Chapter 13: "The Wishes"

"What?" Dawn asked disbelieving. "Sorry, but can you repeat what you've just said. Because I understood that we can resurrect Buffy with those spheres."

"It's true, Dawn;" Pan said, still beaming at the younger girl.

"But that's not possible;" Willow said. "I mean, we've looked through every book twice and there wasn't a way to bring her back. Why should those magic spheres be able to do that?"

"Believe me Will. Almost all members of my family and friends died at least once and were brought back with the Dragonballs. It is possible."

Dawn saw the sincerity in Pan's eyes and after all her memories told her what she had experienced since Buffy became the Slayer, there was nothing she couldn't believe anymore. They were living at the Hellmouth after all. "We can bring Buffy back!" she shouted exited and hugged Pan tightly. "Thank you Pan… And when can we call this dragon?"

"At once, if you want," Mirai Trunks now said. "But we have to go somewhere else to do this. Shenlong would never fit into this shop."

"But won't the people get suspicious when they suddenly see how the sky goes black and a huge Dragon appears out of nowhere?" Goten wanted to know.

"Don't worry," Faith said. "The people here in Sunnydale are used to those things. I guess weirder things have happened here."

"Then I think we should go now. We could summon him on one of the cemeteries, best is near Buffy's grave," Pan said and got up. The others nodded at her and together they went to the door, just Angel went to the backdoor.

"I'll meet you there," he said and left.

"What is he doing?" Goten wanted to know. "Why isn't he coming with us?"

"Because the sun would burn him," Pan told her uncle. "You must know, Angel's a vampire."

"A-a vampire? As in 'Grrrr, I will bite you'?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, he doesn't bite," she said grinning and walked past him. "Are you coming now?"

"Yes… I'm coming."

~*~

On the way to the cemetery, Dawn didn't calm down and was nearly dancing around the Scoobies and Saiyajins. Knowing that her sister would eventually come back to life the same day made her really happy.

As they finally arrived at Buffy's grave, they saw that Angel was already standing there, under a tree in the shadows. Vegeta laid his bag on the floor and took out the Dragonballs, placing them all next to each other and after he did that, they began to glow.

"Wow," Willow simply said. She was too impressed to say more.

"And what do we do now?" Xander asked nervously. He still couldn't believe that those spheres could bring someone back to life.

"Pan, do you want to do this?" Mirai Trunks asked her and she nodded.

"Shenlong! Come forth!" she shouted and the Dragonballs began to glow even more, the sky went black and a glaring light emerged from them, so that everyone had to shield their eyes.

~*~

Little did they know that the one they wanted to resurrect was momentarily in Sunnydale, torturing one of their Scooby Gang members. Buffy was slowly circling Spike, playing with the stake in her hand. "Well Spike, you don't have much time left." She smirked and kneeled down next to the vampire, grabbing his hair and forcing him to look at the slowly approaching spot of sunlight on the floor. "Just a few more minutes and then you'll make poof." At that moment the spot on the floor disappeared. Irritated, Buffy looked through the window in the roof and saw that not just the sun was gone, but also the sky was pure black. "What the hell…" she cursed as she got up, letting Spikes head fall to the ground.

Spike groaned in pain and when he opened his eyes again, he saw the reason for Buffy's cursing. "Looks like… the sun doesn't… want… to burn me…" he said weakly with a small smile on his face, but the Slayer didn't react, she just stared at the sky.

~*~

The Scoobies stared in awe at Shenlong. Even though they were living at the Hellmouth, they've never seen something like that.

"Wow! He is big!" Faith shouted exited.

"That's not just big…" Willow said. "It's huge!"

"Even bigger as snake-mayor was," Xander mumbled shocked. He couldn't take the eyes from the dragon in front of him.

"Hey! That's the dragon of my vision!" Cordelia suddenly shouted and all heads turned to her.

"You've summoned me. I will fulfill you two wishes within my power," a deep voice thundered and they looked back at Shenlong, whose head had descended in the meantime, so that it just was a few meters over the people.

"Come on Dawn," Pan said and shoved the girl a few steps forward. "You can make your wish now."

"O-okay…" Dawn didn't dare to go even nearer. Shenlong was really filling her with respect, but then she took a deep breath, gathering all her courage and told him her wish. "Shenlong, my wish is to bring my sister, Buffy Summer, the Vampire Slayer, back to life."

