From: "Ryan Kinkor" kinkorknight@earthlink.net
Subject: FIC: Harsh Legacy: Brand New Day (Part 5)
Date: Saturday, October 26, 2002 3:32 PM
CONTINUED FROM PART FOUR
Part Five: Explanations
"Giles, which color is more me, blue or white?"
Anya was showing Giles a pair of color patterns from a fabric catalog.
Or, more accurately, Anya had plopped a fabric catalog in front of Giles as
he was balancing the store finances and had all but demanded his opinion. At
other times he would have instructed Anya to leave her personal affairs at
home, but Giles was feeling strangely at ease. Perhaps because these moments
will be too few in the future. Even the ones with Anya's shortsighted
musings.
"I think you're definitely a white, Anya." He looked closer at the
catalog and asked, "What kind of catalog is this?"
*Oops,* thought Anya. Last she checked, Xander still wanted to keep the
engagement a secret. With widening eyes, Anya snatched the catalog away from
Giles and said, "Oh, ah, it's just regular clothing. I was thinking about
changing my garb, you know, trying to be different."
"Yes," said Giles, "as if you need more help in that department."
"I'm was just really looking forward to this... clothing. And I guess I
got a little excited about it. But you know, it's only clothing. Yep, only
clothing." Anya was doing her level best to backtrack away from Giles and
keep the catalog behind her back. She then careened into a display case and
nearly knocked off the Sumerian Titan Gourd, a very expensive statue. But
with unusual speed, she caught the statue and righted it. "Oops. That would
have been uneconomical," she said. She quickly turned around and walked
away, back to the front of the store.
Another day, Giles might have been more curious about Anya's actions.
But Giles' heart just wasn't curious enough to inquire. He had too many
other things to worry about, such as what would become of the Magic Box
after his departure. The idea of giving the business over to Anya, while not
wholly reassuring, wasn't too disturbing, either. She had a real business
sense, as if to compensate for the lack of common sense she sometimes
showed.
"Giles?"
Willow. She had come into the store while Anya had distracted him. She
was now coming towards the back of the store, after having said something to
Anya in passing. Giles stood up to greet her, which is when he noticed
Willow's face. She was clearly disturbed about something, or perhaps
nervous. "Willow," he said, "Is everything all right?"
"Yes," she said, "but we really need to talk. Is it possible to do this
in private?"
"Actually, it's been quiet for the last hour. I was thinking of closing
up early. There's usually not much last-minute demand for magic baubles." He
turned his attention to Anya in the front. "Anya, if you wish, you can go
home now."
"Will I be paid for the rest of the hour?" Anya shouted.
"Yes, why not?" responded Giles. Anya made a little cheer, gathered up
her personal things, and headed out the door.
Giles went to lock the door while Willow took a seat at the back table.
When he returned, he noticed she had a book lying on the table in front of
her. It looked like a journal. He sat down next to Willow and said, "I can
see something's wrong, Willow? What is it?"
Willow wasn't sure how to start. She wasn't sure how Giles would react
to all this. But he was the one true adult in their lives, and she needed to
have him on her side. She just had to approach this the right way. "Giles,
first off, I found this journal. It's all in Latin, but I figured you'd get
a kick out of deciphering it or whatever." She passed the journal to
Giles, who took it and studied it, flipping through the pages.
"Where'd you get this, Willow?" asked Giles.
"You remember where we got the Dagon Sphere?" replied Willow. "I used a
finding spell and located this journal, along with some translations.
There's a English version if you don't want to mess with the real thing."
"No, that's all right. It might be interesting to brush up on my Latin.
But why did you go back to the warehouse?"
*Might as well get to the point,* Willow thought. "Ever since I shared
Dawn's dream, I've been researching its meaning. And, well, I think I have
it. But..." She hesitated.
"Willow, please tell me. We've been through enough together that
surprises don't have the impact they once did on me."
Here it goes. "I think I've found a way to bring back Buffy."
Silence for a time. "I sit corrected," Giles finally replied, removing
his glasses and rubbing his eyes.
"Giles," said Willow, "I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't have a good
reason to be..."
"Willow..."
"But Tara and I, we've been working all day on it, we've double-checked
all the data..."
"Willow, stop..."
"And I've done the math. I can do this. We can do this. We can bring..."
