Author's Note: Lots of beats, this time! One Hour Turning Point (protag shows first sign of change), Bad Guys Close In, and... actually, I think the Testing beat might be in this section, although it would be severely out of order. This would be an issue if this were a screen play, but because it's a short story, I don't care!

Hurray!


Buffy prepared herself, as she watched the Doctor come out of the basement. She didn't have any weapons on her — didn't want any, to be honest — but she needed to make sure the Doctor didn't get out of the house. He wasn't killing Riley. She wouldn't let him. She'd find a way to get this Excalibur thing away from Riley herself, or…

Buffy didn't want to think about what she'd have to do if the Doctor was right.

Buffy crouched down, preparing herself for a fight. "Doctor," she said. "Stop, and listen to me. I can find out where this Excalibur is myself, I can make sure that no one has to die. I can do this another way."

"Oi, you listen to her, Spaceman!" Donna shouted, as she emerged from the basement.

The Doctor ignored Donna. He just met Buffy's eyes with his own. His eyes had always looked so sad, so terribly alone and so very soulful. Now, they were lined with something else. Something new. Something that Buffy hadn't seen before. A cold determination, a fixed intensity.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I am so, so sorry. You can't. There isn't any other way."

"Why?" Buffy asked. "What's happening? What are you so afraid of?"

The Doctor said nothing for a long moment, just looking at her. Staring at her. As if trying to come to terms with the implications of everything he was about to do. Then he blinked, and every emotion in his eyes faded back into that cold determination. "I'm sorry," he said, again. He broke away from her gaze, and turned to go.

Buffy jumped out at him, grabbing his trench coat and dragging him back from the door. He wriggled, and managed to extract himself from his coat.

She tried to knock him out again, but he dodged out of the way too quickly, this time, and she struck only air.

He ran towards the door, but she kicked out and caught him in the back, making him stumble and fall across the floor. She tried to catch him, but he rolled out of the way. Was he trying to make her hurt him? She was doing everything in her power not to actually cause him any physical harm — but considering her fighting techniques were all centered around causing physical harm, that was really difficult to do.

He started to get up, and Buffy charged at him, trying to pin him in place. He squirmed in her grip, twisting her own strength back against her, until Buffy, in a fit of rage, threw him over her shoulder so that he thunked, back down, onto the wood floor.

"Ow," he said.

"Stop fighting me!" Buffy shouted. "If you say that someone has to die to save the universe, I believe you. But you shouldn't be the one to kill them!"

"I have to," said the Doctor, sitting up. "There isn't anyone else."

Buffy knelt down beside him. "There's me."

The Doctor's eyes widened, and his breath caught in his throat. Buffy thought she could see a flash of fear in his eyes, a flash of horror. "No."

"Just tell me what this thing is that we're looking for," said Buffy. "This Excalibur." She took his hands in her own. "Please. Explain it to me. What is it? What does it do? How can we stop it?"

The Doctor gripped her hands more tightly. "There is no we," he said. "Just me."

"I'm not letting you do this alone," said Buffy. "I know you're doing the right thing. I trust you. But you've got too much death on your conscience. Let me help you."

"No," the Doctor said. "You… no, just, no. Absolutely not."

"Why not?" asked Buffy. "Explain."

The Doctor said nothing.

"Doctor," said Buffy, very softly. "Please trust me. I want to help you. I know you don't really want to kill anyone; I know you're only doing it because you think it's the only way to save the universe. I understand that. But I also know you sometimes get upset enough that you overlook things. If you tell me what's going on, maybe we can work out a better way. Maybe we can find a way that no one has to die. Don't you want that?"

She could see in the Doctor's eyes that he did. Oh, he so wanted that. The cold determination dripped away from him, and Buffy thought, for a second, that she was getting through to him.

"It's…. I mean, the…. During the War…. It's more sort of…" the Doctor faltered. Then he sagged. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" asked Buffy.

"Because if I tell you, you'll die," said the Doctor. "That's what always happens. Susan. Romana. Amy and Zara. Every person who's ever known about it was murdered, brutally murdered. Everyone except for me."

"Okay. Fine, then. How about I tell you?" said Buffy. "You're trying to find a key. Either because the key itself is dangerous, or you're scared the locked-up thing is going to get out. I'm guessing… this key's some artifact from the Time War, something that could tear the universe apart — or worse. You've worked out that someone I'm very, very close to has it, and you think the only way to get rid of this key is to kill… that person. Whoever it is." Buffy didn't want the Doctor to know she'd already worked out who it was. "You obviously don't actually want to kill anyone, and that's what's really freaking you out. You're worried about what'll happen if I stop you, and you're scared to death about what you'll do if I don't."

The Doctor almost stopped breathing at her words. The stony, terrible look settled back on his face, and his eyes reverted back to that cold determination. He yanked his hands away from her.

"Stop looking for answers," he commanded, trying to get to his feet again. "Stop trying to get yourself killed. And stop trusting me to do the right thing. Because I've rarely done anything nearly as wrong as what I'm about to do."

"Then don't do it!" Buffy shouted, grabbing his arms, and forcing him back onto the ground. "You're the Doctor. I'm the Slayer. I'm the one that kills stuff. You're the one that yells at me for killing stuff. So stop taking over my job!"

