Title: Dawn of the Son
Author: Spichik453
Chapter 13
Dawn couldn't help but think about how familiar the scene felt. It wasn't just the fact that she was in a cemetery at night. She had been in many cemeteries at night. But as she walked past the graves, it was amazing to notice how familiar the cemetery looked. Something she was about to mention to Buffy before Buffy beat her to it.
"Ok, I know I haven't done much patrolling in Seattle, but I gotta say, this cemetery is looking a lot like that one in Sunnydale." Buffy commented.
Dawn nodded. "You know, I was thinking the same thing."
Buffy stopped and turned to her sister. "Is it wrong that I kind of miss the Sunnydale cemeteries?"
Flabbergasted, Dawn thought about it for a minute. "Yes. Very much."
"My grave is there."
"But you're not dead anymore."
"Mom's grave." Buffy said, her voice trailing off. After hearing Dawn's description of the demon they were about to meet, Buffy was a little bit unnerved. The idea of a demon looking, sounding and acting like her mother just seemed wrong. When Dawn was being honest with herself, she too was feeling the same thing, except that she had interacted with this demon before. And it was perfectly civil. The idea that the meeting was a trap crossed everyone's mind. And Buffy did not lead Dawn into an unknown cemetery without backup. Throughout the cemetery the three slayers in training, their watchers in training, Vi and her watcher, plus the Scoobies and Jake.
"If I didn't know any better," Buffy started, she pointed to a mausoleum by a tall oak tree, "I would say that over there is where I slew that vamp with the hook."
"You slew a vamp with a hook?"
Buffy shrugged. "Yeah. He was an easy dust, but it was kind of cool that he had a hook for a hand." To which Dawn had to agree.
"Buffy, what's the plan?"
"We meet this demon. Find out what it has to say, and kill it if necessary."
"And then? There is a Hellmouth in Seattle now and-"
Dawn was cut off by Buffy stopping dead in her tracks. Sitting on top of a grave was the demon. "Dawn, look familiar." Dawn nodded.
Even though Dawn had already seen the demon, it was still unsettling to see her mother sitting on the grave. She could feel every muscle in Buffy's body tense. An action that mirrored her own. "Buffy! Dawn!" It cried with the care and love that her mother used when it was time for pancakes on a lazy Saturday morning. Neither Buffy nor Dawn knew what to say. "Come on girls. Don't be shy."
Dawn resisted every muscle in her body that wanted to rush over and give the demon a hug. Since that was every muscle, Dawn was frozen. She felt five years old (not that she was ever five, but the memories of being five that were given to her), meeting her kindergarten teacher for the first time. Dawn couldn't say a word. She could barely let go of her mother's leg. Her mother just looked down at Dawn and smiled, saying, "Come on Dawn, don't be shy. Say hello." Gone was the confident woman who could read multiple demon languages and was almost finished with her trauma medicine internship. In her place was a scared girl, un-sure if she could approach the person she wanted the most.
"Who. Are. You?" Buffy finally managed after the demon sat smiling at the girls.
"I have a present for you."
And just like that, Dawn felt her courage and maturity fly back to her. With Buffy's confidence in being a vampire slayer, the original vampire slayer, Dawn could feel it return to her. "That did not answer my question."
"I am your mother."
Dawn clenched her fists. Buffy clenched her teeth. "You are not my mother. My mother is dead."
"But I resemble your mother. I have her memories, her mannerisms. I even have her favorite sweater. I am your mother."
"My mother is dead." Buffy insisted.
The demon hopped off the grave it was perched upon. "Alright. I see you are not to be trifled with. Whether you like it or not, I am your mother. I just have my memories too. I have no control over who I look like and who I act like."
"Alright. Since you claim you are Joyce Summers, then what are you?"
The demon laughed. "I am known as The Gate Keeper."
"What do you guard?"
Buffy's tone was getting more and more agitated with each vaguely answered question that The Gate Keeper was giving her. As The Gate Keeper continued, Dawn was getting more and more tense. At the hospital, while unnerved, the sight of her mother there comforted her, but the more The Gate Keeper talked, the more Dawn could see that this was going to turn to a fight. It has been a while since she had been in a real fight. Not since she had returned to Cleveland right before her internship- almost a year and a half ago. Buffy took her patrolling and they ran into a vampire nest. Dawn did not do much to destroy the vampires. She had been knocked out before the third punch was thrown. But Dawn had faith in the other slayers. Over the years, the Slayers had become more powerful. Even though the Scoobies brought along their most inexperienced Slayers, they were still strong.
