Chapter 6: Bargaining
The vampire clawed its way out of the soil, dressed in a cheap suit, grave dirt underneath his fingernails. It cautiously sniffed the air. The silvery edge of a spear glittered in the moonlight. It had just a few seconds to realize that its head was separated from its body. The vampire disintegrated into a pile of dust.
"Ah Sunnydale," a dry girl's voice commented. Dawn Summers looked at her handiwork with a disgruntled expression. "Home sweet home."
"It is rather... infested," Slade replied. Still dressed in his fashionable suit he, Mr. Wink, and Fred trailed along behind her.
"Understatement of the millennium," Dawn shot back. "All right guys, sorry about the shortcut. Here we are."
The bunch of them finished crossing out of the graveyard and onto the street. The sign glowing slightly in the distance for the 'Magic Box'. Dawn holstered her spear and took a deep breath. Mr. Wink walked up beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to him gratefully.
"Thanks," she said. She forged ahead, walking up to the shop door and opening it. The bells tinkled a little as Dawn stepped into the shop. The familiar smell of the books and various herbs hit her and a wave of homesickness passed over her. Which was quite silly, seeing as she was home.
"One moment," a distracted British voice called out. Dawn sucked in a deep breath and walked in, gesturing for the others to follow her. Mr. Wink and Slade seemed to be impressed. Fred just looked like she wanted to keep herself between Dawn and Slade, gazing fitfully around.
"I'm so terribly sorry," Giles said, coming around the corner with his head down. "I was just putting something in the back room and I..."
He raised his head and his eyes took Dawn's appearance in. She smiled at him.
"It's okay Giles," she said. "I'm home. And I brought us some help."
Slade and Mr. Wink waved at him, while Fred peered over Dawn's shoulder at Giles like a suspicious rabbit.
"Are you going to help the customer," came a shrewish voice. A blonde woman dressed in a sensible shirt and khaki pants came around the corner. "Or are you going to drop the ball on this one like you did the... Oh. Dawn."
"Yes Anya," Dawn said. "It's me. Told you I'd be back."
"You weren't kidding when you said you've been training. I can feel you and I don't even have my powers. Though you look like you were put through a blender."
Dawn's grin became slightly larger and a little more feral. "It's not that bad. Besides."
There was flare of power and she was behind Anya and Giles, putting an arm over each shoulder. "I learned all kinds of interesting things. I missed you guys."
She pulled both of them into a hug, not caring how awkward it was. "I'm glad to be back."
At first they were hesitant, but eventually both of them were hugging her fiercely. She didn't really keep track of time, but their group hug lasted long enough for Mr. Wink and Slade to start perusing the shelves. Fred seemed to be trying to hide under a table. Giles looked up.
"I don't know what to say," he said. "After you left I had feared the worst. You've been injured Dawn..."
"It was necessary, Giles," Dawn said. "Please believe me."
"Given you past history," Giles began quietly. Dawn shook her head.
"No," she replied. "Come patrolling with me tonight and I'll show you what I've learned. Until then why don't we not argue."
Giles looked extremely dubious but nodded. Anya looked less perturbed. Dawn turned to her companions. "I would like to introduce some friends. Mr. Wink is our resident troll and person who hits things."
Mr. Wink sketched a bow, surprisingly nimble for his size. Dawn continued on. "The man in the overpriced suit is someone you've actually seen before. A returned exile from Quor-toth. I accidentally let him back into the world when I was strung up on the tower. I believe you saw him fly out of the portal."
"He's a dragon?" Anya blurted. Slade bowed.
"Winston Slade, at your service," he said.
"And our other is Mr. Slade's new employee," Dawn said pointing to where Fred huddled nearly under the table, looking at some book she'd picked off the shelf with interest. "Winnifred Burkle, though she goes by Fred most of the time. She's a genius physicist that was exiled to Pylea for five years or so. Angel brought her back while the whole Glory mess was going on. I have a feeling my exerted power made the gateways open more easily, but I don't know for sure."
