Chapter 3: Afterlife
September 27, 2001 – Thursday
Summers Home
Buffy and Dawn appeared in a beam of white light in front of their house. Dawn watched as her sister looked up at the home with an expressionless face. "Home! See?" she said looking at Buffy who didn't answer. "You're back home. We're all okay now." She went up to the front door and opened it for Buffy who walked in first. As she looked at Buffy apprehensively, she closed the door behind them. "Home again, home again…"
"It's different," Buffy said as she walked into the living room.
"A little. Willow and Tara live here now. We had the Buffybot pretending to be you, but an actual adult had to live with me, so, it made sense for them to move in. We actually didn't change much in here, moved some chairs around, took out some tables," Dawn informed her sister as she watched Buffy pick up a framed photograph from the end table. "Mom, remember?" Buffy nodded as she moved to the fireplace mantle and picked up the Phoenix statuette. "My Zord."
Buffy glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Long story," Dawn admitted as Buffy sat the statuette back down and moved into the dining room. She followed her sister, who looked at one end of the dining room table. "That's Willow's," she said. "It made sense for her to have a place where she could have computer access to help in researching the demons I've faced while you were gone."
"You're still a Ranger?" Buffy asked as she walked out of the room.
"Yeah," Dawn answered. "I'm not going to go into details right now. You probably need time to adjust to being back."
Buffy glanced at her sister for a moment and a small smile in appreciation graced her lips before her face returned to its expressionless look.
Dawn took in her sister's ragged appearance for the first time. "Let's get you cleaned up huh?" she smiled slightly as she took Buffy's hand gently and led her toward the bathroom.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn looked at the mud and dirt on Buffy's face and then saw the scratches on her sister's cheek. Her hands shook as she wiped away the dirt with soap and warm water. She then proceeded to brush her sister's hair and put it up into a ponytail. "I think we need to get you out of this, now don't we?" she asked, looking down at Buffy's tattered burial dress. "I'll just get you some clean clothes"
Dawn went to leave the room, but found she couldn't move very far as something was tugging her back. She looked down to see that although Buffy's expression hadn't changed and she wasn't even looking at her, her sister's hand had gripped her wrist tightly. If Dawn hadn't been a Slayer herself, she might have grimaced at the strength of Buffy's grip.
"No" Buffy mumbled.
"I'll only be gone a minute, Buffy, I promise," Dawn assured her sister. "I'll go ahead and get Lynn here to heal and stay with you."
"Dawn…" Buffy said in a quiet pleading tone, still not letting go of Dawn's wrist.
"It's okay," Dawn said in a reassuring voice. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here, okay?" Buffy nodded slightly and stiffly, letting go of Dawn's wrist. "Lynn!" she called out.
It was only a second later that Lynn appeared in blue and white orbing lights. "You found her," Lynn said as she smiled at Buffy.
"Lynn, I need you to get her some change of clothes," Dawn answered. "Then she needs heeling. Her hands, her face, I don't know exactly how they got that way."
Lynn walked over to Buffy and took her older charge's appearance. She frowned as she glanced toward Dawn. "Willow was stupid," she explained with a frown. "She had to dig her way out of her own grave"
Dawn's mouth dropped open in shock at Lynn's words. "She crawled out of her own..." She knew that being buried alive was one of Buffy's worst fears and now she had actually experienced it. "Oh, Buffy. I can't imagine what that did to you, but it's okay, it's going to be okay now."
Lynn returned with clothing a moment later, a button-up shirt, a camisole and a pair of jeans draped over her arm. She gave the clothes to Dawn, who began dressing Buffy, as she proceeded to heal her elder charge's wounds.
Buffy suddenly walked off from the two of them silently, walking along the corridor till she came to Willow and Tara's room. She peered around, taking in every detail. "Willow and Tara…this is their room?"
"It is," Dawn had barely answered before Buffy had walked off again.
