Promises to Keep
Disclaimer/Author's notes: I don't own Buffy and company. Jacki sometimes lets me claim the rights to her, but she's very picky. Don't sue, I have no money.
I decided to speed things up just a bit. I was going through some of my preliminary stories and I got a huge flash of inspiration for Jacki's character and various plot twists. I know what I'm going to do with her now. So production time on the Buffy ressurection has been moved up. She'll be back sooner than I said. Yay! Ok so to the story...
Chapter 4
Dawn was getting bored. She had been training and training. She knew all she needed to. When she asked Jacki when she was going to be put in the field, the brunette responded, "When the time is right."
The frustrated Dawn. Even though they were fabricated, her memories always had her being coddled and held back. She thought it would be over when Jacki announced that Dawn would begin training for the field, but it just took a different form. It was even more frustrating because she now knew she had the strength and skill. They just weren't giving her a chance.
She ducked around the corner hoping she wouldn't be seen. She was on her way to visit Buffy. Or the body Buffy will soon inhabit.
Like Jacki said, it was a fairly easy process to clone Buffy. All they needed was the DNA, provided by Dawn, and little magickal encouragement. Now a small body was growing before their eyes in an orangy-goo that Jacki and Willow concocted and Tara blessed.
Dawn liked watching the body. It fascinated her. She had never really done this. She was instanteously created. She had wondered why they couldn't do that with Buffy. Jacki tried to explain, saying that Dawn's spirit, the essense of the Key, had never had a body before, thus wasn't picky. Buffy's soul, in order to continue being Buffy, had to have the genetically identical body. If it wasn't Buffy's body, Buffy's soul would in essence be reincarnated and given a different personality.
It confused Dawn, but she got the message. They needed to be patient. Especially if they wanted Buffy. Dawn could be patient. She wanted her sister back. She would wait forever.
A shadowy figure followed Dawn closely. It had recognized her as the sister of the Slayer, and decided that Beial would like to have some information on the girl. Sorana, Beial's new consort, had said that the Slayer's closest shouldn't be underestimated. It took it to mean that they should be watched.
The girl ducked behind a small hedge and disappeared. The demon stood for a moment, then decided to follow her. It was surprised to find a small vent opened. Curious it crawled in, and soon found itself in a small laboratory. It barely controlled it's gasp when it saw the machine, The giant test tube that held the Slayer.
He needed to get this information to Beial. It might prove useful.
Jacki went on patrol by herself that night. Xander was sleeping. The Sword came with memories, memories of the previous wielders. Xander was having a hard time keeping track of himself, keeping separate from the other ones who held the Sword. Jacki casted a spell, a deep spell. When he woke, he would have all the memories assimilated and he would be ok.
Jacki sighed unhappily. She wished that she could stop the coming days, spare them from the pain. But they needed it. They needed it to get stronger.
"You had this argument long ago, Jacki. You accepted it then. Accept it now." She muttered.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something.
Dawn.
What was that silly childe doing out at night? Jacki asked herself, Luckily she has enough training that she could handle herself. She saw the direction the girl was going: The hidden laboratory. She was visiting Buffy. Jacki smiled. Dawn was sure getting antsy for her sister's return.
"I'll give her some time alone, then I'll go and scare her." Jacki said, turning to the cemetary.
She didn't notice the demon creeping after Dawn.
Anya watched anxiously as Xander continued to toss and turn. She was little frightened. She had also known that Xander was destined for something, Jacki had told her.
"Anya, you will lose your power when you deal vengence on a certain person. Then you will fall in love with him. To resist it will only make it stronger. You will end up needing him as much as he needs you."
Anya didn't believe her though. She thought that Jacki was just a meddling angel who was just trying to ruin her fun. She eventually went on to forget the prophecy. Fate eventually took her to Sunnydale, to help avenge a wronged Cordelia. The Dooplegangland she created with that wish was pretty heavy. She ended up creating a Giles with enough desparation to destroy her gem and make her powerless.
