Complement

by Michele D

This is the first fanfiction I wrote. I began it in 2000 & completed it in 2002. I will mark it complete once all chapters are up. I'll be posting a few chapters at a time. Just a heads up, it is long. Starts in the future that only lives in my head (Prologue). Takes place right before & during Judgment (Part I).

21. XX – As The End Draws Near

XX – As The End Draws Near

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We can see it all from here ~ The starless night across the mountain side ~ No one left to talk to ~ There's nothing left to say ~ Into the valleys ~ The shadow of death ~ Grief's silently across the darkened sea ~ This is it ~ We stand alone ~ You and me ~ We stand alone ~ We can see it all from here ~ Stretched far and wide ~ The barren skies ~ Fighting a silence ~ From deep inside...

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Something was there, murmuring low, softly, almost nonexistent. Like a phantom seen out of the corner of an eye, but gone when the head turned to look. It whispered making no sense, were there words, or just humming? Faintly it called, cajoling, asking, but not pleading, and received no answer.

Steadily it grew, determined, no longer asking, now telling. It climbed, clawed, scraped, pushed, and tugged itself up the slope, towards something that it had known occasionally over time, and had been allowed to live in only recently for a brief but glorious time. By sheer force of will, it worked its way up, growing in volume, becoming coherent, demanding, wanting, needing, loving, repeating itself, and with brutal force it tore through the veil...

'getupgetupgetupgetupgetuPgetUpgeTupGetuPGpgETUpgeTUPgETUPGETUP... GETUPGETUPGETUP... GET UP! GET UP! GET THE FUCK UP! GET THE FUCK UP NOW! NO HIDING! NO RUNNING! NO GIVING UP! NOT NOW! NOT EVER! NOW GET THE FUCK UP! YOU HAVE NOT FAILED! YOU ONLY FAIL IF YOU DON'T EVEN TRY! NOW GET THE FUCK UP! NOW!'

It was screaming, screeching, shrieking, demanding and Faith brought her hands up covering her ears, trying to block out the familiar voice. She shook her head in denial and pressed her hands harder against her ears, but you can't ignore something that lived inside of your head. She did not want to listen to the familiar voice; she just wanted to follow Buffy down into the safety of the abyss. To the place, that Faith had lived for most of her childhood, most of her life. It was safe there, there was no pain, but there was also no joy, no love, no light, only darkness and silence.

'IF YOU FOLLOW YOU CANNOT HELP. THEN YOU WILL HAVE FAILED. FAILED THEM ALL, FAILED YOURSELF. SO GET THE FUCK UP NOW!'

It was the voice, the part of herself that...

...had been kept safely hidden away...

...hidden from the light...

...coming out only when it meant her survival throughout the years...

...that had whispered to her in jail...

...that had conquered and tamed the dark side within her...

...that held her innocence...

...that had kept on hoping throughout the years...

...that remembered how to love...

...was her strength...

...her will...

...her heart and soul...

...was who she always wanted to be...

...who she was becoming...

...the core of all that she was...

...all that she could be...

...was the she that Angel had seen...

...was the shining bright light inside...

Was who she was...

...who she fought so hard to be...

The voice in her head was Faith...

...and SHEwasn't going back down into the darkness, not after being allowed to live in the light, not without a fight.

Not now!

Not ever again!

Faith staggered to her feet, weeping, as she felt Buffy slipping over the edge, falling, sliding down into the tunnel, into the darkness, leaving only emptiness and silence, in the place inside of Faith that Buffy lived.

Taking a deep cleansing breath, hiccupping, wiping angrily at the tears, Faith searched for her center, searched for it all alone for the first time in weeks. She concentrated trying to make sense out of the echoes she had gotten that had formed images in her mind. She remembered seeing in a movie once, how a young man had taught his blind girlfriend how to see things that you couldn't touch. Like clouds, or colors. He had filled a sink with bubbles and had led her there and placed a mass of the soapy bubbles in her hands, and for the first time the young blind girl saw what a cloud was.

Faith closed her eyes, and led her subconscious down a similar path; let it guide her through the echoes of images she had shared with Buffy that day. She drifted letting the images come to life inside of her mind.

Tears streaming down her face from behind the light blue sunglasses, riding like the devil was nipping at her heels, Faith tore down the road on Wesley's Harley towards the abandoned gas station which was only ten minutes down the dirt road from the run-down rattrap motel.

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Muttering to themselves, the escaped mental patients from Sunnydale General Hospital worked at various jobs around the construction site. There was an illogical sort of synchronization to how they were carrying out their tasks; still it worked more or less. One man was using a blowtorch, another hammering nails, a woman struggled carrying a two-by-four plank of wood, bringing it to another woman who was waiting impatiently with a saw in her hand.

One by one they stopped abruptly, their expressions changing quickly from blankness, to awe, they fell to their knees, bowing their heads. In her ceremonial gown, Glory passed them without a glance, pulling Dawn along behind her, who was followed by Glory's ever present minions. She entered the large warehouse, the minions and humans inside displaying the same looks of awe, all falling to their knees, and bowing their heads. Some of the mental patients begin to chant, 'The Key. The Key.' Glory ignored them heading straight for the door in the back.

Murk opened the door to the construction site's office a few inches and peeked in. After peeking, he opened the door fully and entered, followed by Glory, Dawn and two other minions. Without a word, Glory shoved Dawn down into a chair. Turning her back on Dawn, she raised her hand to her head, rubbed her temple as if she were in pain and sat down heavily.

Out of the corner of her eye, Dawn looked at the minion hovering near, almost over her. He was taller, larger, than the other minions, had a beard, and seemed older. He wore ornate robes, and Dawn thought that he would make a perfect High Priest or High Cleric in a fantasy movie. The thing that stood out the most though was the hint of intelligence in his eyes, something she hadn't noticed in any of the other minions so far.

The large minion reached a hand with some kind of green paste on it towards her. Dawn jerked back in fear. He put the paste on her forehead, ignoring her fear. He started chanting in some language she didn't understand, and Dawn realized that the role she had cast him in the movie in her head, was in fact, really what he was, a High Priest.

Glory looked over at the High Priest, between his droning voice and the groupies she was getting a killer headache.

"What's he doing?" In that irritating, now whiny, sickly sweet voice, Glory asked the room in general.

"I must anoint the key," the High Priest answered her.

"Really don't. Go." Glory waved her hand at the High Priest in dismissal.

"But..."

Yelling, Glory cut the High Priest's protest off, "Out! Get out, get out!"

Murk rushed forward, half pushing, half dragging the priest towards the door, shoving him through it, before following the High Priest out himself. Dawn watched them frightened by the bizarre 'real life' cartoon happening in front of her.

Please let me be dreaming!

"You know... you recapture your Godhood and unleash Armageddon..." Glory picked up a rag from the table and walked over to Dawn while she was talking. She began to wipe the green paste off Dawn's forehead, "All of a sudden everybody wants to be part of the inner circle."

When she finished, she saw that there was still some green paste left on Dawn's forehead. She did what Mother's for centuries have done. She wet the rag with spittle from her tongue and wiped away the rest of the green paste from Dawn's forehead.

Dawn wrinkled her brow, and managed to keep the look of disgust off her face. She had hated it when her Mom had done that, let alone some, 'Skanky-ass-bad-hair-lunatic-exiled-god' (as Faith would have said) who wanted to end the world. All 'cause the stupid 'bitch' (Faith again) had tried to kill off her co-gods in her own world... dimension... whatever... and had gotten her stupid, dumb-ass (Faith again) exiled here!

Glory stood up with a sigh, she tossed the rag away and almost sounded sincere when she asked Dawn, "You okay?"

"I wanna go home." Dawn hated how weak her voice sounded, but she was scared. Where was Buffy? Where was Faith? Where were the Chosen Two?

"Sweetie... ohh..." Glory grabbed a chair and dragged it over close to Dawn, directly in front of her. She climbed up onto the chair and sat on its back, with her feet on the seat. "You're about to." There was a hopeful look on Dawn's face, and Glory who lived for causing pain, waited a few seconds before she continued. "Not that fake suburban nightmare the monks cooked up for you. I mean your real home." Dawn began crying softly as Glory spoke; Glory gave her a puzzled look. "As the Key. You fit the lock... well, it's like a lock. Hey!" Glory patted Dawn's knee, friendly like. "You want pizza?"

"No," Dawn said softly with a puzzled, frightened look, wondering what game Glory was playing at.

"Pillow? ...I don't know if this thing gets cable. Doubtful..."

Dawn began crying again. "Please. Stop."

"You're nervous."

"Yes."

"I know how you feel. It's your last night." Glory stopped talking as she slid off the back of the chair, and actually sat on it correctly, a large part of her relishing the look of terror on Dawn's face. "As, you know, a human." She picked up Dawn's hand by the wrist, "This body," she started shaking Dawn's hand, to emphasis her point. "... It's just a rental, Dawnie. Being human? It's like a costume for girls like you and me. Being something else - that's what we are."

Firmly, with courage that both Buffy and Faith would have been proud of, courage that she had learned from both of them, the Scoobs, her Mom, and Giles, Dawn told Glory, "Don't"

Glory smiled at her curiously; "What?"

"Don't - call - me - Dawnie." Her teeth clenched, there was fear in her eyes, but she stared Glory down.

Glory dropped Dawn's wrist with a surprised laugh and leaned back against the chair, part of her admiring the courage of the child in front of her, part of her hurt by Dawn's rejection of the affectionate name. "Huh... Wow. You know ... that actually hurt my feelings."

Dawn was surprised to realize that Glory was genuinely hurt, it was in the sound of her almost childlike voice. Dawn was surprised even further to realize, that she felt bad for hurting her, she had an odd sort of empathy for the exiled God. She knew what it felt like to feel all alone, and unloved. Even if Glory was a hell god, she still had feelings. Didn't she? Besides the logical part or the 'Buffy' part of her brain, as Dawn called it, thought it certainly wouldn't help her to pull a 'Faith' and piss Glory off.

Softly, Dawn apologized to Glory, "I'm sorry."

Her tone snappish, her eyes pinning Dawn with an unspoken accusation. "You did this to me, didn't you? Some kind of spell. You've been hanging with the Wicca, you could've... But no! It's not magic. It's something else." Glory backed off a little, raising her hand to her head as if in pain, or concentrating hard. The look she gave Dawn was one of pure hate, anger, and Dawn recoiled from it. "Still... It is you doing this."

Dawn shook her head in denial, shrinking even further back into the chair, holding back the tears. "I'm not doing anything, I swear."