Fred gave a small wave, peering at them from behind reading glasses she'd pulled out of her flannel shirt.
"What does he need a physicist for?" Anya asked pointedly.
"Making weapons?" Dawn offered.
"Making beer," Slade corrected with relish. "I have a dream you see to own a brewery. A good brewery. Perhaps making good English ales. I've become partial to them."
"Hmm," Giles said. "A laudable goal. Why here?"
"Aurora did me a favor," Slade responded. "So I thought I'd repay her with a little assistance. Goodness knows you'll need it around here. And I like to hit things. A lot."
"No argument form us," Anya proclaimed loudly. "Some English beer might help us keep people around. I mean, Giles was just about to up and leave when you showed up."
"Really?" Dawn asked, giving Giles a lost puppy look.
"Yes, well I," Giles began. "Oh bugger it all. I'll have to cancel the ticket now that you're back in town. I just... I felt that I wasn't really needed here."
"Are you kidding me!" Dawn exclaimed. "I need a Watcher mister. I may be smarter than Buffy was, but that doesn't mean I know half the things I need to. I need a teacher. You're all I have left."
Giles blushed a little. "Well I..."
"Stuff it," Dawn said. Giles subsided at the finality in her tone.
"Have you seen the others yet, gone by your house?" Anya asked.
"No," Dawn said. Her tone was flat. "That was next."
"Well, I daresay you should," Giles said. Dawn nodded.
"I will once I..." she trailed off. It felt like something was trailing a hot poker down her spine. A massive distortion was moving towards town. The energy of the Ogdru Jahad. The energy of demons.
"Aurora?" Slade asked. Dawn shook her head. She looked over at the rest of the people around her.
"Something bad is coming," Dawn said. The muting filth of the Hellmouth was stunting her senses. Slade raised his head, sniffing the air.
"They are coming from the north, aren't they?" Slade said, cracking his knuckles. Mr. Wink hefted his cleaver and his mechanical hand cranked as he flexed digits the size of most adult human forearms.
"That's what Cordelia said," Dawn replied. She looked over at Giles. "You want to see what I can do? Then come with me."
"All right," Giles said. "But what is this all..."
0oooo0oooo0
"... about?"
There was a green flash. Giles stood beneath a "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign. Dawn stood on the center of the road looking at a pack on oncoming headlights. Motorcycle headlights. Next to her on her left stood Mr. Wink. To her right stood the man called Slade, his open suit coat flapping. Wisps of steam began to rise from his clenched fists, and the cruel smile on his face was almost alien looking. She looked at them.
"All right boys," she said. She turned her head to look at the oncoming horde. "Shock and awe?"
Mr. Wink nodded. Dawn looked over at Slade. The dragon's smile grew unnaturally broad. It was as if his lips were stretching further than a human jaw would truly allow.
"I can live with that," he said.
"Then on three," Dawn replied. She looked over at Giles. "Get down so they don't see you. This is going to be ugly. One, two..."
Then night became like the day. A pillar of green light and a raging column of flame pierced the heavens. Along with this display was a roar from Mr. Wink so loud that overpowered the sounds of thirty Harley Davidson engines at once. The bikers screeched to a halt, kicking up dust.
Dawn strode out of the green light, her hair and eyes glowing white. The spear she had clenched in her hand was surrounded by a corona of lightning that snapped and hissed. The green faded behind her as she walked out while the column of flame grew wider.
"Good evening," Dawn called out. She planted the butt of her spear in front of her. "Looks like you were heading into town tonight. Why?"
"To wreck it," the lead demon called out with a malicious smile.
"Really?" Dawn asked. "I don't see your permit."
"We don't need a permit. The Slayer is dead. Who is going to stop us? You?"
"Hm," Dawn said, putting a finger to her lips. "I suppose so. This is our town now boys. Turn around and go home before you get hurt. Are we clear on that?"
The lead demon started to laugh at her, clutching at his stomach. There was a green flash, and Dawn did something with her arm. The demon's laugh cut off abruptly, and his head fell forward, blood fountaining skyward from his severed head. Dawn looked around as Mr. Wink pulled up beside her, tusks bared.
