"Thanks again for doing this. I totally appreciate the help." Buffy said.
"Buffy, I love you and it's your mom. I know how much she means to you. I'll do anything to help." Angel said. "This is new terrain for you."
"Yeah, all prayin', no slayin'. So, let's see.. the incense needs to be ignited, and that's a job, then this stuff gets poured round me counter- clockwise, and um.."
"So do you want me to light the incense and pour the sand, or should I?"
"We can do it together. Each of us makes a half circle that'll join together."
"Wow, I've been doing spells longer than you and I didn't even think of that."
"Yay me."
Angel dimmed the lights and came back over while Buffy struck a match and lit the incense. She opened the bag and pulled out the bright sand. After making her half of the circle, Angel took the sand and made his half. Together they sat down, joined hands, and closed their eyes. Which was when the knock at the door came.
"What are you doing?" Dawn called.
"My boyfriend! Now go away!" Buffy called back.
"Liar. Are you doing magic?"
"No. I'm not!"
"Can I watch?"
"No. You can't."
"Please? Oh please times ten and cubed oh please?"
The door started to open and Buffy got up faster than she ever had and slammed it back. "No!"
"I can smell your stinky incense down the hall, you know." Dawn said as Buffy stuffed a towel under the door. "And your clothes are gonna reek. And if you are doing magic, I'm telling."
"Go. Go tell. Go wherever you want. Just GO!"
After a second, Buffy heard the sound of footsteps and then a door being slammed. She sighed and sat back down. Angel started to say something, but Buffy shook her head and took Angel's hands again. They closed their eyes and breathed slowly and deeply. The two stayed like this until it became dark outside and the incense burnt out.
The room had now taken on an overexposed glint. Edges of furniture gleamed in the light. Buffy and Angel opened their eyes and the world around them looked different. Surface edges caught light in a slightly different way. Brighter. She slowly stood up and looked around. Angel stood with her and looked down at her.
"Did it work?" he asked.
"Yeah, it worked. Just a little dizzy here, but I'll get the hand of it." Buffy replied. "Just gonna go find mom now."
Buffy exited her room and walked along the upstairs hallway slowly, in a trance-like state. Everything around her shimmered like an Oliver Stone film. But everything was where it should be. Buffy slowly headed downstairs, Angel right behind her. She entered the living room, looking for her mom, but Joyce's spot on the living room couch in front of the TV was abandoned. The blanket was cast aside. Buffy looked around, searching.
"Buffy?" Joyce asked behind her.
Buffy and Angel turned to find Joyce standing right behind her, buttoning up a light fall coat. "Mom." She said.
"You all right? You look.."
"Going out?"
"Either modern medicine's working, or I just took the world's best placebos. Either way, I'm heading out for a couple of hours."
Buffy searched her mother, looking at the shimmering air around her. "Nothing."
"Hmm?"
"There's nothing."
"Are you sure you're feeling okay? You seem a little out of it."
As Joyce talked, Buffy's attention turned to a photo she could see over Joyce's shoulder. It looked like it was winking at her. Something within the picture frame was moving.
"Hey. Buffy?" Joyce asked.
It was a picture of the three Summers women: Joyce, Buffy, and Dawn. It looked normal except Dawn's image kept flickering in and out. She appeared and disappeared and re-appeared slowly, as if fading in and out of reality. Buffy and Joyce's image remained steady and unwavering. Buffy could not stop staring at the picture.
"Huh? Oh. Yeah. I mean, I'm fine. Long day's all. You, um, have a good time." Buffy say, still staring.
Joyce smoothed Buffy's hair the way she would a younger child's, and gazed at her affectionately. "So grown up." She left with a wave at Angel.
Buffy walked over to the picture and picked it up off the wall. The image still flickered and when she looked all the other photos of Dawn, they flickered too. She turned and looked at Angel. His demon face flickered, but Buffy had expected that.
"What?" Angel asked. "Buffy, what is it?"
"She's not here." Buffy said.