"We'll see," Glory moved away and tore open the door, to reveal the minions just waiting outside, they had been eavesdropping, she sent another glare at Dawn. "Anoint this thing! Now!"

The High Priest, Murk and Gronk entered the room; Dawn's eyes were round, wide open in fright.

Someone please help me!

"Know what they're all chanting for out there, Dawnie? Blood. 'Cause we found out your blood... is the Key to the Key." The High Priest began putting the green paste on Dawn's forehead again while Glory continued to talk in that irritating, sickly sweet tone. "All I gotta do is bleed you dry, the Portal opens up, and I go home. So knock yourself out, girlfriend. Make me feel bad as you can," the evil glint restored in her eyes again, Glory lowered her voice and softly told Dawn, "'cause tomorrow... You bleed, little girl!"

Buffy! Faith! Someone! Anyone! Please, please, please help me!

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She flew into the gas station's parking lot doing about seventy-five. Her eyes were tearing badly, the light blue sunglasses not helping much in the way of keeping the dust and wind out. At first, it didn't register what it was she was seeing, swerving to avoid a body, she slammed on the hand and foot brakes locking them up. The rear of the bike slid out from under her. She put her right foot down, pushing up; trying to bring the bike out of the slide, but the Harley was too heavy for even her. Faith and the bike wiped out, both sliding through the dirt, and stopping about twenty feet away from where the slide had started. She gave a silent prayer of thanks that neither she nor the bike had slid into a body.

She rose to her feet; her right foot was throbbing and bleeding again from the gashes from the broken coffeepot glass. She had to fight down the bile that rose up hot and strong in the back of her throat at the sight of the carnage in front of her. The bodies of the dead Knights lay scattered around her feet. Some were twisted in unnatural positions, others missing limbs, one was decapitated, blood and guts were scattered everywhere.

Fear coiled deep in the pit of her stomach, settled into her bones, making her shiver. She was terrified for Dawn who was now at the mercy of the monster who had done this. She closed her eyes, opening herself to the night and listened. The night air was still, the silence echoing loudly in her ears. She could not detect any living creature in the parking lot, in fact anywhere in the immediate area. Carefully she made her way through the field of the dead, towards the building, hoping to find some clue to where everyone had gone.

The first thing Faith saw as she drew closer to the building was the smashed door. She cautiously went inside; she scanned the room quickly and saw the blood on the counter. Giles blood? She walked over to the pay phone, picked up the receiver and put it to her ear, no dial tone. Her hand had tingled a little when she had touched it and vaguely she wondered if Willow had tried casting some sort of spell on the phone.

She left the customer area of the gas station, entered the garage bay and was greeted by the site of Gregor. There was a pool of blood at his feet and Faith felt her stomach churning again. She saw that he had been almost cut in half by a hubcap and she knew even with their Slayer strength that neither she nor Buffy could have done that, which only left Glory. In an odd sort of way, she was glad that it was Glory and not Buffy; she hoped that Buffy never had to know what it felt like to take a human life.

Her eyes fell upon the medical bag on the workbench and she made her way over to it. She knew this didn't belong to any of the Scoobs, a first aid kit, yes, but, not a medical bag. She doubted that it belonged to the Knights either, especially since she had seen nothing but swords, javelins, bows and arrows, and various other medieval weaponry outside. Curiously she opened the bag, hoping to find something that would tell her who it belonged to. She dumped the contents of the bag out onto the workbench and sifted through the scattered items but found nothing to identify the owner.

She did a quick search of the rest of the garage and went back outside. She took a sword from one of the fallen Knights apologizing to the dead soldier for stealing from him, and put it in the saddlebag of the Harley. She managed to get the Harley upright without too much trouble; she carefully looked it over seeing if her wipeout had caused any damage. As far as she could see, the only damage was a slightly bent rear foot peg. She crossed her fingers and kick started the bike. It turned over on the first try and she gave another silent prayer of thanks, not even sure who it was that she was thanking.

It seemed lately or rather the longer she was a Slayer the line between good and evil was blurring, becoming gray, Spike, and now the Knights serving as prime examples.

Mentally she made a list of possible places the gang could have gone to and came to the conclusion that out of all of them, two were the most likely. Faith pointed the Harley towards Sunnydale, spinning the rear wheel as she took off, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.

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"You sure you know what you're doing?" Anya asked Willow in a soft tone.

They were in Anya and Xander's apartment. Anya sat on one couch while Willow sat holding Tara's hand on the other. Every so often Willow would gently stroke Tara, offering her what little comfort she could. Even in her current condition, Tara's bond with Willow was strong. It was to Willow that Tara turned to for comfort when she was frightened. It was Willow that Tara tried to communicate with, tried desperately to make sense from the confused recesses of her mind so she could warn them, help them, help Willow.

"I think so... I don't know. It's... not exactly well explored territory, but... I gotta try," and Willow didn't know. But there weren't many options left open to them at this point. Buffy was her best friend and like Faith there was now an even deeper connection between them because of the enjoining spell. Granted it was different than what Faith and Buffy shared but it was still there. She could at times feel Buffy there on the edges of her mind.

Willow owed Buffy a lot. It was doubtful that she would be alive today if it weren't for Buffy, who had taken the first step towards being friends with the shy, self-conscious girl that Willow used to be. There was no way Willow could leave her like she was, just because the spell was dangerous. No way in hell!

"Spells like this ... It could be dangerous for Buffy. And you."

"Time... oh, time is coming..." Tara tried to warn them, the part of her that was still 'Tara' hoped that they would understand.

"Shh... It's okay. I'm here." Gently, soothingly, Willow told Tara as she began to whimper. Anya moved over and joined them on the couch, the concern evident in her eyes and in that moment Willow realized just how much Anya had changed.

"You'll look after her while I'm ..."

"Sure. What do I do?"

"Mostly... just... be here for her." Anya nodded her understanding to Willow. "And... and there's some pills in my knapsack. Half of one every two hours keeps her... pretty mellow."

"Y-you think you'll be gone more than two hours?" She was nervous about this; she wished that Willow would wait until the others got back. Anya knew she still wasn't that good when it came to emergency situations. What happened if things went wrong? She knew though that Willow wouldn't wait, couldn't wait.

Willow shrugged her shoulders, she really didn't have a clue how long it would take, didn't know if the spell would work at all. "Wish me luck."

"Okay." Anya punched Willow on the arm, remembering that she had seen someone do it in a movie once. She felt awkward, and she had punched Willow just a little too hard, with a forced smile on her face, she said, "Good Luck."

"Thanks." Willow looked at Anya for just a minute, it dawned on her that she really had come to like the ex-vengeance demon. The sincerity was in her voice and face when she thanked Anya. Willow turned her attention to Tara... to her 'always', "Okay. Be good now, sweetie. I-I'll be back soon as I can, okay? We're good?"

Tara stared at Willow intently while she was talking, Willow kissed her on the forehead and smiled at her, then rose from the couch. Tara held out her hand towards her, whimpering, silently pleading for her to come back. Willow ignored that silent plea as best she could, and gathered up what she needed from the nearby table. Without a glance backwards at them, she opened the door to the master bedroom, entered and closed it softly behind her.

"Good luck," Anya whispered softly at the closed door.

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On the small nightstand beside the bed, Willow placed a few candles and lit them. It was more for atmosphere than anything else, this was not an elaborate spell, no gigantic magic, it was actually quite simple. She placed a few more candles on the nightstand on the other side of the bed, lighting them too. She walked back around and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to keep her mind clear, she raised her eyes and looked at her best friend, who was sitting across from her in a chair, catatonic.

Willow locked her eyes with the unseeing, empty, dead eyes of Buffy, giving a silent prayer to the goddesses that this would work, and let her mind drift.

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Willow blinked rapidly in confusion and saw she was standing inside of a house that she had never been in before. She looked down at herself and saw that she was still wearing the same clothes she had on when she entered the master bedroom at Xander and Anya's. Mentally she smiled knowing that the spell had worked... so far.

She looked at her surroundings, there were flowers, a lot of them scattered around the room in vases. Knick-knacks on all of the tables, and the furniture looked like it was from the late seventies or early eighties, she couldn't be sure, furniture wasn't her thing. The room was cheerful, the curtains open making the room a bright happy place.

Taking a last look around, Willow walked slowly over to the doorway and left the room. The first thing she noticed was the large photo of a woman with a baby hanging on the wall over the fireplace. There was something familiar about the woman and child in the photo. Other pictures were on top of the mantle, with some small sculptures. As Willow gazed around the room, she saw that there were quite a few more pictures scattered around the room, and something nagged at the back of her mind that she should know who the people in the pictures were. She turned away from fireplace, panning slowly around.

She saw more pictures, tasteful small pieces of artwork, sculptures, a record player and records. She could see out of the corner of her eye a couch was behind her.

From behind startling her, came a voice, a child's voice, "Hi Willow."

Willow turned around and saw a little blonde-haired girl. Her hair was in pigtails, and the child looked to be around six or seven years old. The little girl was sitting at a round child's table, toys were scattered on the table and on the floor around her. She was holding a doll, looking at Willow with bright, innocent, hazel eyes.

Willow smiled at the little girl, "Hello, Buffy."

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He kicked the door open with a loud crash, grinning, thinking he had done that better than any cop he ever saw on the telly. He knew that 'Red' wouldn't be happy if she found out, but fuck it, she had only said no looking for paybacks, she never said he had to be quiet when he went to see if Glory was at her apartment. Nothing he could do if Glory came after him, except defend himself, right?

Spike stuck his head through the open door and jumped back quickly when he thought he saw something or someone move. When nothing happened he laughed softly at himself, thinking it was a good thing no one was around to see 'William the Bloody' acting like a 'scaredy-cat'. He listened attentively for any signs of life inside the apartment. He didn't hear any, he entered, flipped on the lights and lit a cigarette.

He walked around; rather he ambled through the apartment, the façade of 'William the Bloody' wrapped around him like a cloak. Truth be told though, he would prefer not to take on Glory by himself. Now that he thought about it, kicking in the door had been rather bloody stupid, had Glory been here it would have taken away any element of surprise he would have had. He flicked his ashes carelessly on the floor, picking up items as he wandered and tossing them carelessly on the floor too. He smiled every time he heard something break.

He turned to walk out of the apartment not finding anything that could help them when something caught him out of the corner of his eye. Spike turned around and saw the small, almost hidden door off to the side, no wonder he almost missed it, the door was practically invisible. If it wasn't for his heightened vampire senses, he would have missed it. He walked over to it and ran his fingers around the almost imperceptible seam of the door, pushing gently against it noticing the dim light that came from inside. Reaching down he cautiously opened the door and stepped inside.

