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).

23. XXII - Even With My Eyes Closed

XXII – Even With My Eyes Closed

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The vampire had the teenage boy cornered in the dead end alley. The boy backed up in fear and confusion. He didn't understand what was going on. Why was this guy chasing him? Why was this guy interested in whether or not his blood was hot? What was with this guy wanting to rip his throat out and drink his blood? The boy felt like he was in some bad 'B' horror movie, or in one hell of a warped, weird dream.

The teenage boy and vampire turned at the sound of a door opening. A head popped out, they saw a young blond-haired woman, her hair was long, straight and parted down the middle, her complexion light, she had sparkling light hazel-green eyes, and a lazy smile playing around her lips. Even as scared as he was the boy couldn't help think how beautiful she was.

Less than a second later, another head popped out of the open door over the shoulder of the blond. It too belonged to a young woman. Only where the first woman was light this one was dark. With long wavy raven-auburn tresses, a sprinkle of freckles ran across the bridge of her nose and over the tops of her cheeks, her eyes were a very dark-chocolate-brown, and a sensual lopsided grin played around her lips. Her hand rested on the blond woman's shoulder, thumb gently caressing. They were a striking pair, light on dark, and the young boy would have many a dream about the two of them for years to come.

"Hey. What's going on?" The blonde's tone was innocent and sweet. There was nothing threatening about either of the women. But had either the vampire or the teenage boy looked closely they would have seen a flash, a flicker, in the eyes of both women, would have seen that with that simple look both of the women had assessed the situation in just a single glance.

"Help me! Call the police!" The black-haired boy squeaked in fright.

The vampire glared at the two women trying to intimidate them. He snarled at blond, "Get out of here, girl." The vampire turned his back on the girls dismissing them, and his attention back to his meal.

The blond moved out of the doorway into the alleyway playing the stereotypical 'dumb-blond', "You guys havin' a fight? 'Cause, you know, fighting's not cool."

The raven-haired woman leaned her lanky body up against the doorframe; her arms crossed and barely contained her snicker at the blonde's words, a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

The vamp turned his head and glared again at the stupid girls. The teenage boy tried to warn them one more time. "Get out of here!"

The vampire waved off the boy, "No, no, she wants to stay..." He turned around and directed the full weight of his stare at the blond, he leered at her. "...I don't mind a little appetizer..."

The blond frowned at the vamp, a look of concentration on her face as she moved casually closer to him. "Have you ever heard the expression, 'biting off more than you can chew?'" The vampire frowned at her, shaking his head no, but not showing any fear. 'Where's the fear?' the blond wondered. "O-k-a-y... Um... how about the expression, 'Vampire Slayer?'

The woman in the doorway did snicker this time, and whispered 'Good one!' but the blond was the only one who heard her.

"What the Hell are you talking about?" The vampire was confused and by the look on the blonde's face she was confused that he was confused.

"Wow! Never heard that one. Okay, how about, 'Oh God! My leg, my leg?'"

This time the raven-haired beauty out and out laughed at the blonde's words. The vampire was pissed and decided he had enough of this shit. He lunged at the blond, thinking to himself the one in the doorway would be next. It looked like he was going to have a three-course meal tonight. The blond casually sidestepped the vampire's lunge. Then hit him with a hard roundhouse punch, spinning him a little, she followed through with a front-snap kick to his knee. The sound of breaking bones loudly echoed in the alleyway.

The vampire growled out as he fell, "Oh God, my leg! Ahhh!"

"See? Now we're communicating." The blond leaned down pointing a finger at the vamp.

The raven-haired woman watched from the doorway as an almost physical change came over her lover, as she went from playing the 'dumb-blond' to 'The Slayer.' She couldn't help feel that somehow this time it felt different. Something was different, but what? The connection between them as Slayers felt stronger and it... it... Then it hit her what it was, always before it felt the same but different, different in the way as to how each women felt about being 'Chosen.' Always before the blond fought against, resented, tried to keep herself and 'The Slayer' separate, but not now. That was the difference, the conflict that had never existed for the raven-haired beauty was finally gone in the blond now. Something over the last twenty-four hours had changed that.

Buffy Summers had finally merged, accepted, that 'The Slayer' was her and she was the 'The Slayer.' That there was never a difference, that she had been since the day she was born, Buffy and 'The Slayer,' not separate but one in the same. She finally saw, understood, and believed what Faith always had; who and what being the Slayer was and is, a gift, an honor, she was a protector, defender of the light, and it was something she was always born to be. And that simple acknowledgement strengthened, and heightened all the connections between them. It made them stronger, and opened the door for both Slayers' full potential to be awakened.

Faith turned her attention back to Buffy and the vampire, leaving the exploration of this stronger, newer connection/realization for tomorrow, and gave a silent prayer that there would be a tomorrow. Right now, she wanted to watch the fun, she loved to watch Buffy in action, she was staying out of the fight because instinctively she knew this was something Buffy needed to do on her own. She moved a little, making herself more comfortable against the door jam.

The vampire after a few stunned seconds jumped back up ignoring his broken leg, he grabbed Buffy by the throat and threw her against the brick wall. He followed her, and tried to grab her again, she blocked him, pushing his reaching hands aside with ease. She punched him in the face hard and fast, then kneed him, and was behind him before he even had a chance to react. She kicked him from behind and sent him flying into a dumpster. Really pissed off now, the vampire half-turned and backhanded Buffy, sending her stumbling backwards towards the teenage boy.

The boy scrambled out of her way, running for cover and cowering in the corner of the alley. The vampire growled and punched Buffy in the face.

Hate it when they hit me in the face! Asshole!

He picked her up by the neck and slammed her down on top of another dumpster. Wanting to return the favor Buffy kicked the vamp in the face. There!, mentally she stuck her tongue out at the vamp.

Unable to resist showing off for Faith who stood watching amused and aroused - 'Woo Hoo! Love these echoes' - in the doorway, Buffy did a cartwheel off the dumpster landing on her feet gracefully. Moving like a predator, she hit the vampire with a series of staggering kicks, forcing him backwards, until he landed on top of a pile of wooden crates. The crates shattered under his weight, and pieces of splintered wood flew into the air. The vampire gave a short-lived sigh of relief that he hadn't been staked by one of the splintered pieces of the crate.

His sigh quickly turned to a strangled rumble of fury. In the blink of an eye, Buffy snatched a piece of the flying crate out of the air, with dexterity and speed the vampire knew wasn't quite 'human'. He lunged up at her and saw almost as if in slow motion, the makeshift stake coming towards him, and then he was just dust. She dropped the makeshift stake and stared down at the vampire's dust, she could see the boy still cowering in shock, in fear, out of the corner of her eye.

"Wow. Been a long while since I met one didn't know me," she turned around towards the doorway and Faith, she took a step towards her and paused, she turned her head and looked back at the boy, " You should get home."

She started to walk towards the raven-haired beauty again, whose eyes were raking over her with a very hungry look.

"H-h-ow did you...do that?" Came the boy's trembling voice from behind her.

Buffy answered him without turning around, keeping her eyes locked on her lover in the doorway, "It's what I do," her voice was low and throaty, and she didn't miss the little shudder that rippled under Faith's skin.

"But you're... you're just a girl ..." The boy said as if trying to convince her, the other woman, and himself.

Buffy stopped, still keeping her eyes on the woman in front of her, "That's what I keep saying." She was just a very special kind of girl, just like Faith. Special indeed, and in that second Buffy's conscious mind accepted what her unconscious mind already had. She looked at Faith, the echo she got from her telling her that Faith had already known this, and got a sweeping sensation of the changes between them, their connections, she gasped and Faith smiled at her in understanding

The boy took off running down the alleyway. The raven-haired Slayer watched as the blond-haired Slayer started moving towards her again. Moving like a predator stalking its prey, slow, graceful, sensuous, and this time it was Faith who was reminded of a panther. The second the other Slayer was within arm's reach, she grabbed her by the waist of her pants and dragged her to her, trying to pin her up against the wall by the door.

It was the raven-haired Slayer though, who found herself pinned next to the door, arms above her head, back up against the wall.

The first of the Chosen Two leaned up into to her, her lips a hairsbreadth away from Faith's. Who couldn't have stop the shudder that went through her even if she wanted to, when her lover whispered to her, low, husky, "You know there was one thing that I lied about..."

"What's that?" she whispered back, and smiled at the answering shudder she felt go through her lover.

The look she received was purely carnal, primal. "That the whole slaying thing didn't make me hungry and..." Then the blond-haired Slayer leaned the length and weight of her body fully against the raven-haired Slayer, who managed to get a moaned 'B' out before her mouth was captured, and devoured.

The sound of a lone wolf howling at the moon shatter the silence of the night.

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She slid her hands down the length of Faith's arms, dragging her nails down the sensitive underside of them. She continued running them down over the length of her torso, stopping briefly to rest upon Faith's waist. She slid them behind Faith, resting them right above her buttocks, and pulled Faith's hips towards her hard, sliding Faith over her slightly raised thigh. Both Slayers were having flashbacks to the night at the Bronze. Only now, it felt like they both had been waiting two years to feel the touch of the other.

Faith, who was not to be outdone slid her hands behind Buffy's back, pulled her to her tighter and slightly down onto her own raised thigh. She let her knees buckle and arched her back letting her shoulders slide down the wall behind her, pulling Buffy with her, never breaking their kiss. She sat back almost completely onto her calves and pulled Buffy closer to her, until they were both straddling each other's thighs.

Buffy moaned into Faith's mouth. Faith captured and drank the moan down like it was the sweetest nectar on the face of the earth. Buffy pulled out of the kiss, gasping for breath, her heart racing, lava running through her veins. She skimmed her mouth along Faith's cheek, over to her ear, stopping to capture, nibble on her lobe. Then she found the sensitive spot behind Faith's ear, scraping her teeth along it, mumbling, "We shouldn't... be... doing this... We should... stop..."

Buffy continued running her mouth, her tongue, raking her teeth along that sensitive spot, mumbling the same thing, over and over. While Faith's hands roamed, over her back, around up her sides, brushing along the sides of her breasts. Stifling her moans of agreement against Buffy's neck, "You're... right...B... Stop... now..." that only served to send shudders of desire down Buffy's spine.

She knew it was inappropriate, knew it was selfish. Knew that it was out and out wrong in so many ways to be doing this in the back alleyway of the Magic Shop, that she couldn't even count them. Doing this, feeling the need, the desire, the want, while some fucking lunatic-exiled-god held the fate of her sister, them, the world as they knew it, in the balance. But in the back of her mind ran the continuous harsh, cold, very real reality, that there might not be a tomorrow for her, Faith, both of them, any of them.

This wasn't the Master, Kakistos, Drusilla, The Judge, Adam, William the Bloody, Darla, The Mayor, or even The Scourge of Europe – Angelus, this was a God they were going up against tonight. A God who had kicked her ass more than once, a God who she couldn't seem to damage, hurt at all, a God who they didn't know how to kill. While the threat of dying had always been there, the odds were with them, not against them. This time though, they weren't. This time the smart bet, the only bet was on the God, not the Slayers, not even with the two of them fighting together. And she could feel in their echoes that Faith knew all of this too.

But knowing that only made the desire, the passion, escalate, fast, furiously, and out of control for both Slayers in a matter of seconds. It was more than that, it was in the need to feel alive, to be with, to touch, to feel the warmth, the rush, to memorize each other, their sighs, their moans, feel their breath, their heat against you one more time, and the ice-cold bone deep fear that you might never get the chance again. It was a reaffirmation of feelings and even more.

Buffy moved her mouth away from Faith's neck and looked at her locking their eyes. Everything she was feeling she saw reflected back in those dark, dark, brown eyes. The thoughts, the feeling were exactly the same, they could see it in each other eyes, feel it in the echoes, feel it in the place inside of themselves that held the other.

The act of dusting a ridiculously simple vampire brought to the surface all of the hidden thoughts, fears of the Chosen Two. It drove home with vicious force the very real reality that this could truly be the last time they were together as just simply Faith and Buffy. Once they went back into the Magic Shop, Buffy and Faith would fade and the Chosen Two would take their place. While it was true that they and 'The Slayer' were one in the same, there were times when they were just 'The Slayer'. When what they felt for each other came secondary, had to come second to what they had to do, had to be, how they had to act, react, and they might not ever get the chance to be just them, after tonight.

Buffy brought her mouth down almost brutally onto Faith's. It was all in that kiss, the love, the fear, the desperation, the wrongness, the rightness, the passion, all of it and more. Faith was keening into her mouth, and Buffy was moaning back, dimly she realized they were both shivering, trembling, crying.

Buffy pulled back from the kiss, and both Slayers reached up at the same time to brush the tears gently away from each other's face. Faith leaned in and caught a few of the still silently falling tears from Buffy with her tongue. She took a shaky breath, leaned her forehead against Buffy's and stared into her eyes.

"I love you," she whispered and if it weren't for Buffy's Slayer hearing she would not have heard her.

Buffy's whole body shook from those so softly spoken words, because unlike other people she not only heard them, but felt the truth of them, was surrounded by them, encompassed and awed by them in the echo she got from Faith. And she sent back her own love for Faith and Faith gasped, trembling. Something happened between them in that second that Buffy couldn't even begin to try to put into words. It was like a sharing of energy, a merging, she felt like hot currents of electricity were running between them, every hair on her body was standing on end and when Faith nodded slightly to her, she knew Faith was feeling the same thing too.

Buffy ducked down her head and kissed Faith. The kiss was the same but more than what they had shared earlier that day. And Buffy didn't care that she was being selfish, didn't care that this was wrong, because something inside of her was urging her on, some deep seeded instinct, and it felt like some outside force was there too, telling her no matter how wrong this was, it was just as right. It was almost like a prophecy was being played out, almost like the choice was being taken out of both the Slayers' hands. Like before, everything faded from both Slayers' minds, there was just them and what was between them. For them and the rest of the world it was as if time stood still. As if the 'gods' themselves were giving the Chosen Two these few minutes in time.

Giving them not to the Slayers, but to Buffy and Faith.

Buffy broke their kiss and once again locked her eyes with Faith; they didn't need any words between them because with absolute certainty she knew Faith felt it all, and understood it too. As if they had a mind of their own, her hands slid down to Faith's hips. Faith's own hands mirrored Buffy's exactly. Their hands upon each other's hips they encouraged the other to rock, slide upon each other's thighs. They started a rhythm between them that was as old as time, moving together in perfect synchronicity.

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They were still moving against each other, breath labored, hearts pounding a furious beat, sparks of heat running under their skins, molten heat pumping through their veins. All in perfect sync with the other, together but separately, feeling the other's 'emotions', feeling their own. Separate but the same. One but individual. It was all too much and too little at the same time. Too fast and too slow. Rushed, but as if they had taken all the time in the world with each other.

