CHAPTER THREE
Dawn wiped the sleep from her eyes and tiredly stepped into the kitchen, slightly surprised to see the blonde vampire sitting at the kitchen bench, a worried look on his face.
"Spike, hey. What's up?" she greeted, her tiredness evident in her voice. "Where's Buffy?"
Spike looked at Dawn and tried to give a small grin, the look on his face making Dawn's heart seize with terror.
"Where's my sister?" she demanded.
Spike hesitated for a moment, but decided that Dawn needed the truth. "She was attacked by something last night. Nasty demon type."
"But she's okay, right? It's serious, but.she's okay?" Dawn asked, tears coming to her eyes.
Spike could only shrug a little. "I don't know Nibblet. Rupert's taking care of 'er," he said.
Dawn had raced out the door before Spike had a chance to stop her. He swore loudly, unable to follow her into the daylight as the young girl raced towards the Watcher's apartment.
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"Giles!"
Giles looked up and saw Dawn standing at the door to his apartment, breathless and looking completely terrified.
"Dawn," he greeted softly. He motioned for her to be quiet, and hesitantly Dawn made her way over to where her sister lay on the couch of Giles living room.
"Is she." Dawn trailed off, not knowing exactly what she wanted to ask of her sister's Watcher.
"She's alright. She's.she falls in and out of consciousness."
Dawn knelt down beside her sister's pale body, reminded horribly of the night her sister had died in order to save the world, and to save Dawn from having to die a horrible death.
Dawn gently touched her sister's arm where the demon had cut her. In her sleep, Buffy flinched a little in pain, and Dawn immediately drew back her hand, hating that she had caused some sort of pain.
"She'll be okay, right?" Dawn asked.
Giles nodded softly, hoping that he wasn't lying to the young girl who had already lost so much in her life.
"I'll make sure she's alright."
Dawn nodded and let two tears fall down her cheeks. All she could do was sit and watch as her sister drifted in and out of sleeping.
At times, Buffy was calm, asking for a glass of water, or to see Giles or Dawn. It wasn't until Dawn heard Buffy ask for the impossible that Dawn began getting beyond worried.
"Giles," Buffy had whispered, her voice strained and incredibly soft.
Giles had taken her by the hand and had leant close to the Slayer.
"What is it?" he whispered.
"Can you.tell.tell mom that I'm sorry I can't be there with her.She's.she's got a CAT scan today. Can you.make sure.Dawn, she's.make sure Dawn's okay," Buffy said.
Giles cast a worried glance towards Dawn who had stood up and moved away from where her sister lay, unsure of what to make of what Buffy had just said.
"Dawn will be fine," Giles whispered, gently running a wet washcloth over Buffy's face. "I'll make sure she's safe."
Buffy nodded and closed her eyes again, hating that she was so weak, but letting her body take the rest that it was aching for.
Giles closed his eyes and stood up, moving towards the kitchen. He silently removed his glasses and wiped away the tears that were welling in his eyes. He was losing her and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.
Dawn hovered in the doorway, watching as Giles recomposed himself. She coughed lightly, letting him now she was there.
"She doesn't remember." Dawn said softly. "Why can't she remember?"
Giles could only shake his head, unable to give an answer.
"I don't know Dawn. I really don't know."
~*~
Willow sat in the dorm, spell books strewn around her. Tara was long gone and Willow couldn't say for sure if Tara would ever come back.
She wiped a stray tear from her eyes and looked again at the spell she had cast earlier. It had taken a lot of her energy in order to cast the spell, and she had been weary when she had been casting it.
She looked back at the description of the spell and read through it again, checking to make sure that it had been a safe spell to use on the Slayer. She smiled, thanking the higher powers that nothing had gone wrong.
With a new burst of energy, Willow stood up, grabbed her shoulder bag and decided to make her way to the Magic Box to see if the spell had taken effect already.
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The bell to the Magic Box rang and Anya looked up, giving a small smile to the redhead who walked in.
"Hey Anya," Willow called. "Is Buffy here?"
Anya looked at her and shook her head. "Giles called earlier. He said that he and Buffy were at his apartment. God only knows what they're doing though."
Willow nodded and gave a parting wave. "Thanks."
Anya looked back down at the wedding magazine that she had been so engrossed in before Willow had interrupted her train of thought.
