Disclaimer: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and Angel are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and the WB. Not mine, please don't sue.
Chapter 15: Sacrifice
Connor and Dawn stumbled to a stop in the middle of a cavern. Each one took in their surroundings, awed by what met their eyes. The cavern was large, with a bluish tint.
"Very Roman." Dawn commented on the architecture, her voice ringing.
"We welcome you, Exalted One." A melodic voice spoke up and got their attention. The voice belonged to a beautiful blond woman, dressed in a toga. Her skin was gold, with the same blue from the walls in curlicues on it. Her companion was male, a little taller, with darker hair. His skin too, was gold with the blue curlicues.
"What do we owe this honor?" The male spoke, bowing before Dawn. Dawn met Connor's gaze, flabbergasted at this strange turn of events.
"We need some help." Connor interjected. The male oracle sneered at him.
"We don't help Lower Beings. Be gone." The male turned to walk away.
"Wait!" Dawn cried out, echoing. "You won't help me because I'm with him?" She asked incredulously.
"It is not the way things are done, Exalted One." The female explained.
"You don't even know what we want." Dawn pleaded with her.
"You think we do not know what goes on among you?" The female was taken aback. "You are The Key, a mystical being that once lived among the heavens. We have taken special interest in what happens to you."
"Then how could you let this happen? How could They?" Dawn demanded, pointing up towards the sky.
"It is not their job to correct your mistakes!" The male oracle shouted.
"I didn't say it was. I'm asking for their help. I've screwed up big time, and there's no other way to make it right." Dawn said, making her case.
"What is it exactly that you wish us to do?" The female questioned, getting a stare in return from her male counterpart.
"We cast a spell," Dawn began, gesturing to herself and Connor. "The spell was interrupted and I changed things. I'd like to go back and make it so I can't change things, so that everything that was supposed to happen in the last few years happens the way it's supposed to."
"This world doesn't please you?" The male oracle was sarcastic, almost biting in his tone.
"It's not about pleasing us. It's about making everything right again." Connor interjected.
"When I want your opinion, Lower Being, I shall ask for it." The male oracle commanded. Connor shot him a dirty look.
"What makes you think we would do something like this, even for you, the Exalted One?" The female oracle asked.
"Because you did it for my father." Connor answered, sneering at both of the oracles.
"The previous Oracles were the ones who granted your father that favor." The male oracle pointed out. "It does you little good to bring that up."
"I brought it up because it can be done. All you have to do is agree." Connor continued.
"It does not matter. It will not be done." The female sounded exasperated.
"Why not?" Dawn asked.
*
"We'll be getting started in a moment, Mr. Angel. Get ready to become a father." The doctor told Angel, giving him a smile.
Angel bent down and kissed Buffy on the forehead.
"For luck." He whispered, gripping her hand in his. "I love you." Angel told her. "I tried not to..."
"...but I couldn't stop." Buffy finished for him. "I love you too." She paused. "I wish Dawn were here."
"The gang's on it. We'll get her here." Angel reassured her.
"I hope so." Buffy smiled. The anesthesiologist covered her mouth with an mask then, and Angel stepped back to let the doctors do their job.
*
"It does not concern you, Exalted One." The female refused to answer. Dawn wasn't having that.
"I'd rather say it does, wouldn't you Connor?" Dawn began. Connor nodded. "After all, it's my family, my friends, my LIFE that I want affected, so I say it damn well concerns me if there is a reason this can't be done!" She shouted at the Oracles. "I want answers. You keep calling me Exalted One, so treat me like it, damn it, and start talking!" Dawn demanded.
"You're time among the lower beings has altered you. You would never deem to act this way before." The female seemed hurt by Dawn's attitude.
"Well, before I didn't inhabit the body of a teenager with all the hormones that go along with it! All I want is one reason why you won't do this for me." Dawn kept going.
"The fate of the world." The male finally uttered.
*
Willow, Lindsey, Xander and Anya all stood nervously in the waiting room.
"He's not going to like this."
"He's really not going to like this."
