Disclaimer: All Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series characters
belong to Joss Wheadon and Mutant Enemy. Like so many others, I'm just
playing in his sandbox.
Author's Notes: I heartily apologize to BloodyMiri, MadRog, Kantarya, and
all the other fic writers who helped inspire this story, and inspired the
various Buffys, Spikes, Willows, Xanders, Anyankas, and Taras who collide
in this mess I'm working on.
Author's Notes (2): And further, I'd like to apologize that these chapters
are so short, so far, and that it's so long between updates. I have to
upload these via a friend's computer, lacking internet capability at the
moment.
Without Shrimp, ch. 4
Awkward glances kept being passed back and forth between the various people assembled in the Magic Box, that evening. Extra chairs had been brought in, and puzzling phone calls had summoned Buffy from class, as well as her mother (Joyce) and her sister (Dawn), Buffy's college room-mate Willow Rosenberg, her ex-Watcher Rupert Giles, Xander Harris, and the chipped master vampire Spike.
To their shock, the persons who had called had been another, older Buffy, as well as Willow, Faith (hey, wasn't she in prison?), another Dawn, and a more mature seeming Xander, although this one wore an eye patch over one eye. From the back room, an additional, angry-looking Giles quickly joined them. Questions were asked, answers only their own selves would have known were given, identities were established, and the younger dawn had been rushed into the bathroom to throw up, as well.
"Dawn, I think you acted precipitously in using the portal. Just what WERE you thinking, that you could change history? None of our memories have changed, so obviously, all you've done is create some sort of alternate timeline for our younger counterparts." Giles began, and then the slightly younger Giles joined in.
"Giles," wince, "do not be too hard on Dawn, after all, if we could go back another two years and rescue Jenny from Angelus, can we honestly say we might not have done so? Or find some way of undoing Buffy's Cruciamentum?" The earlier Giles asked.
"Perhaps you're right, but it still was not a wise move. Although none of us are experiencing any physical discomfort, both Dawns seem rather ill. Possibly because of certain. aspects we're not able to discuss at this moment."
Joyce stood up, outraged at that. "Rupert, if you know why Dawn's sick, I think as her mother, I have a right to know! Why would you, of all people, refuse to let me know what's wrong with my little girl?"
Both Buffys silently gripped the hand of their individual Dawns, one pair worried, one pair knowing. The older Dawn dropped her head, unable to look at the mother she came back in time to see.
"It's because," she whispered, "It's because I'm the Key. It's because we're not really your daughter." Buffy hugged Dawn, as their younger versions voiced shock and outrage.
"What in the hell is going on, Rupert?" Joyce demanded. "Why is she saying that?"
"Because it's true, Mom," the elder Buffy quietly said. "A group of monks called the Order of Dagon took this mystical Key energy, and some of my blood, and made Dawn. Then they gave us all, ALL of us, Dawn included, fake memories. We're not sure of the exact date, but six months ago, your time, Dawn didn't exist."
"That's nonsense, Buffy! Dawn's just as much my little girl as you are! I remember giving birth to her, what she wore for her third birthday party, how much you hated it when she'd sneak into your room to read your diary! And if she didn't exist before then, then why is she in the family album?"
"I don't know how, Joyce, all we know is that the monks used the infinite power of the Key to alter reality slightly, including all physical evidence that she would have had a prior existence to Buffy's freshman year of college."
"Then, biologically, Buffy's her mom?" Younger Willow asked. "I mean, if she's sort of cloned from Buffys blood, then that makes Buffy Dawns mom, right?"
"No, as far as we're concerned, Mom's my mom, Buffy's just my annoying older sister,"
"Hey!" in stereo.
"at least, that's what we remember and feel, so that's the way it is. It'd be way too weird to call Buffy mom" Dawn 1 said.
"It's hard to take in, Mom, but it's true. Although, in my memories of this year, you didn't find out until later. It didn't change the way you felt about Dawn then. does it now?"
A pause stretched in the room.
"I wouldn't be much of a mother if it did, now would I ?" Joyce said ruefully. Older Dawn ran up and hugged Joyce as fiercely as Xander had hugged Anya three hours before.
"Mom, go see a doctor about your headaches. NOW! Get a CAT scan, a MRI, just do it, don't put it off, do it before it's too late! I don't want to loose you this time around!" she whispered in her mother's ear. "Get a different doctor, one in L.A., and have him give you medication to prevent an aneurysm. Buffy needs someone to live for besides me, soon!" Older Dawn gave her mother one last hug, and said louder, "God, Mommy, I missed you!" and as her voice cracked, she turned and ran back through the doorway leading to her present.
