Tara dropped her hand only inches from Willows cheek and she turned towards the window. The glorious early morning sunshine that had punctuated their impending violent outbreak had suddenly vanished, replaced instead with an eerie, storm like darkness that sent shivers down her spine as she rested her hand on the cool glass.
Behind her, Willow opened her eyes, which had been squeezed shut as she braced herself for the slap she knew was coming. In her chest, her heart was shattering, just the thought that Tara would consider hitting her, let alone actually do it was tearing her up.
Glancing over to the window, she frowned at the impromptu darkness and cautiously stepped towards Tara.
Suddenly the blonde turned, seriousness, fear and regret etched over her usually pretty face and giving her an almost creepy look.
"It's time!" she said simply and rushed from the room.
Turning into Revello Drive, the American Pit-bull limped slowly. Had it had the power of speech, it would have complained about the pain in its jaw and side and the unwillingness of its human companion. But alas, he had no such ability and so, he limped on dragging his near lifeless companion faithfully.
Darkness engulfed the odd couple and the dog paused, looking up at the sky and dropping its mouthful, he stopped and sat. As lightning flashed across the sky, the dog looked to the heavens and howled.
For the first time since they had arrived, the potentials stood silently in the living room. Each one hanging their head as they contemplated the task ahead.
"Well this is wicked morbid!"
The husky tone from the staircase caused everyone to turn in unison, small, weak smiles lit the faces as they saw Faith standing there.
"It's time." Tara told her, nodding towards the window. "You up for it?"
Faith made her way to the rest of the group and looked outside. Lightning flashed brightly across the sky and she wondered if maybe they were expecting a hurricane but knew in her heart that Tara was indeed right.
"I'm ready!" she confirmed and the room lapsed into silence once more.
Blood flowed freely, the dog had suffered badly at the hands of Caleb and yet it refused to give in. Exhausted from dragging his load, he paused and nuzzled the human once more, licking her dirt-streaked face and whining pitifully.
The human stirred. Her body hurt and her hand was cramped from gripping her prize. She opened her hazel eyes and blinked a few times as they focused.
"Hey boy!" she whispered and patted the dogs head fondly.
In response, the dog licked her cheek once more and sat heavily. She looked around and realised she was almost home. Looking back at the dog, she smiled. "You saved me!" she said tears choking her voice. The dog cocked its head but it was clear that even such a small movement was a huge effort for it.
Looking up nervously at the sky the dog reluctantly got to its feet and nuzzled the humans hand. She let go of her new weapon and got to her feet, her muscles screaming as she did so. After a quick stretch, she bent to retrieve her weapon but found that the dog had already picked it up and was wearily making its way to her home.
She followed slowly, her mind racing. Plans, strategies and ideas flooding her consciousness.
As the dog turned onto her path, it stumbled slightly, before regaining its footing and taking five or six – she couldn't count – more steps and succumbing to its injuries and exhaustion and collapsing on the lawn. Rushing to the dogs side, she stroked its head softly.
"C'mon, you gotta be ok, get up!" she begged the dog, although from its laboured breathing and blood matted fur she was sure the dog was on its last legs.
"WILLOW!" She yelled towards the house.
Willow, who had been sat alone in the dining room, leapt to her feet and rushed out the front door, the others all close behind.
On the lawn, Buffy was crouched over a dog, tears flooding down her face and dropping onto the rapidly expiring canine.
Everyone burst into life, all talking and rushing in and out, fetching the most random things that they thought could be of use.
Tara strode to the middle of the group and lifted the stricken dog in her arms as Willow and Amanda helped Buffy into the house.
Laying the dog on the rug, Tara stroked his head gently. She could feel his life force draining from him and knew there was nothing she could do to save him. All she could do was comfort the dog in his final minutes.
"Tara!" Buffy croaked, "Help him, you have to help him. He saved me!"
Tara shook her head sadly. "There's nothing I can do Buffy, I'm sorry!"
Buffy wiggled from Willows grasp and fell to her knees at Tara's side, the dog looked up at her with loving eyes and whined softly.
"Sweet dreams." Buffy whispered as she leant in and kissed the dogs muzzle softly before resting her head lightly against his.
In her closeness, she heard the dogs final breath leave his exhausted body and for a split second, she envied him.
With tears staining her cheeks, she got back to her feet and shuffled to the couch.
"Where the hell have you been?" Kennedy asked accusingly, although one death glare from Tara silenced her once more.
Buffy raised an eyebrow slowly at the potential and sighed heavily.
"I decided to push on ahead a little, next thing I know, I see a bunch of bringers coming for me, so I slip behind an pillar so that I can maybe leap out on them once they pass me and I'm leaning on the wall and well, the wall kinda caved in and I fell." Buffy began slowly.
"Could you get me a glass of water, its all kinds of dry in my throat!" She asked Amanda who willingly trotted off to fetch their leader a drink.
"What's this?" Faith asked as she entered the living room. In all the excitement, no one had noticed Buffy had returned with a shiny new weapon.
Buffy shrugged and took the glass that Amanda offered, drinking deeply before continuing. "Anyway, I fell about 40 feet, I think, I don't really know, it was dark." She took another deep drink and smiled. "I King Arthur'd that from a rock and as I turned, there was this preacher guy just stood there all smug."
"Ahhh, Caleb, we met him!" Tara said, the merest hint of venom tinting her voice.
