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TITLE: Soul Seeking Part 2
SERIES: Casualties
AUTHOR: Peter J. Frigate
EMAIL: thetwis...gmx.de (thats my 'mostly spam' email, so I might miss your mail, if you want my personal email, just ask me)
FEEDBACK: Yes, please. Public, private, constructive, negative, I don't care. I don't even mind flames.
ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: I post the chapters on the Buffy newsgroup, and usually a bit later on If you want to put my stuff on your page, I'll probably hug and kiss you, but you still have to ask first. I like to keep track of where my things go. In return, I'll offer to mail you any new chapters/stories or corrections.
TIMEFRAME: After the end of Season Six
'PREVIOUSLY ON': After being drained by Willow, Giles is in the
hospital's ICU, his body unable to function on it's own. Dawn figured
out the reason, Willow took more than the magic, she took Giles'
lifeforce. And she's the only one who can return it. The only problem:
when Willow let go of the magic, a part of her was lost as well. She is
currently in a mental institution, being unable to hold any thought for
more than a few seconds. Dawn has found a spell to restore her, and
convinced her sister to perform it. A call to Angel to come and protect
Buffy's body left them stranded with Spike. Not having any other
choice, they have decided to go through with the spell.
Part 6 - Soul Seeking Part 2
"Now, now, big girl. You won't pass me as easily as you passed the others." Buffy hesitated for a second, then, as she recognized the voice, tryingd to control herself. She had been afraid of meeting some of her previous adversaries, preparing herself to face Glory, Adam or the Mayor. She should have expected this, but she didn't.
"Warren." She fought hard to control her urge to just lash out at the darkness that surrounded her. "How DARE you be here?"
"Well, that would be obvious, wouldn't it, bitch?" The voice mocked
her. "You could never beat me in your reality, what makes you think you
could get past me here?" He laughed, then continued. "Self defense,
humblety, none of your pathetic moral values apply to my death. How
could you possibly justify what Willow did to me?"
"Let me pass!" Buffy shouted desperatly. Out of all the foes she faced,
this was the one that really managed to hurt her and her own.
"You can not get past me like this. Turn around now or face the challenge." The voice of Warren sounded like a mock, suggesting that she could never face him and win.
"What's your challenge? Didn't you cause enough damage while you were alive? I'll answer any question you have, but you'll have to let me pass!" Angel's voice had caused her to shed some tears, but now she was crying. She had lost people before, but never like Tara, never on the sideline, without the adversary even knowing what he did. And never someone this close to her heart.
"You already know, little girl. You can only pass if you have a viable reason. Which you don't have."
"Yes, I do. Willow killed you because you killed Tara. That is reason enough. Vigilante justice might not be perfect, but sometimes, it's the only choice. It was the right thing to do. The only thing I regret about it at all is that Willow had to be the one to do it. The only reason we have judges is because people don't want to be the ones that make those decisions. That doesn't mean that if they do they are wrong."
She swallowed hard, then continued, interrupting the voice of Warren
that was about to say something. "But that is not why Willow did what
she did. She did it out of revenge. She did it because you were a rabid
dog that needed to be put down, and she knew it. If it had been
anything other than that, she would have killed someone besides you.
And she could have. She could have easily killed Giles, Anya, me, Dawn
or Xander. Or those two other idiots. But she didn't."
"So she acted out of revenge. That is not good enough of a reason,
bitch. You can not pass."
"Yes, I can. Her motivation might have been revenge, but she served
justice. If I hadn't had to be the one to do the 'right' things, I
would have been the one breaking your neck. I stand by what she did.
Now let me pass." Her voice was confident, even though inside she was
afraid of what might happen next. Dawn couldn't tell her about this
part of her journey, as there were no recounts from other people to
rely on, but somehow deep inside her she realized that she was in
dangerous territory now. Earlier she could justify Willow's actions
through moral values, but this was different. Something told her that
if what she said wasn't accepted, there could be much worse
consequences than her being unable to pass.
"You play a dangerous game, sugar. You may pass on the notion that
sometimes actions that are considered wrong are needed." With that,
Buffy felt the presence disappear.