"Wrong answer," Dawn said. Her voice was almost a whisper, but it carried clearly to every person on the road. "Try again."
The stunned silence continued for a moment. A demon further back raised a fist. "Who are you?"
"My name is Aurora," she said. "Champion of the Dawn. And you unlucky guys happened to show up just when I got back."
The pillar of flame grew even wider. Many of the demons were eying it warily. It was now the diameter of most of the road. Dust swirled, kicked into the air by thermals. Dawn's hair floated in the artificial wind, a mane of white light tossed around as if she were floating in the ocean. Giles, from his position on a nearby ridge, could see all of the figures clear as day in the reddish gold light from the pillar of flame. There was a shadow inside; a shadow that was moving. Silence reigned for perhaps thirty seconds. Then all hell broke loose.
The remaining demons split up in a roar of bike engines. Two thirds of the demons dismounted from their bikes to attack Dawn and Mr. Wink. Giles shook his head; how a nine foot troll got such a name would no doubt be an interesting story. Nine of the bikers peeled off and zoomed towards Sunnydale, perhaps two miles distant.
Even as the bikers were dismounting, Mr. Wink charged. His bellow shook even the rocks that Giles was hiding behind as the troll's massive metal fist came up and quite suddenly flew forward, coming away from his arm. Perhaps seventy pounds of steel crushed the head of the first demon even before he was off his bike. There was a whirring sound, and the fist flew back to the arm. In the flickering firelight, Giles could just barely make out a length of extremely sturdy looking chain connected the fist to the arm.
The Troll's normal arm held his giant cleaver, and as he reached the demons' lines, he swept it forward destroying three bikes in a single swing and tossing their riders aside like a child's toys. Giles watched in awe as Mr. Wink fought a battle of twenty against one. No, Giles thought on further consideration, it was twenty individuals against a team of two.
Dawn was even more of a surprise. With the wicked spear in her hand that she used with a master's proficiency, the girl was everywhere. She teleported quickly and efficiently, moving to cover Mr. Wink's headlong charge. A slice here, a stab there. It was brutal. She was so fast that she could use Mr. Wink's more lumbering form like a piece of static terrain, moving around him like a river around a steadfast rock. The little girl, who he could remember being excited about going to middle school and who had been tearfully bound at the top of the tower was... gone, he realized.
Not for the first time Giles was struck by the inhumanity of the world, where fifteen and sixteen year old girls were asked to save the world. Because no one else could. Dawn was screaming as she fought, Giles realized. He could just barely see her mouth open wide in a howl as she decapitated another demon. It was... terrifying.
He was shaken from his thoughts by another rumbling. As the line of bikes shot around the flaming ring that was blocking the roadway, a long taloned arm as big around as his car reached out and carelessly swatted two of the bikes. Riders tumbled. The remaining seven kicked their bikes into high gear.
At this point, those who remained in the rear formation turned their bikes and began to run for wherever they came from. A pair of huge black wings pierced the swirling flames and beat at the air. In a huge rush of wind, a black scaled beast longer than a school bus soared above.
"Slade!" Dawn screeched, covered in demon blood. "Get the stragglers! Let one live to spread the news!"
There was an answering roar as the dragon swept down, incinerating two bikes with flames from its fanged maw. Dawn looked over her shoulder at the receding tail lights of the bikes.
"God damn it!" she cursed, her face pale. Giles carefully picked his way over the rocks to her position, and she turned to look at him.
Giles finally understood what Dawn had said to him before she left; and he felt bone weary. She was a warrior now; the others would take longer to see it, but after this display of incredible martial prowess he knew. Spattered in six colors of blood, her hair matted with some unknowable filth, and her spear glittering in the descending fires. Her hair and eyes were still glowing from within and she looked at him and gave him a sad smile; wide like her childish smiles had once been. But there was an understanding there. And Giles hated himself more just a little in that moment.
