Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox,
etc... except of course the ones I make up.
Summary: While Dawn is dealing with balancing school, slaying and dating, Buffy and Spike are dealing with their relation. And all together they are dealing with impending apocalypse.
Spoilers: Well, it takes place about a year and a half after "Normal Again", but it's pretty AU. Xander and Anya are married and Tara is alive.
Continuity: It's the sequel to "The Delegation of Aurelius". However, you don't really need to read it to understand this fic. It sort of just picks up where "TDoA" left off.
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APOCALYPSE NOW... AGAIN
Chapter 21: Damned
It was Tuesday night, or possibly Wednesday morning and everyone sat around in the Summers' house with a book in hand or possibly some sort of weapon... mostly it was books. Giles and Xander were really the only ones dealing with weapons. Giles kept leaving and coming back with weapons from his house, and Xander would be sharpening them or teaching Dave a thing or two. Fortunately, Wednesday the twentieth happened to be Rosh Hashanah, so Dave and Janice were both being allowed to stay over at Dawn's house.
"The Hellmouth!" Willow suddenly shouted, startling everyone.
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked, "what about it?"
"That's where she's going to rise. Through the Hellmouth" Willow smirked "oh yeah, I still got the research skills."
Buffy, Xander and Willow shot one another a look and they all smiled. The Janice asked, "what's a Hellmouth?"
"Center of mystical convergence, yadda yadda, all you need to know is that it attracts a lot of evil and it's under the library at the new Sunnydale High-"
"Is it though?" Buffy asked, "is it still under the library."
"It is," Xander replied, "when we were rebuilding it I checked the blueprints, the new library is right over the old library."
"Okay, so, we have a location," Buffy said. "That's a good."
"And we have the spell," Tara reminded them.
Buffy looked at the witch with sad eyes. "Tara, are you-"
"Please stop asking me that," Tara begged. "I know what I have to do."
The real reason she didn't want everyone to keep asking her is she was sure was because she really wasn't. She wasn't sure at all that she wanted to die. She knew it was what was right, and she had a feeling inside of her that told her that everything would turn out alright, but she was human. She still didn't want to die.
Willow could feel the fear radiating off of her lover's aura. She squeezed her hand tightly, and Tara responded by doing the same. Was this really happening? She wondered. Would she really be losing the love of her life? Again, she reminded herself, and she sighed loudly.
"Well at least I won't have to go to synagogue," Dave mumbled to himself without thinking. Dawn slapped his chest, feeling that right then was an inopportune time for levity, but Willow unconsciously choked a laugh.
"Yeah, me either."
"You never go, sweetie."
Willow turned to Tara with mock anger on her face. "Well, I was thinking of going."
Tara rolled her eyes.
"Really! I was!"
Tara and Willow started to laugh at the absurdity of their argument, which caused a strange chain reaction. Soon, everyone in the room was laughing for no apparent reason, except for Anya who was sitting with a book in her lap and a frustrated expression on her face.
"People! We're supposed to be thinking of ways to not get dead!"
Buffy calmed herself and spoke to the group. "Anya's right, we need to plan."
Everyone agreed with a nod of the head and Buffy continued. "Okay, so first of all, Willow and Tara, what do you guys need for the binding spell?"
"Well, the ingredients are all pretty basic things that I have in the house," Tara told her, "but besides that, just a quiet place where Willow and I can set up. The house is fine, we can do it from any distance."
Buffy nodded. "Okay, so that's all good. Anya, you shouldn't be there. I have a feeling that Ayanathla might target you if you're there. Also, you're not going to be any help to us puking everywhere. So I want you to stay in the house with Willow and Tara. But, you must stay out of their way, okay?"
Anya nodded enthusiastically. "Right! Stay out of harm's way! I can so do that!"
Xander put his hand on her shoulder, "that's my girl." Anya smiled appreciatively.
"Alright, so everyone else, me, Dawn, Spike, Xander, and Giles will go to the school tomorrow night-"
"Tonight," Dawn corrected her with a yawn.
"Tonight," Buffy said, rolling her eyes, "we will go to the school and hold off Ayanathla and whatever henchmen she throws at us."
"What about me?" Dave asked.
"And me?" Janice chimed in. "What do we do."
