Part 4
Willow sat behind the dark figure in a haze. Everything that had happened since she took the hand of the Rider had a dreamlike quality. She didn't really feel in control of anything. It was happening to her but not.
She thought she saw Buffy as the dragon that she was on flew into the hole of swirling lights but it was such a brief glimpse that she couldn't be sure. She did remember hearing Xander yell NO as she and the Dark Rider flew away.
The dragon was flying over a beautiful grassy plain with trees in the distance. If this was a demon dimension it was a pretty one. Through a hazy fog she thought she heard someone yell her name but the wind was blowing in her ear and she couldn't quite make it out.
Willow felt the Rider tense as the dragon made a low sweep over the forest but then they began to rise again after a few minutes. The dark tower in the distance was growing ever closer. Willow could feel the presence of strong magick. It was like what she felt in the battle with Glory and knew the Rider was taking her to see the VOICE, the one that used the flaming red eye.
~~~~
Giles and Wesley got the ingredients from the back room in the Magic Box that would be needed for the spell to activate the Reincarnation Gauntlet. Dawn was busy trying to calm Spike down as she made a shallow cut on her arm to get blood.
"I'm doing this, Spike. I would like to do this with your help but I'm doing this." Her tortured eyes met Spike's blue ones. "I can't stand it if Buffy and Willow are suffering because of me. You guys won't let me go through the portal to help and I understand that but you have to understand that I NEED to do this."
Spike sighed, "Fine. But the first sign I see of danger you're gettin' out of here. I mean it, Dawn."
Dawn gave a little half smile, "You sounded like Buffy just then."
Spike smiled, "Bite your tongue, bit."
Wesley took the Gauntlet from Angel and sprinkled the ingredients for the spell over it. Giles opened the book to the proper page and began to recite the spell. The Gauntlet began to glow with a blue aura around it.
Giles picked it up and handed it back to Angel, "This won't work until you pass through the portal. Once through the portal you will be human again, Angel. It's important that you remember that. No vampire healing, no coming back from the dead. If you're injured there it will be like when you were Liam in Ireland."
"I understand, Giles and thanks. I will remember."
Dawn brought two small dishes that held her blood and handed them over to Giles. "Are we going to do this here or back at the construction site?"
"I think we'll go to the construction site. Glory went there for a reason, must have held the ritual there for a reason. It may be another mystical convergence of energy."
Xander gently caressed Anya's face before leaning in to give her a brief kiss. "I'll be back before you even miss me."
"You'd better, Xander. If you get killed over there I'll hunt you down and follow you into the after life and hound you for an eternity."
Spike shuddered. Just the thought of an eternity with Anya made the demon in him shake and not much could scare his demon.
Xander smiled his goofy grin at her, "I'll look forward to it." He turned to Wesley and Angel. He really hated the fact that Angel was going along but he would do anything and bear anything to get his Wills back. "Ready?"
Angel and Wesley nodded and followed Xander out the door with the others following behind them.
Xander yelled to Angel over his shoulder, "Don't forget. This is like at graduation. I'm the leader."
Wesley sighed and rolled his eyes. This was going to be a LONG journey.
They all gathered somberly around the scaffolding and were each assaulted with memories. Anya squeezed Xander's hand and Spike pulled Dawn into an embrace.
Giles gave a small bowl to Xander. "Okay, just drop this from up there and the portal should open. I'll be behind you at the top. Once you've all jumped I'll close it with this blood."
Xander gave Anya one last kiss before beginning to climb the stairs. Angel gave Dawn a brief hug and whispered that he'd bring Buffy and Willow back. Dawn turned into Spike's chest and began to softly cry.
Giles followed Wesley up the stairs and out onto the platform.
Xander closed his eyes and gave a silent prayer to whoever was listening that this would work. Angel slipped on the Gauntlet and hoped it really worked and that he wasn't going to be a big pile of dust when they landed on the other side.
Xander tipped the bowl slightly and the few drops began to fall into the open space at the end of the platform.
The few drops of Dawn's blood drip over the edge of the bowl. In midair they meet something and a small circle of light appears. The portal quickly grows larger as electricity crackles around the outside. Lightening streaks out of the hole and hits a nearby building.
"Hurry! Before something escapes the portal and comes here."
Xander looks over his shoulder at Giles and gives a small half smile. He yells back so he can be heard over the rising wind, "I'll bring them back, G-man."
Xander smiles as the last thing he hears before entering the portal is Giles yelling, "Don't call me, G-man."
Angel looks down at Spike and Dawn. Hoping this isn't the last time he sees his irritating grand-childe he dives off the end of the platform and into the portal.
Giles comes up behind Wesley and squeezes his shoulder. He yells to be heard over the wind, "You've changed much since the last I saw you, Wesley. Besides Xander and Angel you are the only other person I would trust to bring back Buffy and Willow."
Wesley gave a small half smile and nodded in acknowledgment to the high praise the legendary watcher of the oldest living Slayer gave him. "I'll try to do you proud, Mr. Giles."
"Call me Rupert."
Wesley said a silent prayer and did a swan dive off the end of the platform.
Giles watched as they fell through the portal and then he stood at the end and tipped the bowl that held the blood of the Key. As the drops entered the portal it began to slowly shrink and the wind began to die down.
Giles slowly made his way down the stairs to the others that waited. He saw both Anya and Dawn laying their heads on Spike's shoulder and the vampire awkwardly trying to give them comfort.
Giles smiled at the picture. He wished he had a camera to capture the moment. It was a perfect tableau to the oddness that had become his life since coming to Sunnydale.
A vampire, an ex-demon and the mystical energy that was now a teenage girl would be his family until a Slayer, a vampire, a watcher, a young man and a witch returned from another dimension and joined them.