Anya almost broke the sound barrier,
careening through the streets in Giles' car to the middle school where Dawn
attended, and where Xander was supposed to be picking her up in five
minutes. She had lied to Giles about
the time, she had actually barely fifteen minutes to get to the school in any
hopes of catching either of them. She
felt bad about lying, but she would have felt worse if she had left any sooner. It was only her anxiety and selfish nature
that had finally forced her to give Giles notice of the time.
Now, as she went nearly fifty on the thirty MPH road that
led to the school, she was grateful that she hadn't waited any longer. She wasn't sure why, but she had just felt
an undeniable need to be there when Xander went to pick Dawn up today. Normally she would have been working at the
magic shop all day, and they would both swing by after school. But now, she just wasn't sure.
One thing she did know, and was a little relieved
about. Actually, she was feeling relief
in more than plenty right now. She
paused as she considered that thought. 'Now I'm starting to sound like Buffy and Willow,' she thought to
herself.
"No you're not," a voice suddenly spoke beside her. She turned to see the source, screamed and
nearly drove off the road, if not for the fact that the car seemed to be
driving itself on the road. Joshua, who sat beside her and had spoken, seemed surprised by her
reaction.
"Geez, Anya, what's your deal? I figured you saw me teleport in, but you didn't react. I've been here for the past ten miles, which
I guess is actually just the last thirty seconds considering how fast you've
been going. So I repeat, what's the
deal? Where are you off to in such a
hurry?" asked the Archangel.
Anya slowly managed to calm herself back down, and after
realizing what he had said, she apologized. "Um, sorry, I was kind of focused on driving. You know I just learned how to drive a few months ago. Xander taught me." Anya stated as facts.
"Uh huh," was the only response from the higher being. He calmly looked ahead of them at the road,
Anya still glancing nervously at him rather than paying full attention to the
road. "Didn't you want to turn in here?"
the question was asked calmly, almost rhetorically.
Focusing back on the road, Anya realized he was right and
sharply turned the wheel, as they were just about to pass the turn off. Without braking, and actually gunning the
gas a little. Anya nearly fell out of
her seat, and would have flown out of the car if not for her iron grip on the
steering wheel. Joshua just looked
slightly amused at the way the car was handling.
"Was there some reason you just popped in here, or was it
just to give me a heart failure so I wouldn't have to deal with you taking
Xander away from me!?" Anya shouted out as her heart was only just beginning to
slow down any.
Joshua smiled pitifully at the woman driving the red
car. "So the truth comes out," he
commented casually. "And all it took
was a little surprise. You might want
to slow down a little, just in case you didn't want to get pulled
over. But if that was your intention,
then by all means, rocket away."
Anya, realizing that she was going nearly seventy, immediately
released the massive amount of tension she had been putting on the
accelerator. "What do you want?" she
asked, annoyed.
"To talk," he answered, "I was listening in on your
confession to Giles, er Ripper and the two girls. It was almost accidental, I swear. I'm sure that you are aware of how, when in transit using the
spirit plane, if you allow yourself to be aware of it, you can see and observe
things on the mortal coil. So I was
just passing through, trying to see how Buffy was handling Willow, and
apparently I just missed them and caught the blunt end of your conversation
with the girls. Though I could have
left, and probably should have, I stuck around and heard what you said to Gil…Ripper. I figured that we needed to talk."
"Talk about what?" Anya queried again, trying to remember
exactly where to turn next.
"About what you said," he replied, "about what you
believe…"
"And what is it exactly that I believe?" her voice seemed
to be trapped in that annoyed, angry tone that only Anya could inflict.
Joshua was silent for a brief time, and then finally
answered her. "That Xander will be
forced to leave you, and that maybe, and I stress this as only a god can, maybe
when he becomes Alexander again, when he re-awakens his powers, he'll forget
you, just like you think that Ripper will forget Giles' promise."