---
"I can't take the bloody lot of them!" Spike yelled, knocking down one of the attackers. It had been quiet at the Summers house after Spike's explanation the day before. Anya finally went out to enact some 'justice' on a cheating husband, not being able to stand the silence anymore. But half an hour later, a group of reddish demons with little horns had assaulted the three remaining defenders. Spike had managed to kill three of them in the first few moments, and Xander and Dawn each successfully decapitated one of the demons that suspiciously resembled ancient drawings of the devil. But more of them rushed through the windows and threatened to overwhelm Spike and the others.
"Xander, can you get to the phone and call Anya if we cover you?" Dawn managed to blurt out while dodging a particulary big but luckily slow demon.
"No, it's smashed. A demon fell on it!" He cursed his inability to fight better. He managed to deflect the blows of his opponent, but he was clearly far away from attacking it.
"Oh, I know how get her here!" Dawn shouted. "I'M SO ANGRY AT SPIKE FOR WHAT HE DID, I WISH ..." She looked at the ceiling for a moment.
"Why didn't you just call?" With an audible 'woosh' Anya appeared in the middle of the fight. "Oh my." She looked around, taking the situation in. She was still trying to assess who needed her assistance most as one of the red demon's walked up to her and backhanded her against the wall, where she slumped down to the floor.
"Much good this done us, little bit. Now we got one more unconcious body lying around to trip over." Spike complained, throwing one of the demons into another, sending both of them down. He sharply inhaled as he saw three demons ganging up on Dawn, clearly more than she was being able to handle. He was just about to run over to her as he heard a distorted dark voice.
"Hasn't anybody ever taught you not to hit a lady?" The blonde woman got up from the floor, her face looking like a mixture of third degree burns and the victim of a painball match. She stepped next to Dawn and hit the demon that earlier knocked her out with a right hook.
Spike, Xander and Dawn had been aware that Anya had increased strength
in her demon form, but they had not yet seen her fight. She had been
hesitant to put on her 'game face' and preferred to just swing a large
axe so far. None of them was prepared for the effect her hit had on the
reddish demon. If they hadn't been fighting for their lives themself,
they would have stood there open mounded in shock, as the demon was
sent flying through the room, literally crashing through the massive
outer wall, leaving a demon sized hole.
"You really should think twice about it next time." She added, grabbing the head of another demon and twisting it clean off.
---
"Hi, Buffy." The voice said.
"Dawn?" Buffy looked around confused. "Didn't you say you couldn't talk to me until I was back?"
"I'm a different Dawn. I'm the Dawn that Willow was about to turn back into a green energy ball." The voice said coldly. "I'm the last guardian."
"So if I pass you, I can go to where Willow's missing piece is?" Buffy tried to clarify.
"Yes. But you have to have a reason why Willow would intentionally hurt someone she loved. Why she hurt me, your own sister. Why you can forgive something that not even your own real sister can forgive."
"You certainly don't make it easy." Buffy said silently, trying to think. "How much time to I have to answer?"
"As much time as you need. You can turn around whenever you want, or stay here as long as you want. But I can not let you pass."
"You aren't really Dawn, are you?" Buffy asked, finally realizing that her previous encounters might have shared the persons way to speak, but not their intentions.
"No. We are just guardians of a realm where no living being is supposed
to travel. We represent different aspects of your friends history"
Dawn's voice explained. "But this knowledge will not get you further.
We can not let you pass unless you give us a valid reason."
"Would it help if I told you that my real sister sent me here?" Buffy asked hopefully.
"No. The real Dawn sent you here only to save your friend Rupert Giles.
She does not care about Willow, and she would rather see her dead. This
reason is not good enough to let you pass." The voice replied coldly.
"It wasn't Willow that tried to hurt you. It was the black magic"
Buffy tried to reason.
"Not good enough. The magic just made it easier for Willow to act on her dark emotions. It was still her that made the decisions." The voice made it more than clear that this was not the way. "If you have no better answer, you might as well turn back and go home.
---
It took less than half a minute for Anya to mow through the rest of the
attackers, leaving their bodies behind her in a bloody wake. After she
rammed the last demons fast into the floor, leaving a two-inch hole,
she turned back to her friends.
