TITLE: Convergence: Part 8 The Kissing and the Telling
RATING: R, adult content, and language
DISCLAIMER: I sadly own none of these characters except Dylan. I am taking them out to play with them, but if the ptb Fox and ME get nasty, then they can take their toys back and go home. I'll cry, but I'll live.
SETTING: Oh lord, definitely AU season 7. I started this not two days after season 6 ended, so, there ya have it.
SUMMARY: Oh lord! Big developments: Xander and Dawn (gasp) kiss, Anya and Willow steal the scrolls from the council, and Dylan reveals the true prophecy. There is also some very slight G/A shippy interaction, and X/A resolution.
FEEDBACK: Yes, please feed my muse. She is hungry all the time and needs reassurance. Other than that, I am just a feedback ho. Thank you, thank ya verry much.
The Kissing and Telling
The four of them turned to Dylan in expectation and surprise. Spike, immediately menacing, took a determined step toward the apparition, but Buffy restrained him gently with a hand on his arm. Calming somewhat, the vampire stepped back. Xander, too was suspiciously careful, protecting Dawn from what he perceived as a threat in man's clothes.
"Dylan. How lovely. You know what's goin on with me and my powers?" Buffy succinctly got to the point. At the intruder's nod, she said, "Then I suppose you'd better spill the whole truth this time." She looked over at Spike, "Or I may just let him go. Got me?"
"Yeah, yeah, Slayer." Dylan mocked. "Look, I've been working at what you asked me to, searching for a way to retrieve the key and you aren't going to like any of what I have to tell you tonight." He sighed, "so I suggest we head back to your house - all of us." He turned to go, then remembering an important point, "Gather the watcher, the witch and the demon as well. It seems you never play alone Buffy, and each time your friends get involved in your battles, they are inextricably linked to you. They - all of your friends - have vital roles to play in the coming weeks." With that he disappeared.
"You know," Dawn stated, "I really hate it when he does that."
"Yeah, I know." Buffy agreed. "Anyway, let's get back to the house. When this is over, however, you are going to tell me what you were doing in a cemetery in the middle of the night with a guy. I don't care if it is Xander."
Spike and Xander looked at each other, each knowing what the other had been about this night. The blonde vamp closed his eyes and whispered, "If you ever hurt her Harris..."
"I won't. I don't even know really what you're implying. I mean all she wanted was to play. In the cemetery. At night. I was just along for.. For... for protection!" Xander's babbling response told Spike all he needed to know; that the young man was so obviously falling head over heels for his Niblet, and also that he was in complete and utter denial. Not even conscious denial; Spike knew that Xander had no real clue as to how he really felt. But the scent was all over him, especially when getting protective. Spike nodded his head, letting Xander cling to his self-delusions, and started toward Buffy.
The four of them began the trek home and Buffy groused, "You know, I really didn't even want to see that guy again, and I hate that he seems to be the only one with any information."
"Well, with any luck, Red and Giles will have that prophecy figured out. Soon." Spike answered, looking off ahead of them. Knowing he wanted that prophecy sussed out because of what it implied for his future with Buffy.
Neither discussed the revelations of the night, preferring to handle one thing at a time, and knowing that the personal situation would wait. But Buffy was glad to have him around; he always provided solidity and frankness to her world. She looked back at Dawn and Xander, realizing that her suspicions about the nature of their relationship were indeed founded. She frowned.
"Ahh, don't bother them, now, love," Spike seemed to read her thoughts, "There will be plenty of time for that later. If there is one thing I could say for the git, he learned his lesson with Anya. He's not the same insecure lad. If they do hook up, he'll not hurt her. She may however, toss him off his rocker."
"How is it that you always know what I'm thinking? That could get really annoying; not like it hasn't already."
"I don't know, Slayer." He laughed. "Could be some long forgotten connection."
She scoffed. "Somehow, I doubt it. Connection in death maybe."
"Oh, score one fo the live side," he intoned. "You always quippy like that?"
"Hah, well, I certainly do try." She answered cockily, grinning up at him.
