6. Fixed
A few seconds later, Dawn regained consciousness. Willow stood over her, now wearing what looked like an ordinary tan dress. A line of emerald scales extended from the back of one hand, went up her arm, and wrapped halfway around her neck. The same line continued down her other arm and ended on the back of the other hand, which held a glass-like object with a putrid, sickly glow.
[The "bad feelings" essence,] Dawn realized.
"Yeah, don't worry, I sealed it off," said Willow.
"Your arms," said Dawn.
"Yeah. I told you - well she - one of us, told you the truth. About me. I guess this is how it shows."
"They're pretty. All green and shiny."
"Thanks, Dawnie."
Willow's eyes still glowed green, but less intensely before. Looking carefully, Dawn could see small black flecks amongst the green glow.
"Yes, Dawn," Willow sighed, "she'll always be a part of me. But she'll never be able to separate and gain control again. Not that she really wants to."
"Yeah."
Giles rolled over, a look of pain on his face. "Oh, Willow, I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you so badly. I ... just wanted to help you. I have so much to feel sorry for." he whispered.
Willow looked back at him. "Yeah, I guess. But not as much I do, although right now I think we all need to be a little less sorry. We have things to do." She looked at both Giles and Dawn. "We can go now." Willow waved her hands. and suddenly a disembodied voice spoke.
It took Dawn a second to realize the voice was Anya's. "Willow! You're back in one piece. Yay! Giles! Dawn! You're safe and not shot and not all crushed! Yay! Oh. But don't come out yet. I don't think it would be a good idea."
"Hi, Anya. Good to be back. What's going on?" asked Willow.
"Scan your surroundings," said Anya.
So Willow did. "Oh, this is not good."
"What is it?" asked Giles.
"Uh - ten members of the coven, including who I guess is the Leader, you, and - Dawn, Xander, Anya and Buffy? Buffy looks really shaken. She's holding a stake and crying, Xander's holding her. Goddess, Anya, what happened?"
"Well, Buffy and Xander found Dawn and got really freaked. They called me and Buffy cast a vengeance spell against you to teleport us all to England. We all got here just about the time the ugly part of you shot Dawn and Giles. Buffy screamed and charged you with the stake. It took all of us to subdue her, and get it into her that killing you would definitely kill Dawn and Giles. Then Giles and Dawn got back up, and Buffy collapsed. She's been inconsolable ever since. But there's more. Keep scanning."
Willow's mind reeled. [Goddess, more casualties from my reign of terror. I'm so evil...] She sobbed mentally, and could feel her mind sink into the guilt and pain - and then pulled back. [No. Not now. Rack your brains, Willow, don't let them rack them for you. You have to be strong.]
Willow kept scanning. "Giles - there are five of who look like well- dressed English gentlemen with what look like high-powered rifles. Are they your friends?"
"Dear God. The Council's wetworks boys. They must be here to..."
"Kill me?" finished Willow.
"Yes - The understanding was that would use them if you woke up and were still insanely evil, and the whispers were that they might use them if you woke up at all."
"Understandable. After all, I did try to end the world. Came real close, too. Have to take care of apocalyptic threats. Perfectly reasonable, I think."
"No!" Dawn yelled. "After all we've been through - Giles, we can't let them kill her. Willow, please..."
Willow interrupted her. "Five minutes ago, I would have welcomed death. Not anymore. I'm ... I did terrible things, but I'm not going to let myself die for something I didn't do. Besides, someone corrupted this supposedly pure magical essence, and whoever they are is a terrible threat to the whole world."
Giles inwardly smiled. [She just might make it after all,] he thought. "I agree," said Giles, "although I'm not sure what to do."
Dawn spoke up. "I have an idea. Giles, they won't kill her as long as I'm here, right? You go out first and do whatever you can to protect her, get them to listen. Then Willow comes out and tells them about the bad magical mojo. Then I come out once it's all clear."
"Yes, but Dawn, are you sure?" said Willow.
"I trust you, Willow. At least now I do."
Willow smiled slightly. [I so don't deserve this,] she thought. [But she is right.]
"Okay," said Willow. "We need to go now. Giles, you first. Don't worry about us. We will be able to see and hear everything."