"He's really, really not going to like this."
"Why do I have to be the one to tell him?"
"Because, Will, you're the one he'll be least likely to get mad at." Xander explained.
"I just hope everything goes all right in there." Willow worried aloud. "If not, I'm not telling him anything."
*
"The fate of the world?" Dawn repeated. "Gee, can you get anymore vague?"
"That is the reason you asked for, Exalted One. We will not help you." The male oracle replied.
"Please, I don't think you understand. I'll do whatever it takes to make this right. If you've been keeping tabs on me, then you know what I've gone through to get here tonight. Please, please, help me." Dawn begged, tears spilling over.
"There may be a way." The female oracle had her head cocked to one side, as if she was listening to a voice no one else could hear. "There will have to be a sacrifice on your part...and both of you need to agree before anything will be done."
Dawn meet Connor's gaze and they smiled.
*
"That's it, that's it. Suction! I need more suction in here!" The doctor shouted orders, his hands full with pulling out the baby. Angel stood helplessly by, growing more and more nervous with every passing moment that they struggled to get the baby out. A beeping noise got his attention, and one of the nurses whispered to the doctor.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Angel." the doctor said. "We're going to have to ask you to step outside."
"What's going on?" Angel demanded. No one answered him, but a nurse led him to the door.
"You can watch from here." The nurse said.
"Tell me what's happening." Angel said. The nurse didn't reply, just headed back into the operating room.
*
"It is done then." The female oracle announced. You'll be sent back to the moment where Willow arrives, and this time, go with her."
"Thank you." Dawn said.
"Be well, Exalted One. We'll be watching."
*
"I've lost a pulse!" Angel heard someone shout.
"I've got her!" Someone else cried out, and Angel heard the sound of a baby's wail. He stared before him in disbelief.
"She's bleeding out!" One of nurses exclaimed. The doctor began issuing orders, desperately trying to save her.
"She's in v-tac!" Angel heard as though it was coming through a fog, his eyes never leaving the image in front of him. Moment's later, Buffy's doctor was standing in front of him, a tiny bundle in his arms.
"It's a girl." He said, handing the bundle to Angel. "I'm sorry, but there were complications...I'm afraid your wife didn't make it."
Angel stared down at his daughter's face.
*
Dawn and Connor were visibly shaken as they realized they were back on the platform, staring at her younger self.
"Deja vu." Dawn whispered.
"No heroics this time, Dawn."
"I know that."
Willow appeared behind them, getting their attention, as well as that of younger Dawn.
"Thank the Goddess!" Willow exclaimed. "Come on, let's get you out of here."
"Please, help me!" Younger Dawn screamed at them. Dawn paused a moment, before looking at Connor and Willow. Before she could change her mind, she grabbed Willow with one hand and Connor with the other.
Younger Dawn blinked. She could've sworn she'd just seen three people standing on the platform before her. Shaking her head, she screamed for help.
"Buffy!"
*
Dawn sat up with a start. The candles around them had gone out.
"Buffy?" She asked, her voice slightly panicked.
"Right here." Buffy answered her. Dawn looked around and saw that Lindsey, Angel, Spike, Buffy and Willow were all there.
Connor moaned as he woke up, getting Dawn's attention.
"Connor!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around the boy. "We did it." She said, happy. He pulled out of her embrace.
"Yeah, we're back." Connor said, stepping out of the circle.
"Connor, please, don't be like this. I did what I had to do." Dawn pleaded with him, oblivious to the confused adults.
"I only agreed because this needed be fixed, Dawn. Don't expect me to be a part of it now." He told her, his voice low.
"Connor!" She cried out.
"Connor..."Angel began to admonish. Dawn clapped a hand on her mouth.
"Goddess, I think I'm going to be sick." She said, darting out of the circle and down the hall to Lindsey's bathroom.
"Is that some kind of spell side effect?" Buffy asked Willow, who shook her head.
"Not that I'm aware."
"It's not a side effect" Connor's voice was monotone.
"Well, then what's wrong?" Buffy asked.
"She's pregnant."