They took each other to a place they had never been before in the back alley, amidst the dumpsters and garbage on the ground. It didn't matter, they didn't see it, all they saw was the other, all they felt was the other. All they had was this moment in time before their world could possible change forever. It felt like hours, but was only minutes in reality.

"I love you Faith"

"I love you B."

Had they said that aloud, or did they only hear it in their minds? Then all coherent thought fled as the world they had made for each other exploded in a kaleidoscope of colors around them. They clung to each other like there was no tomorrow, as their bodies trembled, convulsed around the other, as sparks seemed to fly from inside and outside. As they felt as if they were inside, a part of the other, separate, but the same. As they created a link between them and left a piece of themselves inside of the other for all time. The connection between them solidified, merged, became a bond that could never be severed by anyone, anything, not even themselves.

They collapsed into each other a little awed, humbled, terrified, overwhelmed, but reveling in this anyway. Certain that nothing and no one could ever truly separate them again, not even death. They leaned their foreheads together realizing they had never once stopped crying. They moved towards each other again at the same time, as one but separate, as the world started to come back into focus, as reality started to intrude once again, and softly they kissed.

They rose on shaky legs, straightening out their clothes, their hair, with equally trembling hands. They calmed their breathing. No words were exchanged between them, there wasn't a need, there was a perfect understanding between them now, in the echoes that lived within. They moved over to the door, turned to each other and kissed once more, before entering; each praying that it wouldn't be their last.

They reached together and opened the door; hand in hand, they walked into the Magic Shop. With each step they took down the hallway, they let the part of themselves that was just Buffy and Faith fade, and it was 'The Slayers', the Chosen Two that emerged into the main room of the shop.

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They were in pure hardcore research mode, well, Willow, Xander and Giles were. Spike was sitting on the ladder that led up to the 'Off-Limits' loft of the shop, smoking a cigarette. Anya was off to the side fiddling with something on one of the shelves. Tara was just looking around blankly, rocking, humming and muttering to herself. Buffy and Faith's attention was entirely focused on Giles; they barely even noticed anyone else in the room.

Xander looked up from his book when they came back into the shop; he noticed the light gleam of sweat on both of their skins and the slightly flushed look they shared, "Something going on out back?"

The Chosen Two dropped their linked hands and Buffy moved forward towards the table, Faith stayed where she was. "Vampire," Buffy told him not dropping her gaze from Giles.

"Oh."

"Anything?" Buffy waited for Giles to look up from his book and answer her.

Giles could feel the weight of her stare on him. He raised his hand towards his glasses as if to take them off. His hand hovered over them for a second in indecision, then dropped back down to the table and he raised his eyes to her.

"Nothing you want to hear. The ritual is... uh..."

Buffy cut his stammering off, "Explain it to me again."

"There's nothing new to..." His tone filled with sorrow, remorse. Buffy and Dawn were like his own daughters, this was killing him inside.

"Go through it again," Buffy's told him in a slow, calm, almost soothing voice.

Everyone except Faith and Anya looked nervously at Buffy. There was something almost too calm about her. Anya looked first at Buffy and then Faith, there was something different about them, something if she were still a vengeance demon she would recognize, but now couldn't quite put her finger on. Something had happened besides just sex between the two of them since they had gone out back and come back inside. It was eluding her; she dropped it from her mind and turned her attention to Giles instead.

"The Key was... living energy. It needed to be channeled, poured into a specific place at a specific time. The energy... would flow into that spot, the walls between the dimensions break down. It stops... the energy's used up... the walls come back up. Glory uses that time to get back to her dimension, not caring that all manner of hell will be unleashed on Earth in the meantime."

Anya looked between the two grim faces of the Chosen Two and felt fear, real fear coil in the pit of her stomach for the first time in over a thousand years. She didn't want to ask, didn't want to hear the answer that she already feared she knew, but she did anyway. "Um... But only for a little while, right? The walls come back, uh... n-no more hell?" Anya looked expectantly at Giles, but it was Willow who answered her.

"That's only if the energy is stopped. And now the Key is human... " Willow paused not even for a second and looked over her shoulder at Buffy before she finished, "...is Dawn."

Giles looked down and began to read from the book in front of him, "The blood flows, the gates will open. The gates will close when it flows no more." He took off his glasses again, not even remembering putting them on and looked up at Buffy and continued, "When Dawn is dead."

The sound of a pin dropping could have been heard when Giles finished reading the harsh, unrelenting, terrifying words from the book, silence ruled until Tara broke it. "I have places to be!"

They all looked over at her; she was curled up into a ball in a chair. Quiet again, she stared at them blankly, lost in the world that Glory had forced her into.

"Why blood? Why is it Dawn's blood, why couldn't it be, like, a lymph ritual?"

'Stupid bloody humans! After all this time you would think they would get it!' Spike could barely contain his sarcasm and contempt when he answered Xander, "'Cause it's always gotta be blood."

"We're not actually discussing dinner right now," Xander snorted.

Fucking bloody chip. Hate it, hate it!

"Blood is life, lackbrain. Why do you think we eat it? It's what keeps you going, makes you warm, makes you hard, makes you other than dead." This time a little bit of his contempt and sarcasm did slip through. Spike lowered his voice when it hit him that it was Little Bit, he was in essence, talking about and he finished in a quiet regretful tone, "Course it's her blood."

Spike looked from one face to another. Finally, they were getting it. As he looked from Giles, to Willow, to Buffy and then Faith, he saw that they had always understood it on some level, even if they didn't want to admit it to themselves.

Buffy moved closer to the table, her gaze still intent on Giles, Faith moved to stand off to the side, right behind her.

"Pretty simple math, here. We stop Glory before she can start the ritual. There's still a couple of hours, right?" It was a little eerie how calm Buffy's voice was.

"If my calculations are right, but Buffy..."

Buffy cut him off, her voice was hard, demanding, like a General addressing her troops. "I don't want to hear it..." She turned her back on him as if dismissing him.

"I understand that..." Giles tone was soft, he did understand, but someone had to make the hard choice and he didn't think that Buffy could.

She whipped back around to face him, "No! No, you don't understand! We're not talking about this!"

Giles jumped up facing her down. He didn't want to do it, but he did, it wasn't simply just Dawn's life in the balance here it was the fate of the world as well. "Yes we bloody well are!" Everyone looked at Giles in shock. They could probably count the number of times on one hand that he had ever yelled at Buffy. He saw their shocked expressions, calmed himself and lowered his voice, "If Glory begins the ritual... If we can't stop her..."

"Say it. Come on, we're bloody well talking about this, tell me to kill my sister!" Buffy's voice had a hardness to it that Giles had never heard directed at him before.

Though it killed him inside to say it to her, he did it anyway in a quiet, firm voice, "She's not your sister."

She waited a beat before answering him; there was a thoughtful look on her face. "No. She's not. She's more than that. She's me. The monks made her out of me. I hold her... I feel closer to her than..." Buffy looked down at the table, her 'Slayer' façade slipping from her. Right now she was just plain old Buffy, Dawn's sister. But the 'Slayer' disagreed, Dawn was her sister too. She looked back up, and she continued, the 'Slayer' and Buffy were in total accord, "It's not just the memories they built. It's physical. Dawn... is a part of me. The only part that I..."

"We'll solve this. We will. Don't have another coma, okay?" Willow smiled at Buffy who gave her a small smile in return.

Still keeping his voice quiet, Giles told her, told all of them, "If the ritual starts, then every living creature in this and every other dimension imaginable will suffer unbearable torment and death..." He looked directly at Buffy, "...including Dawn."

"Then the last thing she'll see is me protecting her." Buffy's voice rang with steely determination; they all knew that she wouldn't change her mind. She didn't need to turn around to know that Faith had nodded her agreement behind her.

Giles looked at Faith first, then at Buffy, he knew that neither of them would veer from their chosen course. His whole being filled with sorrow and it was reflected in his soft voice. "You'll fail. You'll die. We all will." Then he turned away from the table and from them.

"I'm sorry," Buffy told his slowly retreating back as she and the others watched him walk away from them. "I love you all... but I'm sorry." Then she turned away from the table and looked to Faith for comfort and understanding.

Giles paused and turned to look back at her, then turned away again.

Everyone jumped including the Slayers when Anya shouted out of nowhere, "OKAY!" Anya raised her hand casting her in her head the first vote, imitating something she had seen on television. "All in favor of stopping Glory BEFORE the ritual! Suggestions? Ideas?" She snapped her fingers, trying to get them to pay attention, participate, raise their hands, do something, do anything. Xander was thinking to himself he was going to have to cut down on her television, but he loved her anyway. "Time's 'a-wastin'..."

Spike looked at Buffy he couldn't help it, a bloke could wish after all, "Uh... when you say you love us all..."

"Shut up." Giles and Xander yelled at him together, while Faith just gave him a look and raised her eyebrow at him in warning. She didn't feel bad for him, but she could totally relate to what it felt like to love Buffy, and not have her love you in return. After all she had 'been there, done that' and fuck if she wasn't glad that it was no longer true.

"Willow! I bet you've got some dark spell a 'brewin'. Uh... make her a.. ah... a toad? Little hoppy toad, we hit her with a hammer..."

"Hoppy toad..." Tara giggled out at Anya's suggestion.

"What about Ben? He can be killed, right? I mean, I know he's an innocent, but, you know, not, like Dawn innocent. We could kill a... regular guy..." Everyone looked at Xander, surprised, confused but considering what he said. No one noticed the flicker in both Giles and Faith's eyes. As Xander considered it himself, he felt disgusted that he even made the suggestion, it was apparent in his softly spoken 'God'.

"It's doubtful he'll surface again this close to the ritual. We have to expect it's Glory we're dealing with." Giles was back in full scale 'Watcher' mode.

"We don't have to kill her... um... we just stop her from performing the ritual. I mean, there's just the one time she can do it, right?" Willow was still in take-charge mode, still thinking on her feet. She had changed over the last year; the shy, young redhead had turned into a confident powerful witch.

"Yeah, we get her on the ropes; we just gotta keep her occupied till it's too late!" Spike agreed with Willow.

"Okay, but I'm still not hearing enough ideas, she's a god, let's think outside the box!" Anya was still playing the cheerleader, encouraging her fellow squad-mates to get into the game. Too much television, definitely, Xander thought to himself.

"Why don't you go think outside the bleedin' box?"

"Yes, Anya, apart from your incredibly un-infectious enthusiasm, have you anything to contribute?"

Anya thought about it for a minute then blurted out, "The Dagon's Sphere!"

"Sorry?" The confusion was clearly written across Giles face.

"When Buffy first met Glory she found that magical..." She gestured over towards the wall. "...glowy sphere that was meant to repel Glory. We've got it in the basement." Okay, everyone was looking at her in surprise. She smiled proudly, happy, finally to be able to contribute, to help. "It might drive her back, or hurt her... Ooooh!" Anya hurried over to the display case, in full-scale cheerleader, slash, game-show hostess mode.

She waved her hand showing, presenting the item in the case to them just like she had seen the women do on 'The Price is Right. "And... Olaf the Troll-god's enchanted hammer." She moved her hand away so that everyone could see the very large, heavy hammer in the case. "You wanna fight a god, use the weapon of a god." Anya finished beaming proudly, having to hold herself back from clapping her hands enthusiastically like a two-year-old.

Spike watched as Buffy walked over to the display cabinet he started to tell her, "Uh... Nah... that thing's too heavy to..." And barely kept his mouth from dropping open as Buffy lifted it with ease, like it was made out the same thing that nerf balls were. "Yeah. Good." He finished lamely.

"I like this," Buffy smiled at Anya, "Thanks!"

"Here to help. Want to live!"

Everyone was a little bit bewildered by how smart and how helpful Anya was suddenly being. Xander puffed up his chest with pride for his girlfriend and looked at her with something short of a leer, but with total devotion and love, "Smart chicks are sooooo hot."

"You couldn't have figured that out in tenth grade...?"

Willow and Xander exchanged smiles, and for just a second, they were once again just the two plain old goofball kids that grew up together.

"Well. We have some ideas, if we could actually get Glory on the run, but, um..."

"But we still have no idea how to find her." Buffy said to Giles as she watched Faith who was giving the hammer an almost sensual look. One thing that hadn't changed about Faith was she still loved new toys.

"Big day... Oh, it calls me! I have to be there!" Tara told them, the deep seeded part of herself hoping they would understand. They all looked at Tara, then at each other, speculatively. Buffy and Faith exchanged thoughtful glances. "Big day!"

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Dawn was sitting on the floor, eyes closed, knees drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them. She heard Ben enter the room; she knew it was him without having to look. She ignored him, but he was insisting on talking to her. He wanted her to change into an antique looking gown, and then he was trying to explain to her why he was doing this, but she didn't care. She answered him sarcastically, he made her sick, she didn't want to look, hear, or be around him anymore.

"Change!"

"What?" He was confused, change into what? He already had on what he was supposed to wear; she was the one who needed to change.

"Change. Be her. I don't wanna look at you." 'You piece of shit (Faith again), Dawn thought to herself.

He shook his head no at her, confused, contrite, in sorrow, "Dawn, I don't think you wanna..."

Her voice started out low but with each word, it grew louder until she was yelling at him, "Be Glory! Be Glory! GLORY! GLORY! GLORY!"

"Will you just stop..."

"...shouting already?" Glory finished for Ben after he morphed. Dawn glowered at her, and Glory was a little bit confused, she thought the kid wanted her here. "Huh." She looked over the medieval dress that she was holding that Dawn was supposed to put on. She shook it, as if shaking out imaginary wrinkles, then turned her attention back to Dawn. "So... what's the hubbub, bub?" Glory sat down in a chair and made herself comfortable, "...What do you got against old Benjy?"

"He's a monster. At least you're up front about it."

Glory started playing, picking at the dress, fidgeting like a remorseful three-year-old. "Don't be so hard on the boy. He just wants to live... most guys would do the same. Besides, he's probably the reason your sis and her little cartoon pals are still alive. That little nagging pinch of humanity that makes me go for the hurt instead of the kill." She looked directly at Dawn so she would know that she was telling her the truth, so the kid could see it in her eyes. But 'god' only knew why this was important to her. "Lowering myself to trade blows with a Slayer when I should have just put my fist through her heart." She stood up irritated now and looked at the damn dress again. "It's gotta be Ben."

"Or maybe you just can't take her." Dawn told her pulling a 'Faith' only this time she said it aloud. 'Fuck it, the bitch is gonna bleed me anyway', (Faith again). Did it really matter that she was cursing now anyway?