She walked past Angel and headed up the stairs. Buffy pushed back the door and entered Dawn's room. The whole room flickered in and out of reality. The entire room was a typical fourteen year-old girl's room filled with a bed and pop idol posters. Then it would flicker into an empty storage room filled only with marked cardboard boxes that were stacked high. Buffy took it all in. She turned a slow circle around the room as the room itself shifted in reality back and forth around her. Slowly she became aware of a distant-sounding voice calling her name. The voice itself was fading in and out.
"Buffy! Buffy!" Dawn said. She stood in the doorway, Angel a little bit behind her. Dawn herself flickered in and out of existence. One second she was there, the next it was only Angel. "Buffy! Who said you could come in my room?"
"You're not my sister." Buffy said.
"PFT! Yeah! Like I even want to be related to your smelly.." Buffy grabbed Dawn's arm. "Ow! What are you doing?"
Buffy shot both hands out and grabbed Dawn, pinning her arms to her sides. Dawn struggled, in confusion and pain. Buffy got in her face. "What are you?"
"Buffy, stop." Angel said. He tried to grab her wrists and pull them off of Dawn's arms, but Buffy tossed him aside.
"Get off me!" Dawn yelled.
"You want to hurt me?" Buffy asked.
"Let me go, you freak!"
"Then you deal with me."
"I'm telling mom!"
Buffy half let go/half shoved Dawn away. Dawn stumbled back, bumped up against her own bed, and regained her footing. There was a long silence as the two sisters just stood frozen, both breathing hard and staring each other down for a long moment. The phone started to ring. Angel walked up to Buffy and took her arm. He led her downstairs and Buffy picked up the phone.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Buffy, I'm glad I caught you. I think we may have underestimated what we're dealing with." Giles said.
"Go on."
"We've uncovered more than expected about this Orb. It's called The Dagon's Sphere, and it has a history that goes back many centuries."
"What's it do?"
"It's a protective device. Used to ward off ancient, primordial evil."
"Any word what this evil looks like?"
"Unfortunately, no. This is where accounts get vague. All we've pinned down is that The Dagon's Sphere was created to repel 'that which cannot be named.'"
"I'm going down to the factory where I found it. Whoever planted this doohickey's got answers."
"Buffy, I know you've heard me say this before, but be careful. Anything that goes unnamed is usually an object of deep worship, or great fear. Maybe both. You could face a level of raw power you've never known before. Have you completed the trance? Seen what's harming your mother?"
"That's the thing. I just saw.." Buffy paused when she saw Dawn come in.
"Yes?"
"Nothing. Didn't work." Buffy hung up the phone and turned to look at Dawn.
"What are you talking about?" Dawn asked.
"Slayer stuff." Buffy looked at Angel and then back at Dawn. "We're going out."
"Do you really think I care you're the Slayer?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dawn shrugged slightly. "We'll be home in an hour."
"Mom's coming back."
"We'll be back first." Buffy, never taking her eyes off Dawn, grabbed her coat and headed for the door and went out. She went rushing out the door, pulling on her coat with Angel not far behind. They got down the steps when Angel heard something. He stopped, pulling Buffy back. Wary and alert, Angel approached the shadow of a tree by the front yard. Something rustled. Lightning-fast, Angel shot a hand into the shadows, grabbed something, and pulled out Spike.
"Spike!" Angel said.
"Hi." Spike said.
"Look, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but.." Buffy said, walking up.
"What are you doing here?" Angel asked.
Spike started to gesture, alerting Buffy that it was going to be a long answer. "Five words or less." Buffy said.
"Out. For. A. Walk." Spike paused, then said, "Bitch."
"Outside my house. At night." Buffy said.
"No one has time for this, WILLIAM." Angel said.
"On your merry way, then. Contrary to one self-involved world-view, your house happens to be directly between parts and other.. parts of this town. And I would pass by in the day, but I feel I'm outgrowing my whole burst- into-flame phase." Spike said.
"Fine. Keep going, I cut you a break."
"Buffy.." Angel started.
"We don't have time."
