Chapter 5:

Xander found himself in the antique shop and surrounded by the ancient dusty tomes he once again found out about the knife that had taken Dawn's sanity. This time was different however as he appeared to be a mere spectator to the discussion taking place between himself and Alice.

A discussion that by now was making him wonder about Alice. The flighty saleswoman of the first couple of minutes had soon been replaced by a competent researcher who didn't bat her eyes as the other Xander revealed things about magic she hadn't appeared to know before. And it soon became clear to this separated Xander that the entire conversation since he had entered the store had been leading up to that moment where she told him that Dawn had been driven insane by the knife.

She had known exactly who he had been and why he was there, something his tormented self had no chance to detect as she played him like a pro. Even when she had called him by name at the time they said their goodbyes he had never noticed the inconsistencies.

. . . .

Once again he woke up with a head that felt like it had been stuffed with cotton, but this time he at least knew where he was and how he gotten there. Looking at the clock hanging on the wall he saw that it was almost seven o'clock, as he had lain down on his bed around 2 he wasn't immediately sure whether it was evening or if he had slept until morning.

His stomach however soon managed to solve the mystery, there was no way that he would be this hungry after only a couple of hours sleep. Apparently, the previous days had worn him out more then he had anticipated. Unfortunately for his stomach, taking a look at his wound and refreshing the bandages had to take priority over pacifying his stomach so he started removing the bandages. After doing so however the stench of sweat and things he didn't even want to identify made it clear to him that a shower was in order as well.

Having done all that meant he could finally eat, after which he once again returned to his room. He had to decide what he would do today as he had found out everything he needed about the knife the day before. Unfortunately his wandering about the city to do that had convinced Xander that he clearly wasn't up to walking around the city in order to look for his friend, even if he'd had any idea of where she might be.

Thinking about Dawn made him look at what he considered her side of the room, and what he saw there made surprised him. It looked like a number of her items had disappeared and since he doubted that even the most corrupt cleaner would take this much from a room the obvious conclusion was that Dawn herself had taken them.

The day before, when he had gone to hunt for the knife's background he had taken a look at those same items and they had all still been present. He couldn't recall if they had still been there when he had returned but the thought of a possibly insane Dawn wielding her knife while creeping into the room where he was sleeping was enough to send shivers up his back. He really needed to find her and get rid of that knife.

. . . .

Xander spent the next hours coming up with ideas of how to find her, thinking them through and in the end rejecting them one after another. The plans he came up with all had vital flaws, they might have worked in Sunnydale or even LA, but here he his disadvantage simply was too great. His wound was the least of these as he could wait a couple of days before he executed the physical parts. But as he was alone and didn't know anything about this city his options were even more limited.

There had to be another way to find out where she was, he just couldn't think of it. With a curse about the painkillers that were undoubtedly the source of his befuddled mind and therefore the reason he couldn't come up with anything he stood up to start pacing around the room.

But as he should have expected that didn't help either and as he moved in front of the window he tried to understand how she was able to outsmart him, without even doing anything. Frustration at his inability to help another of his friends made him feel like a trapped animal, and when he consciously registered the warmth of the sun on his skin he decided to go for a walk, maybe that would clear his mind.

Walking through the crowded streets made Xander realize just how much he had needed to do this. His mind was clearing up and the fresh air and sunshine gave him a renewed hope for a positive solution. His main problem however remained his lack of knowledge about this city so he needed a way to overcome that. But how to do that?

When he figured it out he had to restrain himself from slapping his forehead. How stupid could he be? Here he had spent two days looking for the information about a knife, talking to various people who had been more than helpful and then he didn't even think about doing that again? Okay, he now knew what to do but who should he try first?

The librarian Annie had been nice to him and had offered him information before he had even asked so she was an obvious choice in this matter. When he arrived at the library however he found out it was her day off and while the others seemed more than happy to help him Xander thought it best to keep the number of people who knew about Dawn's disappearance to a minimum.

He was pretty certain that the librarians were nice and didn't have anything to do with demons but after the incident at Vlad's he was pretty sure that most of the demons in the city knew what Dawn looked like. And spreading the word that the person who the demons thought was a Slayer was wandering around the city in a less than healthy mental state was a recipe for disaster.

He could always come back to the library to talk to Annie the next day and in the meanwhile there was the other source. He still felt there was something strange about the woman but as he had no idea what it was and didn't believe it to be dangerous he decided to go back to 'Ye Olde Shoppe' anyway. Maybe he could buy something there as a sort of thank you, he was pretty sure that Giles would be interested in some of those books and as a bonus it would mean he'd be finished with buying the Brit's Christmas presents.