* * *
There was a sudden shock, and Giles suddenly found himself retching black goo in a brick chamber. Commotion swirled around him, and he thought he heard rifles being cocked. He had only an instant to pull away from the hands grasping him and throw himself on Willow's body.
"Stop!" he bellowed. "I won't you let do this. She is innocent of attempting to destroy the world. She herself can prove her innocence, but she must be allowed to speak."
One of the wetworks boys sneered. "Mister Rupert Giles, please. Have you completely lost any sense of your responsibilities as a Watcher? Don't you know who and what she is?"
"Listen, you arrogant fools. I've just spent hours understanding who and what she is. More than you can possibly understand. She must be allowed to speak. Otherwise, you will have to shoot through me - and the Slayer's sister, Dawn Summers."
"Listen to yourself," sneered the speaker. "Even now she has taken a hostage."
"No she hasn't," said Anya. "I can sense it. Dawn is staying voluntarily. She says - she is willing to give her life to protect Willow."
Buffy gasped. "If that's what Dawn says... damn it, let her have her chance."
"Put down your weapons. Now!" yelled Giles.
The Council's "fixers" did not move.
"Hey. Are you all deaf? He said put down the rifles. Put them down." Buffy glared at the musketeers. "Now. Or I will put them down for you."
The Council's agents slowly put down their weapons. "Walk away from the rifles," demanded Giles. They did.
* * *
"It's safe now," said the disembodied voice of Anya.
"Are you sure about this, Willow?"
"Yeah. As sure as we can be. In any case, I'll do whatever I can to protect you. And Dawn..."
"Don't you dare apologize to me, Willow."
Willow smiled weakly. "Um. Well in that case, I just want to say this - once I reemerge, all hell could break loose. I might not to get to see you again for a few months, if at all. If that happens, remember that I love you. Always. Even if I seemed to forget for a while."
Dawn smiled.
"And Dawn," Willow said, "you should be very proud. You defeated who I, um, think is a very powerful demon. In that demon's own mind. I don't think even Super Buffy can say that. Just don't get cocky, okay?"
Dawn smiled more broadly. "Go. They're waiting."
There was a flash, and Willow was gone. Then, Dawn could see and hear through Willow's eyes and ears.
* * *
There was a sharp shock, and Willow suddenly found herself retching black goo in a brick-walled chamber. She opened her eyes and stared right at the Council's "cleaning crew," who were eyeing their implements intently.
"Don't even think about it," said Buffy.
Willow vomited again and again, bringing up a puddle of dark ink. Soon, a glow appeared in her throat. With one final retching, a small glowing orb appeared in the puddle. It gleamed with a sickly yellow glow, and dark flecks floated throughout it. Incomprehensible symbols glowed from its surface. Willow picked up the orb. The members of the coven moved closer.
Willow managed to sit up, and speak slowly. "Leader and members of this coven, this orb, this magical essence... was not pure. You see that it was corrupted, giving me not pure magic but pure pain. And. inscribed in this orb are instructions on how to end that pain by destroying the world through raising that demonic temple. I... could not have known how to do that otherwise."
The Leader moved forward. "You lie," she sneered. The Council's musketeers dived for their weapons.
"No!" yelled one of the adepts. "Leader, she speaks the truth. Look at it. Feel it. It as she says. Somehow our work was compromised. We must find the traitor!"
Even the talkative musketeer spoke up. "The witch is telling the truth. It is obvious, even to me."
"You all lie," said the leader. "She must have broken the device somehow. The power of the coven cannot be corrupted."
"You..." Willow pointed at the Leader. "You made this."
The Leader was taken aback.
"You can't deny it. Your aura is the same as the maker of this orb. There are no other auras on this device."
"No," said the Leader. "She's lying."
"No, she's telling the truth," said the adept. "You were the crafter for this orb. You said - you said you needed complete control over the crafting of such a powerful device, to make sure it worked properly."
Giles, the musketeers, and all the members of the coven murmured in agreement with the adept. The musketeers picked up their weapons, and leveled them at the Leader.
"You... you used me," whispered Willow. "You tried to use me to burn the world. And... oh Goddess, did you kill her? Did you kill my love, too? Who are you serving? Who?"