Behind them, Xander and Dawn exchanged similar looks of mild disgust, and shook their heads at the other couple's penchant for picking. Dawn looked up at Xander.
"You know? I'm glad I'll never be the Slayer. Don't think I could handle kissing a dead guy, much less sleeping with him. I mean, last year Halloween aside." She continued to shoot Spike and Buffy incredulous looks as their teasing banter continued.
Xander could only stare, shocked and amazed at Dawn's comment about sleeping with dead guys. Hell, he was astounded that she even spoke about sleeping and guys in the same breath. He shook his head to clear it. The image of Dawn being seductive not conducive to a good night's sleep in his brain. "Umm, Dawnie," he adopted the nickname for his own sake, as much as hers, "I hope to hell you aren't thinking about sleeping with anybody!"
"Uhh, eww, Xander. Please. No, not sleeping with, yet anyway." She grinned at his relieved expression. "I like to have my bed all to myself thank you. But kissing?" Her wide green eyes got a faraway look in them. "Oh, yeah. I've thought about kissing guys. Thought about kissing one particular guy. For a long time now." She glanced up at Spike, positive that he could hear everything they were saying to each other. But since his attention seemed to be on her sister, she turned back to Xander. "Know what I mean?"
Speechless again, Xander could only nod. Then her words slowly sank into his befuddled brain. "What? You're thinking about kissing a guy? This is unacceptable! Who is he? He must pass the Xander, protector of the Key test, you know." He watched her for any indication of whom she meant. He noticed her slowing down slightly, purposely falling farther behind Buffy and Spike. He looked at her in question.
"Xander, I don't think this guy can fail the Xander protector test. Unless he thinks so little of himself, and in which case, I'll just set him right." She stopped walking completely and turned fully toward Xander, who stopped alongside her. "But no, I think he's learned his lesson about self-hatred. There's enough of that going around." She smiled up at him.
Xander, still clueless, just nodded and said, "Good. Can't have someone taking up with my girl who isn't good enough for her." He leaned in to hug her, his arms going around her waist, thinking no one was ever going to be good enough for his girl.
Dawn almost yipped at the opportunity, but a newly acquired sense of confidence and maturity stopped her. As he leaned into hug her, she took the opportunity to lay her lips on his, kissing him lightly, but surely, letting him know in no uncertain terms just who she was speaking of. Xander's arms tightened reflexively and his eyes shot wide open. Dawn was kissing him. Dawn was kissing him. This was not how this was supposed to play out. Wait a minute. It wasn't ever supposed to play out. He was supposed to be cool protector and friend guy, not kissy lips, groping in the alley guy. But there he was. Being kissed by this slip of a girl with soft lips and softer breath. It had to stop.
He pulled away from her quickly, glancing quickly up ahead of them to make sure Buffy and Spike hadn't stopped. Cuz, hey, Slayer's sister here, and Vamp with a heavy big brother conscience up there. Keeping his hands on her waist to hold her away from him, Xander spoke, a little breathlessly at first, "Dawn. Well, umm, while that was umm...."
"Really nice, and well worth the wait?" She asked, her voice more sultry than he remembered it ever having a right to be.
"Hmm. Unexpected, but yes nice too. I don't think this is a good idea. I mean, you're only 17. You.. You're the key. You have mystical destiny, and I have contract-y goodness to pursue. This is not going to happen." Buffy would have been proud of his certainty. He was a mass of quaking nerves. He had been noticing Dawn for more than a couple of weeks now, and the kiss, while tentative and timid, was definitely going to stay on his mind. And he finally got that he was the guy she thought about kissing. Great, just dandy.
"Yeah? And your point is? I mean, Spike is a vampire, Buffy is the Slayer, and they're makin a go of it, it looks like. I mean, how much more age and destiny defying could you get?" She looked at him, really looked at him, saying, "I like you Xander, have for a long time." She laughed self-deprecatingly, "My first crush was you." She saw his doubting expression. "Yeah, yeah, I know you thought it was Riley, but ugh, he was way too into Buffy. Nothing good could come from that. But you? You ate chocolate ice cream with me, played monopoly with me and lost, watched cartoons with me and understood them. Protected me from monsters in the closet, when you knew they were really outside. You never laughed at me when I was stupid or obvious. And you never treated me like a kid. You are the heart Xander, you see things as they are, not how people think you should. You are my stability in a world of chaos. And you don't see it. And that makes you even more wonderful."
