Author's Note: Thanks for all the support I got, yesterday! I was feeling seriously down at the beginning of the day, and by the end, I was actually feeling really good about myself. You're all wonderful people, and you're really, really sweet for helping me out.
I'm not sure about updates for the next few days. My family's getting all these awards because they're super successful, so I'm going to be flying around a lot. I'm off to Washington DC tomorrow to because my grandma's getting an award from President Obama. I'm not sure if I'm going to take my computer with me, though, so we'll see what happens.
If I don't take my computer, then I'll be taking a little update break until I get back. If I do, I still might not have internet, so that might be an issue. But at any rate, you should probably expect a small update break.
I'm really sorry for leaving you at a bad stopping point, but they're kind of all bad stopping points at this part of the story. Sorry.
Seven spell-books and one trip to the magic shop later, and they were ready to perform the spell that would reveal the Facksisil of Balime to them. Buffy kept pacing the room, nervously, as Willow and Giles set up the items they needed in a circle on the floor. The red crystal lay in the exact center, surrounded by candles and other magical items.
"This isn't actually going to release the demon inside, right?" asked Buffy. "Because I'd like a heads-up, if there's going to be major demon-slaying going on."
"It shouldn't," Giles told her. "The spell should simply reveal what is inside. It shouldn't be able to release it."
"Ready," Willow chirped, setting down the last item in the correct place.
She sat on one side, Giles on the other. Giles held the spell book open in his hand, and began to recite the words.
"Ostende nobis hoc naturam," said Giles, speckling holy water across the crystal.
Willow took the nearby incense, and waved it above the crystal's surface. "May all veils be lifted, all mists be wiped away."
"Exponere tenebris, revelare potestatem," Giles chanted, as Willow blew upon the incense sticks.
"By the power of Hylaznia, show what truly lies within," said Willow.
The candles all puffed out, and the entire room seemed cast in a sudden, dark shadow. Giles set down the book, a little concerned, as he looked about himself. Willow looked around, too, confused.
Then a burst of bright light shot out of the crystal, rising to the ceiling and spreading out to become a swirling ball of light. The light expanded, then seemed to morph into…
A series of shapes. All changing, all different. No, they weren't shapes, they were images. Images of people, of places, of things that none of them had ever seen before. They flickered by almost too fast to process, image after image after image, like a slide show or a montage that had been put on mega fast-forward.
"Wait a minute," said Buffy. "That's Martha Jones."
The images continued to change, one to another to another. And Willow started picking out things, as well.
"That's your mom!" Willow cried to Buffy. "And there's Angel!"
"Is that Richard Wilkins in a waistcoat?" asked Giles.
"You know what this is," said Buffy. "These are the Doctor's memories. We found them."
Willow stared at the images. "900 years of memories," she mused. "That is definitely something big."
"And powerful," Buffy agreed. "Lots of people would hack off an arm and a limb to get that kind of information."
"No, no, this cannot be the case," Giles said. "I've researched this particular crystal. It has very specific properties, and none of those include the storage of memories."
"Plus, we're still one mega-demon short," Buffy pointed out.
"Well, maybe the mega-demon's hiding behind the memories," Willow offered.
Giles dipped his hand into the holy water, and flicked it across the surface of the crystal. "By the power of Hylaznia," he said. "Reveal to us all else that this crystal contains besides these memories."
The light flickered out. Then the fog cleared, and the room went back to normal.
"Or not," said Willow.
"I suppose the Doctor didn't manage to stop the ritual in time after all," said Giles. "The Facksisil of Balime must already have gotten loose."
"It can't have," said Buffy. "The world hasn't ended, yet, and Carmen wouldn't have been that eager to get the Doctor, if the monster was already on the loose."
Willow's eyes widened. "Wait, why did Carmen want the Doctor?"
"Clearly, she believed the Facksisil of Balime was still within the red crystal," Giles replied.
Buffy grumbled something about skanky demon ladies seducing mind-wiped aliens.
"Yeah, but, I mean, if you were running away from a world-ending ceremony with a super dangerous red crystal, you'd throw it into your pocket, right?" said Willow. "And Buffy was wearing the Doctor's coat. So… why didn't she take Buffy? Or why didn't she just kill both of you and take the coat?"
"She probably just wanted the Doctor in case he'd hidden it some…" Buffy trailed off. "Wait, but… she knew he didn't have a memory. He couldn't have told her anything, even if he'd wanted to. And her white blocky things only released me after she figured out that he had no memory."
"Exactly!" said Willow. "So why the Doctor?" She picked up the crystal, tapping her fingers across its red surface. Then, she froze. Sudden horror sprouted in her eyes. "Scary thought," she said. "Really, really scary thought."
Buffy and Giles looked at one another, then back at Willow. "What?" they asked, at once.
"Well, Buffy, you know how you said that the Doctor can have stuff in his head that he doesn't know about?" said Willow. "Because he can build up psychic shields?" She raised the red crystal in her hand. "Well, the Doctor used to have his memories, and this crystal had the Facksisil of Balime. But now this crystal contains the Doctor's memories, and the Facksisil of Balime would have nowhere to go except..."
"The Doctor's mind," Giles muttered.
"That's why the TARDIS wouldn't let him inside," Buffy realized. "She must have felt the monster in his head, and locked him out!"
"Ingenious plan, really," Giles mused. "He comes to, running, and continues running based on his own instincts until he finds Buffy, who will make him stop. The Doctor must have known that Buffy wouldn't think to protect the red crystal. But she would protect him. If he was taken, and Buffy had the crystal, she would arrange a swap. If Carmen took the red crystal, but left the Doctor behind, the ceremony wouldn't work. And if Carmen decided to take the red crystal and kill the Doctor straight out, the Facksisil of Balime would be destroyed, and the world would be saved. Really, for someone who is frightfully rude and immature, he is incredibly clever."
"There's only one way it wouldn't work," said Buffy. "If Carmen worked out that the monster was in his mind. And since she let me go, and focused her attention on the Doctor, I'm guessing she worked it out."
"But… that means Carmen doesn't need the crystal at all," said Willow. "Everything we needed to lock that dimension away, and everything Carmen needs to end the world — that isn't in the crystal. It's all in the Doctor's head."
"All Carmen needs to end the world is the Doctor," Giles agreed. "And that's precisely who she's got."