"I need to go after the stragglers," Dawn chorused in a weary voice. "No telling what they'll try after that. Slade can handle the fleeing guys. Could you and Mr. Wink stay here and make sure none of these guys get up again? I don't honestly know if we killed them all."
"I will do so," Giles said quietly. "That is a very well thought out plan."
Dawn turned away, and her glowing eyes were focused somewhere else.
"Dawn," Giles said in a gentle voice. She looked at him, appearing tired down to her bones. It was all he could do not to flinch away from the pupil-less gaze. "I-I- I am proud of you. Well done."
She nodded and turned to go.
"I... I know what it is like to become a new person," Giles said. "What you've become. I know that cost of that. I haven't a chance to... thank you for what you've done "
"And you'll never have to," Dawn replied. She smiled, a little less weary, and then she was gone. Giles turned to a demon that was beginning to move again. He picked up a discarded sword and decapitated it with a snarl. The night's work was just beginning.
0oooo0oooo0
The spell wavered, a column of red light centered over a grave. Ripples of magic extended out from Willow while Xander, Tara, and Anya acted as assisting anchors. The sheer power involved was somewhat daunting. But Willow had it under control. It was working. At least, Xander hoped that it was working.
There was clatter that drew the other's attention. Two demons of some kind in biker leathers were running through the graveyard, looking fearfully over their shoulders. The one who was straggling behind suddenly fell to his knees in a flash of light. Xander could make out something else moving. A long spear, or pole, stabbed down, and the demon made a gurgling noise. The remaining demon looked desperate and looked about ready to lunge at Xander. Xander honestly wasn't sure if the demon wanted to eat him, take him hostage, or hide behind him, but whatever the green skinned thing with six horns on its head was thinking, it never made it.
There was a flash and a woman with glowing green-white hair obscuring her face was kneeling on the ground a foot in front of Xander. One arm was extended, and a shorter looking spear was planted firmly in the ground in front of the charging demon. The demon's own inertia impaled it soundly on the weapon. It let out a pitiful sounding squeak, and the woman withdrew the spear. It retracted some more and the woman stood up, whirling the weapon around her forearm and slicing the demon's head from its shoulders.
She straightened up fully and her hair began to fade from glowing to a brunette streaked through with green every so often. Of course it was kind of hard to tell with all the various colored... fluids that were covering it. The woman sighed and very carefully wiped the edge of the spear off on the grass in front of her, before slinging into the holster on her back. She turned her head and for the first time Xander got a good look at her face.
He almost dropped the ritual implements that he'd been holding. Looking at him was the scarred face of a much older, much scarier looking Dawn Summers. Her eyes were no longer the color they had been, and her hair and even her skin looked different. But the Summers smile was still there. That smile quickly faded to a frown of incomprehension as she took in the scene in front of her.
"What the," she whispered, her voice husky. Then she collapsed to the ground, clutching her head. "No. NO!"
Willow's chant reached a cadence as Dawn let loose an incredible howl. Tears were running down her face. The cry faded as the spell completed itself and Willow looked around in some confusion.
"Did it work?" she asked. Only now did she notice the girl/woman rolling around on the ground clutching at her head and wearing strange looking armor. Dawn got to her knees in front of Xander and looked right at him.
"What have you DONE!" Dawn screeched. She held out a hand that glowed with green power. There was a snap and a fully reconstituted and extremely confused looking Buffy was laying on the grass next to her. She moved over and cradled Buffy like a child while Buffy scrabbled at her armor in confusion. Buffy's eyes were wide with panic and her breathing was irregular.
Dawn made hushing and soothing noises, crooning to Buffy. Finally after what must have been ten minutes of agonizing twitching, Buffy seemed to calm down. Her wide eyes closed, and she snuggled into Dawn's armor like a three year old.
Dawn's voice was bitter as she hissed at them in disgust. "You desecrate this place with... that... that... I don't even know what to call it. You bring my sister back from the dead. You do all of this... stupid stuff; and you don't even dig up her casket?"