"Nothing," Buffy told them, "you can hide and pray."
"No way!" Dave insisted. "You can't just expect me to do nothing!"
"Yeah! Dawn's my best friend, her demons are my demons, figuratively or literally speaking."
Dawn smiled at them, "thanks you guys, but I wouldn't want to put you in any unnecessary danger."
"We won't," Janice told her, "we'd be putting ourselves into unnecessary danger. You aren't forcing us to do this." Dave nodded his agreement to the fact.
"But you guys have no experience!" Buffy told them forcefully.
"Janice is black belt in Tae Kwon Do," Dawn said, once again correcting her sister.
"Really?"
"Yep," Janice told her, smiling proudly.
"And Xander and I can teach David here a few tricks with an ax," Spike said and Dawn thanked him with her eyes. "I'm sure the glorified bricklayer wouldn't object to the task."
"Of course not," Xander said, "I'll be handing down the axing rite of passage. It would be my honor."
"Right, then. Shall we?" Spike said, handing on of the smaller large battle-axes to the teen who took it with pride.
"So cool," he said, as he followed the two older men down the stairs to the basement.
"Alright," Buffy said, sighing as she spoke, "so everyone one knows what they're doing?"
All the Scoobies nodded.
"Then tonight we fight."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The sun had just barely fallen lazily below the horizon. It was almost eight o'clock, and for once, everything was exactly on schedule. They had had a nice dinner together, Giles, Tara, and Spike cooked for everyone. They sat down and to all of their surprise, it was rather pleasant. But now that was over. Unclean dishes sat in the sink, and Anya was wiping the table with a wet rag, just to keep her mind from other things.
"It's time," Buffy announced morosely. She looked around with everyone, each person's face almost emotionless. But she knew that inside of each head there was the screaming of a thousand contradicting thoughts. She knew, because it was inside of her head too.
Everyone said good luck, shaking hands and giving hugs. Xander kissed Anya sweetly on the mouth before leaning over and kissing her stomach where there unborn child grew.
"I'll be back before you know it," he told them with a goofy smile.
Tears filled Anya's eyes as she grabbed her husband into a tight hug. "Be careful."
When it came to hugging Tara, no one knew quite what to say. Thank you? I love you? What the hell are you thinking? All of them were right in a certain respect, but none seemed appropriate.
When Spike got to hugging Tara, he smiled at her charmingly and she couldn't help but choke a giggle. Had his eyes always been that blue? She thought to herself. She hugged him, and then it occurred to her that he was the last one.
The gang stood in the entrance hall for a moment in complete silence before Buffy turned and walked out the door, Xander bringing up the rear and closing it with a satisfying click behind him.
The walk to the school was quiet and morbid to say the least. David kept practicing moves with the ax on the way, nearly hitting Dawn quite o few times, but she didn't seem to mind. She was in a daze of sorts, thinking about her life before being the Slayer, life even before Buffy was. Her thoughts were interrupted when Spike placed his arm around her shoulders and she looked up at him.
"How're you doing, Nibblet."
She shrugged.
"You too huh?" Spike asked with a smile.
"I can't believe this is happening," she said.
"Not like it's your first apocalypse."
"It's the first when I'm responsible for stopping it!"
Spike nodded. "Well yeah, but if you're anything like your big sis, and I know you are, then you'll be fine. We'll get through this, we always do."
"Not always," Dawn corrected him. Spike took his hand down from her shoulder and ran it through his hair.
"I won't let that happen, Dawn, not again."
"It wasn't your fault you know."
Spike didn't respond.
"You did everything you could, and you'll do everything in your power to protect the world tonight too, you don't have to prove yourself to anyone."
Spike allowed himself to half-smile at her and he ruffled her hair palyfully. "You're alright kid."
Dawn nodded at him and looked ahead of herself. Everyone had stopped. There it was. The school stood ominously over the Hellmouth without even knowing it. The building was a place of hell, for many students and alumni of the school, this was not just a figurative expression.
Dawn stepped forward and stood by Buffy, as tall and as proud as she possibly could. She looked at her sister who nodded once, and the unsung heroes, savers of the world, entered through the gates of Hell.
TBC...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Muahahahahahahaha! This is just getting too damn fun! Oh the suspense, oh the horror! LOL... please review!