The adepts looked shocked. The talkative musketeer finally spoke. "Leader, on the authority of the Council we are hereby placing you under our control, until such time as a proper inquiry can be held, and..."
"Silence!" the Leader yelled. She closed her eyes and reopened jet-black orbs. There was a flash, and the Leader was enclosed in a dark energy field.
[Guys, get ready to fight or run, depending...] Willow thought as loud as she could.
"Oh, Willow, Willow, fighting won't be necessary. You see, I'm going to leave you now. You have won this round, thanks to that washed-up ex- Watcher and that little Sister Slayer bitch."
Buffy gasped and lunged forward. [Don't...] Willow thought. [Buffy, that field is poisoned. Touching it would kill you.] Buffy stopped.
"But, before I go, and before you can - what is it, 'go Dark Phoenix on me,' Miss Rosenberg, I will answer your questions. First, yes, I tried to use you to burn this pathetic little planet for my master. And it was so good to see you become mind-blowingly evil and writhe in pain like that - so good you can't possibly imagine. And it almost worked."
"But it didn't," snapped Buffy.
"Yeah," said Xander. "Almost only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and thermonuclear warfare. You lost."
"That I did, hammer boy. Our loss. But second, as to my master - you'll meet my master soon enough. And third - no, I didn't kill your little whore, Willow. Someone else took care of that for us. At least I'll leave knowing even you can't bring her back. That we took something from you, something you can never have again."
Willow gasped. "You..." she whispered.
"Yes," the Leader grinned. "And now, it's time for me to go. But before I go, I have one last thing to say to you, Willow. We will stop at nothing to destroy your House."
Before Willow or anyone else could say anything, the Leader let out an awful scream. Her body burst into a white-hot jet of flame. In only a few seconds, only a small cloud of floating ash remained.
Willow could hear Dawn shriek in her mind, then stifle it. [It's okay, Dawn. It's okay... Goddess, Dawnie, you're still in here. I need to get you out. Goodbye, love.]
With that, there was a sharp jerk, and Dawn suddenly found herself retching black goo in a brick-walled chamber. Buffy let out a cry and embraced her sister tightly.
"Oh, God," cried Buffy. "I was so worried, so scared about you."
"I know," said Dawn. "It was horrible. But it's over now. Finally over." Tears ran down her cheeks. She looked over towards the table, and saw Willow and Giles surrounded by a rapidly pulsating mob of adepts and Council agents. The mob seemed to be slowly moving Willow and Giles out of the chamber. The mob also seemed to be growing ever larger, with adepts and Council members streaming in continuously.
One of the new arrivals saw Dawn and the group now embracing her. He rushed over to Dawn, brandishing a glowing orb. Dawn recognized him as none other than Quentin Travers, and grimaced.
The senior Watcher gave the most earnest smile he could simulate. He held the orb over Dawn, and seemed reasonably happy with whatever information the orb was telling him. "Hello, Dawn. Good to see you. Not much worse for wear, I see."
"Oh, she's in great shape," sneered Buffy.
"Yes, better than you realize, Buffy," rushed Quentin, still wearing the plastered smile. "That means I need to send all of you back to Sunnydale now. Strictly confidential Council business, you understand. Be assured that Mr. Giles and Miss Rosenberg will be under our strictest protection. We will be in touch next week, Buffy, Dawn, for a full debriefing. All the best!"
"No," said Dawn. "I need to be with her. You don't understand..." But before she could do anything, there was a flash, and she was back in her bedroom in Sunnydale. Buffy still held her tightly.
"We need to go back," said Dawn. "They don't understand."
Buffy pressed Dawn to her. "Dawn... I know the Council. They're the biggest bunch of stodgy bureaucrats I've ever met - it will take them weeks to decide what to about Willow, especially now. If anything. That will give us time to figure out what to do. What I want to do. What's best. And, I do want to hear about everything that happened, Dawn. Really. But now, you're home. And that's what's most important to me, right now." Tears streamed down both sisters' cheeks.
Xander managed to work his way in from the side. "Hey, Dawn."