He was thrown for a whirling dervish at her quiet sincerity. He couldn't believe this young girl - ok, his mind smacked him, young woman - was standing in front of him, saying these things. "Ok. Umm, wow. I don't know what to say Dawn. Truly. Except that I have noticed you. I care about you, more than I think I should, and I am not sure what to do about it." He shook his head, resigned to a situation he had no control over. "What I do know? Buffy will kill me if I so much as lay a hand on you. So, let's just start walking again, k?"
"Not yet." She leaned in again, wrapping her arms around his waist, laying her head against his chest, hearing his heartbeat, fast, in time with hers. She smiled and looked up at him again. He looked into her emerald eyes and knew he was lost. This was the not the cute kid he kept an eye on; she wasn't the young girl with a hopelessly innocent crush. This was a real, live, beautiful woman coming into her own and wanting to share that journey with him. Him, ordinary, average, normal non-mystical, non-superhero Xander. Despite all his better judgements, all his reasons - all being two: Buffy and Spike - he kissed her. She tasted like home, of cinnamon and chocolate, comfort, warmth , and cocoa all rolled into one. His hands lifted from her waist to frame her gamine face, his lips tasting hers. He could feel his heart beating in his chest, knowing he needed to let her go, so they could get back to the house, but she tasted so damn good. His mouth opened on hers, asking, begging for entrance, and when she parted her lips to sigh, his tongue snaked in to taste the rich recesses of her mouth.
Her eyes widened at this invasion, the newness and fullness taking her by surprise. Her hands clutched at his arms, her inexperience speaking volumes in the little halfmoons she made with her fingernails on his skin. But it felt so good, she closed her eyes again and moaned somewhere in the back of her throat, and he swallowed it before it could escape. She pressed in closer to him, and slid her arms up around his neck, not knowing exactly how to ease the ache that was building in her, but knowing it would only ease with his presence.
Xander felt her innocent searching, and broke the kiss off slowly, before his experience carried them too far. He rested his forehead against hers, grateful for her height and that he didn't have to lean far. He smiled. "Ok, Dawnie, ya got me. I'm hooked."
"Huh? Wha?" Her kiss drugged eyes were languid pools of green that slowly focused on the world around her. She frowned.
He laughed at her confusion. "Let's get you on back home. Buffy is probably beginning to worry." He turned toward the house and steered her along with him. He thought to himself that Spike was definitely going to notice something amiss, and it wouldn't be long before Buffy found out too. Best nip that little plan in bud. He'd tell them when they got to Buffy's.
Willow finished off the meal Giles and Anya brought her and polished it off with one of the jelly donuts, which, true to his word, Giles provided for everyone. It was a research thing. As she savored her sweet, Willow watched the two of them for a while as they bent over the noted the Council had provided. Giles appeared a great deal more relaxed and even comfortable in his present surroundings. She guessed the break had done him some good. She debated whether or not to tell them of her plan. It was a long shot, but she knew the best way to get all the true translations was to get the original document. There was only one way to do that: Anya. She cleared her throat to get their attention.
"OK," she said as they looked up at her. "Who thinks that going over someone else's notes is a waste of time?" She raised her own hand, looking hopefully at Anya for a little support. "I know I do."
"Yes. I think we all do, Willow," Giles said. "But it's all we have to study for the moment. Unless you broach this subject with some sort of plan in mind?"
"Well, I was thinking," she said, moving to look over the scrolls and notes scattered about the table. "That there might be a way to get hold of the actual scrolls and, well, have a lookyloo at what was originally written." She looked up at Giles, noticing that he had stopped researching and was actually considering what she was saying. She gave him a tentative smile.
Giles lifted his eyebrows and inclined his head at her. "And that would be what, exactly? As the scrolls are kept by the Council under strict surveillance."
