Rabidreject- Thank you very much. Glad you liked it.

Zigpal- thanks for the review, and of course, the claps. Where would I be without those? Hehe. Happy you liked Joyce taking charge...just seemed like her moment hehe.

A/N: This is NOT the last chapter of season 5. Repeat,not. There will be one more and then it's on to Cocorific Season 6.
Willow and Xander were the only ones researching anymore and even they weren't getting very far. Spike was making no effort at all on the text front and was merely perched on the nearby ladder having a smoke, Anya was pacing nervously obviously fearing for her life over what was going to happen next, Buffy was still outside after running off and Tara was clearly in no fit state to research. Willow figured Giles would have helped with the researching, but he was too busy hugging Joyce supportively where she'd slid to the floor moments earlier in shock. She had stopped crying uncontrollably, but she hadn't gotten over hearing those words about Dawn. She looked as though her whole world had just dissolved around her. And so he just sat there with her, hugging her.

Willow really hoped they would be able to come up with an alternate way to save the world. Really hoped.

They heard the side door open and Buffy walked back in slowly, somberly, quietly. She didn't say a word to any of them as she walked in.

"Something going on out back?" Xander asked for lack of anything else to say.

"Vampire," Was all she said in reply.

"Oh," Xander was just as monosyllabic.

Buffy didn't say anything else but just took in the scene around her, looking from Spike to Anya to Tara to Willow to Xander and then finally, to her Mom and Giles. Her eyes rested there as she looked down at her Mom's tear stained face.

"Anything?" She asked, meaning research. She asked this question directly to Giles, even though it was obvious he hadn't been researching any since she'd ran off.

"We...not much, Buffy," Willow told her but her friend continued to look at Giles.

"There's got to be another way," She insisted.

"And if there is, we will find it Buffy," He told her but he couldn't deny the facts, "But-"

"No," Buffy shook her head, "No buts. We find another way. End of"

Silence fell on them all again. All of them thinking the same thing, but afraid to say it to Buffy. What if they couldn't find another way?

"Tell me the ritual again," She ordered, her eyes still firmly on Giles.

"Buffy, no," Joyce protested, "I don't want to hear it again"

"Go through it again," Buffy insisted firmly, ignoring her Mother's distress.

"They key was living energy," Giles began, acutely aware of how much this was upsetting Joyce, but forcing himself to go on, "It needed to be channeled, poured into a specific spot at a specific time. With all attendant ritual of course. The energy would flow into that spot, the walls between the dimensions would break down. It stops- the energy is used up- and the walls come back up. Glory uses that time to get back to her own dimension, not caring that all manner of hell will be unleashed on Earth in the meantime."

After that was said, he returned his attention back to Joyce, holding her, stroking her hair soothingly and lovingly. Anything to try and comfort her.

"But only for a little while right?" Anya asked, "The walls come back...no more hell?"

"But that's only if the energy is stopped," Willow informed her, "And now that the key is human-"

"Now the key's Dawn," Joyce stated, cutting her off, in a shocked tone of voice as though not quite believing the words she was saying, "So it's her blood now...her.." She trailed off, distraught.

"I have places to be!" Tara suddenly shouted in a panicked voice and the group momentarily and instinctively recoiled at this outburst.

"Why blood?" Xander asked in frustration, "Why does it have to be Dawn's blood? Why couldn't it be like a lymph ritual?"

"Cause it's always gotta be blood," Spike spoke up and Xander turned on him.

"We're not actually discussing dinner right now"

"Blood is life, lackbrain," Spike retorted and the certainty in his words caused both Buffy and Joyce to look over at him in concentrated interest, his words reaching them, "Why do you think we eat it? It's what keeps you going, makes you warm, makes you hard, makes you other than dead," Spike turned away in disgust, "Of course it's her blood"

"Pretty simple math here," Buffy concluded, "We stop Glory before she can start the ritual. There's still a couple of hours right?"

"If my calculations are right," Giles admitted and Joyce sat up out of his embrace.

"You mean we can save Dawn? She could be okay...we could...could we?"