Glory flung the gown at Dawn, who grabbed a hold of it startled. Glory smiled and furiously yanked on it, pulling Dawn right up off the floor. Dawn was proud of herself when she didn't lose her balance and she stood glaring at Glory facing off against her. She watched as a flicker of something flashed across Glory's face and she knew that when she spoke it was going to be in that irritatingly, sickly-sweet voice that grated her last nerve.

"Hmmm... funny thing... You've been here for a few hours now and I haven't seen big sis galloping in to save you. She probably knows what a terrible mistake that'd be."

"She's not afraid of you," Dawn stared at Glory with confidence. She knew her sister and it wouldn't matter even if she was afraid of her, her sister, when it came down to it, would be here for her, she knew that.

"Oh, no, sweetie baby, I'm talking about the ritual. 'Cause you know, I bleed you, the portals open, but once you die, they close. The faster you die, the better for your sorry species." Glory grabbed Dawn hurtfully by the face, and drank in the fear she saw there. Damn she couldn't wait to get home, she so missed this. "I'm bettin' Buffy knows that. And since you're not really her sister... I'm guessing she isn't gonna show. And if she does..." Glory squeezed Dawns face tighter and almost swooned as Dawn flinched in pain. "...it might not be to save you." Glory tossed Dawn from her like a rag doll, letting out a brief second of that hysterical madwoman giggle that made chills go down Dawn's spine.

Dawn landed on the floor hard, face first and jerked her head back just in time to keep it from smashing against the grating on the floor. She felt the gown fall down beside her, and she looked up at Glory who was smirking at her. She pressed her face up against the grating; a solitary tear fell from her eye as she whispered, "Buffy."

xxxxxxxxxx

Buffy was in the training room alone. Faith was out front rummaging thru the weapons chest in delight, acting a lot like a five-year-old who had been given free rein in a candy store. Giles took one last look at her shaking his head before he left the main area of the shop to go join Buffy.

When he entered, he stood for a second watching Buffy pound away at the body bag. With alternating punches of deadly force, she was hitting the bag with everything she was worth. He walked over towards her, his heart breaking for her; they were too young these Slayers to have so much weight on their slim shoulders. "You sure you're not going to tire yourself out?"

She stopped punching the bag, there was still a little bit of anger in her demeanor, "I'm sure." She started beating up the bag again after she answered him.

"We're... still working on ideas." Buffy stopped hitting the bag again, the anger draining out of her as Giles spoke to her. "Time's short, but, uh... best leave it to the last moment." He watched Buffy as she stretched out her muscles. "If we go in too early and she takes us out, no chance of getting her to miss her window."

"Then we wait." She threw a punch at the bag with such force that the chain snapped. The bag flew a few feet and hit the ground hard, had it been a person the next sounds would have been bones breaking. She shook out her arm as she stared at the bag.

"I imagine you hate me right now." There was such sadness in his voice. He heard her sigh in sadness as well, but she didn't turn around, or answer him. He took a few hesitant steps closer to her. "I love Dawn." The truth of it could be heard loud and clear in his words. But both of them knew it didn't change a thing.

"I know," she answered still with her back to him. He was like a father to her; it was killing her that it had come to this between them.

"But I have sworn to protect this sorry world, and sometimes that means saying and doing... what other people can't. What they shouldn't have to."

Buffy composed herself as best as possible and turned to face him, "You try to hurt her, you know I'll stop you."

"I know."

A second passed, Buffy turned, walked over to the couch and sat down. Giles trailed slowly after her, stopping and standing in front of her. Both silently wishing that they were just ordinary people, oblivious like the majority of the world to what evil there really was in it.

"How many apocalypses is this for us?" Her voice was tired and way too old sounding for her age.

"Oh... uh... well..." He sat down, taking off his glasses like he always did when he was thinking. "...six, at least." He leaned back carefully, still mindful of his wound. "Feels like a hundred." This time it was his voice that sounded weary. He was tired, truth be told.

"I've always stopped them. Always won."

"Yes."

"I sacrificed Angel to save the world. I loved him so much... But I knew... What was right, I don't have that any more. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world, if these are the choices." His heart was breaking for her, for all of them. For the deep down, bone weariness he heard in her voice. "If everything just gets stripped away... I don't see the point. I just wish..." The tears were forming in her eyes and she was having a hard time holding them back, "I just wish my Mom was here."

Giles watched as she held the tears back, she was almost resigned to them. He noticed though a change in her, and realized like Faith had earlier, that there was no longer a conflict in her. Buffy had finally accepted that she and 'The Slayer' were one in the same. It was this acceptance Giles knew, that was giving her the knowledge that something wasn't and didn't feel quite right about what was going on now with Glory.

Buffy got up from the couch and started heading for the door. She stopped when she was almost there and turned around to look at him once again. There was one thing she still hadn't told Giles about her 'Slayer Quest', in fact only Faith, and now Willow who found out about it during their 'mind-meld' knew. Buffy decided now was as good a time as any to tell him. "The spirit guide told me... that Death is my gift. Guess that means a Slayer really is just a killer after all."

"I think you're wrong about that," and Giles had the feeling that she knew it too.

"It doesn't matter. If Dawn dies, then I'm done with it. I'm quitting."

She turned back around, needing to be with Faith and left him sitting on the couch mulling over her words.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dawn was wearing the gown that Ben brought in for her. Glory had given her the choice of either putting it on herself or having one of the minions do it for her. The thought of one of those human-rat like things touching her, made her skin crawl. She had folded her clothes in a neat pile and carried them over to a chair; she placed them upon it and knelt beside the chair. Her eyes were wet and her face streaked with dried tear tracks. She was silent, lost inside of her own head. Calling to her sister, Faith, the Scoobs, Spike, Giles, over and over inside of her head, hoping somehow, that she shared a connection with one of them, any of them in the same way that Buffy and Faith shared one.

Glory was standing off to the side, writing, she had a gleeful smile on her face. A minion entered the room and hurried over to her whispering close to the exiled god's ear something too low for Dawn to hear. She watched them out of the corner of her eye as she neatly arranged her sneakers under the chair. She turned her head and looked up as Glory started talking in that fucking irritating, sickly, sweet-as-goddamn-syrup voice of hers.

"Okay, campers! It's almost stab time!" Glory smiled at Dawn and the minions in general. "You two, get her."

The minion in the room and another one who came through the door on Glory's command hurried over to Dawn. She started to back away, fear taking hold of her, she screamed at them, at the room, at the world, "NO! NO!"

Pleaseohpleaseohpleaseidon'twanttodie!

"BUFFY!"

The minions ignored her screams and grabbed her; she continued screaming as she tried to get out of their grasp. No words, just whimpers, and shouts of fear. Glory watched them, licking her lips tasting the fear of the girl upon them. Loving it, she smiled in pleasure, growling out in sensual voice, "See you in a few." Glory was almost disappointed when they dragged the struggling girl out of the room. Then again, she would see her soon, and even better, she would be going home soon!

They dragged Dawn through the outer courtyard while she still struggled to free herself from their painful grip. They dragged her past the crazies that were still working away and it wasn't until they dragged her up the first step that she raised her head, looked up and saw what everyone had been so busy building. Confusion and fear threatened to overwhelm her at the sight above her.

A tower rose up out of the ground, over a hundred feet high, reminding her in an odd way of an oil well. The only thing spoiling the illusion was a platform forty feet in length, which stuck out like some obscene narrow diving board. The 'diving board' had poles jutting from it and ended in a half circle. They began to drag her again and she flung herself backwards, trying to break away from them. They tightened their hold on her and continued to drag her up the steps.

The tower was a monster, something surreal, a thing that nightmares were made of, as it stood stark and absolute against the darkness of the night sky.

BUFFYFAITHBUFFYFAITHBUFFYFAITHBUFFYFAITHBUFFYFAITHBUFFYFAITHBUFFYFAITHBUFFYFAI...

xxxxxxxxxx

Giles yelled down to Xander and Anya in the basement, "Any luck? Have you found the Dagon Sphere?"

Anya yelled up to him coming out from behind the stairs, trying to put her shirt back on fast, afraid that Giles might decide to come down there. "Umm... I'm sure it's here! Just be a minute..."

Xander came out from under the stairs, buttoning and zipping his trousers up. It was inappropriate for them to have just done what they just did. Even though she couldn't say it with an absolute certainty, Anya suspected they weren't the only ones that had been inappropriate tonight.

This time Xander yelled up at Giles, trying to keep his voice calm, "Yeah, we're on it..." He raised his voice a little more to make sure that Giles could hear him, "...let's look over here! Where we didn't look yet!"

"Well, time's a factor..." Giles shouted back down reminding them. He wondered what they really had been doing down there, the basement wasn't that big. Then again, he really didn't want to know.

"Yes! Yes! Not to worry."

Giles shut the door and they heard as he walked away, they both sighed in relief and actually started to look for the sphere.

"So, are you more, um... relaxed?"

Anya didn't look at him, instead she kept looking through the boxes in front of her. "No." The thought of dying actually scared her; it was something she hadn't had to think about in over a thousand years.

"No? I mean, it sounded like you... uh... arrived." Xander started to pace around her, confused.

"No. Yes um... I had the pleasure moment, and the blissful calm that comes right after it. But that only lasted a couple of seconds and now I'm terrified again."

He could understand terrified, he was a little terrified himself. He tried to calm her, "You don't have to be." Xander moved past her and yanked a drop-cloth off something over by the shelves, he shrieked in surprise. "Gaaah!" He leapt back away from the 'ewww Buffy-bot'.

"Gaaah! What?" Anya jumped too, for a second frantic that Glory had somehow managed to get past them and was hiding under the drop-cloth.

"Spike's sexbot... Why didn't they melt this thing into scrap?"

The 'Buffy bot' was staring at them with its eyes open and unblinking, as they stared back at it. It was creeping them both out.

"Maybe Willow wanted it." Anya saw the uncomfortable look on Xander's face at that comment. She still needed practice on how to phrase things.

He turned around to look at Anya and his breath caught like it always did when he looked at her. "I don't think Willow feels that way about Buffy... I mean she's gone through a lot of changes, but..."

Anya took pity on 'her Xander' and cut him off as a way of explanation of what she meant, "To study it."

"Right. Robotics." He blushed embarrassed, and Anya smiled at how cute he looked when he did that. "Science."

They both began to search for the Dagon Sphere separately, suddenly Anya blurted out teasing him, "Pervert."

"Other pervert."

"And don't frighten me like thaAAAHHH!" Anya shrieked in terror, Xander was by her side in less than a second. "Oh god, who, who would put something like that there, is this supposed to be some sort of sick joke?" She reached into the box again and brought out a small stuffed child's toy bunny. "I mean things aren't bad enough..." Deep breath, "this is an omen!"

"Hey... Hey... shhhhh..." Xander started rubbing her shoulders to soothe and comfort her.

"No, no! It's an omen, it's a higher power, trying to tell me through bunnies that we're all gonna die! Oh, God..." She was well and truly terrified now.

"No it's not," Xander put his arms around her from behind, pulling her tightly to him, as she let the bunny drop back into the box. "It's okay."

"No, you see, usually, when there's an apocalypse, I skedaddle. But now I love you so much that instead I have inappropriately timed sex and try to think of ways to fight a god... and worry terribly that something might happen to you, and also worry that something'll happen to me. And then I have guilt that I'm not more worried about everyone else, but I just don't have enough! I'm just on total overload, and I honestly don't think anything could make me be more nervous than I am right now."

He took one of his hands away from her waist and reached into his pocket. "Care to wager on that?" Xander asked her as he held open a tiny velvet box with a small diamond engagement ring in it in front of her. Anya's mouth dropped open in stunned surprised. He let her go as she turned to face him. The smile he gave her was both beautiful and gentle, the love he felt for her radiated from him.

"Anya... you wanna marry me?" Anya continued to look at him in stunned surprise for a few more seconds, then she slapped him across the face. "Can I take that as a maybe?" He wasn't quite sure how to react to that slap, she was an ex-vengeance demon after all.

"You're proposing to me!"

"Yes..." Xander bit down the 'duh'.

"You're proposing to me 'cause we're gonna die! And, and, you think it's romantic and sexy and you know you're not gonna have to go through with it, cause the world's gonna end!" She was starting to sound a little like 'babble mode Willow'.

"I'm proposing to you, Anya, because it's not."

"You can't know that."

"I believe it. I think we're gonna get through this. I think I'm gonna live a long... and silly life and I'm not interested in doing that without you around."

She could hear it in his voice the hope and the total belief that the world was not going to end. She felt that belief and hope surround her and it somehow humbled her. "Oh... Okay."

"Okay?" Xander looked at her in wide-eyed wonder, and thought to himself again how lucky he was, how much he loved this woman in front of him.

"Yes," Anya smiled at this boy, no, this man who had changed her so much, "I mean yes."

They both smiled like lunatics at the ring, almost as if they expected it to smile back at them. Xander began to remove the ring from the box, Anya held out her hand to him. Then gently she stopped him with a single softly spoken word, "No."

"No?" Xander was back to being confused and unsure.

"After. Give it to me when the world doesn't end."

He smiled at her in perfect understanding. This would give them something to look forward to. Anya put her arms around his neck and drew him to her for a loving kiss.

A kiss for once that had nothing to do with sex, a kiss that was all about what they felt, what she felt for him, and he for her.

xxxxxxxxxx

Buffy walked right over to Faith when she left the training room. Faith was still rummaging through the weapons chest with enthusiasm. She looked up at Buffy, the expression on her face was one of pure childlike joy, and Buffy had to force herself to breath. Again, she was amazed by how such simple things seemed to bring the Dark Slayer such joy.

Faith straightened up and opened her arms to Buffy, who eagerly went into them. They stayed holding each other tightly, listening to each other's heartbeat. Warmth, love, safety lay within the arms of the other for the Chosen Two. Reluctantly they separated.

"B?"

"I'm okay. But thanks for asking."

"Whatever you need, and I mean whatever you need. You only have to ask me. I'll do it B, no matter what it is, no matter what the cost. You know that don't you?"

Buffy knew it, as sure as she knew she loved the woman standing in front of her. She knew if she told Faith, the only way to stop this was for Faith to take a gun and blow off her own head she would do it. Without an argument, without a word, she would do it for her, for Dawn, probably for all of them. And just because Buffy asked her to.

It scared her to have that kind of power over someone, she needed to be mindful of it, she had already taken advantage of it once during her 'General B' mode, she needed to make sure she never did that again. Whether she realized it or not, Buffy had come a long way from that person, a long way even from the Buffy, Faith had met two years ago. The person she was now would never do that; the person she was now would do the same thing for Faith if Faith asked her to.

"I know. But all I need is you here with me. It's all I need, all I want."

"You've already got that."

"Let's go see if Willow's found anything." Hand in hand, they walked over to the table where Willow had her nose deep in a book, while Tara was napping in a chair behind her.