Anya focused on the road all she could, trying not to
cry. For naught as several tears rolled
down her cheeks. "Well won't they!!"
she screamed. "Those two men are all
that have supported me ever since I lost my powers and became just a regular
mortal girl again! Xander is the world
to me and SO much more! Giles, he-he's
been there for me, he gave me a job, he gave me a place to fit in, and he's
tolerated me just as much if not more than Xander has! And now you come along after Buffy's death
and say that they all have to leave now! These people are all that I have in this world, and as crazy as it is and
as it sounds, I like them and I want to keep them!!"
After this mini-tirade, Joshua looked nervously from the
road to Anya. "Uh, maybe…maybe you
should let somebody else drive right now," he suggested. Anya looked to see that she was on the wrong
side of the road, and a quick glance in the rear-view mirror told her that she
had just done more damage than that time that she and Willow had chased her
ex-troll boyfriend in this very car. Ofcourse, the rampaging troll had done most of that damage in the first
place.
They were silent, almost for nearly a whole minute, and
finally Anya spoke. "I think Xander
might be in trouble. Him and Dawn,
right now. I can't explain it, I just
have had this feeling for over an hour now. Do you think that you could do that thing you did with Buffy and Oz,
only with Xander this time?" she asked of the angel.
He nodded silently and closed his eyes in relaxed
concentration. After barely thirty
seconds, he suddenly tensed and nearly gasped in fear. Opening his eyes, he looked over at the
brown haired young woman, fear quite relevant in his eyes.
"Anya, stop the car," he ordered.
"What?" she asked totally perplexed.
"Anya. Stop the
car." Joshua repeated, looking straight at her. When she looked back, he started making a motion with his right
hand, bringing it to a fist in front of his face. Immediately she knew that he was doing some sort of spell, and
decided to not argue since he was already doing it. Two seconds for the instructions to get to her feet, she slammed
the brakes hard.
There was a massive flash of white light, and a once
familiar now forgotten sensation of bodylessness for Anya and then the sound of
screeching tires. Looking around the
car, outside, Anya saw that they had stopped in the middle of the school
parking lot, with black tire marks going at least ten feet behind her. She maneuvered the car as best she could out
of the way of any cars coming and put it in park and turned it off.
"Um, thanks, I think this is my stop," she tried a joke
with the Archangel, hoping that he might be a little more receptive to her
brand of humor than the others. Instead
he just had a mask of determination and focus on his face as he got out of the
car.
Sighing, Anya unbuckled, first rule of driving and cars:
Always wear your seat belt, but before she could open the driver's door, it
opened by itself. Actually, Joshua was
holding the door open for her. "Uh,
thanks," she said as she got out and he slammed it shut behind her. "No sweat," he replied. "Look, Anya, I'm sorry, but now's not the
time for jokes. I did like you asked,
and I'm afraid that feeling was right, about something. I don't know what or why exactly, but when I
checked in on Xander, he was stressed, and I don't mean I'm going to be late I
forgot my pencil stressed, I mean something a little closer, but not (I hope),
I think I'm about to die type stress." Joshua apologized.
"Well come on," Anya hastened as she ran for the building's
entrance. As she passed it, she noticed
Xander's car, practically in front of the door. He was already here. She
risked a glance at her watch and noticed that it was still about five minutes
until school officially got out.
They raced, but silently at Joshua's insistence, to the
principal's office where the Archangel said that Xander was. When they got there, it was closed, but both
could hear voices, or maybe just one voice on the other side. Anya was about to barge in, but Joshua
stopped her.
"Wait a second," he held her, "That might be an important
meeting or something, and despite being real good at it with your experience
with Buffy's Slayer group, I think now is the time for a little more espionage
and subterfuge than surprise and attack. Gods do things a little differently than super heroes do."
"Then what do you suggest?" Anya asked, still adamant about
breaking the door down.
Joshua shrugged and decided to try something. "Buffy," he whispered loudly. "Buffy, can you hear me? Buffy if you can hear me, I need you here
right now. Not as soon as possible or
as soon as you can, now."