"Why not?" Buffy said, "We stop the ritual from ever happening, keep Glory from ever completing it and no portals open. Dawn's safe...and so's the world"

"I hate to be the detail police, Buffy," Willow spoke up, "But what if we can't stop it in time?"

That question hung in the air for all of them and what little hope Joyce had felt for that brief moment was immediately replaced by fear. Fear for Dawn's life.

"We will," Buffy said, sounding less confident than she intended.

"But what if-" Willow began to ask, but Buffy cut her off.

"No- we are not having this conversation. I won't talk about killing my sister!"

There. The words were out there. The what-if scenario they had all be avoiding was spoke aloud.

"She's not your sister," Giles said quietly, not without sadness in his voice. He hated being the one who had to put things into perspective, say the harsh truths no one else wanted to face. It made him out to be the bad guy, when he didn't want to face these facts as much as the rest of them.

At his words Joyce scrambled away from him, grabbing one of the shelves on the bookcase to lift herself up so she was standing, looking down at Giles in shock and anger.

"How can you say that? Of course she's her sister. She's my daughter. How can-"

"No she's not," Giles insisted, in that same quiet voice.

"He's right," Buffy nodded, "She's not"

"Buffy," Joyce looked at Buffy in just as much shock, wondering how on Earth she could agree with Giles.

"She's more than that," Buffy continued, "More than my sister...more than Mom's daughter...she's me. The Monks made her out of me. I hold her and I feel closer to her than..." Buffy sighed, unable to articulate what she felt about Dawn. She looked across at her Mom and Buffy saw that she knew exactly what she meant, knew exactly what she was talking about and it was this that encouraged Buffy to carry on explaining it to the rest, "You can say it's just because of the memories they built...but Mom, she doesn't have those- she also remembers when Dawn wasn't there"

"What?" Willow asked, wide-eyed along with everyone else.

"She doesn't remember Dawn?" Xander asked, "When did this happen?"

It was then that Buffy remembered, no one else but she, her Mom and Giles had known that as they were the only ones who knew how the Monks' spell had originally effected Joyce.

"The point isn't why," She decided to tell them in reply, "The point is- Mom may not have those memories, not alone anyway, but she knows Dawn is her daughter as much as I know she's my sister. It's more than the memories- it's physical, it's...Dawn is a part of me. The only part I-" Buffy broke off unable to continue and Joyce crossed the room to hold her, the two of them finding comfort in one another.

"We'll solve this," Willow assured them, "We will. Don't have another coma okay?"

"You know that I want-" Giles began, standing up, but Joyce cut him off.

"Don't," She told him, holding up a hand to stop him, "Just don't."

"Joyce-"

"You said she wasn't her sister, that she wasn't my child," Joyce reminded him, "How could you?"

"I didn't mean that I-"

"You didn't mean to but you managed to anyway,"

Her cold words hit him as though he had been slapped.

"I love Dawn," He told her, "as much as I love Buffy- as if she were my own, but if the ritual starts then every living creature in this dimension will suffer unbearable torment and death...including Dawn." He took a step towards Joyce and she at least didn't step away, but she met his gaze evenly and silently. "And I don't want that. And neither should you"

He saw her thinking over his words, contemplating what it would mean for Dawn, for everyone.

"I've got to protect her," She finally said, just as quietly as he had spoken before.

"I know," He nodded, "But if the ritual starts then you...we have to understand that that may be the only way to protect her"

Both Buffy and Joyce seemed to take this in, both of them becoming even more detached and somber as they couldn't hide from the fact there was truth in Giles' words. But everything in them was telling them to fight against it- their instincts were telling them to help Dawn, save Dawn, protect Dawn until the world ends.

"Okay," Anya said, breaking into the silence with a raised hand, "All in favor of stopping Glory before the ritual? Suggestions? Ideas? Times a wastin'..."

No one replied. No one had any ideas. So Anya continued with her pep talk.

"Willow! I bet you've got some dark spell a brewin'! You make her a toad, little hoppy toad, we hit her with a hammer"

"Hee, hoppy toad," Tara giggled childishly, drawing all their attention.

"What about Ben?" Xander asked, "He can be killed right? I mean, I know he's an innocent but he's not Dawn innocent-"

"No he's not," Joyce interrupted him, "He's not an innocent."