Buffy peered into Dawn's room a moment before she carried on to her own room. She walked in, patrolling the perimeter, running her hands slightly along the walls. "Everything's the same…" she commented, sounding very distant as she ran her hands emotionlessly over her stuffed pig, Mr. Gordo.
"It took…" Dawn started with a glance at Lynn. "I just didn't feel…" She couldn't broach the subject of what Buffy's death had done to her.
Buffy glanced at Dawn and slowly nodded in understanding. "It took time," she said as Dawn nodded. "How long was I gone?" she questioned.
Lynn looked at Dawn and then back at Buffy. "A hundred-forty-seven days. If I may ask. How long…"
"Longer," Buffy answered, not really wanting to tell them that she believed that Willow had ripped her out of heaven and that while she was dead time had no meaning to her.
There was the sound of a door slamming downstairs and Buffy spun around, almost in a fighting stance as she glanced around the room, eyes darting to every corner nervously. "What was that?"
"It's okay. It's just, Willow," Dawn assured her sister and Buffy seemed to relax a little.
"Dawn! You here?"
"I'm here!" Dawn called as she left the room, Buffy and Lynn following.
Dawn found Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya standing in the living room. "Is she here?" Willow asked excitedly as Buffy and Lynn came into the room.
"What do you remember?" Xander asked spotting Buffy first.
"Are you in pain?" Willow checked.
"What do you know about what happened?" Tara wondered.
Dawn saw Buffy becoming increasingly overwhelmed and terrified by this onslaught of questions. "Hey!" she said drawing their attention to her. "Back off! Let her breathe!" She moved in front of Willow and Tara and keeping Buffy behind her protectively. She stared down her friends. "You guys need to back down."
"I'm going to be fine," Buffy interjected. "I remember—I was—you brought me back."
"How long were you gone?" Xander asked, "I mean, how long for you?"
"Do you want me to morph, Will?" Dawn said as she glared at the Scoobies. She glanced toward her girlfriend. "Lynn, can you contact Giles…" she started.
"I'll do it," Willow interjected. "I'll let him know that she's back."
Dawn nodded as she glanced at Lynn. "Let's help her get to bed."
"That's a good idea. You should sleep," Tara agreed looking at Buffy.
"Yeah. Long day. But, Buffy…be happy. We got you out. We really did it," Willow said happily.
"I'll be up in a moment," Lynn said as she watched Dawn lead Buffy out of the room. She spun back on Willow. "How careless could you be. Not to at least dig her up before you resurrected her."
"We, we didn't think," Willow admitted reluctantly. "Thought she would come back within the circle on top of the ground not within her coffin."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Willow walked into hers and Tara's room ready for bed as Tara brushed her hair. "Hey," she said.
"Did you get Giles on the communicator?" Tara questioned as she sat down her brush.
Willow nodded. "Yeah. He's going to head back as soon as he can. Probably…I'm not sure, maybe a couple days."
"How'd he take it?" Dawn wondered from the door to her room.
Willow glanced that teenager who was both a Power Ranger and a Slayer. "Um. I'm not sure," she admitted. "Glad, I think. I'm not sure. He went quiet, I think I actually heard him cleaning his glasses."
"Are you worried?" Tara asked as Willow got into bed.
"Worried?" Willow wondered with a glance at her girlfriend.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy sat on the edge of her bed, back straight, hands folded. She noticed the picture of her with Dawn in her Ranger armor, her helmet under her arm sitting on her nightstand. She quietly picked it up and walked over to the dresser above which was more photos taped to the mirror and a few hung in frames, some of those with Dawn, most of those with Willow, Xander, Tara or Anya. She looked at them, trying to connect herself to the girl in the photos.
And that was when it happened, every single photo suddenly had the faces of her sister and their friends looking as if they were dead. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, she saw the photos had returned to normal.
September 28, 2001 – Friday
Summers Home
It was around three o'clock in the morning when Willow and Tara were woken as a candle, in a glass candle holder hit the way above their heads, shattering and raining glass down upon them. They saw Buffy standing in the darkness at the foot of the bed.