"Yeah, okay, let me guess: 'you won't kill me..' Ooh, the crowd pleasing threats and swagger routine. How stunningly original. I'm just passing through. Satisfied? I really do hope so because God knows you need some satisfaction in life besides shagging Nancy Boy here and I never really liked you anyway and, and, and both of yours hair looks very stupid." Spike said.
Buffy and Angel stared at Spike for a second and then Buffy looked down to find a small pile of cigarette butts on the ground. She groaned and walked off. Angel followed fast after her. She led them to the factory she had been at the night before. Breaking the lock, Buffy and Angel went in. Buffy held a flashlight, swooping the beam here and there as they walked through the deserted factory.
"Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in.." Buffy mumbled.
"Not by the hairs of my chinny, chin, chin." Angel said.
Buffy looked up at him surprised and then they noticed the large metal door missing its middle. It looked as if someone had taken a fairly large can opener to it.
"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff.." Buffy mumbled in awe.
The two walked onto the darkened factory floor. A rat scurried off into a corner. Buffy's flashlight beam passed over cement pillars, stained walls, and finally came to rest on a figure, tied to a chair. Buffy and Angel rushed to the figure in the chair. It was a monk who was barely conscious.
"Whoa." Buffy said.
"This guys been severely tortured." Angel said.
The monk lifted his eyes to them. Buffy started to untie his ropes faster as she said, "Hey. It was you who planted the thing, the Dagon's Sphere, right? I have it. We're not
alone. We've got friends who can help you. Don't worry. I'm stronger than I look." Angel moved behind the monk to try to undo the ropes binding the monk's hands. He looked down at the ropes and didn't notice the woman that walked up behind Buffy. "I've got some experience with stuff like this. And best of all.." Buffy shot a hand out and caught the woman by the throat. "I'm not stupid."
Angel looked up just as the roped came lose. Buffy whirled on the woman, facing her directly. Buffy's face was filled with contained fury. The woman's face was filled with a mild curiosity. As easily as you'd remove a stray hair from a sweater, the woman plucked Buffy's hand by the wrist, pulling it away from her throat. Then she effortlessly backhanded Buffy with her full strength.
Buffy rocketed twenty feet straight back. The only thing stopping her acceleration was the far wall. Her whole body smashed painfully into it, leaving a huge dent and sending bits of plaster tumbling to the ground around her.
"Buffy!" Angel yelled.
Buffy, who was on her knees, looked up at the woman as she said, "Are you sure about that last part?" She picked Buffy up and threw her against Angel and they both went flying into a wall. "And another thing. I just want you to know.." She grabbed both Buffy and Angel's wrists and sent them slamming against the column on either side of it. "That this whole 'beat you two to death' thing I'm doing.." She grabbed them again then slammed them back again. "It's valuable time out of life that I am never getting back." Buffy spun and tried to kick the woman, but missed. "Wait, I've always wanted to try this." She grabbed one of Buffy's arms in each hand. "You know, the thing with worms where, you rip 'em in half, you get two worms? Think that'll work with you?" Buffy let herself go with a vicious head butt to the woman's face. "You HIT me!" She burst into tears. "Ow! What are you, crazy?" Buffy pressed the attack. Kick. Punch. Kick. Glory staggered back with each blow, never shutting up. "You can't go around hitting people! What were you, raised in a barn? There's such a thing as manners, you know."
Angel came up and tried to kick the woman in the back, but she grabbed Angel's ankle and picked him up, tossing him like a rag doll head first into a concrete wall.
"Fine! Be that way." She said. She shoved Buffy back, hard into a column. Buffy looked up and, impossibly, Glory was right there in front of her before she had even moved. Glory threw a punch. Buffy slipped, the woman's fist punched out a huge chunk of the cement column, powdering it. Another punch. Another slip. Another bite out of the column. She grabbed Buffy by the throat. "Hey I just noticed something. You have superpowers! That is so cool! Can you fly?" She threw Buffy clear across the factory floor, turned, and smiled.