"He's human," Buffy stated as though that left no room for questions or argument.

"He's Glory," Joyce countered, "Or as good as and with Ben gone, Glory's gone and that means Dawn's safe which is, frankly, all I care about"

"Right," Xander agreed, "We could kill..." He started to trail off as he realized there was no strength behind his words, "a regular guy...oh god. No..."

Joyce and Giles looked at each other when Xander dropped his head into his hands, disgusted by his own thoughts. They shared the same look, a look of resolve. Were they willing to? Joyce had always believed herself to be one of those equal-rights typed- an innocent was an innocent no matter what. But things weren't black and white anymore, all they seemed to do lately was wander through constant gray. And it was Dawn's life at stake. And that was all that mattered right now. And their looks said yes, they'd both be willing to. Luckily, no one else seemed to see this.

"It's doubtful he'll resurface this close to the ritual," Giles told them all, but he was looking at Joyce as though concluding their silent conversation, "We have to expect it's Glory we'll be dealing with"

"But she's basically undefeatable," Joyce said, sounding, in contrast, pretty defeated herself, "How are we supposed to stall her?"

"Should we join essences and become Superslayer again?" Xander suggested. It was hard to believe that that had only been a year ago. It seemed so much longer. As though it belonged to another lifetime. A lifetime that belonged to different people.

"That worked against Frankenbot, but to kill a true God...I don't think it's enough" Buffy reasoned, "And plus, I need you guys conscious..."

"But we don't have to kill her," Willow went for the glass-half-full angle rather than the glass-smashed-into-bits-by-a-crazy-god take on things, "Just stop her from performing the ritual. I mean there's just the one time she can do it right?"

"Yeah," Spike agreed, getting in the swing of things, "We get her on the ropes, we just gotta keep her occupied till it's too late!"

"Okay," Anya nodded making 'lets have more' motions with her hands, "but I'm still not hearing enough ideas. She's a god, let's think outside the box"

"Why don't you go think outside the bleedin' box?" Spike asked in complete frustration, showing how high tensions were running.

"Yes, Anya" Giles said, agreeing for Spike for once in...well, ever, "Apart from your incredibly uninfectious enthusiasm, have you anything to contribute? Any ideas on how to fight a God? Love to hear 'em..."

"Hey," Xander defended Anya "How about we don't pick on my gi-"

"The Dagon's Sphere!" Anya exclaimed.

"Sorry?" Giles frowned.

"When Buffy first met Glory she found that magical glowy sphere thing that was meant to repel Glory,." Anya explained, "We've got it in the basement- it might drive her back or hurt her and-oh!" Anya ran over to the shelf where Joyce and Giles were stood with Buffy, "Olaf, the Trollgod's Enchanted Hammer. You wanna fight a god...use the weapon of a god"

Buffy walked past her Mom and Giles and over to the shelf, looking at the hammer with keen interest.

"Nah, that thing's too heavy-" Spike protested just as Buffy picked it up with ease, testing the weight in just one of her hands, "yeah...good."

"I like this," Buffy said approvingly, smiling at the weapon before smiling at Anya, "Thanks"

"Here to help," Anya grinned, "Wanna live"

"This is good right?" Joyce asked, looking around at everyone, "This means we have a fighting chance against Glory? And we can save Dawn"

"It's heading that way, yes," Giles agreed, "Anya that's all very- did you think of all that just now?"

"Smart chicks are so hot," Xander commented in awe when Anya nodded and she looked over at him with a pleased grin.

"You couldn't have figured that out in tenth grade?" Willow asked in slight exasperation with a lopsided grin.

"You know me and timing..." He joked with a shrug.

"Well, this is all very well and good," Giles said, "We could give Glory a decent run here, but-"

"But we have no idea where to find her," Buffy finished his thought process.

"Big day!" Tara exclaimed, "It calls out to me...I have to be there...!"

Everyone looked at each other in realization.

"You know...before...I didn't mean that...that she wasn't your daughter..." Giles said a little while later when he found Joyce stood alone in the the back room. It was the one next door to the basement and was empty except for a few packages that were ready for delivery. There were also several spare items littering the otherwise bare room. Chairs, a table, all things that would more than likely never be used.