"WILLOW!" He stood up quickly and looked at her with blazing eyes. It
was enough to shut Willow up right away. It was enough to almost frighten
her.
Giles closed his eyes, trying to regain his composure. A couple of deep
breaths, and he was sitting down again. He spoke in a more measured tone. "I
expected someone would make the offer, or even make the attempt. But I had
thought that you were wise enough to do neither."
"Giles, please..." Willow managed, her voice going weak.
"No, you listen now, Willow. Buffy is not the first Slayer to die. Very
far from it. In fact, when the Council was first formed centuries back,
there were a few attempts to preserve some of the best Slayers with magic
and resurrection spells. The failures behind those actions are the reason
why the Council forbids any attempts to resurrect a fallen Slayer."
"Giles, this is different."
"How, Willow? How is her death different from the thousands of other
Slayer deaths over time? And in those cases people mourned them, a few
thought to revive them, but no one has ever been able to bring one back
alive...and intact. Those who have tried have only created....abominations."
Willow tried to match the cold vibes coming from Giles, hoping to force
him to hear her. "Buffy didn't die right. Her soul didn't go Beyond. It's
trapped. She's...."
Giles continued to regard her with a cold stare. "You're basing this off
of Dawn's dream, aren't you?"
"Yes, but it was more than a dream."
"How do you know that? You yourself said that you lost control of the
spell. How do you know that you weren't playing along in Dawn's mind? How do
you know you weren't dreaming as well?"
"I wasn't that out of control. I still know what I saw."
"Willow, you cannot attempt a dangerous and ultimately futile spell on
nothing more than a dream!"
"I'm not. If you would just let me tell you what I've learned..."
Giles got up again. "NO! Willow, I will not be dragged into a fool's
errand, especially when the only outcome is more pain. I may not agree with
the Council on many things, but this is one policy that I do completely
agree with. Buffy is gone, and we must let it be."
Tears sprang to Willow's eyes almost reflexively. "Dammit, Giles, will
you just give me a chance to..."
"Furthermore," Giles continued, "I will take whatever steps necessary to
prevent you or anyone else from attempting such actions. I'm not as capable
a spellcaster as you are, Willow, but it doesn't take a very powerful mage
to disrupt the spell of another mage. I can make sure that you won't
succeed. And the Council would also take any steps to stop you as well. Do
Buffy a favor, do yourself a favor, do everyone a favor!" He slowly
punctuated his last three words, "Let... this... go!"
Willow gave up. She sat looking down at the table, hating Giles at the
moment for being so cold, and so logical. Without another word, she stood
up, headed for the front door, unlocked it, and left the store. She didn't
look at Giles once.
It took Giles some time to simmer down, but instead of closing the
store, he went behind the store counter, unlocked a special drawer, and
pulled out a bottle of brandy and a shot glass. He went back to the table
and poured himself a drink. He downed it in one gulp, then poured himself
another.
********
"This is un-bloody-believable," said Spike. "How do these things happen?
I mean, it defies the laws of the universe."
"Wow," said Dawn. "How many times can you land on Boardwalk in one
game?"
"Ha," cheered Anya. "Another 350 dollars for me. I love this game."
"You know, Spike," said Xander, "I think I understand now why the only
place you can afford to live in is a tomb."
The four players were surrounding a Monopoly board on the floor in
Willow and Tara's apartment. Tara had abstained from the game, though she
watched from the couch. She had claimed that she wasn't a real Monopoly
champ, but she was simply too nervous to get involved. She had told the
others that explanations would be given as soon as Willow arrived.
Willow was running a little late, though. Hopefully, everything had gone
well with Giles.
It hadn't been very hard to get everyone together. Xander had just
gotten off from work, and Anya had come right over from the Magic Box.
Willow had asked her to come over before she went to talk to Giles.
Spike had, once again, been keeping Dawn company, even on a Friday.
Fridays were Spike's unofficial *party nights,* so he usually slept through
the day to save his energy for the evening. Tara had been noticing Dawn
was more lively than last night. She had been smiling more during the game,
even laughed once. *If any good came out of this mess,* Tara thought, *it
would be that Dawn could finally move on.*
"Gee, I only have five dollars to my name," Spike remarked. "Just like
in real life."
"What? I want my 350 dollars. Aren't there any debt collectors in this
game?" said Anya.
