Hey guys sorry it's been so long but I just finished exams today (dancing around like a crazy person) so I couldn't really let myself get too distracted from revision. Anyways here is the next chapter, quite a lot of it is again from the Gift but things are a bit different. I hope you like it 'cause I'm really excited about the direction this story is going to take (I let myself get distracted by planning it) and also by Tru Calling 'cause this weeks episode was the one where Davis gets shot and she nearly does and it was so amazing.
2 things to note: I couldn't remember exactly how old Tru was when her Mom died so I made it up-sorry. Also I don't really know whether I'm jumping the gun with the whole Tru and her mom thing I say in this chapter-sorry if I'm wrong-remember I don't know yet 'cause stupid England is so far behind.
Glad people are interested:
SPASH Panther: They will be in it but not yet.
Allen Pitt: You're gonna have to wait and see.
Kick A Warrior woman: I think the Bring it on cross is called Before Faith and it's by Sam-453.
This chapter is 'specially for Laura 'cause she still has exams and she was really excited 'bout an update.
Whatever it takes
There was a pause as what Tru said sunk in. Then Giles shot off a volley of questions, wanting to quash the feeling inside him which told him that whatever Tru said there may be no choice about Dawn's death.
"Xander do you remember what our plan was? What action we took? What went wrong? How exactly did Dawn die?" Xander held up his hands in mock defence.
"Whoa one question at a time."
"Ok. Here's one. What were you doing this time in the yesterday that was today?" Tru asked knowing just how helpful a blow by blow account of the day could be.
"Pretty much this. Trying to figure out what we were gonna do, only we didn't have that whole little interlude with the thinking you were Faith 'cause you look so much like her and you weren't here and obviously you're not Faith and…I'm babbling. Ok. Well we went through the ritual again and then," Xander was cut short by Tara who pushed against Willow and distractedly whined,
"I have places to be."
"Tara did that." Xander said extremely freaked out by the overwhelming feeling of déjà vu he was getting. "Then we were talking and…" He trailed off again and Tru, still in the dark voiced just some of the confusion she was feeling.
"Can we hold up one moment. I rewound one day but I'm getting the feeling I needed to re-wind several years. Can someone bring me up to speed 'cause right now all I know is that almost none of you are normal people and the Vampire Slayer's sister has been kidnapped by, a hell god? Not to mention the fact that in a few hours she'll be dead and I have no idea why."
The Scoobies looked at each other, all of them knowing the enormity of what Tru was asking and wondering who would be the one to tell this strange girl, with a stranger story, one that even she might find hard to believe. Eventually Giles accepted his traditional role and began.
"There are many hell dimensions, each presided over by a god or several gods. Glory, the hell god we are fighting was expelled from her hell dimension and imprisoned in a human body. Now however she is learning to fight her human counterpart and plans to return to hell using the key. The key was…living energy. It needed to be channelled, poured into a specific place at a specific time. The energy… would flow into that spot, the walls between the dimensions break down and Glory can use that time to get back to her own dimension, not caring that all manner of hell will be unleashed on Earth."
"Um, but only for a little while, right? Then the walls will be restored and things will go back to normal." Tru said, struggling to absorb the idea that a hell dimension was going to burst into Earth. She had somehow managed to block her doubts and scepticism from her mind, something told her that she was being fed more fiction than by reading Harry Potter but a part of her brain was telling her to accept these stories, if she could rewind a day who was she to say that demons didn't exist…she'd seen enough human ones.
"That's exactly what Anya said." Xander said softly unable to crack one of his usual jokes, knowing what was coming. Sure enough,
"Only if the energy is stopped. And now the key is human…is Dawn," Willow said looking at Buffy but Tru interrupted.
"Dawn's the key? So the girl I'm saving is actually a big ball of energy." Suddenly Buffy looked angry, and an angry slayer can make quite an impression.
"She is not a ball of energy, she's my sister and you're not saving her. The monks gave her to me to protect, I can't fail her. If I do, that's it. I'm done with the saving people, I'm done with the killing and I'm done with being the slayer. If Dawn dies, I quit."
"Why's Dawn have to die?" Tru asked simply. "I mean what part of energy pouring will kill her?" Giles read out loud from a book he was holding.
"The blood flows, the gates will open. The gates will close when it flows no more." He looked up and removed his glasses. "When Dawn is dead."
Everyone was silent. Xander could remember only too clearly what had happened next, his too casual question and Spike's scathing yet amazingly insightful answer. It seemed that even though he would not repeat the question it was fated to be asked as Tru said,
"Why does it have to be something that kills her? Why blood?" Spike answered, as he had done once before though he didn't know it.
"'Cause it's always got to be blood. Blood is life, It's what keeps you going. Makes you warm. Makes you hard. Makes you other than blood." He lowered his voice and said softly, "'Course it's her blood."
"How do you know that?" Tru asked looking at the bleach blond British guy who looked completely calm with a cigarette between his finger and thumb and a black duster round his shoulders.