Angel stood up, now back to consciousness and he rolled, stood and grabbed the monk. Without stopping, Angel dropped down and scooped up Buffy. The woman turned towards him and yelled, "Hey!" but Angel was throwing himself through a window. Half way down, Angel let go of Buffy and allowed her to land and roll. Angel fell so his back hit the pavement and the monk landed on top of him. Glass shards bounced off of them painfully.
Buffy stood and helped Angel carry the monk to the entrance to the factory gate as the factory caved in on itself and the woman. Buffy supported the Monk as he staggered between her and Angel. They hesitated, hearing the final rumble of the roof collapsing. They each took a moment to look back.
"Stop. Please." The monk said.
"We gotta keep moving." Buffy said, but giving him a moment to rest.
"My journey's done, I think."
"Don't get metaphory on me. We're going." Buffy tried to pull the monk to his feet, but he refused and groaned in pain.
"You have to.. The Key. You must protect The Key."
"Protect the Key. Right. I know, we'll all do it together! Far, far from here."
"Many have died.. many more, if you don't keep it safe."
"How? What is it?" Angel asked.
"The Key is energy. It's a portal. It opens the door.."
"That round glowy thing?" Buffy asked.
"For centuries it had no form at all. My brethren.. its only keepers. Then.." He tried to point to the factory. "The abomination found us. We had to hide The Key.. Gave it form. Molded it flesh, made it human. And sent it to you."
Buffy understood what the monk meant. "Dawn."
"What?" Angel asked.
"She is The Key." The monk said.
"You put that thing in my home." Buffy said.
"We knew the Slayer would.. Protect."
"My memories.. my mom's.."
"We built them."
"Then unbuild them. This is my life you're.."
A coughing fit from the monk cut her off. He regained himself enough to say, "You cannot abandon.."
"I didn't ask for this. I don't even know what.. what is she?"
"Human. Human, now, and helpless. Please, she is.. an innocent in this, and she needs you."
"She's not my sister."
"She doesn't know that."
The power of that statement sunk slowly in, Buffy unable to answer. It was quite a few moments before she realized she was looking at a dead man. She held him, her eyes filled with a million questions. Angel picked her up and carried her off. After a couple of blocks, Buffy made Angel put her down.
"Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!" Buffy said, panicking.
"Buffy, calm down. It's gonna be ok." Angel said.
"She's not.. All my memories. They're not.. They're not real."
"Buffy, you need to calm down."
"How can you be calm? Especially now that.. Now that.. Dawn's not real. She's not my sister."
"She is. The monk said she was. He said she didn't know. Don't hurt Dawn by telling her she's not real. She's already got enough problems to deal with. Your mom being sick, she's a teenager, and she thinks her big sister hates her."
"Oh God!"
Angel pulled Buffy into a tight hug. She grabbed on to his forearms and grasped him tight. After a few minutes, she got herself composed enough to walk home. Her mother sat in the living room with Dawn moving covers around.
"You're home." Joyce said.
"I wasn't bothering her." Dawn said, running upstairs.
"What's that all about?"
"Nothing mom. Angel's gonna stay down here and talk to you. I need to talk to Dawn." Buffy said.
"Ok."
Buffy went upstairs and Angel went to sit next to Joyce. Joyce smiled at him and he gave her that lopsided smile that always made Buffy smile.
"She really loves you to trust you with me." Joyce joked. Angel chuckled. "We've never actually had a nice talk since you and Buffy got engaged."
"No. No, we haven't." Angel said.
"It'd be nice."
"Yeah. It would."
"Can I make you something?"
"No. Joyce you need to rest. Just stay here and I'll make it."
"No. I'm fine. I can make it really."
"Buffy would stake me if she knew I let you do something other than rest."
"Come on. You can come with me." Joyce stood and Angel, being the old fashioned guy he was, stood too and helped her. "I don't need help. I'm not that old."
"I see where Buffy gets her stubbornness from."
"No, she got that from her father."
"Oh."
"Angel, I was kidding."
"Oh."
"Come on, let's go make Buffy some hot coco and have a little talk."
