescue them.
Jonathan stated incredulously to his erstwhile partner, "You're checking for implants?"
The other nerd said defensively, "Lex Luthor had a false epidermis escape kit in 'Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, Treasury Edition'."
"Okay, first of all, those were sonic disruptors. Second of all, you are sadness personified. Waiting for Warren? Yeah, maybe he'll come bust us out of here on Santa's magic sleigh."
Andrew looked indignant, "I'm telling him you said that!"
The shorter man scoffed, "Why wait? Tell him right now." He walked over to Andrew and said into his elbow, "Hey, Warren, do you read me? Your girlfriend's pathetic. Over."
"Shut up, Jerkathan! You see this? This is why we get jet packs, and all you get is left behind," the dork jeered, referring to the events that had gotten them thrown into jail in the first place.
Jonathan looked triumphant. "So you admit it!"
Andrew gave him a look. "Why not? You were out of the Trio a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. And you want to know why, little feller? No respect for the chain of command."
The amateur warlock now looked even more scornful. "Yeah, see how far it's gotten you? Checking every hole in your sad little body, for transmitters that don't exist!"
The demon summoner said angrily, "Oh, I'll find it if I have to check every hole in my body and yours!"
They started rassling, when a door opening and a guard's nightstick clattering against the bars forced them apart. "Guard, guard!" they both hissed, as Jonathan and Andrew broke away from each other.
A few moments later, Buffy, Willow and a Sunnydale PD cop entered the cellblock. The guard looked nervous, "I really shouldn't be doing this, these guys haven't even been charged yet..."
Willow slipped him some money. "We'll just be a few seconds, I promise."
Even more nervous, the guard nodded and quickly walked away. Buffy and Willow came up to the jail cell, and looked at the prisoners.
"My, my, how the mighty have fallen," the Slayer smirked.
"What do you want?" demanded Andrew belligerently.
"Answers," Buffy said with a semi-snarl, and the nerd quickly backed off in fear.
"What're the questions?" asked Jonathan in confusion.
"Where's Warren?"
"Don't tell them anything!" Andrew shouted at his fellow prisoner.
Jonathan had had enough of the dork's ranting, and to the surprise of the two women he turned around and shouted, "Shut up! You said it yourself, the partnership's over. You guys betrayed me - so you can just damn well go to Hell!" He then knocked Andrew out cold with one punch.
The young man then turned around to the Slayer and the witch and shrugged, "The Warren thing? Your guess is as good as mine."
Buffy still looked angry, "If you're protecting him after what he did to Xander... Jonathan, I swear to God that I'll..."
"What's happened to Xander?" The warlock asked in confusion.
Buffy and Willow looked at each other in surprise. "You didn't hear?" the Wicca asked.
"Hear what?"
"Warren killed him. Two bullets in the chest, damn him! He shot Buffy and Tara too, this afternoon..."
Jonathan looked horrified, "Oh my God..." Then he said to Buffy, "I swear, I SWEAR to you that I had no part in that-"
"We know that already," Willow interrupted him. She then asked sadly, "Jonathan, I gotta ask - how did you ever sink this low? I mean, I've known you almost as long as Xander...we even went to Temple together, when we were little kids! It's like, I never dreamed it would come to this..."
Jonathan looked annoyed. "Hey, I made one bad choice, okay? And just for the record, I realized I screwed up from the moment I saw Warren murder his ex-girlfriend..."
"Katrina?" Buffy interrupted, remembering what had happened back then. "So he really was the one who killed her?"
"Yeah. But the point is, you can't just walk away from a lunatic like that! I've been trying to get out for ages, but I couldn't do it before now - not if I wanted to live! Besides, you guys can't talk..."
He pointed at Buffy, "Sleeping with a soulless vampire?"
"Hey, that's none of your-"
Then the geek pointed at Willow, "Magic addiction, and that thing with Rack a few months back? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, and all that..."
Willow looked embarrassed, while the Slayer just ignored the diatribe. "Whatever. So, you got no idea - whatsoever - where Warren might be?"
"Nope," Jonathan shrugged again. "But you should check out the low-life dives in town, that's where he'll most likely be."
The good guys nodded, and turning around left Jonathan alone with the unconscious Andrew once more.
Outside the police station, Buffy and Willow started talking. "Low-life dives, um - now, what's the ultimate low-life dive you can think of?" the blonde girl asked her companion.
