Part 9: Truths and Consequences
Steven sat on the couch, waiting for his father and the British man to come back from the kitchen. This whole place was strange to him, much stranger than Los Angeles. It wasn't that this place had more demon activity, though he had no doubt that it did, but it felt...familiar, like he was home. Angel had said something about this place being on the Hellmouth, maybe that had something to do with it. After all, he had grown up in Quortoth, a hell dimension. Yeah, now that he thought about, that was the feeling he was getting off this place.
The young boy looked up when he heard someone charging down the stairs that Dawn had just ascended a moment ago.
He wondered if Buffy and Spike – and he thought the people in LA had strange names – knew they were arguing loud enough for everyone in the house to hear. It had quieted down a few minutes ago, but Steven had learned over time that that necessarily wasn't a good thing. It might just mean that one killed the other, although he doubted that. They liked each other, something which visibly bothered Angel, though Steven didn't know why. He would have to ask Cordy about later.
Dawn charged down the stairs and out the door without a word, though her face was distorted in pain and confusion. He frowned at that; he didn't like seeing her in pain. After chancing a glance towards the kitchen, Steven took off after her. With all that's going on, Dawn going out by herself was not a very good idea, not with this Willow person running around at least.
He hung back in the shadows, barely keeping behind her, as to not alert her of his presence. Something had upset her badly, and he knew how it felt to want to be alone, so he gave her space. If something should come up, he would protect her, though.
The teenage girl's pace slowed as she ran into the park, and she started to yell to the sky, "Willow! Willow!!"
Steven's eyes widened. What the hell was she doing?!
"Willow!" she screamed again, her voice echoing through the empty park.
"I'm not Willow," a voice answered. Dawn spun around to find a vampire standing in full game face. A devilish grin played on his lips as he continued, "But you're dinner. Guess Willow can be desert."
"Stay away from me," the girl warned, her body unintentionally falling back into a fighting stance.
The vampire laughed at the girl, knowing she wouldn't be much of a challenge against him. He lunged at her, only to be tackled to the ground by Steven. The dazed vamp struggled under the boy's surprisingly strong grip as Steven lifted the stake he always carried with him.
"Well, she did warn you." He then drove it into the vampire's heart, causing the creature to explode into a cloud of dust under him.
Steven got up off the ground and turned to face Dawn. But instead of receiving a thank you, her eyes narrowed in on him as she bit coldly, "What the hell are you doing here?"
The boy couldn't help but blink at the tone. "Saving you?"
Dawn's voice became tight as she fought back her tears. "You can't save something that's not real."
Looking at her strangely, he asked, "What?"
"Oh, look," a woman said from nearby, causing both the teens to jump. Willow was leaning against a nearby tree, her arms crossed and an insane little smile on her face. Steven moved between her and Dawn; though, if she were as powerful as he thought, he didn't know how much good it would do. The red head pushed away from the tree and slowly started to walk towards them. "If it isn't the Scooby-In-Training and Angel Investigation's Junior Detective. What? Decided to play Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys tonight?"
Steven growled the best he could at the woman, but he didn't know how intimidating it sounded. Judging by that smile, not very. Willow looked down at the stake in the boy's hand and laughed.
"Careful, kid. You could put someone's eye out with that thing."
With that, he lunged at the witch, not caring if she was more powerful than him. In lightening fast movement, Willow jerked her hand up and he saw the dark magic coursing through it before it hit him straight on. His body twisted in pain as the black magic threw him backwards towards Dawn before he landed hard on the ground, unconscious.
**********
Buffy slowly walked down the stairs, still clutching the stuffed dog as the shock and daze began to wear off and reality set in. She had to find Dylan; she had to stop Willow from doing whatever it was she was going to do with the Key. She had to do…something. Spike was at her side, having been relatively quiet since the revelation about Dawn. Buffy knew it was a lot to fathom in such a short amount of time, but they didn't have time to deal right then. No, they had to get Dylan back first.