The first time Xander thought he might have made a wrong turn, so he decided to turn around and start back. The second time he still believed the mistake was his, but after walking through all the streets surrounding where he believed the store to be, he still couldn't find it. Enquiries at the surrounding stores soon made it clear that there had never been a store called 'Ye Olde Shoppe'. So he went back and stared at the blank wall where only yesterday had been a store claiming to have existed for almost 120 years.

. . . .

Puzzling over this strange occurrence he sipped his coke, almost gagging at the taste of the drink that had been boiling in the sun for far too long. He had been standing in front of the blank wall for an indeterminate amount of time until a comment by a passing kid had shown him how foolish he looked. Not wanting to draw too much attention to himself he had crossed the street to a café where he sat down at a table that overlooked the blank wall.

He just didn't get it, how could a store be there one day and be gone the next? Once again, his eyes drifted to the blank space that bothered him so. Thinking back he realized there had been some inconsistencies in Alice's behavior that he hadn't paid any attention to. Mulling this over didn't help him solve the question of the strange disappearance though and in the end he simply gave up on trying to understand it. After all, there was something far more important that he ought to work on.

Since his coke wasn't drinkable anymore, he ordered a new one. Absently paying for it, Xander once again tried to come up with new ways to find Dawn, but he still couldn't come up with a workable plan. And not for the first time that day he cursed Valen, had that insufferable know-it-all not interfered with at least the phone lines he could simply ask Willow to do a locating spell.

At that thought he frowned, he had completely forgotten about it since the mess with Dawn, but they had come here to find a sorceress. A new plan slowly made its way through his mind, a plan so simple it was brilliant and he couldn't imagine he hadn't thought of it before. A plan that would help him find Dawn and meant he didn't even need anyone's help either. After all, he might have forgotten about it but Dawn, who had been more driven to undertake this quest, would undoubtedly have remembered. Quickly finishing his coke he stood up, and with a smile on his face he left for his hotel intending to try and find this Torala.

. . . .

Finding out where the sorceress was however wouldn't be as easy as he had hoped. The information in the files wasn't enough, the two of them had determined that days ago, and he couldn't remember everything the guy in the bar had told them. In his current state however he couldn't go to Vlad's and ask, what was his name again? Something to do with a president, shaking the inconsequential thought off he focused back on the important things.

The man's name wasn't that important but he did realize that getting information from him was going to be a lot more difficult this time around. Especially since it had been Dawn who everyone had so been afraid of. No, he would just have to come up with a plan that would enable him to talk to the man. He looked at his half-healed chest wound in despair. At least having to come up with another plan would keep him occupied while he waited for it to heal.

. . . .

Less than a week after his first visit to the bar, he was once again facing the entrance of Vlad's. The difference this time around was that he had no intention of going in, he was here for one person only and he didn't feel like going through half of the demon community of the city just to talk to him.

While his wound was far from completely healed, Xander had decided it was time to take action. His anxiety about Dawn's wellbeing had been steadily increasing, making him ever more restless. The restlessness had also been increased by the dreams he kept having. He had a feeling there was something important about them but as he could never remember them after waking he didn't know what.

So here he was, ignoring the faint twitches of pain indicating the fact he had not taken any painkillers and hoping that, for the first time since following Valen home, he was lucky.

It was around midnight that he finally saw the man and Xander almost pinched himself to check he wasn't dreaming. But it seemed as if he was indeed in luck, with his hand swathed in bandages, the man he had been waiting for was walking down the street towards the bar. Alone.

Adjusting the broad hat that shaded his face Xander crossed the road to approach the wounded man. The man never realized the danger he was in, until Xander grabbed him by his neck and dragged him into the alley he had selected as their meeting spot.

"Hey, you can't hurt me!" His victim shouted "I'm under the protection of Rolquar himself. If you kill me, you won't survive for long yourself."

The threat didn't bother Xander, the way people had acted in the bar had already convinced him that the man was protected by someone powerful. "Shut up." He growled, not completely trusting that his voice wouldn't be recognized, despite that it had been Dawn who had done all the talking during their previous encounter. "I need information and you'll give it to me or it won't matter who you know."

"Right, let me tell you buddy, if I'm not inside that bar within 5 minutes they'll start looking for me and you won't like that."

Xander hadn't counted on that, but it wouldn't matter since he didn't expect this to take very long. "Last week, you spoke to two people. A Slayer and her watcher, I want to know where they are."

The change in the man's behavior confirmed that this was indeed the right way to approach him. "Why?" Was the almost eager answer, "Do you want to kill them?"

