Anya, Giles, Dawn, Spike and all other characters who have appeared in the syndicated series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, together with the names, titles and back story are the sole copyright property of Joss Wheldon, Fox and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement was intended in the writing of this fan fiction. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Please contact the author for permission to reproduce this story on any other fan fiction site.
LOVE/GRAPHIC SEX DISCLAIMER: This story will depict love sexual relationships between all kinds of genders, races or species. If you can't deal, don't read. This particular part might include a scene where a demon toad has sexual intercourse with an oversized pink donkey. You'll have to read it to find out.
TIMEFRAME: After the end of Season Six
PAIRING: Remains to be seen.
Part 3 - And so it begins
"Oh man." Xander sighed heavily. "I can understand why Buffy bolted to go out and beat some undead or some demon to a pulp."
"Well, I'm not Buffy and I'm not going to run from this." Dawn said sharply. "If Willow is the only one that can fix Giles, then she's our new priority, as ironic as that might be."
"Dawn, please. Don't talk like that about Willow. I mean I know what she did, especially to you, but she's still my best friend. She's Willow. She wasn't herself then, she just lost ... I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to Anya." The young man defended his friend sadly.
"Not try to kill all your friends, thats for sure." She said with a stern look on her face. "But lighten up, Xander. Against my will I seem to be forced to be on your side for once."
"So what do you suggest?" Xander asked, gladly moving to a less confrontational topic.
"Well, this spell can help Giles, so there is nothing more to do. We can completely focus on finding a way to make Willow cast it. And that's why I'm going there right now."
"Dawn, you can't. Remember what Buffy said!"
"Buffy is neither my mother nor my boss. I make my own decisions.
Willow is not suddenly one day going to change to the better, you know
that. And she can't really get any worse. I'm willing to take that
risk, and I'm going to."
"I'm not going to let you, Dawn. It's too dangerous!" Xander jumped to his feet, pacing around angrily. "We agreed not to tell Willow about Giles."
"Well, you didn't ask me when you agreed on that behind my back. And I'm not going ask you now. You can come with me if you want to be there, but you are not going to stop me." A dangerous element entered her voice. "Right now I have to decide between letting Giles, our Giles rot in the hospital or telling a woman that tried to kill me, you, my sister, Giles and to destroy whole earth the TRUTH about what she did and how to fix it."
"Dawn, I ..."
"I decided for the latter. Are you coming or staying?"
---
"Dawnie, how nice of you to visit me. Did you tend the flowers? The garden needs a lot of work this time of year, and you know how much Tara likes the flowers. Did she come with you?" A voice came from the dark corner in the room, a voice Dawn usually only heard in her nightmares.
Dawn swallowed hard, then entered the room. This all seemed much more
easy when she decided to do it in the living room of the Summers house.
Now that she was here, her resolve began to crumble.
"Willow. I need to talk to you about what you did. To Giles." Her voice betrayed her feelings, breaking lightly.
"Giles? Did I yell at him or something? You know I forget things,
Dawnie, I forget so much. Is Giles here? I will apologize to him." The
voice from the darkness answered. Some movement in the shadows pointed
Dawn to where Willow was cowered.
"No, Willow. Giles is not here. Please try to concentrate. Giles is not well, he is in the hospital. Do you understand me?"
"Giles is not well? Does he have the flu? People get a lot of spring flu. Why would he go to the hospital because he has the flu?"
"Giles doesn't have the flu. He's really sick. He could die. But you
can help him, Willow. You just have to concentrate, to remember.
Please." The young woman's voice shaked, her hopes growing smaller by
the minute. It had been a while since she saw Willow, but she didn't
recall it being this bad.
"Nonsense, Dawnie. Giles can't die, he's a librarian. Did Tara bring me flowers?"
"Willow, FOCUS!" Dawn started yelling. Tara is DEAD. Giles is going to die, but you can stop it. Help me, Willow, don't let him die!"
Willow crawled out of the shadows in the far corner of the padded cell,
looking confused for a moment, then looking back up at Dawn. "You just
say that because you forgot to water the flowers, and they died. Just
ask Tara to get some fresh ones for you. Did Tara come with you?"
---
"Shhh, shhh." Xander hugged the tall brunette that had curled up in his
arms, sobbing silently. "Willow is not going to be able to help us.
It's not your fault. We knew it was a long shot at best." He didn't add
that it was clear from the beginning that coming here was a mistake.
Right now, the woman that had always been like a kid sister to him
didn't need to hear this.
"But what can we do? We can't just let Giles rot there waiting to die"
She sobbed harder.
"I don't think there is any way to reach Willow, Dawn. I don't think
she could do the magic if she wanted to and was lucid long enough. I
don't think ..." He interrupted himself, noticing that he was
babbleing. "I think there is just too big of a piece missing from her"
He gently stroked Dawns hair, trying to calm her down, when she
suddenly tensed. "Dawn?"