"Will, what do you got for me?"

"Some ideas..." Willow paused and waited for Faith and Buffy to get settled on the ladder that led to the loft. Faith put her arm around Buffy who leaned into her warmth. "Well, notions. Or theories, based on wild speculation. Did I mention I'm not good under pressure?"

"I need you, Will. You're my big gun."

Fear and panic streaked through Willow. "I'm your... no, I-I never was a gun... Someone else should be the gun,." Willow looked to Faith for help, and didn't find any there. "I-I-I could maybe be a... a... cudgel. Or pointy stick..." Willow had a hopeful look on her face and in her eyes.

"You're the strongest person here. You know that, right?" Buffy told Willow, thinking of what she saw in Glory's apartment the day that Glory had sucked Tara's brain.

"Well, no..." She frowned, her brow furrowing in concentration, wondering what Buffy was talking about. She had never thought of herself as a force to be reckoned with. Not her, not Willow, Buffy and Faith yes, but not her.

"Will, you're the only person that's ever hurt Glory. At all. You're my best shot at getting her on the ropes so don't get a jelly belly now." Buffy elbowed Faith when she heard her snort when she said 'jelly belly'.

"Well... I, I... do sort of have one idea. But...last few days, I've mostly been looking into ways to help Tara. I-I know that shouldn't be my priority..."

Buffy leaned over and placed her hand on Willow's knee, her whole demeanor was sincere, "Of course it should." Buffy leaned back into Faith, and Willow smiled gratefully at her.

"Well I've been charting their essences." It was something she would never have thought of, if it wasn't for the Chosen Two. Wasn't for the fact that Tara herself had showed her how to actually see/sense essences. The Slayers essences were so strong that it had made her start to wonder if Glory's and Tara's wouldn't be too. Since none of them were exactly 'normal' people.

"Mapping out. I think... if I can get close enough, I may be able to reverse what Glory did. Like, take back what she took from Tara. It might weaken Glory, or... make her less coherent. Or make all our heads explode..." Willow had one of those 'I-really-really-hope-that-doesn't-happen' looks on her face. Before she could finish she was interrupted by Giles.

"Buffy!"

All three women looked over at Giles who was standing with Xander and Anya; they were all gathered around looking at something.

"I'll try to work it."

Buffy, gently stroked Faith's thigh before she got up from the ladder. She paused for a second in front of Willow and lightly touched her on the shoulder in a show of confidence in her. She went over to the group to see what Giles wanted.

Faith got up from the ladder and joined Willow, who passed her a book, and grabbed another for herself. She looked up at Tara who was now awake, and sobbed inside at the lost look on her face. God how she missed her, "Don't worry, love. It won't be too long," Willow smiled at Tara.

Tara looked right through Willow, then hauled off and slapped Willow hard across the face. Willow flinched back in pain. Faith jumped up, ready to restrain Tara if need be, only to stop when Willow placed her hand on her arm. Faith looked down at Willow and saw the pain, not from the slap, but pain that comes from the heart, pain for both herself and Tara. Faith felt the frustration grow inside her for not being able to do anything for them. Oh she was so gonna hurt that fucking exiled-god.

"Bitch!" Tara's voice came out hard, bitter, angry, "I'm supposed to work on the factors..." Then the anger left her, she became anxious, Willow just smiled at her sadly, her heart breaking even more, as she held back the tears. "I'm, I'm not... I'm not..."

Tara was once again the lost child; deep inside the part that still remembered, that was trapped, cried. The tears started to fall and she gently laid her hand upon Willow's cheek. Wanting to tell her, but unable to get out of the darkness that Glory had plunged her into. Willow looked at her love, the tears flooding her own eyes. She took a deep breath, and Faith could almost feel the determination coming off her, or was she actually getting a faint, very faint echo of it?

"I'm gonna bring you back," Willow was determined, her voice daring anyone to contradict her.

xxxxxxxxxx

Giles was holding the ornate Dagon Sphere, it was roughly the size of a softball, and not too heavy.

"No. No, no, that's good. That could be pivotal." Buffy turned to look at Anya and Xander, and smiled. "Thank you guys."

Giles nodded, happy that they were all in agreement with this. "Well, um, then you're going to need some..."

"Way ahead of you. We got time?" Buffy quirked an eyebrow at Giles in question.

"Yes. If you hurry."

"Okay. I'll grab some weapons, too." Buffy saw Spike approach them out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm looking for something in a broadsword..."

"Don't be swingin' that thing near me," Spike snarled at Xander. Buffy took the Dagon Sphere from Giles to examine it, testing its weight and girth in her hand.

"Hey, I happen to be..."

"A glorified brick-layer?" Spike said sarcastically cutting Xander off.

"I'm also a swell bowler."

Lame comeback, X-man.

"Has his own shoes."

Way to defend your man Anya!

"The Gods themselves do tremble."

"Spike! Shut your mouth, come with me."

Spike couldn't help send a smirk Xander's way at Buffy's choice of him over Xander. Buffy handed the Dagon Sphere back to Giles.

"Faith, will you walk me out? Please." Buffy, Faith and a surprised looking Spike left the Magic Shop.

xxxxxxxxxx

Faith and Buffy stood facing each other outside of the shop. Buffy had shooed Spike down the street to wait for her, waving him far enough away so that she knew he couldn't hear them.

"What's up B?"

"What I... I... said to Giles about Dawn. About stopping him, anyone from hur..."

"B... Buffy... you don't think I'd ever h..."

Buffy grabbed Faith's hands, "NO! No... I know you would never hurt Dawn. That's not what I meant. I know that you would stop anyone, including everyone in the Magic Shop from hurting her. I know that. I just needed to... I don't know how to explain it. I know they think she's not really my sister. But she is... It's more than that, it almost like she's my daughter too..." Buffy paused wondering how she could possibly articulate what it was she needed to explain. Not just explain to Faith, but explain to herself too, "It's like she is more than just family. When I hold her, it's more than just remembering the memories the monks planted. They... they made her from me. From me... she is me or parts of me... maybe the parts of me that I lost when I got called... It's physical... it's more... I feel closer to her than anyone, anything... I don't know how to explain it... It's like how we can feel each other, me and you... It's like that with her, only even more... I can't explain it any better than that..."

"You don't have to explain it at all. I think I understand it, understood before. Could feel how you felt in those echoes. It's like how we are a part of each other physically because of what makes us Slayers. You know? Even if it wasn't like that. I would never let anyone hurt Gamin. She was the first family I ever had, the first person to see me. Just me, two, three years ago," Faith saw the brief flash of hurt and pain go through Buffy's face, "B... I didn't mean..."

"It's okay Faith... She was and she did. Children see the world as it is. Unlike us as we get older who tend to look only at what's on the surface, not what is really there underneath it. I'm glad that she did. I'm glad that all of her memories of you are good. 'Cause it feels right that they are," Buffy gently stroked Faith's face who leaned instinctively into her touch.

"B... I would give my life protecting Dawn. I would give my life gladly for either of you if that's what it took to keep both of you safe."

"You know that I would do the same for Dawn and for you Faith. Don't you?"

"Yeah B... I do." Faith pulled Buffy into her arms, both Slayers prayed that it wouldn't come to that. Faith determined that it never would. There was one thought running hidden through her mind from Buffy. She couldn't stop hearing what Xander had said over and over again.

They broke apart, and Faith stood outside the shop and watched until Buffy and Spike faded from her sight.

xxxxxxxxxx

Buffy opened the door to her Mother's, no, now her, Dawn and even Faith's house, she headed straight for the stairs yelling over her shoulder at Spike "The weapons are in the chest by the TV, I'll grab the stuff upstairs..."

Spike was standing right outside the door, the invisible barrier that kept vampires from entering without being invited, keeping him out. Apparently, the Slayer had forgotten about the revoking spell Willow had cast. "Uh, Buffy..." Spike was surprised to hear her name and not 'Slayer' come out of his mouth.

Buffy stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned around. She was momentarily annoyed when she saw Spike wave at her, like he was saying hello. What the hell? She frowned at him really not in the mood to play games.

Hesitant, uncertain, not wanting to anger her, "If you wanna just hand them over the threshold, I'll..."

She cut him off, not hesitating, not needing to even think about it. "Come in, Spike."

He stood in the doorway for a beat or two, trying to control himself. Not wanting her to know how much those three little words meant to him. She had just showed her trust for him without the slightest hesitation, without even sparing a thought for it.

He tentatively stepped over the threshold. He could more than understand now how the big 'Poof' fell in love with this woman. He made a decision right there and then. If he got out of this in one piece he was going to have a long talk with 'Red' about something he had been toying with for some time now.

"Hmmm. Presto. No barrier." He tried to sound cheery, like the old Spike, play it casual he told himself. But he felt a closeness to her nonetheless. They locked eyes for a brief moment, then Spike moved towards the living room, not wanting to make a fool of himself. "Um, won't bother with the small stuff. Couple of good axes should hold off Glory's mates while you take on the lady herself." He started to set aside what he thought they would need from the chest.

Buffy watched him for a minute, he had changed, and it wasn't all the chip's doing. She knew that. "We're not all gonna make it. You know that."

"Yeah." He gathered up the weapons he had set aside in the chest, and walked back out into the hallway towards her.

"Hey, I always knew I'd go down fightin'." He never thought it would be on this side though. Or because he had actually come to care about the Slayer and her little sister.

Ah fuck, admit it Spike old man you friggin' care about all the bloody goddamn wankers.

"I'm counting on you... to protect her." It didn't surprise her that she trusted he would do this. He had already proven his love for her sister. He had been willing to give up his own life to protect Dawn's. He may have said he had done it for her, but Buffy knew he did it because he truly cared about Dawn.

"'Til the end of the world. Even if that happens to be tonight."

"I'll be one minute." Buffy started up the stairs.

"Yeah," Spike watched her go, gathering his courage around him. Him, 'William the Bloody', needed to gather courage, to speak to a little chit of a girl, Slayer or no Slayer. "I know you'll never love me." Buffy stopped, and slowly turned to look at him, she didn't know what to say to him. He was unable to read what she was thinking, it didn't matter, he was going to say what he needed to say anyway. "I know that I'm a monster. But you treat me like a man, and that's..." He stopped himself, as Buffy continued to look at him silently. "Get your stuff. I'll be here." He finished, it was the first time in over a hundred years, the first time since he had been turned, that he had spoken from the heart of the man that he once used to be.

Buffy hesitated for just a second, she understood on some deep level, maybe it was her experience with Angel that helped her to understand. She turned and ran up the stairs, if he had still been 'Spike the Vampire, AKA William the Bloody', she would have had a smart-ass remark. But right then, right now, he wasn't, he was a vampire, yes, but it was the man who had spoken to her, and she let William the man keep his dignity.

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They were tying her to the tower with coarse, thick, corded rope. She was scared but still she struggled against them, not willing to give up without a fight. The wind this high up was whipping around her hair, the strands striking her face like tiny whips. She was at the end of the platform, her bare toes hanging over the edge. Faintly she could still hear the sounds of the crazed, brain-sucked people working, still building something, though Dawn didn't want to look down, she didn't want to know what it was.

They finished tying her securely to the tower; she turned her head away from them not wanting them to see her tears. They turned and started to walk away from her, intending to leave her all alone on the tower. One turned back to look at her, "She will come to you soon."

They left her there all alone in her terror. She struggled against her bonds even harder, but stopped, they were too strong and she was afraid of cutting herself on them. Bleeding was not part of the plan, not now, not later, not if she had anything to say about it. She was quite sure that both Buffy and Faith would have a few choice words to say about it as well. Dawn closed her eyes and let the tears leak out from under her closed lids.

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Xander and Anya were making goo-goo-eyes at each other, oblivious to the rest of the room. Willow came out of the back from the basement and couldn't suppress the snort of laughter she threw Faith's way. Faith looked up from the floor where all the 'new toys' she had pulled out of the chest where scattered around her feet. She shot a look of confusion Willow's way, then looked back down trying to figure out how many she could actually take with her before they became a hindrance. Tara stood staring into the display case watching all the pretty colors. Giles sat relaxing, well, as close to relaxing as possible given the circumstances.

Buffy thought they all looked pretty calm and relaxed, considering that the fate of the world rested on all of their shoulders, mostly though on hers. "We on schedule?" The question directed at anyone who cared to answer.

Spike dropped the weapons he had been carrying on the desk next to Giles, who looked up from contemplating the axe he was holding to answer Buffy. "Yes, it's time."

"Will?"

Willow nodded to Buffy and went over to Tara who was still staring at the pretty colors in the display case. "Tara... baby? Is there somewhere you should be?"

Tara looked at Buffy, "They held me down..." There was frustration in her voice and fear.

"No one's holding you. It's the big day, right?" Tara looked at Willow then turned her head away. Willow followed her gaze; both looked at Buffy, who returned Willow's gaze with a concerned, slightly confused look. "Do you wanna go?"

The anxiety rose up in Tara, her real voice wanting to be heard, understood. She looked back and forth between Willow and Buffy, confused, anxious. She turned, faced Buffy and started moving towards both Buffy and the door.

She passed by Spike without a glance as he packed up the weapons. Giles took a sword from the pile and pulled it out of its sheath. Tara stopped walking and pointed at Giles, "You're a killer." Both Giles and Spike looked at her in surprise, both from the bitterness of her tone and the accusation. "This is all set down." Tara started moving towards the exit again, whatever she had been trying to tell them forgotten by now as the blank expression settled once again over her face.

Buffy kept her voice low, as Willow came near her, she did not want to distract Tara, "Stay close but don't crowd her. We'll follow in a minute." Willow who had started to follow Tara again stopped when Buffy began speaking to everyone else in the room. "Everyone knows their jobs. Remember, the ritual starts, we all die. And I'll kill anyone who comes near Dawn." Not one person, alive or dead doubted her words. Buffy turned and headed towards the basement, Faith close on her heels.

Willow turned her attention back to Tara, and hurriedly followed her 'always' out of the open Magic Shop door.

Spike glanced at Giles, then where Buffy and Faith had gone off to. He turned his attention back to Giles and noticed that he was clutching his side where he had been injured. Spike had to give him credit; the old 'Watcher's' face betrayed nothing of his pain. "Not exactly the St. Crispin's Day speech, was it?"

Giles rose from his chair and put his axe in the bag Spike had filled with the other weapons. He looked at Spike in agreement and then began mockingly, "We few..." Giles went around Spike and picked up the bag of weapons. "...we happy few..."

Spike finished for him, "We band of buggered..." together they headed off.

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"You ready to go?" They stood facing each other, both of their expressions solemn.

"Yeah B," Faith took a hesitant step closer to Buffy, then just flung herself into Buffy's arms, almost knocking them both over.

