If Wishes Were Horses

by Willow Fireheart

The Higher Powers cannot get directly involved in the fight against the First, but they can give Buffy one wish. With one wish she can turn the tide of the war, and the world as we know it.

1. Wish

If Wishes Were Horses

Spoilers- Season 7, up to Potential
Disclaimer- I own none of these characters, not even the giant hamburger or the Loa (who, for obvious reasons, own themselves.
Note- Inspired by something Joss said in an interview about s7 story lines he would have wanted to do but couldn't for some reason or another. So even the plot isn't mine!
xxx

Buffy walked the quiet streets of Sunnydale. It was late, most vamps would have already risen, fed and would now probably be off somewhere being nefarious. But Buffy was hesitant to return home.

The Summers residence hadn't felt the same since the Potentials had started pouring in from all over the world. It didn't feel like home any more. In a way it had started to take over for the Magic Box and the high school library as Scooby HQ. At the Magic box, and the library, there was a sense of peace, studious peace but peace all the same, and no matter how many demon attacks or how many times they got hurt there it never went away. But some how that peace that was settling over the Summers house had been shattered and fled at the appearance of Giles with the Potentials in tow. Slowly the girls had been trickling into her house and it made Buffy start to feel claustrophobic.

That was why she just kept walking. With everything that had happened lately Buffy needed time and space to herself before her head exploded in a gooey mess all over the wall. It was just too much otherwise. Spike getting a soul; Willow returning from England; Dawn starting high school; Buffy getting a job at said high school and now this thing with the First. Suffice to say that all that in addition to ordinary slaying duties Buffy was a busy girl and brains would go splat if not for the time Buffy spent just wandering after her patrol.

'Huh,' Buffy thought as she moved closer to the middle of town. 'That new Jollyburger closed quickly.'

"Slayer." A deep voice boomed in the night.

Buffy immediately tensed, falling into a defensive stance. "Who's there?"

"Slayer."

"I'm not in the mood for games tonight. I mean it, show yourself."

The booming voice chuckled. "Do not fear us, Slayer. We mean you no harm."

"Uh huh. And vampires are just misunderstood and dentally challenged."

"We have come to help you, Slayer."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I bet you say that to all the girls. Okay, I'll bite. What are you going to help me with?"

"With your fight, Slayer. Long have the Loa sat back and watched as the Slayer waged war against the tide of evil. We have remained neutral, not giving one side that we did not give the other."

"So why the help now then?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"Once this world was the world of demons; humans were their playthings. But the tide turned, humans began to drive out the already diminishing force of demons. Then came vampires, and the Slayer, and so there was balance between good and evil. That balance has never been broken… until recently."

"The First." Buffy swore.

"With the disruption to the Slayer line the First saw an opportunity to return to its former power. As we speak the First raises its army to defeat all good and regain its hold on this world-"

Buffy smiled bitterly. "So, now you've decided to help? Great, just great! Where were you when I was sixteen?"

"We could not offer assistance then, there was balance."

Buffy started to peer into the darkness again. "You want to help me? Fine. Then do me a favour and show yourself. I don't like talking to disembodied voices!"

"We have no corporal form, only conduits though which we can channel our power."

Buffy threw her hands up. "Fine, whatever! My nerves? Not so good lately, probably 'cos of the army of teenage girls covering every inch of my home."

"Very well." There was a flash of lightening and the crash of thunder.

Buffy looked around expectantly.

"Behind you, Slayer."

Buffy turned. Her mouth dropped open. "You have got to be kidding me!" She rubbed her temples. "This is not funny!" Nevertheless she started to giggle.

The vessel of the Loa blinked at her. It awkwardly moved its enhanced bulk. It was not accustomed to such a reaction. The Loa had always received fear and respect from those they chose to appear to. Never before had someone laughed at them so.

"Oh god!" Buffy bent forward and rested her hands on her knees. She tried to catch her breath. It was hysterical. It was absurd. It was almost too much.

The place where the vessel of the Loa had once rested was now replaced with a fast food restaurant. Specifically, the drive through section, and even more specifically the drive through speaker had been placed in the exact position as the vessel had been. In the absence of the sanctified vessel the Loa had chosen to inhabit the speaker, expanding it until it stood at three times its regular height.