"What I plan to do to them is my own business, I know they spoke to you, where are they?"

By now the man had a smile on his face. "Hey, hey, no reason to threaten me. See this hand." He held up his bandaged hand in front of Xander's still shaded face, where he could clearly smell that the wound hadn't been properly treated. "That bitch put a knife in it and I want payback. If you are looking for them I'll be happy to help you."

"That's the spirit." Xander told him with a venom laden voice. "Are you actually gonna tell me anything or will just keep blathering about your helpfulness?"

"Relax, I'll tell you what I can." He appeared to gather his thoughts for a moment. "Okay, I can't tell you where they are, since I don't know."

At this Xander grabbed the man by his throat and hissed. "I thought you said you'd be helpful, and now you suddenly don't know anything?"

"Wait," the other wheezed, "I said I don't know where they are, but I know what they were looking for."

Relaxing his grip a little Xander only cocked his head to indicate he was listening.

"They were looking for this sorceress, that's why they came to me."

"What sorceress?"

"Torala, they were looking for Torala."

"See, how easy this is? Now tell me where I can find her."

The terrified man suddenly appeared to realize that it might not be the best idea to send the kind of person Xander seemed to be on a suicide mission. While it was probably more out of fear for retribution than anything else, it was obvious the man thought it important to warn him. "She is very dangerous; I don't think you'd want to fight her."

"I'm dangerous." Xander replied, before once again asking. "Where is she?"

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you. Last I heard she could be approached through this house in the suburbs. Apparently there is a passage there that leads to where she lives, that's the same thing I told the bitch and her plaything."

Choking a little at being called Dawn's plaything, Xander nonetheless asked for directions to this house. After receiving them he took some bills from the wad of money he had taken with him and handed them to the man. "Thanks, now why don't you buy yourself a drink and forget we ever had this conversation?"

Staring at the money the man could only nod and Xander quickly continued deeper in the alley, using the escape route he had scouted out earlier. Within half an hour he was once again in his room where he finally allowed himself to relax. While the plan had worked exactly like planned, the acting had been harder than expected and he therefore decided not to go to the house until the next day. If Torala was as dangerous as everyone kept saying a daylight approach would be better anyway.

. . . .

Despite the heavy rain, Xander got out of the taxi that had stopped in front of the house. Not paying any attention to the water streaming down his body he studied the house that would supposedly lead him to Torala and, more importantly in his opinion, to Dawn. There was nothing really spectacular about it; from what he could see it looked exactly the same as the houses on either side, although there was a large garden with trees, screening most of the house from the neighbors.

As the taxi drove away he made his way towards the entrance. Walking through the fresh smelling garden he was surprised at the lack of weed growing, as nobody was supposed to actually live here he had expected the garden to reflect the obvious lack of attention.

The door however proved to be an even greater puzzle then the garden. Where the garden had looked like every other garden around here, except for the trees of course, the door was definitely different. In fact, the most noticeable fact about it was that there was no door. There was only a wall with a drawing of a door on it. "You've got to be kidding me." Xander exclaimed in frustration. What kind of person would draw a door on the wall instead of actually putting a door there? Wasn't it a lot easier to get inside if you could use a door, or was that sort of thing outdated? Since this obviously wasn't the way in he decided to walk around the house and look for the real entrance. If it actually existed.

Running his hands over them proved his suspicion that the windows he spotted at the side were as real as the front door. And when he reached the back of the house it seemed like the owner had been lazy as there wasn't even the illusion of a door. Just wonderful, with the rain still causing his clothes to stick to his body he had to draw a conclusion he wasn't happy about. It looked like this house was just another dead end.

Maybe he should pay another visit to his helpful friend from the night before and demand the real location. No, Xander shook his head in denial, there was no way that Abe would have lied. Besides, he had told them the same thing during their first visit and the way Dawn was at the moment she wouldn't have waited this long to exact revenge if he had lied to them.

So the entrance had to be here, but where? Continuing to walk around the house until he found something seemed to be the best solution, so he tried that. On his third cycle he finally spotted something at the backside. He hadn't paid attention to the slight indentations circling the original position of the door, but now he did.

They were out of place, there was absolutely no need for them to be there even if the door had been removed at a later date. Looking closer he recognized them as letters and when he finally read the message they made up Xander laughed a little hysterically. "No, this isn't happening to me. Why does everybody I meet suddenly feel the need to use references from either books or TV?"

While he hadn't read the book, there was no way he could forget the movies, so unlike Gandalf he didn't need long to figure out the command 'Speak friend and enter.' He did as ordered and the wall before him seemed to shift, until an arching doorway revealed a passage to him.