Summary: While Dawn is dealing with balancing school, slaying and dating, Buffy and Spike are dealing with their relation. And all together they are dealing with impending apocalypse.
Spoilers: Well, it takes place about a year and a half after "Normal Again", but it's pretty AU. Xander and Anya are married and Tara is alive.
Continuity: It's the sequel to "The Delegation of Aurelius". However, you don't really need to read it to understand this fic. It sort of just picks up where "TDoA" left off.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
APOCALYPSE NOW... AGAIN
Chapter 21: Damned
It was Tuesday night, or possibly Wednesday morning and everyone sat around in the Summers' house with a book in hand or possibly some sort of weapon... mostly it was books. Giles and Xander were really the only ones dealing with weapons. Giles kept leaving and coming back with weapons from his house, and Xander would be sharpening them or teaching Dave a thing or two. Fortunately, Wednesday the twentieth happened to be Rosh Hashanah, so Dave and Janice were both being allowed to stay over at Dawn's house.
"The Hellmouth!" Willow suddenly shouted, startling everyone.
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked, "what about it?"
"That's where she's going to rise. Through the Hellmouth" Willow smirked "oh yeah, I still got the research skills."
Buffy, Xander and Willow shot one another a look and they all smiled. The Janice asked, "what's a Hellmouth?"
"Center of mystical convergence, yadda yadda, all you need to know is that it attracts a lot of evil and it's under the library at the new Sunnydale High-"
"Is it though?" Buffy asked, "is it still under the library."
"It is," Xander replied, "when we were rebuilding it I checked the blueprints, the new library is right over the old library."
"Okay, so, we have a location," Buffy said. "That's a good."
"And we have the spell," Tara reminded them.
Buffy looked at the witch with sad eyes. "Tara, are you-"
"Please stop asking me that," Tara begged. "I know what I have to do."
The real reason she didn't want everyone to keep asking her is she was sure was because she really wasn't. She wasn't sure at all that she wanted to die. She knew it was what was right, and she had a feeling inside of her that told her that everything would turn out alright, but she was human. She still didn't want to die.
Willow could feel the fear radiating off of her lover's aura. She squeezed her hand tightly, and Tara responded by doing the same. Was this really happening? She wondered. Would she really be losing the love of her life? Again, she reminded herself, and she sighed loudly.
"Well at least I won't have to go to synagogue," Dave mumbled to himself without thinking. Dawn slapped his chest, feeling that right then was an inopportune time for levity, but Willow unconsciously choked a laugh.
"Yeah, me either."
"You never go, sweetie."
Willow turned to Tara with mock anger on her face. "Well, I was thinking of going."
Tara rolled her eyes.
"Really! I was!"
Tara and Willow started to laugh at the absurdity of their argument, which caused a strange chain reaction. Soon, everyone in the room was laughing for no apparent reason, except for Anya who was sitting with a book in her lap and a frustrated expression on her face.
"People! We're supposed to be thinking of ways to not get dead!"
Buffy calmed herself and spoke to the group. "Anya's right, we need to plan."
Everyone agreed with a nod of the head and Buffy continued. "Okay, so first of all, Willow and Tara, what do you guys need for the binding spell?"
"Well, the ingredients are all pretty basic things that I have in the house," Tara told her, "but besides that, just a quiet place where Willow and I can set up. The house is fine, we can do it from any distance."
Buffy nodded. "Okay, so that's all good. Anya, you shouldn't be there. I have a feeling that Ayanathla might target you if you're there. Also, you're not going to be any help to us puking everywhere. So I want you to stay in the house with Willow and Tara. But, you must stay out of their way, okay?"
Anya nodded enthusiastically. "Right! Stay out of harm's way! I can so do that!"
Xander put his hand on her shoulder, "that's my girl." Anya smiled appreciatively.
"Alright, so everyone else, me, Dawn, Spike, Xander, and Giles will go to the school tomorrow night-"
"Tonight," Dawn corrected her with a yawn.
"Tonight," Buffy said, rolling her eyes, "we will go to the school and hold off Ayanathla and whatever henchmen she throws at us."
"What about me?" Dave asked.
"And me?" Janice chimed in. "What do we do."
"Nothing," Buffy told them, "you can hide and pray."