Anya suddenly remembered the prophecy. It was brought back even more when Jacki appeared again. She handed Anya a bunch of papers, verifying her new identity as Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins, born July 4th, 1979. Also in the envelope was a key to a small studio in downtown Sunnydale, almost $2000 in cash, and a bank statement that had $750,000 in it.
"Maybe when you graduate, I'll get you a car."
It was in that car that Anya was able to leave town to avoid the Ascension. One of those was enough. Yet as she drove she couldn't but think about Xander. He was the reason that she was mortal. Well actually that was Cordelia who wished it, but he was the one she was seeking vengence on. He was the one Jacki said she would fall in love with.
She thought that by using the law of opposites she could break free of the prophecy. So she hung around him. She talked to him. She tried to be his girlfriend. It shouldn't be so hard, she reasoned, she knew every weakness of every man. She had seen it throughout the years. It would be a matter of time before they dated. Then he would wrong her, like he wronged Cordelia, and she would leave him.
He never wronged her. He reacted in the complete opposite manner of every guy she ever knew. He was kind, firm and didn't give in to her blatant come ons. He wasn't the typical male. She soon became intrigued. She was beginning to like him.
"See, this is exactly what I meant about resistance." Jacki said, once again appearing out of nowhere. "It's making it worse."
"I'm not resisting!" Anya too her, "I'm trying to make him fall in love with me!"
"But you're also trying not to fall in love with him." Jacki said, "Love is an odd odd deity, Anya. Strong too, very few have ever had the strength to resist her. The more you fight her, the more of a challenge you are. She can't stay away from challenges."
"I'll stop. I'll leave."
"You can't. I'm your legal guardian, Anya. I'll track you down."
"You're going to keep me here until I die!"
"No, just until you graduate. Once you do that, you're legally your own person. And you might as well stay in school. I did promise you a car afterall."
"So I pass all these classes and I can leave."
"Yup, show me that last report card that sez you passed your senior year, and I give you a car."
She got the car but not until after she went to the prom with Xander. Looking back she was pretty sure that was when she started really loving him. She was prattling on and on about her old days, trying to keep his interest. It wasn't until she stopped talking and leaned in close dancing to him, that she really felt it. It took all her might not to tremble.
"This isn't so bad." She finally said, feining indifference. She almost passed out when he softly, involuntarily pulled her closer.
But then she found out about the Ascension and everything hit the fan. She needed to get out there. The only reason she survived the last was because she was a demon. She was now a mortal again. There was no way she would survive, especially since it was happening on the Hellmouth. It didn't matter that the Slayer was there, along with some powerful mages (even if Willow was nowhere near realizing her strength). She did what she could to help. She warned them of the danger and urged them to run. It was all she could do.
She finally showed Jacki her report card. The one that said she passed and was ready to graduate. Jacki nodded and gave her the keys to a car. Anya then packed up and got ready to leave. But first she had to see Xander. She tried to convince him to leave with her, finally admitting her feelings, how the thought of him getting hurt makes her sick to her stomach.
God, she hated communicating, especially feelings she had never felt before. Everything always came out wrong.
She couldn't stop thinking about him. She never told anyone but the furthest she got was back to her own apartment. She couldn't leave him, but she was too scared to help. She hated the human thing. Hated hated hated.
"And I was thinking that I would give anything to be in your place right now." A quiet voice said. It was Jacki, of course. She was sitting in the window seat of the apartment, with her knees to her chest. For a second she looked to Anya like a lost little girl, but then she looked up with those ageless eyes that seem to hold the knowledge of the universe. "But I imagine this is all hard. You were never raised as a human thus you know nothing of human etiquette."
"Could you teach me?" Anya asked, her voice trembling.
"I could tell you what to do," Jacki said, "But you have to learn how yourself. This isn't something that I can conjure into your head. Well I could, but then you would be a clone of me and not yourself. It's very important that you be yourself, Anya."
"Why?"
"Because you were the one given this chance, not me." Jacki said, "So there's an Ascension in the makes right now isn't there?" she peered out the window. "They will win."
"How do you know?"
"The same way I knew you would lose your demonic side." Jacki said with a grin.
"A method that you will not share I suppose." Anya humphed, sitting on her bed.
