Disclaimer in part 1
Authors note. Here I am trying to give an explanation for the situation between Dawn and Willow, and hopefully from that you can get an inkling of the situation between Dawn and Buffy.
"She hates me. There's no question about it she hates me." Willow leaned back in her car seat and groaned.
"Who hates you Will?" Willow flung her eyes open, to see Kennedy staring at her, Faith twisted around, for a better view. Robin, who was driving the girls to New York, kept his eyes on the road.
"Nobody hates you hon," soothed Kennedy. "They just don't know you like we do."
"Huh," stammered Willow, then realization hit her. "Did I say that aloud."
"Sure did Red," Faith chuckled and turned to face the windshield. "Course if you wanna talk about it it'll help pass the time."
"Nobody hates you," repeated Kennedy. "If they do they're just plain stupid."
"Dawnie's not stupid," muttered Willow, more to put up a face of defense than anything else. "She just prefers Andrew to me."
Faith snorted. "Word is you agreed with her choice."
"Still hurts though."
"Don't mean she don't love you though."
"Then why didn't she choose me? Why did she put up her shields against me? She can't really think I'd hurt her, can she?"
"It ain't like you never tried Will." Faith shook her head and would have said more if she hadn't been interrupted.
"Twice," said Kennedy, heatedly. "And neither of them was her fault. If Rack hadn't..."
"Were you there girl?" Faith twisted in her seat so she could face Kennedy. "Did you see the guy with the gun to Willow's head. The one that made her go to Rack and get all hopped up? Cause, you know, Rack didn't go to Willow."
"What's she talking to you for," demanded Willow. "It isn't like you never did anything to her."
"She talks to me cause I don't carry tales."
"I don't..."
"Yeah? Last time she talked to you she got grounded for a week. Time before that, it was two weeks before she saw the outside of her room. As for what I did to her, trying to kill her sister is a damn sight different than trying to kill her."
"What," asked Kennedy, turning to look at Willow. "You never told me?"
"It er was after Tara died, and I went over to the dark side." Willow twisted her fingers into knots. "I had, uh, just killed Rack and she was there and I' uh..." Willow's voice trailed off, and she glanced at Faith. "But she said she'd forgiven me for that."
"Which she did, and has done. But forgiving is not forgetting and the way she tells it, you said the bunch of you would be better off if she wasn't there. That's a real heavy gig to lay on a 15 year old kid who's not sure where she fits in, or even if she does. Brat's done a remarkable job of setting that aside, but it's not the kind of thing easily forgotten."
"She'll come around," Kennedy placed an arm around Willow and let her snuggle up close. "After all, you saved the world, you've more than redeemed yourself."
"If you're talking about what went down in SunnyD, just before it went south, I was there and people are still giving me the will she or won't she looks."
"You murdered two people."
"So did Willow."
'What Willow did wasn't murder. It was justified?"
"Tying a man up, torturing him, taking his skin off before burning him alive is justified?" Faith chuckled. "They learned about that in prison. Cost me a week in soli."
"In what?"
"Solitary. Some of the inmates decided that since I knew Willow here, I must be a friend, and I should know just how justified they thought she was. After a week o that crap I pushed back just a little too hard." Faith eyed Willow. "No biggie, I was getting fat. Needed the excersize." Faith stared out the windshield. "Don't change the fact that Willow hunted him down like a dog and she was out to kill him."
Willow winced.
"You got a point or do I have to beat it out of you?"
"Sure I got a point, and bring it on girl, anytime you think you grew a pair." Faith smiled. "Point is you don't get redeemed by doing things. You get redeemed by changing what's inside of you. Losing the attitude that caused you to need the redeeming touch."
"Willow's done that. There was a whole year that she couldn't use her power, cause she was scared of it. Something you wouldn't know about cause you were in jail. They should have thrown away the key."
"Wasn't the bars that kept me in there girl. It was me that made sure I didn't break out, which wouldn't have been all that hard to do." Faith paused and continued. "So Will didn't make with the mojo for most of a year. She got her confidence back when she made you all Slayers. Dawn tells Willow that she can sense Willow's magick. Next thing you know there's a massive attempt to get through Dawn's shields and the mojo's got Red's signature all over it." Faith looked back at Kennedy. "You got an answer for how that could have happened?"
Kennedy pressed her lips together, cutting back the retort when Willow squeezed her hand."
"See," said Faith. "She hasn't changed. Still thinks she can use her magick how she pleases. Don't matter that all she wanted was to protect the Brat. She still went ahead and did it. Same attitude as before. When she rids herself of that attitude realizes that just because she can't don't make it right and stops herself from doing it, that's when real redemption starts."