The front door opened and Willow walked through. Tara jumped up and went
to meet her. She looked at Willow with concern, since Willow had come back
alone. "What happened with Giles?"
Willow sighed heavily. "Let's just say that he wasn't receptive."
Tara was quiet for a moment, then, "We still want to do this?"
"I had to take a walk and ask myself that question. And I'm still coming
up with the answer I had before." Willow seemed confident, but there was a
touch of sadness in her tone. "But we'll have to leave Giles out of the
equation."
"What if they don't want to do it either?" said Tara, nodding her head
in the direction of the four Monopoly players.
Willow looked at Tara sternly. "Then we won't."
"Willow." The voice was Xander's. "'Bout time you got back. Anya is
cleaning our collective clocks and I need a reason to end the game on a high
note."
"A little late for me," said Spike. "What's all this about, anyway?"
"Hey, what about my money? Aren't there installment or payment plans
or..."
"Anya," said Xander, "let it go."
They cleared the Monopoly board from the floor and situated themselves
in a circle in the living room. Tara and Willow placed all the books and
documents they might need behind them, within easy reach. The others were
wearing expectant faces, and looking at them made Willow cringe. She
desperately needed to avoid another episode like the one she had with Giles.
"Well, I guess we'll start at the beginning. I suppose that would be
Dawn's dream." She talked about Dawn's dreams and her own attempt to spy
on them. As she talked about it, she was reminding herself that it had been
more than just mental images. She had to believe that, because otherwise she
didn't think she could convince herself to continue with her plan. "So I
told Tara about it, and then sorta fell asleep. Long night and all. But she
did some searching and found this."
She passed around the book about dimensions. Anya opened it up and
scanned it. "You know, I should write a book on this stuff. I bet I know
lots more about demon dimensions than this guy does."
"It would probably never be a best seller, Anya," remarked Xander.
She thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, people don't really like that
kind of subject. Oh, well, forget I said it."
"We're digressing here," said Willow. "The part of the book I was
referring to was on the Astral Plane. There was a detailed description in
there of what it looks like. And it matches what I saw in Dawn's dream; the
whole energy-based void imagery."
"So I was dreaming about the Astral Plane? But what did the desert
mean?" said Dawn.
Tara spoke up. "When people do astral projecting, they tend to see the
plane not as a void, but as some image that represents a void. Some people
see outer space, some see an ocean, but the most common image is a desert.
It's the human mind not being able to cope with the... alien parts of the
dimension."
Willow spoke at Dawn. "You see, Dawn, you weren't dreaming entirely. You
were also projecting part of yourself into the Astral Plane."
Willow was silent a moment, giving the others a chance to digest the
information. Anya broke the silence first. "Wait, I know a few things about
projecting. I've done it a few times, and the only way you can do it is
either with a spell, or some special power..." Anya looked at Dawn for a
second. "Oh, I guess Dawn being the Key might qualify, huh?"
"Hey, Little Bit," said Spike. "you're finally coming into those Key
powers. Maybe you'll get some telekinesis or pyrokinesis to boot."
Dawn felt very confused. "But I've never heard of the Astral Plane.
Why would I be projecting myself in my sleep?"
Xander did a "time out" hand signal and said, "Okay, before my head
starts spinning around, could someone explain what the Astral Plane is?"
Anya chimed in. "You know about the void between planets? Well, the
Astral Plane is the void between dimensions. It's all energy, so you can't
physically enter it. But souls and spirits can. It's used by other powers as
a communication hub between dimensions. One spirit chatting with another
spirit, that kind of thing.
Willow took over. "And like space, it's next to infinite. You could
probably wander around in there for centuries or millennia without finding
anything or anyone else. That's why you have to be anchored to a physical
dimension to go there, or else your soul would be lost... forever."
Seeing that Willow was becoming disturbed, and knowing the reason behind
it, Tara spoke up. "Dawn, to answer your question, we'll have to tell you
some things about the nature of the Key. It's not ugly truth, but it may not
be easy. You okay with it?"
Dawn nodded her head. "I've wanted to know more about what I am for what
seems like forever. Give me everything."
Willow had shaken off her souring mood and started to talk again. "We
don't know everything, but we do have a lot more to go on than a day ago."
