Bonded
Chapter 29
"So…I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to tell me here," Ben said falteringly, his words slow, stunned, his face a mixing of confusion, shock, and incredulous disbelief as he looked about Glory's large apartment's living room to the four others with him. "You're trying to tell me that you- YOU, right now, right here- are a god?"
"That's right," Glory replied casually; she was standing before a mirror by her fireplace wall, adjusting herself in her tight black dress and running a hand through her wild blonde waves. Reaching nonchalantly down into the front of her dress, she extracted a red lipstick from her cleavage, beginning to apply it to her lips and pouting exaggeratedly for full effect.
Ben was still standing a distance apart from her, frowning heavily, his eyes darting; he was not tied or in any way restrained, nor was Dawn nearby, but then, there was little chance of them escaping. Glory was right there with them- and so were two of her gnome-like minions, anxiously watching the captive's every move.
"So you're…you say you're a god," Ben repeated, as if he just couldn't wrap his mind around the words. He shook his head, and Glory turned partly to look at him in annoyance, rolling her eyes.
"You're quick on the draw, aren't you?"
"And she's a key," he went on in the same tone, jerking his head toward Dawn, who was standing pale and wide-eyed a few feet away from him, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Not a person… not a girl…but a key… a key to some…hell dimension. Which is where you are from…"
"I AM a person!" Dawn spoke up hurriedly, almost panicked, yet offended as well as she looked over at Ben with her expression easily read. "I AM- I am a girl, I'm-"
"In form, sweetie, not reality," Glory interrupted, smirking with amusement. "What do you think about my shade of lipstick? Too bright, just right?"
"You're a god…" Ben repeated yet again, his voice dazed now as his incredulity began to give way to belief.
"Really now, is that so hard to believe?" Glory asked with an amused smirk as she gestured up and down herself. "Just look at me…not to mention that I just teleported you across town in two seconds flat. Think most humans could do that?"
Ben had to concede to that, of course. He didn't respond, however; instead he just shook his head again, running an absent-minded hand through his hair as his eyes continued to dart about without settling.
"You're a god, and you've been using me… you've been using my body. You've been in my body, been inside me, and I didn't even know it. I didn't KNOW-"
"Don't be too hard on yourself, you humans are incredibly dense when it comes to observations," Glory said dryly, rolling her eyes.
She turned abruptly toward her minions, who were standing in between Glory and Dawn, as if conveniently positioning themselves to lunge towards one or the other should the occasion call for it. Her face dropping into a scowl abruptly, she snapped at them with much more impatient irritation in her voice than before, "Why is Grak not here?! What could possibly be keeping him, I called him hours ago! And yet here I am, and here he ISN'T- where the hell is he, and how dare he think he can disobey my orders!"
"We- we don't know, your greatness," one of the creatures said humbly, his voice trembling slightly. "We have not heard from him, we have not seen him…"
"I-I'm sure he'll be here soon," the other tried fumblingly; both were cowered, making as if to take Glory's hand or perhaps kneel at her feet, but neither made more than half gestures to do so. "He-he could not deny your request, Glorificus- we are so honored to be in your presence, we could never wish-"
"Shut up already, I'm sick of your sniveling voices bleating at me," Glory interrupted sharply, glaring at them both before beginning to mock their tones. "'I'm sure they'll come, your greatness.' 'We love you so much, your greatness, I'm sure he'd never disobey you…' well, I'M sure that if he doesn't get his crinkly ass over here he's gonna be missing a brain- if he ever even had one in the first place!"
Ben barely seemed to have heard; despite multiple repetitions, he was still struggling with Glory's casual revelation as to the truth of his, her, and Dawn's identities. Fingers still half buried in his hair, he repeated with his face tightly strained, "And you use this key… you use Dawn… to open up some orb. So you can go home… to well then, what's the problem?"
"There is no problem," Glory said with definite annoyance in her voice now as she glanced over at him, still pulling at her dress. "I get to go home."
