DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything to do with Buffy the Vampire Slayer - it
all belongs to Joss Whedon.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'll just explain. . .in the next couple of chapters, there are going to be speeches said by the gang. I really tried hard with these and tried to get the emotions right and all that. . .I hope that it's as close as possible to what would really be said, and I'd love some feedback on it from all of you out there. Also, those who are awaiting Spuffyness - the next chapter will be the beginning of it all. Please keep reading and reviewing!
Chapter 5
'Kennedy!' They all exclaimed. She stood firmly in her place.
'How long have you been standing there?' Buffy asked.
'Long enough to know what I have to do.'
They all stood there staring at her. Buffy spoke again. 'I'm so sorry you had to find out that way Kennedy.'
'Find what out?' She was slightly bitter. 'The fact that I have to rent my body to a complete stranger, or the fact that the woman that I intended to spend the rest of my life with is in love with someone else?' She had tears in her eyes.
Spike objected. 'Now, Kennedy, Willow loves you a lot. I can bet everything I have - well, that's actually not much, but anyway - I can bet everything I have that she feels exactly the same way about you as you do about her.'
'Oh, so she'll spend the rest of her life with me, because, after all, her true love's dead, right?' She turned away for a moment. 'Yeah, I don't know what feels better, a dead woman being more loved than I am or being second choice.'
At the last remark Dawn rose up angrily, with a tear rolling down her cheek. 'Don't you dare refer to Tara like that! She was like a second mother to me, and there isn't a day that I don't think about her and wish she were here.' She walked right up to Kennedy. 'If Willow hadn't killed Warren, I would've myself, that's how much I loved her.'
Anya was slightly concerned about the way Dawn was speaking. 'Now, Dawn, you have to put yourself in Kennedy's position. . .'
'Back off Anya!' Dawn growled. Now it seemed as if Dawn was telling off Kennedy. 'No one's forcing you to do this, and frankly after what you just said, I don't think Willow would've liked you to do it either.'
Kennedy's face showed a look of true sorrow. 'I'm sorry, Dawn, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I understand you loved Tara a lot, as did Willow, and nothing will ever change that.' She paused, somehow with a new aura of bravery on her. 'But I love Willow, and I want to do this for her. And,' she added as an afterthought, 'feeling Tara again will make Willow unbelievably happy, and I'd do anything to give her that.' There was a moment of grave silence. Then she turned to everyone else in the room.
'Now we should really finish this spell before dawn, if we all keep going on about our own problems, time will run out.' She smiled weakly. 'Dawn, do you want to lead us through the procedure?'
Dawn looked very professional all of a sudden. 'So, as Kennedy said, it would be best to finish before dawn. We have about 4 or 5 hours. I see we've got the candles, everyone take one.' They each got one from the bag.
'Now we just need Willow's body and everyone to set themselves around her. Also, while we're setting up, considering I need to crack this spirit circle spell and how to say it correctly, which will take a while, everybody think about what you're going to say about Willow. It's gonna take a *lot* of positive thoughts to get her back.' She took a deep breath. 'Let's go.'
**********
It wasn't long before all was set up. Dawn was busy cracking the language with Spike, while everyone else had taken a cushion and seated themselves on it, holding a candle that Anya offered to light (although, more times than once, she almost set people's hands on fire, because she was shaking so much. All that was going through Anya's mind was 'if this doesn't work, if Willow dies, it will be my fault,' with an additional thought of 'what will Xander think of me?').
When Anya finished lighting the candles, she, Buffy, Xander and Kennedy sat in silence thinking what they were going to say, while Dawn and Spike finished off the language cracking. Then the two of them stood up, each taking their position in the circle, as Dawn began debriefing them on the process.
'OK, we're each gonna say our bit about Willow, which as I said before will begin and end with a specific blessing. It's in English, and I've written it down here,' she lifted up a piece of paper, 'so pass this to the next person when you're finished. Say the top one before, and the bottom one after.'
'Hey, Dawn, how long do our speeches have to be?' Xander asked curiously.
'As long as you say what you feel, the length doesn't matter.' She continued. 'As soon as the last person has finished, it'll be the moment of truth. If Willow's worthy of life from the witch hunters' point of view, she'll begin to glow.'
'What colour?' Anya asked. They all looked at her.
'Does it matter?' Dawn said through gritted teeth, but kept her voice calm.
'I was just wondering, you know, because one colour could be good, and one could be bad, like, uh, colour codes.' They all stared at her for a moment, trying to understand why she was here in the first place.
Spike whispered to Buffy, 'I certainly hope her speech is better than her comments, otherwise we're doomed.' She turned to him, and smiled, but instead was fascinated by the incredible warmth in his eyes. She couldn't believe this was the man who was in love with her.