"First time I ever was in a principal's office," Xander stood in the doorway and looked around at the book lined walls. "Without being summoned there." He grinned and entered to claim a seat next to Buffy's, facing Giles across his desk. "Hey G-man nice work."
"Thank you," responded Giles. "And please don't call me that."
"Okay,' xander promised, though both knew that was one he wouldn't keep. "Busy? Cause I wouldn't want to interfere with a slayer watcher bonding moment, not even to help another Watcher Slayer bond."
"You've been assigned a Slayer?" Giles looked surprised. "I would have thought you're presence in a school of Slayers would have negated that necessity."
"Caridad," said Xander.
Huh?"
"Caridad's gonna be my Slayer, when I need one, which is when I'm not here, at the school, which isn't going to be often. I was thinking more of David and Darlene."
"Who," inquired Giles.
"David and Darlene, a brother sister act in Tulsa Arizona. She became a Slayer and they were together when a couple vamps decided on them to chow down on. Since then they've been doing their best, but they don't really know what's going on. They've been in contact with Jacob, a Watcher in Yuma, who's got his hands full with four other Slayers closer to him. He's been in contact with me, Jacob not David, and he says that David is willing to help Darlene as best as he can."
"She should come here, where she can be properly trained."
"Yeah, but she won't leave home, something about ailing parents."
"If she won't come here, I fail to see how I can help."
"Well not her, directly, though I suppose the Buffster could make a quick trip out there to give her some pointers. More like him. All you'd need to do is to write down some of the stuff you learned. Sort of a Watcher's Handbook, and I can post it on my BBS. Which he can get to. Sort of Watching 101 long distance."
"Why," asked Buffy, looking out the window."
"Huh? Buffy, he needs help."
"Not him," said Buffy. "You. Why are you doing this?"
Xander looked at Buffy in surprise. "Someone has to."
"Yeah, but why you. You were never the Watcher type. All bookish and all. You used to want to be out there with me, doing the patrolling and fighting and stuff."
"That's where I was needed then."
"Needed?" Giles raised an eyebrow. "As I recall you had to be pulled out of more scrapes than you got out of yourself. No ones doubting your bravery, but you hardly were more than a distraction at best."
"True, and while I was distracting them by getting the crap beat out of me, buffy and the rest of you were able to handle the others a little more easily than you would have otherwise. If I hadn't been there to distract them."
"Ah yes, I suppose that is one way of putting it." Giles picked up his teacup and sipped. "Foolish would be another way."
"Which would be a rather good description of the way I felt, usually while I was getting the crap beat out of me or right after. Take your pick." Xander snared a cookie off of Giles plate and bit into it. "Now with all the Slayers running loose you got adequate distraction powers and are sadly lacking in Watchers. Am I right?"
"Unfortunately, you are."
"And in the ensuing chaos after the SunnyD hellmouth closure, the demons, vampires, and other assorted baddies, are trying to take advantage. So by trying to be information central I can keep tabs on what's happening, and direct Slayers to where they are needed. I'm not needed on the battle line so much, but someone needs to do this so why not me?"
Buffy did not have an answer. She just knew that things were spinning away from what she had wanted for the rest of her life. Which, she had hoped, would be easier, Instead nothing was turning out like she had planned. She was about to say something when there was a crashing at the door and three people tumbled to a stop at her feet. Buffy took a quick look at the door to find it broken and a group of Fyarl demons standing in it.
"Little man said find, bring here," said one gutturally. "We found we brought. Now we go."
Before Buffy could react, they were gone, and by the time she got out into the hallway, they were nowhere to be seen. But Dawn, Andrew and Caridad were barreling towards her.
"They here yet," Andrew darted into the office. And came face to face with three black robed teenagers, two girls and one boy. "Dawn?"
Dawn peered around Buffy, and frowned. Then got excited. "Yes, that's them. The girl, the tall one, she's the one who's magick I was feeling."
Buffy looked from Dawn to Andrew to the frightened new comers. "I do hope someone is going to tell me what's going on around here."
"Well, you see," said Dawn, relief evident in her voice. "I got attacked and I got my shields up, but Andrew had a way of tracing the attack back to its source, which he did, and he got the Fyarl demons, who are friends of his, so you really shouldn't harm them cause they only did what Andrew asked them to, and they were supposed to go to the source, of the magick, and bring them here."Dawn ran out of breath but soon recovered. "Which they did and they are here."