She grabbed the English translation of the monk's journal and passed it
along the group. "On an impulse, we visited the warehouse where that one
monk had been hiding from Glory; before she found him, of course. And we
found a journal he was carrying. I don't think it was his personal journal,
but it was important enough that he hid it well."
"You see, Dawn," continued Willow, "the Key was brought to Earth
thousands of years ago for some reason, but no one seems to know why. And no
one knows who brought it. But they do know where it came from: the Astral
Plane. It's made of the same energy that the Astral Plane is composed of.
The Key could be used to create a rough wormhole to another dimension, but
the energy would be unfocused and start warping the reality around it."
"We saw that, didn't we," said Spike. "I always wondered what happened
to that dragon that warped in."
"I saw a news report on it," remarked Xander. "It hit a high voltage
wire. Fried itself. The media thought it was a oversized condor."
Spike looked disappointed. "Well, that's anticlimactic."
"Guys, a little more focus, please?" asked Willow, irritated. Xander and
Spike mouthed apologies. "The monks believed that the Key was here for more
than just a doorway to another dimension. They felt they had to protect it,
which is why they didn't destroy it when Glory came after them. And that's
why they turned it into..."
"Me," said Dawn. "They made me the sister of the Slayer, so she would
protect me. So she would..."
"Let's not dwell on that now, Little Bit," said Spike, putting his hand
on her shoulder.
"Actually, Spike, we may have to dwell on that. A lot," said Willow.
The others looked at Willow curiously, who had become more tense as she
talked. "If the Key, in whatever form, is used up or destroyed, the energy
in it dissipates back into the Astral Plane. That's what the portal ritual
was all about. Dawn's energy would feed into the portal, and when all the
energy was spent, the portal would close."
"But that's not what happened, " said Xander. "Buffy... took Dawn's
place."
"When the monks molded Dawn from Buffy, they created a link, a
loophole," said Tara. "They gave Dawn the same qualities as Buffy, in a
genetic way, and so if the portal accepted Dawn's blood as energy, then it
was forced to accept Buffy's as well."
"Oh boy, head spinning around again," said Xander, holding his head in
feigned dizziness.
"But Buffy isn't made of energy. She's wasn't the Key." Willow was
heading down the home stretch now, and she was sounding more urgent in her
tone. "The portal still needed energy to close. So it took the only thing it
was offered. It... it took Buffy's soul."
With the exception of Willow and Tara, the shock hit the others equally
hard. "Wait," spoke Xander, "are you saying that Buffy's soul is just...
gone? Dissipated? Erased?"
"No," Willow quickly responded, "she's still Buffy. Souls can't be
destroyed. They can be corrupted, caged, condemned, but not destroyed. The
portal took Buffy's soul and stuck it in the Astral Plane, where she's
trapped. She can't get out on her own. She's all alone in there, completely
alone."
No one wanted to say anything. They had gone through enough pain with
the loss of Buffy, but at least they had the comfort of believing that she
had gone to a good and peaceful place. And now, even that comfort had been
taken away from them.
"Damn it," Spike quietly cursed. "Even in Hell, you're not alone. They
may be torturing you, but you're not alone."
"Wait," said Dawn, "we saw her, right? Willow, we saw her. We saw her
soul. She tried to talk to us. She tried to touch us."
Willow nodded. "That barrier at the cliff was the boundary between your
mind and the Astral Plane. She couldn't breach it. Nor could we. Dawn, part
of you is the Key, and that part is able to transcend the dimensional
barriers. I think that your Buffy dreams, your grief, reflexively sent you
to the Astral Plane, where you were able to locate Buffy's soul. I think
you've been doing it for the last two weeks, but you could only remember
last night because the spell I used mixed up with your projecting. I ended
up coming along for the ride."
Spike looked at Willow with sad eyes. "Well, thank you, Willow, for
turning a bad time into a truly intolerable one."
"Hey, back off, Spike," said Xander, jumping to Willow's defense. "It's
better we know about this...right?" The last word he directed at the group,
as if trying to gain reassurance that it was actually better to know.
Willow squared her shoulders and tried to think confident thoughts. She
needed to feel confident now. "I wouldn't have told you all this just to
make us miserable. Tara and I have put together a plan. It's a little shaky,
but I think we can do it."
"A plan for what?" asked Dawn.
"A rescue plan. We're going to get Buffy out of there. We're going to
bring her back."
