Chapter Eight

Everyone, besides Spike and Buffy, was seated around the table, a small fire burning in some dish type thing they found. The lard was burning, and extracting a very unpleasant smell. "It smells like old fish and cottage cheese," Dawn described.

"Okay," Willow said, with her hand covering her nose. "Now we must place the orb in the fire and that should break the spell."

Giles took the Orb of Galadria from the tabletop and placed it in the fire. There was a small eruption and the store filled with smoke. Everyone ran to the door and stood outside, trying to catch their breath. "That went well," Xander said between coughs. "Anyone remember anything?"

Willow looked around and noticed Tara wasn't outside. "Tara?" Everyone gazed around and noticed the timid girl was not present. "Tara!" Willow ran inside.

"Willow!" Xander yelled after her. He took a couple shallow breaths before following her inside.

Willow waved smoke from her face and tried finding the table they were seated at. Xander grabbed her hand. "Willow, you can get hurt!"

"I can't leave Tarain here!" Willow moved forward and Xander kept a hold of her hand. "Tara!" Willow saw her girlfriend lying on the floor. She kneeled down next to her. "Tara? Tara?"

"Willow, we gotta go." Xander picked Tara up and ran outside, checking behind him every couple steps to make sure he didn't lose Willow. Once outside, Xander and Willow thought they were going to collapse. Their lungs were filled with smoke and they had trouble breathing. Xander laid Tara down on the sidewalk and walked away to get further away from The Magic Box.

In the back room Buffy collapsed in Spike's arms. "Buffy?" He gave her a little shake. "Buffy?" She wasn't responding. Spike looked at the door and noticed smoke was coming through and had filled part of the room. "Right." He put his right arm under her legs and carried Buffy out the back door.

"Randy!" Giles exclaimed, remembering his 'son' was still inside. "Randy!" He ran back into the store. The smoke was beginning to dwindle. "Randy!" He went into the back room and noticed he wasn't there. "Randy!"

Spike's ears caught the sound of Giles's voice. "Dad?" He popped his head into the store. "Dad!" Spike dashed inside, grabbed Giles by the arm and took him outside to the alley.

Giles coughed so much it hurt his chest. He took a deep breath and looked at Spike. "Randy." He gave him a big hug. After a second of surprise, Spike embraced him as well. "I was so worried."

"Worried?"

Giles let his grasp of Spike slip. He looked him in the eyes. "Of coarse I was worried. I may be engaged to Anya but you're my son and I love you. I love you more than anything else in the world."

Spike had a small tear forming in the corner of his eye. "Thanks Dad." Spike gave Giles a big hug.

"Oh dear," Giles said alarmed, noticing Buffy passed out on the ground.

Spike looked behind him. "Bugger!" He quickly fell to his knees and laid Buffy's head on his legs. "Buffy? Buffy, you all right?" He gently brushed her face with his hands.

"What happened?" Giles kneeled down next to Spike.

"I don't know. One minute she's standing and the next she's collapsed."

"How strange."

"Tell me 'bout it." Spike looked at Buffy's face. She was so beautiful.

"No, I mean, uh, Tara as well collapsed once we burned the Orb of Galadria. I wonder if there's some sort of connection between the two."

"If you're suggesting Buffy's a lesbian, I can personally guarantee-"

"No, not in a romantic way. A mystical one."

"Oh." Spike gazed back at Buffy. "Couldn't tell ya."

Giles noticed the connection Spike had towards Buffy. It brought a smile to his face. "She's a great girl," he said, placing his left hand on Spike's shoulder.

"Yeah, she is."

"Rupy?" Anya called from inside.

"Anya?" Giles stood up and went inside.

"There you are." Anya hugged Giles tightly. "I was afraid you were hurt."

"I'm fine darling."

Willow was trying to bring Tara back to consciousness while Xander regained composure. He finally had exceptionally cleaned out lungs and could breath well again.

"Looks like the store's cleared out," Dawn observed.

"Great now we can go back to the mines of books and lost hopes."

"Huh?"

"Trying the other eight billion ways to get our memory back," Xander rephrased.

"Got it." Dawn and Xander walked inside.

Anya and Giles walked out of the back room, arms around each other's back. "This was better than a cat that wanted to eat us," Anya stated.

"Quite," Giles seconded.

"Crystals!" Xander exclaimed, as he passed the table holding two baskets of them.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"Crystals. It says we can lose our memory by crystals, and I found one down in the sewer. Maybe that's it."

"Xander, we established the crystal factor twenty minutes ago," Dawn said.

"Well it took me awhile to remember. I'm sorry but I've been forgetting things lately," he said nastily.

"Wonderful thinking Xander," Giles complimented.

"I'll expect some sort of trophy later."

"Anya, where did you put that crystal?" Giles asked.

"With the others."

Anya and Giles pursued the two weaved baskets filled with crystals. "They all look the same," Dawn said.

"Well I didn't say it had a giant red circle with a line through it or anything."

"So what should we do?" Dawn asked.

"Let's break'em."

"Certainly not!" Anya protested. "These crystals bring in money and with every crystal you break that's money out of our pockets. Rupy, tell them."

"So we'll just stay like this?" Dawn said, making the idea sound ridiculous.

"I suggested that half an hour ago."

"Sorry, but I'm beginning to crave my memory refill." Xander threw down the first crystal. Nothing happened.

"That's…" Anya looked at the price written in black marker on the basket. "$4.95!"

Xander threw down another. Again nothing. "$4.95… plus $4.95," Xander said, not wanting to delay his comeback by five minutes. He then picked up the black crystal and threw it.

Author's Note: Well, that's it. It's finished. So be sure to send reviews. ... I'm just kidding! There's another chapter coming. Had ya worried a minute there, huh?