Faith was holding Buffy so tight she couldn't breathe, what Buffy didn't realize was that she was holding Faith equally as tight. They relaxed their death grips on each other; Buffy leaned back in Faith's embrace and gave her a soft, slightly confused, amused look. She lifted her eyebrow questioningly and her smile grew bigger when Faith blushed. Faith ran a shaky hand through her auburn hair, and shyly smiled back at Buffy.

"I... ah... sorry 'bout that..." Faith stammered out.

"Don't be..." Buffy smiled at her own little pun on her name. "I'm not." Then she leaned up and kissed Faith, so softly, so tenderly, like she was a delicate piece of porcelain that would break from the slightest touch. "We have to go..."

"B... there's just... so much I never got..."

Buffy silenced Faith by gently placing her fingertips against her mouth. "I know... me too... Tomorrow Faith, we can tell each other tomorrow."

They linked hands and left the Magic Shop together, tightly clutching the promise of tomorrow to their hearts.

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Willow followed a few paces behind Tara as she made her way through the neighborhood near the Magic Shop; taking them down streets that they were all familiar with. Streets both Xander and Willow had run, and played upon as children. When the most frightening thing the night held for them was the boogie-man that lived under their beds. They didn't know then that the boogie-man was actually real, back then they would have laugh at it, now they would start researching how to kill it.

Tara turned the corner onto another familiar street; she stopped suddenly, and looked upwards. Then she continued to walk at a slow pace.

Willow rounded the corner a few seconds after Tara, Spike a few paces behind her holding a crossbow, the bag of weapons slung across his back. Anya had a baseball bat, which she was slapping against the palm of her hand like a street thug, another thing she had seen done on television. Xander caught up to her thinking once again he was going to have to monitor her T.V. Giles was a half a step behind them, moving a little bit slower because of his wounded side. Faith and Buffy still holding hands brought up the rear.

Tara whimpered quietly while her hands became agitated, twisting at her clothes, as she looked up again. She continued walking away from them looking up at the sky, while Willow had stopped dead in her tracks after she had looked up into the night sky.

Willow looked up in awe. Uneasy, she knew what she was seeing now had not been there two days ago. Xander and Anya moved up next to her on her left, Giles next to them. Spike walked up and stood to her right. All five stood staring up into the night sky blinking their eyes hoping that they weren't seeing what they were seeing.

Buffy and Faith came around the corner last and paused but a second when they saw everyone standing staring up into the sky, they joined them. Buffy lightly nudged Spike aside and stood next to Willow, Spike moved a little further and let Faith in between him and Buffy. They followed their gazes up into the night sky and gaped openmouthed at the ominous black tower, that stood stark and surreal against the bright night stars.

"Shpadoinkle..." Xander groaned out his version of 'yikes'.

"What is that...?"

"The portal must open up there." Giles ever the 'Watcher' answered Anya.

Faith and Buffy were both assessing the situation, the tower, Giles words. Buffy glanced quickly at Willow, "Will, you're up."

Willow put on her best 'Resolve/Determined Face' and took a deep breath.

"Need anything?"

"Could use some courage..." Spike shoved a hand with a flask in her face, his answer to her request to Giles for courage. "The real kind." Spike looked at her and she looked back at him, a little smile on her face, he had tried after all. "But thanks." He nodded his acceptance and put the flask away, moving back to his place in the rank and file.

Willow took another deep breath. She closed her eyes and began mumbling an incantation under her breath. They stood together shoulder to shoulder, this odd little family, thinking of the two that were missing. Tara who had wondered ahead lost in the world that Glory had plunged her into, and Dawn who Glory had snatched from their midst only two days ago. Side by side in silence, eyes closed as if in prayer, the six of them waited for Willow to finish her spell, so they could go and take back from the lunatic exiled god that which she had stolen from them.

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Young girl in my younger girl days, thinking I could live for always. ~ But like an ocean tide I'm drawn back inside and I know. ~ Seasons pass like sand inside a glass and nothing, nothing returns. ~ Standing with the friends I've made, I'll race them to the grave. ~ Well who won, won the extra days? ~ When you take away the years toll on the waters wide, shallow high and low. ~ In the autumn sky, happy to know I'm going home. ~ Even with my eyes closed, funny how I know it's finally, has it finally begun?

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The 'Crazies' were still performing a few tasks, but no longer building anything. Still they gathered, holding saws, linked metal chains, metal bars, anything that could be used as a weapon. A few minions stood milling around with swords keeping an eye on the 'Crazies', keeping them in line if necessary. Tara joined in; she pulled the cast off her broken hand and threw it aside. She walked through them muttering to herself, she spied a pile of bricks, headed over and picked one up.

Tara jumped a little when a hand clamped down on her shoulder and spun her around. She looked blankly back at the eyes that stared at her suspiciously.

"You. What are you doing here?" Glory sneered at the blonde Witch she had thought was the 'Key'. She barely finished her sentence before the brain-sucked blond witch's redheaded lover appeared virtually out of nowhere, stepping between her and the blond witch.

Before Glory had a chance to react, Willow snarled, "She's with me," and shoved her fingers into both Glory and Tara's heads.

The two witches and the exiled god screamed in pain and agony, as blue-white energy, electricity streaked between them, around them. A stream of blue energy flowed from Glory's head, through Willow's fingers, down her arm, across her shoulders, up her other arm, through her fingers into Tara's head. The three were paralyzed, caught in the grip of the energy stream, then the energy expanded out in a sudden blizzard of white and exploded around and out from them. The energy surge sent the two witches and the exiled god flying in different directions. Willow flew into a pile of wood and slipped into unconsciousness, the spell having taken everything out of her for the moment.

Glory landed on her back on the hard concrete. After a second, she sat up and shook her head to clear it. "What the frickin' hell did that bitch do to me?" She asked the minions that rushed over to her.

The minions looked at each other, then at her, then back at each other. One finally found the courage to say something, "You look fine! Truly!"

Glory grabbed her head in pain, in confusion, she almost had the same blank look of the 'Crazies', "She made a little... she made a hole... Uh... I need a brain to eat..."

"Oh... take mine, oh groove-tastic one..." The minion, who had found the courage to speak before, groveled and bowed to her.

"I said a BRAIN, you worthless dirt!" She stood up and began walking aimlessly, appearing even more like one of the 'Crazies', she raised her hand to her forehead in confusion. Her human-ratlike minions followed her in concern. "Big day... I got places to be, big day. Need a brain..." Glory dropped her hand to her side; she smiled snidely at the woman in front of her. "Suppose I could always use yours."

Buffy stood facing the exiled god calmly. Her hands clasped behind her back, the embodiment of cool. "Okay then." She smiled slightly, with raised eyebrow, totally battle ready, she taunted, beckoned the exiled god, "Come and get it."

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Glory smiled at Buffy with disdain, regarding her more like an annoying little gnat, than a Slayer.

While Buffy watched Glory waiting, she caught a flicker of something in her eyes before she looked away. Glory took an unsteady step, and flexed her arms as if in pain. Buffy smiled at her innocently, and said with feigned concern, "You don't seem very well."

"Your little witch-bitch... gave me kind of a headache there." Glory shrugged off her ceremonial gown, it was too hot, she had a simple 'skanky' black dress on underneath. "But if you think this is gonna last more than eight seconds..."

"I notice that you're talking, whereas in your position I would attack me." This time Buffy smiled at the exiled god with disdain.

A minion took Glory's ceremonial robe, concern on his face. "Oh most sweaty-naughty-feelings-causing one, should we..."

"Go guard the girl! This is a... a..." Glory stumbled over her words, that redheaded bitch had really done a number on her.

"Diversionary tactic?" The minion smiled proud of his deduction.

"Go! Guard!" Glory snarled at the minions.

The minions scrambled away from her in fear, they grabbed as many 'Crazies' as they could and positioned them around the bottom of the tower, their job to guard the stairs leading up to the 'Key'.

Glory kept a careful eye on the blonde Slayer-bitch, she was still a little unsteady on her feet, her mind still foggy, her head pounding. Glory moved towards the Slayer, hesitated, not bothering to hide the confusion on her face. Cautiously she took another step closer, but it took a very concentrated effort.

"It's strange... You're not as blurry with speed as usual, either," Buffy continued as if Glory had never interrupted her before.

"The witch..." Glory began, wondering why she was even bothering to give any type of explanation at all. Only to be cut off by the meatbag-Slayer in front of her.

"It's not her," with a smirk, Buffy brought the Dagon's Sphere out from behind her back. "It might be this..." Glory growled in alarm at the sphere. "I heard it was supposed to repel you. So my guess is... that you probably shouldn't touch it."

Buffy tossed the sphere at Glory quickly, who instinctively caught it. Energy glowed from the sphere, distorting the air around where it touched Glory's hand. Glory's face contorted in agony, she dropped her hand with the sphere to her side. Buffy followed her hand down and watched as Glory crushed the sphere, watched as the energy glow slowly died.

Glory's breath came in pained gasps; she looked down one last time at the crushed Dagon Sphere. Slowly she trailed her eyes up the blonde Slayer bitch. She waited, murder in her eyes, for the bitch to look at her. When the Slayer's eyes locked with hers, Glory snarled at her, "You're gonna wish..."

The Slayer cut Glory off with a right-cross to the jaw. Glory stumbled back. Not giving her a chance to recover, the Slayer hit her with a roundhouse kick, then a left-cross to the face. The Slayer began hitting Glory with a series of lightning fast left and right crosses stunning the exiled god.

Glory could barely defend herself or return any of her own punches.

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The 'Crazies' and the minions around the stairs nervously watched as their 'god' was getting her ass handed to her by the Slayer.

"Stand fast!" A minion commanded. "Kill anyone who dares approach! This will be our day of glory!"

"Well punned!" Another minion told his fellow minion-in-arms.

"Well, it just called out to me..." His thin lips curled up into a smile, then quickly turned down into a grimace of pain. The punning minion looked down and stared dumbfounded at the arrow sticking out of his chest, before he crumbled to the ground.

Spike smiled hugely at Giles and Anya who were standing next to him, showing them his fangs. Damn he liked this crossbow, no fuss, no muss. Giles and Anya rushed the 'Crazies' and minions alike.

Ignoring the pain in his side, Giles swung his sword like 'Errol Flynn'...

Anya meanwhile started swinging the bat, pretending to be 'Babe Ruth'. She went for home runs just like 'The Babe' had, trying to hit as many as possible, using the minions heads as her baseballs.

Spike literally jumped into the fray with an ear-splitting battle cry that would have made 'Genghis Kahn' proud. He tackled two minions at once, tumbling them all to the ground. His striking fists were merely blurs that only Faith or Buffy could have seen.

"YEA FUCKIN' HA!" Faith screamed as she ran straight into the thick of the battle, swinging her 'Labrys', having picked it because it was appropriate for her as a Slayer, as a Warrior of the Light. The Neolithic Amazons, warrior women of the first order, had used the doubled-bladed axe. It also had been used as a scepter by the Amazonian goddess, Gaea, besides, it felt right in her hands.

As Faith attacked, she was careful not to seriously injure or kill any of the 'Crazies' there would be enough blood on her hands before the night was over, she didn't need to add anymore. While she was focused on the fight at hand, she was keeping careful track of what was going on with Buffy. Also making sure that the nonstop thought that had been running through her head all day was not being sent out to Buffy in an echo.

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Dawn opened her eyes when she heard two shouts from somewhere down below her. She stretched her neck as far as she could trying to peer over the edge of the platform. She squinted, she could make out a fight going on below her by the stairs, and thought she saw both Spike's bleached-blonde head, and Faith's long, auburn hair down there. She scanned around them looking for Buffy, and then spotted her off to the side, facing off against Glory. From what she could see, Buffy was kicking Glory's ass.

"You go, Big Sis! Kick that skanky-bitch's ass!" Dawn whispered into the wind. She watched wide-eyed, hope pounding through her veins.

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Glory was stunned as the little blonde Slayer-bitch flipped her over and slammed her down hard onto a pile of bricks. The breath was knocked out of her, as the bricks cracked and crumbled beneath her. She rolled to her side, barely escaping the punch coming at her face. She smiled in satisfaction when she heard the Slayer's fist smash into the bricks.

The little Slayer-bitch hadn't even worked up a sweat yet, while she, a 'god', was tired, disoriented, and out of breath. This time Glory anticipated the punch from the Slayer-bitch, she grabbed Buffy's arms and tossed her across the way like she was made out of nothing more than paper.

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Willow sat up bleary eyed, pieces of broken wood poking into her. Her head hurt, she looked over and blinked, bringing both Glory and Buffy into focus. The sound of them fighting seemed distant and far away, though they were only a few feet from her. Franticly she looked around, her eyes searching, looking for... "Tara!" Willow started crawling towards Tara, who lay unconscious a few yards from her. She managed to stagger to her feet, "Tara?" Relief flooded through her as Tara opened her eyes and looked at her. Did the spell work? "Tara?"

"W... Willow?" Tara voice was weak, but Willow couldn't stop the rush of hope that swept through her. Tara knew her name!

Willow smiled at her. "Tara?"

Her eyes filled up with tears as she looked at her lover, her 'Willow'. "Willow... I got so lost..."

"I found you." Willow couldn't have stopped the ear-splitting grin if she tried. She started raining kisses all over Tara's face, pulling her into a fierce hug. They smiled happily at each other. "I'll always find you..." They clung even tighter to each other, glad to be home again in each other's arms.

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"You know what?" Glory caught Buffy's fist in her hand as she threw a punch at her. "I'm feeling a little better. And now... I'm a little bored."

"Oh, I'm sorry. 'Cause you're about..."

Glory decided to cut off Buffy's remark with a vicious kick to the face. Her eyes went wide with shock, 'Oh Shit!' she thought as the 'Slayer's' head went flying off her shoulders. Squinting at the headless body, Glory stared in confusion at the black, yellow, and green wires sticking out of where the 'Slayer's' neck should have been. Gleefully she watched as the 'Slayer's' headless body fell over, loving the little light show from the sparks that flew out of the neck hole when the 'Slayer' hit the ground.

Glory stared at the fallen 'robot' trying to contain her confusion and amusement. "Hey! Wow! The 'Slayer's' a robot!" Glory looked around wanting to share her discovery. "Did everybody else know the 'Slayer' was a robot?" Glory whined, then smiled proud of her victory over the pain-in-the-ass-little-blonde Slayer...

"Glory..." The smiled faded from her face. How could this be? Glory spun around to face the 'dead' Slayer and was greeted by Olaf the Troll-god's hammer right in her face.

It was a Grand Slam for Buffy, which meant an out-of-the-park for Glory who went flying backwards across the yard and into a wall, where the exiled god then proceeded to slide down in a bemused heap.