Less than a second later, Buffy and Willow appeared in a
flash of pink, red, and gold energy sprinkles. (Note: Buffy's teleportation, and Ripper's when the time comes, is just
like Aphrodite's on Xena and Hercules the TV shows. Ripper's will be like Ares'.) "What's wrong Joshua?" Buffy asked, concerned for her older brother that
he would actually need to ask for her help, ever. "We were just getting out of Willow's philosophy class, which by
the way was a real blast." Buffy and
Willow shared a smile that seemed to give leeway that Buffy had something to do
with the reasons behind this "blast".
Joshua, usually the one to lecture his younger siblings and
cousins on the abuse of their powers, merely waved it off and got right to the
point. "Whatever. Anya and I think that Xander might be in
trouble, kind of. I know that he's in
here, but I don't want to barge in there and disrupt whatever's going on,
unless we need to. So I was thinking of
some subterfuge, but you're the only one of us that was ever any good at
turning invisible. Between the two of us
anyway."
Buffy was nodding. "OK, I get what you're saying, and I'm all on board, but Willow has to
come too you know. And besides, just
turning invisible and teleporting inside won't tell us the whole story, just
the tail end of it or whatever. If you
get what I'm saying," Buffy gave him a meaningful look. Joshua only grimaced and nodded his head.
"What do you mean? What are you talking about Buffy?" Willow asked, confused by the sudden
situation.
Buffy smiled and turned to Willow in answer, "Joshua is an
Archangel to our Realm. Basically that
means that he has a little bit of power and access to every one of the elements
or powers that we gods control and regulate. This would include something a little like time travel, but only into
the past for a certain amount of time. Though he doesn't, or more like can't have the full range of powers that
each of us has. So that's why he can't
turn invisible, but he can cast a spell with the best of them. As you may have noticed…"
"If you don't mind Buffy, I'd like to get in there before
they get out here, so if you'd like to finish this up, I could…" Joshua
interrupted.
"No, no, I'm good. I just kind of get on a roll sometimes, you know…" she apologized.
"Buffy!"
"Sorry,"
"Good, now, as soon as you're ready," Joshua told her,
taking Anya and Willow's hands.
"I'm ready," Buffy answered as she placed her hand on his
shoulder and immediately made them all invisible. As soon as he was sure, Joshua teleported them inside the office,
and back in time about ten minutes previous.
They appeared inside the office in a flash of white light,
but when they did, they were the only ones in there.
"Well, that worked magnificently," Anya commented
sarcastically. "I don't suppose that all
of you gods' powers work just as well, do they? How far back in time are we anyway? And if you can't get us back to our regular time I'm going to…"
"Anya, shut up," Willow ordered as the door opened. She did.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice Mr. Harris," the
woman at the door was saying. After a
moment, she let Xander inside, and then closed the door behind her and walked
around to sit behind the desk. There was
a nameplate on the front of the desk that read, "PRINCIPAL STEVENS." "I'm sorry to drag you away from your work,
but it really was important that we speak to you. About Dawn."
"That's all right, I was getting off anyway to come pick
Dawn up from school," Xander explained as he sat down. "Principal Stevens, has something happened
to Dawn?" Surprisingly, Xander's voice
was calm, like he already knew the answer to the question.
The dark woman merely glanced silently at him for a few
moments before ducking her spectacles and answering. "Yes. There has been a
slight…altercation between Dawn and another student."
"What kind of…altercation?" Xander asked, using the same
hesitation that the principal herself had used.
Instead of directly answering, Principal Stevens was silent
for a time, and then leaned forward and touched her intercom. "Pat, could you please send Ms. Summers in
now?" There was only a beep in
response, and less than a minute later, the door opened once again, this time
with only Dawn standing there, with a black eye forming under and over her left
cheek.