"I know what you meant," She told him quietly, but not turning around to face him, "I know you would never wish any harm to Dawn"

"Of course not-"

"So when you said it as it is...it hurt...because I knew what you were saying was true," She turned around to face him now and he saw she had been crying a little, "And I can't face that. How can it be fair for my baby girl to have to give her own life for the rest of this...crappy world? How?"

"It's not," He told her simply and honestly, "It's not. But as you said...it is what it is"

"How do we keep fighting like this?" She asked in desperation, "How can...what's the point of all this if all we seem to get in return is hurt and pain? Buffy's older than her years...I know that...but she shouldn't be. She's twenty years old...she should be at the Bronze right now enjoying the fact it's the end of the academic year and Dawn...Dawn s-should be at a sleepover at Janice's...she should..." She started to cry again but was prevented from doing so by Giles kissing her lightly, just for a few seconds. "I can't...not now..." She protested quietly, but he just kissed her again, this time for a little bit longer. "We have to help-" But then she was cut off by her kissing him instead. The kiss broke again, but for barely a second before she wrapped her arms around his neck and his hands slipped around her back and they were kissing again. The kiss quickly intensified and Joyce instinctively knew where it was heading so she broke the the kiss again, but didn't take her arms from around him. "We can't," She told him as they stood nose-to-nose, "This is...bad time...we can't...not here...not now..." But then, almost involuntarily, she was kissing him again and the two of them were falling back slowly onto the unused, spare table behind them.

"We found the sphere!" Anya announced loudly as she came out of the basement with Xander, both of them slightly sweaty and tousled. She was never one for discretion but for this one time she really hoped no one had noticed how long they'd been down there and that it had been because of sex (and proposals as well).

At the same time she and Xander came out of the basement door though, she saw on her right Giles and Joyce come out of the door next to them, looking just as tousled and sweaty and it became obvious to her, particularly when she saw Joyce pulling down her top, that she and Xander weren't the only ones having inappropriately timed sex.

The two couples looked at each other, both knowing what the other had been doing, before setting off away from the guilt-ridden doors.

"Inappropriately timed sex?" Anya asked Joyce casually and bluntly as the two walked off together, Giles and Xander behind them.

Joyce looked at Anya in slight shock and embarrassment for a moment, before deciding what-the-hell.

"Inappropriately timed sex," Joyce confirmed as the two of them came to the counter.

"So, you, uh, having a...uh, tender moment too?" Xander asked Giles as the two of them walked off after the girls. Giles looked at Xander pointedly, as though going to deny the fact completely, but then he sighed in resignation.

"Yes, now let's never discuss it again,"

"Not a problem," Xander assured him, meaning every word, "But listen...when we were looking for that sphere thing...we got an idea" He told them as they reached the counter also.

"Yes?"

"The Buffybot," Xander said in explanation.

"I came in too late into this conversation didn't I?" Joyce asked with a frown.

"No, point of involvement makes no effect on the amount of confusion, believe me," Giles assured her, before returning his attention to Xander, "What do you mean?"

"We could use the Buffybot," Xander told him before going into further explanation.

"We on schedule?" Buffy asked later on as everyone finished getting ready at the Magic Box, ready for the battle with Glory.

"Yes, it's time," Giles told her.

"Willow?" Buffy turned to her best friend and Willow moved to Tara gently, speaking into her ear quietly.

"Tara...baby...is there somewhere you should be?"

"They held me down..." Tara protested nonsensically.

"Nobody's holding you," Willow told her, "It's the big day, right? Do you wanna go?"

Hesitantly, Tara looked about her as though worried one of them was going to grab her and stop her if she started moving. Once she was almost sure they wouldn't she nervously started walking past them all to head out of the store. She paused for a moment, suddenly stopping in her tracks, to point at Giles.

"You're a killer..." She murmured, unnerving him slightly, "It's all put down..."

She started moving again, walking out of the store.