"That was ... wow." Dawn said, completely in awe over the carnage her friend caused among the demons withing those few seconds. "I didn't know you could do that."
"That's because I didn't try before now. I wasn't even sure it still worked." Anya's face turned back into her normal self and she broke to her knees, panting hard.
Xander rushed to her side with a worried expression. "An, are you alright?"
"No, you troglodyte. I'm strong, not invulnerable!" She coughed, then held up both of her hands. "There's a reason why I don't like doing this. My body is not supposed to ram into strong things with the speed and power of a small truck. I think I broke a bunch of bones in both my hands."
"What ... how ... what?" His voice was deep with concern, even though he didn't managed to get out more than the few words.
"My body wasn't built for this kind of strength. I broke my hands when I hit those critters. It's like using a wooden bat instead of a sledgehammer. Now go and call me an ambulance. I need medical assistance."
---
"Dawn?" The weak voice sounded through the sunlit room, instantly waking the tall teenager that curled up with a blanket in the corner.
"Buffy, are you alright? Did it work?" Dawn rushed over and hugged her sister who groggily tried to sit up. Willow was still out, although now breathing at a normal rythm, so clearly not in stasis anymore.
"I don't think there's an easy answer to that." Buffy shook her head.
"I think I really need a black coffee now, and maybe that psychiatrist
that the council wanted to send over."
"Oh Buffster, you really have awesome timing." Xander rose from his makeshift bed in another corner. "We couldn't have survived another night. You were gone for almost nine days."
---
Sitting on the couch, Buffy carefully sipped the hot, black coffee.
"So, I assume from the obvious lack of peroxide that you sent Spiek
packing already?"
"Uh, not exactly, he ..." Xander started, but was interrupted by Dawn.
"He's none of your concern right now." She looked at her sister curiously who was unconciously running her hand through sleeping Willows hair. "So come on, tell us. Did you get what you were looking for? Did you get Willows missing piece?"
"I'm not sure. I can't remember everything too clearly. But I think I
might have gotten more than I've bargained for." Buffy answered,
looking into the black depths of her coffee. "It was weird there. But
I'm pretty certain I got what Willow needs." She lovingly looked down
on the sleeping redhead. "Rest a little bit, Willow. We'll make you
whole again soon."
For a moment, Buffy seemed to forget everyone else in the room.
"Don't you worry. I'll always find you, sweetie."
---
Author's notes:
Man, if you thought that me having exams slowed me down, you are so wrong. Not having the time to write pretty much leaves you with dozens of ideas you want to put in. So don't worry, I still got a lot of aces up my sleeves. If you read any chapter that does not at one point surprise you, let me know.
Since some people asked, yes, I am adapting some ideas from other writers. As someone once said, "Imitation is the most honest form of appraisal" (thats translated literally from german, I'm sure there's an english saying similar to this one). I have read a lot of great fan fiction, and I realized that the reason anyone writes fan fiction is because one sees great ideas that don't spin out quite as one expected or wanted. The idea of Willow being that sick, for example, was directly taken from Kath's and Beth's (the Rainbowwriters) Season Seven (Gift Of Sorrow, Part 1 to be exact) and their equally brilliant piece "Witness". Both storylines take a very different path than I took, but they are essentially the reason I focussed on the idea.
To answer another question: I had no plans on any specific pairing (such as Buffy/Spike, Buffy/Angel, Buffy/Riley, Buffy/TI, etc). I still don't have any. I'm just watching as it goes. Obviously, there will be a connection between Buffy and Angel once she recovered to confront him with sending the guy who tried to rape her to protect her. Spike is either still there or dead. Riley is always an unknown number. I don't really know jack about TI, so who knows if I'll put him in or not. In other words, I have absolutely no concrete plans at all.
And to answer the last question, will Xander and Anya get back together ? If you have to ask that, you didn't ready my stories. They even got back together in the official season seven, for crying out loud. I'll certainly not make it easy, but I've always expected them to get together, and if it in any way fits my storyline, they will.
ps.: I'm going to ignore the whole Halfrek/Cecily aspect. It was never made clear enough for me to care much about it.