Willow shrugged, "I-I don't think I know any - well, of course, apart from Willy's and..." she then cut herself off.
The Slayer looked confused for a moment, then the penny dropped. "You mean Rack's little den of iniquity?"
She then shrugged. "Guess that's as good a place as any to start. Come on..." Buffy started to walk off, but then noticed Willow wasn't following. "Will?"
The redhead was shaking. "Buffy, I-I'm sorry, but I can't go back there. I still haven't...he, he gets inside your head. Rack...he knows how to twist your desires, how to manipulate...if I go back, I don't know if I can prevent myself from-"
"It's okay," Buffy reassured her companion, as the memories of Willow going cold-turkey on magic surfaced. "I can get Spike to help me..."
"Spike?" Willow exclaimed in astonishment. "But Buffy, he tried to..."
"That doesn't matter right now," the Slayer shrugged away the bad memories of what had happened, the last time she had encountered the chipped vampire. "Point is, he can find this place. And if he tries anything, this time I have a stake ready and waiting for him..."
So saying, Buffy Summers strode off, leaving Willow behind staring helplessly.
At Spike's crypt, the Slayer hesitated a moment; and then she barged straight in. "Spike? You in here?"
The person watching TV sprayed food everywhere in surprise. But as he got up from the chair, Buffy was surprised to see not her vampire ex-lover, but the demon known as Clement, or Clem. "Clem! Oh, uh, hi..." she spluttered.
"Well, er, hello yourself," Clem smiled in an apologetic way.
"Yeah. Uh, where's Spike?"
"He's gone," the demon replied simply. Seeing Buffy's face, he hastily added, "Oh, no, not like that! He's just gone on a trip, he'll be back..."
"Damn it - did he say when?"
"Well, not as such. But he left town, so - uh, might be a while..."
The Slayer frowned. Both out of concern of what Spike might be doing - in more ways than one - and more importantly, the delay this would mean to her plans. Then she looked at Clem again, as an idea popped into her head. "Clem...could you do me a favor?"
A little later, the nonviolent demon and the blonde woman were walking along in Sunnydale's industrial district - in search of the magic lair. Buffy said to her walking magic detector, "You getting anything?"
Clem said nervously, "Uh, no. Not here..."
Buffy frowned, "I guess that's because his place moves. At least, that's what I heard..."
The floppy-eared demon looked worried, "Know why Rack moves all the time? Because he's shady. A bad element comes down here, ya know!"
The Slayer nodded, "I get that. But Warren's part of that scene now, big-time. If he isn't there, Rack may know where he is. Which is why we need to...talk to him."
Clem was about to faint. "We? As in a face-to-face way?"
Buffy shrugged, "Or just me, whatever. I'll go in there without you, if you like..."
The demon shook his head, "No, no! It's fine. I'm good. It's just...Rack's not partial to the floppy-eared. He has a thing. But hey, I'm in. Absolutely."
The blonde girl now looked determined. "Okay. Either way, just get me there."
Clem looked at his companion thoughtfully, "Say Rack does know where this guy is? He's not going to tell you for nothing. He's going to want payment, of some sort or another - and I heard he definitely likes blondes!"
Buffy smiled a shark-like, predator's grin - one that made her guide want to cringe away from her. "Funny thing, Clem - but I'm kinda hoping it'll go down that way. 'Cause after the crappy day I've had, a little rage therapy? Beating up that scumbag? It's EXACTLY what I need right now..."
A little later, first Clem then Buffy materialized out of the ether and into Rack's waiting room.
The Slayer was jubilant, "Yes! Thanks, Clem. Making with the demon senses, I knew you could find this place!"
The demon was looking very nervous. Buffy understood, "You want to leave? It's okay if you do..."
Clem didn't need to be told twice, "If that works for you..." Spike's friend muttered before he turned around and disappeared.
The Chosen One dismissed him from her thoughts, and headed towards Rack's inner sanctum. She opened the door and went in, only to find Rack resting on his couch with a sleazy grin on his face. "Hello, Peaches..." he said lazily.
"Don't call me that!" Buffy snapped, annoyed that it made her think of Spike.
The magic dealer chuckled. "I've been waiting for you," he said in that seductive voice. "I could feel you coming a mile away, the power your kind naturally puts out. You came because you want something, didn't ya?"
The Slayer nodded.