When Xander passed through the entrance torches on the walls suddenly lighted, making it possible for him to see at least a little in front of him. Unfortunately it was only the torches nearest to him that lit and once he had passed them, they extinguished once again, creating the appearance that he was walking in a tiny bubble of light. When he first noticed this effect, he looked behind him, just in time to see the doorway through which he had entered close again.

He ran back to the door, hoping that his presence or the magic word could open it again. As he had half expected however, this didn't seem to be the case and reluctantly he had to admit there was nothing to do but continue his journey. Not that he really wanted to turn around and go back into the rain, since he was here to rescue Dawn, but he would have liked it if there was an obvious way to get out.

When Xander estimated he had walked for maybe two hours, he took a brief rest and examined the walls. While in the beginning the walls had seemed bare to him, by now they were decorated with drawings. He didn't recognize the scenes they depicted, although he had a feeling that some of them looked a little familiar. Shortly after his rest however he came upon a scene that didn't leave much to the imagination, as he saw how a flattened city was engulfed by a storm of fire, centered on a mushroom cloud.

Swallowing hard at the terrorized Japanese faces of the inhabitants of the city, he thought he finally understood what the scenes depicted. A scene of Nazi-Germany that he came across a couple of meters further on confirmed his suspicion. It also made him wonder how much of history had been depicted here. If the distance he had already traveled was any indication he had a feeling his walk was far from over.

His journey through the passage however wasn't as bad as he had figured it would be, by looking at the lifelike paintings he almost felt as if he was actually there when the events took place. This way he felt happiness whenever he encountered one of the more beautiful moments in history, and grieved with the victims of those moments that weren't as enlightened.

All the walking however made him very thirsty, and he was then greatly relieved when somewhere around the Napoleonic wars he discovered what was obviously a resting place. Holding his head over the fountain he used the sweet water to ease his thirst and after some hesitation he decided to risk the food as well. By then he reckoned he had walked for about eight hours and he tried to figure out how much longer he needed to walk through history before he reached his destination. Napoleon, wasn't he that little guy that kept checking his wallet? Xander thought he remembered the guy from History classes. He lived at the beginning of the nineteenth century, didn't he?

Understanding that he had only passed about 200 years in eight hours made him realize it could take a long time before he reached the end of the tunnel. Great, a locked door behind him and the entire history of the human race between him and the other exit. Another disturbing thought shook him then. What if it wasn't just human history? He decided at that moment that if dinosaurs suddenly started to show up on the paintings he'd go back and try his luck with the door.

Strange enough he found after his brief rest that, despite walking for all this time, he didn't feel tired at all. So Xander continued his journey through history, seeing scenes that no history book had ever mentioned. The walls clearly depicted history from the entire human race. Not only those events that shaped the western world, but also the things that influenced those about whom was less known these days. The original unification of what later would be known as Germany was depicted as extensively as the birth of the Aztec empire. The construction of the Chinese Wall was shown to be as important as the discovery of penicillin and the tunnel just kept going on and on.

Several rest stops later Xander started to see a pattern. After about every 200 years of history he would find a small resting place, where he could eat, drink and take care of his needs before going on. But when he had walked past about a thousand years of history he didn't find the now familiar place consisting of a fountain, some food and a toilet but instead found a more extensive resting place. Here was also a bed that he could use and a small bathroom that even included a shower. Once there he found that for the first time in over 40 hours he was actually tired.

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Post-fic comments: Okay, another chapter for your reading pleasure. And where the previous chapter answered some questions it seems like this one only created more. Oh well, don't worry... You'll probably get an answer to some of them :-) Like always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and remember to review.

PomegranateQueen: Thanks for the comments but I'm afraid I can't answer most of your questions since that would spoil the story, let's just say that it would be a bad idea to make any assumptions until the story has been finished. The only question I'm willing to point at is why Buffy allowed Dawn to keep the knife, the answer is more or less given in Rebirth: Family and will be addressed in this one as well. Only the explanations won't be the same because Dawn doesn't want to remember the events of that time with any clarity.

Physicsteach: Thank you for the comments, they are quite helpful. I might look around for a beta reader one day in the future but not right now, thanks for pointing it out anyway. The hint about the dialogue is useful and I really thank you for that. As I don't live in an English speaking country that is indeed the kind of thing I don't really have a chance to notice, except on television perhaps, and I have used it in this chapter. (Well, in what little dialogue this chapter had.) I'll probably do some similar editing to the previous chapters since I'll need to fix the word-confusions there anyway.