Author's Note: Your answer, ladies and gentlemen.
Tomorrow, we get the final chapter of this story.
Enjoy!
The first few times had been in the Axis.
But then, Seo had entered the real world. Discovered the voice in her head wasn't her conscience, but some evil entity called Twilight — who was trying to make her to kill herself so it could take over her body.
She destroyed Twilight.
And everything changed.
Seo had been surprised at how different the transformation had felt, without Twilight in her mind.
The transformation… when Seo turned from a person into a mindless killer, and couldn't stop.
It was like… in losing Twilight, she really had finally shed that last tendril of conscience. That last little bit holding her back, reminding her that what she was doing was evil and she should really be killing herself, right now. That was made worse by the fact that Seo's guilt and despair had grown astronomically, once she'd found out that no one she killed in the real universe would come back to life.
In the real universe, with no Twilight in her head… it was so much easier to slip into Glory.
Seo had felt herself dropping into it, on that space ship with the alien who'd kidnapped five-year-olds. It had been warm. Comforting. Like stepping into another skin.
She'd freaked, after that.
Almost killed Alison and little David.
The only way to fight back against Glory was by preventing the transformation in the first place. Stopping herself from doing anything that could trigger it. Seo refused to use any ability beyond those she'd inherited from her parents. Had worked long hours painstakingly building up the shields and barriers she needed inside her mind, to make sure none of the Glory in her got out.
This was the real world, now.
Real universe.
And Seo was going to make sure she could save it without flipping out. She was going to make sure she could be a hero — a real hero — without turning herself into a killer.
Her efforts had worked.
Until the Furies. Until the Slitheen who'd tried to take Mom away, while Seo was too drained to do anything to stop it. Something deep down inside of her broke, and Seo was lost, again.
Killing.
And unable to stop.
Except… she wasn't Glory. She could feel it more clearly, that time. No, if she was Glory, she'd never be so conscious and aware of what she was doing. Would have snapped that child Slitheen's neck without a second thought. Wouldn't be so determined to direct that power inside of her to save her family and friends.
So… if she wasn't Glory…
What was she?!
What was making her do this? Was this what she was like, deep down inside?
Seo clung to that idea. Yes! That had to be it!
The personality she had, before, must have been some sort of façade, while the real Seo, deep down inside, was this. Perhaps…
Perhaps flipping out like this hadn't been a mistake!
Perhaps this was the Seo the Monks had intended, all along.
Seo knew she was still a hell goddess, of course — she couldn't feel guilt, didn't care what she was doing. But that was good. It meant she could think. It meant she could gain enough control to direct this power and destruction, and hurt the jerks who tried to harm Mom, and… and…
Why was Seo trying to fight that?!
Wasn't that what she'd wanted, all along? To defend the people she loved?
Maybe, Seo realized, she didn't need to flip back. Maybe she shouldn't fight against the transformation. This inner-self wasn't Glory, it was Seo! And that meant… that this was her ultimate form, her final destiny!
She decided to stay like this forever.
But then…
…Alison had burst into the room.
And Alison had been in tears. In pain. Hurting and taking on guilt and blame she shouldn't have to take. And Seo realized… she was the one hurting her best friend, like this. Alison was being torn apart — and it was all Seo's fault! All her own stupid fault for giving in, letting this power consume her, and not fighting back against it.
Seo's fault for forgetting...
That she wasn't Seo.
She was Glory.
"It should be impossible!" the Doctor insisted, as they hurried back towards the console room. The ship giving a final groan as it landed. "TARDIS can't usually fly herself!"
"You don't think Seo's flying it?" asked Dawn.
"Doubt it," the Doctor replied. "She doesn't know how. Unless her blind terror has somehow overloaded the telepathic circuits, in some sort of desperate…"
Both he and Dawn stopped, as they turned the corner, and discovered Oliver, in all its mechanical, black-glassed splendor, nicely nestled in a corner of the corridor.
The Doctor sighed. "Ah."
"I guess that answers that question," Dawn agreed.
Only one person who'd force the TARDIS to take off, and make sure it picked up her ship on the way.
The Doctor turned on his feet, then stumbled past Oliver and into the console room. The TARDIS giving off its normal ambient aliveness, around them.
As the engines ground to a halt, and a ping indicated that they'd landed.
"Question is… if she's the one flying the ship," said the Doctor, stumbling to the central console and dragging up an image of the outside on the view screen, "then where…?"
He froze.
"Ah," said the Doctor. "Should have expected that."
"What?" said Dawn. She rushed over. "Is this the end of the universe or something? Did she…?"
Dawn stopped talking, as she noticed the image on the view screen. The TARDIS was in midair — hovering just above a gigantic crater in the middle of the California desert. A giant crater that Dawn recognized.
"I said she had Glory in her," the Doctor muttered. "And the one thing Glory wanted most…"
"Was to go home," Dawn finished. "To Sunnydale. Her birthplace."
Now just a gigantic crater.
"Go home," the Doctor muttered. "Not go to her birthplace."
"No," came Seo's voice, as she faded into existence, in the console room, beside them. Also staring at the view screen. "No! I can't go home!" She thudded a hand down on the console. "I told you I wanted you to lock me away forever, you stupid ship! What is wrong with you?"
Then Seo noticed that she was no longer alone.