The Loa-possessed Jollyburger speaker shifted it's sneakered feet. "SILENCE!"

Buffy's jaw snapped shut, but she couldn't suppress a snort. Her shoulders shook with the effort to suppress her laughter.

"You will not mock the Loa, Slayer!" The enlarged burger's red eyes glowed a deeper shade of red and the little red bowtie fastened around it's neck wobbled violently.

Buffy pursed her lips. "Okay. Right. Sorry. Unbalanced, yadda yadda yadda. How exactly are you going to help me?"

The lips on the Jollyburger curled. "We will give you… a choice."

Buffy frowned. "What kind of choice?"

The giant hamburger shifted, moving the large brown shoes from one side to the other. The amusement still shining in Buffy's eyes was off-putting. "To change one moment in time. To alter reality. But choose wisely, fore we will not be so generous next time."

Buffy's mouth dropped open. "I.. You're not joking are you?"

The Loa blinked.

"Of course you're not. You guys don't have much of a sense of humour." Buffy looked down, the possibilities exploding in her mind. "I can really do anything?"

The Loa stared solemnly at her. "There are certain things we cannot alter: your death at the hands of the Master, your death in lieu of your sister's-"

Buffy tensed with rage. How could they even think she would do that?

"We cannot alter anything that would return the First to it's former position."

Buffy snorted. "Of course not, that would be too much to ask, wouldn't it?"

"If we were to do so, it could create a paradox within time and space. All would be lost."

Buffy visibly deflated. "And that would be not of the good."

The Loa nodded. "It could very well spell the end of man for all time."

"Oh great," Buffy muttered. "More pressure, just what I need."

"You have twenty-four hours to decide."

The Loa stepped back into place. Lightening crashed and thunder roared. The hamburger shrunk before Buffy's eyes until it was returned to being just an ordinary fast food, hamburger shaped speaker. With a final flash of red eyes the Loa released it's hold on the vessel and returned to whence it came.

xxxxx

Buffy opened her front door and walked into the house. She closed the door quietly behind her and walked numbly towards the kitchen, her face blank and limbs rigid. She didn't even blink at the din that emerged from the living room.

"Xander, Molly took my hairbrush! Make her give it back!"

"I did not! You gave it to me! Xander, make her tell the truth!"

"Xander, Anne keeps hoggin' the bathroom."

"Xander!"

"Xander!"

Xander sighed with relief at seeing Buffy. He untangled himself from the group of complaining Potentials. "Buffy! You're back, thank god! Buff?"

Buffy continued into the kitchen without saying a word.

Xander frowned. He threw a glance at the quarreling Potentials and quickly followed Buffy.

Most of the Scooby gang had retreated to the kitchen, overwhelmed by the sheer mass of teenage girls occupying the rest of the house. Xander joined slipped in between Willow and Dawn. Even in the kitchen the voices of the Potentials were still audible. Not for the first time Xander wished that the kitchen had a door, preferably one with a lock, and soundproofing.

Giles frowned as he caught sight of the girl he had come to think as his daughter. "Buffy, are you all right? Did something happen on patrol? Was it the First?"

Buffy shook her head dumbly and perched on one of the stools in front of the kitchen bench.

Giles placed a hand on her shoulder. "Buffy?"

The contact snapped her out of the trance. She looked up at him.

"I'm fine," she said automatically. "Huh?" Buffy looked around. "Oh. Hey, guys. You'll never guess what happened to me on patrol tonight." She suddenly sounded way too perky, like pre-Angelus Buffy on multi-mocha induced sugar high.

"A talking hamburger gave you three wishes?" Dawn asked flippantly. She grimaced. "Sorry, too much Japanese animae with Andrew."

Buffy gaped at her. "One, actually. How did you know?"

Willow and Dawn laughed uncertainly, trailing off when they saw Buffy's serious expression.

"Are you joking?" Willow asked uncertainly.

"No."