Joyce sat shakily down and hugged both her Buffy and the younger Dawn, sharing strength with both. "I don't care what ANYONE says," she whispered to her youngest, "You're MY little girl, and you always will be." Dawn sniffled and told her mother that she loved her, too. Younger Willow joined in on the hug, and Xander, too, then their older counterparts joined in on what morphed into a big group Scooby hug.
The slightly younger Giles looked on in discomfort, and at that point the more experienced Giles made a decision. Dawn had altered the timeline by arranging this meeting, even if it only resulted in an alternate reality and not in changing the past he himself had lived through, he was determined to save Buffy this time around.
"Spike, Rupert, a word, please."
"Yeah, Watcher, what'd you want?" Spike said with a raise of his scarred eyebrow. He leaned against the wall and pulled out a cigarette, glared the younger Giles right in the eye, and lit up.
"I just want to ask you one simple question. I already know the answer, but my younger self needs to hear it. AND," he said, looking at his earlier self, "He needs to believe it."
"And what would that be, Rupes?"
"Do you love Buffy? Would you die for her? If you knew it would save her life, or Dawns, or Joyce's?"
"You're bleedin daft."
"The truth, Spike"
"Yeah, I love Buffy." He almost snarled. "Been feelin' that way for a while now. As for the Nibblet, she's like the lil' sis I never had, and Joyce's like me own mum, Watcher. What's with the twenty questions?"
"Because within the year, Buffy is going to face a foe unlike that any Slayer has ever faced. An enraged Hell goddess, named Glorificus. She wants to kill Dawn, and use her blood to rip open the walls of reality, and destroy the universe. Buffy stopped her, in our past, but she dies in the attempt."
The younger Giles felt his heart skip a beat. The girl he considered his own, dead?
"You ARE daft, watcher. The bint's right there, in the touchy-feely fest goin' on over there. If she's dead, it didn't take." Spike said.
"Buffy died, and stayed that way for almost five entire months. At your own count, one hundred forty-seven days, before Willow used the Urn of Osiris and her skill in the Dark Arts to resurrect Buffy. She had a choice, kill her own sister to save the Universe, or take her own life."
"What do I do?"
"You mean what do WE do, Spike. I won't let Buffy die, not if I can help it." The younger Giles said. "What you do, Spike, is remember, so that my younger counterpart here can eliminate Glory's human host, so that Glory herself dies with her host- body."
"Now we know you ARE daft, did living on the Hellmouth for five years drive us insane?" the younger Giles asked. "We can't kill a human being!"
"We can. We did.Ripper. Buffy used the Hammer of the Troll-God, Olaf, to pummel Glory so badly she reverted to her human form. I.took matters into my own hands. It was too late, but I, We, prevented Glory's inevitable return. "
"Surely there is some other way-"
"No. There isn't. Glory is insane, and obsessed with returning to her own reality, to the point that she doesn't care that her own reality would be destroyed along with the rest of the universe. She has to be destroyed."
"In that case, to hell with the chip. If I REALLY wanted to kill someone, I can think of a hundred different ways to kack the bitch to pull it off without settin' off this chunk o' tin in me head." Spike said, shifting into game-face.
"I won't allow it-"
"YES, you WILL, or Buffy will DIE, damn it!" Ripper hissed at his younger self. "Spike is our best bet to kill Glory before anyone else can get hurt, and you are not only going to let him do it, but you will keep Buffy from killing him in retaliation! If Glory dies, Buffy will not, and Willow will not use the Urn of Osiris to resurrect her, the balance will not be unaligned, and the First Evil will not rise! Sunnydale will NOT be destroyed, and it will be because we did NOT have to bury our only daughter!"
Giles sobered at this realization, and Spike took the opportunity to ask the elder Watcher "So, what's the bloke's real name?"
"- " Giles scowled. "Bloody hell! There's a curse attached to Glory's human form, any mortal who learns the secret forgets within minutes. I'll need to go back, write it down, and return, otherwise I'll forget. No, wait. Ben something, an intern over at Sunnydale General. Black hair, red sports car."
"Fine. I'll scope it out, I think a block of plastique and a mercury switch will work wonders."
As Spike grabbed his Army surplus blanket and sauntered off, The younger Giles glared at his future self and asked, "And just why are we letting that fiend go murder someone, Buffy and the Universe aside?"