"You're not the brightest god in the heavens, are you?"

Buffy's head snapped up when she heard her sister screaming, "BUFFY! I'M UP HERE!" Buffy stared spellbound at the small barely discernable figure of her sister at the edge of the platform at the top of the tower. "BUFFY!" Dawn screamed again, breaking Buffy of her immobility.

She ran at neck-break speed towards the tower, leaping over a pile of bricks in her way and landing on the bottom stair. She barely noticed the minion who tried to block her path up the stairs. She dispatched him with a hard punch to the face and then tossed him like a sack of grain over the side.

Glory shook her head, clearing the sluggishness from it. She looked around quickly and spotted the Slayer heading up the stairs of the tower. Jumping to her feet she went after the Slayer screeching, "Oh no, you don't..."

"BUFFY! I'M UP HERE!" Dawn's terrified scream came down to her again, and Buffy forced her legs to move faster.

She was only one level below her sister when the stairs ended, changing over to ladders. As she reached for the ladder, Glory appeared out of nowhere in front of her. She swung the hammer at her again, connecting but not knocking her away. Glory returned the blow, kicking Buffy hard in the chest sending her crashing into the scaffolding. They began exchanging blows, quick, hard, punishing, lightning fast, so fast that only another 'god' or Slayer could have seen them.

Glory landed a blow on the arm that was holding the hammer, it loosened in Buffy's grip. A second blow knocked the hammer from Buffy's hand, sending it over the side only to get snagged in the chains that were hanging from the tower.

Buffy grabbed onto the tower and swung out reaching for the hammer. Glory countered her move by grabbing onto a piece of chain and swinging around, knocking Buffy out of the way and away from the hammer.

The Slayer fell to the side. She scrambled to her feet quickly, taking a kick from Glory in her abs. Grabbing onto one of the poles, Buffy used the momentum from the kick to swing her around the scaffolding returning Glory's kick with one of her own.

Glory swung, cursing as the Slayer ducked and she felt only air. Buffy spun as she ducked, putting herself behind the exiled god. She kicked Glory in the back with all of her might.

"BUFFY!" Dawn screamed frantically as she watched the fight.

Buffy ran for the ladder again, turning her back on Glory. Growling, Glory went after her, smashing Buffy across the legs, smiling and licking her lips when she heard the little Slayer-bitch gasp in pain. Buffy turned and they began exchanging blow after blow. Buffy finally gained the advantage and knocked Glory away from her. She turned quickly and started climbing up again.

Climbing up the ladder off to the side of the Slayer, Glory kicked out at the Slayer who was now climbing up a pipe. One of those hysterical giggles that had made Dawn's skin crawl escaped Glory as Buffy lost her grip and slid back down to the level below.

Spying a ramp, Buffy ran up it, hitting Glory in the face with a jumping-front-kick when she reached the top. Buffy whirled around not giving Glory a chance to retaliate and ran back down the ramp, heading for the hammer. She managed to get the hammer free just in time. Standing up quickly, Buffy spun around, she held the hammer like a baseball bat as she spun and caught Glory solidly across the face. Buffy started hitting Glory in rapid succession. Glory struggled to get her bearings again as blow after hammer blow hit her.

Buffy focused whole-heartedly on beating the 'god' into the ground, into submission, wanting to end this here and now.

After what felt like a thousand hammer hits, Glory managed to finally duck, the hammer whooshed over her head harmlessly and hit one of the ladders hard, knocking it over, breaking Buffy's concentration. Glory came up swinging, catching Buffy with a hard undercut to the jaw.

Buffy stumbled backwards, losing her balance. Glory smirked at the Slayer-bitch as she began to fall off the scaffolding.

Smirk at this you skanky-ass-bad-hair-bitch!

Buffy reached out and grabbed Glory by the bad black dress she had on and took Glory with her over the side.

The Slayer and the exiled god landed on the concrete a few feet away from each other, with bone crunching force. The hammer flew out of Buffy's hand and landed outside of her reach.

Buffy gained her feet first, Glory a second behind her, who got right up into the Slayer's face. Buffy pushed Glory from her by the shoulders, sending her a few dozen yards away from her, right next to a section of drywall.

Glory smirked thinking the Slayer-bitch wasn't all that and taunted her, "You lost your hammer, sweet cheeks. What're you gonna hit me with now?"

Something caught Buffy out of the corner of her eye; she looked at Glory then looked at the wall. Glory who was proving to Buffy with each passing second that she really wasn't the 'sharpest tool in the tool shed' turned around and looked at the wall.

Turned around just in time to be caught dead on by the giant wrecking ball that came through it. It sent Glory soaring through the air into another wall, as the wrecking ball followed. Glory went through a second wall, the wrecking ball still in pursuit, as it dropped her on the other side. Buffy smiled when the wrecking ball swung back out from the second wall without Glory.

Unable to help herself Buffy yell to the exiled god on the other side of the wall, "Whatever's handy," finally answering her question.

Without another glance, Buffy turned and took off running. She ran past Xander who was sitting in the operator's seat of the crane's control booth. A 'Faith-shit-eating-grin' plastered on his face.

"And the glorified brick-layer picks up a spare..." Xander told the air as he shut off the crane's engine and climbed coolly out of the cab.

Still running Buffy slowed long enough to pick up the hammer, then she sped up again.

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Spike, Anya, Giles and Faith had been beaten back behind a large pile of debris, and machines. It seemed as if for every one minion they killed or one 'Crazie' they knocked out of the game, twenty more took their place. The tired group dodged the occasional brick or metal bar that was hurled at them over the debris. The minions and 'Crazie' had made a living barricade between them and the stairs.

"Has anybody noticed that we're moving backwards?"

Faith shot a look at the ex-vengeance demon, wondering why someone always had to state the obvious.

Deciding to risk taking a glance, Spike poked his head over the top of one of the machines. A brick cracking him in the head was his reward. He snarled annoyed, and snarled again at Faith's stifled laugh as he ducked back down again.

"It's crossed my mind..."

Good one Spike old man, even if I do say so myself!

"As long as..." Giles stopped, and took a few pain-filled breaths. "Buffy can keep Glory down... long enough, it won't matter." He paused again looking up at the tower. "There's only a few minutes left to start the ritual."

Faith barely heard him as he spoke, she was concentrating on Buffy, her eyes closed 'watching' the images the echoes were making behind her closed lids. She was waiting, waiting to see if the god became just the man. Waiting because she knew that if that happened Buffy would never be able to... to... do... what Faith herself didn't even want to think about, let alone put into words.

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One second she was all alone on the platform, the next she wasn't. Dawn screamed before she could stop herself, her mind automatically seeing Glory. Slowly as the scream died from her lips, she saw it was a man, an older man, the man from the shop, the man who had helped her with the spell to resurrect her Mother. He looked different though all dressed up in a formal black suit.

"You... You can help me? Untie me... Please! Help me! She's coming!" Her voice rose up on the last few words in fear.

Doc, yes, Doc that was his name she remembered now, moved closer to her.

"Well, it seems she's running a bit late, is the thing. And... uh... if her Splendidness can't be here in time to bleed you..."

The color drained out of Dawn's face as she realized he wasn't going to help her. The fear coiled in the pit of her stomach and started to rise up the back of her throat.

"Hey!" He whispered and winked at her like he was going to tell her a secret, "Kid. Wanna see a trick?"

Dawn shrunk back in fear as he produced a large shiny evil looking knife seemingly out of thin air. He held it in front of his face, his smile filled with malice.

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He leapt over the fence, then crouched low, running towards them like a soldier in the trenches. His experience from the Halloween that Ethan had cast the spell, turning people into their costumes, working for him in this situation. Xander squatted down besides Anya. "How are we doing?" He asked her still high off the rush of knocking Glory flat on her ass with the crane.

"So far, it's a tie."

"We haven't gotten up to Dawn, but neither has anyone else."

Spike squinted up at the platform; he nudged Faith, jerking his head up towards where Dawn was. He looked to her for confirmation, which he got in her silent nod. "Someone's up there."

They all looked up, Xander kicked back into 'GI Joe' mode, "Okay, we gotta charge or something..."

"We tried that."

Spike scrunched up his face, looking at Faith hoping she would have a plan. Faith looked at him and blinked when it seemed as though he froze, cocking his head like he was listening to something the rest of them couldn't hear.

"Spike..." Whoa! Was that Red's voice he was hearing in his head? "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear..." Spike frowned; this was strange, hearing the little witch in his head. He didn't know the little witch could count telepathy amongst her hat tricks.

Faith smiled, it had to be Red doing a variation of the 'mind-meld' she did with Buffy.

"Is there someone up there with Dawn?" Came the voice in his head again.

"Yeah. Can't see who." Spike felt a little foolish talking to the thin air.

"Are you talking to us?"

"Get up there. Go now."

He peered over the wall of debris, the barrier of humans and minions seemed to be even thicker now. They were milling about waiting for a fight, armed and ready to do battle. "Yeah. But..." He answered her choosing to ignore Xander's question.

"GO!"

Not so bloody friggin' loud Red!

Spike jumped up and charged, as they all looked at him in surprise, all but Faith. She had known Buffy was going to send Spike to protect Dawn. With the chip in his head, Spike would be virtually useless against stopping the Scoobs and Giles if they decided to ignore Buffy's warning. Keeping the Scoobs and Giles from harming Dawn should it come down to that was Faith's job and she wished with all her heart that it didn't come down to that.

Spike ran like the 'devil' was on his heels towards the barrier of flesh, he almost stumbled and fell when they parted in front of him. Splitting into two halves like the 'hand of god' herself had pushed them apart. He ran straight through them not sparing any of them a glance, he was intent only on the stairs in front of him. He leapt onto the third step, and started running up them two at a time, not once slowing down, glad that he didn't have to breathe.

Faith watched him, as he quickly grew smaller until he reached the last level and began to climb up the ladder.

The ladder that led to the platform...

The ladder that led to Dawn...

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Where was her sister, Faith, Spike anyone? Was Glory right? Were they going to leave her here to die? No, she couldn't believe that, wouldn't believe that. They wouldn't do that to her. She had seen her sister fighting Glory. It was the fear that was making her think this way. Dawn tried to control the fear, but it rose up hotter, stronger as Doc took another step closer to her. He reached into his pocket, and Dawn flinched, involuntarily shrinking back.

He took out an antique pocket-watch and looked at it. "Well, what do you know?" Doc smiled as he said it. Dawn saw Spike pull himself up onto the platform behind Doc, and she bit her lip to keep herself from calling out his name or sighing in relief. "Just about that time," Doc whirled around to greet the vampire, smiling at him as Spike approached him.

"Doesn't a fellow stay dead when you kill him?" Spike kept his eyes on Doc. He wanted to look over at Dawn to reassure her, he knew better though, then to let his concentration wander from the demon in front of him.

"Look who's talking."

"Come on, Doc. Let's you and me have a go."

"I..." Doc tapped the knife in his other hand as if he were thinking about Spike's challenge. "...do have a prior appointment"

"This won't take long."

"No, I-I don't imagine it will."

Doc smiled as Spike lunged at him. He sidestepped Spike, grabbing him nonchalantly around the neck. Raising his hand with the knife, he plunged it into Spike's back right to the hilt.

Spike gasped in pain, Dawn gasped in fear. He thought his knees were going to buckle. He might be technically dead, but that shit still hurt like a mother, he gasped again in pain.

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Buffy was beating the living shit out of Glory with the hammer. Hitting her over and over again, for her sister, for what she did to Tara, for the others she had done the same thing to and for what she wanted to do to this reality.

Blood was running down Glory's face. A river of blood flowed from her nose as well. She was in pain; she was in anguish, close to tears. What was so wrong with her wanting to go home? Why was this Slayer-bitch so concerned with saving the 'Key'? It wasn't like the 'Key' was really real after all. "You're just a mortal... you couldn't understand my pain." Glory was having a hard time keeping back the tears.

"Then I'll just have to settle for causing it." There was a part of Buffy that was enjoying this, the power of the Slayer running hotly through her veins.

She slammed the hammer into Glory again with all of her might. Glory staggered to the side, reeling from the blow, she shook it off and turned back to Buffy.

"You can't kill me..." Glory snarled.

"No..." Buffy raised the hammer again, poising it to strike, "...but my arm's not even tired yet."

Buffy slammed the hammer home again.

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Faith turned around and saw that Giles was gone. FUCKFUCKFUCK, if anyone was going to go after Dawn it would be him! And she had fucking lost him. FUCK! She had been too busy paying attention to what was happening between Glory and Buffy, knowing that whatever was going to happen would happen soon. Buffy was kicking the shit out of Glory and from everything that Faith had learned about Glory she wouldn't put it past her to use Ben as a defense against Buffy.

Between that and trying to see what was going on up on the platform of the tower, she hadn't been keeping an eye on Giles. Faith looked at the tower scanning it. She didn't see any sign of Giles trying to climb it. Then again, in his condition it would be unlikely that he would make it. She looked around her and thought she saw a shadow, a movement over near Buffy and Glory. FUCK!

She mumbled, "I'll be back," to Xander and Anya, keeping low she headed off in the direction of Buffy and Glory but not before she heard Xander quip back, "Okay Arnie..."

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Doc dropped the bloody knife down onto the platform after he pulled it out of Spike's back. Somehow or another during their struggle the damn vampire had managed to position himself in front of Dawn, effectively blocking his path to the 'Key'.

"You don't come near the girl, Doc." Spike growled, barely keeping his demon from surfacing. He didn't want to scare Dawn any more than she already was by vamping out.

"I don't smell a soul anywhere on you... why do you even care?"

"I made a promise to a lady," and one to myself to protect 'Little Bit'. Besides he didn't like, hell he down-right-hated that skanky-ho-badly-dressed-bitch-hellgod.

"Ohhh." Spike dodged the ten-foot-long tongue that came shooting out of Doc's mouth. Gracefully Doc dropped down to his knees and sweep Spike's legs out from under him. Spike fell to the ground onto his injured back, hissing in pain. They struggled, Dawn watching them frightened, anxious. They both regained their feet, but Doc got the upper hand. He had a hold of Spike and managed to pin his arms behind his back. "Well I'll send the lady your regrets."

Spike locked his eyes with Dawn. She saw sorrow, regret, panic and agony in Spike's eyes. She heard it in his whispered, 'No' before Doc pushed him over the edge.

"AAH! NOOOOO!" Dawn screamed as Spike fell.

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He hit the ground with bone-breaking force on a pile of bloody fucking bricks. His body convulsed in agony. He opened his eyes, they were filled with fear, not for himself but for his 'Little Bit'. Spike groaned in agony, weeping inside over his failing Dawn, failing Buffy, failing them all, as he struggled to get up.