"Buffy?" Willow asked in confusion.
"What did you do? Do you know what you did? You're like children! Your hands smell of death! Bitches! Filthy little bitches, rattling the bones, Did you cut a throat? Did you pat its head?" Buffy said as she grabbed a crystal ball off the dresser and threw it at them. They ducked out of the way as it shattered against the wall. "The blood dried on your hands. You were stained. You still are."
"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Tara cried.
"I know what you did!" Buffy snapped.
Willow jumped out of bed and turned on the lights, finding that only she and Tara were the only ones in the room.
Tara looked around her in the bed for the glass that had shattered and found none. "No glass. There's no glass," she said as the White Phoenix Turbo Ranger came running into the room.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn walked out of the door very quietly, only opening the door merely enough for her slip through so it didn't creak wide open and wake Willow and Tara. She then walked just as quietly along the landing until she came to Buffy's room. She pushed the door open slightly so she could look in.
There Buffy lay, fast asleep in bed, breathing steadily. Breathing. Dawn just wanted to look at her, still unable to believe she was here, back home with her. Alive.
It was then that Dawn heard the sound of glass shattering in Willow and Tara's bedroom. "Shift into Turbo!" she cried as she ran down the hall toward their room. "White Phoenix Turbo Power!" She ran into the room just as the morphing sequence finished and looked around. "What is it?" she asked.
"That what I want to know," Willow admitted looking between the Ranger and Tara.
"Maybe we dreamed it," Tara suggested but she didn't believe it.
"I heard glass shattering," the Ranger said. "Which means you two were very likely not dreaming."
"Dawn's right," Willow agreed. "If she heard it and she was awake…"
"Power Down!" the White Phoenix Turbo Ranger called as she de-morphed into Dawn.
"Buffy was just in our room," Willow explained to Dawn. "Or that was what it was looking like."
"Well, it can't be her," Dawn informed them. "I just checked in on her now—she's fast asleep in bed."
"What was it talking about?" Tara wondered as she looked at her girlfriend. "Did you understand it?"
"I understood the words, but otherwise…no," Willow answered.
"Dawn," Tara gasped as she saw something over Dawn's shoulder.
Dawn and Willow followed Tara's gaze and saw a shadowy distortion ripple across the wall of the room, toward the door. "What was that?" Willow asked.
"I think there's something here…" Dawn answered. "In a way I'm glad I'm a Slayer now, I can go on only three hours sleep. So, I will stand watch out in the hall listening. You two should get some sleep."
"Believe me- I think we'll be getting minimum sleep tonight," Willow told Dawn as Tara nodded. "I'm going to call Xander, see how it's going there as well. If he's seen anything research worthy."
"Good idea," Dawn agreed. "I will beam over to the Power Chamber tomorrow and talk to Zordon."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"It was very bad," Xander said as he, Tara, Lynn, Willow, Anya and Dawn sat in the backyard. "Very, very, very, very bad." They were discussing the visitation the night before, which apparently Xander and Anya also had one.
"He's all traumatized," Anya informed everyone.
"Well, whatever it is, it's not a traditional haunting," Willow told them. "Because it's not limited to one specific place and there's not, you know, a dead person."
"Not anymore," Lynn said glancing at Dawn.
"I bet it's a hitchhiker," Anya suggested.
"A hitchhiker?" Dawn questioned with confused expression.
"Just like the traditional definition," Lynn informed her girlfriend. "Supernatural hitchhikers will hitch a ride on something or someone crossing the divide between universes."
"It's the standard way to travel," Anya added.
"You mean some Hell beastie rode back with Buffy," Willow said suddenly worried. "Like…all of us except Dawn and Lynn are responsible for this."
"Assume crash positions," Tara muttered to herself.
"I think we shouldn't've brought Buffy back," Anya blurted out. "I knew it was going to go badly. I should've said something."