"She can be taught!" Jacki said in a goofy voice. "What's wrong?"
"Everything! It's been so long since I've had human emotions I forgot what they all are!" Anya said with a sigh. "I right now have this vomity feeling in my stomach whenever I think about how I said no when Xander asked for help."
"Ah yes, that would be guilt." Jacki said.
"Yes. I'm a terrible person." Anya said, falling backwards on the bed. "Terrible terrible terrible!" She then began crying, sobbing in fact. Jacki was beside her in seconds, gathering her in a strong hug.
"No, Anya, you're human. With the fears of a child, for you never grew up. All this is new and terrifying, you now have to think about keeping yourself alive. It doesn't help that you know all the horrible things that can befall mortals. It doesn't help that you know the truth. " Jacki said in a soothing voice. "But you can't let that keep you from living and enjoying life."
"How can I stop being a terrible person?" Anya asked.
"You find something that you would die for, but you would prefer living for. You find something that makes you think about it, rather than just yourself. You make friends, Anya. Caring is a lot easier than you think."
"I care about you, Xander." Anya said, bringing herself back to the present. "I am here for you. I will make sure that you will be as safe as I can make you." She gently kissed his forehead, then curled up beside him and went to sleep.
Dawn wasn't training for nothing. She sensed the demon as soon as it involuntarily started. She knew what it was and how she should go about fighting it. It was a shadow-demon, a night-stalker, best for spying on people at night, but very vulnurable to the light of day.
"Sunlight!" she called loudly, focusing the energy at the demon. It was startled, looking like a mutant deer in headlights. "Who are you? Who do you work for? And Why were you spying on me? You have 30 seconds."
"I will not tell you, Slayer-spawn!" it snarled, before sending a blast at her.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. "Nullify!" she called, removing the beam from existence. Then she lept into battle. Within seconds she had the demon on the ground.
"Do I need to ask you again, night-stalker? You will I have to tear the information out of your mind. I have to tell you, I'm pretty new at this whole telepathy thing. I might accidentally fry your brain. Oh well. Accidents happen."
"I was to say the same to you!" another glutteral voice said from behind her. Dawn only had enough time to roll with the blow as it sent her sprawling to the ground.
"Protect the place from further tessering!" It was a larger type demon. One of the higher ranks, probably a Baron. He brought a small army. He glanced at Dawn. "So you're the sister of the slayer. I lost some good men to her, I think it's time I exact my revenge on her blood!"
Dawn panicked, *JACKI!* she screamed.
Jacki heard her, and entered the girl's mind to try to get her location and situation. She tried to tesser but it didn't work.
"Frell, he put up frelling wards." She glanced again at Dawn *sweetie, I can't teleport directly to you. You need to calm down and focus on the fight. Keep them at bay until I can make it there. I'm going to need to get the others too. You can keep them back. Don't try to kill, it will waste energy. We should only be a minute.*
*Ok, Jacki. I can do this.*
*Yes you can!*
Jacki teleported to everyone else, downloading the information to them as she tessered them away. Within seconds, they were all up and battle ready.
"We'll need to blast our way into the lab." Willow said accessing the situation.
"There's a large group surrounding the entrance. We'll need to get through them too." Angel said, glancing at them all.
"Ok, Wills, you and Tara join." Jacki said, "Use a seismic spell, with a slight demon-fire twist. Xander, and Anya take the left. Cordy and Spike take the right. Angel, you and I are leaping headlong. We go in as soon as the spell is cast, using the explosion to cover our entrance and surprise them. Willow, Tara, use the confusion to locate and disable the wards, so I can teleport us and the stuff for Buffy out of there." Everyone nodded in agreement, "GO!" Jacki yelled.
Within seconds the explosion had thrown off the guards, killing many of them in the process. Immediately, some very angry and savage fighters attacked them. It wasn't easy for the attackers. The demons were told under no circumstances would these people be let in. They were to fight to the death.
Dawn was also thrown off by the large blast. The Hell Baron was now closing in. She panicked again.
"BUFFY!" she screamed. It was instinctive, primal.
