The Yugzode warriors killed most of their prisoners before they left the planet.
But a few they kept. Those they deemed to have the most potential. Children, mostly — children had so much fear, so many nightmares, so much suffering to be exploited.
But also the fair-haired girl with the strange eyes and defiant expression.
"A brave one," said the Yugzode assault commander, examining her. "And determined." He licked his lips, in anticipation. "So much tastier when the bravest humans break."
They brought the humans up to the ship. Lead most to the induction chamber, to be branded and catalogued and then systematically worked upon. But the girl had fire in her. Began to struggle and attempt to overpower them. Tried to protect the others they'd brought along, growling threats and glaring at them through burning eyes.
None of them could wait to feast on her.
Not just brave — but a hero. A champion of the others. A fighter and a protector of children.
This would be a banquet unlike any other.
They tore her away from the others, strapped her into one of the feeding chambers onboard their ship. And started in on her, before they had even applied the brand or inputted her into the catalogue. One mention of this to the King, and he'd take her away from them. Feed on her himself.
But this one was all theirs.
They set to work.
Every torture they could devise. Any means to cause her pain. Anything that made her cry out in anguish and misery. Nerve stimulators. Mental overload packets. Old fashioned brutality.
They threw their worst at her. She'd crumble in an hour. They always did.
An hour in, the brave, determined expression shattered from her face.
Replaced by a sudden gale of laughter.
The Yugzodes all looked at one another. They'd never seen anyone react to the tortures in quite this way, before. Weren't really sure what to make of it.
"She will be tastier, when she breaks," one of them decided. Grabbing up a neural agitator. "Her pain could feed us for years."
"But my pain hasn't been feeding you so far," the girl said. Her eyes meeting theirs. "Has it?"
The Yugzodes said nothing.
"All the pain, all the torture, and you're getting nothing from me," said the girl. "Not a drop. And you don't know why?" She leaned in. Whispered, "Want me to tell you?"
In a sudden wrench of strength, the girl tore the manacles from the wall of her isolation chamber. Her eyes glittering beneath the lights. Her entire face filled with an expression none of them had ever seen.
"Love is pain," said Seo. Stepping towards them. "And the Slayer and her offspring forge strength from pain. My pain. My strength."
The Yugzodes shuddered back, a little, as she advanced. For the first time, they seemed scared.
"You take and take and take," said Seo, her eyes fixed on theirs. "But giving is stronger than taking. Love stronger than hatred. Forgiveness stronger than revenge." She stopped, just in front of one of the Yugzodes who'd been torturing her. "And I forgive you."
The Yugzode cried out, in pain, wrenching itself away from her. The others, nearby, began to moan and writhe.
"You only do this to feed," said Seo, putting a hand on the Yugzode's arm. "Should have remained as scavengers on battlefields. But you lot got greedy. Made a mistake. Abducted children and subjected them to this torture and cruelty to fatten you up." Her eyes burned into theirs. "Everyone makes mistakes. And I forgive you for them. Forgive you all."
The Yugzode with the neural agitator, in desperation, thrust it at Seo's head, so she dropped to the ground. But she had expected it. Could already feel the energy of the neural agitator flowing through her mind — could channel it, use it to enhance her own telepathic abilities. With her own ship onboard, somewhere, with Dawn's mind as a backup and support network, she could spread the message.
Every neural pathway was open inside her mind, now.
"I forgive you," Seo said. "All of you. For the deaths. The tortures. The devastations and atrocities. I forgive you."
It spread. She could feel it spreading. Across the whole ship, the one feeling they couldn't stand. The one feeling that they couldn't deal with. They fed on fear and misery and pain and hatred. But empathy, forgiveness, compassion towards them — those emotions seared through them. An intense wrenching feeling in their minds, blazing across each of their psyches, growing and growing until it got too much…
And they all collapsed, unconscious, to the ground.
Dawn had arrived on the ship, into the prisoner's section. Undetected. Immediately set about helping the prisoners to escape, find sanctuary inside of Oliver. And so many were just children! Young kids, snatched away from their parents and taken here, to be tortured over and over again.
Then… she'd been caught.
Had been backed into a corner, the Yugzodes feeling the fear drip off her in droves. They were reveling in it. Rejoicing in it. And as much as Dawn struggled to crush the fear under bravery and determination, there was always more that they found. More horror and hatred and pain inside her psyche. More…
They suddenly dropped back.
Howled.
And fell, unconscious, to the ground.
"Okay, then," said Dawn, not really sure what had just happened, but pretty sure she knew who was behind it.
Time to find Seo.
She raced through the ship, and nearly ran right into Seo, racing the other way. Seo looked cut up. Beat up. They'd been torturing her, Dawn realized — had started in on her right away.
She reached out to Seo, but Seo just smiled, and raced off. "Come on! We have to free everyone, before they wake up!"
Dawn raced after her. "What did you do?"
"Negative emotions make them stronger," Seo shouted back, as she raced back to the main prisoner section of the ship. "I fed them a positive one. Forgiveness."
Oh.
Wow.