"I thought so. So tell me, Slayer, what can I do for you?"
"Warren Mears," Buffy said viciously. "Tell me where he is, and you get to keep your operation intact. For now..."
Rack chuckled again, as he got up - only this time, there was no humor in his voice. "You got balls, coming here and threatening me on my home turf. Ah, well..."
The man gestured, and suddenly Buffy flew straight up and her back slammed into the ceiling. She grunted in pain, but couldn't move.
"Just wanted you to know something," Rack said in a casual voice. "The guy did come to me, and I did help him find a dimensional hotspot, but that's-"
"LET HER GO!"
Rack started in surprise, and Buffy fell over 15 feet to the floor, again grunting in pain. The magic dealer turned around, and then smiled for joy.
Willow was standing there, looking very desperate and afraid.
"Hello Strawberry," Rack purred, trying to turn on the charm. He walked closer to her, "Didn't feel you there - huh, cute trick, I gotta say..."
The redhead tried to stand her ground. Her former dealer continued, "Want to go on a little tour? It'll be on the house..."
Willow looked sick. "If you want to help me, just tell me where Warren is."
"No can do," Rack shrugged. "I have my business ethics, you know..."
"BUSINESS ETHICS!" Willow suddenly looked mad, and her soon-to-be opponent could feel the magical power growing exponentially within the former hacker. "I lost someone today I loved my whole life, and you're talking about business ethics? You're protecting a murderer! Keep this up, and I won't see any reason to let you live..."
"Them's fighting words, babe," Rack drawled, as he gestured casually like before.
Willow was thrown backwards into the wall, and collapsed in a heap. Buffy regained consciousness at this point, and yelled out, "WILLOW!"
But the Wicca was already getting up, and her eyes had turned completely black. "I conjure thee by Barabbas, by Satanas, and the Devil..."
Rack, for the first time EVER, looked nervous.
"Let him know no peace, forevermore! Corsheth, take him!" Willow flung her arms out, and stared straight at her victim.
A swirl of lights surrounded the man, and Rack screamed in pain. Then his body seemed to lose resolution as the lights got firmer and brighter, and the howls of agony and fear continued until with a sudden bright flash, Rack was gone and the lightshow vanished.
Willow then seemed to snap out of it, and her eyes went back to normal. She then realized what had just happened, "What have I done... what have I done?" the redhead said to herself, as she slumped down against the wall in fear and horror.
Buffy got up, and went over to her friend. "It's okay, Will," she tried to reassure the other girl. "You did the right thing, he was gonna try and kill us both..."
"But Buffy..."
"No! Listen to me. We'll deal with this later, okay? Right now, we got a nerd to find - Xander's killer is still out there. You with me?"
Slowly Willow got up, and pulled herself together. She nodded shakily, "Ye-yeah. I, I guess..."
"Good." And with that, both of them left the magic lair.
Some time later, Buffy and Willow finally tracked Warren down. With Tara's help, they had found a way to magically pinpoint his location - but it was too late. The man had worked his magic mojo, and disappeared into a glowing portal.
"Till we meet again, Slayer!" Warren had cackled, like the nerd he truly was.
Getting more and more pissed, the blonde young woman had gone back to the Sunnydale police station with Willow in tow, to see if Jonathan could shed some light on where his former partner might have gone.
"Buffy, I'm sorry but I don't have a clue," the young man shrugged when he learned the situation.
"That's not good enough!" the Chosen One shouted.
"Buff, please! We're not actually supposed to be in here, remember? You gotta calm down, Jonathan's not Spike-" Willow chided her companion.
The nerd was confused, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Willow glanced at him, "He, uh, attacked her last night..."
Buffy made an effort to calm herself, as Jonathan got a clue what that meant. The geek then said, "Look, you have to understand - Warren could be in any one of the zillion different dimensions, that are out there. You'll probably never find him - at the very least, you'll need..."
"What?" both women asked in unison.
The warlock seemed to think furiously about something for a second, then he bent down and took off his right shoe. Twisting the fake heel open, he extracted a glass vial of what looked like blood.
"What is that?" Andrew asked, getting up off the bunk.
Jonathan ignored him and said to the girls, "This is a sample of Warren's blood. It ought to be enough to use to track him down..."
Buffy looked suspicious. "And you had that, why?"
