Title: Demons from the past
Rating:PG-13
Disclaimer:Not smart enough, or enough money so it ain't mine. DAMN YOU WHEDON!
Summary: My first real sequel, all others have been fakes, kind of an AU of S7 so a bit more original than most.
The battleground. Unimaginable horrors, carcasses, mangled and unrecognizable to the human eye, were strewn across every surface. The silence permeating the air was that of the aftermath of a frenzy. None were spared, not even the box of baking soda.
The kitchen was a mess to say the least . But that was to be expected with more than twenty people living under the same roof. Even though there were five hotels in Sunnydale, and four motels on the edge of town, none of them could be used during the current state of things. Of course the current state of what had once been a kitchen wasn't much better.
Setting her forearm down at one end of the island counter, Willow tiredly swept the day's trash into one of the hefty bags she had snagged on a outing to the store. Cleaning the breakfast remains of more than a dozen ravenous teenage girls was exactly what Willow to be considered the seventh circle of hell. The eigth being the bathroom.
A fairly large group of watchers and potentials had arrived three days ago, hungry and looking for a place to sleep. At any other time the Sunnydale inn would have been sufficient, but with the Followers making almost nightly strikes, this was the safest place. As people started piling in however, Willow couldn't shake the thought that they were the Texans and this was the Alamo. And everyone knew how well that turned out...well except for Chao Anh, and all the British potentials.
As Willow took the garbage bags, now three full loads, out to the trashcans, an interesting thought occurred to her. Would the situation become so bad that the citizens would no longer be able to ignore the underbelly of Sunnydale. With the attacks becoming increasingly frequent it didn't seem likely, but this place had a astonishing record for denial. The followers had become more and more bold, and time was quickly running out. They would call it desperation if any of them believed the Followers could feel such a thing.
As it stood, the situation was starting to go bad for the potentials. the strikes were hitting everywhere they went, and until today they were all done under cover of night. This morning, on the way to the wood shop, four demons and two bringers had attacked Xander and his group. Luckily Faith was nearby and was able to speed the dispatching of their foes. Willow smirked at the thought of the show it must have been for all the people at the lumberyard
The Potentials were forced to patrol out at night, because if they stayed the Bringers would be attack house. It was too dangerous to be caught in a corner with nowhere to run. They had learned the hard way when a watcher and two potentials were critically injured during an attack on the house by assorted nasties.
So following that near fatal lesson a group of assorted Scoobies and the bulk of the potentials, led by a slayer, would patrol each night to meet whatever the enemy had in store. As a result each potential had field time, and each of them had fought and killed. Rona, Kennedy and Chao Anh were the most seasoned potentials, and were consequently named unofficial squad leaders, in charge of training instruction, and with helping the Scoobies while out on patrols. With the increased training and field time, the potentials were quickly becoming the army Buffy had declared them a week and a half ago. It was amazing how much had changed in just two weeks. Hell even the school principle was helping out.
One of the many downsides to the nightly patrol was the mark left on each potential. Rona especially. Her watcher Davis had taken a bringer knife to the gut and had slowly bled to death in Rona's arms. A deep sadness tightened Willow's chest when she remembered the times she had seen the same look in her friends' faces, after Jesse had died, Miss Calender, Tara. Using training as a way to cope, Rona had become eerily single-minded in her mission to be the best soldier she could possibly be.
Death affected each potential to varying degrees over the weeks of training. Sometimes one would arrive without a watcher, shaking because she had to see her mentor die, or her new friends fight and nearly meet the same fate. But it wasn't just the potentials; the watchers hadn't escaped unscathed. Winthrope almost had a complete breakdown when Alice's neck was broken when fighting in a battle. He eventually recovered, but forever altered.
In the last two weeks Buffy's army had lost four people, and the scoobies themselves remained somber, having been put on grave detail.
On a happier note Xander and Anya had stopped trying to kill each other. They had bonded after a fashion, remembering why they had fallen for each other in the first place. Willow had even caught a few moon eyes being shot across the dinner table. Which is a change from death glances, which was the standard for awhile.
Of all of them, Buffy had changed the most outwardly, so much that the witch almost didn't recognize her high school best friend. The slayer had grown hard, and cold, refusing to let anyone in, even her friends. She would give orders, and occasionally have a short conversation with Dawn, but that was the extent. Whenever Buffy spoke, Willow could tell the icy exterior was only a shell, trying to protect what was happening inside. Almost as if diving into the role of general would make her forget the pain. The pain coming from whatever had transpired with Slice-n-dice.