The room was just slightly larger than a walk-in closet. There were no personal items, no pictures, no books, no records, there was only a small bed, a lamp and some green medical scrubs lying upon the floor. Hell the room even depressed him; his crypt had more than this. Obviously, this was Ben's room and from appearances, Ben didn't rate too high on Glory's list.

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Anya pulled her eyes away from the 'Scooby-Doo' video that she and Tara were watching when she heard the soft knock on the door. For a second her eyes flashed with fear but it quickly faded, it was unlikely that Glory would knock first. She rose and went over to the door, still a little afraid to find out who was on the other side.

"Who is it?" she queried softly.

"Faith."

Anya opened the door with a grateful sigh, only to be pushed aside roughly. Faith stood for just a split second, opening herself to the apartment, to Buffy. Then she turned not even questioning how she knew and made a beeline for the master bedroom.

"Stop!" Anya yelled, but Faith ignored her and kept walking across the room determined. Anya ran after her, and somehow managed to put herself between Faith and the door. "Wait! You can't go in there," and how the hell did Faith know Buffy was in the bedroom anyway?

Faith looked at her like she was nuts, and why the hell was she whispering. Faith growled at Anya, "Move out of my way."

For the first time since meeting Faith, Anya was afraid of her. In a glance, Anya took in Faith's disheveled appearance. She was covered in road dust, her hair was in total disarray, her face raw and red from windburn, and there was something wild in Faith's stare. It was as if she was holding onto her self-control by a very thin, frayed thread. Then Anya noticed how red and swollen Faith's eyes were, and the way her lip was trembling as well as her body. She saw sadness and fear in Faith's eyes, and she knew that the fear she was seeing in Faith's eyes wasn't for herself, but for Dawn and Buffy, for every one of them.

Faith reached out to shove Anya out of her way, her only thought to get to Buffy and that no one was going to stop her. She froze when Anya tenderly placed her hand on her arm.

"Faith..." Anya said gently, touching the raven-haired Slayer lightly on the arm. "Willow is in there with Buffy trying to help her. She..." She hesitated, staring into eyes that seemed almost to burn her. "She did a spell... You can't go in there. It could be dangerous for both of them if you do." Anya relaxed when she saw the thunder go out of Faith's eyes and replaced by concern. "Come... sit down. I'll tell you what happened." Gently she led Faith over to the couch, and practically had to shove her onto it.

Faith listened with half an ear to Anya's tale, her eyes riveted to the master bedroom door. Every part of her called out to the Slayer on the other side of the door. She still had that empty feeling inside of her, it echoed loudly, endlessly.

She reopened the connection between them that she had shut down on her way here, it had been necessary in order for her to keep her focus. Closing her eyes, she reached out to Buffy hoping to break through the silence. She almost pulled back when she felt something, someone... someone that was not Buffy and then she recognized who it was. It was Red and Faith got a flash of irritation from her, a gentle warning to back off, to get out. Which she did quickly, this had to have something to do with the current spell and Faith suspected the enjoining spell as well.

She opened her eyes and looked at Anya who it seemed was rambling. "Red's in B's mind, how? Tell me what this spell is that Red did..." Faith asked hoarsely.

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Willow felt Faith the second she reached out for Buffy. It threw her off balance, but she quickly reached back out to Faith, warning her, gently asking her to leave. The spell was dangerous enough for Buffy and Willow as it was, she had no idea what would happen if Faith entered into the equation. She hadn't realized just how deep the connection between the Chosen Two had become. Wow was all she could think, but pulled herself away from those thoughts, she could talk to them about it later, now she needed to concentrate her energies on Buffy. She gave a mental sigh of relief when she felt Faith retreat. Willow turned her attention back to the child Buffy in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" Child Buffy asked Willow, looking up at her with innocent eyes.

Innocence was something Willow couldn't ever recall seeing in Buffy's eyes, not the Buffy she had always known. Her Buffy had her innocence taken away from her the day she was called. They all had their innocence taken from them when they were way too young. Shaking herself again mentally, Willow focused on the six year old in front of her.

"Actually, I'm, um... looking for you."

"Do you like dolls?" The child began stroking the doll's hair; there was a sort of sadness surrounding her.

"Buffy, what are you doing here?"

"I like it here."

Willow caught a slight hint of a plea in the child's voice, or maybe she was imagining it. "But..." Willow knelt down next to Buffy, bringing her eyes level with the child's, locking them with hers. "You know we need you. You have to come out."

"Why?" The child Buffy was genuinely curious.

"To be with your friends."

"It's a big day for me," she told Willow looking over towards the front door, which Willow heard open a second later.

"Hello!" The voice was younger, lighter, but Willow knew it belonged to Joyce.

"Mommy, Daddy!" The child Buffy got up quickly, handing her doll to Willow and ran towards her parents, smiling brightly, a carefree smile that Willow hadn't seen on Buffy's face for a long time. It was only recently that she had begun to see that smile again, thanks to Faith. "You're back! You're back!"

Willow rose to her feet and turned towards the door. She watched as a young Joyce and Hank Summers came through the door. Joyce was holding a newborn bundled in blankets in her arms.

"Hello, Buffy."

Hank leaned down to his daughter, placing his hands on his knees, bringing his eyes level with her. "How's my girl?" He was rewarded with a smile from his daughter.

"Ready to meet your new baby sister?"

The child Buffy backed away from her Mother, frowning, crossing her arms protectively, holding herself. Willow wondered as she watched her if Buffy was being shy or was afraid.

"Oh c'mon now, Buffy... she's nothing to be afraid of."

"Who's afraid?" There was something almost defiant in her voice. Almost as if, the thought of her being afraid was ludicrous. The word precocious came to Willow's mind as she watched young Buffy.

"Don't you want to be the big sister?"

"No, I wanna be the baby." Again Willow heard a hint of a plea in the child Buffy's voice.

"Buffy..." Her father began, but his daughter cut him off.

"You're gonna pay more attention to her and forget all about me."

"Ohh..." Joyce knelt down beside her oldest child, the baby cooing softly in her arms.

Six-year-old Buffy looked quickly at the baby and turned to Willow, "Doesn't she look funny? Like a wrinkly old grandpa." Child Buffy didn't wait for Willow to answer her, instead she turned back around to look at her Mom and the baby.

Joyce smiled at her daughter, and carefully, gently she placed the newborn in her sister's arms. "Here. Like this. Support the head. There you go. We're calling her Dawn."

"Dawn," Willow whispered softly more to herself than to anyone else.

Child Buffy's whole demeanor changed the instant Joyce placed the baby in her arms. She hugged her sister, Dawn to her tightly and smiled down at the baby. "I ... I could be the one to look after her sometimes, if you need a helper... Mom? Can I take care of her?"

"Yes, Buffy. You can take care of her." Joyce gently stroked her older daughter's hair.

Willow watched them, a soft smile on her face; she heard a sound from behind her and turned around. She saw adult Buffy standing alone in the Magic Shop. She took a step closer. Buffy's hair was loose and flowing around her shoulders, she was wearing a sleeveless shirt, and a skirt. She had a book in her hand. Buffy walked over to the bookshelves and placed the book in her hand on the shelf. She paused for just a second, then turned and walked away.

Willow watched as grown-up Buffy walked past her without a word or a glance. She was a little confused, what was the point of this? She turned around and looked back at where the child Buffy was, or rather had been.

Willow furrowed her brows in confusion, blinking rapidly. What the hell happened? She was no longer in either Buffy's childhood home in L.A. or in the Magic Shop. Instead, she was outside, it was night, and she was standing next to a bonfire. "Ohh... kay..."

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Faith was pacing the length of the living room. What was taking Willow so long? She was mumbling under her breath, waving her hands around, ignoring the pain in her feet, the longer they were in there the more she worried.

She didn't like this not knowing, didn't like that she had to cut herself completely off from Buffy, couldn't even reach out a little to try and feel what was happening. She knew she couldn't not after Anya explained to her what Willow was trying. She could put all three of them in danger if she did. So instead she paced and muttered, going into a soft, worried tirade, similar to the angry ones Buffy and Dawn were usually treated to.

Anya was getting dizzy watching her and she had noticed that Faith was limping a little. When she had asked about it, Faith had just brushed her concern aside. Tara alternated between looking at the bedroom door, watching the Scooby Doo video and watching Faith pace. She giggled at Faith as she paced finding her almost as amusing as the video.

Faith stopped her pacing at Tara's giggle and smiled at the witch. She was so going to enjoy ripping that skanky-bad-haired-fucking-bitch to pieces with her bare hands for what she did. She didn't give a flying fuck whether Glory was a god or not, she had yet to meet the 'Dark Slayer' and Faith had every intention of introducing Glory to the 'Dark Slayer' when she finally did meet her.

After a second or two, Faith went back to her pacing, mumbling and hand waving.

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Giles tried to put on his jacket, but it was next to impossible. He couldn't move his left arm at all and only managed to get the jacket onto his right arm. He got up gingerly from the hospital bed, his face grimacing in pain; he placed his right hand over his stomach where the spear had pierced him. Xander walked over and helped him put his jacket on the rest of the way, and they walked together out to the hallway.

"There. How you doing?"

"Only hurts when I answer pointless questions. Where's Buffy?" Giles voice was dry.

"Willow's on it. Or, in it. She's working some spell, trying to reach Buffy psychically."

"She's gone into Buffy's mind?" There was concern in his voice. That spell was dangerous for both of them.

"Pretty trippy stuff."

"It's extraordinarily advanced." Giles just hoped that Willow was up to it. He knew she was becoming more powerful, he just hadn't realized how powerful a witch she had become. "I'm thinking we might check on Glory's victims while we're here."

Spike joined Xander and Giles after he pilfered a bag of blood off one of the medical carts in the hallway. Xander looked at the blood that Spike had hidden poorly in his trench coat, but didn't say anything.

"The mental ward? Already been. Vegetable section's closed. Nobody there. It's like they all just got up and walked away."

"Checked out Glory's flat... looks like the Great One has scampered."

"Gone to... uh... perform her ritual with Dawn. And leaving us entirely clueless." Giles tried to keep his voice even, keep the fear for Dawn out of it, but he didn't succeed.

"Not entirely." Spike smiled at them when they looked at him surprised. He knew they were wondering if he had been holding out on them again like in the early days. "I know this bloke. Well, not so much a 'bloke', so much as demon but still... Bookish. All tuned in to the nastier corners of this, our magic world. Bit of a last resort, really, but still..." Spike paused and lit a cigarette, ignoring the 'No Smoking' sign on the wall. "... Might persuade him to suss out Glory's game plan. Sound worthy?" He waited but neither Giles nor Xander said anything, "Off we go, then." He looked at Giles, "Meet back at the shop." Giles nodded his head yes, and Spike turned and walked away, Xander trailing after him. "Found Ben's room at Glory's. Didn't learn much."