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Giles stood up and moved to the door as he heard a demanding pounding on the door. For a moment, he thought it might have been Spike, and answered the door hurriedly lest the vampire suddenly combust from the sunlight.
He smiled as he saw Willow standing at the door, a grin on her face.
"Hiya Giles," she greeted.
He nodded his hello, silently told her to keep her voice down and ushered her inside.
"What's wrong? Why are we been quiet?" she asked softly.
She looked around the room and saw Dawn curled up on the couch.
"Dawnie!" she cried, still keeping her voice somewhat quieter. Dawn looked up at Willow and tried to give a small smile.
Giles lay a gentle hand on Willow's shoulder to get her attention.
"Something happened last night during Buffy's patrol," Giles said.
Willow felt her heart rise up in her throat, the beating suddenly becoming loud and fast.
"Buffy was attacked by a fairly fierce demon and.it made her fairly ill," he explained.
"Ill? How can a demon make someone sick?" Willow asked.
Giles picked up the ancient book from his desk and gave it to the young girl.
"Ephemeral blood. I don't understand."
"The Miedstayne demon feeds off Slayer's blood, but if the demons blood combines with the Slayer's, she'll.it's almost as though she's having the life drained out of her. Her defences are weakened, which means she's vulnerable to anything that anyone throws her. From.a common cold to ah.to powerfully dark magick."
Giles missed the look of panic that crossed Willow's face.
"But.there's a cure, right?" Willow asked.
Giles nodded and readjusted his glasses. "Killing the demon will effectively mean his blood is dead, it wouldn't have an effect on Buffy. Or else, a different demon, a Mohra demon, it's blood has healing qualities."
Giles saw the panicked look in the young girls eyes.
"Spike went looking for the demon last night, he'll go again tonight."
"Could we try something.a protection spell maybe?" Willow asked.
Giles shook his head. "At this point it'd hurt her even more."
Willow went to say something else, but stopped when she heard Buffy cry out as though she were in pain. Giles was at Buffy's side in seconds, his hands going to Buffy's shoulders, trying to keep her on the couch.
"Buffy it's okay, I'm right here," Giles said.
Buffy shook her head wildly and struggled against him. "I have to stop him, he'll leave if I don't."
"Who'll leave?" Giles asked.
"Riley! He'll leave. I have to tell him.I have to get to him. Let me go!" she cried, pushing him violently away. He let go, trying to regain his balance and Buffy was on shaky feet within seconds.
Giles stood and tried to stop Buffy from leaving.
"Buffy, you can't go out there, it's not safe. You have to sit down. I'll make sure he gets the message," he said, trying to get Buffy to sit down.
Giles looked frantically at Willow and pointed to a box that was lying on the table. Willow pointed to it and when Giles nodded, she handed it to him, surprised by the hypodermic needle that Giles pulled out from small box.
Willow raced to Buffy's side to try and keep her still while Giles administered the injection.
Buffy struggled when she saw the needle in Giles' hand, pushing him away. Willow grabbed Buffy's hands to still them, surprised that she was able to overpower the usually strong Slayer.
Giles quickly gave her the injection and gently sat her down on the couch, Buffy struggling not to close her eyes.
"You have to.to tell him.he doesn't know.I have to tell him."
Sleep overcame her and she fell forward limply in Giles' arms. He sighed softly and laid her back down on the couch.
Willow looked towards Giles who was trembling with a combination of fear and worry.
"Giles?" she whispered.
Giles looked up at her, silently pleading with her not to ask him anything he wasn't willing to answer.
She let a single tear slip down her face before turning and walking out of the living room into the kitchen where she promptly burst into tears.
~*~
Sunset came and Giles looked up to see Spike at his front door, worried expression still on his face.
"How is she?" he whispered.
Giles just shook his head, telling the vampire that there was no change, and, if anything, Buffy was getting worse.
"I had a squiz around the cemetery and.I couldn't see him. It looks as though the bastard's gone into hiding. I think he's gonna wait for a few more days before he tries anything again," Spike said.
Giles took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"There's something else," Giles said.
Spike looked at him, waiting for Giles to continue.
"She seems to.it's almost as though she's losing her memory," Giles said.