Authors note. Here I am trying to give an explanation for the situation between Dawn and Willow, and hopefully from that you can get an inkling of the situation between Dawn and Buffy.
"She hates me. There's no question about it she hates me." Willow leaned back in her car seat and groaned.
"Who hates you Will?" Willow flung her eyes open, to see Kennedy staring at her, Faith twisted around, for a better view. Robin, who was driving the girls to New York, kept his eyes on the road.
"Nobody hates you hon," soothed Kennedy. "They just don't know you like we do."
"Huh," stammered Willow, then realization hit her. "Did I say that aloud."
"Sure did Red," Faith chuckled and turned to face the windshield. "Course if you wanna talk about it it'll help pass the time."
"Nobody hates you," repeated Kennedy. "If they do they're just plain stupid."
"Dawnie's not stupid," muttered Willow, more to put up a face of defense than anything else. "She just prefers Andrew to me."
Faith snorted. "Word is you agreed with her choice."
"Still hurts though."
"Don't mean she don't love you though."
"Then why didn't she choose me? Why did she put up her shields against me? She can't really think I'd hurt her, can she?"
"It ain't like you never tried Will." Faith shook her head and would have said more if she hadn't been interrupted.
"Twice," said Kennedy, heatedly. "And neither of them was her fault. If Rack hadn't..."
"Were you there girl?" Faith twisted in her seat so she could face Kennedy. "Did you see the guy with the gun to Willow's head. The one that made her go to Rack and get all hopped up? Cause, you know, Rack didn't go to Willow."
"What's she talking to you for," demanded Willow. "It isn't like you never did anything to her."
"She talks to me cause I don't carry tales."
"I don't..."
"Yeah? Last time she talked to you she got grounded for a week. Time before that, it was two weeks before she saw the outside of her room. As for what I did to her, trying to kill her sister is a damn sight different than trying to kill her."
"What," asked Kennedy, turning to look at Willow. "You never told me?"
"It er was after Tara died, and I went over to the dark side." Willow twisted her fingers into knots. "I had, uh, just killed Rack and she was there and I' uh..." Willow's voice trailed off, and she glanced at Faith. "But she said she'd forgiven me for that."
"Which she did, and has done. But forgiving is not forgetting and the way she tells it, you said the bunch of you would be better off if she wasn't there. That's a real heavy gig to lay on a 15 year old kid who's not sure where she fits in, or even if she does. Brat's done a remarkable job of setting that aside, but it's not the kind of thing easily forgotten."
"She'll come around," Kennedy placed an arm around Willow and let her snuggle up close. "After all, you saved the world, you've more than redeemed yourself."
"If you're talking about what went down in SunnyD, just before it went south, I was there and people are still giving me the will she or won't she looks."
"You murdered two people."
"So did Willow."
'What Willow did wasn't murder. It was justified?"
"Tying a man up, torturing him, taking his skin off before burning him alive is justified?" Faith chuckled. "They learned about that in prison. Cost me a week in soli."
"In what?"
"Solitary. Some of the inmates decided that since I knew Willow here, I must be a friend, and I should know just how justified they thought she was. After a week o that crap I pushed back just a little too hard." Faith eyed Willow. "No biggie, I was getting fat. Needed the excersize." Faith stared out the windshield. "Don't change the fact that Willow hunted him down like a dog and she was out to kill him."
Willow winced.
"You got a point or do I have to beat it out of you?"
"Sure I got a point, and bring it on girl, anytime you think you grew a pair." Faith smiled. "Point is you don't get redeemed by doing things. You get redeemed by changing what's inside of you. Losing the attitude that caused you to need the redeeming touch."
"Willow's done that. There was a whole year that she couldn't use her power, cause she was scared of it. Something you wouldn't know about cause you were in jail. They should have thrown away the key."
"Wasn't the bars that kept me in there girl. It was me that made sure I didn't break out, which wouldn't have been all that hard to do." Faith paused and continued. "So Will didn't make with the mojo for most of a year. She got her confidence back when she made you all Slayers. Dawn tells Willow that she can sense Willow's magick. Next thing you know there's a massive attempt to get through Dawn's shields and the mojo's got Red's signature all over it." Faith looked back at Kennedy. "You got an answer for how that could have happened?"
Kennedy pressed her lips together, cutting back the retort when Willow squeezed her hand."
"See," said Faith. "She hasn't changed. Still thinks she can use her magick how she pleases. Don't matter that all she wanted was to protect the Brat. She still went ahead and did it. Same attitude as before. When she rids herself of that attitude realizes that just because she can't don't make it right and stops herself from doing it, that's when real redemption starts."