The nerd looked embarrassed. "Uh...I tried to do a bloodstone vengeance spell against him, but I wasn't powerful enough to make it work..."
"That is so uncool!" Andrew shouted. Then he looked scared. "Were you gonna try to do something like that on me, too?"
Everyone continued to ignore him. The Slayer frowned, "Why does that spell sound familiar...?"
Ever eager to talk about magic, Willow said helpfully, "Buffy, don't you remember? The second week after you arrived in Sunnydale, Amy Madison's mom cast it on you - and it made you all loopy during cheerleader tryouts..."
"Oh, right," the Slayer said, embarrassed. Then she held out her hand to Jonathan. "Okay, hand it over..."
But the geek took a step back, and shook his head. "Only on one condition."
"We don't have time for this, Jonathan," the blonde girl said in a threatening voice. But unfortunately for her, the short dork seemed to have found courage from somewhere.
"You're gonna have to make time, then! Listen, it's nothing amoral - you just have to take me with you. I wanna be there, when Warren gets what he deserves..."
"WHAT!" Buffy, Willow and Andrew all shouted.
The Slayer looked pissed, "This has GOT to be the lamest act to try to get out of jail I've ever seen! Now just gimme the damn blood, before I break your legs or something!"
Jonathan just made a show of raising his fist. "I squeeze just a little tighter..."
"NO!" Willow exclaimed. She looked at Buffy, "You're right, we don't have time for this..." The Wicca then told the nerd, "You got a deal, Jonathan."
"Hey!" shouted Andrew.
"Shut up!" everyone told him. Buffy then said to her friend, "Okay - but how DO we get him out of here? Can you...I dunno...magick away the walls, or something?"
The young Miss Rosenberg grinned, and drew a wad of cash out. "I was thinkin' more along the lines of posting bail..."
The Slayer was surprised, "Where'd you get that kind of dinero?"
The witch's smile became one of pain and grief. "Last year, Xander left everything to me in his will. He thought, what with Glory and everything, the odds of all of us surviving might be..."
Andrew started in that point, saying to Jonathan, "So you're just gonna leave me here?"
"I'll be back, you jerkwad! Where am I gonna run to? Grow up. When this is over, they'll return me here to serve my time..." Then he punched Andrew out cold again.
After getting Jonathan released, the three Sunnydale High graduates headed for Buffy's house. Gathering Tara and Dawn, they then went back to Warren's last known location.
"So what's the plan?" Dawn asked.
Buffy looked at her. "Dawn..."
The younger Miss Summers instantly knew what her sister was going to say. "Don't even think about leaving me behind, or sticking me with Spike till it's over!"
Buffy sighed, "Actually, Spike's left town..."
Jonathan looked puzzled. "And why would she send you to him, after what he tried to do to her?"
Then he saw all the angry looks from those in the know. "What?" Then the nerd understood, "Oh man, she doesn't know...?"
"What don't I know?" the young woman asked.
The Slayer sighed again, "Dawn, not now..."
"Oh, come on! Spike did something! What?"
"He tried to rape your sister," Jonathan told her simply, ignoring the others' dark stares.
Dawn was shocked. "What? No. He wouldn't do that!" Then she saw the looks on everyone's faces, and saw it was the truth.
The brunette whirled towards her sister. "Why didn't you tell me?"
The Chosen One said simply, "Because you didn't need to know."
Dawn looked pissed, "Well, I do! I need to know these things. I'm not a kid anymore!"
Buffy tried to explain, "Dawn, I'm just trying to protect you..."
"Well, you can't!" the young woman shouted. "Wake up, Buffy! Look what happened to Xander! People I love keep dying all around me, and you can't protect me from that! This is the Hellmouth we're living on, after all..."
The sisters got into an argument, but then Willow reminded everyone the trail was getting colder with every passing moment. So Buffy eventually relented to Dawn coming along, against her better judgment, and the teenage girl looked as happy as if it was Christmas morning.
Tara did the ritual, the portal appeared and the gang vanished into it in pursuit of their target.
A few days later, Dawn had more than enough reason to wonder if she'd been a bit hasty in insisting on coming along for the Warren-hunt.
Every time they had come close to finding the guy, he had given them the slip and vanished into yet another dimension. And all the different places that they had gone to...
Not one of them had been even remotely like home.