"No way!" Dave insisted. "You can't just expect me to do nothing!"
"Yeah! Dawn's my best friend, her demons are my demons, figuratively or literally speaking."
Dawn smiled at them, "thanks you guys, but I wouldn't want to put you in any unnecessary danger."
"We won't," Janice told her, "we'd be putting ourselves into unnecessary danger. You aren't forcing us to do this." Dave nodded his agreement to the fact.
"But you guys have no experience!" Buffy told them forcefully.
"Janice is black belt in Tae Kwon Do," Dawn said, once again correcting her sister.
"Really?"
"Yep," Janice told her, smiling proudly.
"And Xander and I can teach David here a few tricks with an ax," Spike said and Dawn thanked him with her eyes. "I'm sure the glorified bricklayer wouldn't object to the task."
"Of course not," Xander said, "I'll be handing down the axing rite of passage. It would be my honor."
"Right, then. Shall we?" Spike said, handing on of the smaller large battle-axes to the teen who took it with pride.
"So cool," he said, as he followed the two older men down the stairs to the basement.
"Alright," Buffy said, sighing as she spoke, "so everyone one knows what they're doing?"
All the Scoobies nodded.
"Then tonight we fight."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The sun had just barely fallen lazily below the horizon. It was almost eight o'clock, and for once, everything was exactly on schedule. They had had a nice dinner together, Giles, Tara, and Spike cooked for everyone. They sat down and to all of their surprise, it was rather pleasant. But now that was over. Unclean dishes sat in the sink, and Anya was wiping the table with a wet rag, just to keep her mind from other things.
"It's time," Buffy announced morosely. She looked around with everyone, each person's face almost emotionless. But she knew that inside of each head there was the screaming of a thousand contradicting thoughts. She knew, because it was inside of her head too.
Everyone said good luck, shaking hands and giving hugs. Xander kissed Anya sweetly on the mouth before leaning over and kissing her stomach where there unborn child grew.
"I'll be back before you know it," he told them with a goofy smile.
Tears filled Anya's eyes as she grabbed her husband into a tight hug. "Be careful."
When it came to hugging Tara, no one knew quite what to say. Thank you? I love you? What the hell are you thinking? All of them were right in a certain respect, but none seemed appropriate.
When Spike got to hugging Tara, he smiled at her charmingly and she couldn't help but choke a giggle. Had his eyes always been that blue? She thought to herself. She hugged him, and then it occurred to her that he was the last one.
The gang stood in the entrance hall for a moment in complete silence before Buffy turned and walked out the door, Xander bringing up the rear and closing it with a satisfying click behind him.
The walk to the school was quiet and morbid to say the least. David kept practicing moves with the ax on the way, nearly hitting Dawn quite o few times, but she didn't seem to mind. She was in a daze of sorts, thinking about her life before being the Slayer, life even before Buffy was. Her thoughts were interrupted when Spike placed his arm around her shoulders and she looked up at him.
"How're you doing, Nibblet."
She shrugged.
"You too huh?" Spike asked with a smile.
"I can't believe this is happening," she said.
"Not like it's your first apocalypse."
"It's the first when I'm responsible for stopping it!"
Spike nodded. "Well yeah, but if you're anything like your big sis, and I know you are, then you'll be fine. We'll get through this, we always do."
"Not always," Dawn corrected him. Spike took his hand down from her shoulder and ran it through his hair.
"I won't let that happen, Dawn, not again."
"It wasn't your fault you know."
Spike didn't respond.
"You did everything you could, and you'll do everything in your power to protect the world tonight too, you don't have to prove yourself to anyone."
Spike allowed himself to half-smile at her and he ruffled her hair palyfully. "You're alright kid."
Dawn nodded at him and looked ahead of herself. Everyone had stopped. There it was. The school stood ominously over the Hellmouth without even knowing it. The building was a place of hell, for many students and alumni of the school, this was not just a figurative expression.
Dawn stepped forward and stood by Buffy, as tall and as proud as she possibly could. She looked at her sister who nodded once, and the unsung heroes, savers of the world, entered through the gates of Hell.
TBC...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Muahahahahahahaha! This is just getting too damn fun! Oh the suspense, oh the horror! LOL... please review!