'Anyway, moving on,' Dawn continued, with a deep glare on Anya, 'Kennedy, I will cast the spirit circle, followed by summoning Tara. I will recite something which will cause a temporary swap of souls-
'How long will she be in my body?'
Dawn looked at the floor, and then back up at Kennedy. 'It doesn't say, probably only a few minutes. So,' she turned to all of them, 'I need everyone's co-operation to help me explain to Tara what's going on.'
There was a mixture of 'yeah' and 'of course' from the rest of them.
'Then, Tara will kiss Willow, she'll wake up, the soul swap will reverse by itself. . .' she drew a deep breath. 'And that will be that. Any questions?'
Silence.
'Alright then,' said Dawn. 'I'll go first.'
**********
Dawn held her candle, and started reciting from the piece of paper: ~ Hear me now, all you spirits, for you are taking a life that does not deserve to be taken. Hear my declaration of a great life, for she is true and brave, honest and kind, And now you will hear how much she means to me. ~ She looked up, smiled at the rest of them, and began the own part of her speech.
'When I came to Sunnydale, nobody knew who I was - or I guess they kinda did - but anyway. At the beginning of course, you thought I was Buffy's kid sister, and that's how I was treated. But the most amazing thing of all was, when you found out that I wasn't really any relation to her, nothing changed. Not a thing. You - and everyone else for that matter - treated me amazingly. You'd known Buffy and Xander for years, and even though I was still younger than all of your friends, you treated me like one of them.'
She paused, as if trying to find the right words. 'One of the most amazing things you did was bringing Tara into our lives. Even though she can't be with. . .' she had started crying. 'Can't be with us right now. . .I treasure the moments that I had with her. And I'll never forget her. . .' At that moment, she was contemplating whether to mention anything about Willow's period of evil, and suddenly knew what she had to say.
'You loved Tara so much, that when she was killed inhumanly by something not even worthy of a name. . .you knew you'd give anything to get revenge. And even though that doesn't seem like the greatest quality, it is something incredible. Because loving someone enough to do all you did, it was so powerful. Why was it a good thing? . . .Now you've learnt your lesson from it, and next time won't hurt anyone. But you'll still love with all your passion, and protect with all your ability. That is why I feel you deserve to live a much longer life than you have been given. Because of all the love you give, and that is something really rare.'
She put her head down, indicating she'd finished, and recited the next blessing: ~ You have heard what I have to say, with the power of my feelings and others', release her from this imprisonment at the door of death. Grant her life, as she deserves. ~ She passed the piece of paper to the next person, who was Spike.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'll just explain. . .in the next couple of chapters, there are going to be speeches said by the gang. I really tried hard with these and tried to get the emotions right and all that. . .I hope that it's as close as possible to what would really be said, and I'd love some feedback on it from all of you out there. Also, those who are awaiting Spuffyness - the next chapter will be the beginning of it all. Please keep reading and reviewing!
Chapter 5
'Kennedy!' They all exclaimed. She stood firmly in her place.
'How long have you been standing there?' Buffy asked.
'Long enough to know what I have to do.'
They all stood there staring at her. Buffy spoke again. 'I'm so sorry you had to find out that way Kennedy.'
'Find what out?' She was slightly bitter. 'The fact that I have to rent my body to a complete stranger, or the fact that the woman that I intended to spend the rest of my life with is in love with someone else?' She had tears in her eyes.
Spike objected. 'Now, Kennedy, Willow loves you a lot. I can bet everything I have - well, that's actually not much, but anyway - I can bet everything I have that she feels exactly the same way about you as you do about her.'
'Oh, so she'll spend the rest of her life with me, because, after all, her true love's dead, right?' She turned away for a moment. 'Yeah, I don't know what feels better, a dead woman being more loved than I am or being second choice.'
At the last remark Dawn rose up angrily, with a tear rolling down her cheek. 'Don't you dare refer to Tara like that! She was like a second mother to me, and there isn't a day that I don't think about her and wish she were here.' She walked right up to Kennedy. 'If Willow hadn't killed Warren, I would've myself, that's how much I loved her.'
Anya was slightly concerned about the way Dawn was speaking. 'Now, Dawn, you have to put yourself in Kennedy's position. . .'
'Back off Anya!' Dawn growled. Now it seemed as if Dawn was telling off Kennedy. 'No one's forcing you to do this, and frankly after what you just said, I don't think Willow would've liked you to do it either.'
Kennedy's face showed a look of true sorrow. 'I'm sorry, Dawn, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I understand you loved Tara a lot, as did Willow, and nothing will ever change that.' She paused, somehow with a new aura of bravery on her. 'But I love Willow, and I want to do this for her. And,' she added as an afterthought, 'feeling Tara again will make Willow unbelievably happy, and I'd do anything to give her that.' There was a moment of grave silence. Then she turned to everyone else in the room.