Her face turning pale.
She spun on her heels, trying to throw herself out the TARDIS double doors, but the Doctor caught her by the wrist and spun her around to face him. Staring deep into her eyes.
"Stop trying to kill yourself," the Doctor demanded. "Twilight was wrong! There's another way."
"No!" Seo screamed. "I can't go home! I won't! I won't! I won't!" A lash of magical energy tore from her body and slammed into the Doctor, sending him toppling to the ground.
Seo shuddered back.
Then turned, and tried to run to the double doors. Her feet pounding against the grating in desperation, as she threw the doors open…
And Dawn lunged at Seo, tackling her onto the grating, away from the doors. Clamping onto Seo, tight as she could, so that to kill herself, Seo would have to kill Dawn, too.
Oh, she hoped that would be a deterrent…
"What is wrong with you?" Dawn demanded. "I thought you wanted to go home! I thought…!"
Dawn trailed off.
As it finally struck her.
Home. Not Seo's birthplace. Her home…
The Axis. Her prison for 98 years.
"You're trying to lock yourself out of the universe, again," Dawn realized. Looked out the double doors, and shuddered, as she realized exactly where they were hovering. "By coming here. To where it happened. Where the portal opened."
"But I can't," Seo said, again. Squirmed, trying to pry Dawn off of her. "I can't go home. I don't want to go home! I don't want to find my Key!"
Dawn stared at her.
As it all came together.
Remembering that time against the memory-altering whatever, when Dawn had accidentally drained Seo's soul, and Seo had said that she couldn't find her Key. Remembering the way Seo had sounded, the way she'd acted, back when she'd first defeated the Daleks. Remembering… how the TARDIS had tried to help, by picking up on the stray thoughts from Seo's mind that were…
"It's Glory," Dawn realized. "That's what brings you back! That's what snaps you out of it! You turn yourself into Glory!"
Dawn clutched Seo by the arms.
"Oh, my God, it makes sense!" Dawn cried. "That's why, when you flip into Weapon-Mode, you start talking like Glory. Acting like Glory. What we're seeing isn't the problem, it's the solution!"
Seo stared at Dawn. Those wide brown eyes still so scared. "But I don't want to be Glory," she said, her voice barely above a squeak.
"But you are!" Dawn cried. "That's what the Doctor said. You're always Glory — even when you're normal. Glory wanted to find the Key! So when you go into Weapon-Mode, you use the part of you that's Glory to look through yourself and find the real you — your little bit of Key! — and drag it back to the surface! That's how you've been breaking the conditioning!"
It was totally ingenious, actually.
If Weapon-Mode used Glory's abilities and the Key's properties to make Seo invincible… who better to control and reverse them than the part of Seo that was Glory and was the Key?
"And earlier today, inside of Oliver," said Dawn, "you said you were scared you'd screw up the multiverse, unless you found your Key — found your Seo-self! That's what you really meant! And then I…"
Dawn trailed off.
As she realized.
"And then I told you to stop looking for your Key," said Dawn. "And you loved me. So you stopped."
That was what that whole conversation had actually meant. What Dawn should have figured out, sooner. That whatever Glory was inside of Seo… it was just as much a part of her as being 'the Key'.
And was just as desperate for love and approval as Seo was.
"I don't want to be Glory," said Seo. "I don't want to find my Key. You can't make me!"
Dawn got up. Gave a little laugh.
"Yeah, I can," she said. Took a knife out of her pocket, and stepped right beside the open TARDIS doors. Holding out her arm. "I've got Key blood, too, you know." She slashed the knife across her arm, making a fist so that the blood trickled down. "And it might not be the right point in time to make the full portal, but I'm betting… my blood, in this spot… gotta still make one hell of a bang."
Seo's eyes went wide. She tried to rush Dawn and grab her away from the edge, but the Doctor caught her, first. Held her back.
"Two dimensional nodes," the Doctor said, "and a Gallifreyan consciousness controlling them. You know that's the only way to stop the end of the universe."
Seo squeezed her eyes shut.
Clearly in turmoil. Not sure what to say. What to do. Not sure which battle to win, or which to keep fighting.
"It's your choice," the Doctor said.
Then the tension dropped from Seo's body, as she sighed.
Opened her eyes.
And rolled them, mildly annoyed. "Oh, just shut up! God!"
Seo shrugged the Doctor off of her, with an ease that showed her strength.
"I mean, I'm a hundred and one years old," Seo continued, dusting herself off, and strolling over to Dawn. "You think you'd let me live my friggin' life, already." She shot Dawn an expression that chilled Dawn to the core. An expression of ease, disinterest, and derangement that screamed 'Glory'.
Except… there was a little spark of something else in there.
A love for others too strong to ever keep down.
"And as for you, drama queen," said Seo, grabbing hold of Dawn's wrist, "just — stop acting like you're the center of the universe! I mean — like I even care what you think!" She pulled Dawn towards her. Staring into her eyes. "Get this through your head. Only thing I care about… is finding my Key."
Dawn leaned in. "Good."
And as the blood splashed down through the air, a surge of power flooded them both. Washing across the air, flashing through every bit of Keyness inside both of them.
It was over.
As, down below, in the crater that was once Sunnydale, one single drop of harmless blood splashed into the dirt.