"It is futile to yell, Slayer-spawn. No one will make it here in time to save you. You will die!"
Just as he was about to lunge, a hand was on his shoulder. He turned and found himself staring into intensely blue eyes, framed by soft blond hair.
"YOU!" the Baron gasped, "It can't be!"
"Excuse me, but if you would kindly step away from my sister, I would really appreciate it." Buffy said, before slamming her fist into the demons face and sending him sprawling into the wall. "Over there is just perfect!" she said before executing a flying kick. She then lept back and grabbed a piece of glass and slashed his throat. She didn't relax until he fell forward and disintergrated.
"Dawn?" she turned to the young woman, her eyes bright with tears. "My baby."
"Buffy!" Dawn cried happily before running to Buffy and hugging her.
"DAWN!" Spike and Willow burst into the room, looking around frantically. Spike still had his game face on while Willow had a super spell charged. They stopped short, causing Xander and Angel who were just two steps behind them to crash and knock them down. Anya, Cordelia and Tara ran in also, and failing to see the others on the ground, also tripped over them. Jacki ran in but managed to catch herself before falling.
They all stared at what they saw.
"Buffy?" Willow whispered.
"Yeah, Will, I'm back." Buffy said.
"But Jacki said it would take nine months!" Xander said, looking at Jacki, who actually had her jaw to the ground in shock. "Um, I take it this was unexpected."
"Uh, yeah. I didn't know this was going to happen." She said, she then started doing some calculations in her head. "Oh wow, the Hellmouth energies, combined with the desperation of Dawn, triggered a flare in her powers as the key. I assume that she sped up time, and called Buffy back. Hmph. So much for a complicated ritual." She regarded Buffy, "Well you're back. I say we party." Jacki paused for a second. "Well, after we get you some clothes."
Buffy finally took a good look at herself and shrieked.
End: Ok, there's part 4. Sorry it took so long. I kind of got lazy about the ritual and figured this was as good a time as any to bring Buffy back. Like I said with the new direction I'm going with the story, I needed Buffy back sooner. Well I'm now off to write more. Enjoy this chapter!
Jacki
Disclaimer/Author's notes: I don't own Buffy and company. Jacki sometimes lets me claim the rights to her, but she's very picky. Don't sue, I have no money.
I decided to speed things up just a bit. I was going through some of my preliminary stories and I got a huge flash of inspiration for Jacki's character and various plot twists. I know what I'm going to do with her now. So production time on the Buffy ressurection has been moved up. She'll be back sooner than I said. Yay! Ok so to the story...
Chapter 4
Dawn was getting bored. She had been training and training. She knew all she needed to. When she asked Jacki when she was going to be put in the field, the brunette responded, "When the time is right."
The frustrated Dawn. Even though they were fabricated, her memories always had her being coddled and held back. She thought it would be over when Jacki announced that Dawn would begin training for the field, but it just took a different form. It was even more frustrating because she now knew she had the strength and skill. They just weren't giving her a chance.
She ducked around the corner hoping she wouldn't be seen. She was on her way to visit Buffy. Or the body Buffy will soon inhabit.
Like Jacki said, it was a fairly easy process to clone Buffy. All they needed was the DNA, provided by Dawn, and little magickal encouragement. Now a small body was growing before their eyes in an orangy-goo that Jacki and Willow concocted and Tara blessed.
Dawn liked watching the body. It fascinated her. She had never really done this. She was instanteously created. She had wondered why they couldn't do that with Buffy. Jacki tried to explain, saying that Dawn's spirit, the essense of the Key, had never had a body before, thus wasn't picky. Buffy's soul, in order to continue being Buffy, had to have the genetically identical body. If it wasn't Buffy's body, Buffy's soul would in essence be reincarnated and given a different personality.
It confused Dawn, but she got the message. They needed to be patient. Especially if they wanted Buffy. Dawn could be patient. She wanted her sister back. She would wait forever.
A shadowy figure followed Dawn closely. It had recognized her as the sister of the Slayer, and decided that Beial would like to have some information on the girl. Sorana, Beial's new consort, had said that the Slayer's closest shouldn't be underestimated. It took it to mean that they should be watched.