Noticing that he didn't exactly say no, Willow continued, in resolve tone. "Well, Anya is a vengeance demon again, right?" She turned in askance to Anya, who nodded in the affirmative, frowning in confusion. At the confirmation, Willow continued, "And as such, she has a certain capability that would be really useful in this situation." Both Giles and Anya waited expectantly to hear this revelation, and Willow rolled her eyes at their denseness. "Umm, guys? Anya can teleport."
"Well, yes, I can, but I fail to see how that can help you..." Anya began.
"That is an excellent idea, Willow." He frowned in concentration, already working on the logistics of how to get Anya into the warded halls in the Council where the scrolls would be kept. He turned to Anya. "You could teleport in. Ah, of course you'd need a spell to conceal you from the Council wards, not to mention to protect you from them." He nodded absently, thinking still. "But, yes, you could eh, zap in, so to speak, and procure the scrolls without the Council ever having been aware of your presence."
Anya nodded, trusting that Giles would be able to get her past and through the wards safely. "Ah, yes, I suppose I could do that. But what if they're protected physically, I mean. You know, locked up, in a glass case or something. I mean, I can pop in there, and Catherine Zeta-Jones the place, but I can't exactly pick locks. Ooo, would I get to wear the cute catsuit that all catburglars get to wear?"
Giles considered. "Well, you'd have to take Willow with you? She could hack into the security system to give you the opportunity to snare the scrolls." He frowned again. "Oh wait, that won't work, will it? I seem to recall that you can't actually teleport others with you. Damn, this is going to cause some difficulties."
Willow spoke up again. "Umm, I think I can help with that. The physical securities I can handle from here, online with a little bit of magic help from you, Giles, and the wards? Well, I seem to recall proving that I could manipulate the Council's magic myself pretty dramatically before we left?" Giles grinned evilly. "Oh, yes, I think you quite showed them, Willow."
Anya grinned. "Well, it's settled then. We have a plan." and she nodded emphatically.
A gleeful Willow quipped, "Yea! And I didn't even have to use my resolve face!"
Giles smiled, the gleam returning to his eye at the thought of infiltrating the bastards at the Council. "Ok, so do you two girls need anything before we get started?"
"No," they replied in unison.
"Well, then, ladies. I suggest we get on with it, shall we?"
Giles and Willow cast the necessary spells to fend off the wards around the scrolls, then Willow hacked into the Council's security system. This proved to be a little bothersome, and she really did have to call on Giles' help to take down more of the spells that augmented the physical security of the vault. Afterwards, Anya left for London, promising to be back before either of them missed her. She hoped at least one of them would though, and she held his green eyes with hers a bit longer as she flippantly tossed off her "see ya's."
Willow decided that she needed to shower, being the girl she was, and that the sage and burba weed they had used had infused her hair and had her stinking like a pot party with bad incense. Giles could only wonder at how Willow, sweet, innocent (well, no, not innocent) Willow would know how a pot party smelled. As he continued to ponder that turn of events, the phone rang and her answered it, "Hello? Anya Jenkins' residence."
A male voice on the other end greeted him. "Ahh, so glad she calls my old apartment her own," Xander said with a laugh. "Hey. Giles, how ya doin?"
"Well, I'm quite well, actually Xander. Is there a problem? I mean, you wouldn't usually call here would you?"
"No, not really, but yeah, there's a problem. I don't know how much Buffy has told you about what's been happening, but you and Willow need to come to Buffy's. Apparently there is to be a Scooby meeting."
Ahh. Umm, alright, but it will have to wait until Anya returns from England. She's gone in search of a scroll we need and she should be back any...." he trailed off as he felt the air shift in the apartment, and Anya popped back into the room. She looked frazzled and not a little pissed off. "Umm, Xander?"
"Yeah, Giles?"
"Tell Buffy we'll be there in," he looked at his watch, "half an hour?" He frowned at Anya as Xander said he would relay the message, then he said goodbye and hung up. "Anya? Good lord. What happened? Were you attacked?"