"Xander..." Dawn temporarily pulled away from Buffy, and embraced her friend. Then she smiled broadly. "Xander, we are like so in the Saved the World Club!"
* * *
Giles and Willow scarcely had time to breathe for the next few hours, between the frantic interviews of the coven's members and the frantic queries of the Council of Watcher's investigators. Finally, Giles managed to convince the coven and Council that Willow would be allowed to stay in Giles's home for the time being, as Willow had managed to convince the coven and the Council that she was no longer a flight risk, a suicide risk, or an apocalypse risk. Council investigators escorted Giles and Willow to Giles's home, and a coven adept was left to guard Giles's front door. Four hours passed before Giles and Willow were able to have some time alone.
Giles prepared some herbal tea, and poured Willow a cup. Willow managed to smile and mutter a "thank you."
"How do you feel, Willow?" asked Giles.
Willow looked up at him and weakly smiled. "I... suppose I should feel pretty good, Giles. The world's been saved yet again. A terrible threat to the planet has been partially unmasked and partially destroyed. All thanks to the amazing powers of the Scooby Gang. What can't we do when we're together?" She giggled, and picked up the teacup.
"Willow," whispered Giles. He frowned.
"What was it," whispered Willow, "that song we all sang? You know, with that stupid singing demon? After Buffy said she'd been in heaven? Something like: 'So now it's done, we sort of won, so we give our victory cheer... Where do we go from here?"
"So you see Giles, I guess I feel fine... not any reason not to... not like I'm scared of myself, or like my love is dead, or like I killed anybody or tried to end the world, or anything... oh, Goddess..."
The teacup fell to the floor, and shattered. Willow began sobbing. Giles quietly moved over to her and embraced her.
"Willow," he whispered, "Yes, you did many terrible things. I know you miss Tara terribly - I do, too. But I love you, and I am proud of you. I know you can't see that right now, but I am. Now comes the hard part. It will take a long time, and a lot of effort, and a lot of pain to get better. But you can recover, Willow. I did. So can you. You have to believe."
Willow said nothing other than her sobs. But, she did nod her head.
* * *
To be concluded in chapter 7.
A few seconds later, Dawn regained consciousness. Willow stood over her, now wearing what looked like an ordinary tan dress. A line of emerald scales extended from the back of one hand, went up her arm, and wrapped halfway around her neck. The same line continued down her other arm and ended on the back of the other hand, which held a glass-like object with a putrid, sickly glow.
[The "bad feelings" essence,] Dawn realized.
"Yeah, don't worry, I sealed it off," said Willow.
"Your arms," said Dawn.
"Yeah. I told you - well she - one of us, told you the truth. About me. I guess this is how it shows."
"They're pretty. All green and shiny."
"Thanks, Dawnie."
Willow's eyes still glowed green, but less intensely before. Looking carefully, Dawn could see small black flecks amongst the green glow.
"Yes, Dawn," Willow sighed, "she'll always be a part of me. But she'll never be able to separate and gain control again. Not that she really wants to."
"Yeah."
Giles rolled over, a look of pain on his face. "Oh, Willow, I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you so badly. I ... just wanted to help you. I have so much to feel sorry for." he whispered.
Willow looked back at him. "Yeah, I guess. But not as much I do, although right now I think we all need to be a little less sorry. We have things to do." She looked at both Giles and Dawn. "We can go now." Willow waved her hands. and suddenly a disembodied voice spoke.
It took Dawn a second to realize the voice was Anya's. "Willow! You're back in one piece. Yay! Giles! Dawn! You're safe and not shot and not all crushed! Yay! Oh. But don't come out yet. I don't think it would be a good idea."
"Hi, Anya. Good to be back. What's going on?" asked Willow.
"Scan your surroundings," said Anya.
So Willow did. "Oh, this is not good."
"What is it?" asked Giles.
"Uh - ten members of the coven, including who I guess is the Leader, you, and - Dawn, Xander, Anya and Buffy? Buffy looks really shaken. She's holding a stake and crying, Xander's holding her. Goddess, Anya, what happened?"