In every universe but their own, humans were slaves, chattel, "cows" to be bought and sold by their demon owners. It was lucky for them that Buffy was the Slayer and Jonathan, Tara and Willow knew magick; otherwise, they would have gotten in deep trouble right from the get-go.
Eventually however, and to the great surprise of the Scoobies, they found themselves right back where they had started - the abandoned warehouse, in their own dimension.
"What's the deal?" Jonathan asked wearily. In the past 72 hours he had been injured more than once, by some demon or another.
"It, it looks like home," Dawn replied uncertainly.
"It is," Tara said shyly, the blonde Wiccan not having changed much despite their adventures. "I-I-I can feel it..."
"So then where's Public Enemy No. 1?" Buffy snorted.
"Guys..." Willow started to say. "I got a bad feeling about this..."
And right on cue, a horde of Grappler demons came snarling out of the darkness.
Warren appeared as well, smiling his smarmy grin. "Hello Short Round, arch nemiseses-ses," he greeted Jonathan and the gang. "Welcome to your soon-to-be-extremely painful death!"
"Warren..." Buffy started to say.
"You fell for my plan hook, line and sinker!" the killer laughed gleefully. "Playing hide-and-seek, while my minions arrived and got this place all set up for an ambush! Now prepare to die!"
He gestured to the demons, and the fight was on.
The Grapplers were vicious fighters, and had no word for "mercy" in their language. But their targets were no slouches, either.
Buffy lifted her sword, a souvenir from two or three dimensions back and looked at her sister. "Dawn?"
"I got your back..."
They started hacking away, while the other three called on their magic abilities to defend themselves. Slash and stab, chant and blast, they fought their attackers - and slowly but surely, the fortunes of war turned in their favor.
Warren, not liking the way things were going, tried to leave the combat theatre and save his own ass. But Jonathan tackled him to the ground, before one of the Grapplers grabbed him and a sickening CRUNCH was heard as it tossed him away into a wall.
As Dawn killed the demon by decapitating it, Buffy was distracted by another of the hired killers. And that was all Warren needed, to get the Slayer from behind.
The blonde girl looked up dizzily, to see Warren standing there with her sword. "I shoulda done this a long time ago," the man snarled, as he brought the weapon down to kill the Chosen One.
Then he stiffened up and fell forward onto his face, thoroughly dead - a large axe sticking out of his back.
Buffy looked up, and saw who her savior was.
"Thanks, Tara..."
"Anytime..."
The next day, the Slayer and her little sister were standing at Xander's grave, saying goodbye to a friend.
The fight hadn't lasted long, after Warren was killed; the remaining Grapplers, seeing that the man who signed the paychecks was dead, had simply given up and left. The Slayer and her gang couldn't believe it, but just like that - the fight had been over.
Buffy had gone over to Jonathan, who'd tried to get up. "I know, I know - time to go back to jail," the nerd had grunted, in terrible pain.
The Slayer somehow hadn't felt okay about that. Jonathan had fought alongside her and her friends, had even saved her life once - to send him back to prison now, just hadn't sat right with her. "No," she'd said simply.
Jonathan had looked confused, as Buffy got angry. "Don't you understand me, Jonathan? Get lost! Head for Mexico or something, I don't care. But get out, and stay out of my town. You lost all of your Sunnydale privileges here..."
Then the Chosen One had warned him, "I won't be offering this chance again. And I swear if you ever come back, that jail cell will be ready and waiting for you..."
Jonathan hadn't said anything, he'd just gotten up and walked out. Later that day, he'd been over halfway to the border with a leering trucker, and wondering if perhaps jail might have been the better alternative...
In any case, neither Buffy nor Dawn spared a thought for him. "I miss Xander so much," the brunette girl said through her tears.
"I know, I do too," Buffy replied, her own face very wet. "There was still so much I wanted for us to do together in our lives. And Xander would have wanted to see you grow up, the woman you're going to become, Dawnie. Because she's going to be beautiful, and she's going to be powerful."
"Buffy..."
"Dawn, it's okay. I know now I had it all so wrong. I don't want to protect you from the world. I want to live, and I want to show it to you. There's so much that I want to show you, I don't know where to start..."
"Buffy? I just wanna say, Xander would have been so proud of you."
"He'd be just as proud of you, Dawn."
And somewhere in Heaven, the immortal soul of Alexander Lavelle Harris stopped horsing around and looked down upon them...and smiled.
THE END