"Wait... wait, wait... Ben? At Glory's?" Xander saw Spike roll his eyes at him. "So you're saying that all this time he was sub-letting from her?"

Arching his eyebrow, Spike let a little evil grin play around his mouth. "This... is gonna be worth it." He smiled again and smacked Xander hard upside his head.

"Ow!" Both Xander and Spike yelled out together.

"Last time, from the top ..." Spike said exasperated as they exited the hospital, both were rubbing their heads.

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She was leaning up against the wall, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers like she had a migraine. Her body was tense, she was tense, she wanted this to be over. Something didn't feel right, she didn't feel right, and it was giving her a killer headache.

"I'm hating this, Murk." Glory, both whined and sighed out, as she watched her idiot minions look at each other in confusion and fear. Well the fear made her feel a little bit better. She so loved pain and fear.

"And this would be what exactly, your holiness?" Gronx asked her, his voice trembling just a little.

"Memories. I'm starting to remember the things Ben did. People he spoke with, stuff he wore..." The minions look at each other in fear, alarmed by this. Glory shuddered, and turned her attention to Dawn. "Kid!" She walked over to Dawn, the minions parted and moved out of her way, only the High Priest hovered close by. "I came... He... came to see you."

"Ben?" Dawn asked Glory nervously, she liked it a lot better when Glory didn't pay attention to her.

"Yeah. Ben. You..." Glory paused and closed her eyes, concentrating remembering what she shouldn't. "You called him. To the desert, when you were hiding from me. And he came. And then, he was me. You remember?"

"Yes." Dawn was even more nervous and scared, the second she said yes to Glory she knew that was the wrong answer, why didn't she lie?

Buffy, Faith, anyone where are you?

Glory spun around glaring at her minions, yelling at them. "See?! She's not supposed to remember that! Nobody should." She rubbed her chest over her heart; she was beginning to have a panic attack. "The cloak between Ben and me is fading. I almost helped her! He..." She turned back again to Dawn, glaring. "I wanted to..." Glory groaned, shaking her head violently in denial, this wasn't right, this was not supposed to happen damn it! "I can't do this."

Glory stormed past Dawn and grabbed the High Priest by the robes, tempted to fling him across the room. She had waited too long for this, planned, plotted and it was all starting to fall apart on her at the last moment. "Get him out of me." She shouted at the High Priest.

"What?" The High Priest was confused, and then he became terrified when his god started crying.

"Ben! The human meatsack who's infecting me. Do your mojo, make a surgical..." She paused searching for the right word, and sniffling. "Incision or removal or whatever it is you gotta do! Help me!" Glory started pacing becoming more and more distraught. "I'm thinking Ben's thoughts and feeling his feelings and... I – I – I - I..."

Glory morphed into Ben in the blink of an eye, surprising everyone in the room. The change had never happened that quickly before, and no one was more surprised than Ben to be standing there, he was almost ghost-like, and he already felt the change beginning to happen again, he blurted out, "... Can't kill the girl...!"

He barely finished his sentence before he morphed back into Glory. She staggered, grabbed her throat, she was horrified, afraid and disoriented. She collapsed to the floor, pushing herself up with her arms, barely able to hold herself up. "Damn it!" She looked to the priest. "Help me." It was half plea, half command. Dawn watched terrified.

"This I cannot do. You risk terrible Magicks in opening the Portal. Nothing comes without a price. This is yours." He was speaking to her like a wayward child.

"Gods don't pay." She rose from the ground with a feral growl, in control of herself again. She walked towards Dawn, who was pushing herself further back in the chair, cowering from Glory. Glory grabbed Dawn by the throat, yanking her out of the chair, holding her off the floor, causing her to gasp desperately for air. "We do this now."

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On the other side of the bonfire from her and off a little to her right was Buffy sitting on a rock. To the left of her was the Primitive, it took Willow a second to recognize her, but she remembered her from when she had invaded their dreams. This was getting way surreal. Buffy and the Primitive stared at each other from across the fire.

"Hey... I know you. You're that first original Slayer who tried killing us all in our dreams," Willow paused for a second then trailed off lamely. "How've you been?"

The First Slayer either ignored her or didn't know she was there, instead she spoke to Buffy, staring at her intently. They were reenacting what had happened during Buffy's 'Slayer Quest'. "Death is your gift."

"Death is my gift?" Buffy asked her puzzled.

"Wait... Death is her what?" Willow looked at the First Slayer just as puzzled, and was ignored again.

"Death is your gift." The First Slayer once again told Buffy.

Willow looked at Buffy squinting at her in confusion. Suddenly she found herself once again in the Magic Shop. The same exact scene played out again. Willow frowned in confusion only this time as she watched she saw how Buffy frowned, how she seemed for a second, lost in thought. Then she turned around and walked past Willow again without a glance, without a word.

Willow watched her concentrating, what was it that she was missing? She wished she had taken more psych classes now. She turned to her right and saw that she was once again somewhere new, only this place she knew, probably as well as her own house. They were in the upstairs hallway of the Summers' house. Buffy was walking away from her, she was dressed in jeans and a black tank top, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Buffy walked down the hallway away from her heading towards the doorway at the end where bright sunlight splashed upon the floor in front of the partially opened door.

Willow hurried down the hallway trying to catch up to Buffy, "Where you going?"

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Glory was holding Dawn up by her throat choking her. Dawn was gasping for air, struggling against the god to no avail; she was beginning to feel lightheaded, and knew she was going to pass out.

"Glorificus! Wait! Kill the Key now, all will be lost!"

"You will be stuck on this mortal plane forever."

The minions pleaded with her, hoping to break through her rage, her blood lust.

"All right, you're right..." Regaining control of herself Glory released Dawn. "...it's cool." Dawn staggered backwards, grabbing her throat, gasping in large gulps of pain-filled air. Glory smiled enjoying her pain. "I'm just a little emotional right now..." Glory let out a small almost hysterical giggle. "Which, if you're into irony: funny."

Dawn backed away a little bit more from Glory and reached out towards a pillar using it for support still gasping. Glory looked over at her minions, and commanded them, "Leave. We need a little girl time." They began to bow to her groveling; she waved impatiently at them, "Goodbye!"

Glory watched them leave; she rubbed her neck trying to ease some of the tension there. Dawn glared daggers at her from the pillar, and showed a spirit that the Chosen Two would have been proud of. It might not have been the smartest thing to do, but she really had nothing to lose now, did she? Glory turned her attention back to Dawn after the minions finally left the room, taking that droll High Priest with them.

"How do they do it?" There was genuine curiosity in Glory's voice.

"Do what?" It hurt Dawn to talk, her voice was hoarse and laced with suspicion.

Glory shot Dawn a 'duh' look, like she should know what she was talking about. She walked towards Dawn as she talked. "People. How do they function? Here. Like this, in the world, with all this bile running through them. Every day, it's whoo-ooo..." She waved her hand at Dawn; it took Dawn a second to realize that Glory was imitating a rollercoaster. "You have no control. They're not even animals, they're just these meatbaggy slaves to hormones and pheromones and their, and their... feelings... Hate 'em."

Dawn stopped rubbing her neck and looked at Glory not sure if she should be afraid, amazed, stunned, or laugh in her face. This exiled god was off her rocker. She watched Glory move to stand behind one of the large drafting tables and lean on it. Once Glory was comfortable, she started talking again.

"I mean really, is this what the poets go on about? This?" Glory slapped her chest over her heart, shaking her head, a little amazed and sighed dramatically. Dawn thought she would have made a great actress. "Call me crazy. But as hard core drugs go, human emotion's just useless. People are puppets, everyone getting jerked around by what they're feeling... am I wrong? Really, I want to know." Glory looked at Dawn, who stared back at her. Dawn dropped her eyes to the floor and closed them, and leaned into the pillar a little more. What the hell did she want from her, she was only a fourteen-year-old kid for Christ's sake. "Gonna bleed you either way."

Dawn opened her eyes and looked up at Glory, so maybe she knew a little bit about this. She had some good role models, the Scoobs, the L.A. Crew, her sister and Faith. "It depends on the person." Dawn told Glory softly.

"So, you're saying some people like this?"

"Some." Dawn told her, her tone was defensive, she couldn't tell if Glory was mocking them, humans in general, for feeling. She felt a second of pity for the exiled god, who would never know the joys that love could bring you. Her world only consisted of pain and fear. Dawn found that extremely sad. Not sad enough where she wasn't hoping that her sister, Faith and the Scoobs wouldn't still come and destroy the bad-haired-bitch (Faith again).

"Funny, 'cause I look around at this world you're so eager to be a part of, and all I see's six billion lunatics looking for the fastest ride out." Glory stopped to give Dawn what she thought was a winning, endearing smile, as if she were sharing some big secret with her. "Who's not crazy? Look around... everyone's drinkin', smokin', shootin' up, shootin' each other or just plain screwing their brains out because they don't want 'em anymore. I'm crazy?" Glory looked to Dawn for confirmation.

You're crazy all right, crazier than you think.

"Honey, I am the original one-eyed chicklet in the kingdom of the blind" Again Glory paused sighing dramatically, as if she was the only sane person on the planet because she admitted that she wasn't sane. It made sense to her. "'...cause at least I admit the world makes me nuts".

Glory stopped talking and walked out from behind the drafting table. She walked towards Dawn, and stopped in front of her. "Name one person who can take it here. That's all I'm asking..." Glory got right up in Dawn's face, almost close enough to kiss her. "Name one."

Dawn stared right back at her, and told her firmly, without hesitation and with conviction. "Buffy," and in her head she continued the list... Faith, Tara, Willow, Giles, Xander, Anya, Spike, Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn and her Mom when she was alive. But Dawn knew better than to push it, knew better than to give Glory anything else. She knew it and knowing it was enough.

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Willow followed Buffy down the upstairs hallway of her house. None of this was making sense to her yet. She wondered if it would. Was there something she should be doing other than this? She hurried a little to catch up with Buffy, babble mode kicking in, "I can't keep following you around like this, Buffy. We have to go. You have to talk to ..." Buffy pushed open the door to her Mom's bedroom and entered, Willow entered the room right behind her then stopped cold in her tracks her babble trailing off. "...me."