"Well then why are you kidnapping us? If she's this key- if that's what the key's for, to open orbs, then why not just use her and go home and be done with it and let her go? Why drag me into it? If it's just using a key, then why-"
"Because it will kill me, that's why…" Dawn spoke out suddenly, and her voice was louder than any of them had expected, fierce, her eye shining brightly with intense emotion and held back tears. She hugged herself tightly, setting her jaw as she fixed her eyes on Ben, and her voice shook slightly now as she went on, her shoulders hunching in on themselves. "It'll kill me… and the rest of the world too…"
Ben was staring, his mouth opening slightly, and he blinked, clearly taken aback by the young girl's words. He appeared unable to find his voice for several moments. Glory, however, had no such problems. She shrugged nonchalantly, entirely unbothered.
"Yep, your sisters don't like that, and they might speed up my needing to recharge in you, Ben-boy… hence the need for kidnapping. A lot of trouble, but I don't mind if I get what I want in the end… so, kid, how do I look? Ready for my big night?" she asked with careless unconcern, coming before Dawn and turning around model-style.
Dawn just swallowed; she wanted to close her eyes, to yell out something rude, but she knew she couldn't afford to make Glory angry. Still, no way would she compliment her like Glory expected…
Her heart was beating faster even than before with her anxiety, and she licked her lips, trying desperately to think of how to respond. But luckily, Ben saved her, for he was still unable to keep from voicing his disbelief.
"I can't believe this… this can't be happening. This is crazy…YOU'RE crazy…"
"Maybe," Glory said tersely, her hands going to her hips, "but I'm also kinda pissed, and I so shouldn't be on my special night! Where is Grak?! What the hell is taking him so long to get here?! I've been calling him and calling him, and he's STILL not here!"
As the two henchmen began to anxiously attempt to placate her again, succeeding only in annoying her further, Ben stood a distance apart, his face and muscles rigid, even as strong thought and emotion flickered rapidly in his eyes. Dawn watched him almost furtively, wanting to come closer to him but not quite daring to do so. She was hoping to see in Ben's face a flicker of a decision, a sudden understanding, that would give her hope, give her reason to be able to trust that he would be stronger and more capable in their situation than she was. But so far she had seen nothing…nothing but anger and stress, disbelief and shock, fear and helpless thought…
For the past hour as she listened to Glory's careless explanation to Ben after he had finally regained consciousness, watched her patter about preparing herself for the events that lay ahead, Dawn had been praying hard for something to step in, something that would stop this. She had hoped at first that she could escape, but with those creatures there, and Glory… Dawn remembered how easily Glory had tossed everyone around, even her sister and Faith, and she would never forget the sight of her mother's body on the wet kitchen floor. Then she had hoped that Ben would help…but now that too seemed like an almost entirely useless hope.
She was still hoping, of course… surely her sister would come and save her, along with Faith and all the others. Surely she would… Buffy had never let an evil being win over her for long before. Any minute they would come crashing into Glory's apartment- and why a hell god needed a cushy apartment like a human, Dawn didn't know- along with all the others. Any minute they would come and save her… she just had to wait, that was all. She just had to stay strong, stay as far away from Glory and those ugly things with her as she could, and then they would come and save her, and it would be okay, it would be-
But despite what she tried to tell herself, how she tried to reassure herself, Dawn couldn't' help but fear that they wouldn't. It had been a while now since she hadn't been taken, a very, very long while… hours has passed, and still they had not come. True, Glory had been moving her all around town, probably in a deliberate attempt to keep them from finding them. But they had been at her apartment for a few hours now, surely, and still they had not come…
Thinking of the others, especially her sister and Faith, who might as well be her sister now (well, as long as you didn't think about how touchy-feely they were, because that made the whole Faith-is-my-sister thing just disturbing), Dawn found herself brought closer and closer to the brink of tears. Her eyes were hot with the effort of trying to hold them back…
She wanted them with her so badly…not just to save her, but simply because she wanted them, needed them there with her. She was glad to have Ben, of course, for she did still like him, and it was definitely better to be kidnapped with him than to be kidnapped alone. But in a way she was also disappointed. She would have hoped that Ben could help her, reassure her, make her feel less afraid… maybe even help think of a way they could stop this, a way they could escape. But he seemed as confused and helpless as she was…really, even more so than she was.