The girl ducked behind a small hedge and disappeared. The demon stood for a moment, then decided to follow her. It was surprised to find a small vent opened. Curious it crawled in, and soon found itself in a small laboratory. It barely controlled it's gasp when it saw the machine, The giant test tube that held the Slayer.
He needed to get this information to Beial. It might prove useful.
Jacki went on patrol by herself that night. Xander was sleeping. The Sword came with memories, memories of the previous wielders. Xander was having a hard time keeping track of himself, keeping separate from the other ones who held the Sword. Jacki casted a spell, a deep spell. When he woke, he would have all the memories assimilated and he would be ok.
Jacki sighed unhappily. She wished that she could stop the coming days, spare them from the pain. But they needed it. They needed it to get stronger.
"You had this argument long ago, Jacki. You accepted it then. Accept it now." She muttered.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something.
Dawn.
What was that silly childe doing out at night? Jacki asked herself, Luckily she has enough training that she could handle herself. She saw the direction the girl was going: The hidden laboratory. She was visiting Buffy. Jacki smiled. Dawn was sure getting antsy for her sister's return.
"I'll give her some time alone, then I'll go and scare her." Jacki said, turning to the cemetary.
She didn't notice the demon creeping after Dawn.
Anya watched anxiously as Xander continued to toss and turn. She was little frightened. She had also known that Xander was destined for something, Jacki had told her.
"Anya, you will lose your power when you deal vengence on a certain person. Then you will fall in love with him. To resist it will only make it stronger. You will end up needing him as much as he needs you."
Anya didn't believe her though. She thought that Jacki was just a meddling angel who was just trying to ruin her fun. She eventually went on to forget the prophecy. Fate eventually took her to Sunnydale, to help avenge a wronged Cordelia. The Dooplegangland she created with that wish was pretty heavy. She ended up creating a Giles with enough desparation to destroy her gem and make her powerless.
Anya suddenly remembered the prophecy. It was brought back even more when Jacki appeared again. She handed Anya a bunch of papers, verifying her new identity as Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins, born July 4th, 1979. Also in the envelope was a key to a small studio in downtown Sunnydale, almost $2000 in cash, and a bank statement that had $750,000 in it.
"Maybe when you graduate, I'll get you a car."
It was in that car that Anya was able to leave town to avoid the Ascension. One of those was enough. Yet as she drove she couldn't but think about Xander. He was the reason that she was mortal. Well actually that was Cordelia who wished it, but he was the one she was seeking vengence on. He was the one Jacki said she would fall in love with.
She thought that by using the law of opposites she could break free of the prophecy. So she hung around him. She talked to him. She tried to be his girlfriend. It shouldn't be so hard, she reasoned, she knew every weakness of every man. She had seen it throughout the years. It would be a matter of time before they dated. Then he would wrong her, like he wronged Cordelia, and she would leave him.
He never wronged her. He reacted in the complete opposite manner of every guy she ever knew. He was kind, firm and didn't give in to her blatant come ons. He wasn't the typical male. She soon became intrigued. She was beginning to like him.
"See, this is exactly what I meant about resistance." Jacki said, once again appearing out of nowhere. "It's making it worse."
"I'm not resisting!" Anya too her, "I'm trying to make him fall in love with me!"
"But you're also trying not to fall in love with him." Jacki said, "Love is an odd odd deity, Anya. Strong too, very few have ever had the strength to resist her. The more you fight her, the more of a challenge you are. She can't stay away from challenges."
"I'll stop. I'll leave."
"You can't. I'm your legal guardian, Anya. I'll track you down."
"You're going to keep me here until I die!"
"No, just until you graduate. Once you do that, you're legally your own person. And you might as well stay in school. I did promise you a car afterall."
"So I pass all these classes and I can leave."
"Yup, show me that last report card that sez you passed your senior year, and I give you a car."
She got the car but not until after she went to the prom with Xander. Looking back she was pretty sure that was when she started really loving him. She was prattling on and on about her old days, trying to keep his interest. It wasn't until she stopped talking and leaned in close dancing to him, that she really felt it. It took all her might not to tremble.