When everyone noticed the difference in Dawn, both Buffy
and Anya gasped, and Xander's once calm face now had a hard edge in it. "Dawn, what happened?" Xander asked as she
took the seat next to him, ironically it was the seat Buffy was sitting in when
they had been in the office talking with Principal Stevens. Dawn only shrugged as she sat, and muttered,
"He hit me,"
Immediately everyone except the student and the principal
in that room felt like hunting down this him and doing the worst things
possible to him. While two had the
actual power to do something like they were thinking, only one had the
experience behind it. Joshua was not
one of those two. Keeping in mind that
he is an Archangel.
It was all Xander could do to not jump out of his seat and
start on a rampage. Instead, he asked
in a barely controlled voice, "Him who, Dawn?"
Dawn didn't answer and seemed to be fascinated by an
ornament on the principal's desk. He
turned to the dark woman behind the desk without the need to ask his question
again. "I…don't think that that is
really the important issue right now. What is important is the nature of what started the…altercation. Now, Mr. Harris, it is true that fault
primarily lies with the other student for the moment, and he is being suitably
punished. However…"
"Punishment for what, and what might that be? If I can ask that is?" Xander asked, his
voice on the verge of shouting.
Again the principal hesitated, but answered anyway, "He is
being suspended for three weeks, and this incident has been entered into his
permanent record. Now regarding…"
Xander interrupted, "What is he being punished for?" Now there were definite traces of a shout in
that question.
The hesitation was so long that it was Dawn who finally
answered him. "He hit me Xander. And I hit him back. Just like Buffy taught me." The love goddess formerly known as the one
in question couldn't help but smile at the remark. Joshua meanwhile frowned at what the reason might be for this boy
to hit Dawn in the first place.
Xander too smiled at the idea of the Slayer's, wait erase
that, the ex-Slayer's sister defending herself against an ordinary human. Xander, and the others, were brought out of
their musings by the principal's voice sounding.
"Yes, well, that is another matter that does not need to be
discussed here," she began. Buffy
frowned, she had never liked this woman. "Suffice it to say, Mr. Harris, that for a time, Ms. Summers has been in
the interest of several boys of her class, just as several gentlemen have no
doubt caught her eye and they…"
"In English please," Xander commented.
The principal frowned and translated her own speech, "Dawn
and some of the boys have been flirting in or during class. No dates that I am aware of have
occurred, but that might be best left to a personal matter. Anyway, apparently some time today, this flirting
got a little out of hand and according to Dawn's story, she was punched in the
eye, laughed at and taunted about losing both her sister and her mother
recently, and then proceeded to, and I quote, "kick the living crap out of
those pale-faced dust-buster snacks," and apparently broke the wrist of one of
the boys in question and the nose of the one who hit her."
Xander was silently fuming and Buffy had moved over to
stand behind her once only sister. Suddenly, Joshua looked up, almost startled, at the door. Then he raised an eyebrow, quickly figuring
that they're past selves must have just arrived at the door. He was pulled out of his wonderings as
Xander voicing an opinion that most there had not considered.
"So, from the way I here it, you're punishing Dawn for
defending herself, and her family."
Everyone turned to stare at Xander as if he was crazy, and
then the principal sadly nodded her head. "Fighting is strictly against the rules at this institution Mr. Harris,
and despite the obvious evidence to support Dawn's story, the others that were
involved are in far worse condition than she is. But because of that evidence, we are giving Dawn considerable
leniency in this matter. So, we are
only going to suspend her for one week and unless this incident is repeated, it
will remain out of her permanent record."
After this, Dawn snorted and spoke in an angry tone, "Like
I care. Besides, I'll be gone in a week
and not even the gods could stop me." Then she stood up and was about to storm out, but Xander stopped her.
"Dawn, wait. Just
sit down for a minute. I have to take
care of something that I've been considering." Xander told the young
woman. Turning back to the principal,
"One week. I suppose that's fair. If not for what I'm about to say. I'm taking Dawn out of school. She'll be home-schooled from now on. If there are any tutors or papers that you
need me to sign for the suspension or anything, let me know and I'll be back
here on Friday to take care of everything."