"Attacked? Attacked? No, you man. I wasn't attacked. I was accosted! By a Watcher!" She said the word with such disgust, disbelief, disdain, and a whole bunch of other dis words that Giles couldn't help but feel some pity for the poor sot who had accosted this firebrand of a woman. He also had a tough time keeping his laughter to himself.
"So help me, Rupert, if you so much as crack a smile at me, I shall not hesitate to turn you into a tapeworm, so you can live out your life in some foul cholesterol binging person's intestines."
"While that image shall haunt me for the rest of my life, Anya, and please feel free to refrain from wreaking such a fate on me, I do ask that you confide what happened to you. Aside from the accosted part."
"Well. I get into the library easily enough. Who knew there would be a hundred or so other Giles' in the world. Lovers of libraries and the like?" She shrugged. "Anyway. I get there, and I'm going up to the scrolls, glass case demagnetized and all that jazz. When Bam! This, I don't know, Book Demon comes up and manhandled me. Puts his strangely effeminate book loving hands all over my vulnerable flesh. Gah! Disgusting, I tell you. Then he has the gall, the unmitigated audacity to ask if I needed help! Well, of course I tell him no, that I have everything under control, and then do you know what this...this ...this creature does?" Giles shook his head, again perilously close to outright laughter. "He, oh, he rubs himself on me, like some macho construction worker! As if I haven't had enough of that!"
Giles frowned a little at the mention of macho construction workers.
"Well," Anya continued, "calling this" she curled her lips in open disgust, "person a macho construction worker would be insulting construction workers all over the country. Anyway, he rubbed himself up against me, thinking to entice me with such a come on, and so I, of course, had to dispatch him."
She saw Gile's eyes widen, and hurried to reassure him, "Oh I didn't kill him Rupert, I just made him wish he were dead for about 20 seconds. Popped him into and out of hell dimension 587. That is the one where they shove tiny hot bamboo shoots into your ears, and pluck out your nosehairs one at a time. Yeah, it's REALLY painful." Giles was astounded, but struck dumb still. "So, that is why I am late, and why I look a fright." She shook her head to gather herself together again. "But here are your scrolls, and I even swiped a few codicils and translation dictionaries. Aren't you proud?"
Giles could only nod, dumbfounded, and take the proffered items from the put-upon vengeance demon. He heard Willow coming out of the shower, and turned to see her joining them again in the living room.
"I thought I heard the phone ring. Who was it?"
"Oh yes. That was Xander. It appears there is to be a Scooby meeting. And we are all invited."
"Right, then, well, you guys can take my car. I'm not entirely sure I'm welcome at Slayer Central." Anya reached to retrieve her keys from the coffee table.
"Nonsense. You're driving and as for you not being welcome? Well, we'll settle that when we get there. I think the bigger problem will be Willow. Dawn is still, ah, I'm not sure is nervous is the right word, but Buffy is being very protective of her." Willow's reaction to this information concerned Giles. She seemed to be more angry than put out, and that made little sense.
Willow listened to Giles describe the Dawn situation to Anya and could only barely keep from speaking out about it. Dawn's wariness angered the witch, and as much as she understood it, she wished the younger woman would either deal with it, or get over it. Her impatience must have shown on her face, because Giles looked questioning at her. She settled a calmer look on her face and said, "Well, guess we'd better get going then, huh?"
Having finished the call to Giles, Xander went back into the living room to wait for the meeting to officially start. He sat next to Dawn, but put some distance between them to throw off any questions or suspicions. Spike simply stared at him knowingly, mouthing threats to Xander's person should he harm a hair on Dawn's body. The younger man could make out only every other word, but those words were certainly definitive of the rest of the sentence. He grinned wryly and nodded, letting Spike know he understood.
Buffy saw the unspoken communication and wondered about it, but the faraway look in Dawn's eyes had her more concerned. "Dawn, you alright? You look, I don't know, lost in there. What's going on?"
Dawn's lips curved into a soft, satisfied smile, and she said, "Nothin's wrong, sis, just finally got something I been working at for a while. Took some thinking and maneuvering, but it's mine now. And it feels nice to have accomplished something." She spared not one look in Xander's direction, for which he was extremely grateful.