Willow looked at the grizzled Dawn in shock, tears on her face as the realization hit her. Dawn gathered her arms underneath her sister and stood tall. It struck Xander just how tiny Buffy really was. She seemed so much larger than life, yet Dawn lifted her up, only staggering a little. "I'm... I'm taking my sister home. I don't want to see any of you... for a few days at least. I'm so angry right now, I think I'll do something I might regret. Find Giles. He'll be with some friends on the north edge of town, the highway forty seven exit. Tell him to come to the house with Slade and Mr. Wink. Pick them up, but take a truck. Mr. Wink is rather large. Anya, where's Fred?"
"At the house?" Anya responded hesitantly. Dawn narrowed her eyes.
"Good," she said. Her voice carried a cold anger that was as scary as Buffy on her worst nights. "I'll see you tomorrow. Come by around sunset. Now if the rest of you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my sight until then."
She flashed.
0oooo0oooo0
Dawn laid out Buffy on her bed, but she was unable to get Buffy's arms from around her neck. The Slayer strength was kicking in. Dawn looked down at the pure white down comforter and sighed. This would be a mess, but it hardly mattered. Gently she crawled into bed next to her sister, wrapping her small body up as best Dawn could while wearing bloodstained armor.
"Why did... did they take me away?" Buffy whispered. Dawn stroked her hair. She did her best to guess who 'they' were.
"They were afraid," Dawn said. "They thought you were in a bad place, a hell dimension."
She wasn't sure if Buffy understood, but she could feel her older sister start to sob, her chest heaving. Dawn held her tightly.
"You weren't in a hell dimension," Dawn ventured. Buffy started shaking even more as Dawn's gut twisted. The horrible wrongness of the spell that had been used on Buffy had hit her as it completed itself. Maybe it was the fact that she was basically a clone of Buffy, but whatever the reason, it had stung like fire and acid and the kind of filth you couldn't just wash off. The kind of filth that covered her sister; and her too, just a little bit.
"It was... beautiful," Buffy said. Dawn felt her heart break at Buffy's tone. She knew exactly where Buffy had been. Then she was crying tears; tears of joy, tears of confusion, tears of compassion.
"I know," Dawn said through her closing throat. "It's... the song. The song that made everything."
Buffy twisted a little in her arms. Her face was as coherent as Dawn had seen it yet, tear tracks running down and eyes wide. "You know?"
"I was there," Dawn said with a smile. She felt distant as truly ancient memories surfaced. "I remember it when it first started. There's nothing like it is there?"
"No," Buffy said. She shuddered into Dawn, curling up into her sister's body. "Does this make you the older sister?"
"Maybe," Dawn said with a whimsical smile. "But you'll always be my big sister."
Things began to settle down after that. After three more hours and multiple promises not to leave her, Buffy finally went to sleep. Dawn carefully extracted herself, peeling off her armor and leaving only the under shirt and pants on. They were relatively clean at least. She very carefully walked out of the room and into her own. After a quick change, and leaving her bloodstained armor next to her collection of stuffed rabbits in pinks, beiges, and tans, she walked back out into the hall. There was a sound and a thump downstairs. Dawn's eyes widened, and she gripped the knife Buffy had once given her. It was the only weapon she still carried, but after the last subjective year, she never went unarmed. Mr. Wink was fond of 'surprise exams' during the middle of the night.
Carefully, she crept down the stairs to find one person she was expecting, and one person she certainly was not. Cordelia looked up at Dawn along with Fred, and both of them had real concern in their eyes.
"Aurora," Fred began. "What happened?"
"Something really... unexpected," Dawn said after a moment of contemplation. She descended the stairs with as soft a tread as she could manage. With a deft twirl she sheathed the curved dagger Buffy had given her. She looked at Cordelia and cocked her gore spattered head in a question.
"I came as fast as I could," Cordelia added. She looked out of sorts. "I felt something... awful just a few hours ago. I had to get in the car and make sure you were okay; it felt like my blood was on fire. I tried calling, but no one was home, and my vision... it was making me nervous."
"There was a good reason for all of that," Dawn replied. "But Cordelia, you'll have to go see it. Be really, really quiet though. Promise me!"
