Chapter/episode 21: The Weight of the World.

Hello! So…um…I owe you an apology. I promised I wouldn't make you wait as long this time, and I made you wait longer. I'm really, really sorry. I've been really busy with homework, and I had a really hard time writing this chapter (this episode was hard because Angel just didn't fit in much, it's not my favorite chapter), and on top of it all I had some computer problems. And I know that now I'm giving you a long string of excuses. I promise I'll try to do better.

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy.

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer…

Angel watched in horror as Ben changed into Glory. Glory looked around, smiled, and grabbed Dawn, pushing away the others who tried to attack her. Then she ran outside carrying Dawn.

"Willow, open it up!" Buffy screamed. Willow did the reversal spell, and they all ran outside. Once outside, though, they stopped dead.

"Oh my god." Angel said. The hundreds of soldiers were all dead. Every single one. Glory and Dawn were nowhere to be seen. Buffy fell to her knees. Angel leaned down next to her, soon to be joined by Willow. "Buffy?" Angel said.

"Buffy, you have to get up!" Willow yelled. "Buffy!"

Buffy still hadn't reacted to anything. Angel had carried her inside, where everyone was now trying to decide their next move. Angel held Buffy's hand, barely listening to the others. "Buffy, sweetheart, can you hear me?" he said, quietly. "It's me. It's Angel. Please, baby, you have to wake up."

"Anything?" Spike asked him. He shook his head. "Well, you've got to try harder." Spike leaned in so his face was close to Buffy's. "Buffy! Slayer, wake up!"

Willow had walked over and also gave it a try. "Buffy? It's Willow. Can you hear me?"

"I don't think she can." Angel sighed miserably. "She's catatonic, I can tell."

"But why?" Willow asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Buffy's put everything she's got into protecting Dawn, used every waking moment of energy making sure she was safe. But she got taken anyway. It was too much for her to handle."

There was silence for a few moments after this. Finally Anya broke it. "So what do we do now?"

"Giles needs to get to a hospital." Willow said. "We need to find Dawn. And we need to get Buffy back. Here's the plan. We're all going back to Sunnydale. Xander's going to take Giles to the hospital. Angel, Spike, and Oz should go to Glory's base, try to find out where to find Dawn."

"Actually," Oz cut in. "I should stay here. Somebody's got to take care of the mess that's been left here."

Willow nodded. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, just Angel and Spike then. Anya, Tara, and I will take Buffy back to…Xander's apartment is probably safest, and try to bring her back."

Angel spoke up. "Willow, I want to-"

"No. Angel, I get it, I know you want to be with Buffy but you've got to leave this to me. I can use magic to go inside her mind and bring her out of this catatonic state. But you can't help me with that. Right now you're needed with Spike to go find Dawn."

Angel sighed unhappily. As much as he wanted to stay with Buffy and make sure she was alright, he knew Willow was right. And he trusted her to take care of Buffy. "Ok. But I want you to call me as soon as she wakes up."

Willow nodded. "Of course. Any questions?"

"Yeah." Spike said. "What are we going to do about Ben?"

"He must have run off when Glory got here." Xander said.

Spike and Angel glanced at each other. "No." Angel said. "Ben is Glory. Remember?"

"What?" Willow asked, looking confused.

"Ben transformed into Glory." Spike said, slowly, as though he were speaking to a small child. "Right in front of you."

"I don't…no he didn't." Anya said.

Spike gave them all an incredulous look. "Is everyone here very stoned?"

"Oh, I get it." Angel said suddenly, standing up. "Oh, she's very clever. Glory's worked it out so that no one remembers seeing her little transformation, so no one makes the connection between her and Ben. And you and I, not exactly being human, remain unaffected."

"So Glory turns into Ben, and Ben turns into Glory." Willow said slowly, frowning as though concentrating hard.

"Ben is Glory." Xander finished.

"Bingo." Angel said.

"Excellent." Giles gasped, trying to sit up. "So, do we suspect a connection between Ben and Glory?" Angel and Spike both groaned.

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"You sure you'll be ok here by yourself?" Angel asked Oz as they got ready to leave.

Oz nodded. "I don't think anyone else will come here now that Glory, Dawn, and you guys are all gone. Someone's got to do something about the mess left here. I'll be fine. You're needed in Sunnydale."

"Thanks." Angel said. He turned to go.

"Oh, and Angel?" Oz added quickly. Angel paused and looked back. "She'll be alright. I know she will be."

Angel managed a very small smile. "Thanks, Oz. Be careful."

"You too."

Angel went over to Willow. "Everything's ready." He said.

"Good, we can go then." Willow replied. Seeing the nervous look on his face, she added, "I'll take good care of her, Angel."

"I know you will. I just hope it works."

"It will." Willow assured him. "She'll be ok. Let's get going.

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Angel and Spike walked through Glory's base. "It looks like she cleared out." Angel sighed. "There's no one here."

"Maybe she knew we'd come here looking." Spike suggested.

"No." Angel shook his head. "She wouldn't worry about that. She doesn't consider us much of a threat. She'd be confident enough to take us if we showed up here. There's got to be another reason she left."

"Let's look around." Spike said. They wandered around her fancy apartment, looking for any clues as to where Glory might have taken Dawn. "Hey, look at this." Spike said. Angel came over and looked into the small room Spike was in. It was a very tiny bedroom.

"Looks like this is where Ben stays." Angel said.