Dawn frowned. "Buffy, a talking hamburger granting wishes? Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine!" She insisted. "And it wasn't an actual hamburger. It was one of the ordering things shaped like a hamburger."

Giles huffed. "Oh, and that makes it all better then. It all makes perfect sense now." Sarcasm added a snap to his voice.

"She's finally cracked! I knew this day would come. The pressures of slaying have finally driven her insane!" Anya couldn't resist adding her two cents.

"Hey!" Xander pointed a finger at Anya, one hand on his hip. "She's not insane!"

Buffy smiled proudly at her friend.

Xander faltered, slightly flustered. "She's just a little sanity challenged at the moment." He frowned. "Did you take a blow to the head?"

"Xander!" Buffy glared at him.

He shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Buff."

Anya wrung her hands together. "She's as loony as jaybird!"

"She's as crazy as a loon," Xander automatically corrected.

"Xander, stop," Willow commanded quietly, crossing over to Dawn and rubbing her shoulder.

Dawn gave Willow a small smile but couldn't stop her lower lip from trembling.

Buffy looked at each of them in disbelief. "You guys really don't believe me?"

Willow shrugged uncomfortably. "You have to admit it does seem a little-"

"Insane," Anya supplied.

Willow glared harshly at her. "Unlikely was what I was going to say."

"Guys, come on." Buffy stood up. "We live on a Hellmouth. We've been fighting vampires, demons and all matters of oogyness for the last seven years. We've seen way weirder stuff than this."

"Like what?" Anya placed her hands on her hips. "Name one."

Bufy rolled her eyes. "Vampires, demons, giant bugs, invisible girls, evil vampire twins, alternate dimensions, a teenage Jekyll-Hyde-er, a gender bending hellgoddess, primordial vampires, an old woman with an appetite for fast food workers-"

Anya waved her hand. "Pfft. All perfectly normal."

Buffy's eyes flashed with anger. "What about those bridesmaid dresses you made us wear? I wouldn't have wished them on that giant flesh eating slug we killed last year."

Anya gasped. "You wouldn't know fashion if it bit you in butt. Honestly, have you looked in the mirror lately?"

Buffy arched an eyebrow. "Have you? Cos just between us, the years are starting to show. All eleven thousand of them."

"As amusing as it would be to watch you two go at it hammer and claw I don't think you want the mini-slays to see this." Spike closed the back door behind him, slipping a packet of cigarettes in the front pocket of his black jeans.

Buffy took a step back, a faint blush staining her cheeks as she realized there were several bodies holding their breaths in the next room.

Anya, however, wasn't as co-operative. "But-"

"Anya," Giles warned her.

"Giles, you heard what she said to me!" Anya, former vengeance demon, scourge of any cheating male, was pouting.

"Anya, now isn't the time for vanity."

"So you think she's right?" Worried, Anya turned to Xander. "Xander, do I?"

"You look beautiful, honey. Barely a day over twenty." There was a slight robotic edge to his voice, as though he had been faced with such questions time and time again that the answers came automatically.

Anya looked smugly at Buffy. "See, yet more signs of your insanity."

"I'm not crazy! Is it that hard to believe that the Loa would channel their power through the speaker and offer me a chance to alter reality?"

Giles paused. "Wait. Did you say the Loa?"

Buffy nodded. "Yep."

"But they're a neutral force! In all recorded history there is no sign of the Loa favouring one side over the other. What they gave to one they gave to the other. It's the only way-"

"- to preserve the balance, yadda yadda yadda." Buffy rolled her eyes. "I had to go through this with speaker boy tonight. The balance has been disrupted. The First has more power than it should, so the Loa finally decided to step in."

Dawn looked from Buffy to Giles. "So it's true then? Buffy really gets one wish? She isn't crazy?"

Giles rubbed a hand across his chin. "It would, ah, appear so. Buffy isn't crazy."

"No more than usual," Buffy quipped with a grin.

Dawn grinned in relief. Giles took off his glasses, fingers idly adjusting the frames as his forehead creased.

Willow eyes widened. "Buffy, the things you could do."

"I know."

"You could give me back my powers," Anya suggested eagerly.