"Because after the fall of Sunnydale, I realized that I was transferring my hatred of Angelus towards Spike. Spike helped us patrol after Buffy was gone, he protected Dawn always, he willingly sacrificed his own life to save the world, and before he did that, he did something I'd considered impossible for any vampire to do."
"And that would be?"
"He willingly regained his soul."
Without Shrimp, ch. 4
Awkward glances kept being passed back and forth between the various people assembled in the Magic Box, that evening. Extra chairs had been brought in, and puzzling phone calls had summoned Buffy from class, as well as her mother (Joyce) and her sister (Dawn), Buffy's college room-mate Willow Rosenberg, her ex-Watcher Rupert Giles, Xander Harris, and the chipped master vampire Spike.
To their shock, the persons who had called had been another, older Buffy, as well as Willow, Faith (hey, wasn't she in prison?), another Dawn, and a more mature seeming Xander, although this one wore an eye patch over one eye. From the back room, an additional, angry-looking Giles quickly joined them. Questions were asked, answers only their own selves would have known were given, identities were established, and the younger dawn had been rushed into the bathroom to throw up, as well.
"Dawn, I think you acted precipitously in using the portal. Just what WERE you thinking, that you could change history? None of our memories have changed, so obviously, all you've done is create some sort of alternate timeline for our younger counterparts." Giles began, and then the slightly younger Giles joined in.
"Giles," wince, "do not be too hard on Dawn, after all, if we could go back another two years and rescue Jenny from Angelus, can we honestly say we might not have done so? Or find some way of undoing Buffy's Cruciamentum?" The earlier Giles asked.
"Perhaps you're right, but it still was not a wise move. Although none of us are experiencing any physical discomfort, both Dawns seem rather ill. Possibly because of certain. aspects we're not able to discuss at this moment."
Joyce stood up, outraged at that. "Rupert, if you know why Dawn's sick, I think as her mother, I have a right to know! Why would you, of all people, refuse to let me know what's wrong with my little girl?"
Both Buffys silently gripped the hand of their individual Dawns, one pair worried, one pair knowing. The older Dawn dropped her head, unable to look at the mother she came back in time to see.
"It's because," she whispered, "It's because I'm the Key. It's because we're not really your daughter." Buffy hugged Dawn, as their younger versions voiced shock and outrage.
"What in the hell is going on, Rupert?" Joyce demanded. "Why is she saying that?"
"Because it's true, Mom," the elder Buffy quietly said. "A group of monks called the Order of Dagon took this mystical Key energy, and some of my blood, and made Dawn. Then they gave us all, ALL of us, Dawn included, fake memories. We're not sure of the exact date, but six months ago, your time, Dawn didn't exist."
"That's nonsense, Buffy! Dawn's just as much my little girl as you are! I remember giving birth to her, what she wore for her third birthday party, how much you hated it when she'd sneak into your room to read your diary! And if she didn't exist before then, then why is she in the family album?"
"I don't know how, Joyce, all we know is that the monks used the infinite power of the Key to alter reality slightly, including all physical evidence that she would have had a prior existence to Buffy's freshman year of college."
"Then, biologically, Buffy's her mom?" Younger Willow asked. "I mean, if she's sort of cloned from Buffys blood, then that makes Buffy Dawns mom, right?"
"No, as far as we're concerned, Mom's my mom, Buffy's just my annoying older sister,"
"Hey!" in stereo.
"at least, that's what we remember and feel, so that's the way it is. It'd be way too weird to call Buffy mom" Dawn 1 said.
"It's hard to take in, Mom, but it's true. Although, in my memories of this year, you didn't find out until later. It didn't change the way you felt about Dawn then. does it now?"
A pause stretched in the room.
"I wouldn't be much of a mother if it did, now would I ?" Joyce said ruefully. Older Dawn ran up and hugged Joyce as fiercely as Xander had hugged Anya three hours before.
"Mom, go see a doctor about your headaches. NOW! Get a CAT scan, a MRI, just do it, don't put it off, do it before it's too late! I don't want to loose you this time around!" she whispered in her mother's ear. "Get a different doctor, one in L.A., and have him give you medication to prevent an aneurysm. Buffy needs someone to live for besides me, soon!" Older Dawn gave her mother one last hug, and said louder, "God, Mommy, I missed you!" and as her voice cracked, she turned and ran back through the doorway leading to her present.
