Buffy: War with the Gods

Part 2

The Mortal plane.

"It's a little fork thingie."

"Uhm, yeah, its the trident of Moloch the unmentionable."

"Like, how can he be unmentionable if you just mentioned him?"

"He just is Cordelia, now can we get back to this? We do have an apocalypse to stop you know."

"Yeah, yeah. Another apocalypse, that's all we ever seem to do" Cordelia rolled her eyes as Willow turned the pages of the ancient tome, scanning for weapons that could be of use in the upcoming fight with The Powers That Be.

"How are you doing in here?" Buffy entered from what was left of the hallway. The library had fortunately escaped relatively unscathed in the explosion and chaos of the last couple of days.

"Well, " Willow said looking up from the book, "we have two leads at the moment, Faith and Robin have gone out to try and claim the flame of Kermos, and Spike and Angel have gone to get the spear of Alessandra. Cordy couldn't see either of them when we looked at their pages in the codex, so if our theory is correct, then the Powers don't know they exist, and therefore shouldn't be prepared for them, when the fighting starts." Willow looked pleased. Her smile faded slightly when she looked at Buffy's face though. "What's wrong Buff?"

"Three of the girls have gone home. They're worried about their families, it's happening everywhere now Will. Holy wars are tearing the planet apart. The Dalai Lama has been arrested for firebombing the Chinese emabassy in London. The Vatican army has carried out a religious military coup in Italy. The entire country is under Papal law. We even got a call from our 'Scottish operative' seems some soccer fans have, how did she put it? Thrown the dummy? and started killing each other again, but this time the police are taking sides. She wanted permission to start cracking skulls. I told her OK, just no killing. This thing is bigger than us. We need help."

"Your wish is as ever, my command, my little flower." The voice from behind her startled Buffy, she spun, fist clenched and ready for battle, a well manicured hand caught her fist in mid swing. Once she saw who she was trying to punch, she stopped, and felt her hand placed gently back at her side.

"Karazon, thank you for coming." Buffy smiled and hugged the newcomer. "Will, Cordelia, I'd like to introduce you to, The Eternal. Or Karazon to his friends."

"OK, I've wondered this before about you, but been too polite to ask, what is it with you Summers and your fixation with guys who want to eat you as a post coitus snack?" Cordelia looked genuinely interested in the answer and hung over the arm of the chair awaiting Buffy's reaction.

Buffy just turned away from her and walked out of the room, but never one to miss a parting shot, she added, "This from the woman who tried to get her mitts on my leftovers?" Buffy walked off with the Immortal in tow.

Shock and indignation crossed Cordelia's face, "That's it. I'm out of here. You can find your weapons for the apocalypse on your own Willow. That was the last straw." Cordelia stood up and stalked from the library and literally tripped over Dawn. "Ow. Willow, that wasn't funny."

"Excuse you much." Dawn practically shouted at Cordelia.

Willow ran from the Library, "Dawnie, are you OK?"

"Who're you calling Dawnie? Is that like some kind of lesbian slang?"

"No, Cordelia, I was talking to Dawn. The girl you're currently sitting on top of?"

"Oh great, you've got yourself an invisible girl. Woohoo." Cordelia turned away from Willow and looked almost directly at Dawn, "What happened kid? Did the other slayers ignore you? Did you turn invisible because you felt invisible? Do you have any idea how old that is?"

"I'm not invisible. Willow? Tell her I'm not invisible. I'm not invisible am I Willow, please tell me I'm not."

"Don't worry Dawnie, you're not invisible. Cordelia just can't see you. But why can't she see you?"

"Who are you talking to Willow? Have you gone completely nutso? There's nobody there? Ow"

"Did you feel my fist there Cordy?" Dawn had summoned all of her bile into her comment, even though she had her suspicions that Cordelia wouldn't hear it. It felt good to vent it a bit.

"What's going on out here?" Giles was in the hallway staring at the debacle outside of the library. He was flanked by Buffy and the Immortal.

"Cordelia tripped over me, she says she can't see me. What does that mean Buffy?"

"Cordy. You really can't see Dawn? You can't see my little sister?"

"Are you as nuts as Willow, you don't have a sister."

The realm of light.