Buffy shot her a look that told her exactly what she thought of that idea.

"You could gain access to texts that have been lost for centuries, or that were destroyed millennia ago." Giles' eyes sparkled at the thought.

Xander raised a hand. "Okay, I'll ask the stupid question-"

"Fitting," Spike muttered.

"But why can't we just wish that the First was never created or something? A very pre-pre-emptive strike?"

"Because even in the best of people there is the capacity for evil. It taints us all, not just vampires and demons. Take away that capacity and who knows what happens to the human race. Humans probably would have been wiped out eons ago." Spike paused for thought. "You git."

Xander scowled at Spike.

Giles replaced his glasses and cleared his throat. He nodded at Spike. "Very impressive."

Spike looked at him coolly. "You live long enough you pick up these things."

"It's a 'certain conditions apply' wish," Buffy informed them. "Can't do anything that would drastically alter history. So I need something small enough in the grand scheme of things but significant enough to help us defeat the First."

Spike crossed his arms and studied her face. "You could give the poof back his soul for real." There was definite challenge in his tone.

Buggy rolled her eyes. "Angel's needed in L.A. He's helped a lot of people. I don't want to be the one to undo that or to put a stop to it."

"Buffy?"

Buffy turned to Dawn. Dawn stared at her sister in complete seriousness, her eyes shadowed with a great sadness.

"Mom… You could fix it so she didn't… You could fix her. Bring her back."

Buffy leant over and pushed Dawn's long hair out of her face, running one hand through it. There was a suspicious sparkle to her eyes.

"Dawnie, I don't know if that would work. I don't know if they could fix her. If she would want to come back. If I could do that to her." Buffy's shoulders slumped. "They might not even let me. The wish is for the battle, they might see this as being unprofessional or something. And, really, do you want to bring Mom back to face this? I don't want you to have to be involved in this, but I haven't got a choice. At least I can keep Mom safe."

Tears welled in Dawn's eyes. "Buffy…"

Buffy reached out and pulled her into a tight hug. Gently, they rocked backwards and forwards.

"I know, Dawnie, I know."

xxxxx

Buffy wrapped her jacket closer around herself and sat on the top step of her porch. She sighed.

Once again the Powers That Be had dropped a great deal of power, and responsibility, into the hands of a girl. Into her hands. Like slaying wasn't even enough? Now she had the power to destroy all humankind, completely wipe them off the face of the earth. And all with one little wish.

How dare they dangle something like that in front of her? All the things that had happened, things that she wanted to change. Angel, Jenny, Riley, her mother.

Buffy stiffened as she felt a presence behind her. "Spike."

Spike sat down beside her on the step. "So, Giles and Willow have dived headfirst into the books over this Loa thing. Dawn's finishing her homework. Xander's trying to avoid the mini-slays and Anya us trying to come up with ways to convince you to give her back her powers." He paused. "Pretty nifty opportunity you have here."

"Yeah," Buffy said miserably. "Yet again the fate of the world is on my shoulders. It's tons of fun."

"No safer place for it," Spike said, carefully avoiding her eyes.

Buffy ignored that little voice in the back of her mind and rested her head against Spike's shoulder, wanting to be weak for just a second.

With wide eyes Spike looked down at the top of Buffy's head. Hesitantly, he put an arm around her shoulder and held her tightly.

"I'm not bringing Angel back," Buffy mumbled against his shoulder.

"What?"

"I'm not bringing Angel back to Sunnydale in any way, shape or form. Just so you know. So you can stop pouting," Buffy added with a small, quick grin.

"I wasn't pouting!" He protested a mite too loudly. "But that's good to know."

For a few minutes they sat silently, neither wanting to break the moment.

"They didn't believe me, Spike. You did."

"If they'd asked I could have told them that the Jollyburger was built on top of an old Loa temple."

Buffy sighed again. "I wish Mom was here."

"She could be."

Buffy shook her head. "No, I couldn't do that. She's happy and she's loved and she's safe. I couldn't protect her here. I can barely protect Dawn.

"So what are you going to do?"

Buffy stared into the darkness that encroached on her backyard. "I don't know."

xxx

End part one.