"First time I ever was in a principal's office," Xander stood in the doorway and looked around at the book lined walls. "Without being summoned there." He grinned and entered to claim a seat next to Buffy's, facing Giles across his desk. "Hey G-man nice work."
"Thank you," responded Giles. "And please don't call me that."
"Okay,' xander promised, though both knew that was one he wouldn't keep. "Busy? Cause I wouldn't want to interfere with a slayer watcher bonding moment, not even to help another Watcher Slayer bond."
"You've been assigned a Slayer?" Giles looked surprised. "I would have thought you're presence in a school of Slayers would have negated that necessity."
"Caridad," said Xander.
Huh?"
"Caridad's gonna be my Slayer, when I need one, which is when I'm not here, at the school, which isn't going to be often. I was thinking more of David and Darlene."
"Who," inquired Giles.
"David and Darlene, a brother sister act in Tulsa Arizona. She became a Slayer and they were together when a couple vamps decided on them to chow down on. Since then they've been doing their best, but they don't really know what's going on. They've been in contact with Jacob, a Watcher in Yuma, who's got his hands full with four other Slayers closer to him. He's been in contact with me, Jacob not David, and he says that David is willing to help Darlene as best as he can."
"She should come here, where she can be properly trained."
"Yeah, but she won't leave home, something about ailing parents."
"If she won't come here, I fail to see how I can help."
"Well not her, directly, though I suppose the Buffster could make a quick trip out there to give her some pointers. More like him. All you'd need to do is to write down some of the stuff you learned. Sort of a Watcher's Handbook, and I can post it on my BBS. Which he can get to. Sort of Watching 101 long distance."
"Why," asked Buffy, looking out the window."
"Huh? Buffy, he needs help."
"Not him," said Buffy. "You. Why are you doing this?"
Xander looked at Buffy in surprise. "Someone has to."
"Yeah, but why you. You were never the Watcher type. All bookish and all. You used to want to be out there with me, doing the patrolling and fighting and stuff."
"That's where I was needed then."
"Needed?" Giles raised an eyebrow. "As I recall you had to be pulled out of more scrapes than you got out of yourself. No ones doubting your bravery, but you hardly were more than a distraction at best."
"True, and while I was distracting them by getting the crap beat out of me, buffy and the rest of you were able to handle the others a little more easily than you would have otherwise. If I hadn't been there to distract them."
"Ah yes, I suppose that is one way of putting it." Giles picked up his teacup and sipped. "Foolish would be another way."
"Which would be a rather good description of the way I felt, usually while I was getting the crap beat out of me or right after. Take your pick." Xander snared a cookie off of Giles plate and bit into it. "Now with all the Slayers running loose you got adequate distraction powers and are sadly lacking in Watchers. Am I right?"
"Unfortunately, you are."
"And in the ensuing chaos after the SunnyD hellmouth closure, the demons, vampires, and other assorted baddies, are trying to take advantage. So by trying to be information central I can keep tabs on what's happening, and direct Slayers to where they are needed. I'm not needed on the battle line so much, but someone needs to do this so why not me?"
Buffy did not have an answer. She just knew that things were spinning away from what she had wanted for the rest of her life. Which, she had hoped, would be easier, Instead nothing was turning out like she had planned. She was about to say something when there was a crashing at the door and three people tumbled to a stop at her feet. Buffy took a quick look at the door to find it broken and a group of Fyarl demons standing in it.
"Little man said find, bring here," said one gutturally. "We found we brought. Now we go."
Before Buffy could react, they were gone, and by the time she got out into the hallway, they were nowhere to be seen. But Dawn, Andrew and Caridad were barreling towards her.
"They here yet," Andrew darted into the office. And came face to face with three black robed teenagers, two girls and one boy. "Dawn?"
Dawn peered around Buffy, and frowned. Then got excited. "Yes, that's them. The girl, the tall one, she's the one who's magick I was feeling."
Buffy looked from Dawn to Andrew to the frightened new comers. "I do hope someone is going to tell me what's going on around here."
"Well, you see," said Dawn, relief evident in her voice. "I got attacked and I got my shields up, but Andrew had a way of tracing the attack back to its source, which he did, and he got the Fyarl demons, who are friends of his, so you really shouldn't harm them cause they only did what Andrew asked them to, and they were supposed to go to the source, of the magick, and bring them here."Dawn ran out of breath but soon recovered. "Which they did and they are here."
