Chapter 7
Day 30
Spike couldn't believe it had been one month already. He couldn't believe it had been thirty days since he had last laid eyes on the woman he loved. This past month had been the hardest of his life and every second he was desperately missing Buffy. He knew she didn't care for him, but it wasn't about that. It was about him being able to at least see her. Even if their interactions were violent or rude, he was still able to lay eyes on her. He was still able to see that she was alive and unharmed. But now she was gone and he could never see her again. When his time came he was going to Hell, he was never going to get to see her. She would be up on her cloud and spending all eternity with her loved ones. He was never going to see her again and that realistation hurt Spike deeply.
Buffy looked around at everyone that had gathered around her grave for the one month anniversary of her death. She wasn't surprised to see Spike and Dawn and Tara, but she was surprised to see that Der, Damon, Jackson and their family were also there with them as well. They were all holding candles and being supportive of Spike and Dawn. It warmed Buffy's heart to see them there for Dawn. It should have bothered her that demons were involved in her sister's life, but they all seemed like good people and they clearly cared for Dawn. They cared for Spike and they all knew how much he loved her so they had adopted Dawn into their misfit family.
What pissed Buffy off though was not seeing Xander, Anya or Willow here. She knew Giles wouldn't be here and she didn't want Angel here. Not after what he had done to Spike. She wasn't ready to see him and she didn't know if she would ever be ready for it. What he had done to Spike was disgusting and unspeakable. There was no forgiving him for it. Buffy was very pissed though that two of her closest friends weren't here for this. Yes, she was dead, but still they could have come for her one-month anniversary. If not for Dawn, but for her. All of the times they had fought beside each other, all the apocalypsis they stopped. After all of the sacrifices she had personally made to keep them safe, they could have at least bothered to show up and hold a candle. She didn't understand what was going on with them. Why they wouldn't be here, why they weren't around Dawn and being there for her? None of this was making any sense to her and it was only fueling her anger at them. She understood that people grieve differently, but this didn't feel like grief, it felt like a slap to her face.
"Are you alright young slayer?" Jackson asked telepathically.
"Yes and no. This whole dead thing is still weird to me. I keep wanting to touch Dawnie or tell them something and they can't hear or see me. I still don't get why I'm attached to Spike out of all the people in the world. And I'm pissed that my two closest friends aren't even here. I know I'm dead and there's nothing they could do to bring me back and all of that, but I would have figured the one-month anniversary of my death would mean something to them."
"I'm sorry they are not here. I cannot speak for them, but perhaps they have something planned that you are not able to see. It is possible they came during the day. You are only privy to see what Spike does and unfortunately he cannot be out during the day. Your friends could be doing things that Spike isn't there for."
"Ya I get that, but when Spike is around, they don't seem to be. And when Dawnie talks about them to him, she always tells him how they aren't around. I just don't get what could be so important to them that they wouldn't even take the time to drop in and see Dawnie. Willow hasn't even moved into the new house yet. I just don't get it."
"Everyone grieves in their own way. Perhaps they just need a bit more time to adjust to all of the changes. To deal with their grief. The community will be there for your sister and Spike will always be there for her. Tara seems like a nice woman, open minded and friendly. I am sure in time your best friends will adjust and come around."
Buffy was really hoping that they would come around, but she wasn't confident that they would. It had already been a month, shouldn't they have already come around by now? Buffy looked over at Dawn and saw that Spike had his arm around her, trying to offer her comfort as her tears silently fell. Buffy hated that she couldn't reach out and hug Dawn. She hated that she had brought this pain to her sister, but she wouldn't change the outcome. She wasn't going to allow Dawn to be the one that died that night. She was the Slayer, but she was also the older sister. It was on her to protect Dawn and she would willingly and gladly die again to ensure Dawn was safe. Buffy was just hoping that it would get easier on the both of them. That Dawn would be able to move on and find happiness and live her life to the best of her ability. Buffy was even hoping that Spike would be able to as well. That one day he would find someone else to fall in love with and get to spend whatever time he had left on this earth with her. The first month was the hardest, but she was hoping it would get easier for them both, for all of them.