The last was so desperate that Cordelia just nodded. Dawn sighed. "Buffy's room."
As Cordelia ascended the steps, Fred looked at Dawn. Dawn walked past Fred and into the kitchen, slamming her head against the counter top. "Something happened. Someone decided to... use dark magics to bring my sister back from the dead."
"You mean the one who was the reason you went on your travels?" Fred asked. Dawn nodded with a desperate expression on her face. She turned around, putting her back to the island and leaning forward. Fred fidgeted slightly when Dawn's silence stretched out.
"And I think she came back with superpowers, just like she used to be," Dawn said with a slightly hysterical laugh. "Was all this... everything that I did for no reason?"
Fred watched Dawn wringing her hands and cocked her head to the side. "I don't think so. I don't think Slade or Mr. Wink would say so either."
Dawn walked over to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out a can of soda. Taking a deep pull from it she flopped down on the couch next to Fred. She placed the can on the table in front of her and massaged her temples.
"Thanks Fred," Dawn said after a moment. "That means a lot to me. You have no idea how useless I used to be."
"As useless as a physicist in Pylea?" Fred asked. Dawn couldn't help but laugh at that, though she muffled herself as best as she was able.
"Actually, yeah," Dawn said. She leaned back to look straight up at the ceiling. "God this is screwy."
Fred said nothing, but fiddled with a sketch pad in her hands. Dawn raised an eyebrow and reached over. With deft fingers she plucked it from Fred's hands, despite mild protests. The yellow legal pad was covered in precise designs and annotations. A crossbow of some kind stared up at her. Dawn put as much of her intellect into comprehending the design as she could. It only took her about a minute to figure it out. She turned to look at Fred.
"Can you make this?" Dawn asked.
"Well," Fred said wringing her hands. "I don't know. Maybe, but I need parts and equipment and a few..."
"Done," Dawn said with a final tone. "We'll talk about this once things settle just a little bit. Xander and you should talk about it."
Saying his name left a strangely bitter taste in Dawn's mouth. She moved past it as best she was able. "That was really impressive. It could change the way we fight."
"Oh, that was just a doodle," Fred said with an embarrassed blush. " I can make better things than that, I think."
"Then do it," Dawn said. "I need them. We need them. I... I dunno. I need to get back upstairs to Buffy."
Fighting through protesting muscles that felt like they were screaming at her Dawn got to her feet. She gave Fred a grin. "Thanks. For helping, and being here."
"You're welcome," Fred said in a tiny voice, hunching over her sketchpad with renewed determination. A spark of an idea within her was beginning to flame to life.
0oooo0oooo0
Cordelia was standing right outside Buffy's door, her normally dark complexion strangely gray looking. Dawn shot her a mirthless smile when Cordelia pointed a single finger in the room. Dawn nodded once to Cordelia's incredulous expression. With a sigh, Dawn motioned for her to follow and the two of them walked into the upstairs bathroom. Even before the door was completely shut, words were spilling out of Cordelia's mouth.
"She's alive?" Cordelia squeaked. Dawn stripped off her shirt and threw it aside, turning the shower head on full blast.
"Yup," Dawn said.
"How?" Cordelia asked.
"Magic," Dawn said. Cordelia shot her a venomous look and Dawn sighed. "Okay; Willow did some kind of resurrection spell, I don't know what. But it was bad. Really bad. And how did you get here in three hours by car?"
"Drove ninety the whole way," Cordelia commented offhand as Dawn stuck her head under the faucet and reached for her shampoo with a grumble. "No deflecting. Are we sure that's really...her?"
"I know," Dawn said. She reconsidered that a little. "Well, I have a darn good reason to think so, anyway."
"Why's that?" Cordelia asked. Dawn said nothing for a moment as she worked the shampoo into her extremely filthy hair. After one rinse she reached for the bottle again. What a mess.
"Do you really want to know?" Dawn asked. "Because if I tell you, you will never be able to tell another soul. Not one. Not unless Buffy asks you to."
