A/N: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Sorry to those of you that reviewed chapter 5. For some reason (probably because it was around the time of all the website problems) some of those reviews got lost or something. But don't worry, I did get to read your comments in the alert emails, so thanks a bunch! Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing.
Chapter 7: Realizations
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only borrow the characters and situations of the Whedonverse for my selfish pleasure (and hopefully yours).
Summary: The merging and continuation of BtVS and AtS. Starts just after 'The Girl in Question,' 5.20, and continues from there.
Recap: The fight continues, as Faith rescues Angel from the demon doggy-pile he got stuck in. Faith explained some background that Angel hasn't been keeping up on, and Angel is on a search for Illyria and Gunn. It's midnight now, so Slayers are kicking some major demon butt and Willow's got her firepower going, thus adding to the demon carnage.
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Dawn looked down into the fray a little worriedly.
"Willow, be careful you don't hit any Slayers," she warned as they perched on their designated rooftop.
"I know Dawnie, but there's so many demons that I'm just trying to thin the herd a little. Make it a little easier on the girls." She smiled cajolingly down at the younger Summers from the height where the witch was currently getting her glowy on, before turning to concentrate once more on the task at hand.
Dawn watched in fascination as Willow, with the white hair, the radiant aura and the levitating, managed to conjure another fireball within her cupped hands before unleashing it into the center of the crowded mass with an explosive force. More beastie bodies flew into the streets, some still on fire from Willow's magic weaponry. More demons crowded into the empty spaces their fallen brethren had left behind only to be bowled down by the next incoming flaming missile.
Wow! With power like that on their side, they were bound to win this fight, that's for sure.
Dawn wondered how long it would take, because at the moment, she was really worried that some of those ugly monsters were gonna decide to take out Willow. Sure, Dawn had been learning to fight, well, in controlled situations that included her and Andrew as sparing partners. And, no offense to him, she had beat the crap out of him more than once, but she seriously doubted her abilities to defend them both if the demons were determined to put an end to Willow's magical ammunition. She could barely even pick up the heavy broadsword that Buffy had entrusted her with, let alone manage to swing it at something that wanted to kill her.
It was a huge responsibility for a teenager that had very little field experience with the actual slaying of bad guys.
But Buffy trusted her to take care of herself, and if Buffy thought she could do it, then she would, Dawn determined.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Robin and Andrew coming down from the building not too far away to join in the fighting. She squinted her eyes and saw that Andrew still had his Freeze Ray blasting away as Robin defended him from the demons trying to take him out for the harm his little invention was causing them.
When Dawn had seen the dragon ice cube drop from the weeping sky, she'd been so proud of their little former supervillian that she'd been willing to listen to any sci-fi show or comic book reference for at least a week. Maybe even let him burn down their kitchen just for the sake of gratitude.
Robin was following Andrew now as the nerd led the way, freezing anything non-human that crossed his path, while Robin brought up the rear, knocking the frozen bodies into pieces before moving on. Another of Willow's fireballs exploded dangerously close to them, and Dawn looked up at Willow again, a worried frown wrinkling her brow.
"Oops," murmured the witch sheepishly.
"Oops? There will be no more oops's, ok?" said Dawn emphatically.
"Gotcha Dawnie. It's just that these things are a little hot and, well, the last one kinda got away from me there for a second. I'll be more careful," said Willow at the young girl's chastising look.
Dawn's only response was a typical teenage grumble before her attention was suddenly distracted. She spied some young slayers led by Xander fighting below, his arms constantly in motion as he hacked away with his two weapons furiously. Her stomach did a little flip-flop at the sight, her prepubescent crush coming back with a vengeance.
When did he get to be so cool? she thought dazedly. She always remembered him being a bit of a klutz, a clown with a heart of gold. The boy-next-door type. Out of all the Scoobies, last year he had shown her that he was the one that really understood her. Not that her sister didn't, but Buffy would never know what it was like to be an ordinary girl surrounded by extraordinary people. Xander knew. Well, not so much about the girl part, but rather the rest of it.
Dawn's inner rambling came to an abrupt halt as she noticed that a very big and ugly demon was sneaking up behind Xander, the dagger in his hand raised menacingly, and Xander was completely unaware as his efforts were taken up with fighting another beastie.
Dawn panicked, not really sure what to do, but hoped that he wasn't far away enough to hear her voice over the ensuing chaos. She'd had plenty of practice screaming at the top of her lungs during her bratty temper tantrums, so she just hoped she'd pierce the noise of the battle.
"Xander, behind you!" She sure got attention at her vocals, because many demons turned to look at where the sound had come from. Well, that can't be a good thing! she thought, as some of them began running toward the building she and Willow occupied.
She noticed that Xander also looked toward her, obviously having heard her shriek, before turning to block the oncoming blow. He dropped his sword in the scuffle, and Dawn felt the trepidation shoot up her spine as he fell back, the demon advancing on him. But he somehow managed to pull a dagger from out of nowhere, and shoved it into the demons stomach as he charged the man on the ground. After a few moments, Xander got up, dusted himself off, retrieved his sword and looked back over to where she stood. He gave her a thumbs-up before rejoining the battle raging around him.
Dawn let out relieved sigh.