"Sure." Angel smiled and followed Joyce to the kitchen.
"Buffy, I love you and it's your mom. I know how much she means to you. I'll do anything to help." Angel said. "This is new terrain for you."
"Yeah, all prayin', no slayin'. So, let's see.. the incense needs to be ignited, and that's a job, then this stuff gets poured round me counter- clockwise, and um.."
"So do you want me to light the incense and pour the sand, or should I?"
"We can do it together. Each of us makes a half circle that'll join together."
"Wow, I've been doing spells longer than you and I didn't even think of that."
"Yay me."
Angel dimmed the lights and came back over while Buffy struck a match and lit the incense. She opened the bag and pulled out the bright sand. After making her half of the circle, Angel took the sand and made his half. Together they sat down, joined hands, and closed their eyes. Which was when the knock at the door came.
"What are you doing?" Dawn called.
"My boyfriend! Now go away!" Buffy called back.
"Liar. Are you doing magic?"
"No. I'm not!"
"Can I watch?"
"No. You can't."
"Please? Oh please times ten and cubed oh please?"
The door started to open and Buffy got up faster than she ever had and slammed it back. "No!"
"I can smell your stinky incense down the hall, you know." Dawn said as Buffy stuffed a towel under the door. "And your clothes are gonna reek. And if you are doing magic, I'm telling."
"Go. Go tell. Go wherever you want. Just GO!"
After a second, Buffy heard the sound of footsteps and then a door being slammed. She sighed and sat back down. Angel started to say something, but Buffy shook her head and took Angel's hands again. They closed their eyes and breathed slowly and deeply. The two stayed like this until it became dark outside and the incense burnt out.
The room had now taken on an overexposed glint. Edges of furniture gleamed in the light. Buffy and Angel opened their eyes and the world around them looked different. Surface edges caught light in a slightly different way. Brighter. She slowly stood up and looked around. Angel stood with her and looked down at her.
"Did it work?" he asked.
"Yeah, it worked. Just a little dizzy here, but I'll get the hand of it." Buffy replied. "Just gonna go find mom now."
Buffy exited her room and walked along the upstairs hallway slowly, in a trance-like state. Everything around her shimmered like an Oliver Stone film. But everything was where it should be. Buffy slowly headed downstairs, Angel right behind her. She entered the living room, looking for her mom, but Joyce's spot on the living room couch in front of the TV was abandoned. The blanket was cast aside. Buffy looked around, searching.
"Buffy?" Joyce asked behind her.
Buffy and Angel turned to find Joyce standing right behind her, buttoning up a light fall coat. "Mom." She said.
"You all right? You look.."
"Going out?"
"Either modern medicine's working, or I just took the world's best placebos. Either way, I'm heading out for a couple of hours."
Buffy searched her mother, looking at the shimmering air around her. "Nothing."
"Hmm?"
"There's nothing."
"Are you sure you're feeling okay? You seem a little out of it."
As Joyce talked, Buffy's attention turned to a photo she could see over Joyce's shoulder. It looked like it was winking at her. Something within the picture frame was moving.
"Hey. Buffy?" Joyce asked.
It was a picture of the three Summers women: Joyce, Buffy, and Dawn. It looked normal except Dawn's image kept flickering in and out. She appeared and disappeared and re-appeared slowly, as if fading in and out of reality. Buffy and Joyce's image remained steady and unwavering. Buffy could not stop staring at the picture.
"Huh? Oh. Yeah. I mean, I'm fine. Long day's all. You, um, have a good time." Buffy say, still staring.
Joyce smoothed Buffy's hair the way she would a younger child's, and gazed at her affectionately. "So grown up." She left with a wave at Angel.
Buffy walked over to the picture and picked it up off the wall. The image still flickered and when she looked all the other photos of Dawn, they flickered too. She turned and looked at Angel. His demon face flickered, but Buffy had expected that.
"What?" Angel asked. "Buffy, what is it?"
"She's not here." Buffy said.