"What do you mean? She got roughed up pretty badly, of course she's not gonna remember what happened," Spike said.
Giles shook his head and looked towards the sleeping Slayer. "Every time she wakes up, she's.she struggles and she yells out about someone she has to save."
"And?"
"She cried out for Dawn first, saying that Glory had her. Then she cried out about her mother dying, then about her mother's CAT scan. She woke up about twenty minutes ago, sobbing because Riley was about to leave her," Giles said.
"But Riley left-"
"Almost a year ago, I know."
Spike glanced towards Buffy who was tossing in her sleep. "The demon shouldn't be able to do that to her. I've seen what he can do, and.it's not that."
Giles nodded and sat down at his desk, pulling the book on the demon in front of him.
"I've spent the last few hours trying to work out what would be causing the memory loss, but.I couldn't come up with anything at all," Giles said.
"What if it was another spell? Something that someone else had tried. Miedstayne's only come out of hiding every few decades, and.if they heard that the demon was gonna try and off the Slayer, they'd want a piece of it. What better way to get the Slayer vulnerable than to take away her memory of being a Slayer?" Spike asked.
Giles looked pensive for a moment and stood up, going to his bookcase to retrieve another book.
"There aren't many spells that would work like this though. I can't think of any that would take away her memory piece by piece. Memory charms are usually.well, they work rather quickly," Giles said.
"Unless it was botched," Spike said.
Giles nodded thoughtfully and looked towards the door to his bathroom where he could hear Willow weeping loudly. Spike followed his gaze and recognised the sounds of the young witch crying.
"You don't think-"
Without hesitation, Giles strode towards the door, opening it with a crash.
"Anything you want to say Willow?" he asked harshly, knowing that if his suspicions were wrong, he would pay dearly for them.
Willow looked up at him, tears streaking her face, her eyes completely red.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Giles felt his heart give a jolt, and his hand was clasped roughly around her wrist within seconds, dragging her painfully to her feet. He didn't let go, even though she was protesting loudly.
"What did you do?" he yelled angrily.
Spike watched on, unsure of what would happen. He had seen Giles angry before, had been witness to the burning of the factory when Angelus had killed Jenny Calendar. He had seen Giles tolerance of pain, and he had also heard that when his Slayer was threatened, he would do anything to put it to rights.
Willow wrenched her wrist away from Giles painful grip and raced past him, slamming into Spike's chest. He held her softly, not letting her go.
He looked into her eyes and suddenly understood what the young witch had tried to do. He had seen her reaction to finding out that Buffy had been pulled from heaven.
"You tried to make her forget, didn't you?" he asked, soft accusation in his voice.
Willow could only nod and burst into another bout of sobs. He held her uncomfortably and tried to calm her down. He looked over her shoulder at Giles who looked fit to be tied.
Spike gently sat Willow down on the seat where Giles had previously been and stepped aside to let Giles take over.
"I honestly don't know what you were thinking," Giles started, keeping his angry voice barely above a whisper, "but you have seriously put her in danger by casting such a foolish spell on her."
"It wasn't meant-"
"I don't care what it was meant to do!" he cried. "Who are you to try and take away her memories? Apart from being extremely foolish and selfish, it is also extremely dangerous. Willow, Buffy is the Slayer, without her memories she is in grave danger. And not only is she the Slayer, but she is meant to be your best friend. How dare you think that you can play God and fool around with her memory?"
"I just wanted things back to how they were," Willow pleaded.
Spike suddenly stepped in, glaring at the woman he used to be so fond of.
"She's trying 'er best to get things back to the way they were," Spike cried. "Why couldn't you just give 'er some time?"
"I'm sorry okay!" Willow yelled, standing up. "It wasn't meant to take away every memory, only that one!"
Giles went to say something more, Spike a little more than afraid that the usually composed man may try and strike the young with, but everything was interrupted by a shout from the living room coming from Buffy.
Giles just glared at Willow as he pushed past her, silently telling her that they weren't anywhere near done.
~*~ "Buffy, it's alright, I'm here," he whispered, taking her in his arms. For someone who usually showed very little emotion, nor used physical proximity as a way of comfort, Giles wasn't hesitating when it came to calming down his distraught Slayer.
"The monks," Buffy whispered softly.
She was struggling to keep her eyes open, but Giles held her head still in his hands, trying to get her to focus her eyes on his.