"My god. Alexander Harris, you are a genious!" She jumped to her feet,
kissing him on his cheek, then speeding out of the Sunnydale Mental
Hospital.
"I suppose I am." He smiled confused, then followed her.
He had barely time to jump in the passanger seat of his car, before Dawn drove off towards their home. After he put on his seatbelt, he turned towards Dawn.
"Ok, Dawnmeister, two things. A), slow down, it's not going to do anyone any good if you kill us on the road. B), whats the good news that I seem to be oblivious to?"
Slowing down considerably, Dawn chuckled lightly. "What you said was completely right. I know why Willow isn't getting any better, why she is like this. When the magic left her, it took something with it. Just like you said. A piece of her is missing."
"OK, not quite following here. Why are we all excited about that?"
"Because, Xander. I believe there is a way to follow the magic, to find the place where it went. To get the missing piece back. To make Willow whole again, and able to cure Giles." Dawn explained excitedly.
"You mean you can cure Willow and Giles? And you just thought of that?"
"No, doofus, you did. I just have the knowledge about how to do it. Or rather, I know where to find it."
"But ... if you want to follow the path her magic went ... isn't that,
you know, dangerous?"
---
"It's too dangerous, Dawn."
"For any of us, Buffy. You could do it. Your slayer essence will keep
you anchored to this world. You could go there and find your way back"
Dawn was growing annoyed by her sister's refusal to even consider her
plan.
"And what happens if I say no?" Buffy challenged. She had already made up her mind, but she wanted to know the stakes, and she knew she wouldn't get it out of her sister if she didn't pretend that she had to be convinced.
"Then I will go."
"But Dawn, you said Buffy could only do it because she's a slayer. You aren't." Xander pointed out the obvious flaw.
"I said being the slayer would allow her to find her way back. Her slayer essence is rooted to this world, so it would stay here, and be a beacon for her, marking the right path."
"So, if you were to do it, you couldn't find your way back? You would have to stay there?"
"Well, there would still be a chance for me to find my way back. A really small chance though. But I will do it, if I have to, because it's the only way to help Giles."
Buffy stood up, letting her facade drop and pulled Dawn into a hug.
"I'm proud of you, little sis. Mom would be, too. Explain me what I have to do."
---
"Are you sure we shouldn't call the coven, ask them to send us a witch,
to do the spell?" Buffy was nervous, after the last year she knew how
much really could go wrong with magic. Giles, of course, had been
warning them all, especially Willow, for years, but seeing it first
hand had made it much more real.
"No, it's so simple that anyone could do it. I already called Sue from the coven and let her go over the spell to make sure. It's just ingredients and words, no brainy focussing or concentrating or stuff like that needed." Dawn calmed her sister down, for the fourth time this day.
"Good thing Anya still had all this junk lying around at the ruins of the magic box. Probably would have taken us forever to dig half of the things up elsewhere."
"It's mostly just standard stuff. Magic standard, I mean."
Buffy went through the list, comparing it to the things on the table.
"Five rat tails. Ten frog eyes. Yuck! Why can't spells ever ask for
something less icky and more nice? And also, more available in the
typical household. Some oregano, perhaps, or vanilla. At least those
smell good."
"Yeah, and you would risk raising zombies or transforming your children into demon toads each time you cooked dinner." Dawn mocked her sister.
"Ok, all the gross stuff checks out fine. What else is there to know before we get this show on the road?"
"Well, theres some painting on the floor, and don't worry, it comes out
if you wash it with vinegar." The tall brunette interjected the last
part as her sister was about to interrupt her. "Also some spell words,
I marked yours in yellow, but we can go over them again before we do
this. There is one more thing, though."
"And you waited to tell me this until now. Makes me think it's something I'm not going to like." Buffy was suddenly careful, realizing that her sister got her into a position where she couldn't easily back off if it was something she didn't like.
"Well, you know I told you that the spell would take a long time to
work. You would be in a trance for a few days, maybe up to week, while
searching for Willows missing piece." Buffy nodded for her to go on.
"Well, while you are in trance, there is a magical link between your
body and your spirit."
"So?" Buffy asked, not understanding. "Isn't that a good thing? I mean,
that's what will help me find my way back, right?"
"Yeah. But it's also, uh, visible, to supernatural beings at least"
Dawn tried to avoid her sisters stare.
"Still not seeing the big issue here. Just spit it out already."
"It means that vampires, demons and whatnot can ... could see it from the outside. Not from far, just from, you know, down the street perhaps."
"So the casa del Summer would become a demon magnet. Our own little hellmouth?"
"No, nothing that bad. I mean, we live in Sunnydale, but how many demons walk around our front porch? And most demons know where you live and to stay clear anyways." Dawn tried to downplay the issue.
"I see. And who's going to protect you, while I'm zoned out? And, for that matter, who's going to protect ME?"
"Already thought of that." Dawn said smugly, reaching for the phone and punching in a number, then handing the phone to Buffy.
"No one is at the office right now, so please leave us your number and a message, and Angel Investigations will call you back as soon as possible."