Meanwhile, Giles hurried back to where Buffy was. She had the saddest look on her face. She glanced up upon hearing his approach. Her eyes were red from crying, and her cheeks were still wet.
"Giles, this is my fault. I should have gotten to them sooner. I could have protected them from this." she cried softly. Giles went up to her, and embraced her, hushing her as she sobbed into his shoulder.
"Buffy, you had duties elsewhere. You can't protect everyone. Think of all the people you have saved."
"Yeah, great. I can defend complete strangers, but I can't help my friends, my family!" she bitterly said. "If that damn Weador demon hadn't held me up, I could have stopped the attack."
Giles stepped back, and kept his hands on her shoulders, looked her in the eyes, "Buffy, you mustn't dwell on the 'what-ifs?' They were aware of the danger. And if my suspicions are correct, nothing you could have done, would have prevented this. This may have been a deliberate attack on Xander."
"What? What do you mean?" she wondered.
"When Oz called me, he mentioned a vampire attacking Xander with a dagger, with an unusually shaped blade. However, after Xander was stabbed, the knife mysteriously vanished, leaving a dark wound behind. I pray to God I'm wrong, but it sounds like the Dagger of Malechior. I'll have to check my books to confirm it, but if so... Xander's condition is far graver than we can imagine. And he won't have much time left. In fact, it may already be too late to save him." Giles' face was tense with worry and fear.
"Why, what does this dagger do?"
"It is believed that whoever suffers an attack via the dagger, will slowly and painfully have their soul severed in two, thus guaranteeing a slow and agonizing death to the victim."
Buffy's eyes widened in horror, "Oh my God. No. Giles, I don't care what it takes, but there has to be a cure. Find it. If we have go into hell to get it, so be it." she commanded, and then her tone took on a slight joking, indifferent tone as she added, "I've been there before, not really a devil party as promised in the brochures." Giles nodded gravely and headed to the school library. As he was leaving, Joyce came in. She asked where everybody was, and he told her the room numbers. She thanked him and hurried upstairs. Their conversations continued to be a bit strained after the 'band candy incident,' with both of them wanting to forget what had happened, and still being unable to. Buffy got up as she saw her mom hurry to her. She went over, and the two embraced. Buffy bit her lip, but then starting crying again anyway.
"Shh, shh, honey. It'll be alright." Joyce soothed her worried daughter, as she stroked her blond hair reassuringly. Buffy backed away from her.
"No, it won't. It's not going to be all right ever," she replied gravely.