"Willow, stay close but don't crowd her," Buffy ordered, "We'll follow in a minute," Willow left, "Everyone knows their jobs. Remember the ritual starts, we all die. And I'll kill anyone who comes near Dawn"

She seemed to view this comment as her final command, before she saw her Mom getting ready to set out with the rest of them, weapon in hand.

"Mom, I don't think you should- maybe you shouldn't g-"

"Buffy- don't," Joyce ordered her, "It's Dawn. End of"

Buffy was unhappy about the fact, but she nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry Slayer," Spike told her, "Just give her an axe and she'll easily start hitting people in the head with it," He grinned slightly and Joyce rolled her eyes.

"Would you let that go already?" She asked as they all started walking out.

"No," Spike told her simply, "That bloody hurt that did..."

"I thought vampires were meant to be super strong," Joyce argued, walking out the door after him.

"They are, but an axe in the head when my back is turned kinda..." Spike's voice trailed off as the door closed quietly and the two were cut off from hearing distance.

"I think we're a bad influence on your Mom," Xander commented, as he grabbed his own choice of weapon, "She's started being all making with the light jokey when facing an apocalypse"

"Makes you proud," Buffy quipped as he, Giles and Anya walked out after the two. Buffy didn't follow on straight away but headed to the basement where the Buffybot was waiting for her.

As Willow reached Tara's destination she stopped in utter shock as she saw the huge tower looming above her. She was paying so much attention to it that she barely registered the rest of the group walk up behind. That is, until Xander spoke.

"Shpadoinkle,"

"What is that...?" Anya asked, squinting up at it.

"The portal must open up there..." Giles surmised.

"Which means Dawn's up there..." Joyce continued bravely, taking Giles' hand for support. Buffy remembered when she used to hold Angel's hand before a big fight, just to give her that little boost of confidence that told her she could do this. And then she held Riley's hand. And now...no one. She shook those thoughts aside. She didn't wanna be all self-pitying when fighting a God. Definitely not a good idea.

"Hey check that out," Xander pointed out a wrecking ball not too far away, "I think I can work with that"

"Give it a shot," Buffy encouraged him.

"See you guys in there," He told them before rushing off to the machine. Buffy saw him squeeze Anya's hand tightly before he left and again she felt...not so much self-pitying as nostalgic.

"Will, you're up"

Willow tried to look fiercely determined but her nerves shone through brightly.

"Need anything?" Giles asked.

"Could use some courage..." Willow replied and almost instantly Spike's hand held out a flask of the Dutch variety to her. She looked at him with a grateful smile, "The real kind...but thanks"

Spike shrugged, unoffended, but took a swig of the drink himself.

Willow began murmuring an incantation that the others could barely hear, before she walked off in the direction Tara had headed.

"So, you guys know what you have to do?" Buffy asked.

"Fight through a crowd o' crazies and hobbits?" Spike asked, "I think we get the gist love,"

Buffy just gave him a look.

The fight between the crazies, the minions and the scoobies was getting rather complicated. And confusing. So much, in fact, that Spike kept accidentally hitting the humans and was taken out of the fight each time momentarily as he clutched his head in pain due to his chip activating.

Other than that though, things were going pretty darn well. Sure the slayerettes hadn't got past the minions to the tower, but then again neither had anyone else.

As Giles fought, using the sword defensively against the crazies and saving all the killing thrusts for the hobbits with leprosy, he spared a glance in Joyce's direction and felt quite proud in a I-taught-her-everything-she-knows kinda way when he saw how well she was in fact doing.

"BUFFY!!! I'M UP HERE!!!!" Dawn's scream cut through them all and while everyone else kept fighting, Joyce, like Buffy who was presently fighting Glory, stopped fighting to look up in the direction of Dawn's voice.

A crazy took this moment to knock her over the head with a bat and she fell to the floor with the impact. Giles immediately fought through the crowd with ease to reach her.

"Dawn," She said, as he helped her back up, "She's already up there."

He nodded in understanding before resuming fighting, as did Joyce, but this time it was more fierce as determination to get to Dawn kicked in.

Fighting back-to-back the two made quite the team. If the situation hadn't been so dire Joyce might have enjoyed, even taken amusement, in that fact.