"You remember that whole vampire part right?" Buffy said and Tru's face which had clouded over cleared.
"Right. So what exactly does the whole vampire deal bring? I mean, you're dead, you drink blood, what else?"
"Tend
to be a bit on the nocturnal side, no soul obviously, bit of the immortal thing
going on."
"Unless I stick a stake
through you." Buffy interrupted. "You get
used to him after a while. Then you
wish you hadn't. Anyway back to the
saving Dawn plan, do we have one? I
mean we have time 'til the ritual right?
We can just make Glory miss the window." Xander shook his head.
"It won't work. That's what we tried but something went wrong. Someone got to Dawn first, I don't know who."
"Ok so new plan. Anyone got one?" Buffy paused for a moment only to hear silence. "Didn't think so. We're gonna have to go with what we've got. We still have a couple of hours, right?"
"Uh-oh." Xander murmured but only Willow and Tru heard him, he was too late anyway to prevent what he knew was coming.
"If my calculations are right. But Buffy" The slayer cut her watcher off, knowing what was coming almost as surely as if she, like Xander, had seen the day before.
"I don't wanna hear it." She turned away from the man who had held her absolute trust until he suggested the one thing she knew she would never let happen.
"I understand that" Giles started but was cut off once again as the power and anger Tru had seen earlier radiated from Buffy and her eyes shone with it, or was it tears? Tru didn't know.
"No!" She exclaimed whirling back to face Giles. "No, you don't understand. We are not talking about this."
"Yes
we bloody well are!" Giles yelled standing up violently and shocking everyone
present with his outburst, so unusual from the normally mild-mannered man. He spoke again, quieter and more hesitantly. "If Glory begins the ritual…if we can't stop
her…"
"Come on. Say it.
We're bloody well talking about this. Tell me to kill my sister."
"She's not your sister." Giles whispered but firmly. Buffy paused, choosing her words carefully, knowing that however she said it they wouldn't understand, none of them possibly could.
"No. She's not. She's more than that. She's me. The monks made her out of me. I hold her and I feel closer to her than…It's not just the memories they built." Buffy looked up at Tru. "They gave me fourteen years of memories but they gave me more than that. They gave me a part of myself a part I can…" Buffy stopped then started to talk again in a brisker, more determined tone, knowing that what she was about to say would have more of an effect on the watcher, it was based on actions and words, not emotions. "I'm supposed to save her. You heard Tru, people ask to be helped when it's not their time." Giles looked uneasy.
"Buffy I'm sure Tru knows more about this than most of us but I doubt very much that everyone tries to save themselves. There are people in this sorry world, the world I've sworn to protect, people who are selfless and will ask help for another. Those people will suffer unbearable torment and death for the sake of a personal crusade. A crusade which may fail, which may be meant to fail. Perhaps something else happened that needs to be changed, something we have yet to discover. Am I right?" Giles asked Tru as Buffy stared at him wide-eyed. Tru looked at Buffy. She didn't want to admit it but she knew the British man was right. People could be selfless, it was comforting to know but it had consequences that were sometimes hard to accept.
"There was a guy." Tru started, feeling somehow that the best way to explain would be to narrate the tale. "Nick. He was a firefighter and he was killed in a blaze along with a little girl. He asked for my help and I did everything I could to save him but then he went back in, to save the little girl. He got her out because I knew where she would be, but he didn't make it. It was his time, his time to save someone else." Tru's eyes were in as much danger of spilling over as Buffy's. the slayer who had looked so strong only moments ago looked as if she was made of china, a small frown on her forehead as if she was piecing together a puzzle.
"It doesn't matter. The last thing she'll see is me protecting her." Buffy said firmly but Xander interrupted, knowing that the harsh words to come were not necessary. Instead he began to relate the plan they had used to stall Glory. He described Willow's spell and she immediately went to find out what she could have done. He told of the crane he used and the hammer. Then he came to the dagon sphere.
"Where is it?" Buffy asked and Xander looked shiftily at the floor.
"Well me and Anya went down to the basement to…" Xander paused realising what he'd done in the basement and fingered the outline of a small jewellery box in his pocket. "find it and…" He paused again, knowing Buffy wouldn't like what he was going to say. "We found the robot."
"Robot?" Tru asked looking at Xander.
"Spike's robot. His Buffy robot, the Buffybot."
"Oh." Buffy said, stumped for words but Tru filled in the silence.
"What did Spike want a robot version of you for?" Buffy quickly gathered her powers of speech very quickly before Xander could reply.
"You don't want to know." Tru looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "Believe me, you really don't want to know. C'mon we're going to find it." Buffy turned away leading Tru towards the basement. Before Tru followed her however she turned to Xander and raised her hands in a questioning manner. Xander, facing her mimed the Buffybot's purpose
"Oh." Tru mouthed and turned to follow Buffy, not quite sure what to make of Xander's revelation. They walked down the steps to the basement and Tru tried to make conversation. "So, what happened to…Tara?" Buffy sighed.