"Won't last for long, though," said Seo, as she yanked open doors, and began to free the prisoners. "Only so much forgiveness and sympathy I could extend to them."
Dawn could hear the edge to Seo's voice. And knew.
Underneath it all, Seo was furious. Horrified. Disgusted by all of this.
It was a credit to her that she felt enough compassion towards these inhuman monsters to extend any real feelings of forgiveness towards them, at all.
"You get the ones on that side," said Seo. "I'll work on freeing this side of the room." She lifted a child out of its torture-chamber, soothing it, hushing it, speaking softly to it.
Dawn turned.
Began to open up doors and free prisoners, herself. Gathering all the tortured victims together, into a single place, assuring them that they were safe and their captivity over.
She almost missed the last chamber door.
Separated from the others. Way at the back. No screams coming from the inside. No noise. No nothing. Dawn crept towards it. She could hear the heavy, panicked breathing of whoever was inside, growing more and more terrified with her every step.
Footsteps.
She opened the door.
...
"And that was when I found him," Holograph-Dawn said to Buffy. "Beat up and messed up and tortured for so long, you could tell he had trouble remembering a time when he wasn't in pain. One look in his eyes, and I just knew… he'd been there longer than any of the others. Far longer."
...
It was a young man — about Dawn's own age — his brown hair tousled, his breath panicked and rasping. He shuddered away from her, as she approached.
"Shh," said Dawn. Reaching out a gentle hand, laying it on his arm, in reassurance. "It's okay. I'm here to rescue you. You're safe."
He looked up at her. Those eyes staring deep down into hers, a fire inside of them. A burning intensity, filled with something Dawn couldn't quite identify.
He tried to speak, but his voice was too raspy and choked up to make out what he said.
"What?" asked Dawn, leaning in.
"Brother," the man whispered. His eyes blazing, as he did. "Brother."
Oh, God.
That was how he'd managed to stay alive. Stay sane. With that one thought. One word.
Brother.
Dawn felt a sudden surge of empathy towards this poor man. Remembering all those times, locked up and threatened by monsters from the deepest pits of the Sunnydale Hellmouth, placing her faith in a sister she knew could save her. A sister she loved more than anything.
"We'll find him, promise," said Dawn, using her lock-picking device on his chains. "Let's get you out of here, first."
She supported him as the last chain gave way, and he dropped. Caught him before he hit the ground. Wrapped an arm around his shoulders, helped him walk out of the chamber.
Around them, the Yugzodes were beginning to stir.
Damn.
"We've got to move faster," Dawn told him. "Think you can do that?"
The man said nothing, but tried to stumble forwards a little more quickly. It had clearly been a long time since he'd walked anywhere himself.
They turned the corner, towards where Dawn had left Oliver. But now, the Yugzodes had already gotten back to their feet, and were looking at them with snarls and growls.
The Yugzodes grabbed up weapons, and rushed them.
Okay, screw nice-and-supportive.
Dawn grabbed up the guy, and began to run. Raced as fast as she could, stumbling and staggering and dragging the tortured guy behind her, breath heaving as they approached Oliver. She twisted her key into the lock, jerked Oliver's doors open, and nearly threw the guy and herself inside, slamming the door shut just before the first laser bolt struck.
For a few minutes, she just stood there, back against the door, trying to catch her breath.
Then noticed, in the sea of freed prisoners huddled around the console room and the whole ship… one person was missing. One very important person.
Seo.
Dawn spun around, ready to race out and try to find her, but through Oliver's glass windows of, she could already see the figure of Seo racing towards Oliver, doing her best to duck and roll and flip her way through the Yugzodes who were blocking her path.
She nearly made it before they caught her.
Then the whole Yugzode ship shook, around them. Violently enough to nearly knock Dawn to the ground.
The Yugzodes were thrown off balance, and Seo jerked herself free from them, throwing herself at Oliver's doors. Dawn opened them for her, shouting at her to get in, hurry, as Seo flew into the console room, the doors shutting behind her, and attacked the central console.
"We have to get off the Yugzode ship," Seo said. "Right now. We don't want to go where they're going."
"Where?" asked Dawn, making her way through the sea of freed prisoners.
Another violent shake, and this time, Dawn really did fall to the ground. Seo kept her balance, still poking and prodding and flipping at things in her ship. The whole thing surged into life, creaking and complaining as Oliver struggled to break free from whatever was happening outside.
"I sent the Yugzode ship into a complete dimensional shift!" shouted Seo, over the noise. She grinned. "You never did say how those things wound up in the Cleveland Hellmouth."
Dawn stared. "You're kidding!"
Oliver gave a high pitch whine, and began to buck and jolt. Then, with a sudden burst and a groan, Oliver seemed to break free, the entire outside blurring around them and then disappearing into the familiar swirls and colors of the time vortex.
Seo sighed. Suddenly looking far more tired and pained than she had, before.
"Made it," she said. Looking at the sea of rescued people around her. So many children. So many young people, tortured and imprisoned to provide breakfast for a bunch of aliens. Then she looked up at Dawn. "Time to get them all home."