A little while later though and they were still fighting though. For a bunch of crazy people they could sure hold their own.

"Has anyone noticed that we're moving backwards?" Anya asked as they all crouched behind a pile of rubble while the minions and crazies randomly threw objects at them.

Spike, at Anya's question, looked over the rubble to have a look...and was hit in the head with a brick.

"It had crossed my mind..." He agreed.

"But what about Dawn?" Joyce asked, "And the ritual? We need to get up there"

"Well if Buffy can keep Glory down long enough it won't matter," Giles reasoned, "There's only a few minutes left to start the ritual"

"Just a few minutes..." Joyce repeated in a tone that revealed she was thinking just the same as everyone else- that they'd as good as won. No ritual equals no end of the world and a safe Dawn.

"How are we doing?" Xander asked, crawling over to the group commando-style.

"So far, it's a tie," Anya informed him.

"We haven't got up to Dawn, but neither has anyone else," Giles explained, barely noticing that he and Joyce had recently taken to holding each other's hand permanently now.

"Someone's up there..."Spike told them all as he squinted up at the platform.

"What?" Joyce asked, her tone sharp as she looked up also. And sure enough, she could see Dawn there...but a man was up there too. "Who is it?"

"I don't know," Spike replied, "But I'm gonna bet it ain't Father Christmas..."

"Right, we gotta charge them or something," Xander suggested.

"We tried that," Anya told him.

"Loud and clear," Spike said and everyone frowned at him.

"Who? What?" Giles asked in confusion.

Spike didn't reply, but carried on talking, seemingly to himself.

"Yeah, can't see who...Yeah, but-"

And then suddenly he jumped up and ran at the crowd which suddenly parted leaving a clear path for Spike to run up to the top of the tower.

"Willow?" Joyce asked, looking around, but she couldn't see the witch anywhere. But then, neither she or the others had any time to think further on that as the crazies ran at them wielding weapons madly and the fight was on again.

"Haven't these guys ever heard of a time-out?" Xander asked in exasperation as he got up.

"Apparently not," Anya replied, before letting out what could only be described as a battle cry as she charged at the minions and co.

"Rupert?" Joyce called out as she knocked aside one of the crazy people into two of the minions- the three of them went down like bowling pins and that dealt with she started looking around for Giles again. He was no where to be found, "Rupert?!"

Unable to escape from the confusing and complicated fight that was occurring she couldn't go searching for him to check if he was okay, nor could she ask the others if they had seen him. So she just kept on fighting, hoping to God he was going to return soon.

She kept going and she was doing really well, as well as the others at least, when suddenly one of the minions, a particularly smug-looking one, got the upper hand as he wielded a machete and aimed to use it to, at a guess, slice through her neck as he backed her into a corner.

Then it was the minion's head that came off, as a sword sliced neatly across his neck, the head literally rolling away as the body collapsed to the floor. It was an amazing feat that she didn't throw up at the sight as it was, for lack of a better description, pretty gruesome. She looked at where the minion had been stood only a minute ago to see Giles stood there. A man with great timing- that's what she liked.

"Oh you're okay!" She exclaimed, hugging him. She meant it to be a quick, brief hug as circumstance kept them from anything else, but then the world began to shake violently and they held onto each other for balance.

Looking up they saw a ball of energy start to grow in the middle of the air, right at the top of the tower. The ritual had begun, which meant Dawn's blood had already been spilt.

"Oh no..." Joyce breathed, knowing exactly what that meant as lightning bolts started striking down around them, destroying the earth. The words were inside of her, she could hear Giles saying it, his voice coming back to her- The blood flows- the gates will open, the gates will close when it flows no more. When Dawn is dead. Then, something inside of her clicked, "Blood..."

"What?" Giles asked, as he moved them away from part of the tower falling down next to them, but Joyce wasn't paying attention. Several memories ran through her head.

Spike in the Magic Box just hours ago, "It's always got to be blood..."

Herself at home, months ago, in one of her pre-spell ramblings, "She's my daughter, We share the same blood...blood's important you see"

Then Buffy in the store also, "She's more than my sister...Mom's daughter...the monks made her out of me..."