"Oh. Well, cut it out. You look like a spacey freak. I mean, it's almost like googly eyes." Buffy rolled her eyes in mock disgust. Dawn just grinned deeper.
Xander finally broke in with the news that Giles, Willow and Anya would be arriving shortly. Dawn glanced sharply at him. "What? You didn't say anything about Willow coming over. Why is she coming here again?"
"Dawnie, remember what we talked about?" She nodded, looking confused and more than a little pissed off. "Well, this might be a good time to start working on that. Willow and Giles need to know what is going on with Buffy so they can help figure a way to stop it. Dylan here," a flick of his thumb indicated the stranger, "is going to provide said info."
Buffy spoke up. "Dawn, I know it's hard, and that you are still having a hard time with Willow, and believe me, if we didn't need her skills right now," she held up a hand, warding off Dawn's coming protests about Willow's skills, "let me finish. If we didn't need her skills, then she could continue to work at Anya's. I want you to feel safe, absolutely, that is my second priority." The implication being the Mission was always her first. "I won't let anything happen to you. Ever. You got it?"
Dawn nodded, her shy smile returning. "Thanks, Buffy."
The slamming of car doors and then a knock at the door alerted the gang to Giles, Willow, and Anya's arrival. Buffy answered the door, and motioned the three of them inside. She hugged Willow and Giles, who accepted the affection stiffly, still unaccustomed to Buffy's constant need for contact. He and Willow moved farther into the living room. Buffy then met Anya's gaze. She smiled her welcome before saying it. "Hey Anya. It's really good to see you. You need to come by more often, we've missed you." She leaned out to embrace Anya, letting the woman know she was missed. Anya blushed at the ready acceptance after knowing she was persona non grata in this household of women that were so attached to Xander. Who happened to stand up just then and come over to her. Buffy left them alone and headed into the living room again.
Xander held out his arms, as though looking for some sort of embrace, and Anya awkwardly stepped into them. It felt nice to be surrounded by him again, but different. There wasn't the desperation in it for her or him anymore. Her mouth involuntarily lifted into a smile. "This is nice. I've missed this about us, Xander." She pulled away from him, looked him in the eye and saw. He had indeed moved on, and there was a love there for her that would always be there, but it was wrapped up in friendship. The one thing she had counted on in their relationship would always be there and she laughed outright. "Oh thank god!"
Xander was baffled, but that was par for the course as far as Anya was concerned. He laughed with her though, and thought that if she could be this easy with him after their one conversation, then things would be alright after all. "Wow, Anya, I wish all women I hugged thanked the good lord when we were done." He wraggled his eyebrows lustily at her. She laughed again. "No, silly. I was thanking God for the fact that our friendship is still there. I don't think I've had the chance to talk to you since the other night. We're good, Xander. Just to let you know."
His face settled into something akin to gratitude. "Thanks, Ahn. And I've missed you too."
"Hmmm. Not so much that you haven't been looking at someone else." He looked guilty. And she guessed. And he knew she was right, then her eyes widened. "Oh, Xander. You are so busted when you know who finds out."
"And that is why we haven't said anything yet. But I will tonight. Believe me. Spike knows too, and I can't let him have that to hang over my head at every opportunity." Xander guided her into the living room to join the others, "So don't say anything, ok? I'm taking care of it after the meeting." Anya nodded in acquiescence, then noticed the strange man sitting on Buffy's couch. "Oh no. Not you again."
Everyone looked up at Anya's statement and saw her look of utter annoyance. Spike just grinned, a little of the evil sneakin out of him. "Great. Demon girl knows Demon guy and we didn't think about this before hand?"
Dylan had the temerity to look sheepish. "Ahh, hello again Anyanka. I hope things are well with you since last we met.?" He asked in a polite, if offhand manner.
"Well, not like you'd care or anything, D'Lahnyan. You never called, you never wrote. What is a girl to think? And now you're here? In Sunnydale? How peachy for me. Come to pour salt in my wounds?" Anya huffed. Buffy watched the exchange with morbid curiosity. Xander just shook his head in amused exasperation. Dylan had it comin apparently, and Anya was the one to give it to him.