She walked past Angel and headed up the stairs. Buffy pushed back the door and entered Dawn's room. The whole room flickered in and out of reality. The entire room was a typical fourteen year-old girl's room filled with a bed and pop idol posters. Then it would flicker into an empty storage room filled only with marked cardboard boxes that were stacked high. Buffy took it all in. She turned a slow circle around the room as the room itself shifted in reality back and forth around her. Slowly she became aware of a distant-sounding voice calling her name. The voice itself was fading in and out.
"Buffy! Buffy!" Dawn said. She stood in the doorway, Angel a little bit behind her. Dawn herself flickered in and out of existence. One second she was there, the next it was only Angel. "Buffy! Who said you could come in my room?"
"You're not my sister." Buffy said.
"PFT! Yeah! Like I even want to be related to your smelly.." Buffy grabbed Dawn's arm. "Ow! What are you doing?"
Buffy shot both hands out and grabbed Dawn, pinning her arms to her sides. Dawn struggled, in confusion and pain. Buffy got in her face. "What are you?"
"Buffy, stop." Angel said. He tried to grab her wrists and pull them off of Dawn's arms, but Buffy tossed him aside.
"Get off me!" Dawn yelled.
"You want to hurt me?" Buffy asked.
"Let me go, you freak!"
"Then you deal with me."
"I'm telling mom!"
Buffy half let go/half shoved Dawn away. Dawn stumbled back, bumped up against her own bed, and regained her footing. There was a long silence as the two sisters just stood frozen, both breathing hard and staring each other down for a long moment. The phone started to ring. Angel walked up to Buffy and took her arm. He led her downstairs and Buffy picked up the phone.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Buffy, I'm glad I caught you. I think we may have underestimated what we're dealing with." Giles said.
"Go on."
"We've uncovered more than expected about this Orb. It's called The Dagon's Sphere, and it has a history that goes back many centuries."
"What's it do?"
"It's a protective device. Used to ward off ancient, primordial evil."
"Any word what this evil looks like?"
"Unfortunately, no. This is where accounts get vague. All we've pinned down is that The Dagon's Sphere was created to repel 'that which cannot be named.'"
"I'm going down to the factory where I found it. Whoever planted this doohickey's got answers."
"Buffy, I know you've heard me say this before, but be careful. Anything that goes unnamed is usually an object of deep worship, or great fear. Maybe both. You could face a level of raw power you've never known before. Have you completed the trance? Seen what's harming your mother?"
"That's the thing. I just saw.." Buffy paused when she saw Dawn come in.
"Yes?"
"Nothing. Didn't work." Buffy hung up the phone and turned to look at Dawn.
"What are you talking about?" Dawn asked.
"Slayer stuff." Buffy looked at Angel and then back at Dawn. "We're going out."
"Do you really think I care you're the Slayer?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dawn shrugged slightly. "We'll be home in an hour."
"Mom's coming back."
"We'll be back first." Buffy, never taking her eyes off Dawn, grabbed her coat and headed for the door and went out. She went rushing out the door, pulling on her coat with Angel not far behind. They got down the steps when Angel heard something. He stopped, pulling Buffy back. Wary and alert, Angel approached the shadow of a tree by the front yard. Something rustled. Lightning-fast, Angel shot a hand into the shadows, grabbed something, and pulled out Spike.
"Spike!" Angel said.
"Hi." Spike said.
"Look, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but.." Buffy said, walking up.
"What are you doing here?" Angel asked.
Spike started to gesture, alerting Buffy that it was going to be a long answer. "Five words or less." Buffy said.
"Out. For. A. Walk." Spike paused, then said, "Bitch."
"Outside my house. At night." Buffy said.
"No one has time for this, WILLIAM." Angel said.
"On your merry way, then. Contrary to one self-involved world-view, your house happens to be directly between parts and other.. parts of this town. And I would pass by in the day, but I feel I'm outgrowing my whole burst- into-flame phase." Spike said.
"Fine. Keep going, I cut you a break."
"Buffy.." Angel started.
"We don't have time."