"I..." Cordelia began. She stopped. "Yeah I do want to know. I... she still saved me you know? When we did that blood sister thing. Or was that just my imagination?"
"I don't think so," Dawn said, but her voice was thoughtful. "But I don't know. Okay, you saw some freaky stuff right? When we were bonded?"
"Yeah," Cordelia said slowly.
"Hm," Dawn muttered, rinsing the last of the demon gunk out of her hair and reaching for the faucet to turn the water off. "Oh well, worry about it later. Now, the reason I know it's Buffy is how she reacted. She wasn't happy to be back; she was scared, hurt, and confused. She kept crying about... about the Song."
"Why do I get the sense you don't mean Bon Jovi?" Cordelia asked. Dawn smiled.
"The Song, Cordelia," Dawn said with a roll of her eyes. "The Song that created the world. She heard it."
Cordelia still looked confused and Dawn reached for a towel and started vigorously drying her hair. She felt a slight pang as she looked at the unicorn towel that she'd been using just a short while ago. It felt like a century. "I'll tell you this. She wasn't in a hell dimension like they feared. Pretty much the exact opposite."
"Oh God," Cordelia said, raising a hand to her mouth. Dawn nodded grimly.
"Yup, no more Heaven for you; now go Slay some more why don't you?"
"Is there anything that I can do?" she asked. Dawn looked up at Cordelia with a suddenly trembling lip. Dawn walked forward and hurled herself at Cordelia.
"Give me a hug?" Dawn asked. Strong arms wrapped around her and suddenly she just snapped. Tears were pouring down her face. Cordelia let the pair of them fall to the bathroom floor as Dawn let months of pain out of herself; a whole reality that she'd constructed because of Buffy's death. So that something like this wouldn't have been necessary. She vaguely remembered asking if she'd been useless. Cordelia wasn't putting up with self pity though. She'd berated her at length, all while holding her and running her hand through Dawn's hair.
Finally the tears and awful pain in Dawn's chest subsided. She looked up at Cordelia and smiled a teary smile. "Thanks. I needed to get that out of my system."
"No prob," Cordelia said with a wry grin. "This shirt was soo last season anyway. Now come on kid. Let's get your shirt back on before Willow gets the wrong idea about us."
Dawn gave a rasping laugh, pulling her mesh shirt over her head. She pulled her hair through and walked over to open the door. "Yeah, gosh wouldn't she be thrilled. Well, I think I'm going off to be with Buffy. I'm probably going to have to sleep there."
"Is there another chair or something?" Cordelia asked. Dawn raised an eyebrow. "What? I just want to help. Maybe having more people with her blood in them might help stabilize her."
Dawn gave her a flat look. "Is Wesley rubbing off on you or something?"
"Okay," Cordelia relented. "He mentioned it might help when I started running out the door. Of course, we thought you were in trouble at the time."
"Thought so," Dawn said with a laugh, walking down the hall and opening Buffy's door gently. The two of them very quietly moved into Buffy's room. Even so, Buffy stirred, rolling over to look up at them.
"Hnpgh," Buffy said, her eyes once again panicked. Dawn was surprised when it was Cordelia that gently went over to Buffy and knelt by the bed. Then Cordelia started humming a seemingly formless tune. Yet something was jerking a chain in the back of Dawn's mind. Buffy too seemed to calm when she heard it. Almost without thinking Dawn began to sing, adding her voice to Cordelia's. Then Dawn remembered as the two of them sang. It was a fragment, a tiny sliver of the Great Song. But it was working, and as they sang Buffy's eyelids drooped until they finally fluttered shut.
Gently Dawn crawled into the bed next to Buffy while Cordelia scrounged up a comfy looking chair from their mother's old room. And as Dawn drifted off she realized that she was incredibly thankful that she had both of her sisters here with her now.
She didn't know if she could face this alone.
0oooo0oooo0
Fred looked up when the door opened and a group of people wandered in. Most of them she'd met before, but the young man who was with Slade, Mr. Wink, and the Giles person was an unknown. She quickly got to her feet.