********
CONTINUED IN PART SIX
Subject: FIC: Harsh Legacy: Brand New Day (Part 5)
Date: Saturday, October 26, 2002 3:32 PM
CONTINUED FROM PART FOUR
Part Five: Explanations
"Giles, which color is more me, blue or white?"
Anya was showing Giles a pair of color patterns from a fabric catalog.
Or, more accurately, Anya had plopped a fabric catalog in front of Giles as
he was balancing the store finances and had all but demanded his opinion. At
other times he would have instructed Anya to leave her personal affairs at
home, but Giles was feeling strangely at ease. Perhaps because these moments
will be too few in the future. Even the ones with Anya's shortsighted
musings.
"I think you're definitely a white, Anya." He looked closer at the
catalog and asked, "What kind of catalog is this?"
*Oops,* thought Anya. Last she checked, Xander still wanted to keep the
engagement a secret. With widening eyes, Anya snatched the catalog away from
Giles and said, "Oh, ah, it's just regular clothing. I was thinking about
changing my garb, you know, trying to be different."
"Yes," said Giles, "as if you need more help in that department."
"I'm was just really looking forward to this... clothing. And I guess I
got a little excited about it. But you know, it's only clothing. Yep, only
clothing." Anya was doing her level best to backtrack away from Giles and
keep the catalog behind her back. She then careened into a display case and
nearly knocked off the Sumerian Titan Gourd, a very expensive statue. But
with unusual speed, she caught the statue and righted it. "Oops. That would
have been uneconomical," she said. She quickly turned around and walked
away, back to the front of the store.
Another day, Giles might have been more curious about Anya's actions.
But Giles' heart just wasn't curious enough to inquire. He had too many
other things to worry about, such as what would become of the Magic Box
after his departure. The idea of giving the business over to Anya, while not
wholly reassuring, wasn't too disturbing, either. She had a real business
sense, as if to compensate for the lack of common sense she sometimes
showed.
"Giles?"
Willow. She had come into the store while Anya had distracted him. She
was now coming towards the back of the store, after having said something to
Anya in passing. Giles stood up to greet her, which is when he noticed
Willow's face. She was clearly disturbed about something, or perhaps
nervous. "Willow," he said, "Is everything all right?"
"Yes," she said, "but we really need to talk. Is it possible to do this
in private?"
"Actually, it's been quiet for the last hour. I was thinking of closing
up early. There's usually not much last-minute demand for magic baubles." He
turned his attention to Anya in the front. "Anya, if you wish, you can go
home now."
"Will I be paid for the rest of the hour?" Anya shouted.
"Yes, why not?" responded Giles. Anya made a little cheer, gathered up
her personal things, and headed out the door.
Giles went to lock the door while Willow took a seat at the back table.
When he returned, he noticed she had a book lying on the table in front of
her. It looked like a journal. He sat down next to Willow and said, "I can
see something's wrong, Willow? What is it?"
Willow wasn't sure how to start. She wasn't sure how Giles would react
to all this. But he was the one true adult in their lives, and she needed to
have him on her side. She just had to approach this the right way. "Giles,
first off, I found this journal. It's all in Latin, but I figured you'd get
a kick out of deciphering it or whatever." She passed the journal to
Giles, who took it and studied it, flipping through the pages.
"Where'd you get this, Willow?" asked Giles.
"You remember where we got the Dagon Sphere?" replied Willow. "I used a
finding spell and located this journal, along with some translations.
There's a English version if you don't want to mess with the real thing."
"No, that's all right. It might be interesting to brush up on my Latin.
But why did you go back to the warehouse?"
*Might as well get to the point,* Willow thought. "Ever since I shared
Dawn's dream, I've been researching its meaning. And, well, I think I have
it. But..." She hesitated.
"Willow, please tell me. We've been through enough together that
surprises don't have the impact they once did on me."
Here it goes. "I think I've found a way to bring back Buffy."
Silence for a time. "I sit corrected," Giles finally replied, removing
his glasses and rubbing his eyes.
"Giles," said Willow, "I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't have a good
reason to be..."
"Willow..."
"But Tara and I, we've been working all day on it, we've double-checked
all the data..."
"Willow, stop..."
"And I've done the math. I can do this. We can do this. We can bring..."