All of these thoughts came together and Joyce realized, it didn't have to be Dawn's blood that closed the portal, but Summers' blood. Their blood was all the same. She was Dawn's Mother- as it was Buffy's job to protect the world, it was Joyce's job to protect Dawn and Buffy.

Buffy. Joyce realized then, knowing without knowing how she knew, that Buffy would be thinking the same thing as her. Realizing it wasn't Dawn who needed to be sacrificed. She pulled out of Giles' grasp and started to run for the stairs that led to the the top of the tower. Giles was hot on her heels though and as she reached the first break in the stairs he grabbed her.

"Where are you going?" He asked desperately, trying to pull her back. She struggled to get out of his grip, and although she was holding back too much for him to take her back down the stairs, he still wasn't letting go anytime soon.

"I have to go," She told him, "You said that when the blood stops the gates close- but it doesn't have to be Dawn's blood!"

And then he understood what she knew as he figured it out also.

"Joyce...you can't-"

"Yes, I can," She insisted, tearful "I'm sorry, but I have to- I can't let either of them die. I can't"

She went to run off, further up the stairs, heading to the very top when the crackling ball of blue energy suddenly grew even brighter causing everything to shake even more violently than before as a dragon creature flew down past them all and Giles and Joyce lost their balance and fell down.

Looking up they saw something diving into the blue energy. Joyce knew then, without looking at who it was. Who had sacrificed themselves when it should have been her instead. She hadn't been quick enough. She hadn't made it on time. And yet the tears didn't yet fall. It was as though at this moment it hadn't hit her. While she saw no conclusion, no ending, it hadn't yet happened. So she crouched there, in shock, holding onto Giles as the world seemed to fall apart.

"Dawn, I love you, I will always love you, but this is the work that I have to do"

Suddenly, all the creatures that had been previously terrorizing the world, disappeared, taken back to their own dimension as the portal closed. And the sun actually rose as calm fell, casting rosy morning light on the destruction and chaos that had been left behind. Giles and Joyce stood up slowly as everything became steady again.

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

They stepped down the steps, into the open space around the tower, seeing the rest of the group walk forward just as slowly to something they couldn't yet see. Xander was carrying Anya in his arms.

"And tell Mom I know she figured it out too. But this isn't her fight...it's mine and I kept my promise. I didn't get killed- this was my choice. She has to remember that."

And then she saw it, at the same time as Giles. The lifeless body lay there...the lifeless body that had once been Buffy. She was silent for a moment, her eyes wide in shock...how could it have happened? It wasn't supposed to happen this way. Children bury their parents, not the other way round. How could Buffy be gone? It wasn't possible. How could Buffy be dead? How could she be looking at that? How?

"And give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other"

Then it seemed to sink in. Buffy was dead. Buffy. Was Dead. It hurt too much to contemplate. She was just twenty years old. She was the little baby she'd held in her arms, the little girl who used to play dress up with her cousin Celia, the twelve year old who wanted so desperately to dress up as red riding hood, the teenager at Hemery High who'd been on the cheerleading team and had insisted on showing her Mom and Dad her newest cheerleading moves, and the teenager in Sunnydale who had tried to so hard to do well in school, to focus on her studies while still slaying, the teenager who she always used to banter with and despite the weary expression she had always given her, Joyce had loved every minute. "Everyday woman?" Buffy had asked only a few years ago, "Why didn't you go straight to Muumuus R us?" She had then worn that weary look before replying "Do now, make fun of your Mother later"

And now that same little girl, lay there, eyes closed. Not blinking, not moving, not breathing. Dead.

"You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world is to live in it"

Hysteria took over and Joyce started crying so loudly, everyone was sure it could be heard in L.A. There was silence everywhere else, so her cries and yells of sadness were the only thing that could be heard anywhere. She went to run over to Buffy, to shake her awake perhaps- a last act of desperation, but Giles knowingly held her back, putting his arms tightly around her. She kicked and struggled, trying to get to Buffy, but he held her back as she cried more and more hysterically. Not being able to accept the fact that her daughter was dead.

"Be brave. Live. For me"

The sky is the color of white, hot iron. The sun is long overdue. It's been a hard year