Day 45
Spike made his way to Der's house once again. He had been going through the books that were left at Giles' place. He wanted to make sure there were no surprises that could come up with Dawn. He was worried that there might be more to Dawn's abilities and not just that she opened a portal to the one Hell dimension that Glory needed to open to get home. Most of the books were in a different language, some of which he knew, but others he had to research so he could translate them. He had found a few things that he wanted to discuss with them, especially with Damon. Damon had been around longer than any of them and he might have some insights into the information that he had found.
"You come here a lot." Buffy commented, as she sat there in his passenger seat.
Buffy had been watching as Spike had gone through different books for the past few weeks. He had been doing it during the little free time he has had. She could see that he was tired. He was working a lot. He worked all night and then during the day he was helping with getting Dawn to school and then trying to get a bit of sleep before Dawn got home from school so he could be there to help her with homework and make dinner. He was barely sleeping and Buffy was getting worried about him. He looked tired and rundown all the time and she hated that she couldn't be there to help him. He was patrolling and taking care of Dawn basically all on his own. She was impressed and she was getting annoyed that she couldn't help him. She was annoyed that if she was alive, then her friends would be helping her. Instead they were letting Spike and Tara try and do everything while they weren't even around.
The second Spike parked, he was getting out and making his way into the house. It still amazed Buffy that they didn't lock the door. That seemed crazy to her given all of the demons and vampires there were in town. Spike made his way into the kitchen where he heard voices coming from. Der and Damon were there working on getting dinner ready. Buffy was surprised to see Damon helping to make dinner. She didn't know why, but she didn't figure he would be the cooking type.
"Hey brother. You look like shit." Der commented.
"Love you too." Spike said, sarcastically as he placed the book down on the island countertop.
"Still not sleeping?" Damon asked, as he went over to the fridge to grab some blood for Spike.
"The noise has stopped. I'm sleepin' a couple of hours a night. I don't need much." Spike said with a small shrug.
"You're staying for dinner. I'm making spaghetti. Mel can pick up the girls at school. Dawn could always crash here tonight if you both want too." Der said.
"It's alright with me." Spike said. It was easier if he didn't have to try and figure out dinner. Dawn would also enjoy the night out and away from the house.
"What's the book?" Damon asked, as he handed Spike a mug of warm blood.
"I've been doin' some research on the Key." Spike started.
"Dawn was created by magical green energy. The green energy was used as a key to a Hell dimension to open a portal that a Hell God, Glory, was trying to use to get back to her Hell dimension that she was banished from." Der began to explain to Damon.
"When she arrived in our dimension a bunch of monks did a ritual to turn the Key into a human being and sent it to the Slayer to protect. That was the Bit. They even factory made memories for her whole life and put it in everyone's head. The Watcher and everyone believes that the Bit is deactivated now, but I wasn't too sure on that. Been doing some research and I don't think the Bit is deactivated." Spike finished.
"What makes you say that?" Der asked.
"And what the hell does that mean for her?" Buffy asked.
Once again she really wished that they could hear her. If Jackson had been here then at least he would have been able to hear her. He would have been able to at least voice her questions and maybe even able to answer a few.
"Everything that I have read doesn't say that the Key can be deactivated. Don't know if the Watcher dug deep enough or figured that with Glory gone the Bit didn't matter."
"You said she was made from magical green energy, do we know anything about that energy?" Damon asked.
"It's not really mentioned, but I did find a passage in this book. The energy is ancient, millennia old. Dates back to almost the beginning of time. The energy used to be housed in a special container that blocked the energy's power from gettin' out. Accordin' to the passage, when the energy was out of the container its power was so unstable the veils between dimensions would rip open, allowin' anything to pass through in either direction. A coven got the energy within a container and if the witch was powerful enough to control the energy's power, it could do anything. It could open any portals, absorb magic, and be used to create a force field around the user. There was more that had never been discovered because the container had travelled over the ages and eventually ended up in the hands of this monk colony." Spike said.