"WILLOW!" He stood up quickly and looked at her with blazing eyes. It
was enough to shut Willow up right away. It was enough to almost frighten
her.
Giles closed his eyes, trying to regain his composure. A couple of deep
breaths, and he was sitting down again. He spoke in a more measured tone. "I
expected someone would make the offer, or even make the attempt. But I had
thought that you were wise enough to do neither."
"Giles, please..." Willow managed, her voice going weak.
"No, you listen now, Willow. Buffy is not the first Slayer to die. Very
far from it. In fact, when the Council was first formed centuries back,
there were a few attempts to preserve some of the best Slayers with magic
and resurrection spells. The failures behind those actions are the reason
why the Council forbids any attempts to resurrect a fallen Slayer."
"Giles, this is different."
"How, Willow? How is her death different from the thousands of other
Slayer deaths over time? And in those cases people mourned them, a few
thought to revive them, but no one has ever been able to bring one back
alive...and intact. Those who have tried have only created....abominations."
Willow tried to match the cold vibes coming from Giles, hoping to force
him to hear her. "Buffy didn't die right. Her soul didn't go Beyond. It's
trapped. She's...."
Giles continued to regard her with a cold stare. "You're basing this off
of Dawn's dream, aren't you?"
"Yes, but it was more than a dream."
"How do you know that? You yourself said that you lost control of the
spell. How do you know that you weren't playing along in Dawn's mind? How do
you know you weren't dreaming as well?"
"I wasn't that out of control. I still know what I saw."
"Willow, you cannot attempt a dangerous and ultimately futile spell on
nothing more than a dream!"
"I'm not. If you would just let me tell you what I've learned..."
Giles got up again. "NO! Willow, I will not be dragged into a fool's
errand, especially when the only outcome is more pain. I may not agree with
the Council on many things, but this is one policy that I do completely
agree with. Buffy is gone, and we must let it be."
Tears sprang to Willow's eyes almost reflexively. "Dammit, Giles, will
you just give me a chance to..."
"Furthermore," Giles continued, "I will take whatever steps necessary to
prevent you or anyone else from attempting such actions. I'm not as capable
a spellcaster as you are, Willow, but it doesn't take a very powerful mage
to disrupt the spell of another mage. I can make sure that you won't
succeed. And the Council would also take any steps to stop you as well. Do
Buffy a favor, do yourself a favor, do everyone a favor!" He slowly
punctuated his last three words, "Let... this... go!"
Willow gave up. She sat looking down at the table, hating Giles at the
moment for being so cold, and so logical. Without another word, she stood
up, headed for the front door, unlocked it, and left the store. She didn't
look at Giles once.
It took Giles some time to simmer down, but instead of closing the
store, he went behind the store counter, unlocked a special drawer, and
pulled out a bottle of brandy and a shot glass. He went back to the table
and poured himself a drink. He downed it in one gulp, then poured himself
another.
********
"This is un-bloody-believable," said Spike. "How do these things happen?
I mean, it defies the laws of the universe."
"Wow," said Dawn. "How many times can you land on Boardwalk in one
game?"
"Ha," cheered Anya. "Another 350 dollars for me. I love this game."
"You know, Spike," said Xander, "I think I understand now why the only
place you can afford to live in is a tomb."
The four players were surrounding a Monopoly board on the floor in
Willow and Tara's apartment. Tara had abstained from the game, though she
watched from the couch. She had claimed that she wasn't a real Monopoly
champ, but she was simply too nervous to get involved. She had told the
others that explanations would be given as soon as Willow arrived.
Willow was running a little late, though. Hopefully, everything had gone
well with Giles.
It hadn't been very hard to get everyone together. Xander had just
gotten off from work, and Anya had come right over from the Magic Box.
Willow had asked her to come over before she went to talk to Giles.
Spike had, once again, been keeping Dawn company, even on a Friday.
Fridays were Spike's unofficial *party nights,* so he usually slept through
the day to save his energy for the evening. Tara had been noticing Dawn
was more lively than last night. She had been smiling more during the game,
even laughed once. *If any good came out of this mess,* Tara thought, *it
would be that Dawn could finally move on.*
"Gee, I only have five dollars to my name," Spike remarked. "Just like
in real life."
"What? I want my 350 dollars. Aren't there any debt collectors in this
game?" said Anya.