"Hey, you know what, yeah!" Willow snapped. "You should've! At least you could've mentioned the 'highjackers' so we could stop 'em!"
"They're hitchhikers, not highjackers," Anya corrected. "And I thought you knew! It's basic stuff! You're supposed to be the all-powerful witch, which—"
"Okay that's enough," Dawn said cutting in before the argument got any further. "How do I kill it without killing Buffy?"
"Can we do that? Kill it?" Xander questioned.
"Are we killing something?" came Buffy's voice from the direction of the door to the kitchen. They turned and saw her walking out of the house carrying a cup of coffee.
"Buffy!" Willow cried in surprise. "You're not supposed to be up!"
"How are you feeling? Are you okay?" Tara questioned.
"It's all right if you're still plagued with nightmarish visions of Hell," Anya added.
Dawn moved over to her sister and wrapped an arm around her. "Ignore them, Buffy," she said.
Buffy smiled at Dawn and their friends. "I'm fine. I'm really…" she paused for a moment as the smile disappeared from her face. She managed to plaster it back on her face before looking at Dawn. "So, what are we killing?"
"A demon you brought back from Hell with you," Anya answered before Dawn could get a word in edgewise.
"It's not like she's making it sound," Willow explained looking at her friend. "A little haunting-type stuff. Boo-scary, then everything's normal."
"Dawn can handle it," Tara added. "You shouldn't worry about it.
"Wait," Buffy said glancing at her sister. "Last night. Something happened—"
"Buffy?" Dawn said when she noticed that Buffy had lost focus. She rubbed small circles on sister's back just as their mother had done for them when they were younger.
"Um…the photographs. Of us. They changed," Buffy finished, finally able to bring her thoughts to the forefront.
"How did they change?" Lynn wondered.
"They were dead," Buffy answered as she glanced at Dawn. "I mean, we were dead. Like dead bodies. Then they were okay. I thought maybe it was me. That I was going crazy."
"Maybe you are! Because of Hell!" Anya blurted out as Dawn glared at her. "No. You're fine."
"You are. Buffy, we're so glad," Willow added as she smiled at Buffy.
"Yeah," Xander agreed. "This thing, this haunting thing, we'll help Dawn fix it, and then we'll still have you back, which is…it's so important."
"Yes," Willow said.
"It's wonderful," Tara added.
Buffy glanced at Dawn. "We should work and figure this thing out," she said.
"I'm going to see Zordon and see what he says about hitchhikers," Dawn said. "I'll meet you all at the Magic Box later." She hit the teleport button on her wrist communicator. "Power Chamber," she said as she disappeared in a beam of white light.
Power Chamber
Dawn appeared in the middle of the room in a beam of white light. "Zordon?" she called out looking for her mention.
"He is not here," said a woman as she approached Dawn. "You must be, Dawn. I am Dimitria."
"Oh, hi," Dawn said looking at the woman in surprise. "So where is Zordon?"
"A temporary wormhole to Eltar was found," Dimitria explained as she smiled at the second youngest Ranger. "Lerigot freed him from the time warp he was in and he, along with Alpha Five, has gone home to be with his family."
Dawn smiled. "I'm happy for him," she said.
"There is a reason you came," Dimitria said.
Dawn nodded as she walked over to the alcove that held her sister's morpher, armor, picture and dedication plaque. "My sister is alive," she informed the woman. "She was brought back by a powerful witch."
Dimitria stepped up next to Dawn and looked at the picture. "Zordon told me about her. Do you know where they pulled her out of?"
"They believe hell," Dawn admitted. "But I'm not so sure about that. She could have been in heaven since she sacrificed herself for me, I don't know though. Right now, I don't care where she was, I'm just happy to have her back." She looked at Dimitria. "Does that make me a bad person?"
"No," Dimitria replied. "But I must warn you. Such spells come with a consequence."
"Yeah I know," Dawn said. "Which is the other reason I came. Something is haunting the people cast the spell that brought her back."