Then, hearing the sounds of heavy steps ascending the metal fire escape, Dawn knelt down and grabbed one of Willow's spell books. Forget the broadsword, she was more comfortable with magic anyway, she thought as she tried to find a spell that might be able to help them out of the trouble she'd unwittingly called on them.
Without warning, the pages somehow gained a mind of their own as they fluttered uncontrollably, like a wind had sent them into a fury. Only, there was no wind blowing…lots of dreary rain, but wind was thankfully absent, Dawn noticed, before the pages stopped their frenzied rustling and landed on an incantation in the middle of the heavy volume. Hmmm, that was weird.
Dawn looked up to see Willow smiling down at her. So, all the flurrying pages had been her doing, huh?
"Hurry Dawnie, they'll be up here soon," she said, her trust in Dawn's abilities apparent. Then Willow moved her intense concentration back to her conjured fireballs, leaving Dawn to perform the spell she'd chosen. Dawn gulped before turning back to the book and reading the spell that Willow had given her.
Simple barrier spell, she could do this. No problem, right?
"Servo nos, unified elementum.
Tribuo mihi vestri vox.
Tribuo mihi a parietis of vestri vires.
Servo nos, unified elementum."
Dawn's hands and voice shook uncontrollably as she stood up, again recited the words as fast as she could. The warriors were just climbing onto the roof as Dawn put one of her hands out in a halting gesture and repeated the spell for the third time, her voice gaining in volume and strength.
The flash of light knocked her back onto the ground in a tangle of arms, legs, and long, brown hair. Dawn groaned as barely managed to raise her head, since her body had been drained as she'd felt the power sucked out of her body in order to perform the spell. But there it stood…a pulsating wall of subdued light that extended from one side of the roof to the other and stood about twenty feet high, effectively blocking off any way for the demons to get to either her or Willow. Damn, she'd actually managed to pull it off!
"Good job, Dawnie. I knew you could do it," said Willow from where she still hung in the air, another glowing orb of flames resting in her cupped hands just waiting to be released.
Dawn looked up at her friend from where she lay on the ground, still dazed and sore but feeling very proud of herself, and gave her a big smile of thanks.
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For the first time in a while, Buffy felt alive.
Despite the lack of sleep in the past three days, despite the emotional roller coaster they'd all managed to make it through so far, and even despite the daunting task of preparing for this current apocalypse, Buffy felt amazing.
As her and Spike continued their mowing down of demons, her blood spread like wildfire through her veins, her heart pounded in her chest, and she could never remember feeling the rush of the adrenaline being as strong as it was now.
Not even during the last battle with the Turok-Hans.
And it wasn't because she was scared, because suddenly her fear had left the building, nor was it to do with any doubts about winning this battle, she realized, as her blade whispered through thick flesh, splattering more green blood onto the pavement, where it collected in puddles around them.
There was no chance that they would lose now. She knew it in her heart, just the same way that she knew the sky was blue or the sun would rise again in a few hours. It was the same way she knew that she loved Spike.
Some things just were.
Maybe this feeling of being so alive had to do with the fact that she had finally found him after spending every night in her unfulfilled dreams seeking his solace. He was by her side again, her Champion, after she'd been mourning him since the day Sunnydale went under. Her life had felt so…empty somehow. Not that she hadn't been surrounded by those that she loved and who loved her in return, but he had been such a missing piece of her.
Like her right hand.
She watched out of the corner of her eye as he whirled and dodged and struck deadly blows while fighting four of these ugly green guys. She smiled slightly while clashing weapons with two of her own beasties, knowing how much he loved the fight. How much he almost reveled in the unleashing of his demon at times. Maybe not so much after the soul-getting, but he seemed to be enjoying himself now. Like he had when he'd fought by her side.
Maybe there was something else, though, that could contribute even more to this feeling of freedom that she suddenly felt?
While Spike's presence certainly was a factor, she had the inclination that there was more.
At first, she had been terrified about getting involved in this battle, mainly because it had been months since she'd trained…no fighting, no workouts, nothing since she'd been trying to lead the life of a normal girl. And after several months of trying to go through the motions of what she would assume normal girls did, she had felt that maybe she wasn't ready for this battle, both physically and mentally. Not that that would have held her back anyway, since her friends' lives were on the line here.
But, she had missed this!
Missed the strength coursing through her and the instinct guiding her motions. She missed the power that ruled her body when she unleashed everything that she was into the fight. Now, she didn't feel the need to spend everyday containing her power just to fit into that normal existence…no more limiting herself.
There was no point trying to deny who she was anymore. She wasn't a normal girl. She never would be, no matter how many slayers were out there. Spike had realized that years ago, long before she had realized that she'd never be happy in the humdrum existence, pretending to be less than she really was.
Normal was just a figment of the imagination, anyway. She was meant for this, this fighting and chaos…was built for this.
It was finally time to stop fighting herself—fighting her nature, her power, and her love—and instead spend her efforts fighting against evil, like she'd always done before they'd sunk the town of Sunnydale into the Hellmouth.
This was her life. This was her calling. This was her.
And how did she know this?…well, some things just were.
TBC--Review please! Feedback is alway helpful and most appreciated :)