The front door opened and Willow walked through. Tara jumped up and went
to meet her. She looked at Willow with concern, since Willow had come back
alone. "What happened with Giles?"
Willow sighed heavily. "Let's just say that he wasn't receptive."
Tara was quiet for a moment, then, "We still want to do this?"
"I had to take a walk and ask myself that question. And I'm still coming
up with the answer I had before." Willow seemed confident, but there was a
touch of sadness in her tone. "But we'll have to leave Giles out of the
equation."
"What if they don't want to do it either?" said Tara, nodding her head
in the direction of the four Monopoly players.
Willow looked at Tara sternly. "Then we won't."
"Willow." The voice was Xander's. "'Bout time you got back. Anya is
cleaning our collective clocks and I need a reason to end the game on a high
note."
"A little late for me," said Spike. "What's all this about, anyway?"
"Hey, what about my money? Aren't there installment or payment plans
or..."
"Anya," said Xander, "let it go."
They cleared the Monopoly board from the floor and situated themselves
in a circle in the living room. Tara and Willow placed all the books and
documents they might need behind them, within easy reach. The others were
wearing expectant faces, and looking at them made Willow cringe. She
desperately needed to avoid another episode like the one she had with Giles.
"Well, I guess we'll start at the beginning. I suppose that would be
Dawn's dream." She talked about Dawn's dreams and her own attempt to spy
on them. As she talked about it, she was reminding herself that it had been
more than just mental images. She had to believe that, because otherwise she
didn't think she could convince herself to continue with her plan. "So I
told Tara about it, and then sorta fell asleep. Long night and all. But she
did some searching and found this."
She passed around the book about dimensions. Anya opened it up and
scanned it. "You know, I should write a book on this stuff. I bet I know
lots more about demon dimensions than this guy does."
"It would probably never be a best seller, Anya," remarked Xander.
She thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, people don't really like that
kind of subject. Oh, well, forget I said it."
"We're digressing here," said Willow. "The part of the book I was
referring to was on the Astral Plane. There was a detailed description in
there of what it looks like. And it matches what I saw in Dawn's dream; the
whole energy-based void imagery."
"So I was dreaming about the Astral Plane? But what did the desert
mean?" said Dawn.
Tara spoke up. "When people do astral projecting, they tend to see the
plane not as a void, but as some image that represents a void. Some people
see outer space, some see an ocean, but the most common image is a desert.
It's the human mind not being able to cope with the... alien parts of the
dimension."
Willow spoke at Dawn. "You see, Dawn, you weren't dreaming entirely. You
were also projecting part of yourself into the Astral Plane."
Willow was silent a moment, giving the others a chance to digest the
information. Anya broke the silence first. "Wait, I know a few things about
projecting. I've done it a few times, and the only way you can do it is
either with a spell, or some special power..." Anya looked at Dawn for a
second. "Oh, I guess Dawn being the Key might qualify, huh?"
"Hey, Little Bit," said Spike. "you're finally coming into those Key
powers. Maybe you'll get some telekinesis or pyrokinesis to boot."
Dawn felt very confused. "But I've never heard of the Astral Plane.
Why would I be projecting myself in my sleep?"
Xander did a "time out" hand signal and said, "Okay, before my head
starts spinning around, could someone explain what the Astral Plane is?"
Anya chimed in. "You know about the void between planets? Well, the
Astral Plane is the void between dimensions. It's all energy, so you can't
physically enter it. But souls and spirits can. It's used by other powers as
a communication hub between dimensions. One spirit chatting with another
spirit, that kind of thing.
Willow took over. "And like space, it's next to infinite. You could
probably wander around in there for centuries or millennia without finding
anything or anyone else. That's why you have to be anchored to a physical
dimension to go there, or else your soul would be lost... forever."
Seeing that Willow was becoming disturbed, and knowing the reason behind
it, Tara spoke up. "Dawn, to answer your question, we'll have to tell you
some things about the nature of the Key. It's not ugly truth, but it may not
be easy. You okay with it?"
Dawn nodded her head. "I've wanted to know more about what I am for what
seems like forever. Give me everything."
Willow had shaken off her souring mood and started to talk again. "We
don't know everything, but we do have a lot more to go on than a day ago."