"What about them Buffy?" he asked gently.
Tears streamed down her face, her breaths coming in short shallow gasps.
"They.oh god, Giles.the Key.it's Dawn. You can't tell anyone, not.not even the guys cos.they can't know," she said softly.
"It's alright Buffy. She's safe. You're safe here, I promise," he whispered, stroking her hair gently.
"Have to.keep it from Dawn. Love her.she's."
Buffy didn't get out the rest of her sentence before she passed out once more. Giles laid her back down gently and wiped the tears from Buffy's cheeks with a gentle thumb.
He stood up and looked towards Dawn who was still huddled in a corner, keeping a constant vigil over her sister.
"She'll be okay, right?" Dawn whispered as Giles caught her gaze.
Giles could only sigh and close his eyes. "We're doing everything we can to help her."
Dawn nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. She watched as Giles went back into the bathroom where Spike was gently holding Willow's hair back as the young witch threw up into the toilet bowl.
Giles walked to the sink and filled a glass with water, handing it to Willow who took it and swallowed tiny sips of water.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered.
Giles nodded, a little calmer than he had been earlier.
"I'm not going to tell you it's alright, because I'd be lying to you. But I am going to get you to come outside, sit down and you're going to tell me exactly what spell you were using," Giles ordered.
Willow nodded and tried to swallow some more water without throwing it all back up again. She stood up on shaky feet and let Spike help her into the other room.
A wash of guilt swept over her as she saw her best friend lying on Giles' couch, her skin pale and wet from sweating. Giles had been right. She had had no right to attempt any sort of spell on her friend like that, no matter how much it hurt her for Buffy to hate her.
Willow took a seat at Giles' table and pulled out Giles' copy of the book she had been using. She opened it to the page that she had been using and passed it to Giles.
He took it from her without a word and read the incantation. He looked up at her in disbelief.
"You used a Tabula Rasa spell on Buffy?" he asked incredulously.
Willow nodded, hating every second of this, hating that she was the cause of so much pain. She should have listened to Tara.
Giles clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white. Spike immediately positioned himself between the Watcher and the witch.
"What is it?" Spike asked softly, trying to deflect all attention from the witch onto himself, unsure of why he was doing so, but wanting to do it nonetheless.
Giles shoved the book at the blonde vampire. "Read for yourself."
Spike took the book and read the spell, not entirely understanding.
"Ripped from peace," Giles said. "If the demon hadn't have attacked, then the spell would have only taken the one memory, of Buffy literally being ripped from peace, but."
"But the demon's opened her up to bloody everything under the sun, so the spell's going back even further," Spike finished.
Giles nodded. "I can only presume that it will go back to when she was fourteen."
"Fourteen?" Willow whispered.
Spike caught on immediately. "Before she was the Slayer. Of course.she woulda been a helluva lot more peaceful when she weren't slaying. Makes sense."
Giles closed his eyes and rubbed them tiredly. He reached for his notebook that lay on the table and went to write in Buffy's latest memories, unsure of why he was still writing them down, but writing them nonetheless.
Spike looked over Giles' shoulder and saw the latest entry about the monks. A sudden horrifying thought came to him.
"If her memory's going backwards an' all, is.she's gonna remember the nibblet, right?" Spike asked, his voice daring to go no louder than a whisper so that Dawn wouldn't hear his query.
Giles looked towards where Dawn was now sleeping on the couch.
"I hadn't thought of that," Giles admitted. "The memories that the monks gave us all are superficial. They're not our real memories. But, the memories do stem back fourteen years. She may very well remember her sister."
Spike nodded and tried not to think about the memories that would come back as Buffy remembered less and less. They hadn't exactly been on the best of terms, especially when he had been trying to kill her for three years.
A thought occurred to Spike suddenly as he remembered that he hadn't told Giles all of what the Miedstayne demon had said to him.
"Rupert," Spike said softly.
Giles looked up at the worried vampire and felt his heart sink.
"Last night, when.when I met that demon bloke. He uh.he kinda gave her a time limit," Spike said.
Giles eyes darkened with fear. "What do you mean?"
"He said that.that she only has two days."
Giles closed his eyes and tried to remember how to breathe.
"Then we have to kill it before it kills her."