"Well, Buffy and Xander found Dawn and got really freaked. They called me and Buffy cast a vengeance spell against you to teleport us all to England. We all got here just about the time the ugly part of you shot Dawn and Giles. Buffy screamed and charged you with the stake. It took all of us to subdue her, and get it into her that killing you would definitely kill Dawn and Giles. Then Giles and Dawn got back up, and Buffy collapsed. She's been inconsolable ever since. But there's more. Keep scanning."
Willow's mind reeled. [Goddess, more casualties from my reign of terror. I'm so evil...] She sobbed mentally, and could feel her mind sink into the guilt and pain - and then pulled back. [No. Not now. Rack your brains, Willow, don't let them rack them for you. You have to be strong.]
Willow kept scanning. "Giles - there are five of who look like well- dressed English gentlemen with what look like high-powered rifles. Are they your friends?"
"Dear God. The Council's wetworks boys. They must be here to..."
"Kill me?" finished Willow.
"Yes - The understanding was that would use them if you woke up and were still insanely evil, and the whispers were that they might use them if you woke up at all."
"Understandable. After all, I did try to end the world. Came real close, too. Have to take care of apocalyptic threats. Perfectly reasonable, I think."
"No!" Dawn yelled. "After all we've been through - Giles, we can't let them kill her. Willow, please..."
Willow interrupted her. "Five minutes ago, I would have welcomed death. Not anymore. I'm ... I did terrible things, but I'm not going to let myself die for something I didn't do. Besides, someone corrupted this supposedly pure magical essence, and whoever they are is a terrible threat to the whole world."
Giles inwardly smiled. [She just might make it after all,] he thought. "I agree," said Giles, "although I'm not sure what to do."
Dawn spoke up. "I have an idea. Giles, they won't kill her as long as I'm here, right? You go out first and do whatever you can to protect her, get them to listen. Then Willow comes out and tells them about the bad magical mojo. Then I come out once it's all clear."
"Yes, but Dawn, are you sure?" said Willow.
"I trust you, Willow. At least now I do."
Willow smiled slightly. [I so don't deserve this,] she thought. [But she is right.]
"Okay," said Willow. "We need to go now. Giles, you first. Don't worry about us. We will be able to see and hear everything."
* * *
There was a sudden shock, and Giles suddenly found himself retching black goo in a brick chamber. Commotion swirled around him, and he thought he heard rifles being cocked. He had only an instant to pull away from the hands grasping him and throw himself on Willow's body.
"Stop!" he bellowed. "I won't you let do this. She is innocent of attempting to destroy the world. She herself can prove her innocence, but she must be allowed to speak."
One of the wetworks boys sneered. "Mister Rupert Giles, please. Have you completely lost any sense of your responsibilities as a Watcher? Don't you know who and what she is?"
"Listen, you arrogant fools. I've just spent hours understanding who and what she is. More than you can possibly understand. She must be allowed to speak. Otherwise, you will have to shoot through me - and the Slayer's sister, Dawn Summers."
"Listen to yourself," sneered the speaker. "Even now she has taken a hostage."
"No she hasn't," said Anya. "I can sense it. Dawn is staying voluntarily. She says - she is willing to give her life to protect Willow."
Buffy gasped. "If that's what Dawn says... damn it, let her have her chance."
"Put down your weapons. Now!" yelled Giles.
The Council's "fixers" did not move.
"Hey. Are you all deaf? He said put down the rifles. Put them down." Buffy glared at the musketeers. "Now. Or I will put them down for you."
The Council's agents slowly put down their weapons. "Walk away from the rifles," demanded Giles. They did.
* * *
"It's safe now," said the disembodied voice of Anya.
"Are you sure about this, Willow?"
"Yeah. As sure as we can be. In any case, I'll do whatever I can to protect you. And Dawn..."
"Don't you dare apologize to me, Willow."
Willow smiled weakly. "Um. Well in that case, I just want to say this - once I reemerge, all hell could break loose. I might not to get to see you again for a few months, if at all. If that happens, remember that I love you. Always. Even if I seemed to forget for a while."
Dawn smiled.
"And Dawn," Willow said, "you should be very proud. You defeated who I, um, think is a very powerful demon. In that demon's own mind. I don't think even Super Buffy can say that. Just don't get cocky, okay?"