Willow knew this was Joyce's room and somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she realized that she was seeing it how Buffy saw it in her own mind. Slowly she walked further into the bedroom. The room was exactly how it had always been with a rather large exception; there wasn't a bed or carpet. Instead, there was grass, and a mound of fresh dirt, with a headstone. As Willow moved closer she could see what it said, 'Joyce Summers 1958 – 2001'.

She moved next to Buffy, who was standing at the end of the grave looking at it, her arms crossed defensively. They stood side by side looking down at the grave, Willow felt inadequate, just because this was a dream or rather Buffy's mind didn't change the fact that she still didn't know how or what to do to help her best friend deal with the loss of her Mother. But this wasn't about her, it was about Buffy and helping her out of the catatonic state she had fallen into.

"I'm sorry," Willow told her softly.

Buffy shook her head, but didn't turn to look at Willow when she spoke. "Don't be, Will. Death is my gift." Buffy turned and walked out of the room still without looking at Willow, who just followed behind her talking.

"Yeah, I keep hearing that, but I'm not sure what it means."

Buffy continued walking towards another door speaking to Willow over her shoulder. "It's really not that complicated."

"Not to you, maybe ..." Willow followed Buffy into the room, she saw Dawn lying in bed, and watched as Buffy sat down on the bed next to Dawn and briefly looked at her. Buffy raised her head, turned it, and for the first time looked directly at Willow. There was something a little empty about her eyes even here in the dreamscape, and an air of sadness, almost a sense of finality surrounded her, it made Willow shiver a little.

"It's what I do." Buffy tone was a little too flat, a little too calm, as if she were speaking from rote. Dawn was breathing slowly, evenly and she seemed to be crying. "I mean, c'mon, you've known me... for how long? It's what I'm here for. It's what I am."

Buffy looked away from Willow and back down at her sister. She reached over in an unhurried manner and picked up a pillow from beside Dawn's head. Casually she placed the pillow over Dawn's face, ignoring Dawn's smothered protests and her struggles to get out from under the pillow.

Willow watched in horror for a second before finding her voice. "Buffy! Stop! No!" Buffy calmly ignored her sister's flailing arms and legs, Willow's shouts, and continued to press the pillow down onto Dawn's face. "God! NO!" Willow pleaded with Buffy.

"What?" Buffy turned to Willow, as Dawn's struggling slowed. "I keep telling you. I figured it out. Death is my gift."

Buffy continued to hold the pillow over Dawn's now motionless body. Willow could do nothing but stare in horror at the scene in front of her and at the calm continence of her best friend.

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Glory was struggling; she walked forward towards Dawn, her face contorted, as she tried to retain control of the body she shared with Ben.

"Ohh, Ben! This is really... not a good time..." Glory gave up control and morphed into Ben in the blink of an eye. Ben continued to walk towards Dawn.

"Dawn. Has Glory hurt you?"

"Uh... No. Not yet." Dawn saw that he was trembling, shaky. She saw the fear on his face as he sat down in a chair opposite her. "But I have to get out of here. Ben?" She was nervous; he was staring at his hands, as if waiting for them to change back. "You okay?"

Ben was still staring at his hands, there was blood on them, where had it come from? How had it gotten there? What did he do? What did Glory do? He asked Dawn about it, it took her a second or two but then she realized that Ben too was beginning to remember what Glory did while she was in control of the body.

Dawn told Ben how Glory had explained to her that the magic that kept them separate was beginning to break down. He wanted to know why, but Dawn didn't have the answers he sought. Her only objective now was to get him to help her to get out of here, to get to Buffy. She tried to convince him but he seemed to be caught up in his own little nightmare. Dawn was a little frightened of him; he was acting more like Glory then the Ben she had come to know.

Dawn stared at him pleadingly, then a knock at the door startled them both. They both looked at the door, anxious, unsure of what to do.

"Help me," Dawn pleaded with him once again.

"How?"

"Highness?" Questioned the High Priest from the other side of the door. Ben turned towards Dawn; she could not read his expression.

"Please." She begged him softly when he rose from the chair and headed towards the door.

"Is everything all right?" The High Priest's voice came again to them from the other side of the door. Ben opened the door, and the High Priest began to enter. "You're not..."

Ben didn't give him a chance to finish, he grabbed the High Priest by his ornate robe and yanked him through the door. Before he gave it too much thought, Ben ferociously head-butted him and knocked him into the wall, then cold-cocked him, knocking the High Priest out. He turned away from the unconscious minion and looked into the terrified eyes of Dawn.

"I'll take you as far as I can. Ditch you before she comes back." He grabbed her hand and they ran out the door together.

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'Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, turn, one, two, three...' Faith was counting the number of steps from one end of the room to the other and driving Anya nuts. At least she had stopped mumbling to herself and throwing her hands around.

Anya had been watching her pace for a good while now. She noticed how Faith winced in pain with every step she took. She had asked her more than once what happened, what was wrong with her feet, but Faith just kept brushing her off. Every so often, she would stop and look at the door; Anya could almost hear her wishing for Buffy to emerge from it. She finally had enough and stood, blocking Faith's pacing route.

Faith just looked at Anya with tired, sad eyes and Anya couldn't help but wonder when the Dark Slayer had slept last.

Faith continued to look wearily at Anya standing in front of her, hands on her hips, staring back at her with the ex-vengeance-demon's own version of 'Resolve Face'. Okay, it was official everyone had a 'Resolve-Face' but her, hell even Dawn had one.

'Dawn!' her mind screamed. Just the thought of Dawn and what had, was happening to her made Faith want to hurt something, rant, scream, cry, put a hurting on that skanky-ass-bad-haired-fucking-bitch-of-an-exiled-god. She clenched her fists at her side, forcing down the rage inside of her. Fuck, what was going on in that bedroom? What the hell was taking Red so long? She had been so wrapped up in her own head and thoughts, that she didn't even notice Anya had moved her over to the couch, until she was shoved down onto it.

Anya knelt on the floor in front of Faith, watching the emotions run rampant across her face. She knew she would feel the same way if it were Xander in that room with Willow or being held hostage by Glory. As she watched Faith, she realized though that the reason she recognized all of the emotions crossing Faith's face was because she felt the same way as Faith did about what was going on. It shocked her. When had that happened?

When had she started considering the other members of the Scoobies as her family? Xander yes, she loved him; he had shown her what love was, is. After twelve-hundred-years as a vengeance demon, she had not thought that possible, but he had proven her wrong. They had all accepted her into their homes, their lives, into their tight knit group of friends that were more of a family. More of family than quite a few 'real families' Anya had seen throughout her twelve-hundred plus years. They had accepted who she had been, who she was now and who she was becoming. And she had learned to love them all and without her even knowing it they had become her family too. So she understood completely how Faith was feeling, it was something they had in common; this was the first real family either of them had ever had.

Anya wasn't prepared for the dried blood soaked socks when she pulled off Faith's boots. She tugged gently trying to pull off the socks, which were now stuck to the cuts on Faith's feet.

Faith impatient as ever, moved Anya's hands aside and just yanked them off, sucking in the hiss of pain as the gashes ripped open again. Probably would have been a good idea to pull the glass out of her feet before she had put her shoes and socks on she thought to herself. Then again, she had been in a panic that morning, and had seemed to be in one since then.

"What? How?" Anya asked in a strangled voice when she saw the embedded glass in Faith's feet. How the hell she had been walking with all those shards of glass in her feet was beyond Anya's comprehension.

"Dropped a coffee pot this morning when I felt Glory attack Buffy, Dawn, Red and Blondie." Faith mumbled out. "Guess I shoulda pulled out the glass, probably why they didn't heal like they should of."

"Don't move." Anya told Faith when she rose to go fetch the first aid kit out from under the sink, as well as get a warm, wet washcloth and towel. Normally this was something she wouldn't do, but for some odd reason she felt empathy for Faith. Perhaps it was this newfound sense of family she had just discovered.

She resettled herself back on the floor in front of Faith and began to gently wash away the blood. "Sorry," she whispered when she heard a hiss of pain come from Faith when a shard of glass caught in the washrag.

"It's okay. I've had far worse cuts then these. A lot worse." Faith whispered the last part almost as an afterthought.

There was something disquieting about the ring of truth in that statement to Anya. She got the feeling Faith was talking about hurts that had nothing to do with being a Slayer. She didn't know why she thought that, either way it made her shiver a little. "What did you mean that you felt Glory attack the others?" Anya asked her, thinking if the Dark Slayer was distracted by talking she wouldn't notice as she began to pull out the shards of glass from her badly cut up feet.

"Well you know about the Slayer connection me and B share." Faith saw Anya shake her head no. "Oh... Well ya see, me and B we kinda share this connection..."

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"Okay... now this is weird." Willow was standing once again in the Summer's home in L.A. In the exact same spot she started in when she first entered Buffy's mind, dreamscape. Six-year-old Buffy was sitting at the child-sized table, holding her doll, and as far as Willow could tell, there was not one thing different.

Willow wasn't the least bit surprised when the child looked up at her and said, "Hi, Willow. What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I'm, um... looking for you. Here. Again."

Okay who keeps hitting the rewind and play buttons here?

"Do you like dolls?"

Hmmm... let me guess she gonna start stroking the dollies hair...Okay need to stop this now, acting like Vamp Willow here.

Willow shook her head a little to clear it, maybe she was getting a little delirious, she needed to focus.

"No..." Willow knelt down next to the six-year-old, "And I think we already deja'd this vu." Willow couldn't help smile when the child let out a giggle.

"You talk funny."

"Yes, as you'll tell me again when we're older, and in chem class." Willow frowned, her tone got serious, "Buffy...what are we doing here?"

Six-year-old Buffy shrugged her shoulders, "Don't you like it here?"

"We don't have time," Willow trailed off as she heard the front door open.

The child got up, smiled, handed her doll to Willow and ran for the front door, yelling to her parents. Exactly like she did the first time Willow entered into the dreamscape. "Mommy! Daddy!"

"We're home." Hank Summers' told his daughter.

"You're back! You're back!" Young Buffy shouted out excited.

Standing again, Willow turned her head towards the door, not surprised when she saw Joyce and Hank Summers come through the front door, Joyce holding a newborn in her arms.

"Hi, Buffy," Joyce smiled down at her oldest daughter. She knelt down and handed her daughter the newborn, telling her softly, "We're calling her "Dawn."

Willow turned her head to the right again and saw the interior of the Magic Shop. She was more confused than surprised. What was she missing? She watched as Buffy once again put the book back on the shelf.

She stood holding the doll, and turned back towards the front door. Joyce was still kneeling by young Buffy, Hank was leaning down with his hands on his knees and Buffy was still holding infant Dawn. Nothing had changed. Or had it?