"A hitchhiker," Dimitria said in understanding. "Which could be any number of things. It could be a demon or it could be something they conjured themselves."
"Something they conjured?" Dawn questioned.
"Such magics come with a price," Dimitria informed her. She took the Silver Zeo Slayer morpher out of the alcove. "If the consequence can be overcome, and should she wish to take up her powers again." She handed Dawn the morpher.
"Is it alright if I hold on to this until I'm sure she's ready before I offer it to her?" Dawn asked.
"Yes," Dimitria said. "In fact, that is the wise course of action. After all, regardless of where she was, there could be residual trauma she may need to work out."
The Magic Box
"So, what's have you found?" Dawn asked, peering over Tara's shoulder. "Skaggmore demons, Trellbane, demons, Skitters, Large and small bone-eaters."
"That's just what we have so far," Willow revealed. "There's five species of demons that have been known to move transdimensionally. Two of them have the potential to be invisible in this particular dimension, and another two have the ability to alter perception. All of those are reasonable possibilities for this particular manifestation."
"That's only four," Anya pointed out, "What's the other one like?"
"Pretty much the same as the others," Tara told the ex-vengeance demon. "Only dripping viscous fluid"
"So, should we concentrate on how to kill those?" Xander asked, "Or should we try and find more?"
"Okay," Dawn said taking over. "Xander, Anya, research those. Lynn, Willow, Tara, I need you to look into things that could have been conjured with the spell itself. And I will patrol."
"I think I should patrol," Buffy cut in.
"Are you sure?" Lynn asked concerned. "I mean I can go with Dawn if—"
"No, I should," Buffy insisted, already standing up. She glanced at Dawn. "Dawn. Stay here. If there is something…"
Dawn nodded in understanding. "You have your communicator?"
"I'll call if I need you," Buffy informed her.
"Be careful," Dawn called after her sister as Buffy reached the shop door.
Buffy turned around as she got her hand on the door handle. "Sure, I'll…Dawn," she told her sister, not even forming a complete sentence. And then she left without another word.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Dawn," Lynn found her girlfriend in the training room hitting the punching bag.
"What?" Dawn asked, not stopping.
"You mentioned things that could be summoned," Lynn said as Dawn ceased her workout.
"I went to the Power Chamber," Dawn said. "Zordon is gone. Apparently Lerigot freed him from his time warp and he went home to be with his family. I met his replacement, Dimitria, and she suggested that maybe Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya had possibly conjured something."
"Do you think their right about her being in a hell dimension?" Lynn wondered.
"No," Dawn answered as she sat next to her girlfriend on the couch. "She sacrificed herself for me, why would she go to anyplace but heaven? That said though I can tell she isn't herself, Lynn. Regardless of where she was, it's going to be a struggle to return to normalcy."
"That's what we're here for," Lynn informed her. "You, me, Willow, Tara, Xander and even Anya will help her. We'll be here for her."
"I'm back," Anya called out, walking through the front door with drinks in her hands. "I found a 24-hour place for coffee," she informed everyone as Dawn and Lynn came from the back. "Remember that bookstore? Well they became one of those books-and-coffee places and now they're just coffee. It's like evolution only without the getting better part"
"Coffee, Coffee, Coffee, Coffee, Coffee," Anya continued, setting the drinks down on the table. "And ta-da! Hot chocolate for Dawn" She smiled. "You're too young for coffee."
"Idiot," Dawn growled and Anya jumped in shock.
"You can have my coffee," Anya assured the Ranger,
Lynn looked in Dawn's direction with surprise as she saw Dawn's eyes were completely white as the Ranger looked at them all venomously. "Oh my god, Dawn,"
"All of you did it," Dawn told them, her voice low and guttural. Demonic. "Stupid children. Did you think the blood wouldn't reach you? I smell the death on you. LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"
Suddenly and without any warning at all Dawn roared fire at the entire group, setting fire to the pile of books on the table, before she collapsed on the floor.