"Yeah Tara. That was Glory. See the only way Glory can survive on earth is to suck energy from people's brains. I have been spending way too much time with Giles lately. Anyway it supposedly makes Glory less crazy, not that she's ever exactly sane, and leaves people like Tara, trapped in crazy land."
"And I thought my job was dangerous." Tru murmured, thinking Buffy wouldn't hear her but she hadn't taken slayer hearing into consideration. Buffy smiled wryly.
"It's about to enter perilous. Listen if you want to back out, this is my world you don't need to be dragged into it."
"Look Buffy." Tru said. "I already told you, I'm in whether you like it or not. I don't know what's going to happen, I still don't quite understand what has happened but my life's already done a 180, I guess I just need to open my eyes a bit wider than I realised." The two girls stared at each other, some form of mutual respect forming as Tru realised that Buffy was willing to shoulder her own burdens and Buffy realise Tru was willing to share those of other people.
"So." Tru started again taking another stab at making conversation. "Do you have another job or something? You know other than saving the world?"
"I was at college but I had to drop out…to look after Dawn." Buffy looked downwards. "For all the good it did."
"Buffy you're the slayer. I mean that means you're like what? a superhero or something. You're stronger, faster than like anyone else the world. Who else could be better to look after something, someone, better?" Buffy's answer was on the tip of her tongue, it was the person she had thought about more than any other in the last day, the one person she wouldn't see again until…Buffy turned her face upwards to Tru, her face torn by a mixture of emotions.
"The monks made her my sister so that I would protect her. So that I would protect her with my life."
"So I guess you're pretty close huh?" Tru said unintentionally lightening the moment.
"Sometimes. Sisterly love, sometimes you hate them right?" Tru smiled and thought of the rocky relationship she had with Meredith. 'Sisterly love' was one way to put it.
"But you love 'em really."
"More than-" Buffy began but stopped herself.
"What?" Tru asked curiously but Buffy shook her head.
"I can't say it. I always lose them."
"Lose who?" Tru asked genuinely confused.
"The people I love…more than anything." Buffy replied as memories resurfaced in puddles over her eyes. "Angel, g-d I still love him. My Mom, I wish she was here." A solitary tear trickled down Buffy's cheek but she made no move to wipe it away.
"I don't know who Angel is but if it helps I know what it's like to lose a mother." Tru offered.
"You?" Buffy asked not needing to finish the question.
"Yeah. I guess it's how I got landed with this whole do-over days deal."
"I'm sorry." Buffy said softly, her mind distracted from her own troubles for a moment. "How old were you?"
"When she died or when this all started?"
"The first one, well both actually."
"I was 12. I saw it happen and I couldn't do anything about it. They never caught the guy who did it and I can still see him so clearly. Each time there's a murder I just wonder, is it this time? Is it him? Will I catch him? I guess it doesn't really make much difference now. She told me it didn't matter. The first time a dead person spoke to me it was my mom. Didn't happen again until a few months ago when I started working at the morgue." Tru paused for a moment then spoke in a cheery, conversational voice as if she had said nothing of any depth whatsoever, "So how long've you been the slayer?"
"Six years." Buffy said. "Six years of killing demons and vampires and protecting people who are just too blind to even notice what's going on." There was a bitterness in Buffy's voice that Tru was surprised to hear. "People who wont open up their eyes because they're afraid of what they might see and yet I fight for them, as if they were my friends, or family."
"Because you'd do anything for family." Tru said thinking again of Meredith and Harrison but also of her mom and what she was unable to do for her.
"Anything." Buffy repeated. "But Dawn's the only family I've got left and I failed her."
"Not yet you haven't." Tru said. "Your sister is still out there, you know she is. What are you going to do to save her?" Buffy looked into Tru's dark eyes and knew that Tru couldn't possibly know what was running through her head, knew that she couldn't possibly interpret what she said in the manner she meant it.
"Whatever it takes."
"So we're just going to do the same thing over again, even though it didn't work?" Xander shot at Buffy as they loaded up weapons from the trunk at Buffy's house. He had told her that Spike had gone with last time but was not surprised she hadn't asked the vampire to come again.
"No." She replied making the emphasis on the o last. "It's not the same."
"Well sure I mean we know we have to hold things off longer and stop whoever got to Dawn getting there first but it's the same plan." Buffy had laid out what was going to happen at the magic shop and it had been almost identical to what had already been done.
"No it's different." Buffy said simply looking at Xander with the familiar blaze of defiance.
"Buffy it's exactly the same. The Buffybot, the dagon sphere, the hammer. It's all exactly as I remember it."
"No it's different." To his great surprise Buffy wrapped Xander in a hug, squeezing him hard but not aggressively. She buried her head in his chest murmuring,
"It will be different. It already is."
So there you go, it's all set. What's different d'you think. Please review!!!