Dawn also had seen Jake and Buffy fight from behind the wall in the basement. They were strong together. She had never seen Buffy so strong, so focused, and so accurate. Bringing the original slayer and the first male slayer together gave both of them the power, the strength and the focus of someone more in tune with their powers. Buffy was amazed at how well she trained with Jake around. Jake, who was new to the slaying, was in awe of Buffy's skill and instantly took her to be his mentor.
Dawn was a little bit nervous as she heard Jake patter on about the training session in the basement afterwards. Her fears about her broken heart over a guy who she hadn't even dated or kissed yet seemed to be realized. The energy and detail that Jake was giving her about each punch was not what she wanted to hear. But Dawn put on her happy face and listened intently, hoping that Jake would see her for what she wanted him to see her. And just before Jake left to shower, he leaned over the table, kissed Dawn and smiled. "You are amazing."
Even though she couldn't see him, Dawn could tell that Jake, Vi and Willow were following Dawn and Buffy carefully. The other Slayers not far behind them. It was comforting. Dawn held onto that kiss along with the knowledge that Jake was behind her and it gave her just enough courage to not fall over.
The Gate Keeper just laughed at Buffy's question. Without a straight answer, Buffy repeated her question. "What do you guard?"
"I guard all that comes from the mouth."
"You guard this Hellmouth?"
Again The Gate Keeper laughed. "Not just this Hellmouth."
"All Hellmouths?" The Gate Keeper nodded. "One more question before I kill you, why do you look like my mother?"
"Honey, I am your mother. I guarded the Hellmouths from hell for centuries until some Greek monks looking to destroy me pulled me out. Instead all they could do was force me into random human forms. A bad move on their part. I have complete say over who comes and goes through the Hellmouth."
"So, you're good?" Dawn squeaked. "Keeping the demons in hell?"
The Gate Keeper laughed. "Far from it."
Dawn had not realized it, but The Gate Keeper was talking, a small tentacle had crept up behind her, and had taken control of her leg. A blood-curling scream escaped Dawn's lips, as The Gate Keeper laughed. The more Dawn struggled, the tighter the grip. "DAWN!" Buffy yelled. She tried to reach Dawn, but she too had a tentacle wrapped firmly around her leg.
With one swift tug, the tentacles pulled the Summers sisters to the ground. It then stopped pulling but did not release its captives. The Gate Keeper bent its knees and got eye level with the girls. "Buffy, Dawn, I'd like you to meet Torbacheck. Be polite girls, and shake its hands." The Gate Keeper went back to its perch on the gravestone, still laughing.
"WILLOW!" Buffy called hoping for some help from her Wicca friend. "XANDER!"
"JAKE!"
"Your friends won't be able to help you now." The Gate Keeper said. Torbacheck is very special. He's invited your friends for dinner." There was a calming sound, like leaves blowing in the wind, but it was accompanied by struggling grunts, that neither Buffy nor Dawn had noticed before. It was only a matter of seconds before their mini-slayer army had assembled, all constrained by the Torbacheck.
"Dawn!" Jake cried as soon as he saw Dawn there.
"Willow! Where's Xander?" Buffy asked, unable to see her boyfriend.
"I'm here." Xander assured Buffy. "Just a little tied up at the moment."
"See, as the Gate Keeper, I do control who goes up and who stays down. But usually they just have to pass a stupidity test. The more likely the success of their plan without exposing us, the more likely I'll let them go. The really stupid ones have to stay until they smart up."
"Buffy, these are getting tighter." Giles said.
"I cannot feel my leg anymore." One of the slayers complained.
"SHUT UP!" The Gate Keeper called. "I promised Buffy and Dawn a chance to listen to my information. And you're being rude interrupting me." It walked directly over to one of the other slayers and began to violently shake the girl's chin. The slayer cried out in pain.
Buffy waited until The Gate Keeper's back was turned, before reaching up her jacket sleeve, removing a large knife. After a little bit of a struggle, she reached over, and stabbed the tentacle attached to her leg. It twitched for a few seconds and then released its hold on Buffy. While Buffy was free, the others felt the Torbacheck increase its hold in retaliation. Buffy stood up, getting ready to stab the nearest tentacle near her, Dawn's.
In the blink of an eye, The Gate Keeper was in front of Buffy. It knocked Buffy to the ground. Buffy moaned for a second before jumping up and punching The Gate Keeper back. The Gate Keeper stumbled back, tripping on the grave behind her. Dawn used the distraction of the fight to attempt to get the now forgotten knife. She wiggled and reached but it was just barely out of her reach. The more she worked to get the knife, the tighter the grip. Dawn knew what would happen if her leg continued to be cut off from the blood.