Principal Stevens, for lack of any better (and in better
use over the worse words) words was stunned. She had met Alexander Harris at the older Ms. Summers' funeral. There had been something about him that she
had immediately liked, some kind of inner strength. Now she saw him using that strength in his decision-making,
however she didn't see him using his brain for the moment. "Mr. Harris, you can not take Dawn
out of school. You are not her…"
"Actually, I am Mrs. Stevens. It was written in Buffy's will; Willow Rosenberg and I are Dawn's
legal guardians. I have discussed this
with her, and we have decided that Dawn would be better off being home-schooled
by us rather than have to deal with the rest of school and the world right
now. She might actually do better since
Ms. Rosenberg is in the process of reaching her Ph.D. and has expert experience
in tutoring students. So if you have
any kind of problem about that, then tell it to the lawyer that I saw last week
that told me that I could actually do this. I'm sorry about the trouble Dawn has caused, and I hope that the other
students will get better, and trust that they have been suitably punished. But now, if you don't mind…"
Xander was interrupted by a sharp annoying buzzing followed
by a woman's voice over the principal's intercom. "Excuse me, Mrs. Stevens, I'm sorry to interrupt, but there is
a…heh, heh, a very attractive gentleman here to see you. He says that you really want to see
him. His, uh, his name is uh, Joshua
Friederman I think?"
As soon as the dark older woman heard the name, her entire
demeanor changed. It was like her
secretary had just announced that the President of the United States of America
had just landed Air Force One in the parking lot because he wanted to give her,
personally, the American Teacher's Award. "Tell, Mr. Friederman that I'll be right out," she told her secretary.
She stood up quickly and banged her knee and almost cursed,
but the same stiffness was still there. "Um, you'll have to excuse me Mr. Harris. I have a very important appointment. I trust that you'll be all right until I return? Good." She left before either him or Dawn could respond.
"I wonder what that was about?" Dawn and Anya said at the
exact same moment.
"Joshua?" Buffy asked, referring to the visitor's
name, but also asking her brother about the possible connection. Joshua had disappeared from the room, as in
was no longer there.
"Where's Joshua?" Willow asked, getting slightly panicked.
"I don't know," Xander said in response to Dawn's
question. "But to be quite honest, I really
do not care."
"Well, that's mean Xander," Willow defended the absent
angel, "I mean, yeah, ok he's here to change us all into gods and take us to
heaven where we apparently actually belong, but that's no reason at all to be
angry with him. Oh, and then there's
the fact that he has all these secrets about our previous soon to be again
lives and I can't even get Buffy to begin to tell me any of those secrets! Not that I'm angry with Buffy, because I
love Buffy, and I like her a lot. Not
as much as I like Tara, and certainly not in that way. I mean she is my sister…"
"Will?" Buffy tried to fit in.
"And that's another thing;" Willow continued with a full
head of steam, "I think it was kind of impetuous that you would just assume
that I would agree to what you just told this really, really mean looking
principal. Why do they all have to look
mean anyway? I mean couldn't there just
be one principal that preferred petting puppies and bunny rabbits over sending
students to detention. Ooh, sorry
Anya," Willow apologized as she saw the ex-demon shiver slightly at the mention
of bunny rabbits. They were still her
biggest fear and phobia.
"And another thing; I don't appreciate you lying about what
I said, you didn't even come to me about this plan of yours. And just because I would go along with it
anyway is still no reason for not talking with me about it first, like you just
told her you did, but you didn't and…and… I don't think that's right!" Willow
paused for breath.
"WILL!!" Buffy yelled.
"What is it Buffy?" Willow asked in her soft
conversation-non-excited voice.
"They can't hear you, and he was answering Dawn, not you."
Buffy explained. Willow immediately
started to try and make her face match her hair, which now fell around her head
trying to hide beneath the locks. "Oh,"
she answered in a meek quiet squeak. Hard to believe that this woman stood up to a Hell god, not once, not
twice, but three times. And managed to
hold her back/hurt her every time.