Dawn wiped the sleep from her eyes and tiredly stepped into the kitchen, slightly surprised to see the blonde vampire sitting at the kitchen bench, a worried look on his face.
"Spike, hey. What's up?" she greeted, her tiredness evident in her voice. "Where's Buffy?"
Spike looked at Dawn and tried to give a small grin, the look on his face making Dawn's heart seize with terror.
"Where's my sister?" she demanded.
Spike hesitated for a moment, but decided that Dawn needed the truth. "She was attacked by something last night. Nasty demon type."
"But she's okay, right? It's serious, but.she's okay?" Dawn asked, tears coming to her eyes.
Spike could only shrug a little. "I don't know Nibblet. Rupert's taking care of 'er," he said.
Dawn had raced out the door before Spike had a chance to stop her. He swore loudly, unable to follow her into the daylight as the young girl raced towards the Watcher's apartment.
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"Giles!"
Giles looked up and saw Dawn standing at the door to his apartment, breathless and looking completely terrified.
"Dawn," he greeted softly. He motioned for her to be quiet, and hesitantly Dawn made her way over to where her sister lay on the couch of Giles living room.
"Is she." Dawn trailed off, not knowing exactly what she wanted to ask of her sister's Watcher.
"She's alright. She's.she falls in and out of consciousness."
Dawn knelt down beside her sister's pale body, reminded horribly of the night her sister had died in order to save the world, and to save Dawn from having to die a horrible death.
Dawn gently touched her sister's arm where the demon had cut her. In her sleep, Buffy flinched a little in pain, and Dawn immediately drew back her hand, hating that she had caused some sort of pain.
"She'll be okay, right?" Dawn asked.
Giles nodded softly, hoping that he wasn't lying to the young girl who had already lost so much in her life.
"I'll make sure she's alright."
Dawn nodded and let two tears fall down her cheeks. All she could do was sit and watch as her sister drifted in and out of sleeping.
At times, Buffy was calm, asking for a glass of water, or to see Giles or Dawn. It wasn't until Dawn heard Buffy ask for the impossible that Dawn began getting beyond worried.
"Giles," Buffy had whispered, her voice strained and incredibly soft.
Giles had taken her by the hand and had leant close to the Slayer.
"What is it?" he whispered.
"Can you.tell.tell mom that I'm sorry I can't be there with her.She's.she's got a CAT scan today. Can you.make sure.Dawn, she's.make sure Dawn's okay," Buffy said.
Giles cast a worried glance towards Dawn who had stood up and moved away from where her sister lay, unsure of what to make of what Buffy had just said.
"Dawn will be fine," Giles whispered, gently running a wet washcloth over Buffy's face. "I'll make sure she's safe."
Buffy nodded and closed her eyes again, hating that she was so weak, but letting her body take the rest that it was aching for.
Giles closed his eyes and stood up, moving towards the kitchen. He silently removed his glasses and wiped away the tears that were welling in his eyes. He was losing her and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.
Dawn hovered in the doorway, watching as Giles recomposed himself. She coughed lightly, letting him now she was there.
"She doesn't remember." Dawn said softly. "Why can't she remember?"
Giles could only shake his head, unable to give an answer.
"I don't know Dawn. I really don't know."
~*~
Willow sat in the dorm, spell books strewn around her. Tara was long gone and Willow couldn't say for sure if Tara would ever come back.
She wiped a stray tear from her eyes and looked again at the spell she had cast earlier. It had taken a lot of her energy in order to cast the spell, and she had been weary when she had been casting it.
She looked back at the description of the spell and read through it again, checking to make sure that it had been a safe spell to use on the Slayer. She smiled, thanking the higher powers that nothing had gone wrong.
With a new burst of energy, Willow stood up, grabbed her shoulder bag and decided to make her way to the Magic Box to see if the spell had taken effect already.
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The bell to the Magic Box rang and Anya looked up, giving a small smile to the redhead who walked in.
"Hey Anya," Willow called. "Is Buffy here?"
Anya looked at her and shook her head. "Giles called earlier. He said that he and Buffy were at his apartment. God only knows what they're doing though."
Willow nodded and gave a parting wave. "Thanks."
Anya looked back down at the wedding magazine that she had been so engrossed in before Willow had interrupted her train of thought.