"Buffy?" she heard Oz ask from ahead of her.
The slayer looked up to see the werewolf standing in her open doorway, that Eric guy standing behind him. Her old friend looked paler then she could ever remember seeing him, and the sandy blond-haired man behind him had blood smeared on his clothes and face. "Oz, what happened?"
"That witch killed a friend of mine," Eric bit coldly.
Buffy felt herself draw in a sharp breath and she barely resisted the urge to place her hands over her mouth. "Willow killed someone?"
"Not her," Oz corrected. "The demon did."
"It was her!" He narrowed his eyes in on the werewolf and said, "You can fool yourself Oz, but you can't fool me. She killed Marie, and nothing you say about it being the demon's fault will change that."
Buffy looked down at the toy she held. Willow killed someone, had taken a life. Does that mean she would do the same to Dylan? She couldn't think about that right then. But-"Why would Willow kill her?"
Eric and Oz looked up at the dazed slayer. The two men exchanged a look before Eric explained, "She was going to do a spell that would have killed the demon, but wouldn't have harmed Willow except for the fact that she wouldn't have her magic anymore."
"It's kind of like taking the bullets out of gun," Oz tried to illustrate. "You know, no bullets doesn't change the gun, but it just can't hurt anyone anymore."
"Also, the demon can't live in a creature that's not supernatural in some way. Without her power, it would die," Eric finished.
"So, basically, we bind Red's power and she'll go back to normal?" Spike simplified.
"Basically, yes," Oz agreed. "But we need a pretty powerful witch to do this. I mean, it's not exactly a spell found in 'Beginner Guide to Witchcraft'."
Buffy and Spike looked at one another, both knowing what the other was thinking, before saying together, "Tara."
Blinking, Oz asked, "Willow's girlfriend?"
Spike nodded his head and said, "Yeah. She might not look like it, but Glenda packs a pretty powerful magical punch. She can do this spell of yours no problem."
"We better get back to the shop before Willow or that thing realizes that too." Buffy turned slightly towards the living room and called, "Giles!"
A scurrying sound came from the other room and, moments later, the Watcher appeared. "Buffy? Is everything-Oh, dear Lord! Oz?!"
"Hey, Giles," the boy said, sounding a lot like the old Oz they had known from high school.
Giles looked from him, back to Buffy, before asking, "What's going on?"
"Later. Right now, we need to get the others up and about. Will your little Coke trick work on them?"
"It should," he said, nodding his head.
"Coke trick?" Oz asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Good," Buffy went on before turning to her old friend. "We wake Tara up, she can do your spell, and we'll be good."
"If nothing else, Glenda can do a location spell for us," Spike said. At Buffy puzzled look, he took the stuffed animal from her hand and held it up. "She has Dylan. We find the poppet, we find Red."
"Right," Buffy nodded.
Looks like they just got themselves a plan. May not be a good one, but it was better then nothing, Eric though.
"Um, guys," Angel said from the living room, drawing the others' attention to him. He was looking around, his brow knitted together as he searched for something. "Where are the kids?"
*********
Dawn tried to stand firm and unafraid as the red head approached her. Try and remember this is Willow, she told herself. Willow wouldn't hurt anyone. But she had hurt Connor, and she looked like she had enjoyed it. She had hurt her mother. She had taken Dylan. No, this wasn't Willow. This was…evil.
"Now, Dawnie, I know Buffy taught you better than to go bellowing for the bad guy," Willow mocked, stalking the teenager like she was prey.
"I know what you want," Dawn said, trying to sound brave, but her voice was trembling along with her body. She swallowed hard before continuing, "I know who the Key is."
The red head's eyes became wide at that as a large grin spread across her face. "The Key is a person?!"
Dawn shifted on her feet to make herself more sure. But with Connor lying on the ground unconscious by a simple flick of Willow's wrist, she didn't know how sure she looked. "Yes."
