Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)
Illyria took on her Fred form, and then, with Willow and Tara leading the way, the group headed off to the cave where Sophie had been born. It was well hidden in an extremely overgrown corner at the far side of the park.
"Everybody ready?" asked Willow as they reached the mouth of the cave. "I'm pretty sure I killed all the demons last time I was here, but I could have missed a couple if they were out hunting or something, and I have no idea how fast these things breed, and it's been two years so even if they're aren't any demons left something else nasty could have moved in.." Tara cut Willow off with a kiss, the only sure-fire way to shut her up.
"Not the time for babble, honey" she smirked.
"Right" Willow blushed, slightly embarrassed. "Let's go, everyone!" And so, they marched into the cave... then screamed(except for Illyria, who would have stayed put if Connor hadn't caught her arm on his way past) and ran back out again.
"What the hell was that thing?" cried Xander. "'Cause if it was one of the demons that created Sophie, that poor kid was even more worse off than I thought."
"No" Willow panted. "Sophie's demons were a lot smaller, and they were blue and kind of talked like evil businessmen."
"I think that was a Gora demon" said Dawn. "Me and Spike stole an egg from one the time I tried to resurrect Mom.. Don't look at me like that, Tara" she said as the blonde witch frowned. "I never went through with that, and besides, you're not exactly the poster girl for 'dead things should stay dead' are you?"
"No, I guess not" Tara replied.
"So now what are we going to do?" Connor asked, turning to Willow. It had been mutually agreed that in the event of Buffy's absence or injury, Willow would assume the role of leader within the Scooby Gang. Spike had made special mention of this to Illyria when the group had left, and the God-King had accepted the wicca's leadership. Willow thought for a moment.
"We do exactly what we came here to do" she replied. "The Gora was unexpected, I admit, but it's not really that big a problem. After all, it's only in the front chamber of the cave, and the Vervain is further back, right?"
"Yeah" Tara, who knew exactly where the Vervain was, nodded.
"Good" said Willow, turning to the others. "So all we have to do is hold the Gora off long enough for Tara to get past it. Any objections?"
"We're gonna need some bigger swords" said Xander, frowning as he peeked into their bag of weapons.
"1, 2, 3, go!" cried Willow as the group ran into the cave, weapons raised. The Gora roared in anger, and the Scoobies were forced to dodge blows from it's huge claws. Poor Xander very nearly missed being smashed between the creatures teeth.
"Ah! Please don't eat me!" he yelped, swinging his sword as he leapt out of the way. "My kid is too young for me too die, it's not even born yet! Surely you understand that with your eggs and all, right?" Then, he paused. "I'm trying to reason with a demon. Man, Ahn's baby-brain is already rubbing off on me." The mention of eggs, however, had given Dawn an idea. Moving as fast as she could, she snatched an egg from the Gora's nest, and ran, dodging it's attacks along the way.
"Hey, look what I've got!" she yelled, waving the egg over her head. The demon screeched horribly, and moved to pursue Dawn, but the former Key's plan had inspired Willow as well. She telekinetically yanked the remaining eggs from the nest, keeping one for herself and sending the others to Xander, Connor, and Illyria. The Gora screeched again, angrily following the egg nappers, but leaving the path further into the cave clear.
"Tara, go!" Willow yelled. Tara, though worried about her wife and her friends, nodded, and ran.
Tara ran as fast as she could, deep into the cave to where she knew that the Vervain, the magical herb that could save Buffy's life, was hidden. She was running at such a speed that it was hard to stop in a hurry, and so she crashed into the blue-skinned, yellow-horned demon that suddenly appeared in her path.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" said the demon, grinning evilly.