Buffy giggled and came up behind the embarrassed witch and
hugged her with her right arm. "Don't
worry Wills. If anything, like I said,
my sister the goddess is exactly like you, especially when she babbles. She didn't do it very often after she became
a full god and developed herself to her full potential, but she still did it
when in front of us, her favorite siblings."
"Even Ripper?" Willow questioned. After the day spent with Buffy, she had finally come to accept
that Giles and Ripper were one in the same, and it was merely the positions
that each held and what those positions forced them to choose and behave
as. She assumed that it was the same
for all of them, yet maybe least for her, Xander and one other god, one of
Buffy's other children. One named…Darla.
Buffy named this particular one such because of what the
name meant. It meant dear one. And Darla was born from a human/Buffy
pairing, one in which Buffy loved the man a great deal. Darla was born with no powers, and was not
even a half-god like most of Ripper's children. Yet, she was amazingly kind, and she could sing like no other in
Amphora and had the most uncanny ability to read people and write songs about
their lives and feelings. Thus, when
she came of age, Buffy made her case for her daughter before her parents and
her older brother, Joshua. They
unanimously agreed that Darla would be made the Goddess of the Muse and the
Music of all of Anton and before God
Himself.
Apparently, as Buffy was learning from using her powers,
Willow the goddess and Alexander the God of Justice were somewhat different
from these two. The gods had
responsibilities, very important and sometimes weighing responsibilities. Just before they departed Anton, Buffy had
finally relinquished after much needling, Alexander was just coming out of a
depression, and Willow was practically a paranoid freak. They had been in the middle of the
discussion about Darla when Joshua had called them.
Speaking of whom, Joshua suddenly appeared in a silent
flash of light just behind Buffy. (Note: He is not always silent when he teleports. There is a slight sound much like that of
Q's on Star Trek. But {And this is
important!} his teleportation signature is not that of Q's, but follows much
closer to the Hercules and Xena formats. Aura of light around his body, making big flashes all around as a ball
of energy goes from chest to head.) "Hey guys," he greets, "Sorry about disappearing there for a minute, but
I had to take care of something real quick. Oh, and don't worry about the principal lady, she is now thoroughly
distracted." He added grinning.
Willow raised an eyebrow, briefly wondering if all gods are
this mischievous, also considering Buffy's behavior earlier today in most of
her classes. "What did you do?" she
asked, almost insistent that nobody get hurt. Or too thoroughly embarrassed by anything that the gods do.
"Nothing, I just distracted her and made sure that she
would remain so for quite a while." Joshua answered innocently. Willow narrowed her eyes in suspicion, so
Joshua added, "Honest!"
Turning to the now red mini-skirt, pink tank top over white
T-shirt with matching white and pink flats clad blond haired goddess,
(Descriptive enough for ya?), Joshua informed, "OK, now that we're pretty much
guaranteed privacy, I think it might be a good time to become visible again, so
that we can talk with Alexander and Dawn. Wouldn't you agree Buffy?"
Buffy smiled, she really wanted to talk with her sister
again. The joking tone in her brother's
voice however stirred her playful nature. "Why yes, I do indeed agree that it would be a high time to become
visible so that we, I, Buffy, Willow, my best friend and sister goddess, Anya,
my other best friend and brother god's, Alexander's
fiancée/girlfriend/lover/confidant/and morning headache and nighttime reliever,
and you, my eldest brother, an Archangel and fourth ruler over all of the Realm
that we were born in and rule with Heaven's permission, to become visible so
that we might be seen by my older, yet only second oldest, brother and fellow
god, Alexander, the God of Justice and Truth in our home Realm of Anton, the
place that we were born and rule with Heaven's permission, and my mortal and
blood sister Dawn to be able to see us so that we might converse and enjoy each
other's company as good friends and family often do." Buffy droned on.
(I'm so sorry, but I had just finished watching an episode
of the Power Puff Girls and I had that whole Mojo Jojo lingo goin' on in my
head. So please forgive me!)