"This isn't so bad." She finally said, feining indifference. She almost passed out when he softly, involuntarily pulled her closer.
But then she found out about the Ascension and everything hit the fan. She needed to get out there. The only reason she survived the last was because she was a demon. She was now a mortal again. There was no way she would survive, especially since it was happening on the Hellmouth. It didn't matter that the Slayer was there, along with some powerful mages (even if Willow was nowhere near realizing her strength). She did what she could to help. She warned them of the danger and urged them to run. It was all she could do.
She finally showed Jacki her report card. The one that said she passed and was ready to graduate. Jacki nodded and gave her the keys to a car. Anya then packed up and got ready to leave. But first she had to see Xander. She tried to convince him to leave with her, finally admitting her feelings, how the thought of him getting hurt makes her sick to her stomach.
God, she hated communicating, especially feelings she had never felt before. Everything always came out wrong.
She couldn't stop thinking about him. She never told anyone but the furthest she got was back to her own apartment. She couldn't leave him, but she was too scared to help. She hated the human thing. Hated hated hated.
"And I was thinking that I would give anything to be in your place right now." A quiet voice said. It was Jacki, of course. She was sitting in the window seat of the apartment, with her knees to her chest. For a second she looked to Anya like a lost little girl, but then she looked up with those ageless eyes that seem to hold the knowledge of the universe. "But I imagine this is all hard. You were never raised as a human thus you know nothing of human etiquette."
"Could you teach me?" Anya asked, her voice trembling.
"I could tell you what to do," Jacki said, "But you have to learn how yourself. This isn't something that I can conjure into your head. Well I could, but then you would be a clone of me and not yourself. It's very important that you be yourself, Anya."
"Why?"
"Because you were the one given this chance, not me." Jacki said, "So there's an Ascension in the makes right now isn't there?" she peered out the window. "They will win."
"How do you know?"
"The same way I knew you would lose your demonic side." Jacki said with a grin.
"A method that you will not share I suppose." Anya humphed, sitting on her bed.
"She can be taught!" Jacki said in a goofy voice. "What's wrong?"
"Everything! It's been so long since I've had human emotions I forgot what they all are!" Anya said with a sigh. "I right now have this vomity feeling in my stomach whenever I think about how I said no when Xander asked for help."
"Ah yes, that would be guilt." Jacki said.
"Yes. I'm a terrible person." Anya said, falling backwards on the bed. "Terrible terrible terrible!" She then began crying, sobbing in fact. Jacki was beside her in seconds, gathering her in a strong hug.
"No, Anya, you're human. With the fears of a child, for you never grew up. All this is new and terrifying, you now have to think about keeping yourself alive. It doesn't help that you know all the horrible things that can befall mortals. It doesn't help that you know the truth. " Jacki said in a soothing voice. "But you can't let that keep you from living and enjoying life."
"How can I stop being a terrible person?" Anya asked.
"You find something that you would die for, but you would prefer living for. You find something that makes you think about it, rather than just yourself. You make friends, Anya. Caring is a lot easier than you think."
"I care about you, Xander." Anya said, bringing herself back to the present. "I am here for you. I will make sure that you will be as safe as I can make you." She gently kissed his forehead, then curled up beside him and went to sleep.
Dawn wasn't training for nothing. She sensed the demon as soon as it involuntarily started. She knew what it was and how she should go about fighting it. It was a shadow-demon, a night-stalker, best for spying on people at night, but very vulnurable to the light of day.
"Sunlight!" she called loudly, focusing the energy at the demon. It was startled, looking like a mutant deer in headlights. "Who are you? Who do you work for? And Why were you spying on me? You have 30 seconds."
"I will not tell you, Slayer-spawn!" it snarled, before sending a blast at her.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. "Nullify!" she called, removing the beam from existence. Then she lept into battle. Within seconds she had the demon on the ground.
"Do I need to ask you again, night-stalker? You will I have to tear the information out of your mind. I have to tell you, I'm pretty new at this whole telepathy thing. I might accidentally fry your brain. Oh well. Accidents happen."