"Well, Anyanka, it isn't as though you gave me a chance there did you? Just up and left the next morning - "
Anya's eyes grew impossibly wide. "The next morning? The next morning? You insufferable bastard! I waited a whole week. Hallie kept tellin me to leave, that you weren't coming back, but no. I waited. The next morning indeed." She walked over and slapped him. "That is for keeping me waiting." She smacked him again. "That is for so obviously forgetting about me." Then she punched him in the stomach and kneed him in places that made Xander, Spike and Giles howl silently in sympathetic pain. "And that? Is for being so casual about it. You're lucky we're both demons, or I would have no compunction about cursing you to all kinds of hells. All at the same time. You rotten good for nothing, sonofabitch." She walked over to stand next to Giles, who looked at her with something torn between admiration and just a touch of fear. She looked truly wounded, so he placed a comforting arm, cautiously, around her shoulders. She looked up at him gratefully.
Buffy was agog at the language emanating from Anya. "Ok, now that introductions have been made? Can we get on with the reveal please? Anya, you can wreak vengeance on our new informer later, ok. He has news of great importance to tell us, don't you Dylan?"
Dylan groaned from his doubled over position. "Umm, yeah. But do you think you could perhaps, ahh, wait a, oh lord, minute or, oh crap, two?" He continued to curse as he rose again to stand. He took several calming, relieving deep breaths. "Ok, I think I can continue now."
"Damn skippy." Buffy stated emphatically.
"Buffy. You have been losing your powers, periodically. Correct?"
"Yeah. You know it is Sherlock."
"Ok. Well, remember our discussion earlier about the gathering of power?"
"Umm, yeah, vaguely."
"Your - for lack of a better term - power drains are a direct result of that convergence. Your powers are mystical. They are also arbitrary. That is to say that Slayer powers are not inherently good, nor are they inherently evil. They simply are." He looked at her questioning if she understood. She nodded. "It is for this reason that you could experience the anomaly of a rogue slayer. The nature of the power depends completely on the nature of the Chosen one. You happen to be one of the good guys, yea for you and your team, here." He indicated the rest of the Scoobies.
Giles was paying very close attention to what this new person was saying. He was more than alarmed at the fact that his slayer - his Slayer, dammit all - had neglected to inform him of such events as her losses of power. The fact that she hadn't told him hurt him a great deal, but there was more to deal with than just the hurt. She was losing her edge. He continued to listen to Dylan, figuring there was more to this Convergence than the man/demon was letting on. He eyed the entity warily.
Dylan noticed Giles' concentration on him, and continued his explanation. "The Convergence only happens under specific circumstances. Well, under one circumstance, actually. The Slayer must have passed her 21st birthday. Which apparently you have, and you are the first in a millennia to have done so. This speaks volumes about your power, and your situation here, as it is decidedly unique. No Slayer has ever maintained, or even initiated the level of friendships you have here, Buffy. Not only are they your friends, but they are your allies, your warriors in the fight against evil." His tone of voice expressed his appreciation for this development. Buffy shrugged it off.
"I told the first Slayer, I am me. The power is not the source of me. I have a life outside the slayage, and by heaven or hell, I am going to live it. If it means requiring my friends to experience these hells too, well, then. They love me enough to do it, and I love them enough to not want them to, but appreciate them when they do." Buffy's eloquence, few and far between it usually is, impressed Giles. He knew she had it in her. Xander, Willow and Dawn all puffed up with pride at the Slayer's belief and faith in them, and her gratitude. She continued, "So, this convergence of power you were telling us about, it is also pulling out my own powers?"
"Yes," Dylan confirmed.
Giles spoke up at this. "To what purpose?" He frowned in confusion. "Why, when a slayer turns 21, does this convergence take place? And why here, with Buffy? Her Slayer line is broken, has moved on already. The slayer you mentioned earlier is indicative of this."
Dylan nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is unusual, I will grant you. From what I can gather, it has to do with this particular Slayer's life and those attached to it. Look at it like this: she has a wizard watcher. That is unusual. No, not that watchers can or do practice magic. They have to. But that you would have been a wizard without ever having to be a watcher. This is an innate ability you have, Mr. Giles, that you see as an extension of your duties, but in actual fact, your duties are an extension of your power."