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Buffy was thrashing Glory to within an inch of her 'god' life. Glory was dazed from the blows and from the fact that the little Slayer-bitch was whipping her ass. She couldn't seem to catch her breath, her body was in pain, and tears rimmed her eyes.

Gods don't cry, damn it, but she wanted to, wanted to badly. The bitch was sending another hammer right-cross her way and Glory held her breath waiting for it, there was nothing she could do to stop it. The blow knocked her to her knees, she looked up at the bitch, the tears threatening to spill over. "Stop it," that couldn't be her voice pleading with the Slayer-bitch. Could it?

"You're a god..." Neither Buffy's eyes nor her voice held any mercy for the exiled god on her knees in front of her. Buffy slammed the hammer into Glory again, without mercy, an undercut that sent Glory up off her knees through the air and onto her back. "MAKE it stop."

The Slayer walked over to the fallen god and knelt beside her. She brought the hammer up again; Glory could do nothing but watch as it descended towards her. Over and over the Slayer brought the hammer down, with determination, ruthlessly beating the exiled god. Beating her until her face was nothing but a bloody mess, until the defeat showed through the blood. Until blood was flying around, splattering the walls, the ground, each time the Slayer swung the hammer.

The Slayer brought the hammer up again, through her haze she saw Glory morph into Ben. She dropped her hand and the hammer harmlessly to her side. The man lying on the ground under her was broken and bloody, bearing all the marks of the beating the exiled god had taken.

Ben's breathing was labored and pain-filled, he could barely move, barely speak but managed to whisper out, "I'm sorry..."

The Slayer schooled her features, careful not to show any sympathy for the man on the ground under her, "Tell her it's over. She missed her shot." She looked in his eyes trying to see if he understood her. "She goes. She ever – EVER – comes near me and mine again..." The Slayer let the implied threat hang in the air.

Buffy knew she should end this now, should kill Ben. Kill the man and the god dies. She couldn't though, she could not kill an innocent. Sharing his body with an evil hellgod had not been his choice; he was innocent in all of this. Buffy might have thought differently had she known about the deal he had made with Glory or that he could have prevented this by letting Dawn get away. Then again even knowing that, the odds were still against her killing him. Buffy Summers could not take a human life, innocent or not in cold-blood. No matter how much she might want to, no matter what they might have done. Not in cold-blood.

"We won't. I swear," Ben coughed painfully, wondering if he would even survive. He was badly injured; there was only so much he could take even if he did share his body with a 'god'.

Buffy gave him one last look, rose to her feet, turned and ran towards the tower.

Towards her sister.

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Faith was hiding behind one of the large wooden crates close to where Buffy was fighting Glory. She had not found Giles, at this point in the game he wasn't her priority. Her priority was to make sure that neither Glory nor Ben got to Dawn. So she waited knowing that this was coming to an end. She felt it in the echoes, felt the fury, the power, the thrill running through Buffy, pumping through her veins with hot intensity. Felt it in the echoes which were now as much a part of her as her own beating heart.

She felt it the second things changed, felt as the urge to destroy Glory, to pulverize her left Buffy and knew that Glory had morphed. She risked peeking out from behind the crate so that her eyes could confirm what she already knew. She saw she was right; it was Ben who lay on the ground, Buffy kneeling over him.

Faith started to tremble, she couldn't stop it. She kept watching, knowing deep in her soul that Buffy would not be able to end it, would not be able to kill Ben. Even without the echo telling her of the internal struggle Buffy was going through, she would bet her life that Buffy would not be able to kill him. Not in cold-blood. She might have if Glory hadn't morphed between blows, might have done it by accident, but never on purpose.

Faith watched just in case, because even if Buffy decided she could, there was no way that Faith would let her. There was no way she would ever let Buffy find out what it was like to take a life. No way she wanted Buffy to know what the guilt, the remorse, the pain of taking a life could and did do to you, your insides, your heart, your soul.

That wasn't why she was trembling. She was trembling because she would do what she wasn't willing to let Buffy do.

And in the end, in the long run Faith knew it would destroy everything. Her chance for redemption, atonement, the trust she had built, her place in the family she now had. It would destroy who she had become, wanted to be. Destroy eventually her relationship with Buffy. Buffy would still love her, she didn't doubt that, but things would never be the same again between them. Eventually it would destroy her, maybe destroy them both.

In the end, killing Ben in cold-blood would annihilate her and everything she had worked so hard to achieve.

But it was still a sacrifice she was willing to make, even knowing that killing someone in cold-blood was wrong. Wrong for moral reasons and wrong because she was a Slayer. Willing to make that sacrifice because she couldn't risk, Buffy, Dawn, Giles, the Scoobs, any of them; in the hopes that Glory wouldn't come after them if she missed her window to go home. Somehow, Faith doubted that hellgod's believed in 'forgive and forget'.

So she would sacrifice her soul, would do it for them, in return for all that they had given her. Grateful for the time she had with them, her L.A. family and her Sunnydale family and for her lover who was her heart and soul. Grateful she got to find out what it was to even have a family, to know love, to give love. Grateful because it was more than she ever thought she could have, ever thought she deserved.

Faith trembled harder because for the first time in almost a year, she could hear her dark side whispering faintly in her head. She knew she would have to let it out again, give it free rein, had to, it was the only way she would ever be able to do this. And she was terrified that she might not be able to bring it to heel again once she did.

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Giles and Faith stepped out from behind the different crates they had been hiding behind at the same time. They stood facing each other from across the ten feet that separated them. Ben lay on the ground between them, oblivious to everything but his pain.

It surprised him, but didn't, to see the Dark Slayer standing across from him. Giles knew why she was there; she would make herself do what Buffy could not. Not because she wanted to, not because she was evil, but because she felt she should.

He saw how she was trembling, this was going against everything she was, everything she had become. He saw the determination in her face, she would do this even knowing that it would destroy her, destroy her totally and completely for all time. Giles had no doubt in his mind at all, that she would do it because she thought she owed them all something.

He had failed her the first time around; he would not fail her now. There was no way in hell he would let her do this, he could live with this sin on his soul, he knew she could not. He had decided earlier if it came to this, that he would do what he knew Buffy would never be able to do, had made the decision before Xander had even mentioned it in the Magic Shop earlier tonight.

Had made the decision the second that Buffy had told him what Gregor had said about the exiled god sharing the body of a mortal human.

Giles and the Dark Slayer stared at each for long seconds. Faith nodded slightly then turned and went after Buffy.

Faith looked back one last time before she rounded the corner and watched Giles kneel on the ground next to Ben. And knew that it wasn't Giles who knelt down next to Ben, but a man called 'Ripper'.

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Ben coughed painfully again, and smiled, a smile filled with bitterness, "I guess we're stuck with each other, huh baby?"

A figure loomed over him; he could not see who it was. They knelt and he saw with relief that it was Giles. Giles, whom he had saved at the abandoned gas station two days ago, had it really only been two days ago when all this started?

"Can you move?"

"Need... a minute... She could have killed me." Ben could barely manage to get the words out he was in so much pain. It wasn't fair he thought, he felt the pain in human terms, while Glory felt it in 'god' terms. He had no doubt that she would be feeling pain right now, but not like this.

Giles voice was calm, serene and cold, when he spoke, "No she couldn't. Never. And sooner or later, Glory will re-emerge, and... make Buffy pay for that mercy. And the world with her. Buffy even knows that..." Giles reached in and took his glasses out of his pocket, he fiddled with them as continued talking. "...and still she wouldn't take a human life." He paused again filling his lungs with air. "She's a hero, you see." He put his glasses on, adjusting them until they rested comfortably on his face. "She's not like us."

"Us?" Ben was suddenly afraid of this man who knelt next to him, it was almost like he had changed before his eyes. Like an outer mask had disappeared and the true man had emerged.

Giles gave the part of him that was 'Ripper' free rein. He reached out and calmly, coldly clamped his hand over Ben's nose and mouth, cutting off his air. Ben struggled against the hand that was his death, but he was too weak, and the hand never let up or loosened. Gradually his struggling slowed until finally it ceased.

Giles expression had remained calm, consistent throughout, as he waited for the man beneath him to go still, it was as if the blood in his veins had suddenly turned to ice.

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With one swift move, Doc sliced through the material of the antique gown and through the skin of Dawn's stomach. Dawn screamed out in pain, in terror, tears began to flow down her face. He was right in front of her; she could taste his breath, grinning at her with a mad, evil glint in his eyes. "Shallow cuts, shallow cuts..." He made another swift shallow cut, he was enjoying this, he loved the pain of others. "Let the blood flow..." Dawn felt the blood flowing down her body, down over her legs, along her feet, over her toes to drip off them failing to the ground far below. "...freeee." He continued to slice shallowly away, her arms, her ribs, her stomach, lost in the ecstasy of it.

He didn't see Buffy as she climbed up onto the platform.

"Dawn!"

"Buffy!" Her voice, heavy and thick with pain.

Doc whirled around, hiding his surprise at seeing the Slayer. Confidently she moved towards him.

"This should be interesting..." He sneered at her, over-confident; sure his 'god' couldn't be far behind.

The Slayer kept moving towards him, almost as if he weren't there. Without so much as even sparing a glance at him she strode past him and pushed him like the piece of dirt he was right over the side. Cheering in her head as she heard him screaming as he fell.

Buffy picked up her pace and untied her sister within a second. "Here," she whispered, when the ropes were all undone.

"Buffy, it hurts..."

"I got you... Come here. You're gonna be okay..."

Neither the Slayer nor her sister saw as the falling drops of blood met some invisible mystical force on the way down from the platform. More drops joined them, the blood began to transform into a small glowing ball, which crackled with energy. A bright white light of power in the center of the energy growing stronger, as the glowing ball grew steadily larger. Faith saw it though and scrambled even faster up the ladder trying to reach them.

Limping, Dawn let Buffy propel her across the platform towards the tower entrance. Dawn glanced back at her sister, and then stopped. She turned around to face her.

"Go!" Buffy urged her.

"Buffy, it's started."

Buffy whirled around and saw what her sister had seen, the glowing light of the newborn portal.

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The portal continued to grow larger, gaining speed with each passing second. A huge lightning bolt shot out of its center, the large bolt splintered as it freed itself of the portal, breaking into tentacles of energy as it hit the night air.

A lightning bolt hit the intersection of Main Street. The force, the power, opened a hole the size of a crater in the middle of the street. The few souls who had braved the night in downtown Sunnydale screamed in terror, running from the unnatural energy the lightening brought with it.

Another bolt struck one of the newer, taller, office complexes, which instantly burst into flames. White-faced zombies, scabby decaying, walking corpses, but definitely not human corpses, began crawling out of the burning holes of the building.

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Buffy and Dawn looked down at the portal, at the blinding light and knew it had begun.

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Faith pushed herself even harder up the ladder, feeling the power of the white light within the portal almost searing her skin, and knew it had begun.

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Giles jerked his head upward towards the light, his hand falling from Ben's still form, he rose to his feet, forgetting about checking for a pulse. He walked over to where the wrecking ball had punched a hole through the wall and stepped through it. The white-rainbow light above him painfully bright, he felt the energy, the power of it thrumming across his skin. The ground beneath his feet began to shake, he grabbed onto the wall to keep himself from falling and knew it had begun.

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They fell to the ground, minions and 'Crazies' alike. They prostrated themselves for their 'god', to the powerful light, the portal that would bring her home, and open the gates that would turn the world into a living hell. Trembling with joy because they knew it had begun.

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Anya clutched Xander to her in fear as another bolt of lightning flashed past their heads and they knew it had begun.

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Willow and Tara held each other as they stared at the display of power over their heads. They turned to each other, locking eyes, no words were needed and they knew it had begun.

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Spike rolled painfully to his side as he felt the earth begin to spilt from under the bricks. Panting in pain, he looked up and knew it had begun.

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Xander and Anya were still looking up as another bolt of lightning streaked over their heads. They heard it explode in the distance. A rumbling started and Anya cried out in fear, "Xander."

She shoved him hard away from her, saving his life, as a wall of concrete and metal fell on top of her.

Horror, panic rushed through Xander as he saw the wall collapse onto Anya, burying her.

"ANYA!" He screamed at her unmoving body.

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She climbed the last few steps of the ladder and was finally on the platform. Buffy and Dawn were less than twenty feet away with their backs to her. A low rumbling started, and Faith moved a few feet closer to her family. She grabbed onto the scaffolding for dear life as she almost fell off as the platform started shaking.

Buffy turned towards Dawn holding her by the arm as the platform shook violently. She saw Faith moving towards them, but she had already known that she was up here with them. Buffy held onto her sister until the shaking stopped, keeping her safe, but were any of them safe now? Now that it had begun?

A river of tears flowed down her face as she looked at her sister, her sister, who had tried her best to stop this from happening. "I'm sorry..." Dawn choked out.

"It doesn't matter. Nothing..." Dawn caught her off guard as she pushed past her, running for the end of the platform. Buffy whirled and caught her almost immediately. She pulled her back to her, and placed herself between Dawn and the end of the platform. "What are you doing?" But Buffy already knew, she just didn't want to know.

"I have to jump. The energy..." Dawn looked at Buffy with determination. The type of determination Buffy had seen reflected in her own eyes many times.

Faith stayed where she was, listening to them, listening to the echo Buffy was sending her to stay where she was. This was something that the sisters, who were more than just sisters, needed to deal with themselves.

"It'll kill you!" This wasn't supposed to happen, it shouldn't be happening. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair!

Dawn voice was soft, almost comforting, but strangely enough held no fear, "I know..." Buffy stared at her little sister, who seemed so grown up right now. "Buffy, I know about the ritual! I have to stop it."

"NO!" Buffy's determination now matched that of her sister's; she was the one who had taught her it after all.

The three women who were barely more than girls stumbled as the tower shook ferociously again.

"I have to! Look at what's happening!"

They all looked up as lightening crackled over their heads, a bolt larger than any before. There came a sound unlike anything any of them had heard before, almost but not quite like a scream of agony. They watched as a hole ripped the fabric of their reality. Flying out of the hole was a huge dragon, something until now that had only lived in fairy tales. It swooped up and buzzed over the tower, then took off flying west.

Something kept itching in the corner of her brain, scratching at the surface of her consciousness, something she was forgetting, what was it? Faith listened to them she couldn't let Dawn die, there had to be a way to stop this. She couldn't, wouldn't let this happen.

Dawn tried to get her arm out of her sister's grip, "Buffy... You have to let me go! Blood starts it, and until the blood stops flowing, it'll never stop." Buffy stared at Dawn in despair, in anguish.