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Giles stood up and moved to the door as he heard a demanding pounding on the door. For a moment, he thought it might have been Spike, and answered the door hurriedly lest the vampire suddenly combust from the sunlight.
He smiled as he saw Willow standing at the door, a grin on her face.
"Hiya Giles," she greeted.
He nodded his hello, silently told her to keep her voice down and ushered her inside.
"What's wrong? Why are we been quiet?" she asked softly.
She looked around the room and saw Dawn curled up on the couch.
"Dawnie!" she cried, still keeping her voice somewhat quieter. Dawn looked up at Willow and tried to give a small smile.
Giles lay a gentle hand on Willow's shoulder to get her attention.
"Something happened last night during Buffy's patrol," Giles said.
Willow felt her heart rise up in her throat, the beating suddenly becoming loud and fast.
"Buffy was attacked by a fairly fierce demon and.it made her fairly ill," he explained.
"Ill? How can a demon make someone sick?" Willow asked.
Giles picked up the ancient book from his desk and gave it to the young girl.
"Ephemeral blood. I don't understand."
"The Miedstayne demon feeds off Slayer's blood, but if the demons blood combines with the Slayer's, she'll.it's almost as though she's having the life drained out of her. Her defences are weakened, which means she's vulnerable to anything that anyone throws her. From.a common cold to ah.to powerfully dark magick."
Giles missed the look of panic that crossed Willow's face.
"But.there's a cure, right?" Willow asked.
Giles nodded and readjusted his glasses. "Killing the demon will effectively mean his blood is dead, it wouldn't have an effect on Buffy. Or else, a different demon, a Mohra demon, it's blood has healing qualities."
Giles saw the panicked look in the young girls eyes.
"Spike went looking for the demon last night, he'll go again tonight."
"Could we try something.a protection spell maybe?" Willow asked.
Giles shook his head. "At this point it'd hurt her even more."
Willow went to say something else, but stopped when she heard Buffy cry out as though she were in pain. Giles was at Buffy's side in seconds, his hands going to Buffy's shoulders, trying to keep her on the couch.
"Buffy it's okay, I'm right here," Giles said.
Buffy shook her head wildly and struggled against him. "I have to stop him, he'll leave if I don't."
"Who'll leave?" Giles asked.
"Riley! He'll leave. I have to tell him.I have to get to him. Let me go!" she cried, pushing him violently away. He let go, trying to regain his balance and Buffy was on shaky feet within seconds.
Giles stood and tried to stop Buffy from leaving.
"Buffy, you can't go out there, it's not safe. You have to sit down. I'll make sure he gets the message," he said, trying to get Buffy to sit down.
Giles looked frantically at Willow and pointed to a box that was lying on the table. Willow pointed to it and when Giles nodded, she handed it to him, surprised by the hypodermic needle that Giles pulled out from small box.
Willow raced to Buffy's side to try and keep her still while Giles administered the injection.
Buffy struggled when she saw the needle in Giles' hand, pushing him away. Willow grabbed Buffy's hands to still them, surprised that she was able to overpower the usually strong Slayer.
Giles quickly gave her the injection and gently sat her down on the couch, Buffy struggling not to close her eyes.
"You have to.to tell him.he doesn't know.I have to tell him."
Sleep overcame her and she fell forward limply in Giles' arms. He sighed softly and laid her back down on the couch.
Willow looked towards Giles who was trembling with a combination of fear and worry.
"Giles?" she whispered.
Giles looked up at her, silently pleading with her not to ask him anything he wasn't willing to answer.
She let a single tear slip down her face before turning and walking out of the living room into the kitchen where she promptly burst into tears.
~*~
Sunset came and Giles looked up to see Spike at his front door, worried expression still on his face.
"How is she?" he whispered.
Giles just shook his head, telling the vampire that there was no change, and, if anything, Buffy was getting worse.
"I had a squiz around the cemetery and.I couldn't see him. It looks as though the bastard's gone into hiding. I think he's gonna wait for a few more days before he tries anything again," Spike said.
Giles took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"There's something else," Giles said.
Spike looked at him, waiting for Giles to continue.
"She seems to.it's almost as though she's losing her memory," Giles said.
"What do you mean? She got roughed up pretty badly, of course she's not gonna remember what happened," Spike said.