"Yeah, okay, let me guess: 'you won't kill me..' Ooh, the crowd pleasing threats and swagger routine. How stunningly original. I'm just passing through. Satisfied? I really do hope so because God knows you need some satisfaction in life besides shagging Nancy Boy here and I never really liked you anyway and, and, and both of yours hair looks very stupid." Spike said.
Buffy and Angel stared at Spike for a second and then Buffy looked down to find a small pile of cigarette butts on the ground. She groaned and walked off. Angel followed fast after her. She led them to the factory she had been at the night before. Breaking the lock, Buffy and Angel went in. Buffy held a flashlight, swooping the beam here and there as they walked through the deserted factory.
"Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in.." Buffy mumbled.
"Not by the hairs of my chinny, chin, chin." Angel said.
Buffy looked up at him surprised and then they noticed the large metal door missing its middle. It looked as if someone had taken a fairly large can opener to it.
"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff.." Buffy mumbled in awe.
The two walked onto the darkened factory floor. A rat scurried off into a corner. Buffy's flashlight beam passed over cement pillars, stained walls, and finally came to rest on a figure, tied to a chair. Buffy and Angel rushed to the figure in the chair. It was a monk who was barely conscious.
"Whoa." Buffy said.
"This guys been severely tortured." Angel said.
The monk lifted his eyes to them. Buffy started to untie his ropes faster as she said, "Hey. It was you who planted the thing, the Dagon's Sphere, right? I have it. We're not
alone. We've got friends who can help you. Don't worry. I'm stronger than I look." Angel moved behind the monk to try to undo the ropes binding the monk's hands. He looked down at the ropes and didn't notice the woman that walked up behind Buffy. "I've got some experience with stuff like this. And best of all.." Buffy shot a hand out and caught the woman by the throat. "I'm not stupid."
Angel looked up just as the roped came lose. Buffy whirled on the woman, facing her directly. Buffy's face was filled with contained fury. The woman's face was filled with a mild curiosity. As easily as you'd remove a stray hair from a sweater, the woman plucked Buffy's hand by the wrist, pulling it away from her throat. Then she effortlessly backhanded Buffy with her full strength.
Buffy rocketed twenty feet straight back. The only thing stopping her acceleration was the far wall. Her whole body smashed painfully into it, leaving a huge dent and sending bits of plaster tumbling to the ground around her.
"Buffy!" Angel yelled.
Buffy, who was on her knees, looked up at the woman as she said, "Are you sure about that last part?" She picked Buffy up and threw her against Angel and they both went flying into a wall. "And another thing. I just want you to know.." She grabbed both Buffy and Angel's wrists and sent them slamming against the column on either side of it. "That this whole 'beat you two to death' thing I'm doing.." She grabbed them again then slammed them back again. "It's valuable time out of life that I am never getting back." Buffy spun and tried to kick the woman, but missed. "Wait, I've always wanted to try this." She grabbed one of Buffy's arms in each hand. "You know, the thing with worms where, you rip 'em in half, you get two worms? Think that'll work with you?" Buffy let herself go with a vicious head butt to the woman's face. "You HIT me!" She burst into tears. "Ow! What are you, crazy?" Buffy pressed the attack. Kick. Punch. Kick. Glory staggered back with each blow, never shutting up. "You can't go around hitting people! What were you, raised in a barn? There's such a thing as manners, you know."
Angel came up and tried to kick the woman in the back, but she grabbed Angel's ankle and picked him up, tossing him like a rag doll head first into a concrete wall.
"Fine! Be that way." She said. She shoved Buffy back, hard into a column. Buffy looked up and, impossibly, Glory was right there in front of her before she had even moved. Glory threw a punch. Buffy slipped, the woman's fist punched out a huge chunk of the cement column, powdering it. Another punch. Another slip. Another bite out of the column. She grabbed Buffy by the throat. "Hey I just noticed something. You have superpowers! That is so cool! Can you fly?" She threw Buffy clear across the factory floor, turned, and smiled.