"And now it's in Dawn. Dawn's the new container, which means she has all of that power inside of her. And that power is ancient so it would be incredibly strong. There's no telling what she would be capable of." Damon said.
"Power like that, people are going to notice, hear whispers about it. If we get her to a coven and help her figure out how to control it, how to use it, people will discover she has the ability to open any portal to any dimension. Shit, she could go back in time if she had the control and knowledge. Hell Gods, powerful demons, covens, shit everyone could come after her for that ability." Der commented.
"Oh my god." Buffy said, as she started to pace around the kitchen.
This could not be happening. She couldn't believe that Dawn had all of that power inside of her and it was still active. Buffy didn't know why, but she just assumed that once Glory's portal closed then Dawn's powers would go away. It never even occurred to her that she could still have it.
"I'm more worried about the power inside of her. One single drop of the Bit's blood on the right night and it opened a portal to a Hell dimension. There's no tellin' what you could do with a pint of her blood. A black magic witch could destroy the world with it." Spike stated.
"Can we block it?" Der asked.
"If we try to block it then we run the risk of Dawn disappearing. She's alive because of the green energy. No green energy, then it stands to reason she won't exist either. It'll kill her." Damon stated.
"Not happening." Both Spike and Buffy said at the same time with equal amounts of passion.
"Of course it's not, old friend. I am merely stating that if it's syphoned out of her, in theory she would die as well. Just like in theory she's potentially a young god. There's no telling what she could do." Damon said with a warm smile.
"None of this is helping." Buffy said, as she continued to pace around.
She hated that she couldn't be there for Dawn. She hated that she couldn't keep protecting her and making sure she was safe. Especially now that she knew she still had that energy within her. The guys were right, there was no telling who could sniff her out and try and steal it from her. To try and use it.
"You gotta tell Dawn." Der stated.
"I know, but not yet. She's still adjustin' to not having her sister and her mum here. She's adjustin' to her new home and how life is now. She thinks her keyness is gone. She thinks she's normal. I can't take that from her yet." Spike said with worry in his voice.
Spike knew he couldn't keep this from Dawn. He knew she had the right to know about herself and what she was capable of. Eventually she would need to learn how to properly use her powers so she didn't do something that could end the world. He just didn't want to introduce that to her right now. She was finally getting on the right path with her school work and getting used to living her life without her mother and sister. He was going to tell her, but in a few months. He wanted her to enjoy being normal while it lasted.
"You have some time before you have to drop this bombshell on her. It'll give us more time to research and figure out a safe coven that she will be able to learn from. Unless you trust either of the Slayer's witch friends with training her." Damon said.
"Glinda I would trust, but she's an Earth witch, I doubt she would be able to handle the type of power within the Bit. Red is out of the question. She's on the road to being a black witch. That type of power is too dangerous for Red to have. We've all seen what happens when a witch becomes addicted to the magic. That darkness is within Red."
"We're going to need to keep an eye on that witch then. If she discovers the black magic coven in town, we could all be in danger." Der said.
"The what in town?" Buffy asked, shocked.
She had no idea there was even a coven in Sunnydale, let alone one that uses black magic. Buffy didn't know much about magic, but she knew from Giles that black magic was very dangerous and he never wanted Willow to be reading about it or experimenting with it.
"We'll keep an eye on her. For now, we do more research and see if we can gather more information so when you do tell Dawn, you will be able to answer her questions." Damon said.
Spike gave a nod. He knew that they needed more information and he was hoping with having Damon and Der help that they would be finally able to get some. For now, they knew what they needed to do and they were going to make sure that Dawn was protected. Spike wasn't going to allow anything to happen to her, not while he was still on this earth.