Dawn smiled more broadly. "Go. They're waiting."
There was a flash, and Willow was gone. Then, Dawn could see and hear through Willow's eyes and ears.
* * *
There was a sharp shock, and Willow suddenly found herself retching black goo in a brick-walled chamber. She opened her eyes and stared right at the Council's "cleaning crew," who were eyeing their implements intently.
"Don't even think about it," said Buffy.
Willow vomited again and again, bringing up a puddle of dark ink. Soon, a glow appeared in her throat. With one final retching, a small glowing orb appeared in the puddle. It gleamed with a sickly yellow glow, and dark flecks floated throughout it. Incomprehensible symbols glowed from its surface. Willow picked up the orb. The members of the coven moved closer.
Willow managed to sit up, and speak slowly. "Leader and members of this coven, this orb, this magical essence... was not pure. You see that it was corrupted, giving me not pure magic but pure pain. And. inscribed in this orb are instructions on how to end that pain by destroying the world through raising that demonic temple. I... could not have known how to do that otherwise."
The Leader moved forward. "You lie," she sneered. The Council's musketeers dived for their weapons.
"No!" yelled one of the adepts. "Leader, she speaks the truth. Look at it. Feel it. It as she says. Somehow our work was compromised. We must find the traitor!"
Even the talkative musketeer spoke up. "The witch is telling the truth. It is obvious, even to me."
"You all lie," said the leader. "She must have broken the device somehow. The power of the coven cannot be corrupted."
"You..." Willow pointed at the Leader. "You made this."
The Leader was taken aback.
"You can't deny it. Your aura is the same as the maker of this orb. There are no other auras on this device."
"No," said the Leader. "She's lying."
"No, she's telling the truth," said the adept. "You were the crafter for this orb. You said - you said you needed complete control over the crafting of such a powerful device, to make sure it worked properly."
Giles, the musketeers, and all the members of the coven murmured in agreement with the adept. The musketeers picked up their weapons, and leveled them at the Leader.
"You... you used me," whispered Willow. "You tried to use me to burn the world. And... oh Goddess, did you kill her? Did you kill my love, too? Who are you serving? Who?"
The adepts looked shocked. The talkative musketeer finally spoke. "Leader, on the authority of the Council we are hereby placing you under our control, until such time as a proper inquiry can be held, and..."
"Silence!" the Leader yelled. She closed her eyes and reopened jet-black orbs. There was a flash, and the Leader was enclosed in a dark energy field.
[Guys, get ready to fight or run, depending...] Willow thought as loud as she could.
"Oh, Willow, Willow, fighting won't be necessary. You see, I'm going to leave you now. You have won this round, thanks to that washed-up ex- Watcher and that little Sister Slayer bitch."
Buffy gasped and lunged forward. [Don't...] Willow thought. [Buffy, that field is poisoned. Touching it would kill you.] Buffy stopped.
"But, before I go, and before you can - what is it, 'go Dark Phoenix on me,' Miss Rosenberg, I will answer your questions. First, yes, I tried to use you to burn this pathetic little planet for my master. And it was so good to see you become mind-blowingly evil and writhe in pain like that - so good you can't possibly imagine. And it almost worked."
"But it didn't," snapped Buffy.
"Yeah," said Xander. "Almost only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and thermonuclear warfare. You lost."
"That I did, hammer boy. Our loss. But second, as to my master - you'll meet my master soon enough. And third - no, I didn't kill your little whore, Willow. Someone else took care of that for us. At least I'll leave knowing even you can't bring her back. That we took something from you, something you can never have again."
Willow gasped. "You..." she whispered.
"Yes," the Leader grinned. "And now, it's time for me to go. But before I go, I have one last thing to say to you, Willow. We will stop at nothing to destroy your House."
Before Willow or anyone else could say anything, the Leader let out an awful scream. Her body burst into a white-hot jet of flame. In only a few seconds, only a small cloud of floating ash remained.
Willow could hear Dawn shriek in her mind, then stifle it. [It's okay, Dawn. It's okay... Goddess, Dawnie, you're still in here. I need to get you out. Goodbye, love.]