"I could be the one to look after her sometimes."

Willow smiled a small smile as she heard six-year-old Buffy say that again.

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"It's always open," came the response from inside of the shop to their knock upon the door.

They entered and Xander looked around curiously. A fire was roaring in the fireplace, books were scattered and stacked on the floor, desks, shelves, just about everywhere, papers too. Doc, as he was called, was sitting behind a rather large cluttered desk, flipping through a book, he was, Xander guessed, in his late fifties early sixties.

"What can I do for you boys? You want some cocoa?" They walked over and stood by the desk, waiting for Doc to look up from his book, but he didn't.

"No. We need information. We need ..."

"Ben is Glory!" Xander blurted out cutting off Spike. The light had suddenly turned on in Xander Harris' head, he grinned like the village idiot.

"Who's what?" Doc finally looked up and almost smirked at the boy standing in front of him.

"Look at this. Special Ed remembers," Spike sneered, to cover his surprise and smirked at Xander.

"Yeah. I do. Ben's Glory and Glory's Ben. It's like this..." He circled his hand around his head to illustrate, "...fog is lifting."

Spiked nodded at Xander a little relieved that he remembered, he was beginning to think that maybe the bloody chip was starting to make him crazy. "Wonderful. But not why we're here." Spike turned his attention back to Doc, who turned his attention back to his book, thinking the floorshow was over. "Hellgod type, name of Glory..."

"A.K.A. Ben..." Xander interjected.

Spike continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "... is gone missing. Brewing up some major league bad. And she's nicked the Slayer's kid sister in the bargain."

That caught Doc's attention; he looked up and nodded, "That girl you brought here? Sweet little thing... how'd it work out with her mom? Changed her mind, didn't she?"

Spike squirmed a little. Last thing he needed was for the Scoobies to find out that he had anything to do with helping Dawn try to bring back her Mum. He played it off lightly. "Yeah, yeah. Got any idea where Glory would take her?"

Doc closed his book and looked up at them. A look of intense concentration on his face, "Glory? Glory... ooh..." He rose from the desk, the book still in his hand and walked around it moving towards them. "You don't mean Glorificus? Gosh, what do you want to get mixed up with her for? That's a sure way to get yourselves killed. I hear she's awfully unpleasant." He veered away from them and moved over to a table off to the side by the storefront windows. He placed the book on the table, "When it comes to Hellgods, my best advice is to get out of the way and stay there."

"Love to. Can't." Spike told him shaking his head in denial.

"Well, other than that ..." While he was talking, he moved himself subtly, or so he thought, in front of an antique wooden box on the side table. He missed the quick flicker of Spike's eyes in his direction as he kept on talking, "... I'd like to help, but I-I'm just a small town guy. This Glorificus, if it is her... whoo, she's Big City."

"She's got Dawn." Spike kept his gaze level, his tone even, but he wasn't liking this whole thing, something just didn't feel right to him.

"Right," Doc rubbed his chin, thinking for a minute. "Well... I may know a fella... you know, who knows a fella..." He rubbed his chin again thinking, "...in China. He might..."

Cutting Doc off, Spike asked sarcastically, "How the hell are we supposed to get to China? Teleport?"

"I guess..." Doc began... Spike looked at him, barely able to contain his suspicion; he looked downward hoping that Doc hadn't caught it. "...You know, if you're in that much of a hurry. Wish you luck."

Spike raised his eyes and gave Doc the once over. Doc was trying too hard to appear casual, his hands intertwined in front of him, but there was just a glint of something not right sparkling in his eyes. He shifted a little bit more, trying to once again block the antique box from their view, it was all Spike needed. "You're lying."

Xander looked at Spike in surprise, out of the corner of his eye he saw Doc remove his glasses, reminding him of Giles for a split second.

Calmly Spike told Doc, "And what's more... I believe you're standing right in front of the very thing we need."

They all stood frozen for a moment. Then with speed that belied his age, Doc leapt to the left, grabbed a sword from off the wall and was behind Spike, all in one fluid motion, all in less than a heartbeat. Spike turned in surprise and stopped short when he felt the sword tip pressed against his undead throat.

"Idiot," Doc whispered to Spike.

Xander saw that Doc's eyes were now completely black, and this time he was reminded of another of the Scooby gang. A Scooby member who eyes had also gone a similar color that same night.

Doc thrust the sword at Spike, who jerked back, knocking the sword aside, and then proceeded to trip over the pile of books behind him. He landed on his back on the floor hard, another stack of books falling on top of him. Xander launched himself at Doc, and was smacked in the chest hard, by what had to be at least a ten-foot long tongue, knocking him into the wall. Big eww factor there, Xander thought to himself, as he slid down to the floor.

Doc coiled his extra-long tongue back into his mouth in a flash; he walked over and looked down at the stunned vampire lying at his feet. His eyes glittered dangerously, a malicious smile played around his lips. "You think only underworld bottom feeders worship the Beast?" He giggled like a girl as he twirled around, moved the few steps over to the side table, grabbed the antique box, turned and tossed it into the fire. He turned back around, walked over to Spike again, looked down at him and smirked. "Her day is coming, boys!" Doc lifted Spike part of the way off the floor by his shirt. "And when she returns... then you're gonna see something."

Xander jumped up from the floor, using a move he had seen the Slayer's use often, a kneestrike; one that he executed perfectly, he kicked Doc right in the chest. Xander came down right on top of Doc as he fell on his ass on the floor.

As the other two fought, Spike saw his chance and dove for the fireplace and without a thought for himself he reached into the fire, and grabbed the antique box out of the fireplace and screamed on the top of his lungs. "OW!"

FUCKFUCKFUCK! Bloody hell that fucking hurt!

Spike turned around, saw Xander rise up to his knees, grab the sword and plunge it into Doc's chest. A fountain of blue blood spurted up at Xander, covering him.

Go you bloody little wanker!

Xander wiped the 'EWW!' blue blood from his face and looked at Spike a shit-eating grin splitting his face that Faith would have been proud of. Spike made his way over to Xander, holding the undamaged but smoking antique box tightly in his hands.

"What do we got?" Xander nodded his head at the box.

Spike looked down at demon covered in blue blood at his feet. "Something worth dying for."

Together, they turned and headed out the door into the night. Had they waited but a few seconds longer, they'd have seen Doc's eyes snap open.

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"Buffy, will you just stop a second and listen to me?" Willow followed franticly behind Buffy as she walked calmly once again down the upstairs hallway of her house in this twisted repeating dreamscape of Buffy's mind. "Buffy!" Buffy ignored Willow and kept walking. Not having any other choice Willow picked up her pace and got in front of Buffy in the hallway. She stopped Buffy by putting a hand on her arm. "You have to stop doing this."

"Doing what?" Dreamscape Buffy was genuinely puzzled, but there was something a little dead about her voice.

"Killing Dawn," Willow told her, desperate to get through to her. She was beginning to think she understood what Buffy was going through, but she still wasn't one-hundred-percent positive.

"Why?" Again with the same puzzled slightly dead voice.

"Because this never happened. You never killed your sister!" Willow told her, hoping dreamscape and catatonic Buffy would hear the ring of truth in her tone, of her words.

"Will, I did this." Dreamscape Buffy told Willow with just as much conviction, with the same amount of truth ringing in the tone of her voice.

"In your imagination! None of this is real! Y-you're stuck in some kind of loop."

"I don't know what you're talking about. 'Scuse me?" Dreamscape Buffy looked at Willow for just a second longer. Then she walked around her, heading towards Dawn's room again. Willow followed behind her.

"Why are you doing this?!" Willow asked her.

Shit! What the hell was she going to do? How was she going to convince Buffy that this wasn't real? That this didn't happen? Willow was beginning to get very frustrated, and just a little bit irritated by the whole goddess-damn thing! She followed dreamscape Buffy into Dawn's room, not liking any of this at all.

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"Thank you." Faith told Anya who had just finished getting all the shards of glass out of her feet and cleaning them again. Anya had put antibacterial cream on the gashes to help prevent infection, then wrapped both of Faith's feet in gauze.

"You're welcome. It looks like they're already healing now that the glass is out, so I don't think they'll scar."

"Few more scars more or less won't make much difference."

Anya got that disquieting feeling again from Faith's voice. Again, she thought that Faith was talking about something that had nothing to do with being a Slayer. As she looked up and saw the haunted look in Faith's eyes, Anya didn't wonder at how she knew that this time. What she saw in Faith's eyes was something she had seen reflected in her own eyes over twelve-hundred-years ago. There were some things that you could never forget. It was after all, the reason she had been offered the job of becoming a vengeance demon in the first place. Anya gave Faith a small smile of understanding; she saw the look of surprise on Faith's face, before she smiled back.

The look was replaced in a blink by something else as Faith's head snapped to the side, her gaze riveted to the bedroom door. She had felt something - A flash? - she closed her eyes and concentrated. B? No it wasn't Buffy, it was Red.

Red was getting frustrated, and a little bit angry. She had to suppress the urge to go into the bedroom, to protect Buffy. She realized though the thought of Red ever hurting Buffy in any way was ludicrous and if Red was getting pissed she probably had a good reason. Hell, she knew just how stubborn Buffy could be. Red though could be just as stubborn, and had a backbone made out of steel when she needed too. If anyone could take on Buffy, it was Red. Still it felt weird to feel someone else's emotions besides Buffy's, echoing inside of her.

She got up from the couch muttering, 'Scuse me' to Anya and walked over to the master bedroom door. She placed her hand lightly on the door wanting nothing more than to go in there and gather Buffy into her arms. It was killing her that she had to sit out here and wait. Killing her that there was nothing she could do to help Buffy. Killing her that she couldn't even reach out to her through their connection to let Buffy know that she was still here, was waiting for her and loved her.

Faith slid down to the floor in front of the door and leaned her head against it, forcing the terror down that threatened to overwhelm her at the slightest thought that she could lose Buffy.

"B, come back to me. Come back to us. Please." She whispered softly.

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He was dragging her down the main street of Sunnydale by the wrist. Ben was still wearing the ceremonial gown, it never even dawned on him how conspicuous he was.

Dawn was worried and she looked nervously over her shoulder. She told him she thought they were being followed, he mumbled something back to her but it didn't even register with her. The next thing she knew he was shoving her into an alleyway. He pressed her up against the brick wall and told her to stay put as he went to peek out to see if, in fact, they had been followed.

Dawn quickly scanned the alley; she saw a pile of heavyweight metal link chain on the ground right by her feet. Quietly she picked up the chain, and waited for Ben to turn around. The second he turned back towards her, she cracked him in the head with the chain, knocking him unconscious.