She was biting nervously on her lip and was tapping with her feet, waiting for Shenlong to fulfill the wish. It seemed like an eternity until the dragon finally spoke up. "I can't fulfill your wish."

"WHAT?" everyone shouted and Dawn felt how tears filled her eyes. All her hope was gone again. How could she possibly think that this dragon could bring her sister back to life?

"I can't resurrect someone who is already alive," Shenlong continued.

Confused, Dawn looked up again, wiping the tears away. "What?" she whispered.

"Buffy's alive?" Giles wanted to know. "How? We saw her jumping off the tower. She died and we buried her."

"The Slayer called Buffy Summers is alive and in this town. And now please tell me your other wishes," Shenlong told them.

"Alive? And here in Sunnydale?" Dawn asked disbelieving.

"It must be true," she heard Trunks saying. "Shenlong doesn't lie."

"Pan, is it true? Buffy does live?"

"Yes, Dawn. I think so," the semi-Saiyajin said smiling. "Do you have any other wishes? Shenlong is waiting."

Dawn thought for a moment and then her face lightened up. "Yes, I know two other wishes. Shenlong, can you remove the chip out of the head of the vampire Spike, also called William the Bloody?"

"Dawn!" the Scoobies shouted, but the girl just smiled at them.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. So, Shenlong, what are you saying?"

"Yes, I can do it."

"Good. Then is this my first wish. Do it, please."

~*~

"Mmh, okay Spike. I give you one last chance," Buffy said seductively, when she turned back from the window. "You think that I'm the other Buffy, the Buffy you loved." She sat down on his stomach and leaned over, so that their noses almost touched. "Work with me, then you can have me." After she said that, she leaned over even more and kissed him hard. Spike was totally stunned by this action. His first reaction was to kiss back – feeling her lips on his one more time was everything he ever wanted - but he eventually remembered that this woman wanted to kill him and began to struggle. As he forcefully raised his head, he was able to hit Buffy and she stopped kissing him. "Ouch, that hurt! You shouldn't be able to hurt me. What's with your chip? Why doesn't your head hurt?" the Slayer asked him exasperated, rubbing her forehead and getting up. "Argh, whatever… I don't have time for this now. I have a job to do. Some time or other the sun will come back and burn you. I'll leave you now…" Buffy grabbed her bag with the weapons and walked to the door, but stopped before she walked through it. "Oh, and by the way. You're a good kisser." With that she left.

~*~

"Done," Shenlong said. "What is your second wish?"

"Is it within your power to make vampires human?"

"Yes, it is."

"Okay, then this is my second wish…"

~*~

Spike didn't know what had happened. At one moment she was kissing him and he was kissing back, but as he defended himself, something happened he didn't expect. He was able to hurt Buffy, without that his head tried to explode. That made him think. Maybe the chip was defect… or Buffy came back wrong or was a dem…. He shook his head. No, he didn't want to think about that. Instead he focused on trying to get somehow free until the sun would come back.

~*~

"It's done."

Dawn smiled and looked over to Angel, as well as the others. Angel raised his hand to his heart and began to smile as well. "I'm human," he said disbelieving. "I-I can breath, I'm warm… Unbelievable…"

"I knew it!" Cordelia shouted and nearly jumped at his neck, and before both of them knew it, they were kissing. They first broke apart a few seconds later, when they both realized what they were doing and that all the gazes were on them. Angel and Cordy quickly let go of each other and were now both deeply blushing. "Uhm… yeah… Did I already say that I knew that Angel would become human?" Cordelia tried to talk herself out of it, but no one was able to say something, because Shenlong interrupted them.

"I've fulfilled all your wishes. Goodbye." With that, he disappeared and the sky began to lighten again.

~*~

Shortly after Buffy left, Spike was able to get his left arm free, because the rope was pretty old and already almost torn. Now he was somehow trying to open the knot at his other arm. Now and then he threw a glance at the window, to see if the sun would come forth again and suddenly he saw how the sky got lighter. "Bloody hell." He was tearing with all his strength at the other rope, but it didn't want to give in. His gaze was going from rope to window every second and when he saw the sun coming back, he just squeezed his eyes shut, shielding his face with his free arm, preparing for the pain that was about to come.