With that, there was a sharp jerk, and Dawn suddenly found herself retching black goo in a brick-walled chamber. Buffy let out a cry and embraced her sister tightly.
"Oh, God," cried Buffy. "I was so worried, so scared about you."
"I know," said Dawn. "It was horrible. But it's over now. Finally over." Tears ran down her cheeks. She looked over towards the table, and saw Willow and Giles surrounded by a rapidly pulsating mob of adepts and Council agents. The mob seemed to be slowly moving Willow and Giles out of the chamber. The mob also seemed to be growing ever larger, with adepts and Council members streaming in continuously.
One of the new arrivals saw Dawn and the group now embracing her. He rushed over to Dawn, brandishing a glowing orb. Dawn recognized him as none other than Quentin Travers, and grimaced.
The senior Watcher gave the most earnest smile he could simulate. He held the orb over Dawn, and seemed reasonably happy with whatever information the orb was telling him. "Hello, Dawn. Good to see you. Not much worse for wear, I see."
"Oh, she's in great shape," sneered Buffy.
"Yes, better than you realize, Buffy," rushed Quentin, still wearing the plastered smile. "That means I need to send all of you back to Sunnydale now. Strictly confidential Council business, you understand. Be assured that Mr. Giles and Miss Rosenberg will be under our strictest protection. We will be in touch next week, Buffy, Dawn, for a full debriefing. All the best!"
"No," said Dawn. "I need to be with her. You don't understand..." But before she could do anything, there was a flash, and she was back in her bedroom in Sunnydale. Buffy still held her tightly.
"We need to go back," said Dawn. "They don't understand."
Buffy pressed Dawn to her. "Dawn... I know the Council. They're the biggest bunch of stodgy bureaucrats I've ever met - it will take them weeks to decide what to about Willow, especially now. If anything. That will give us time to figure out what to do. What I want to do. What's best. And, I do want to hear about everything that happened, Dawn. Really. But now, you're home. And that's what's most important to me, right now." Tears streamed down both sisters' cheeks.
Xander managed to work his way in from the side. "Hey, Dawn."
"Xander..." Dawn temporarily pulled away from Buffy, and embraced her friend. Then she smiled broadly. "Xander, we are like so in the Saved the World Club!"
* * *
Giles and Willow scarcely had time to breathe for the next few hours, between the frantic interviews of the coven's members and the frantic queries of the Council of Watcher's investigators. Finally, Giles managed to convince the coven and Council that Willow would be allowed to stay in Giles's home for the time being, as Willow had managed to convince the coven and the Council that she was no longer a flight risk, a suicide risk, or an apocalypse risk. Council investigators escorted Giles and Willow to Giles's home, and a coven adept was left to guard Giles's front door. Four hours passed before Giles and Willow were able to have some time alone.
Giles prepared some herbal tea, and poured Willow a cup. Willow managed to smile and mutter a "thank you."
"How do you feel, Willow?" asked Giles.
Willow looked up at him and weakly smiled. "I... suppose I should feel pretty good, Giles. The world's been saved yet again. A terrible threat to the planet has been partially unmasked and partially destroyed. All thanks to the amazing powers of the Scooby Gang. What can't we do when we're together?" She giggled, and picked up the teacup.
"Willow," whispered Giles. He frowned.
"What was it," whispered Willow, "that song we all sang? You know, with that stupid singing demon? After Buffy said she'd been in heaven? Something like: 'So now it's done, we sort of won, so we give our victory cheer... Where do we go from here?"
"So you see Giles, I guess I feel fine... not any reason not to... not like I'm scared of myself, or like my love is dead, or like I killed anybody or tried to end the world, or anything... oh, Goddess..."
The teacup fell to the floor, and shattered. Willow began sobbing. Giles quietly moved over to her and embraced her.
"Willow," he whispered, "Yes, you did many terrible things. I know you miss Tara terribly - I do, too. But I love you, and I am proud of you. I know you can't see that right now, but I am. Now comes the hard part. It will take a long time, and a lot of effort, and a lot of pain to get better. But you can recover, Willow. I did. So can you. You have to believe."
Willow said nothing other than her sobs. But, she did nod her head.
* * *
To be concluded in chapter 7.