"Sorry." She mumbled, then dropped the chain and stepped over him to make her bid for freedom. She had made it about three steps before a voice she had come to know only too well this past day stopped her.

"Sorry?" Dawn stopped dead in her tracks, turned around, horrified and scared shitless. "That actually hurt, you pre-pubescent puke." Glory picked herself up from the ground, making sure to grab the chain. She was pissed, and she smiled at the Slayer-bitch's, kid sister's terrified face.

Glory grabbed Dawn by the arm and held her fast. "Okay, first thought, just totally spontaneous, unfiltered, off the top of my head... Ow!" She brought the chain up to Dawn's face. Loving the look of terror, the fear she could almost smell coming from the girl.

Oh how she missed this! She lived for the fear, the pain, the agony she was so good at creating. Here in this dimension she had to brainsuck these lower beings to actually taste it. Home, though, home she could feed off of it without doing that, making them relive any of it, some of it or all of it over and over again, it was her sustenance, her food. Damn, but she couldn't wait to get back home.

Glory shook the chain in Dawn's face, and shudder with something akin to desire when Dawn jumped in fear. "You hit Ben in his soft human head. And I remember the pain!" She threw the chain aside it had served its purpose.

She forced the arm she was holding up and behind Dawn's back, pushing her further, deeper into the alley, away from the sidewalk and any prying eyes. Dawn bit her lip in an effort to stifle her gasp of pain, not wanting to give Glory the satisfaction. She failed, and heard Glory's gasp of pleasure at the pain she had caused. Glory let Dawn go with a little shove when they were almost at the end of the alleyway.

"You probably think I won't waste any precious blood of yours 'til tonight. You're right. But I know a thousand ways to hurt you that won't spill a drop."

Dawn didn't doubt Glory for a millisecond, she started to quiver in fear. Glory shoved her a little harder this time. She stumbled backwards into the metal staircase that went up the side of the building. She sat down hard on the metal stair and clung to the rail for dear life, scared out of her wits.

Glory started walking towards her, the evil that was her very essence seemed to radiate out from her, making Dawn tremble. "You know all those pesky feelings Ben's been having? Like guilt, empathy...? I'm gonna take 'em and mash 'em back down where they belong. Okay? Now..." She stroked the side of Dawn's face, almost like a lover. Dawn shuddered in revulsion. "...let's have big-girl fun..." She grabbed Dawn's chin, hard, painfully. "...just you and..." Glory paused a flicker of confusion rippled across her face, she let go of Dawn's chin. When she started talking again her voice was odd, not quite hers. "Leave her alone!"

Glory morphed into Ben so fast that Dawn would have missed it had she blinked.

"I said leave her alone!" Ben shouted at Glory and then in less than a blink of an eye it was Glory standing where Ben had just been.

"No. NO! Little late in the game to start growing a backbone, Benjamin." Dawn watched the bizarre show with fear. "Now be good and stay quiet. No - you - don't! Get over yourself, Ben! This is the way things are! I'm strong, you're weak..." Glory let slip a giggle, a sound that Dawn would never forget. It was the sound only a madwoman would make. "...this is reality. Stop trying to infect me with your... " Glory whirled around and when she faced Dawn again, it wasn't her, it was Ben.

"Do you ever stop talking? I don't know which is worse, waking up in a dress not knowing where I've been, or having to hear all your self-involved ranting." His voice was laced with disdain.

"Animal..." Glory snarled at him, turning her back to Dawn.

Dawn watched them... her... him... it... whatever it was they were, thinking inanely to herself, 'Can we all say Sybil'. This was like watching a schizophrenic's different personalities come to life and fight for dominance. Then Ben was in front of Dawn again.

"Wrong, Glory. I'm no animal. This is humanity you're feeling. Welcome to the world."

Dawn saw her chance for escape; they were busy fighting each other, not paying any attention to her at all. She got to her feet slowly, quietly and started to move away from them, edging along the wall, holding her breath.

Ben turned back towards Dawn. "No no no." Shouted Glory, reaching out in a flash, she grabbed Dawn and threw her across the alley.

Dawn crashed into a dumpster, hitting it hard. She slid down to the ground when her knees gave out from under her. She went back to watching the exiled-crazy-god and Ben fighting.

"Stick around, chica." Glory told her.

"I won't let you hurt her, Glory."

"Shut your hole, you sanctimonious little meatworm." She moved towards Dawn like a predator. Basking in the fear she saw on the girl's face, she almost purred, "I'm going home no matter what you do."

Glory looked around, and spied an empty glass bottle by her feet. She bent down to get it and morphed back into Ben just as she picked it up. Ben slammed the bottle against the dumpster viciously; Dawn wasn't sure who she was more afraid of anymore. He held the jagged edge of the bottle to Dawn's face. Dawn pressed back into the dumpster away from him and the bottle in terror.

"You really think I'll just let that happen?" He snarled at Glory.

"Benjamin. What are you doing?" Glory asked keeping the mixture of amusement and fear she felt out of her voice.

"You need her blood?" Right now Dawn was definitely more afraid of Ben. "When I'm through there won't be enough left to fill a bottle cap. Then you, Hellbitch, have nowhere left..."

"...to go. HUH!" Glory finished for him, taunting him like a two-year-old. She yanked Dawn up and away from the dumpster. Glory tossed Dawn across the alley again like she was no more than a rag-doll. With a vengeance she threw the broken glass bottle against the wall, it shattered echoing loudly in the alleyway.

Dawn was trembling crouched down on the ground, her eyes wild with fright.

"You can't hurt her and you know it, Ben." Glory sat down on a pile of bricks, a smug look on her face. "I know it, because I feel what you're feeling. Scared?" She sat and waited for herself to morph back into Ben so he could answer. She smiled when she didn't get a response. "Shh! Shh! It's okay." Glory spoke to him as if he were a child she was trying to comfort after a nightmare. And Dawn wished that was all this was, a nightmare, and she would wake up and be in her own bed, in her own house. "You don't want to die. Who would? I don't." Her voice was light, soft, meant to soothe him.

"You can't. You're immortal." Ben's voice was bitter.

"Nobody has to die here, Ben. Just let me bleed the girl and go home. Everything will work out fine."

"Do you really believe, with all I know, that you can trick me?" He made a 'do-you-think-I'm-stupid' face and then realized he was stupid because Glory couldn't actually see him.

"Stop... and think, baby. We bleed the kid. Return me to my seat of power. I become a God again..."

Dawn began to tremble again, not liking where this was going.

"And I disappear." Ben couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"Ooh...Unless somebody up there likes you. Give up the girl... I could like you a lot."

Dawn's eyes grew wide, her body trembled harder, she held her breath waiting for Glory to morph so Ben could answer her.

"I won't make a deal with you, Glory."

Dawn and Glory sighed together, one in relief, one in anger.

"When exactly did you get stupid? I'm offering immortality here!"

"I believe you," and Ben did believe her, so did Dawn for that matter. "That's not the problem. You make me immortal, then what?" Ben got up from the brick pile. He walked over to Dawn and yanked her up roughly by the arm, making her his visual illustration. He shook her a little when he started talking again. "I have to kill her to do it and I won't be able live with that! Not even for a day... forget about eternity." He started whirling both himself and Dawn in a circle, he morphed into Glory mid-whirl.

"Baby, baby, baby Ben..." Glory let go of Dawn when she stopped whirling. Dawn fell to the ground, dizzy. "...why do you worry so much? When you're immortal, all this crap you've been carrying around inside..." She was a little tired, so she leaned up against the wall. This morphing back and forth was taking a lot out of both of them. She didn't know how long either of them could keep doing it. "...the guilt... the anger... the crazy-making pain..." Glory smiled at the thought of pain, not hers but the pain she caused others. "Ooh, it all just melts away, like ice cream. Trust me. When all this is over, I can set you up real nice. I'm making it easy. It's you... or the girl." Glory slid down the wall, exhausted, and morphed halfway down.

"I can't accept that." Ben gasped, he was having a hard time breathing, his, their body ached like it had gone twenty rounds in the ring with Ali.

"Accept it." Glory smiled again and giggled. "I'm a God, stupid."

She morphed into Ben. He slid the rest of the way down the wall. He had nothing left, he was beyond exhausted, he sat on the ground panting, hanging his head, he smiled anyway, he beat her. He, Ben, mere human, had beaten Glory, Glory the god, had been beaten by him, he was victorious! Calling up some reserved strength from only 'god' knew where, he got up on his feet. He looked at Dawn who stared at him in fright. He walked over to her slowly; he wasn't capable of anything more. He stopped in front of her and held his hand out to her...

"I'm sorry," he whispered to Dawn.

Dawn smiled at him hesitantly, the relief washing through her. She lifted her hand, reaching for his and he snatched her by the wrist quickly.

"NO!" Dawn yelled in fright.

PLEASEGODNOPLEASE!

Ben yanked Dawn to her feet in one rough motion, and began to drag her, Dawn resisted him and he pulled her harder, telling her; "Don't make this harder than it already is. I'm sorry, I got no choice. It's you or me."

She couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it, how could he? She opened her mouth to say something then snapped it closed, her teeth clicking together, the sound echoing loudly inside of her head.

He pulled her out to the sidewalk. Three minions scurried over to join them. He began dragging her down the street. As they walked, the night sky started to change. They continued walking in the pre-dawn light in the direction of the rising sun.

xxxxxxxxxx

They were standing in Buffy's, Mom's room again. They stood side by side in front of the grave once more staring at the headstone. Buffy turned to leave.

"No. Buffy. Leave Dawn alone, what is this?" Willow was getting tired of this, she was a little pissy at this point and tired of the strangeness of it all. Wondering what the hell it was that she was missing. She followed Buffy down the hallway to Dawn's room yet again.

"My gift. This is what I do." Buffy told her as she opened the door.

"I'm not talking about this, I'm talking about..." Buffy walked through the door to Dawn's room. Willow followed right behind her, and blinked in surprise when she saw they were in the Magic Shop instead. Magic Shop Buffy walked over to the bookshelves like before. Only this time standing right next to Willow was the Buffy from the Summers' house. "...this." Willow finished her sentence as an afterthought.

Okay now this was new. Why? Think! Why? What am I missing? Goddess-damn it!

Willow silently cursed herself.

House Buffy and Willow watch the Buffy in the Magic Shop put the book on the shelf, look down pensively and sigh. Rewind... and they watched her repeat the same action again.

Willow started talking almost as if to herself, as if she hadn't stopped at all from before. "Right here, it happened. I know it's something small, but..." They watched as the other Buffy repeated putting the book on the shelf, look down and sigh. "...it's something. What?"