"I was to say the same to you!" another glutteral voice said from behind her. Dawn only had enough time to roll with the blow as it sent her sprawling to the ground.
"Protect the place from further tessering!" It was a larger type demon. One of the higher ranks, probably a Baron. He brought a small army. He glanced at Dawn. "So you're the sister of the slayer. I lost some good men to her, I think it's time I exact my revenge on her blood!"
Dawn panicked, *JACKI!* she screamed.
Jacki heard her, and entered the girl's mind to try to get her location and situation. She tried to tesser but it didn't work.
"Frell, he put up frelling wards." She glanced again at Dawn *sweetie, I can't teleport directly to you. You need to calm down and focus on the fight. Keep them at bay until I can make it there. I'm going to need to get the others too. You can keep them back. Don't try to kill, it will waste energy. We should only be a minute.*
*Ok, Jacki. I can do this.*
*Yes you can!*
Jacki teleported to everyone else, downloading the information to them as she tessered them away. Within seconds, they were all up and battle ready.
"We'll need to blast our way into the lab." Willow said accessing the situation.
"There's a large group surrounding the entrance. We'll need to get through them too." Angel said, glancing at them all.
"Ok, Wills, you and Tara join." Jacki said, "Use a seismic spell, with a slight demon-fire twist. Xander, and Anya take the left. Cordy and Spike take the right. Angel, you and I are leaping headlong. We go in as soon as the spell is cast, using the explosion to cover our entrance and surprise them. Willow, Tara, use the confusion to locate and disable the wards, so I can teleport us and the stuff for Buffy out of there." Everyone nodded in agreement, "GO!" Jacki yelled.
Within seconds the explosion had thrown off the guards, killing many of them in the process. Immediately, some very angry and savage fighters attacked them. It wasn't easy for the attackers. The demons were told under no circumstances would these people be let in. They were to fight to the death.
Dawn was also thrown off by the large blast. The Hell Baron was now closing in. She panicked again.
"BUFFY!" she screamed. It was instinctive, primal.
"It is futile to yell, Slayer-spawn. No one will make it here in time to save you. You will die!"
Just as he was about to lunge, a hand was on his shoulder. He turned and found himself staring into intensely blue eyes, framed by soft blond hair.
"YOU!" the Baron gasped, "It can't be!"
"Excuse me, but if you would kindly step away from my sister, I would really appreciate it." Buffy said, before slamming her fist into the demons face and sending him sprawling into the wall. "Over there is just perfect!" she said before executing a flying kick. She then lept back and grabbed a piece of glass and slashed his throat. She didn't relax until he fell forward and disintergrated.
"Dawn?" she turned to the young woman, her eyes bright with tears. "My baby."
"Buffy!" Dawn cried happily before running to Buffy and hugging her.
"DAWN!" Spike and Willow burst into the room, looking around frantically. Spike still had his game face on while Willow had a super spell charged. They stopped short, causing Xander and Angel who were just two steps behind them to crash and knock them down. Anya, Cordelia and Tara ran in also, and failing to see the others on the ground, also tripped over them. Jacki ran in but managed to catch herself before falling.
They all stared at what they saw.
"Buffy?" Willow whispered.
"Yeah, Will, I'm back." Buffy said.
"But Jacki said it would take nine months!" Xander said, looking at Jacki, who actually had her jaw to the ground in shock. "Um, I take it this was unexpected."
"Uh, yeah. I didn't know this was going to happen." She said, she then started doing some calculations in her head. "Oh wow, the Hellmouth energies, combined with the desperation of Dawn, triggered a flare in her powers as the key. I assume that she sped up time, and called Buffy back. Hmph. So much for a complicated ritual." She regarded Buffy, "Well you're back. I say we party." Jacki paused for a second. "Well, after we get you some clothes."
Buffy finally took a good look at herself and shrieked.
End: Ok, there's part 4. Sorry it took so long. I kind of got lazy about the ritual and figured this was as good a time as any to bring Buffy back. Like I said with the new direction I'm going with the story, I needed Buffy back sooner. Well I'm now off to write more. Enjoy this chapter!
Jacki