Joyce sat shakily down and hugged both her Buffy and the younger Dawn, sharing strength with both. "I don't care what ANYONE says," she whispered to her youngest, "You're MY little girl, and you always will be." Dawn sniffled and told her mother that she loved her, too. Younger Willow joined in on the hug, and Xander, too, then their older counterparts joined in on what morphed into a big group Scooby hug.
The slightly younger Giles looked on in discomfort, and at that point the more experienced Giles made a decision. Dawn had altered the timeline by arranging this meeting, even if it only resulted in an alternate reality and not in changing the past he himself had lived through, he was determined to save Buffy this time around.
"Spike, Rupert, a word, please."
"Yeah, Watcher, what'd you want?" Spike said with a raise of his scarred eyebrow. He leaned against the wall and pulled out a cigarette, glared the younger Giles right in the eye, and lit up.
"I just want to ask you one simple question. I already know the answer, but my younger self needs to hear it. AND," he said, looking at his earlier self, "He needs to believe it."
"And what would that be, Rupes?"
"Do you love Buffy? Would you die for her? If you knew it would save her life, or Dawns, or Joyce's?"
"You're bleedin daft."
"The truth, Spike"
"Yeah, I love Buffy." He almost snarled. "Been feelin' that way for a while now. As for the Nibblet, she's like the lil' sis I never had, and Joyce's like me own mum, Watcher. What's with the twenty questions?"
"Because within the year, Buffy is going to face a foe unlike that any Slayer has ever faced. An enraged Hell goddess, named Glorificus. She wants to kill Dawn, and use her blood to rip open the walls of reality, and destroy the universe. Buffy stopped her, in our past, but she dies in the attempt."
The younger Giles felt his heart skip a beat. The girl he considered his own, dead?
"You ARE daft, watcher. The bint's right there, in the touchy-feely fest goin' on over there. If she's dead, it didn't take." Spike said.
"Buffy died, and stayed that way for almost five entire months. At your own count, one hundred forty-seven days, before Willow used the Urn of Osiris and her skill in the Dark Arts to resurrect Buffy. She had a choice, kill her own sister to save the Universe, or take her own life."
"What do I do?"
"You mean what do WE do, Spike. I won't let Buffy die, not if I can help it." The younger Giles said. "What you do, Spike, is remember, so that my younger counterpart here can eliminate Glory's human host, so that Glory herself dies with her host- body."
"Now we know you ARE daft, did living on the Hellmouth for five years drive us insane?" the younger Giles asked. "We can't kill a human being!"
"We can. We did.Ripper. Buffy used the Hammer of the Troll-God, Olaf, to pummel Glory so badly she reverted to her human form. I.took matters into my own hands. It was too late, but I, We, prevented Glory's inevitable return. "
"Surely there is some other way-"
"No. There isn't. Glory is insane, and obsessed with returning to her own reality, to the point that she doesn't care that her own reality would be destroyed along with the rest of the universe. She has to be destroyed."
"In that case, to hell with the chip. If I REALLY wanted to kill someone, I can think of a hundred different ways to kack the bitch to pull it off without settin' off this chunk o' tin in me head." Spike said, shifting into game-face.
"I won't allow it-"
"YES, you WILL, or Buffy will DIE, damn it!" Ripper hissed at his younger self. "Spike is our best bet to kill Glory before anyone else can get hurt, and you are not only going to let him do it, but you will keep Buffy from killing him in retaliation! If Glory dies, Buffy will not, and Willow will not use the Urn of Osiris to resurrect her, the balance will not be unaligned, and the First Evil will not rise! Sunnydale will NOT be destroyed, and it will be because we did NOT have to bury our only daughter!"
Giles sobered at this realization, and Spike took the opportunity to ask the elder Watcher "So, what's the bloke's real name?"
"- " Giles scowled. "Bloody hell! There's a curse attached to Glory's human form, any mortal who learns the secret forgets within minutes. I'll need to go back, write it down, and return, otherwise I'll forget. No, wait. Ben something, an intern over at Sunnydale General. Black hair, red sports car."
"Fine. I'll scope it out, I think a block of plastique and a mercury switch will work wonders."
As Spike grabbed his Army surplus blanket and sauntered off, The younger Giles glared at his future self and asked, "And just why are we letting that fiend go murder someone, Buffy and the Universe aside?"
"Because after the fall of Sunnydale, I realized that I was transferring my hatred of Angelus towards Spike. Spike helped us patrol after Buffy was gone, he protected Dawn always, he willingly sacrificed his own life to save the world, and before he did that, he did something I'd considered impossible for any vampire to do."
"And that would be?"
"He willingly regained his soul."