Slice-n-Dice
There was one thing that had remained unchanged. After recovering from the battle, and getting similar duds to replace what little was left of what Willow had found on the basement floor. The altered vampire came every night to receive instructions, and then left, unseen until the next night. The witch heard the pain in Buffy's voice when giving his instructions. The hurt was there, buried under the expressionless face.
The most recent major change occurred with Dawn. The Scoobies had found out that there was a potential in sunnydale and preformed a spell to identify the unfound slayer-to-be. Unfortunately the spell led them to believe Dawn to be the unknown potential. The Scoobies quickly discovered their mistake, but by the look on Dawns face the damage had already been done.
Speaking of...
Willow's train of thought was interrupted when she spotted the younger Summers sitting on the couch. Reading one of the fifty odd stuffy old books that the watchers had managed to smuggle with them. Willow could tell that Dawn wasn't actually paying attention to what she was reading, Since the book was about the mating rituals of Chaos demons.
"Hey Dawnie, what ya doin?'
Dawn looked startled for a moment before focusing in on the redhead.
"Oh you know, reading up on..."
The disgusted face she made pulled a smile out of the weary witch. Snapping the book closed she dropped in on the newly repaired coffee table.
"You know this would work better if I actually knew what I was not reading."
Willow slowly walked to the couch, and let herself fall into the soft cushions beside Dawn.
"Yeah I usually do a quick check at the title. Also it helps if the book isn't upside down."
Dawn winced at the obviousness of her facade and what she considered her own lame attempt to cover it up.
"That noticeable huh?"
Willow shook her head at the younger Scoobies chagrined face.
"Not really, I think everybody's kinda preoccupied with the whole big-bad right now, besides I just happen to have experience with the whole personal turmoil thing, you might say it's my cup of tea."
"There's enough of that going around that I think we're all kinda stuck in our own heads."
"Too bad we can't go to the mall and shop off some steam. It might be good just to lighten the load up in the ol-brain cavity."
Nodding simultaneously at the words of wisdom. They lost themselves own memories of better times. Unfortunately memories of better times inevitably led to memories of not so better times, making Willow grimace slightly. Realizing who they were sitting next to, they both wished for a blessed moment from the time before, when things were good between them. Taking the initiative for the moment willow summoned up the bravery that seemed on short supply lately. Opening her mouth willow…
"So, are you sleeping with any of the girls?"
The abrupt and arbitrary nature of Dawn's question caught Willow off guard, and, for a moment, she had to actually check to see if she'd heard right.
"What? No…where did you…I mean there was…wait, what?"
Dawns face was the perfect indication that the witch had taken the phrase the wrong way. The younger woman chuckled at Willows less than coherent attempt to deny what had been so obviously been building between the redhead and Kennedy.
"Um, actually I meant that right now I'm sharing my room with three other people. Which may have been cool back when I was seven, but with the whole demon horde trying to kill us and when two of them snore, it isn't of the wonderful. I was just…wondering if you had something similar."
Willow realized how much she had given away by her stumbling denial. She gave up with a sigh and settled back down into the cushions, muttering an embarrassed apology. But Dawn didn't seemed at all phased. There was silence for a moment before the younger woman tried again.
" So you and Kennedy are…?"
The rising blush in the witch's face was a much better answer than the one she attempted to give.
"Kinda, I mean, nothing really serious, my stomach does this funny flippy thing when I'm around her. Which is great, what with the flippy stuff, but... It's hard, 'cause when I'm around her I feel things that I hadn't thought I could anymore. Like those things were dead cause... It feels like it's too soon, you know? I can still feel it, where she was, inside me, the place she used to be. And I feel like if I let someone else fill that spot, then I'd be letting her go. I'm not sure I want to do that right now."
Neither of them needed a name to know who they were talking about. In all the time since Willow had returned no one had once uttered Tara's name. The omission had become a habit with the Scoobies. Almost as if one slip would send her off the deep end. Of course that wasn't surprising considering what would happen when the red head slipped. Willow was slightly startled to see the look of kindness on Dawns face.
"I get it, and you know I would be full supporto friend right now. that would be if there wasn't an impending apocolypse on our asses right now. And before you say it, I know, language. But I figure that none of us have time to not be ready. I mean we have a bunch bad things trying to slit our throats and tomorrow may be the only time we have left to spend with each other. So there's no time to waste. Carpe Diem, which I think means seize the fish. I suck at Latin."