"Dawn!" Lynn exclaimed, running to Dawn.
"That was it," Willow pointed out. "Like with Buffy. Only with fire"
"Dawn, Dawn," Lynn was saying quietly, but urgently as her girlfriend wasn't opening her eyes.
"Is she okay?" Xander asked after he had put out the fire with a cushion Anya had been using.
"Did I look like that?" Anya asked him. "I hope I didn't look like that"
"No," Willow assured her sarcastically, "I'm sure you looked really glamorous cutting up your face"
Dawn's eyes finally fluttered open. They were normal again. "Oh, thank goddess," Lynn breathed a sigh of relief, holding Dawn close.
"What happened?" Dawn asked, "What's going on?"
"You'll be okay, baby," Lynn said more to reassure herself than anything.
"You'll probably experience some dry mouth," Anya added and off everyone's looks explained, "From the fire"
"I take it, it possessed me," Dawn said.
"Yes, but it's gone now, baby. You're okay," Lynn told Dawn soothingly, but again she wasn't sure whether it was to comfort herself or Dawn's. "You'll be okay"
"Yeah it's gone," Xander told her.
"Yes, but where?" Anya questioned, standing up and looking around as though expecting the demon to peer out from its hiding place, waving obviously.
"What do you mean?" Lynn asked. "I didn't see it go anywhere"
"No," Anya reasoned. "But that doesn't mean it didn't. I mean evil things have plans, they have things to do"
September 29, 2001 – Saturday
The Magic Box
Dawn paced the room behind Lynn and Anya, both of whom had fallen asleep.
"It's getting light out," Xander informed everyone looking toward the windows. "Buffy's probably on her way home from patrolling."
"I like sunrise better when I'm getting up early than when I'm staying up late, you know?" Tara said looking out the window. "It's like I'm seeing it from the wrong side."
"I was wondering about the spell having consequences. And I was wondering... did you know this might happen?" Xander asked Tara.
"No!" Tara answered
Xander glanced toward Willow. "Do you think... could someone have known?"
"Willow's a talented witch and she'd never do anything to hurt anyone." Tara admitted.
"Thaumogenesis!" Willow cried waking Lynn and Anya and causing everyone to look at her. She looked at Dawn. "You were right, Dawn. This isn't a demon we let out. This is a demon we made. Thaumogenesis is when doing a spell actually creates a being. In this case it was, like, a side-effect, I guess. Like a price."
Dawn looked at Willow as she remembered what Dimitria had said about spells like the one that brought Buffy back had a price.
"Think of it like, the world doesn't like you getting something for free," Willow continued. "We asked for this huge gift -Buffy—and the world said, fine. If you get that, you have to take this too…and it made the demon."
"Technically, that's not a price," Anya countered. "That's a gift with purchase."
"So how do I kill it without killing Buffy?" Dawn questioned.
"Right now you can't," Willow answered. "I think it's out of phase with this dimension, it's why we see it doing stuff but not it. Its consciousness is here, but its body is caught in the ether between existing and not existing."
"It doesn't have a body…so it's borrowing ours…It borrowed Dawn and Anya…" Lynn said.
"Or its manifesting copies of them," Willow added. "Like it did when Buffy came at me and Tara…"
"Okay then, how do we make it solid so I can kill it," Dawn said.
Willow looked through the book. "There is two ways. One is we reverse the spell…"
"Kill Buffy again," Lynn sought to confirm.
"Yes," Willow answered. "The other way is to just wait it out. It's temporary. The demon is going to dissipate. The only way it can survive on our plane is if it was to kill the subject of the original spell."
"It would live if it killed Buffy?" Tara questioned.
Willow nodded. "Right, but that's not going to—"
"Thanks for the tip," Xander stated. They turned and saw his eyes, like Dawn's earlier were completely white as he looked at them all venomously. And then he collapsed to the floor.