"Dawn." Jake called. Dawn looked to her right. Jake had in his hands a small stick, just long enough and just thick enough for Dawn to reach the knife. He tossed it to her, and she caught it easily. But at that second, a tentacle sprang from the earth and pinned Jake's torso to the ground. With the sound of The Gate Keeper and Buffy as a background noise, Dawn used the stick from Jake to reach the knife. She could see Jake struggling to breathe. She stabbed the tentacle that held its grip around her, and struggled free. She then ran over to Jake, severing the tentacles that had him pinned to the ground.
"Thanks." He said. He bent down and grabbed a knife he strapped to his leg. The two ran around to the others, freeing them. All the while dodging different tentacles that kept springing up from the ground, trying to recapture them.
"Giles!" Dawn asked, as she helped him to his feet. "How do we kill the Torbacheck?"
Giles stammered for a second. "I don't know. Kill its head."
"Where's its head?" Xander asked. Vi and the other slayers had gone to aid Buffy in the fight. Jake stood with Dawn. The only thing they could see were the tentacles, that came from underground like tree roots.
"Is Buffy alright?" Giles asked, seeing a tired slayer emerge from the fight, letting the other slayers take their turn for a second.
"I know where the head is." Willow offered.
Jake stepped forward. "Where? I'll go stab it."
"You can't. It's underground. I can use a spell, and suffocate it." Willow said. "But I'm going to need some cover. And I need to try to figure out where the head is."
Everyone looked around. Buffy and the other slayers were struggling with the fight. The Gate Keeper may have been one demon up against five slayers, but it was winning. Knifes and other weapons came out of the girl's jackets but they would either wind up on the ground or used against them. Caroline was lying on the ground, propped up against a tree. Blood was undulating from a massive stab wound in her belly.
"I need to go take care of Caroline." Dawn said, rushing over to the wounded slayer.
"Jake, get over there and help Buffy. She appears to be strongest when you two fight side by side." Giles ordered. Jake nodded and ran over to Buffy.
Giles, Willow and Xander began scanning the ground for possible locations of the head. "Look at all these piles of dirt." Xander observed. As he jumped to avoid another Torbacheck tentacle, it suddenly occurred to him. "Every time a tentacle comes from the ground it moves the dirt around. The head will probably have a ring around it of dirt. Hey! That was pretty smart.""There!" Willow said, pointing to the gravestone where The Gate Keeper was recently sitting.
"Well that makes sense." Giles said. The three rushed to it, and tried to stand as close to the center of the ring of displaced earth as they could.
Willow handed off her knife to Giles and sat down. "Cover me." She said. Willow closed her eyes and concentrated hard. It was more of a challenge than she thought it would be. All the noise around her distracted her. Meanwhile, Giles and Xander with the help of the other watchers began stabbing wildly at any tentacle that was springing from the ground. Willow closed her eyes as if going to sleep. She sat perfectly still. Xander took a moment to notice that his best friend wasn't even breathing. He began to panic and ran over to Willow, expecting to see a tentacle wrapped around her cutting off her oxygen. He was mid-run when a tentacle grabbed a hold of him, dragged him to the ground. He hit his head on a stone on the way down, and then lay limp on the ground. Seeing this, Giles began making his way over to Xander to tend to him, jumping over various tentacles as he did. Just as he was about to trip on a tentacle, all of them went limp. Willow opened her eyes with a jerk and inhaled deeply. She looked up at Giles with a childish smile. "Is it dead?"
Giles looked around the graveyard. Fallen watchers were beginning to stand up wearily. Motionless tentacles littered the ground like twigs after a thunderstorm. "I assume so." Even Xander was beginning to come to. For their part, the battle was won.
The slayers were having a much more difficult time slaying The Gate Keeper. Caroline was already being treated by Dawn from where her own knife was used to slice open her belly. Two others lay on the ground, knocked unconscious. The remaining four were beginning to show signs of weariness where The Gate Keeper still had a spry leap in its step. Punch after punch was thrown. Kick after kick showed no results. The Gate Keeper would stumble back a few paces, gear up for its own move, and then render a slayer useless. Soon it was just Buffy and Jake throwing the punches. The Gate Keeper fell flat on its back when together Jake and Buffy kicked her in the torso in a perfectly synchronized fight. Before it had the chance to jump up, the two jumped on top of it, pinning it to the ground.
Buffy took out her knife and held it to The Gate Keeper's throat, ready to slice it off. Buffy looked down at The Gate Keeper. In that moment, all Buffy could see was her mother. She hesitated.
"Buffy." The Gate Keeper softly said, as if reassuring a young child. "You cannot kill me. You can destroy this body but I will have a new form." This time, Buffy didn't hesitate.