"Don't go there, Will." The Buffy standing next to her told her.

"I'm not! You're the one who keeps dragging me back here! A-and you wouldn't be doing that if you weren't trying to show me something." Willow told the Buffy next to her with a little bit of anger.

The Buffy next to her turned her head and asked her, "Do I?"

"Buffy, c'mon. It's your brain. Just tell me." Time for 'Resolve Face' Willow thought to herself. They watched the other Buffy yet again walk over, put the book on the shelf, look down and sigh. "What happened here?" Asked 'Resolve Face' Willow.

The Buffy next to her just stared, she didn't, couldn't, or wouldn't answer her.

Instead without turning to look the Buffy standing by the bookshelves did, very quietly, "This was when I quit, Will," such sadness in those words.

"You did?" Buffy quit? Her Buffy never quit, okay well once she did, but hey, she had just sent the then love-of-her-life to hell. Anyone would have quit, wouldn't they?

"Just for a second," the Buffy standing next to her told her.

"I remember I was in the magic shop," the other Buffy told her, turning to face her. "I put a book back for Giles. Nothing special about it. And then, it hit me," the Buffy from the Magic Shop said in the same quiet voice.

"What hit you?" Willow was getting a little dizzy with them going back and forth finishing each other's sentences.

"I can't beat Glory." Buffy said so softly that Willow had to strain to hear her even though she was standing next to her.

"Glory's going to win."

"You can't know that." Willow turned to the Buffy next to her, it should be her turn to answer her. The Buffy next to her turned and looked at her before answering.

"I didn't just know it."

"I felt it. Glory will beat me." The other Buffy told her and stared out into space at nothing.

"And in that second of knowing it, Will..." Willow turned her head and watched the Buffy next to her answer, hoping to see some clue in her face, but Buffy turned her gaze away from her. When she finished Willow turned her head to look at the Buffy in the Magic Shop.

"I wanted it to happen." Magic Shop Buffy told her.

"Why?" Willow asked her directly hoping that she would answer her, she was beginning to feel like she was the ball in a tennis match. And she hated tennis.

"I wanted it over. This is all... all of it... it's too much for me." Willow contained her sigh of relief when the Buffy from the Magic Shop did answer her. It was short lived, because they switched off again.

"I just wanted it over..."

Turn head, look at Magic Shop Buffy, Willow thought to herself. "If Glory wins... then Dawn dies."

Turn, look, at the Buffy next to her, this was starting to exasperate her. "And I would grieve and people would feel sorry for me." The Buffy next to her finally turned to look at her. "But it would all be over." Then she looked away again, staring into space as she continued to talk. "And I imagined what a relief that would be." Willow turned her head and watched as the Buffy in the Magic shop once again put the book on the shelf, look down and sighed. The Buffy next to her continued, "I killed Dawn."

Willow turned and looked at the Buffy next to her for a second; she frowned before she asked her, "Is that what you think?" Only to have the Buffy in the Magic Shop answer her.

"My thinking it made it happen. Some part of me wanted it. And in the moment Glory took Dawn..."

Next to her Buffy said, "I know I could have done something better. And I didn't. I was off by some fraction of a second."

Now Magic Shop Buffy, "And this is why..."

And of course Willow thought the Buffy next to her would finish the sentence. "...I killed my sister."

Now Willow scowled, she was dizzy with the back and forth, and the self-pity she was hearing in both Buffy's voices. She looked first at the Buffy standing next to her. Then she looked at the Buffy in the Magic Shop and watched her put the book on the shelf, look down, and sigh heavily yet again. 'Hey how about an encore, cause I sure can't get enough of this!' Willow thought to herself. It was official she was definitely a little bit pissed, tired, and exasperated.

She began softly, slowly telling both Buffy's, "I think Spike was right, back at the gas station..." Willow hesitated a second, "SNAP OUT OF IT!" Willow told them in a near shout.

"What?" Both Buffys' said in perfect sync, both turning to look at her with shock.

"All this... it has a name. It's called guilt." The Buffys' exchanged looks with each other. "It's a feeling, and it's important," Willow looked at the Buffy next to her, "But it's not more than that, Buffy." She glanced back and forth between them, they look pensively at her, "Buffys'. You've carried the weight of the world on your shoulders since high school. And I... I know you didn't ask for this, but... you do it every day. And so you wanted out for one second. So what?"

"I got Dawn killed..." The Buffy next to Willow told her in a quiet mournful voice.

"Hello! Your sister... not dead yet! But she will be if you stay locked inside here and never come back to us." Just a hint of exasperation slipped out this time.

The Buffy next to her looked at the Buffy in the Magic Shop when she asked Willow, "But what if I can't."

"Then I guess you're right. And... you did kill your sister." Willow turned around and started walking toward the Magic Shop door.

The Buffy that had been standing next to her turned around. She yelled out to Willow anxiously. "Wait! Where are you going?"

Willow stopped when she reached the door. She squared her shoulders, put on her best ever 'Resolve Face' and turned around to answer Buffy. "Where you're needed." Willow stared at her for a second or two then asked her, "Are you coming?"

The Buffy that had been standing next to her stared back, behind her the Magic Shop Buffy once again walked up to the bookshelves and placed the book on the shelf. This time instead of looking down she paused, and then turned to look at them.

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In the master bedroom of Xander and Anya's apartment, Willow sat silently on the edge of the king size bed facing her best friend. Buffy sat in the chair across from her, silent, expressionless, with empty, dead eyes.

With her head lying up against the master bedroom door, her hand resting lightly upon it, the Dark Slayer sat and waited for her heart, her soul to come back to her, come back to them all.

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Suddenly Buffy jolted awake, her back arched, she took huge breaths of air painfully, quickly, into her lungs. Her eyes widened, and everything she was feeling flashed rapidly through them. Her awakening was akin to a newborn vampire's rebirth.

On the other side of the door the Dark Slayer jumped, feeling Buffy the second she came back, the tears silently started to fall. And Anya heard her whispering softly, "B... B... you came back. Thank you Red... Thank you..."

Buffy looked at Willow, confused, startled. She quickly took in her surroundings, realized where she was, who she was with, who she wasn't with, and... began to sob, great wracking sobs from the depths of her soul.

Willow blinked rapidly, coming out of the dreamscape. She jumped off the bed, and knelt in front of Buffy, pulling her into her arms, holding her as she cried.

Buffy continued to cry; she lifted her tear-filled eyes and looked at the door... "Faith," she whispered.

The Dark Slayer was on her feet and barreling through the door before Buffy even finished whispering her name. She knelt on the floor next to Willow and gathered both women into her arms. She rested her head up against Buffy's, her own tears still falling, mixing and joining Buffy's. She whispered her name, and thanked Willow. And just held them both, surrounding them both with her love. And letting Buffy once again fill up the empty place inside of her she had left when she had gone into the dark place.

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The bell over the door to the Magic Shop rang signaling someone had entered. Giles looked out from between the shelves of the freestanding bookcase towards the door.

"Buffy?" He questioned softly, then practically yelled, "She's back." They all quickly gathered around the table. Xander and Spike sat at the table next to Giles.

"You're okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay." Buffy gave Xander a small smile hoping to alleviate a little of the worry she saw in his eyes.

Buffy stood by the table, Faith a little to her left, slightly behind her with her hand resting lightly on Buffy's lower back.

"Hear you found the ritual text." Buffy said to Giles.

"Um.. Something like that, yes."

"Did you know that... Ben is Glory?" Xander asked Buffy, he was still excited over this discovery.

"So I'm told." She said then turned her attention back to Giles slipping into Slayer mode. "What do we know?" She didn't miss the slight hesitation before Giles answered her.

"Um... well, um..." Willow, Anya and Tara sat down at the table while Giles stumbled over his words. "...according to these scrolls, um... it's possible for Glory to be stopped." Giles paused taking a deep breath. Buffy stared at him, quirked her eyebrow and gave him a 'yeah-and' look. "I-I'm afraid it's, um... well, Buffy. I've read these things very carefully and there's not much... margin for error. You understand what I'm saying?"

"Might help if you actually said it."

He smiled at her and took off his glasses, he put down his tea, and wiped his glasses, he nodded at her. "Um... Glory... plans to open a... dimensional portal... by way of ritual bloodletting."

"Dawn's blood?" She didn't want to ask, she didn't want to know. Was afraid of what he was going to tell her. She felt Faith begin to rub her thumb in soothing circles on her back.

"Yes... Once the blood is shed at a certain time and place... the fabric separating all realities will... be ripped apart." Willow held Tara's hand while she listened to and watched Giles. Tara stared at the ceiling liking the pretty patterns there. Spike lowered his eyes and looked down at the table. "Dimensions will... pour into one another, um, with no barriers to stop them." Xander and Anya looked up paying attention. Faith felt Buffy stiffen under her hand, and her own body tensed up. "Reality as we know it will be destroyed, and... chaos will reign on Earth."

"So how do we stop it?"

I don't want to know this do I?

"The portal will only close once the blood is stopped... and the only way for that to happen is, um..." Giles stopped talking and dropped his eyes from Buffy's. He couldn't look at her. He took a deep shuddering breath. He looked up, locked his eyes with hers, a grim expression etched his face. "Buffy... the only way is to kill Dawn."

Buffy couldn't breathe, she felt the desolation wanting to lay claim to her again, wanting to take her back into the dark place. She fought it back, she was needed here, there was no way she would ever go back there, not ever again. Then a pair of loving arms were surrounding her from behind, holding her close, adding their strength to hers. Buffy leaned back into Faith and wrapped her arms over the top of Faith's, sinking into her.

Together, all of us together we can find another way she thought.

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Buffy turned her head and looked at the pre-dawn sky through the front window of the Magic Shop. Together the Chosen Two walked out of the shop to stand on the sidewalk. They stood holding each other in the pre-dawn light and waited. One by one all the members of the Scooby Gang, even Spike, who hid in the shadow of the building close to the door, followed them outside. They waited with the Chosen Two for the sun to light up the sky.

This time all of them heard the dawn as it whispered to them of the impending storm. They listened together for the promises of the new day. Each making a secret wish that tomorrow would see them all together, all safe.

With faces turned up to the sky, they watched and waited as the rising sun brought to them a brand new day.

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...We can see it all from here ~ The starless night across the mountain side ~ No one left to talk to ~ There's nothing left to say ~ Into the valleys ~ The shadow of death ~ Grief's silently it's in you and me ~ It's in you and me ~ You and me ~ We stand alone ~ We can see it all from here ~ Stretched far and wide

– Sarah McLachlin

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