Giles shook his head and looked towards the sleeping Slayer. "Every time she wakes up, she's.she struggles and she yells out about someone she has to save."
"And?"
"She cried out for Dawn first, saying that Glory had her. Then she cried out about her mother dying, then about her mother's CAT scan. She woke up about twenty minutes ago, sobbing because Riley was about to leave her," Giles said.
"But Riley left-"
"Almost a year ago, I know."
Spike glanced towards Buffy who was tossing in her sleep. "The demon shouldn't be able to do that to her. I've seen what he can do, and.it's not that."
Giles nodded and sat down at his desk, pulling the book on the demon in front of him.
"I've spent the last few hours trying to work out what would be causing the memory loss, but.I couldn't come up with anything at all," Giles said.
"What if it was another spell? Something that someone else had tried. Miedstayne's only come out of hiding every few decades, and.if they heard that the demon was gonna try and off the Slayer, they'd want a piece of it. What better way to get the Slayer vulnerable than to take away her memory of being a Slayer?" Spike asked.
Giles looked pensive for a moment and stood up, going to his bookcase to retrieve another book.
"There aren't many spells that would work like this though. I can't think of any that would take away her memory piece by piece. Memory charms are usually.well, they work rather quickly," Giles said.
"Unless it was botched," Spike said.
Giles nodded thoughtfully and looked towards the door to his bathroom where he could hear Willow weeping loudly. Spike followed his gaze and recognised the sounds of the young witch crying.
"You don't think-"
Without hesitation, Giles strode towards the door, opening it with a crash.
"Anything you want to say Willow?" he asked harshly, knowing that if his suspicions were wrong, he would pay dearly for them.
Willow looked up at him, tears streaking her face, her eyes completely red.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Giles felt his heart give a jolt, and his hand was clasped roughly around her wrist within seconds, dragging her painfully to her feet. He didn't let go, even though she was protesting loudly.
"What did you do?" he yelled angrily.
Spike watched on, unsure of what would happen. He had seen Giles angry before, had been witness to the burning of the factory when Angelus had killed Jenny Calendar. He had seen Giles tolerance of pain, and he had also heard that when his Slayer was threatened, he would do anything to put it to rights.
Willow wrenched her wrist away from Giles painful grip and raced past him, slamming into Spike's chest. He held her softly, not letting her go.
He looked into her eyes and suddenly understood what the young witch had tried to do. He had seen her reaction to finding out that Buffy had been pulled from heaven.
"You tried to make her forget, didn't you?" he asked, soft accusation in his voice.
Willow could only nod and burst into another bout of sobs. He held her uncomfortably and tried to calm her down. He looked over her shoulder at Giles who looked fit to be tied.
Spike gently sat Willow down on the seat where Giles had previously been and stepped aside to let Giles take over.
"I honestly don't know what you were thinking," Giles started, keeping his angry voice barely above a whisper, "but you have seriously put her in danger by casting such a foolish spell on her."
"It wasn't meant-"
"I don't care what it was meant to do!" he cried. "Who are you to try and take away her memories? Apart from being extremely foolish and selfish, it is also extremely dangerous. Willow, Buffy is the Slayer, without her memories she is in grave danger. And not only is she the Slayer, but she is meant to be your best friend. How dare you think that you can play God and fool around with her memory?"
"I just wanted things back to how they were," Willow pleaded.
Spike suddenly stepped in, glaring at the woman he used to be so fond of.
"She's trying 'er best to get things back to the way they were," Spike cried. "Why couldn't you just give 'er some time?"
"I'm sorry okay!" Willow yelled, standing up. "It wasn't meant to take away every memory, only that one!"
Giles went to say something more, Spike a little more than afraid that the usually composed man may try and strike the young with, but everything was interrupted by a shout from the living room coming from Buffy.
Giles just glared at Willow as he pushed past her, silently telling her that they weren't anywhere near done.
~*~ "Buffy, it's alright, I'm here," he whispered, taking her in his arms. For someone who usually showed very little emotion, nor used physical proximity as a way of comfort, Giles wasn't hesitating when it came to calming down his distraught Slayer.
"The monks," Buffy whispered softly.
She was struggling to keep her eyes open, but Giles held her head still in his hands, trying to get her to focus her eyes on his.