Summers Home
Buffy walked into her rom and looked at the photographs again. She was about to pick up the one with her and Dawn a white mist suddenly formed behind her, which then formed a fist that knocked her back.
"You don't belong here," a watery voice of a woman whispered from the mist.
"Nyuh!" Buffy exclaimed as she tried to hit the white woman back, but all she connected with was mist.
Suddenly another solid fist formed and connected solidly with Buffy's jaw, knocking her to the floor. Buffy was up in a second, spinning around, trying to figure out how to fight back.
"Did they tell you you belonged here?" the woman in the mist asked Buffy again, as Buffy's wrist communicator chimed. "Did they say this was your home again? Did they say there was room for you?" Buffy got a hold on her, but she dissolved seconds later, before hitting Buffy again, "Were you offered pretty lies little girl?" Buffy felt strong arms wrap around her, choking the life out of her. "Or did they even give you a choice?"
Streets of Sunnydale
"She's not answering," Dawn told the others as she tried her wrist communicator from the back of Xander's car. Anya sat in the front passenger seat with Xander.
"Maybe coz it's already there," Anya reasoned, "And she's too busy being dead," Dawn's look made Anya quickly add something else to her suggestion. "Or she's busy fighting it."
"I will meet you guys there," Dawn informed them. She hit the teleport function on her communicator. "Home," she said and she disappeared in a beam of white light.
Summers Home
The demon was partly corporeal, part mist which while it made it possible for Buffy to break free of its vice-like grip, it didn't make her delivered punches any more effective. She was about to look around for a weapon of some sort when she heard the sound of someone teleporting in. She glanced to he side and saw her sister.
Seeing her sister in trouble, Dawn burst into action. "Shift into Turbo!" she called out summoning her morpher. "White Phoenix Turbo Power!"
Buffy looked at Dawn in surprise. Weren't the commands to morph her sister, different? She didn't have time question as she saw the demon become corporeal. "Dawn! I need a weapon." She slammed the demon and then sent a flurry of kicks at it before the demon knocked her back.
"White Phoenix Power Sword!" the White Phoenix Turbo Ranger said as she spun in a 360-degree arc. When she was facing forward once again her sword was in her hands. "Buffy!" She tossed the sword to her sister.
Buffy caught the sword and brought it up in a wide arc slicing the demon's head from the rest of its body.
"Huh. That's probably the sort of thing I'm not s'posed to see, right?" the Ranger quipped.
"Given our lives?" Buffy questioned looking at her sister. "So, what's up with the new powers?"
"It's a long story," the White Phoenix Turbo Ranger replied. "And it starts the day you…"
Buffy nodded in understanding.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Later that evening Buffy looked at her sister in surprise. Dawn had gone through so much in the time she had been gone. From losing her, to almost giving up her powers not once but twice. Going on a mission with the rest of the Rangers that helped her to finally do what she herself had asked of Dawn.
September 30, 2001 – Sunday
The Magic Box
Buffy walked through the front door, Dawn and Lynn not far behind; she saw Anya at the register with Xander leaning on the counter next to her. She saw Willow and Tara looking casually at the merchandise. Everyone looked up eagerly at the sisters and Lynn.
"Buffy! Hey!" Willow greeted.
"Look, guys ... There's this thing. And I'm just going to say it," Buffy told them as they all looked at her, waiting. "You brought me back. I was in a place ... I was in Hell. I don't ... I can't think much about what it was like. But it felt ... I felt like the world abandoned me there. And then suddenly you guys ... You did what you did."
"It was Willow," Tara commented as Buffy smiled. "She knew what to do."
Dawn looked at her sister, she could tell the smile didn't reach her sister's eyes.
"So, you did that," Buffy said looking at her redheaded friend. "And the world came rushing back. So…thank you. You guys gave me the world. Thank you. I can't tell you what it means to me."
Dawn watched the reactions of their friends. She saw that Willow and Tara held tears in their eyes, that Xander was moved by what Buffy said and Anya just viewed the entire scene with interest tainted with concern.