Something tickled the edges of her mind, something she wasn't seeing. There had to be a way to stop this. She would not let this happen. She should have killed Ben; she could have lived easier with his death on her conscious. But she couldn't live with Dawn's knowing that there had been something she could have done. This wasn't right damn it all! She stared at Dawn's tear filled eyes as Dawn continued to speak to her, "You know you have to let me. It has to have the blood..."

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The breeze carried those three simple whispered words to each of the Chosen Two.

One heard them spoken with the voice of the first Slayer, the other with the voice of the oldest of the Fates'.

"Learn and Remember..." Time stood still for the Chosen Two while in the reality of the world that they lived in less than a second passed. Realization swept the features of both the Slayers.

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The Slayer looked down at the Tapestry of Life. Her eyes drawn to a thread that she somehow knew wasn't a life in the terms of a living creature, be it mortal or immortal. It was a thread of pure cobalt-blue energy, a color of power; it was she knew the source of what made them Slayers. She followed it through the Tapestry. Saw how it stayed with each of the Slayers even after death, seeming to duplicate itself as it passed to the next Slayer, letting the Slayer remain the Slayer even in the afterlife. And until Buffy had died there never had been more than one Slayer at any given time. For once the Council truly had not lied.

Faith saw where the Thread of Life that was Buffy's had been cut when she had died briefly at the hands of The Master. Saw how the cobalt-blue thread was imbedded through all the strands that made up Buffy's Life Thread. The Slayer Thread was there, present from the very beginning of Buffy's Life Thread. It was a confirmation of all that Faith believed; they were built to be Slayers that they and the Slayer were one in the same. She gained a further understanding as she saw that it did not glow at the start of the Life Thread but somewhere further along, she assumed that it started glowing when Buffy had been called.

So the Council had been wrong, the power of the Slayer did not leave the body of one Slayer when she died and get passed to the next. The power of the Slayer was with them from the time of their birth and stayed with them even after death. The only thing the death of a Slayer did was 'awaken' the power that already lay within the new 'Chosen One'.

Faith need only look at the Life Thread of Kendra, and her own to confirm this. She wondered if it was possible to 'awaken' the power of the Slayer before the current 'Chosen One' died.

The same power that ran through Buffy ran through her too. She was not a mistake, she always had been meant to be. If only she had known this before, things might have been different. She was a part of Buffy and Buffy was a part of her.

She saw in the Tapestry how her own Life Thread moved closer to Buffy's, how Buffy's moved closer towards hers. How for a time in the Tapestry they traveled side by side. How frayed pieces of her Life Thread reached out to frayed pieces of Buffy's Life Thread, but never quite managed to touch.

Then their Life Threads moved apart, far apart, neither reaching for the other. And then further along they steadily began to move closer together again, until they were once more side by side. This time as the frayed pieces reached towards each other they met and intertwined.

Faith moved her eyes to where she knew the present was within the Tapestry. Little by little, she saw more and more of her and Buffy's Life Threads intermingle and wrap around each other, to become one while still remaining separate. As their Life Thread's merged, each distinguishable from the other while mirroring the other. Whole in of themselves, but even more whole together. She saw that they were, now and forever, soul-mates. Each a part of the other, home for them lay within the heart and soul of the other.

She followed Buffy's Life Thread up and saw were two thin almost invisible red threads came from two other Life Threads and she knew they belonged to Buffy's parents. Without having to be told, she knew the red threads were blood. Blood, which carried the genetic traits of the parents, blood the giver of life. Blood, which made Buffy a living representative of both Joyce and Hank.

Her eyes were drawn to another Life Thread and this one was similar to hers and Buffy's the only difference was that the glowing energy within it was a brilliant emerald green. It was the energy of the 'Key', and this Life Thread belonged to Dawn. She saw a small very thin piece of cobalt-blue energy mixed in with the emerald green.

Against their will, Faith's eyes moved up Dawn's thread to the beginning. What she saw sent her mind into a tailspin. The two thin threads that connected Dawn to Joyce and Hank were clear, unlike Buffy's which were red. There was only one red blood thread that connected to Dawn and that thread came from Buffy, not Joyce and Hank. Dawn's genetic make-up came from Joyce and Hank, but the blood that gave her life came from Buffy. From Buffy also came a tiny sliver of what made her a Slayer, and in return Dawn gave Buffy a tiny sliver of what made her the 'Key'. Dawn wasn't simply Buffy's sister. She was a part of Buffy, or parts of Buffy, more than a sister, almost a daughter.

Rapidly the Tapestry of Life changed as Faith went through each of the different things that could happen. She saw all of the consequences of each of the different choices happen clearly, like a movie playing in her mind.

Faith raised her eyes from the Tapestry of Life, she slowly looked at each of the Fates, finally letting her eyes rest on Atropos.

"You call these choices? What kind of choices are these? These aren't choices, they're fucking death sentences! Why did I need to know this? Why the fuck did you drag me up here? Was it so you could torment me with the fact that someone I love is going to die, or that the whole world will be destroyed? Torment me because there is nothing I can do to stop this shit. Is this my punishment for the horrible things I did in my life? So what the fuck was the purpose of this? HUH? TELL ME YOU DECREPIT OLD FUCK! Was it to show me that I've found my soul-mate only to... to..."

Faith couldn't finish her sentence, she knew that when the time came Buffy would be faced with the same choices. Deep down in her soul, Faith knew which one Buffy would pick. The Fates, she was pretty sure, also knew what Buffy's choice would be. She, Faith, was the wild card, the only one that could change, stop or influence Buffy's choice. That was why the Fates wanted her to know all this. So that when the time came, she would also understand all of the consequences.

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'It has to have the blood...' Buffy drifted deep into her mind, Dawn's words finally brought to the surface what had been skirting around the edges of consciousness and with it came understanding.

Her mind drifted to the Magic Shop earlier in the day...

"Why blood? Why is it Dawn's blood, why couldn't it be, like, a lymph ritual?"

''Cause it's always gotta be blood."

...then she drifted to the night at the hospital after one of their confrontations with Glory...

Buffy and Dawn were sitting on the floor of the hospital both were tired, hurt and bleeding.

"Are you okay? Did she hurt you?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I love you. You're my sister."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are." Buffy lifted Dawn's arm, so that Dawn could see the blood on both her arm and hand. "Look, it's blood. It's Summers blood." Buffy pressed her own hand against the still bleeding wound she had gotten from the tire-iron. She looked at her sister and clasped her own bloody hand with her sister's bloody hand. "It's just like mine. It doesn't matter where you came from, or, or how you got here. You are my sister..."

...then back to the Magic Shop earlier today when she was trying to explain to Giles and the Scoobs...

"She's me. The monks made her out of me."

...then later to outside the Magic Shop with Faith...

It's more than that, it almost like she's my daughter too... It's like she is more than just family. When I hold her, it's more than just remembering the memories the monks planted. They... they made her from me. From me... she is me or parts of me... maybe the parts of me that I lost when I got called... It's physical... it's more... I feel closer to her then anyone, anything..."

...then to her 'Slayer Quest' sitting by the fire with the First Slayer...

"Death is your gift."

"Death..."

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Buffy slowly opened her eyes, it all made sense to her, she heard softly on the wind the First Slayer finishing her sentence...

"...is your gift."

She frowned and turned around. It was unnaturally quiet all of a sudden. The wind raged but carried no sound with it. She saw in the far off distance, holes ripping open the fabric of their reality. The walls between dimensions were beginning to crumble. She looked to the end of the platform; this time of the day had become very familiar to her over the last few months. She looked out over the platform at the pre-dawn light and knew the sun would rise soon.

Faith watched her as she turned around, and looked out into the pre-dawn, as the night became suddenly quiet. It was their special time of the day, when they made their secret wishes, and waited for the promises of the new day. Tears started to silently fall down her face; this wasn't fair, it wasn't right.

She took a step, then another until there was only a few feet that separated her from Buffy and Dawn. She didn't care, didn't care if the whole world went to hell in a hand basket, she wasn't going to let this happen, she couldn't. Fuck the rest of the world, it had never done anything for her, but the two people standing in front of her, they did, still did, they taught her what love was and is. She started to take another step then stopped when Buffy turned around and their eyes met.

Faith forgot how to breathe when she saw the beautiful, peaceful expression on Buffy's face. Their eyes locked and held, there were no words, they didn't need them, they lived inside of the other. Faith gripped the side of scaffolding, her knuckles turning white, afraid to let go, afraid if she did, she would do what she knew was wrong, would condemn the world, them all, to a fate worse than death.

She hated this, hated it all, but she knew what Buffy was going to do was right. The tears fell harder, harder still as she felt Buffy's love surround her, felt it fill every part of her, and she returned it and more. Buffy smiled softly at her before turning to Dawn.

Slowly the apocalyptic noise returned, time was growing short as the sun began its assent into the sky.

Dawn's eyes grew wide, when she saw the expression on her sister's face; she knew what Buffy was going to do. NO! She was the 'Key' not Buffy... "Buffy! NO!"

"Dawnie... I have to..." Serene, calm, peaceful.

"NO!"

"Listen to me! There's no time, Dawn, please listen."

Faith watched as Buffy leaned in close to Dawn, as she began to whisper in her ear. The tears rolled down Dawn's face, Faith could not hear Buffy, but she didn't need to, she could feel the essence of what she was saying deep inside herself.

Buffy lightly, tenderly, softly stroked the side of her sister's face. She leaned in closer and placed a loving kiss on her cheek. She straightened up, and looked at Faith, her eyes saying it all. Then she turned and started to run towards the end of the platform.

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Dawn stood immobile, paralyzed with grief, angry at the world, angry at her helplessness. She watched as her sister reached the end of the platform and swan-dived into the night air, down towards the portal. She was unable to control or stop her tears, unable even to reach out to Faith as she half staggered, half ran down the platform in Buffy's wake.

As she ran, staggered, down the platform after Buffy all she wanted to do was follow her into abyss. But she couldn't, she had promised Buffy she would take care of Dawn, promised her no matter what. She had to keep that promise, no matter how hard it would be, no matter how much it would hurt, no matter how empty the world would be for her now.

Didn't she?

Wasn't that what she was supposed to do?

Wasn't that what the Fates wanted? For her to do nothing.

She had to keep her promise to Buffy, didn't she? She slowed her steps; she staggered once, twice more, almost stopped then...

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A cold gust of air whipped the hair around her face, and Dawn felt a chill go down her spine. The kind of chill her Mom used to describe felt like; 'Someone had just walked over her grave.' Dawn hadn't understood that analogy until just now. For a second she thought she heard the sound of a hysterical giggle of a madwoman, and her skin crawled, then the sound was gone.

A strangled 'NO!' was wrenched from the depths of Dawn's soul, as she saw Faith take two more staggering steps. Then Faith was lunging off the edge of the platform almost as it she had been thrown, following her sister into the spectral light of the portal.

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A second before she hit the white light at the center of the portal, she felt Faith. Faith was in the portal, Faith had... Then coherent thought fled. The energy expanded even wider as Buffy hit the white light in its center.

Her eyes were open; her body in pain as lightening hit her, sending thousands of volts of electricity through her. She floated in the middle of the storm, the energy coursing through her, ravaging her, as her eyes slowly closed. Dimly before all thought ceased, she realized Faith was with her now in the center of the energy storm, she reached her hand out seeking her.

She was tumbling down towards the white light in the center, not once taking her eyes off Buffy. She felt the electricity going through Buffy, the pain coming to her in an echo. Then she too was in the eye of the energy storm, floating, pain coursing through her body, Buffy somewhere beside her. She ignored the pain and forced herself to find her, when she felt Buffy seeking her. With the last bit of strength she had, Faith reached out her hand and found Buffy's, her lover, her heart, her soul.

Faith closed her eyes, clinging tightly to Buffy's hand, thinking only of Buffy before all thought ceased.

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Dawn closed her eyes to the rising sun, almost numb with the thought that she had lost them both. She heard the words her sister had whispered in her ear before she had sacrificed herself for her...

"Dawn listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you."

...They floated together suspended in the eye of the energy storm of the portal.

"But this is the work I have to do."

...The energy ball expanded, then began to shrink as if collapsing into itself, smaller and smaller it grew until it was nothing more then a speck. Then it was gone. The sun hissed as it came up over the horizon. Willow and Tara held each other up as they walked towards the tower. Giles only a few feet behind them, moving slowly, in pain. Xander walked towards them cradling Anya in his arms like an infant. All their eyes fixed on the same spot.

"Tell Giles... tell Giles... I figured it out. And, and I'm okay."

...Their gazes all fell first on the lifeless body of Buffy, lying amidst a pile of rubble; Faith lay not half a foot away from her. Each Slayer had a hand stretched out as if reaching for the other, even in death. Spike moved forward, then hissed in pain as the sunlight hit him, he fell to the ground. His face covered in blood. Willow and Tara began crying quietly at the sight before them.

"And give my love to my friends."

...Xander held his eyes wide open in an effort to keep the tears from falling. Anya buried her head in his shoulder, sobbing quietly.

"You have to take care of them now..."

...Giles face was a mass of raw pain, he had not just lost a Slayer, he had lost a daughter, no, two daughters.

"You have to take care of each other."

...Giles couldn't stop them, the tears, they were overwhelming him. He had failed them, his daughters, his Slayers. Spike covered his face with his hands, the sobs wracking his body as he cried for the first time in over a hundred years.

"You have to be strong."

...Limping Dawn made her way slowly, carefully, down the stairs. Her free hand holding her side, she spotted the others and started to make her way towards them.

"Dawn, the hardest thing in this world... is to live in it."

...Dawn started to cry again, when she saw the Chosen Two from where she was on the stairs.

"Be brave. Live. For me."

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They all stood together in the early dusk. The Sunnydale crew, Giles, Dawn, Tara, Willow, Xander, Anya and Spike. The L.A. crew, Wesley, Cordelia, Gunn. Only Angel stood off to the side by himself, he had only spoken once since Willow had come to L.A. to get them. Once to tell them to; 'Use my real first name...', and that had been three days ago.

They stood there all together in a place they were all too familiar with. Dawn stepped forward and placed the specially made arrangements of a single white and a single red rose wired together on the ground for each of them. She had asked Buffy once, why she always got the roses for Faith like that. Buffy had explained to her that a single red rose signified passionate love, a single white, pure love, wired together they signified unity, commitment, and undying love. And then Buffy had told her not to tell Faith, she had been waiting for Faith to ask on her own.

Dawn stepped back and felt Willow's arm come around her shoulder.

They all stood in silence and stared as the sun began to rise, bringing them the promises of the new day.

BUFFY SUMMERS

1981-2001

BELOVED SISTER, DEVOTED FRIEND

SHE SAVED THE WORLD

A LOT

FAITH LIAM

1981-2001

LOVED & CHOSEN

BY ONE

BY US ALL

to be continued…