"What about them Buffy?" he asked gently.
Tears streamed down her face, her breaths coming in short shallow gasps.
"They.oh god, Giles.the Key.it's Dawn. You can't tell anyone, not.not even the guys cos.they can't know," she said softly.
"It's alright Buffy. She's safe. You're safe here, I promise," he whispered, stroking her hair gently.
"Have to.keep it from Dawn. Love her.she's."
Buffy didn't get out the rest of her sentence before she passed out once more. Giles laid her back down gently and wiped the tears from Buffy's cheeks with a gentle thumb.
He stood up and looked towards Dawn who was still huddled in a corner, keeping a constant vigil over her sister.
"She'll be okay, right?" Dawn whispered as Giles caught her gaze.
Giles could only sigh and close his eyes. "We're doing everything we can to help her."
Dawn nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. She watched as Giles went back into the bathroom where Spike was gently holding Willow's hair back as the young witch threw up into the toilet bowl.
Giles walked to the sink and filled a glass with water, handing it to Willow who took it and swallowed tiny sips of water.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered.
Giles nodded, a little calmer than he had been earlier.
"I'm not going to tell you it's alright, because I'd be lying to you. But I am going to get you to come outside, sit down and you're going to tell me exactly what spell you were using," Giles ordered.
Willow nodded and tried to swallow some more water without throwing it all back up again. She stood up on shaky feet and let Spike help her into the other room.
A wash of guilt swept over her as she saw her best friend lying on Giles' couch, her skin pale and wet from sweating. Giles had been right. She had had no right to attempt any sort of spell on her friend like that, no matter how much it hurt her for Buffy to hate her.
Willow took a seat at Giles' table and pulled out Giles' copy of the book she had been using. She opened it to the page that she had been using and passed it to Giles.
He took it from her without a word and read the incantation. He looked up at her in disbelief.
"You used a Tabula Rasa spell on Buffy?" he asked incredulously.
Willow nodded, hating every second of this, hating that she was the cause of so much pain. She should have listened to Tara.
Giles clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white. Spike immediately positioned himself between the Watcher and the witch.
"What is it?" Spike asked softly, trying to deflect all attention from the witch onto himself, unsure of why he was doing so, but wanting to do it nonetheless.
Giles shoved the book at the blonde vampire. "Read for yourself."
Spike took the book and read the spell, not entirely understanding.
"Ripped from peace," Giles said. "If the demon hadn't have attacked, then the spell would have only taken the one memory, of Buffy literally being ripped from peace, but."
"But the demon's opened her up to bloody everything under the sun, so the spell's going back even further," Spike finished.
Giles nodded. "I can only presume that it will go back to when she was fourteen."
"Fourteen?" Willow whispered.
Spike caught on immediately. "Before she was the Slayer. Of course.she woulda been a helluva lot more peaceful when she weren't slaying. Makes sense."
Giles closed his eyes and rubbed them tiredly. He reached for his notebook that lay on the table and went to write in Buffy's latest memories, unsure of why he was still writing them down, but writing them nonetheless.
Spike looked over Giles' shoulder and saw the latest entry about the monks. A sudden horrifying thought came to him.
"If her memory's going backwards an' all, is.she's gonna remember the nibblet, right?" Spike asked, his voice daring to go no louder than a whisper so that Dawn wouldn't hear his query.
Giles looked towards where Dawn was now sleeping on the couch.
"I hadn't thought of that," Giles admitted. "The memories that the monks gave us all are superficial. They're not our real memories. But, the memories do stem back fourteen years. She may very well remember her sister."
Spike nodded and tried not to think about the memories that would come back as Buffy remembered less and less. They hadn't exactly been on the best of terms, especially when he had been trying to kill her for three years.
A thought occurred to Spike suddenly as he remembered that he hadn't told Giles all of what the Miedstayne demon had said to him.
"Rupert," Spike said softly.
Giles looked up at the worried vampire and felt his heart sink.
"Last night, when.when I met that demon bloke. He uh.he kinda gave her a time limit," Spike said.
Giles eyes darkened with fear. "What do you mean?"
"He said that.that she only has two days."
Giles closed his eyes and tried to remember how to breathe.
"Then we have to kill it before it kills her."