She wanted Buffy and Faith, wanted all of them so badly she was shaking with the intensity of her desire. Dawn could not remember a time she had felt so small and insignificant, so utterly helpless and useless…even as her very existence threatened the entire world.
She would never want to kill herself now, loved her family and friends too much, was too afraid of the unknown to ever try again. But deep down Dawn still felt that she did not deserve to be alive, that it would be in everyone's best interest for her to die. There would be no longer even a possibility of a threat, for she could not be used by Glory. They would find some way to kill Glory or capture her somewhere, and that would be the end of it. Sure, everyone would be upset for a while, but they'd get over it. They had survived the death of Joyce Summers… why not that of Dawn Summers, especially if it were to save the world?
But even the thought of this terrified Dawn, set her heart racing and stomach churning. She knew she could never kill herself now… she was too selfish, too much of a coward.
God…what if they weren't coming because they were too hurt, because they couldn't? Dawn had been taken so quickly after Glory had thrown everyone around the room she hadn't even had a chance to see if everyone was all right. What if they were really hurt- what if they-
No, she couldn't think that, she couldn't believe it… they had to be okay, they had to be looking for her. They'd be there any day now, and it would be okay, it WOULD be.
Dawn knew how upset they all must be…and how angry too. She wouldn't be surprised at all if there HAD been a casualty, as long as her name was Anya. Dawn could barely believe what Anya had done, that it was because of her that she was now with Glory… but at the same time she had expected it in a way. She had always feared that somehow this would happen, no matter what any of them did to stop it.
And as much as she wanted to, Dawn really couldn't hate Anya for what she had done. She knew how the other girl was with Xander, knew how blunt and impulsive she was…and she knew that Anya understood about Glory maybe more than anyone, and so had all the more reason to fear her. She hated Anya in a way, and yet, she understood her… and after all, it didn't matter now. There was no undoing what she had done.
But god, she hoped Buffy would come soon…please…
She realized suddenly that Ben was watching her, and as Dawn turned to look at him, there was a very strange expression on his face… an expression that made her stomach twist in a dread she did not fully understand.
"So I'm going to die," he said slowly, and there was a flat quality to his voice that made Dawn swallow in deepening discomfort. "The whole world is going to die…"
"Pretty much, yeah…unless someone offs this one first, before I can get to her," Glory said casually, flicking a hand in Dawn's direction without looking at her. "But even if I'd ever let that happen, which I so wouldn't, no one would even be able to bring themselves to do it. She's just too cute!" she said in a mock baby tone, grinning at Dawn as she went over to her and pinched her cheek. "Plus I need her, and that overrules everything. No one's laying a hand on the kid… except me, of course."
Ben didn't' say anything to contradict her…but as Dawn looked over at him again, searching his face with some anxiety, there was still a strangeness in his expression. There was an odd disconnection, a hardness that made Dawn almost as frightened as the thoughts that she was now trying to suppress. He couldn't really be thinking…no…
Glory looked at him sharply too then, her eyes narrowing in suspicion, and she went over to him quickly, snatching him by the arm.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but wipe it out of your head right now, 'cause it's not gonna happen, you got that? No one's gonna screw with my plans, least of all the kid who's just a vessel for me. I think you need to spend some time alone, think about what a bad boy you've been…"
She yanked him towards her bathroom, shutting the door and shoving a table in front of it before he could get back out. Turning back to Dawn and going to saunter up beside her again, she smiled with her eyebrows slightly raised.
"Don't worry kid, I'll keep you safe…for a little while, anyway."
She grinned at her, cocking her head towards the bathroom door. "Don't worry about him, he thinks he can get one over on me, and he's got another thing coming. You're not gonna have anyone hurt you for now…"
Dawn was not reassured…for she had heard the assurance that it was only now that she would not be hurt. As she stared at Glory, trying to keep back tears, stop her shivering, Glory slipped an arm around her shoulders, only worsening it.
"Come on, let's get you changed into something better, something pretty…you'd like that, wouldn't you? And then we can anoint you before we go…"