"Yeah, looks like." Spike agreed.

Angel went back up to the main room. "There's nothing here." He sighed. "They've cleared out. Even her stuff is gone."

"So what do we do now?" Spike asked.

Angel thought about it. "Let's go to the hospital and find Giles and Xander. Then we'll come up with our next move."

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Giles was leaving the hospital just as Angel and Spike got there. "Are you sure you're up to leaving?" Xander asked.

"I'll be fine, Xander, we have work to do." Giles groaned. He saw Angel and Spike coming toward them. "What did you find?"

"Nothing." Angel grumbled.

"The place was cleaned out." Spike said.

"So what do we do now?" Xander asked.

"We have to find out where Glory has taken Dawn." Giles said. "Where would she have taken the Key before using it?"

"I don't know. And I don't have the slightest idea how to find out." Angel sighed. He ripped the just lit cigarette out of Spike's hand and crushed it under his foot. "And you can't smoke in a hospital!"

Spike gave him a look. "I might know a guy. They call him Doc. He's supposed to know everything that goes on around here. He might know."

"It's worth a shot." Angel said. "Take me and Xander with you, and the three of us will see what he has to say." He turned to Giles. "We can drop you off at the Magic Box on the way. Can you do some research?"

Giles nodded. "Of course."

"Let's go." Xander said. The four of them started walking down the hall.

"Oh by the way," Spike said. "We found Ben's hideout at Glory's place. It looked like he'd been camped out there for a while."

"Ben? What does Ben have to do with Glory? Are you saying they're working together some how?" Xander asked, looking confused.

Spike groaned. "This is going to be totally worth is." He said, and punched Xander in the face. They both cried out in pain, causing people to stare.

"Spike." Angel sighed, pulling him down the hall. "You should have let me hit him." He muttered. Spike grinned.

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Spike, Angel, and Xander walked cautiously inside. "Doc?" Spike asked, spotting the old man. He turned around.

"Hello again." He said. "You were the one whose friend wanted to bring back her mother."

"This is where you brought Dawn to learn how to bring back Joyce?" Angel hissed.

"Yeah." Spike said, answering both Doc and Angel. "Listen, we need some information. We're looking for a hell god called Glory. She has the Key and she's going to try to unlock the walls between the hell dimensions. Do you know where we could find her?"

Doc froze. "I'm afraid I cannot help you." He said after a moment, walking across the room.

"Do you know anything? Anything at all?" Xander asked desperately.

"I don't know anything about the beast. You should leave now."

Angel had been watching Doc very closely since they arrived. He spoke up, "We hadn't called her the beast, Doc."

Doc froze for a second, and then turned and smiled at Angel. "Oops." He said. He started walking toward them.

"Oh no." Xander groaned.

Suddenly a very long tongue came shooting out of Doc's mouth. Spike and Angel both jumped sideways to avoid being hit by it. Angel grabbed a nearby table and hit Doc in the head as hard as he could with it. Doc fell to the ground, unconscious. He looked at Spike and Xander. "Run." He said, and the three of them left the house.

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Angel, Spike, and Xander walked into the Magic Box and found Giles sitting at the table with about half the books in the store laid out in front of him. He looked up when they came in. "Did you learn anything from Spike's informant?"

"No." Xander grumbled.

"Turns out Spike's informant was deeply evil with a desire to kill us." Angel said, glaring at Spike as he spoke.

"Well I didn't know!" Spike cried.

"You could have guessed. I can't remember that last time I saw someone that shady." Angel retorted.

"Well may I remind you that I am evil! Big Bad here, remember?" Spike said, pointing to himself.

"Um, I'm all for insulting Spike, but don't you think we have more important work to do?" Xander asked Angel.

Angel sighed. "For once, you're right." He glared at Spike again. "I'll yell at you later." He told him, and then sat down next to Giles. "Have you found anything out?" he asked.

Giles sighed, taking his glasses off to clean them. "Well, there's only one thing I've discovered that's of help to us." He sighed and looked at Angel as he put his glasses back on. "But Buffy isn't going to like it."

"What isn't Buffy going to like?" a voice behind them said. Everyone turned and saw Buffy, Willow, Anya, and Tara standing by the door.

"Buffy!" Angel jumped up and ran over to her. She threw her arms around him as he reached her. "I was so worried about you." He whispered to her. "How do you feel?"

"I'm ok." Buffy replied. "I mean, I'll be fine." She kissed him, and then a look of determination appeared on her face. "We have to save Dawn." Angel nodded and gave her a small smile before they both joined the others around the table. "Ok, Giles." Buffy said. "What did you find out that I'm not going to like?"

"Well," Giles began carefully "I've been doing some research on the Key and how it is used. As far as I can tell, Glory is going to use the Key tonight. If she is successful, the walls will only stop unraveling if the blood of the Key stops flowing." He looked at Buffy, regret in his eyes. "Buffy…we're going to have to kill Dawn." Buffy's eyes widened in horror, and she tightened her grip on Angel's arm. Because that was one of the few things she just couldn't do.

I'm sorry you waited so long for a chapter so short. There just wasn't all that much to change in this episode. It's never been one of my favorites, anyway. I love Spiral, and The Gift is heartbreaking but good, but this one just didn't really do it for me. Speaking of The Gift, that's the next episode and the final episode in this story before we move on to the next volume (season 6). All the info you need for the next story will be in the author's note at the end of The Gift. Please review!