"Who, Dawnie?" the witch asked in an excited voice. For a moment, she almost sounded like the old Willow again, instead of this insane one that had taken her place. "Tell me who, and this will all be over with."
The teen swallowed hard. "Me."
Willow looked blankly at her for a moment, almost as if the information was refusing to sink in. She blinked, then said, "You?"
"That's right," the child went on, sounding more sure of herself. Dawn crossed her arms, and lifted her head slightly like she was standing Buffy down over the TV remote instead of facing crazy Willow. "I'm Glory's Key."
Willow's eyes narrowed in on Dawn making the woman look more evil then anyone the teenager had ever seen before in her life. The look made Dawn think about the time Anya had caught her stealing a necklace from the display case. Dawn had thought she had never seen evil and hatred in such a pure form then the expression on the ex-demons face as the teenager held the piece of stolen merchandise. Now, looking at Willow, Dawn realized Anya had nothing on her. The teenager's confidence dissolved quickly and she began to look around for any way to make a quick get away if needed.
"Don't toy with me, Dawn Summers," she said walking forward, which pushed Dawn back. "I have no time for your childish games."
"It's true," Dawn told her, her voice trembling again with emotion, but not the fright from before. This time, it was from pain. Pain of never being told who she really was. Pain from causing this whole mess. This was all her fault. If she was never sent to Buffy, Willow would have never been sent to the Shadow World, Dylan would have never been taken, and Connor wouldn't be hurt now. It was her fault.
Willow studied the teen for a moment before she decided that Dawn was telling the truth. The teenager thought that would have made her happy; she was going to get what she wanted. But, instead, the red head's face became harder, if that were at all possible.
"You?" the witch hissed. "I died for you?"
"You're not dead, Willow," Dawn dared to point out.
Raising her hand again, Willow threw Dawn across the ground like she had Connor. The teenager landed with a hard thud, skidding just short of the parking lot pavement. She scrambled to her feet, but Willow simply kept her hand up, causing the teen to freeze in her tracks. The teen stood there, unable to move any part of her body, as Willow came to her.
"That's where you're wrong, Dawn," she told her evenly. "I did die and went to hell. I went to hell because of you…a whinny, pathetic, useless brat! Tell me, is that fair?!"
Dawn cast her eyes to the ground. "No," the girl whispered.
"Is that fair?!" Willow screamed in her face.
"No," Dawn answered in a voice a bit louder than before.
The witch leaned in close to the girl's face and sneered, "Because of you, my life was taken away." She snorted a laugh as she drew back. "Once again, a Summers girl is the source of my misery."
Dawn squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fight back the tears. But she could feel them already rolling down her cheeks.
"You have what you wanted," the teen managed. "Let Dylan go home."
Looking at her as if she had sprung another head, Willow asked, "Now why would I do that?"
Dawn felt her heart sink. "You said you would!"
Shrugging, Willow turned away from the frozen teenager and went over to the still knocked out Connor. She kicked him in the side and said, "I lied. I've gotten pretty good at that lately."
When the boy didn't wake up, Willow smiled, lifted her hand up, raising his body into mid-air. He hung there like a limp, rag doll, as Willow grinned like a Cheshire cat. For the fun of it, the witch reached over and pushed lightly on his leg. His limp body began to spin like a record, much to Willow's amusement.
"You see, Dawnie, the way I see it, she's another Summers girl, which means people are going to get hurt because of her. I'll be doing the world a favor by getting rid of her now, before she has a chance to cause any harm."
Dawn felt her face pale. "You're going to kill us, aren't you?"
Willow started to walk back to the girl, Connor's limp form floating behind her like a puppy dog on a leash.
"Dylan? Most definitely. Him? Probably, but he looks like he'll be fun to play with first. As for you, Dawn," she leaned in close to her, "I have something very special planned for you." Willow began to stroke the side of the teen's face gently. "Tell me, Dawn. How would you like to go see Glory in hell?"
*********