'Now we should really finish this spell before dawn, if we all keep going on about our own problems, time will run out.' She smiled weakly. 'Dawn, do you want to lead us through the procedure?'
Dawn looked very professional all of a sudden. 'So, as Kennedy said, it would be best to finish before dawn. We have about 4 or 5 hours. I see we've got the candles, everyone take one.' They each got one from the bag.
'Now we just need Willow's body and everyone to set themselves around her. Also, while we're setting up, considering I need to crack this spirit circle spell and how to say it correctly, which will take a while, everybody think about what you're going to say about Willow. It's gonna take a *lot* of positive thoughts to get her back.' She took a deep breath. 'Let's go.'
**********
It wasn't long before all was set up. Dawn was busy cracking the language with Spike, while everyone else had taken a cushion and seated themselves on it, holding a candle that Anya offered to light (although, more times than once, she almost set people's hands on fire, because she was shaking so much. All that was going through Anya's mind was 'if this doesn't work, if Willow dies, it will be my fault,' with an additional thought of 'what will Xander think of me?').
When Anya finished lighting the candles, she, Buffy, Xander and Kennedy sat in silence thinking what they were going to say, while Dawn and Spike finished off the language cracking. Then the two of them stood up, each taking their position in the circle, as Dawn began debriefing them on the process.
'OK, we're each gonna say our bit about Willow, which as I said before will begin and end with a specific blessing. It's in English, and I've written it down here,' she lifted up a piece of paper, 'so pass this to the next person when you're finished. Say the top one before, and the bottom one after.'
'Hey, Dawn, how long do our speeches have to be?' Xander asked curiously.
'As long as you say what you feel, the length doesn't matter.' She continued. 'As soon as the last person has finished, it'll be the moment of truth. If Willow's worthy of life from the witch hunters' point of view, she'll begin to glow.'
'What colour?' Anya asked. They all looked at her.
'Does it matter?' Dawn said through gritted teeth, but kept her voice calm.
'I was just wondering, you know, because one colour could be good, and one could be bad, like, uh, colour codes.' They all stared at her for a moment, trying to understand why she was here in the first place.
Spike whispered to Buffy, 'I certainly hope her speech is better than her comments, otherwise we're doomed.' She turned to him, and smiled, but instead was fascinated by the incredible warmth in his eyes. She couldn't believe this was the man who was in love with her.
'Anyway, moving on,' Dawn continued, with a deep glare on Anya, 'Kennedy, I will cast the spirit circle, followed by summoning Tara. I will recite something which will cause a temporary swap of souls-
'How long will she be in my body?'
Dawn looked at the floor, and then back up at Kennedy. 'It doesn't say, probably only a few minutes. So,' she turned to all of them, 'I need everyone's co-operation to help me explain to Tara what's going on.'
There was a mixture of 'yeah' and 'of course' from the rest of them.
'Then, Tara will kiss Willow, she'll wake up, the soul swap will reverse by itself. . .' she drew a deep breath. 'And that will be that. Any questions?'
Silence.
'Alright then,' said Dawn. 'I'll go first.'
**********
Dawn held her candle, and started reciting from the piece of paper: ~ Hear me now, all you spirits, for you are taking a life that does not deserve to be taken. Hear my declaration of a great life, for she is true and brave, honest and kind, And now you will hear how much she means to me. ~ She looked up, smiled at the rest of them, and began the own part of her speech.
'When I came to Sunnydale, nobody knew who I was - or I guess they kinda did - but anyway. At the beginning of course, you thought I was Buffy's kid sister, and that's how I was treated. But the most amazing thing of all was, when you found out that I wasn't really any relation to her, nothing changed. Not a thing. You - and everyone else for that matter - treated me amazingly. You'd known Buffy and Xander for years, and even though I was still younger than all of your friends, you treated me like one of them.'
She paused, as if trying to find the right words. 'One of the most amazing things you did was bringing Tara into our lives. Even though she can't be with. . .' she had started crying. 'Can't be with us right now. . .I treasure the moments that I had with her. And I'll never forget her. . .' At that moment, she was contemplating whether to mention anything about Willow's period of evil, and suddenly knew what she had to say.
'You loved Tara so much, that when she was killed inhumanly by something not even worthy of a name. . .you knew you'd give anything to get revenge. And even though that doesn't seem like the greatest quality, it is something incredible. Because loving someone enough to do all you did, it was so powerful. Why was it a good thing? . . .Now you've learnt your lesson from it, and next time won't hurt anyone. But you'll still love with all your passion, and protect with all your ability. That is why I feel you deserve to live a much longer life than you have been given. Because of all the love you give, and that is something really rare.'
She put her head down, indicating she'd finished, and recited the next blessing: ~ You have heard what I have to say, with the power of my feelings and others', release her from this imprisonment at the door of death. Grant her life, as she deserves. ~ She passed the piece of paper to the next person, who was Spike.