"How are you? Is everyone okay?" she asked. Slade nodded.
"How is Aurora?" Slade shot back, pulling out a cigarette and putting it between his lips. His battered looking suit had obviously seen better days, and his hair was a mess, but his expression was deadly serious. He held out the pack to Giles who looked nearly as disheveled and to what looked like everyone except Slade's surprise, the other man took one.
"She's... upset," Fred replied. "But otherwise okay. She's upstairs with her sister and Cordelia."
"Cordy's here?" the new man asked. Fred nodded, and she was uncertain why his face seemed to fall when she confirmed it. Maybe they were enemies of some kind? But Cordelia seemed so nice.
"My word," Giles said, taking a lighter that Slade tossed to him and lighting his own cigarette. He puffed once. "Well, that is a surprise."
"I think we should leave them for now," Fred offered quietly. "I think they're asleep."
"Goodness knows they deserve some rest," Giles nodded in agreement. The other man seemed to want to say something, but Giles raised his hand. "Xander, perhaps it is best if you make sure that Ms. Rosenberg and Ms. MacLay make it back to their dorm in one piece. We will meet again tomorrow evening to sort this out some more."
Xander shut his mouth with a clack, nodded once, and turned around to walk out. Giles and Slade flopped down on the couch. Mr. Wink gingerly walked through the house. He placed a massive paw on Slade's shoulders and the dragon nodded.
"I know," Slade said. "First thing tomorrow I promise. Until then just be careful walking around here okay? You don't know what might mean something to the boss."
"You know," Giles said after taking another drag on his cigarette, placing in over an empty soda can and knocking the ash off. "You refer to Dawn as your leader. Why is that?"
"Because you can't beat the Dawn," Slade said with an enigmatic expression. "All you can do is chase it. But mostly because she can lead and I'm out of practice. Never really cared enough about others to be a leader. But she does, and that's why I'll follow her as long as she makes sense. Because she really does give a damn; you should have heard her when she told me about this place. She cares Rupert. She cares so much that she sacrificed herself to gain the strength to protect it. To protect you frankly. I haven't met a nobler soul in a very long while."
"Well," Slade temporized after a moment. "That, and I was really quite bored and she offered a nearly unlimited supply of things to hit. That was certainly a plus."
"And Mr. Wink?" Giles said, stating the name as if he didn't believe it was real.
"He owes her his life," Slade said. "I've only known Aurora two weeks, but I know this; saving people is what she does. She brought Fred here out of her shell, saved Mr. Wink's life, and probably saved Cordelia's life as well. She's gotten into fights with demons and Powers. I'm curious what she's going to do next."
"Powers?" Giles asked. Slade inhaled deeply, and looked troubled.
"Yes," Slade said. "The Powers. I have heard them referred to as the Powers that Be... is that correct?"
Giles was speechless.
"So what are you planning to do now?" Fred asked. Slade cocked an eyebrow at her.
"What do you mean?" Slade asked, trying to adjust to the rapid subject shift.
"I... had an idea," Fred hazarded. She pulled out a page from her sketch pad, covered in notes. Carefully she handed it to Slade and tucked her legs underneath herself. The dragon plucked the sheet up and started to read. When he was done, Slade put the sheet on the coffee table in front of him.
"That's a gutsy plan," Slade said. Fred looked away and Slade frowned a little. "I didn't say it was bad. Tell you what, you come with me and Mr. Wink tomorrow. We'll find us a place that will do. Goodness knows I have money. And Aurora has lucked into a decent chunk of cash too."
"What is this?" Giles asked, picking up the sheet. His tired eyes weren't up to reading Winnifred's immaculate and far too tiny script. However one thing stood out; the header.
"Summers, Slade, and Associates Consulting," it read in a bold script. "We help the helpless."
Giles lowered the paper, deep in thought. He'd never considered it... but Slade was right. It might not be that bad of an idea after all. He picked up the paper again and focused his eyes with a renewed vigor.
By the time he reached the end of the document he was smiling in a way that made just about everyone in the room nervous.