"I should have said it before," Buffy said.
"You're welcome," Willow replied through her tears.
"Welcome home, Buffy," Xander added as he and Willow hugged Buffy.
The hug was warm and loving, but after a while it was Buffy that tugged away first as though that had been too much emotion for her at once. She shrugged them off, giving the whole crowd in the Magic Box a little smile.
"I'm just…going to get some air," Buffy told them with a smile, before heading out back.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Buffy?" Dawn said as she followed her sister into the alley.
"Dawnie," Buffy replied as she sat on a packing crate.
"Is everything okay?" Dawn asked as she sat next to her sister. "You can tell me you know. I won't judge you. I might even already suspect what's wrong."
Buffy glanced at her sister and she knew Dawn was right, that Dawn could see it. Had seen it since she was brought back. "I came out here to be alone," she said as Dawn sat next to her. "But…if I can't, then I'm glad I'm not alone with you."
"Talk to me, Buffy," Dawn said as she wrapped an arm around her sister.
"I was happy," Buffy admitted looking at the ground. "Wherever I ... was ... I was happy. At peace. I knew that you would take care of everyone. That you would make sure they were all right. I knew it. Time didn't mean anything, nothing had form…but I was still me, you know? And I was warm and I was loved…and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand about dimensions or theology or any of…but I think I was in heaven."
Dawn nodded; she had been right when she had talked to Dimitria. "I suspected that was where you were," she admitted. "After all you gave your life for mine. How could you have been anyplace else."
Buffy nodded as she looked at her sister. "I was torn out of there. Our friends pulled me out. And everything here is bright and hard and violent...Everything I feel, everything I touch...this is Hell. Just getting through the next moment, and the one after that...knowing what I've lost ..."
"Is almost too much for you," Dawn said in understanding.
"It is," Buffy agreed. "Dawn, our friends, they can never know. Never."
"I won't tell them, not till you are ready to do that yourself," Dawn said. "It could be tomorrow…it could be next month…it could even be next year…or it could be never. Who knows? But I will stand beside you as I have done since moving in with you and mom. We're in this together, remember? Once a Ranger. Always a Ranger."
"Thanks, Dawnie," Buffy said as she laid her head on Dawn's shoulder.
"There is something I need to tell you though," Dawn said with a sigh. "Faith, over the summer was stabbed in prison and flatlined long enough…"
"To call another Slayer," Buffy said she looked up at Dawn. "Are you trying…"
"I am," Dawn replied. "So, in a way, I did as you requested, I took up your mantle."
"Just not the mantle I would have ever wanted you to take up," Buffy said. "At least with your Ranger armor your protected and it absorbs some of the damage from the fights. But as a Slayer…"
"If I were to ever step down as a Power Ranger," Dawn said in understanding. "Then I would be unprotected and I could die…Buffy, it's okay. It's not a mantle I wanted. But coupled with the Turbo powers…"
"It's the mantle you chose," Buffy said in understanding. "A way for you to honor my request, but also to forge your own path."
"Exactly," Dawn replied as she wrapped her arm around Buffy. "Let's have a nice quiet evening, just the two of us, well till Will and Tara get home."
"I'd like that, Dawn," Buffy said. "And thank you again. Thank you for being here for me."
"You're welcome, big sis," Dawn said as she hit the teleport button on her wrist communicator as she said, "Home." And then the sisters disappeared in white and silver beams of light just as Spike stepped out of the shadows, his eyes wide in surprise at what he had just heard.
Author's Note: I did some research on Dimitria (it's been years since I saw Power Rangers Turbo after all) and it said that Dimitria could exist both in and outside the tube. So that's why when Dawn teleports to the Power Chamber, Dimitria is outside the tube. I felt that scene needed a more personal connection than if Dimitria remained in the tube.
Also, when season 7 comes up I am trying to think of how to keep Dawn with Turbo powers and still have the other Turbo Rangers lose theirs (which would start In Space for them).