"Well he doesn't like me very much, was all mouthing off about girls being dirty and such." Buffy frowned slightly as she spoke.
Tara nodded in agreement.
"But when he saw this…" she took the weapon from Faiths grasp and showed the rest of the group. "He backed off rapidly."
"It's wicked powerful!" Faith said matter of factly.
"It feels like it was made for me!" Buffy agreed, looking to Faith, "For us!"
The opening of the front door caused everyone to stop momentarily and turn towards the figure.
Giles stepped into the small hallway and paused, looking down at the lifeless body of an American pit-bull before looking over to the assembled group and then back to the pit-bull.
"Everyone is aware of the deceased canine in the hallway?" he said.
Buffy and Faith smiled and nodded slowly.
"Ok, then. I need to shower." he continued.
"Erm Giles?" Buffy called after him and he paused with one foot on a step. "Do you know what this is?" she asked holding up the weapon.
Giles turned and looked towards the group, his face wearing the perfect mask of shock.
"Giles?" Buffy asked as the man made his way slowly towards her, holding his hand out for the weapon.
"This is it!" he announced, startling some of the group with the excitement in his voice.
The group waited for him to continue, his unexplained excitement permeating the atmosphere and seeping into everyone present.
"This scythe is a symbol of death!" he began before Tara cut him off.
"It's technically not a scythe, it's an axe." she corrected him.
"Yes, I'm fully aware of that Tara!" he told her curtly, "I remember seeing something once in some of my research, it's represented by m glottal stop."
From her silence in the corner, Willow spoke up. "A whoey?"
"A sort of gulpy noise. Now I'm remembering something
here." he explained "Hieroglyphs! Hieroglyphs stand for sets of
Consonants, as you know." He directed his information tirade towards the redhead and she nodded, although looked thoroughly confused.
"Yes, absolutely." she agreed.
"The "m" plus glottal stop is represented by a picture that's commonly thought to symbolize a sickle or a scythe. It's in thousands of carvings in Egypt, throughout the ancient world."
"Carvings like you'd have on a pagan temple?" Willow asked, finally working out where Giles could be going with this.
Giles nodded, a full grin lighting up his face.
"We need to get researching. The scythe is a symbol of death. Let's see where these pagans buried their dead."
Both he and Willow turned towards the dining room to begin their research and Giles stopped before stepping over the dog.
"Erm, Buffy?" he asked. "Why is there a dead dog in the hall?"
Buffy looked up at him sadly. "He saved me Giles, he attacked the freaky preacher and when I managed to crawl out of where I fell, I saw him lying there all bloodied and bruised, I thought that he was dead but this preacher guy leapt on me, trying to get the scythe and the dog leapt up and attacked him."
Giles looked questioningly at her but let her continue.
"The preacher guy got a hit in on me and I went down, when I came to, the dog had dragged me all the way home. He gave us hope!" she finished sadly.
"We should really bury him or something." Willow said sadly.
Buffy nodded and got to her feet. "A proper hero's funeral!" she confirmed and gestured for Tara to carry the dog into the yard.
Later that night, with all the potentials in their rooms contemplating the trials that the following day would hold, Willow, Buffy, Tara, Faith and Xander sat around the table in the dining room. The only sounds were the distant chattering of the potentials and the rumbling of the storm that threatened to explode across the skyline.
Giles stepped into the dining room carrying a large tray, on which sat a bottle of white wine and five glasses.
"Is this really appropriate?" he asked as he set the tray in the middle of the table.
"Yes!" Buffy said firmly. "He might have been just a dog to you, but he gave me hope, he saved me!"
Giles sighed, he knew that Buffy was right and yet he was still a little unsure that drinking the night before a fight to the death was a wise move.
Looking at Buffy, he saw the tiredness and strength in her eyes and instantly knew that she was right. Without further argument, he fetched the corkscrew from the cabinet and opened the bottle. Pouring each assembled Scooby a glass of wine he took a seat next to Tara and gazed at the beverage.
Suddenly Buffy got to her feet. "That dog taught me something today!" she said, making the others jump slightly. "No matter what happens, love and unconditional love win." She looked towards Willow and Tara in turn and frowned slightly when she realised they weren't sitting right next to each other has they had been ever since Tara had returned.
"He showed me that natural instincts are the most important thing we have and that if we trust and follow them, then we can win this."
The others smiled wearily and some nodded in agreement.
"But most importantly, he showed me that I… that we shouldn't give up! We have to be strong, have to have hope!"
Raising her glass high in the air, she finished. "To Hope!"
"Hope!" the others echoed, their glasses clinking together.
The group sat and chatted, about random and silly things, for almost an hour before they all lapsed into silence.
"I'm going to bed. Big day tomorrow!" Willow whispered into the painfully quiet room.
As she got to her feet, both Buffy and Xander joined her. Stepping to her side, Buffy wrapped the redhead in a huge hug, pulling back; the pair exchanged a knowing look, although Buffy's was tinted with concern. 'Are you ok?' she asked with her eyes.
Willow nodded but didn't respond.
Xander followed Buffy's lead and hugged Willow tightly. "See ya in the morning!"
She smiled weakly in response and turned to the stairs, climbing each one with the weariness of a marathon runner.
"I should turn in too." Tara sighed sadly. Before Buffy or any of the others could rise to their feet, she disappeared upstairs.
Giles followed her path before returning his gaze to the clock on the wall, which read a little after midnight.
"Well that's not the most promising start to the day!" he whispered.