Turning to Willow beside her, "Would not you agree, my
sister and best friend, Willow?"
Willow, previously on the verge of cracking a grin, replied
deadpan and with no trace of emotion on her face, "Ofcourse I would not mind to
be seen again, especially if we were to be seen by our, you and I, best
friend's, Alexander, our godhood brother, and Dawn your other sister and my
friend of the past year that we have known her. Yes, I think it a very good and stupendous idea to return to the
realm of the seeing, not that we're blind or anything, or that I'm talking
about another realm like our home Realm is another realm, but like so that we
might be seen and…"
"ALL RIGHT!!" Joshua screamed.
"I'm bored now, what do you think is taking her so long?"
Dawn asked Xander.
Joshua gave Buffy a look, raising his eyebrows in emphasis,
and said nothing. With his mouth. Finally she grimaced in defeat as only Buffy
can do, and held her hand before her and snapped her finger, just as Dawn was
saying, "I wish that Buffy were here. I
never get bored when Buffy's around. Well, not ever since she…"
Suddenly, all four were covered by the red, pink, and gold
sprinkles aura that was specific to Buffy (and Aphrodite) and to them it seemed
that was all it did. To Dawn and
Xander, they all appeared out of thin air. "…came…back…to…life……" Dawn trailed off as where she had been staring
into nothing, suddenly stood Buffy and Willow, with Joshua and Anya behind them
somewhere.
Again, Dawn went into her stuttering-I can't believe my
eyes-speech. "B-buf-Buff-Buffy?" she
questioned as both she and Xander stood.
And in repeat performance, Buffy stood before her, smiled
and nodded. "Yeah Dawnie, it's me. Buffy," just before they hugged like the
other was about to disappear into the void. Tears were spilt on both sides of the embrace as Buffy's humorous, fun
loving and mischievous demeanor vanished in the very tangible essence of her
love for her beloved sister, the girl that she had died for. Dawn was just really, really, really, really, really glad
to see her sister, alive, and be able to hug her like this, just to prove that
it's real and not and never was a dream.
After
maybe two or three minutes, during which Anya and Xander had hugged also, and
Xander noticed that Anya had been crying at some point, and Willow herself got
a little misty-eyed from watching the sisterly reunion, Buffy and Dawn
disengaged themselves, but not very far. Buffy looked at the black eye, and noticed that while it might have been
aimed for the eye, it only hit the very sharp cheekbone instead.
"Want
me to fix that for ya?" Buffy quietly asked. Dawn only smiled and silently nodded.
Raising
her right hand, Buffy concentrated her energies once again. The palm of her hand began to glow a bright,
but soft pink, and wherever the light touched on Dawn's face, it healed. The swelling that had only just begun
several minutes ago began to reverse and the bruised skin faded as healthier
and flushed skin took its place. After
barely a minute, Dawn looked even better than she had that morning, when Buffy
had seen her again.
Surprised,
Dawn touched her face and then the sore spot that was no more. Then a frightened, confused, and shaken look
crossed the young Summers girl's face. "I-I thought you said that you weren't a demon…or anything else like
that?" Dawn said as she also took in Buffy's slightly altered appearance. She had never seen her older sister dress in
so much red.
Buffy
grinned slightly, and brushed some strands of hair out of Dawn's face, just
like she had always done. It was
amazing how much she felt the same where Dawn was concerned, but with
everything else, it was amazingly different. But Dawn was the same, and always would be the same she knew. "Well, that was until I learned how I
came back. But don't worry Dawn, I'm
not a demon, and I could never hurt you. I'm still the same Buffy Dawn. As far as you're concerned, I'm still the same Buffy," she responded
softly.
"Maybe
we should sit down and talk about this," Joshua offered as he came up beside
the pair. He was briefly surprised to
see that Dawn was actually taller than Buffy, by at least an inch, if not more.
"Yeah,
that's a good idea," Buffy replied distractedly, still staring at Dawn.