He turned to Willow. "Also, this slayer has her own witch, with a wealth of power herself. No witch in existence ever, has sent Osiris screaming for his tomb the way this witch did. All of the mystical world was agog over that one, Ms. Rosenberg. Caused quite a fracas you did when your love died. My sincere condolences for you, on the passing of Ms. Maclay. She is greatly loved where she is and your loss must be great." Willow was struck dumb, as the tears gathered in her eyes.
Dylan turned finally to Dawn. "And now, this slayer has the key to dimensions, dwelling within her home, unwatched, uneducated. The Key is a phenomenal source of power, and this slayer has possession of it. Do you know the kind of destruction this amount of power, confined to one space has the potential to cause?" He sighed. "No I suppose you do not. Not to mention that she has a souled vampire for a companion. Hell, has two, in fact. Although one of them has already been spoken for by fate, through a curse. But the Vampire who sought out his soul? On behest, unspoken though it was, of the Slayer? Yeah, this slayer has power unimaginable.
"The one thing that is the catalyst though is that young man." He pointed to Xander. "Buffy, you have this entire arsenal at your command, and you use it readily enough. But you refrain from using it, also, and wisely. That is because of - I'm sorry, I never did get your name?" He turned to Xander.
"Uhh, Xander. Harris. Xander Harris." Xander stammered, unused to being the focal point of any mystical discussion. He slid closer to Dawn, unconsciously.
"Yes. You, Xander, are the, oh, I don't know, measuring rod. It is through you that Buffy chooses to exercise and utilize all of her weapons. You are her sounding board. You are the one to offer her a sane, logical point of view. You humanize her world, make the decisions she has to make, make sense. She needs you like she needs no other here. She relies on you to root her in the human world - and you are quite successful - and in doing so, she has remained alive.
"Now, why would any of this make the convergence happen here? To balance the scales. This Slayer is too powerful. Something has to give."
It all snapped into place for Giles. "Oh good lord. The prophecy. The one we've been reading, Buffy, is talking about this happening." He looked sharply at Dylan. "There is a prophecy about all of this happening. We've been researching and translating it, but to no avail. The notes and rosettas that we have are all wrong." He looked down at Anya. "Did you bring the Scroll with you?"
She nodded, then walked out to the car to get it. At the mention of the prophecy and scrolls, Spike abruptly took sharper notice. He had a vested interest in discovering what those damn ancient slips of parchment said. Because by hell would he be killing Buffy. Ever.
"I want you, being as you seem to be the knowledgeable party here, to tell us exactly what this prophecy says. And you had better be right." Giles made the threat as menacing as possible; not knowing what sort of demon he was dealing with here, he thought it best to cover all his bases. Dylan smiled at the attempt, but indicated his cooperation. Anya returned with the scrolls and handed them to Giles, who unfurled them in front of Dylan.
Dylan glanced down at them and smiled at the memory of writing them. "Ahh, these are the prophecies you have? Wonderful. You can put them away now."
Giles was about to argue. Dylan stopped him. "Don't worry Watcher, I know what they say. I wrote them. Almost four thousand years ago, to your calculations, but it was actually just last week. It was in another dimension." Dylan grinned.
Spike growled at him from his stance by the fireplace. "What do the bleedin prophecies say, man. And don't make me ask again." Spike's feral growl alerted Dylan to just how much attention he was receiving from the Vampire, and ancient dimension hopping demon or no, Dylan got a little frightened by the intensity he detected in the Vampire's gold eyes that had just now been sky blue.
"Umm, sure. It is a poem of sorts. Goes like this: The powers shall meet / in the temple of old / the Key will unlock / absorb in the fold. / The demon of blood / will surrender the night / destroying the body / to walk in the light. / The sanguinous union / of he and the Slayer / will lead to destruction / and bring the new player. / Death of her powers / the end of all borders. / A matter of hours / enter the new order." See? Nothin to it."