Angel stood up, now back to consciousness and he rolled, stood and grabbed the monk. Without stopping, Angel dropped down and scooped up Buffy. The woman turned towards him and yelled, "Hey!" but Angel was throwing himself through a window. Half way down, Angel let go of Buffy and allowed her to land and roll. Angel fell so his back hit the pavement and the monk landed on top of him. Glass shards bounced off of them painfully.
Buffy stood and helped Angel carry the monk to the entrance to the factory gate as the factory caved in on itself and the woman. Buffy supported the Monk as he staggered between her and Angel. They hesitated, hearing the final rumble of the roof collapsing. They each took a moment to look back.
"Stop. Please." The monk said.
"We gotta keep moving." Buffy said, but giving him a moment to rest.
"My journey's done, I think."
"Don't get metaphory on me. We're going." Buffy tried to pull the monk to his feet, but he refused and groaned in pain.
"You have to.. The Key. You must protect The Key."
"Protect the Key. Right. I know, we'll all do it together! Far, far from here."
"Many have died.. many more, if you don't keep it safe."
"How? What is it?" Angel asked.
"The Key is energy. It's a portal. It opens the door.."
"That round glowy thing?" Buffy asked.
"For centuries it had no form at all. My brethren.. its only keepers. Then.." He tried to point to the factory. "The abomination found us. We had to hide The Key.. Gave it form. Molded it flesh, made it human. And sent it to you."
Buffy understood what the monk meant. "Dawn."
"What?" Angel asked.
"She is The Key." The monk said.
"You put that thing in my home." Buffy said.
"We knew the Slayer would.. Protect."
"My memories.. my mom's.."
"We built them."
"Then unbuild them. This is my life you're.."
A coughing fit from the monk cut her off. He regained himself enough to say, "You cannot abandon.."
"I didn't ask for this. I don't even know what.. what is she?"
"Human. Human, now, and helpless. Please, she is.. an innocent in this, and she needs you."
"She's not my sister."
"She doesn't know that."
The power of that statement sunk slowly in, Buffy unable to answer. It was quite a few moments before she realized she was looking at a dead man. She held him, her eyes filled with a million questions. Angel picked her up and carried her off. After a couple of blocks, Buffy made Angel put her down.
"Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!" Buffy said, panicking.
"Buffy, calm down. It's gonna be ok." Angel said.
"She's not.. All my memories. They're not.. They're not real."
"Buffy, you need to calm down."
"How can you be calm? Especially now that.. Now that.. Dawn's not real. She's not my sister."
"She is. The monk said she was. He said she didn't know. Don't hurt Dawn by telling her she's not real. She's already got enough problems to deal with. Your mom being sick, she's a teenager, and she thinks her big sister hates her."
"Oh God!"
Angel pulled Buffy into a tight hug. She grabbed on to his forearms and grasped him tight. After a few minutes, she got herself composed enough to walk home. Her mother sat in the living room with Dawn moving covers around.
"You're home." Joyce said.
"I wasn't bothering her." Dawn said, running upstairs.
"What's that all about?"
"Nothing mom. Angel's gonna stay down here and talk to you. I need to talk to Dawn." Buffy said.
"Ok."
Buffy went upstairs and Angel went to sit next to Joyce. Joyce smiled at him and he gave her that lopsided smile that always made Buffy smile.
"She really loves you to trust you with me." Joyce joked. Angel chuckled. "We've never actually had a nice talk since you and Buffy got engaged."
"No. No, we haven't." Angel said.
"It'd be nice."
"Yeah. It would."
"Can I make you something?"
"No. Joyce you need to rest. Just stay here and I'll make it."
"No. I'm fine. I can make it really."
"Buffy would stake me if she knew I let you do something other than rest."
"Come on. You can come with me." Joyce stood and Angel, being the old fashioned guy he was, stood too and helped her. "I don't need help. I'm not that old."
"I see where Buffy gets her stubbornness from."
"No, she got that from her father."
"Oh."
"Angel, I was kidding."
"Oh."
"Come on, let's go make Buffy some hot coco and have a little talk."
"Sure." Angel smiled and followed Joyce to the kitchen.