She grabbed the English translation of the monk's journal and passed it
along the group. "On an impulse, we visited the warehouse where that one
monk had been hiding from Glory; before she found him, of course. And we
found a journal he was carrying. I don't think it was his personal journal,
but it was important enough that he hid it well."
"You see, Dawn," continued Willow, "the Key was brought to Earth
thousands of years ago for some reason, but no one seems to know why. And no
one knows who brought it. But they do know where it came from: the Astral
Plane. It's made of the same energy that the Astral Plane is composed of.
The Key could be used to create a rough wormhole to another dimension, but
the energy would be unfocused and start warping the reality around it."
"We saw that, didn't we," said Spike. "I always wondered what happened
to that dragon that warped in."
"I saw a news report on it," remarked Xander. "It hit a high voltage
wire. Fried itself. The media thought it was a oversized condor."
Spike looked disappointed. "Well, that's anticlimactic."
"Guys, a little more focus, please?" asked Willow, irritated. Xander and
Spike mouthed apologies. "The monks believed that the Key was here for more
than just a doorway to another dimension. They felt they had to protect it,
which is why they didn't destroy it when Glory came after them. And that's
why they turned it into..."
"Me," said Dawn. "They made me the sister of the Slayer, so she would
protect me. So she would..."
"Let's not dwell on that now, Little Bit," said Spike, putting his hand
on her shoulder.
"Actually, Spike, we may have to dwell on that. A lot," said Willow.
The others looked at Willow curiously, who had become more tense as she
talked. "If the Key, in whatever form, is used up or destroyed, the energy
in it dissipates back into the Astral Plane. That's what the portal ritual
was all about. Dawn's energy would feed into the portal, and when all the
energy was spent, the portal would close."
"But that's not what happened, " said Xander. "Buffy... took Dawn's
place."
"When the monks molded Dawn from Buffy, they created a link, a
loophole," said Tara. "They gave Dawn the same qualities as Buffy, in a
genetic way, and so if the portal accepted Dawn's blood as energy, then it
was forced to accept Buffy's as well."
"Oh boy, head spinning around again," said Xander, holding his head in
feigned dizziness.
"But Buffy isn't made of energy. She's wasn't the Key." Willow was
heading down the home stretch now, and she was sounding more urgent in her
tone. "The portal still needed energy to close. So it took the only thing it
was offered. It... it took Buffy's soul."
With the exception of Willow and Tara, the shock hit the others equally
hard. "Wait," spoke Xander, "are you saying that Buffy's soul is just...
gone? Dissipated? Erased?"
"No," Willow quickly responded, "she's still Buffy. Souls can't be
destroyed. They can be corrupted, caged, condemned, but not destroyed. The
portal took Buffy's soul and stuck it in the Astral Plane, where she's
trapped. She can't get out on her own. She's all alone in there, completely
alone."
No one wanted to say anything. They had gone through enough pain with
the loss of Buffy, but at least they had the comfort of believing that she
had gone to a good and peaceful place. And now, even that comfort had been
taken away from them.
"Damn it," Spike quietly cursed. "Even in Hell, you're not alone. They
may be torturing you, but you're not alone."
"Wait," said Dawn, "we saw her, right? Willow, we saw her. We saw her
soul. She tried to talk to us. She tried to touch us."
Willow nodded. "That barrier at the cliff was the boundary between your
mind and the Astral Plane. She couldn't breach it. Nor could we. Dawn, part
of you is the Key, and that part is able to transcend the dimensional
barriers. I think that your Buffy dreams, your grief, reflexively sent you
to the Astral Plane, where you were able to locate Buffy's soul. I think
you've been doing it for the last two weeks, but you could only remember
last night because the spell I used mixed up with your projecting. I ended
up coming along for the ride."
Spike looked at Willow with sad eyes. "Well, thank you, Willow, for
turning a bad time into a truly intolerable one."
"Hey, back off, Spike," said Xander, jumping to Willow's defense. "It's
better we know about this...right?" The last word he directed at the group,
as if trying to gain reassurance that it was actually better to know.
Willow squared her shoulders and tried to think confident thoughts. She
needed to feel confident now. "I wouldn't have told you all this just to
make us miserable. Tara and I have put together a plan. It's a little shaky,
but I think we can do it."
"A plan for what?" asked Dawn.
"A rescue plan. We're going to get Buffy out of there. We're going to
bring her back."
********
CONTINUED IN PART SIX