The redhead smiled at the words. For a moment she was amazed and wondered how she could have possibly missed getting to see the Dawnie grow into the person she was now. Willows memory flashed to the fact the adoptive sister in front of her might've not even been there because of the dark magics she had invoked. Taking the a deep breath Willow did something that had been put off for way too long.
"Dawnie. I know that I don't really deserve, you know, forgiveness. But, I want you to know I'm really sorry, for…everything. Everything I said, everything I did. And for everything I didn't do."
Dawn obviously hadn't been expecting the apology, and the comfortable nature of their conversation had vanished in an instant. The anxiety nearly throbbed audibly with the beating of the redheads heart. In the same instant, it was released when the brunette beside her lifted the corner of her mouth in a half smile.
"I know, and we're good. I figure we're even since you saved me after the whole energy sucking thing in crypt."
Willow began to feel some of the old anxiety creep back at the obvious omission. There was another name that was never mentioned.
"Are you still mad at him?"
It was a meek question if there ever was one, but at the moment the redhead didn't have the courage to make her voice stronger.
"You only threatened to kill me…and I'm still a little mad at you."
Willow nodded, at the same time using her hair to hide her stricken expression.
"I died, he killed me. But he did it to save us all…and now he comes here every night to make sure none of us die. I don't know how I feel about the whole thing. I guess it doesn't really matter Anymore."
The witch felt a mild surprise at the anger rising behind her eyes, the dismissive attitude. But before she could say anything, Buffy strolled into the living room.
"No it doesn't Dawn. It doesn't matter if you forgive him, because he wouldn't care. Spike suffered for everything he's ever done, he's paid his bill, with interest. And whether or not you forgive him doesn't matter. Even if you decided to forgive him, it wouldn't change anything, because he wouldn't forgive you."
That snapped both the stunned witch and key from their shocked paralysis. Dawn sat up immediately to defend herself.
" Forgive me! I've never killed anybody! I never tried to rape anyone, or rip anyone apart! I've never sucked the life from someone while they were chained to the wall! I...I didn't leave."
Willow could tell buffy heard Dawn's voice catch when a particularly painful cord was struck. But with barely a pause the young Summer's anger was back in full force.
"I didn't do any of that he did! And now he's here. He gets to live. Why him? Why not mom, or Tara? Why does he get to live while everyone who deserves it dies!"
The knot in Willow's heart tightened a bit further at the mention of her dead lover's name. She could understand the resentment, but what Dawn had yet to realize was that there were things worse than death. The witch had recently come to realize that living was often worse that being dead. Oblivious to Willow's hurt, Dawn was shouting with the tears slipping down her face now the perfect picture of anger and pain.
"He doesn't deserve any of it! Especially being forgiven."
The quiet finish to the tirade was like a coffin softly closing. To Willow's surprise however, Buffy remained expressionless. Whispering, the witch spoke.
"When has whether or not they deserve forgiveness ever gone into whether of not they're actually forgiven?"
From the quick turn of Dawn's head, Willow knew that the young Summers had forgotten about her presence. And, to her small satisfaction, the redhead could tell her words had broken through. What did a person who flayed a person alive deserve? Someone who threatened all there friends? Who almost murdered her best friend? What did she deserve? The silence was once again cut short by Buffy's determined voice.
"We forgive because we love and care about each other. Not because we deserve it, or that we for some reason think we deserve it. We do it because we need to be who we are. Sometimes, that's hard to face. I've done things that I'm definitely not proud of, but my friends forgive me because to move on, I need it, they need it. Not because I deserve it, not because they think I do. If you really think about it, none of us deserve forgiveness."
Buffy paused, stepping closer to the brunette to emphasize her next few words.
"It doesn't matter if you forgive him, and I guess it really doesn't matter if he forgives you. But you need to make sure that you're angry for the right reasons, and that you forgive for the right reasons too."
Dawn's eyes had dropped to her lap awhile back, unable to meet her sister's level gaze. Neither the slayer or the witch could tell if the words had any affect, but before they could press on the phone rang.
To everyone's surprise, it was a message from a priest.
A/N: It's been awhile, but I've been busy so get over it. Anywho I hope you all like this chapter, I spent a good week on it. Thank you's to my friend braydie for Beta'ing this, best feedback I've had in awhile.
Speaking of feedback I encourage all who read this to review. Really don't know when the next chapter will be, but I'm working on it.