"I've killed before," said the Doctor. "For this thing. They wanted it, during the War, and I couldn't let them find it. I let two-thirds of this world die. I let families get wiped from time — not just killed, but never born in the first place. I let entire timelines get crushed. And I'd do it again — all of it, any of it — to make sure this thing doesn't fall into the wrong hands."

"That's not the same as killing people yourself," Buffy said.

"I killed Susan," said the Doctor. "Shot her right between the eyes, as she watched. I'll never forgive myself for that. But that's how much I've sacrificed for this thing."

"Who's Susan?" asked Buffy.

"My granddaughter."

Buffy's breath caught in her throat.

"Stop trusting me," the Doctor said. "Because this is worse than you could possibly imagine. Far, far worse. And there isn't any rule I wouldn't break to make sure it stays out of the wrong hands."

"But if Excalibur's a key, and everyone who knows about it is dead, then no one will ever use it!" Buffy said. "No one here has to die, Doctor! And even if someone does work out about Excalibur, I'm the Slayer. I'll be able to stop them."

"It's inherently unstable," the Doctor said. "Even a small energy fluctuation could create cracks in the Lock. It shouldn't even…" He trailed off, his face turning into a curious frown. "Wait a tic. Donna's been awfully quiet, recently."

Buffy stood up. "So has Dawn." She started racing around the house, looking for Dawn and Giles, but they were nowhere to be found.

The Doctor ran to the front door, and smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Unlocked," he said. "Brilliant, Donna, bloody brilliant! The sun's about to set, the monsters are about to come out, perfect time to do a runner!"

"Let me guess," said Buffy. "You forgot to tell Donna that this particular town is right on top of a Hellmouth?"

The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "It might have slipped my mind."

Buffy could work out exactly what had happened. Donna and Dawn had run off, probably to avoid the fighting. Dawn, always the little adventurer, wouldn't mind the danger, Donna wouldn't know about it, and Giles probably ran after them, shouting at them to stop.

The Doctor shrugged back on his trench coat (which Buffy hadn't seen him pick up), and began running out the door. Buffy chased after him. While Donna was in danger, the Doctor would be too worried about rescuing her to deal with any of the rest of it. That was Buffy's saving grace. But the moment Donna was out of danger, the Doctor would go back to trying to kill Riley. And Buffy wouldn't let the Doctor kill Riley.

They raced down the street, the Doctor flashing around his sonic, trying to detect something. He muttered something under his breath that didn't sound like English, then put the sonic away, licked his finger, and stuck it in the air. He made a face.

"It's no good!" he complained. "Too many psionics in the air. Can't get a good trace."

"I can," said Buffy. She pointed at where Giles had drawn a little x in the dirt of the front yard beside them. She could see another one in the distance. She ran forwards, and kept seeing more and more little x's. Thank you, Giles! She turned back.

And froze.

Because the Doctor was gone.


Giles and Donna were unconscious on the ground, on the sidewalk of a street some ways away. She shook Giles, and managed to get him up. Donna was still out.

"Buffy," said Giles, adjusting his glasses.

"Hey," said Buffy. "Little problem. The Doctor's off to kill Riley, and I still have to find Dawn. You wouldn't happen to know where Dawn is, right?"

Giles rubbed his head, and blinked, trying to get his wits about him. "There was… some sort of demon, as I recall," he said. "Yes, that's right. A demon. Tall, muscular, rather large wings. I believe it recognized Dawn and made off with her."

"And you just let it?" asked Buffy.

"I didn't have much say in the matter," said Giles. "I tried to get Dawn to safety, whilst Donna distracted the demon, but as you can see, I didn't get terribly far." He glanced over at Donna, and got to his feet. "We'd better make certain she's all right. She was rather… enthusiastic in her distraction."

"Don't tell me she tried to attack it," said Buffy.

"No," said Giles. "No. She seemed much more interested in… shouting at it. Quite loudly, in fact. I assume that's how you discovered us."

"I followed your x's," said Buffy.

Giles frowned. "Sorry, you followed my what?"

Buffy faltered. She was starting to get a very bad feeling about this. "You know, the little x's on the ground that told me where you were, and… you didn't make any little x's, did you?"

"No," Giles agreed.

Oh, yeah. That was bad. A demon that had specifically targeted her sister, and made sure that Buffy knew where to find Giles and Donna — the only two people who could tell her what had happened. That looked like some demon trying to give Buffy a sign or a message. The message probably being along the lines of: I own this town, and you can't stop me.

This was all she needed, with the Doctor still out hunting for Riley. If the Doctor hadn't found Donna, yet, that meant… maybe he wasn't looking for Donna. Maybe he'd gone straight to Riley. Buffy shook Donna, but she wouldn't respond. Buffy checked her pulse. Still alive. Good.

"I believe she was hit rather harder than myself," said Giles. "The demon did seem quite annoyed by her."

Okay, okay. Buffy needed three people — one for Riley, one for Donna, and one for Dawn. And she had two — herself and Giles. Which meant… well, Buffy guessed that meant Riley was on his own, for now.

"Giles," said Buffy, "get Donna back to the house, and make sure she's okay. Then call Riley and tell him to find someplace safe and undetectable, and hide until I can get to him. In the meantime, I'm going after Dawn. Any idea where this demon thing took her?"

"No," Giles confessed.

Great. Even better. Wild goose chase. Buffy started to run, and hoped she'd find some sign to lead her to Dawn, before Dawn wound up in even more trouble.