But it never came.

Confused, Spike spread his fingers and opened his eyes, looking through the space between his fingers. He could see that glaring light of the sun and when he looked around, he saw that he was lying directly on the spot, where the sun was shining at. He could feel the warmth of the sun on his skin and didn't burn. Unconsciously he took a deep breath and much to his surprise he saw how his chest raised and fell. Spike laid back down and put his hand on the place of his chest where the heart should be and he could feel it. He could feel his heartbeat. He could feel his heartbeat, he could breath, and the sun was directly shining down at him. He tried to vamp out, but noticed that he couldn't do it. "Okay… either I'm dreaming all of this… or I'm…" He felt the wounds on his chest and winced as he felt the pain. "Okay, no dream… But that could just mean… I'm human…" As the realization slowly began to sink in, he began laughing uncontrollably, but he stopped dead, when he remembered that he had to tell the others about Buffy.

Knowing that he was human, he suddenly felt new strength and with a scream he was able to also tear the other rope. He slowly got up and untied his legs. After that, he slowly got up, almost wincing with each move, because of the several wounds. Spike stumbled over to the table, where Buffy had put his duster and put it on. He then went to the door, and opened it carefully. He had to blink a few times, before his eyes could adjust to the light, but the feeling of the warm sunbeams made him almost forget that. It was something he hadn't felt in over a century and he almost had forgotten this feeling. Spike looked around and immediately recognized where he was. He wasn't far from the Magic Box and he guessed that Buffy would also be on her way there, but he knew a short cut, which Buffy probably didn't know. And if he ran fast, he could make it to the shop before her. He took another deep breath, ignoring the pain, and started to run.

~*~

Buffy didn't know what she was doing. She didn't take care of Spike personally. She trusted that the sun would do that, or didn't she? She somehow had the feeling that she didn't want to kill Spike, but she didn't know where that feeling came from. It was the kiss that made her leave. This kiss scared her. It was as if something in her awoke that wasn't supposed to wake up. Buffy shook her head. She would think of that later, but now she had a mission to fulfill. The Key was still alive.

~*~

The Scoobies and Saiyajins were now on their way back to the Magic Box and were almost there. After Shenlong disappeared, the Saiyajins took care of the Dragonballs, with everyone of them catching at least one of the now stoned spheres, before they could be spread over the world.

Angel was enjoying every moment of being human on his way back. He enjoyed the warmth of the sun, felt his heartbeat and was chewing on a chocolate bar he bought on the way.

"And now please tell me Dawn, why did you also wish for Spike to become human?" Giles wanted to know.

"That's easy. I think he earned it as much as Angel did. He protected me the whole time for the last six months and helped you with the slaying. I guess it was not just the chip that made him stop killing. His love for Buffy did this. The chip just showed him the right way. And being a vampire stopped him from being with Buffy. If he were human, it would have been totally different between them."

"Well, Dawn… You could be right. I must say I'm impressed by your arguments…"

"This is our little Dawnie," Faith said as she put her arm around Dawn's shoulder. "I wish I could've seen Spike's face as he noticed that he became human."

At that moment, they arrived at the shop and Giles unlocked the door, so that everyone could step in.

They were just sitting for not even a minute, when they heard the back door making a racket. Alarmed, Faith, Dawn and Pan quickly got up, ready to attack, but luckily they noticed in time, that it was Spike who came from the back. Dawn was extremely happy to see him, but as she saw the wounds on his chest, she immediately became worried, as well as the others.

Panting heavily, Spike fell on his knees, directly in front of Dawn. "Dawn…"

"Spike… what happened?"

"It… it was…"

"Spike, calm down. Wait a second, we'll help you," Pan said and looked at Faith. They helped him up and sat him down on a chair.

Dawn sat down next to him and let him take off his duster. As she thought that the wounds before were bad, she could now see much more and felt tears in her eyes. "Spike… Who did that to you?"

Spike looked at her, eyes wide. He could impossibly tell her that her own sister did that to him. At that moment the door opened, unnoticed by everyone but Spike. "Buffy."

"What?" Dawn asked confused, but then she followed his gaze to the door.

"Yes, that's me." Buffy, who just came through the door, answered coolly.