"So who are we gonna be meeting at this thing?" Gunn asked Wesley as they walked.

"I honestly don't have a clue. Someone contacted me, and said that something was wrong with the Powers, and that if we wanted to save the world, we had to meet with him."

"But we're dead right? So someone else should be taking care of this Earthside? Right?"

"I'm sure Angel is doing what he can, but even if he gets together with Buffy and her team, do you really think they can take on the army that the Powers seem to be amassing?"

"Point well made Wesley." Wesley spun. They had entered a small wooded oasis. It had sprung up with such speed, he had not even noticed it. Nor had he noticed the man waiting for them.

"Grandfather?" Wesley's tone was hushed and filled with shock and almost delight. "Grampa." Wesley shouted now as he ran towards the man, arms outstretched.

Caught in a sudden bear hug, Johnathan Whyndham Price bore up remarkably well, for someone who appeared to be older than life itself. "Come now Wesley, let Grampa go, I'm not as a-lively as I used to be." The old man started to giggle at his own joke. "Now we have much to discuss."

Wesley drew back from his grandfather, with still a look of dumbfounded awe in his eyes. "Uhm, erm," he stammered, for the first time in years, "these are my friends, Fred, and Gunn."

"So this is Fred, you are so much more lovely in the, if you'll pardon the expression, flesh. And Mr Gunn, you are almost as legendary here as my brave grandson here."

Gunn smiled as he saw Wesley's face turn crimson with embarrasment. Trying desperately to hide the red of his cheeks, Wesley turned away before he spoke. "Your message said that you had information that could save the world?"

"Yes, yes, down to business my boy. Your father tought you that lesson early didn't he. It's just as well that he's lost to us. I would draw my hand across his face for what he's done to you through the years. But enough about him. You, my boy, shouldn't be here!"

The mortal plane

"Burn the witches. Burn them all"

"That is not a good sound to be coming from the front lawn is it?" Buffy moved from the hallway to look out through the small windows at the side of the door. "Oh look, there's a mob out there, and they even have pitchforks and burning sticks. How quaint. Giles, have Hansel and Gretel reappeared and nobody thought to tell me?"

Giles, feeling rather flustered, removed and began cleaning his glasses, "No, definitely not, I think this is rather more likely to be an attack orchestrated by the Powers that Be. They seem to be aggrivating religious intolerance around the world, now they seem to have decided to attack us."

"Great. We're gonna be burned at the stake again Will." Buffy smiled at her friend.

"Yeah, like we didnt' have enough fun the last time it happened." Willow almost laughed at the memory, "just someone remind me, turning myself into a rat, not the best idea in the world."

Now Buffy and Willow did genuinely laugh out loud. Until the first flaming torch came smashing through the window above the door. "I hope they know, this means war." Buffy picked up the torch and opened the door. She hurled the torch back at the crowd. "Will?"

"On it." With a wave of Willows hands the flaming torch suddenly became an enormous blaze of multi-coloured flames, raining down upon the crowd. There were screams of panic, and several members of the crowd started to run. But the main core group stood their ground.

"Witches. For crimes against God, you will burn." They threw their burning torches on the ground, replacing them in their hands were guns of varying sizes, one man even held a flame thrower.

"Ooops." Buffy slammed the door. "Does anyone have a plan B?"

Unnoticed, Dawn had tilted her head to one side, as though listening to a whisper. "It's time honey. Do what you need to."

Under her breath Dawn replied to the voice, "OK mom." She strode purposefully to the door, edging Buffy out of the way. Dawn opened the door and stared at the assembled crowd. "Are you going to leave peacefully, or do you want me to make you go away?"

Buffy grabbed for Dawn's arm, "Close that door Dawnie." A gunshot rang out in the night, Buffy could hear it thud into the doorframe. She tried again to pull her sister back into the relative safety of the hallway. Dawn didn't budge.

"Don't say I didn't give you a chance now." Dawn shouted. There was a flash in her eyes as she spoke. Suddenly the crowd outside were enveloped in a blue energy, they milled around in confusion. "Bye now!" Dawn shouted, as the crowd vanished from sight, just as the blue glow did.

Dawn closed the door, and turned to look at the stunned faces of her Sister and her friends. "What? I am the Key you know."